World News

Campaigners have hailed a "new chapter" after a key step by the United Nations towards banning nuclear arms. A screen grab taken from a KCNA broadcast on October 10, 2020 shows what appears to be a new North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile during a military parade in Pyongyang. Photo: AFP Honduras has become the 50th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons so it will now come into force in 90 days' time. New Zealand and many Pacific nations including Samoa, Fiji, Niue, Tuvalu, Cook Islands and Kiribati are among the signatories. But what it will actually achieve remains in doubt because the five recognised nuclear powers have not signed the accord. Supporters hope it will nevertheless have a deterrent effect. What's in the treaty? The accord was approved by 122 countries at the UN General Assembly in 2017 but needed to be ratified by at least 50 before being enacted. It declares that those countries that ratify it must "never under any circumstances develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices". The treaty outlaws the use or threat to use nuclear arms, and bars signatories from allowing "any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices" on their territory. What has the reaction been? The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) described the 50th ratification as heralding "a new chapter for nuclear disarmament". Beatrice Fihn, the head of Ican, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, said: "Decades of activism have achieved what many said was impossible: nuclear weapons are banned." The treaty is the culmination of decades of activism, Beatrice Fihn said. Photo: AFP The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, said: "Today is a victory for humanity, and a promise of a safer future." A statement from the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, described the move as "a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which is the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations". There has been no immediate reaction from the five main nuclear powers - the US, Russia, China, the UK and France. But the US and the UK made clear their opposition in 2017. The UK said at the time that, while committed to a nuclear-free world, the government does not believe the treaty will bring about an end to nuclear weapons and could undermine existing efforts to do so, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The US, in a letter seen by Associated Press, wrote to the treaty signatories saying the accord "turns back the clock on verification and disarmament". The "Baker" underwater nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Dozens of World War II vessels were used as targets for this weapons test, and now lie on the atoll's lagoon floor. Photo: US Navy. Photo: Supplied/ Giff Johnson Stocks of weapons It is believed there are about about 14,000 nuclear weapons worldwide, but considerably fewer than the 70,000 known to exist in the mid-1980s. The US and Russia have the most, followed by France, China and the UK. India, Pakistan and North Korea are also nuclear powers. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, but refuses to confirm or deny. What is being done to eliminate them? The Non-Proliferation Treaty, backed by 190 countries in 1970, commits countries which signed up, including the US, Russia, France the UK and China, to reducing their stockpiles and bars others from acquiring nuclear weapons. India, Pakistan and Israel did not sign up and North Korea left in 2003. The US, Russia and the UK have been reducing their inventories. Russia and the US are trying to extend their last remaining nuclear arms agreement which is due to expire in February. New Start, signed in 2010, limits the number of long-range nuclear warheads each can possess to 1550. The US recently pulled out of another treaty, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty signed during the Cold War, after accusing Russia of violating it. - BBC

Seven suspects have been detained on board a tanker situated off the Isle of Wight. Photo: VesselFinder / Dennis Adriaanse UK special forces were involved in dealing with the incident on board the crude oil tanker, which had a number of stowaways on board. The operation on board the Liberian-registered Nave Andromeda involved six helicopters and a Special Boat Service team, the BBC understands. Military assistance had been requested after the stowaways became violent. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the individuals were detained after they were met with "overwhelming force". He said the crew of the tanker were all safe locked in the ship's citadel. Beale said members of the Special Boat Service based at Poole, in Dorset, were specially trained to deal with such incidents, though the Ministry of Defence does not officially comment on their activities. A three-mile exclusion zone is in place around the vessel. Concerns over the crew's welfare were raised at 10:04 GMT when the vessel was six miles off Bembridge, police said. A spokesperson said "verbal threats" had been made towards the crew. Richard Meade, editor of shipping news journal Lloyd's List, said there were thought to have been seven stowaways on board. He said it was believed they had become violent towards the crew after they attempted to detain them in a cabin. The 240ft-long (73m) ship is known to have left Lagos in Nigeria on 5 October and is currently situated south of the Isle of Wight. Lawyers for the vessel's owners said they had been aware of the stowaways on board for some time. Meade said: "They discovered seven stowaways on board the vessel. When the crew tried to detain the stowaways in a cabin they got violent and that sparked the security incident. "This wasn't a hijacking attempt. This was the fact that they discovered stowaways on board and the stowaways didn't want to be locked in a cabin." The Maritime Coastguard Agency said it was assisting police and search and rescue helicopters were at the scene. A spokesperson for Associated British Ports (ABP) said it had no comment on the incident. It is understood the port received contact from the ship but it had not been refused entry to the harbour. A spokesperson for the Home Office said it was aware of the incident. -BBC

Seven suspects have been detained on board a tanker situated off the Isle of Wight. Photo: VesselFinder / Dennis Adriaanse UK special forces were involved in dealing with the incident on board the crude oil tanker, which had a number of stowaways on board. The operation on board the Liberian-registered Nave Andromeda involved six helicopters and a Special Boat Service team, the BBC understands. Military assistance had been requested after the stowaways became violent. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale said the individuals were detained after they were met with "overwhelming force". He said the crew of the tanker were all safe locked in the ship's citadel. Beale said members of the Special Boat Service based at Poole, in Dorset, were specially trained to deal with such incidents, though the Ministry of Defence does not officially comment on their activities. A three-mile exclusion zone is in place around the vessel. Concerns over the crew's welfare were raised at 10:04 GMT when the vessel was six miles off Bembridge, police said. A spokesperson said "verbal threats" had been made towards the crew. Richard Meade, editor of shipping news journal Lloyd's List, said there were thought to have been seven stowaways on board. He said it was believed they had become violent towards the crew after they attempted to detain them in a cabin. The 240ft-long (73m) ship is known to have left Lagos in Nigeria on 5 October and is currently situated south of the Isle of Wight. Lawyers for the vessel's owners said they had been aware of the stowaways on board for some time. Meade said: "They discovered seven stowaways on board the vessel. When the crew tried to detain the stowaways in a cabin they got violent and that sparked the security incident. "This wasn't a hijacking attempt. This was the fact that they discovered stowaways on board and the stowaways didn't want to be locked in a cabin." The Maritime Coastguard Agency said it was assisting police and search and rescue helicopters were at the scene. A spokesperson for Associated British Ports (ABP) said it had no comment on the incident. It is understood the port received contact from the ship but it had not been refused entry to the harbour. A spokesperson for the Home Office said it was aware of the incident. -BBC

Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of South Korea's largest conglomerate, Samsung Group, has died aged 78. Lee Kun-hee introduced some radical changes to Samsung when he took over leadership of the company from his father. Photo: AFP Lee helped to grow his father's small trading business into an economic powerhouse, diversifying into areas like insurance and shipping. During his lifetime, Samsung Electronics also became one of the world's biggest tech firms. He was the richest person in South Korea, according to Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $US21 billion ($NZ31.4b). Samsung said Lee died yesterday with family by his side, but did not state the exact cause of death. A heart attack in 2014 had left him living in care. "All of us at Samsung will cherish his memory and are grateful for the journey we shared with him," the firm said in a statement. Lee was the third son of Lee Byung-chul, who founded the Samsung Group in 1938. He joined the family firm in 1968 and took over as chairman in 1987 after his father's death. Radical reformer At the time, Samsung was seen as a producer of cheap, low-quality products. But under his leadership radical reforms were introduced at the company. Lee became famous for telling employees in 1993: "Let's change everything except our wives and kids." The firm then burned its entire mobile phone stock, consisting of 150,000 handsets. Lee rarely spoke to the media and had a reputation for being a recluse, earning him the nickname "the hermit king". Samsung is by far the largest of South's Korea's chaebols - the family-owned conglomerates that dominate the country's economy. Chaebols helped to drive South Korea's economic transformation after World War II, but have long been accused of murky political and business dealings. Lee was twice convicted of criminal offences, including the bribing of former President Roh Tae-woo. He stepped down as Samsung chairman in 2008 after he was charged with tax evasion and embezzlement. He was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence for tax evasion but was given a presidential pardon in 2009 and went on to lead South Korea's successful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Lee Kun-Hee is surrounded by reporters after being found guilty of tax evasion in 2009. Photo: AFP He returned as chairman of Samsung Group in 2010, but was left bedridden by the 2014 heart attack. Lee's son, Lee Jae-yong, has served jail time for his role in a bribery scandal which triggered the ousting of then-President Park Geun-hye from office in 2017. Last month, prosecutors laid fresh charges against him over his role in a 2015 merger deal. - BBC

US Vice-President Mike Pence's chief of staff has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Vice-President will follow CDC guidelines, like wearing a mask, while continuing to campaign. Photo: AFP Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, both tested negative for the virus on Saturday and remain in good health, spokesman Devin O'Malley said. Marc Short is Pence's closest aide and the Vice-President is considered a "close contact" under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. But Pence' spokesman said the Vice-President intended to continue with his election campaign schedule. "In consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the Vice-President will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel," O'Malley said. Those guidelines mandate that essential workers exposed to someone with the coronavirus must closely monitor for symptoms of Covid-19 and wear a mask whenever around other people. On Saturday, after a day of campaigning and the news of Short's diagnosis being made public, Pence was seen wearing a mask as he returned to Washington aboard Air Force Two. Short joins a growing list of White House staff and senior Republicans who have caught coronavirus. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were also infected with coronavirus. Trump was flown from the White House by helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he was treated for several days. The couple's 14-year-old son initially tested negative in the wake of his parent's diagnoses, but subsequent tests revealed Barron also had Covid-19. The US set a single-day record of more than 84,000 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with the spike in infections hitting election swing states Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. - ABC

A 25-year-old woman who fell from a carnival ride in Far North Queensland late yesterday is in a critical but stable condition in hospital. A woman was critically injured after falling from a ride at the Cairns Showgrounds. Photo: Facebook The incident happened at about 5.30pm at the Cairns showgrounds at Parramatta Park. The woman fell from a ride called The Hangover - a two-armed ride that swings people through the air. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and paramedics treated the woman at the scene before she was taken to the Cairns Base Hospital. Cairns Show Association president Ian Allen said the event was run by an independent third party. "The event there was not run by the Cairns Show Association," he said. "It was hired by an independent group called Showfest. We leased the ground out to them." The ABC has contacted the Showfest organiser for comment. 'She just dropped head-first' Darnell Addo said he saw the "terrible" moment the woman fell from the ride. "She was at the very top … and she just dropped head-first," he said. "It was just a big bang … I was just in shock." Addo said he heard an operator of the ride tell panicked onlookers: "the machine is on a timer, I can't stop it". Addo had just purchased a ticket for the ride and was waiting in line when the accident happened. "It could have been me," he said. "I'm probably never going to go on a ride in my life again after that." Allen said as president he could close the event down, but was instructed by police that would not be necessary at this stage. "But the [Hangover] ride cannot operate, nor the ride next door, until they do their investigation," Allen said. His thoughts were with the woman and her family, he said. "Just to have anyone having an accident at any event, not whether it's the Cairns Show or anything but you just don't want to have anything like that," he said. "I'd just like to send out my sympathy to the family there… that this tragic accident has happened." Queensland police and Workplace Health and Safety are investigating. - ABC Related: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/421674/dreamworld-parent-company-ardent-leisure-faces-three-charges-over-deadly-ride-accident https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/399880/mexico-rollercoaster-crash-leaves-two-dead

Gunmen stormed a school in Cameroon on Saturday and opened fire indiscriminately, killing at least six children and wounding about eight more in a region where separatist insurgents operate, officials and parents said. Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, leads a French-speaking government that has incited protests from the English-speaking minority. Photo: AFP Arriving on motorcycles and in civilian clothes, the attackers hit the school around midday yesterday in the city of Kumba in South West Region, according to the accounts, including from one parent outside the school at the time. Some children were injured jumping from second storey windows. It was unclear if the attack was linked to an ongoing struggle between the army and groups seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia in the English-speaking west. But it was a grim new low in a region that since 2017 has seen hundreds die and thousands displaced because of the conflict, with many children unable to attend school. "They found the children in class and they opened fire on them," city sub-prefect Ali Anougou told Reuters. Isabel Dione ran into the school to search for her 12-year-old daughter when she heard about the shooting. She found her on the floor of a classroom, bleeding from the stomach. "She was helpless and she was shouting 'mum please help me', and I told her 'only your God can save you now'," Dione told Reuters. The girl was rushed to hospital where she is undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound. Separatists denounce attack The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said eight children were killed, some by machete, and that 12 were wounded. Videos circulating on social media filmed by local journalists showed adults rushing from the school with children in their arms, surrounded by wailing onlookers. One photo verified by Reuters showed the inside of a classroom, where dried blood had pooled on the floor near some scattered flip-flops. Local education official Ahhim Abanaw Obase confirmed six deaths of children aged between 12 and 14, and added that another eight had been taken to hospital. Anougou and another official blamed the attack on the secessionists, but did not offer evidence. Photo: Twitter Prominent separatist leader Ayuk Tabe described the attack as "inhumane" in a Twitter post and said "anyone responsible for these atrocities must be brought to book." Still, many armed splinter groups have emerged from inside the separatist movement since 2017, and one voice rarely speaks for all. Anglophone secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya's French-speaking government and its perceived marginalisation of the English-speaking minority. Rights groups have documented abuses on civilians from both sides. Last year, officials blamed separatists for kidnapping dozens of schoolchildren, which separatist leaders denied. - Reuters

South Australia's renewable energy boom has achieved a global milestone. Photo: 123RF The state once known for not having enough power has become the first major jurisdiction in the world to be powered entirely by solar energy. For just over an hour on Sunday, 11 October, 100 percent of energy demand was provided by solar panels alone. "This is truly a phenomenon in the global energy landscape," Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chief executive Audrey Zibelman said. "Never before has a jurisdiction the size of South Australia been completely run by solar power, with consumers' rooftop solar systems contributing 77 percent." Large-scale solar farms, like the ones operating at Tailem Bend and Port Augusta, provided the other 23 percent. Any excess power generated by gas and wind farms on that day was stored in batteries or exported to Victoria via the interconnector. Too much of a good thing? Analysts say it is a significant milestone that will happen more regularly as the pace of solar growth continues. Energy regulators say without careful management, grid stability could be at risk if there is more electricity going in than coming out. If the interconnector is down, like it was for more than two weeks in February, that is when problems can occur. AEMO is forecasting an additional 36,000 new solar rooftop systems will be installed in South Australia in the next 14 months. That is on top of the 288,000 homes - about a third - already generating their own electricity. Household uptake continues Jackie Thomson has just had 20 panels fitted to the roof of her Adelaide home. "I'd been thinking about it for a long time and my electricity bills were going through the roof," she said. "I just decided the time was right … I couldn't spend my money going overseas so thought it was a good time." She was not put off by new powers introduced last month allowing the electricity distributor SA Power Networks to switch off all new solar installations if too much solar was putting the system under pressure. "I understood that it was actually about managing the grid more effectively and I wasn't concerned about it, so it didn't impact my timeline for making a decision," she said. Solar retailers say most people have not been put off by the changes. "It didn't stop the flow of enquiries, it was just more interesting conversations we had to have to educate people on those new regulations," Adam Karroum from Adam Solar said. The changes were introduced because AEMO was worried all that extra rooftop solar could play havoc with voltage levels and end up causing blackouts. New inverters must have software that allows them to be controlled remotely. Switch-off power needed AEMO suggests similar action is "required urgently in Victoria, and promptly in Queensland". SA Power Networks says any switch-off would only happen as a last resort and if grid stability was at risk. "The system needs management," company spokesman Paul Roberts said. "In 2009, we probably didn't have any solar panels connected to the grid; now we have a third of customers with solar on their roofs and this is going to become more of an issue as we go forward." He says solar is still a great investment and the network is working hard to double solar capacity within five years. "It's an exciting future for South Australia and we have a whole number of things that we are putting in place to manage that," he said. That includes making it cheaper for people to use power during the day and encouraging people to switch on dishwashers, pool pumps and hot water systems in the middle of the day. The next step is convincing more people to connect batteries to store cheap energy during the day. "The grid needs to become increasingly like a set of lungs," AEMO chief external affairs officer Tony Chappel said. "During the day, the lungs would breathe in and excess energy can be stored and then in the evening when the sun's gone down, that energy can be fed back." Plans to build a new interconnector with New South Wales will also help manage the growth of solar. "South Australia could become a net exporter of energy," Roberts said. "People are going to be looking at the opportunities that a new interconnector may create for solar farms to export to the NSW market as well as the Victorian market." - ABC

Polish President Andrzej Duda has contracted Covid-19 but is feeling "good", he says. Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for Covid-19. Photo: AFP Duda, 48, was tested on Friday and found to be positive, but it is not clear when he contracted the virus. He joins a handful of world leaders who have been ill with Covid-19, among them US President Donald Trump and UK PM Boris Johnson. Poland faces a surge in the coronavirus pandemic, with a daily record of more than 13,600 new cases on Friday. The country has now entered a nationwide "red zone" lockdown that includes the partial closure of primary schools and restaurants. Duda attended an event in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Monday where he met Bulgarian President Rumen Radev who later went into quarantine. He also met Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, who has since tested negative. "I didn't have and I don't have any symptoms, especially the serious ones like lack of taste or lack of smell, but the result of the test is absolutely clear," Duda said in a video message posted on Twitter. "I feel good right now. I will spend the upcoming days in self-isolation along with my wife and I will be working remotely; it's not a problem at all." Presidential minister Blazej Spychalski, who first gave details of the president's positive test, has himself tested positive and is going into quarantine. On Friday, Duda visited a field hospital under construction at the National Stadium in the Polish capital, Warsaw. Pictures show the president wearing a face mask while meeting workers at the site. He also met 19-year-old tennis star Iga Swiatek, winner of the French Open this year, to award her the Gold Cross of Merit for achievements in sport. "Neither I nor members of my team have symptoms of coronavirus. We carry out tests regularly. We will quarantine ourselves in accordance with current procedures," Swiatek said in a Twitter post (tweet in Polish). The second wave of infections is hitting Poland hard, with the number of new cases 22 times higher than the highest number of cases in the spring, although testing is now more prevalent. The number of hospital beds in use by coronavirus patients rose by 6.5 percent on Friday to 11,496, which means 60 percent of the total available are now filled. Under the new restrictions, gatherings of more than five are banned, and children must be accompanied by an adult when outdoors. People aged over 70 are being urged to stay at home. - BBC

President Donald Trump voted in his adopted home of Florida before hitting the campaign trail for rallies in three swing states, joining more than 54 million Americans who have cast early ballots at a record-setting pace ahead of the 3 November election. Donald Trump leaves the polling station after casting his ballot at the Palm Beach County Public Library, during early voting for the 3 November election. Photo: AFP Trump cast his ballot at a library in West Palm Beach, near his Mar-a-Lago resort, after switching his permanent residence and voter registration last year from New York to Florida, a must-win battleground for his re-election bid. "I voted for a guy named Trump," he told reporters after voting. Democratic rival Joe Biden also hit the campaign trail on Saturday, speaking at a drive-in rally of supporters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania where he warned of a looming "dark winter" unless the Trump administration does not do a better job at fighting the coronavirus. With 10 days to go in the campaign, about 54.2m Americans have already cast early ballots, a pace that could lead to the highest voter turnout in more than a century, according to data from the US Elections Project. Trump has regularly condemned mail-in voting without evidence as prone to fraud, even though experts say it is as safe as any other method. He voted by mail in two elections since he switched his address to Florida. The large number of early voters is a sign of the intense interest in this year's election, as well as concerns about avoiding crowded polling places on Election Day and reducing the risk of exposure to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 224,000 Americans. The United States set a single-day record of more than 84,000 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, with the spike in infections hitting election swing states Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Many states have expanded in-person early voting and mail-in ballots as a safer way to vote during the pandemic. Biden addressed supporters in Bristol, Pennsylvania, gathered in pickup trucks or cars, many with their windows or sunroofs down. "It's going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways," he said of Trump's attempts to contain the coronavirus, which has killed more people in the United State than any other country. The former vice president spoke on a stage decorated with hay and pumpkins carved to say "VOTE" and painted with the names of Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris. Trump has accused Biden of overstating the health crisis to scare Americans into voting for him. Opinion polls show Biden leading Trump nationally, but the race is much closer in the battleground states that will decide the election. Trump will head to three of those after voting, holding rallies in North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin. In Pennsylvania, polls show Biden narrowly leading. A Reuters/Ipsos survey released earlier this week showed Biden with a four-percentage point advantage over Trump in the state, down from seven points the week before. Biden will get some help again on Saturday from former President Barack Obama, who will hold a drive-in rally in Miami. Obama, still popular in the party nearly four years after leaving office, delivered a blistering attack on Trump's leadership when he made his 2020 campaign-trail debut in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. - Reuters