North Korea suspends nuclear and missile tests
Seoul, April 21: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced the immediate suspension of nuclear and missile tests, media reports said on Saturday.
"From April 21, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles," Efe quoted Kim as saying.
North Korea will also "shut down a nuclear test site in the country's northern side to guarantee transparency in suspending nuclear tests," the report added.
Having established a nuclear deterrent, North Korea can now turn to overhauling its economy, Kim said.
Pyongyang's move comes ahead of Kim's April 27 summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries.
The last in-person talks between the leaders of North and South Korea took place 11 years ago.
What will be the first-ever encounter between the leaders of North Korea and the US is expected to happen in late May or early June.
US President Donald Trump, who accepted Kim's proposal for a meeting after months that saw the two men trade insults and threats, hailed the announcement from Pyongyang.
"North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World -- big progress! Look forward to our Summit," Trump wrote on Twitter.
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Bangladesh's interim govt revokes ousted PM Sheikh Hasina's passport
Dhaka, Jan 7: Bangladesh's interim government on Tuesday said it has revoked the passport of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 96 others over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances and the July killings.
Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League's (AL) 16-year regime.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.
Addressing a press briefing here, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder said, "The Passports Department cancelled passports of 22 people involved in enforced disappearances, while passports of 75 people, including Sheikh Hasina, were revoked due to their involvement in the July killings.”
He, however, did not reveal the names of the remaining individuals whose passports were cancelled, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
