Peru search team locates crashed chopper
Searchers in Peru located the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in a snowy part of the southern Andes on Thursday. No survivors have been found, and those aboard included eight South Koreans, as well as three Europeans: a Dutchman, a Czech and a Swede. Local police say it is unlikely that any of them survived, while Armando Quispe, a mayor of a nearby town, said it could take up to 12 hours for the rescuers to reach the site of the crash.
Syrian National Council elects new leader
Kurdish activist Abdelbasset Sida has been chosen as the new president of the Syrian National Council (SNC) during a meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, Reuters reported, citing the Council’s statement. Sida replaced Burhan Ghalioun, who lives in Paris and had presided over the opposition bloc since it was formed in August last year. Sida is in exile in Sweden and joined the SNC as an “independent activist.” Before the appointment, he was a member of the SNC’s executive bureau and headed the bloc’s human rights department.
Powerful quake hits Taiwan
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake has struck off Taiwan on Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter of the quake was located at a depth of 74km off the shore of Su’ao. There have been no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Taiwan is located in an area with frequent seismic activity. In 1999 a 7.6-magnitude earthquake there killed over 2,000 people and destroyed some 50,000 buildings.
North Korea denies nuclear test plans
North Korea says that “at present” it has no plans to conduct a nuclear weapons test, calling allegations of preparations for such a test a South Korean provocation. The so-called provocateurs are seeking to “rattle the nerves of the DPRK,” said an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman, as cited by Pyongyang's official news agency, KCNA. South Korean intelligence officials claim to have satellite images that prove the North has been making nuclear test preparations. After a failed ballistic rocket launch in April, the UN Security Council tightened sanctions against the North, bringing up speculations over whether the country will undertake another nuclear test. In 2006 and 2009, North Korea responded to UN sanctions with two nuclear tests.
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