03 World

North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles in latest weapons tests– www.france24.com

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North Korea test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, South Korea‘s military said, the latest in a recent flurry of launches by the nuclear-armed state.

The Sunday launches add to a series of weapons tests Pyongyang has carried out in recent weeks, including ballistic missiles, anti-warship cruise missiles and cluster munitions.

Read moreNorth Korea tests nuclear-capable rocket launchers amid US-South Korea military drills

“Our military detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea from the Sinpo area of North Korea at around 6:10 am (GMT 21:10),” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to a body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

“The missiles flew approximately 140 kilometres (86.9 miles), and South Korean and US intelligence authorities are conducting a detailed analysis of their exact specifications,” it added.

Feds Sound Alarm Over Warning That Anthropic ‘Mythos’ AI Can Hack ‘Every Major Operating System’– slaynews.com

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Federal officials are scrambling after a powerful new artificial intelligence (AI) model demonstrated the ability to hack virtually every major operating system and web browser, triggering urgent warnings from top government and financial leaders.

AI giant Anthropic’s new system, known as “Mythos,” is being kept under tight restrictions.

However, insiders say the threat is already serious enough that the U.S. government is racing to understand it before it’s too late.

Treasury Rushes to Access High-Risk AI

According to reports, the U.S. Treasury Department is urgently seeking access to Anthropic’s restricted model

How Cheap Drones Are Changing Wars Like the Ones in Ukraine and Iran– www.nytimes.com

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One of the biggest takeaways of the war with Iran is that it has proven itself to be a surprisingly capable adversary against the United States. In addition to its willingness to go on the offensive, Iran has forced the U.S. and its regional allies to confront the rise of cheap drones on the battlefield.

Iranian drones, made with commercial-grade technology, cost roughly $35,000 to produce. That is a fraction of the cost of the high-tech military interceptors sometimes used to shoot them down.

Note: Estimated price of munitions per unit. In practice, multiple interceptors are fired when targeting a drone. For instance, with the $80 bullet fired by the Centurion Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM), 75 rounds are fired in a second. Sources: Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Open Source Munitions Portal, SRC Inc, U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.

Cheap drones changed the war in Ukraine, and they have enabled Iranians to exploit a gap in American defense investments, which have historically prioritized accurate but expensive solutions.

Countering drones has been a major priority for the Pentagon for years, according to Michael C. Horowitz, who was a Pentagon official in the Biden administration. “But there has not been the impetus to scale a solution,” he said.

Sweden warns Russia could launch land grab to seize Baltic Sea island– www.mirror.co.uk

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Sweden is bracing itself for a potential Russian operation to seize the island of Gotland, according to the country’s military chief.

Swedish Chief of Defence Michael Claesson warned that Moscow could execute a land grab “at any time” in order to put NATO’s determination to the test.

“It doesn’t have to be particularly extensive at all, but more to make a point and wait to see what might happen politically,” Claesson said.

NATO military exercises have traditionally centred on a potential Russian land assault along the alliance’s eastern flank, however focus is now turning towards the Baltic Sea.

War games have simulated possible Russian landings on strategically vital islands such as Gotland in Sweden, Bornholm in Denmark, and Hiiumaa and Saaremaa in Estonia.

Swedish military intelligence has cautioned that Russia is capable of broadening its conflict in the years ahead.

6 killed after gunman opens fire in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say– www.cbsnews.com

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A gunman who killed at least six people in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, before taking hostages and barricading himself inside a supermarket on Saturday has been shot and killed by police, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s special tactical police units stormed the store after attempts to contact the gunman with a negotiator failed, the head of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, Ihor Klymenko, said in a statement on social media. The attacker was killed while resisting arrest, he said.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Klymenko said that the gunman had killed four bystanders while on the street, before entering the supermarket and killing a fifth person.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that a sixth victim, a young woman, died from her injuries in the hospital.

An Associated Press reporter on the scene saw the bodies of the victims in the street covered by emergency blankets before they were taken away.

Trump Just Gave Cuba Two Weeks to Get Its Act Together– townhall.com

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President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the Cuban government, urging it to release political prisoners or face continued blackouts, fuel shortages and other problems.

Washington is currently maintaining a blockade in the region, preventing Cuba from receiving shipments of oil and other resources. The move is aimed at pressuring the Cuban government to remove the Castro family from power, release political prisoners, hold free elections, and restore civil liberties to the public. The president has also imposed tariffs on countries that provide oil to the Cuban regime.

Iran-US war latest: Tehran threatens attacks on US after seizure of tanker and rejects new round of peace talks– www.independent.co.uk

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A senior Iranian source has been talking to Reuters news agency about the gaps in negotiating position between Washington and Tehran.

There are still significant differences regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, the source said.

It comes amid hopes that Iran and the US will resume peace talks after they failed in Islamabad earlier this month.

The senior Iranian source said that Tehran’s “defensive capabilities”, including its missile programme, are not open to negotiation with the US

“Continuation of the US blockade on the Strait of Hormuz undermines the peace talks,” they added.

Israel says image of soldier striking Jesus statue in Lebanon is authentic– www.channelnewsasia.com

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JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said on Monday (Apr 20) that it had determined an image circulating on social media that shows a soldier in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is authentic and depicts one of its troops.

The image appears to show an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen off a cross.

Arab media reports indicated that the statue was in the Christian village of Debl in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel.

The Debl municipality told AFP that the statue was located in the village, but could not confirm whether it had been damaged.

Los Angeles woman arrested on Iranian arms trafficking charge– abcnews.com

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LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors said a 44-year-old Los Angeles woman was arrested Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of helping Iran traffic weapons to Sudan, which is in its fourth year of a bloody civil war.

Shamim Mafi will face charges that she brokered the sale of “drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition” between Iran and the Sudanese Armed Forces, First U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Sunday on social media.

A phone number for Mafi could not be located and it wasn’t known Sunday if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

Essayli posted a photo of someone in an FBI jacket escorting a woman into the back of a sedan outside a terminal at LAX.

Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016, Essayli said.

The US backs a South Africa project to extract rare earths despite a diplomatic clash– abcnews.com

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PHALABORWA, South Africa — Two enormous sandlike dunes at an old chemical processing plant in South Africa are at the center of an exploratory U.S.-backed project to extract highly sought-after rare earth elements from industrial mining waste.

The Phalaborwa Rare Earths Project has U.S. support through a $50 million equity investment by the government’s International Development Finance Corporation and is part of accelerated U.S. efforts to reduce reliance on economic rival China for the minerals crucial for making electronic devices, robotics, defense systems, electric vehicles and other high-tech products.

Countries have identified dozens of minerals, including copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel, as critical because they are essential for new technologies. The 17 rare earth elements are a subset of them.

President Donald Trump has made expanding U.S. access to critical minerals, including rare earth elements, a central policy to counter China. The Trump administration said this year it will deploy nearly $12 billion to create its own strategic reserve.

Pope denies ‘tyrants’ speech aimed at Trump — RT World News– www.rt.com

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The US president has lashed out at the pontiff over his criticism of the war in the Middle East

Pope Leo has sought to downplay his public spat with US President Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he was trying to challenge the president with his criticism of the war in Iran and calls for peace.

Speaking to reporters on a flight to Angola on Saturday, the US-born pontiff insisted that his remarks were not meant to be confrontational, while criticizing the media for inflating the row through excessive commentary and speculation.

“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects… much of what has been written… has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” the Pope said. He stressed that his remarks in Cameroon earlier this week, blasting leaders who spend billions on wars and describing the world as “ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” were not directed at Trump.

Risk of ‘megaquake’ in Japan higher after powerful earthquake strikes– www.scientificamerican.com

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On Monday, at 4:53 P.M. local time, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the northeastern shores of Japan’s largest island, Honshu, where the Pacific tectonic plate plunges beneath the North American plate at the deep-sea Japan Trench. Immediately, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) sent out a tsunami warning alert. Although small tsunami waves did soon reach various sections of the coast, no reports of injuries, deaths, or significant damage to homes or infrastructure were reported.

The danger, however, has not necessarily passed. Following the temblor, a JMA spokesperson told the media and those along the affected shoreline that “the likelihood of a new, huge earthquake occurring is relatively higher than during normal times.” Specifically, there is an elevated risk of a “megaquake”—one of magnitude 8.0 or greater—in the coming days.

The odds of an imminent megaquake are very low—around one in 100. “This 1 percent probability is still low in absolute terms, but it’s 10 times higher than normal, which is significant from a risk management perspective,” says Amilcar Carrera-Cevallos, an independent earthquake scientist.

Migrants rush to apply under Spain’s new mass legalization program– abcnews.com

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MADRID — Migrants in Spain began applying to legalize their status Monday after the Southern European nation launched a mass legalization measure that could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners living and working in the country without authorization.

Spain’s approach sharply differs from prevailing attitudes elsewhere in Europe, where many governments have been trying to curb arrivals and step up deportations. The Spanish government has defended the measure as an economic one that has the support of business owners and unions.

With an aging population, the government has said Spain needs more workers to maintain its growing economy, pay taxes and contribute to social security.

The amnesty program was announced in January and finalized this month. It offers immigrants without legal status a one-year, renewable residence permit if they have spent five months living in the country and have a clean criminal record. They have until the end of June to apply.

Ministers rally around Keir Starmer as leadership questions grow over Mandelson saga – UK politics live | Politics– www.theguardian.com

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Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has indicated Keir Starmer’s mishandling of the economy and the Peter Mandelson saga risks leading Nigel Farage to become prime minister.

Davey told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that Starmer should “move aside” if he wants the Labour party to succeed.

He said: “The thing that I think Labour MPs should think about quite carefully now is their Government has been a bit of a failure, frankly, on the economy, on so much, and it’s in chaos, in the way that Conservatives were in chaos, in perpetual crisis, and I don’t think they can get out of that unless Keir Starmer moves aside.

“And if they don’t, there’s a real danger they’re handing the keys to Number 10 to Nigel Farage, who can benefit from this chaos.

“So I would really say to Labour MPs, who in many ways, have the future of the prime minister in their hands, that they really now have to accept, the prime minister is a big part of their own problem and in the context of the threat that Nigel Farage poses to our democracy and to our country with his divisive Trump-like politics, I think the Labour party has to realise they have to move on.”

Chinese tech workers are starting to train their AI doubles–and pushing back– www.technologyreview.com

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Internet users have found humor in the idea behind the tool, joking about automating their coworkers before themselves. However, Colleague Skill’s virality has sparked a lot of debate about workers’ dignity and individuality in the age of AI.

After seeing Colleague Skill on social media, Amber Li, 27, a tech worker in Shanghai, used it to recreate a former coworker as a personal experiment. Within minutes, the tool created a file detailing how that person did their job. “It is surprisingly good,” Li says. “It even captures the person’s little quirks, like how they react and their punctuation habits.” With this skill, Li can use an AI agent as a new “coworker” that helps debug her code and replies instantly. It felt uncanny and uncomfortable, Li says.

Even so,  replacing coworkers with agents could become a norm. Since OpenClaw became a national craze, bosses in China have been pushing tech workers to experiment with agents.

Active-duty US Army sergeant’s wife detained by ICE in Texas, could be deported to Mexico– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Sergeant First Class Jose Serrano, an active-duty US Army sergeant who served the military for 27 years, including several in Afghanistan, said the ICE is out of control after his wife Deisy Rivera Ortega, an El Salvadorian by birth, was detained by the ICE on April 14 in Texas. Ortega had an appointment at the immigration office in El Paso when she was arrested.Ortega came to the US in 2016 and was granted legal protection in 2019, CBS News reported.

Because of her legal protection, Ortega can’t be deported to El Salvador but the administration told 51-year-old Serrano that his wife could be deported to Mexico. “I don’t really understand why, because she followed the rules of immigration by the T since day one,” Serrano said, adding that his wife had an active work permit at the time of her arrest.”I love the Army.

(The) Army helped me out for almost 28 years. It’s not the Army, sir. It’s ICE,” Serrano said in his interview to the CBS. “ICE is out of control right now, taking away rights, as soldiers, that we have.”Serrano was born in Puerto Rico and the duo got married in 2022 He also submitted a Parole in Place application on behalf of his wife last year, a special program designed to offer deportation protections to military spouses or parents who are in the U.S. without legal status, but the case remained pending. The wife had a military ID labeling her as a spouse of an active-duty Army soldier.

Pressure on Starmer grows over Mandelson vetting despite ousting of Foreign Office official – UK politics live | UK news– www.theguardian.com

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Meanwhile, Peter Mandelson’s replacement as British ambassador to the US has said the relationship between the two countries is in the middle of an “extraordinary moment”.

Speaking in Washington on Friday, Sir Christian Turner said that the transatlantic relationship, which has become strained due to tensions over the Iran war and Donald Trump’s intense criticism of Keir Starmer for his supposed lack of support in the conflict, was still “one of the deepest and closest alliances in history”.

He said:

I’ve now been in this job for about two months, and they said, ‘Come to Washington for a rest. It’ll be very calm. It’ll be very quiet. You’ll be okay.’

And we’re in the middle of this extraordinary moment, geopolitically, geoeconomically, and indeed for the transatlantic relationship.

It is, of course, all relative – 250 years ago we had a small disagreement. We were in the midst of a dispute back then.

To our credit, we’ve only tried to burn down the White House once since, and what began in that moment of tension has been forged into one of the deepest and closest alliances in history.

He added:

I like to think it’s a pragmatic partnership. It’s not one based in backwards looking and nostalgia. It’s looking forwards as it really secures security and prosperity for both Britons and Americans alike.

Pope Leo XIV lands in Angola, says it is ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump– www.euronews.com

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After visiting Cameroon, Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda, Angola on Saturday, where he was welcomed by faithful. The Holy Father is about to become the third pontiff to visit Angola, after John Paul II (1992) and Benedict XVI (2009).

Meanwhile, during Pope Leo XIV’s plane journey on Saturday he said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate President Donald Trump about the US-Israeli war in Iran.

But the American pope also took the opportunity to set the record straight, insisting that not everything he says was directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

As soon as Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda he was scheduled to meet with Angola’s president, João Lourenço, and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip during which he has been stepping up his rhetoric, after becoming the target of criticism from Donald Trump.