World briefs

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong said that Google Inc. warned him about government-backed hacking attempts as the former British colony’s historic protests continue to draw global attention – and China’s ire. More on p10

North Korea yesterday suggested it might call off its 20-month suspension of nuclear and missile tests because of summertime U.S.-South Korean military drills that the North calls preparation for an eventual invasion. The statement by the North’s Foreign Ministry comes during a general deadlock in nuclear talks.

Philippines Activists welcomed a new law signed by the president that prohibits a range of acts of sexual harassment, but said it puts him in its crosshairs given his history of crude sexual remarks. Philippine officials on Monday belatedly released a copy of Republic Act 11313, known as the “Safe Spaces Act,” that President Duterte signed in April. 

Pakistan Journalists held nationwide protests to denounce rampant censorship by the country’s powerful security services, massive layoffs due to budget cuts and months-long delays in payments of their wages.

G-7 Finance officials from the Group of Seven rich democracies will weigh risks from new digital currencies and debate how to tax tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon when they meet this week in the Paris suburb of Chantilly. Those two issues, raised by the impact of the digitalization on the world economy, are at the top of the agenda for the gathering today and tomorrow. 

USA Army Secretary Mark Esper (pictured), Trump’s nominee to become secretary of defense, told his Senate confirmation hearing he is troubled by Turkey’s decision to defy the United States by acquiring Russian-made air defenses. “It is very disheartening to see how they have drifted over the past several years,” Esper said, citing the Turkish’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system.

USA Defiant in the face of widespread censure, President Donald Trump insisted that his tweets suggesting four Democratic congresswomen of color return to their countries “were NOT Racist”, and he appealed to fellow Republicans to «not show weakness” and to resist a House resolution condemning his words. “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” Trump exclaimed on Twitter.

Greece A 27-year-old man was charged with murder and rape in the killing of an American scientist who disappeared on the island of Crete and whose body was found in a tunnel formerly used as a storage site during WWII. A Greek man confessed to the “violent criminal act,” telling he struck Suzanne Eaton (pictured) with his car and abducted her with “the intention to commit sexual assault.”