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South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season, and there has been heavy rainfall for the last four days, causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 33 people had been killed and another 10 were missing in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

Rescue workers were still struggling to reach more than 10 cars trapped in a 430-metre underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

 

The tunnel was inundated on Saturday morning after floodwaters swept in too quickly for the people inside to escape, according to the Yonhap news agency.

As of Sunday, seven bodies have been recovered from the tunnel and divers were working around the clock searching for more victims, the interior ministry said.

“I have no hope but I can’t leave,” a parent of one of those missing in the tunnel told Yonhap.

“My heart wrenches thinking how painful it must have been for my son in the cold water.”

Images broadcast on local television showed a torrential stream of water from a nearby river that had burst its banks flooding into the tunnel, as rescue workers struggled to use boats to get to people inside.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is currently on an overseas trip, held an emergency meeting with his aides on the government’s response to the heavy rains and flooding, his office said.

Earlier, he ordered Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to mobilise all available resources to minimise casualties.

The majority of the casualties — including 17 of the dead and nine of the missing — were from North Gyeongsang province, and were largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in the province, the interior ministry said.

More rain is forecast through Wednesday, and the Korea Meteorological Administration has warned the weather conditions pose a “grave” danger.

South Korea is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period, but the country is typically well-prepared and the death toll is usually relatively low.

Scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.

South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding last year, which left more than 11 people dead.

 

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film “Parasite”.

The government said at the time that the 2022 flooding was the heaviest rainfall since Seoul weather records began 115 years ago, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace has announced that he will be stepping down from his position as a lawmaker in the next election.

Wallace, who has been a prominent figure in supporting Ukraine against Russia, revealed his decision in an interview with the Sunday Times published on Saturday.

Wallace, who has served as the UK’s Defence Secretary for four years, played a crucial role in leading Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He had been considered a potential successor to Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general, but failed to secure the necessary support from the United States. Consequently, Stoltenberg extended his term as head of the alliance.

In the interview, Wallace said, “I’m not standing next time,” confirming his intention not to seek re-election as a Member of Parliament. He further clarified that he would resign as defence secretary before the next cabinet reshuffle, which is expected to take place before September. Wallace also dismissed the possibility of triggering a by-election by quitting prematurely, emphasising his commitment to serving his full term.

Expressing his concerns about potential conflicts, Wallace highlighted the danger of military confrontation with Russia, saying, “If Putin loses in Ukraine, he will be deeply wounded… There is an ability for him, in the next three or four years, to lash out.”

Citing concerns over the increasing global instability and the potential for future conflicts, he also expressed apprehension about the global security situation, suggesting that the world would become more unsafe and insecure by the end of the decade, possibly leading to a cold or warm conflict.

Wallace’s decision to step down as a lawmaker comes in the context of an upcoming general election in Britain within the next 18 months. The move is not based on the fear of his party losing, but rather due to the impending boundary changes that will eliminate his current parliamentary constituency. Despite being the longest-serving Conservative defence secretary since Winston Churchill, Wallace has never actively pursued the position of party leader.

As the UK faces an uncertain future, the departure of Ben Wallace raises questions about the nation’s defence strategy and its ability to navigate global challenges in the coming years. With his strong support among grassroots Conservatives, Wallace’s decision will undoubtedly impact the political landscape and government dynamics moving forward.

As his maiden visit to Iran as Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Asim Munir has arrived in the neighbouring country on a two-day official visit, the military said on Friday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army chief will meet Iranian military and civilian leadership during his maiden visit since becoming the army chief in November last year.

During the visit, the COAS will discuss bilateral matters related to defence and security cooperation, the military’s media wing added.

This is Gen Munir’s fifth overseas trip ever since he took command of the Pakistan Army. In April, he paid an official visit to China for “enhancing bilateral military relations”.

During the visit, the army chief met China’s State Councilor Wang Yi and the commander of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) at the PLA Headquarters.

“The two sides reaffirmed China-Pakistan all-weather strategic partnership and underlined the importance of their strong defence cooperation for peace and stability in the region,” Pakistan’s envoy had tweeted following Gen Munir’s meeting with Wang Yi.

Earlier, the COAS also undertook visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom.

During his time in Saudi Arabia in January this year, the COAS met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and “reviewed bilateral relations and the ways of enhancing them”.

Later, Gen Munir visited the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and discussed defence and military ties.

The two also shared ways to strengthen military affairs to serve the common interests of the friendly countries during the meeting, as per the state news agency.

In February this year, Gen Munir visited the UK on a highly important visit on Britain’s Ministry of Defence invitation to discuss security-related strategic issues

The heavyweight LVM3-M4 rocket lifted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh carrying the Chand­rayaan-3 spacecraft, as thousands of enthusiasts clapped and cheered.

“Chandrayaan-3… has begun its journey to the Moon. Health of the spacecraft is normal,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Twitter.

The world’s most populous nation has a comparatively low-budget aerospace programme that is rapidly closing in on the milestones set by global space powers.

Only Russia, the United States and China have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 scripts new chapter in country’s space odyssey, tweets PM

India’s last attempt to do so ended in failure four years ago, when ground control lost contact moments before landing.

“Chandrayaan-3 scripts a new chapter in India’s space odyssey,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted from France, where he was the guest of honour at the Bastille Day parade in Paris. “It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian.”

 

If the rest of the current mission goes to plan, the Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in San­skrit, will safely touch down near the moon’s little-explored south pole between August 23 and 24.

Developed by ISRO, Chandrayaan-3 includes a lander module named Vikram, which means “valour” in Sanskrit, and a rover named Pragyan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

The mission comes with a price tag of $74.6 million — far smaller than those of other countries’, and a testament to India’s frugal space engineering.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing space technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.

‘A moment of glory’

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will take much longer to reach the Moon than the manned Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days.

The Indian rocket used is much less powerful than the United States’ Saturn V and instead the probe will orbit the earth five or six times elliptically to gain speed, before being sent on a month-long lunar trajectory.

If the landing is successful the rover will roll off Vikram and explore the nearby lunar area, gathering images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.

The rover has a mission life of one lunar day or 14 Earth days.

“It is indeed a moment of glory for India. Thank you team ISRO for making India proud,” Jitendra Singh, the junior minister for science and technology, told reporters after the launch.

ISRO chief S. Somanath has said his engineers carefully studied data from the last failed mission and tried their best to fix the glitches.

India’s space programme has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the moon in 2008.

In 2014, it became the first Asian nation to put a satellite into orbit around Mars, and three years later, the ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single mission.

The ISRO’s Gaganyaan (“Skycraft”) programme is slated to launch a three-day manned mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.

India is also working to boost its two percent share of the global commercial space market by sending private payloads into orbit for a fraction of the cost of competitors.

PESHAWAR: Donald Blome, the United States ambassador to Pakistan, said the US doesn’t interfere in Pakistan’s political matters,

The ambassador’s remarks came during a ceremony in Peshawar where the US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $5 million worth of equipment to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Board of Revenue, augmenting its capacity for accurate land measurements, said a communique.

Following the recent International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) approval of a programme for Pakistan’s support, the US has been welcoming towards the agreement between the country and the money-lending institution.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also welcomed the approval of the loan tranche stating that Washington stood by the people of Pakistan.

“We stand by the Pakistani people during these hard times and welcome the International Monetary Fund’s approval of a programme to support Pakistan,” Blinken wrote on his official Twitter handle.

“We urge Pakistan to continue working with IMF toward macroeconomic reforms and sustainable economic recovery,” he further said on the microblogging site.

Meanwhile, during the ceremony attended by Blome, USAID provided equipment worth $5 million to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Revenue to augment its capacity for accurate land measurements.

The US has been partnering with the KP government to strengthen transparency and accuracy in the land records and registration system, promoting economic growth and investment in the seven subdivisions of the newly merged districts.

The United States also announced a new partnership to empower the Ombudsperson Secretariat by providing training to ombudsperson staff on women’s rights and land settlement regulations, it said. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the ombudsperson’s crucial role in safeguarding women’s rights to property and inheritance.