NORTH KOREA
Spy satellite ‘alive’: expert
Pyongyang’s first spy satellite is “alive,” a Netherlands-based space expert said on Tuesday, after detecting changes in its orbit that suggest it is successfully controlling the spacecraft — although its capabilities are still unknown. Pyongyang’s state media claimed the satellite, launched in November last year, has photographed sensitive military and political sites in South Korea, the US and elsewhere, but has not released any imagery. Independent radio trackers have not detected signals from the satellite, but from Monday to Saturday last week, the satellite conducted maneuvers to raise its perigee, or the lowest point in its orbit, Marco Langbroek, a satellite expert at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, wrote in a blog post, citing data from the US–led Combined Space Operations Center. “The maneuver proves that Malligyong-1 is not dead,” he said.
AUSTRALIA
Coral bleaching confirmed
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is preparing to carry out aerial surveys across the entire length of the park after helicopter flights confirmed extensive coral bleaching across the southern section of the world’s biggest coral reef. Bleaching had been reported in all regions of the reef from Lizard Island in the north to the Keppel islands in the south — a distance of more than 1,100km. Conservationists fear a seventh mass bleaching event could be unfolding on the reef. The authority yesterday said that helicopter flights had covered 27 inshore reefs and 21 offshore reefs in the southern region off the Queensland coast and found bleaching was “extensive and fairly uniform” at all surveyed spots.
CHINA
Ex-foreign minister resigns
Former minister of foreign affairs Qin Gang (秦剛), who was abruptly removed from office last year and has not been seen in public since, has resigned as a lawmaker, state media reported. Qin’s resignation as a representative for the port city of Tianjin to the 14th National People’s Congress was accepted on Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. The former foreign minister was removed after just 207 days in the job in July last year without explanation. He was then removed from the State Council in October. Seven months on, Beijing has still not offered any explanation for Qin’s dismissal, nor why he has not been seen in public since then.
UNITED STATES
Two guilty in Run-DMC killing
The godson and a childhood friend of Jam Master Jay were on Tuesday found guilty by a jury for the 2002 murder of the Run-DMC rap pioneer, who was fatally shot at his New York recording studio in one of the most infamous killings in rap history. Ronald Washington, 59, and Karl Jordan Jr, 40, were convicted of federal charges of murder while engaged in drug trafficking in the shooting of Run-DMC founding member Jason Mizell, the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn wrote on X. The verdict came after a month-long trial at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where prosecutors called witnesses who were in the studio the night Mizell, 37, was shot dead. “It is no mystery why it took years to indict and arrest the defendants,” US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict. “The witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers, and they were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement and identified the ruthless executioners of Mr Mizell,” he said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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