22-05-2018

INTERNATIONAL
TUESDAy, MAy 22, 2018
7
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before a joint hearing of the Commerce and Judiciary
Committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 10, 2018, about the use of Facebook data
to target American voters in the 2016 election.
Photo : AP
In North Korea nuke site closing,
spectacle trumps substance
Foreign journalists will be allowed
to journey deep into the mountains
of North Korea this week to
observe the closing of the country's
Punggye-ri nuclear test site in a
much-touted display of goodwill
before leader Kim Jong Un's
planned summit with President
Donald Trump next month,
reports UNB.
Expect good imagery. But not
much else.
The public display of the closure
of the facility on Mount Mantap
will likely be heavy on spectacle
and light on substance. And the
media will be spending much of
their time in an unrelated tourism
zone that North Korea hopes will
be the next big thing for its economy
if Kim's diplomatic overtures
pay off in the months ahead.
For sure, the closure is a milestone,
marking an end to the
world's last active underground
testing site and offering some
important insights into Kim's
mindset as he sets the stage for his
meeting with Trump.
Nepal official
says 2 foreign
climbers died
on Mount
Everest
Two foreign climbers
attempting to scale
Mount Everest have
died on the world's
highest peak, a Nepal
mountaineering official
said Monday, reports
UNB.
Members of their
expedition teams
reported a Japanese
climber died Monday
and a Macedonian died
on Sunday, said Gyanendra
Shrestha, who is
stationed at Everest's
base camp during the
climbing season and
received the reports of
the deaths.
The Japanese climber
was identified as 35-
year-old Nobukazu
Kuriki and the Macedonian
was 63-year-old
Gjeorgi Petkov.
Kuriki was a known
mountaineer who
climbed many mountains
and made several
attempts on Everest. He
was not successful in
climbing Everest and
lost most of his fingers
due to frostbite during
an attempt in 2012.
Shrestha said Kuriki's
body was around the
Camp 2 area while the
Macedonian climber's
body was at a higher
elevation.
Further details were
not available.
Some 340 foreign
climbers and their Sherpa
guides are attempting
to scale Everest this
month and many succeeded
in the past week
during good weather.
Teams have to end their
attempts by the end of
this month as weather
conditions deteriorate.
A look at what's hype and what's
worth paying attention to:
Kim announced his plan to close
the test site during a gathering of
senior party leaders last month,
just ahead of his summit with
South Korean President Moon Jaein.
His explanation to the party
was that North Korea's nuclear
development is now complete and
further underground testing is
unnecessary.
North Korea has conducted six
underground nuclear tests since
2006. Its most recent and most
powerful explosion, which the
North claims tested a hydrogen
bomb, was in September. All of its
tests have been carried out at
Punggye-ri, in the country's mountainous
northeast interior.
Before Kim's announcement,
North Korea was the only country
that still conducted underground
tests.
Kim's claim that such tests are no
longer needed may have an element
of bravado to it. While the
North has demonstrated beyond a
doubt that it can produce viable,
high-yield nuclear weapons, many
experts believe it could still benefit
considerably by conducting more
tests.
"North Korea certainly would
need more tests to have any confidence
in its H-bomb," said physicist
David Wright, co-director of
the global security program of the
Union of Concerned Scientists.
Wright said the North's most
recent test is a prime example. He
believes it was a "demonstrationof-principle
device" that was not
designed to be small or light
enough to be delivered by missile.
"The bottom line is that stopping
testing is important to limit its
ability to build reliable, deliverable
warheads - especially for an H-
bomb," he said.
So in that sense, Kim is making a
significant concession. And if Kim
were to switch gears and decide to
test again, he would almost certainly
be caught. It's hard to hide a
high-powered nuclear blast. Compliance
is verifiable.
Europe wary as Italy moves
toward populist government
Italy edged toward its first populist government
Monday as the president convened the
leaders of the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement and the right-wing League in
what could be a final consultations, 11 weeks
after elections left the country with a hung
parliament, reports UNB.
The prospect of a 5-Star-League government
weighed heavily on markets and on
Italy's European allies. The cost of borrowing
to fund Italy's persistently high public
debt rose to the highest levels in nine
months and the Milan stock market was
trading down 2 percent.
France's economics minister has already
sounded an alarm that the eurozone's financial
stability could be threatened if a populist
government blows Italy's deficit commitments.
"If the new government takes the risk of
not respecting its commitments on debt, the
deficit, but also on consolidation of banks,
then the entire financial stability of the eurozone
will be threatened," Bruno Le Maire
told the Cnews television channel Sunday.
The leader of the 5-Stars, Luigi Di Maio,
and League leader Matteo Salvini indicated
agreement Sunday on a candidate for premier
to present to President Sergio
Mattarella, who must grant his approval and
agree on a Cabinet list before a parliamentary
confidence vote.
Salvini said that neither he nor Di Maio
would be the premier, an apparent move to
keep the fledgling coalition on an even keel.
Most worrying to financial markets is the
two parties' platform, unveiled last week. It
includes a rollback on pension reform, a
minimum salary for struggling Italians and
the introduction of a flat tax, which will contribute
to a large fiscal expansion that economists
and EU policymakers worry will
increase the country's debt burden.
The program also introduces a tougher
stance on deporting migrants and calls for a
better dialogue with Russia on economic
and foreign policy matters while maintaining
its trans-Atlantic alliance.
Di Maio assured his voters that the government
would find the money to pay for
social programs and tax cuts both through
investments and in upcoming negotiations
in Brussels on the European Union's sevenyear
budget cycle, but neither the markets
nor European partners have been assuaged.
A 5-Star-League government would have a
very thin majority of just over 50 percent of
parliamentary seats. Salvini ran in the elections
as part of a right-wing coalition including
Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, but
Berlusconi opposes the 5-Stars and says he
will not support them in a confidence vote.
Zuckerberg meeting
with EU parliament
leaders to be webcast
Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg has agreed to
have his meeting Tuesday
with the leaders of the European
parliament about data
privacy be broadcast publicly
through web streaming,
reports UNB.
The evening meeting with
leaders of the political groups
and a justice and civil rights
expert was long expected to be
private.
But many in the European
Parliament had been calling for
an on-air grilling for Zuckerberg
to explain his company's
role in a scandal about the misuse
of customer data.
European Parliament
President Antonio Tajani
said in a statement Monday
that after discussing the
issue with Zuckerberg "I
am glad to announce that
he has accepted this new
request."
Tajani called it "great news
for EU citizens. I thank him
for the respect" shown for
the EU legislature.
Taliban kill 5
workers clearing
land mines
An Afghan official says the
Taliban killed at least five
members of a demining team
in southern Kandahar
province, reports UNB.
Zia Durrani, spokesman for
the provincial police chief,
says a sixth worker is missing
and his fate is unknown following
the attack on Monday
morning in the district of Maiwand.
Durrani says the de-miners
were working for the TAPI
national project, clearing a
segment for a planned gas
pipeline from central Asia
that's headed to Pakistan and
India through Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Karim Yuresh,
police spokesman in northern
Faryab province, says the Taliban
attacked a district headquarters
on Sunday night,
burning down about 50 shops
in Khuaja Sabz Posh district.
He says reinforcements
repelled the attackers. Six
insurgents were killed and 10
were wounded.
Lava from Kilauea
volcano enters ocean,
creates toxic cloud
White plumes of acid and
extremely fine shards of glass
are billowing into the sky over
Hawaii as molten rock from
Kilauea volcano pours down a
hillside and into the ocean.
Authorities are warning the
public to stay away from the
toxic steam cloud, which is
formed by a chemical reaction
when lava touches seawater,
reports UNB.
Further upslope, lava is still
gushing out of large vents in
the ground in a Big Island residential
neighborhood.
Hawaii County officials say
sulfur dioxide gas emissions
from the vents have tripled. At
the volcano's summit, two
explosive eruptions unleased
clouds of ash on Sunday.
Winds carried much of the
ash toward the southwest.
Kilauea volcano began
erupting lava in the Leilani
Estates neighborhood more
than two weeks ago.
Five-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio talks on the phone as he leaves the lower house of parliament, at the
end of his meeting with League leader Matteo Salvini, in Rome, Thursday, May 17, 2018. Italy's two populist
leaders are brushing off fears in Brussels and the markets over the outlines of their possible government, and
are insisting they are close to a deal designed to help ordinary Italians.
Photo : AP
Abbas, 83-year-old Palestinian
leader, still in hospital
The Palestinian president's condition has
seen a "clear improvement" after he was
taken to hospital with a fever, an Arab
lawmaker in Israel's parliament with close
ties to Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday,
reports UNB.
Abbas was hospitalized on Sunday with
a fever, just days after undergoing ear surgery.
The 83-year-old leader has endured a
series of recent health scares which have
revived anxiety over a potentially chaotic,
and even bloody, succession battle that
could further weaken the Palestinian
cause.
Ahmad Tibi, the lawmaker close to
Abbas, told Israeli Army Radio that Abbas
could be discharged as early as Tuesday.
He did not elaborate on Abbas' condition
nor say why he thought Abbas was expected
to be released.
Palestinian officials on Sunday had said
that Abbas has pneumonia and was on a
respirator, receiving antibiotics intravenously.
They said he was conscious and
lucid.
Abbas, who is a heavy smoker and overweight,
has a long history of health issues,
ranging from heart trouble to a bout with
prostate cancer a decade ago. Two years
ago, he underwent an emergency heart
procedure after suffering exhaustion and
chest pains.
More recently, a cardiologist moved into
the presidential compound in Ramallah
to monitor the longtime leader after a
mysterious hospital visit in the United
States, following Abbas' address to the
United Nations Security Council in which
he appeared weak.
Abbas, who insists he is fine, has
refused to designate a successor. But after
more than a decade of avoiding discussion
of the post-Abbas era, Palestinian officials
acknowledge that they are concerned, and
potential successors are quietly jockeying
for position.
Abbas took over as a caretaker leader
following the death of Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat in 2004, and was elected for
what was supposed to be a five-year term
the following year.
He has remained in firm control since
then, governing parts of the West Bank,
while a political split with rival Hamas -
the Palestinian militant group that in
2007 seized the Gaza Strip - has prevented
new elections.
In this Jan. 31, 2018 file photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
meets with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, in the West Bank
town of Ramallah.
Photo : AP
NASA shipper Orbital
ATK launches space
station supplies
One of NASA's prime shippers,
Orbital ATK, launched
a fresh load of supplies to
the International Space Station
from Virginia on Monday,
reports UNB.
The Antares rocket blasted
off from Wallops Island
before dawn, treating early
risers along the East Coast
to a cosmic light show, at
least where skies were clear.
The area of visibility
stretched from New England
to the Carolinas, and
as far inland as Pittsburgh
and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The 7,400-pound shipment
- a third of it research
- should reach the orbiting
lab Thursday. A flight controller
wished the Cygnus
capsule "a smooth trip" on
the rest of its journey.
The Cygnus holds a student
cement-mixing experiment,
as well as an atomcooling
chamber from
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
that uses lasers to
get temperatures colder
than even space itself.
There's also equipment for
a spacewalk next month, as
well as computers and groceries
for the six station
astronauts.
Named for the swan constellation,
the Cygnus is
making Orbital ATK's ninth
contracted delivery for
NASA. SpaceX is NASA's
other supplier.
This particular Cygnus is
called the S.S. J.R. Thompson
in honor of the former
NASA and Orbital ATK
executive, who died in
November. Launch controllers
wore dark suits,
white shirts and red ties in
memory of Thompson, who
dressed that way on the job.
The space station is currently
home to three Americans,
two Russians and one
Japanese.
Three of them will return
to Earth at the beginning of
June, followed by the launch
of three new crew members
from Kazakhstan.
Economic talks between US-China
result in truce in trade war
The United States and China
are pulling back from the brink
of a trade war after the world's
two biggest economies reported
progress in talks aimed at bringing
down America's massive
trade deficit with Beijing,
reports UNB.
"We are putting the trade war
on hold," Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin said Sunday.
After high-level talks Thursday
and Friday in Washington,
Beijing agreed in a joint statement
with the U.S. to "substantially
reduce" America's trade
deficit with China, but did not
commit to cut the gap by any
specific amount. The Trump
administration had sought to
slash the deficit by $200 billion.
Still, Mnuchin said the two
countries had made "meaningful
progress" and that the
administration has agreed to
put on hold proposed tariffs on
up to $150 billion in Chinese
products. China had promised
to retaliate in a move that
threatened a tit for tat trade war.
He said they expect to see a
big increase - 35 percent to 45
percent this year alone - in U.S.
farm sales to China. Mnuchin
also forecast a doubling in sales
of U.S. energy products to the
Chinese market, increasing
energy exports by $50 billion to
$60 billion in the next three
years to five years. Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross, who has
been part of the U.S. negotiating
team, will go to China soon to
follow up on last week's discussions,
Mnuchin said.
In Saturday's statement, Beijing
committed to "significantly
increase" its purchases of
American goods and services,
saying the increase would "meet
the growing consumption
needs of the Chinese people and
the need for high-quality economic
development."
Last year, the U.S. had a
record $376 billion deficit with
China in the trade of goods;
that was the largest by far with
any nation.
Trade analysts were not surprised
that China refused to
agree to a numerical target for
cutting the trade gap, but they
said the talks probably were
more successful in easing trade
tensions.
"The Trump administration
seems eager to engineer at minimum
a temporary peace with
China to ensure a smooth runup
to the Kim-Trump summit
in June," Cornell University
economist Eswar Prasad said,
referring to the June 12 meeting
scheduled between President
Donald Trump and North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
If there is success in the U.S.-
China discussions, analysts suggest
it likely would involve the
countries' presidents this fall
before the November elections.
"Part of the good news for
markets: As long as both sides
continue to be 'constructively'
engaged, imposition of additional
tariffs by either side is
very unlikely," analysts at
investment management firm
Evercore ISI said in a research
note. "There is no reason for
either side - particularly the
U.S. - to destroy the process
that both sides are building,
which is what imposing tariffs
would do."