The remarks of the US ambassador to Germany slammed as ‘undiplomatic’ and India accused of ‘bullying’ by Maldivian parliamentarian.
Details of Trump and Kim’s Singapore meeting are out
Preparations for the on again-off again meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-un are “going well”, reports BBC. The June 12 meeting will take place at 9 am at Capella Hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa Island. “Discussions on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula are expected to be high on the agenda, although some analysts have speculated that a formal end to the Korean War is also on the table,” the BBC writes.
Singapore is also releasing three commemorative medallions in honour of the event, writes The Straits Times. The gold, silver and base-metal medallions will feature an “affirmative handshake” between the two leaders.
Women are finally being issued driving licences in Saudi Arabia
Finally ! As Saudi Arabia’s women ready to get behind the driving wheel and the cover of of Vogue Arabia actually featured a Saudi princess in flowing robes in the front-seat, 10 international licenses of Saudi women have been converted into national ones, Al Jazeera reports.
The only country that did not allow its women to drive so far, Saudi Arabia lifted its ban on female drivers after a historic royal decree signed in September 2017. It has now issued a statement indicating that about 2,000 licences will be issued to women next week. However, several women’s rights activists who were declared threats to national security after protesting for the right to drive and to abolish the male guardianship system and arrested last month, still remain in prison.
The rescue efforts continue in Guatemala after volcanic eruption
The Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupted Sunday, killing at least 69 people and burying several others under volcanic ash. This is the highest number of deaths recorded for Fuego’s eruptions, reports BBC. “Many of the victims were found near their homes, indicating that they did not have time to flee. Others managed to save themselves but are still searching for members of their families,” it adds.
Rescue workers are finding it difficult to work in the hazardous conditions, reports CNN. Besides breathing problems, the “heat from the ground has been so intense that the soles of some firefighters’ boots were tearing off and they were having to walk on wooden planks”.
US Supreme Court says baker was within right to refuse service to gay couple
The United States Supreme Court ruling in favour of a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple on the grounds that it violated his religious beliefs, continues to stir the nation. In The New York Times, Robert P. George writes that even though religion was prioritised over gay rights, not much else has been resolved. The issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation was not addressed at all, and the nuances of free speech were not dealt with.
“Because the justices were easily able to award the victory to Mr Phillips on free exercise of religion grounds, the court didn’t fully grapple with this important issue,” George writes.
The baker, Jack Phillips, cited his Christian beliefs for refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual couple six years ago.
Undiplomatic remarks of US ambassador to Germany spark backlash
Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, told the alt-Right news platform Breitbart that he was being contacted by “conservatives throughout Europe”, and that he felt the need to empower a conservative resurgence in Europe.
The conservative group Grenell is referring to, notes Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post, is not Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, one one led by Sebastian Kurz, who currently “rules Austria in coalition with the Freedom Party, a nativist, pro-Russian and anti-pluralist party”. Kurz has made headlines several times for his controversial remarks on the Nazi era, calling it “nothing but bird shit”.
“If Grenell has been sent to Germany in order to destabilise Merkel’s coalition, then a case can be made in his support: Maybe this is US policy now; he’s just carrying it out. If Grenell has been sent to Germany in order to destabilise the Atlantic alliance, then he’s doing well at that, too,” writes Applebaum.
“But if those are not his orders — and I’m sure someone will now deny that they are — then a different set of questions has to be asked. Why is the US ambassador to Germany giving an interview to Breitbart? Why is he involving himself in partisan politics? For that matter, why is he an American ambassador at all?”
Modi stays out of US-China rivalry and China likes it
Modi has managed to strike a balance between rivals US and China in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, The South China Morning Post quotes observers as saying.
“With Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy set to boost India’s role in the region, New Delhi is working hard to avoid being caught in the middle of the growing rivalry between China and the United States,” it adds, quoting observations made by experts.
In his speech, PM Modi didn’t criticise China and reserved mentions of its “quadrilateral strategic dialogue” with the US and regional powers Japan and Australia.
China seems to be happy with Modi’s speech. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday that “China was willing to work with India to safeguard the hard-won positive trend in bilateral ties to increase political trust… and properly manage and control disputes to ensure the peace and stability at the border area”.
Leading Maldivian MP accuses India of bullying
Majority leader of Maldivian parliament, Ahmed Nihan, has accused India of bullying when he was denied entry into the country Monday. The MP alleged that this was because he belonged to the ruling party led by President Yameen (with whom India has been having tensions lately), as he was reportedly asked by immigration officials to specify his party affiliation.
The incident took place when Nihan landed at Chennai airport last evening. He was visiting here, reportedly, on medical grounds. Nihan said he was detained for several hours before being asked to leave India.
Relations between the two countries have suffered a setback following growing engagement between China and the Maldives. In April, the island nation asked India to take back one of the two AHL helicopters it gifted to the Maldives.
Apple introduces ‘screen time’ to reduce kids’ screen time
Apple is set to introduce a new feature called Screen Time which will enable parents to control the amount of time children spend on certain apps and Apple products such as iphones and ipads.
“Apps beg us to use our phone when we should be doing something else… Some of us, we might not recognise how distracted we’ve become,” said Craig Federighi, senior vice-president of software engineering at Apple.
Screen Time will provide users daily and weekly reports regarding the number of notifications received, time spent on particular apps, and how many times the devices are picked up by users.
The new feature would be a marked shift from other methods of control, which stopped device usage altogether.
The motivation seems to be two ‘large’ shareholders who urged to company to enable more parental control.
“Together, the California teachers’ pension fund and the Jana Partners investment group own more than $2 billion in Apple stock,” reports Huffington Post.