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North Korea Dismantling Facility Near Border for Separated Families

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 26, 2018, North Korean Pak Young Hee (R), 85, cries with her South Korean sister Park Yoo-hee (L), 83, as they bid farewell at the last meeting of a three-day family reunion event at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. (Photo by KOREA POOL / KOREA POOL / AFP)
(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 26, 2018, North Korean Pak Young Hee (R), 85, cries with her South Korean sister Park Yoo-hee (L), 83, as they bid farewell at the last meeting of a three-day family reunion event at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. (Photo by KOREA POOL / KOREA POOL / AFP)
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North Korea Dismantling Facility Near Border for Separated Families

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 26, 2018, North Korean Pak Young Hee (R), 85, cries with her South Korean sister Park Yoo-hee (L), 83, as they bid farewell at the last meeting of a three-day family reunion event at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. (Photo by KOREA POOL / KOREA POOL / AFP)
(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 26, 2018, North Korean Pak Young Hee (R), 85, cries with her South Korean sister Park Yoo-hee (L), 83, as they bid farewell at the last meeting of a three-day family reunion event at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. (Photo by KOREA POOL / KOREA POOL / AFP)

North Korea is dismantling a facility at its Mount Kumgang resort used for hosting meetings between families separated after the Korean War, South Korea said on Thursday, in the latest sign of strained tensions between the two Koreas.
The Unification Ministry, which handles affairs between the nations, urged Pyongyang to immediately stop the action at the site near the border on the North's east coast, Reuters reported.
The 12-story building was built in 2008 with a budget of 55 billion won ($38 million) funded by South Korea and includes an event hall and over 200 guest rooms, according to the ministry.
The last tearful meeting between separated families was held at the venue in August 2018 before North Korea threatened to dismantle the resort the following year.
More than 130,000 South Koreans had registered to reunite with their separated families in the North as of December last year, with only 36,941 people still alive, government data showed.
The demolition of the facility is an "anti-humanitarian act that tramples on the wishes of separated families," the ministry said, adding that it would consider legal measures over the action and a joint response with the international community.
The Mount Kumgang resort, located just beyond the demilitarized zone separating the two countries, was one of two major inter-Korean economic projects, along with the Kaesong industrial zone, seen as a symbol of rapprochement during decades of hostilities following the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea blew up a joint liaison office in Kaesong in 2020 after complaining about defectors sending propaganda leaflets into the reclusive North.
North Korea has been escalating its rhetoric against its southern neighbor in recent years, designating South Korea as a "hostile state".
Pyongyang also blew up sections of inter-Korean roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border last year, which prompted South Korea's military to fire warning shots at the time.
In 2023, Pyongyang scrapped a 2018 military accord designed to curb the risk of inadvertent clashes between two countries that remain technically at war, prompting the South to take a similar step.
Nonetheless, there have been signs that North Korea may be prepared to reopen to some foreign visitors for the first time in more than five years since the closure of its borders to tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beijing-based Koryo Tours on Thursday said tours to North Korea were "officially back", with some of its staff allowed to enter the Rason area in what it hoped would mark the relaunch of tourism.

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World

Ukrainian Strikes Kill 3 in Russian Border Region

A crater is seen at the site of the Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 27 April 2026. (EPA)
A crater is seen at the site of the Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 27 April 2026. (EPA)
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Ukrainian Strikes Kill 3 in Russian Border Region

A crater is seen at the site of the Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 27 April 2026. (EPA)
A crater is seen at the site of the Russian strike on a residential area in Odesa, Ukraine, 27 April 2026. (EPA)

A Ukrainian drone attack Tuesday killed three people in the Russian border region of Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

"Three civilians were killed following drone attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces," he wrote on Telegram, adding that three others were wounded.

The drones targeted a car, killing a man and a vehicle in another area where a man and a woman died, he said.

Since the start of its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been regularly bombing Ukraine, especially key infrastructure sites.

In response, Kyiv strikes targets in Russia, insisting it is aiming at military sites as well as energy facilities in order to reduce Moscow's ability to finance its war effort.

A fire broke out on Tuesday at an oil refinery in Tuapse, in southern Russia, after debris from a Ukrainian drone that had targeted the facility fell on it, according to local authorities.

World

Train Collision Kills 14, Injures Dozens Near Jakarta

A drone view shows ambulances standing by at the station following a deadly collision between a commuter line train and a long-distance train, in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows ambulances standing by at the station following a deadly collision between a commuter line train and a long-distance train, in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Train Collision Kills 14, Injures Dozens Near Jakarta

A drone view shows ambulances standing by at the station following a deadly collision between a commuter line train and a long-distance train, in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows ambulances standing by at the station following a deadly collision between a commuter line train and a long-distance train, in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 28, 2026. (Reuters)

Indonesia's president ordered an investigation Tuesday after a long-distance train smashed into a stationary commuter train overnight, killing 14 people and injuring dozens.

Officials ended a nearly 12-hour rescue effort near Bekasi Timur station, east of the capital Jakarta, which saw crews prying open mangled carriages following the Monday night collision.

"And this morning... it is all finished," Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) told a news conference Tuesday. "I am certain there are no more victims to be found."

One survivor described the terror of being trapped inside a crushed carriage.

"I thought I was going to die," Sausan Sarifah, 29, said from her bed at the RSUD Bekasi hospital where she was admitted with a broken arm and a deep cut to one thigh.

She was on her way home from work on Monday night, she said, when her train stopped at the Bekasi Timur station some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Jakarta.

"It all happened so fast, in a split second," Sausan recounted.

"There were two announcements from the commuter train. Everyone was ready to get off, and then suddenly there was the sound of the locomotive, really loud," she said.

"There was no time to get out, and everyone ended up piled up inside the train, crushed on top of one another. I don't know how the person underneath me is doing."

She said she had feared suffocating to death in the human pile-up, and worried that some pinned underneath didn't make it.

"Thank God I was on top, so I could be evacuated quickly," said Sausan.

State-owned rail operator KAI said on Tuesday morning that the death toll had risen to 14. Another 84 people required medical treatment, it said, without specifying how many remained hospitalized.

According to Franoto Wibowo, a KAI spokesman, a taxi appears to have clipped the commuter train on a level crossing, causing it to come to a standstill on the tracks, where it was hit.

At the station, chaotic scenes unfolded in the aftermath of the crash, with rescue workers shouting for oxygen tanks as ambulances stood by in a snaking queue, lights flashing.

An AFP reporter at the scene witnessed people being carried out of the wreckage on gurneys and loaded into waiting ambulances as hundreds of bystanders looked on, some seemingly in shock.

The military, fire brigade, the national search and rescue agency, and the Red Cross aided in the massive evacuation effort that followed.

President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday visited hospital patients in Bekasi, offered his condolences to relatives of the deceased, and said he had ordered an "immediate investigation."

He also ordered the construction of an overpass in Bekasi.

"In general, we do see that many railway crossings are not guarded," the president said.

"I have ordered that we immediately repair all these crossings, either by guard posts or by flyovers."

- Rescue efforts -

Jakarta police chief Asep Edi Suheri said the long-distance train had crashed into the last, women-only, carriage of the commuter train.

All the victims were in the commuter train, and all 240-odd passengers on the other train had been evacuated safely, according to Anne Purba, another KAI spokeswoman.

The agency said it would cover all medical expenses for the injured and funeral costs for the deceased.

The collision had caused "significant damage to several train carriages", the Jakarta search and rescue agency said in a statement.

Several people were trapped in the carriages "due to the force of the impact," it added.

The rescue agency would not say Tuesday whether all had been freed.

Eva Chairista, 39, told AFP she had rushed to the RSUD hospital after hearing that her sister-in-law, who she named only as 27-year-old Fira, had been injured in the crash.

She arrived to a frenetic scene of medical triage.

"The doctor told us to be patient, there are many whose condition is worse than my sister-in-law's," she said.

Transport accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation where buses, trains and even planes are often old and poorly maintained.

The previous major train crash in the Southeast Asian country killed four crew members and injured about two dozen people elsewhere in West Java province in January 2024.

Sixteen people were killed when a commuter train crashed into a minibus on a level crossing in Jakarta in 2015.

World

US Says Examining Latest Iran Proposal

A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP)
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP)
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US Says Examining Latest Iran Proposal

A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP)
A boat sails past a tanker anchored on the Strait of Hormuz off the coast Qeshm island, Iran, April 18, 2026. (AP)

The White House said on Monday that it was examining Iran's latest proposal to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, two months after a US and Israeli offensive sent shockwaves through the global economy.

Peace talks between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war and fully reopen the vital strait have so far proven inconclusive since a ceasefire came into force.

Trump met with top security advisors on Monday to discuss an Iranian proposal after Tehran passed "written messages" to Washington via Pakistan, spelling out its red lines in negotiations, including on nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz, the Fars news agency reported.

The proposal was "being discussed," spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told a White House briefing.

Asked about the terms of Iran's proposal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News "it's better than what we thought they were going to submit," but questioned whether it was genuine.

"We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point," he said.

Iran's top diplomat blamed Washington on Monday for the failure of peace talks during a visit to Russia, where President Vladimir Putin promised him Moscow's support in ending the war.

"The US approaches caused the previous round of negotiations, despite progress, to fail to reach its goals because of the excessive demands," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

Araghchi was in Saint Petersburg after visiting Oman and Pakistan, the main mediator in the Middle East war.

Islamabad had hosted a first, unsuccessful round of US-Iran talks, and Araghchi's visit had raised hopes for more negotiations over the weekend.

But US President Donald Trump scrapped a planned trip by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Trump told Fox News if Iran wanted talks, "they can call us" -- adding the cancellation does not signal a return to hostilities.

Tehran would first need guarantees Washington and Israel would not attack again if it was to offer security assurances in the Gulf, Iran's envoy to the UN said.

Meanwhile in Saint Petersburg, Putin and Araghchi both voiced their commitment to their countries' "strategic relationship" following their meeting.

Araghchi said the war, which began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, showed "Iran's true power" and stability.

But back home in Tehran, the mood was more sober.

"Everything in the country is up in the air right now. I have not worked for a long time," small business owner Farshad told Paris-based AFP journalists.

"The country is in complete economic collapse."

- Feeling the pinch -

Though the US-Iranian ceasefire holds, the war's economic shock waves continue to reverberate.

Tehran resident Shervin, a photographer, said he was feeling the pinch.

"It is the first time that I have reached a point where I was late on my rent. I still don't have any projects," said Shervin, 42.

Iran has blockaded Hormuz, cutting off flows of oil, gas and fertilizer and sending prices soaring.

In response, the United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump faces domestic pressure to find an off-ramp as fuel prices rise, with midterm elections due in November and polls showing the war is unpopular among Americans.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards say they have no intention of easing their market-rattling chokehold of the strategic waterway.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran's parliament, said a proposed law for managing the strait would make the Islamic republic's armed forces the overseeing authority, with levies to be paid in Iranian rial.

The head of the UN's maritime agency, Arsenio Dominguez, said there was "no legal basis" for imposing transit fees.

Rubio also rejected the idea.

"They cannot normalize -- nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize -- a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway, and how much you have to pay them to use it," he told Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom."

- 'Playing with fire' -

Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, with Beirut's health ministry reporting Israel killed four people in the south.

Fifty-one others were wounded, including three children, the ministry added.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war by firing rockets at Israel, which responded with strikes and a ground invasion.

The group's leader Naim Qassem on Monday rejected planned direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel as a "grave sin," vowing to "not back down."

Shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said it had begun hitting Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israel maintains that under the terms of the truce, it can act against imminent threats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah's rockets and drones remained a threat meriting military action.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that "Qassem is playing with fire."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, responding to Qassem, said his "goal is to reach an end to the state of war with Israel."

But Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said 2026 was "likely to be another year of fighting" for Israel on all fronts.