WORLD

Seoul, Oct 29 (IANS) North Korea has remained tight-lipped about US President Donald Trump's repeated offer to meet leader Kim Jong-un, responding only with a cruise missile test-fire, a move analysts interpreted as likely 'rejecting' the offer.The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported it test-fired sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday after improving them for ship-based launches.The surprise missile test was reported hours before President Trump arrived in South Korea to attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation events in the southeastern city of Gyeongju and hold talks with President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping.Ahead of and during his ongoing Asia swing, President Trump has repeatedly extended offers to meet with Kim, whi...

United Nations, Oct 29 (IANS) India has strongly denounced as biased and communal a human rights report on Myanmar that claims the Pahalgam terrorist massacre in April affected the treatment of Rohingya migrants.“I strongly denounce the biased approach adopted by the SR [special rapporteur] of the innocent civilian victims of the April 2025 terrorist attack in Pahalgam through biased communal lens”, BJP MP Dilip Saikia said on Tuesday.“The allegation that this terrorist attack impacted displaced persons from Myanmar has absolutely no factual bearing”, Saikia told a briefing on human rights in Myanmar.He was reacting to the allegations made against India by the special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, a US Democrat politician-turned Harvard academic.“My country reject...

Seoul, Oct 29 (IANS) US President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea Wednesday ahead of high-stakes summits with President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the occasion of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in the southeastern city of Gyeongju.Trump, who is on his first Asia trip of his second term, comes to the US ally nation focused on securing deals in trade and investment following months of market turmoil and tensions over his threats to impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods.After departing Tokyo aboard Air Force One earlier in the day, Trump landed at Gimhae International Airport in the southeastern city of Busan.Trump will meet Lee in Gyeongju later Wednesday for their second summit in about two months. Whether the two sides will be able to f...

United Nations, Oct 29 (IANS) The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) released its 2025 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) synthesis report, showing improved quality, credibility and economic coverage.Released ahead of COP30 in Brazil next month, the report covers national climate plans formally submitted in the NDC registry between January 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025, Xinhua news agency reported.The report provides new indications of real and increasing progress on action to address climate change through national efforts underpinned by global cooperation based on the 64 new NDCs submitted by 64 parties to the Paris Agreement, covering about 30 per cent of total global emissions in 2019.In their NDCs, parties are setting out new national climate targets and pla...

Washington, Oct 29 (IANS) As Japan and the United States signed a critical minerals and rare earths agreement in Tokyo on Tuesday, experts in Washington believed that despite the agreement, Tokyo feared that the US President may “soften his stance on China” when he meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, later this week in South Korea.While addressing the media in Washington on Tuesday, Sayuri Romei, a Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF), argued that “Tokyo's main fear is that Trump may just soften his stance on China and will strike a deal with Beijing that could impact the regional balance.”Trump met Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Monday and signed multiple agreements, including a deal on critical minerals and rare earths.Both sides vowed to intensify...

Kathmandu, Oct 28 (IANS) The local administration in Nepal’s Myagdi district, located in western Nepal, has barred the entry of people to the famous tourist destination—Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)—until October 31, citing snowfall in the area that could put the lives of trekkers at risk.The District Administration Office (DAO), Myagdi, said in a statement that the move was taken as the ABC area has already experienced snowfall, and the high, hilly and mountainous regions of the district could see additional snow, posing risks to residents and trekkers.October is the peak tourist season in Nepal, and a large number of trekkers travel to mountain regions, including the Annapurna Base Camp. “As of Tuesday evening, over a dozen people who had reached ABC have not been in contact,” Senior Super...

New York, Oct 28 (IANS) An Indian student who lost his visa status allegedly went berserk on a flight to Germany and has been charged with stabbing two teenagers and slapping a woman, according to federal prosecutor Leah Foley in Boston.After meal service on the Chicago-Frankfurt flight, Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli (28) stabbed a 17-year-old boy on the shoulder and another 17-year-old in the back of the head with a metal fork, her office said on Monday.He also slapped a woman and tried to slap a flight crew, it said.The flight was diverted to Boston, where Usiripalli was arrested.“When flight crew members attempted to subdue Usiripalli, he allegedly raised his hand, formed a gun with his fingers, put it in his mouth and pulled an imaginary trigger,” according to the prosecutor’s office.It ...

Washington, Oct 28 (IANS) Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded, made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday, bringing catastrophic winds, torrential rain, and a massive storm, with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warning that it could devastate the island nation.“With storm surge up to 13 feet and rainfall up to 40 inches, there will be catastrophic flash flooding and landslides,” said Anne-Claire Fontan, a tropical cyclone specialist with the WMO. “For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure,” she told reporters in Geneva.Melissa is packing sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (295 kilometres per hour), making it a Category 5 hurricane. According to the WMO, it is the strongest storm to hit Jamaica in more than a hundred years.The Inte...

Dhaka, Oct 28 (IANS) As the political standoff in Bangladesh deepens ahead of next year’s election, the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday stated that even if the Supreme Court ruling reinstates the caretaker government system, the polls cannot be held under it.Jamaat’s lawyer, Mohammad Shishir Monir, made the remarks following a hearing at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on an appeal seeking the restoration of the election-time caretaker government system, which entered its fourth day on Tuesday, the local media reported."There is talk of forming a caretaker government within 15 days of the dissolution of parliament. Now there is no parliament. Parliament was dissolved more than a year ago. The interim government is running the country. Apart from that, there ...

Kuala Lumpur, Oct 28 (IANS) The ASEAN-India Summit provided a platform for Southeast Asian partners -- India foremost among them -- to contribute actively in building a more multipolar, inclusive, and sustainable regional dynamic, a report stated on Tuesday.It added that by moving away from unilateralism, the gathering in Kuala Lumpur sent a quiet, yet clear message that the region’s future will be defined by a network of engaged and mutually respectful actors, where collaborative successes outweigh any single protagonist."The ASEAN-India Summit in Kuala Lumpur stands as an essential axis in a rapidly changing global order, threading together the interests, challenges, and aspirations of Southeast Asia and its partners amid mounting economic uncertainty and geopolitical flux. With heads ...