Two days after Trump boasts of better ties, North Korea tests tactical guided weapon
The North Korean state media Thursday reported that the country test-fired a “tactical guided weapon” with a warhead. The report provided few details, but analysts believe that it is unlikely to be an intermediate or a long-range missile.
White House and Pentagon said that they were aware of the test, but denied to comment on it, reported The Financial Times.
In order to gain more concession from the US, North Korea had conducted a similar test in November 2018 as well.
The latest test comes just a few months after the failed second summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Analysts believe the North Korean leadership is expressing its growing impatience with the Trump administration by testing this tactical weapon.
The Kim-Trump’s Vietnam summit in February failed for a couple of reasons: the two sides didn’t agree on the term “denuclearization” and North Korea expected far more economic concessions than the US was ready to grant.
Interestingly, this recent test comes just a couple of days after Trump had boasted to media about his cordial relationship with Kim and the normalization of North Korea-US ties.
Turkey props up reserves with billions of dollars in short-term borrowing, says report
An investigation carried out by the Financial Times has revealed that there has been a dramatic spike in Turkey’s central bank-held foreign reserves.
As of April 2019, the country’s reserves amounted to $28.1 billion — about $12 billion of these reserves comprises short-term borrowings. This is likely to raise investors’ fears about the ability of the central bank to maintain its currency peg.
The Turkish authorities have confirmed this to Financial Times, but they maintain that they are complying with all international accounting standards.
With the latest development, Turkey faces a severely heightened risk of a fresh currency crisis.
Monetary policy economists and analysts believe that investors already doubt the ability of the Turkish central bank to maintain its existing currency peg. And this new information risks the chances of a self-fulfilling crisis.
Julian Rimmer, an emerging market equities trader at Investec Bank was quoted as saying, “I don’t think these are conventional operations and they are somewhat less than transparent… A central bank cannot risk being seen as economical with the truth.”
Initial polls suggest easy win for President Joko Widodo in Indonesian elections
Initial poll counts suggest that Indonesia’s incumbent President Joko Widodo is likely to win a second term.
According to Al Jazeera, “Multiple quick counts from different election observers on Wednesday had Jokowi leading Prabowo (Subianto), a former general, at 55 to 45 percent.”
“Quick counts are votes counted at a selected number of polling stations by independent institutions that have been officially designated by the government to conduct them,” said the Al Jazeera report.
Widodo has asked his supporters to be patient and wait for the final results from the election authorities.
Indonesia voted Wednesday in the world’s most complicated single-day election yet.
In other news:
At least 29 killed, 27 injured on Madeira as tour bus overturns after rolling down steep hillside, South China Morning Post
Climate change: Central banks warn of financial risks in open letter, BBC
‘This is wrong’: US attorney general accused of spinning Mueller report on Trump campaign ahead of release, South China Morning Post