North Korea on Thursday confirmed its first-ever case of Covid-19, with state media calling it a “severe national emergency incident” after more than two years of keeping the pandemic at bay.
The official KCNA news agency said the case was “consistent with” the virus’ highly transmissible Omicron variant.
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‘Putin doesn’t want to fight NATO,’ says US
US defence secretary Austin said he doubts Russia will widen its war, such as by attacking missile sites in Poland, because Putin doesn’t want to take on the Nato alliance. Austin also said he has emphasised to Ukraine’s leaders the importance of keeping track of US weapons sent to the country so they don’t go astray. “Accountability is an important issue to all of us,” he said. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
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China calls WHO chief’s remark on the country’s Covid strategy ‘irresponsible’
China on Wednesday dismissed the World Health Organisation chief’s criticism of its zero-Covid strategy and the remarks were scrubbed from the country’s social media even before the foreign ministry’s formal response. China’s foreign ministry said Tedros remarks calling Beijing’s “zero-Covid” approach unsustainable and urging an urgent policy shift given the nature of the virus were “irresponsible”.
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Ukraine to hold first war crimes trial of captured Russian
Ukraine’s top prosecutor disclosed plans Wednesday for the first war crimes trial of a captured Russian soldier, as fighting raged in the east and south and the Kremlin left open the possibility of annexing a corner of the country it seized early in the invasion. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said the soldier could get up to 15 years in prison. She did not say when the trial would start. Residents told of killings, burnings, rape, torture and dismemberment.
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Egg-sized diamond fetches over $21 Million with fees at Geneva sale
Christie’s says “The Rock,” an egg-sized white diamond billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction, sold Wednesday for more than 21.6 million Swiss francs ($21.75 million), including fees — though at the low end of the expected range. An unspecified private buyer acquired The Rock, for which the pre-auction estimate was between 19 million and 30 million francs.