Abe may meet Xi late next month in Beijing

WASHINGTON • Arrangements are said to be under way for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping late next month in Beijing.

Mr Abe plans to visit Beijing to meet Mr Xi ahead of his trilateral meeting with Chinese and South Korean leaders in Chengdu in Sichuan province.

The visit is aimed at confirming cooperation with the Chinese President, who is scheduled to visit Tokyo as a state guest next April.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to attend the trilateral talks. Whether Mr Abe and Mr Moon will hold bilateral talks remains to be seen.

WASHINGTON POST

US urging N. Korea back to talks: Seoul

SEOUL • The United States is "very actively" trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea's national security adviser said yesterday, as a year-end North Korean deadline for the US to show more flexibility in the denuclearisation talks nears.

Seoul was taking Pyongyang's deadline "very seriously", adviser Chung Eui-yong told reporters, at a time when efforts to improve inter-Korean relations have stalled.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April gave the US a year-end deadline and has warned it not to ignore the date.

REUTERS

Sanders blasts Bloomberg at rally

CORALVILLE (Iowa) • Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders unleashed his most forceful rebuke yet of business tycoon Michael Bloomberg's potential bid for the US presidency, warning the former mayor of New York that he would not be able to "buy this election" and chastising his plan to skip campaigning in the early voting states.

Speaking at a rally in Coralville, Mr Sanders repeatedly addressed Mr Bloomberg by name, almost daring him to enter a Democratic primary race that has already been in progress for months.

"So tonight, we say to Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires: Sorry, you ain't going to buy this election," he said.

NYTIMES