Bomb disposal team called in after ‘grenade’ scare

The journey of one banana from farm to store shows how the war’s economic effects have cascaded into some surprising industries.

The presidential National Security Office (NSO) demanded Monday that North Korea immediately stop its ballistic missile launches, calling them a grave violation of international sanctions. The NSO issued the call during an emergency meeting, shortly after the South Korean military detected multiple ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area over the East Sea. "North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches are grave acts that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and are of no help to managing the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, and (the NSO) demanded they be halted immediately," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing. The meeting brought together officials from the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reviewed the country's readiness posture and security situation in light of North Korea's recent successive missile launches, according to the spokesperson. The NSO called for taking all necessary measures while analyzing and assessing the latest launch's impact on South Korea's security. North Korea last fired a ballistic

A delegation from Russia's emergency ministry visited Pyongyang to discuss ways to expand cooperation in disaster management, the North's state media reported Monday. The delegation, led by Aleksandr Kurenkov, minister of extraordinary situation, arrived in Pyongyang on Sunday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The delegation was greeted by Kim Chol-nam, the North's minister of disaster management, and Vladimir Topekha, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Russian Embassy in North Korea. The same delegation visited Pyongyang in July last year, inspected the North's disaster prevention and response sites and held discussions on cooperation in science and technology. Pyongyang and Moscow have stepped up cooperation in a number of fields, including military and economy, following back-to-back summits between their leaders in September 2023 and June 2024. The ongoing visit by the Russian delegation comes after the Russian ministry and the North's corresponding ministry signed an agreement on specialist training and scientific and technical cooperation in December. North Korea,

North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, in an apparent show of force against the South's recent successful test-fire of a hypersonic missile. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch at about 9:20 a.m. from the Pyongyang area and that at least one of the missiles flew more than 900 kilometers. "Initial analysis suggests (Monday's launch) was seen as a protest against the successful launch of our hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) and a display of the North's achievements under its five-year plan to bolster defense capabilities and a deliberate show of its missile capabilities," JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young told a press briefing. When asked if the missiles launched were hypersonic or intermediate-range missiles, Jang declined to comment, saying the military needs to further analyze the specifications of the launch. South Korea conducted its first test launch of a HGV on Thursday in an apparent show of force against North Korea following the Sept. 21 mine blast on the South's side of the Demilitarized Zon

Korea has decided to provide $500,000 in humanitarian assistance to Honduras to help the country cope with a persistent drought, the foreign ministry said Monday. A severe drought has affected the Central American country since May, leaving some 620,000 people facing severe food insecurity and suffering from malnutrition, according to the ministry, citing an appeal by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "We hope the assistance would help affected communities return to normal life as soon as possible," the ministry said in a release.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young rejected claims Monday that his remarks on a suspected North Korean uranium enrichment site prompted the U.S. to restrict intelligence sharing with Seoul, as the opposition stepped up calls for him to resign. Chung told reporters that Washington misread the situation, arguing that his reference to the North's Kusong region was first made at his July 2025 confirmation hearing, not in March this year, when he raised it as a minister at a parliamentary session. "The U.S.' misunderstanding was that intelligence had been shared, passed on to the unification minister and then somehow leaked by the minister. What I want to point out is that I made those remarks in July last year as a lawmaker, not as unification minister. The U.S. may have overlooked that. Had they known, they would not have raised the issue. They saw it as a leak because they thought I was speaking as minister. Even the U.S. can get the facts wrong," he said. “The U.S. should have taken action against the National Assembly or the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), because I was a DPK lawm

Beijing is rapidly scaling up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to produce short-form videos and microdramas in its publicity campaigns, aligning with directives stressing technology’s role in strengthening ideological work and guiding public opinion. In contrast to sensational tropes dominating AI content across Chinese media platforms – such as Cinderella romance, rebirth for revenge and post-apocalyptic survival – a new wave of AI-generated miniseries weaves Chinese culture, policies...

I miss the variety of living close to the city, but when we wanted a tree change, there was something about this place – and its quaint name – that captured our imaginations.

More than 500 guests including chefs and business owners, along with a sprinkling of highly enthusiastic influencers mingled as the martinis flowed.

Millions of people in the UK could be sitting on thousands of pounds

Live coverage of this afternoon’s The Age Good Food Guide Awards ceremony at The Timber Yard in Port Melbourne.

Mohammed bin Salman, 41, has for the past six days reportedly been moving between heavily guarded palaces with bunkers.