Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Analysis-N.Korea threatens to upstage S.Korea defence expo with duelling military show

South Korea will hold its biennial defence fair in Seoul next week, just days after North Korea opened a highly unusual military exhibition that analysts said may be partly aimed at stealing some thunder from Seoul amid a growing arms race. The events highlight the latest developments both Koreas have made as they press forward with major expansions of already substantial military capabilities – including sometimes mirror-image moves.

ASEAN to discuss excluding Myanmar junta leader from summit

Southeast Asian foreign ministers will discuss excluding Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit at a meeting on Friday, sources told Reuters, as pressure builds on the ruling military to comply with an agreed peace roadmap. The meeting comes as the junta ruled out allowing a regional envoy to meet deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial on multiple charges since her elected government was overthrown in a Feb. 1 coup.

Norway’s Labour-led cabinet takes office in day overshadowed by attack

Norway’s new center-left government formally took over power on Thursday after winning elections last month, though the ceremony was overshadowed by a deadly bow-and-arrow attack in the town of Kongsberg. A 37-year-old Danish citizen is suspected of killing five people in a rare incident of mass killing in Norway, police said.

Deadly shooting rocks Beirut as tensions over blast probe erupt

Gunfire in Beirut killed at least five Lebanese Shi’ites in what authorities said was an attack on protesters who were going to take part in a demonstration called by Hezbollah to demand the removal of the judge investigating last year’s port explosion. The shooting on a frontline of the 1975-90 civil war marks some of Lebanon’s worst strife in years, and highlights a deepening crisis over the probe into the August 2020 blast that is undermining government efforts to tackle one of the most dramatic economic meltdowns in history.

Danish man suspected of killing five in bow-and-arrow attack in Norway

A 37-year-old Danish citizen who had converted to Islam is suspected of killing five people with a bow-and-arrow and other weapons in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg in a rare incident of mass killing in Norway, police said on Thursday. The five people, four women and one man, were between 50 and 70 years old. Two people, including an off-duty police officer, were wounded in the Wednesday evening attacks.

‘Our whole life depends on water’: Climate change, pollution and dams threaten Iraq’s Marsh Arabs

On an island surrounded by the narrow waterways of the Chebayesh Marshes in southern Iraq, Sabah Thamer al-Baher rises with the sun to milk his herd of water buffalo. This summer has been tough for Baher, a father of two. Iraq’s 2020-2021 rainfall season was the second driest in 40 years, according to the United Nations, causing the salinity of the wetlands to rise to dangerous levels.

Japan dissolves parliament, setting stage for general election

Japan dissolved its parliament on Thursday, setting the stage for an election at the end of the month that will pit new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida against unpopular opposition in a battle over who can better fix the pandemic-battered economy. Kishida enjoys reasonable public support 11 days into the job, polls show, boding well for his goal of maintaining a lower house majority for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its Komeito party coalition partner.

At world fair, Afghan emigre wants people to rediscover troubled homeland

An Afghan who fled his country over 40 years ago has stepped in to rescue Afghanistan’s exhibition at the Dubai world fair after the Taliban takeover in his homeland in August scuttled official Afghan participation in the mega cultural extravaganza. The 62-year-old, Vienna-based antiques dealer gathered up his family collection of Afghan artefacts, including carpets, daggers and jewellery, to fill the Afghan pavilion that had remained shut when Expo 2020 opened on Oct. 1.

Merkel says Europe can deal with rise of China if it speaks with one voice

Europe can only contend with the rise of China if it speaks with one voice, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, calling for more unity across the continent. “How we deal with the rise of China as an economic, political and military power … depends very much on whether Europe really speaks with one voice,” Merkel said in Spain after receiving the Carlos V prize.

U.S. to resume Afghanistan evacuation flights before year’s end -WSJ

The United States will resume evacuation flights from Afghanistan before the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing an unidentified U.S. State Department official. The U.S.-sponsored flights would help U.S. citizens, legal residents and some visa applicants. No date has been set for the flights to resume, it reported.

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