Kim Yong Chol, a veteran Pyongyang power player and a member of the young autocrat’s inner circle, flew in on an Air China flight from Beijing, becoming the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.

Dialogue between the two sides began with a dinner meeting held in an apartment building near the UN headquarters at 7:00pm (2300 GMT), ahead of further talks Thursday to finalize planning for a June 12 summit designed to end a nuclear standoff that once threatened to plunge Korea back into war.

Pompeo, who arrived at the venue first, was accompanied by Andrew Kim, the head of the Koreas desk at the CIA. Kim Yong Chol arrived minutes later and was also accompanied by an aide.

Neither side spoke to the press ahead of the dinner, but a tweet by Pompeo before the meeting notably described the Trump-Kim meeting as a “potential summit.”

“Looking forward to meeting with Kim Yong Chol in New York to discuss @Potus potential summit with Chairman Kim,” wrote Pompeo. “We are committed to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

US and North Korean envoys have also been meeting in Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and an American “pre-advance” team is in Singapore to make logistical arrangements for the rapidly planned meeting.

“So far the readout from these meetings have been positive and we’ll continue to move forward with them,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, confirming the plan is still for the leaders to meet in Singapore on June 12.

But with 13 days to go, the talks between General Kim and Pompeo, the former CIA chief who pioneered the latest round of face-to-face meetings, appeared to confirm that the process of getting two unpredictable leaders to the table is now on track.

“As the president says, if it happens, we’ll certainly be ready,” Sanders said.

Earlier this month, Trump suddenly but only briefly announced a cancellation of the summit after a North Korea issued a sharp rebuke of what it saw as threatening language for the US side, and the US side warns talks could be postponed if Kim is not serious about disarmament.

But the summit appears increasingly likely to go ahead, amid a flurry of international diplomatic activity.

Moscow said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to North Korea on Thursday to discuss Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Pompeo and Lavrov spoke by telephone for the first time Wednesday, but their offices’ accounts of the call made no mention of Korea.

Pompeo called his South Korean and Singaporean counterparts over the weekend and Japan is also keenly watching summit preparations. Trump will meet its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington on June 7.

On Sunday, US negotiators, headed by Washington’s ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, began meeting North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas.

“They plan to have additional meetings this week,” Sanders said.

Kim Yong Chol is the most senior North Korean on US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met then-president Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has played a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during February’s closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in South Korea, an event that was seen as a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and held talks with Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

– Yawning gap –

General Kim’s journey to the US caps a frenetic few days of meetings between North Korean and American officials.

An AFP photographer saw Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Un’s de facto chief of staff, in Singapore Tuesday for preparatory discussions there.

The key task is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of “denuclearization” — both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

But analysts say North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.

The Court of Appeal allowed Rozita Mohamad Ali, 44 – who made headlines for abusing her maid and was sentenced to eight years’ jail – to be released on RM25,000 bail with two sureties.

A three-man bench chaired by Court of Appeal judge Justice Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi unanimously allowed the application but asked her to surrender her travel documents to the court and required her to report to the nearest police station once every two weeks.

Rozita is appealing the eight-year jail sentence by the Shah Alam High Court, which set aside a good behaviour bond meted out earlier by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.

She had pleaded guilty before a Sessions Court judge on March 15 to an amended charge of causing grievous hurt to Suyanti Sutrinso, 21, with a kitchen knife, mop, hanger and umbrella at a house in Mutiara Damansara on June 21, 2016.

She was earlier charged with attempted murder.

The Sessions Court sentenced Rozita to be bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000.

However, following public outcry, the Attorney-General filed for a review of the sentence and the Shah Alam High Court on March 29, increased her sentence to an eight-year jail term.

Suyanti, who is from Medan, was only 19 when the abuse took place.

The case drew public ire after a video of Suyanti lying injured by the side of a drain went viral on social media.

“We have since removed the officer from the front desk,” said Johor Immigration Department director Datuk Rohaizi Bahari.

He said that such behaviour would not be tolerated, but did not specify what form of disciplinary action would be taken against the officer.

Rohaizi added that the incident happened at about 9am Wednesday (May 30) at the immigration office in Wisma Persekutuan.

In the 10-second video, the immigration officer can be seen hitting a foreigner on the head and forcing his hand onto a scanner, while continuously berating him.

The video went viral almost immediately. However, it is unclear why the officer lost his cool and acted in this manner.

Watch video clip : https://www.facebook.com/ranen.bhattacharyya.7/videos/vb.830242590/10156264232457591/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

The label “part-time girlfriend” is a euphemism often used by young women in the city who may be studying or have jobs, but who also offer sex on the side.

By using variations of the hashtag #ptgf as shorthand, they connect with men on networks such as Instagram then switch to direct messaging to offer services and arrange to meet.

Instagram says it has made #ptgf and #hkptgf unsearchable, but a host of new alternatives that add Chinese characters or initials to the original tag circumvent the block.

Loneliness, curiosity, family breakdown and financial pressures are key motivators for young women to try it out, according to support workers on the ground.

High-school student Kiki, a pseudonym she chose to protect her identity, started part-time sex work aged 17, saying it was easy to search for men on Instagram by using one of the #ptgf tags.

In this picture taken on April 24, 2018, 24-year-old Nicole, a pseudonym she chose to protect her identity, uses the popular messaging app WeChat on her phone in Hong Kong. Nicole has a full-time office job, but still does after-hours sex work to pay off her college debts as her family cannot afford to help. For Hong Kong’s “part-time girlfriends” social media provides an easy way to connect with clients looking for sex, but campaigners warn that online convenience is tempting girls as young as 13 to put themselves at risk.  // AFP PHOTO

“I had an argument with my sister and was not very happy, so I just wanted to find someone to listen to me,” she told AFP.

“For the first few times I felt quite good… so I kept looking for clients for company.”

She admits she was nervous about meeting strangers, but the financial incentive outweighed her doubts.

“My family is not very wealthy. I was making money for myself and saved it,” she says. Kiki says she charged from HK$300 ($38) for dinner or “touching”, up to HK$1,000 for other sexual services.

After less than a year she gave up because she had started a new relationship.

Now 19, she says she is left with a sense of regret and warns other girls to think carefully before taking the leap.

“A future boyfriend or husband might find it hard to accept,” she says.

“It’s like you have a needle piercing your heart and it’s always there.”

– Blurred boundaries – 

Connecting with clients online often gives young women a false sense of security, says Bowie Lam, executive director of Teen’s Key, a charity that offers support to Hong Kong’s sex workers under the age of 25.

She says the age of “part-time girlfriends” is getting lower and believes that social media is a factor.

“They think they have autonomy and control because they can screen a client online, talk with him, but it makes the boundary more blurred,” Lam says.

These young women often do not see themselves as sex workers because they are not based out of seedy rooms, or the bars and clubs of Hong Kong’s traditional red light districts, she adds.

Sometimes they meet clients without offering sex at first and are taken to theme parks, dinner or even on hikes, but as more money is offered, the path usually leads to paid sex.

Some young women have their first sexual experience as a “part-time girlfriend”, says Lam.

Believing they have become friends with a client can lead them to drop their guard.

“Girls have been treated violently and even raped because they trusted the man wouldn’t harm them,” Lam told AFP.

– Addressing taboos –

Hong Kong police said they have taken action against websites, chat rooms and discussion forums to combat “illegal prostitution activities” in a statement to AFP.

The “act of prostitution” in itself is not illegal in Hong Kong, police say, but soliciting is.

Instagram told AFP it acts to “swiftly remove” content, accounts and hashtags that violate its community guidelines.

A long-term strategy addressing taboos around talking about sex within schools and families in Hong Kong’s conservative society is what is most needed to stop girls putting themselves at risk, says Lam.

Young women often do not see themselves as sex workers because they are not based out of seedy rooms, or the bars and clubs of Hong Kong’s traditional red light districts. // AFP PHOTO

Teen’s Key offers young sex workers a range of support services, ranging from health tests to career advice and help with financial planning.

Lam says they want to help the women reconnect with their dreams and aspirations.

However, even when they are given support by the charity, some feel they cannot leave part-time sex work behind.

As the cost of living in Hong Kong soars, financial pressure is often the main factor.

Nicole, also a pseudonym, aged 24, started at the age of 18 to make money to put herself through college.

She found clients on online forums then communicated directly with them via the popular messaging app WeChat.

She now has a full-time office job, but still does after-hours sex work to pay off her college debts as her family cannot afford to help.

Nicole sees what she is doing as a practical solution but admits it has taken an emotional toll.

She describes sex work as a “dark patch” in her life and says she will feel guilty about it with any future boyfriend.

“I don’t think I’m a pure person, I feel like I’m very dirty. If someone else wanted to do this, I wouldn’t recommend it,” she told AFP.

But she urged people not to judge young women who have made the choices she has.

“Maybe they are in need, or have problems they can’t solve,” she said.

“There isn’t anyone who does this job because they want to.”

At a Security Council meeting on Ukraine, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok called on Moscow to accept the findings that the airliner was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile provided by a brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk.

“The language of ultimatums is not something that anyone will be allowed to use when speaking to Russia,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council meeting.

“We cannot accept the unfounded conclusion of the JIT”, the Dutch-led Joint investigation Team, he added.

All 298 people on the Malaysia Airlines flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

Responding to Nebenzia, the Dutch foreign minister said his arguments were “nothing new” and again urged Russia to work with the Netherlands and Australia to identify the perpetrators.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley voiced strong support for the Dutch and Australian call on Russia to acknowledge its role in the tragedy and help bring to account those responsible for the shooting down.

“Despite its transparent denials, there is no doubt Russia is driving the Ukrainian conflict,” said Haley.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since the Moscow-backed insurgency broke out in April 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the council that Russia’s rejection of the findings “did not surprise me at all.”

“We have no doubt that the downing of MH17 flight is a terrorist act,” he said.

Ukraine will present documents to the International Court of Justice next month showing that Russia is violating anti-terrorism agreements, he said.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz renewed his call for a peacekeeping mission to be deployed to east Ukraine and urged Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a UN special envoy for Ukraine.

Diplomats say Russia, a veto-wielding power at the council, has blocked attempts to step up UN involvement in efforts to end the conflict.

Mattis’s remarks came after Beijing voiced “strong dissatisfaction” Sunday after two US warships sailed by an island in the disputed Paracel Island chain.

“You’ll notice there’s only one country that seems to take active steps to rebuff (such operations) or state their resentment of them, but it’s international waters and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation, so we will continue that,” Mattis told reporters as he flew to Hawaii.

The US Navy periodically conducts “freedom of navigation” operations in the contested waterway, where it sails close to island features China has built into military facilities as a way of showing it rejects any territorial claims.

“We are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations, that’s the way we do business in the world, but we are also going to confront what we believe is out of step with international law,” Mattis said.

Sunday’s operation was conducted just over a week after Beijing flew nuclear-capable bombers to a disputed island, drawing immediate criticism from the US.

Last week, the Pentagon pulled its invitation to China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific over Beijing’s “continued militarization” of the South China Sea.

Beijing has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claim over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, despite protests from Southeast Asian countries.

Its neighbors, particularly some of those involved in maritime disputes over the waters, have expressed fears China could eventually restrict freedom of navigation and overflight.

“Our diplomats are robustly engaged on this,” Mattis said.

“The concerns have come to me not just from American government circles, but also from foreign nations that are concerned, very concerned about this continued militarization of features in the South China Sea.”

Mattis was heading to Hawaii to attend a change-of-command ceremony for the US military’s Pacific Command.

The current head, Admiral Harry Harris, has been nominated to be the new ambassador to South Korea. He will be replaced by Admiral Philip Davidson.

Mattis is then due to attend a regional security conference in Singapore.

 THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AGAINST THE ROHINGYA IN MYANMAR’S RAKHINE STATE HAS BEEN AT THE CENTRE OF INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION IN RECENT YEARS. WHAT ROLE DOES THE UN HAVE, HOW DOES IT PLAN TO SORT IT OUT AND WHAT DO YOU THINK REGIONAL COUNTRIES SUCH AS THAILAND HAVE DONE TO REMEDY THE CRISIS?

Indeed, it is a huge human tragedy followed by everyone. It is being dealt with in the UN system as well as by the UN Security Council, whose envoys paid a four-day visit in April to Myanmar and Bangladesh, where refugee camps house hundreds of thousands of fleeing Rohingya. They talked to key people in Myanmar and stressed their [the envoys] priority was for the safe return of the refugees and guarantees about the lives of [Rohingya] people.

While Thailand has tried to be helpful by providing humanitarian assistance to the troubled area, addressing this sensitive issue is always the most important thing. The knowledge of this situation should help the UN define the right, constructive strategy. It is better to have problems based on, not from, situations.

MOVING UP TO THE KOREAN PENINSULA, WHILE POSITIVE SIGNS HAVE EMERGED AMID THE NUCLEAR TENSIONS, THE UNSC IS ALSO KNOWN TO AGREE ON RESOLUTIONS THAT SOMETIMES RESULT IN SANCTIONS AGAINST NORTH KOREA. HOW DO YOU SEE THE UN ROLE FROM NOW ON?

I’m not a big fan of sanctions. They are an instrument of last resource – sometimes inevitable and obligatory. If the process continues in the current spirit, [positive talks] could be on the table but first, we’ll have to see the results. I just hope that this moment will last and turn into a credible peace process.

TURNING TO YOURSELF, HOW HAVE YOUR EIGHT MONTHS AS THE PGA BEEN SO FAR? WHAT HAVE BEEN THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES, ESPECIALLY AMID A SHIFT AWAY FROM MULTILATERALISM ACROSS THE GLOBE?

I count pursuing peace, resolving conflict, migration and sustainable development goals as working opportunities for me, as the PGA. On the more challenging multilateralism, the UN, for instance, is very universal when dealing with issues and we do our best to address it in comprehensive ways as well as setting global standards.

The UN is, and should be, strong even when multilateralism is challenging. Multilateralism, to me, should determine that if there is any problem occurring between or among countries, we must be sure we are able to meet and talk to avoid conflicts.

WHAT ABOUT THE SHIFT THAT HAS SEEN EASTERN POWERS RISING TOWARDS THE LEVEL OF THEIR WESTERN COUNTERPARTS IN TERMS OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCE? HAS THIS BEEN A FACTOR IN DECISION-MAKING IN UNGA-RELATED MEETINGS?

What makes up the UNGA are five regional groups and it is up to each member state, whether small or big countries, to propose intiatives and present ideas to be agreed upon so that a formal approach can be launched and supported. While it is true that the United States is a member of the UNSC and is biggest in terms of financial support and the fact it houses the UN headquarters, it is still [currently concerned] by global migration issues and we hope that it will only be temporary.

The shooting occurred around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) near a high school on a major artery in the city, which lies some 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Brussels.

Federal prosecutors took charge of the incident, which comes with Belgium on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group.

“There are elements that point in the direction that this is a terrorist act,” said Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutors office.

After shooting the two police officers outside a cafe, the gunman fled to the Lycee Waha school, where he briefly took a hostage, according to officials.

The third victim was a “passerby in a vehicle” who was driving in the area, Liege prosecutors’ spokeswoman Catherine Collignon told AFP.

According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, the shooter was released from prison on Monday and was only known for minor infractions with no known links to extremism.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said his thoughts were with the families of the victims after what he called a “serious incident”, adding that he would not give further details at this stage.

– ‘Horrible act’ –

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium’s Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.

“Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened,” Jambon wrote on Twitter.

The crisis centre said a security cordon had been set up around the area and urged people to stay away.

The governor of Liege province, Herve Jamar, said on Twitter that no-one was injured during the high school hostage-taking and all students were safe.

Belgium has been on high alert since the smashing of a terror cell in the town of Verviers in January 2015 that was planning an attack on police.

The Verviers cell also had links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the November 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris that killed 130 people.

Belgium further raised its terror alert level after the Paris attack, and placed the capital Brussels on lockdown for a week.

Belgium was then hit by its own IS suicide attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station which killed 32 people in 2016.

In August of 2016 a machete-wielding man shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest)  attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi, before being shot dead.

The country’s law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers.//AFP

The suspect, who is in his 40s and spotted with a large tattoo on his right arm, was apprehended by a team of Thai police officers in Chaiyaphum province, about 260km northeast of Bangkok around 7am on Tuesday (May 29).

“The man is the most sought-after suspect in the murder case. He is the alleged mastermind,” Royal Malaysian Police assistant liaison officer in Thailand Supt Ridzuan Abdul Aziz told Bernama here.

His capture by Thai following a request for assistance from their Malaysian counterpart several months ago, finally brought an end to an extensive hunt by authorities of both neighbouring countries which stretches two borders and several thousand kilometres.

They will also explain issues on the man’s impending extradition to Malaysia to face justice for his alleged crime.

In an interview with Bernama in Bangkok last January, Bukit Aman’s Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd disclosed that several of the suspects involved in the high-profile petrol station murder case had escaped and gone into hiding in Thailand.

The police he said, had sought cooperation from Thai police to track down the suspects and mastermind.

During the interview, the CID chief also expressed the police’s confidence on tracking down the suspects and bringing them home to Malaysia to face justice for the grisly murder.

The police according to him, got the suspects’ photos and other records of their entry into Thailand.

A video clip of the incident went viral on social media.

In the Dec 17 brutal incident, a 44-year-old man known as “Ah Chiu” was stabbed and run over by a white BMW car at Taman Pelangi petrol station.

The police swung into action and arrested several men and women suspected to be linked to the case.

The police have also charged two suspects last January, while maintaining a hunt for several other suspects who remained on the run.

Chab Sopharith, Banteay Meanchey provincial deputy police chief, said the operation was carried out on National Road 59, in the province’s Malai commune. A driver was arrested but later released when it was ascertained that he was not involved in the case.

“We have one suspect, but investigations are ongoing so we cannot comment further,” Sopharith said.

Sin Oeu Nabot, a deputy at Banteay Meanchey Provincial Forestry Administration, said he had received 618 tortoises, of which 19 had died, while 50 of the 70 seized water monitor lizards survived. He said the animals would be released with permission from the Banteay Meanchey provincial governor.

“We lack suitable facilities as we were not established to impound wild animals. But we have no problems caring for them,” Oeu Nabot said.

Sopharith said he couldn’t comment on local media reports as the case was under investigation. He said that like the drugs trade, wildlife crimes were difficult to investigate. “Wildlife trafficking is hard to intercept as the criminals involved, like drug traffickers, are well organised,” he said.

Sopharith said that although the latest haul is the biggest for the year thus far, a larger shipment of tortoises was intercepted last year, also from Thailand. Sopharith said Phnom Penh was the Kingdom’s biggest market for wild animals as demand in the provinces is not as great.