North Korea threatens to cancel Trump summit
North Korea has said it may pull out of a summit with US President Donald Trump if the US insists it gives up its nuclear weapons.
The highly anticipated meeting between Mr Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un is due to take place on 12 June.
But in an angry statement, North Korea's vice-foreign minister accused the US of making reckless statements and of harbouring sinister intentions.
He pointed the finger squarely at US National Security Adviser John Bolton.
"We do not hide our feeling of repugnance towards him," Kim Kye-gwan said.
The groundbreaking agreement for Mr Kim and Mr Trump to meet came about as North Korea said it was committed to denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim released from prison
Pardon is first big success of the nation’s newly elected governing coalition, Pakatan Harapan, led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad
Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, jailed for sodomy four years ago, has walked free from prison after receiving a royal pardon.
Anwar’s release is the first big success of the newly elected governing coalition, Pakatan Harapan, led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, which was swept from opposition into power after a shock election victory last week.
At 11.30 am on Wednesday, a frail but jubilant Anwar emerged from Cheras rehabilitation hospital in Kuala Lumpur where he has recently been serving his sentence after an operation on his shoulder. He waved to the gathered crowds before getting into a car to go to the National Palace.
Donald Trump has ruined any chance of a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict – and the American public knows it
It is quite conceivable to imagine Donald Trump ending up spending thousands of years in an afterlife even warmer and less hospitable than the fires burning today across the occupied territories
Just before the ceremony to mark the move of the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Pastor John Hagee, a leading American evangelical, CEO of a “mega church” in San Antonio, Texas, and big time tele-preacher, predicted that President Trump would, as a result, “historically step into immortality ... He will be remembered for thousands of years for his act of courage.”
Nearly right, pastor. For the president is certainly going to be remembered for his decision, and for a long time, but not exactly in the way he had in mind. Indeed for those of a religious disposition, it is quite conceivable to imagine Donald Trump ending up spending thousands of years in an afterlife even warmer and less hospitable than the fires burning today across the occupied territories.
Mexico journalist Juan Carlos Huerta 'executed' by gunman
Gunmen have shot and killed a Mexican radio journalist while he was leaving his home in the southern state of Tabasco. He is the fourth journalist to be killed this year as homicide rates continue to rise in Mexico.
Juan Carlos Huerta, a news radio host in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, was gunned down in his car by armed men on Tuesday as he drove from his home, Mexican authorities said.
Fernando Valenzuela, the chief prosecutor of Tabasco, said the gunmen ran into Huerta's car with another vehicle as he left his home in the state's capital of Villahermosa, forcing him to stop. A man got out and shot Huerta before fleeing.
Two .45-caliber shell casings were found at the scene. Officials said the perpetrators escaped and roads leaving the capital had been closed off as part of attempts to catch them.
Rare drone footage shows Yemen frontline city in ruins
Updated 0833 GMT (1633 HKT) May 16, 2018
It is a war you rarely see, but one that defines the US' relationship with Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East.
Rare images from inside Yemen's city of Taiz show the devastation wrought by months of fighting between Houthi forces backed by Iran and Yemeni government forces, bolstered by Saudi Arabia and its US-equipped air power. They also expose the startling levels of hunger and disease in a conflict that so often goes unseen, even though a child under the age of five dies of preventable causes every 10 minutes.
The fight in Taiz has led to a slow victory for the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, but at a great cost to the city and its inhabitants.
Startling drone footage by Brazilian photographer Gabriel Chaim shows how barely a wall has escaped the force of Saudi air power, and at times Houthi shelling too.
SINCE THE ANNOUNCEMENT of Gina Haspel as the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the CIA, the White House, the agency, and its defenders have leaned heavily on the fact of Haspel’s gender, singling out its historic significance, and suggesting that she ought to be supported because of it. They use it to undermine critics who believe that the most salient thing to consider about Haspel is her role overseeing a CIA black site prison in Thailand, where people were tortured, and her role in the destruction of videotapes of interrogation sessions.
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted last weekend that “any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite,” while Trump’s tweets often mention she’s “a woman.”
There’s obvious hypocrisy in the Trump administration claiming to support women’s empowerment. In addition to the president’s personal history of sexist comments and the many women who’ve accused him of misconduct, The Atlantic found that this White House has appointed twice as many men as women to the administration. And it seems like most Democrats aren’t falling for such taunts. But Haspel’s nomination points to a long and fraught history of the CIA trying to burnish its image by highlighting women’s advancements in the agency.
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