An explosion that shot a 2-mile-wide mushroom cloud into the sky was the planned demolition of a mountain for a hydroelectric project, North Korea said Monday, and it invited a British diplomat to visit the site. Experts from the United States and elsewhere say they don’t believe Thursday’s blast near the Chinese border was a nuclear test. North Korea denounced speculation over a nuclear test as part of a “preposterous smear campaign” aimed at diverting world attention away from revelations about past South Korean nuclear activities, Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency said.
Japan: Whaling fleet returns
Japanese ships hauled into port Monday the first of 60 whales they plan to catch along the country’s northern coast, in an offshore research program that critics have denounced as commercial whaling. The 49-day hunt, which has the International Whaling Commission’s approval, is limited to 60 minke whales caught in the Pacific Ocean by ships based in Kushiro, a fisheries official said. Most of the meat from research whales is eventually sold to restaurants to help fund the program.
Saudi Arabia: Guards beheaded
Three Saudi security guards were beheaded Sunday after being convicted of trafficking hashish and using government vehicles to transport the drug, the Interior Ministry said. Khamis bin Mabrouk al-Sayeri, Nasser bin Mohammed al-Fahadi and Zidan al-Oqaili al-Anzi were arrested loading the hashish into vehicles belonging to Saudi border guards, officials said. They were beheaded in the northern border city of Arar, according to the Interior Ministry statement.
From Herald news services
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