Voters in the Swiss region of Valais have voted against a bid to host the 2026 Winter OIympics in the town of Sion.

The dpa news agency reported that voters refused to pledge financial support by a vote of 54 percent.

Sion Mayor Philippe Varone said the vote Sunday was the end of the bid. He says “there is no Plan B.”

Sion offered what the bidders termed a sustainable Olympics relying on already existing jumps and ski courses. Voters rejected assurances from the International Olympic Committee and bid supporters that expensive new construction would not be needed.

Sites that are still in the running include Turin and Milan in Italy; Graz in Austria; Stockholm; Turkey’s Erzurum; Calgary, Canada; and Sapporo, Japan.

The decision will be made in fall 2019.

Source: Associated Press

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Italy’s economy minister says the new populist government isn’t discussing any proposal to leave the eurozone.

Minister Giovanni Tria, in an interview in Sunday’s Corriere della Sera newspaper, said “not only do we not want to exit” the 19-member shared currency union, but the coalition is determined to act so conditions don’t occur to “put our presence in the euro(zone) up for discussion.”

He called the week-old Italian government’s position on the euro “clear and unanimous.”

Tria, an economics policy professor, was a last-minute choice to replace the coalition’s preferred pick for the post, an economist who has advocated having a backup plan to abandon the euro. Italy’s president refused to approve hiring that economist, citing fears that championing such a plan would further roil the financial markets.

Source: Associated Press

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For Iran, the so-called “Axis of Evil” has boiled down to a party of one, as President Donald Trump prepares for direct talks with North Korea.

With Saddam Hussein overthrown and Kim Jong Un now preparing for a planned meeting in Singapore with Trump, Iran remains the last renegade among former President George W. Bush’s grouping of nations opposed to the U.S.

For those in Tehran, whether hard-liners, reformists or people simply trying to get by in Iran’s worsening economy, it’s head-spinning, especially after seeing Trump pull America out of the nuclear deal with world powers.

“I am buying my insulin shots at double the price only because of Trump’s decision,” fumed Najmeh Songhori, a 35-year-old diabetic mother of two standing in front of a pharmacy in central Tehran. “Meanwhile he is trying to reach a deal with North Korea. Who is going to trust him?”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Excited crowds flooded the streets after the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran struck with world powers, including the U.S. under President Barack Obama.

The deal saw Iran agree to limit uranium enrichment in its nuclear program, which the West feared could be used to build a nuclear weapon. For Iran, which long has maintained its atomic program was for peaceful purposes, the deal took the shackles of sanctions off its economy and opened up its oil sales abroad.

No one believed it would bring massive change to Iran, which remains a Shiite theocracy overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But many hoped it would encourage further negotiations and normalize Iran’s…

Thousands of women turned British cities into rivers of green, white and violet Sunday to mark 100 years since the first women won the right to vote in the U.K.

Part artwork, part parade, “Processions” saw women march through London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast wearing scarves in the colors of the suffragette movement that fought for the female franchise.

The London march flowed in bands of color through the heart of the city, along Piccadilly and around Trafalgar Square before heading to Parliament, the seat of British political power.

In 1918, Parliament enacted the Representation of the People Act, which granted property-owning British women over 30 the right to vote. It would be another decade before women won the same voting rights as men.

Sunday’s celebration was organized by arts group Artichoke, which specializes in large-scale, participatory events. It asked 100 artists to work with women’s groups around the country on banners inspired by the bold designs of the suffragettes, who led a decades-long campaign of protest and civil disobedience to get votes for women.

The London march featured banners from Brownie packs and arts groups, an organization for female ex-prisoners and the Worshipful Company of Upholders, an upholsterers’ guild. Some participants dressed as Edwardian suffragettes or wore sashes in green, white or violet.

One woman had knitted a pendant with the suffragette slogan “Deeds not words.” Another came with a banner evoking the modern-day women’s movement: “Nevertheless she persisted.”

Women came from across England and even further…

With all the international attention focused on Singapore and the historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang must be buzzing with excitement, right?

Well, it might be, if anyone knew what was going on.

Instead, it’s like the center of the storm.

With few sources of information other than the state-run media, gossip and word of mouth, most North Koreans are still largely in the dark about the momentous — and potentially life-changing — events that are about to take place outside of their isolated nation.

The official media has reported that the two leaders plan to meet, but has offered few specifics, including where and when. There was no official word that Kim had left the country Sunday and arrived in Singapore, hours before Trump.

The top news lately has instead been tremendously mundane, all things considered — a visit by Kim to a seafood restaurant in Pyongyang.

Word does get around, however, and it is quite likely that the prospect of a meeting between Kim and Trump is on the public’s radar. The meeting could have a major and direct impact on their daily lives, so it is only natural that people would want to know. But without a robust and independent media, accurate news is less likely and exaggeration and gossip probably abound.

If it follows the usual routine, state media will probably wait until the event is over before it puts out its first reports. News that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea was front page news with a big photo of him shaking Kim’s hand the following day in the ruling…

A new surveillance camera was installed and restaurants closed on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, a popular tropical getaway thrust into the spotlight ahead of a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Located a quarter mile (400 meters) off the coast of the city-state, Sentosa is no stranger to celebrities and VIPs. It is linked to the city by a bridge and home to high-end resorts, golf courses and a large amusement park.

The macabre history of the island, which will become the venue of the historic summit on Tuesday, is less known.

In the 18th century, when Singapore was a British colony, an unknown epidemic killed off most of its population of 60. Only two households survived.

During World War II, the British used artillery forts and a battery on the island to unsuccessfully fend off a Japanese invasion, which transformed it into a prisoner-of-war camp.

It’s no wonder the island was known as Pulau Blakang Mati, which roughly translates as “island of death from behind.”

In 1970, the island was renamed after a nationwide contest. Sentosa was subsequently developed as a resort and expanded on reclaimed land.

Nevertheless, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s prime minister from 1959 to 1990, used the island to hold long-term political prisoners who were often detained without trial. Chia Thye Poh, a former member of parliament, spent 23 years in jail and under loose house arrest there.

He worked as a freelance translator for the island’s management, before he was allowed to visit the mainland for a short time every day and set free.

These days, the…

Chinese President Xi Jinping extolled free trade and criticized “selfish, short-sighted” policies Sunday during a closely orchestrated gathering of a Beijing-led bloc, standing in stark contrast with the G-7 summit that ended in disarray over trade tensions.

“We should reject selfish, short-sighted, narrow and closed-off policies. We must maintain the rules of the World Trade Organization, support the multilateral trade system and build an open global economy,” Xi said.

Though his remarks did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump, Beijing has sought to portray itself as a defender of free trade in response to the American leader’s support for import controls. This is despite China’s status as the most-closed major economy.

Xi also hailed the entry of new members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, calling the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain “of great historic significance” in opening remarks at this weekend’s summit of in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao. Their two South Asian nations joined the bloc as full members last year.

With tight security, closed roads and restricted press access, the summit’s choreographed show of unity was a striking contrast to the tumultuous Group of Seven summit of leading industrialized nations that concluded Saturday in Quebec and saw the U.S. and its allies divided by escalating trade tensions.

Trump lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an extraordinary set of tweets from Air Force One, calling him “dishonest & weak” and retracting the U.S….

Singapore officials said Sunday that two South Korean journalists arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the residence of the North Korean ambassador have been deported.

“I think it’s a bad idea in any country to break into ambassador’s residences. No different in Singapore. Case closed. They have been asked to leave,” Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said.

The two men represented the Korean Broadcasting System News and were arrested on Friday. They were not accredited as media personnel in Singapore.

The national broadcaster apologized for the incident in its Friday evening newscast.

Another KBS journalist and an interpreter are also under investigation. The maximum penalty for criminal trespass is a jail term of three months and a fine of 1,500 Singapore dollars.

Speaking to the media ahead of Tuesday’s summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Shanmugam added that authorities have had to prevent three or four individuals from entering the country.

On Saturday, immigration authorities turned away “someone from a regional country” who was found to be visiting websites on suicide bombing, he said.

Australian Zaky Mallah, who was once tried on terrorism charges, was prevented from entering the city-state on Thursday due to his history of extremism.

Police have stepped up security around “special event areas” such as the summit’s venue on Sentosa Island, and hotels where Trump and Kim are expected to stay.

Source: Associated Press

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