China fears Kim is moving out of its orbit as South Korea, US talks loom
Updated 0300 GMT (1100 HKT) April 25, 2018
China and North Korea boast an alliance forged in blood -- more than 130,000 Chinese troops, including the son of Mao Zedong, died defending the North during the Korean War -- but the relationship has always been an uneasy one.
While Pyongyang is dependent on Beijing for trade and diplomatic support, experts say the North Korean regime has always resented playing the little brother role to the much bigger China.
Now, as North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un establishes himself on the world stage and prepares for summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump, Beijing fears Pyongyang is moving out of its orbit and striking out on its own.
'Mountains and mountains of plastic': life on Cambodia's polluted coast
Photographs from Sihanouk in the country’s south west reveal locals living amid a staggering tide of plastic pollution
Looking down into the water that lies beneath the ramshackle houses of Sihanouk, Cambodia, it is hard to imagine that the sea is there at all. Instead, there is dense layer upon layer of plastic waste clogging the water, piling up around poles that support the wooden homes, carpeting the beach.
- Sihanouk, Cambodia
New images of from Sihanouk, in the country’s south west, depict in horrifying detail the extent of Cambodia’s growing problem of plastic pollution and how the tide of unbiodegradable rubbish has become part of the fabric of the lives of communities living in poverty.
Photographer Niamh Peren said she had been “gobsmacked” at the levels of plastic pollution that littered the waters and wharfs of Sihanouk, but emphasised that these mountains of waste also told another story: one is often neglected in the current global discussion around plastic, where poorer countries are often accused of being the biggest culprits in terms of generating plastic waste.Israel abandons plan to forcibly deport illegal African immigrants
'At this stage, the possibility of carrying out an unwilling deportation to a third country is not on the agenda'
Israel has abandoned its plans to forcibly deport African migrants who entered the country illegally, after failing to find a willing country to take them in.
Benjamin Netanyahu's government had been working on an arrangement to expel thousands of mostly Eritrean and Sudanese men who had crossed into Israel through Egypt’s Sinai desert.
Israel has now said that the migrants will be able to renew residency permits every 60 days, as they were before the deportation push.
World Press Freedom Index 2018: Europe turning into crisis region for journalists
The rise of populist politics in Europe has weakened press freedom in a region where it was once most secure, according to Reporters Without Borders. China, Russia and Donald Trump also pose a triple threat.
Hostility towards journalists and media poses a serious threat to democracies around the world, including Europe, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its 2018 World Press Freedom Index on Wednesday.
Europe is still the region where press freedom is highest, but it also worsened the most out of all other regions this year.
Out of the top five countries where the press freedom situation deteriorated the most, four of them are located in Europe.
Iran slams nuclear talks, dismisses 'tradesman' Trump
Iran’s president poured scorn on Wednesday on U.S. and European discussions over Tehran’s nuclear agreement, and dismissed Donald Trump as a “tradesman” who lacked the qualifications to deal with a complex international pact.
Hassan Rouhani spoke after French President Emmanuel Macron flew to Washington to try to persuade Trump not to scrap the 2015 agreement - under which Iran curbed its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.
“They say that with the certain leader of a European country we want to make a decision about a seven-sided agreement,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state TV.
War of words over ex-Finance Ministry bureaucrat's sexual harassment accusations heats up
(Mainichi Japan)
Top Finance Ministry bureaucrat Junichi Fukuda's resignation over sexual harassment accusations was accepted on April 24, though he continues to categorically deny any wrongdoing. In other words, he flatly rejects the claims of TV Asahi, which revealed recently that it was one of its female reporters who was the victim of the alleged harassment. The Finance Ministry is in the midst of an internal probe to uncover what actually happened, but a conclusive end to the issue looks far off.
Meanwhile, members of the government and ruling parties have poured oil on the fire with narrow-minded public statements, deepening the turmoil, and critics have called for Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso's resignation.
No comments:
Post a Comment