World News Roundup: Ukraine says 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for front line areas; Biden meets top Ukrainian officials in Poland and more
North Korea said the launch on Thursday was of the Hwasong-17, a huge new ICBM unveiled at a pre-dawn military parade in October 2020 but never before publicly tested. Turkey finds 'mine-like object' floating off Black Sea Turkish authorites have warned vessels to stay away as a dive team inspects a "mine-like object" found floating north of Istanbul near the Black Sea, days after Russia warned that several mines had drifted away from Ukrainian ports.
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
Ukraine says 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for front line areas
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said agreement has been reached on the establishment of 10 humanitarian corridors on Saturday to evacuate civilians from front line hotspots in Ukrainian towns and cities Speaking on national television, she said civilians trying to leave the besieged southern port of Mariupol would have to leave in private cars as Russian forces were not letting buses through their checkpoints around the southern port city.
Chinese search team yet to find second black box from plane crash
Chinese emergency workers have not found the second black box from the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed this week with 132 people on board, officials said on Saturday. But they have found an emergency location transmitter from the plane that had been close to where the second black box - the flight data recorder - had been installed, Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told reporters.
Biden meets top Ukrainian officials in Poland
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with top Ukrainian government officials in Warsaw on Saturday during his visit to Poland to show support for the NATO alliance's eastern flank in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden dropped in on a meeting between meeting between Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
EU's Borrell says nuclear agreement with Iran 'very close'
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said on Saturday Iran and world powers were "very close" to agreement on reviving their 2015 nuclear deal, which would curb Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for lifting tough sanctions. Then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018, prompting Tehran to start violating its nuclear limits about a year later, and 11 months of on-and-off talks to revive it paused in Vienna earlier this month after Russia presented a new obstacle.
Analysts say images of 'monster' North Korean ICBM may have been from earlier launch
The "monster" Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) shown this week in North Korean state media after the country's biggest test-fire ever is likely from an earlier launch, analysts said after examining the images and video. North Korea said the launch on Thursday was of the Hwasong-17, a huge new ICBM unveiled at a pre-dawn military parade in October 2020 but never before publicly tested.
Turkey finds 'mine-like object' floating off Black Sea
Turkish authorites have warned vessels to stay away as a dive team inspects a "mine-like object" found floating north of Istanbul near the Black Sea, days after Russia warned that several mines had drifted away from Ukrainian ports. The team secured the object and began deactivating it, Turkey's defence ministry said on Twitter.
'We have nothing but grief' says father of plane crash victim
As recovery crews sifted through the mud at the China Eastern Airlines crash site, dozens of relatives of those on board flight MU5735 remained nearby in an anxious wait for further news. One was Qin Haitao who comes from neighbouring Hunan province.
Russian forces take Chernobyl workers' town; fighting in centre of Mariupol
Russian forces have taken control of a town where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, and fighting was reported in the streets of the besieged southern port of Mariupol. After more than four weeks of conflict, Russia has failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and on Friday Moscow signalled it was scaling back its military ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the east.
Russia conducts military drills on isles disputed with Japan -media
Russia was conducting drills on islands claimed by Tokyo, Japanese media said on Saturday, days after Moscow halted peace talks with Japan because of its sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's Eastern Military District said it was conducting military drills on the Kuril islands with more than 3,000 troops and hundreds of pieces of army equipment, Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday.
Saudi Aramco petroleum storage site hit by Houthi attack, fire erupts
Yemen's Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday and the Saudi-led coalition said oil giant Aramco's petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah was hit, causing a fire in two storage tanks but no casualties. A huge plume of black smoke could be seen rising over the Red Sea city where the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is taking place this weekend, an eyewitness said.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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