The senior US diplomat for Asia, Susan Thornton, will retire at the end of July, the State Department said, in the midst of critical negotiations with North Korea and China.

Questions have long been raised about whether Thornton, 54, who was picked for the post by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, would be replaced under his successor, Mike Pompeo.

Her appointment had been opposed by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

“Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton has announced her intention to retire from the Foreign Service at the end of July,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

“We are grateful for her service of over two and a half decades to the Department of State, including numerous challenging assignments around the world,” Nauert added.

Nauert did not say when Pompeo planned to announce a replacement, but said: “He is moving forward with efforts to nominate candidates for leadership roles across the department, including for this key position.”

Thornton’s retirement comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration prepares for negotiations to ensure Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons, following a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

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Pompeo, who is charged by Trump with leading follow-on negotiations, said the United States hoped to achieve “major disarmament” by North Korea within the next 2-1/2 years.

Thornton’s departure also comes amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing at a time when Trump is pressing China for cooperation on North Korea.

Thornton could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday.

Separately, the State Department said the US ambassador to Estonia, Jim Melville, had decided to step down from the foreign service after 33 years.

Media reports said Melville, who has been ambassador to Estonia since 2015, was due to retire but told friends in a private Facebook posting that he was resigning amid comments by Trump about US allies in Europe.

Tensions between the United States and Europe have escalated since Trump announced in May he was pulling out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and, separately, said he would impose tariffs on European steel and aluminium exports.

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2153265/top-us-diplomat-asia-susan-thornton-retire-amid-north-korea-and

Brian Roche, the head of JEA’s water and wastewater operations, is retiring July 10, giving the board of directors and the interim leadership another opportunity to reshape the agency amid an uncertain time in the industry and locally.

Roche, who has worked at JEA in various jobs since 1983, oversaw systems that served about 341,000 water customers and 264,000 sewer customers.

“As JEA continues to move forward, inherently fast changing times in the utility industry, I continue to wish you, the organization, and all of the 2,000 employees the absolute best,” Roche wrote in his retirement letter dated Wednesday.

Roche’s departure leaves another high-level vacancy at JEA, and presents another wrinkle as the utility searches for a way forward in a changing industry and in the wake of a poisonous debate over whether the city should sell JEA to a private operator.

The agency is searching for a permanent CEO, a role that interim CEO Aaron Zahn has said he’s interested in. Zahn, who was hired in April amid some controversy, shares control of the agency with Chief Operating Officer Melissa Dykes, the former chief financial officer who was interim CEO until the board replaced her with Zahn.

Roche’s retirement letter was addressed to Dykes.

Roche took over the water-wastewater operations in 2012, during former CEO Paul McElroy’s five-year tenure, making him a central figure as the agency struggled through hard economic times, tumultuous political climates and hurricanes Matthew and Irma.

Roche was also one of the utility executives Zahn regularly courted in his previous job as the CEO of a firm that offered wastewater-treatment technology to utilities. Zahn had hoped to secure a contract with JEA and met and spoke repeatedly with Roche, according to agency emails. No contract ever came to fruition for Zahn’s company.

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180629/top-jea-executive-retires-leaving-another-high-level-vacancy-at-agency