Summit offers last hope for families divided by Korean War
Updated 0058 GMT (0858 HKT) April 22, 2018
A breakthrough. A stepping stone. A mistake.
However you see the upcoming meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, for tens of thousands of Koreans on both sides of the border it represents a last-ditch chance to see loved ones they haven't heard from or seen since fighting in the Korean War ended in 1953.
Now in their eighties and nineties, time is running out for these men and women who hope the summit will lead to long-awaited reunions of families split by war and the division of North and South Korea.
We should be sceptical of far-away governments who claim to know what is happening on the ground in Syria
Government duplicity is scarcely new but denunciations of it may obscure an even greater danger
During the bombing of Baghdad in January 1991 I went with other journalists on a government-organised trip to what they claimed was the remains of a baby milk plant at Abu Ghraib which the US had just destroyed, saying that it was really a biological warfare facility. Walking around the wreckage, I found a smashed-up desk with letters showing that the plant had indeed been producing “infant formula” milk powder. It had not been very successful in doing so, since much of the correspondence was about its financial and production problems and how they might best be resolved. It did not seem likely that the Iraqi government could have fabricated this evidence, though it was conceivable that in some part of the plant, which I did see, they might have been manufacturing biological weapons (BW).
I was visiting a lot of bombed-out buildings at the beginning of the US-led air campaign and I did not at first realise that “the Abu Ghraib baby milk factory” would become such an issue. I was more impressed at the time by the sight of a Cruise missile passing quite slowly overhead looking like a large black torpedo. But, within hours of leaving Abu Ghraib, the true purpose of the plant there had become a topic of furious controversy. The CNN correspondent Peter Arnett, who was on the trip, had reported that “whatever else it did, it [the plant] produced infant formula”. He saw a lot of powdered milk and, contrary to the Pentagon claim that the place was guarded like a fortress, we could only see one guard at the gate. Arnett did not deny the US government version that the place was a BW plant, but he did not confirm it either. He simply reported that “it looked innocent enough from what we could see”.
Armenia: Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan walks out of meeting with Nikol Pashinian
The newly-elected prime minister of Armenia walked out of a live broadcast meeting immediately after it began. According to one report, Pashinian was arrested after the meeting.
Armenian security forces clashed with protesters after Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan walked out of a meeting with opposition leader Nikol Pashinian on Sunday.
The failed meeting came after tens of thousands of people held 10 days of rolling protests against Sarkisian's attempt to maintain his grip on power.
The island of Jean Charles in the Mississippi River Delta has provided refuge to Native Americans for decades. Now, though, the island is disappearing. Many have decided to leave.
By Christoph Seidler
An Island Disappears
House on Stilts
She knew the first time she saw him that she would marry him. Or at least, that's the story Rita Falgout tells today. "Don't ask me why," she says. But that's what happened. Her brothers had brought along a deckhand from their oyster boat to a dance a few towns away. His name was Roosevelt, but everyone just called him Rooster.
Iran warns US against pulling out of nuclear deal
Iran warned Saturday it is ready to "vigorously" resume nuclear enrichment if the United States ditches the 2015 nuclear deal, and said further "drastic measures" are being considered in response to a US exit.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in New York that Iran is not seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb, but that its "probable" response to a US withdrawal would be to restart production of enriched uranium – a key bomb-making ingredient.
"America never should have feared Iran producing a nuclear bomb, but we will pursue vigorously our nuclear enrichment," added Zarif, who is in the United States to attend a UN meeting on sustaining peace.
US President Donald Trump has set a May 12 deadline for the Europeans to "fix" the 2015 agreement that provides for curbs to Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from financial sanctions.
Nicaraguan authorities call for peace after deadly protests
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega has said his government is willing to review the pension reforms that have triggered violent protests since they were were approved on Wednesday.
Mr Ortega has offered talks, but business leaders have rebuffed him, saying police violence must stop first.
At least 10 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters.
Government buildings have been damaged or set on fire, and troops have been deployed in several cities.
This is the biggest challenge to Mr Ortega's authority since he took office in 2007.
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