Seoul :

North and South Korea agreed on Monday to begin reconnecting rail and road links, another step in an improving relationship that has raised US concern about the possible undermining of its bid to press the North to give up its nuclear programme.

The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom, aimed at following up on the third summit this year between South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, last month.

“The South and North reached the agreement after sincerely discussing action plans to develop inter-Korean relations to a new, higher stage,” said a joint statement released by the South’s Unification Ministry.

They agreed to hold ceremonies in late November or early December to inaugurate work on reconnecting the railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The two sides will carry out joint field studies on the transport plans from late this month, according to the joint statement.

They also agreed to discuss late this month a plan to pursue a bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games.

The talks were led by the South’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon and Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North’s committee for peaceful reunification that handles cross-border affairs.

“We are at a very critical moment for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the advancement of inter-Korean relations, and there’s also a second North Korea-US summit coming up,” Cho told reporters before leaving for Panmunjom.

Talks between the two Koreas are running in parallel with US efforts to press North Korea to give up nuclear weapons and missiles that the North says can hit the US mainland.

Kim held an unprecedented summit with US President Donald Trump in June in Singapore and the two sides are arranging a second meeting, which Trump said would likely happen after US congressional elections on November 6.

But despite the meeting between Kim and Trump, the United States is still pursuing a policy of “maximum pressure” to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes.

Trump said on Wednesday South Korea would not lift sanctions on North Korea without US approval.

The rail and road initiative and the joint Olympics bid were agreed by Moon and Kim at their latest summit, in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Moon also said the North would permanently abolish key missile facilities in the presence of foreign experts.

The leaders of the two Koreas also endorsed a military pact, which includes the halting of military exercises, a no-fly zone near their border and the gradual removal of landmines and guard posts within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed “discontent” over that agreement, South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said last week.

Kang’s remarks amounted to a rare confirmation of discord between South Korea and the United States, though the allies have said they remain in lockstep on North Korea.

In August, a plan for an inspection by the two Koreas for the rail project was scrapped after the United Nations Command (UNC), which overlaps with US forces in the South and oversees affairs in the DMZ, rejected the passage of a test train carrying fuel, military sources said.

Cho, asked before the meeting if the UNC had given approval for a study of transport links over the DMZ, said: “We’re in close consultation with relevant countries.”

Washington :

President Donald Trump has alleged China, in addition to Russia, meddled in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Last month, chairing a UN Security Council meeting on the sidelines of the UN general Assembly in New York, Trump had alleged that China was trying to interfere in the 2018 mid-term polls and that it did not want him to be the president. China has denied these allegations.

However, for the first time Trump came out in open to say that China also meddled in the 2016 presidential elections.

“They (Russians) meddled. But I think China meddled too,” Trump told CBS News’s popular ‘60 Minutes’ in an interview. Recorded on Thursday, the interview was broadcast Sunday night.

“I think China meddled also. And I think, frankly, China...is a bigger problem,” Trump said and denied that by saying so he is not trying to divert the entire Russia thing.

“I’m saying Russia, but I’m also saying China,” he said.

But it’s the investigation of Russia’s intervention in the 2016 election that hangs over his presidency and caused a rift with his Attorney General Jeff Sessions, because he recused himself from the inquiry.

Trump expressed disappointment that his Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescued himself from the Russia investigation.

“I was disappointed that he recused himself and many people think I was right on that. I was very disappointed. Why should he have recused himself? So I was very disappointed,” he said. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is conducting investigations into the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Responding to a question, he said he has no intention of shutting down the Russian investigation. “Well, I don’t pledge anything. But (I) will tell you, I have no intention of doing that. I think it’s a very unfair investigation because there was no collusion of any kind,” he said.

To date, 32 people have been charged or pleaded guilty in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. President Trump’s campaign chairman, top campaign aide, former national security advisor and longtime personal attorney are all cooperating in the inquiry, which the president calls a witch-hunt.

Trump questioned the very proposition that he called Russia to help him in the elections. “Do you really think I’d call Russia to help me with an election? Give me a break. They wouldn’t be able to help me at all. Call Russia. It’s so ridiculous,” he said.

Soweto :

In a classroom in the South African township of Soweto, girls listen carefully, knowing they need to learn how to avoid the threat of rape that hangs over their daily lives.

"You are going to pretend that it is the rapist's testicles," says trainer Dimakatso Monokoli, holding out a padded target.

An 11-year-old girl charges without flinching and delivers a powerful knee slam.
It is part of a day of self-defence and rape avoidance strategies taught at the Thabisang school, where chairs and desks have been pushed back to the pink walls of the classroom.

Official statistics suggest that more than 110 rapes are recorded by the police every day in South Africa.

But such numbers are widely seen as inaccurate due to under-reporting. Some studies suggest only one in 13 rapes is reported to the police.

Recent news stories have triggered fresh horror among South Africans over the prevalence of rape.

In September, a 17-year-old was raped in a hospital maternity ward by a man pretending to be a doctor one day after she had given birth.

Around the same time, a seven-year-old girl was raped in the toilets of a popular chain restaurant in the capital Pretoria, with a video footage emerging of the naked man moments after the attack.

For the African National Congress Women's League, drastic action is needed.

"We have tried our best... there's nothing that seems to lower (the number of attacks). Hence, we are calling for chemical castration," ANCWL secretary general Meokgo Matuba said after the two rapes.

Back in another classroom in Soweto, Monokoli teaches not only self-defence, but how girls can read and react to potentially risky situations.

"Don't ever, ever make the mistake of being in the same room as someone you don't feel comfortable with because your guts have warned you," she says.

"They have sent a message -- you are not supposed to be alone with that person."               

If you are attacked, she says: "Scream as much as you can." Monokoli works for Action Breaks Silence (ABS), a South African charity that works with schools to educate girls in self-defence.

It also runs a "Hero Empathy" programme for boys to try to preempt abusive and violent behaviour. ABS founder Debi Steven was herself raped as a child, and has spent decades teaching and advising at schools and companies.

"Violence has been normalised in South Africa," she told Vote Voice.

"There is so much rape that people have become desensitised to it."            

She advocates a mix of self-defence training with mental awareness.

"The self-defence gives girls the confidence to set boundaries," she said.

"If I have an education about what is wrong and right, I know what abuses it, and I am going to identify the minute you start abusing me emotionally, physically, sexually, financially." In many cases, sexual violence is committed by relatives or people known to the victim. Steven says two women are murdered every day by their partners or former partners in South Africa.

In the classroom, the girls -- wearing their blue school uniform and long socks -- giggle occasionally but the atmosphere is serious and focused.

"We are going to teach you how to fight smart, without strength," one male instructor tells them, pointing out they can always "rip off the ears and nostrils."            

And the lessons seem to have sunk in.

"We are warriors," says Nonkululeko, an energetic 11-year-old.

"I have this amazing drug in me, adrenaline, that helps you fight. It helps you to do almost the impossible." The classes are often cathartic, with pupils occasionally sharing with instructors their own stories of abuse they have suffered.

At another Soweto school, boys in the "Hero Empathy" programme run through roleplay games that encourage them to show emotions and develop empathy for other people's feelings.

They have to act out moods such as anger or sadness while their classmates try to guess how they feel -- not always successfully.

"In an African community, it is often taught that boys (should not) show emotions. When you show emotions, it is like a sign of weakness," said instructor Isaac Mkhize.

ABS has taught over 13,000 children, and its impact has impressed the government health ministry, which has asked the charity to train 160 new staff.

One mother, Mali Masondo, explained how deeply the fear of rape is embedded in the daily lives of children and families.

"You don't know who to trust, who to love and who to care for," she said.

"Sometimes you don't even allow people to love your kids as they wish because every time you think of the negative side."

Monterrey :
A shopping mall under construction in the Mexican city of Monterrey collapsed on Thursday, killing at least seven people and leaving another nine missing, officials said.

Local council secretary Genaro Garcia told a press conference that 15 people were injured, in addition to the dead, and all the victims are believed to be construction workers.

Work on the three-storey structure in this northern industrial hub in Nuevo Leon state was being carried out without the necessary licence, authorities said.

The concrete slabs of the structure appear to have pancaked, falling one atop another.

Images taken by civil defence officials showed emergency personnel hauling the injured men out of the rubble.

About 150 emergency personnel were looking for more people who may be trapped.

Late on Thursday night, the civil defence office released a brief statement saying nine people were still missing.

In July, a newly opened shopping mall on the south side of Mexico City had partially collapsed.

A support beam at the Artz Pedregal mall failed, allowing operators to evacuate the mall so that no one was injured when the top floors collapsed about five minutes later.

Parts of the mall had still been under construction even though it opened in March.

US and Russian astronauts safe after emergency landing

Baikonur Cosmodrome :
The two-man US-Russian crew of a Soyuz spacecraft en route to the International Space Station was forced to make a dramatic emergency landing in Kazakhstan on Thursday when their rocket failed in mid-air.

US astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely without harm and rescue crews who raced to locate them on the Kazakh steppe quickly linked up with them, NASA, the US space agency, and Russia’s Roscosmos said.

It was the first serious launch problem experienced by a manned Soyuz space mission since 1983 when a fire broke out at the base of the booster rocket while the crew was preparing for lift-off. The crew narrowly escaped before a large explosion.
Thursday’s problem occurred when the first and second stages of a booster rocket, launched from the Soviet-era cosmodrome of Baikonur in the central Asian country, were separating, triggering emergency systems soon after launch.

The Soyuz capsule carrying the two men then separated from the malfunctioning rocket and made what NASA called a steep ballistic descent to Earth with parachutes helping slow its speed. A cloud of sand billowed up as the capsule came down on the desert steppe.

Rescue crews then raced to the scene to retrieve them with reports of paratroopers parachuting to their landing spot.

The failure is a setback for the Russian space programme and the latest in a string of mishaps. Moscow immediately suspended all manned space launches, while Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said he had ordered a probe.

The International Space Station, a rare point of cooperation between Moscow and Washington, has been  orbiting the Earth at roughly 28,000 km per hour since 1998 and will mark its 20th birthday in November The ISS is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit which is used to carry out scientific and space-related tests It can hold a crew of up to six persons. 

Moscow opens criminal probe over failed rocket launch 

Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal probe into a failed rocket launch. The probe would seek to determine whether safety regulations had been violated during construction, leading to massive damage

US astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were rescued without injuries in Kazakhstan following the emergency landing. An “anomaly” with the booster led to the voyage to the ISS being aborted in two minutes

The Russian space industry has suffered a series of problems in recent years, including the loss of a number of satellites and cargo spacecraft

‘That was a quick flight’

Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin (below) retained an enviable sang-froid as he realised while travelling at thousands of miles an hour that spacecraft would have to make an emergency landing

“An accident with the booster, 2 minutes, 45 seconds. That was a quick flight,” he said in a calm voice in a streamed video 

Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague had blasted off on a Soyuz rocket to the ISS, but around two minutes into the voyage, as the rocket was tearing through space at about 7,563 km/hour, three short beeps were heard, indicating an emergency situation
Space plans of US

For now, the US relies on Moscow to carry its astronauts to the International Space Station which was launched 20 years ago. NASA tentatively plans to send its first crew to the ISS using a SpaceX craft instead of a Soyuz next April