SEOUL: North Korea fired a missile toward the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, as Pyongyang called on the United States and South Korea to scrap their “double standards” on weapons programs to restart talks.
The missile was launched from the central north province of Jagang at around 6:40a.m., the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s defense ministry said it appeared to be a ballistic missile, without elaborating.
The latest test underscored the steady development of North Korea’s weapons systems, raising the stakes for stalled talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals in return for US sanctions relief.
The launch came just before North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations urged the United States to give up its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and said no one could deny his country’s right to self-defense and to test weapons.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in ordered aides to conduct a detailed analysis of the North’s recent moves.
“We regret that the missile was fired at a time when it was very important to stabilize the situation of the Korean peninsula,” defense ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan told a briefing.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said the launch highlighted “the destabilizing impact” of the North’s illicit weapons programs, while the US State Department also condemned the test.
At the UN General Assembly, North Korea’s UN envoy, Kim Song, said the country was shoring up its self-defense and if the United States dropped its hostile policy and “double standards,” it would respond “willingly at any time” to offers to talks.
“But it is our judgment that there is no prospect at the present stage for the US to really withdraw its hostile policy,” Kim said.
Referring to a call by Moon last week for a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim said Washington needed to permanently stop joint military exercises with South Korea and remove “all kinds of strategic weapons” on and around the peninsula.
The United States stations various cutting edge military assets including nuclear bombers and fighter jets in South Korea, Guam and Japan as part of efforts to keep not only North Korea but also an increasingly assertive China in check.
Kim’s speech was in line with Pyongyang’s recent criticism that Seoul and Washington denounce its weapons development while continuing their own military activities.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has said the North is willing to improve inter-Korean ties and consider another summit if Seoul abandons its double standards and hostile policy toward Pyongyang.
“The conditions she suggested were essentially to demand that the North be accepted as a nuclear weapons state,” said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul.
“Their goal is to achieve that prestige and drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington, taking advantage of Moon’s craving for diplomatic legacy as his term is running out.”
Moon, a liberal who has prioritized inter-Korean ties, sees declaring an end to the Korean War, even without a peace treaty to replace an armistice, as a way to revive denuclearization negotiations between the North and the United States.
However, Moon, who has been in office for a single term, faces sagging popularity ahead of a presidential election in March.
Hopes for ending the war were raised after a historic summit between Kim Jong Un and then US President Donald Trump in Singapore in 2018. But that possibility, and the momentum for talks came to nothing, with talks stalled since 2019.
North Korea fires missile, accuses US of ‘double standards’
North Korea fires missile, accuses US of ‘double standards’
- The missile was launched from the central north province of Jagang at around 6:40a.m.
- The latest test underscored the steady development of North Korea’s weapons systems
Firefighters rescue dozens from burning high rise in Santiago
SANTIAGO, Chile: Firefighters rescued dozens of people from a mixed commercial and residential high rise in Chile’s capital Thursday, plucking some from windows and balconies with ladder trucks and others from the roof by helicopter after a fire started in the building’s basement.
People waved shirts and other garments from the upper floors calling for help as a large plume of smoke rose into the sky. At least 15 fire companies responded, working quickly to successfully evacuate more than 100 people from the the building without loss of life. Some 40 people were treated on site, said Claudio Pavez, a coronel with Chile’s national police force.
The building was located near the Plaza the Armas, one of the most bustling central area’s of Santiago.
Juan Pablo Slako, a deputy commander with the firefighters, said that there were no fatalities and no serious injuries with most suffering smoke inhalation or shock.
“We don’t have fire in the apartments, so we ask for calm,” said Álvaro Lara, vice superintendent of the firefighters, who added that the fire was controled.
As many as 200 homes damaged as officials survey the aftermath of a deadly New Mexico flood
RUIDOSO, N.M.: At least 200 homes were damaged during a deadly flash flood in the mountain village of Ruidoso, and local emergency managers warned Wednesday that number could more than double as teams survey more neighborhoods.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was among the officials who took an aerial tour of Ruidoso and the surrounding area as they looked to bolster their case for more federal assistance for the community, which has been battered over the past year by wildfires and repeated flooding.
The governor said the state has received partial approval for a federal emergency declaration, freeing up personnel to help with search and rescue efforts and incident management. She called it the first step, saying Ruidoso will need much more.
“We will continue working with the federal government for every dollar and resource necessary to help this resilient community fully recover from these devastating floods,” she said.
An intense bout of monsoon rains set the disaster in motion Tuesday afternoon. Water rushed from the surrounding mountainside, overwhelming the Rio Ruidoso and taking with it a man and two children who had been camping at a riverside RV park. Their bodies were found downstream. One person is still unaccounted for.
Lujan Grisham expressed her condolences and wished a speedy recovery for the parents of the 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy who were killed. She said it will be an emotional journey.
“There are no words that can take away that devastation,” she said. “We are truly heartsick.”
Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, whose district includes Ruidoso and surrounding Lincoln County, told reporters more rain is coming and that residents remain at risk. She urged people to follow emergency orders, saying “we cannot lose another life.”
A community rebuilds — again
Broken tree limbs, twisted metal, crumpled cars and muddy debris remain as crews work to clear roads and culverts wrecked by the flooding.
Tracy Haragan, a lifelong Ruidoso resident on the verge of retirement, watched from his home as a surging river carried away the contents of nine nearby residences.
“You watched everything they owned, everything they had — everything went down,” he said.
A popular summer retreat, Ruidoso is no stranger to tragedy. It has spent a year rebuilding following destructive wildfires last summer and the flooding that followed.
This time, the floodwaters went even higher, with the Rio Ruidoso rising more than 20 feet on Tuesday to set a record. Officials said the area received about 3.5 inches of rain over the South Fork burn scar in just an hour and a half.
“It is such a great town, it just takes a tail-whipping every once in a while,” Haragan said. “We always survive.”
Requests for aid
The river runs thick with sediment that can settle and raise future water levels. Stansbury said already-promised federal funding to remove silt from the riverbed would help mitigate future flooding, but that the community would need continued help for the next decade after suffering successive catastrophes.
Lujan Grisham said the federal government likely will advance $15 million — from the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency — to jumpstart recovery efforts. That amount could climb to more than $100 million in the coming months as Ruidoso tries to rebuild and mitigate future floods.
The governor said officials need to rethink how funding is doled out to reduce the risks of future flooding, in efforts that might restore watersheds and forests.
Ruidoso has also recently requested $100 million in federal aid to convert flood-prone private land to public property after successive years of violent flooding.
The mayor emphasized Thursday that the flood damage was far greater than he and others had realized, highlighting damage to water lines and distribution points for potable drinking water.
“Things have changed,” Crawford said. “There was a lot more damage than what we had assumed and what we thought in the beginning. ... We’ve had to take a step back to move forward.”
US has reclosed its southern border after a flesh-eating parasite is seen further north in Mexico
The US has closed its southern border again to livestock imports, saying a flesh-eating parasite has moved further north in Mexico than previously reported.
Mexico’s president was critical Thursday, suggesting that the US is exaggerating the threat to its beef industry from the parasite, the New World screwworm fly. The female flies lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, hatching larvae that are unusual among flies for feeding on live flesh and fluids instead of dead material.
American officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its flesh-eating maggots could cause large economic losses, something that happened decades ago. The US largely eradicated the pest in the 1970s by breeding and releasing sterile male flies to breed with wild females, and the fly had been contained in Panama for years until it was discovered in southern Mexico late last year.
The US closed its southern border in May to imports of live cattle, horses and bison but announced June 30 that it would allow three ports of entry to reopen this month and another two by Sept. 15. However, since then, an infestation from the fly has been reported 185 miles northeast of Mexico City, about 160 miles further north than previously reported cases. That was about 370 miles from the Texas border.
“The United States has promised to be vigilant,” US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement Wednesday announcing the border closing. “Thanks to the aggressive monitoring by USDA staff in the US and in Mexico, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to respond to the spread of this deadly pest.”
In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum said authorities there were following all established protocols to deal with the northernmost case. Mexican authorities said the country has 392 infected animals, down nearly 19 percent since June 24.
“From our point of view, they took a totally exaggerated decision to closing the border again,” Sheinbaum said. “Everything that scientifically should be done is being done.”
Three weeks ago, Rollins announced plans for combating the parasite that include spending nearly $30 million on new sites for breeding and dispersing sterile male flies. Once released in the wild, those males would mate with females, causing them to lay eggs that won’t hatch so that the fly population would die out.
The USDA hopes a new fly factory will be operating in southern Mexico by July 2026 to supplement fly breeding at an existing complex in Panama. The agency also plans to open a site in southern Texas for holding sterile flies imported from Panama, so they can be released along the border if necessary.
Also Thursday, US Reps. Tony Gonzalez, of Texas, and Kat McCammack, of Florida, urged the Trump administration to quickly approve the use of existing anti-parasite treatments for New World screwworm fly infestations in livestock. They said labeling requirements currently prevent it.
Pentagon takes stake in US rare earth company
NEW YORK: A US rare earth company announced Thursday an agreement with the Pentagon granting the government a stake in the venture in exchange for billions of dollars to finance additional manufacturing.
Las Vegas-based MP Materials described the arrangement as a “transformational public-private partnership” that includes a “multibillion-dollar package of investments” and long-term commitments from the Department of Defense .
It will allow MP to construct a second domestic magnet manufacturing facility, according to a company press release, and to expand production at MP’s Mount Pass, California facility — the only large-scale rare earth mining and processing operation in North America.
Under the arrangement, the Pentagon agreed to purchase $400 million of newly created MP preferred stock, convertible to common stock.
Ultimately, the agreement will result in the DoD holding 15 percent of MP’s common shares, making it the company’s largest shareholder, MP said in its press release.
It is rare for the Pentagon to take stakes in private companies. AFP asked the Pentagon for comment on the announcement but had yet to hear back.
Rare earths are critical building blocks in many US weapons systems and are also needed for smartphones, automobiles and other goods. The dearth of capacity in the United States — and the continued dominance of China — has emerged as a growing worry in Washington.
China controls close to 70 percent of global rare earth production, according to some estimates.
MP said the partnership with DoD would “catalyze domestic production, strengthen industrial resilience, and secure critical supply chains for high-growth industries and future dual use applications.”
The new magnet facility, whose location has yet to be chosen, is expected to begin operating in 2028, bringing MP’s total US rare earth magnet manufacturing capacity to an estimated 10,000 metric tons, the press release said.
The partnership between MP and the Pentagon includes a 10-year agreement establishing a price floor of $110 per kilogram for MP products and DoD assurance that 100 percent of the magnets made at the second factory will be purchased by the Pentagon and commercial customers.
Shares of MP finished the day 50.6 percent higher.
White House escalates pressure campaign on Federal Reserve by targeting its headquarters renovation
WASHINGTON: The White House is trying to turn the Federal Reserve into a poster child for wasteful spending, criticizing an expensive renovation at the central bank’s headquarters as President Donald Trump pursues an extraordinary pressure campaign to lower interest rates.
The latest step came Thursday when Russ Vought, Trump’s top budget adviser, sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the president is “extremely troubled” that plans may have violated government building rules with an “ostentatious overhaul.”
Trump also named two close aides — James Blair, a deputy chief of staff, and Will Scharf, the staff secretary who furnishes the president with executive orders for his signature — to the National Capital Planning Commission, an obscure panel that could provide another avenue to increase scrutiny.
Blair said he would be “requesting a review of all previous and current building plans” and suggested that Powell wasn’t honest while testifying to Congress about the renovations last month.
If Powell isn’t truthful, Blair wrote on social media, “how else is the American Public to maintain confidence that its monetary policy manager is acting in their interests?”
Taken together, the latest steps amount to an escalating effort to dislodge Powell from his position as chairman before his term ends next May. It’s an unprecedented attempt to reshape the Federal Reserve’s traditional role as an autonomous arbiter of US monetary policy.
If successful, Trump will have expanded his influence to yet another corner of American government that was once seen as beyond the reach of political pressure, but he will have also jeopardized the independence that has made the central bank a foundational player in the US economy.
On Wednesday, Trump said Powell “should resign immediately” so “we should get somebody in there that’s going to lower interest rates.” He suggested that he’d rather have Scott Bessent, his Treasury secretary, as a replacement.
Powell has resisted Trump’s pressure, largely out of concern that Trump’s tariff plans could increase costs for American consumers. If rates are lowered too aggressively, it could lead to a resurgence of inflation.
But Trump insists that inflation is no longer a problem, and a rate cut would help make mortgages, auto loans and other forms of consumer debt cheaper. Trump has also said it would allow the US government to finance its debt more cheaply, a pressing concern as legislation signed by the president is poised to increase the federal deficit by extending tax cuts.
“LOWER THE RATE!!!” Trump wrote on social media on Thursday as he continued a near-daily drumbeat of criticism.
However, there’s no guarantee that financial markets will reduce rates on government debt even if the Fed bows to Trump’s wishes. Such a situation could lead to higher interest costs for consumers — a reminder of how monetary missteps may backfire.
Powell was nominated to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Barack Obama, then made chairman by Trump during his first term. But in his second term, Trump turned Powell — who has sought to avoid politics and refrains from responding directly to the president— into one of his primary antagonists.
Trump has said that he wouldn’t directly oust Powell — “I don’t know why it would be so bad, but I’m not going to fire him,” he said last month. The Supreme Court said in May that it could block such a step.
However, Trump’s allies have found other ways to make Powell uncomfortable.
Bill Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, also accused Powell of lying to Congress about the renovations.
“I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed ‘for cause,’” he said last week. Pulte said the situation “stinks to high heaven.”
Vought, in his own letter, said the called the initial renovation plans featuring rooftop terrace gardens, VIP dining rooms and premium marble an “ostentatious overhaul.” Vought also suggested that Powell misled Congress by saying the headquarters had never had a serious renovation, saying that an update to its roof and building systems that was completed in 2003 counts as a “comprehensive” renovation.
Fed officials did not respond to an email seeking a response to the letter. Powell said in Senate testimony last month that some of the elements in the 2021 plan such as the dining rooms and rooftop terraces are no longer part of the project for the 90-year-old Marriner S. Eccles Building.
The debate over the renovation could set up a legal battle between the White House and the Fed, which under the law is allowed to use its own judgment to establish “suitable” and “adequate” quarters for its operations.
Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola-Marymount University, said “it’s good that the central bank budget is coming under review and scrutiny.”
However, he warned against using such issues to challenge the Fed’s independence. If that’s compromised, he said, it’s “bad for the economy, that’s bad for inflation expectations and therefore long term inflation.” ___
Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.
