Fri, May 31, 2024 page5

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  KOREAS

  Pyongyang fires missiles

  Pyongyang fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early yesterday, South Korea’s military said. The launch followed a failed attempt by the North to put a second spy satellite into orbit on Monday and was only hours after it sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons across the border to the South. Seoul’s military said it had detected the launch of what is suspected to be “around 10 short-range ballistic missiles,” fired into waters east of the Korean Peninsula. The missiles flew about 350km, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, calling the launch a “provocation” and saying it was analyzing the specifics alongside the US and Japan. Tokyo also confirmed the launch, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida telling reporters that the ballistic missiles “appeared to have fallen outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.” Japan “strongly condemns” the launch, Kishida said, adding they had already lodged a protest. Kishida had been in Seoul on Monday to meet South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) for the countries’ first trilateral summit since 2019, where they reaffirmed their commitment to the “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Pyongyang said that even discussing denuclearization was a “grave provocation” that would violate the country’s constitution.

  YEMEN

  Rebels attack ships

  Greek-owned bulk carrier and several other vessels in response to Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. The Laax, a Marshall Islands-flagged and Greek-operated bulk carrier, reported being hit by three missiles on Tuesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) and maritime security firms said. The ship was damaged, but continued its voyage, said CENTCOM and the UK Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy. The Joint Maritime Information Centre, run by a Western-led naval task force in the region, said that “one crew member was reportedly injured” in the attack. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X on Wednesday that the Laax was “directly hit and severely damaged.” The rebels also attacked five other ships, Saree wrote. The strikes were “in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy against the displaced in Rafah,” he said, after a series of Israeli strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip. The Houthis said in a later statement that they had also shot down a US drone that was carrying out a “hostile operation” over Yemen. CENTCOM said that it had destroyed two missile launchers in a Houthi-held part of the country late on Tuesday and a few hours afterward had shot down two drones over the Red Sea.

  AFRICA

  Gold smuggling ‘on rise’

  Billions of dollars’ worth of gold is smuggled out of Africa each year, much of it bound for Dubai before it is legally re-exported to other countries, the Swissaid non-governmental organization said in a report yesterday. It said that 321 to 474 tonnes of African gold produced through artisanal and small-scale mining goes undeclared each year, representing a value of US$24 billion to US$35 billion. Smuggling of African gold is on the rise, having “more than doubled between 2012 and 2022,” it said. The precious metal was “a source of income for millions of artisanal miners, the main source of revenue for many governments, a means of financing armed groups, and the cause of serious human rights violations and environmental degradation,” it added.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Typhoon Usagi expected to brush past Taiwan

  • 2

    Videos about Taiwan upset China: source

  • 3

    First new MRT line train arrives

  • 4

    Taiwan in Time: The rise and fall of Taipei’s sky bridges

  • 5

    Potential tropical storm could affect Taiwan: CWA