SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s spy agency says it’s now fair to view the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as his heir, its strongest assessment yet on the rising political status of the girl who it believes could extend her family’s rule into a fourth generation.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's spy agency says it's now fair to view the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as his heir, its strongest assessment yet on the rising political status of the girl who it believes could extend her family's rule into a fourth generation. The girl, dubbed by state media as Kim's "most beloved" or "respected" child, has accompanied her father to numerous high-profile events since late 2022, sparking outside speculation that she's being groomed as the North's future leader. In a closed-door briefing at the National Assembly Monday, South Korea's National Intelligence Service director Lee Jong-seok said the girl could be considered Kim's successor, in response to questions by lawmakers about her political standing, according to Lee Seong Kweun, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
DATONG, China (AP) - Yang Haiming didn't stop working when he retired from the coal mines at age 60. Instead, he jumped into a new industry. Yang is part of a generation of workers that powered China's growth by digging coal from underground mines in Datong, a city known as China's coal capital in the northern province of Shanxi. Now, as China prioritizes renewable energy over coal, Yang is ahead of the change his fellow workers are being forced to confront. He now runs a restaurant that sells lamb skewers to tourists visiting the Yungang Grottoes, a historically significant 6th century site featuring Buddhist carvings in caves that draws millions of visitors a year.
PARIS (AP) - France said China has executed a French citizen convicted of drug trafficking after keeping him on death row for more than 15 years. Chan Thao Phoumy, 62, was executed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, despite French authorities' clemency appeals, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday. It didn't say when the sentence was carried out. A Chinese court sentenced him to death in 2010. The ministry's statement expressed "consternation" and added: "We particularly regret that Mr. Chan's defense did not have access to the final court hearing, which constitutes a violation of his rights." "We extend our condolences to his family, whose grief we share," it said.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Thirty passengers were evacuated from a cruise ship that ran aground on a reef in Fiji, the ship's owner said Monday. The MV Fiji Princess, operated by Blue Lagoon Cruises, ran aground Saturday near Monuriki Island, scene of the 2000 movie starring Tom Hanks " Cast Away," the Fiji-based tourism company said in a statement. "Whilst the investigation is in its early stages, conditions upon the ship anchoring in the area were calm, and it appears a severe squall caused the ship's anchor to drag towards a nearby reef whereby the ship became grounded," the statement said.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The death toll from extreme weather that has triggered widespread flooding and landslides in many parts of Afghanistan has increased to at least 110, authorities said Monday, with another seven people missing and more heavy rain forecast. Storms and heavy rainfall began across Afghanistan about 12 days ago, affecting most of the country's 34 provinces. Over the past 24 hours alone, 11 people have died and six have been injured, the Disaster Management Authority said. Seven people were reported missing in separate incidents, all believed to have been carried away by floodwater. Overall, the flooding, landslides and lighting strikes have killed 110 people and injured 160 in the past 12 days, the authority said, while 958 homes have been completely destroyed and another 4,155 have suffered partial damage.
NEW YORK (AP) - Hunched over a sewing machine, Kil Bae is hemming a dress inside his Manhattan tailor shop when a new customer stops by with a vintage Tommy Hilfiger jacket he wants taken in. The modeling agent paid $20 at a thrift store for his reversible bomber style that's plaid on one side and red on the other. He's willing to spend $280 to have it slimmed down. Alteration requests with such a price disparity would have seemed odd a few years ago, the tailor says, but are helping to keep the bobbins bobbing at his one-man shop, 85 Custom Tailor.
ITTEFAQ, Afghanistan (AP) - For several minutes after the earthquake struck, he could hear their screams. Then there was silence. Mohibullah Niazi, a neighbor who helped in the rescue efforts, said Saturday that the eight people killed on the outskirts of Kabul after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck northern Afghanistan the previous night were a refugee family recently returned from neighboring Iran. There was only one survivor: a boy of around 3 years old, who was injured and has been hospitalized in Kabul. Afghanistan's deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat on Saturday increased the overall death toll from the quake to 12, with another four people injured.
KABUL, Afghanisan (AP) - Widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days, the country's Disaster Management Authority said Saturday. More rain has been forecast for the coming days throughout Afghanistan, and the authority warned the public to stay away from river banks and areas prone to flooding. So far this year, dozens of people have died due to extreme weather in Afghanistan, an impoverished country that is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A fire broke out at a factory manufacturing gas lighters near Bangladesh 's capital on Saturday afternoon, leaving at least five people dead, authorities said. The blaze broke out in the Kadamtali area of Keraniganj near Dhaka, according to the fire service and civil defense. Seven firefighting units were deployed to extinguish the blaze, which started in the afternoon, the fire department said. It took several hours to bring it under control. Firefighters recovered five bodies by the evening and they couldn't immediately be identified. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
TOKYO (AP) - Many of Tokyo's popular and iconic Somei Yoshino cherry blossom trees were planted during Japan's postwar advancement in the 1960s, and are now getting old and frail. Some have fallen and many others require support, triggering safety concern as the Japanese celebrate the season of their favorite flower. Two cherry blossom trees collapsed on Thursday, one at Kinuta Park in downtown Tokyo and the other at the Chidorigafuchi greenway. The one in Kinuta Park damaged a fence while the other tree almost fell into the Imperial Palace moat, though nobody was injured. The tree in Kinuta Park was 18 meters (59 feet) tall and 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in diameter.
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