Sunday, June 23, 2019

North Korea's Kim Jong-un receives 'excellent' letter from Trump

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un has received a personal letter from US President Donald Trump, state media report.

Mr Kim praised the letter as "excellent" and said he would "seriously contemplate the interesting content", the KCNA news agency says.

He also praised Mr Trump's "extraordinary courage".

Earlier this month, Mr Trump said a beautiful letter had been sent to him by the North Korean leader.

It was not disclosed when or how Mr Trump's letter to Mr Kim had been delivered. The White House has not commented.

Talks between the US and North Korea stalled at a meeting in Vietnam between Mr Kim and Mr Trump in February.

The letter is the first major development between the countries since then, the BBC's Laura Bicker reports from Seoul.

The US has insisted North Korea give up its nuclear programme while Pyongyang has demanded sanctions relief.

However in recent months Mr Trump has spoken warmly about Mr Kim.

Earlier this month he told reporters that North Korea under Mr Kim's leadership had "tremendous potential".

And in May during a visit to Japan Mr Trump described Mr Kim as a "very smart guy" and said he expected "a lot of good things" to come out of North Korea.

Ethiopia army chief injured in 'coup attempt'

The chief of staff of the Ethiopian army, Gen Seare Mekonnen, has been shot and wounded in the capital, Addis Ababa, officials say.

He was shot trying to prevent a coup attempt against the administration in Ethiopia's northern Amhara region, PM Abiy Ahmed said on state TV.

In that unrest in the north, he added, several officials were killed in Amhara's regional capital, Bahir Dar.

Ethnic violence has hit Amhara and other regions in recent years.

Since his election last year, Mr Ahmed has moved to end political repression by releasing political prisoners, removing bans on political parties and prosecuting officials accused of human rights abuses.

The US state department has warned its staff in Addis Ababa to stay inside, saying it is aware of reports of gunfire in the city on Saturday.

What do we know about the attacks?

Information is scanty, with reports that internet has been down, but Prime Minister Ahmed, dressed in military fatigues, went on TV to make his announcement.

He said the chief of staff had been attacked by "mercenaries" but gave no details about his condition.

Officials of the Amhara state government were killed by their own colleagues during a meeting, he added.

A statement from the prime minister's office added: "The coup attempt in Amhara regional state is against the constitution and is intended to scupper the hard-won peace of the region.

"This illegal attempt should be condemned by all Ethiopians and the federal government has full capacity to overpower this armed group."

Earlier, the government said coup plotters had attempted to oust the head of the Amhara regional government, Ambachew Mekonnen, and efforts were under way to apprehend them.

Country profile

Residents in Bahir Dar have reported hearing heavy gunfire.

The ruling party in Amhara has accused a former security chief, who was released from jail after Mr Abiy came to power, of being behind the violence.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Pulwama attack: India mourns Kashmir dead

Rapid Action Force soldiers and a child from one of their families hold candles as they pay tribute to personnel during a candlelight vigil in Bhopal

Thousands of mourners have been attending funerals across India for some of the security force personnel killed by a suicide bomber in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday.

At least 40 paramilitary police died in the attack near Srinagar.

The militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad said it carried out the attack.

India has imposed a swathe of economic measures on Pakistan after the attack, including revoking Most Favoured Nation trading status and raising customs duty to 200%.

Although Jaish-e-Mohammad is based in Pakistan, Islamabad has denied any role in the attack.

Both India and Pakistan claim all of Muslim-majority Kashmir but control only parts of it.

Relatives of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Sukhjinder Singh mourn near his coffin before his cremation ceremony at village Gandiwind in Tarn Taran district

Relatives of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier Sukhjinder Singh mourn as his coffin is taken to his cremation ceremony at the village of Gandiwind in the Tarn Taran district of India's Punjab state.