Xinhua world news summary at 0930 GMT, April 21
Xinhua,April 21, 2018 Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday tweeted twice to commend the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s earlier announcement to suspend its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.
Trump said in the first twitter that the announcement and the decision of the DPRK are "very good news" for the country and the world. (US-DPRK-Talks)
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WASHINGTON -- Rising trade tensions pose downside risks to the open Asian economies, International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials warned on Friday.
"More inward-looking policies, as highlighted by recent tariff actions and announcements, would certainly affect an open region like Asia," said Changyong Rhee, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, at a press briefing. (IMF-Trade Tensions-Asian Economies)
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis met Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera at the Pentagon on Friday.
The two discussed the recently released U.S. National Defense Strategy, saying "the Japanese-U.S. alliance is essential at a time where great power competition has returned." (US-Japan-Defense)
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PYONGYANG -- The DPRK will suspend nuclear tests and inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests immediately from Saturday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Saturday.
The decisions were made by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korean (WPK) on Friday, according to the KCNA.
"We will discontinue nuclear test and inter-continental ballistic rocket test-fire from April 21, 2018. The northern nuclear test ground of the DPRK will be dismantled to transparently guarantee the discontinuance of the nuclear test," KCNA said. (DPRK-Nuke Test-Suspension) Enditem