Briefly

KOREAN PENINSULA

ROK regrets DPRK's artillery firing drills

The Republic of Korea expressed regret on Monday over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's artillery firing drills on an inter-Korean border island. The ROK Defense Ministry spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo said Pyongyang's move violated the comprehensive military agreement, which was signed by defense chiefs of the two countries in Pyongyang last September. Choi urged the DPRK to immediately stop all military acts that could escalate military tension in inter-Korean border areas, and to fully comply with the military agreement to prevent the recurrence of such drills. The comment came after the DPRK's official news agency reported earlier in the day that Kim Jong-un, the DPRK's top leader, inspected a military unit on Changrin island that conducted the live-fire artillery drills.

UNITED KINGDOM

Truck driver admits immigration offense

A truck driver charged with manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in the back of a truck has pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Maurice Robinson has admitted plotting to assist illegal immigration and acquiring criminal property. Robinson, 25, appeared on Monday at London's Central Criminal Court by video link from prison. He did not enter pleas to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. Two other men have been arrested in connection with the case. The bodies were found on Oct 23 in the English town of Grays. Police say the victims were all from Vietnam and aged between 15 and 44.

PERU

Bus plunges into ravine, killing 10

A passenger bus plunged into a ravine in central Peru's Huanuco department, killing 10 and injuring another 20, local media said on Sunday. The bus appeared to have skidded off the road about 500 meters from the Carpish Tunnel on its way from Huancayo in Junin to Pucallpa in northeast Ucayali. According to TV channel Canal N, the bus was carrying around 50 passengers when it fell 200 meters into the ravine around 1 am. A preliminary investigation indicates the bus driver lost control of the vehicle due to rain, slippery asphalt, thick fog and speeding, state news agency Andina said.

AFGHANISTAN

12 killed in northern Kunduz Province

Ten militants and two civilians were killed as a clash erupted in the Taloka area of the northern Kunduz Province on Sunday, security officials in the province said on Monday. The government forces, according to Brigadier Jan Agha, a national army commander in the troubled province, launched cleanup operations in the Taloka area on Monday night, killing 10 armed militants and wounding seven others. Several villages have been cleared of the militants, the official asserted, adding that the ongoing operations would last until the area is cleared from insurgents.

SWITZERLAND

Greenhouse gases surge to record

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a record in 2018, rising faster than the average rise of the last decade and cementing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, said on Monday. "There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline, in greenhouse gases' concentration in the atmosphere," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. The concentration of carbon dioxide, a product of burning fossil fuels that is the biggest contributor to global warming, surged from 405.5 parts per million in 2017 to 407.8 ppm in 2018, exceeding the average rate of increase of 2.06 ppm in 2005-2015, the WMO report said.