Over 200 m US phones to get ‘presidential alert’ test
Reuters, Washington
The Trump administration will send messages to more than 200 million US cellphones on Wednesday testing a previously unused presidential alert system that aims to warn the public in the event of a national emergency.
The test message was originally scheduled for September but was pushed back to Wednesday at 2:18 p.m. EDT (1818 GMT). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which will send the alert, said the messages would bear the headline “Presidential Alert,” and that phones will make a loud tone and have a special vibration.
France accuses Iran over bomb plot near Paris
AFP, Paris
France accused Iran’s intelligence ministry on Tuesday of being behind a foiled plot to bomb an exiled opposition group near the French capital in a move that risks straining already complicated ties between Paris and Tehran.
The French government announced it was freezing assets belonging to two suspected Iranian intelligence operatives, as well as others belonging to Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security.
Mike Pompeo to meet Kim on Sunday
AFP, Washington
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will pay a fresh visit to North Korea on Sunday and meet leader Kim Jong Un to push forward denuclearization efforts, the State Department said.
Pompeo, who is trying to arrange a new summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump, will also head to US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as North Korea’s chief ally China, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
3 dead after falling into well in Mumbai
AFP, Mumbai
Three people have died after falling into a deep well during a Hindu ceremony in Mumbai, officials in the Indian city said on Wednesday.
The victims – two women and a child – were among devotees performing rituals Tuesday evening above the 30-foot (nine-metre) well when they fell to their deaths, a disaster official said.
US won’t grant diplomatic visas to same-sex partners
Reuters, Washington
The United States will no longer grant diplomatic visas to the same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats, requiring that they be legally married to obtain them, in a reversal of Obama-era guidelines, senior US officials said on Tuesday.
The new policy was circulated in a United Nations memo last month and took effect on Monday.
Hurricane Florence death toll rises to 51
Reuters
The death toll from Hurricane Florence has risen to 51, officials said on Tuesday, more than two weeks after it made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 storm and brought devastating floods to the region.
Two people died in North Carolina while repairing damage from the hurricane in late September, bringing the number of storm-related deaths in that state to 39, Governor Roy Cooper said on Tuesday.
