The Jim Bakker Show

U.S. vows all-out defense against ‘grave’ North Korean threat

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) holds a 2+2 ministerial meeting with South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se and Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo (L) at the State Department in Washington, U.S.

By David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to step up military and diplomatic efforts to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, saying they posed a “grave” security threat following repeated tests this year.

After talks in Washington between their foreign and defense ministers, the countries said they had agreed to set up a high-level Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group to leverage “the full breadth of national power – including diplomacy, information, military coordination, and economic elements” in the face of the North Korean threat.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would do “whatever is necessary” to defend itself, South Korea and other allies against North Korea.

Kerry and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter reaffirmed that any attack by North Korea would be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons “met with an effective and overwhelming response,” a joint statement said.

It said Kerry and Carter reiterated the “ironclad and unwavering” U.S. commitment “to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, conventional strike, and missile defense capabilities, to provide extended deterrence” to South Korea.

Asked what the United States could do to prevent North Korea conducting more nuclear tests after those in January and September, Kerry told a news conference:

“We will up and energize those three things that we have already been doing and put greater pressure, put greater diplomacy to work, and put greater deterrence to work so that in every case we will underscore the futility of what Kim Jong-un and North Korea are pursuing.”

He said the military option was a last resort and Washington was working to tighten sanctions, including by trying to close a loophole in U.N. steps that allowed North Korea to export coal for “livelihood” purposes.

Kerry said this was “obviously being abused … because the greatest amount of coal, and the greatest amount of revenue, historically, has just passed between China and North Korea.”

As part of the military effort, Kerry said the United States would deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system to South Korea “as soon as possible.”

China strongly opposes deployment of the U.S. system, saying it would impinge on its own strategic deterrence.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said North Korea was nearing the “final stage of nuclear weaponization” and the allies would mobilize “all tools in the toolkit” to defend themselves.

“What is most important is to continuously demonstrate our capability and deterrence with our commitment and actions so that Pyongyang can feel the panic under their skins,” he said.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said “extended deterrence” could include permanent deployment of U.S. “strategic assets” in South Korea, such as nuclear-capable B-52 and B-1B bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets and nuclear-powered submarines.

Yun said he understood this would be discussed in talks between Han and Carter at the Pentagon on Thursday, but declined to elaborate.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond when asked about the possibility of such deployments, but Carter said earlier that Washington and Seoul would “continue to modernize our alliance, seize new opportunities and address evolving threats.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chris Reese and Tom Brown)

New pool of Zika infested mosquitoes found in Florida

By Kami Klein

According to a Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control news release and Fox news health report, officials announced a new pool of Zika infested mosquitoes were trapped. The news release says that officials learned about the new pool on Monday from trap 5 which is in the previously designated Zika transmission zone near Little Haiti.

The insects had been collected Oct. 5th.

A large portion of Miami Beach remains an active Zika infection zone. Officials announced last week that several people had been infected with Zika in a 1-square-mile area of Miami just north of the Little Haiti neighborhood.

According to the CDC Website, Zika is spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. These mosquitoes bite both during the day and night. There is no known vaccine or medicine for Zika but governments around the world are dedicating millions for research and a possible vaccine. Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. So far there have been 878 reported cases of pregnant women with the Zika virus in the United States and District of Columbia with 1,806 reported in U.S. Territories.

Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Other problems have been detected among fetuses and infants infected with Zika virus before birth, such as defects of the eye, hearing deficits, and impaired growth. There have also been increased reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an uncommon sickness of the nervous system, in areas affected by Zika.

The following are the statistics of Zika cases as of October 6th, 2016. The top states reporting most cases being travel associated are New York with 858 cases, Florida 708, California, 298 and Texas at 228. Virtually every state has had reports of the Zika virus.

US States

Locally acquired mosquito-borne cases reported: 128
Travel-associated cases reported: 3,807
Laboratory acquired cases reported: 1
Total: 3,936
- Sexually transmitted: 32
- Guillain-Barré syndrome: 13

US Territories

Locally acquired cases reported: 25,871
Travel-associated cases reported: 84
Total: 25,955*
- Guillain-Barré syndrome: 40

Find out more facts on the Zika virus including tips for keeping your family safe at the CDC Website .

U.S. health officials outline Zika spending priorities

County vector sprays neighborhood for mosquitos with Zika

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials outlined on Tuesday how they planned to divide up $1.1 billion in funds approved by Congress to fight the Zika virus, including repaying $44.25 million they were forced to borrow from a fund allocated for other emergencies.

The funds were borrowed from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative, which helps state and local public health departments develop response plans to emergencies, while Congress battled over whether to supply the funds.

President Barack Obama in February requested $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funding. Congress approved $1.1 billion in September after months of political bickering.

On a conference call with reporters, health officials said$394 million would go to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $152 million to the National Institutes of Health and $387 million for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, which supports the nation’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.

A further $40 million is aimed at expanding primary healthcare services in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, and $20 million for projects of national and regional significance in those areas.

Puerto Rico has been particularly hard hit by Zika, a mosquito-borne virus that has been linked with a rare birth defect known as microcephaly. The virus has spread to almost 60 countries and territories since the current outbreak was identified last year in Brazil.

As of Oct. 12, more than 29,000 cases of Zika infection had been reported in the United States and territories. Of those, more than 2,600 cases are in pregnant women. Nearly 26,000 of those cases are in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.

The government will be allocating funds, based on a competitive process, to support Zika virus surveillance and other programs. The funds will also be used to expand mosquito control, continue vaccine development and begin studies on the effect of Zika on babies born to infected mothers.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Iran sentences two U.S. citizens to 10 years in prison

Family handout picture of Iranian-American consultant Siamak Namazi with his father Baquer Namazi

By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati

DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Iranian court has sentenced an Iranian-American businessman and his elderly father to 10 years in prison on charges of cooperating with the United States, the Iranian judiciary’s official news website reported on Tuesday.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained Siamak Namazi, a businessman with dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship in his mid-40s, in October 2015, while he was visiting family in Tehran. The IRGC arrested his father, Baquer Namazi, 80, a former UNICEF official and also a dual citizen, in February.

Both men have been sentenced to 10 years in prison “for cooperating with the hostile government of America,” the Mizan website said, citing “an informed source.” It did not specify when exactly the sentences had been handed down.

The sentences are the latest sign of an intensifying crackdown against Iranians with ties to the West directed by hardliners who are powerful in Iran’s judiciary and security forces, in the aftermath of Iran’s historic nuclear deal with the United States and other world powers last year.

Siamak Namazi, who was born in Iran and educated in the United States, worked as a business consultant in Iran for several years, and was well-known in Washington circles.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sentences.

Siamak’s brother, and Baquer’s son, Babak Namazi, called the sentences unjust.

“In the case of my father this is tantamount to a life sentence,” Babak Namazi said in a statement. It said each man received a single court session lasting a few hours before the sentences were handed down.

“The details of the charges are unknown to us as of yet.”

Washington and Tehran have not had formal diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah.

According to the Iranian penal code, cooperating with foreign states against Iran’s government is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. Last month, Iran sentenced Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese information technology expert and permanent U.S. resident, to 10 years imprisonment.

On Sunday, the Mizan news site published video images of Siamak Namazi, set to dramatic music and spliced together with images of U.S. President Barack Obama and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who was himself released from Iranian jail in January after more than 18 months in detention.

The video shows Namazi’s U.S. passport and identification card from the United Arab Emirates, where he previously lived. It then shows Namazi standing and holding his arms outstretched, as if being searched, while being filmed by at least one other cameraman. The web site said the video depicted “the first images of the moment of Siamak Namazi’s arrest.”

HARDLINE BACKLASH

Iran’s deal with world powers lifted most international sanctions and promised Iran’s reintegration into the global community in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

The potential detente with the West has alarmed hardliners, who have seen a flood of European trade and investment delegations arrive in Tehran to discuss possible deals, according to Iran experts.

Those hardliners have gained authority since the nuclear deal was signed, at the expense of President Hassan Rouhani, who campaigned on promises of ending Iran’s diplomatic isolation.

Security officials have arrested dozens of artists, journalists and businessmen, including Iranians holding joint U.S., European, or Canadian citizenship, as part of a crackdown on “Western infiltration.”

Four other Iranian-Americans, including Rezaian, were released from Iranian prisons in January as part of a prisoner swap with the United States.

The arrests have undermined Rouhani’s goals of reviving Iran’s business and political ties with the West, as well as pushing for more political and social reforms at home, Iran experts and observers said.

In a 2013 visit to New York to the United Nations General Assembly, his first as president, Rouhani told an enthusiastic crowd of Iranian-Americans that his government would make it easier for them to visit Iran. He has criticized his hardline opponents, saying they sought their own interests, not those of the Iranian people.

Siamak Namazi was most recently working for Crescent Petroleum, an oil and gas company in the United Arab Emirates. He was chosen as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum in 2007.

Baquer Namazi, a former Iranian provincial governor, served as UNICEF representative in Somalia, Kenya, Egypt and elsewhere, and for a time ran Hamyaran, an umbrella agency for Iranian non-governmental organizations.

He has a serious heart and other medical conditions requiring special medication, his wife wrote on Facebook in February.

The United Nations human rights investigator for Iran called earlier this month for the immediate release of three Iranians with dual nationality whose health is a matter of concern, including Baquer Namazi.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Alison Williams and Grant McCool)

Islamic State said to use Mosul residents as human shields

Peshmerga forces advance in the east of Mosul to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul,

By Ahmed Rasheed and Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD/ERBIL (Reuters) – Residents of Mosul said Islamic State was using civilians as human shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces captured outlying villages in their advance on the jihadists’ stronghold.

The leader of Islamic State and one of its main explosives experts were reported to be among thousands of the hardline militants still in Mosul, suggesting the group would go to great lengths to fend off any ground attack within the city limits.

With the attacking forces still between 20 and 50 km (12-30 miles) away, residents reached by telephone said more than 100 families had started moving from southern and eastern suburbs most exposed to the offensive to more central parts of the city.

Islamic State militants were preventing people fleeing Mosul, they said, and one said they directed some toward buildings they had recently used themselves.

“It’s quite clear Daesh (Islamic State) has started to use civilians as human shields by allowing families to stay in buildings likely to be targeted by air strikes,” said Abu Mahir, who lives near the city’s university and offered food to the displaced.

Like other residents contacted by telephone in the city, he refused to give his full name, but Abdul Rahman Waggaa, a member of the exiled Provincial Council of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital, corroborated his account to Reuters, urging government and coalition forces to update their targeting data.

Around 1.5 million people are still living in Mosul and the International Organisation for Migration said it was preparing gas masks in case of chemical attack by the jihadists, who had used such weapons previously against Iraqi Kurdish forces.

The fall of Mosul would signal the defeat of the ultra-hardline Sunni jihadists in Iraq but could also lead to land grabs and sectarian bloodletting between groups which fought one another after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

For U.S. President Barack Obama, the campaign is a calculated risk, with U.S. officials acknowledging that there is no clear plan for how the region around Mosul will be governed once Islamic State is expelled.

Smoke rises from clashes at Bartila in the east of Mosul during clashes with Islamic State militants, Iraq. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

“DISORIENTED”

The Iraqi army and Peshmerga forces from autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan began moving toward the city at dawn on Monday under air cover from a U.S.-led coalition set up after Islamic State swept into Iraq from Syria in 2014.

Hoshiyar Zebari, a senior Kurdish official, said initial operations succeeded due to close cooperation between the Iraqi government and Kurdish peshmerga fighters, allowing them to clear Islamic State from 9 or 10 villages east of Mosul.

“Daesh is disoriented they don’t know whether to expect attacks from the east or west or north,” he told Reuters.

On Tuesday the attacking forces entered another phase, he said. “It won’t be a spectacular attack on Mosul itself. It will be very cautious. It is a high risk operation for everybody.”

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and explosives expert Fawzi Ali Nouimeh were both in the city, according to what he described as “solid” intelligence reports.

A total of 20 villages were taken from the militants east, south and southeast of Mosul by early Tuesday, according to statements from the two forces, fighting alongside one another for the first time.

Islamic State said on Monday its fighters had targeted the attacking forces with 10 suicide bombs and that their foes had surrounded five villages but not taken them. None of the reports could be independently verified.

RESIDENTS KEPT IN CITY

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the offensive on Monday around two years after Iraq’s second-largest city fell to the militants, who exploited the civil war that broke out in Syria in 2011 to seize territory there.

The operation had been planned since July with U.S. and other coalition forces and Western and Iraqi officials, mindful of the civil war that followed Saddam’s fall, say plans for administering the mainly Sunni city and accommodating those who flee the fighting are in place.

The United Nations has said up to a million people could flee the city and that it expected the first big wave in five or six days, indicating fighting would reach the city then.

But some residents said Islamic State was making sure people did not leave. Anwar said he fled his Sumer district, which lies near Mosul airport, fearing ground forces and aeriel bombing.

“I told Daesh fighters at a checkpoint I’m going to stay at my sister’s house,” he said. “A Daesh fighter made calls through his radio to make sure I was not lying and only after the voice on the other side said ‘Let him go’, did I let myself breathe.”

Fighting is expected to take weeks, if not months, as some 30,000 government forces, Sunni tribal fighters and Kurdish Peshmerga first encircle the city then attempt to oust between 4,000 and 8,000 Islamic State militants.

More than 5,000 U.S. soldiers are also deployed in support missions, as are troops from France, Britain, Canada and other Western nations.

The Iraqi army is attacking Mosul on the southern and southeastern fronts, while the Peshmerga carried out their operation to the east and are also deployed north and northwest.

The Kurdish forces said they secured “a significant stretch” of the 80 km (50 mile) road between Erbil, their capital, and Mosul, about an hour’s drive to the west.

Coalition warplanes attacked 17 Islamic State positions in support of the Peshmerga operation in the heavily mined area, the Kurdish statement said, adding that at least four car bombs were destroyed.

There was no indication about the number of military or civilian casualties in the Iraqi or Kurdish statements.

Obama is seeking to put an end to the “caliphate” – a launch pad for attacks on civilians in the West – before he leaves office in January.

France said it would co-host a multilateral meeting with Iraq on Oct. 20 to discuss how to stabilize Mosul and its surroundings once Islamic State has been defeated.

Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the militants were likely to retreat to their Syrian bastion Raqqa, so it was vital to consider how to retake that city too.

“We can’t let Islamic State reconstitute itself or strengthen to create an even more dangerous hub,” he said.

The Mosul plan calls for the governor of the city’s Nineveh province, Nawfal al-Agoub, to be restored and the city divided into sub-districts with local mayors for each. Agoub will govern along with a senior representative from Baghdad and from Erbil, capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

Screening procedures for any civilians able to flee Mosul have been enhanced, in an effort to learn from the battle for Fallujah, in Anbar province. There, Sunni men and boys were held, tortured and in some cases killed by Shi’ite militia members, who had erected makeshift checkpoints.

The U.N. refugee agency said it had built five camps to house 45,000 people and plans to have an additional six in the coming weeks with a capacity for 120,000, that would still not be enough to cope if the exodus is as big as feared.

(Additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh in ERBIL, Ahmed Rasheed and Stephen Kalin in BAGHDAD, Stephanie Nebehay in GENEVA, Warren Strobel, Yara Bayoumy and Jonathan Landay in WASHINGTON; writing by Philippa Fletcher; editing by Giles Elgood)

Vietnam gives thumbs-up to U.S. regional role

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam supports U.S. “intervention” in the Asia-Pacific if it helps keep peace and stability, the defense ministry said, in a timely endorsement of a continued U.S. presence amid uncertainty over Washington’s faltering “pivot”.

Vice defense minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, met on Monday with Cara Abercrombie, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, and told her Vietnam backed a positive U.S. role.

The general’s words of support, conveyed by a normally reclusive defense ministry, come when the United States most needs them, with its “rebalance” – aimed at boosting its Asian foothold and tempering China’s rise – now under strain in the run-up to a U.S. presidential election.

Vinh “affirmed that Vietnam will support the U.S and other partners to intervene in the region as long as it brings peace, stability and prosperity”, it said in a statement.

At the dialogue, Abercrombie said the United States would not change its rebalance strategy, the statement added.

Uncertainty lingers in Asia over changes ahead at the White House and whether a new leadership would give less priority to keeping China in check as it grows increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, a waterway vital to global trade.

Washington’s traditional defense alliances in Southeast Asia are currently being tested, with ties with Thailand frosty since a 2014 coup and questions about the future of a tight military relationship with the Philippines under volatile new President Rodrigo Duterte, a staunch U.S. critic.

Relations between the United States and Vietnam, in contrast, have warmed substantially in the past two years, much to do with jitters over the South China Sea to which Hanoi has disputes with Beijing.

The latest affirmation of those ties came after the full lifting of a U.S. lethal arms embargo on Vietnam in May, allowing closer defense links and some joint military exercises between the former enemies.

Two U.S. warships earlier this month made a call at a new international port built at Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay in a brief but symbolic return for U.S. combat vessels.

The U.S. ambassador to Vietnam last week admitted the U.S. dynamism once seen in the region had “a little bit diminished”, but said there was still appetite for U.S. involvement.

Ted Osius also said a dramatic change in U.S.-Vietnam ties was “not about to happen” because of Philippine leader Duterte’s outreach toward China.

(Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Martin Petty)

Despite failures, North Korea could field missile next year: U.S. expert

A test-fire of strategic submarine-launched ballistic missile is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In spite of the apparent failure of another North Korean missile test at the weekend, the country’s aggressive testing schedule could see its Musudan intermediate ballistic missile entering operational service sometime next year – much sooner than expected, a leading U.S. expert said on Monday.

The U.S. military said on Saturday it had detected a failed launch of a Musudan, the latest in a series in violation of United Nations resolutions.

The U.S. Strategic Command said the missile failed in a launch near North Korea’s northwestern city of Kusong. South Korea’s military said the missile failed immediately after launch, but neither it nor the Pentagon suggested reasons.

The Musudan has range of some 3,000 km (1,860 miles), posing a threat to South Korea and Japan, and possibly the U.S. territory of Guam. Pyongyang claims that it has succeeded in miniaturizing a nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a missile, but this have never been independently verified.

John Schilling, an aerospace engineer specializing in rocket propulsion, said it was noteworthy that North Korea had launched the missile from its west coast, rather than from its purpose-built test facility.

“Moving to a roadside near Kusong is like taking the training wheels off the bicycle, seeing if you really have mastered something new,” he wrote on the 38 North website that monitors North Korea.

Schilling said the move showed that in spite of only one successful launch to show for seven attempts this year, North Korea was not simply repeating old failures.

“They are continuing with an aggressive test schedule that involves, at least this time, demonstrating new operational capabilities. That increases the probability of individual tests failing, but it means they will learn more with each test,” he wrote.

“If they continue at this rate, the Musudan intermediate -range ballistic missile could enter operational service sometime next year – much sooner than had previously been expected,” Schilling said

The latest test comes ahead of a meeting on Wednesday in Washington of U.S., Japanese and South Korean defense and foreign ministers expected to focus on North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.

The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said last month Washington would speed up deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to South Korea given the pace of North Korea’s missile tests.

Japanese government sources told Reuters Japan may accelerate around $1 billion of planned spending to upgrade its ballistic missile defenses.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Alistair Bell)

China launches longest manned space mission

Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft carrying astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong blasts off from the launchpad in Jiuquan, China,

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China launched its longest manned space mission on Monday, sending two astronauts into orbit to spend a month aboard a space laboratory that is part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.

The Shenzhou 11 blasted off on a Long March rocket at 7:30 am (2330 GMT) from the remote launch site in Jiuquan, in the Gobi desert, in images carried live on state television.

The astronauts will dock with the Tiangong 2 space laboratory, or “Heavenly Palace 2”, which was sent into space last month. It will be the longest stay in space by Chinese astronauts, state media reported.

Early on Monday, Fan Changlong, a vice chairman of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, met astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong and wished them well, state news agency Xinhua reported.

“You are going to travel in space to pursue the space dream of the Chinese nation,” Fan said.

“With all the scientific and rigorous training, discreet preparation, and rich experience accumulated from previous missions, you will accomplish the glorious and tough task… We wish you success and look forward to your triumphant return.”

Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng (L), Chen Dong salute before the launch of Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft, in Jiuquan, China, October 17, 2016. China Daily/via REUTERS

Shenzhou 11 is the third space voyage for Jing, who will command the mission and celebrate his 50th birthday in orbit.

In a manned space mission in 2013, three Chinese astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with a space laboratory, the Tiangong 1.

Advancing China’s space program is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.

China insists its space program is for peaceful purposes.

Shenzhou 11, whose name translates as “Divine Vessel”, will also carry three experiments designed by Hong Kong middle school students and selected in a science competition, including one that will take silk worms into space.

China’s Long March rocket carrying the manned spacecraft Shenzhou-11 is seen at the launch centre in Jiuquan, China, October 10, 2016. Picture taken October 10, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

The U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China’s increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations using space-based assets in a crisis.

China has been working to develop its space program for military, commercial and scientific purposes, but is still playing catch-up to established space powers the United States and Russia.

China’s Jade Rabbit moon rover landed on the moon in late 2013 to great national fanfare, but soon suffered severe technical difficulties.

The rover and the Chang’e 3 probe that carried it there were the first “soft landing” on the moon since 1976. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had accomplished the feat earlier.

China will launch a “core module” for its first space station some time around 2018, a senior official said in April, part of a plan for a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Michael Perry)

Saudi Arabia says prepared for ceasefire in Yemen if Houthis agree

A hole is seen during a visit by human rights activists to a community hall that was struck by an airstrike during a funeral on October 8, in Sanaa, Yemen,

By William James

LONDON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in Yemen if the Iran-allied Houthis agree, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday, adding that he was skeptical about efforts for peace after previous ceasefire attempts had failed.

The Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen has faced heavy criticism since an air strike this month on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed 140 people according to a United Nations’ estimate and 82 according to the Houthis.

The United States and Britain, which have both supported the Saudi-led campaign, called on Sunday for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government.

“We would like to see a ceasefire yesterday,” Jubeir told reporters in London. “Everybody wants a ceasefire in Yemen, nobody more so than the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the coalition members.”

He accused the Houthis of reneging on previous deals.

“So yes, we come at this with a lot of cynicism. But we are prepared, the Yemeni government is prepared, to agree to a cessation of hostilities if the Houthis agree to it. The coalition countries will respect the desire of the Yemeni government,” Jubeir said.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, together with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, met Jubeir and officials from the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and said the conflict in Yemen was causing increasing international concern.

“The fatalities that we’re seeing there are unacceptable,” Johnson said. Britain’s Foreign Office said that Saudi Arabia’s approach to humanitarian law will be a factor in London’s continual assessment of arms sales to the kingdom, and it would look into the air strike on the funeral as part of that process.

HOUTHIS “LOSING GROUND”

Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia and several Gulf Arab allies have carried out air strikes in support of the government of Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi against Houthi fighters, who are backed by troops loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Gulf states have also deployed troops in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and Hadi’s government accuse Shi’ite Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis to help spread Tehran’s influence at the expense of Riyadh, its main regional rival. Iran denies the charge.

The Houthis still control Sanaa and large areas of northern and western Yemen, but Jubeir said it was a matter of time before they were defeated.

“The momentum is going against them in Yemen. They’re losing more territory, more people are mobilized against them. They are not paying their bills, businesses are not extending credit to them,” Jubeir said.

Jubeir said the Sunni Kingdom was being very careful to abide by humanitarian law in the Yemen conflict. He said that those responsible for the funeral bombing would be punished and victims would be compensated.

Asked about an offensive on Islamic State militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Jubeir said Islamic State would lose the war but he added that he was worried that Shi’ite militias would enter Mosul and “engage in bloodbaths”.

“This would have tremendously negative consequences and would further inflame the sectarian tensions in Iraq. That would be the greatest danger we see.”

(Reporting by William James, writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison and Dominic Evans)

Florida declares new area of Zika transmission in Miami

By Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) – Florida officials on Thursday announced a new area of Zika transmission in the Miami region and have called on the federal government for funding to help fight the outbreak.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said state health officials have confirmed that local transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus is occurring in a new small area in Miami-Dade County, where the state believes two women and three men have been infected by the virus.

The governor said the state’s health department believes Zika transmission is only occurring in Miami-Beach and in the new area, which covers about 1 square mile (2.6 square km).

Zika, which is spread primarily by mosquitoes but also sexually, is a concern for pregnant women and their partners because the virus has been liked with a series of birth defects including microcephaly, marked by small head size and underdeveloped brains that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.

Last month, U.S. health officials urged pregnant women to consider putting off all nonessential travel to Miami due to the Zika virus even as the state lifted a travel warning for the Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood which was the first site of local Zika transmission in the continental United States.

Florida has reported a total of 164 cases of Zika caused by local mosquito transmission, including 19 people who were infected in the state but live elsewhere. There are also five cases in which it was not clear whether transmission occurred in Florida or elsewhere.

In a statement released on Thursday, Scott said the announcement of the new area of transmission underscores the “urgent need” for federal funding to fight the virus, adding that the state still has not received any of the funding that was approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama two weeks ago.

Scott said he has asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work directly with the Miami-Dade Mosquito Control District to identify best practices for defeating Zika in the new area.

Florida officials had already reported four of the five cases of Zika that occurred in the new area of transmission in Miami-Dade County. “With the confirmation of today’s case, this area now meets the CDC’s criteria for a new zone,” officials said in a statement.

The Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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