Kim looks thinner, health concerns SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has long been a source of morbid fascination in rival South Korea, which sits in the shadow of Kim’s 1.2-million-strong army and his growing arsenal of nuclear-armed missiles. Has he gained even more weight? Is he struggling for breath after relatively short walks? What about that cane? Why did he miss that important state anniversary? Now, the 37-year-old faces fresh speculation in the South about his health again. But this time, it’s because he’s noticeably slimmer. Kim’s health matters in Seoul,…

By SAM McNEIL The Associated Press JIUQUAN, China — The three members of the first crew to be sent to China’s space station say they’re eager to get to work making their home for the next three months habitable, setting up testing and experiments and preparing for a series of spacewalks. The three met with reporters today from inside a germ-free glassed-in room, hours before they were to blast off on Thursday morning. “First of all, we need to arrange our home in the core module, then get started on a whole range of diagnostic tests on crucial technology and…

By FARES AKRAM and JOSEPH KRAUSS The Associated Press GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian families grabbed their children and belongings and fled neighborhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City today as Israel unleashed heavy artillery fire at what it said was a large network of militant tunnels ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israel has massed troops along the border and called up 9,000 reservists as fighting intensifies with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants have fired some 1,800 rockets, and the Israeli military has launched more than 600 airstrikes, toppling at least…

BY SETH BORENSTEIN The Associated Press Glaciers are melting faster, losing 31 percent more snow and ice per year than they did 15 years earlier, according to three-dimensional satellite measurements of all the world’s mountain glaciers. Scientists blame human-caused climate change. Using 20 years of recently declassified satellite data, scientists calculated that the world’s 220,000 mountain glaciers are losing more than 328 billion tons of ice and snow per year since 2015, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature. That’s enough melt flowing into the world’s rising oceans to put Switzerland under almost 24 feet of water each year.…

By CARA ANNA The Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopia has swept up thousands of ethnic Tigrayans into detention centers across the country on accusations that they are traitors, often holding them for months and without charges, the AP has found. The detentions, mainly but not exclusively of military personnel, are an apparent attempt to purge state institutions of the Tigrayans who once dominated them, as the government enters its sixth month of fighting in the Tigray region. Detainees, families and visitors spoke of hundreds or even more than 1,000 people in at least nine individual locations, including military bases…