NKorea renews threat

SEOUL: North Korea on Sunday renewed its pledge to bolster its nuclear deterrent by reactivating its atomic programme in protest at UN condemnation of its recent rocket launch. Rodong Sinmun newspaper, published by the North’s ruling party, called the communist state’s move “an exercise of the legitimate right of the sovereign state” against what it calls unjust UN actions. “Nobody is entitled to take issue with the DPRK’s resolute measures to reconstruct its nuclear facilities to their original state and reprocess the spent fuel rods,” it said, referring to the North’s official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. — AFP

Fireworks mishap

BEIJING: Chinese state media say an explosion in an illegal fireworks factory has killed 13 people and injured two. Saturday’s blast flattened three rooms in a rented house in the eastern province of Shandong. The Xinhua News Agency said the blast shook the earth and damaged neighbouring homes. Some residents mistook it for an earthquake. Xinhua said police were hunting for the house’s tenant. Neighbours did not know that the house was being used to make fireworks. — AP

Ship hijacked

MOGADISHU: Somali pirates hijacked another ship, a Pakistani-owned vessel carrying goods for Somali traders, over the weekend, a pirate commander and a local businessman told AFP on Sunday. The MV Al-Misan was captured around 100 km off the capital Mogadishu, Ahmed Abdi, a pirate commander in the coastal village of Harardhere said. It is carrying vehicles as well as sugar and cooking oil. “One of the two ships we hijacked yesterday is confirmed to have been chartered by Somali traders and there are already talks to release it. I think it will happen today,” Ahmed Abdi said. — AFP

Gas explosion

MOSCOW: Russian media say a gas explosion in the Siberian city of Irkutsk tore through a wooden residential building and killed seven people, including a child. News agencies and state television say a household gas canister combusted in the two-story building early on Sunday. Seven of the 36 tenants were killed in the blast and ensuing fire, which completely devoured the building. Footage shown on Channel One TV shows firefighters hosing down the building’s smoking, charred remains. — AP