CHINA AND RUSSIA TO U.S.: CAREFUL ON KOREA
In a joint press brief today, China and Russia urged the U.S. not to put a new missile defense system on the Korean peninsula in response to recent North Korean muscle-flexing and weapons testing, Reuters reports. The U.S. and South Korea had opened talks on expanding defense capabilities on the peninsula after Pyongyang’s repeated testing of long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. Beijing fears that the presence of more U.S. hardware on its doorstep will further tip the balance of power in the Pacific towards Washington. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that a new deployment of U.S. weaponry in South Korea risked escalating simmering tensions.
KOREAN AMERICAN SENTENCED IN N. KOREA
In the latest conviction of a foreigner for crimes against the state, North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced 62-year-old Korean American Kim Dong Chul to 10 years of hard labor for subversion today, North Korea Times reports. North Korea has detained Americans in the past to extract high-profile visits from the U.S. Six foreigners, including Kim and three South Koreans, are known to be detained in the North.
— ON THIS DAY
It’s already been five years since that wedding. You know which. Time for your 57-second of history!
CLASHES AT TRUMP RALLY
Some 20 people were arrested as clashes erupted outside a rally for Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump last night in Southern California. CNN reports that several injuries were also reported and police vehicles damaged in the violence in the city of Costa Mesa.
VIOLENCE BREAKS OUT OVER FRENCH REFORM
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Photo: Stephane Mahe/Reuters/ZUMA
Some two dozen police officers were injured and more than 120 people arrested in France during the early hours this morning as violence broke out on the fringes of nationwide protests against proposed labor reform. Some 170,000 workers and students took to streets demanding that the government withdrawal a bill that included measures to make it easier to fire and lay off employees, Le Monde reports.
7.3 QUAKE HITS SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND
A magnitude-7.3 earthquake hit the coast of the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu 1,100 miles northeast of Australia this morning local time, news.com.au reports. No serious damages have so far been reported and the government’s initial tsunami warning has been canceled.
— MY GRAND-PERE’S WORLD
Cool Like The Romans — Tivoli, 1968
IRAN URGES UN TO INTERVENE AFTER U.S. COURT RULING
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday, asking him to push Washington to reverse a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that could send $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets to American victims of terrorist attacks blamed on Tehran. Zarif’s appeal comes amid increasing Iranian frustration over the U.S., to keep its promises regarding sanctions relief agreed to under the historic nuclear deal struck last year by Iran and six other states last year.
U.S. HIGH COURT EXPANDS FBI HACKING POWER
The U.S. Supreme Court approved a hotly contested rule change yesterday that would let judges issue search warrants for access to computers located in any jurisdiction, Tech Crunch reports. The new rules — that have faced opposition from civil liberties groups who say it will greatly expand the FBI’s hacking authority — will take effect by Dec. 1 unless rejected or modified by Congress.
— WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
As part of our Rue Amelot essay series, São Paulo- born travel writer and journalist Alex Correa writes about what it’s like to be a Good Samaritan completely lost in translation in the Czech Republic: “I became the hero of two helpless Japanese girls standing in the middle of the sidewalk with gigantic suitcases. Or at least I tried to. They were trying to make sense of their city map. But when people don’t even know they’re holding the map upside down, you know it’s going to be a slog for them.
I came closer, but they completely ignored me. When I finally offered to help, I was sprayed with a series of piercing ‘no no no no no no no no no nos.’ … They were only moving further away, each time a little faster, while I was trying to give my best rendition of ‘it’s not what you’re thinking.’ Thanks for nothing, pop culture.”
Read the full essay, A Brazilian Superman, Lost And Homeless In Prague.
— MORE STORIES, EXCLUSIVELY IN ENGLISH BY WORLDCRUNCH
- How The 2016 Campaign Has Rewritten Debate On Economics — Le Monde
- Undercover As ISIS Recruits University Students In Europe — Folha de S. Paulo
- Shortages Force Venezuelans To Buy Deodorant By The “Shot” — El Espectador
FORMER NAZI GUARD EXPECTED TO SPEAK IN GERMAN COURT TODAY
A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard on trial in Germany is expected to break his silence today when his statement is read by his lawyers in court, Die Welt reports. The defendant Reinhold Hanning has so far not said a word during the trial that started early February over accusations of accessory to the murder of 170,000 people.
FROM NSA TO EDM
American whistleblower Edward Snowden and French electronic music icon Jean-Michel Jarre have joined forces for a techno track called “Exit” — which also happens to be what you’ll be looking for if you watch the video.