In brief: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fires party members

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed some top officials in the wake of a recent standoff with South Korea.

The rival Koreas earlier this week threatened strikes against each other before agreeing on measures to reduce animosity. After land mines maimed two South Korean soldiers, Seoul resumed propaganda broadcasts critical of Kim’s authoritarian rule.

State media said today that Kim hailed the agreement.

Pyongyang gave no reasons for the dismissal of members of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission, but analysts say it could be linked to the land mine explosions that Seoul blamed on the North.

During a party meeting Kim also ordered soldiers to help a recently flooded city, a sign of his need to show his people he cares about a decrepit economy.

Thanou sworn in as Greek prime minister

ATHENS, Greece – Vassiliki Thanou, president of Greece’s supreme court, was sworn in Thursday as head of a caretaker government that will lead the heavily indebted nation until elections expected next month.

President Prokopis Pavlopoulos appointed Thanou, 65, as the country’s first female prime minister after leaders of the three main political parties failed to form a coalition to replace the government of outgoing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Her administration will be sworn in today, according to a statement from Pavlopoulos’ office.

Tsipras announced his resignation last week and said he would seek a new mandate after members of his radical-left party, Syriza, rebelled over austerity measures demanded by the nation’s creditors.

Tsipras said it was now up to voters to decide “who will lead Greece, and how.” He remains popular, but it is unclear whether Syriza can win enough parliamentary seats to govern without a coalition partner.

Ukraine announces debt-relief deal

KIEV, Ukraine – Struggling against Russia-backed separatists and a shrinking economy, Ukrainian officials said Thursday that they had secured major debt relief from the country’s creditors.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said at a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, that the special committee of creditors had agreed after months of negotiation to write off 20 percent of Ukraine’s $18 billion in bonds held by the foreign lenders and to postpone the next payment deadlines on most of the rest until 2019, the Ukrinform news agency reported.

The debt-relief deal, reached after all-night talks, still needs the approval of creditors outside of the committee but most are expected to sign off on the terms. Russia, however, signaled that it would not be providing relief.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted by the Tass news agency as saying that Moscow will insist on full repayment of the $3 billion in Eurobonds due from Ukraine in December.

Ukraine’s economic woes have intensified over the last two years and its GDP is forecast by the World Bank to shrink by 7.5 percent this year.