News in Brief-(2023-10-27)
October 27, 2023 00:00:00
Armenia will sign peace agreement with
Azerbaijan next month, says PM
TBILISI, Oct 26: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his country would sign a peace agreement with arch-foe Azerbaijan next month, weeks after Baku recaptured the long-disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region from pro-Armenian separatists. Yerevan and Baku "in the coming month shall sign an agreement on peace and the establishment of relations," Pashinyan said Thursday, in an address to an international economic forum in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. — AFP
China sends new mission to space station
JIUQUAN, Oct 26: China sent a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday, in the latest mission for a growing space programme that plans to send people to the moon by 2030. The Shenzhou-17 blasted off from the Jiuquan launch site in arid northwest China at 11:14 am (0314 GMT), carrying a three-astronaut team with the youngest average age since the space station's construction. A send-off ceremony on Thursday morning saw the space travellers bid farewell to observers before heading off to prepare for the rocket launch. — AFP
Bushfire season turns deadly in Australia
SYDNEY, Oct 26: Australia's most serious bushfire season since its so-called "Black Summer" has turned fatal. As more than 100 fires burned across the country on Thursday, Queensland officials said two people have died in major blazes near the town of Tara. Two people also died fighting fires in New South Wales (NSW) last week. — BBC
Afghan girls' edn activist released
KABUL, Oct 26: An Afghan activist who campaigned for girls' access to education was released from detention on Thursday more than seven months after he was arrested by Taliban authorities, his family said. Matiullah Wesa, the founder of the non-profit organisation PenPath, "has been released" and "is on his way back home", his brother Attaullah Wesa told AFP, adding that he did not yet have information on his brother's physical health. — AFP