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By Claire LEE Agence France-Presse SEOUL, May 31, 2023 (AFP) — North Korea launched a military spy satellite Wednesday, but it crashed into the sea soon after as an “accident occurred” during its flight, state media said. Pyongyang does not have a functioning satellite in space and leader Kim Jong Un has made developing a military spy satellite a top priority for his regime, personally overseeing some launch preparations. North Korean space authorities “launched a […]
By Pierre-Henry Deshayes and Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse OSLO, Norway (AFP) — NATO’s chief voiced guarded optimism Tuesday on welcoming Sweden to the alliance as the United States pressed holdout Turkey to drop its objections, two days after President Tayyip Recep Erdogan won re-election. Sweden and Finland last year reversed decades of hesitation and formally applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine, which had unsuccessfully sought to enter the alliance whose members promise to […]
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AFP) — The United States said Tuesday it was suspending Kosovo from a military exercise in its first sanction over a decision to install ethnic Albanian mayors that sent tensions soaring with the Serb minority. Western powers that have historically supported Kosovo have urged de-escalation after the move on the mayors, which led to clashes with ethnic Serbs in which 30 NATO-led peacekeepers were injured Monday. Jeffrey Hovenier, the US ambassador in Pristina, […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Tuesday he was encouraged by the reaction of Ukraine and Russia to “concrete principles” laid out by the body to prevent catastrophe at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, located in Ukraine’s southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, has been a concern since Russian forces seized it over a year ago during Moscow’s war on its neighbor. It […]
By Claire LEE Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea launched its purported spy satellite Wednesday, the South’s military said, prompting confusion in Seoul as the city briefly issued an evacuation warning in error. South Korea’s military detected the launch of what Pyongyang has described as a military reconnaissance satellite “from Tongchang County area of North Pyongan Province in North Korea, at around 6:29 today” in a southerly direction, the Joint Chiefs of […]
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Fighting flared again in Sudan on Tuesday despite the latest ceasefire pledges of the two warring generals, meant to allow desperately needed aid to reach besieged civilians. US and Saudi mediators said late Monday that the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to extend by five days the humanitarian truce they frequently violated over the past week. Since the announcement, residents reported “clashes with various kinds of […]
JOHANNESBURG, May 30, 2023 (AFP) – Almost three people were murdered every hour in South Africa during the first three months of the year, according to police statistics released on Tuesday. Some 6,289 people were killed in the country — which has one of the world’s highest murder rates — between January and March, up 3.4 percent on the same period last year. Yet, Police Minister Bheki Cele, who has long been under fire over […]
HONG KONG, May 30, 2023 (AFP) – Macau’s new national security law took effect on Tuesday, imposing wider restrictions on political opposition and civil society in the Chinese city. The gambling hub has a separate legal system from the Chinese mainland, largely based on Portuguese law, and national security legislation was first enacted in 2009. Macau’s government said the amendments were designed to catch up with similar legislation in China and Hong Kong, with an […]
MOSCOW, May 30, 2023 (AFP) – A swarm of drones hit Moscow on Tuesday in an unprecedented attack, while Russian drones struck Kyiv for a third straight day as Ukraine gears up for a major offensive against Russian forces. The Russian defence ministry blamed Kyiv for the attacks that saw three drones crash into residential buildings in Moscow. Officials said no one was seriously injured and there was only “minor” damage to buildings. The Russian […]
JOHANNESBURG, May 30, 2023 (AFP) – South Africa’s leading opposition party said on Tuesday it had taken legal action to force the government to arrest Vladimir Putin if the Russian President were to attend a planned summit in the country. Pretoria has been faced with a diplomatic dilemma since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin, who is supposed to visit the nation for a BRICS meeting in August. On Tuesday, […]
By Dmitry ZAKS ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkey’s economy is in a double bind: analysts see its current policies leading to imminent peril and the prescriptions incurring massive pain. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan campaigned round the clock to win the toughest election of his two decades in power in a historic runoff last weekend. He also poured billions of dollars into campaign pledges — and tens of billions more into keeping the lira from suffering politically […]
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30, 2023 (AFP) — Malaysia’s coastguard said Tuesday that authorities were questioning the crew of a Chinese vessel detained on suspicion of looting two British World War II shipwrecks. Officers discovered unexploded cannon shells upon boarding the Chinese-registered vessel, which was detained for illegal anchorage over the weekend, said Nurul Hizam Zakaria, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency chief in Johor state. “Our investigation is now directed to where these cannon shells originated from. […]
