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  • N. Korea test-fires two air defence missiles: KCNA

    N. Korea test-fires two air defence missiles: KCNA

    SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen the test-firing of two “new” air defence missiles, state media said Sunday, after Pyongyang accused Seoul of fomenting tensions at the border.

    The test-firing, which took place Saturday, showed that the two “improved” missile weapon systems had “superior combat capability”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

    The KCNA report did not explain the new missiles in any detail, only that their “operation and reaction mode is based on unique and special technology”. It also did not say where the test had been carried out.

    “The firing particularly proved that the technological features of two types of projectiles are very suitable for destroying various aerial targets,” KCNA said.

    On the same day, Kim also communicated an “important task” for the defence science sector to carry out before a key party meeting, the report said.

    South Korea’s military said Saturday it had fired warning shots at several North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the heavily militarised border separating the two countries on Tuesday.

    UN Command put the number of North Korean troops that crossed the border at 30, Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.

    Pyongyang’s state media quoted Army Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol as saying the incident was a “premeditated and deliberate provocation”.

    “This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area where a huge number of forces are stationing in confrontation with each other to the uncontrollable phase,” Ko said.

    South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae Myung has sought warmer ties with the nuclear-armed North and vowed to build “military trust”, but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in improving relations with Seoul.

    The missile tests also come as the South and the United States conduct extensive joint military drills.

  • Fire at nuclear plant after Russia downs Ukrainian drone

    Fire at nuclear plant after Russia downs Ukrainian drone

    MOSCOW: A fire broke out Sunday at a Russian nuclear power plant after the country’s military downed a Ukrainian drone, the facility said after the blaze was put out.

    The “device detonated” upon impact at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia, sparking a blaze which the facility said, “was extinguished by fire crews”.

    There were no casualties from the drone smashing down at the site, where capacity was reduced.

    “The radiation background at the industrial site of the Kursk NPP and the surrounding area has not changed and corresponds to natural levels,” the plant wrote on Telegram.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants following Russia launching its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

    The plant is near the Russia-Ukraine border and sits to the west of Kursk city, the region’s capital with a population of around 440,000.

    Russia now controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula which it annexed in 2014.

    The fighting has killed tens of thousands, forced millions to flee their homes and destroyed cities and villages across the east and south of Ukraine.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed calls by Kyiv and the West for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire.

  • South Africa pushes for Putin-Zelensky meeting

    South Africa pushes for Putin-Zelensky meeting

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday added his voice to diplomatic pressure to end the war in Ukraine by calling for a meeting between Kyiv and Moscow.

    According to a statement from Pretoria, Ramaphosa made his comments during a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

    They come as hopes of a Russia-Ukraine summit appeared to fade, despite US President Donald Trump speaking to both sides over the course of a week.

    Trump had raised expectations on Monday by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky had agreed to meet face-to-face — but on Friday he likened the two men to “oil and vinegar”.

    Kyiv and Moscow have blamed each other for the stalled peace efforts.

    “President Ramaphosa stressed the urgency of holding bilateral and trilateral meetings between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine and the United States as key to signal a firm commitment to ending the war,” the statement read.

    After their call, Zelensky reiterated on social media his willingness to hold “any format of meeting with the head of Russia”.

    “However, we see that Moscow is once again trying to drag everything out even further,” the Ukrainian leader said on X, calling on the Global South to send “relevant signals and (push) Russia toward peace”.

    Pretoria’s statement said Ramaphosa, who currently chairs the G20, had also spoken with the French and Finnish presidents and was expected to speak with “other European leaders” in the coming weeks.

    Ramaphosa spoke on Monday with Vladimir Putin, whom he described in October at the BRICS summit as a “dear ally” and a “valued friend”.

    However, for the first time since Russia’s attack on Ukraine, South Africa voted earlier this year in favour of a UN resolution declaring that Russia had launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

  • ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ hits theaters after topping Netflix

    ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ hits theaters after topping Netflix

    Netflix’s gargantuan hit film ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ has captured the global zeitgeist this summer, smashing streaming and music chart records.

    Now it is coming to movie theatres.

    An animated musical about a trio of Korean pop starlets who fight demons with infectious songs and synchronised dance moves, ‘Demon Hunters’ has been watched 210 million times and currently has five of the global top 10 songs on Spotify.

    Lifestyle News – Latest Entertainment News, Celebrity Gossip

    In an unlikely journey, the streaming mega-hit is tipped by analysts to hit number one at the box office this weekend, with thousands of cosplaying fans headed to sold-out ‘singalong screenings’ in theatres across five countries.

    “Insane, crazy, surreal,” singer EJAE, who co-wrote the film’s biggest track ‘Golden’ and performs heroine Rumi’s songs, told an advance screening at Netflix’s Hollywood headquarters this week.

    “I’m just really grateful I’m able to be part of this crazy cultural phenomenon.”

    For the uninitiated, the film’s premise is bizarre yet simple.

    Demons who feed on human souls have been trapped in another realm by the powerful voices of girl group HUNTR/X.

    To fight back, the demons secretly send their own devilishly handsome boy band to steal HUNTR/X’s fans and feast on their essences.

    Rivalries ensue, loyalties fray, and an unlikely romance evolves over 90 minutes of power ballads and pop earworms, all against anime-style backdrops of Seoul’s modern skyline and traditional bathhouses and thatched hanok homes.

    Released in June, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is already Netflix’s most-watched animated offering, and sits second on the all-time chart for any original film. It is likely to take the top spot within the week.

    “This movie is a triple threat. It’s got fantastic writing. It has got stunning animation. And the songs are bangers,” said Wendy Lee Szany, a Los Angeles-based movie critic and K-pop devotee.

    Indeed, songs by the movie’s fictional HUNTR/X and boy-band rivals Saja Boys occupy three of the Billboard top 10 — a feat no movie soundtrack has achieved since the 1990s.

    ‘Memes’

    While combining the global K-pop craze with sexy supernatural monsters might sound like an obvious recipe for Netflix’s much-vaunted algorithm, nobody expected ‘Demon Hunters’ to take off on this scale.

    It was made by Hollywood studio Sony Pictures, intended for the big screen, but sold to Netflix during the pandemic when many theatres were shuttered.

    That may have worked to the film’s advantage, said John Nguyen, founder of pop culture website Nerd Reactor.

    “If Sony had released it in theatres, I don’t think it would have been as big,” he said.

    “It’s word-of-mouth. People shared it, talked about it, posted videos on social media of fans and families singing along in their living rooms.”

    Endless homespun TikTok dance videos have added to the momentum.

    “People who haven’t seen the movie yet are seeing these memes; they can’t escape it, so they just end up like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna sit down this weekend (and watch) on Netflix,” said Szany.

    “And then they fall in love with it.”

    Also Read: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ debuts on Netflix with stellar RT score

    ‘Shattered’

    Seeking to capitalise, Netflix – usually averse to movie theatres – is hosting ‘sing-alongs’ at 1,700 North American cinemas this weekend.

    Fans are invited to dress up, whip their phones out and film themselves singing at their top of their voices.

    The approach has cinema traditionalists despairing, but earned Taylor Swift’s concert movie $260 million at the box office in 2023.

    Early estimates suggest ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ could make $15 million in domestic theatres and top this weekend’s box office.

    Analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research said that figure seemed ‘reasonable… for now’, but could get ‘shattered’ if a rush of demand causes theatre owners to add extra screenings.

    That would be a welcome shot in the arm for movie theatres, after the bleak years of Covid-19, Hollywood strikes, and younger audiences migrating to – ironically – streaming.

    “There were literally so many kids singing their hearts out,” said Szany, who attended Netflix’s advance singalong and has watched the film at least eight times.

    “I was like, wow, they know all the lyrics better than I do.”

  • Russia says captured two villages in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

    Russia says captured two villages in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

    MOSCOW: Russia on Saturday said its forces in east Ukraine had taken two villages in the Donetsk region, upping military pressure on the ground as world leaders struggle to broker an end to the conflict.

    Russian forces are slowly advancing in the embattled eastern region, grinding closer to Kyiv’s key defensive line in costly metre-for-metre battles.

    Moscow’s defence ministry said on Telegram that Russian forces captured the villages of Sredneye and Kleban-Byk.

    The taking of Kleban-Byk would mark a further advance towards Kostiantynivka — a key fortified town on the road to Kramatorsk, where a major Ukrainian logistics base is located.

    On Friday, Russia said its troops had captured three villages in the Donetsk region it claimed to have annexed in September 2022.

    The latest Russian advances come as hopes dim for a summit between Russian and Ukrainian presidents — a solution campaigned for by US President Donald Trump as part of his efforts to end the conflict.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday “no meeting” was planned as Trump’s mediation efforts appeared to stall, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was trying to prolong the offensive.

    Also Friday, Trump told reporters he would make an “important” decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts, specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions — or he might “do nothing”.

  • Sri Lanka opposition says ex-leader jailed to stop comeback

    Sri Lanka opposition says ex-leader jailed to stop comeback

    COLOMBO: Opposition parties in Sri Lanka accused on Saturday the government of jailing the country’s former president over fears he could return to power.

    Former leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, 76, who lost the last presidential election in September to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, was remanded in custody Friday on charges of misusing state funds for foreign travel.

    Anti-graft units have ramped up investigations since Dissanayake came to power on a promise to fight endemic corruption in the island nation, which is emerging from its worst economic meltdown in 2022.

    Nalin Bandara, a member of parliament for the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, who visited Wickremesinghe at Colombo’s New Magazine Prison, said the former leader had called for unity to challenge Dissanayake’s leftist administration.

    “What the former president says is that we should get onto a common stage to fight the oppression of the new government,” Bandara told reporters outside the prison.

    Wickremesinghe’s own United National Party (UNP), which has two seats in the 225-member parliament, said the government felt threatened by the former president.

    “They fear he might return to power, and that is why this action,” UNP General Secretary Thalatha Athukorala told reporters in Colombo.

    Wickremesinghe stands accused of using state funds to finance a private visit to Britain in September 2023, while returning from attending the G77 summit in Havana and the UN General Assembly in New York.

    The offences carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail and a fine not exceeding three times the value of the misappropriated funds.

    His two-day UK visit was to participate in the conferring of an honorary professorship on his wife, Maithree, by the University of Wolverhampton.

    Wickremesinghe has maintained that his wife’s travel expenses were met by her and that no state funds were used.

    However, the police Criminal Investigation Department alleged that Wickremesinghe used 16.6 million rupees ($55,000) of government money for his travel.

    Wickremesinghe became president in July 2022 after then leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa stepped down following months of street protests fuelled by the economic crisis.

    He later secured a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in early 2023, doubled taxes and removed energy subsidies to stabilise the economy.

    Since the new government came to power, two former senior ministers have been jailed for up to 25 years for corruption.

    Several members of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family have also been charged with misusing state funds and are being prosecuted. Many of them are currently on bail pending court hearings.

    Dissanayake’s government this month impeached the police chief after accusing him of abuse of power. The prisons chief was also jailed for corruption.

  • US Defense Intelligence Agency chief among latest ousted officers

    US Defense Intelligence Agency chief among latest ousted officers

    WASHINGTON: The head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and two other senior officers are being removed, officials said Friday — the latest in a series of military firings this year.

    The removal of Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, who led the DIA since early 2024, comes after the agency produced a preliminary assessment that said US strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.

    The assessment — which was widely reported on by US media — contradicted claims from President Donald Trump that the strikes totally destroyed the nuclear sites, drawing the ire of both him and officials within his administration.

    Kruse “will no longer serve as DIA director,” a senior defense official said on condition of anonymity, without providing an explanation for the general’s departure.

    Prior to becoming director of the DIA, Kruse served as the advisor for military affairs for the director of national intelligence and also held positions including director of intelligence for the coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.

    A US official separately said on condition of anonymity that two other senior officers — Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, chief of Navy Reserve, and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command — were also leaving their positions.

    Series of top officers fired

    In June, the United States launched a massive operation against three Iranian nuclear sites, an effort that involved more than 125 US aircraft as well as a guided missile submarine.

    Trump called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and repeatedly said they “obliterated” the nuclear sites, but the DIA’s preliminary assessment raised doubts about the president’s claims.

    The Trump administration responded with an offensive against the media, insisting the operation was a total success and berating journalists for reporting on the assessment.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the assessment was “leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” and slammed “fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment.”

    Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February.

    Other senior officers dismissed this year include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.

    The chief of staff of the Air Force also recently announced his retirement without explanation just two years into a four-year term.

    Hegseth has insisted the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants, but Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential politicization of the traditionally neutral US military.

    Earlier this year, the Pentagon chief additionally ordered at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals in the US military, as well as a 10 percent cut in the overall number of general and flag officers.

  • Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border

    Seoul says fired warning shots after North Korean troops crossed border

    SEOUL: South Korea fired warning shots at North Korean soldiers that briefly crossed the heavily fortified border earlier this week, Seoul said Saturday after Pyongyang accused it of risking “uncontrollable” tensions.

    South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae Myung has sought warmer ties with the nuclear-armed North and vowed to build “military trust”, but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in improving relations with Seoul.

    Seoul’s military said several North Korean soldiers crossed the border Tuesday while working in the heavily mined Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

    The incursion prompted “our military to fire warning shots”, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, adding “the North Korean soldiers then moved north” of the de facto border.

    Pyongyang’s state media said earlier Saturday that the incident occurred as North Korean soldiers worked to permanently seal the frontier dividing the peninsula, citing a statement by Army Lieutenant General Ko Jong Chol.

    Calling the event a “premeditated and deliberate provocation”, Ko said Seoul’s military used a machine gun to fire more than 10 warning shots towards the North’s troops, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

    “This is a very serious prelude that would inevitably drive the situation in the southern border area where a huge number of forces are stationing in confrontation with each other to the uncontrollable phase,” Ko said.

    Sealing the border

    The last border confrontation between the two Koreas was in early April when South Korea’s military fired warning shots after around 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the frontier.

    North Korea’s military announced last October it was moving to totally shut off the southern border, saying it had sent a message to US forces to “prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict”.

    Shortly after, it blew up sections of the unused but deeply symbolic roads and railroad tracks that connect the North to the South.

    Ko warned that North Korea’s army would retaliate against any interference with its efforts to permanently seal the border.

    “If the act of restraining or obstructing the project unrelated to the military character persists, our army will regard it as deliberate military provocation and take corresponding countermeasure,” he said.

    ‘Restore trust’

    Under Lee’s more hawkish predecessor, relations between the two Koreas had sunk to one of their lowest points in years.

    After Lee’s election in June, he pledged to pursue dialogue with the North without preconditions, saying last week his government “will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust”.

    Even so, South Korea and the United States began annual joint exercises on Monday aimed at preparing for potential threats from the North.

    Lee described the drills as “defensive” and said they were “not intended to heighten tensions”.

    Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Pyongyang was accusing Seoul of pursuing a “dual approach” with its latest outburst — calling for dialogue while in its view raising military tensions.

    Pyongyang’s leader Kim called earlier this week for the “rapid expansion” of the North’s nuclear weapons capability, citing the ongoing US-South Korean military exercises that he claimed could “ignite a war”.

    His powerful sister has since said Seoul “cannot be a diplomatic partner” of the North, and that Lee “is not the sort of man who will change the course of history”.

  • India to develop fighter jet engines with French company

    India to develop fighter jet engines with French company

    New Delhi: India is working with a French company to develop and manufacture fighter jet engines in the country, New Delhi’s defence minister said.

    Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in May approved the prototype of a 5th generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), calling it a “significant push towards enhancing India’s indigenous defence capabilities”.

    Singh, in a speech at a conference in New Delhi on Friday, gave more details about developing fighter jet aircraft engines in the country.

    “We are moving forward to manufacture aircraft engines in India itself,” Singh said, in comments broadcast by Indian media. “We are collaborating with a French company to start engine production in India.”

    Read More: Rafale maker Dassault shares drop; China’s J-10 manufacturer sees stock surge

    Singh did not name the company, but India media widely reported the company to be Safran, which has been working in India for decades in the aviation and defence sectors.

    There was no immediate confirmation.

    India, one of the world’s largest arms importers, has made the modernisation of its forces a top priority, and made repeated pushes to boost local arms production.

    The world’s most populous nation has deepened defence cooperation with Western countries in recent years, including the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia.

    India signed in April a multi-billion-dollar deal to purchase 26 Rafale fighter jets from France’s Dassault Aviation.

    It would join 36 Rafale fighters already acquired, and replace the Russian MiG-29K jets.

    Singh has also promised at least $100 billion in fresh domestic military hardware contracts by 2033 to spur local arms production.

    This decade India has opened an expansive new helicopter factory, launched its first domestically made aircraft carrier, warships and submarines, and conducted a successful long-range hypersonic missile test.

    New Delhi eyes threats from multiple nations. India was engaged with Pakistan in a four-day conflict in May, their worst standoff since 1999.

  • Iran, Europeans to meet amid snapback sanctions threat

    Iran, Europeans to meet amid snapback sanctions threat

    TEHRAN: Iran will meet next week with Britain, France and Germany for talks on its nuclear programme, the parties said Friday, as the European powers warned Tehran to engage swiftly to avoid snapback sanctions.

    The Islamic republic suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency in July in the wake of its 12-day war with Israel, citing the UN nuclear watchdog’s failure to condemn Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

    The European trio — parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — have threatened to trigger a “snapback mechanism” by the end of August.

    The move would reimpose sweeping UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 agreement unless Iran agrees to curb its uranium enrichment and restore cooperation with IAEA inspectors.

    “It was agreed that Iran’s talks with the three European countries and the European Union would continue next Tuesday at the level of deputy foreign ministers,” Iran’s foreign ministry said after a phone call between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and senior European diplomats.

    France confirmed the talks and cautioned that Iran faced a narrowing window of time.

    “We have just made an important call to our Iranian counterpart regarding the nuclear programme and the sanctions against Iran that we are preparing to reimpose,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on X, noting he was joined on the call by his British and German counterparts and the EU’s top diplomat.

    “Time is running out. A new meeting will take place next week on this issue,” he added.

    German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on X that his country remained “committed to diplomacy but time is very short”.

    “Iran needs to engage substantively in order to avoid the activation of snapback,” he said. “We have been clear that we will not let the snapback of sanctions expire unless there is a verifiable and durable deal.”

    The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, similarly said: “With the deadline for the snapback mechanism fast approaching, Iran’s readiness to engage with the US is crucial. Iran must also fully cooperate” with the IAEA.

    It was not immediately clear where the talks, the second since the Iran-Israel war, would take place.

    Iran warns snapback consequences

    Israel in June launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear, military and civilian sites, prompting Tehran to respond with missile strikes on Israel.

    The United States also joined its ally Israel, targeting key Iranian nuclear sites deep within the country.

    Iran and the European trio — known as the E3 — held talks in late July at the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, which Tehran described as “frank”.

    Israel’s war with Iran derailed its nuclear negotiations with the United States.

    The 2015 nuclear deal was aimed preventing Iran from developing an atomic bomb — an ambition it has consistently denied.

    The deal was torpedoed in 2018 by Donald Trump, during his first term as president, unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement and slapped sanctions on its economy.

    Iran has ever since criticised the European parties, over failing to meet their commitments under the deal.

    Araghchi reiterated Friday the “lack of legal and moral competence of these countries to resort to the said mechanism” while warning about “the consequences of such an action”.

    The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said in an interview published on Friday that the Europeans are “carrying out part of America’s operations” by pursuing the snapback mechanism.

    Iran has previously said it would leave the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) if the E3 activate the snapback mechanism.

    Larijani said in the interview on the supreme leader’s website that “the possibility has always existed” for Iran to leave the NPT, but it has remained committed to the treaty even though it bears “no benefit” for Tehran.

    Tehran has argued that NPT membership grants it the right to enrich uranium, which Washington considers a red line.

    The deadline for activating the mechanism ends in October, though Europeans have set an internal target of the end of August, while also offering an extension to buy time for talks.

    Araghchi said Friday that “this is a decision that must essentially be taken by the United Nations Security Council; and while the Islamic Republic of Iran has its own principled positions and views in this regard, it is not involved in this process.”

    Larijani rejected the prospect of an extension, saying: “Iran truly does not accept this.”