CHINA-US Sino-American relations, seen most dramatically in their escalating trade dispute, is spilling over into the military arena. China canceled a Washington visit by the head of its navy, while the Trump administration agrees on a USD330m sale of military warfare to Taiwan.
SOUTH KOREA Move over pot stickers, here comes another Asian dumpling. South Korea’s largest food company is making a multimillion-dollar bet on “mandu,” developing its own machines to automate the normally labor-intensive production of the Korean dumpling and building factories around the world.
TURKMENISTAN President Berdymukhamedov has ordered a complete end to free natural gas, electricity and water, which residents of the Central Asian nation have enjoyed for a quarter century. The move taking effect next year would help Turkmenistan more rationally use natural resources and develop a free market economy.
USA Sen. Ted Cruz (pictured) is talking again about chaos in Washington, only this time he’s not the one causing it. “If the next two years are nothing but a political circus of impeachment that paralyzes the federal government.” Things may devolve into “simply naked political warfare. Mad Max at Thunderdome,” the former Trump challenger added.
RUSSIA-TURKEY The same day that Russian diplomats struck a deal at the UN with Turkey over a demilitarized zone in Syria’s last rebel-run region, dozens of Russian businessmen were flying home from Damascus, contracts in hand for trade with a postwar Syria.
UK Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is rallying his Labour Party by calling for a clampdown on unfettered capitalism, as he tries to refocus attention on domestic policies after an annual conference dominated by debates about Brexit. For Corbyn “the old way of running things isn’t working anymore.”
SOUTH AFRICA While Mandela is celebrated at the United Nations, two prominent lawyers say his greatness lay partly in his ordinary qualities and recognition of his own mistakes. Former judge Albie Sachs said Mandela referred to himself as proof that “a president can be wrong.” Lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi noted that Mandela was “normal” in many ways and his example shows “how much power lies in each and every one of us.”
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