Day: September 8, 2022

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea’s new government on Thursday proposed a meeting with North Korea to resume reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, despite long-strained ties between the rivals over the North’s nuclear weapons program. Family reunions are a highly emotional, humanitarian issue because they involve those in their 80s and older who are desperate to reunite with their long-lost relatives before they die. But North Korea, which often uses such reunions as a bargaining chip in dealings with South Korea, is unlikely to accept the offer because it’s steadfastly rebuffing Seoul’s and Washington’s offers to resume talks on its nuclear program and other issues while focusing instead on perfecting its weapons technology. “The South and the North should confron...

BELA-BELA, South Africa -- South Africa is flying cheetahs to India and Mozambique as part of ambitious efforts to reintroduce the distinctively spotted cats in regions where their population has dwindled. Four cheetahs captured at reserves in South Africa have been flown to Mozambique this week after being held in quarantine for about a month and cleared for travel. Conservationists are preparing to fly 12 more cheetahs, reputed to be the world's fastest land mammals, to India in October. Speaking to The Associated Press shortly after those going to Mozambique were tranquilized and placed into crates, wildlife veterinarian Andy Frasier said the relocations are tough for the animals. "It’s a very stressful process for the cats to be in a boma (livestock enclosure) environment because th...

FRANKFURT, Germany -- The European Central Bank is set to join the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a jumbo interest rate hike Thursday as it tries to stamp out record inflation — although it risks worsening a recession that economists say is bearing down on Europe. The meeting of the bank's governing council is not about whether to raise rates for the 19 countries that use the euro currency, but by how much: between half a percentage point or three-quarters of a point, analysts say. The bank made its first increase in 11 years at its last meeting in July, raising rates by a half-point when it usually changes by only a quarter-point. The ECB, which once predicted no rate increases at all this year, has torn up its road map in the face of record inflation of 9.1% last month, which has been ...

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia’s Parliament on Thursday enshrined in law the government’s elevated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. The Senate passed legislation supporting the target in a vote of 37 to 30 even though several senators who supported it wanted a more ambitious 2030 target. The center-left Labor Party government officially committed Australia to the 43% target after it came to power for the first time in nine years at May elections. But entrenching it in law has made it more difficult for any future government to reduce the target. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Senate vote provided certainty to clean energy investors while strengthening transparency and accountability in Australia’s c...