U.N. Unveils Blacklist to Fight North Korea Sanctions-Busting

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U.N. Unveils Blacklist to Fight North Korea Sanctions-Busting Photo The Friendship Bridge connecting North Korea, background, and China. The North is accused of using false paperwork to evade sanctions on its coal exports. Credit Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times SEOUL, South Korea — The United Nations Security Council has announced new measures against North Korea, blacklisting 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual accused of helping the North evade previous sanctions.
The move increases pressure on the North ahead of planned summit meetings between its leader, Kim Jong-un, and the presidents of South Korea and the United States.
The oil tankers and cargo ships on the list, announced on Friday, were banned from ports worldwide, and the shipping companies will face an asset freeze. Most of those named had also been blacklisted by the United States Treasury last month.
In response to North Korea’s rapid acceleration of its nuclear and missile programs, the Security Council..

In Balkans Tour, Russia’s Night Wolves, a Bike Gang, Are More Bark Than Bite

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In Balkans Tour, Russia’s Night Wolves, a Bike Gang, Are More Bark Than Bite Photo Members of the Night Wolves motorcycle gang visiting a monastery in Serbia. The gang’s tour, funded with a grant from the Kremlin, was billed as a “pilgrimage” meant to showcase the shared Orthodox faith of Russia and the region. Credit Laura Boushnak for The New York Times BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina — The Night Wolves, a Russian motorcycle gang known as “Putin’s Angels” and widely feared as agents of meddling and mayhem beyond Russia’s borders, provoked more bemusement and giggles than awe on their latest outing, a nine-day tour of the Balkans designed to show that Russia still had some fervent friends left in Europe.
Instead of roaring into town amid throbbing engines and clouds of smoke, the tattooed, potbellied bikers arrived by car and minivan in Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska, a would-be state born in bloodshed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Anxious about the cold weather..

Britons Accused of Being Islamic State ‘Beatles’ Call Beheadings ‘Regrettable’

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Britons Accused of Being Islamic State ‘Beatles’ Call Beheadings ‘Regrettable’ Photo Alexanda Kotey, center, and El Shafee Elsheikh, right, at a Kurdish security center in Kobani, Syria, are accused of being part of a murderous Islamic State cell dubbed “the Beatles” because of their English accents. Credit Hussein Malla/Associated Press KOBANI, Syria — Two British detainees in Syria who are accused of being part of a murderous Islamic State cell denounced the United States and Britain as “hypocrites” and complained they would not get fair trials because they were reportedly stripped of their citizenship.
The men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, were part of a group with two other British jihadis that was nicknamed “the Beatles” by captives because of their English accents, officials say.
The two were captured by Syrian Kurdish fighters in January in eastern Syria as Islamic State forces were routed and are being held in an undisclosed location, but they were taken to a Kurdish ..