IN BRIEF (Page 11)

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

No meeting planned for Moon, Abe at G20

No summit has been planned between the leaders of the Republic of Korea and Japan during the upcoming G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, the ROK presidential office said on Tuesday. An unnamed Blue House official was quoted by local media as saying that the summit between President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would not take place during the G20 summit slated to last from Friday to Saturday. The official said Tokyo did not seem to be ready for the summit, although Seoul was always prepared, saying there has been no response from Tokyo over Seoul's summit offer. He added that if the Japanese side asks for the bilateral meeting, Moon would always be ready to meet Abe at the scene. Relations between the two neighbors continued to fray since Japan protested late year against the ROK top court's ruling that Nippon Steel, Sumitomo Metal and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should pay compensation for the forced Korean labor victims during World War II.

MEXICO

Nearly 15,000 troops sent to stop migrants

Mexico has deployed nearly 15,000 soldiers and National Guardsmen to its border with the United States, the army chief said on Monday - admitting they are detaining migrants who try to cross. Under pressure from US President Donald Trump to slow the surge of Central Americans crossing the border, Mexico promised earlier this month to reinforce its southern border with 6,000 National Guardsmen, but had not previously disclosed the extent of the crackdown on its northern border. "We have a total deployment, between the National Guard and army units, of 14,000, almost 15,000 men, in the north of the country," Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said. Asked whether those forces were detaining migrants to prevent them from crossing, he replied: "Yes."

UNITED KINGDOM

Monarchy cost taxpayers $85 million

Buckingham Palace said the monarchy cost British taxpayers 67 million pounds ($85.5 million) from 2018 to 2019, a 41 percent increase on the previous financial year. The number rose primarily because of higher levels of spending devoted to critical renovations for Buckingham Palace in London. The iconic structure is in the second year of a 10-year project after a Treasury report concluded the building's infrastructure was in danger of a catastrophic failure. The total Sovereign Grant, which funds Queen Elizabeth and her household's official expenses, was 82.2 million pounds, or 1.24 pounds per person in the UK. That figure includes 15.2 million pounds set aside for future phases of the palace renovation.

URUGUAY

Italian mafia boss Morabito flees prison

Italian mafia boss Rocco Morabito on Monday led a brazen jailbreak in the center of Uruguay's capital, setting off a giant manhunt and infuriating the Italian government, which was awaiting his extradition. Morabito and three other inmates "escaped through a hole in the roof" of a police detention center in Montevideo late on Sunday, before breaking into a neighboring apartment and exiting onto the street, Uruguay's Interior Ministry said. In a statement, it said the 52-year-old Morabito - a top organized crime boss arrested in Uruguay in 2017 after decades on the run - was awaiting extradition for international drug trafficking. Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini reacted angrily to the "disconcerting and serious" news. "I make two commitments, first to shed full light on how he escaped, asking for an immediate explanation from the Montevideo government. Then we will continue the hunt for Morabito, wherever he is."

Xinhua - Ap - Afp

(China Daily 06/26/2019 page11)