Pyongyang proposes conditional moratorium on nuclear tests
North Korea told the United States on Friday that it would be willing to impose a moratorium on nuclear tests if the superpower agreed to stop conducting joint military drills with South Korea. The US has construed this as a military threat. Pyongyang has already conducted three nuclear tests – in 2006, 2009 and 2013 – and has had sanctions imposed on it as a result. The proposed moratorium is the latest in a series of exchanges between the two countries sparked by a Hollywood movie – The Interview – released in December showing two American journalists assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Sirisena’s first foreign visit will be to India
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s first state trip abroad will be to India, he said Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an invitation to Sirisena to visit following his victory in the presidential polls on Friday. Sri Lanka plans to release 15 Indian fishermen in its custody soon. At a press conference on the same day, a party official said Sirisena would like improve relations with India, after it had become evident that the pro-China policy espoused by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would have to be phased out.
Patient’s father holding two hostage in Texas hospital
The distraught father of a patient at a hospital near Houston, Texas, may be holding two people hostage, officials said on Sunday morning. The local sheriff said it was not immediately clear if the man was armed. The situation started to unfold around 7 pm local time in the area’s emergency dispatch centre, after which some 50 police vehicles blocked off the entrance to the facility. No other details were available.
SpaceX’s attempt to retrieve used booster fails
The private spaceflight operator SpaceX launched another successful resupply mission to the International Space Station on Saturday, but its revolutionary attempt to land the leftover booster on an ocean barge failed. The company’s founder Elon Musk said the first-stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket made it to the barge but landed too hard and broke apart on impact, adding however that the attempt boded well for the future. It was the first time anyone tried anything like this. Reusing components of rockets reduces launch costs.
Ten-year-old ‘suicide bomber’ kills 16 in Maiduguri
A bomb strapped to a 10-year-old girl blew up in a market in the city of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria on Saturday, killing 16 people and injuring 20 others. Maiduguri is in the heartland of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has stepped up its assaults as Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will seek re-election next month. In 2013, more than 10,000 people were killed due to violence perpetrated by Boko Haram. Earlier this week, officials from a town named Baga in the region reported a massacre of 2,000 people by the same outfit.
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North Korea told the United States on Friday that it would be willing to impose a moratorium on nuclear tests if the superpower agreed to stop conducting joint military drills with South Korea. The US has construed this as a military threat. Pyongyang has already conducted three nuclear tests – in 2006, 2009 and 2013 – and has had sanctions imposed on it as a result. The proposed moratorium is the latest in a series of exchanges between the two countries sparked by a Hollywood movie – The Interview – released in December showing two American journalists assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Sirisena’s first foreign visit will be to India
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s first state trip abroad will be to India, he said Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended an invitation to Sirisena to visit following his victory in the presidential polls on Friday. Sri Lanka plans to release 15 Indian fishermen in its custody soon. At a press conference on the same day, a party official said Sirisena would like improve relations with India, after it had become evident that the pro-China policy espoused by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa would have to be phased out.
Patient’s father holding two hostage in Texas hospital
The distraught father of a patient at a hospital near Houston, Texas, may be holding two people hostage, officials said on Sunday morning. The local sheriff said it was not immediately clear if the man was armed. The situation started to unfold around 7 pm local time in the area’s emergency dispatch centre, after which some 50 police vehicles blocked off the entrance to the facility. No other details were available.
SpaceX’s attempt to retrieve used booster fails
The private spaceflight operator SpaceX launched another successful resupply mission to the International Space Station on Saturday, but its revolutionary attempt to land the leftover booster on an ocean barge failed. The company’s founder Elon Musk said the first-stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket made it to the barge but landed too hard and broke apart on impact, adding however that the attempt boded well for the future. It was the first time anyone tried anything like this. Reusing components of rockets reduces launch costs.
Ten-year-old ‘suicide bomber’ kills 16 in Maiduguri
A bomb strapped to a 10-year-old girl blew up in a market in the city of Maiduguri in northern Nigeria on Saturday, killing 16 people and injuring 20 others. Maiduguri is in the heartland of the Boko Haram insurgency, which has stepped up its assaults as Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will seek re-election next month. In 2013, more than 10,000 people were killed due to violence perpetrated by Boko Haram. Earlier this week, officials from a town named Baga in the region reported a massacre of 2,000 people by the same outfit.
