UNITED STATES
Officials meet in Panmunjom
A delegation met yesterday and Sunday with North Korean officials in Panmunjom truce village between South and North Korea to make preparations for a summit between US President Donald Trump and North leader Kim Jong-un, a US Department of State spokeswoman said. “A US delegation is in ongoing talks with North Korean officials at Panmunjom,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Sunday. A “pre-advance” team of officials was also traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.
NEW ZEALAND
Mass cow cull planned
The government yesterday said it plans to slaughter about 150,000 cows in a bid to eradicate a strain of disease-causing bacteria from the nation. Politicians and industry leaders said the plan would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and, if successful, would be the first time an infected nation has eliminated Mycoplasma bovis. The bacteria, which cause cows to develop mastitis, pneumonia, arthritis and other diseases, was discovered in the country for the first time in July last year. Officials say they plan to kill all cows on any farms where the bacteria are found, even if some are healthy. Officials have the legal authority to forcibly enter farms and kill animals even in cases where a farmer might resist, but they said they hope they do not have to use those powers. Many of the cows will be slaughtered at processing plants and used for beef, but some will have to be killed and buried on the farms or dumped in approved landfills.
PAKISTAN
Interim leader named
The ruling party and the opposition have selected a former chief justice as the nation’s caretaker prime minister for an interim two-month period. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, whose term ends on Thursday when the parliament is to be dissolved ahead of elections scheduled for July 25, and opposition leader Khursheed Shah announced that Nasir-ul-Mulk has been appointed caretaker. Mulk is expected to sworn in on Friday.
ISRAEL
World Cup TV ban mulled
Minister of Public Security Gilad is seeking to ban Palestinian prisoners who are members of Hamas from watching the upcoming World Cup, he said on Sunday. “I have no intention of letting Hamas members who are detainees in our prisons enjoy the World Cup matches while we have Israeli hostages and soldiers in the Gaza Strip,” Erdan said, as quoted by the YNet news Web site. He said he had asked the Israel Prison Service to “put pressure” on jailed members of Hamas. Under current rules, prisoners have the right to watch television, but Erdan said he was checking to see if regulations could be changed in time for the World Cup. Prisoners who “support terrorism cannot benefit from a sporting competition which unites populations,” he said.
JAPAN
Elderly driver kills one
A woman was killed yesterday and three others injured as a car driven by a 90-year-old driver ploughed into pedestrians in Chigasaki, officials said. The car mounted the curb near a busy crossroads, hitting four pedestrians, a police spokesman said. “One female victim was later confirmed dead and three others — two women and one man — were injured,” he added.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was