News in Brief (2023-11-25)

Russian politician denies adopting Ukrainian infant

MOSCOW, Nov 24: A leading Russian supporter of President Vladimir Putin on Thursday denied a report that he adopted a child forcibly taken from a Ukrainian orphanage. Citing Russian and Ukrainian documents, the BBC reported that Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov had adopted a child, now two years old, who was taken from an orphanage in the Ukrainian city of Kherson last year. Russia has been accused of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children from schools, hospitals and orphanages in parts of the country controlled by its forces. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Putin and his children's commissioner for "the war crime of unlawful deportation... and transfer" of children from Ukraine to Russia. — Arab News

Top Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing envoys to meet for first time since 2019

SEOUL, Nov 24: The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China will hold their first trilateral talks since 2019 this weekend in Busan, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. The Sunday meeting in the southern port city will see Park Jin, Yoko Kamikawa and Wang Yi huddle against the backdrop of Beijing's growing concerns over Tokyo and Seoul's deepening security ties with Washington. The announcement comes days after North Korea successfully placed its first military spy satellite into orbit, prompting the suspension of a five-year-old military accord between the two Koreas intended to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula. — AFP

Kim celebrates North Korea's new 'space power' era

SEOUL, Nov 24: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un celebrated a "new era of a space power" with scientists and his family, state media said Friday, after the North successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang's launch of the "Malligyong-1" on Tuesday was its third attempt at securing a military eye in the sky after failures in May and August.Within hours of the launch, North Korea claimed that its leader was already reviewing images of US military bases in Guam. The launch was "a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defence", Kim said during a visit to the national space agency, according to Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency. — AFP