While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 17, 2024
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Japan's Foreign Minister, Mr Takeshi Iwaya (right), visiting St Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv on Nov 16.
PHOTO: AFP
N. Korea troops in Ukraine ‘extremely significant’ for security
Japan’s foreign minister warned on Nov 16 that North Korean troops entering the Ukraine conflict would have an “extremely significant” effect on East Asian security.
Mr Takeshi Iwaya was in Ukraine after weeks of reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia, with the West and Ukraine saying they were already operating in Russia’s Kursk border region.
Japan has joined Seoul in condemning North Korea for supporting Moscow.
“This will not only deepen the severity of the Ukraine situation, but also have extremely significant implications for East Asia’s security situation,” Mr Iwaya said. “We are seriously concerned over this development, and strongly condemn it.”
Eight dead, 17 hurt, in China school knife attack
Eight people were killed and 17 others wounded on Nov 16 in a knife attack at a vocational school in eastern China, and the suspect - a former student - has been arrested, police said.
The attack took place in the evening at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology, in the city of Yixing in Jiangsu province, police in Yixing said in a statement, confirming the toll.
Police said the suspect was a 21-year-old former student at the school, who was meant to graduate this year, but had failed his exams.
Xi takes spotlight in Apec family photo with Biden off to side
REUTERS
Chinese President Xi Jinping took centre stage in a family photo on Nov 16 at the Apec summit in Peru, while Joe Biden got a spot near the back corner.
Mr Xi was one of the first to arrive for the annual photo, in which all leaders wore a brown scarf, and chatted with Peruvian leader, Ms Dina Boluarte.
Mr Biden was the last leader to arrive, and took his spot in the back between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Vietnam President Luong Cuong.
Fifth of dengue cases due to climate change
AFP
Climate change is responsible for nearly a fifth of the record number of dengue cases worldwide this year, US researchers said on Nov 16, seeking to shine a light on how rising temperatures help spread disease.
Researchers have been working to swiftly demonstrate how human-driven climate change directly contributes to individual extreme weather events such as the hurricanes, fires, droughts and floods that have battered the world this year.
But linking how global warming affects health - such as driving outbreaks or spreading disease - remains a new field.
Scholz rivals say phone call handed Putin ‘propaganda win’
VIA REUTERS
Political rivals of Germany’s embattled leader Olaf Scholz argued on Nov 16 that his phone call with Mr Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war had handed a “propaganda win” to the Russian President.
Mr Scholz and the Kremlin chief spoke on Nov 15 for the first time in almost two years.
The German Chancellor condemned the war and called for both peace talks and a troop withdrawal, according to his office.
