“As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said during the speech, which focused on the country’s foreign policy and economic status.

Trump highlighted his achievements in ongoing nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. “Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months,” he said.

Although he described his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “a good one,” he said “much work remains to be done.”

Trump, however, did not specify whether the meeting would be held in Danang or Hanoi, two cities that have been mentioned as potential venues.

His remarks come as Trump and Kim are expected to discuss a concrete plan for how the North will implement steps to give up its nuclear weapons program and what the US will offer as incentives to encourage such actions.

A series of working-level talks has been held between the two countries in recent weeks, aimed at preparing for the upcoming summit.

On Wednesday, US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun traveled to Pyongyang to meet Kim Huok-chol, a former ambassador to Spain, in preparation for the North-US summit and to make progress on the commitments Kim and Trump made at their first summit in Singapore in June last year, which included “complete denuclearization, transforming relations of the two countries and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Biegun and his counterpart Kim Huok-chol have met each other before. Kim accompanied North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator Kim Yong-chol when he visited Washington on Jan. 18 for talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Before heading to the North Korean capital, Biegun, who arrived in Seoul on Sunday, met with national security adviser Chung Eui-yong at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Monday.

During the 40-minute meeting, Chung and Biegun exchanged views on what Seoul and Washington have to do together going forward, ahead of working-level talks between the US and the North. The US envoy also met with Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.

As US-North Korea talks were revived in January following slow progress since their Singapore summit, concessions from the two sides that will bring denuclearization negotiations to the next level have been drawing keen attention from the international community.

On Jan. 31, Biegun said the North Korean leader has committed to “the dismantlement and destruction of North Korea’s plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities,” in a speech at Stanford University.

The North has been demanding the US lift economic sanctions in exchange for halting nuclear and missile tests, dismantling its nuclear test site and parts of its rocket launch facility and releasing US detainees in 2018.

Sanctions imposed by the United Nations and the US have struck a major blow to North Korea’s economy by limiting exports, leading to a sharp drop in the nation’s foreign currency reserves, which enable the country to import essential products.

Experts expect that North Korea will likely seek to trade the demolition of its Yongbyon nuclear facility for a US promise to formally declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War and the opening of a liaison office in Pyongyang.

“If the US hopes to reach an agreement, a denuclearization road map that goes beyond the Yongbyon nuclear complex, it needs to show more flexibility in sanctions relief for the North’s active engagement in making progress in denuclearization measures,” said Cheong Seong-Chang, a Vice President of Research Planning at Sejong Institute.

Truong Duy Nhat — a weekly blogger for the Vietnamese service of Radio Free Asia, which aims to provide news to countries that lack press freedom — last made contact with editors on January 26, a day after he applied for refugee status with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, the US-funded network said.

“We are extremely concerned about the safety and wellbeing of Truong Duy Nhat,” Radio Free Asia president Libby Liu said.

“We hope to hear from him as soon as possible about his whereabouts and to be assured that he’s not in any danger,” said Liu, whose organization has alerted the US State Department and lawmakers.

    Bui Thanh Hieu, a Vietnamese blogger who lives in Germany, alleged in a Facebook post that the Hanoi government felt threatened enough to abduct Nhat.

Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders called on Thailand to investigate, saying the case sent an “absolutely terrifying” message to a community of Vietnamese bloggers who have based themselves out of Bangkok.

If Thai authorities turn up nothing, “that means that Vietnamese agents no longer bother with international law and violate the sovereignty of a partner country to hunt down critical voices,” said Daniel Bastard, an Asia expert for Reporters Without Borders.

Nhat served two years in prison starting in 2014 after blog posts critical of Vietnam’s communist leadership. He last blogged for Radio Free Asia on the prospects for change in Vietnam in light of major anti-government demonstrations in Venezuela.

Radio Free Asia quoted an unnamed associate of Nhat as saying he was “arrested” as he went to an ice cream shop inside Thailand’s massive Future Park shopping mall.

The superstar envoy for the UN refugee agency made the comments on the second day of emotional meetings with Rohingya, including rape survivors, in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district where some 740,000 Rohingya have taken refuge since August 2017.

There were already about 300,000 in camps before the exodus, which has strained Bangladesh’s resources to the limit.

The visit came ahead of a new UN appeal to raise nearly one billion dollars for the one million Rohingya now in the camps around the town of Cox’s Bazar.

“It was deeply upsetting to meet the families who have only known persecution and statelessness their whole lives, who speak of being ‘treated like cattle’,” Jolie told reporters.

“The Rohingya families I have met are no different from other refugees in one crucial respect: they want to be able to return home,” she said.

The latest wave of refugees arrived after a military clampdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Jolie insisted that the refugees should return home “only when they feel safe enough to do so voluntarily and they know that their rights will be respected.”

“I met a woman yesterday, a survivor of rape in Myanmar, and she told me, ‘You would have to shoot me where I stand before I go back without my rights’,” the 43-year-old said.

“The responsibility to ensure those rights and make it possible for the Rohingya people to return to Rakhine state lies squarely with the government and the authorities in Myanmar,” she added.

She called for an end to violence in Rakhine, which UN officials have compared to genocide, and demanded action against the perpetrators.

“I urge the Myanmar authorities to show the genuine commitment needed to end the cycle of violence and displacement and improve the conditions for all communities in Rakhine state,” she said.

Jolie has previously met with displaced Rohingya while in Myanmar in July 2015 and in India in 2006.

She will conclude her visit on Wednesday by meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, and other senior officials in Dhaka, a UN statement said.

The talks will focus on how the UN’s refugee agency can help Bangladesh’s efforts for the Rohingya and “sustainable solutions” to settle the persecuted minority, the statement added.

    For years the social media giant has been lambasted for its slow and ineffectual response to incendiary posts, particularly against the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

The company has embarked on a huge PR campaign over the last year to prove it is taking action in a country with an estimated 20 million Facebook accounts.

The latest rebel organisations to have been banned are the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and Taaung National Liberation Army (TNLA).

    “These armed groups are now banned from Facebook and all related praise, support and representation will be removed as soon as we become aware of it,” Facebook’s news page said.

“There is clear evidence that these organisations have been responsible for attacks against civilians and have engaged in violence in Myanmar, and we want to prevent them from using our services to further inflame tensions on the ground.”

Hardline nationalist monks and even top military generals — who UN investigators say should face prosecution for genocide for their crackdown against the Rohingya — were kicked off the site last year.

Hundreds of pages and accounts with hidden links to the armed forces were also removed in December.

Likewise, the Rohingya militant group, whose August 2017 attacks were used by the military as a justification for its brutal campaign, is already blacklisted.

The newest rebel groups to be kicked off the site are among some two dozen ethnic armed organisations fighting decades-old conflicts over autonomy, identity, territory and natural resources.

Since 2016, the four have clubbed together in an alliance, refusing to enter bilateral peace talks with the government.

In December, the military announced a temporary ceasefire in the troubled northeast of the country but has continued to pound AA rebels in Myanmar’s beleaguered Rakhine state in violence that has seen several thousand displaced.

Facebook told AFP that the government had flagged up content posted by the rebel groups several times but said the decision to blacklist them had been internal.

The platform has tried to repair its battered reputation, improving the speed with which hate speech is taken down and boosting the number of Myanmar-language reviewers.

It confirmed it now employs more than 100 staff who speak Myanmar — including some who can also review content in Shan and Chin languages.

Critics say, however, that the number is still insufficient to monitor the volume of accounts in the country, many in a patchwork of regional languages.

After decades of isolating military rule, most people in Myanmar have only came online in the last few years as the country opened up and smartphone usage soared.

The fire on the top floors of an eight-storey building in the rue Erlanger in the wealthy 16th district of southwest Paris is one of the most deadly in the capital in years.

Pictures from the fire brigade showed flames leaping out of top floor windows and firemen climbing ladders to rescue terrified residents from thick black smoke.

Described as a “scene of incredible violence”, the blaze left around 30 people — including six firefighters — with injuries.

    “One person has been arrested. It’s a woman. She’s currently in custody,” Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said from the scene on Tuesday morning.

An investigation has been opened into the criminal charge of causing death by arson.

The fire started at about 1:00 am (0000 GMT) and was finally brought under control more than five hours later by around 200 firefighters.

Fire service spokesman Captain Clement Cognon told AFP at the scene overnight that “the toll could still increase” because firefighters were yet to search the upper floors of the eight-storey block, “where the fire was the most violent”.

Some of those affected scrambled on to nearby roofs to escape the smoke and flames.

The residential neighbourhood lies on the edge of the vast Bois de Boulogne park and close to the stadium of football club Paris Saint-Germain, the Parc des Princes.

Captain Cognon added: “We had to carry out many rescues, notably for around a dozen people who had taken refuge on the roofs. In total about 50 people were evacuated by firefighters, including through the installation of ladders.”

Two adjacent buildings were also evacuated as a precaution and local officials were on site to help find housing for residents who could not return to their homes.

Several streets were cordoned off by police and fire crews, and an AFP journalist said a strong smell of smoke hung in the air.

The blaze follows a fire caused by a powerful gas explosion last month that killed four people in the city’s central 9th arrondissement.

In late December, two women and two girls died from asphyxiation in a fire that broke out in a public housing block in a suburb northeast of Paris.

Assistant manager Chang Peng Hooi, 51, and his wife Goh Siew Leng, 47, recounted having to opt for a “test tube” baby after Chang discovered he had colon cancer.

“We hoped for the best and conceived all three embryos.

“My two boys and daughter were born at 37 weeks into her (Goh’s) pregnancy and they were born healthy.

“They all like different things, and therefore shopping is always fun.

“This year, my wife’s siblings who are based in China will be back for the festivities, so we will be celebrating it with them,” he said.

Chang and Goh’s 12-year-old sons Jia Sheng and Jia Jun and daughter Jia Qi go to school with another set of triplets, who also give their family cause to celebrate each year.

Wong Boon Keng, 45, and his wife Koay Mooi Shen, 43, who run a wholesale toy business, were blessed with triplets Yin Rou, Yin En and Yin Han via in-vitro fertilisation 12 years ago.

“We consider them miracle babies because they were born premature and although we did have many hospital visits when they were young, they are now three healthy girls.

“We wanted another child as our eldest daughter was turning seven then but we could not conceive.

“We did not realise we would have triplets but it has been a pleasant surprise.

“They are all very different from each other and we also have a younger daughter who is 10, so it is a house full of girls for us.

“Chinese New Year shopping is always a full day event,” said Koay.

Koay said the family usually visits a temple or a tourist site during Chinese New Year.

“Maybe this year we will go to Chew Jetty.

“We seldom visit relatives as everyone comes over to our place,” she said.

When asked if it was an interesting experience having both sets of triplets in the same school, Chang said it was fun as they have been in the same school since Year One and some of them have also been classmates.