SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has observed the test firing of a new type of tactical guided weapon aimed at boosting the country’s nuclear capabilities, the North’s KCNA state news agency reported on Sunday.
The report comes amid signs North Korea could soon resume nuclear testing according to South Korean and US officials and after Kim broke a self-imposed moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing with a launch last month.
South Korea’s military said on Sunday it had detected late on Saturday two projectiles launched from the North’s east coast toward the sea which flew about 110 kilometers (68 miles) with an apogee of 25 kilometers and maximum speed of under Mach 4.
“The new-type tactical guided weapon system ... is of great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the frontline long-range artillery units and enhancing the efficiency in the operation of tactical nukes,” KCNA said.
KCNA did not say when the test took place and gave no details of the missile involved.
Upon guiding the test, Kim “gave important instructions on further building up the defense capabilities and nuclear combat forces of the country,” the KCNA said.
Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the weapon was likely a short-range ballistic missile and the North’s first tactical nuclear weapon delivery system.
North Korea has a domestic imperative to make and perfect weapons ordered by Kim Jong Un despite what the United States does or does not do, and the tests tell people that North Korea is strong, said Duyeon Kim, a North Korea expert at the US-based Center for a New American Security.
One reason for the timing could be to protest anticipated joint US-South Korea military drills, she added
On Saturday the US 2nd Infantry Division, based in South Korea, shared photos of troops test firing a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), though it was unclear when the drills took place.
The live-fire exercises were to “ensure we maintain our readiness here in support of the ROK-US Alliance,” the division said on Twitter, using the initials of South Korea’s official name.
US and South Korean officials have noted activities at the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site which could be preparations for a test, although the timing and nature of such a test were unclear.
US Special Representative Sung Kim is due in Seoul on Monday for a five-day visit to discuss a response to the North’s recent missile launches with his South Korean counterparts.
The United States has said it is open to talks with North Korea at any time and without preconditions, but Pyongyang has so far rebuffed those overtures, accusing Washington of maintaining hostile policies such as sanctions and military drills.
The KCNA report also came shortly after North Korea celebrated on Friday the 110th anniversary of the birth of late founder Kim Il Sung, one of the biggest annual public holidays in the country, but without a military parade.
North Korean leader Kim observes weapons test to enhance nuclear capabilities
https://arab.news/bnmc3
North Korean leader Kim observes weapons test to enhance nuclear capabilities
- South Korean officials have said Pyongyang could still stage a military parade or carry out a weapons test on or around April 25, the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army
As wildfires rage in Los Angeles, Trump doesn’t offer much sympathy. He’s casting blame.
- On social media, Trump lashed out at his longtime political foe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s forest management policies for the spreading wildfires
- He falsely claimed the state’s fish conservation efforts are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas
WASHINGTON: As cataclysmic wildfires rage across Los Angeles, President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t been offering much sympathy. Instead, he’s claiming he could do a better job managing the crisis, spewing falsehoods and casting blame on the state’s Democratic governor.
Trump has lashed out at his longtime political foe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s forest management policies and falsely claimed the state’s fish conservation efforts are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas. Referring to the governor by a derisive nickname, Trump said he should resign.
Meanwhile, more than 180,000 people were under evacuation orders and the fires have consumed more than 45 square miles (116 square kilometers). One that destroyed the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades became the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history.
Trump v. Newsom: Round 2 was to be expected — the liberal Democrat has long been one of Trump’s biggest foils. But the Western fires are also a sign of something far more grave than a political spat or a fight over fish. Wildfire season is growing ever longer thanks to increasing drought and heat brought on by climate change.
Trump refuses to recognize the environmental dangers, instead blaming increasing natural disasters on his political opponents or on acts of God. He has promised to drill for more oil and cut back on renewable energy.
On Thursday, Trump said on social media that Newsom should “open up the water main” — an overly simplistic solution to a complex problem. “NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR,” Trump said, adding, “IT’S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!”
Standing on the street in a scorched subdivision as a home behind him was engulfed in flames, Newsom responded to the criticism when asked about it by CNN.
“People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives. Kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder. Churches burned down, and this guy wants to politicize it,” Newsom said. “I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say, but I won’t.”
In a post on his Truth Social media network, Trump tried to connect dry hydrants to criticism of the state’s approach to balancing the distribution of water to farms and cities with the need to protect endangered species, including the Delta smelt. Trump has sided with farmers over environmentalists in a long-running dispute over California’s scarce water resources. But that debate has nothing to do with the hydrant issue in Los Angeles, driven by an intense demand on a municipal system not designed to battle such blazes.
Trump hosted Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Thursday night and suggested that, upon taking office, he’d pressure California into changing its water policies.
“We’re gonna force that upon him now,” the president-elect said of Newsom. “But it’s very late because I think it’s one of the great catastrophes in the history of our nation.”
About 40 percent of Los Angeles city water comes from state-controlled projects connected to northern California and the state has limited the water it delivers this year. But the southern California reservoirs these canals help feed are at above-average levels for this time of year.
Roughly 20 percent of hydrants across the city went dry as crews battled blazes, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Firefighters in Southern California are accustomed to dealing with the strong Santa Ana winds that blow in the fall and winter, but the hurricane-force gusts earlier in the week took them by surprise. The winds grounded firefighting aircraft that should have been making critical water drops, straining the hydrant system.
“This is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 25 years on the fire department,” Los Angeles Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen told CBS This Morning.
Janisse Quiñones, head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the ferocity of the fire made the demand for water four times greater than “we’ve ever seen in the system.”
Hydrants are designed for fighting fires at one or two houses at a time, not hundreds, Quiñones said, and refilling the tanks also requires asking fire departments to pause firefighting efforts.
President Joe Biden, who was in California for an environmental event that ended up being canceled as the fires raged, appeared with Newsom at a Santa Monica firehouse on Wednesday. On Thursday, without naming Trump, he explained in a briefing how the hydrants had ended up dry, saying he was seeking to debunk rumors in “simple straightforward language.” In crisis, he said, “rumors and fear spread very quickly.”
“There is in case you haven’t noticed, there is global warming,” Biden said, adding “it’s not about the politics, it’s about getting people some sense of security.”
“Climate change is real,” he said emphatically.
Biden also quickly issued a major disaster declaration for California, releasing some immediate federal funds, and approved 100 percent federal funding for 180 days.
At the Mar-a-Lago meeting, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — Trump’s rival in last year’s GOP presidential primary — defended the president-elect as being willing to work with red states and blue states in emergencies. He also blamed the media for unnecessarily promoting controversy and political division between Newsom and Trump.
“I worked well with Biden, during his time, with natural disasters, and I worked well with Donald Trump,” DeSantis said, referring to hurricanes that have hit Florida as well as the deadly collapse of a beachfront condo in Surfside in 2021. “So, I’m very confident, as a state that knows — we face these — that a Trump administration is going to be very strong and going to be there for the people regardless of party.”
Still, any additional federal response will be overseen by Trump, who has a history of withholding or delaying federal aid to punish his political enemies.
In September, during a press conference at his Los Angeles golf course, Trump threatened: “We won’t give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don’t give him the money to put out his fires, he’s got problems.”
Trump’s support in California has increased in recent years, which could further embolden him in his tussles with Democratic leaders there. In 2024, he improved on his vote share in Los Angeles and surrounding areas hit by the fires by 4.68 percentage points. And while he still lost the state overall, he grew his overall margin by 4 points compared to the 2020 election.
As for the impact of the fires on Californians, Trump said areas in Beverly Hills and around it were “being decimated” and that he had “many friends living in those houses.” He framed the losses as a potential hit to the state’s finances.
“The biggest homes, some of the most valuable homes in the world are just destroyed. I don’t even know. You talk about a tax base, if those people leave you’re going to lose half your tax base of California,” Trump said.
Jimmy Carter laid to rest in Georgia, lauded for humility and service in Washington
- He was eulogized as a man who “built houses for people who needed homes,” “eliminated diseases in forgotten places,” and “waged peace anywhere in the world, wherever he saw a chance”
- The dual ceremonies in Washington and Plains, Georgia, provided a moment of national comity in a notably partisan era
WASHINGTON: Jimmy Carter was celebrated Thursday for his personal humility and public service before, during and after his presidency in a funeral at Washington National Cathedral featuring the kind of pageantry the 39th US president typically eschewed. It was followed by an intimate hometown funeral near where he was born a century ago.
All of Carter’s living successors attended in Washington, with President Joe Biden, who was the first sitting senator to endorse his 1976 run for the White House, eulogizing his longtime friend. Biden and others took turns in the morning praising Carter’s record — which many historians have appraised more favorably since he lost his bid for a second term in 1980 — and extolling his character.
The dual ceremonies in Washington and Plains, Georgia, provided a moment of national comity in a notably partisan era and offered a striking portrait of a president who was once judged a political failure, only for his life ultimately to be recognized as having lasting national and global impact.
“He built houses for people who needed homes,” said Joshua Carter, a grandson who recalled how Carter regularly taught Sunday school in Plains after leaving the White House. “He eliminated diseases in forgotten places. He waged peace anywhere in the world, wherever he saw a chance. He loved people.”
Jason Carter, another grandson, wryly noted his grandparents’ frugality, such as washing and reusing Ziploc bags, and his grandfather’s struggles with his cellphone.
“They were small-town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from, no matter what happened in their lives,” said Jason, who chairs the Carter Center, a global humanitarian operation founded by Jimmy and his late wife, Rosalynn Carter.
At the national service, former President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump, who have mocked each other for years going back to Trump fanning conspiracy theories about Obama’s citizenship, sat next to each other and talked for several minutes, even sharing a laugh.
As Trump went to his seat, he shook hands with Mike Pence in a rare interaction with his former vice president. The two split over Pence’s refusal to help Trump overturn his election defeat to Biden four years ago. Karen Pence, the former second lady, did not rise from her chair when her husband did so to greet Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, entered afterward and was not seen interacting with him. Former first lady Michelle Obama did not attend.
All politics were not left outside the cathedral, though. Biden, who leaves office in 11 days, repeated several times that “character” was Carter’s chief attribute. Biden said Carter taught him that “everyone should be treated with dignity and respect.”
“We have an obligation to give hate no safe harbor,” Biden said, also noting the importance of standing up to “abuse in power.” Those comments echoed Biden’s typical criticisms of Trump.
In Plains, Carter’s personal pastor, Tony Lowden, touched on the political as well, saying Carter was “still teaching us a lesson” with the timing of his death as a new Congress begins its work and Trump prepares for a second administration. Lowden, who did not name Trump or others, urged the nation to follow Carter’s example: “not self, but country.”
“Don’t let his legacy die. Don’t let this nation die,” Lowden said. “Let faith and hope be our guardrails.”
Carter died Dec. 29 at age 100, living so long that two of Thursday’s eulogies were written by people who died before him — his vice president, Walter Mondale, and his presidential predecessor, Gerald Ford.
“By fate of a brief season, Jimmy Carter and I were rivals,” Ford said in his eulogy, which was read by his son Steven. “But for the many wonderful years that followed, friendship bonded us as no two presidents since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.”
Carter defeated Ford in 1976, but the presidents and their wives became close friends, and Carter eulogized Ford at his own funeral.
Days of formal ceremonies and remembrances from political leaders, business titans and rank-and-file citizens have honored Carter for his decency and using a prodigious work ethic to do more than obtain political power.
Proceedings began Thursday morning as military service members carried Carter’s flag-draped casket down the east steps of the US Capitol, where the former president had been lying in state since Tuesday. There was also a 21-gun salute.
At the cathedral, the Armed Forces Chorus sang the hymn “Be Still My Soul” before Carter’s casket was brought inside.
Mourners also heard from 92-year-old Andrew Young, a former Atlanta mayor, congressman and UN ambassador during the Carter administration. Carter outlived much of his Cabinet and inner circle but remained especially close to Young — a friendship that brought together a white Georgian and Black Georgian who grew up in the era of Jim Crow segregation.
“Jimmy Carter was a blessing that helped create a great United States of America,” Young said.
“Hail to the Chief” was performed by military bands multiple times as Carter’s casket arrived and departed various points. Carter once tried to stop the traditional standard from being played for him when he was president, seeing it as an unnecessary flourish.
Thursday concluded six days of national rites that began in Plains, where Carter, a former Naval officer, engineer and peanut farmer, was born in 1924, lived most of his life and died after 22 months in hospice care.
After the morning service, Carter’s remains, his four children and extended family returned to Georgia on a Boeing 747 that serves as Air Force One when the sitting president is aboard.
An outspoken Baptist who campaigned as a born-again Christian, Carter received his second service at Maranatha Baptist Church, the small edifice where he taught Sunday school for decades. His casket sat beneath a wooden cross he fashioned in his own woodshop.
Following a final ride through his hometown, past the old train depot that served as his 1976 campaign headquarters, Carter was interred on family land in a plot next to Rosalynn, who died in 2023.
Carter, who won the presidency promising good government and honest talk for an electorate disillusioned by the Vietnam War and Watergate, signed significant legislation and negotiated a landmark peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. But he also presided over inflation, rising interest rates and international crises — most notably the Iran hostage situation, in which Americans were held in Tehran for more than a year. Carter lost in a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Former White House aide Stu Eizenstat used his eulogy to reframe the Carter presidency as more successful than voters appreciated at the time.
He noted that Carter deregulated US transportation industries, streamlined energy research and created the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He emphasized that Carter’s administration secured the release of the hostages in Iran, though they were not freed until after Reagan took office.
“He may not be a candidate for Mount Rushmore,” Eizenstat said. “But he belongs in the foothills.”
Macron and Starmer discuss Ukraine, Middle East at UK meeting
Starmer welcomed the French head of state to his Chequers country residence northwest of London, and the two leaders “underscored the need for unity in uncertain times,” according to a readout from Downing Street.
On Ukraine, Macron and Starmer reaffirmed their commitment to work together to support the country for “as long as necessary,” according to a statement from Macron’s office.
They also stressed “the importance of continuing to supply the equipment needed to defend Ukrainian territory” and of guaranteeing financial support for Kyiv beyond 2025.
European powers are preparing for the return to office on January 20 of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he will end the Ukraine conflict.
Ukraine and its allies are concerned that a settlement could be imposed on terms favorable to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Macron had previously said the two sides had “a lot of convergence” on pressing issues including Ukraine and the Middle East.
On the Middle East, Macron and Starmer “agreed on the importance of stability and security in the region, as well as the need to avoid regional escalation,” according to Downing Street.
The two leaders also discussed bilateral relations, including a UK-France bilateral summit slated for this year, which will aim to deepen cooperation on defense, energy, artificial intelligence and illegal migration.
Recent months have seen tens of thousands of migrants make the sometimes-deadly sea crossing from France to England.
US Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to delay sentencing in his New York hush money case
- he court’s 5-4 order clears the way for Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels
- The president-elect was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels
WASHINGTON: A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s final bid to put his New York hush-money case on hold, clearing the way for him to be sentenced for felony crimes days before he returns to the presidency.
The court’s 5-4 order clears the way for Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any liaison with Daniels or any wrongdoing.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberals in rejecting his emergency motion.
The majority found his sentencing wouldn’t be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since Merchan has indicated he won’t give Trump jail time, fines or probation.
Trump’s attorneys had asked the sentencing be delayed as he appeals the verdict, but the majority of justices found his arguments can be handled as part of the regular appeals process.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have delayed the sentencing, the order states.
Trump said he respects the court’s order and plans to push his appeal of a verdict. “I respect the court’s opinion — I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said.
The conservative-majority court has handed Trump other major victories over the past year, ensuring that states could not kick him off the ballot because of the 2021 attack on the Capitol and giving him immunity from prosecution over some acts he took as president in a ruling that delayed an election-interference case against him.
The justices could also be faced with weighing other parts of the sweeping conservative changes he’s promised after he takes office.
In the New York case, Trump’s attorneys have argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.
At the least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Trump during the White House transition.
Prosecutors pushed back, saying there’s no reason for the court to take the “extraordinary step” of intervening in a state case now. Trump’s attorneys haven’t shown that an hourlong virtual hearing would be a serious disruption, and a pause would likely mean pushing the case past the Jan. 20 inauguration, creating a yearslong delay in sentencing if it happens at all.
Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing, including the state’s highest court on Thursday.
Judges in New York have found that the convictions on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to personal matters rather than Trump’s official acts as president. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it.
Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.
Trump is represented by D. John Sauer, his pick to be the solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court.
Sauer also argued for Trump in the separate criminal case charging him with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which resulted in the Supreme Court’s immunity opinion.
Defense attorneys cited that opinion in arguing some of the evidence used against him in the hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office.
The decision comes a day after Justice Alito confirmed that he took a phone call from Trump the day before the president-elect’s lawyers filed their emergency motion before the high court. The justice said the call was about a clerk, not any upcoming or current cases, but the unusual communication prompted calls for Alito to recuse himself, including from the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Vice President-elect JD Vance resigns from the Senate
COLUMBUS, Ohio: Vice President-elect JD Vance is resigning from his seat in the US Senate, effective Friday.
Vance made his intentions known in a letter Thursday to Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who will choose his successor.
“To the people of Ohio, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of representing you in the United States Senate. When I was elected to this office, I promised to never forget where I came from, and I’ve made sure to live by that promise every single day,” Vance wrote.
“As I prepare to assume my duties as Vice President of the United States, I would like to express that it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve the people of Ohio in the Senate over the past two years,” Vance said.
DeWine has said he would make the appointment once Vance vacates the seat. DeWine’s spokesperson said DeWine was at a governors’ event with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, making it unlikely he would announce any appointment before Friday.
DeWine has the sole duty of appointing a successor to Vance, who was elected to a six-year term in 2022. A long list of elected Republicans in the state has expressed interest in the seat, including Secretary of State Frank LaRose, Treasurer Robert Sprague, US Rep. Mike Carey, state Sen. Matt Dolan, former Republican state chair Jane Timken and GOP attorney and strategist Mehek Cooke.
However, speculation has most recently zeroed in on Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who accompanied DeWine on a recent trip to Mar-a-Lago to speak with President-elect Donald Trump.
DeWine declined to even hint as to the subject of those discussions when asked by reporters during a Wednesday bill-signing at the Statehouse.
“I’m not ready to make an announcement yet, but the announcement will be coming soon,” he said.
Husted, who was also present, said merely, “We’re considering all the options, and just, that’s really all I have to say.”
Husted has been considered a front-runner to run for governor in 2026, after spending years positioning for the job. He is a former Ohio House speaker, state senator and two-term secretary of state.
Whomever DeWine appoints will serve until December 2026. They would need to run again for the remainder of the term in November 2026.
