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Days before Friday’s summit meeting between President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, the South switched off the broadcast temporarily as a good-will gesture . During their meeting, Mr. Moon and Mr. Kim adopted a broad declaration aimed at improving inter-Korean ties, including a mutual vow to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other,” including loudspeaker propaganda along the border. Although it was not included in the official summit agreement, the North’s decision to abolish Pyongyang Time, named after its capital, was made personally by Mr. Kim, South Korean officials said. “I don’t understand why they keep creating things that would perpetuate the division,” Mr. Kim said on Friday, according to a South Korean government spokeswoman, Koh Min-jeong, referring to the North’s 2015 decision to create a new time zone. “We must try instead to unify.” “It took me only a few yards of walking to reach South Korea today, but I am in a

BAKU (Reuters) – Honda have had “positive” first talks with former world champions Red Bull about a possible supply of Formula One engines from next season, the Japanese company’s motorsport head has said. Honda are powering the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso team this year after a failed three-year partnership with McLaren was terminated at the end of 2017. Red Bull are currently using Renault engines, renamed Tag Heuer, but have a rocky relationship with the French manufacturer despite winning four successive drivers’ and constructors’ titles with them between 2010-13. “Because it was the very first meeting, we discussed the conditions of both sides, what do we expect of each other,” Honda’s Masahi Yamamoto told the official formula1.com website at the weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “It was positive. We do believe we were both satisfied. There’s a good relationship between us. However, it’s the first time we have an official meeting. It’s the starting point for a potential future,

MOMBASA (Reuters) – Hiribae Mame stood waist-deep in water outside her wrecked house in eastern Kenya, one of around 200,000 people forced to flee by weeks of floods, landslides and heavy rains. Kenya’s Red Cross estimates at least 100 have also died in the downpours since early April, a humanitarian disaster that it says needs emergency funding. “I have lost 12 chicken and four goats. We were not able to save all of them and I can’t access the house because the door can’t open,” said the mother-of-four in the town of Tana River in lower Coast region. Her youngest daughter clung to her neck, the girl’s feet just touching the water. Mattresses and wreckage floated by as handmade boats ferried people, animals and goods to safer ground. Floods have blocked major roads across central and northern Kenya and coastal areas – the route from the capital Nairobi to the main port Mombasa was under water last week. Eight people were killed when mudslides destroyed their homes as they slept

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt another setback to a proposed natural gas pipeline running from Pennsylvania to New York, rejecting Constitution Pipeline Co’s bid to challenge New York state’s refusal to issue a needed water permit for the project. The high court left in place an August 2017 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the state. Partners in the 125-mile (201-km) pipeline project include Williams Cos Inc, Duke Energy Corp, WGL Holdings Inc and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which regulates pipelines, first approved construction of the project in 2014 and then again in 2016, conditional upon other approvals. Constitution, which filed with FERC to build the pipeline in 2013, separately sought water quality certification with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation in August 2013. But the state denied the application in April 2016, saying the com

YANGON (Reuters) – Thousands of people rallied on Monday in Myanmar’s war-torn Kachin State to demand humanitarian access for villagers trapped by fighting between government forces and ethnic minority insurgents that has displaced more than 5,000 people. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority insurgent forces, has regularly clashed with government troops in the mountainous region bordering China and India since 2011, when a 17-year-old ceasefire broke down. The United Nations said more than 5,000 people have been displaced since fighting in the area escalated in early April. The KIA and aid workers have called it the most intense conflict since Kachin guerrillas started fighting the government for greater autonomy in the early 1960s. The fighting has put a spotlight on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s stuttering efforts to bring peace to the diverse, Buddhist-majority country that has seen near-perpetual war since its independence fro

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is expected to go to trial on federal corruption charges for the second time on Monday, seven months after an appeals court threw out his earlier conviction and 12-year prison sentence. Prosecutors and Silver’s lawyers are scheduled to make their opening statements to jurors before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Silver has pleaded not guilty to charges of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering. Michael Feldberg, a lawyer for Silver, could not immediately be reached for comment. Prosecutors have said that Silver, 74, funneled state money to a prominent cancer researcher, who in turn referred asbestos patients to Silver’s law firm. They also said he steered two real estate developers to a friend’s law firm while supporting their interests on rent legislation. In exchange, Silver raked in as much as $4 million in bribes and kickbacks, prosecutors have claimed. Silver was fou

(Reuters) – Marathon Petroleum Corp said on Monday it would buy rival Andeavor for more than $23 billion to form a company that would leapfrog Valero Energy Corp as the largest U.S. refiner by capacity. The cash-and-stock deal values Andeavor at about $152 per share, representing a premium of about 24 percent to Andeavor stock’s Friday close. The combined company will have the ability to process about 3.1 million barrels per day and have a large network of retail stations, oil, natural gas and refined products pipelines. The deal is expected to produce $1 billion of synergies, Marathon said. Marathon Chief Executive Gary Heminger will run the combined company, with a senior role for Andeavor’s chief executive, Gregory Goff. San Antonio, Texas-based Andeavor, formerly known as Tesoro, operates 10 refineries in the western United States with a refining capacity of about 1.2 million barrels per day, and ownership in a logistics business, according to Andeavor website. Valero, whic

But skeptics warned that North Korea previously made similar pledges of denuclearization on numerous occasions, with little or no intention of abiding by them. Mr. Kim’s friendly gestures, they said, could turn out to be nothing more than empty promises aimed at lifting sanctions on his isolated country. A South Korean government spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, provided remarkable details of a summit meeting the two Korean heads of state held on Friday, when Mr. Kim made history by becoming the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South. “I know the Americans are inherently disposed against us, but when they talk with us, they will see that I am not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific or at the United States,” Mr. Kim told Mr. Moon, according to Mr. Yoon’s account. It was another in a series of startling statements by Mr. Kim, whose country threatened to do exactly those things during the height of nuclear tensions last year. Mr.

(Reuters) – Marathon Petroleum Corp is set to buy Andeavor for more than $20 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, in a combination that would leapfrog Valero Energy Corp to create the largest U.S. refiner by capacity. The potential cash-and-stock deal, which is expected to be announced on Monday, values Andeavor at about $150 per share, the WSJ reported, citing sources. The offer would represent a premium of 22.6 percent to Andeavor stock’s Friday close. The companied company will have the ability to process about 3.1 million barrels per day and have a large network of retail stations, oil, natural gas and refined products pipelines. The deal is expected to produce $1 billion of synergies, the paper said. Marathon Chief Executive Gary Heminger is expected to run the combined company, with a senior role for Andeavor’s chief executive, Gregory Goff, it said. San Antonio, Texas-based Andeavor, formerly known as Tesoro, operates 10 refineries in the western United S

Hope is a scarce commodity in Gaza, which is little more than an open-air prison. A look at how one man ended up at the bloody protests against Israel. The post The Gazan at the Fence: ‘Death or Life — It’s the Same Thing’ appeared first on World The News . from World The News https://ift.tt/2KlmMyC via World News

(Reuters) – A two-year win drought marked by changes in coaches, caddies and clubs ended for Lydia Ko on Sunday as the former world number one closed out victory at the Mediheal Championship with a stroke of brilliance. Needing something special to shake off Australian Minjee Lee in the first playoff hole, New Zealander Ko pulled out a three-wood out from 234 yards and landed the ball two-and-a-half feet from the pin for a tap-in eagle. Ko brushed tears from her eyes after the draining the putt, having notched her first win in 44 starts. She now boasts a 15th LPGA title and two major wins since turning professional in 2014. “I don’t think I’ve ever cried in the other 14 (wins),” she told reporters at Lake Merced Golf Club with a laugh. “And I cried like four times in the span of two minutes which is kind of embarrassing. “Every time I’d see my sister, I’d cry, every time I’d see my mum I cry, Ted (Oh), my coach was crying so then I cried again. “I’m like ‘God, get a hold of yo

At church, “we are allowed to wear girls’ clothes,” Ms. Cabaluna said. She has heard priests extol the same advice her mother told her: Regardless of your gender, what matters is being a good person before God and family. Still, the widespread tolerance hides deep veins of disapproval. The Rev. Renante Rabanes, who offered the Mass at the festivities for St. Vincent, the hamlet’s patron saint, said: “Transgenders are against the church. They are destroying what God gave them.” That night, Ms. Cabaluna was crowned queen of Maria Respondo, in a pageant far better attended than the Mass. Jan Gabriel Melendrez Castañeda, an advocate on behalf of gay and transgender people in Southeast Asia as part of several organizations, said, “Filipinos are used to contradictions.” Mr. Castañeda says that unlike other countries in the region, such advocacy groups can operate legally and relatively safely here. Continue reading the main story Still, 41 transgender people were killed in the Phi

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A security official with Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, was killed in an attack in the border state of Tamaulipas, the company’s chief executive said on Sunday. Jaime Juarez, 53, was in a vehicle doing surveillance work in the city of Matamoros on Friday when it was hit with 60 bullets. His colleague survived the attack. Juarez was just a few months from completing 20 years with Pemex, the company said in a statement, and had most recently worked combating the fuel theft that costs Pemex more than $1 billion a year. Drug cartels seeking to diversify income streams have preyed on Pemex, making fuel theft one of Mexico’s most pressing security issues. The head of security at one of Mexico’s six state-run oil refineries was shot to death in January. Reporting by Noe Torres; Writing by Christine Murray; Editing by Peter Cooney The post Pemex security worker killed in attack in northern Mexico appeared first on World The News . from World The New

“We advise people not to pick up the caterpillar or pick up the nest,” a spokeswoman for Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, adding that there have been no reports of serious illness because of contact with the caterpillar. Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency doctor at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, said the speed of the reaction after contact is typically slower than that of a bee sting. He said each caterpillar has more than 62,000 toxic hairs, which after release can stay active for up to five years. “This is where the true toxicity of the caterpillar arises,” he said, adding, “Word to the wise — it’s best to observe their beauty from a distance.” The caterpillars build “distinctive white, silken webbing nests on the trunks and branches of oak trees” in the early summer and also leave “white silken trails,” according to forestry officials. Mr. Dombroskie said mature caterpillars have bodies that are dark on top and paler on the sides, entirely co

The Trump Organization withdrew its licensing agreement for the Baku skyscraper shortly after the 2016 election, as it promised to wind down international projects that could pose conflicts of interest to the president. Mr. Trump had partnered in the development with the son of a former minister of transportation in the oil-rich former Soviet state. The Trump-branded hotel never opened, but it was dogged by controversy. Mr. Trump cut the deal despite allegations by United States diplomats that the minister had dealings with front companies for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was corrupt. After the New Yorker article was published in 2017, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, was among lawmakers who wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin ; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; and James B. Comey, then director of the F.B.I., seeking an investigation into the issues raised in the article. The planned hotel had been under construction since 2008 and was nearing co

(Reuters Health) – Patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia may be less likely to die after surgery when they’re treated at hospitals that employ a larger proportion of nurses with at least a college degree, a U.S. study suggests. Previous research has linked more educated nurses to better outcomes for hospital patients and lower rates of deaths and serious complications. In 2010, the U.S. Institute of Medicine called for four in five hospital nurses to have at least a bachelor’s degree by 2020. The current study adds to the evidence linking more educated nurses to lower surgical mortality rates. It found better survival odds at hospitals where more nurses had at least four-year college degrees, even for some of the most vulnerable surgical patients: people with dementia, who already have a higher risk of complications or death. “This suggests that comprehensive nursing care plays an important role in reducing some of the excess risk patients with dementia face when undergoi

AMMAN (Reuters) – The Syrian army said on Sunday that rockets had struck several military bases in the Hama and Aleppo countryside in what it said was new “aggression” by its enemies, state television said. In a news flash, state television said the missile attacks took place at 10:30 p.m. “Syria is being exposed to a new aggression with some military bases in rural Hama and Aleppo hit with enemy rockets,” an army source was quoted as saying without elaborating. Earlier, state television said successive blasts were heard in rural Hama province and that authorities were investigating the cause. An opposition source said one of the locations hit was an army base known as Brigade 47 near Hama city, widely known as a recruitment center for Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias who fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the allegations. Israel in the course of the conflict has hit Iranian-backed militia outposts in Syria, targeting

(Reuters) – Italy’s Marco Cecchinato claimed his maiden ATP Tour title with a 7-5 6-4 victory over John Millman in the Hungarian Open final on Sunday. Cecchinato converted four out of eight break points to beat his Australian opponent in an hour 47 minutes. The world number 92 became the first lucky loser to win a title since Leonardo Mayer triumphed in Hamburg last July. “I lost Sunday (in qualifying) and now I won the tournament. It’s amazing for me,” the 25-year-old Cecchinato said. “Maybe it’s a dream, I don’t know.” Cecchinato broke Millman early in the first set to race into a 4-2 lead, but the 28-year-old Australian dragged himself back into the match by winning the next three games. Cecchinato saved a set point on his serve while trailing 5-4 before regaining his composure to take the first set. Millman took a 4-1 lead in the second but Cecchinato fought back in style to claim victory. “Today is a special day because I won the first title of my career,” he said. “I’m ve

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians along the border with the Gaza Strip in two separate incidents on Sunday, the Israeli military said. The shootings follow a month of violence along the Israel-Gaza border, where Palestinians have been holding protests every Friday pressing for the right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. In the first incident on Sunday, two men “attempted to infiltrate” into Israel from the southern Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement. Soldiers shot and killed one of the men, and the other was wounded and held for questioning. In the second incident, the army said, two militants who managed to cross the fence “hurled explosive devices” at Israeli soldiers, who shot them dead. There was no claim of responsibility from any militant group in Gaza. Israel has refused any right of return for Palestinians who were expelled or fled and became refugees after the country declared independence

AMMAN (Reuters) – U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said they expelled had Syrian troops that briefly took control of a string of villages in oil rich areas east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border on Sunday. SDF forces led by the Kurdish YPG militia said they had waged a counter-attack against Syrian troops it said were backed by Russian forces, adding they were driven “far away” from four villages they had seized earlier in the day. “Our forces regained the initiative,” they said in a statement. It did not say if the U.S. coalition took part in the operation. Washington has a strong military presence in the area in eastern Syria which holds the bulk of the country’s oil and gas reserves, according to regional diplomatic sources. A U.S. army statement sent to Reuters confirmed the attack on SDF forces by what it called pro-regime forces near Deir al-Zor city and said the “coalition used established deconfliction channels to de-escalate the situation”, without elaborat

BAKU (Reuters) – Formula One champions Mercedes are against any future ban on the use of ‘virtual garages’, the factory-based control centers used during grand prix weekends by teams to back up engineers at racetracks. “I think it’s a very bad idea because we’ve invested in the virtual garages,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told reporters at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Such hi-tech operations rooms, directly linked in real-time to cars and systems at the track, are widely used by top teams to circumvent restrictions on the number of personnel allowed into the paddock. They are also important sources of revenue, however, with teams using them to engage sponsors. Formula One’s commercial rights holders want to limit spending and make a more level playing field when current agreements expire at the end of 2020. They also want to put more emphasis on drivers, rather than armies of engineers working out of sight, and getting rid of such control centers has been mooted. Wolff, howeve

On Friday at NATO, on his first full day as secretary of state, Mr. Pompeo suggested for the first time that the North Korean leader was ready to deal. “I did get a sense that he was serious,” he told reporters. “The economic pressure that has been put in place by this global effort that President Trump has led has led him to believe that it’s in his best interest to come to the table and talk about denuclearization.” Yet talking is different from denuclearizing. And talking about denuclearizing is hardly new. The North promised the same in a 1992 agreement, and many in Seoul, the South’s capital, wondered then if the nightmare of living under the constant threat of artillery barrage was about to end. In fact, the agreement reached on Friday picks up language from the 1992 accord, and has similar provisions about reuniting families separated during the Korean War and nonaggression agreements. Little of it happened. There were two agreements with the George W. Bush administration, e

Since February, in collaboration with the United Nations, the Brazilian Army has been building temporary shelters with spacious white tents across the city. By the end of May, it hopes to have 11 shelters with a capacity for some 5,500 people. Venezuelans who have been vaccinated and registered at one of the shelters may apply to be resettled in larger cities in Brazil via a military flight. But that process is off to a slow start because of funding constraints. The United Nations recently asked international donors to pitch in $46 million to address the crisis during the remainder of this year, but so far it has only secured 6 percent of that goal. On a recent morning, Mercedes Acuña, 50, said she felt blessed to have been among the first admitted into a shelter. She arrived in Brazil two months ago, rail thin, after an anguishing period during which she joined an ever-growing mob in the capital, Caracas, picking apart piles of garbage for bits and pieces of discarded food. Con

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The global social media movement known through the Twitter hashtag #MeToo has highlighted sexual misconduct in business, entertainment and politics, and will be on the agenda at this year’s Milken Institute Global Conference, which starts on Sunday. Beginning with accusations of misconduct starting in October against Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, which he has denied, #MeToo has already derailed the careers of dozens of entertainers, journalists, politicians and corporate executives. It will now also be a focus of the Milken conference, which considers how market principles can be applied to social problems. The conference is being staged at the Beverly Hilton by the Milken Institute, a think tank endowed by former Drexel Burnham Lambert banker Michael Milken. Milken, once considered Wall Street’s “Junk Bond King,” experienced his own fall from power after his 1989 indictment in an insider trading probe. After pleading guilty to securities viola

He said the effort to breach the fence “shows exactly what we are talking about.” “This is not a peaceful demonstration,” he said. “There’s nothing serene about this. They’re trying to infiltrate into Israel, damage our infrastructure and kill Israelis.” Reminded that Israel’s critics have denounced the country for attacking unarmed demonstrators with deadly force, Colonel Conricus said: “They aren’t the ones defending Israeli citizens from a hateful mob of thousands of Palestinians. It doesn’t matter if someone is carrying flowers if he’s tearing down the fence. That’s a violent threat.” Continue reading the main story Friday’s demonstration at the eastern edge of Gaza City — adjacent to the old Karni Crossing, a cargo terminal that allowed goods to cross between Israel and Gaza until it was shut down in 2011 — had been largely peaceful until late in the afternoon. But then the senior Hamas leader Ismail Radwan gave a rousing speech, urging the protesters not to fear death bu