MERKEL TELLS EUROPEANS THEY CAN’T RELY ON US,UK
In an election rally on Sunday after the G7 summit, German chancellor Angela Merkel was characteristically candid.
“The times in which we could completely depend on others are, to a certain extent, over. I’ve experienced that in the last few days. We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands,” Merkel said.
Merkel, one of the world leaders who had tweeted about her unhappiness with the G7 summit, may be making a case for Europe to stand together in the face of Trump’s belligerence and an impending Brexit. But she might also be making a strong case for the German voters to continue to believe in the EU and a political ally to stick around for the upcoming election.
TRUMP BREAKS HIS SILENCE, BUT ON TWITTER
He may not have held a single press conference during his first trip abroad as US President, but Donald Trump had some words for the media after he returned home. The President, who had no engagements on Sunday, tweeted that all the recent information leaks from the White House were fabrications of the ‘fake news writers’.
Trump, who travelled to the G7 summit, Israel and Saudi Arabia broke past norms by not holding a single press conference though the trip. The one question he did respond to, one shouted by a reporter, only made things worse.
NORTH KOREA DOES IT AGAIN
North Korea’s missile launching spree continues. The country on Monday launched its third missle in as many weeks, and its twelfth this year, into the Sea of Japan from an airfield on its east coast. The missile, in this case, was a short-range ballistic one and is estimated to have flown 280 km before crashing into Japanese waters.
The latest missile test is seen as another step by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to develop an intercontinental missile to target the US. But the tests are more worrying for neighbour South Korea, whose capital Seoul, is in firing range.
US CONSIDERS BANNING LAPTOPS ON ALL INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
Flyers from 10 cities in the Middle East have to check-in any electronic devices bigger than a smartphone if they’re flying to the US. That rule might soon apply to all flyers heading into or out of the US. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Fox News on Sunday he ‘might’ consider banning all electronic devices in passengers’ hand baggage. “That’s the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it’s a US carrier, particularly if it’s full of US people,” Kelly said, justifying it.
But it’s not just the fear of terrorists that might prompt the decision. It might also be influenced by the fact that spending on airport security could be slashed in the upcoming budget.
OVER 150 DEAD, THOUSANDS DISPLACED BY FLOODS IN SRI LANKA
At least 151 people were killed and 112 are missing. Close to 5 lakh been displaced and 1800 homes washed away due to floods and mudslides triggered by them. But the head of rescue operations in the island nation, Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, says the worst was over though some areas are still under water.
“Floodwaters are receding,” he said.