Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 08:48:52

https://twitter.com/lorenzo_tondo

桜の抹茶刺身 2018-3-5 15:51:05 Port Moresby: At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea's remote highlands last week, the Red Cross said Monday, with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific nation's mountainous interior.

Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to deal with strong aftershocks, including two 6.0-magnitude tremors early Monday.

Compounding the fallout was an announcement Monday that the impoverished country's biggest-ever development -- the PNG LNG project operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil -- will be offline for up to eight weeks as the quake-hit facilities undergo repairs.

"The death toll reported by the National Disaster Centre and disaster management teams on Friday is 67," the PNG country head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Udaya Regmi told AFP from the capital Port Moresby.

"Around 143,000 people are affected and 17,000 people have been generally displaced because their homes are either fully or partially damaged and not in a condition to live in."

No official government death toll has been released.

Regmi added that water and sanitation were major concerns for local communities, with relief workers unable to get bigger trucks carrying food through to some areas because of damage to roads by landslides.

Relief efforts are slowly being ramped up, with millions of dollars in aid pledged by the government, ExxonMobil and the Australian energy producers, Oil Search and Santos, involved in the gas project.

The Australian and New Zealand defence forces have began delivering aid, while the China Red Cross and Beijing have pledged financial assistance, according to the PNG Post-Courier.

Oil Search managing director Peter Botten, who travelled to the Highlands to survey the damage, said the impact "has been enormous, with many deaths in the region as well as the destruction of houses, schools, roads and bridges".

"Many communities are without basic necessities, such as food, clean water, shelter and medical support."

Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said last week the shutdown of the gas plant would have a "huge impact" on the economy, which is heavily dependent on its natural resources.

ExxonMobil PNG managing director Andrew Barry said production at the US$19 billion project would be restored as quickly as possible, adding that it was an "unprecedented event for the country" and the firm. (AFP)

仲未有官方死亡人數

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徐庶 2018-3-5 15:51:07 總括來說，就是從民調到選舉，從選舉到組成政府，從組成政府到實現政綱，都存在大堆變數，所以意大利大選真係好鬼複雜。花旗銀行建議不要浪費時間去理解，可能真的是正確見解。

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自問對外國政治都有啲興趣想知，但係意大利真係不了，睇完之後又唔知幾時改。

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 17:15:25

Port Moresby: At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea's remote highlands last week, the Red Cross said Monday, with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

No official government death toll has been released.

仲未有官方死亡人數

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:^(

PNG earthquake: 11 people dead after strong aftershocks rock Highlands

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-05/aftershocks-rattles-quake-hit-papua-new-guinea/9508534

Authorities in Papua New Guinea's Highlands say 11 people died during a strong earthquake aftershock this morning.

Three aftershocks stronger than magnitude-5, including the magnitude-6 quake, shook the mountainous Southern Highlands, about 600 kilometres north-west of the capital Port Moresby, the US Geological Survey said.

The magnitude-6 aftershock hit the region at 6:00am, one week after a magnitude-7.5 quake that struck in the early hours of February 26, killing at least 31 people and triggering landslides, flattening buildings and closing oil and gas operations.

Provincial authorities said this morning's aftershock caused a landslide that buried people in the small village of Huya.

They say the total death toll in the province — one of several affected by the quake — is now about 60, with more reports yet to come in.

Geohazards experts also warned of another potential crisis, saying the landslides had blocked rivers and created dams, or "quake lakes", that could break and flood in the rainy season, putting thousands of people at risk.


Australia, New Zealand and the Red Cross have all pledged aid to help the recovery process.


今朝又震過

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Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 18:48:46 Japan's navy to buy tanker to fuel ships patrolling East China Sea: sources

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-defense-tanker/japans-navy-to-buy-tanker-to-fuel-ships-patrolling-east-china-sea-sources-idUSKBN1GH0B2

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s navy wants to buy its first oil tanker to carry fuel to Okinawa as it cranks up operations in the East China Sea to counter a growing Chinese naval presence, two sources familiar with plan said.

The Maritime Self Defense Forces (MSDF) needs a tanker able to carry 300,000 barrels of fuel to White Beach port on Okinawa where it stores fuel for warships that patrol the region.

The plan will be included in a defense review outlining equipment procurement for the five years beginning April 2019, the sources said.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 18:53:01 唔好唔記得意粉班政客成跳槽，又可以搵個非政客做首相，仲有極度的山頭主義....

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 18:54:18 U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in Vietnam on landmark visit

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-vietnam-carrier-vietnam/u-s-aircraft-carrier-arrives-in-vietnam-on-landmark-visit-idUSKBN1GH0HL

DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in Vietnam on Monday for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, dramatically underscoring the growing strategic ties between the former foes at a time when China’s regional influence is rising.

The grey and imposing silhouette of the USS Carl Vinson could be seen on Monday morning from the cliff tops just outside the central Vietnamese city of Danang, where the 103,000-tonne carrier and two other U.S. ships begin a five-day visit.

“The visit marks an enormously significant milestone in our bilateral relations and demonstrates U.S. support for a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam,” Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, said in a statement.

“Through hard work, mutual respect, and by continuing to address the past while we work toward a better future, we have gone from former enemies to close partners.”

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 18:56:39 Europe digs in to fight global trade war against Trump

https://www.politico.eu/article/trade-donald-trump-united-states-europe-digs-in-to-fight-global-trade-war-against-trump/

Direct retaliation against Washington will only be one dimension of the broader showdown. The far more complex challenge for Brussels will be calculating how to cope with the sudden shifts in global steel supply caused by Trump pulling down the trade barriers in the U.S.

Big producers such as South Korea, Japan, Brazil and China will now be seeking new markets in Europe, and the EU is already looking to deter them with so-called “safeguard measures.”

Shortly after Trump announced additional tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker responded that the EU would take the fight straight back to Washington.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has suggested that there could be a positive domino effect in safeguard measures for developed markets. With one market after another shutting out imports to keep the steel surge out, producers in every country would have to focus on supplying their home market. The ultimate victim should be China, which would start to choke on its massive overcapacity.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 18:59:41 France's far-right National Front to change name as Le Pen seeks rebound

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-politics-fn/frances-far-right-national-front-to-change-name-as-le-pen-seeks-rebound-idUSKBN1GH0VU

PARIS (Reuters) - French far-right leader Marine Le Pen will this weekend unveil a new name for the 45-year-old National Front and a refocus on immigration as it searches for more voters and relevance in a political landscape transformed by President Emmanuel Macron.

While Jean Marie Le Pen has warned that altering such a well-known brand could be political suicide, local FN officials said their experience on the ground argued strongly for such a move.

“The name change is essential to enable us to strike alliances and talk with voters without what is often an almost automatic negative reaction,” said Davy Rodriguez, the 24-year-old deputy head of the National Front’s youth movement.

The second key aspect of the FN rebranding is, as other European far-right parties have done, a watering down of its stance against the European Union’s common currency.


The objective is to break the FN’s isolation from the mainstream. Le Pen seeks to head a more inclusive“patriotic” camp as small and large parties alike scramble to reinvent themselves after the unprecedented election victory of newcomer Macron’s neither-left-nor-right recipe for politics.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 19:29:05 Swiss vote to retain taxpayer funding for public broadcaster

http://www.dw.com/en/swiss-vote-to-retain-taxpayer-funding-for-public-broadcaster/a-42819374

A large majority of Swiss citizens voted on Sunday against an initiative that would have seen the national broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), lose its funding through license fees, projections of referendum results showed.

At least 71 percent of people to reject the initiative, according to final results posted by the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland.

The proposal to see the SRG SSR lose taxpayer funding, named the "No Billag" initiative in reference to the firm that collects the license fee, had support largely from young Swiss, who tend to consume media via the internet rather than from radio or broadcast networks. "No Billag" was led by the youth wing of the libertarian Free Democratic Party (PLR), but also had support from Switzerland's largest party, the nationalist and anti-migrant Swiss Peoples Party (UDC).

Backers of the initiative argued that the SRG SSR was anachronistic and out of step with modern media consumption habits.

Critics of the "No Billag" warned that a media environment driven by profit would mean that programming would largely target German-speaking areas, which is where most wealth is accumulated. They said the poorer French-speaking and Italian-speaking regions would inevitably be disadvantaged in their media access.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 19:31:43 Slovak president urges sweeping changes over journalist Jan Kuciak's murder

http://www.dw.com/en/slovak-president-urges-sweeping-changes-over-journalist-jan-kuciaks-murder/a-42823513

Slovakia's president, Andrej Kiska, has said there was no way back for the government following the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee.

"There's a huge public distrust of the state," he said during Sunday's televised tribute to Kuciak. "And many don't trust law enforcement authorities ... This distrust is justified. We crossed the line, things went too far and there's no way back."

The president said he would host talks with the leaders of Slovakia's political parties to discuss his proposed government shake-up. "I can see two solutions: a profound change to government or early elections," he said.

The investigative journalist was working on a report highlighting the links between Slovakia's political elite and the Italian mafia when he and his fiancee were shot dead in their home near Bratislava on February 25.

Kuciak's employer posthumously published his last article this week, which revealed ties between Prime Minister Robert Fico's inner circle and individuals wanted in Italy for mafia-related crimes.


Should Fico resign, then the government would fall. New elections can be triggered with the support of three-fifths of lawmakers. The government can also ask for a confidence vote in parliament, where a simple majority would suffice. Fico has in the past described journalists as "dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes" and used terms like "plain, silly hyenas" and "slimy snakes" to describe the media.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 21:13:43 美國將非洲戰略機遇讓給中國

http://big5.ftchinese.com/story/001076368

// 從南中國海到中東，美國正不斷失去其作為無可匹敵的超級大國的地位。這種影響力的喪失最明顯不過的地方之一就是非洲了——北京在非洲嗅到了戰略機遇，而華盛頓在非洲眼中越來越像一個反覆無常、甚至缺席的盟友。

如果唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的「美國優先」(America First)政策有一個鏡像，那麼你將在這個全世界最貧窮的大洲找到它。你可以稱之為「非洲最後」(Africa Last)。//

// 祖籍肯尼亞，但其對非洲的承諾與小布什(George W Bush)相比要遜色不少——小布什對非洲事業的貢獻（尤其是在愛滋病防治方面）令他在非洲成了一位英雄。

然而，就人們的感覺而言，美國從非洲大陸脫身的速度加快了。特朗普威脅要將美國的援助預算下調30%，這意味着美國對如下這項數十年來得到兩黨一致支持的議程的承諾大幅減弱：促進人類健康和減少貧困。//

// 隨着美國勢力消減，中國勢力漸長。從公路、鐵路、電信、基礎設施到吉布提海軍基地，中國的身影無處不在。在聯合國安理會(UN Security Council)五個常任理事國中，中國的駐非維和人員最多。當津巴布韋的軍方將領們準備把穆加貝趕下台時，他們首先知會的是北京、而不是華盛頓。 //

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 21:20:00 Guatemala's president announces embassy move to Jerusalem in May

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/guatemala-president-announces-embassy-move-jerusalem-aipac-180305064101137.html

Guatemala's president has announced that he will move his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, two days after the United States will do so.

Speaking on Monday at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee ((AIPAC) conference in Washington DC, Jimmy Morales said that the embassy move "strongly evidences Guatemala's continued support and solidarity with the people of Israel".

The move of the embassy will take place on May 16, with the Guatemalan president adding that he is "sure many other countries will follow in our steps".

It was also the first country to back Trump's decision on Jerusalem. The country's close relations with the US is largely defined by its dependency on US financial support.

Furthermore, the local economy depends on money sent by hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans living in the US, with remittances reaching $8bn in the last year - roughly three-quarters of the Guatemalan budget.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-5 22:25:14 Matteo Renzi to resign as Democratic Party leader: reports
https://www.politico.eu/article/matteo-renzi-to-resign-as-democratic-party-leader-reports

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will resign as secretary-general of the Democratic Party after the party secured less than 20 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, Italian newswire ANSA reported Monday.

However, a Renzi spokesman denied the ANSA report.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 12:57:21 Donald Trump says may travel to Jerusalem for embassy opening

http://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-says-may-travel-to-jerusalem-for-embassy-opening/a-42831463

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he might travel to Israel to attend the opening ceremony of a new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

Trump made the statement during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office.

"We're looking at coming," Trump said. "If I can, I will."

Israel has expressed concern over Trump's pledge to dismantle the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with one key concern being the possibility that the US might accept Iran's increasing presence in Syria and influence in Lebanon, two Israeli neighbors.

There is worry that Trump might push new restrictions aimed at preventing Iran from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US but will allow Iran to keep developing medium-range ballistic missiles that could strike Israel.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 12:58:15 Russian spy critically ill in UK after 'unknown substance' exposure

http://www.dw.com/en/russian-spy-critically-ill-in-uk-after-unknown-substance-exposure/a-42837808

British media report an ex-Russian double agent was in a critical condition on Monday after being exposed to an "unknown substance."

Authorities did not identify the man, but multiple media outlets gave his name as Sergei Skripal, a 66-year-old former general of Russian military inteligence that had been convicted in Russia for spying for the UK.

Police said two people had been found unconscious on a bench on Sunday in downtown Salisbury, a city in the south of England.

"The pair, who we believe are known to each other, did not have any visible injuries and were taken to Salisbury District Hospital," the police said. They described the patients as a "man aged in his 60s and a woman aged in her 30s," adding they were "in a critical condition."

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 12:59:20 Turkey asks Germany to extradite Syrian Kurdish leader Salih Muslim

http://www.dw.com/en/turkey-asks-germany-to-extradite-syrian-kurdish-leader-salih-muslim/a-42833078

Turkey on Monday asked German authorities to detain and extradite Salih Muslim, the founder and former co-chair of Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD), the country's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Monday.

Muslim was detained in Prague last week on a Turkish arrest warrant while attending a conference on the Middle East. A Czech court later ordered his release on the assurance that he will remain in European Union territory and cooperate in any further proceedings in his extradition case.

A spokesman for Germany's interior ministry declined to comment on the case of Muslim, citing privacy rules.

"In general terms, should we receive such a tracing request, either bilaterally or via Interpol, then there always needs to be a very, very diligent examination procedure," Johannes Dimroth told reporters in Berlin.

He added that the German government would take into account "all aspects that need to be considered in such situations" before making a decision.

Relations between Turkey and Germany have deteriorated since the failed coup against Turkish President Erdogan in 2016 and the crackdown that followed. Germany has openly criticized Turkey's increasingly autocratic government, human rights violations and arrests of journalists in the aftermath of the failed coup.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 13:01:16 Irish PM rejects Theresa May's proposal of Canada-like border

http://www.dw.com/en/irish-pm-rejects-theresa-mays-proposal-of-canada-like-border/a-42838481

Earlier on Monday, opposition in the UK's House of Commons quizzed May about the future relations between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The two countries share a land border at Northern Ireland. May had repeatedly stated there would be no hard border on the Irish island after Brexit.

Just hours later in Dublin, Ireland's Leo Varadkar rejected the idea, citing his visit last year to the Canadian border. "I saw a hard border, with physical infrastructure, with customs posts, people in uniform with arms and dogs," Varadkar was quoted by the Irish Times as saying.

In a separate statement, he also dismissed the idea of Dublin directly negotiating with London, with or without EU representatives. "That's not in our interest and not the way that this can be concluded," Varadkar told Ireland's RTE radio. "What will happen is that there will be talks between the EU 27 and the UK, and Ireland is part of the EU 27 and we're much stronger, by the way, as one of 27," he added.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 15:29:31 GOP urges Trump to abandon tariffs

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/376873-gop-urges-trump-to-abandon-tariffs

Republican lawmakers on Monday pressured President Trump to reverse course on his plan to impose steep tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, arguing it threatens the U.S. economy and GOP majorities in Congress.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has lobbied Trump to reconsider the tariffs by sharing his concerns personally with the president “on multiple occasions,” according to his office.

“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains.”

The Senate Finance Committee sent a similar letter to the White House and a number of influential conservative outside groups, including Club for Growth and FreedomWorks, have ripped into the proposal in a frantic, last-minute push to convince Trump to either scale back or ditch the plan before it’s finalized.

Republicans’ pitch to Trump has largely focused on economic concerns. They say the proposed tariffs could send the stock market plunging and erase economic gains from the $1.5 trillion tax cut — two successes the GOP plans to tout in the upcoming midterm elections. GOP strategist Doug Heye said “there’s no question” that the tariffs could undermine the party’s midterm message.

If Trump does move forward, congressional leaders may consider legislative action to stop the tariffs, according to one GOP source. Under the Constitution, Congress has authority over trade issues. But lawmakers have passed multiple bills in the past ceding some of that power to the president when it comes to trade deals.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 15:31:06 Argentina's ex-president Fernández to face trial over alleged bombing cover-up

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/argentina-cristina-fernandez-de-kirchner-trial-bombing

Argentina’s former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will face trial over an alleged cover-up of Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, judicial authorities announced on Monday.

Eleven other former officials and people close to Fernández’s government will also be tried on charges of cover-up and abuse of power, the federal judge Claudio Bonadio said in a ruling released on Monday by Argentina’s official judicial information center (CIJ).

The trial date has not been set.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 15:32:16 Chile's Bachelet proposes new constitution in last days in office

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-politics/chiles-bachelet-proposes-new-constitution-in-last-days-in-office-idUSKBN1GI07I?

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile’s outgoing President Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that she would send Congress legislation to replace the country’s dictator-era constitution with one to guarantee equal pay for men and women and the right to strike for workers.

While Bachelet will not likely be able to push the proposal through Congress before her term ends on Sunday, it could force incoming president Sebastian Pinera to reckon with a longstanding aspiration of the leftist and centrist lawmakers with whom he will have to govern.
Pinera, a conservative billionaire and former president elected to a new term in December, has said he was open to “perfecting” the constitution if a climate of political unity prevailed.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 16:31:29 被指涉嫌性侵女秘書　文在寅接班人宣佈請辭

https://thestandnews.com/international/metoo%E5%9C%A8%E9%9F%93%E5%9C%8B-%E8%A2%AB%E6%8C%87%E6%B6%89%E5%AB%8C%E6%80%A7%E4%BE%B5%E5%A5%B3%E7%A7%98%E6%9B%B8-%E6%96%87%E5%9C%A8%E5%AF%85%E6%8E%A5%E7%8F%AD%E4%BA%BA%E5%AE%A3%E4%BD%88%E8%AB%8B%E8%BE%AD/

被視為韓國總統文在寅的接班人、忠南道知事安熙正（An Hee-jung），日前被女秘書指證曾遭四度性侵。安熙正昨晚承認錯誤，宣佈辭職。

隸屬南韓執政黨「共同民主黨」的忠清南道知事安熙正，被指與女秘書有染已久，但一直堅稱得到對方同意。該女秘書星期一接受韓國 JTBC 電視台《NEWS ROOM》訪問，指去年 6 月起八個月間遭受安熙正四次性侵，受害人亦不只一人，她形容，雙方性關係並非「兩情相悅」，並強調安熙正清楚明白自己的態度，「但我身處的位置，令我無法說不」。她又指，受到當地一名女檢察官上月初公開性侵經歷的事件鼓勵，決定公開事件，並於周二就事件向司法機構投訴。

節目播出後，安熙正昨晚深夜在 facebook 發文承認錯誤，向涉事女秘書及所有人致歉。他形容自己的行為愚蠢，指事件「全部都是自己的過失」。他表示將會辭去忠南道知事一職，並停止一切政治活動。帖子現已錄得近六千個「怒怒」。

曾考慮支持安熙正競逐下屆韓國選舉的「共同民主黨」，知悉事件後開除安熙正黨籍。忠南道議會今早亦接受安熙正的請辭，而韓國警方則介入調查性侵指控。

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 19:47:25 Sri Lanka: State of emergency declared after anti-Muslim riots

http://www.dw.com/en/sri-lanka-state-of-emergency-declared-after-anti-muslim-riots/a-42840829

Sri Lanka declared a country-wide state of emergency on Tuesday to suppress communal violence between Muslims and ethnic Sinhalese.

The announcement comes amid growing ethnic tension between Muslims and the primarily Buddhist majority Sinhalese on the Indian Ocean island.

Anti-Muslim riots broke out in the central district of Kandy on the weekend after a Sinhalese man who said he had been attacked by a muslim mob died in a local hospital.

In response, the government instituted a curfew in the district and deployed hundreds of heavily-armed police to stop the rioting.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 19:48:36 Former President Mohamed Nasheed: 'Maldives government selling oil to North Korea'

http://www.dw.com/en/former-president-mohamed-nasheed-maldives-government-selling-oil-to-north-korea/a-42832298

In an exclusive interview with DW, Mohamed Nasheed, former president of the Maldives, accused incumbent president Abdulla Yameen of suppressing political opponents and supporting the North Korean regime.

Mohamed Nasheed: As you are aware, President Yameen has arrested his vice president, his defense minister, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and other judges. Yameen has actually overrun the state. He ordered the military to occupy the parliament and declared a state of emergency, which continues.

What we are hearing now is that there are rifts within the military because Yameen has arrested a number of military officials as well.

While this is happening in the Maldives, we also heard that a ship with the Maldives' flag on it sold oil to North Korea ignoring the United Nations sanctions on the country. This ship was not only registered in the Maldives, but also funded by the Bank of Maldives. Japan's foreign ministry also announced that a Maldives ship was transferring oil to the North Korean regime on high seas. This shows that President Yameen is steering the country to a very dangerous path.

I am not surprised at this because Yameen did the same thing a few years ago with Myanmar, when the country was under international sanctions.

Filibuster_HK 2018-3-6 19:49:36 South and North Korea agree to hold joint summit

http://www.dw.com/en/south-and-north-korea-agree-to-hold-joint-summit/a-42838411

South Korea on Tuesday said it has agreed with North Korea to hold a joint summit in late April and to set up a telephone hotline between their leaders.

South Korea's presidential national security director, Chung Eui-yong, also said the North had agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons if military threats against the country were resolved and if it receives a credible security guarantee.

The talks will take place at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Panmunjom border area and will be the first North-South summit in more than a decade.

Chung said Pyongyang agreed to halt tests of nuclear weapons and missiles if it holds talks with the US and that it was ready to have "heart-to-heart" talks with Washington.