SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korea fired a barrage of artillery shells into a maritime buffer zone on Monday, Seoul’s military said, the latest in a series of launches by an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang. About 130 artillery rounds were simultaneously fired at 14:59 pm (0559 GMT) from two separate sites, one on North Korea’s east coast and one on the west coasts, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. “Our military is strengthening its readiness posture in preparation for emergencies while tracking and monitoring related developments under close cooperation between South Korea and the United States,” the military said. Pyongyang has repeatedly said its weapons tests are a legitimate response to Washington’s moves to boost the protection it offers to allies Seoul and Tokyo. Officials and analysts in Seoul and Washington say the launches may build up to a seventh nuclear test.

 

*** 

ABUJA (AFP) -- Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States had decided to act to “take care of our own security in the region”, Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, told journalists at a summit in Nigeria. They are “determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need, whether this is in the area of security, terrorism and restore constitutional order in member countries,” he added. Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been hit by military coups in the last two years. Several countries in the region are also suffering from the spread of takfirism, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and southwards to the Gulf of Guinea. The modalities of the planned regional force will be considered by defense chiefs in the second half of January, 2023, Touray said.

 

*** 

LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain’s RMT union said that it had rejected a pay rise offer of 4% in 2022 and 2023 from train operators aimed at heading off further strike action, which has disrupted travel for millions of rail users. The RMT said last week that more than 40,000 railway workers would stage strikes over December and January in a long-running dispute over pay, signaling travel disruption before and after the busy Christmas holiday period. The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, had earlier offered the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers a pay rise of 8% over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies to April 2024. “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions,” RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said in a statement.

 

*** 

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States disregard rules and regulations including “those found in the Constitution” drew scathing rebukes this weekend from politicians of both parties, with a top Democrat calling it “a danger to our democracy.” Given what he claimed was “massive and widespread fraud and deception” involving technology companies and the Democratic Party, “do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he said on his Truth Social platform.

 

*** 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -- India’s capital, New Delhi, was engulfed in thick smog early on Monday as cooler weather exacerbated pollution and the government banned private construction in and around the city to try to limit dust and emissions.

Residents of New Delhi and its suburbs endure poor air every winter as colder, heavier air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from the burning of crop stubble in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana. The air quality index in several parts of the city was between 350 and 400 on Monday, meaning it was “very poor”, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. The central government banned all private construction in the city and surrounding areas on Sunday. Authorities also sprayed water in some neighborhoods to try to clear the air. The government said last week it would ban diesel autorickshaws in the capital and from 2027, allowing only those three-wheeled taxis that are powered by compressed natural gas or electricity to operate.

 

*** 

VERSAILLES, France (AFP) -- A hospital in Versailles, near Paris had to cancel operations and transfer some patients after being hit by a cyberattack over the weekend, France’ health ministry said. Six patients had been transferred by Saturday evening -- three from intensive care and three from the neonatal unit -- said the minister, Francois Braun, as he visited the hospital. Others might follow, he added. The regional health agency (ARS) said the hospital had cancelled operations, but was doing everything possible to keep walk-in services and consultations running. Extra staff had to be called in to the intensive care unit because, while the machines there were still functioning, more people were needed to watch the screens as they were no longer working as part of a network, aid Braun. For several months now, hospitals and health systems in France have been targeted by hackers for such cyberattacks. In August, the Corbeil-Essonnes hospital on the outskirts of Paris was targeted, taking several weeks to get back to normal functioning.