Briefly

SOUTH ASIA

Floods kill 34 in India-controlled Kashmir

At least 34 people died and more than 200 were missing following sudden, heavy rain in India-controlled Kashmir, officials said on Thursday, the second such disaster in the Himalayas this month. The incident occurred in Chasoti town of Kishtwar district, a stopover point on a popular pilgrimage route. It comes a little over a week after heavy floods and mudslide engulfed an entire village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. India's deputy minister for science and technology, Jitendra Singh, said the floods were triggered by a cloudburst and "could result in substantial casualties".

DPRK

Pyongyang says won't remove loudspeakers

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has never removed loudspeakers installed along the border with the Republic of Korea and is not willing to remove them, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday, citing a statement from a senior official. Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, in a statement, criticized the ROK for spreading misleading narratives that the DPRK has removed loudspeakers installed on the southern border area, and creating a public opinion that bilateral relations are being "restored".

Xinhua - Agencies