China threatens to blacklist foreign companies after Huawei ban - CNN

The Chinese government is working to establish an "unreliable entity list" which would include foreign companies, individuals and organizations, according to a statement Friday from China's Commerce Ministry.

Companies that violate market rules will be added to the list, according to the statement. Other targets include firms that block supplies to Chinese companies for "non-commercial reasons" or otherwise damage their interests.

The exact details of the plan will be announced soon, the statement added.

The move to establish a blacklist comes after the United States hit Huawei with an export ban, effectively barring US companies from doing business with the smartphone and telecom equipment maker.

The Trump administration claims that Huawei equipment can be used by China for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses a risk, saying the restrictions are an attempt to put it out of business.

Huawei fight

The US campaign against Huawei, one of China's most powerful tech companies, reached new heights earlier this month when the Trump administration added it to a list of companies said to undermine American interests.

That forced crucial suppliers like Google (GOOG) and ARM Holdings to cut ties with the Chinese company, while top carriers in the United Kingdom and Japan delayed the launch of Huawei smartphones.

For Huawei, which had aimed to become the top smartphone brand globally by the end of 2020, the ban could pose an existential threat.

Huawei bought $70 billion worth of components and parts last year from 13,000 suppliers. Of that, about $11 billion was spent on products from US businesses including Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analysts had predicted that China could target US businesses as a result of the Huawei ban. Trust between the United States and China is running low as new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs go into effect.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/business/china-entity-list-huawei/index.html

2019-05-31 12:40:00Z
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China threatens to blacklist foreign companies after Huawei ban - CNN

The Chinese government is working to establish an "unreliable entity list" which would include foreign companies, individuals and organizations, according to a statement Friday from China's Commerce Ministry.

Companies that violate market rules will be added to the list, according to the statement. Other targets include firms that block supplies to Chinese companies for "non-commercial reasons" or otherwise damage their interests.

The exact details of the plan will be announced soon, the statement added.

The move to establish a blacklist comes after the United States hit Huawei with an export ban, effectively barring US companies from doing business with the smartphone and telecom equipment maker.

The Trump administration claims that Huawei equipment can be used by China for spying. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it poses a risk, saying the restrictions are an attempt to put it out of business.

Huawei fight

The US campaign against Huawei, one of China's most powerful tech companies, reached new heights earlier this month when the Trump administration added it to a list of companies said to undermine American interests.

That forced crucial suppliers like Google (GOOG) and ARM Holdings to cut ties with the Chinese company, while top carriers in the United Kingdom and Japan delayed the launch of Huawei smartphones.

For Huawei, which had aimed to become the top smartphone brand globally by the end of 2020, the ban could pose an existential threat.

Huawei bought $70 billion worth of components and parts last year from 13,000 suppliers. Of that, about $11 billion was spent on products from US businesses including Qualcomm (QCOM), Broadcom (AVGO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Analysts had predicted that China could target US businesses as a result of the Huawei ban. Trust between the United States and China is running low as new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs go into effect.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/business/china-entity-list-huawei/index.html

2019-05-31 11:43:00Z
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North Korea executes 5 officials over failed Kim-Trump summit: South Korean media - Fox News

North Korea has executed five officials for their part in the failed second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korean newspaper.

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., was executed by firing squad in March for being "won over by the American imperialists to betray the supreme leader", according to the Chosun Ilbo.

The paper also claimed that four other North Korean Foreign Ministry officials were executed that same month because of the breakdown of the February summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, but did not provide details.

JAMES CARAFANO: TRUMP AND KIM - WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON? LET'S HANDICAP NEXT STEPS WITH NORTH KOREA

Kim Hyok Chol, North Korea's special envoy to the U.S., and four other North Korean foreign ministry officials, were executed because of the breakdown of the February North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. (REUTERS, File)

Seoul's spy service said it could not confirm the report, while the presidential Blue House said that "it's inappropriate to make hasty judgments or comments."

Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, told reporters in Berlin that he had seen the reports and the U.S. was "doing our best to check it out."

JOY BEHAR LIKENS TRUMP TO A 'MOBSTER' AFTER 'DISGRACEFUL' COMMENTS ABOUT BIDEN AND NORTH KOREA

Trump’s much-anticipated summit with Kim ended abruptly and without the two leaders signing any agreements over nuclear disarmament.

Kim aide Kim Yong Chol is reportedly undergoing hard labor for his role in the breakdown. (REUTERS, File)

Top Kim aide Kim Yong Chol is reportedly undergoing hard labor for his role in the breakdown.

He had been Kim’s most trusted policy adviser and was removed from one of his posts.

President Trump meeting with Kim Yong Chol this past January 18 in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo)

He even was seen in photos with President Trump at the White House over the past year, delivering letters from the North Korean dictator.

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Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim entered nuclear talks with the U.S. early last year.

Since the Hanoi nuclear summit between Trump and Kim ended in failure, North Korea has again tested weapons and boosted its belligerent rhetoric toward American and South Korean officials.

Fox News' Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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2019-05-31 11:09:59Z
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The Latest: Murky waters impair recovery of boat in Hungary - Fox News

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Kang Kyung-wha, center, foreign minister of South Korea, together with her Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, right, visits the bank of the Danube River close to Margit Bridge where a sightseeing boat capsized in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, May 31, 2019. Hungarian police have detained the captain of a cruise ship that collided with the sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists, causing it to sink quickly in the river in Budapest, as loved ones of the missing and dead were expected to arrive Friday in Hungary. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

BUDAPEST, Hungary – The Latest on rescue efforts following the capsizing of a boat in Budapest (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

Hungary's foreign minister says underwater visibility at the site in the Danube River where the sunken tour boat is located is "practically zero," complicating efforts to salvage the wreck.

Peter Szijjarto said Friday after meeting his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, that the wreckage is more than 6 meters (20 feet) under water, with the Danube expected to keep rising because of rainfall.

Twenty-one people, including 19 South Koreans, are still missing after Wednesday's collision. Seven people were rescued and seven are confirmed dead.

Szijjarto and Kang visited the site of the mishap, near the Hungarian parliament, before holding talks at the Foreign Ministry.

One of the bodies recovered was found nearly 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) downstream, nearly 2-½ hours after the collision.

___

9 a.m.

Hungarian police have detained the captain of a cruise ship that collided with a sightseeing boat packed with South Korean tourists, causing it to sink quickly in the Danube River.

That development came as loved ones of the South Korean people who are missing and dead were expected to arrive Friday in Budapest.

Seven people are confirmed dead and seven have been rescued, while 21 people remain missing in the waters.

A South Korean group on a package tour of Europe — including 30 tourists, two guides and a photographer— were on an hour-long sightseeing tour of Budapest when their boat collided with a Viking cruise ship during a downpour Wednesday evening.

Nineteen South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members — the captain and his assistant — remain missing.

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2019-05-31 10:55:11Z
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Survivors recall chaos as tour boat sank on Danube in Budapest - NBC News

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May 31, 2019, 10:09 AM UTC / Updated May 31, 2019, 10:18 AM UTC

By Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — Survivors of a tour boat which sank in the Danube River in Budapest say they barely managed to grab onto a drifting lifeboat while watching in horror as others around them struggled and shouted for help in the dark, rainy waters.

Only seven of the 35 people on the boat, including 33 South Koreans, were rescued. Seven others have been confirmed dead and 21 are missing.

Survivors said the small sightseeing boat had almost finished an hourlong night tour of the Hungarian capital on Wednesday and was nearly at its stop when a larger cruise ship hit it under a bridge. They said about 20 people were on the deck taking photographs or preparing to disembark. The others were in the cabin.

"I saw that big cruise ship coming closer to us but I never imagined it would ram our boat," a South Korean surnamed Jeong was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

Jeong, 31, said she and others on the deck were thrown into the cold Danube waters by the impact of the collision. Police said it took only seven seconds for the boat to overturn and sink.

She said she saw a lifeboat drifting near her and managed to get hold of it. She threw a rope to another South Korean tourist surnamed Yoon, who was near her.

"Our boat was turned over in an instant and began sinking," Yoon, 32, told Yonhap. "All those on the deck fell into water and I think those staying in the cabin on the first floor probably couldn't get out of the ship swiftly."

Candles and flowers are left under the Margaret Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, near where a tour boat sank.Zoltan Balogh / AP

While holding onto the lifeboat together, Jeong and Yoon said they shed tears when they saw the heads of other people coming up and down in the fast-moving river.

"The people had been plunged into the river in the darkness and shouted, 'Help me!' while floundering in the waters. But I couldn't do anything for them," Jeong said, crying.

Another survivor surnamed Ahn, 60, said a crew member of another sightseeing boat sailing nearby extended a hand to him after he was tossed into the river. But he lost his grip and was carried away by waters before he got hold of a drifting plastic object.

May 30, 201901:04

Yoon said she saw the cruise ship that rammed her boat keep sailing without stopping to help with the rescue after the collision.

Police launched a criminal investigation and detained and questioned the Ukrainian captain of the cruise ship late Thursday. The 64-year-old man is suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident.

Hungary's state TV reported that all of the seven rescued people have been released from the hospital except one who is being treated for broken ribs.

Thirty South Korean tourists were aboard the sightseeing boat along with two South Korean guides and a photographer. Two Hungarian crew members are among the 21 missing.

It was still unclear what exactly caused the collision. A preliminary investigation showed that none of the South Koreans were wearing life jackets at the time of the accident.

Associated Press

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2019-05-31 10:09:00Z
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North Korea executes U.S. nuclear envoy after failed Trump summit: report - USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard USA TODAY

Published 3:49 AM EDT May 31, 2019

North Korea executed its special nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of senior officials over the failed summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper claimed Friday. 

Kim Hyok Chol was executed by firing squad in March along with four other foreign ministry officials, the paper reported, citing an unidentified North Korean source.

North Korea neither confirmed nor denied the report. South Korea's government was not able to confirm the claim. Previous media reports about the fate of North Korean officials who have fallen afoul of Pyongyang's leader have proven to be false.  

Trump's North Korea diplomacy: It looks troubled. It may not mean war

Chosun Ilbo reported Kim Hyok Chol and the other senior officials were shot after being accused of spying for the United States. The paper reported Kim Jong Un ordered the purge amid mounting dissatisfaction with the summit in Hanoi – the second time Kim and Trump met for face-to-face talks. In Vietnam, they failed to reach a deal because of conflicts over the White House's call for complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.

Since then, amid a diplomatic standoff between Pyongyang and Washington, North Korea has resumed testing short-range ballistic missiles, ending a pause in launches that began in late 2017. The tests are viewed as a way for Kim to pressure Trump to ease sanctions without actually causing negotiations to collapse.

There was no immediate reaction to Chosun Ilbo's report from the White House.

"North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me," Trump tweeted during a recent trip to Japan. 

Diplomacy?: Bolton says latest North Korea missile test violates U.N. resolution

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2019-05-31 07:37:00Z
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John Negroponte: Trump's new tariff on Mexico is 'bad politically and bad economically' - CNBC

A widely followed former American diplomat questioned on Friday whether President Donald Trump was adopting the right strategy by threatening Mexico with a new tariff because of immigration issues.

Trump announced Thursday that his country plans to impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports from June 10. In a statement, he attributed that unexpected move to a "border crisis" that has resulted in America being "invaded by hundreds of thousands of people." He even suggested that he could raise the tariff on Mexico's goods to 25% by Oct. 1 this year if the country did not sufficiently halt the flow of migrants into the U.S.

Speaking with CNBC's "Street Signs" on Thursday evening U.S. time, John Negroponte questioned whether Trump's move would have the desired effect.

"I think it's both bad politically and bad economically and I don't think it's really going to help solve the immigration problem, either, which is what Mr. Trump said he's trying to attack," said Negroponte, current vice chairman of consultancy McLarty Associates and formerly U.S. ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations, and Iraq.

Mexico, for its part, has said it would not respond well to economic threats.

In a letter addressed to Trump, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he did not want confrontation, and that leaders have a responsibility to seek peaceful solutions to controversies.

John Negroponte on July 17, 2018 in Bogota, Colombia.

Gabriel Aponte | Getty Images

"President Trump: Social problems cannot be resolved with taxes or coercive measures," the Mexican leader wrote.

Negroponte told CNBC he agreed with that sentiment. Still, he said, perhaps now is the time that Washington and Mexico City can come together on the issue. 

In fact, in his letter to Trump, López Obrador requested that U.S. and Mexican officials begin meeting on Friday to discuss how to "reach an agreement for the benefit of both nations."

Even from a domestic politics standpoint, Trump may have overplayed his hand with the new tariff threat.

U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican who represents Iowa, slammed the move. He called it a "misuse of presidential tariff authority."

"Trade policy and border security are separate issues," Grassley said in a statement following the Trump's announcement. "Following through on this threat would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA, a central campaign pledge of President Trump's and what could be a big victory for the country," he warned.

The USMCA refers to the new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, which lawmakers had yet to approve. Several experts suggested that the deal, an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, could now face real difficulties getting passed.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/31/john-negroponte-trump-tariff-on-mexico-bad-politically-economically.html

2019-05-31 05:28:23Z
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