While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 19
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met in Malta for 12 hours last weekend.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Top US diplomat Blinken meets China’s VP Han at UN amid strained ties
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly as the world’s two largest economies hold a series of meetings to stabilise their strained relationship.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta for 12 hours last weekend, in what both sides have described as “candid, substantive and constructive” talks.
The meeting between Blinken and Han was the latest in a series of high-level talks between US and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
Climate takes centre stage at UN as global temperatures hit record
With the world on track to break the record for the hottest year in history, world leaders, business leaders, celebrities and activists have converged on midtown Manhattan for Climate Week and the UN’s Climate Action Summit, again focusing the world’s attention on the climate crisis.
The annual climate gathering coincides with the start of the United Nations General Assembly, bringing heads of state and top government officials together with private-sector leaders to focus on climate change in a year marked by a record number of billion-dollar disasters, including eight severe floods.
The main event will take place Wednesday when UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will host his own Climate Action Summit, a high-profile event meant to reverse backsliding on Paris climate agreement goals and to encourage governments to adopt serious new actions to combat climate change.
Bus accident kills at least 24 in Peru: Transportation company
At least 24 people were killed in a passenger bus accident in Peru on Monday, according to the company operating the vehicle.
A representative for the company Molina Union, Scarlet Bueno, told Reuters that at least 24 people had died, but did not give further details.
Peru’s transportation supervisory agency (Sutran) confirmed the crash occurred on Monday morning in a statement, without providing a number of fatalities or injuries.
Spanish court throws out Rubiales’ pre-kiss defamation lawsuit
A Spanish court has dismissed a lawsuit by disgraced ex-soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales against coach Javier Clemente who had called Rubiales a “dangerous and ambitious guy” seeking “to get rich”, qualifying his comments as free speech.
In its ruling seen by Reuters on Monday and dated Sept 1 - amid an unrelated scandal over Rubiales’ behaviour at the Women’s World Cup last month - the Madrid court said that “we are dealing with a pure exercise of the right to freely express an opinion about a person who, moreover, is a public figure”.
The ruling can be appealed.
Striking Hollywood writers, studios to resume negotiations on Wednesday
Negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood’s major studios will resume contract talks on Wednesday to try and end a work stoppage that has disrupted production for more than four months.
The WGA, in a note to members on Monday, encouraged its writers to continue picketing outside studio offices until an agreement is reached.
“You might not hear from us in the coming days while we are negotiating, but know that our focus is getting a fair deal for writers as soon as possible,” the union said.
