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North Korea will strengthen its nuclear force ‘both in quality and quantity’ and expand the role of its military intelligence agency focused on Republic of Korea, state media said .Pyongyang is under widespread sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned Korean President Lee Jae-myung's dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its ‘most hostile’ enemy and declaring itself an ‘irreversible’ nuclear state.The issues were discussed during an enlarged meeting of the ruling party's central military commission on Thursday, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.The meeting decided on measures such as ‘bolstering up the nuclear force both in quality and quantity’, the report said.It also called for broadly expanding the functions and missions of the General Reconnaissance and Intelligence Bureau, Pyongyang's military intelligence agency tasked with operations involving Republic of Korea.The unit ‘plays a pivotal role in controlling the potential enemies' threats and gathering key information’, KCNA said.The meeting discussed ways to enhance the unit's ‘capability of military reconnaissance and intelligence activities in a radical way’, it added.Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea's latest move reflects Pyongyang's shift to treating the two Koreas as ‘two hostile states’, potentially replacing the previous armistice-based framework.’Military reconnaissance takes on a different meaning under a state-to-state approach, as intelligence activities targeting another sovereign state can carry diplomatic implications,’ he told AFP.— Espionage operations —Experts have said that North Korea is likely aiming to acquire military technology, including surveillance satellites, in return for the troops it sent to aid Russia's war against Ukraine.In 2023, the country successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit and claimed it was capturing images of major US and Korean military sites.Republic of Korea's Unification Ministry told AFP it was ‘closely monitoring’ any developments related to the North Korean unit's reported expansion.Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, North Korea has carried out espionage operations ranging from intelligence-gathering to assassinations, including the 1997 killing of defector Lee Han-young.One of North Korea's best-known spies was Jeong Su-il, who entered Republic of Korea in 1984 posing as Muhammed Kansu, a Filipino-Lebanese academic.After his cover was blown, he served prison terms in Republic of Korea before later becoming a historian specialising in the Silk Road and the history of West Asia. Source link
Dhaka Capitals said Mahbub Ali felt unwell during training and collapsed on the field. He was given CPR…
Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement, following three days of talks after violent confrontations between the two bordering countries.The Cambodian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that the ceasefire includes all kinds of weapons, civilian and military targets on both sides.The two countries announced Wednesday that military officials from both sides began talks after the conflict killed at least 86 people. Related Story Source link
Social media platforms with infinite scrolling, auto-play and algorithmic feeds will be required to display warning labels about their potential harm to young users’ mental health under a new law, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday.”Keeping New Yorkers safe has been my top priority since taking office, and that includes protecting our kids from the potential harms of social media features that encourage excessive use,” she said in a statement.This month Australia imposed a social media ban for children under 16.New York joins states like California and Minnesota that have similar social media laws.The New York law includes platforms that offer “addictive feeds”, auto play or infinite scroll, according to the legislation.The law applies to conduct occurring partly or wholly in New York but not when the platform is accessed by users physically outside the state.It allows the state’s attorney general to bring legal action and seek civil penalties of up $5,000 per violation of the law.Hochul compared the social media labels to warnings on other products like tobacco, where they communicate the risk of cancer, or plastic packaging, where they warn of the risk of suffocation for small children.Spokespeople for TikTok, Snap, Meta, and Alphabet did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The effect of social media on children’s mental health has become a growing global concern, with US school districts suing Meta Platforms and other social media companies.In 2023, the US surgeon-general issued an advisory on safeguards for children and later called for social media warning labels like the one now required in New York. Source link
A major Gaza hospital said yesterday it had suspended several services because of critical fuel shortages in the devastated Palestinian territory, which faces a severe humanitarian crisis.Ravaged by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.“Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators,” said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital. “Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics.”To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added. Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 litres of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 litres available.“We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel,” Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage “would pose a direct threat to the hospital’s ability to deliver basic services”.Khitam Ayada, 30, who has taken refuge in Nuseirat, said she had gone to the facility after days of kidney pain. But “they told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray… and that they couldn’t treat me,” the displaced woman said.“They gave me a painkiller and told me that if my condition didn’t improve I should go” to another hospital, she said.“We lack everything in our lives, even the most basic medical services,” she added. Hospital official Mehanna urged local and international organisations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady fuel supply.Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis. While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100- 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organisations.The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza’s 2.2mn people. The vast majority of Gaza’s residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for daily survival.Gaza’s health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war. During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centres across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centres there, an allegation the group denied.International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilisation centres for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs. The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas storming of Israel in October 2023.In Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people – also mostly civilians – have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.These figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Source link
