Trump may fire Commerce Secretary; China confirms detention of Canadian citizen
(Baonghean.vn) - Europe calls on Russia to comply with the nuclear treaty; Trump may fire the Minister of Commerce; Thai police seize more than 1 ton of crystal meth; China confirms arrest of 1 Canadian citizen... are the world's outstanding news in the past 24 hours.
Trump considers firing Commerce Secretary
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| US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. Photo: Reuters |
Reuters and NBC reported on July 15 that US President Donald Trump has informed aides and allies that he is considering firing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
The cause appears to stem from the defeat in the US Supreme Court, when the Trump administration failed to add a citizenship question to the census taking place next year. The White House boss was frustrated with Ross for the way he ran the Census Bureau, an agency under the US Department of Commerce.
Trump nominated Ross to be Commerce Secretary on November 30, 2016. He took office on February 28, 2017, after the Senate approved his nomination 72-27. Although Ross was one of Trump’s earliest supporters, the President has been rather cold toward the 81-year-old secretary.
China confirms arrest of a Canadian citizen
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. Photo: CCTV. |
In response to the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ information about a Canadian citizen being arrested in China, at a press conference on the afternoon of July 15, Mr. Canh Shuang confirmed that the Shandong Provincial Police recently discovered a drug case involving foreign students, including a Canadian citizen. The case is still under investigation.
Europe calls on Russia to comply with nuclear treaty
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| A part of Russia's 9M729 missile. Photo: Reuters |
According to AFP, the European Union (EU) is calling on Russia to continue complying with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, after the country announced it was temporarily suspending its participation.
“We are deeply concerned about developments regarding the INF Treaty as it is set to expire on 2 August,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said.
Ms Mogherini said the EU called on Russia to address “repeatedly expressed concerns” about the missile system and take action to ensure compliance with the agreement.
China's economic growth hits 30-year low
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| Container port in Qingdao city, Shandong province. Photo: Reuters |
China's economic growth rate is slowing to its slowest pace in nearly 30 years, after its second-quarter GDP slowed to 6.2% from 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019.
The 6.2% figure was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on July 15, but was still within the growth range set by the Beijing government of 6.0-6.5% for the whole year, down from 6.6% in 2018.
Beijing has rolled out stimulus measures to shore up the economy, but they have not been enough to offset a slowdown at home and weak external demand. Global exports rose just 0.1% in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.
Thai police conduct a series of raids, seizing more than 1 ton of crystal meth
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| Crystal meth seized by Thai authorities during a drug raid in Bangkok on June 5, 2019. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
In a statement on July 14 and 15, Thai police said they had seized more than 10 million methamphetamine pills in July. According to the statement, police arrested eight people who were trafficking more than 5 million methamphetamine pills, 600kg of methamphetamine, 15.4kg of heroin, and 51kg of ketamine.
The drugs were discovered on July 12 in a truck and hidden in fruit baskets and at the home of a suspected drug dealer. Thai police said they seized 459kg of crystal meth last week, suspected to have originated from neighboring Myanmar. The drugs were found in the back of a pickup truck and covered with a large tarpaulin./.
