SEOUL: North and South Korea on Wednesday reopened a cross-border hotline which had been shut down since 2016, forging ahead with peace overtures despite taunts from US President Donald Trump who said he has a “much bigger” nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un.
The hotline was restored at 0630 GMT after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North’s leader, who has offered to send a team to next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.
“The phone conversation lasted 20 minutes,” a South Korean Unification Ministry official said, adding details were not known immediately.
Kim’s overtures to the South marked a rare softening in tone. Tensions have surged in recent months following a flurry of North Korean missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test yet.
Seoul responded with an offer to hold talks on January 9 — the first since 2015 — to discuss “matters of mutual interest” including the North’s Olympic participation.
But Kim’s New Year address also included a warning to the US that he has a “nuclear button” on his table, prompting a furious response from Trump via Twitter.
“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’
“Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” he said.
The tweet generated Twitter responses largely of scorn and alarm.
“This borders on presidential malpractice,” said Democratic Senator Ed Markey.
“Our President is a child. ‘Mine is bigger than yours’ may sound tough on the playground, but this is no juvenile affair. Literally millions of lives are at stake,” tweeted Colin Kahl, a former national security adviser to then Vice President Joe Biden.
But Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley maintained the tough line, playing down Seoul’s offer to hold talks. These would be a “band-aid” unless denuclearization was also up for discussion, she said.
US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert also warned that Kim “may be trying to drive a wedge of some sort between the two nations — between our nation and the Republic of Korea (South Korea).”
But the tentative rapprochement seemed to be moving ahead on Wednesday, with Kim welcoming Seoul’s support for his overtures, according to Ri Son-gwon, the head of North Korea’s agency handling inter-Korean affairs.
The two countries, divided by a Demilitarized Zone since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, last held high-level talks in 2015 to try to ease tensions.
The hotline in the border truce village of Panmunjom remained operational until February 2016. It was shut down when relations worsened over a dispute involving the jointly operated and now closed Kaesong industrial complex.
Seoul welcomed Pyongyang’s decision to reopen the hotline as “very significant.”
Its President Moon Jae-In has long favored engagement with the North, but the Trump administration insists the regime must give up its weapons drive before any negotiations can take place.
North Korea has shrugged off a series of tougher sanctions and heightened rhetoric from Washington as it drives forward with its weapons program.
It says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from a hostile Washington and has striven to create a warhead capable of targeting the US mainland with an atomic warhead.
Moon on Tuesday welcomed Kim’s olive branch as a “positive response” to Seoul’s hopes that the Pyeongchang Olympics would be a “groundbreaking opportunity for peace.”
But any rapprochement between the two countries would take place against a backdrop of suspicion, if not outright hostility, by Washington. Trump and Kim have exchanged angry insults since the US leader took office a year ago.
Trump has mocked Kim as “fat” and a “little rocket man.” Kim, for his part has described Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard.”
Twitter reaction to Trump’s “button” remark was largely scornful.
Go Myong-Hyun, of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said North Korea was using the South as a “shield” as it tries to fend off sanctions and pressure from the US.
“If the South becomes the North’s dialogue partner, the US-South Korea alliance will face difficulties,” he said.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un orders border hotline with Seoul reopened
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un orders border hotline with Seoul reopened
Cartel recruitment at heart of Mexico’s missing persons crisis
- Jalisco New Generation Cartel lures recruits with fake job adverts, according to the government
- Disappearances have soared in Mexico since the government declared war on drug trafficking
The discovery of bones, shoes and clothing at a ranch in the western state of Jalisco has shone a spotlight on the ruthless tactics of violent criminal groups in a country where more than 120,000 people are missing.
Cruz’s husband Fermin Hernandez, then 33, was kidnapped in 2021 from his home in the town of Tala near the Izaguirre ranch by gunmen who shot him in the leg.
She spotted what she believes are his personal items, including a wallet and T-shirt, in images released by a civil society group that went to look for the remains of missing persons at the site last month.
“I felt a lot of pain, a lot of sadness,” the 31-year-old restaurant worker told AFP, her husband’s image and the words “your wife is looking for you” printed on her long-sleeved T-shirt.
According to the government, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump, lured recruits with fake job adverts.
They were given firearms and other training at the Izaguirre ranch, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said last month, based on the testimony of an alleged cartel recruiter who was arrested.
“They even took the lives of people who resisted the training or tried to escape,” he said.
Disappearances have soared in Mexico since the government declared war on drug trafficking groups in 2006.
Around 480,000 people have been murdered in a spiral of violence since then.
Veronica Cruz – of no relation to Rubi Cruz – fears her son Robert Reyes is also a victim of forced recruitment by a drug cartel.
The teenager disappeared a year ago after traveling to Jalisco, lured by an offer of work painting houses.
Robert’s mother, 42, believes he was also at the Izaguirre ranch because he once sent a message from the area.
She had tried to keep him away from the neighborhood’s gangs and drugs, but said she never imagined her son would be forced to join a cartel.
At the age of 16, the high school dropout traveled from his home in a suburb near Mexico City to Jalisco a year ago to earn money to buy a motorcycle, disobeying his mother.
Weeks later, he called his sister, crying.
“I’m a hitman. My friend was just killed... If I don’t get out of here, I’ll watch over you from heaven,” he said, according to his mother.
Later, a man who said he was Robert’s friend wrote to his sister via social media to tell her that he had died in a shootout.
“I thought hitmen wanted to do that work. I never thought cartels were taking people away,” his mother said.
The government says it has taken down dozens of social media pages recruiting for criminal groups.
But on video-sharing app TikTok, jobs are still offered in Jalisco with “meals and lodging,” featuring nicknames for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Jalisco state accounts for 12 percent of the roughly 127,000 missing people in Mexico, mainly young men.
Many disappearances are linked to forced recruitment because gangs need armies to control their territory and to generate illicit income, according to Jorge Ramirez, a researcher at the University of Guadalajara.
The victims are often poor young people without access to education, he said.
In 2024, around 30 young people were reported to have disappeared after attending what they believed would be job interviews in the Jalisco state capital Guadalajara.
Despite her fears, Rubi Cruz still hopes to find her husband alive.
Veronica Cruz’s optimism has waned, but she still wants answers.
“Maybe I’m not looking for justice, but I want to know where my son is – whatever it takes,” she said.
Trump tariffs threaten the survival of the centuries-old Kashmiri carpet industry
- Carpet exports from India to the United States are valued at approximately $1.2 billion
- The steep 28 percent tariff means these carpets will become more expensive in the US market
SRINAGAR: Mohammad Yousuf Dar and his wife, Shameema, sit cross-legged before their loom, deftly tying consecutive knots to create the floral patterns of the famed Kashmiri carpets that are now threatened by the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs.
Genuine hand-knotted Kashmiri carpets are typically made from pure silk, and sometimes pure wool, which is more challenging. Generations of artisans have for centuries handed down the craft to ensure its survival, and while the carpets are sold for quite a sum, most craftspeople can barely make ends meet.
“I just help my husband so that we have a modicum of decent income to run our household,” Shameema, 43, said as she and Mohamad rhythmically plucked at the colorful silk threads in their dimly lit workshop in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar. They periodically glance at a yellowed scrap of paper, known as Taleem, or instructions, showcasing the pattern they are working on in an ancient shorthand of symbols and numbers and a cryptic color map.
Both learned the craft at the ages of 9 and 10, respectively.
The industry has survived decades of conflict over the disputed region between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan and withstood the fickleness of fashion to stay in demand, adorning mansions and museums alike.
However, Kashmiri traders say that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on American imports can deal a hard blow to an already threatened business that is vying to survive amid mass-produced carpets, which are less costly, and artisans abandoning the industry.
Although the tariffs were primarily aimed at major exporters like China, they’ve inadvertently ensnared traditional handicraft industries from regions like Kashmir, which depend on US and European markets for survival.
Carpet exports from India to the US alone are valued at approximately $1.2 billion, out of a total global export value of $2 billion, according to official data.
Mohamad, 50, said he is the only weaver left out of over 100 who shifted to other jobs some two decades back in his neighborhood in Srinagar city’s old downtown.
“I spend months knotting a single rug,” he said, “but if there is no demand, our skills feel worthless,” he added.
Still, thousands of families in Kashmir rely on this craft for their livelihood and the steep 28 percent tariff imposed means the imported carpets will become significantly more expensive for American consumers and retailers.
“If these carpets are going to be more expensive in America, does that mean our wages will rise too?” Mohamad asked.
Not likely.
The increased cost to consumers in the US doesn’t translate into higher wages for weavers, experts say, but rather often leads to reduced orders, lower incomes, and growing uncertainty for the artisans.
This price hike could also push buyers toward cheaper, machine-made alternatives, leaving Kashmiri artisans in the lurch.
Insiders say that unless international trade policies shift to protect traditional industries, Kashmir’s hand-knotted legacy may continue to fray until it disappears.
Wilayat Ali, a Kashmiri carpet supplier, said his trading partner, who exports the carpets to the US, Germany and France, has already canceled at least a dozen orders already in the making.
“The exporter also returned some dozen carpets,” he said.
“It boils down to the hard arithmetic of profit and loss,” Ali explained. “They don’t see thousands of knots in a carpet that takes months to make.”
Vatican’s solemn run-up to Easter opens with recovering Pope Francis improving but on the sidelines
- Pontiff, who survived a life-threatening bout of double pneumonia this winter, is expected to make some appearances
- By all indications he is continuing to improve after his hospital stay and is slowly resuming some of his normal activities
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican on Thursday opened the most solemn period of Holy Week with a recovering Pope Francis largely on the sidelines, as cardinals were designated to take his place presiding over the most important liturgical services leading up to Easter.
The 88-year-old Francis, who survived a life-threatening bout of double pneumonia this winter, is expected to make some appearances, however. He made a surprise cameo at the end of Palm Sunday Mass last weekend and in recent days has made some unannounced visits – including one in which he wasn’t dressed in his papal white cassock – to pray in St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Mary Major basilica across town.
By all indications he is continuing to improve after his five-week hospital stay and is slowly resuming some of his normal activities. In recent outings, he has been seen without the nasal tubes that provide supplemental oxygen and Vatican officials say he is increasingly less reliant on the therapy.
On Wednesday, Francis held his first formal group audience since returning to the Vatican on March 23, meeting with the medical staff of the Gemelli hospital who cared for him during his 38-day stay. Gathered in a Vatican audience hall, Francis thanked the 70-plus doctors, nurses and administrators and asked them for their continued prayers.
“Thank you for everything you did,” Francis said, his voice still labored but seemingly stronger as he continues respiratory and physical therapy.
He gave special thanks to the rector of Gemelli’s affiliated Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Elena Beccalli, whom he praised for her strong leadership. “When women command, things go well,” he said in his longest public remarks since his hospitalization.
Francis has delegated the demanding Holy Week liturgical celebrations to hand-picked cardinals, but the Vatican says the pope himself composed the meditations that will be read aloud by others during the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession on Friday night at Rome’s Colosseum.
The Holy Thursday Mass, for example, during which the oils used in liturgical rituals throughout the year are blessed, was being celebrated by the retired head of the Vatican’s patrimony office, Cardinal Domenico Calcagno. Friday’s solemn commemoration of the crucifixion of Christ was assigned to Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, who heads the Vatican office in charge of eastern rite Catholics. Easter Sunday was assigned to the retired administrator of St. Peter’s, Cardinal Angelo Comastri.
It remains to be seen how Francis will handle Easter Sunday’s traditional “Urbi et Orbi” speech and blessing (Latin for “to the city and the world”). Normally the pope delivers a sometimes lengthy discourse on the state of the world from the loggia of St. Peter’s, and then imparts a special blessing to the faithful in the piazza below. In theory someone else could read the speech while Francis could impart the blessing.
Francis was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 with bronchitis that quickly developed into a life-threatening case of double pneumonia. Upon his release March 23, doctors proscribed two months of convalescence at the Vatican with daily respiratory and physical therapy to improve his breathing and vocal function. With time, they have predicted he will be able to resume his normal activities.
Mass drone attack kills three, injures at least 30 in Ukraine’s Dnipro, governor says
- Pictures posted online showed a large blaze and firefighters working at the scene well into the night
A Russian mass drone attack killed three people, including a child, and injured many more on Wednesday evening in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor said.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that 30 people had been injured, including five children. Sixteen people were being treated in hospital.
The attack triggered several fires.
Mayor Borys Filatov said one strike came within 100 meters (110 yards) of the municipal offices. He also said at least 15 dwellings had been damaged, as well as a student residence, an educational institution and a food processing plant.
Pictures posted online showed a large blaze and firefighters working at the scene well into the night, as well as gutted vehicles and buildings with smashed windows and damaged facades.
In northeastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said a Russian missile attack injured two people in the town of Izium. The town was captured by Russian troops in the early days of the February 2022 invasion, but was retaken by Ukrainian forces later in the year.
Colombia declares health emergency due to yellow fever cases, deaths
- The outbreak has resulted in 74 confirmed cases and 34 deaths since the start of last year
- Most critical situation is in Tolima, in central-west Colombia, where 22 cases have been detected
BOGOTA: The Colombian government declared a nationwide health emergency late on Wednesday due to an increase in yellow fever cases.
The outbreak has resulted in 74 confirmed cases and 34 deaths since the start of last year, said Health Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo.
Yellow fever is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of Aedes and Haemagogus mosquitoes.
Jaramillo said the most critical situation is in Tolima, in central-west Colombia, where 22 cases have been detected.
