Factbox-Big tech rules, agriculture among issues in US trade talks with South Korea

Factbox-Big tech rules, agriculture among issues in US trade talks with South Korea

By Jihoon Lee and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea was one of the first countries to start U.S. trade talks when both sides agreed in April to craft a package aimed at removing tariffs, but it is now seeking an extension to the 90-day pause on 25% tariffs set to expire on July 9. Trade talks between South Korea and its second-biggest trading partner have so far focused mainly on non-tariff barriers, as the Asian country already imposes near-zero tariffs on U.S. imports under a free trade agreement, according to South Korean officials.Here is a list of some of the issues that have arisen around negotiations: DIGITAL SERVICES South Korea's trade minister, Yeo Han-koo, has said the digital sector is one of the most important areas during the ongoing tariff negotiations. The government has a number of legislative proposals to regulate giant tech companies at home and abroad, which President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to enact to tackle abuses of market dominance and protect smaller companies. In a letter dated July 1, U.S. Congressman Adrian Smith and 42 colleagues wrote to U.S. trade negotiators that the legislation, which they said mirrors the European Union's "discriminatory Digital Markets Act," would disproportionately target American companies while exempting major Chinese digital giants such as ByteDance, Alibaba and Temu. South Korea's ruling party is seeking to "slow down" antitrust legislation on tech giants, including U.S.-based Google, Apple, Facebook and Korea's Naver and Kakao, in light of trade issues and its sensitivity, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-geun told Reuters on Monday. NETFLIX, GOOGLE MAPS South Korea's requirements on content providers, such as Netflix, to pay network usage fees and restrictions on the export of location-based data by Google and other suppliers were also mentioned in the U.S. foreign trade barriers report released in March. In 2016, South Korea rejected Google's request for permission to use detailed mapping data in servers outside the country, citing security issues with North Korea. Seoul is set to rule on Google's fresh request on location-based data on August 11. Apple has also reportedly made a similar request on maps. BEEF, APPLES Washington is demanding better access to the agriculture, auto and digital sectors during ongoing negotiations, South Korea's trade minister said. South Korea, the world's biggest buyer of U.S. beef, restricts imports derived from animals older than 30 months, citing concerns over mad cow disease. The U.S. also has long made market access requests for other agricultural items, such as potatoes and apples. There is, however, domestic concern about opening up the market further, after earlier negotiations where Seoul agreed to lower beef tariffs to 0% by 2026 in a bilateral free trade pact in 2007. The trade ministry will emphasise the sensitivity of the agricultural sector at the negotiations, director Chang Sung-gil said at a public hearing on June 30, where farmers' groups attended to protest. South Korea's tariff of more than 500% on rice imports, which was highlighted by U.S. President Donald Trump in a speech, has not been raised during working-level discussions, according to a senior South Korean official. DEFENCE COSTS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE The issues of foreign exchange policy and cost sharing for some 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea are being discussed via separate finance and defence channels, officials have said. INVESTMENTS Trade officials have emphasised that industrial cooperation, particularly in the shipbuilding industry, will contribute to the revitalisation of the U.S. manufacturing sector and decrease U.S. trade deficits. Trade Minister Yeo said South Korea plays a leading role in artificial intelligence, chips, batteries, cars and semiconductors. ALASKA LNG PROJECT While South Korea is considering more energy purchases, officials have expressed caution when it comes to participation in an Alaska gas project. Although South Korea has shown interest in the $44 billion LNG project in Alaska, the trade minister said the feasibility of the project was still not clear and the U.S. would only provide technical information later in the year. (Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Ed Davies and Saad Sayeed)

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July 06, 2025

Factbox-Big tech rules, agriculture among issues in US trade talks with South Korea

Factbox-Big tech rules, agriculture among issues in US trade talks with South Korea By Jihoon Lee and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL (Reuters) -South Ko...

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Pennsylvania man accused of beheading father and posting video of his severed head to stand trial

Pennsylvania man accused of beheading father and posting video of his severed head to stand trial

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania manaccused of killing his fatherand posting video of his severed head online — and calling for others to help him try to overthrow the U.S. government — is set to stand trial Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs. Justin D. Mohn, 33, faces charges of murder, abuse of a corpse, terrorism related crimes and other offenses for the 2024 killing of Michael F. Mohn at the Levittown home where they lived with the defendant's mother. She found her husband's body in a bathroom. Prosecutors have said Justin Mohn shot his father with a newly purchased pistol, then decapitated him with a kitchen knife and machete. The14-minute YouTube videowas live for several hours before it was removed. Mohn was armed with a handgun when arrested later that day after allegedly climbing a 20-foot (6-meter) fence at Fort Indiantown Gap, the state's National Guard headquarters. He had hoped to get the soldiers to "mobilize the Pennsylvania National Guard to raise arms against the federal government," Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said at a news conference last year. Mohn had aUSB devicecontaining photos of federal buildings and apparent instructions for making explosives when arrested, authorities have said. He also had expressed violent anti-government rhetoric in writings he published online, and the YouTube video included rants about the government,immigrationand the border, fiscal policy, urban crime and the war in Ukraine. Mohn's defense attorney, Steven M. Jones, said last week he did not anticipate the case being resolved with a plea deal. Michael Mohn, who was 68, had been an engineer with the geoenvironmental section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the video, Justin Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal employee and called him a traitor. During acompetency hearinglast year, a defense expert said Mohn wrote a letter to Russia's ambassador to the United States seeking a deal to give Mohn refuge and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for claiming to be the czar of Russia.

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July 06, 2025

Pennsylvania man accused of beheading father and posting video of his severed head to stand trial

Pennsylvania man accused of beheading father and posting video of his severed head to stand trial DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania mana...

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Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial

Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial

BOSTON (AP) — A federal bench trial begins Monday over a lawsuit that challenges aTrump administration campaignof arresting and deporting faculty and students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities. The lawsuit, filed by several university associations against PresidentTrumpand members of his administration, would be one of the first to go to trial. Plaintiffs want U.S. District Judge William Young to rule the policy violates the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act, a law governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations. "The policy's effects have been swift. Noncitizen students and faculty across the United States have been terrified into silence," the plaintiffs wrote in their pretrial brief. "Students and faculty are avoiding political protests, purging their social media, and withdrawing from public engagement with groups associated with pro-Palestinian viewpoints," they wrote. "They're abstaining from certain public writing and scholarship they would otherwise have pursued. They're even self-censoring in the classroom." Several scholars are expected to testify how the policy and subsequent arrests have prompted them to abandon their activism for Palestinian human rights and criticizing Israeli government's policies. Since Trump took office, the U.S. government has used its immigration enforcement powers to crack down on international students and scholars at several American universities. Trump and other officials have accused protesters and others of being "pro-Hamas," referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Many protesters have said they were speaking out against Israel's actions in the war. Plaintiffs single out several activists by name, including Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduateMahmoud Khalil,who was released last month after spending 104 days in federalimmigrationdetention. Khalil has become a symbol ofTrump 'sclampdown on campus protests. The lawsuit also references Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk,who was released in Mayfrom a Louisiana immigration detention. She spent six weeks in detention after she wasarrested walking on the streetof a Boston suburb. She claims she was illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year that criticized the school's response to Israel's war in Gaza. The plaintiffs also accuse the Trump administration of supplying names to universities who they wanted to target, launching a social media surveillance program and used Trump's own words in which he said after Khalil's arrest that his was the "first arrest of many to come." The government argued in court documents that the plaintiffs are bringing a First Amendment challenge to a policy "of their own creation." "They do not try to locate this program in any statute, regulation, rule, or directive. They do not allege that it is written down anywhere. And they do not even try to identify its specific terms and substance," the government argues. "That is all unsurprising, because no such policy exists." They argue the plaintiffs case also rest on a "misunderstanding of the First Amendment, "which under binding Supreme Court precedent applies differently in the immigration context than it otherwise does domestically." But plaintiffs counter that evidence at the trial will show the Trump administration has implemented the policy a variety of ways, including issuing formal guidance on revoking visas and green cards and establishing a process for identifying those involved in pro-Palestinian protests. "Defendants have described their policy, defended it, and taken political credit for it," plaintiffs wrote. "It is only now that the policy has been challenged that they say, incredibly, that the policy does not actually exist. But the evidence at trial will show that the policy's existence is beyond cavil."

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July 06, 2025

Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial

Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists faces federal trial BOSTON (AP) — A federal bench trial begins Mond...

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At least 69 dead, 51 missing as recovery efforts continue in Hill Country

At least 69 dead, 51 missing as recovery efforts continue in Hill Country

(The Center Square) – At least 69 people are dead and 51 are missing as a result of the July 4 flash flood event in Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Sunday night. There are 59 confirmed deceased and 11 missing from Camp Mystic, in Kerrville and Kerr County, Abbott said. In the Central Texas area, there are confirmed 10 additional people deceased. Statewide, in all areas affected by flooding, there are 41 known missing. But it's unknown how many remain missing. Abbott said it was important to clarify that "there were so many people who were just camping out – not children in camps – but adults camping out near the river, people in RVs and things like that," who are missing. "There are people who are missing, who are not on the known, confirmed missing because we don't yet know who they are," he said. Authorities are involved in ongoing searches "throughout the entire river system to find anybody who may be missing," he said. Abbott also called on members of the public to contact local Kerr County officials if they believe they know someone is missing who was camping in the area. "Please contact the local officials in Kerr County and let them know that you have the name, identification and other information about a person who is suspected to be missing," he said. "Call only if you have specific information," otherwise calls could slow emergency response efforts, he said. The state has deployed more than 1,500 personnel and more than 925 vehicles and equipment assets across 20 state agencies in response to the flood event. Expected dangerous weather conditions continue, Abbott also warned, adding that "life threatening danger over the next 24 to 48 hours" exists. Flash flooding could occur in the regions of "the Big Country, Concho Valley, Central Texas and Kerrville," he said. "There are still public safety issues and lives to be saved in Kerr County, and all of these regions," he said. He urged Texans to remain vigilant and stay off the roads. Texas Department of Public Safety Colonel Director Freeman Martin said three people have been reported missing in Williamson County, one has been recovered; the fire chief and a 17-year-old female are missing in Burnet County. At least six people are confirmed dead and 17 are reported missing in Travis and Burnet counties as a result of flood waters, authoritiesconfirmedto the Dallas Morning News. Recovering operations are ongoing for everyone including "every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic, as well as anybody else," Abbott said. After visiting what's left of the camp, he said, "it was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through." "We know that parents and families, they want information, they want closure, and we want them to know that we are working as swiftly as possible to get them accurate information that will provide that closure," Abbott said. More than 850 people have been rescued, the majority by the Texas Military Department. Texas National Guard helped rescue/evacuate 525 people, 366 by air and 159 by ground; 20 were in San Sabo County and five in Burnet County, Texas Military Department Adjutant General Major General Thomas Suelzer said. One single U.S. Coast Guard officer rescued a record 165 people. U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer Petty Officer Scott Ruskin "directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. "This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene. Scott Ruskin is an American hero. His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the USCG." The Trump administration is supporting recovery efforts, including the president already approving a major disaster declaration authorizing FEMA assistance.

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July 06, 2025

At least 69 dead, 51 missing as recovery efforts continue in Hill Country

At least 69 dead, 51 missing as recovery efforts continue in Hill Country (The Center Square) – At least 69 people are dead and 51 are missi...

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Israel launches airstrikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, and Houthis launch missile at Israel

Israel launches airstrikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, and Houthis launch missile at Israel

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel's military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen's Houthi rebels, with the rebels responding with missile fire targeting Israel. The attacks came after an attack Sundaytargeting a Liberian-flagged shipin the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel. Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said bomb-carrying drone boats appeared to hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels' media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault. A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area, particularly afterPresident Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign. The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program followingAmerican airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sitesduring an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also was traveling to Washington to meet with Trump. Israeli strikes target Houthi-held ports The Israeli military said it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant. "These ports are used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are employed to carry out terrorist operations against the state of Israel and its allies," the Israeli military said. The Israeli military also said it struck the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war. "Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities," the Israeli military said. The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire. It said no Israelis were on board. The ship had been operated by a Japanese firm NYK Line. The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces "effectively confronted" the Israelis without offering evidence. Israel has repeatedly atacked Houthi areas in Yemen,including a naval strike in June. Both Israel and the United States have struck ports in the area in the past — includingan American attack that killed 74 people in April— but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the rebels as they continue to fire missiles at Israel. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened further strikes. "What's true for Iran is true for Yemen," Katz said in a statement. "Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have it cut off. The Houthis will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions." The Houthis then responded with an apparent missile attack on Israel. The Israeli military said it attempted to intercept the missile, but it appeared to make impact, though there were no immediate reports of injuries. Sirens sounded in the West Bank and along the Dead Sea. Ship attack forces crew to abandon vessel The attack on the Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt's Suez Canal, happened some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles. Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been "attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea." Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added. The U.S. Navy'sMideast-based 5th Fleetreferred questions to the military's Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating. Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen's exiled government opposing the Houthis, identified the vessel attacked as the Magic Seas and blamed the rebels for the attack. The ship had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north. "The attack also proves once again that the Houthis are merely a front for an Iranian scheme using Yemen as a platform to undermine regional and global stability, at a time when Tehran continues to arm the militia and provide it with military technology, including missiles, aircraft, drones, and sea mines," al-Eryani wrote on the social platform X. The Magic Seas' owners did not respond to a request for comment. Houthi attacks came over Israel-Hamas war The Houthi rebels have been launchingmissile and drone attacksagainst commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as aneffort to endIsrael's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The group's al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader,Abdul Malik al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the Magic Seas met "the established Houthi target profile," without elaborating. Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them andkilling four sailors. Their campaign has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks. The Houthis paused attacks until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven't attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasionalmissile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching an earlier missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted.

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July 06, 2025

Israel launches airstrikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, and Houthis launch missile at Israel

Israel launches airstrikes targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels, and Houthis launch missile at Israel DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Isra...

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