SEOUL, South Korea – A North Korea missile launch meant to celebrate the birthday of the country’s founder ended in failure, U.S. defense officials said Friday, an embarrassing setback in what was reportedly the inaugural test of a new, powerful mid-range missile.
“It was a fiery, catastrophic attempt at a launch that was unsuccessful,” said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. He said U.S. officials are still assessing, but it was likely a road-mobile missile, given that it was launched from a location not usually used for ballistic missile launches, on the country’s east coast.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency carried an unsourced report that a “Musudan” missile exploded in the air a few seconds after liftoff.
ISTANBUL – A two-day summit bringing together leaders of the Islamic world concluded in the Turkish city of Istanbul with a pledge to combat terrorism and overcome sectarian divide.
The final declaration Friday expressed strong condemnation of the Islamic State group and the role of Iran and its proxies in regional conflicts.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who chaired the final session of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation summit, lamented the fact that Muslim countries who are “the heirs of a civilization that was built on columns of peace and justice are being remembered more for wars, armed conflict, sectarianism and terrorism.”
LONDON – Campaigning for Britain’s European Union referendum has officially begun though Britons could be forgiven for thinking it has been going on for months.
Friday marks the start of the official 10-week campaign ahead of a June 23 vote on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc.
Unofficial campaigning has been going on since Prime Minister David Cameron secured an agreement on revised EU membership terms for Britain in February. He says that deal means the U.K. should stay in.
PARIS – French police have targeted hundreds of websites suspected of “inciting or glorifying acts of terrorism” after the Paris attacks by ordering content removals, delisting sites from search engines or blocking access.
The French privacy watchdog in charge of monitoring website closures said Friday that more than 1,000 pieces of web content have been removed, nearly 400 URL’s have been ordered delisted and that 68 websites have been blocked since last November.
Associated Press
