SEOUL: North Korea has threatened the United States “with a hail of bullets and shells on its own territory” if it does not withdraw sanctions, the North’s state news agency reported yesterday. US President Barack Obama issued an executive order last week authorising expanded sanctions against North Korea after a hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, which Washington blamed on Pyongyang. North Korea has denied it was responsible for the hacking. “The US should roll back its hostile policy towards the DPRK of its own accord if it does not want to suffer a war disaster,” the KCNA news agency reported, citing the National Defence Commission, which is headed by leader Kim Jong Un. “We have taken this stand because all ‘sanctions’ the US has imposed against the DPRK so far are based on the inveterate hostility and repugnancy towards it and Washington’s hostile policy towards it,” KCNA said. “This is also because ‘sanctions’ were invented under absurd pretexts and conditions.”
Bangla police kill 2 during poll protests
Dhaka: Bangladeshi police shot and killed two people overnight during ongoing violent opposition protests against the first anniversary of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s controversial re-election, a senior officer said. More than 5,000 supporters of besieged opposition leader Khaleda Zia attacked police with sticks in southern Noakhali district late on Wednesday, forcing them to “open fire in self defence,” the officer said. “At least two people have died in the shooting. Eight police officers were injured,” district deputy police chief S M Ashrafuzzaman said.
3 dead in Myanmar jade mine landslide
Yangon: Rescuers continued to comb through rubble yesterday for victims of a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar that killed at least three people, according to police. An unknown number of miners are missing after heavy rain triggered a landslide in Hpakant town in Kachin state on Tuesday evening, a local police officer said. The landslide is believed to have occurred when debris heaped beside the mine collapsed after it was loosened by heavy rains. A local police official said three bodies had now been recovered — two men and a woman. “We are still trying to search for others but there is a lot of rubble. We don’t know how many people are missing,” he said. Agencies
