Kim, Moon agree to denuclearize peninsula

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wave during a car parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on September 18. Kim said in Pyongyang that he and Moon had agreed to take additional steps toward making the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons and threats of armed conflict.SD-Agencies

SpaceX’s 1st private passenger is Japanese tycoon

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space transportation company, has named its first private passenger as Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa, the founder and chief executive of online fashion retailer Zozo.

A former drummer* in a punk* band, billionaire Maezawa will take a trip around the moon aboard its forthcoming Big Falcon Rocket spaceship, taking the race to commercialize* space travel to new heights.

Maezawa is the first passenger to travel to the moon since the United States’ Apollo missions ended in 1972.

German spy chief removed from office

Germany’s domestic intelligence chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, was removed from office on September 18 amid a fallout* with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that at times appeared to threaten her political future.

Maassen’s dismissal serves as yet another example of Merkel’s ability to fend off challengers. But the case also revealed just how vocal* opponents of the German leader, who is in her 13th year in office, have become and how much her immigration policies have polarized* the country.

Strawberry sabotage akin to terrorism: Australia PM

The piercing* of supermarket strawberries with sewing needles is comparable to terrorism, Australia’s prime minister said on September 18, as he demanded sentences of up to 15 years in response to a nationwide scare.

Urging Australians to make strawberry pavlova* to help struggling farmers, Scott Morrison demanded a change in the law to toughen sentences. “We’re not mucking about,” said Morrison, after pieces of fruit were found to be contaminated with needles or pins.

3 Palestinians killed in Gaza and East Jerusalem

Three Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and occupied East Jerusalem after they were shot by Israeli forces in separate events.

In northern Gaza, thousands of protesters demonstrated on September 18 near the Israeli checkpoint crossing Erez, referred to by Palestinians as the Beit Hanoun crossing.

Inmates die after Brazil prison riot

Seven inmates died on September 18 after a riot at an overcrowded prison in the northern Brazilian state of Para following a failed escape attempt, authorities said.

A total of 16 prisoners tried to escape through an air duct* during the early hours of the morning before they were detected by security cameras and then a riot broke out.

Some 120 prisoners took part in the violence, setting light to a room housing generators, leading to “a part of the cells, infirmary* and prison secretariat* being destroyed,” the prison source said.(SD-Agencies)