UNITED KINGDOM
Trade talks continue
US and Chinese officials yesterday were set to meet for a second day of trade talks in London, seeking to shore up a shaky tariff truce in a spat further strained by export curbs. The gathering of key officials from the world’s two biggest economies began on Monday at Lancaster House following an earlier round of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, last month. A source familiar with negotiations said that talks wrapped up on Monday evening and were expected to restart at 10am yesterday. The London meeting came after Washington accused Beijing of contravening the Geneva deal to de-escalate staggeringly high tariffs. A key sticking point was the export of rare earths from China. “In Geneva, we had agreed to lower tariffs on them, and they had agreed to release the magnets and rare earths that we need throughout the economy,” US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Monday. Even though Beijing was releasing some supplies, “it was going a lot slower than some companies believed was optimal,” he added.
SOUTH KOREA
Two BTS stars end service
Two members of K-pop group BTS were released from South Korea’s mandatory military service yesterday and announced they wanted to start performing again “as soon as possible,” prompting a fan frenzy. BTS, South Korea’s most lucrative musical act, has been on a hiatus since 2022 while its seven members complete their military service. Hundreds of fans gathered at a site near the two army bases where band leader RM and singer V were separately discharged. Cheers broke out as they stepped out of different vehicles and hugged, with RM playing a quick song on the saxophone as V stood next to him smiling, holding bunches of flowers. “What we want most right now is to perform again,” RM, still wearing his army uniform, told reporters and fans after his discharge. “We’re working hard on the new album so we can return to the stage as soon as possible.” RM said there had been “many difficult and painful moments” during his 18 months of military service.
UNITED STATES
Sly Stone dies aged 82
Funk master and innovator Sly Stone, whose music drove a civil rights-inflected soul explosion in the 1960s, sparking influential albums, but also a slide into drug addiction, has died, his family said on Monday. He was 82. The frontman for Sly and the Family Stone — rock’s first racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup — “passed away peacefully, surrounded by his three children, his closest friend and his extended family,” after a prolonged battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health issues, his family said in a statement. “While we mourn his absence, we take solace in knowing that his extraordinary musical legacy will continue to resonate and inspire for generations to come,” it said. With his vibrant on-stage energy, killer hooks and lyrics that often decried prejudice, Stone became a superstar, releasing pivotal records that straddled musical genres and performing a set that enraptured the crowd at Woodstock, but he retreated to the shadows in the early 1970s and his personal struggles ultimately led to the group’s disintegration. He emerged sporadically for unfulfilling concert tours, erratic TV appearances and a flopped 2006 reunion on the Grammy Awards stage. For many, Stone was a musical genius creating the sound of the future. It was “like seeing a black version of the Beatles,” funk legend George Clinton told CBS News of his longtime friend’s stage presence.
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
By 2027, Denmark would relocate its foreign convicts to a prison in Kosovo under a 200-million-euro (US$228.6 million) agreement that has raised concerns among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and residents, but which could serve as a model for the rest of the EU. The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar lawmakers last year, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark. They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or have a mental condition or terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovan, they would be deported to their home country. In
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
LOST CONTACT: The mission carried payloads from Japan, the US and Taiwan’s National Central University, including a deep space radiation probe, ispace said Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon’s surface during its lunar touchdown attempt yesterday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon, which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace’s second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has
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