Donald Trump to hold talks with Theresa May amid protests
Donald Trump is to meet Prime Minister Theresa May for “substantial” talks on the second day of the US president’s three-day state visit to the UK.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be among the senior ministers present at the talks, where issues such as climate change will be discussed.
It comes as large-scale protests are planned in several UK cities, including a demonstration in Trafalgar Square.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to address protesters at the London rally.
Mr Trump praised the “eternal friendship” between the UK and US during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace at the end of the first day of his trip.
Sudan’s military council calls snap elections after deadly crackdown
TMC urges fresh elections within nine months and cancels agreements with opposition
Sudan’s military leaders have called for elections and cancelled all previous agreements with the main opposition coalition a day after heavily armed paramilitaries attacked a protest camp in the capital, Khartoum.
More than 35 people are believed to have died in the violence and hundreds more were injured at the sit-in, which has been at the centre of a campaign to bring democratic reform to Sudan. The death toll is expected to rise.
There has been no official reaction from the opposition to the announcement of elections but individual leaders told the Guardian they will escalate a campaign of civil disobedience in response.
US gears up for war with Iran
by Serge Halimi
Can a state that condemns, without real justification, an international disarmament treaty it spent years negotiating then threaten a co-signatory with military aggression? Can it order other countries to fall into line with its capricious, bellicose stance or face punitive sanctions? The US can.
It’s pointless trying to argue with the Trump administration’s claimed reasons for its escalation against Iran. One can even imagine National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling their diplomats and intelligence staff, ‘You come up with the pretexts; we’ll take care of the war.’
‘Executed’ North Korean diplomat is alive, sources say
Updated 0808 GMT (1608 HKT) June 4, 2019
The North Korean diplomat who South Korea’s largest newspaper said had been executed by firing squad is alive and in state custody, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
Unwelcome guests: moped riders protest as Amsterdam drives them from bike lanes
Convoys of mopeds speed down Amsterdam’s bike lanes, beeping their horns and flouting their bare heads. This isn’t some strange Dutch festival, though. These were protests from some of the thousands of furious moped riders ahead of a new city regulation which came into force this week to force them out of bike lanes, on to main roads and into helmets.
The cycling city of Amsterdam is stepping up a gear – with plans to ban petrol and diesel vehicles from the centre by 2030, the removal of 10,000 car-parking spaces, a hike in parking charges and a wide range of measures to take from the car and give to pedestrians, cyclists, green space and children.
Japan to ban free plastic bags at stores, but small and midsize firms may be exempt
KYODO
Japan plans to make it mandatory to charge for plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores and department stores as the country combats marine pollution from plastic waste.
Environment Minister Yoshiaki Harada said at a news conference Monday his ministry plans to introduce a new law banning the practice of providing single-use plastic bags for free, while leaving the price of a plastic bag up to retailers.
“The proportion of plastic bags among plastic waste is not big, but charging would be symbolic” of Japan’s efforts to reduce such waste, said Harada.