South Koreans vote for new president in wake of Yoon's ouster
01:39
03/06/2025
Middle East: Gaza rescuers say toll from Israel fire in Rafah rises to 27
03/06/2025
Ivory Coast: Ele festival celebrates lagoon culture and tradition
03/06/2025
Celebrating African talent: 'The Cavemen' champion highlife revival
03/06/2025
Children in Sudan struggling for survival amid health, food crises
03/06/2025
South Korean voters head to polls after months of political turmoil
Asia / Pacific
03/06/2025
South Korea votes for new president after Yoon's ouster over martial law
03/06/2025
Suspect in Colorado flamethrower attack planned assault for over a year
03/06/2025
UN chief calls for probe into killings near Gaza aid distribution centre
02/06/2025
France's upper house debates fast-fashion bill
France
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France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
North Korea's Kim vows 'unconditional support' for Russia's war in Ukraine
North Korea has become one of Moscow's main allies during its more than three-year Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops and container-loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk border region. Meeting top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday, Kim said that Pyongyang would "unconditionally support the stand of Russia and its foreign policies in all the crucial international political issues including the Ukrainian issue", the Korean Central News Agency reported. Kim "expressed expectation and conviction that Russia would, as ever, surely win victory in the sacred cause of justice", KCNA said. The two sides agreed to "continue to dynamically expand" relations, the state news agency reported. Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North. Shoigu hailed the deal as "fully meeting the interests of both countries" during a visit in March. Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing the country's intelligence service. North Korea in April confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia to support Moscow's war in Ukraine -- and admitted that its troops had been killed in combat. South Korea has also accused the nuclear-armed North of sending significant volumes of weapons, including missiles, to help Russia's war effort. The visit was Shoigu's second to Pyongyang in less than three months. Deepening ties A multilateral sanctions monitoring group including South Korea, the United States, Japan and eight other countries last week condemned ties between Russia and North Korea as "unlawful". According to the group, Russian-flagged cargo vessels delivered as many as "nine million rounds of mixed artillery and multiple rocket launcher ammunition" from North Korea to Russia last year. In return, "Russia is believed to have provided North Korea with air defence equipment and anti-aircraft missiles", it said. The meeting between Kim and Shoigu in Pyongyang came the same day the North's arch-enemy South Korea swore in new president Lee Jae-myung. In a speech upon taking office Wednesday, Lee vowed to reach out to the North -- a marked departure from his hawkish predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, under whom relations plummeted to their worst level in years. Lee said Seoul would "deter North Korean nuclear and military provocations while opening communication channels and pursuing dialogue and cooperation to build peace on the Korean Peninsula". KCNA reported on Lee's inauguration in a two-line report on Thursday but did not respond to his overtures for talks. It also issued a commentary Thursday slamming French President Emmanuel Macron over "imprudent" comments on Pyongyang's ties with Moscow, calling them "shocking claptrap". The commentary by analyst Choe Ju Hyun took aim at comments by the French leader during the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Macron suggested that the NATO defence alliance could become involved in Asia if China did not do more to press North Korea to stop sending forces to help Russia's war in Ukraine.
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Pledge to protect oceans falling billions short: report
In 2022, nearly 200 countries agreed to designate 30 percent of the world's oceans as protected areas by 2030, but so far just 8.4 percent are covered. Some $15.8 billion is needed every year to achieve the '30x30' target but only $1.2 billion is currently being spent, said a new report by a consortium of environmental groups. This gap was "alarming" and must be redressed at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) starting on June 9 in Nice, France, said Jonathan Kelsey from the Bloomberg Ocean Fund, which co-authored the report. "UNOC is a critical opportunity for governments to narrow this gap with concrete actions, including... increasing financing that truly delivers on their ocean promises," he said in a statement. Of all the UN's sustainable development goals, protecting the oceans is the least funded. Some 90 percent of ocean conservation is financed by public money and "in the short term, governments will need to increase funding flows to meet the capital injections needed, particularly high income countries", the report said. Promises on paper Environment groups have warned against the spread of "paper parks" -- protected areas in name only that lack the resources to enforce any real conservation measures. Less than three percent of all marine conservation areas globally are considered truly protected. Some forbid all forms of fishing while others place no rules, or almost none, on what activities are forbidden, allowing bottom trawling and other intensive industrial operations. The report -- co-authored by WWF, Campaign for Nature and the Marine Conservation Institute, amongst others -- said that redirecting subsidies from harmful activities could also help fill the funding gap. For example, the $15.8 billion needed every year is just two-thirds of what the world spends on harmful fishing subsidies, it added. "We cannot afford promises that remain on paper while our coral reefs bleach, our fisheries decline, and our coastlines wash away," Brianna Fruean from campaign group Together for the Ocean, said in a statement. "We need real protection, now -- and we need investment that empowers communities on the frontlines of change." France expects around 50 heads of state and government to attend the oceans conference in Nice, which runs until June 13 and is preceded by a major scientific summit. Nations present will issue a joint declaration in support of ocean conservation but the conference is not a formal UN negotiation, and any commitments made are voluntary.
France 24
13 hours ago
- France 24
US blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council
It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States -- a key Israeli ally -- also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting. "This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground and emboldens Hamas," Washington's United Nations envoy Dorothy Shea said ahead of the vote. "This resolution also draws false equivalence between Israel and Hamas," she said. The draft resolution had demanded "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties." It also called for the "immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups." Underlining a "catastrophic humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian territory, the resolution, had it passed, would have demanded the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The veto was the first wielded by Washington since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Israel has faced growing international pressure to end its war in Gaza, which was triggered by the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil. That scrutiny has increased over flailing aid distribution in Gaza, which Israel blocked for more than two months before allowing a small number of UN vehicles to enter in mid-May. The United Nations said that was not enough to meet the humanitarian needs. 'Judged by history' A US-backed relief effort called the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) has also faced criticism for going against long-standing humanitarian principles by coordinating relief efforts with a military belligerent. Israeli bombardment on Wednesday killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including 12 in a single strike on a tent housing displaced people, the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency told AFP. On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, on Tuesday urged the Council to act. "All of us will be judged by history as to how much have we done in order to stop this crime against the Palestinian people," he said. Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon attacked the text ahead of the vote. "This resolution doesn't advance humanitarian relief. It undermines it. It ignores a working system in favor of political agendas," he was to tell the council, according to remarks released by his office.
