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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Tommie McNeil reporting.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants his summit with North Korea's leader to go well. "We will be doing everything possible to make it a worldwide success, not just for the United States or South Korea or North Korea or Japan, but for the entire world." Meanwhile, as AP correspondent [Charlie] Shirley Smith reports the future of some Americans in North Korea could be up for discussions soon. CIA Director Mike Pompeo raised the plight of three U.S. citizens held in North Korea during his meeting earlier this month with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. This is according to a senior White House official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive talks and did speak to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Yesterday, President Trump said the U.S. and North Korea are negotiating for their release. On the issue of the U.S. and Russian probe, President Trump is passing up a chance to say whether he will fire the special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. At a Florida news conference with Japan's prime minister, the president was asked if he is decided firing them is "not worth the political fallout," he says all the speculation so far that he will fire them has been wrong. "... for the last three months, four months, five months, and they're still here." The president says he has cooperated with Mueller's investigators, turning over more than a million documents. "Nobody has ever been more transparent." And he hopes the probe is coming to an end. "We want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us." Sagar Meghani, Washington. Pakistan says its diplomats working in the United States are now facing additional restrictions on travel from the host government. This is VOA news. Miguel Díaz-Canel has been named Cuba's next president, marking the first time in 60 years the Communist-run country has had a leader outside the Castro family. Fifty-seven-year-old, the only candidate for the job, was chosen for a five-year term by legislators, according to state media. He is a former first vice president, appears to be socially liberal and is considered an acceptable successor to the retiring elderly leaders who fought for the revolution and in the revolution. The move was not expected to usher in any drastic change. Upon being sworn, Díaz-Canel promised to continue the Castros' socialist revolution. Pentagon officials say that there has been no indication that the Syrian military is prepared to launch another chemical weapons attack following last Saturday's missile strikes by the United States, France and Britain, but Washington and its allies "remain vigilant." The head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said a large crowd gathered at Site 1 and the U.N. Department of Safety and Security advised that the reconnaissance team should withdraw. He added that at Site 2, the team came under small-arms fire and an explosive was detonated. A U.N. source told VOA none of the U.N. security team members were injured during the incident. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday the delays raised the risk of evidence tampering. The United States and its allies blame the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Russia and Syria insist no chemical attack took place. Ken Ward, the U.S. ambassador to the OPCW, claimed Monday the Russians had already visited the site and "may have tampered with it," a charge Moscow rejected. Doug Bernard, VOA news. Russia has demanded compensation from the U.S. for its worldwide tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel Thursday, becoming the third influential member of the World Trade Organization to do so. China, the European Union and India have also objected, arguing the tariffs are a "safeguard" measure to protect U.S. domestic products from imports, which require compensation for major exporting countries. The Trump administration has rejected that argument and says the tariffs are for national security reasons and are therefore allowed under international law. Pakistan's unilateral fencing and construction of new observation posts on the long border with Afghanistan are "progressing smoothly," and it's despite recent deadly clashes between the two countries and traditional terrain-related challenges. The massive military-led effort to secure the more than 2,600-kilometer largely-porous frontier began in early 2017. And since then, a pair of 3-meter chain link fences, with a 2-meter gap topped with barbed wire, has been installed along 200 kilometers of the border. I'm Tommie McNeil, VOA news. That's the latest world news from VOA. |