Breaking News, 2nd of October, 2018

The US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, decided to cancel his visit to China in October, CNN reports while citing a source in the US administration. James Mattis was supposed to discuss security issues with the Chinese officials in Beijing. The decision to cancel the visit was made due to the tensions between countries. Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that it was premature to even conduct trade negotiations with China. He also did not rule out a possibility of new custom duties on Chinese goods.

On Sunday, the Chinese destroyer «Luyan» forced the USN destroyer «Decatur» to leave the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea by getting «unsafely» close to the USN ship, «Interfax» reports with a reference to the CNN. The Chinese destroyer came to an «unsafe» distance of 40 meters away from the American destroyer that was, according to the Pentagon, carrying out a mission of «ensuring the freedom of navigation near the disputed islands in the South China Sea.» The official representative of the Pacific Fleet of the USN, Captain Charles Brown, said that the Chinese destroyer «made very aggressive maneuvers while demanding the ‘Decatur’ to »leave the area».

As a result of clashes during the protests in Barcelona, about 30 Catalan police officers were injured, TASS reports. The protests took places all over Catalonia as the first anniversary of the referendum on the independence of the region. The protests were attended by those who supported the leaving of the region from Spain. In the evening, a parade of about 180 000 people was held in Barcelona in support of the result of the referendum.

The Russian Embassy in Seoul announced that the South Korean authorities released the Russian ship ‘Sevastopol’, previously detained in the port of Pusan. “The ban is completely lifted. All the South Korean departments are informed about it.” — TASS quotes the message. As it was noted — the ship may leave the port at any time, but so far the ship isn’t going to do this. Earlier, the South Korean embassy said that the situation with the detention of the ship «Sevastopol» will be finally resolved on 2nd of October. Back in 29th of September it became known that the ship Sevastopol, which belongs to the Hudson Company, was detained in the port of Busan. US sanctions have been imposed against this company.

On Tuesday, Japanese Emperor Akihito officially approved the list of the new Cabinet of Ministers of Japan. The list was presented to him by the head of the government — Shinzo Abe, TASS reports. The solemn ceremony on this occasion was held at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The re-arrangements in the Cabinet of Ministers took place after the election of the chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party held in late September, during which Shinzo Abe won for the third time in a row. The Japanese Prime Minister based his decision on appointing of the new ministers by his desire to “build a new Japan” in an era that will begin on 1st May in the next year — after the abdication of the current Japanese emperor, Akihito, his eldest son Naruhito will take the throne.