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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
North Korean media hail ‘historic, amazing’ DMZ meeting
State media in North Korea have called the weekend meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump at the Korean border a “historic” and “amazing” encounter, at which the two leaders agreed to resume “dialogues for making a new breakthrough in the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, following the breakdown in diplomacy at February’s Hanoi summit. Trump, the first incumbent American president to set foot in North Korea, said he had invited Kim to visit the US “when the time is right”.
Real progress? Trump critics said the meeting was more of a stunt than a breakthrough. Fresh nuclear negotiations are welcome, but with Trump having squandered so much leverage, Michael H Fuchs doubts new talks will lead to real progress.
Arms control. The US state department office tasked with negotiating and implementing nuclear disarmament treaties has shed more than 70% of its staff in the past two years, according to former staffers.
Hong Kong protesters try to storm government HQ
Protesters in Hong Kong have tried to storm its government headquarters during a pro-democracy demonstration on the 22nd anniversary of the territory’s handover to China. Monday’s was the third such march in a month by Hong Kong residents who oppose a new extradition bill, which would allow China to pursue its political opponents in the semi-autonomous city.
Two systems. Hong Kong was returned from British to Chinese rule on 1 July 1997 and its leadership is considered pro-Beijing, but the city is still administered separately under an arrangement known as “one country, two systems”.
Trump’s Huawei U-turn is no mistake, White House insists
The White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said Trump’s decision to backtrack on the Huawei ban is not, as Sen Marco Rubio tweeted, a “catastrophic mistake”. After meeting the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit, Trump agreed to allow US companies to sell some components to Huawei, as long as the transactions did not present a “great, national emergency problem” – a concession to the Chinese tech giant that critics say represents a threat to US national security.
Blacklist. Speaking to Fox News Sunday and CBS, Kudlow said Huawei would remain on a US blacklist as a potential security threat, claiming the move was not a “general amnesty”, but “simply a loosening up for general merchandise”.
Japan resumes commercial whaling after 31 years
Japanese fishermen began hunting whales commercially on Monday for the first time in more than three decades, to the dismay of environmentalists, following the country’s controversial withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission. Eight small vessels and a large whaling factory ship set sail from two Japanese ports on Monday morning, after the country’s fisheries agency announced hunting quotas that will allow the fleet to kill 227 whales in 2019. The quota includes 52 minke, 150 Bryde’s and 25 sei whales.
‘Research’ hunts. Japan ceased commercial whaling in 1988 but continued to conduct so-called “research” whale hunts, which critics said were merely a cover for commercial whaling.
Crib sheet
Ten people have been killed in a plane crash in Texas, after a small, twin-engine aircraft flew into a hangar during takeoff at the Addison municipal airport near Dallas on Sunday.
A clip of Ivanka Trump chatting awkwardly with world leaders at the G20 summit has inspired a slew of Photoshopped parodies depicting the first daughter as a gatecrasher at significant historical events.
Taylor Swift has lamented the sale of her back catalogue to Scooter Braun, the music mogul she accuses of subjecting her to years of “incessant, manipulative bullying”, calling it her “worst case scenario”.
A freak summer hailstorm in Guadalajara has buried parts of the Mexican city in drifts of ice pellets up to two metres deep, despite temperatures of about 31C (88F). The state governor blamed climate change, calling it a “never-before-seen natural phenomenon”.
Must-reads
The rise and rise of international tourism
According to the World Tourism Organization, there were a record 1.4bn international tourist arrivals in 2018, a rise of 6% over the previous year. Molly Blackall has crunched the numbers to find out where we all went on holiday – and what it means for the world.
How the climate crisis will change your diet by 2050
In her new book, author Amanda Little explores what it will take to go on feeding the world’s 7.5 billion people – and the others who will join us in the coming decades. From farmers to families, we will have to radically rethink our relationship with food, she tells Madeleine Somerville.
‘La Lista’ holds the power of life and death at the border
On the southern side of the US-Mexico border, the fates of thousands of prospective migrants hang on a mysterious set of documents known as “La Lista”, which determines the order in which they are permitted to cross, and leaves many waiting in desperation for their number to be called. Bryan Mealer reports from Matamoros.
The influencers taking a sober look at drinking culture
Drinking has always been seen as the simplest way to a good time, while not drinking meant you were either a recovering alcoholic or a virtue-signalling killjoy. Yet now a set of so-called “sober curious” social media influencers are broadcasting their abstinence with pride, discovers Adrienne Matei.
Opinion
John Lithgow is leading a movie star-studded, 10-act live reading of a play based on the Mueller report in New York. Sadly, this will not be the first falling domino in a chain that leads inexorably to the downfall of Donald Trump, warns Hamilton Nolan.
As soon as we allow celebrities to command our attention and harness our hope, we find ourselves turned in the wrong direction. Salvation is not in the stars. It is right here on the dirty ground. We don’t need a leader. We need a movement.
Sport
Kevin Durant has announced a surprise move to the Brooklyn Nets, with ESPN reporting he will likely be joined by two other NBA All-Stars, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan – though Durant is expected to be out for all of next season, after rupturing his achilles in his final game for the Golden State Warriors.
England’s Football Association was reportedly furious to learn that US team officials had been caught wandering into private rooms at England’s hotel, days before the two teams are due to meet in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup.
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