PRESIDENT Donald Trump presented a special US-made trophy to the winner of a sumo tournament as he got a taste of one of Japan’s most treasured cultural institutions.
The honour given to Trump was part of a charm offensive by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, as he courted Trump with three things close to the American leader’s heart: wrestling, cheeseburgers and golf.
The president, first lady Melania Trump, Abe and his wife Akie, joined an estimated 11,500 fans at Ryogoku Kokugikan Stadium to watch massive and muscular men, in bare feet and loin cloths, battle for supremacy in a small ring of dirt.
At the match’s end, Trump stepped into the ring and presented the eagle-topped President’s Cup to the champion, Asanoyama.
Trump’s four-day state visit to Japan is designed to demonstrate the strength of the US-Japan alliance.
MEANWHILE, Hungary’s prime minister has said he hopes the European Parliament election will bring a shift towards political parties that want to stop migration.
Viktor Orban, left, said after casting his vote at a school near his Budapest home on Sunday that the issue of migration, which he believes is stoppable, “will reorganise the political spectrum in the European Union”.
Orban, whose Fidesz party had its membership suspended in the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest political bloc in the EU Parliament, because of concerns about Hungary’s democracy, said his party would want to stay in the EPP only if it can influence the group’s strategy.
IN Thailand, Prem Tinsulanonda, below, one of the nation’s most influential political figures over four decades, has died at the age of 98.
During his career, he served as army commander, prime minister and adviser to the royal palace.
His death in a Bangkok hospital on Sunday was announced by the government’s Public Relations Department, confirming earlier unofficial reports in Thai media.
Prem was best noted for his long-standing devotion to the monarchy, especially the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who appointed him to his Privy Council immediately after he stepped down as prime minister, and named him head of that powerful advisory body in 1998.
FINALLY, in Afghanistan, native captives held by the Taliban have been subjected to abuse, ill-treatment and actions that may amount to torture, the UN has said.
The statement came as the US is trying to find a negotiated solution to the country’s protracted war.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it interviewed 13 detainees from a group of 53 recently rescued.
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