Top News Stories for Today – Mar 22, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Mar 22, 2019
N Korea quits liaison office with S Korea
North Korea has withdrawn from the inter-Korean liaison office which was opened amid a warming of ties last year to facilitate talks with the South. Seoul said it was contacted on Friday and informed that the North’s staff would be leaving later in the day. It has expressed its regret at the decision and is urging staff from the North to return as soon as possible.
The pullout follows a failed summit between the US and North Korean leaders in Hanoi last month. The liaison office, located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, had allowed officials from North and South Korea to communicate on a regular basis for the first time since the Korean War. It is meant to be staffed by up to 20 people from each side. When the office was opened in September 2018, it was hailed as representing a significant step forward in inter-Korean relations. The two sides had in the past communicated by fax or special phone lines, which would often be cut when relations soured. BBC
US imposes N Korea linked sanctions
With negotiations at an impasse, Washington has imposed additional sanctions on those assisting Pyongyang — the first such action since February’s failed summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Thursday’s sanctions by the US Treasury Department on two China-based shipping companies were the latest evidence of some “leakage” in the enforcement of sanctions by Beijing, but US officials said that overall, China was abiding by the U.N. resolutions slapped on North Korea for its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.
Washington wants Pyongyang to surrender its entire nuclear arsenal and other mass-destruction weapons before being granted any relief from sanctions. The North Koreans insist on sanctions relief before halting production of fissile materials. The Voice of America
EU agrees Brexit delay plan
EU leaders have agreed on a plan to delay the Article 50 process, postponing Brexit beyond 29 March. The UK will be offered a delay until 22 May, if MPs approve the withdrawal deal negotiated with the EU next week. If they do not, the EU will back a shorter delay until 12 April, allowing the UK time to get the deal through or to “indicate a way forward”.
May said there was now a “clear choice” facing UK MPs, who could vote for a third time on her deal next week. They could back the withdrawal deal, deliver on the referendum and leave the EU in “an orderly manner” or face the prospect of having to stand candidates in the European Parliamentary elections, three years after the UK voted to leave the EU. BBC
Indonesia Airline Cancels 49-jet Boeing Deal
Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda has told Boeing it will cancel a multibillion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes involving the plane, in what is thought to be the first formal cancellation for the model. “The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have the confidence” in the plane, Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said.
The spokesman told AFP that Boeing officials will visit Indonesia next week to discuss Garuda’s plans to call off the order. Garuda had received one of the planes, he said, part of a 50-aircraft order worth $4.9 billion at list prices when it was announced in 2014. Garuda is also talking to Boeing about whether to return the plane it has received, the spokesman told AFP. The Voice of America
Sending US troops to border poses unacceptable risk
The commandant of the Marines has warned the Pentagon that deployments to the southwest border and funding transfers under the president’s emergency declaration, among other unexpected demands, have posed “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.”
In two internal memos, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment along the border that President Trump ordered last fall, and shifts of other funds to support border security, had forced him to cancel or reduce planned military training in at least five countries, and delay urgent repairs at bases. The border deployment and funding transfers, as well as recovery costs from hurricanes Florence and Michael, new housing allowances and civilian pay raises, are taking a toll on combat readiness, Neller wrote to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. The Los Angeles Times
Scientists warn unprecedented floods this spring
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists on Thursday said “conditions are primed” for flooding in the Plains and Midwest that “could be worse than anything we have seen in recent years.” Mary Erikson, deputy director of NOAA’s National Weather Service, said the “stage is set for record flooding now through May,” because river levels are already high, soil moisture is above-normal, and there is substantial snowpack in the northern Plains.
This week, there was flooding in Nebraska and Missouri, and that could be just “a preview” of what might happen this spring. “This is potentially an unprecedented flood season,” said Edward Clark, director of NOAA’s National Weather Center. “It may become more dire in the coming weeks.” The Washington Post via The Week
Jimmy Carter becomes oldest living US President
Jimmy Carter now becomes the longest-living US president. As of Thursday evening, the 39th commander-in-chief is 94 years and 172 days old — surpassing George H.W. Bush, who died in November at 94 years and 171 days old. Carter, the first American president born in a hospital, turned 94 in October. He was Georgia’s 76th governor before winning the presidency in 1976 as a Democrat.
As president, he oversaw the Panama Canal treaties as well as the passage of educational programs and environmental protection legislation, such as the Alaska Lands Conservation Act. Carter’s work on the Camp David Peace Accords, where he mediated a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel beginning in 1978, became one of his major foreign policy undertakings. He also faced some major setbacks in foreign policy, one being the conflict in Iran after the fall of the Shah that led to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. NBC News