The US has decided to sell an anti-missile system–the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system–to South Korea. THAAD is a very sophisticated anti-missile system (the link goes to the Lockheed Martin Company so one should read the claims with a degree of skepticism) and it is being deployed ostensibly to protect South Korea from a nuclear attack by North Korea. But it also protects South Korea from a Chinese attack and the Chinese regard the deployment as highly provocative. It also suggests that South Korea is cementing its alliance with the US and is not thinking about taking a more conciliatory stance toward China.
The British government has emphatically said “No” to a petition requesting that a second vote be held on Brexit. A petition circulated which collected more than 4 million signatures requesting a do-over. The government, however, has decided that the first vote should be decisive since over 33 million people voted. The decision was inevitable–at some point votes have to be determinant or no decisions will ever be made.
Another prominent environmental activist, Lesbia Yaneth Urquia, has been killed in Honduras. Urquia was killed four months after the death of Berta Caceres who was also active in environmental protests. Both opposed the building of a new hydroelectric dam, the Agua Zarca dam, in the La Paz region of the country. The current Honduran government seized power in 2009 and has approved 47 new dam projects in the country. Over 100 activists have been killed in the country over the last five years.
World Politics News 
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