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North Korea’s New Nuclear Promises Fall Short of U.S. Demands

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, New York Times

North Korea’s New Nuclear Promises Fall Short of U.S. Demands

Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, told South Korea’s president Wednesday that he would commit to some concrete steps toward denuclearization — including an offer to “permanently dismantle” facilities central to fuel production for nuclear warheads. But he made no promises to relinquish his nuclear weapons or missiles. Kim’s commitments fell far short of what American officials have demanded — a complete abandonment of the North’s nuclear and missile programs. Nonetheless, President Donald Trump welcomed the agreements, reached during Kim’s summit meeting in North Korea with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, as “very exciting.”

Trump Hit Iran With Oil Sanctions and So Far, They’re Working

When President Donald Trump announced in May that he was going to withdraw the U.S. from the nuclear agreement that the Obama administration and five other countries negotiated with Iran in 2015 and reimpose sanctions on the country, the decision was fraught with potential disaster. If Trump’s approach worked too well, oil prices would spike and hurt the U.S. economy. If it failed, international companies would continue trading with Iran. But the policy has been effective. Iran’s crude exports are plummeting and remarkably, the price of oil in the U.S. has risen only modestly while gasoline prices have essentially remained flat.

Fewer Attacks, but a More Complex Terrorist Threat in 2017, U.S. Says

Foreign terrorist groups and their affiliates had a bad year in 2017 as the U.S. and other countries fought back against the Islamic State, but al-Qaida and Iranian-backed militias remain deadly threats, according to an annual government report released Wednesday. There were 8,584 terrorist attacks around the world in 2017, a 23 percent decline from 2016. As a result, more than 18,700 people were killed. That death toll represented a 27 percent drop from the previous year, the report said. More than half of all terrorist attacks worldwide took place in just five countries: Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan and the Philippines.

Poland, Making a Play for a U.S. Military Base, Offers to Call It Fort Trump

As brand names for high-rise towers, hotels or golf courses go, it is hard to trump Trump. But what about Fort Trump — the supposedly tongue-in-cheek name President Andrzej Duda of Poland has proposed for a U.S. military base in his country? The Polish leader discussed that proposal with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, trying to get traction for an idea his government has been pushing for months to deter any possible Russian aggression. A Polish senator later tweeted that “President Duda decided to take advantage of Trump’s vanity ... and he humiliated himself, us and Trump.”

In Brexit Talks, Some See Hope in a Minimal Deal

With about six months to go until Britain quits the European Union, time is short and much is unresolved. But a common goal now binds British Prime Minister Theresa May and her Continental counterparts: getting a deal — perhaps any deal — to push withdrawal over the line. European leaders are weary of the endless wrangling within May’s fractious Conservative Party over Britain’s departure, known as Brexit, and fear that a political crisis could propel the country into a chaotic and economically damaging split. That has prompted a new mood of compromise that could help May and the European Union come to a compromise.

Walmart Pulls Soviet-Themed Shirts After Lithuania Objects

Lithuanians have little fondness for Russia. Memories of decades of brutality linger, even more than a quarter century after the fall of the Soviet Union. So a Walmart T-shirt with a hammer and sickle emblem was never likely to be a best seller there. Now, it’s not being sold at all. Lithuanian officials say Walmart, responding to their protests, has pulled the shirts from its online shelves — a move that chilled already icy relations between the countries. When Lithuania’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevicius, applauded Walmart’s decision, the Russian Foreign Ministry congratulated him sarcastically on the victory “in the important matter of T-shirts.”

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