Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days
Blinken, center right, spoke after North Korea conducted its longest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile test. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 01 November 2024
Follow

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days

WASHINGTON:The United States expects North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday as he pressed China to use its influence to rein in Pyongyang.
Blinken spoke after North Korea conducted its longest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier on Thursday and South Korea warned that Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia in exchange for helping with the war in Ukraine.
The top US diplomat said there were 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces continue to hold territory after fighting their way into the Russian border area in August.
At a press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts, Blinken said Russia has been training the North Korean soldiers in artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, and basic infantry operations, indicating they “fully intend” to use the forces in frontline operations.
They would become legitimate military targets if they enter the battlefield, Blinken said.
“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” he said. During their meeting, the US and South Korea discussed a range of options for responding, Blinken added, saying Moscow’s use of North Korean soldiers in its “meat grinder” war against Ukraine was a “clear sign of weakness.”
Austin said the US would announce new security assistance for Ukraine in coming days.
Blinken and his South Korea and Japanese counterparts condemned the ICBM launch as a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The flight-time of the missile was 87 minutes, according to South Korea, putting nearly all of the United States within range.
The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment when asked if Russia was helping North Korea to develop its missile and other military technology.
Blinken said Beijing, like Washington, should be very concerned about what Russia might be doing in order to enhance North Korea’s military capacities because it was destabilizing to Asia.


Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump

Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump

Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
  • The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan
  • ‘Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new [US] government’
KOROR, Palau: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Friday he was “confident” of deeper cooperation with the next Donald Trump administration, a day after his call with US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that angered China.
Like other world governments, Taiwan has publicly congratulated Trump on his victory in November’s presidential election as it seeks to get onside with the next US leader.
The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but Washington has long been Taipei’s biggest backer and provider of arms.
Trump caused jitters during his campaign by suggesting Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense and accusing the island of stealing the US semiconductor industry.
“Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new government to resist authoritarian expansion, and create prosperity and development for both countries while making more contributions to regional stability and peace,” Lai told reporters in Palau.
Lai arrived in the tiny Pacific island nation on Thursday after visiting the American territory of Guam where he spoke with Johnson – the highest-level US contact the Taiwanese leader has had during his week-long trip.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island. Beijing especially bristles at high-level official contact between Taipei and Washington.
A 2022 visit to Taiwan by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted China to launch military drills around the self-ruled island.
Beijing on Thursday urged the United States to “stop sending wrong signals” following the Lai-Johnson call, warning of the “serious danger that separatist acts of Taiwan independence pose to peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.”
In response to a question about possible Chinese military drills around Taiwan this weekend, Lai said “raising your fists is not as good as opening your hands.”
Lai also insisted that Taiwan and China were “not subordinate to each other.”
“No matter how many military exercises, warships and aircraft China sends to coerce neighboring countries, it cannot win the respect of any country,” Lai said.
Lai’s Pacific tour – his first overseas trip since taking office in May – is aimed at fortifying ties in the Pacific where China has been poaching its allies.
Palau is among 12 nations that still recognize Taiwan’s claim to statehood, after China convinced others to sever diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
Earlier, Lai and his Palau counterpart Surangel Whipps Jr watched a joint rescue exercise involving the Taiwan’s largest coast guard patrol ship and two vessels donated by Taiwan to Palau.
Before that, Lai attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new “one-stop” government services building in Palau that Taiwan helped fund.
Lai hailed the building project “a model of successful bilateral cooperation” and said the Taiwan-Palau alliance was “rock solid.”
The dispute between Taiwan and China goes back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
While Taiwan calls itself a sovereign nation, with its own government, military and currency, Beijing insists the island belongs to China and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control.
Taiwan faces the constant threat of a military attack by China, which regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island to press its claims, and it relies heavily on US arms sales to boost its defenses.
On the eve of Lai’s Pacific tour, the United States approved a proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16s and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at $385 million in total.
Speaking during a two-day visit to the US state of Hawaii on Saturday, Lai said there was a need to “fight together to prevent war,” warning there were “no winners” from conflict.
From Palau, Lai flies to Taipei on Friday, wrapping up a trip that also included visits to Taiwan’s other Pacific island allies the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.

New York police hunt brazen Manhattan gunman

New York police hunt brazen Manhattan gunman
Updated 06 December 2024
Follow

New York police hunt brazen Manhattan gunman

New York police hunt brazen Manhattan gunman
  • Masked killer used a pistol to gun down Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare – one of the country’s largest medical insurers
  • New York police commissioner: ‘Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack’

NEW YORK: New York police released a new security camera picture Thursday of the man believed to have shot a top health insurance executive at close range in a brazen daylight murder outside a Manhattan hotel.
The latest picture, in which the suspect’s face is uncovered and he is smiling or laughing, indicated progress in the manhunt after Wednesday’s shock killing.
In a hit conducted in front of bystanders and seen by millions on TV replays of security camera footage, the masked killer used a pistol to gun down Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare – one of the country’s largest medical insurers.
Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
Police have yet to suggest a motive and would not confirm a New York Times report that the words “delay” and “deny” – often used by insurance companies to reject claims – were written on shell casings found at the scene.
Video footage shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a man in a hoodie, and with his lower face covered, approaches from behind, then fires several shots at his 50-year-old victim, who crumples to the ground.
Camera footage showed the suspect fleeing on foot, before getting on a bicycle – which police initially said may have been a rented e-bike. Police said he went in the direction of Central Park.
“Every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” New York’s police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a briefing Wednesday.
US media on Thursday reported law enforcement sources said the suspected shooter traveled to New York via bus last month from Atlanta, Georgia, traversing a distance of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers).
NYPD chief of detectives Joseph Kenny would not confirm reports that a silencer was used on the pistol, saying that the question would be part of the investigation, but he did confirm that a cell phone had been recovered from the scene.
In the absence of an arrest, speculation has been rife that the gunman may have sought to take revenge for adverse medical coverage decisions made by the insurer.
Thompson’s wife Paulette Thompson, who is based in Minnesota, told the NBC News outlet that he had received unspecified threats.
“There had been some threats basically I don’t know – (over) a lack of coverage? I don’t know details,” said Thompson, who had two children with her late husband.
In a statement, UnitedHealth Group – the parent company of UHC – said it was “deeply saddened and shocked.”
UnitedHealthcare is a major player in the lucrative US health care market, providing workplace insurance, as well as administering huge health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid for older and low-income people funded by state budgets.
Police remained on the scene of the killing, and have been combing through Manhattan’s iconic Central Park with dogs and drones.
“We have a large detective agency. At any given hour, multiple detectives could be working on (the investigation),” an NYPD spokesman said.
“We will be using all our assets that we have.”
The spokesman said that there was no follow up briefing planned.
UnitedHealth Group had revenues of $100.8 billion in the third quarter of the year.
Thompson’s own compensation package in 2023 was $10.2 million according to a regulatory filing.
He had been chief executive of UnitedHealthcare since April 2021, according to a separate Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Before that, he oversaw UnitedHealthcare’s government programs including Medicare from July 2019 to April 2021.


Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue

Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue
Updated 06 December 2024
Follow

Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue

Australian leader blames antisemitism for arson that extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue
  • Fire broke out at 4:10 a.m. in the Adass Israel Synagogue when some congregants were already inside
  • Members of the congregation form human chain to remove religious items from the damaged synagogue

MELBOURNE: Arsonists extensively damaged a Melbourne synagogue on Friday in what Australia’s prime minister condemned as an antisemitic attack on Australian values.
The blaze in the Adass Israel Synagogue is an escalation in targeted attacks in Australia since the war began between Israel and Hamas last year. Cars and buildings have been vandalized and torched around Australia in protests inspired by the war.
A witness who had come to the synagogue to pray saw two masked men spreading a liquid accelerant with brooms inside the building at 4:10 a.m., officials said.
About 60 firefighters with 17 fire trucks responded to the blaze, which police said caused extensive damage.
Investigators have yet to identify a motive, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blamed antisemitism.
“This was a shocking incident to be unequivocally condemned. There is no place in Australia for an outrage such as this,” Albanese told reporters.
“To attack a place of worship is an attack on Australian values. To attack a synagogue is an act of antisemitism, is attacking the right that all Australians should have to practice their faith in peace and security,” he added.
Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon noted that dozens of pro-Palestinian activists staged a three-hour protest outside The Great Synagogue in downtown Sydney on Wednesday, demanding sanctions against Israel. Worshippers were prevented from leaving the synagogue during the demonstration.
“We are talking about the values you expect Australians to follow, not my own values. And for me it’s clear that everyone should have the right to worship his own religion, own beliefs, as long as they also respect others,” Maimon said.
A religious leader at the torched mosque, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, described the arsonists as “thugs.”
“Tonight is the Sabbath. We must all go and find a sense of calmness, comradery and community by gathering for the Sabbath tonight and praying together as one community,” Klatmann told reporters outside the synagogue.
Federal law in January banned the Nazi salute and the public display of Nazi symbols in response to growing antisemitism.
The government appointed special envoys this year to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in the community.
The Jewish envoy, Jillian Segal, a Sydney lawyer and business executive, said the Jewish community in Australia was “feeling ever more rattled by what is going on.”
“I’m very concerned. Here is one major escalation in terms of burning synagogues which has resonance as to what happened during the Holocaust,” Segal said.
Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan noted in a statement that the synagogue was “built by Holocaust survivors.”
Many of the synagogue’s original worshippers were post-World War II immigrants from Hungary.
Allan offered 100,000 Australian dollars ($64,300) to help repair the synagogue and said there would be an increased police presence in the area.
“Every available resource will be deployed to find these criminals who tried to tear a community apart,” Allan said.
“We stand against antisemitism now and forever,” she added.
Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the broader Australian community needed to condemn the arson attack.
“I’ve been getting phone calls this morning from the Hindu community, from other people, from good people who are prepared to stand up and that’s my message for this morning to Australia, to the good people of Australia,” Aghion told reporters.
“Don’t leave the Jewish people behind. Don’t isolate us. Don’t leave us exposed to the risk of attacks upon our religious institutions, our communal institutions. Stand with us. Stand against this hate. And stand against this kind of horrendous attack which should not occur on Australian soil,” he added.


Three climbers missing on New Zealand mountain believed dead: police

Three climbers missing on New Zealand mountain believed dead: police
Updated 06 December 2024
Follow

Three climbers missing on New Zealand mountain believed dead: police

Three climbers missing on New Zealand mountain believed dead: police
  • The trio were reported missing five days ago after failing to return from a climb

WELLINGTON: Three climbers who went missing on New Zealand’s tallest mountain are believed to have fallen to their deaths, police said Friday.

The climbers were identified as Americans Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, along with a Canadian whose name has been withheld in accordance with the family’s wishes.

The trio were reported missing five days ago after failing to return from a climb on Mount Cook, which rises 3,700-meter (12,000 feet) on the South Island.

“We do not believe the men have survived. We believe they have taken a fall,” local police inspector Vicki Walker said.

Dangerous weather had halted the search for three days, but on Friday conditions cleared enough to deploy a search helicopter and drones in the alpine terrain.

Search crews had previously recovered a jacket and ice axe among other items which police believe belonged to the climbers.

Drone footage on Friday also revealed footprints where police believe the trio had been traversing the slopes beneath the mountain’s Zurbriggen Ridge.

“After reviewing the number of days the climbers have been missing, no communication, the items we have retrieved, and our reconnaissance today, we do not believe the men have survived,” Walker said.

“This is certainly not the news we wanted to share today.”

Walker added police would restart their search if fresh information or credible sightings were reported.

The families of all three climbers have been contacted.


Trump appoints former PayPal COO David Sacks as AI and crypto czar

Trump appoints former PayPal COO David Sacks as AI and crypto czar
Updated 06 December 2024
Follow

Trump appoints former PayPal COO David Sacks as AI and crypto czar

Trump appoints former PayPal COO David Sacks as AI and crypto czar

US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he was appointing former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks as his artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, another step toward overhauling US policy.
“He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the US,” Trump said in a post on his social-media site Truth Social.
The crypto czar and other officials in Trump’s incoming administration such as the chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are expected to reshape US policy on digital currency along with a newly created crypto advisory council.
Trump’s tech backers generally want to see minimal regulation around AI and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying Washington would throttle growing innovative sectors with excessive rules.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he was nominating prominent Washington lawyer and crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the SEC, in a move celebrated by the industry.
Trump — who once labeled crypto a scam — embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
Bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday night, a milestone hailed even by skeptics as a coming-of-age for digital assets as investors bet on a friendly US administration to cement the place of cryptocurrencies in financial markets.
Born in South Africa, Sacks, 52, is a co-founder of venture capital firm Craft Ventures and an early leader of PayPal, a payment processing firm that was acquired by eBay in 2002.
Sacks is also a former chief executive of software company Zenefits and founded Yammer, a social network for enterprise users.
He was an early evangelist of cryptocurrencies, telling CNBC in a 2017 interview that he believed the rise of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was revolutionizing the Internet.
“It feels like we are witnessing the birth of a new kind of web. Some people have called it the decentralized web or the Internet of money,” he said.
Trump said Sacks will also lead a White House advisory council on science and technology.