May 24th, 2018 - Daily News Brief

Daily News Brief

DPRK US North Korea says it's as prepared for a nuclear war as it is for a summit with the United States. A senior official in Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry says the planned meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump is totally dependent on the attitude of the United States. The leaders are supposed to meet in Singapore next month, but North Korea has become increasingly upset at Washington's insistence the meeting include a promise from Pyongyang to denuclearise. The problem is the two sides can't reach an agreement on what denuclearisation means. Iran Nuclear German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany and China will stick to the Iran nuclear deal. Merkel is meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing to discuss the Iran deal as well as several international trade issues. The premier has also said he hopes for a fair discussion on human rights, after he was asked about artist Liu Xia, who is under house arrest. Syria Strikes Dozens of homes have been destroyed after rockets fired by regime forces hit the city of Hama in Syria. The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says more than 150 shells were fired by pro-regime forces on surrounding farmland. The regime is attacking Hama's northern countryside on a daily basis, despite the area being designated as a de-escalation zone by three guarantor states, Russia, Turkey and Iran. Erdogan Palestine Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised the US and Israel for declaring Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Speaking exclusively to TRT World, Erdogan said Washington's role in the Middle East peace process had ended. Erdogan said the embassy move by the US holds no value as the US had reduced its reputation to zero when the majority of UN nations voted against the decision. And finally, Hawaii Volcano The eruption from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano shows no sign of easing. Nineteen days after the volcano began spewing smoke and ash into the sky, lava is pouring into the ocean, creating hazardous gases. Geologists say the eruptions could last a few more weeks.