SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea will use its nuclear weapons to “eliminate” South Korea’s army in the event they launch a pre-emptive strike, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday. Kim Yo Jong’s warning, carried in state media, was her second angry retort in three days to comments made by South Korea’s defense chief Suh Wook last week. They come as North Korea has resumed its sanctions-breaking weapons tests with […]
International
Sri Lanka parliament reconvenes after state of emergency
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s parliament will convene Tuesday in its first session since a state of emergency was imposed as the country grapples with protests and mounting demands for the president’s resignation over a worsening economic crisis. Severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — have inflicted widespread misery across the island nation, which is enduring its most painful downturn since […]
Japan minister brings Ukrainians from Poland on government plane
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Twenty Ukrainians arrived in Tokyo Tuesday on a government plane with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi after his trip to Poland, as Japan cautiously welcomes those fleeing Moscow’s invasion. Japan typically accepts just a few dozen refugees a year from thousands of applicants, and while it has cracked open its doors to Ukrainians, it calls them “evacuees” rather than refugees. The 20 Ukrainians flew with Hayashi from Poland, where he was on […]
US, Britain to seek Russia’s suspension from UN Rights Council
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United States and Britain announced plans Monday to seek Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council following allegations that Russian troops systematically executed civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. “The images out of Bucha and devastation across Ukraine require us to now match our words with action,” US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a tweet Monday. “We cannot let a member state that is subverting […]
US, Iran spar over stalled nuclear talks
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States and Iran blamed each other Monday for a weeks-long impasse that has held up a return to the 2015 deal that sought to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the country’s negotiators would not return to Vienna, the site of the year-long talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), until Washington settles outstanding issues. “We will […]
Shanghai defends policy of separating Covid-positive kids from parents
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai health officials on Monday defended a policy of separating babies and young children from their parents if they test positive for Covid-19, as frustration at the city’s tough virus controls builds. Around 25 million people in Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial centre, remain locked down as authorities try to snuff out the country’s most severe virus outbreak since the end of the first pandemic wave in early 2020. Under […]
More than 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees flee war
by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — More than 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled the country since the Russian invasion, the United Nations said Monday, adding that the humanitarian situation was worsening. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 4,215,047 Ukrainians had fled the country since the war began on February 24 — a figure up 38,646 on the numbers for Sunday. “The humanitarian needs are growing by the minute as more people flee […]
What we know about what happened in Ukraine’s Bucha
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine on Sunday accused the Russian army of having committed a “massacre” in Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv recently retaken by Ukrainian troops, where the bodies of civilians were found in the streets. This is what we know at this stage about what happened in Bucha. – A destroyed town – Bucha, a commuter town of around 37,000 outside Kyiv, as well as the nearby town of Irpin, saw fierce […]
War in Ukraine: Latest developments
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: Outrage at Russian ‘war crimes’ Global outrage and accusations of Russian war crimes mount after the discovery of dozens of bodies, some with their hands bound, near Kyiv. Britain, France, Germany, the United States, NATO and the United Nations all voice horror at the reports of civilians being murdered in Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calls […]
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to leave office
by Holmes Chan and Jerome Taylor © Agence France-Presse HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced Monday that she will step down in June, ending a divisive term that saw democracy protests squashed and strict pandemic curbs plunge the business hub into international isolation. Ending months of speculation, Lam confirmed she would not seek a second term when a committee made up of the city’s political elite chooses a new leader […]
Russia seeks Monday UN Security Council meet on Bucha, Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Moscow has called for a special UN Security Council meeting Monday to address claims that Russian forces committed atrocities against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv. “In the light of heinous provocation of Ukrainian radicals in #Bucha Russia requested a meeting of UN #SecurityCouncil on Monday April 4,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday on Twitter. Ukraine and Western leaders have erupted in […]
At least six dead in California shooting
Six people were killed and 12 others injured, some critically, in a shooting early Sunday morning in California’s state capital of Sacramento. The city’s police chief, Kathy Lester, told reporters that around 2:00 am, “a large fight took place” in the downtown area just before “multiple shooters” opened fire. Officers on patrol nearby heard the gunshots and saw people running, she said. Upon arriving at the scene, “they encountered a large crowd and multiple gunshot […]





