Bhinneka News Online: Monday Morning Briefing: Trump positive ahead of U.S.-North Korea summit

Monday 11 June 2018

Monday Morning Briefing: Trump positive ahead of U.S.-North Korea summit

UNITED STATES-North Korea Summit

“We’ve got a very interesting meeting in particular tomorrow, and I just think it’s going to work out very nicely,” Trump said ahead of his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore. As officials from both countries meet to narrow differences on how to end a nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the “ultimate objective” of a historic summit with North Korea had not changed and the United States was “eager to see” if North Korea was sincere about denuclearization.

Breakingviews: Success in Singapore this week could have a downside for China. Any breakthrough in Tuesday’s talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, after years of nuclear threats, would be an economic win for Seoul and others in the region. The People’s Republic itself may profit from a détente. President Xi Jinping, though, might lose critical negotiating leverage as trade tensions escalate.

Aradhana Aravindan

@RDchatters

“What do you expect? It’s North Korea,” said one Western tourist with a shrug. State media workers, security offer glimpse into tightly regimented North Korea https://reut.rs/2JwN68c #TrumpKimSummit #Singapore #NorthKorea

9:03 PM - JUN 10, 2018

G7 MEETING

Trump fired off a volley of tweets venting anger on NATO allies, the European Union and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the wake of a divisive G7 meeting over the weekend. “Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal,” said Trump, who flew from Canada to Singapore on Sunday to prepare for the first-ever summit between a U.S. and North Korean leader.

Europe will implement counter-measures against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum just like Canada, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, voicing regret about President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw support for a G7 communique.

WORLD

A suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded more 25 during rush hour at the entrance to Afghanistan’s rural rehabilitation and development ministry in Kabul as workers were leaving for home, government spokesmen said.

Three protesters from Hong Kong’s radical youth opposition were jailed for taking part in a violent unrest, receiving the harshest sentences handed down to democracy activists since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Reuters Top News

@Reuters

Two @Reuters journalists have been detained in Myanmar for 182 days. Read more on the case: https://reut.rs/2sIvLTx

06:00 AM - Jun 11, 2018

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Commentary: On both sides of the Atlantic, illiberalism is flourishing. Over the course of a single week, Slovenia’s right-wing, anti-immigrant SDS party was given a mandate to form a government; Italy’s newly-appointed deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini flew to Sicily to admonish refugees that it was time to pack their bags; and anti-EU, anti-immigrant parties across Europe received warm praise from U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell. According to columnist John Lloyd, “the forward march of liberalism, and of the Union, has been halted… and the wind behind the conservative nationalists much strengthened.”