News Headlines - 20 July 2019

▽Angela Merkel ‘Feels Solidarity’ for Congresswomen Targeted by Trump - The New York Times

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany expressed solidarity on Friday with the four Democratic congresswomen whom President Trump told to “go back” to the countries they came from, saying the remarks ran counter to her impression of what makes America strong.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday at her annual summer news conference, the chancellor fielded questions on a broad range of topics, but was asked repeatedly about her position regarding Mr. Trump’s insults to the congresswomen.

▽Jeremy Hunt set to freeze Iran assets after it taunts UK over seized tanker

Ministers are drawing up plans to target the Iranian regime with sanctions after its forces seized a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf.
Jeremy Hunt is expected to use a Commons statement on Monday to announce a package of diplomatic and economic measures, including possible asset freezes, in response to the capture of the Stena Impero.
The UK could also push for European Union and United Nations sanctions to be reimposed on the regime after they were lifted in 2016 as part of a deal on Iran's nuclear programme, which saw billions of dollars of assets unfrozen and allowed the country's oil to be sold internationally.

▽Conjoined twin girls separated in London after 50 hours of surgery | The Guardian

Rare conjoined twins have been separated at a world-leading children’s hospital in London, surgeons have announced.
Two-year-old sisters Safa and Marwa Ullah, from Charsadda in Pakistan, underwent three major operations to separate their heads at Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH).
The first operation took place in October 2018, when the girls were 19 months old. The last operation, during which they were finally separated, was carried out on 11 February.

▽South Korean man sets himself on fire outside Japanese embassy in Seoul - CNN

A man in his seventies has died after self-immolating inside his car in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, authorities in the South Korean capital said Friday.
According to a statement from the local Jongno Fire Station, "it is presumed that the man, using 20 liters of gasoline and butane gas in the car, tried to set himself on fire."
The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning, at 3:24 a.m. The man succumbed to his injuries in hospital several hours later, after suffering extensive second-degree burns to his chest, arm and face.

▽Tepco to decommission reactors at Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant | The Japan Times

Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. will formally decide to decommission the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant after informing the prefecture’s governor of its policy as early as this month, a company source has said... The decommissioning of all four reactors at the No. 2 plant will likely require more than 40 years and cost an estimated ￥280 billion ($2.6 billion), the source added. If realized, all 10 reactors in Fukushima Prefecture will be scrapped.