SEOUL: A fresh North Korean missile test failed when it exploded after launch Sunday, the US military said, a day after Pyongyang defiantly showcased its ballistic arsenal at a giant military parade.
The failure, which is likely to be seen as something of a public embarrassment for the regime, came amid soaring tensions in the region over the North’s nuclear weapons ambitions.
“The missile blew up almost immediately,” the US Defense Department said of the early morning launch which was also detected by the South Korean military.
Neither was able to determine immediately what kind of missile was used in the test, the timing of which appeared very deliberately chosen.
It came after North Korea displayed nearly 60 missiles — including what is suspected to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile — at a parade on Saturday to mark the 105th birthday of its founder Kim Il-Sung.
The missile failure also came hours ahead of a visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to South Korea where the North’s weapons program will top the agenda.
North Korea has a habit of firing off missiles to mark major political anniversaries, or as gestures of defiance to top US officials visiting the region.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the latest test but had “no further comment.”
Sunday’s launch was carried out around dawn from Sinpo, a site on North Korea’s east coast where it has a shipyard.
“It is likely that this launch is a test for a new type of missile or an upgrade so the possibility is high for further provocation in the near future,” Kim Dong-Yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said.
In August last year, a submarine-launched ballistic missile tested from Sinpo flew 500 kilometers (300 miles) toward Japan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un hailed that test as the “greatest success” and said it brought the US mainland within range of a mobile delivery system.
Pyongyang’s rogue atomic ambitions have come into sharp focus in recent weeks, with Trump vowing a tough stance against the North and threatening unilateral action if China failed to help curb its neighbor’s nuclear program.
Trump has repeatedly said he will prevent Pyongyang from its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.
With speculation mounting that the North is preparing to conduct a sixth nuclear test, he sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula — a pointed gesture in the wake of the recent US missile strike on Syria.
The North has reiterated its constant refrain that it is ready for “war” with the US, and its army vowed Friday a “merciless” response to any US provocation.
Recent satellite images suggest the North’s main nuclear site is “primed and ready,” according to specialist US website 38North, and White House officials say military options are “already being assessed.”
China, the North’s sole major ally, and Russia have both urged restraint, with Beijing’s foreign minister Wang Yi warning that “conflict could break out at any moment.”
The UN Security Council has imposed six sets of sanctions against the North since its first nuclear test in 2006 — all of which have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.
Pyongyang has carried out five nuclear tests — two of them last year — and multiple missile launches, one of which saw three rockets come down in waters provocatively close to Japan last month.
Pyongyang has yet to formally announce it has an operational ICBM, but experts and intelligence officials have warned it could be less than two years away from achieving an inter-continental strike capability.
Operational submarine-launched devices could give the North the ability to strike without warning from a vessel somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
They could also reduce the effectiveness of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, which Washington and Seoul are deploying to the South to counter missile threats, to the fury of Beijing.
N. Korea missile test fails after showcase parade
N. Korea missile test fails after showcase parade
Trump’s Middle East peace promise wins over Muslim voters
Now, his new supporters are celebrating his victory and confident he will deliver as Israel continues its 13-month siege of Gaza and bombardment of neighboring Lebanon.
In Dearborn, America’s largest Arab-American enclave, preliminary results showed Trump narrowly eking out first place — a dramatic swing from 2020, when outgoing president Joe Biden won handily.
This time around, the left-leaning vote fractured between Vice President Kamala Harris and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
“People got the message that Trump is trying to bring peace to the Middle East and to the whole world,” said Bill Bazzi, the Lebanese-American mayor of neighboring Dearborn Heights, speaking to AFP from a late-night hookah bar gathering that transformed into an early-morning party.
Bazzi dismissed what he called the media’s distortion of Trump’s previous “Muslim ban,” insisting it was only a matter of closer vetting of select unstable countries to prevent Daesh militants from getting into the United States.
A Marine veteran who campaigned for Trump in his closing rallies, he added he had been in contact with high-level members of the incoming administration who assured him that “one of the things (Trump) is pushing is to stop the war — he wants more diplomacy.”
Others, like Yemeni-American activist and real estate agent Samra’a Luqman, were defiant.
Like other Arab Americans, she was outraged by the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering military and diplomatic support for Israel in the Gaza and Lebanon conflicts, where the civilian death tolls continue to soar.
“They can blame us for Harris’ loss. I want them to,” she said. “It was my community that said, ‘If you commit genocide, we will hold you accountable for it.’“
The Trump team also did what Harris notably did not: show up in Dearborn.
Her campaign’s decision to ally with former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney — a vocal Iraq War advocate — also alienated many Arabs.
Trump’s outreach, on the other hand, benefited from a new link to the community: Lebanese-American Michael Boulos, who is married to his daughter Tiffany Trump.
Boulos’ father Massad was a key emissary for the campaign.
Still, skepticism lingers.
While Trump struck a note of peace, he simultaneously touted his status as Israel’s strongest ally, even going so far as to promise Prime Minister Netanyahu he would “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
“Yes, he said ‘finish the job,’ but when I inquired exactly what that means, I was told ‘stop the war,’” insisted Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump.
“He’s said it, and he’ll do it. Trump has proven he does what he says.”
North Korean troops engaged in combat in Kursk for first time, US officials say
- One of the officials said they took part in combat on November 4
- Earlier this week the Pentagon said that there were at least 10,000 North Korean troops in Kursk
WASHINGTON: North Korean troops were engaged in combat in Russia’s Kursk in recent days for the first time, two US officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
One of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they took part in combat on November 4. The officials did not say whether there were any North Korean casualties and did not provide further details on the engagement.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the first battles between the Ukrainian military and North Korean troops “open a new page in instability in the world” after his defense minister said a “small engagement” had taken place.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed, in an interview with South Korean television, that the first engagement had occurred with North Korean troops, an apparent escalation in a conflict that began when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this week the Pentagon said that there were at least 10,000 North Korean troops in Kursk, adding that between 11,000 and 12,000 troops were in Russia all together.
On Ukraine’s front and in Kyiv, hope and pragmatism compete when it comes to Trump’s election
- It was under Trump that the United States first sent weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in 2017
- Zelensky was among the first world leaders to publicly congratulate Trump
KYIV: Soldiers in a Ukrainian artillery battery on the front lines of the country’s east were only vaguely aware of American election results pointing to Donald Trump’s victory Wednesday — but firm in their hopes for the next president of the United States.
Their entrenched artillery battery fires on Russian forces daily — and takes fire nearly as often. Just the other day, one of their overhead nets snared a Russian drone.
“I hope that the quantity of weapons, the quantity of guns for our victory will increase,” the unit’s 39-year-old commander, who goes by the name Mozart, said in the hours before Trump’s win was confirmed. “We don’t care who is the president, as long as they don’t cut us off from help, because we need it.”
Though Trump’s election throws into doubt American support for Ukraine — and ultimately whether Kyiv can beat back Russia’s invasion — the soldiers who use their Starlink connection to the Internet sparingly learned of the results from Associated Press journalists.
Mozart — who other soldiers Wednesday did not give his name in keeping with Ukrainian military protocol and has given musical monikers to the battlefield positions — is among many Ukrainians who hope that Trump will hold the line on American support for their country. Russian forces have recently made gains in the east, although the commander described the front-line situation as “static.”
It was under Trump that the United States first sent weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in 2017. Those Javelin anti-tank missiles were crucial to Ukraine’s ability to fend off the full-scale invasion in 2022. But Trump overall is wary of US involvement in foreign conflicts.
Trump, who has touted his good relationship with President Vladimir Putin and called the Russian leader “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine, has repeatedly criticized American backing of Ukraine. He characterized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “the greatest salesman on Earth” for winning US aid.
Zelensky was among the first world leaders to publicly congratulate Trump and said the two discussed how to end “Russian aggression against Ukraine” when they met in September.
“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together,” he wrote on in a message on the social platform X.
Trump has said repeatedly he would have a peace deal done between Ukraine and Russia within a day if elected, although he has not said how. During his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, he twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted Ukraine to win — raising concerns that Kyiv would be forced to accept unfavorable terms in any negotiations he oversaw.
In Kyiv, which comes under attack from Russian drones near daily, 18-year-old Viktoriia Zubrytska was pragmatic about her expectations for the next American president. She thinks Ukraine will be forced to give up territory in exchange for peace under a Trump presidency. But she said she preferred that to what she called the false hope that the Biden administration offered.
“We will live in a world of facts where we will be certain on what awaits us,” said the law student. “Certainty and objective truth is much better than lies and life in illusions.”
According to VoteCast, 74 percent of voters who supported Harris favored continuing aid to Ukraine, while only 36 percent of Trump’s voters did. AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
On the front lines in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, Andriy, who goes by “Rodych” or “Relative,” was resigned to the fact that he has no power to influence the American vote.
“We will come up with something” whatever happens, he said.
“We are a shield between Europe and Russia,” he added. “Other countries do not understand what is happening here, they see it on TV and for them it is far away.”
America’s NATO allies were also closely watching the election. France and Germany arranged a last-minute, top-level defense meeting Wednesday in Paris to discuss the results, and Ukraine is likely to be central to the meeting. The two leading powers in the European Union provide significant support to Ukraine to defend it against Russia’s war.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, citing a “more aggressive Russia,” also invoked Trump’s motto of “peace through strength.”
Rutte praised Trump for his work during his first term to persuade countries in the alliance to ramp up defense spending.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information on whether Putin plans to congratulate Trump but emphasized that Moscow views the US as an “unfriendly” country.
Peskov reaffirmed the Kremlin’s claim that the US support for Ukraine amounted to its involvement in the conflict, telling reporters: “Let’s not forget that we are talking about, the unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state.”
Still, he noted Trump’s promise to end the war swiftly once elected.
“The US can help end the conflict,” Peskov said, adding that “it certainly can’t be done overnight.”
Italian ship heads back to Albania with eight migrants
- Italy sent an initial group of 16 migrants to Albania last month, but they were all brought back within days
- Only eight migrants were dispatched toward Albania on Wednesday from where they had been rescued near the island of Lampedusa
ROME: An Italian navy ship set sail for Albania on Wednesday carrying a second small group of migrants, with Rome looking to salvage a controversial plan to process asylum seekers abroad after a first attempt hit legal hurdles.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government hopes that taking boat migrants to guarded camps in Albania rather than letting them enter Italy will act as a deterrence to others considering making the dangerous sea crossing to Europe.
Italy sent an initial group of 16 migrants to Albania last month, but they were all brought back within days, the majority of them after a Rome court ruled they could not be held in the Balkan country due to concerns over their legal status.
Only eight migrants were dispatched toward Albania on Wednesday from where they had been rescued near the island of Lampedusa, suggesting the government was treading softly, testing to see if it could overcome the October impasse.
The first group of migrants came from Egypt and Bangladesh, two of 22 countries that Italy had classified as safe, meaning the government believed they could be rapidly repatriated.
However, the Rome judges questioned this, pointing to a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which said a country outside the EU cannot be declared safe unless its entire territory is deemed free of danger.
As a result, all those in Albania were brought to Italy, where they were put in unguarded reception centers.
Infuriated by the decision, Meloni’s cabinet upgraded the legal status of its list of safe countries, making it an act of law rather than a lesser ministerial decree, believing this means it will be harder for courts to challenge its validity.
The military did not say where the new group of asylum-seekers came from. Italian newspapers had speculated at the weekend that the government might focus on Tunisians, because their country was deemed more stable than many others.
Italy has built two reception centers in Albania, in the first scheme by a European Union nation to divert migrants to a non-EU country. The facilities in Shengjin and Gjader are staffed by Italian personnel.
Under the deal with Tirana, the total number of migrants present at one time in Albania cannot be more than 3,000.
Italy has said only “non-vulnerable” men from safe countries would be sent to there, imposing a limit of 36,000 a year.
Bangladesh records rise in skilled migration with Saudi Arabia as top destination
- Out of 700,000 Bangladeshis going abroad for work this year, 374,000 chose the Kingdom
- KSA launched a new employment scheme in Bangladesh last year to upgrade workers’ skills
DHAKA: The migration of skilled Bangladeshi workers abroad has been on the rise since the beginning of the year, with most seeking employment in Saudi Arabia’s giga-projects.
Out of almost 700,000 who sought employment abroad this year, more than 374,000 went to Saudi Arabia, which since 2017 has been the preferred destination among Bangladeshi expats.
The Kingdom was followed by Malaysia and Qatar, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
“Due to several ongoing giga-projects, Saudi Arabia is in high demand for migrant workers,” BMET additional secretary Shah Abdul Tarique told Arab News.
“Recently, we noticed an increase in the export of skilled migrants. Many of our construction workers go to Saudi Arabia under skilled categories. There are many drivers and electricians also employed as skilled workers.”
Saudi Arabia has launched a number of giga-projects under its Vision 2030 transformation plan, including the multibillion-dollar NEOM smart city that is overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi officials launched the Workers’ Recruitment and Skill Verification Program in Bangladesh last February, aimed at advancing the professional competence of employees in the Saudi labor market.
It focuses on several professions, including plumbers, electricians and construction workers.
BMET had set up at least 150 technical centers upon the program’s launch, offering free training to support prospective Bangladeshi migrant workers seeking employment in the Kingdom.
“We are also focusing on preparing the training centers more with market-driven equipment and logistics,” Tarique said.
“Our private sector recruiting agents are working sincerely to be attached more with the Saudi giga-projects. If this trend continues, I think our skilled manpower exports to the Kingdom will increase in the coming period.”
Friendly ties between the two countries have also driven Bangladeshi migrant workers to choose Saudi Arabia, said Shariful Hasan, head of the migration program at the country’s largest development organization, BRAC.
“They feel much more comfortable while working in the Kingdom. It’s a diversified market for us as both skilled and unskilled migrants are being employed together,” Hasan told Arab News.
“Starting from construction to many other job fields, Saudi Arabia is now looking for skilled workers from Bangladesh. That’s why our number of skilled workers increased in the Kingdom.”
Hasan said that skilled Bangladeshi migrants are also being employed in the IT and financial sectors, as the Kingdom seeks to establish itself as a global investment powerhouse with sophisticated digital infrastructure.
“It will be an excellent approach if we can prepare our technical training centers in line with the demands of the Saudi giga-projects,” he said. “These migrants will be able to earn better in the kingdom and eventually send better remittances to Bangladesh.”
