Fresh images appear to show Russian ship with Iranian missiles in Caspian Sea
New satellite imagery revealed on Wednesday, Sept. 11, shows what appears to be the Russian cargo ship that brought ballistic missiles to Russia from Iran. The vessel known as the Olya-3, was spotted in the Caspian Sea off of the coast of southwest Russia. The pictures are reportedly seen as further evidence to back up claims from the United States and Europe that Russia is receiving missiles from Iran for its war in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Tuesday, Sept. 10, that Moscow will use the weapons to strike Ukrainian forces, towns and civilian infrastructure in the coming weeks.
The images reportedly show Moscow’s first shipment of short-range ballistic missiles on Sept. 4. Olya-3 frequently transports cargo in the Caspian Sea between Russia and Iran, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The department announced sanctions on the vessel as part of a larger effort to crackdown on Tehran for its weapons transfers to Moscow.
It’s unclear how many missiles Moscow received but the U.S. Treasury Department said Russia and Iran signed an agreement late last year for the supply of hundreds of missiles. However, Iran and Russia both deny the transfer of missiles.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and German called the delivery an “escalation by both Iran and Russia” and a “direct threat to European security.”
Iran previously supplied Russia with attack drones and North Korea gave Moscow ballistic missiles and artillery.
There are reports that Russia’s purchase of Iranian ballistic missiles will be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, and Washington, D.C., may finally lift its restrictions on Ukraine using U.S-supplied weapons to strike Russian targets deep behind the front lines.
President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are supposed to discuss the topic on Friday, Sept 13.
North Korea punishes teenagers for watching TV drama
New footage from North Korea shows teenage girls being publicly shamed and arrested for watching banned South Korean dramas, further highlighting the regime’s extreme media control. The video, obtained by South Korea’s KBS Media, captures a group of young girls, including a 16-year-old student, confessing to consuming what the regime labels “impure” media. The girls were subjected to public scolding before being led away in handcuffs.
North Korea, under Kim Jong Un, has tightened its grip on media, forbidding foreign films, music, and television to maintain ideological control.
The consequences for violating these laws can be severe, ranging from public humiliation to imprisonment and, in extreme cases, execution.
Reuters
This harsh punishment is part of North Korea’s broader efforts to prevent the infiltration of South Korean culture, which it views as a threat to its control over its population.
Activists from South Korea use creative methods, such as smuggling USB drives and launching balloons, to send content like K-dramas and music into North Korea. These efforts are often done at great risk, and aim to ensure that North Koreans have access to outside information, despite the regime’s efforts to suppress it.
South Korea says North Korea launched more trash-filled balloons
South Korean officials said that they detected suspected trash-filled balloons targeting Seoul launched on Wednesday, Sept. 4, by North Korea. In response, Seoul issued text alerts and warned people to stay inside as a precaution.
North Korea has flown thousands of refuse-filled balloons toward South Korea in recent months. The balloons have reportedly been filled with garbage like waste papers, cloth scraps and cigarette butts, as well as excrement. Pyongyang said the balloon attacks are retaliation for South Korean activists flying anti-North Korean propaganda over the border between the two countries.
In July, trash balloons fell inside the South Korean presidential compound, prompting security concerns over the vulnerability of sensitive facilities. Following the breach, South Korea security service dispatches its “chemical, biological and radiological team” to pick up the balloons. However, the team discovered the balloons did not contain any dangerous material.
In a common response to the balloon attacks, South Korea once again blasted K-Pop songs and propaganda messages along the border.
Tensions have continued to rise between the two adversaries as North Korea’s nuclear testing ramps up and South Korea expands joint military exercises with the United States.
N. Korea condemns US-S. Korean military drills as ‘prelude to a nuclear war’
U.S. and South Korean forces have kicked off their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, a massive military drill designed to boost their defense capabilities against North Korea’s ever-growing nuclear threat. The drills, which feature around 19,000 South Korean troops and a series of land, air and sea exercises, are meant to prepare both nations for threats like weapons of mass destruction, cyberattacks and GPS jamming.
The timing couldn’t be more critical, with tensions on the Korean Peninsula hitting new heights. North Korea wasted no time condemning the exercises, calling them a “beheading operation” and a “prelude to nuclear war.”
Pyongyang’s state-run media accused the U.S. and South Korea of pushing aggressive military actions, while the North’s Foreign Ministry justified its nuclear ambitions as necessary to maintain peace and prevent war by building up its own deterrent.
The U.S. and South Korea have stressed that these drills are strictly defensive, but there are lingering concerns about how North Korea might respond. In 2023, just before the end of a similar set of exercises, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles, claiming they were in retaliation for allied air force drills.
Now, there’s a real chance that North Korea could launch another belligerent response. In early August, Kim Jong Un presided over a massive ceremony in Pyongyang, celebrating the deployment of 250 nuclear-capable missile launchers to the country’s frontline military units.
Kim has made it clear that he is ready to expand North Korea’s nuclear program and has even hinted at the possibility of preemptive strikes if his leadership feels threatened.
North Korea has also ramped up its psychological warfare, sending balloons filled with trash across the border into South Korea. These stunts are deepening tensions between the two Koreas.
These drills coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Camp David Summit, where U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida committed to strengthening regional security in response to North Korean threats. The U.S. has since stepped up its strategic presence in the region, deploying bombers, submarines and aircraft carriers in a show of force.
One thing Americans overwhelmingly agree on is Biden’s call to drop out: Poll
With the upcoming 2024 presidential election, it may seem like divisions have gotten worse amongst Americans. However, while there may be a lot they don’t agree on, one recent political decision is garnering widespread support. A new poll from The New York Times/Siena College on Thursday, July 25, revealed that 87% of registered voters agree with President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.
Democrats and Republicans likely have different reasons for supporting Biden’s decision. Democrats reportedly mostly approve of his performance in the Oval Office but see his exit as the right political move, while Republicans largely disapproved of his performance overall.
However, only a few other issues draw more consensus in polling than Biden’s decision to exit the race. So what else do Americans agree on?
According to numbers compiled by the New York Times, 89% of Americans always or sometimes tip at a sit-down restaurant. Of those polled, 91% had a negative view of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and 90% approved of former President George W. Bush’s handling of his job in the wake the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Furthermore, 89% said they believe that an affair is morally unacceptable and 88% said they think marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.
Additionally, 86% of those surveyed said that they believe small businesses have a positive effect on the country, and 86% had an unfavorable view of Russia. Meanwhile, 85% of Americans said that cloning humans is morally wrong.
While these issues may be more lasting, the Biden decision consensus is an evolving one. Polling shows many Democrats did not want Biden to exit the race before his decision but eventually made peace with it.
Two weeks ago, a poll of Pennsylvania voters revealed that just 46% of Democrats thought that Biden should drop out while 48% said he should remain in the race. This week’s poll found 91% of Democrats approved of his exit while 86% of Republicans and 85% of Independents approved of his decision.
Biden was adamant three weeks ago, saying that he would only quit the race if the “the Lord Almighty told him to.”
However, it turns out that a higher number of voters supported him dropping out of the presidential race than the 81% who reportedly believe in the “Lord Almighty.”
Trash-filled balloons from N. Korea reach S. Korean president’s offices
For the ninth time since May, North Korea sent a round of trash-filled balloons to South Korea. However, for the first time, the balloons landed in South Korea’s presidential compound, violating a no-fly zone protecting the president on Wednesday, July 24.
The latest action by Pyongyang is raising even greater security concerns for the South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The breach into the president’s offices in Seoul prompted the country’s security service to dispatch its “chemical, biological and radiological team” to pick up the balloons.
Although South Korean government officials said that none of the trash contained hazardous materials, they explained that the objects were not shot down in order to prevent the spread of the contents within the balloons. South Korean residents are routinely warned not to touch fallen balloons and to report them to law enforcement. The contents of the balloons have varied from soil filled with human feces and manure, to wastepaper and cigarettes.
North Korea has sent thousands of waste-filled balloons in retaliation for South Korean activists and North Korean defectors sending over anti-Pyongyang leaflets and the South Korean government blasting K-Pop recordings along a demilitarized zone between the nations.
A previous batch of balloons on Thursday, July 18, prompted Seoul to blast K-Pop on its loudspeakers near the border for 10 hours on Friday, July 19. K-Pop and K-Drama are banned by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
Blumenthal, Graham introduce bill making Russia state sponsor of terrorism
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a bill that would require the Biden administration to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terror. It is the duo’s second attempt at pushing this through Congress. The senators first tried in May 2022 with a resolution that urged the secretary of state to make the designation but did not mandate it.
“Russia deserves to be in this small, selective club of atrocity committing killers,” Blumenthal said.
The senators raised the stakes in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea. On that trip, Putin signed a military defense agreement with the country’s dictator Kim Jong Un.
”Signing a military partnership hostile to the United States, hostile to peace and liberty and justice around the world,” Blumenthal said, explaining why he believes the measure is so urgent.
If signed into law, the bill would restrict Russia’s sovereign immunity in the U.S. court system and increase penalties for evading sanctions. Countries on the list are also banned from defense exports and sales.
In addition, the list implements restrictions on dual-use items with civilian or military applications, like global positioning satellites, night vision technology and nuclear technology.
“I don’t think we’re being provocative by labeling Putin a state sponsor of terrorism, I think we’re being rational. I think the designation is earned,” Graham said. “It would matter.”
The senators do not have a timeline for getting this bill approved. They hope to get it through committee and the normal legislative process. However, they said they are prepared to ask for unanimous consent to get it passed on an expedited basis if necessary.
“I don’t even need to go into the classified briefings that we’ve received to tell you how frightening the idea is that Russia would be lending its nuclear expertise to North Korea,” Blumenthal said.
The senators said they do not know how much support the bill would receive in the House.
Graham likened a failure to stand up to Putin now to those who went along with Hitler’s expansion of German territory in the 1930s.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Premier Edouard Daladier, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, and the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, meet in Munich in October 1938. Credit: Getty Images.
“If you give Russia a pass here, given all Putin has done, then we’ve lost deterrence,” Graham said.
The four countries currently designated as state sponsors of terror are Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. The senators contend Russia deserves to join their ranks for the war crimes committed against Ukraine.
Putin, Kim sign comprehensive partnership agreement in North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin receives a grand welcome from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the two leaders strengthen their partnership. And tense moments during the White House briefing as someone appeared to faint as dangerous temperatures grip the nation’s capital. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
Putin, Kim sign comprehensive partnership agreement in North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive partnership agreement on Wednesday, June 19, strengthening the ties between the two countries as Putin visits the north for the first time in 24 years. Putin was welcomed by Kim with a lavish ceremony filled with music and cheering crowds around midday local time.
The two then headed off for a summit where Putin thanked Kim for the North’s support in Russia’s war with Ukraine, adding Moscow is fighting the “imperialist policy” of the United States and its allies. In reply, Kim promised “full support and solidarity” to Russia in what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The two leaders sat down for a two-hour meeting before signing the partnership agreement. Putin said the agreement includes a pledge that the nations help each other if either one is attacked.
The two countries are strengthening their relationship as both face multiple global sanctions — North Korea over its weapons program and Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
U.S. officials believe North Korea is providing weapons to Russia in the war. Both Russia and North Korea deny those allegations.
U.S. soldier sentenced to nearly 4 years in Russian penal colony
A U.S. soldier has been sentenced to nearly four years in a Russian penal colony after being found guilty by a Russian court of stealing money from his girlfriend and threatening to kill her. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was sentenced to three years and nine months Wednesday.
The judge also ordered black to pay 10,000 rubles (about $115) in damages.
According to Russian media, Black partially admitted guilt to theft charges but not to the threats.
Black’s case is just the latest to go to sentencing in a string of Russian arrests of Americans, including two the U.S. has declared as wrongfully detained: former Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Person appears to faint from heat during White House press briefing
The record-breaking heatwave hitting the U.S right now is more than just sweltering — it’s downright dangerous. A scare at the White House in the middle of a daily press briefing is highlighting just how dangerous heat can be, even indoors.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stepped off the podium Tuesday, June 18, to check on someone who appears to have overheated, before returning to the briefing.
AccuWeather is reporting the high temperature reached 94 degrees in Washington Tuesday. It’s also expected to get hotter as the week goes on, with the National Weather Service predicting a potential high of 99 degrees by Saturday, June 22.
The heat in D.C. is part of a bigger heatwave sweeping over the eastern U.S. right now. Meteorologists say around 270 million people will experience temperatures at or above 90 degrees this week.
The heat is not the only big severe weather event facing the U.S. right now. At least one person has been confirmed dead in New Mexico as two wildfires continue to burn.
The fires forced thousands to quickly flee their homes and fire officials say more than 500 structures have been destroyed by those fires so far.
However, forecasters said incoming cooler weather and the chance of rain could bring some relief this week to firefighters battling the blazes.
The Texas coast is under a tropical storm watch as what could soon become the first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season approaches. The National Hurricane Center said heavy, potentially flooding rain is expected, with as much as 15 inches possible.
Los Angeles school district moves to ban cell phones during school day
People saying, “Back in my day, we weren’t using cell phones in school” may soon see that as a reality because of a case in the second-largest school district in America.
The Los Angeles Unified School District board moved forward with a plan Tuesday, June 18, to ban cell phones all day on campus. They said the devices distract students from learning, lead to anxiety and allowed cyberbullying.
“I’ve been struck in prior years just how our students are glued to their cellphones, not unlike adults,” school board member Nick Melvoin said. “They’re surreptitiously scrolling in school, in class time, or have their head in their hands, walking down the hallways. They’re not talking to each other or playing at lunch or recess because they have their AirPods in.”
The ban could soon spread even further. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D, vowed Tuesday to severely restrict the use of phones during the school day statewide.
The move comes on the heels of the U.S. Surgeon General’s op-ed in the New York Times Monday, June 17, calling on Congress to approve “tobacco style” warnings on social media.
Nvidia becomes most valuable company in the world
Move aside Microsoft and Apple — Nvidia is now the most valuable company in the world. Propelled by its role in artificial intelligence, the computer chipmaker jumped to the top on Tuesday.
The company’s share price rose more than 3%, giving the company an overall market valuation of $3.34 trillion.
Nvidia controls approximately 80% of the market for chips used to power AI systems.
In the first quarter of the year, the company saw its revenue rise to $26 billion — up from $7 billion from 2023.
Baseball great Willie Mays passes away at 93
The baseball world is mourning the loss of one of the most legendary players of all time: Willie Mays. Mays passed away Tuesday in the Bay Area at 93 years old.
Nicknamed the “Say Hey Kid,” Mays spent 22 seasons in the big leagues, the majority with the Giants — both in New York and San Francisco.
He was part of the 1954 World Series championship team, highlighted by his over-the-shoulder catch during Game 1. That catch is considered to be the greatest in baseball history.
Among those remembering Mays is baseball Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who called Mays “one of the best ever to play the game and even a better person.”
One of the best to ever play the game and even a better person. Thoughts and prayers are with Willie’s family and loved ones. https://t.co/kiyCbfBqOi
North Korean defectors send balloons with leaflets, cash, K-pop
The battle of the balloons continues. Under the cover of darkness, North Korean defectors sent more balloons from South to North during the morning of Thursday, June 6.
The balloons included packages containing USB drives with K-Pop music, 200,000 leaflets critical of Kim Jong Un’s regime and American $1 bills, which are worth 900 North Korean Won each. It is a response to North Korea sending 1,000 balloons over the course of several days filled with trash and excrement.
The Pentagon said it does not plan to get involved with the balloon dispute.
“Does the U.S. have any plans to reciprocate and send American poop across the 38th parallel?” Jeff Schogol, a reporter for Task & Purpose, asked.
“Thanks Jeff. We do not,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.
The U.S. did, however, make a show of advanced fire power. The military dropped GPS-guided bunker busters from long-range B1-B bombers. South Korean fighter jets escorted the bombers. It is the first joint exercise of its kind in seven years.
However, as if advanced weaponry was not enough to dissuade North Korea from sending more bags of poop, the threat of loud music appears to be. South Korea said if the North does not stop, it will resume playing music and anti-North messaging through loudspeakers in the demilitarized zone.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported North Korea threatened to send “one hundred times the quantity of toilet paper and filth” if the activists resumed their balloon activities.
Over 260 balloons were detected landing in various locations, including Seoul, with some traveling more than 180 miles from the border. The balloons carried items such as garbage, plastic bottles, old batteries and manure. Although no damage was reported, chemical and bomb disposal units are analyzing the collected objects.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned these acts by North Korea as clear violations of international law, posing serious threats to citizen safety. The attack follows North Korea’s declaration of a “tit-for-tat action” in response to anti-Pyongyang leaflets recently sent by South Korean activists. These developments further complicate relations between the two nations, which are technically still at war.
South Korea, the United States and Japan have denounced North Korea’s actions as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
For years, North Korean defectors and South Korean activists have used balloons to send leaflets northward, encouraging opposition to the Pyongyang regime. In efforts to break Kim Jong Un’s information control, these activists have also launched balloons carrying one-dollar banknotes, radios, CDs and leaflets denouncing the regime since 2014.
