World

Family of Otto Warmbier awarded $500 million in lawsuit against North Korea

Sarah Brookbank

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USA TODAY•December 24, 2018

Parents of Otto Warmbier, Fred and Cindy Warmbier are

CINCINNATI — The family of Otto Warmbier, the Ohio man who died after being imprisoned in North Korea, has been awarded $500 million in a lawsuit against the country.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier of the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming, Ohio, requested $1.05 billion in punitive damages and about $46 million for the family's suffering in a motion filed in October in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the family had established its right to relief, granting the motion for default judgment but not for the full amount. 

"We put ourselves and our family through the ordeal of a lawsuit and public trial because we promised Otto that we will never rest until we have justice for him," the family said. 

► Dec. 17: North Korea warns U.S. sanctions could block denuclearization 'forever'
► Dec. 10: U.S. imposes new sanctions on three North Korea officials
► June 12: Analysis: When Trump met Kim, handshake was more historic than words

Howell ruled that North Korea was liable for the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier and the injuries to his mother and father. Howell's opinion opened with a mother's anguish.

“What the heck did you do to my kid?” Cindy Warmbier testified in a Dec. 19 hearing, the opinion said. 

"An American family, the Warmbiers, experienced North Korea’s brutality first hand when North Korea seized their son to use as a pawn in that totalitarian state’s global shenanigans and face-off with the United States," court documents said. "Having been compelled to keep silent during Otto’s detention in North Korea in an effort to protect his safety, Otto’s parents have since promised to 'stand up' and hold North Korea accountable for its 'evil' actions against their son."

Howell said the estate of Otto Warmbier is entitled to $21 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages. Fred and Cindy Warmbier also are entitled to $15 million in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitive damages.

Otto Warmbier, 22, traveled in December 2015 to North Korea on a tour. As he was about to leave in January 2016, North Korean authorities arrested him, accusing him of committing a "hostile act" that threatened the "single-minded unity" of the country's citizens.

North Korean officials alleged he acted at the behest of a church in Ohio — which he didn't attend — as well as the CIA, the motion states. He was charged and convicted in a show trial of stealing a poster from a hotel.

A month later, all communication ceased. 

Otto Warmbier spent a year and a half imprisoned. 

► June 12: Trump on Otto Warmbier: 'Otto did not die in vain'
► May 2: Trump hints at release of American prisoners held in North Korea

The Warmbiers had been nervous about their son's trip to North Korea. Otto Warmbier, then 21, was a University of Virginia student.

"Otto had an 'open mind' and 'wanted to explore,' and he viewed the trip to North Korea as an opportunity to experience a different culture and way of life," court documents said. 

The Latest: Guatemalan official identifies boy, 8, who died

Associated Press•December 25, 2018

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, U.S. immigration authorities said. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the death of an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala who U.S. officials say has died in government custody (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

A Guatemalan official says he was told by the father of an 8-year-old boy who died in U.S. custody that the two had been traveling from their home in the Central American country to Tennessee, and that his son had been in "perfect health."

Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix, also confirmed Tuesday that the boy's name was Felipe Gomez Alonzo.

The consul says he interviewed the father, 47-year-old Agustin Gomez, by telephone.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the boy died shortly after midnight on Christmas.

CBP says the boy was taken Monday with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever, and released.

The agency says the boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening with nausea and vomiting. He died hours later.

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This story has been corrected to show that the first name of the boy who died is Felipe, not Felix.

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12:20 p.m.

U.S. immigration authorities say an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala has died in government custody, the second immigrant child to die in detention this month.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the boy died shortly after midnight Tuesday.

CBP says the boy showed "signs of potential illness" Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico. There, CBP says, he was diagnosed with a cold and a fever. He was given medications and released Monday afternoon.

The agency says the boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening with nausea and vomiting. He died just hours later.

A CBP spokesman declined to elaborate Tuesday, but said details will be released shortly.

A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died earlier this month after being apprehended by border agents.

News

Deadly blizzards lash Europe, air travel disrupted by snow

AFP•March 1, 2018

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Paris awoke under a blanket of snow

Paris awoke under a blanket of snow (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - Heavy snowfall and deadly blizzards lashed Europe Thursday, forcing airports to cancel or delay flights around the continent, as a deep freeze gripped countries from the far north to Mediterranean beaches in the south.

The snowstorms, unusual for much of Europe at this time of year, left roads blocked, thousands of drivers stranded and schools shut, with weather agencies predicting the biting cold would continue in parts of the region at least until Thursday evening.

The death toll Europe-wide climbed to more than 55, as another three people perished in Poland, taking the number of victims there to 21, most of them rough sleepers.

In Slovakia, exposure to the cold has claimed the lives of seven people since Sunday, the Medical Rescue Service told AFP.

There have also been six deaths in the Czech Republic in recent days, five in Lithuania, four in France, three in Spain, two each in Italy, Serbia, Romania and Slovenia, and one each in Britain and the Netherlands.

One of the Spanish victims was a 39-year-old homeless man who had been sleeping in an abandoned truck.

"Those most at risk of cold-related illness include elderly people, children, and people who have chronic diseases or physical or mental limitations," the World Health Organization said in a statement, adding that the poor, the homeless and migrants were often hardest hit.

The Siberian cold front -- dubbed the "Beast from the East" in Britain, "Siberian bear" by the Dutch and the "snow cannon" by Swedes -- on Thursday forced Geneva airport to close for several hours in the morning, with temperatures plunging in Switzerland to nearly minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 38 Fahrenheit) at higher altitudes.

Scotland's Glasgow airport closed its runway, while Edinburgh airport said several airlines decided not to fly because "they do not have the critical mass of staff needed to run operations securely".

Snow forced the cancellation of all flights at Dublin airport, with services not expected to resume until Saturday at the earliest, and strong winds led KLM airlines to cancel or delay dozens of flights into and out of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

Eurostar also pulled four of its international services on Thursday, connecting London, Paris and Brussels, with further cancellations announced for Friday.

Though some people enjoyed an outing in the cold, those who donned their ice skates risked discovering the waters were not frozen enough.

A 74-year-old man who fell through the ice on a pond near Bruges remained in hospital in critical condition Thursday, a Belgian TV channel reported.

- 'Cemetery of trucks and cars' -

The mercury also dropped below freezing across southern Europe.

Snowfall in northern Italy forced the cancellation of 50 percent of regional trains, while in the city of Naples, schools were shut.

In normally balmy southern France, beaches in Nice were blanketed in a thick layer of snow.

Near the city of Montpellier, around 2,000 drivers were stranded on a motorway, causing anger from those sitting behind the wheel for hours on end.

"The motorway looks like a cemetery of trucks and cars," tweeted Anthony Jammot, describing an "apocalyptic" 24 hours in his car with two young children and no information or help from local authorities.

In Paris, which awoke Thursday under a blanket of snow, authorities continued operating emergency shelters for the city's roughly 3,000 homeless.

Demanding more efforts to keep people off the streets, around 30 local officials spent the night near the city's Gare d'Austerlitz train station as temperatures dipped below zero.

"We can't keep considering the homeless just another part of the scenery," Greens lawmaker Ali Id Elouali said.

In Germany, the national homeless association urged shelters to open during the day and not just at night.

"You can die of cold during the day too," its chief Werena Rosenke warned.

Authorities urged people to look out for elderly relatives and neighbours after a French woman in her nineties was found frozen to death outside her retirement home.

- No spring amulets -

Europe's cold snap comes as the Arctic experiences record-high temperatures, prompting scientists to ask if global warming may be playing a role in turning things upside down.

The unusually cold weather has also impacted local customs, as the first spring month began.

In Romania, people were marking the day without the amulets they traditionally exchange.

Sales of the "martisor" good luck charms plummeted, along with the temperature.

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News

Eight Turkish soldiers killed, 13 wounded in clashes in Syria's Afrin

Reuters•March 1, 2018

ANKARA (Reuters) - Eight Turkish soldiers were killed and another 13 were wounded in clashes in northwest Syria's Afrin region on Thursday, Turkey's armed forces said.

The military said the wounded soldiers had been "swiftly evacuated" to receive treatment. No further details were immediately available.

Turkey launched an offensive into Afrin in January against the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara regards as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

Since the start of the operation, Turkey has captured 115 "strategic points" and 87 villages, according to state media, pushing Kurdish fighters back from the area near the Turkish border to effectively create a "crescent" of control on Syria's side of the frontier.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Peter Graff)

News

Tillerson to make first trip to Africa as top U.S. diplomat

Reuters•March 1, 2018

FILE PHOTO - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gestures during a news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (not pictured) in Ankara, Turkey, February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria next week on his first trip to Africa as the top U.S. diplomat, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

During his March 6-13 trip, Tillerson "plans to discuss ways we can work with our partners to counter terrorism, advance peace and security, promote good governance, and spur mutually beneficial trade and investment," the department said in a statement.

His itinerary includes a meeting with the leadership of the African Union Commission, which is based in Addis Ababa, the statement said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Lisa Lambert)