20 Dec 14. North Korea seeks join probe with US on Sony hack. North Korea has offered to hold a joint inquiry with the United States into a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, strongly denying US claims that it is behind it. The North’s foreign ministry accused the US government of “spreading groundless allegations” and said a probe would refute the allegations. The attack and subsequent threats against cinemas led Sony to cancel the release of The Interview, a satire. It includes the fictional assassination of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The film had been due to open on Christmas Day. But Sony said it was considering releasing it “on a different platform”. The FBI said on Friday that the Pyongyang government was responsible. But on Saturday, the North Korean foreign ministry said: “As the United States is spreading groundless allegations and slandering us, we propose a joint investigation with it into this incident.” “Without resorting to such tortures as were used by the US CIA, we have means to prove that this incident has nothing to do with us.” On Friday US President Barack Obama criticised the cancellation, saying he wished Sony executives had spoken to him before cancelling the release. “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship,” he said, vowing to “respond” to the cyber-attack in a “manner that we choose”. Responding to the US president’s comments, Sony Pictures chief executive and chairman Michael Lynton said the studio had not made an error in cancelling the release. “We have not given in, we have persevered,” he told CNN. A Sony statement said the decision had been based on “the majority of the nation’s theatre owners choosing not to screen the film”. “Without theatres, we could not release it in the theatres on Christmas Day. We had no choice,” the statement added. “It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so.” (Source: BBC)
20 Dec 14. Ukraine crisis: Obama orders ban on Crimea trade. US President Barack Obama has ordered a ban on the export of goods, technology and services to Crimea. The executive order also imposes new sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian individuals and companies. Mr Obama said the move showed the US would never accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March. Similar measures agreed by the European Union earlier this week came into effect on Saturday. Canada announced its own sanction on Crimea on Friday. After the peninsula was annexed, pro-Russian separatists took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine in April, and later declared independence. Some 4,700 people have died and another million have been displaced by fighting in recent months. On Friday, five Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fighting – the highest death toll since the latest attempt at a ceasefire began on 9 December. Mr Obama said in a statement: “The executive order is intended to provide clarity to US corporations doing business in the region and reaffirm that the United States will not accept Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea.” In addition to the goods, technology and services ban, US individuals or companies cannot now buy any real estate or businesses in Crimea or fund Crimean firms. The new measures also include sanctions on 24 Ukrainian and Russian individuals and on a number of companies deemed to be destabilising Ukraine. They include the Russian equity investment group, Marshall Capital Partners, and the Night Wolves biker group, over its involvement in Crimean military action. The European Union announced its own sanctions against the region on Thursday. All investment in Crimea is banned, as is participation in Russian oil and gas exploration in the Black Sea. European cruise ships will not be able to visit the peninsula’s ports. But like the EU, Mr Obama said he would not yet impose new sanctions on Russia itself, urging it again to de-escalate the tension in eas