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North, South Korea to re-open joint industrial park
North and South Korea agreed Wednesday to restart operations at a jointly run factory park that Pyongyang shut down in April. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said operations at the industrial park, just north of the armed border separating the two Koreas, would resume sometime after a trial run that starts Monday. South Korean companies operating at Kaesong would be exempt from paying taxes imposed for operations this year. The Koreas also plan reunions this month of families divided by the Korean War. The two states last week also restored a military communications channel at the border.
Kuwait to deliver half of $4 billion aid package to Egypt
Kuwait will deposit $2 billion in aid in Egypt’s central bank next week for a period of five years, the country’s central bank governor said on Wednesday. The full package would include a $2 billion central bank deposit, a $1 billion grant and $1 billion in oil products. After the ousting of President Morsi in July, Kuwait pledged to provide $4 billion in aid to Egypt, in an effort to aid help Egypt’s struggling economy and its hard hit tourist sector.
German town to strip Hitler of honorary citizenship
The town assembly of Goslar in central Germany plans to strip Adolf Hitler of his honorary citizenship. A procedure has been set in motion that would formally remove the title next month. Officials in the town in Lower Saxony previously argued the move was unnecessary because the honor technically expired when Hitler committed suicide days before the end of World War II, DPA news agency reported. While some councilors had pressed for the symbolic move, others argued that it was meaningless. Hitler acquired some 4,000 honorary citizenships during his lifetime.
Pakistani Taliban, military exchange prisoners
Pakistan’s army and the country’s Taliban exchanged prisoners Wednesday as a confidence-building measure ahead of possible peace talks, officials said. The exchange included six militants and two paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers and occurred in the Shawal area of South Waziristan. The militants were subsequently taken to neighboring North Waziristan, the country’s main Taliban sanctuary. Pakistan’s main political parties endorsed peace negotiations with the Taliban and their allies Monday as the best way to end a decade-long insurgency.
Thousands forming human chain to press Catalonia independence bid
Thousands of Catalan separatists gathered Wednesday to try to form a 400-kilometer human chain to press for a referendum on breaking away from Spain. Catalans plan to join hands in a line stretching from the Pyrenees in the north to the border with Valencia in the south, Reuters reported. The traditionally prosperous industrial region in northeastern Spain accounts for one-fifth of the country’s economic output. A deep recession and cuts in public spending have stirred discontent with the central government in Madrid.
Suicide bombings kill 9 Egyptian troops in Sinai
At least nine Egyptian soldiers were killed after two suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden cars into military targets in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula Wednesday, security officials say. One of the bombings brought down a two-story building housing the local branch of military intelligence. The other struck an army checkpoint about the same time. An unknown number of troops were trapped under the rubble of building.
Japan on high alert, year after nationalizing disputed islands
Japan’s coastguard said it was “on high alert” Wednesday, a year after Tokyo nationalized islands that China calls its own. “We are on high alert as today marks the first anniversary of the nationalization of the Senkaku Islands,” coastguard official Yuma Miyako told AFP. The Chinese call the islands the Diaoyu. Tokyo says it nationalized the islands to prevent nationalists from buying them. Since last September, Chinese vessels have made 59 patrols to the disputed waters – each time being warned off by Japanese ships.
ISS crew returns safely to earth
The three man ISS crew has returned to earth on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut wrapped up 166 days in space. Twelve Mi-8 helicopters and three planes, as well as six rescue vehicles and 14 auxiliary vehicles, were sent to recover the crew, the Russian aviation agency said. Once examined by Russian medical staff, Christopher Cassidy is expected to return to Ellington Field in Houston while Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin will be flown back to Star City, outside Moscow.
Media agencies
Media agencies
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