After days of speculation, China has confirmed that the North Korean leader travelled to the neighbouring country to meet Xi Jinping
Good afternoon, this is Anna and I will be breaking down today's headlines from around the world.
Kim in China - China has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Beijing, where he met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and repeated his commitment to denuclearisation. Xinhua state news agency said Kim had been in China on an ‘unofficial visit’ from Sunday to Wednesday. According to Xinhua, Kim told Xi the situation on the Korean peninsula was ‘starting to get better’. ‘It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il-sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong-il,’ he said. Kim added that the issue of denuclearisation could be resolved if South Korea and the US ‘respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability’.
Small chance of survival - The niece of poisoned former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has said he and his daughter Yulia, who are still in hospital, have only a very small chance of surviving. Viktoria Skripal said the prognosis for both ‘really isn’t good’ following the novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 4 March. She told the BBC: ‘Out of 99% I have maybe 1% of hope. Whatever it was has given them a very small chance of survival. But they’re going to be invalids for the rest of their lives.’
‘Extreme’ fossil fuels profitable again - Bank holdings in ‘extreme’ fossil fuels rose by $115bn during Donald Trump’s first year as US president, a new report claims. A departure from fossil fuels investments after the Paris agreement was reversed last year with a return to energy sources that contribute to global emissions. This included an 11% hike in funding for carbon-heavy tar sands, as well as Arctic and ultra-deepwater oil and coal.
Russia mourns - The first funerals for those who were killed in a shopping centre fire in the Russian city of Kemerovo are being held today. At least 64 people died in the blaze on Sunday, 41 of them children. Dozens of people are reportedly still missing. Wednesday has been declared a day of national mourning, and vigils have been held across Russia. President Putin - who visited Kemerovo on Tuesday - has blamed ‘criminal negligence’ for the blaze.
Censoring sex - Cosmopolitan magazine is being removed from view at checkouts of US supermarket giant, Walmart. A conservative non-profit group celebrated the move as a victory as they had lobbied against the magazine's ‘hyper-sexualised’ content for years. The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) said they had been in ‘collaborative dialogue’ with Walmart. In a statement, Walmart said the change was ‘primarily a business decision’ but ‘concerns raised were heard’. Cosmopolitan will still be available to purchase in designated magazine sections in the store, however.
Goodbye Facebook - Playboy headquarters has said it is leaving Facebook over the social network's handling of user data. Playboy's chief creative officer, Cooper Hefner - son of the magazine's late founder, Hugh Hefner - announced the decision on Tuesday. He complained that Facebook's content guidelines and corporate policies contradict Playboy's values and that the platform ‘in our opinion continues to be sexually repressive’. ‘Learning of the recent meddling in a free U.S. election further demonstrates another concern we have of how they handle users' data -- more than 25 million of which are Playboy fans -- making it clear to us that we must leave the platform,’ Cooper Hefner wrote on Twitter.