North Korea Threatens to Cut off Contact with the US
North Korea threatened to cut off one of its official contact channels with the US, the first of its countermeasures against new sanctions imposed on the country.
North Korean Foreign Ministry urged the US to withdraw the newly announced sanctions.
The ministry also warned that North Korea will eventually cut off all channels of diplomatic contact with the US if the latter fails to withdraw the sanctions.
Climate change and El Niño have caused the worst mangrove die-off in recorded history, stretching along 700 km of Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria.
The mass die-off coincided with the world’s worst global coral bleaching event, as well as the worst bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef, in which almost a quarter of the coral was killed – something also caused by unusually warm water.
The Sahara group has sought the Supreme Court's clearance to its proposed sale of three overseas hotels to Qatar Investment Authority, which is part of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.
Indian Firms Best
In a survey, released by the Transparency International, India led the way with all of its 19 companies achieving a score of 75 percent in being open about their company structures and holdings which was attributed to the country's Companies Act.
The study found Chinese companies fared worst, with an average score of 1.6 out of 10 in the tests.