International News

US military closes one of the Guantanamo Bay prison camps

  • WASHINGTON, (APP/AFP) – The US military has closed a maximum-security detention center at Guantanamo Bay, an official said Thursday, as the controversial military prison’s population continues to shrink. Guantanamo’s Camp 5 lockup, which was opened in 2004, will be converted into a medical facility for detainees, facility spokesman Navy Captain John Filostrat said in a […]

  • Test confirms nuclear warhead can be mounted on rockets: KCNA

    PYONGYANG, (APP/AFP) – North Korea said Friday its latest nuclear test had confirmed that it could mount a nuclear warhead on a rocket, hours after it carried out a fifth atomic explosion. “The nuclear test finally… confirmed the structure and specific features… of a nuclear warhead that has been standardised to be able to be […]

  • North Korea’s latest nuclear test: Q&A

    SEOUL, (APP/AFP) – North Korea conducted a fifth nuclear test on Friday, an underground blast that Seoul quickly labelled its “most powerful to date”. Here are some key questions around the blast and the isolated state’s nuclear programme. What do we know so far? ======================= Seismologists detected a powerful artificial earthquake at 0030 GMT Friday, […]

  • NASA launches spacecraft to collect asteroid dust

    MIAMI, (APP/AFP) – The first US spacecraft designed to collect dust from an asteroid and return the sample to Earth blasted off Thursday on a seven-year mission to unveil the origins of the solar system, NASA said. The unmanned spaceship, called OSIRIS-REx, launched at 7:05 pm (2305 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where some 8,000 […]

  • N. Korea nuclear test act of ‘self-destruction’: S. Korea’s Park

    SEOUL, (APP/AFP) – South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Friday condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test as an act of “self-destruction” that will further deepen its isolation in the international community. The impoverished but nuclear-armed North staged its fifth nuclear test Friday morning, she said in a statement, describing it as a “grave challenge” to […]

  • Nigeria says to borrow from World Bank, China, Japan

    ABUJA, (APP/AFP) – Nigeria’s presidency on Thursday said it had approved an external borrowing plan after the cash-strapped African economy plunged into official recession. “Low cost, long-term loans (1.25% interest, 20yr tenor)” would be sought from the World Bank, African Development Bank, China’s Exim Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, it announced. A Eurobond […]