​CIA director Mike Pompeo forged a "good relationship" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when they met last week, US President Donald Trump has tweeted.Confirming media reports of the secret meeting in Pyongyang, Mr Trump said it had gone "very smoothly".

The surprise visit marks the highest-level contact between the United States and North Korea since 2000.

Mr Trump is expected to hold a summit with Mr Kim by June. Details are being worked out, the US president said.

South Korea has also signalled that it may pursue a formal resolution of the longstanding conflict on the peninsula. President Moon Jae-in and Mr Kim are due to meet next week.

North Korea will hold a plenary meeting of its ruling party's central committee tomorrow.

Such meetings are held to decide important policy issues.

The US president earlier gave his "blessing" for the talks between the South and North to discuss a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Mr Pompeo's trip took place after he was nominated by Mr Trump to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.

Very little is known about the talks other than that they were to prepare for the forthcoming Trump-Kim summit.

Mr Pompeo is predicted to be confirmed as the top US diplomat by the Republican-controlled Senate in the coming weeks, although Democratic opposition to the conservative's candidacy is strong.

Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he did not think Mr Pompeo's "past sentiments" reflected American values.

The hawkish CIA chief is known for his opposition to same-sex marriage and has made controversial remarks about Islam.

News of Mr Pompeo's visit is likely to overshadow delicate talks with Japan, a key US ally and neighbour of North Korea.

There have been fears in Tokyo that Mr Trump's plans for bilateral talks could sideline Japan, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is currently in Florida for talks with the US leader.

Relations between the two men appeared cordial on this, the second time that Mr Trump has welcomed Mr Abe to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Mr Trump insisted on Tuesday that the two countries were "very unified on the subject of North Korea", and Mr Abe praised the US president's handling of the North Korea issue.

However, observers say Mr Abe's goal for his US trip will be to persuade the US president as much as he can not to sway from the West's hard line on Pyongyang.

- BBC

​A UN security team came under fire in Syria while doing reconnaissance for inspectors to visit sites of a suspected chemical weapons attack, making it unclear when they would go in.Inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are in Syria to investigate an April 7 incident in which Western countries and rescue workers said civilians were gassed to death by government forces.

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü said the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) had decided to carry out reconnaissance at two sites in the town of Douma before the inspectors would visit them.

"On arrival at site one, a large crowd gathered and the advice provided by the UNDSS was that the reconnaissance team should withdraw," he told a meeting at the watchdog's headquarters.

"At site two, the team came under small arms fire and an explosive was detonated. The reconnaissance team returned to Damascus."

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis blamed the Syrian government for delays in inspectors reaching the sites and said it had a history of trying to "clean up the evidence before the investigation team gets in".

"We are very much aware of the delay that the regime imposed on that delegation but we are also very much aware of how they have operated in the past and seal what they have done using chemical weapons," Mattis said before the start of a meeting with his counterpart from Qatar.

The United States, Britain and France fired missiles at Syrian targets on Saturday in retaliation for the suspected chemical use. They said the arrival of the inspectors was held up by Syrian authorities who controlled the area, and that evidence of the chemical attack was being destroyed.

Syria and Russia denied gas attacks took place, that they were holding up the inspections or that they tampered with evidence at the site.

It was now unclear when the inspectors would be able to reach it.

The OPCW team will seek evidence from soil samples, interviews with witnesses, blood, urine or tissue samples from victims and weapon parts.

Earlier, the rebel group based in Douma announced its surrender just hours after the suspected chemical attack. The last rebels left a week later, hours after the Western retaliation strikes. Douma was the last town to hold out in the besieged eastern Ghouta enclave, the last big rebel bastion near the capital Damascus. Eastern Ghouta was captured by a government advance over the past two months.

The US-led intervention has threatened to escalate confrontation between the West and Assad's backer Russia, although it has had no impact on the fighting on the ground, in which pro-government forces have pressed on with a campaign to crush the rebellion.

Assad is now in his strongest position since the early months of a seven-year-old civil war that has killed more than 500,000 people and driven more than half of Syrians from their homes.

- Reuters

The chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi says an apparent proposed Chinese military base in Vanuatu is alright as long as it does not pose any threat to the region.
 
Tuila'epa told reporters that the matter may be raised at the Forum Leaders meeting in Nauru later this year.
 
The Samoan Prime Minister pointed out that the United States has a military base in Guam and it doesn't pose any threat to the region.
 
Tuila'epa said the only threat the region is facing is from North Korea

SOURCE: RNZ PACIFIC

​Story and picture courtesy of 9news.com.au

China is aiming to solve its water shortage by building a hi-tech rain-making network the size of Queensland.

Scientists plan to use military-grade technology to build a vast network of fuel-burning chambers high up on the Tibetan mountains, reports the South China Morning Post.

If successful, the ambitious project would increase rainfall in the region by as much as 10billion cubic metres a year -or about 7percent of China’s water consumption – researchers said.

But achieving that target involves building tens of thousands of chambers 5000m up the Tibetan plateau across an area of 1.6mllion square kilometres – about the size of Queensland.

By burning solid fuel in the chambers, silver iodide which has a crystal-like formation is produced.

The other key component is wind containing water vapour from the Indian monsoon.

When it reaches the Tibetan plateau, it would then sweep the silver iodide particles into the clouds to stimulate snow and rain.

A scientist from the project told the South China Morning Post trials involving 500 burners had so far produced “very promising results”.

“Sometimes snow would start falling almost immediately after we ignited the chamber. It was like standing on the stage of a magic show,” he said.

Giant defence and space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is behind the project.

Scientists from the state-owned company drew on rocket propulsion systems in the chamber design, enabling them to burn the solid fuel in the oxygen-scarce mountain locations.

The project is another form of cloud seeding – the artificial increase of moisture in clouds to stimulate rainfall.

While similar projects are underway in countries such as the US and Dubai using planes and drones, nothing rivals the scale of China’s grandiose Tibetan plan.

But the superpower’s thirst for more rain brings with it the risk of regional tensions.

The massive glaciers and extensive subterranean of the Tibetan plateau make it one of Asia’s biggest water reserves, feeding rivers such as the Yangtze, Mekong and Yellow.

As well as China, they and other river systems flow through India, Laos, Myanmar and Nepal, supplying millions of people.

Tonga's prime minister says his country is no longer a signatory to the regional trade deal known as PACER Plus.

The deal was signed in Nuku Alofa last year on 14 June by 10 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Cook Islands and Tonga.

But according to Matangi Tonga, 'Akilisi Pohiva has admitted that the agreement has been found to be inappropriate for Tonga and the country is no longer a signatory.

However, a spokesperson from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says Australia has not received any formal advice from Tonga that it is not proceeding towards ratification of the Treaty.

They said Australia's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, discussed PACER Plus and the joint interest in lifting economic growth in the region when she met with the Tongan Government on 23 March.

As far as DFAT is concerned the Australian Government and the other 11 signatories to PACER Plus are working to conclude domestic processes to allow for ratification and early implementation of the Agreement.

Other notable absences from PACER Plus at the time of the signing were Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
    

Source: RNZI

​A human rights advocate in Fiji says the prime minister's comments about same-sex marriage are extremely homophobic and disheartening.Frank Bainimarama was responding to comments made by Shamima Ali, the head of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre, on a news programme where she said Fiji should consider allowing same-sex marriage.

But in today's Fiji Sun, Mr Bainimarama is quoted as saying that will not happen in his or Ms Ali's lifetime, saying "Fiji does not need that rubbish."

He says that if a woman wants to marry another woman, "they should go and have it done in Iceland and stay and live there."

Shamima Ali says it was a totally regressive statement towards an LGBT community that struggles with discrimination.

"It's extreme homophobia and really total disrespect for a community in Fiji, and it's just not in keeping with statements that government has been making in terms of human rights, and violence against women, and our aspiration to be on the UN Human Rights Council in the near future."

Shamima Ali says acceptance of the gay community has slowly been increasing, and leaders should instead be encouraging tolerance.

Source: Radio New Zealand

​Kabul: A car bomb exploded outside a sports stadium in Afghanistan's restive south on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more, officials said, capping a bloody week in the war-torn country.

The blast happened in Lashkar Gah city as spectators were leaving a wrestling match at the stadium, Helmand provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

Helmand police spokesman Salam Afghan told AFP that at least 10 people had been killed and 35 others wounded in the attack. But Zwak put the death toll even higher at 13 dead and 45 wounded, including children.

Afghan officials often give conflicting tolls in the wake of attacks.

"The suicide bomber detonated his car bomb as spectators were leaving the stadium," Zwak said.

"The bomber wanted to go inside the stadium but he was identified by the police and he detonated himself."

The police spokesman confirmed the blast was caused by a car bomb.

Photos posted on Twitter purportedly of the explosion showed a huge fire and a thick plume of black smoke rising into the sky.

The Italian NGO Emergency said four dead and 35 wounded had been taken to its hospital in the city.

"We heard a loud explosion from our surgical centre in the city," Emergency tweeted.

"35 wounded already taken to our hospital, another 4 were dead on arrival."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Agha Mohammad, a 25-year-old shopkeeper from Lashkar Gah, was among the spectators leaving the match when the blast happened.

"Four of my family members were martyred and three others were wounded," a sobbing Mohammad told AFP at the Emergency hospital.


Bloody few days 

Helmand is mostly controlled by the Taliban, which is under growing pressure to take up the Afghan government's offer of peace talks to end the 16-year war. So far it has given only a muted response.

Witnesses said the wrestling match had been held as part of celebrations for Nawrooz, the Persian new year holiday that some fundamentalist Muslims consider un-Islamic.

The attack caps a bloody few days in war-torn Afghanistan.

In Kabul on Wednesday a suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of people celebrating Nowruz, killing dozens of people, many of them teenagers.



Agence France-Presse

Kabul: A car bomb exploded outside a sports stadium in Afghanistan's restive south on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more, officials said, capping a bloody week in the war-torn country.

The blast happened in Lashkar Gah city as spectators were leaving a wrestling match at the stadium, Helmand provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.

Helmand police spokesman Salam Afghan told AFP that at least 10 people had been killed and 35 others wounded in the attack. But Zwak put the death toll even higher at 13 dead and 45 wounded, including children.

Afghan officials often give conflicting tolls in the wake of attacks.

"The suicide bomber detonated his car bomb as spectators were leaving the stadium," Zwak said.

"The bomber wanted to go inside the stadium but he was identified by the police and he detonated himself."

The police spokesman confirmed the blast was caused by a car bomb.

Photos posted on Twitter purportedly of the explosion showed a huge fire and a thick plume of black smoke rising into the sky.

The Italian NGO Emergency said four dead and 35 wounded had been taken to its hospital in the city.

"We heard a loud explosion from our surgical centre in the city," Emergency tweeted.

"35 wounded already taken to our hospital, another 4 were dead on arrival."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Agha Mohammad, a 25-year-old shopkeeper from Lashkar Gah, was among the spectators leaving the match when the blast happened.

"Four of my family members were martyred and three others were wounded," a sobbing Mohammad told AFP at the Emergency hospital.


Bloody few days 

Helmand is mostly controlled by the Taliban, which is under growing pressure to take up the Afghan government's offer of peace talks to end the 16-year war. So far it has given only a muted response.

Witnesses said the wrestling match had been held as part of celebrations for Nawrooz, the Persian new year holiday that some fundamentalist Muslims consider un-Islamic.

The attack caps a bloody few days in war-torn Afghanistan.

In Kabul on Wednesday a suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of people celebrating Nowruz, killing dozens of people, many of them teenagers.

Agence France-Presse​

​Donald Trump flops over his pink and white baby walker and rolls it around his family’s modest home in Kabul, blissfully unaware of the turmoil his “infidel” name is causing in the deeply conservative country.

The rosy-cheeked toddler’s parents named him after the billionaire US President in the hope of replicating his success. 

But now he is at the centre of a social media firestorm in Afghanistan after a photo of his ID papers was posted on Facebook. 

A self-confessed fan of the American tycoon turned leader of the free world, Sayed Assadullah Pooya said he and his wife have been inundated with “vulgar and insulting” comments attacking their choice of name for their third child.

Some Facebook users have gone as far as threatening to kill Sayed for giving his son an “infidel name”, while others have accused him of endangering the boy’s life.

There are even suggestions Sayed is using the moniker to wangle asylum in the United States - a charge the 28-year-old teacher vehemently denies.

“I didn’t know at the beginning that Afghan people would be so sensitive about a name,” Sayed said, as Donald played with a music app on his father’s Samsung smartphone in their carpeted room. 

Sayed says someone posted the picture online, sparking the controversy that forced him to close his Facebook account. 

Agence France-Press

​MOSCOW: Russians began voting on Sunday in the presidential election in which incumbent President Vladimir Putin is seeking a fourth term in office.

Polls first opened in Russia's far-east at 8 a.m. (Russian time). The polling will open in Moscow nine hours later, BBC reported.

Russians residing in the country's easternmost regions of Kamchatka and Chukotka began casting votes after the polling opened, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 111 million Russian citizens are expected to cast votes to choose the country's president for the next six years, Sputnik reported.

There is no meaningful opposition in the running, and Putin's fiercest political opponent, Alexei Navalny, has been barred from competing, CNN reported.

Despite a lackluster campaign, the 65-year-old Putin is the clear front-runner.

Putin is seeking a fourth term as president and is already the country's longest-serving leader since the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. A win would mean a Putin-led Russia until 2024, after which he is constitutionally obliged to stand down.

Russian nationals are electing the country's head of the state among eight contenders -- Sergey Baburin from the All-People's Union party; Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin; incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin; Civil Initiative party candidate Ksenia Sobchak; Communists of Russia party chairman Maxim Suraykin; Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs' Rights Boris Titov; co-founder of the Yabloko party Grigory Yavlinsky, and head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sputnik reported.

The polling stations will be open from 8am to 8pm in every Russian region in accordance with the time zones. Russia has 11 time zones.

The number of eligible voters in Russia equals 108.9 million people as of January 1, 2018, while abroad, the number exceeds 1.87 million people.

Earlier, the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) carefully checked the number of voters in order to cleanse the voter lists of phantom voters and repeated mentioning of voters, Sputnik reported.

It also cooperated with the Russian Interior Ministry to rule out the double reporting of those who permanently reside abroad being registered in Russia.

The CEC has significantly simplified the voting procedure at the place of one's factual residence.

The residents of Moscow who decided to cast their votes for a presidential candidate and vote on the address of permanent residence registration may choose the most convenient polling station among 3,605 ones, only taking their passports along with.

Those who vote in the Russian capital but are not registered there had to apply until March 12 to any local election commission, multi-service centre or online state services portal, in order to be allowed to vote at a place of residence.

The results will be announced on March 19.

Indo-Asian News Service