World

North Korea is beginning tests on mounting anthrax onto intercontinental ballistic missiles that would strike the U.S., a report said on Wednesday just two days after the White House’s U.S. National Security Strategy stated Kim Jong Un is pursuing chemical and biological weapons.

The Hermit Kingdom is beginning experiments to test out if anthrax can endure immense heat and pressure it will have to endure when loaded into an ICBM and launched toward the earth’s atmosphere, Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported, citing an unidentified person connected to South Korea’s intelligence services.

“North Korea has started experiments such as heat and pressure equipment to prevent anthrax from dying even at a high temperature of over 7,000 degrees generated at the time of ICBM's re-entry into the atmosphere,” the report stated. “In part, there is unconfirmed information that it has already succeeded in such experiments.”

North Korea is beginning tests to place anthrax onto ICBMs, a report said. (KCNA via Reuters)

 NORTH KOREA, STOCKPILING WEAPONS, MOCKS 'LUNATIC' TRUMP WHO HAS 'WAR FEVER'

On Monday, the White House released its U.S. National Security Strategy that said North Korea is “pursuing chemical and biological weapons which could also be delivered by missile.”

“North Korea—a country that starves its own people—has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that could threaten our homeland,” the document said.

North Korea vehemently denied the report and accused the U.S. of cooking “up untruths as truths” and using biological weapons during the Korean War.

“Properly speaking, it is the U.S. stereotyped method to cook up untruths as truths, stubbornly insisting that black is white and fabricating anything for satisfying their aggressive greed,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency stated. “And the U.S. itself is an empire of evils full of plots, fabrications, lies and deceptions.”

North Korea launched an ICBM and said it could carry a "super-heavy warhead." (KCNA via Reuters)

It added, “It is none other than the U.S., chattering on ‘morality’ and ‘civilization,’ the criminal state that massacred the Korean people by bacteriological weapons during the Korean War and inflict sufferings upon the innocent people by continuing even now to openly use the internationally prohibited weapons.”

South Korea has long suspected North Korea was developing biological weapons. A report by Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfar Center for Science and International Affairs stated the dictatorship may have “anthrax and smallpox” pathogens that could be turned into weapons.

KIM JONG UN'S BIZARRE NORTH KOREA PROPAGANDA PHOTOS

North Korea is believed to have started its chemical and biological weapons program in the early 1960s and began possibly weaponizing biological agents in the 1980s, according to the report.

Kim Jong Un’s scientists launched its “greatest” ICBM in late November that the regime claimed could carry a “super-heavy nuclear warhead” that could strike “the whole mainland of the U.S.” However, North Korea has set to perfect its re-entry technology. A U.S. official told Fox News the Hwasong-15 ICBM did not survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

(Fox News)

At least eight women and two girls heading home from a wedding have been killed in an air attack in central-west Yemen, a health official has told Al Jazeera.

Saba news agency, aligned with Yemen's Houthi group, cited a security source as saying that the women's vehicle was struck by three Saudi-led coalition air raids late on Saturday.

The attack reportedly took place at around 11pm local time (20:00 GMT) in the Harib al-Qaramish district of the Marib governorate, east of the capital, Sanaa, where the wedding had taken place.

So far, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels has not commented on the alleged air attack.

Mohammad al-Sheab, head of the health bureau in Marib, told Al Jazeera that the victims were all from the Haysan family. He said the women were between 30 to 50 years old, without providing an age for the two girls.

In a post on Twitter, Mohammad Abdel Salam, spokesperson for Ansar Allah, the political arm of the Houthis, called the attack a "massacre".

In previous tweets, Abdel Salam also accused the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out "three bloody massacres in [the towns of] Taiz, Saada and Hodeidah" over the weekend. He added that more than 70 people were killed in those attacks.

Humanitarian catastrophe
Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition at war in Yemen since March 2015, when the oil-rich Kingdom intervened to push back Houthi rebels and allied troops, and reinstate the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Despite being mired in the war for more than two years, the coalition has so far failed to achieve its stated aims as Houthi rebels continue to hold Sanaa and control the country's north.

The war has taken a huge toll on Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country.

More than 10,000 civilians have been killed, and millions of Yemenis have been left without basic necessities.
Last week,the UN warned that some 8.4 million people "are a step away from famine" in Yemen, which is already battling a massive cholera epidemic.

(Al Jazeera)

PIC: An image purportedly showing the vehicle targeted by the Saudi-led coalition [Media Committee in Sanaa]

Voting is underway in the Spanish region of Catalonia to elect a new government, in a litmus test of the independence movement legitimacy after its provocative attempt to break away from Spain.

Madrid called the snap regional election with the hope of having a new government to deal with after Catalonia's Parliament declared unilateral independence in October.

Spain was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades when the Catalan government held an illegal referendum on October 1 on independence, triggering a months-long standoff with Madrid.

Madrid responded to the Catalan government's provocations by firing the government, dissolving the region's Parliament and imposing direct rule.

Thursday's vote is being treated as a legal version of the referendum, and polls suggest it's on a knife-edge, with support for parties that are for and against independence split right down the middle.

Polls close at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) and exit polls are expected shortly after.

Source : CNN

Information provided by the CIA helped Russian security services foil an attack on St Petersburg Kazan cathedral, the Kremlin says.

The attack was allegedly planned to take place on Saturday, officials say.

In a phone call, President Vladimir Putin thanked Donald Trump for the CIA's intervention, the Kremlin said.

Mr Putin told Mr Trump that Russia's special services would hand over information on terror threats to their US counterparts, it added.

Russia's FSB security service said in a statement on Friday that it had detained seven members of a cell of Islamic State supporters and seized a significant amount of explosives, weapons and extremist literature.

The cell was planning to carry out a suicide attack at a religious institution and kill citizens on Saturday, the FSB statement said.

The group was preparing explosions targeting the cathedral and other public places in Russia's second city, the Kremlin statement said.

It added that Mr Putin had asked the US president to pass on his thanks to the CIA director and the operatives involved.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart had spoken on Sunday. More details are expected soon.

An explosion on St Petersburg's metro system in April, which killed at least 13 people, is thought to be linked to jihadists.

Returning militants from Syria pose a real threat to Russia, the head of the FSB was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Security services had already prevented 18 terrorist attacks in 2017, Alexander Bortnikov said in comments reported by Itar-Tass news agency.

Source : CNN

Disasters in 2017 caused losses of $306bn (£229bn), according to estimates from insurance giant Swiss Re.

The figure represents a 63% jump from last year and is well above the average of the past decade.

The Americas were hardest hit, with hurricanes in the Caribbean and the southern US, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California. Despite the rise in the financial cost of disasters, there was no significant increase in the loss of lives.

Swiss Re said more than 11,000 people died or went missing in disaster events in 2017, which is similar to 2016's figure.

Insurance coverage

A report by the firm's research arm Sigma found insured losses amounted to $136bn (£102bn) - more than double last year's total and the third highest on record.

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria together caused insured losses of about $93bn (£70bn) according to the report.

But Swiss Re said the insurance industry had demonstrated that it could cope very well with such high losses, despite gaps in protection remaining.

"If the industry is able to extend its reach, many more people and businesses can become better equipped to withstand the fallout from disaster events", said Martin Bertogg, head of catastrophe perils at Swiss Re.

 Source: BBC

A suicide bomb and gun attack on a church in the western Pakistani city of Quetta has killed at least eight people and wounded dozens of others, hospital officials say.

The attack targeted Bethel Memorial Methodist Church as worshippers gathered inside to attend a Sunday midday service.

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the gate of the church, prompting a police operation, officials told Al Jazeera.

A second attacker fired upon worshippers, before being killed by security forces at the scene.

"We have cleared the immediate area around the church, and we are now clearing a peripheral area further out," Moazzam Jah Ansari, police chief of Balochistan province, told reporters at the site of the attack.

Witnesses reported a heavy exchange of gunfire in the neighbourhood as police worked to clear the area.

"People were fleeing to the corners [of the church]. I couldn't understand what was happening; it happened so suddenly," a woman, who was at the church when the attack occurred, said on condition of anonymity.

Waseem Ahmed, an official at the nearby Civil Hospital, said 33 people were wounded in the attack.

More than 200 people were gathered at the church for the service at the time of the attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement published by its Amaq outlet. The group did not provide any evidence for its claim.

Frequent attacks

Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, has been at the centre of recent violence in Pakistan.

The city has come under attack both from armed groups allied with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and separatist fighters.

Last month, a suicide attack targeting paramilitary soldiers killed at least four people and wounded 15 others.

Earlier that month, a senior police official was also killed in a similar attack, while in October at least seven police officers were killed in another roadside bombing.

Source: Al Jazeera

Action has been taken against an alleged Islamist terror plot in the UK that could have happened at Christmas, counterterrorism sources say.

Four men were arrested early on Tuesday in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

An Army bomb disposal team cordoned off a street in Chesterfield where a 31-year-old man was arrested. Nearby homes were evacuated.

Three other men aged 22, 36 and 41 were arrested in the Burngreave and Meersbrook areas of Sheffield.

All four suspects were detained on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

They have been taken to a police station in West Yorkshire for questioning. The cordon in Chesterfield was later lifted.

The cordon around one of the properties - the Fatima community centre on Brunswick Road in Burngreave - was extended on Tuesday afternoon and the bomb disposal unit attended.

A large number of police vehicles and officers were outside the two-storey building. The main door appeared to be broken on the ground.

 Source : BBC

Argentina fired the head of its navy a month after a submarine disappeared in the South Atlantic with 44 crew members on board, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

 Letting go of Navy Admiral Marcelo Eduardo Hipólito Srur was the first known disciplinary action taken by President Mauricio Macri’s administration since contact was lost with the ARA San Juan on Nov. 15.

“It was decided to remove him,” a government spokesman said.

Families of the crew members criticized Macri’s government for not clearly communicating with them and for abandoning rescue efforts.

The navy said on Nov. 27 that water that entered the submarine’s snorkel caused its battery to short-circuit before it went missing. The navy had previously said international organizations detected a noise that could have been the submarine’s implosion the same day contact was lost.

The hope of rescuing survivors was abandoned on Nov. 30. The navy said it searched for double the amount of time the submarine would have had oxygen. An international search for the submarine is still underway.

Source: Reuters

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthi rebels says it has intercepted a ballistic missile near Riyadh, Saudi state media report.

Witnesses in the Saudi capital said they had heard an explosion and posted videos on social media showing a cloud of smoke in the air.

The Houthi movement's al-Masirah TV reported that its fighters had fired a Burkan-2 missile at the Yamama Palace.

Last month, a similar missile came close to hitting Riyadh's airport.

 Source : BBC

Toronto billionaire and philanthropist Barry Sherman and his wife were found dead in their mansion Friday afternoon, CNN affiliate CTV reports.

The Toronto Police Service is investigating the deaths as "suspicious."

During a press conference Friday, Constable David Hopkinson would not identify the two bodies. Hopkinson said police, fire units and ambulance responded to a "medical complaint" just before noon on Friday.

Ontario politicians who spoke out on social media said the deceased were generous philanthropists.

Minister of Health Dr. Eric Hoskins tweeted: "I am beyond words right now. My dear friends Barry and Honey Sherman have been found dead. Wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in health care. A very, very sad day. Barry, Honey, rest in peace."

Minister of Economic Development Brad Duguid also expressed his condolences on Twitter. "Deeply shocked & saddened to hear of the deaths of Barry & Honey Sherman. Philanthropists and entrepreneurs who made our province a better place to live."

Hopkinson said that there are no concerns for the public's safety.

"The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way," he said.

According to CTV, Sherman was the chairman of generic drugmaker Apotex, which he founded in 1974. Apotex went on to become the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical company.

Jordan Berman, global director of corporate communications for Apotex, called the news of the deaths "tragic."

"All of us at Apotex are deeply shocked and saddened by this news and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time," Berman said in a statement to CNN.

Constable Hopkinson said that the investigation was still in its early stages and the deaths were not being treated as homicides.

"This is just a suspicious death. We are only investigating that as such right now. If it is determined to be a homicide, then our investigators from homicide will come in."

A US passenger train that derailed, killing three people, was travelling at 80mph (130km/h) on a curve with a speed limit of 30mph, data from the train's rear engine indicates.

It happened in Washington state during rush hour on Monday and officials say 72 people were taken to the hospital.

A number of those injured are reported to be in a serious condition.

Authorities said all carriages had now been searched, but would not rule out a rise in the number of dead.

A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said investigators had arrived at the scene on Monday night local time and would probably be there for a week or 10 days.

Bella Dinh-Zarr said the 12-carriage train had engines at the front and rear. The back engine's data recording had been retrieved, she said, and "preliminary indications are that the train was travelling at 80mph on a 30mph track".

"Our hearts go out to everyone who is affected by this very tragic accident," she said.

Warning signs

Passengers say the train rocked and creaked as it took the bend fast before barrelling off a bridge on to a motorway packed with traffic.

Seven vehicles, two of them lorries, were hit on the I-5 highway below. Several people were injured in their vehicles but none died.

State transport spokesperson Barbara LaBoe was quoted in the Seattle Times newspaper as saying the limit on most of the track was 79mph (128km/h) but drivers were supposed to slow dramatically at the spot where the train derailed.

She said warning signs were in place two miles before the lowered limit.

It was Amtrak's first passenger service to run on a new, shorter route. Amtrak is the name of the company that runs most passenger trains in the US, with some government funding.

The derailment happened on a section of the track previously only used for freight trains.

A safety system called Positive Train Control (PTC) was not operational on the train in question, the president of Amtrak told reporters. Using GPS tracking, PTC automatically warns the driver of speed limits and other local conditions and applies the train's brakes if the warnings are not heeded.

Congress originally legislated for PTC to be installed by the end of 2015 but it is still not even halfway complete.

The cost of implementing the system fully on all tracks and vehicles is reported to be more than $22bn (£16bn).

Train 501 had left Seattle, heading south for Portland, at 06:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

One passenger carriage could be seen dangling from the bridge, while others were strewn across the road and the wooded area next to the track.

There were 86 people on board, including 77 passengers and seven Amtrak crew members, as well as a railway technician.

Police say 19 people were taken from the scene uninjured. Of the 72 transferred to hospital for evaluation, 10 were considered to have serious injuries.

 Source : BBC

US President Donald Trump's administration is set to propose revoking a rule that makes spouses of thousands of H1-B visa holders eligible to work while in the US, potentially complicating a major driver of technology jobs, the media reported.

Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas, under a rule introduced by former President Barack Obama's administration, CNN reported on Friday.

The tech sector is a major employer of H-1B visa holders.

But in a statement late Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it intended to do away with the rule.

However, the department did not explain its reasons in the announcement, saying that it was only acting "in light of" the "Buy American, Hire American" executive order that Trump had signed in April.

The formal process to rescind the rule will still need to be initiated at a later date.

While changing the rule would not prevent spouses of H-1B holders from pursuing other avenues for work authorisation, it could deter a number of high-skilled immigrants from staying in the US if their spouses cannot easily find work.

As well as dropping the rule allowing spouses to work, the Department of Homeland Security statement mentioned plans for other changes to the H-1B visa programme, reports CNN.

They include revising the definition of what occupations are eligible for the programme "to increase focus on truly obtaining the best and brightest foreign nationals", which would be a standard potentially far above what is currently understood under the law.

The Obama-era rule allowing spouses to work already faces a legal challenge. A group called Save Jobs USA filed a lawsuit in April 2015 arguing that it threatens American jobs.

It has continued to press the case following Trump's election, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said in the past that the H-4 rule "hurts American workers".

The administration's plans to overhaul the H-1B programme has caused particular alarm in India, which accounts for 70 percent of all H-1B workers.

The H-1B is a common visa route for highly skilled foreigners to find work at companies in the US. It is valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years.

It is a programme that's particularly popular in the tech community, with many engineers vying for one of the programme's 85,000 visas each year.

In October, the government said it was toughening up the process for renewing the visa. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services instructed its officers to review requests for renewal as thoroughly as they would initial visa applications.

Source: NDTV