News in Brief
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia is ready to extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty by the end of this year without any more conditions or discussion, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, appearing to drop Moscow’s earlier defiant tone.The New START accord, signed in 2010, limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads that Washington and Moscow can deploy. Its fate has been in the spotlight since Washington pulled out of another key arms accord in August, citing violations by Russia that Moscow denies."Russia is not interested in starting an arms race and deploying missiles where they are not present now,” Putin told officials in a meeting."Russia is ready to immediately, as soon as possible, by the end of this year, without any preconditions, extend the START Treaty so that there would be no further double or triple interpretation of our position,” Putin said.
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ATHENS (Reuters) -- Greece said on Friday it was expelling the Libyan ambassador, angered by an accord between Libya and Turkey signed on Nov. 27 that maps out a sea boundary between the two countries close to the Greek island of Crete.Libya called the move unacceptable. Turkey dismissed it as outrageous.Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the Turkey-Libyan accord was a "blatant violation of international law”, telling a news briefing that the ambassador, Mohamed Younis AB Menfi, had 72 hours to leave the country.The move did not mean Greece was severing diplomatic relations with Libya, Dendias said. Another foreign ministry official said Libya had "deceived” Greece."This is a legally invalid document,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.
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NAIROBI (Reuters) -- At least three people were killed and 27 injured on Friday when a residential building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police said, as rescue workers struggled to free a woman who was screaming from under the rubble.Scores of people were clustered around, held back by a cordon, waiting to find news of their family and friends as police and a mechanical digger worked through the wreckage.The Kenya Red Cross said 11 people had been rescued by late afternoon, about five hours after the six-storey building collapsed. It was not immediately clear how many people had been inside."Three people have died, and 27 others have been rushed to hospital. One was seriously injured,” Reuben Ndolo, the Nairobi regional police commander, told Reuters.The East African nation has seen similar tragedies in the past. Forty-nine people died in 2016 when another building collapsed during a heavy night-time downpour in a poor neighborhood.
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Three soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard were killed Thursday when the Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in for a routine maintenance test flight crashed in a farm field in central Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz confirmed.The identities of the soldiers were not immediately released, pending notification of family.The crash was being investigated and preliminary information on the cause was not released."My heart breaks for the families, the friends and fellow soldiers,” Walz said at a news conference. "The coming days will be dark and difficult.” He said Minnesota stands ready to assist the families of the soldiers who were killed.Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, said in a tweet: "Our Minnesota National Guard family is devastated by the deaths of these soldiers. Our priority right now is ensuring that our families are taken care of.”
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SEOUL (Reuters) -- North Korea plans to branch out into medical tourism next year, offering foreign visitors, most likely from China, treatments including cataract surgery, dental implants and therapy for tumors.The ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on Friday the recent launch of the "Treatment Tourism Exchange Corporation”, aimed at capitalizing on the "rising demand for tourism, including medical care, in line with an international trend”.The new state entity will operate health clinics near hot springs, whose mineral waters are said to help treat neuralgia and arthritis, as well as heart and skin ailments.Private tourism is one of the few remaining areas of business not blocked by sanctions imposed upon North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.As many as 350,000 Chinese tourists have visited North Korea this year, potentially netting the authorities up to $175 million, according to some analysts.
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MANILA (AFP) -- The Philippines’ north has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades, with torrents of muddy runoff forcing 66,000 from their homes and prompting rescues of trapped locals, authorities said Friday.Luzon island, the nation’s largest, has been hit by a string of storms that have battered its northern tip while monsoon rains were intensified by the passage of Typhoon Kammuri this week. Large swaths of lush green land were inundated after rivers burst their banks, leaving only treetops visible above the waterline.Landslides have cut off roads to some isolated towns and some bridges are covered by the flooding. However, authorities said they have not confirmed any deaths caused by the high water."This is one of the biggest floods in decades,” Rogelio Sending, information officer for Cagayan province in the northeast of Luzon, told AFP.
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ATHENS (Reuters) -- Greece said on Friday it was expelling the Libyan ambassador, angered by an accord between Libya and Turkey signed on Nov. 27 that maps out a sea boundary between the two countries close to the Greek island of Crete.Libya called the move unacceptable. Turkey dismissed it as outrageous.Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the Turkey-Libyan accord was a "blatant violation of international law”, telling a news briefing that the ambassador, Mohamed Younis AB Menfi, had 72 hours to leave the country.The move did not mean Greece was severing diplomatic relations with Libya, Dendias said. Another foreign ministry official said Libya had "deceived” Greece."This is a legally invalid document,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament.
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NAIROBI (Reuters) -- At least three people were killed and 27 injured on Friday when a residential building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, police said, as rescue workers struggled to free a woman who was screaming from under the rubble.Scores of people were clustered around, held back by a cordon, waiting to find news of their family and friends as police and a mechanical digger worked through the wreckage.The Kenya Red Cross said 11 people had been rescued by late afternoon, about five hours after the six-storey building collapsed. It was not immediately clear how many people had been inside."Three people have died, and 27 others have been rushed to hospital. One was seriously injured,” Reuben Ndolo, the Nairobi regional police commander, told Reuters.The East African nation has seen similar tragedies in the past. Forty-nine people died in 2016 when another building collapsed during a heavy night-time downpour in a poor neighborhood.
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Three soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard were killed Thursday when the Black Hawk helicopter they were riding in for a routine maintenance test flight crashed in a farm field in central Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz confirmed.The identities of the soldiers were not immediately released, pending notification of family.The crash was being investigated and preliminary information on the cause was not released."My heart breaks for the families, the friends and fellow soldiers,” Walz said at a news conference. "The coming days will be dark and difficult.” He said Minnesota stands ready to assist the families of the soldiers who were killed.Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, said in a tweet: "Our Minnesota National Guard family is devastated by the deaths of these soldiers. Our priority right now is ensuring that our families are taken care of.”
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SEOUL (Reuters) -- North Korea plans to branch out into medical tourism next year, offering foreign visitors, most likely from China, treatments including cataract surgery, dental implants and therapy for tumors.The ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on Friday the recent launch of the "Treatment Tourism Exchange Corporation”, aimed at capitalizing on the "rising demand for tourism, including medical care, in line with an international trend”.The new state entity will operate health clinics near hot springs, whose mineral waters are said to help treat neuralgia and arthritis, as well as heart and skin ailments.Private tourism is one of the few remaining areas of business not blocked by sanctions imposed upon North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.As many as 350,000 Chinese tourists have visited North Korea this year, potentially netting the authorities up to $175 million, according to some analysts.
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MANILA (AFP) -- The Philippines’ north has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades, with torrents of muddy runoff forcing 66,000 from their homes and prompting rescues of trapped locals, authorities said Friday.Luzon island, the nation’s largest, has been hit by a string of storms that have battered its northern tip while monsoon rains were intensified by the passage of Typhoon Kammuri this week. Large swaths of lush green land were inundated after rivers burst their banks, leaving only treetops visible above the waterline.Landslides have cut off roads to some isolated towns and some bridges are covered by the flooding. However, authorities said they have not confirmed any deaths caused by the high water."This is one of the biggest floods in decades,” Rogelio Sending, information officer for Cagayan province in the northeast of Luzon, told AFP.