KOREAS
North tests rocket system
North Korea yesterday said that it had developed a new control system for a multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a “qualitative change” in its defense capabilities. Pyongyang’s Academy of Defense Science successfully carried out a “ballistic control test firing of 240mm caliber multiple rocket launcher shells” on Saturday to develop a “controllable shell and ballistic control system” for the launcher, state news agency KCNA reported. The new rocket launcher would now be “reevaluated” and its battlefield role “increased,” KCNA said. Nuclear-armed North Korea this year declared South Korea as its “principal enemy,” closing agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatening war over “even 0.001 millimeters” of territorial infringement.
INDIA
Qatar frees Indian officers
Qatar has freed eight retired Indian navy officers who had been given death sentences for alleged spying that were commuted last year, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The eight men were accused of spying while working at Al Dahra, a consulting company in the oil-rich Gulf state that advises the Qatari government on submarine acquisitions. They were imprisoned in 2022 and handed death sentences in October that were reduced to prison sentences after New Delhi said it was exploring legal options and filed an appeal. “We appreciate the decision by the Amir of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that seven of the men had returned to India. It gave no further details. The news came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks in Dubai in December.
UNITED STATES
NY expands migrant curfew
New York is expanding a curfew to additional migrant shelters after violent incidents attributed to migrant shelter residents gained national attention in recent weeks. Starting yesterday, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration imposed an 11pm to 6am curfew at 20 migrant shelters, after initially placing the restrictions at four other locations, the Daily News reported. The curfew impacts about 3,600 migrants, with the largest of the emergency centers housing about 1,000 migrants in Long Island City, Queens. City officials initially placed a curfew on four shelters last month in response to neighborhood complaints.
MEXICO
Skydivers’ plane kills man
A plane carrying four Canadian skydivers came down on a beach on Sunday in the south, killing one man who was on the beach. There was no immediate information on why the plane went down, but it appeared to have made a forced landing and was largely intact. However, it fell in a relatively populated section of the beach at the Pacific coast town of Puerto Escondido, and landed almost on top of the victim, whose nationality was not disclosed. The four Canadians and one Mexican man aboard the small aircraft were removed from the plane and taken for treatment. The Oaxaca state civil defense office said they were in “stable” condition. There was no immediate information on the names or hometowns of the Canadians. The office said the dead man’s wife had been nearby, but was unharmed. The accident happened just meters away from the water and even closer to a wood beach structure of the kind frequently used in Puerto Escondido for restaurants.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
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