SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Saturday. The missiles were launched from around 5:20 a.m. (2020 GMT on Friday) and flew about 250 km (155 miles), the JCS said in a statement, adding that South Korean and U.S. authorities were conducting a detailed analysis of their specifications. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities had tracked and shared information on the launches from the outset, while information on the ballistic missiles was also shared with Japan, the JCS said.

 

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SOFIA (AFP) - An explosion and fire have hit an ammunition storage site in Bulgaria, police said Saturday, weeks after a blaze at another munitions facility in the country. The latest incident happened late Friday at a warehouse operated by Bulgarian arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine, near the central village of Gorni Varpishta. No casualties were reported and workers were evacuated from the site. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the blaze broke out at one warehouse at the facility, triggering explosions.

 

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PARIS (AP) — French authorities are investigating whether sabotage caused a train derailment that injured 44 people in Normandy, after a piece of rail was found on the track, police told The Associated Press on Saturday. The regional train was carrying 186 passengers from Rouen to Caen when it derailed Friday evening at Cléon, in the Seine-Maritime department of northwestern France. An 18-year-old woman was among the injured and was evacuated by helicopter to Rouen University Hospital, police said. A spokeswoman for the French national police communications service, known as SICOP, said that the piece of rail found on the track was “probably” linked to the derailment. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to be publicly named in line with police policy.

 

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SANTAGO (Xinhua) - At least 16 people were killed after a fire broke out on Friday evening at a nursing home in southern Chile, local media reported on Saturday. “Around 10:30 p.m. (0130 GMT Sept. 12), a fire broke out, and only 10 people living in the nursing home were evacuated, and we must lament the deaths of 16 people,” a police officer said. Fire companies and medical teams, as well as neighboring communes, were dispatched to the scene to fight the blaze, local media reported, while the injured were taken to hospitals. Firefighters, police officers and local municipal personnel were clearing debris and securing the area through the early morning. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

 

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ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Eritrea on Saturday accused Ethiopia of destabilizing the region, in the latest war of words between the two fractious Horn of Africa neighbors. Eritrea won independence in 1993 after decades of armed unrest. A two-year war between 1998 and 2000 then left tens of thousands dead and sent diplomatic relations into a deep freeze. The neighbors normalized ties when Abiy Ahmed took office in Ethiopia in 2018, pushing a rapprochement which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize the following year.