North Korea has not stopped its nuclear and missile programmes, violating UN sanctions, a report commissioned by the UN Security Council says.
It also says Pyongyang has resorted to a “massive increase” of illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil products and has been trying to sell weapons abroad.
The confidential report by a panel of independent experts was submitted to the UN Security Council on Friday.
North Korea has so far not commented on the document’s findings.
Last week, US officials said Pyongyang appeared to be building new ballistic missiles despite recent warming ties with US President Donald Trump’s administration and pledges to denuclearise.
Unnamed US officials told the Washington Post that spy satellites had spotted continuing activity at a site that has produced ballistic missiles.
President Trump met North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June, and the two leaders then pledged to work towards denuclearisation, without specifying exactly what this would look like.
Pyongyang is currently under a range of international and US sanctions over its nuclear programme.
The document was prepared by the experts monitoring the implementation of the UN sanctions against North Korea.
It was seen by several media outlets early on Saturday.
The report said: “[North Korea] has not stopped its nuclear and missile programmes and continued to defy Security Council resolutions through a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as through transfers of coal at sea during 2018.”
It said that Pyongyang also “attempted to supply small arms and lights weapons and other military equipment via foreign intermediaries” to Libya, Yemen and Sudan.
The experts concluded that North Korea’s activities had made financial sanctions ineffective.
The report came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was “optimistic” that North Korean denuclearisation could be achieved.
Speaking ahead of a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) in Singapore, he said: “The work has begun. The process of achieving denuclearisation of the [Korean] peninsula is one that I think we have all known would take some time.”
He stressed that it was important to maintain “diplomatic and economic pressure” on North Korea to achieve “the final, fully verified denuclearization.”
He also said he had seen reports that Russia was issuing permits allowing North Koreans to work on its territory, defying the sanctions.
“I want to remind every nation that has supported these resolutions that this is a serious issue and something that we will discuss with Moscow.
“We expect the Russians and all countries to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions and enforce sanctions on North Korea,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Russia has denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that it was letting thousands new North Korean labourers into the country.
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Trump ex-campaign chief Manafort’s ‘income doctored’
An accountant for Donald Trump’s former election campaign chief, Paul Manafort, says she helped disguise his foreign income so he could pay less in tax.
Cindy Laporta told the court in Alexandria, Virginia, she had been told to concoct a $900,000 (£690,000) loan on his tax return in 2015.
Mr. Manafort is facing charges of bank fraud, tax fraud, and failing to report foreign bank accounts.
The former political consultant has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Last month, Mr. Manafort, who ran the Trump campaign for three months, was accused by prosecutors of using numerous accounts in order to evade tax.
He could face up to 30 years in jail if found guilty.
None of the charges that Mr. Manafort faces at trial relate to the investigation into possible collusion in 2016 between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Testifying on the fourth day of the trial, Ms. Laporta, who has been given immunity in exchange for testifying, said she knew what she did with fabricating the loan was “not appropriate.”
“You can’t pick and choose what’s a loan and what’s income,” she said. “I very much regret it.”
She added that she had agreed to do this under pressure from Mr. Manafort’s former associate Rick Gates, who had alleged that Mr. Manafort did not have the money to pay the full tax.
Ms. Laporta said Mr. Manafort had likely saved up to $500,000 in taxes in 2015.
Mr. Manafort’s lawyers have previously argued that Mr. Gates is the one responsible for the financial charges.
“This is about Mr. Manafort placing his trust in the wrong person,” defence lawyer Thomas Zehnle said in his opening statement.
However, prosecutors argue that Mr. Manafort was closely involved in managing his own finances.
Mr. Gates has already pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators.
He has since been co-operating with the investigation into Mr. Manafort.
Mr. Manafort took over as chairman of the Trump campaign in May 2016 and aimed to present a more thoughtful candidate, who stuck to scripts instead of ad-libbing in campaign rallies.
He was in the hot seat when Mr. Trump eventually won the Republican nomination, and organised the Republican convention in July 2016.
Mr. Manafort quit Mr. Trump’s team in August 2016.
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Denmark veil ban: First woman charged for wearing niqab
A woman has become the first person in Denmark to be charged with wearing a face veil in public, after a ban came into effect on Wednesday.
Local media report a 28-year-old woman was fined after getting into a scuffle with a woman trying to remove her veil.
Police say they were called and when they reviewed CCTV, informed the woman she would be charged if she refused to take her niqab off.
The new law has provoked protests and criticism from human rights groups.
It was officially introduced on Wednesday after it passed in Denmark’s parliament earlier this year.
It does not mention burkas and niqabs by name, but says “anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine.”
On Wednesday night protesters gathered in the capital to demonstrate against law, with women in traditional burqas and veils standing alongside people with makeshift coverings.
Friday’s incident is reported to have taken place at a shopping centre in Horsholm, 25km (15 miles) north of Copenhagen.
Police told local media that they were called to the shopping centre after a fight had broken out.
They said both women were charged with violating the peace and said one had also been charged with violating the full-face veil law.
She was given a 1,000 kroner fine ($155; £120) after refusing to take it off at their request.
Some Muslim women have said they will not adhere to the law – which carries a 10,000 ($1,500; £1,200) kroner penalty for repeat offenders.
Human Rights Watch has labelled the ban “discriminatory” and said it was the “latest in a harmful trend.”
Last year the European Court of Human Rights upheld a similar Belgian ban, saying that communal harmony trumped an individual’s right to religious expression.
Full or partial bans are also in place in France, Austria, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria.
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Harvey Weinstein seeks to dismiss case based on accuser’s emails
Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, is seeking to get the criminal case against him thrown out of court.
On Friday, his lawyers filed a defence motion citing dozens of “warm” emails they say Mr. Weinstein received from one of his accusers after an alleged rape.
His team argue prosecutors should have shared the evidence with the Grand Jury that indicted him.
Mr. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to six charges involving three different women.
The accuser in question has retained her anonymity.
Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers say the case should be dismissed in its pre-trial stage, saying there had been a series of failings.
Other objections included a lack of details on the timeline of an alleged assault in 2004, and the lack of advance warning from the District Attorney’s office about the presentation of more serious charges.
In their motion, they included “dozens of emails written by the anonymous accuser, who sent extensive warm, complimentary and solicitous messages to Mr. Weinstein immediately following the now claimed event and over the next four-year period.
“These communications irrefutably reflect the true nature of this consensual intimate friendship, which never at any time included a forcible rape.”
The New York District Attorney’s Office has not yet commented.
The 159-page motion presents details from more than 400 emails between Mr. Weinstein and the accuser, sent between April 2013 and February 2017, the lawyers say.
The alleged rape took place on 18 March 2013.
The woman alleges Mr. Weinstein trapped her in a New York City hotel room and forced himself on her.
His defence says the emails continued after this date. “I hope to see you sooner rather than later,” she wrote on 11 April 2013, followed by “I appreciate all you do for me,” sent the next day.
“I love you, always do,” she wrote on February 8, 2017. “But I hate feeling like a booty call.”
A footnote in the lawyers’ document reads: “This [motion] is not to ignore that rape can occur in relationships such as an abusive marriage or where the parties have been dating each other for a time.”
The woman has not released a statement.
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After Mr. Weinstein was fired by his company last year, the emails were turned over to his legal team, according to the LA Times.
The judge dealing with his separate bankruptcy case issued an order saying the private messages could not be released, because the accuser could lose her right to anonymity.
On Thursday, that same judge conceded the correspondence could be used in Mr. Weinstein’s motion against the criminal case, as long as the woman’s identity was protected.
In 2017, dozens of women – including many famous actresses – came forward with allegations, ranging from rape to sexual harassment. They sparked a solidarity movement known as #MeToo.
Mr. Weinstein has consistently denied any non-consensual sex.
He is currently on a $1m (£770,000) bail bond and wears an electronic tag.
He also faces a raft of civil lawsuits.
In April, actress Ashley Judd sued him, claiming he damaged her career after she rejected his sexual advances.
Mr. Weinstein has denied the allegations.
