UNITED STATES
Trump claims Nobel nod
President Donald Trump on Friday said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to open up a dialogue with North Korea. At an event at the White House, Trump spoke about his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam. Early exchanges with Kim were filled with “fire and fury,” but since their first meeting last year, the two have established a good relationship, he said. Abe gave him a copy of the letter he wrote nominating him for the Nobel Prize, Trump said. A spokesman for the Japanese embassy said he had no information about such a letter.
EL SALVADOR
Jail for abortion overturned
The Supreme Court has overturned a 30-year sentence for a woman convicted in July last year of aggravated homicide for allegedly having an abortion. The court ordered a new trial for Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz, who was released on Friday after almost three years in jail. She was greeted by advocates chanting: “Evelyn, you are not alone!” Hernandez said she was raped and did not realize she was pregnant. She also said she felt pains and passed out during what might have been a miscarriage in April 2016. Abortion is illegal in all situations in the country.
TURKEY
Missile purchase to go ahead
The government will not turn back from its deal to buy S-400 missile systems from Russia, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying yesterday, a day after an informal deadline Washington set for Ankara to respond to a rival offer passed. US officials have said that if Ankara proceeds with the S-400 purchase, Washington would withdraw its offer to sell a US$3.5 billion Raytheon Co Patriot missile package. They have also said it would jeopardize the country’s purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and possibly result in the US imposing sanctions.
GERMANY
Call to isolate Iran rejected
The country on Friday rejected an appeal by US Vice President Mike Pence for Europeans to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal and isolate Tehran. Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas defended the 2015 agreement under which Iran drastically scaled back its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. “Together with the Brits, French and the entire EU we have found ways to keep Iran in the nuclear agreement until today,” Maas told the Munich Security Conference. A day earlier, Pence accused Tehran of planning a “new Holocaust” with its opposition to Israel and regional ambitions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
UNITED STATES
Space harpoon tested
A harpoon flung from a satellite has successfully captured a piece of pretend space junk. The British-led experiment is part of an effort to clean up debris in orbit. The steel-tipped harpoon on Friday last week scored a bullseye, the University of Surrey’s Guglielmo Aglietti said on Friday. The harpoon — no bigger than a pen — pierced an aluminum panel the size of a table tennis paddle attached to the end of a satellite boom. The distance was just 1.5m, but researchers were delighted. A video shows the harpoon slamming into the target and knocking it off its perch and then the harpoon cable becoming entangled around the boom. A much bigger harpoon would be needed to snare a real dead satellite, Aglietti said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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