North Korea says it now has ‘advanced hydrogen bomb’ as Trump, Abe discuss ‘escalating’ crisis

1 / 2
North #Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance on a nuclear weapons program in this undated photo released by North #Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on Sunday. (Reuters)
2 / 2
People watch a television news screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch, at a railway station in Seoul, in this August 29, 2017 photo. (AFP)
Updated 03 September 2017
Follow

North Korea says it now has ‘advanced hydrogen bomb’ as Trump, Abe discuss ‘escalating’ crisis

SEOUL: North Korea said on Sunday it has developed an advanced hydrogen bomb that possesses “great destructive power” as US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked by phone about the “escalating” nuclear crisis.
The report by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency comes amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang’s two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July that potentially could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the mainland United States within range.
Under third-generation leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has been pursuing a nuclear device small and light enough to fit on a long-range ballistic missile, without affecting its range and making it capable of surviving re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, “recently succeeded” in making a more advanced hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on to an ICBM, KCNA said.
“The H-bomb, the explosive power of which is adjustable from tens kiloton to hundreds kiloton, is a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals,” KCNA said.
“All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes ... were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Juche is North Korea’s homegrown ideology of self-reliance that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader’s grandfather. It says its weapons programs are needed to counter US aggression.
North Korea offered no evidence for its latest claim, and Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, was skeptical.
“Referring to tens to hundreds of kilotons, it doesn’t appear to be talking about a fully fledged H-bomb. It’s more likely a boosted nuclear device,” Kim said, referring to an atomic bomb which uses some hydrogen isotopes to boost explosive yield.
A hydrogen bomb can achieve thousands of kilotons of explosive yield — massively more powerful than some 10 to 15 kilotons that North Korea’s last nuclear test in September was estimated to have produced, similar to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

HOURGLASS-SHAPED DEVICE
Kim Jong Un, who visited the country’s nuclear weapons institute, “watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM” and “set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes,” KCNA said.
Pictures released by the agency showed Kim inspecting a silver-colored, hourglass-shaped warhead in the visit accompanied by nuclear scientists, with a concept diagram of its Hwasong-14 long-range ballistic missile seen hanging on the wall.
The shape shows a marked difference from pictures of the ball-shaped device North Korea released in March last year, and appears to indicate the appearance of a two-stage thermonuclear weapon, or a hydrogen bomb, said Lee Choon-geun, senior research fellow at state-run Science and Technology Policy Institute.
“The pictures show a more complete form of a possible hydrogen bomb, with a primary fission bomb and a secondary fusion stage connected together in an hourglass shape,” Lee said.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since last month when North Korea threatened to launch missiles into the sea near the strategically located US Pacific territory of Guam after Trump said Pyongyang would face “fire and fury” if it threatened the United States.
North Korea further raised regional tensions on Tuesday by launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, drawing international condemnation.
Trump and Abe spoke by phone and said that in face of an “escalating” situation with North Korea that close cooperation between their countries and with South Korea was needed, Abe told reporters.
Trump told Abe that the United States, as an ally, was 100 percent with Japan, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters.
“The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea in the face of the growing threat from North Korea,” the White House said in a statement. “President Trump noted that he looks forward to continued trilateral coordination on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.”
The United States has repeatedly urged China, the North’s sole major ally, to do more to rein in its neighbor.
Experts and officials have said North Korea could conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, and that the reclusive country has maintained a readiness at its nuclear test site to conduct another detonation.
The KCNA report made no mention of plans for a sixth nuclear test.
US officials have told Reuters that while North Korea has had parts in place for a nuclear detonation going back several months, no new activity had been seen recently at its known nuclear test site in Punggye-ri in its northeastern region.
North Korea last year conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests, saying the fourth in January 2016 was a successful hydrogen bomb test, although outside experts say the claim has not been proved.
Earthquakes triggered by North Korean nuclear tests have gradually increased in magnitude since Pyongyang’s first test in 2006, indicating it is steadily improving the destructive power of its nuclear technology.
Its fifth nuclear test in September 2016 was measured to be possibly North Korea’s biggest detonation ever, but the earthquake it caused was still not believed to be big enough to demonstrate a thermonuclear test.
Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States.


On Ukraine’s front and in Kyiv, hope and pragmatism compete when it comes to Trump’s election

Updated 57 min 14 sec ago
Follow

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

Updated 06 November 2024
Follow

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

Updated 06 November 2024
Follow

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.”


Russia’s grain policies help Ukraine secure sales

Updated 06 November 2024
Follow

Russia’s grain policies help Ukraine secure sales

  • Egypt’s state grains buyer GASC bought 290,000 metric tons of wheat
  • Russia was kept out of the sale due to unofficial policies to prevent a price spike at home as the country seeks to combat inflation partly fueled by military spending

HAMBURG/CAIRO: Russia’s curbs on wheat exports have inadvertently helped Ukraine secure lucrative sales to Egypt this week while also inflating prices for the world’s top importer, traders said.
Egypt’s state grains buyer GASC bought 290,000 metric tons of wheat in an international tender on Monday. The purchase included 120,000 tons from Ukraine as well as 120,000 tons from Romania and 50,000 tons from Bulgaria.
Russia, the world’s top wheat exporter and Egypt’s most important supplier, was kept out of the sale due to unofficial policies to prevent a price spike at home as the country seeks to combat inflation partly fueled by military spending.
The restrictions, mostly not officially announced, include a minimum export price, export taxes and limiting sales of Russian grain by foreign trading houses.
“Had Russian exporters been allowed to offer realistic market prices, which would be much lower, I think they would have pretty much wiped up the Egyptian sale,” one trader said.
“The Russian moves are making Ukrainian supplies look more attractive, especially to importers in a difficult financial state like Egypt,” the trader added.
Russia’s agriculture ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether government grain export policies had led to the loss of business to Ukraine at this week’s Egyptian tender.
A trader in Ukraine said the Russian restrictions had provided more opportunites although the country had already realized about 60 percent of its potential sales this year.
“The cheapest supplier is leaving, so it’s probably not who wins but who loses,” the trader said, referring to how Russian policies could raise the cost of wheat for importers.
Hesham Soliman, a trader in Egypt, said Russia was holding off waiting for prices to rise and profitability to increase.
“This isn’t just about Russian export restrictions. Russia knows it controls the market and is acting accordingly,” he said, adding Egypt’s state buyer had pushed back by purchasing Black Sea wheat from other sources.
Noamany Nasr, a former adviser to Egypt’s supply ministry, said Russia frequently introduced subtle barriers to curb its own exports, whether to raise prices or for internal reasons.
“Ironically, this benefits Russia’s competitors.”
Egypt’s supply ministry said on Tuesday that after the purchase it now has strategic reserves for five months of consumption although traders expect it will need to secure additional supplies in coming months.
“There’s still supply in Romania where farmers have been holding onto a lot of their crop,” another European trader said.
“In Bulgaria, supply is gradually getting tighter. In Ukraine, there’s not a huge amount left, though they haven’t been shipping as vigorously as the Russians.”


Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019

Updated 06 November 2024
Follow

Kashmir assembly demands restoration of special status revoked by Modi in 2019

  • Kashmir lost semi-autonomy when PM Narendra Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of Constitution
  • All parties in the assembly supported the move except for lawmakers from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party

NEW DELHI: The newly elected assembly of Jammu and Kashmir passed on Wednesday a resolution requesting the Indian government to start talks for the restoration of the region’s special status.
Kashmir lost its semi-autonomy in August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and downgraded it from state to union territory.
Article 370 acknowledged the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of autonomy and its ability to formulate laws for its permanent residents.
The region has been under direct control of New Delhi since, with India’s Parliament as its main legislator, but last month the territory elected its local legislative assembly, with voters choosing representatives in opposition to Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The election was the first in 10 years, with the restoration of statehood being a main promise of all contenders, including the BJP.
The National Conference, the oldest party in Kashmir, won the polls and formed a government led by Omar Abdullah, who had earlier served as the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and 2014.
Wednesday’s resolution was filed by Abdullah’s deputy, Surinder Kumar Choudhary.
“This assembly upon the Government of India to initiate dialogue with elected representatives of people of Jammu and Kashmir for restoration of special status, constitutional guarantees and to work out constitutional mechanisms for restoring these provisions,” the resolution read.
“This Legislative Assembly reaffirms the importance of the special status and constitutional guarantees, which safeguarded the identity, culture, and rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses concern over their unilateral removal.”
All parties in the 90-member assembly supported the resolution except for 29 BJP lawmakers.
After the revocation of Article 370, a series of administrative changes followed, with the Indian government removing protections on land and jobs for the local population, which many in the Muslim-majority region likened to attempts at demographically altering it.
While the restoration of Kashmir’s statehood was on the table, with the region’s New Delhi-appointed lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha bringing it up earlier this week, the assembly’s call to restore the special status and protections came as a surprise.
“It was a surprise, but it was expected. It was not expected that this would happen quickly. The NC in its manifesto was committed to do it,” Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, political science lecturer from the University of Kashmir, told Arab News.
“That is implied that the with the special status statehood, too, would be restored.”
The wording of the resolution, which did not mention Article 370 of the Constitution, allowed room for negotiation with New Delhi.
“They have not asked for the restoration of Article 370 they have asked for the safeguarding of culture, identity and rights of the people,” Baba said.
“On the face of it, it looks difficult for New Delhi to accept the demand for special status. But there is also a window open here. It can be a negotiated kind of relationship, which can be symbolically different from Article 370.”
An agreement could also help improve India’s relationship with Pakistan, he said, and become a “basis for that.”
Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. Indian-controlled Kashmir has, for decades, witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.