(VANCOUVER, British Columbia) — The first stage of an extradition hearing for a senior executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei started in a Vancouver courtroom Monday, a case that has infuriated Beijing, caused a diplomatic uproar between China and Canada and complicated high-stakes trade talks between China and the United States.

Canada’s arrest of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, in late 2018 at America’s request enraged Beijing to the point it detained two Canadians in apparent retaliation.

Huawei represents China’s progress in becoming a technological power and has been a subject of U.S. security concerns for years. Beijing views Meng’s case as an attempt to contain China’s rise.

“Our government has been clear. We are a rule of law country and we honor our extradition treaty commitments,” Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a Cabinet retreat in Manitoba. “It is what we need to do and what we will do.”

China’s foreign mi..

(PANAMA CITY) — Forensic workers took preliminary steps Monday for digging up the remains of some victims of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, an effort that has lifted the hopes of Panamanians who had relatives die or disappear and have lived with unanswered questions about their fate for 30 years.

Authorities gave the approval for exhumation of the 19 bodies buried in a Panama City cemetery after a truth commission set up three years ago documented about 20 disappearances from the U.S. military action to topple strongman Manuel Noriega.

Prosecutor Maribel Caballero told reporters the remains will be compared to a database of DNA from relatives in 14 cases.

Work began with the placing of yellow tape where the forensic experts would begin digging, though no soil had yet been turned by afternoon.

On hand to witness the process were relatives of missing and dead Panamanians, including the wife of a lieutenant in Noriega’s military who along with her daughters is asking for the openin..