World News Roundup: North Korea tells South Korean president to 'shut his mouth' after offer of aid; Xi, Putin to attend G20 summit in Indonesia's Bali this November and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 19-08-2022 18:37 IST | Created: 19-08-2022 18:33 IST
World News Roundup: North Korea tells South Korean president to 'shut his mouth' after offer of aid; Xi, Putin to attend G20 summit in Indonesia's Bali this November and more
Kim Yo Jong Image Credit: Flickr

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

North Korea tells South Korean president to 'shut his mouth' after offer of aid

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Friday South Korea's president should "shut his mouth" after he reiterated that his country was willing to provide economic aid in return for nuclear disarmament. Her comments mark the first time a senior North Korean official has commented directly on what South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called an "audacious" plan - first proposed in May and which he talked about again on Wednesday at a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office.

Xi, Putin to attend G20 summit in Indonesia's Bali this November

Chinese and Russian leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit on the resort island of Bali this November, a longtime adviser to the Indonesian president said on Friday. Andi Widjajanto, former cabinet secretary and unofficial adviser to President Joko Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, told Reuters the two leaders would join the summit.

UN chief says electricity at Russian-held nuclear plant belongs to Ukraine

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that electricity generated at the Russian-held nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southern region of Zaporizhzhia belonged to Ukraine and demanded that the principle be fully respected. Guterres, asked about possible Russian plans to divert power to the Russian power grid, told reporters in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa that the plant should be demilitarized.

Taiwan says China continuing military activities nearby

Taiwan's defense ministry said 17 Chinese aircraft and six Chinese ships were detected operating around Taiwan on Friday as Beijing continued military activities near the island.

It said this included eight aircraft that crossed the Taiwan Strait's median line, which in normal times acts as an unofficial barrier between the two sides.

American appeals money laundering conviction in UAE, lawyer says

U.S. citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor has appealed to a United Arab Emirates court his conviction for money laundering, his lawyer said on Friday, a week after he was released from detention there and returned to the United States.

Ghafoor, who has maintained innocence, last week paid a fine and was subsequently freed after the Abu Dhabi court upheld an earlier conviction for money laundering delivered in absentia but revoked a jail term.

Low water levels on the Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahova. The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

Night of explosions rocks Russian-held areas far from front

Explosions erupted overnight near military bases deep within Russian-held areas of Ukraine and in Russia itself, an apparent display of Kyiv's growing ability to wreak havoc on Moscow's logistics far from front lines. Ukraine also issued a new warning about a frontline nuclear power station where it said it believed Moscow was planning a "large-scale provocation" as a justification to decouple the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and connect it to Russia's.

Malaysian prosecutors rest case against ex-PM Najib in final 1MDB appeal

Malaysian prosecutors on Friday wrapped up their arguments against former premier Najib Razak's final bid to overturn a 12-year jail sentence for corruption, saying he was aware that he had received funds from an "unlawful activity." Najib's lawyers declined to present their case in court this week, citing insufficient time to prepare. They had submitted written arguments before the proceedings began.

Ukrainian vet, home on leave in Poland, reflects on horrors of war

For Ukrainian soldier, Dmytro Dovzhenko, embracing his family back in Poland after six months on the front line has a special poignancy as he tries to clear his mind of the image of a mother and child whose mutilated bodies had been tied together. He came across the corpses in Irpin in early March as his unit fought to liberate the Kyiv suburb from Russian forces.

From bomb shelter to dorm room: Ukrainian students find refuge at U.S. colleges

Hlib Burtsev wanted to film himself opening admissions decisions from U.S. universities and share the videos online, imagining the hugs and cheers from his family if he got good news. But when those decisions came, the 18-year-old was often huddled in a windowless room or bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine. Air raid sirens and darkness frustrated his plans.

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