News In Brief

North Korea blames US for failed summit, urges ‘new calculation’
Reuters, Seoul
North Korea said on Friday an “arbitrary and dishonest” U.S. position had resulted in the failure to reach a deal during a second North Korea-U.S. summit, warning the nuclear issue would never be resolved without a new approach.
A spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry accused the United States of trying to shift the blame for the breakdown of the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in February by raising a “completely irrelevant issue”. He did not elaborate.

WHO unveils plan to tackle global snakebite ‘wmergency’
AFP, Geneva:
The World Health Organization on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to dramatically cut deaths and injuries from snakebites, warning a dearth of antivenoms could soon spark a “public health emergency”.
Each year, nearly three million people are bitten by poisonous snakes, with an estimated 81,000-138,000 deaths. Another 400,000 survivors suffer permanent disabilities and other after-effects, according to WHO figures.

300 LeT terrorists active in Afghanistan: Pentagon
PTI, Washington
At least 300 fighters from Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), designated a global terror organisation by the US and the UN, are active in war-torn Afghanistan, a pentagon report has said.
The report also identified LeT among the three terrorist groups posing the greatest threat to the US and its allied forces in Afghanistan. The LeT was responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 that killed 166 people.

Kabul mosque blast kills 2
AP, Kabul
An Afghan police official says a bomb exploded at a mosque in a western part of Kabul, killing two people, including the prayer leader, and wounding seven.
Jan Agha, a district police official, says the bomb was apparently planted in the microphone used by the mosque leader during Friday prayers. No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but both the Taliban and the Islamic State group regularly stage attacks in the country’s capital.

Pompeo to meet Merkel on May 31
Reuters, Berlin
The visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Berlin, which was canceled at short notice, has been rescheduled for May 31, a spokeswoman for the German government said on Friday.
Pompeo had been due to visit Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month, but canceled at the very last minute in favor of an unscheduled trip to Iraq. The spokeswoman added that Merkel would stress in talks that tensions with Iran over its nuclear program and role in the Middle East must be resolved peacefully..