North Korea warns of nuclear showdown, calls Pence 'political dummy'
Updated 0835 GMT (1635 HKT) May 24, 2018
A North Korean official has lashed out at US Vice President Mike Pence and said Pyongyang is ready for a nuclear showdown if dialogue with the United States fails.
Choe Son Hui, a vice-minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said if the US continued on its current path, she would suggest to North Korea's leadership that they reconsider the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States," Choe said in comments carried by North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency Thursday.
Australia completes world's largest cat-proof fence to protect endangered marsupials
Feral cats kill a million native birds every night and have caused extinction of 20 native species
The world’s largest cat-proof fence has been completed in central Australia, creating a 94 square kilometre sanctuary for endangered marsupials.
The 44km fence – made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting – surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
Endangered species such as the bilby, the burrowing bettong and the mala (also known as the rufous hare-wallaby) will have a chance to replenish their populations inside the massive sanctuary, safe from Australia’s feral cat epidemic.
Feral cats kill a million native birds every night across Australia and have caused the extinction of 20 native species since they were introduced by the first fleet.
Sweden says rape is rape, regardless of force or threats
The Swedish parliament has passed a bill that sex without consent constitutes rape, even when there are no threats or force involved. The move was welcomed by rights groups including Amnesty International.
The new law, which enters into force on July 1, modified previous Swedish legislation necessitating proof that a perpetrator had used force or that a victim was in a vulnerable situation, such as under the influence of alcohol, in order to secure a rape conviction.
The wording states that a person must consent to sexual activity with words or clear body language.
The law was approved in a 257 to 38 vote. The Swedish government had presented the bill for a vote despite the advisory Council on Legislation, which studies draft bills, saying that the existing legislation was sufficient.
'We don't trust them either': Iran lays out conditions to salvage nuclear deal
By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
Updatedfirst published at
Iran's top leader has set out a series of conditions for European powers if they want Tehran to stay in a nuclear deal after the US exit, including steps to safeguard trade with Tehran and guarantee Iranian oil sales.
US President Donald Trump pulled out earlier this month from the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program, calling it deeply flawed. European powers see the international accord as the best chance of stopping Tehran developing a nuclear weapon and have intensified efforts to salvage it.
When nation-states fail, moderate voices are silenced
The image of the angry man holding a little girl in one arm while violently abusing Yiannis Boutaris, the 75-year-old mayor of Thessaloniki with the other, shocked Greeks.
Boutaris was attacked by a crowd at a Sunday commemoration of what is known as the genocide of the Pontians, a Christian ethnic group from the highlands of the southern Black Sea speaking a dialect of Greek, who escaped Ottoman Turkish persecution and emigrated to the newly-formedGreek nation-state.
It is the latest in a series of violent attacks on Greek politicians by a public expressing outrage and impotence at collapsing living standards.
China fines retailer Muji for listing Taiwan as a country
Japanese retail chain Muji has been fined in China for listing Taiwan as a country on some of its packaging.
The company has to pay 200,000 yuan (£23,400; $31,300) for listing Taiwan as a "country of origin".
Taiwan has been self-ruling since 1950 but Beijing regards it as a breakaway province of China.
China is becoming increasingly geographically sensitive, clamping down on any violation of its territorial claims.
Shanghai's administration for industry and commerce said Muji had last year imported clothes hangers in packaging marking Taiwan as the "country of origin".
The regulator added that Muji had since made corrections and changed the packaging.
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