2 soldiers killed in mortar fire from Syria
AP, Ankara
Turkey’s defense ministry says a mortar attack killed two soldiers at a border post in the town of Akcakale on the Syria-Turkey border.
A ministry statement Thursday said Turkish artillery units returned fire immediately after the attack, which took place the previous evening.
Samoa measles death toll rises to 37
AFP, Geneva
A measles epidemic raging in Samoa has killed 37 people, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, blaming an anti-vaccine messaging campaign for leaving the Pacific island nation vulnerable to the spread of the virus.
The UN health agency warned that a steep decline in vaccination rates in Samoa, a Pacific Ocean island nation halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, had paved the way for a “huge outbreak”, with more than 2,500 cases in a country of just 200,000 people.
China launches new Earth observation satellite
Xinhua, Taiyuan
China sent a new Earth observation satellite into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China’s Shanxi Province at 7:52 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time).
The satellite, Gaofen-12, was launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. It was the 320th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
New retrial ordered for South Korea
ex-leader Park
AFP, Seoul
South Korea’s top court on Thursday ordered a second retrial for disgraced former president Park Geun-hye, seeking heavier punishment for illegally taking money from the country’s spy agency.
Park, the country’s first female president, was impeached in 2017 after huge street protests over a sprawling scandal, and already faces a separate retrial for corruption and abuse of power that could add to her 25-year jail term.
