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The Latest News Around Us 5 30 2021 Greta The latest News Around Us_5_30_2021 Greta Thunberg calls out Chinese state-run media for 'fat-shaming' her in a scathing article that questioned her veganism Joshua Zitser - [email protected] ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty ImagesSwedish founder of the "School Strike for Climate" movement Greta Thunberg speaks on the sidelines of talks between representatives of the movement and German Chancellor in Berlin on August 20, 2020. ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images. Greta Thunberg has called out Chinese state media for "fat-shaming" her in a scathing article that questioned her vegetarianism, the Independent reported. The article published last week by the China Daily, a newspaper owned by the propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, implied that the 18-year-old climate activist was lying about her meat-free diet. "Although she claims to be vegetarian, judging from the results of her growth, her carbon emissions are actually not low," wrote the China Daily journalist Tang Ge. Thunberg, who is a vegan, responded to the article on Twitter on Friday. She described how being "fat-shamed" by a wing of the Chinese government was a "pretty weird" experience. "Being fat-shamed by Chinese state-owned media is a pretty weird experience even by my standards," Thunberg wrote. "But it's definitely going on my resume." The climate activist has been heavily critiqued by the China Daily since posting a tweet on May 7 calling on China to do more to help address the climate crisis, Vice News reported. She was previously attacked in China for supporting the poster boy of Hong Kong pro-democracy protest movement, Joshua Wong, Vice said. Kamala Harris reportedly 'tracks' reporters who don't 'appreciate her life experience': The Atlantic John L. Dorman - [email protected] Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly "tracks" journalists whom she believes do not understand her as an individual, according to a profile published in The Atlantic. Getty/ Vice President Kamala Harris Harris, who in January became the first female, first Black, and first Indian American vice president in American history, has long spoken of her biracial heritage and the way in which it has shaped her life experiences. In her 2018 autobiography, "The Truths We Hold," she opens up about the meaning of her name. "My name is pronounced 'comma-la,' like the punctuation mark," she wrote. "It means 'lotus flower', which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture. A lotus grows underwater, its flowers rising above the surface while the roots are planted firmly in the river bottom." In the book, Harris also described how her mother, the late Shyamala Gopalan, knew that society would perceive her and sibling Maya as Black and instilled confidence in her daughters. "My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters," she wrote. "She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls, and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women." During the 2020 presidential election, when Harris was competing in a crowded multi-candidate field which included her now-boss, President Joe Biden, the issue of her background often came up in interviews. The profile says Harris and her team "tend to dismiss reporters." According to the report, the vice president "tracks political players and reporters whom she thinks don't fully understand her or appreciate her life experience." Harris reportedly continues to bring up the January 2019 incident of Washington Post reporter Chelsea Janes, who attended a Washington, DC, book event and drew the ire of the members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. by labeling their signature "skee-wee" as "screeching." Harris pledged the sorority while an undergraduate student at Howard University, a historically Black institution of higher learning, and it is a powerful part of her personal identity. "Members of her Howard sorority are in the room and screeched when she mentioned her time there," Janes tweeted, before deleting the text. "Did not expect to hear screeches here." She quickly apologized: "Guys, I'm so sorry. Had never heard about the Skee Wee call before, but I certainly have now. Meant only to convey enthusiasm in the room!" According to The Atlantic, requests for Harris to answer questions after events are often "treated as an act of impish aggression." "She particularly doesn't like the word cautious, and aides look out for synonyms too," the report read. "Careful, guarded, and hesitant don't go over well. But she continues to retreat behind talking points and platitudes in public, and declines many interview requests and opportunities to speak for herself." Harris also sometimes "comes off as so uninteresting that television producers have started to wonder whether spending thousands of dollars to send people on trips with her is worthwhile," according to The Atlantic. Cook County, Ill., State's Attorney Kim Foxx, a friend of Harris, told The Atlantic that the vice president's demeanor was a "learned reticence." "There's a reality of doing this work as a woman and a Black woman - and it often isn't talked about a lot publicly -that there's a presumed resilience around people who are first," she said. "There is a celebration of what it means to break the ceiling, and not nearly the conversation of what the cuts to your head look like." Biden Swipes at Trump, Says He Won't Give Kim Jong Un 'International Recognition' Darragh Roche Anna Moneymaker/ Getty Images President Joe Biden appeared to criticize his immediate predecessor, former President Donald Trump, on Friday while discussing the approach his administration planned to take on North Korea. Biden gave a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and said he wanted to achieve "total denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea, a dictatorship led by Kim Jong Un, is a nuclear power. The president said he wouldn't meet with Kim unless the North Korean leader made a commitment to discuss the nuclear weapons issue. Former President Trump met with Kim three times. "If there was a commitment on which we met, then I would meet with [him]," Biden said. "And the commitment has to be that there is discussion about his nuclear arsenal." Biden then seemed to contrast his approach with Trump's and critique the former president's decision to meet with Kim. "What I would not do is what has been done in the recent past," Biden said. "I would not give him all he's looking for, international recognition as legitimate, and give him what allowed him to move in a direction of appearing to be more serious about what he wasn't at all serious about." Trump first met Kim in Singapore in June 2018, becoming the first serving U.S. president to do so. He held summit meetings with Kim on two further occasions, in Hanoi in February 2019 and on the Korean Peninsula itself in June 2019. During his final meeting with Kim at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border between North and South Korea, Trump walked a few steps into North Korea. It was the first time a U.S. president had entered the country. However, the meetings achieved little and Trump's comments about his first encounter with Kim proved controversial. The former president described the first meeting to rally-goers in West Virginia on September 29, 2018, according to USA Today. "I was really tough and so was he, and we went back and forth," Trump said. "And then we fell in love, OK? No, really, he wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters. We fell in love." Trump went on to make several comments praising Kim and describing their relationship in positive terms. "It's a very interesting thing to say, but I've developed a very, very good relationship," Trump told the country's governors in February 2019. "We'll see what that means. But he's never had a relationship with anybody from this country and hasn't had lots of relationships anywhere." President Moon responded to Biden's remarks on Friday, saying: "The world is welcoming America's return and keeping their hopes high for America's leadership more than ever before." Newsweek has asked former President Trump for comment. Biden, Moon Vow Unity on North Korea as U.S. Names New Envoy Justin Sink & Jordan Fabian (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said he would appoint a special envoy to address issues regarding North Korea and vowed to coordinate policy toward Pyongyang closely with South Korea’s government. Following meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington on Friday, Biden said he’s appointing Ambassador Sung Kim to be the special envoy and that the U.S. and South Korea are willing to take “pragmatic steps” to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula. “We are both deeply concerned about the situation” on the peninsula, Biden said at the start of a press conference on Friday, adding that “total denuclearization is our objective.” Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg Moon praised the appointment of Sung Kim, a career diplomat, and said he hoped for a positive response from North Korea’s government over the shared commitment to diplomatic outreach. Sung Kim has been serving as American ambassador to Indonesia after previously serving as chief American envoy to the Philippines and South Korea. Moon added that he doesn’t see any differences in how his government and the U.S. view the North Korea situation, a point Biden quickly seconded in saying that their shared goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
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