UN Security Council rejects Russia-backed
resolution on banning weapons in space
UNITED NATIONS, May 21: The United States said Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it. The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivaled one backed by the U.S. and Japan that failed last month. The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the U.S. and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons. The U.S. and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia's true intention: weaponizing space. —AP
Sunak lauds EU states' push to send asylum seekers to third countries
VIENNA, May 21: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a visit to Vienna lauded a joint letter by Austria and 14 other EU countries to find "new ideas" to handle undocumented migrants, including sending some to third countries. The letter to the European Commission comes ahead of June's European Union elections in which far-right anti-immigration parties are forecast to make gains, and as the bloc juggles how to implement a recently adopted overhaul of its asylum rules. Conservative Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said during a joint press statement with Sunak that Austria "fully supports the British path". —AFP
Assange gets permission to
appeal US extradition
LONDON, May 21: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was given permission to have a full appeal over his extradition to the United States after arguing at London's High Court on Monday he might not be able to rely on his right to free speech at a trial. Two judges at the High Court said they had given him leave to have a full appeal to hear his argument that he might be discriminated against on the basis the Australian-born Assange is a foreign national. Hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the court ahead of what was a key ruling after 13 years of legal battles, with two judges asked to declare whether they were satisfied by US assurances that Assange, 52, could rely on the First Amendment right if he is tried for spying in the US. —Reuters
6.0-magnitude quake jolts Japan Islands
TOKYO, May 21: An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 on Tuesday struck near the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific Ocean, south of Tokyo, with no tsunami warnings issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The temblor occurred at around 9:39 a.m. local time at a depth of around 50 km, measuring 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Hahajima Island, said the weather agency. There was no threat of a tsunami, it added. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. —Xinhua
10 killed as minibus plunges into Nile
CAIRO, May 21: At least 10 people died in Egypt when a minibus plunged off a river ferry and into the Nile north of Cairo on Tuesday, the health ministry said. "The toll is at 10 and might rise," spokesman Hossam Abdelghaffar told AFP. The Al-Ahram newspaper first reported on the accident and said the driver, who had released the handbrake, was arrested while trying to flee. —AFP
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