Top News Stories for Today – Mar 2, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Mar 2, 2019
Experience matters in Hanoi summit
The American team’s lack of experience in negotiating with North Koreans, as well as a lack of preparation, may have contributed to the collapse of Hanoi summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, who favors top-down diplomacy, according to experts. But experts agree that Trump did the right thing over walking away from the summit. Joseph DeTrani, a former special envoy for nuclear talks with North Korea, said, “The president made the correct decision.” Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council said, “Trump … deserves credit for that moment of realism.”
“both Trump and Kim overestimated their respective ability to take the other side into a deal they wanted,” Manning said. Sung-yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, emphasized that North Korea’s “chief full-time America-handlers” average three decades of on-the-job experience, while the current US negotiators have logged about 2½ years of dealing with North Korea. VOA
Trump’s comments on Otto Warmbier
President Trump on Friday argued that critics, like Otto Warmbier’s parents, had “misinterpreted” his suggestion that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was not responsible for Warmbier’s death. After a summit with Kim in Hanoi on Thursday, Trump said he didn’t believe Kim would have allowed Warmbier to die in a North Korean prison camp in 2017 if he had known about his treatment.
“[Kim] tells me that he didn’t know about it, and I take him at his word,” said Trump. Warmbier’s parents said “Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son,” and “no excuses or lavish praise can change that. Trump tweeted, without blaming Kim specifically, that he “hold[s] North Korea responsible” for Warmbier’s death. “Remember, I got Otto out,” he wrote. Donald J. Trump via The Week
Huawei chief’s extradition process begins
Canada has said it will allow the US extradition case against Huawei’s chief executive to move forward, but the court must make a final decision. The US wants Meng Wanzhou, Huawei chief financial officer, to stand trial on charges including fraud linked to the alleged violation of sanctions on Iran. Meng was arrested in Canada in December at the request of the US.
China said the case against Meng was an “abuse of the bilateral extradition treaty” between Canada and the US. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said allowing the extradition hearing to go ahead was a “political incident”. China expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” and “resolute opposition” to the extradition proceedings, he said. The high-profile detention has soured relations between China, the US and Canada. US authorities filed almost two dozen charges against Huawei, the world’s second largest smartphone maker, and Meng in January, along with a formal request for her extradition. The charges include bank fraud, obstruction of justice and theft of technology. Huawei and Meng have both denied all the allegations. BBC
Fighting resumes in Kashmir
Indian and Pakistani soldiers again targeted each other’s posts and villages along their volatile frontier in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing at least five civilians and two soldiers, and wounding several others, officials on both sides said on Saturday.
Fighting resumed overnight into dawn on Saturday, leaving two siblings and their mother dead in Indian-administered Kashmir. In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a man and a boy were killed by Indian shelling in Nakiyal, said Nasrullah Khan, a hospital official. Khan said a man was also wounded in the Tatta Pani area. Aljazeera
Amazon to launch grocery store chain
Amazon is planning to open dozens of grocery stores in major US cities, sources told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Its first location could be up and running by the end of the year in Los Angeles, and leases have been signed for two other grocery locations with an expected opening of early 2020.
Amazon bought the popular organic grocery store Whole Foods in 2017; the company also operates several checkout-free grocery stores across the country, in addition to an online grocery subscription and delivery service. The new grocery endeavor would reportedly be different from Whole Foods, but it is unclear whether there will be overlap with Amazon’s other grocery options. The Week
Algerians call president to step down
Tens of thousands of people in cities across Algeria called on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to leave office on Friday in the biggest anti-government demonstrations there since the Arab Spring eight years ago. The protests were mostly peaceful but as crowds receded by late afternoon, scuffles broke out in the capital Algiers between police and protesters near the presidential palace, witnesses said.
On person died during a stampede, an informed source said. Local media said it was a 60-year old man who had collapsed but no more details were immediately available. Several protesters and policemen were wounded during clashes in Algiers, state television said, without giving further details. VOA
SpaceX capsule demo flight lifts off
The demonstration of a new US system to get astronauts into orbit is under way. The SpaceX company has launched a capsule designed to carry people from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is un-crewed for this flight, but if it goes well, the American space agency is likely to approve the system for regular astronaut use from later this year.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said this could be the first step towards opening space travel to commercial customers. Not since the retirement of the shuttles in 2011 has the US been able to put humans in orbit. BBC