News | 3 May 2018

Trump hints at N Korea prison release +++ Trump contradicted on Stormy Daniels scandal +++ China-US trade talks underway

Trump hints at N Korea prison release +++ Trump contradicted on Stormy Daniels scandal +++ China-US trade talks underway +++ New electoral alliance forms in Turkey +++ UN chief warns US over Iran deal +++ North India struck by massive storms +++ German nurse kidnapped in Somalia +++ The weather

3. Juni 2018, 02:00

News | 3 May 2018

Joanna King

Trump hints at N Korea prison release

US president Trump has suggested an announcement is imminent on the fate of three US citizens held in North Korea. A US official said the three have been relocated from a labour camp to a hotel near Pyongyang. A summit is in planning between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump contradicted on Stormy Daniels scandal

A lawyer for Donald Trump has contradicted the US president over a payment to an adult film actress to stop her talking during the election campaign in 2016 about an alleged sexual encounter. Lawyer Rudi Giuliani has said Trump re-paid his personal lawyer Michael Cohen 130,000 dollars of hush money given to the actress Stormy Daniels, though Trump has previously denied the affair and any knowledge of the payment. Giuliani denied Trump has broken any laws: “Having something to do with paying some Stormy Daniels woman 130,000 is going to turn out to be perfectly legal. That money was not campaign money.”

China-US trade talks underway

Talks have opened in Beijing between top Chinese officials and a US delegation led by Treasury secretary Stephen Mnuchin, to try to avert a trade war. Discussions cover billions of dollars’ worth of potential new tariffs.

New electoral alliance forms in Turkey

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party is scheduled to announce an electoral alliance with three smaller opposition parties to oppose President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, ahead of snap presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24th. The deal may help the smaller parties overcome a 10% threshold to win seats in parliament, a rule that has reinforced President Erdoğan’s long-running majority.

UN chief warns US over Iran deal

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called on US president Trump not to withdraw from the international deal on Iran’s nuclear programme signed in 2015. Guterres said there is a real risk of war if the agreement is scrapped. Iran’s ambassador to Britain has warmed that Tehran may leave the agreement if the US withdraws. Trump is to make a decision by May 12th.

North India struck by massive storms

Indian officials say nearly 100 people have been and dozens injured in massive dust storms and heavy downpours in the north. They said they were some of the worst storms in India in decades.

German nurse kidnapped in Somalia

Officials in Somalia say a German nurse working for the International Committee of the Red Cross in the capital, Mogadishu, has been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen. The ICRC said she had been seized inside its compound yesterday evening.