Briefly

DPRK

Kim calls for boosting navy amid US-led drills

Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, has instructed the Korean People's Army Navy to rapidly develop its fighting capacity and make an all-out effort to get combat-ready, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Tuesday. Kim gave the instructions during his congratulatory visit to the KPA Navy Command on Sunday, one day before the country's Navy Day, in a high-profile move to celebrate the occasion and raise the morale of the naval force, the report said. Photos carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed Kim inspecting the navy command and taking photos with scores of naval officers. It came as the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan held a trilateral naval exercise in waters around the Korean Peninsula.

UNITED KINGDOM

Flight disruption to last for days, minister says

Transport Secretary of State Mark Harper said it would take days to resolve the widespread disruption to flights into and out of the country after air traffic control systems were hit by a technical problem. Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed on Monday — one of the country's busiest travel days — after air traffic controllers were forced to switch to manual systems. Harper added that government officials did not believe the technical problem was the result of a cyberattack.

AUSTRALIA

Live parasitic worm found in woman's brain

A parasitic roundworm typically found in snakes has been pulled "alive and wriggling" from a woman's brain in a stomach-churning medical first, doctors said on Tuesday. Baffled doctors performed an MRI scan on the 64-year-old Australian woman after she began suffering memory lapses, noticing an "atypical lesion" at the front of her brain. It was an 8-centimeter roundworm, which researchers said was a common parasite in kangaroos and carpet pythons — but not humans.

Xinhua - Agencies