Press Trust of India

North Korea Wednesday urged South Korea to show its will to improve inter-Korean ties by taking practical measures and avoid escalation of tensions.

South Korean unification ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol Monday told a press briefing that if North Korea really has the will to resolve pending issues and improve inter-Korean relations, it should come to the dialogue table without repeating its wasting claims any more.

South Korean media outlets also expressed concerns that north-south dialogue may be hard to materialise thanks to no response from Pyongyang to Seoul’s talks offer.

Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras, which is mired in a massive corruption scandal, Wednesday said its entire senior management team will be replaced and that the names of the new directors could be announced in two days.

“Petrobras confirms that its board of directors will meet Friday to choose the new management team following the resignation of the president (of the company) and five other senior directors,” the oil giant said in a securities filing.

French President Francois Hollande Wednesday called for a transparent and serene dialogue over the Greek debt crisis, and also for the respect of European Union financial rules.

“A dialogue should take place in transparency and serenity. It should be strengthened to lead to an agreement,” Hollande said.

The French head of state also stressed that Europe should work more to further cement solidarity via pro-growth measures which could help the bloc to boost economic activities and tackle unemployment headache.

Three Cameroonian soldiers and 14 Chadian soldiers died and a large number of Boko Haram militants were killed when the group attacked military camps in Fotokol, a border town in Cameroon’s Far North Region neighbouring Nigeria Wednesday morning, military sources told Xinhua news agency.

The sources put the number of Boko Haram militants at around 7,000, adding that they had 30 armoured trucks, about 10 ordinary vehicles and hundreds of motorcycles, as well as sophisticated weapons.

At least four people were killed and many more wounded when a shell hit a hospital in the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Violence has surged in recent weeks, and the pro-Russian rebels are trying to encircle the key town of Debaltseve, northeast of Donetsk, BBC reported.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini appealed for a truce to allow civilians to leave the area.

According to Amnesty International, 7,000 people remain in Debaltseve, a major road and rail hub, out of an original population of 25,000 a few days ago.

At least 23 people were killed after a Taiwan TransAsia Airways plane plunged into the Keelung river in Taipei Wednesday morning, 10 minutes after takeoff.

Survivors were taken to nearby hospitals in Taipei and New Taipei, Xinhua reported citing disaster relief authorities. The plane’s two black boxes were recovered and were expected to be deciphered by Wednesday night.

Flight GE235 was headed for Kinmen from Taipei with 53 passengers on board, including 31 from the Chinese mainland, and five crew. Three of the mainland passengers are known to be children.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Tuesday said it is “extremely concerned” by images seeming to show that its food parcels in Syria being handed out bore the logo of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The pictures on social media appear to be from the town of Deir Haf, where WFP distributed food last August, BBC reported.

“WFP condemns this manipulation of desperately needed food aid,” said Muhannad Hadi, the UN agency’s emergency regional coordinator.