North Korea tests ‘short-range ballistic missiles’
North Korea has fired two missiles into the sea, its fifth such launch in recent weeks.
The missiles are thought to be short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military says.
If confirmed, such a test would be a breach of 11 UN security Council resolutions.
The launches come after US President Donald Trump said he had received a “very beautiful letter” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr Trump said Mr Kim was unhappy with the current US-South Korea joint military exercises.
‘P is for protest’: Hong Kong families take to the streets in pro-democracy rally
Event billed as rally to ‘guard our children’s future’ given permit by authorities, unlike others planned for weekend
Agence France-Presse
Armed with balloons and strollers, several hundred families took to the streets in Hong Kong on Saturday to show support for pro-democracy protests that are now in their third month.
The colourful and calm atmosphere at the rally was a far cry from the increasingly violent confrontations that have marked recent demonstrations by activists calling for greater freedoms in the city.
A leaflet featuring an alternative alphabet was circulated, offering “demonstration” for the letter D, “angry” for A and “protest” for P.
Patrick Crusius: El Paso shooting suspect says he was targeting Mexicans, police say
Patrick Crusius reportedly stopped his vehicle on an intersection near the supermarket, got out with his hands up and said: “I’m the shooter.”
The affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post, claims the 21-year-old immediately admitted opening fire on customers and staff.
The supermarket is known to be popular with Mexican shoppers who cross the nearby border from the city of Juarez. Of those who lost their lives, 13 were American, eight Mexican and one German.
German tapped to head Iran trade vehicle pulls out after Israel comments
A German diplomat will no longer head the Iran trade vehicle INSTEX after it emerged he had made critical comments about Israel. The development deals a further blow to European efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal.
A senior German diplomat designated to head a European payment vehicle to facilitate trade with Iran despite US sanctions will not take up the position after a news report claimed he made controversial statements about Israel.
The German Foreign Ministry said Friday that Bernd Erbel was not to assume the position as INSTEX chief “for personal reasons.”
Germany’s mass circulation Bild newspaper reported on several controversial comments the former ambassador to Baghdad and Tehran made about the Middle East and Israel.
Asian women trafficked to Kenya’s Bollywood-style dance bars
By Nita Bhalla
Nepali beautician Sheela didn’t think twice about ditching her salon job when she received a call offering seven times her salary to work as a cultural dancer at a nightclub in Kenya.
It didn’t matter that the 23-year-old woman from a village in the Himalayan foothills had never heard of the east African nation. Or that she had no experience as a dancer, had never met the owner of the club, and was not shown an employment contract.
With elderly parents to care for and medical bills to clear after her brother suffered a motorbike accident, the offer of 60,000 Kenyan shillings ($850) monthly, with food, housing and transport costs all covered, was a no-brainer for Sheela. Whilst people in the U.S. would have most likely reached out to a specialist lawyer, like this Los Angeles motorcycle accident lawyer, to get compensation for the medical bills, Sheela was unable to do this and was left with little other choice.
Ryugyong Hotel: The story of North Korea’s ‘Hotel of Doom’
Updated 10th August 2019
In 1987, ground was broken on a grand new hotel in North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. The pyramid-shaped, supertall skyscraper was to exceed 1,000 feet in height, and was designed to house at least 3,000 rooms, as well as five revolving restaurants with panoramic views.
The Ryugyong Hotel — named after a historical moniker for Pyongyang meaning “capital of willows” — was supposed to open just two years later. But it never did.
While the structure reached its planned height in 1992, it stood windowless and hollow for another 16 years, its naked concrete exposed, like a menacing monster overlooking the city. During that time the building, which dwarfs everything around it, earned itself the nickname “Hotel of Doom.”
