US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said there was a substantial chance the much talked about summit between him and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un may not hold.
Trump is scheduled to meet Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12, but in recent weeks there have been growing concerns that the summit will not go ahead as scheduled.
Addressing reporters alongside Moon Jae-in, Trump said concerning the meeting, “If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later.”
“There’s a chance that it will work out,” said Trump. “There’s a chance, there’s a very substantial chance it won’t work out,” he added.
“There are certain conditions that we want, and I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we don’t have the meeting.”
EU Parliament grill Zuckerberg over data scandal
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, faced a series of tough questions from European Parliament leaders about how the data of millions of the social network’s users ended up in the hands of a political consultancy group.
The meeting on Tuesday came three days before tough new European Union rules on data protection take effect, which will include new rules on privacy, copyright and consumer rights.
Facebook has come under scrutiny from politicians on both sides of the Atlantic after it emerged that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy that worked on US President Donald Trump’s campaign, improperly acquired the data of 87 million users, including up to 2.7 million in the EU.
The European Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani opened proceedings by saying that EU citizens “deserved a detailed explanation” of how the scandal occurred and expressed concerns ahead of EU elections.
Reiterating his apology for Facebook‘s handling of the alleged data misuse, Zuckerberg said the company had not done enough to keep its users safe.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a mistake and I’m sorry for it,” he said.
He went on to list steps his company is taking to prevent data misuse by its partners, including limiting the user data available to applications through Facebook to names, profile pictures and email addresses and committing to doubling the number of staff responsible for safety and security to 20,000 by the end of the year.
“Keeping people safe will always be more important than maximising our profits,” he said.
Venezuela expels US envoy amid new sanctions
President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the expulsion of the top US diplomat in Venezuela following a new round of sanctions imposed by Washington over his re-election.
Maduro announced the move in a nationally televised speech on Tuesday after being officially proclaimed the winner of Sunday’s election.
“The empire doesn’t dominate us here,” Maduro said, giving charge d’affaires Todd Robinson and his deputy Brian Naranjo 48 hours to leave the country.
“We’ve had enough of your conspiring.”
He accused the pair of trying to sabotage Venezuela’s presidential election by pressuring several anti-government presidential candidates not to compete in the race.
Maduro referred to Naranjo as the head of the CIA in Venezuela.
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In his speech on Tuesday, Maduro angrily rejected the US move saying he repudiates “all the sanctions that are sought against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, because they harm it, they generate suffering for the people of Venezuela”.
He added: “We will present evidence to the country of the conspiracy in the military field of the United States charge d’affaires and his embassy, of the conspiracy in the economic field and of the conspiracy in the political field.”
There was no immediate reaction from Robinson or the US embassy in Caracas.
Washington and Caracas have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.
Public workers protest against Macron’s reforms
More than 15,000 public sector workers marched across the French capital on Tuesday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s planned economic reforms.
A united front of teachers, police officers, transport staff and air traffic controllers rallied, carrying banners and placards condemning a government they say is bent on destroying workers’ rights while targeting people who are already underpaid and overworked.
“We have to fight not just for ourselves but for everyone because the government is hurting the public sector,” a protester said.
“So we’re fighting for France’s vital public services.”
Macron wants to cut 120,000 public sector jobs to help streamline public services, reduce debt and create new opportunities.
Elected last year as a reformer, he is forging ahead with his ambition to transform and modernise France, saying the protests will not make him change his plans, a position that has put him on a collision course with France’s trade union leaders.
Rights groups: Three more activists arrested in Saudi crackdown
Saudi authorities have arrested at least three more women’s right activists, widening a crackdown on campaigners a month before it lifts its ban on female drives, according to human rights groups.
The government on Saturday announced the arrest of seven people, identified by rights groups mostly as women who have long campaigned for the right to drive and to end the kingdom’s male guardianship system.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International told news agencies that the number of people detained had risen to 10, including at least seven women.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed that total.
“Despite international outcry and calls for the release of these activists, they still remain detained for their peaceful human rights work,” said Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East director of campaigns.
“Saudi Arabian authorities cannot continue to publicly state they are dedicated to reform, while treating women’s rights campaigners in this cruel way.”
The Saudi government has previously said that those arrested had suspicious contacts with foreign entities and had offered financial support to “enemies overseas.”
It added that it would identify others involved.
