Russia expresses regret after South Korean airspace violation – Korean officials
Russia has said a military jet’s intrusion into South Korean territorial airspace was not intentional, according to Seoul’s presidential office.
A Russian military official expressed “deep regret” to the South Korean defence ministry and blamed a technical glitch, South Korea said.
On Tuesday, Seoul said a Russian warplane had twice violated its territorial airspace.
The Russian defence ministry had earlier furiously denied this.
But South Korea’s Blue House said in a briefing that Russia had now said the violation was unintended and that it would immediately launch an investigation into the case.
“Moscow said if the aircraft flew according to an initially planned route, this incident would not have occurred,” a spokesman told reporters.
‘We saved ourselves’: Hong Kong train attack victims describe 30-minute ordeal
Victims of an attack by masked men in a Hong Kong train station on Sunday have accused police of not responding to their calls for help, saying: “We saved ourselves … because nobody else was there.”
Their faces obscured by masks, they gave emotional testimony at a press briefing on Wednesday alongside the Democratic party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was also injured in the attacks.
Their statements came as Beijing blamed the unrest in Hong Kong on “black hands” from the US, advising America to remember that “Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong”.
Moscow residents fight back against ‘second Chernobyl’
Plans for a new highway through Russia’s capital have sparked protests. Locals say the project could cut straight through a nuclear waste site, sending radioactive dust into the air and into Moscow’s river.
Their signs read “We want to live!” and “Road to Death,” and many bear the bright yellow symbol warning of radiation. On Monday, several hundred protesters gathered in the south of Moscow outside residential housing blocks that overlook a nuclear waste site.
The site is located between the Moskva river and the popular Kolomenskoe park. It stretches for around 500 meters along sloping river banks and contains tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste from Moscow’s nearby Polymetals Factory. The plant used to extract thorium and uranium from ore and now produces weapons and military equipment.
How China is slowly expanding its power in Africa, one TV set at a time
Updated 0606 GMT (1406 HKT) July 24, 2019
In the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Michael Nganga is watching a Chinese Kung Fu movie.
Medals unveiled, events held across Tokyo to mark one year to go until Olympics
Gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals got their first public viewing on Wednesday as Tokyo organizers marked exactly a year until the games open.
Fans, sponsors and politicians were celebrating the day around the Japanese capital, displaying placards and clocks showing 365 days to go until the opening ceremony on July 24, 2020.
A fencing gold medalist at the 1976 Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach showed off his skills in a demonstration with school children. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also took part during the day-long festival.
ON TUESDAY EVENING, members of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Extinction Rebellion superglued themselves to each other and to the passages connecting the Capitol to the Rayburn and Cannon office buildings, where House members have their offices. The protesters, who are part of an international group that uses nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to advocate for action on climate change, aimed to confront House members on their way to floor votes.
Many of the protesters, who did not expect the protest to last longer than 15 minutes, remained glued for more than two hours, alongside dozens of demonstrators who rallied as a distraction. They wore signs over their shirts that said “Declare Climate Emergency” and chanted: “What do we want? Green New Deal! When do we want it? Now!” Capitol police asked bystanders and reporters to move back and, after three warnings, kicked everyone out — except, of course, those who were glued. They arrested 13 activists, according to Extinction Rebellion, around 8:30 p.m.