39 people killed in building fire in China’s Jiangxi
Beijing/Nanchang, Jan 24: At least 39 people were killed in a building fire in east China’s Jiangxi province on Wednesday. The fire broke out at approximately 3 pm from a street shop in the Yushui district of Xinyu, the local fire response emergency headquarters was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency. Rescue efforts have ended, it said. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered steps to curb repeated occurrence of safety accidents, the report said. Meanwhile, the death toll from a landslide in a remote, mountainous part of southwestern China rose to 34 on Wednesday, while 10 people remained missing, Chinese state media reported. Search and rescue operations continued amid freezing temperatures and falling snow. More than 1,000 rescuers were working at the site with the help of excavators, drones and rescue dogs, the Ministry of Emergency Management said Tuesday. Two survivors were found Monday and were recovering at a local hospital. (AP)
N Korea appears to demolish reunification arch
Seoul, Jan 24: North Korea appears to have torn down a huge arch in its capital that symbolised reconciliation with South Korea, a week after leader Kim Jong Un dismissed decades of hopes for peaceful reunification with the war-divided peninsula’s south, according to satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Wednesday. South Korea’s military also said Wednesday that North Korea fired several cruise missiles into waters off its western coast. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week described the Pyongyang monument as an “eyesore” and called for its removal while declaring that the North was abandoning long-standing goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of the North’s constitution to define the South as its most hostile foreign adversary. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC appeared to show the destruction of Pyongyang’s Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, also called the Arch of Reunification. An image Tuesday clearly showed the arch missing along a roadway. Clouds and snow cover made it difficult to ascertain when North Korea tore down the monument, but it appeared to be within the last few days. (AP)
Turkish Parl okays Sweden’s NATO bid
Ankara, Jan 24: Turkish lawmakers have approved a long-delayed bill on Sweden’s bid to become the 32nd member of NATO. The Turkish Parliament on Tuesday voted on the bill after a debate in the Grand National Assembly. A total of 346 lawmakers participated in the voting, with 287 votes in favour, 55 against, and four abstentions, Xinhua news agency reported. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to sign the bill into law within a few days. Turkish Parliament’s ratification was welcomed by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. “Today we are one step closer to becoming a full member of NATO,” he wrote on social media platform X. With Turkey’s ratification, Hungary remains the only NATO member country that has not approved Sweden’s application to join the formidable military alliance. (IANS)