Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Sunday 4/2/2023 Satellite imagery has indicated a high level of activity at North Korea’s main nuclear complex after leader Kim Jong Un ordered the production of weapons-grade nuclear material be ramped up, a US think tank said. Washington-based 38 North said Saturday that images from March 3 and 17 suggested that an experimental light water reactor (ELWR) at the country’s Yongbyon site was “nearing completion”. Construction had started on […]
International
Climate activists turn landmark Rome fountain black
Climate activists in Italy turned a Baroque-style fountain at the foot of Rome’s Spanish Steps black on Saturday, in a protest they said evoked an “end of the world” scenario. Three activists from the anti-climate change organisation Last Generation poured a vegetable-based carbon liquid into the landmark 17th-century fountain, known to Romans as La Barcaccia, before being escorted away by police. The fountain, in the shape of a boat, was designed by famed Italian sculptor […]
Palestinian killed after West Bank car ramming as violence rises
by Ahmad Gharabli A suspected assailant was killed by Israeli soldiers after a West Bank car ramming Saturday, the army said, in an escalation that threatens to end a relative lull during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan so far. The Palestinian’s death came less than 24 hours after an Arab Israeli allegedly snatched a gun from a police officer at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound and fired it before being shot dead. The army said […]
Volcano that wiped out Colombian town active again
Bogotá, Colombia | AFP | Seismic activity has increased at Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which killed 25,000 people in an eruption 38 years ago, authorities said Friday, warning of a “probable” new outbreak. The 1985 eruption was considered the worst natural disasters in Colombian history and one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. There has recently been a “significant increase in seismic activity,” the ministry of mines said in a statement […]
Mexico: Two die when hot-air balloon catches fire
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Sunday 4/2/2023 Two people have died after a hot-air balloon flying near Mexico’s famed Teotihuacan archeological site caught fire, the government said Saturday. “The passengers jumped from the balloon,” the government of the state of Mexico said in a statement, adding that a child suffered burns. It identified the victims as a 39-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, without providing their names. It said the minor had suffered second-degree […]
Russia assumes UN Security Council presidency; Ukraine calls it a ‘slap in the face’
Ukraine on Saturday branded Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April “a slap in the face”, joining a chorus of outrage from Western countries. Moscow assumes the presidency as part of its monthly rotation between the Security Council’s 15 member states, with ties with the West at their lowest point since the Cold War over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia’s tenure was “a slap […]
Deadly storms and tornadoes sweep through US
Washington, United States | AFP | The death toll from a major storm system that has lashed the south-central and eastern US with devastating winds and powerful tornadoes has risen to 18, with dozens of others injured, officials said Saturday. A spokesperson for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit by storms which have struck since Friday, confirmed seven weather-related fatalities to AFP. That came on top of […]
‘Catastrophic’ tornado hits US state of Arkansas, leaves 24 injured
Washington, United States | AFP | Saturday 4/1/2023 A “catastrophic” tornado tore through the southern US state of Arkansas on Friday, and authorities said it caused “widespread damage” and left 24 people hospitalized. One witness, Lara Farrar, told AFP that damage in West Little Rock was “shocking” with roofs torn off buildings. No immediate fatalities were reported. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote that she had activated the National Guard to assist emergency services working […]
Charles III to remember WWII bombing victims in Hamburg
Berlin, Germany (AFP) by Hui Min NEO Britain’s King Charles III will commemorate German victims of World War II Allied air raids on Friday, a gesture carrying great significance for both countries. On the third and final day of his first state visit since ascending the throne, the monarch, accompanied by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will visit the St Nikolai memorial in Hamburg, where he will lay a wreath. The move in the ruins of […]
Why is India so thirsty for Russian oil?
by Nivrita GANGULY Agence France-Presse MUMBAI, India (AFP) — India is snapping up discounted crude from Russia, refining it and selling it, becoming a key supplier to Europe as it reshapes global fuel flows more than a year into Moscow’s war in Ukraine. New Delhi has resisted Western pressure to freeze out Moscow, opting instead to strengthen trade ties with its long-standing ally — with the added benefits of tempering inflation while saving money. – […]
Death toll in India temple collapse rises to 35
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — The death toll after a floor collapsed at a Hindu temple in India had risen to 35 on Friday, with rescue operations underway to find one person still missing, a local official told AFP. Dozens of worshippers celebrating a major religious holiday plunged into the stepwell –- a stair-lined communal water source — on Thursday after the floor covering it collapsed in the central city of Indore. “Thirty-five people are […]
UK warned to fix ‘lost decade’ of climate readiness
by Jitendra JOSHI Agence France Presse London, United Kingdom (AFP) After a “lost decade” of minimal planning, Britain must do a lot more towards mitigating the worst effects of climate change, a panel of government advisors said Wednesday. Record-breaking heat and wildfires last year, and recurrent flooding, are a portent of worse to come even if the UK meets its goal of “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050, the experts said in a 340-page report. […]





