Brief News:
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Around 140 flights are expected to be canceled Friday at Brussels Airport due to a strike by employees of a ground-handling company, the airport operator said. Alyzia, which provides ground-handling services for around 20 airlines at Brussels Airport, will operate with reduced staffing as some employees take part in union-led protests against measures introduced by Belgium's federal government, according to RTL Info. The cancellations are expected to affect flights handled by Alyzia, including services operated by Brussels Airlines, the airport's main carrier. The FGTB (ABVV) trade union is organizing a national demonstration Friday as part of protests against the federal government's policies.
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PARIS (AFP) - African Union peace facilitators on Wednesday called on warring parties in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to strictly respect ceasefire commitments and refrain from actions that could undermine the country's peace process. The facilitators made the call amid renewed clashes, days after visiting Congo to discuss military de-escalation and relaunching the peace process with AFC/M23 rebel group leaders in Goma. In a statement, the panel reiterated that lasting peace requires political dialogue and encouraged continued engagement in good faith in the Doha process. The panel "called for strict respect for ceasefire commitments, full cooperation with verification mechanisms and restraint from actions that could undermine the peace process," the statement said.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea criticized the United States over its arms sales and military support for Taiwan, accusing Washington of fuelling tension in the Taiwan Strait, state news agency KCNA said on Wednesday. A KCNA commentary citing North Korean international affairs analyst Kim Myong Chol said US policy on Taiwan was undermining peace and stability in the region and condemned the appearance of US-sold fighter aircraft in Taiwan. The U.S. "should think twice whether it is ready to stand in frontal confrontation with the powerful national power of the People's Republic of China for the security of Taiwan and whether it can cope with its consequences," it added.
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NAIROBI (Reuters) - By the time Kenya's first Ebola patient was whisked to a hospital by relatives straight after landing at Nairobi airport, he was already exhibiting some classic symptoms - fever, chills, muscle pain and bleeding beneath the skin. Two days later he was dead, leaving public health experts to piece together how he had managed to transit through three countries and evade layers of screening meant to stop the ongoing outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo from spreading to neighboring states.
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TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia has detained a man who planned to sell uranium-238 to a foreign national for $700,000, the national security service said on Wednesday. The Georgian citizen is accused of illegally handling nuclear material and faces up to 10 years in prison. It was not immediately possible to contact the man or a legal representative for comment. The footage also showed agents testing two small containers in the trunk of the vehicle with a handheld radiation detector. One of them appeared to contain a light-colored powder. Uranium-238 is the most common uranium isotope and, while radioactive, is not ordinarily usable on its own to make a nuclear bomb.