North Korea sent 10,000 troops to train in Russia, US says

North Korea sent 10,000 troops to train in Russia, US says
(KCNA via KNS/AFP/File)
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Updated 29 October 2024
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North Korea sent 10,000 troops to train in Russia, US says

North Korea sent 10,000 troops to train in Russia, US says
  • Washington had previously put the number of North Korean troops in Russia at more than 3,000

WASHINGTON: North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to train in Russia, Washington said Monday, tripling its previous estimate and prompting NATO and EU warnings of a dangerous expansion of the Ukraine war.
Pyongyang — with whom Moscow signed a mutual defense pact — is already widely believed to be arming Russia for its invasion, but troops on the ground would mark an escalation in the conflict.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned North Korea could “soon” have as many as 12,000 soldiers on Russian soil, while US President Joe Biden slammed the deployment as “very dangerous.”
“We believe that the DPRK has sent around 10,000 soldiers in total to train in eastern Russia that will probably augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
Washington had previously put the number of North Korean troops in Russia at more than 3,000.
NATO chief Mark Rutte likewise called the troop deployment “a dangerous expansion of Russia’s war” and “a sign of Putin’s growing desperation.”
Rutte said more than 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the conflict started in 2022, adding the Kremlin was unable to sustain the invasion without foreign support.
Despite the cost, Russia has been making steady territorial gains in Ukraine.
Moscow’s army has advanced 478 square kilometers (184 square miles) into Ukrainian territory since the beginning of October, a record since the first weeks of the war, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War.
Those gains followed 477 and 459 square-kilometer advances in August and September, respectively, and come amid major shifts on the front line, in particular in eastern Ukraine around Pokrovsk.
Speaking in Brussels after a briefing with South Korean intelligence officials, Rutte said he could confirm that North Korean military units had been deployed in the field in Russia’s western Kursk region.
Ukrainian troops launched a ground offensive in Kursk in August and control several hundred square kilometers of Russian territory.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte told reporters in Brussels.
Experts have said that in return for the troops, North Korea is likely aiming to acquire military technology, ranging from surveillance satellites to submarines, plus possible security guarantees from Moscow.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also warned that North Korea sending troops for the first time represented “a significant escalation of the war against Ukraine and threatens global peace.”
She made the comments after a phone call with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, during which she assured the leader that “the EU’s response to this development will center on cooperation with the Republic of Korea and other like-minded partners.”
The United States likewise told China — an ally of both Moscow and Pyongyang — it should be “concerned about this destabilizing action by two of its neighbors, Russia and North Korea,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who took over the reins of NATO this month, called on Moscow and Pyongyang to “cease these actions immediately.”
The North Korean foreign minister was headed to Moscow, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported early Tuesday, citing the North’s state-run KCNA.
KCNA did not report the purpose of the talks, according to Japanese agency Kyodo.
At a press conference in Iceland on Monday, Zelensky warned that there were already around 3,000 North Korean soldiers on Russian land — with four times that expected imminently.
“We think that they will have 12,000 soon,” the Ukrainian leader added.
“This is an escalation. Sanctions alone are not enough. We need weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea’s expanded involvement in the war in Europe,” Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on social media Monday after Rutte’s comments.
“Today, Russia brings in North Korea; next, it could broaden their engagement, and then other autocratic regimes may see that they can get away with this and come to fight against NATO,” he warned.
“The enemy understands strength. Our allies have this strength.”


White House aides discuss preemptive pardons for Trump targets, sources say

White House aides discuss preemptive pardons for Trump targets, sources say
Updated 15 sec ago
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White House aides discuss preemptive pardons for Trump targets, sources say

White House aides discuss preemptive pardons for Trump targets, sources say

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s top aides are discussing whether preemptive pardons to current and former public officials who may be targeted by the incoming Trump administration should be considered, but Biden has not yet made a decision on the topic, sources said.
White House officials are debating whether the president should dole out such pardons to people who have not committed crimes and about the message that would send, the sources said.
Biden is aware of the discussions but has not participated in the wider conversation, one senior White House official said. Any decision would ultimately be Biden’s to make.
The conversations have picked up steam after Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday, after previously saying he would not issue such a pardon. Trump’s pick for FBI Director, Kash Patel, who has vowed retribution against critics of the president-elect, has also alarmed senior White House and administration officials.
Among those being considered are former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of Trump; Anthony Fauci, who helped coordinate Biden’s COVID-19 response; California’s Senator-elect Adam Schiff, who led the first impeachment effort against Trump; and retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the source said.
Top White House officials leading the process are White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and White House counsel Ed Siskel, the sources said.
A White House spokesperson declined comment.
“The question right now is whether people being considered for these pardons want them,” said one of the sources.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this week to expect more pardons from Biden before the end of his term.
The US Constitution gives a president broad pardon powers but preemptive pardons for offenses that have not yet been charged are largely untested.
Politico was first to report the story. 


Russia’s Lavrov signals readiness to use any means in Ukraine conflict

Russia’s Lavrov signals readiness to use any means in Ukraine conflict
Updated 11 min 56 sec ago
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Russia’s Lavrov signals readiness to use any means in Ukraine conflict

Russia’s Lavrov signals readiness to use any means in Ukraine conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an interview broadcast on Thursday, said the use of a hypersonic missile in the Ukraine war sought to make the West understand that Moscow was ready to use any means to ensure no “strategic defeat” would be inflicted on Moscow.
“The message is that you, I mean the US and the allies of the US, who also provide these long-range weapons to the Kyiv regime — they must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call a strategic defeat of Russia,” Lavrov told US journalist Tucker Carlson.
Lavrov also said it was a “very serious mistake” for anyone in the West to presume that Russia had no red lines or that they were “being moved again and again.”


US House rejects Democratic effort to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report

US House rejects Democratic effort to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report
Updated 6 min 48 sec ago
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US House rejects Democratic effort to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report

US House rejects Democratic effort to force release of Matt Gaetz ethics report

WASHINGTON: The House shut down Democrats’ efforts Thursday to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, pushing the fate of any resolution to the yearslong investigation of sexual misconduct allegations into further uncertainty.
The nearly party-line votes came after Democrats had been pressing for the findings to be published even though the Florida Republican left Congress and withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
Republicans have argued that any congressional probe into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent to set.
While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare.
Shortly before the votes took place, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Illinois, who introduced one of the bills to force the release, said that if Republicans reject the release, they will have “succeeded in sweeping credible allegations of sexual misconduct under the rug.” Gaetz has repeatedly denied the claims.
Earlier Thursday, the Ethics panel met to discuss the Gaetz report but made no decision, saying in a short statement that the matter is still being discussed. It’s unclear now whether the document will ever see the light of day as lawmakers only have a few weeks left before a new session of Congress begins.
It’s the culmination of weeks of pressure on the Ethics committee’s five Republicans and five Democrats who mostly work in secret as they investigate allegations of misconduct against lawmakers.
The status of the Gaetz investigation became an open question last month when he abruptly resigned from Congress after Trump’s announcement that he wanted his ally in the Cabinet. It is standard practice for the committee to end investigations when members of Congress depart, but the circumstances surrounding Gaetz were unusual, given his potential role in the new administration.
Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, the committee chairman, said Wednesday that there is no longer the same urgency to release the report given that Gaetz has left Congress and stepped aside as Trump’s choice to head the Justice Department.
“I’ve been steadfast about that. He’s no longer a member. He is no longer going to be confirmed by the Senate because he withdrew his nomination to be the attorney general,” Guest said.
The Gaetz report has also caused tensions between lawmakers on the bipartisan committee. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, publicly admonished Guest last month for mischaracterizing a previous meeting to the press.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said last year that the Justice Department’s separate investigation against him into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls ended without federal charges.
His onetime political ally Joel Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. The men were not identified in court documents when he pleaded guilty. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in prison.


White House’s Sullivan, Zelensky aide discuss improving Ukraine’s war position

White House’s Sullivan, Zelensky aide discuss improving Ukraine’s war position
Updated 06 December 2024
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White House’s Sullivan, Zelensky aide discuss improving Ukraine’s war position

White House’s Sullivan, Zelensky aide discuss improving Ukraine’s war position

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, discussed on Thursday improving Kyiv’s position in its war with Russia and ensuring it enters any future negotiations from a position of strength, a White House spokesperson said.

 


7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning

7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning
Updated 29 min 35 sec ago
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7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning

7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning

SAN FRANCISCO: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the US West Coast.
The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the US Geological Survey said.
It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks.
There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.
The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon.
“It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale.
“We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up.
The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s legendary marijuana crop — was struck by a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky.
Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”
Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka.
In Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Aerial footage showed cars bumper-to-bumper heading to higher ground Thursday morning on California highways 1 and 92 in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco.
“I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 near the Oregon border. “That’s what I was feeling ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.”
Cindy Vosburg, the executive director for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, said she heard alarms sound just before shaking began and the city’s cultural center downtown started to creak.
“The earthquake seemed to go on for quite a few seconds. It was a rolling earthquake,” Vosburg said. “Just as it would start to subside, the building would roll again.”
Vosburg, a former resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, said it was the strongest earthquake she felt since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake struck Northern California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said.
White House Spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake and that FEMA officials are in touch with their state and local counterparts in California and Oregon.
Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any major damage from the quake, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks.
“The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?“
The students were later sent home.
In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The campus in was not in the tsunami hazard zone and after inspections, “all utilities and building systems are normal and operational,” the university said in a statement.
Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe. There also have been no major infrastructure problems, building collapses or roadway issues, and no major injuries or deaths have been reported, he said.
Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake.
“We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.”
Michael Luna, owner of a Grocery Outlet in Eureka, said that besides a few items falling off shelves, the store on Commercial Street was unscathed by the earthquake.
“We didn’t have any issues but a couple of deodorants fall off.... I think the way the earthquake rumbled this time, it was a good thing for our store because the last earthquake was a huge mess,” he said.
They evacuated customers and closed their doors temporarily until officials lifted the tsunami warning, he said, rushing off the phone to attend to a growing line of customers at check-out.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated.
Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said the computer models indicated that this was the type of earthquake that was unlikely to cause a tsunami and gauges that monitor waves then confirmed it, so forecasters canceled the warning.
This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state.
The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly.
On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City.