UNITED STATES
Mnuchin trip confirmed
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin would travel to China for talks as the two global economic powers deal with trade tensions. During a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said that Mnuchin would be going to China “in a few days to negotiate on trade.” Trump said the US and China are “very serious” and reiterated his plans to impose tariffs of up to US$100 billion on Chinese goods. “We’ve put on very substantial tariffs and that will continue unless we make a trade deal. I think we’ve got a very good chance of making a deal,” Trump said. Mnuchin has expressed optimism that the nations could avoid a trade war. He met last week with financial officials from China, Japan and Europe, and in a sign of progress.
CANADA
Suspect may have grudge
Alek Minassian, the suspect in a deadly van attack in Toronto that killed 10 people, posted a chilling Facebook message just minutes before plowing into a crowded city sidewalk, authorities said on Tuesday, raising the possibility that he might have nursed grudges against women. Toronto Police Services Detective Sergeant Graham Gibson told a news conference that those killed and injured were “predominantly” women, although he declined to discuss a possible motive. The gender issue arose because of what police called a “cryptic” Facebook message posted on Monday by Minassian just before the incident that suggested he was part of an online community angry over their inability to form relationships with women. The now-deleted post declared: “The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys!” Rodger had used the term “incel” — involuntarily celibate — in online posts raging at women for rejecting him romantically. Like-minded people sometimes use “Chad” and “Stacy” as dismissive slang for men and women with more robust sex lives.
PARAGUAY
Alegre alleges voting fraud
The candidate who finished second in the presidential election on Tuesday said he had evidence of fraudulent voting and demanded a recount of ballots. Efrain Alegre, a lawyer from the center-left GANAR coalition, said on social media that the nation’s elections tribunal was too quick to announce that Mario Abdo of the conservative Colorado Party won the election. “We already have very clear samples of fraud that we are going to denounce case by case,” Alegre said. “We are going to participate in the recount.” International observers who monitored Sunday’s election reported no major irregularities. Abdo, a 46-year-old former senator who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, is scheduled to be sworn in as president in August.
GREENLAND
Siumut claims narrow win
The ruling social democratic party won elections in the vast self-ruled Danish territory, results showed yesterday, but would have to hold negotiations to form a coalition. Siumut claimed a narrow victory with 27.2 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s election ahead of its main rival left-green Inuit Ataqatigiit, which won 25.5 percent. Both Siumut and Inuit Ataqatigiit saw a significant drop in support compared with the previous election. They were challenged by the centrist Demokraatit, which won 19.5 percent of the vote and has a more moderate take on independence.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese