World Briefs … North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho replaced

SEOUL — North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho has been replaced, Seoul-based NK News reported on Saturday. Ri’s replacement has not been identified but Pyongyang is set to reveal his successor by next Thursday, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

South Korea’s unification ministry, which is in charge of North Korea affairs, has said that any change in Ri’s status should be assessed cautiously. Born in 1956, Ri is the son of Ri Myong Je, former deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department, a shadowy body within the ruling Workers’ Party that oversees the appointment of management positions within the state, according to the South Korean unification ministry. His father was also an editor at the Korean Central News Agency, the state media body that publishes Pyongyang’s propaganda statements.

LONDON — Prince Harry and Meghan will no longer use their HRH titles and will not receive public funds for royal duties, Buckingham Palace has announced. The couple will also no longer formally represent Queen Elizabeth. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex intend to repay £2.4m (N$45 million) of taxpayer money for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home, the statement added. The new arrangement comes into effect in spring this year, the palace said. The statement comes after the queen held talks with the couple last Monday about their future, following their announcement that they wanted to “step back” as senior royals and divide their time between the UK and Canada. The queen said she was “pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family”.

SOUTH CAROLINA — A South Carolina woman was on Thursday sentenced to 25 years in jail after she admitted poisoning her husband by putting eye drops in his drinking water. In a plea deal, Lana Sue Clayton (53) pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Steven Clayton (64) at their home in Clover, near Charlotte, CBS-affiliate WBTV reported. She was accused of poisoning her husband by lacing his drinking water with eye drops between 19 and 21 July 2018. Her husband was initially thought to have died of natural causes but an autopsy toxicology report showed poisonous levels of tetrahydrozoline, which is found in eye drops. “The coroner found a level of tetrahydrozoline in his system and that’s when we opened the case because that was very unusual for us,” York county sheriff’s office PIO officer Trent Faris said.

LONDON — Germany wants to deepen trade ties with London and continue close cooperation on security and defence projects after Britain’s divorce from the EU, defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Thursday. Britain is set to leave the EU on 31 January after agreeing a deal late last year. It will remain bound by the bloc’s rules until the end of 2020 under an agreed transition phase designed to smooth its exit. “Brexit is not the end of cooperation between Britain and Europe and not at all the end of cooperation between Britain and Germany,” she said in the text of a speech she delivered in London, stressing common interests bound them together. “We want to deepen our trade and keep it free of tariffs and restrictions. Germany is, after the US, Britain’s most important trade partner. That must remain so without the protective ceiling of the EU,” the text said.

– Nampa-AFP-Reuters-BBC News

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