Reuters, Seoul
North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, which, if true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges and disappearances under its young leader.
The news comes amid heightened tension surrounding isolated North Korea after its Sunday launch of a long-range rocket, which came about a month after it drew international condemnation for conducting its fourth nuclear test.
Iran to get Russian defence system
Reuters, Dubai
Iran will unveil an upgrade of its Emad ballistic missiles this year, the defense minister was quoted as saying, advancing a program that has drawn criticism from the United Nations and sanctions from the United States.
The Islamic Republic would also start taking delivery of an advanced Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system in the next two months, Hossein Dehghan added.
IS car bomb in Syrian capital kills 10
AP, Beirut
A suicide car bomber dispatched by the Islamic State group struck near a police officers’ club in the Syrian capital on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and destroying a number of cars.
Syrian state TV reported the toll and showed footage of the aftermath in Damascus, including several damaged vehicles and a burnt-out car.
China reports first case of Zika virus
AP, Beijing
China’s first case of the Zika virus has been found in a 34-year-old man who recently traveled to Venezuela and is now making a speedy recovery, the government said Wednesday.
The man from the southern city of Ganzhou had been treated in Venezuela on Jan. 28 before returning home on Feb. 5 via Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement.
Myanmar military plane crash kills 4
AP, Naypyitaw
Four Myanmar military personnel were killed and one survived Wednesday when an air force utility aircraft crashed after taking off from the airport in the capital Naypyitaw, officials said.
An Information Ministry statement identified the aircraft, which crashed in a rice field about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the airport, as a Beech 1900, a 19-passenger twin-engine turboprop no longer in production.
Six dead in Cameroon suicide attack
AFP, Yaoundé
At least six civilians were killed and over 30 injured Wednesday in a double suicide attack in Cameroon’s northern border region with Nigeria, which is regularly attacked by Boko Haram fighters, security sources said.
The attackers, who were also killed, were both female, said a source.
