North Korea has threatened to pull out of the historic planned first meeting between a sitting US president and its leader, with Pyongyang officials saying they have no interest in “one-sided” US demands that they give up nuclear weapons. The cancellation of the 12 June summit would be deeply embarrassing for President Donald Trump.
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North Korea threatens to cancel Trump summit
Carillion directors ‘stuffed their mouths with gold’
The directors of failed construction giant Carillion were permitted to “stuff their mouths with gold” for years before the company collapsed with liabilities of up to £7bn this January, two Commons select committees have said. The MPs blamed the firm’s board, auditors and regulators for allowing it to go bust, leaving a £2.6bn pensions black hole.
Windrush: as many as 63 wrongly deported
As many as 63 of the so-called Windrush generation have been wrongly removed or deported from the UK, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has said. Shadow home secretary Diane Abbot said she was glad to have a figure and accepted it, though it was much lower than the 3,000 she had feared. A senior Home Office official said last week that just a “handful” of the Windrush migrants had been deported.
Malaysia opposition hero released from jail
Former Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been released from jail, where he was serving a second sentence for sodomy. The ex-deputy prime minister was given a royal pardon. Earlier this month, an opposition coalition displaced the country’s main political party, which had been in government since the country gained independence more than 60 years ago.
Anne Frank’s ‘dirty jokes’ found in diary
Researchers have uncovered two hidden new pages from Anne Frank’s diary that include a handful of dirty jokes and her thoughts on sex. Brown paper had been pasted over the pages, but experts used image processing technology to discover what was written beneath. The entries were written on 28 September 1942, not long after the 13-year-old and her family went into hiding from the Nazis.
Author Tom Wolfe dies at 88
American author Tom Wolfe has died of an infection at the age of 88 in a New York hospital. Wolfe is best known for satirical novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, but much of his work was non-fiction. As a reporter for US newspapers, he pioneered “new journalism”, which took a radical, stream-of-consciousness approach to immerse the reader.
Box of hand grenades ‘fell off back of lorry’
The US air force is offering a $5,000 (£3,700) reward for help finding a box of hand grenades that fell out of the back of a military vehicle as it travelled between testing sites in North Dakota. More than 100 airmen walked the six-mile route taken by the humvee on Friday but could not find the missing ammunition.
Mass walkout from Von Trier film at Cannes
The latest film from controversial director Lars von Trier provoked a mass walkout when it was screened at Cannes on Monday. One critic said that “more than 100” people had left the showing of The House that Jack Built, a comedy starring Matt Dillon as a serial killer that features extreme violence and scenes in which women and children are tortured.
Rare blue diamond sold in Geneva for £5m
A rare blue diamond that was once set in a tiara owned by the executed former French queen Marie Antoinette has sold at auction in Geneva for $6.7m (£5m). The 6.1-carat Farnese Blue was mined in India and given as a wedding present to Elizabeth Farnese when she married the king of Spain in 1715.
Briefing: what is the capital of Israel?
It’s a simple question - what is the capital of Israel? - but the answer depends on who you ask. For the Israeli government, it’s straightforward: Jerusalem.
Since the annexation of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War gave Israel complete control of the Holy City, the Israeli government has been seeking formal international recognition of a united Jerusalem as the country’s capital.
However, Palestinian nationalists consider East Jerusalem the rightful capital of an independent Palestine and a crucial plank of any future peace negotiations.
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