WORLD

Seoul, Sep 13 (IANS) The water storage rate at South Korea's drought-stricken Gangneung's main water supply reservoir rose Saturday for the first time in 52 days following heavy rain overnight, weather officials said.The storage rate at the Obong Reservoir, which supplies 87 per cent of residential water to Gangneung, about 210 kilometres east of Seoul, stood at 12.1 per cent at 10 a.m., up 0.6 percentage points from the previous day, according to the regional weather agency.It marks the first increase since July 23, though the drought remains far from over, officials said. A state of national disaster was declared for the East Coast city on August 30, reports Yonhap news agency.The water increase followed heavy overnight rain in Gangwon Province's coastal and mountainous regions, includin...

Kabul, Sep 13 (IANS) At least three travellers were killed and two more injured as a car turned turtle in northern Afghanistan's Samangan province, said a news release of the provincial police office on Saturday.Blaming reckless driving for the deadly accident, the short news release added that the mishap took place in Dara-e-Sufi Payan area on Friday night and the injured passengers had been taken to the nearby health centre, reports Xinhua news agency.Earlier, two commuters, including a driver, were killed and four others injured in two separate road accidents on a road crossing in Samangan province on Friday morning, and all the injured persons had been shifted to a hospital in the neighbouring Balkh province.Earlier on Tuesday, 10 people died and several were injured in two separate ac...

Islamabad, Sep 13 (IANS) At least 97 people have been killed and more than 4.4 million others affected by recent floods in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has said.According to the PDMA, floods triggered by high water levels in the Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab rivers have damaged over 4,500 villages across the province.The authority said that so far, about 2.45 million people have been relocated to safer areas as part of ongoing rescue and relief operations.A total of 396 relief camps have been established in affected districts, while around 1.9 million heads of livestock have also been evacuated, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting the PDMA.Nationwide, seasonal rains and floods since June 26 have killed at least 956 people and injured mo...

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on Friday that tariffs on Indian goods have been imposed out of fear of a stronger India was not in isolation. SBI Capital Markets, in its report “Tariffs are Made in the USA, but Resilience is Made in India,” described the aggressive US tariff regime as a “key flashpoint” designed to pressure India’s external sector.The report had viewed the approach as targeted at curbing India’s broader economic momentum.However, recent developments suggest the weather may turn favourable, and talks can be expected to resume “very soon”, according to people in the know.But critics continued to question the US imposing heavy tariffs on India.Earlier this week, China’s Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, criticised the United States for “using tari...

Seoul, Sep 13 (IANS) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said Pyongyang will unveil a policy of simultaneously pursuing nuclear forces and conventional weapons at the North's upcoming party congress, state media reported on Saturday.Kim made the remarks during his inspection of the armoured defensive weapons institute and the electronic weapons institute under the Academy of Defence Sciences on Thursday and Friday, reports Yonhap, quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).The North's leader stressed the need to continue to "modernise" the conventional armed forces to build a powerful army as he reviewed the development of new armoured vehicles and electronic weapons.Kim said, "The ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) would put forward the policy of simultaneously pushing...

Sao Paula, Sep 13 (IANS) The defence team of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced Thursday that it intends to file further appeals against the ruling sentencing him to 27 years and three months in prison.The announcement followed a decision by four of five Supreme Federal Court justices to convict the former president of attempting a coup.In a statement, attorneys Celso Vilardi and Paulo Amador da Cunha Bueno said they will pursue "all possible appeals, including internationally."The attorneys argued the case should have been tried by a lower court or by the full Supreme Federal Court, not its First Panel. They also criticised the limited time allotted to review the evidence, reports Xinhua news agency.Earlier, on September 11, Justices Carmen Lucia and Cristiano Zanin cast ...

Islamabad, Sep 13 (IANS) Several human rights defenders and community members raised grave concerns about the dismal condition of disaster relief in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (PoGB), stating that a surge in floods, landslides, and glacial lake outbursts has left marginalised communities bearing the brunt of the crisis.At an outreach meeting held by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in PoGB on Friday, the members highlighted that displaced families are forced to live in unsafe shelters with no access to clean water, electricity, healthcare, or education.They noted the neglect of women, children, daily-wage workers, persons with disabilities, and transgender persons, while mental health remained ignored. The meeting also pointed out that the relief funds lack transparen...

Washington, Sep 13 (IANS) India's Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, on Saturday (Indian time) engaged in discussions with members of the US House of Representatives on strengthening bilateral trade, energy cooperation, and India's consistent support for resolving the Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.Kwatra held separate discussions with Congressman Greg Steube, who represents Florida's Suncoast, and Congressman James Moylan, the representative from Guam."Had the opportunity to speak to Representative Greg Steube -- briefed him on issues of mutual interest, including India-US bilateral trade, especially in energy, and spoke about India's support to all efforts to bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine through dialogue and diplomacy," the Indian envoy poste...

Moscow, Sep 13 (IANS) A massive 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck near the east coast of Russia's Kamchatka region on Saturday, prompting a tsunami warning.According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor hit 111 kilometres (69 miles) east of the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the administrative centre of the Kamchatka region, at a depth of 39.5 km.Following the earthquake, local authorities of the Kamchatka territory issued a tsunami threat.“The threat of a tsunami has been declared. We ask you to be especially careful when visiting the Khalaktyr beach and other tsunami-dangerous areas, ” the governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Vladimir Solodov, wrote on his Telegram channel.The governor advised residents to stay calm and follow updates from official sources.Meanwhile, c...

Dhaka, Sep 13 (IANS) Bangladesh's Awami League came down heavily on the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government over the "brutal torture and killing" of the party leaders and activists inside prisons across the country.The party alleged that "under the direct orders" of the Yunus administration, the Awami League leaders and activists are being "subjected to horrific torture and persecution inside prisons"."Acting on the instructions of the illegal and unconstitutional usurper government, prison officials have brutally tortured and killed many Awami League leaders and activists," read a statement issued by the Awami League."We will not remain content with only condemning and protesting these incidents. At the same time, we sound a clear warning: the rule of the killer-fascist Yunus will be ma...