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North Korean delegation travelling to China, Vietnam and Laos

SEOUL, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – A North Korean ruling party delegation travelling to China, Vietnam and Laos has arrived in Beijing, Pyongyang’s state media said Friday. The delegation, led by alternate politburo member Kim Song Nam, was welcomed by a representative of the Chinese Communist Party at the airport on Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, without specifying the exact nature of the trip. An earlier KCNA report said the delegation […]

US surgeons transplant pig kidney to live patient in world first

By Chris Lefkow WASHINGTON, March 21, 2024 (AFP) – US surgeons have successfully transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a living patient for the first time, the hospital said Thursday, a procedure that could help address the chronic shortage of donor organs. The four-hour operation was carried out on Saturday on a 62-year-old man suffering from end-stage kidney disease, Massachusetts General Hospital said. “The procedure marks a major milestone in the quest to provide […]

Cheap drones ‘cannot match’ artillery power in Ukraine: experts

By Mathieu RABECHAULT PARIS, March 18, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine is relying on the massive use of drones to compensate for an artillery shell shortage and undermine Russian military capabilities, but experts warned they cannot tip the balance. Both drones used for strikes hundreds of kilometres away and commercial drones are starting to dominate the battlefield. In particular, so-called First Person View (FPV) drones allow their pilots to see live images of the ground as […]

US suspect in custody after fatal shootings of 3 family members

By Joe Lamberti TRENTON, United States, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – An “extremely dangerous” suspect was taken into custody in New Jersey on Saturday after allegedly shooting dead three family members, authorities said, following an hours-long effort to detain him. Andre Gordon, 26, “surrendered peacefully,” Trenton Police Department spokesperson Lisette Rios told AFP, after a trail of violence that triggered shelter-in-place orders in two states. Authorities said Gordon, who is believed to be homeless, began […]

Al-Shabaab attacks hotel in Somali capital

By Mustafa HAJI ABDINUR MOGADISHU, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Islamist militants from the Al-Shabaab group on Thursday attacked a popular hotel near the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, security sources and witnesses said. The assault, for which Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, began at around 9:45 pm (1845 GMT) when gunmen stormed the SYL hotel in a hail of bullets. “Several gunmen forced their way into the building after destroying the perimeter wall with a […]

Dad of Michigan school shooter guilty of involuntary manslaughter

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – The father of a US teen who purchased the gun his son used in a deadly 2021 school shooting was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a Michigan court on Thursday. James Crumbley and his wife, who was found guilty of the same charges last month, bought their then 15-year-old son the 9mm SIG Sauer handgun he used to kill four students at Oxford High School, 45 miles (70 […]

What is ByteDance, the TikTok parent in US crosshairs?

From its birth in a Beijing apartment 12 years ago, ByteDance grew into one of the world’s biggest tech firms — best known in most countries as the creator of TikTok. But TikTok now faces a furious campaign in Washington: the House of Representatives is set to vote Wednesday on a bill that could see the wildly popular video-sharing app banned in the United States if it does not sever itself from ByteDance. How big […]

Adagio in sea: Coral larvae ‘settle near sounds of healthy reefs’

By Kelly MACNAMARA Audio recordings of healthy reefs — an underwater chorus of fish songs and crackles from snapping shrimp — may help efforts to restore coral ecosystems harmed by climate and human impacts, scientists said Wednesday. With the future of the world’s biodiversity-rich coral reefs threatened by climate change, some experts are looking for rehabilitation strategies to go alongside broader efforts to slash planet-heating pollution. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say one such […]

Apple to let EU users download apps via websites

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – Apple said Tuesday its users in the EU will be able to download apps directly from websites, bypassing app marketplaces, as it yields to a sweeping new law and pressure from developers. Apple and five other global tech giants — Google’s Alphabet, Amazon, TikTok’s ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft — have been obliged to obey the EU’s landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) since March 7. The DMA curbs how […]

US conspiracy theorists monetize ‘Disease X’ misinformation

By Rob Lever and Anuj Chopra, with Tommy Wang in Hong Kong WASHINGTON, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – Coined by the World Health Organization to denote a hypothetical future pandemic, “Disease X” is at the center of a blizzard of misinformation that American conspiracy theorists are amplifying — and profiting from. The falsehoods, including that the unknown pathogen indicates an elitist plot to depopulate the earth, appeared to originate in the United States but spilled […]

Upscale Dhaka restaurant fire kills at least 44, scores injured

DHAKA, Feb 29, 2024 (AFP) – At least 44 people were killed and dozens injured after a fire blazed through a seven-storey building in an upscale neighbourhood in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka late Thursday, authorities said. “So far 43 people have died from the fire,” Bangladesh’s health minister Samanta Lal Sen told AFP after visiting the Dhaka Medical College Hospital and an adjoining burn hospital. Police inspector Bacchu Mia said one more person died […]

Idaho halts execution after problems inserting IV line

By Chris Lefkow WASHINGTON, Feb 28, 2024 (AFP) – The execution by lethal injection of a convicted serial killer in Idaho was halted on Wednesday after a medical team was unable to insert an intravenous line. Thomas Creech, 73, was strapped to a table in the execution chamber for an hour as repeated attempts were made to establish an IV line to deliver the lethal drugs, prison officials and witnesses said. Idaho Department of Corrections […]