World News Random, Random

[ponchi101]

From the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

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Rwanda experiencing first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus; 36 confirmed cases, including 11 deaths

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Cool Cool Cool

I don't understand your reply, M8. Expand, if you don't mind.

[mmmm8]

From the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

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Rwanda experiencing first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus; 36 confirmed cases, including 11 deaths

...

Cool Cool Cool

I don't understand your reply, M8. Expand, if you don't mind.

The saying is kind of a meme, I think it originated on the TV show Community. It means this is not, in fact, cool.

[Suliso]

North Korea has declared South Korea a hostile state and blown up the last remaining road and rail links. Funny people, but also dangerous...

[skatingfan]

Are North Korean troops joining Russia’s war in Ukraine?
James Waterhouse
BBC Kyiv correspondent
Olga Ivshina
BBC Russian

Russia’s army is forming a unit of some 3,000 North Koreans, a Ukrainian military intelligence source has told the BBC, in the latest report suggesting that Pyongyang is forming a close military alliance with the Kremlin.

So far the BBC has yet to see any sign of such a large unit being formed in Russia's Far East, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed reports of North Korean involvement.

"This is not only British intelligence, it is also American intelligence. They report it all the time, they don't provide any evidence," he said.

There is no doubt Moscow and Pyongyang have deepened their levels of cooperation in recent months. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent Vladimir Putin a birthday message only last week calling him his "closest comrade".

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken of North Korea joining the war, and South Korea’s defence minister said this month that the chance of a North Korean deployment in Ukraine was “highly likely”.

The biggest question mark is over the numbers involved.

A military source in Russia’s Far East confirmed to BBC Russian that “a number of North Koreans have arrived” and were stationed in one of the military bases near Ussuriysk, to the north of Vladivostok. But the source refused to give a precise number, other than that they were “absolutely nowhere near 3,000”.

Military experts have told us they doubt Russian army units can successfully incorporate North Korean soldiers in their thousands.
“It wasn’t even that easy to include hundreds of Russian prisoners at first – and all those guys spoke Russian,” one analyst - who
is in Russia so didn't want to be named - told the BBC.

Even if they did number 3,000, it would not be big in a battlefield sense, but the US is as concerned as Ukraine.

“It would mark a significant increase in their relationship,” said US state department spokesman Matthew Miller, who saw it as “a new level of desperation by Russia” amid battlefield losses.

It was back in June that Vladimir Putin toasted a “peaceful and defensive” pact with Kim Jong Un.

And there is mounting evidence that North Korea is supplying Russia with ammunition, as recently demonstrated by the recovery of a missile in Ukraine’s Poltava region.

In fact, reports of mines and shells supplied by Pyongyang date back to December 2023 in Telegram chats involving Russia’s military communities.

Russian soldiers, stationed in Ukraine, have often complained about the standard of ammunition and that dozens of soldiers have been wounded.

Kyiv suspects that a unit of North Korean soldiers is preparing in the Ulan-Ude region close to the Mongolian border ahead of deployment to Russia’s Kursk province, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion back in August.

“They could guard some sections of the Russian-Ukrainian border, which would free Russian units for fighting elsewhere,” said Valeriy Ryabykh, editor of the Ukrainian publication Defence Express.

“I would rule out the possibility that these units will immediately appear on the front line.”

Ryabakh is not alone in this thought.

North Korea may have some 1.28 million active soldiers but its army has no recent experience of combat operations, unlike Russia’s military.

Pyongyang has pursued the old Soviet model in its armed forces but it is unclear how its main force of motorised infantry units might fit into the war in Ukraine.

Then there is the obvious language barrier and an unfamiliarity with Russian systems that would complicate any fighting roles.

That does not preclude North Korea’s military taking part in Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, but they are most recognised by experts for their engineering and construction abilities, not for fighting.

What they do both have are shared incentives.

Pyongyang needs money and technology, Moscow needs soldiers and ammunition.

“Pyongyang would be paid well and maybe get access to Russian military technology, which otherwise Moscow would have been reluctant to transfer to North Korea,” says Andrei Lankov, director of the Korea Risk Group.

“It would also give their soldiers real combat experience, but there is also the risk of exposing North Koreans to life in the West, which is a considerably more prosperous place.”

For Putin, there is an urgent need to make up for significant losses during more than two and half years of war.
Valeriy Akimenko from the UK’s Conflict Studies Research Centre believes deploying North Koreans would help the Russian leader deal with the previous round of mandatory mobilisation not going well.

“So he thinks, as the Russian ranks are thinned out by Ukraine, what a brilliant idea - why not let North Koreans do some of the fighting?”

President Zelensky is clearly concerned about how this hostile alliance could evolve.

There have not been Western boots on the ground in Ukraine for fear of escalation.

However, if reports of hundreds of North Koreans preparing for deployment are borne out, the idea of foreign boots on the ground in this war would appear to be less of a concern for Vladimir Putin.

Additional reporting by Paul Kirby, Kelly Ng and Nick Marsh.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5vwxgyx3o

[ti-amie]

Suliso posted about NK blowing up remaining land links to SK just above your post. Something is up. Or maybe the NK leader wants more money.

[ponchi101]

But I also saw an article that these N. Korean troops are deserting as soon as they reach the front. I gather that running towards you with a white flag and your arms raised is a universal language. No need to speak Ukrainian.

[ti-amie]

North Korean troops are in Russia, would be ‘legitimate targets’ in Ukraine, U.S. says
Citing newly declassified intelligence, the Biden administration said that at least 3,000 personnel are undergoing combat training in Russia, though it is unclear if they’ll join the war.

By Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan and Michelle Ye Hee Lee
Updated October 23, 2024 at 5:56 p.m. EDT|Published October 23, 2024 at 6:20 a.m. EDT
The U.S. government has evidence that at least 3,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia receiving training, senior Biden administration officials said Wednesday, a development they said could have global implications and make those troops “legitimate military targets” in Ukraine should they enter the ongoing war there.

The disclosure, which officials said is based on newly declassified U.S. intelligence, coincides with similar pronouncements in recent days from the governments of Ukraine and South Korea. NATO and the United States had not previously confirmed the North Korean troop movements, and the administration said Washington was doing so now to convey the seriousness with which it views the matter.

“We recognize the potential danger here,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters at the White House. “And we’re going to be talking to allies and partners, including Ukrainians, about what the proper next steps are going to be.”

He emphasized repeatedly that the U.S. government does not yet know for certain that any North Korean soldiers will join the fighting in Ukraine, but warned there would be consequences if they do.

“If these North Korean troops are employed against Ukraine,” Kirby said, “they will become legitimate military targets.”

For the United States and its partners, the assessment raises troubling questions about the extent to which Russia and North Korea — nuclear-armed nations and long-standing U.S. adversaries — might collaborate there and elsewhere. Speaking to reporters earlier Wednesday in Rome, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested the implications could be far-reaching.

“If they’re co-belligerents — if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf — that is a very, very serious issue,” Austin said. “It will have impacts, not only in Europe. It will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”

Austin said it was not yet clear how North Korea might benefit from this deployment of its personnel but that it suggested significant weaknesses in Russia’s military capability more than two years into President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Russian leader has previously sought drones, missiles and other munitions from allies Iran and North Korea to help offset critical shortages.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said last week that at least 1,500 North Korean special operations troops were training in Russia. They had been given Russian uniforms, weapons and IDs, and were being assigned to units composed of Siberian soldiers in a bid to conceal their nationalities, the intelligence agency reported. In a briefing to South Korean lawmakers Wednesday, the spy agency estimated that an additional 1,500 troops had moved into Russia.

Ukraine has said some North Korean advisers already are on the front lines.

At the White House, Kirby told reporters that Washington assesses that “at least 3,000” have traveled by ship to Vladivostok, a major Russian port city on the Pacific Ocean. U.S. officials did not release any satellite imagery verifying the claim, but Kirby said the North Koreans dispersed “to multiple Russian military training sites” in the country’s east. The North Koreans appear to be receiving a “basic kind of combat training and familiarization” at three sites, in what he called a “first tranche” of soldiers.

The Biden administration will continue to provide weapons and materiel support to Ukraine if North Korean forces enter the fighting there, Kirby said. He left open the possibility of other forms of escalation as well, though he did not identify what that could entail. President Joe Biden has said since the war’s start that he would not send any American troops to fight in Ukraine despite Washington’s robust military support for the government in Kyiv.

“I’m not at liberty today to go through any specific options,” Kirby said, “but we’re going to have those conversations. And we have.”

On Monday, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, said that if true, the dispatch of North Korean troops was “a dangerous and highly concerning development.” A day later, the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said it would be “a significant escalation” — if that was the case.

Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly denied that there has been a deployment. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday called it a “colossal work of the media propaganda.”

“This is an indication that he may be even in more trouble than most people realize,” Austin said of Putin.

The conflict has left hundreds of thousands dead and wounded on both sides.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said last week that at least 1,500 North Korean special operations troops were training in Russia. They had been given Russian uniforms, weapons and IDs, and were being assigned to units composed of Siberian soldiers in a bid to conceal their nationalities, the intelligence agency reported. In a briefing to South Korean lawmakers Wednesday, the spy agency estimated that an additional 1,500 troops had moved into Russia.

Ukraine has said some North Korean advisers already are on the front lines.

At the White House, Kirby told reporters that Washington assesses that “at least 3,000” have traveled by ship to Vladivostok, a major Russian port city on the Pacific Ocean. U.S. officials did not release any satellite imagery verifying the claim, but Kirby said the North Koreans dispersed “to multiple Russian military training sites” in the country’s east. The North Koreans appear to be receiving a “basic kind of combat training and familiarization” at three sites, in what he called a “first tranche” of soldiers.

The Biden administration will continue to provide weapons and materiel support to Ukraine if North Korean forces enter the fighting there, Kirby said. He left open the possibility of other forms of escalation as well, though he did not identify what that could entail. President Joe Biden has said since the war’s start that he would not send any American troops to fight in Ukraine despite Washington’s robust military support for the government in Kyiv.

“I’m not at liberty today to go through any specific options,” Kirby said, “but we’re going to have those conversations. And we have.”

On Monday, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Wood, said that if true, the dispatch of North Korean troops was “a dangerous and highly concerning development.” A day later, the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said it would be “a significant escalation” — if that was the case.

Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly denied that there has been a deployment. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday called it a “colossal work of the media propaganda.”

From the beginning of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, North Korea has expressed strong support for Putin’s war in Ukraine, and the two countries signed a mutual defense pact over the summer, promising to expand military cooperation. South Korean officials have reported previously that Pyongyang has provided some 13,000 containers of weapons to Russia in as many as 70 shipments since August 2023, including missiles, antitank rockets and up to 8 million desperately needed 122mm and 152mm artillery shells.

On Monday, South Korea insisted that Russia take “immediate” action to withdraw the North Korean troops. A day later, the government in Seoul warned that it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response — a move that appeared aimed at pressuring Russia, given the domestic difficulties South Korea would face if it were to send weapons to Kyiv.

Seoul is weighing diplomatic, economic and military options and could consider sending both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine, said a senior South Korean official, speaking during a briefing with reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.

Since the 1950-53 Korean War halted in a cease-fire, the two Koreas have maintained robust artillery and weapons stockpiles in case conflict resumes. As the war in Ukraine drags on, those stockpiles on the Korean Peninsula have come under focus. Russia has apparently been turning to North Korea for its old Soviet-era shells and weapons.

South Korea has a robust defense industry and has been backfilling the U.S. artillery supply and delivering arms, in particular K2 battle tanks and K9 self-propelled howitzers, to Poland since 2022, allowing Warsaw to send its own equipment to Ukraine.

South Korean law bans the export of arms except for a peaceful purpose and has stopped short of supplying weapons directly to Ukraine. But officials are raising alarms about the potential for Russia to provide coveted weapons technology to North Korea in return for sending troops, saying it could intensify the North’s threats against the South.

Ryan reported from Rome and Lee from Taipei, Taiwan. Mary Ilyushina in Berlin and Paul Schemm in London contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... ps-russia/

[ponchi101]

This is escalating. Not good.

[ti-amie]

Flash Floods in Spain Leave More Than 95 Dead
About 1,000 soldiers from emergency response units deployed to the affected areas, and the death toll was expected to rise after one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent years.

By José Bautista and Isabella Kwai
José Bautista reported from Madrid.

Oct. 30, 2024
Updated 2:55 p.m. ET

At least 95 people have died and others were missing after devastating flash floods hit eastern Spain, according to the local authorities, in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent years.

The catastrophic floods, fueled by an unrelenting deluge that began on Monday, washed away cars, inundated homes and knocked out power across eastern Spain. Rescuers waded through neck-high waters to reach some residents.

In the town of Chiva in the eastern Valencia region, practically a year’s worth of rain fell over eight hours, Spain’s meteorological agency said on Wednesday, illustrating the ferocity of the storm. Other areas across the south and east saw more than a month’s worth of rain in less than 24 hours.

The severity of the disaster became more apparent on Wednesday as the regional authorities confirmed that most of the people who had died were in the Valencia region, where the storm battered cities, villages and towns along the mountainous coastline. Others died in the neighboring province of Castile-La Mancha, where at least five other people were missing in the municipality of Albacete, local officials said. It was the deadliest flooding disaster in Spain since 1996, when floodwaters in the Pyrenees swept away a campground, killing more than 80 people.


Damage from floodwaters at an industrial complex near the city of Valencia, Spain.Credit...Miguel Angel Polo/EPA, via Shutterstock

More remain missing, but the authorities in Valencia said that they could not give an exact figure. A phone line was set up to report missing people, they added, and residents were urged not to travel in the area. The death toll, officials said, was expected to rise.

Flooding also swept the region of Andalusia in southern Spain, which includes the cities of Seville and Málaga. The region received four times the amount of rain typical for October in a single day, Spain’s weather agency said.

More than 1,000 soldiers from an emergency response team were sent to respond to the disaster, officials said, sharing videos of some people being airlifted from flooded areas into helicopters or waiting on rooftops.

“It’s been a disaster,” said Enrique Platero, a resident of Utiel, near Valencia, to the Spanish broadcaster RTVE. He said there had been no warning about the storm’s dangers. “It took us by surprise,” he said, turning away during the interview as tears came to his eyes.

Widespread areas appeared almost entirely submerged, and dozens of cars piled up in the flooding’s aftermath, according to footage released by the Civil Guard. Some buildings were reduced to sodden rubble.

The damage to roads and bridges left rescuers struggling to reach some areas, officials said on Wednesday. Some towns were still cut off by the storm, with local officials describing grim scenes as the death toll climbed. Fears were also rising for the condition of people missing.

“At the moment, we have a very negative outlook for those that remain missing, although of course we retain hope,” said Emiliano García-Page, head of the Castile-La Mancha region, to reporters on Wednesday.

“The town of Paiporta is cut off; nothing works,” said Maribel Albalat, Paiporta’s mayor, where dozens of people died, to the Actualidad Valencia, a local newspaper. “People are organizing themselves but there is no communication.”

The overflowing ravines and strong winds also damaged infrastructure supplying telecommunications and power in the region. About 155,000 customers were left without power, according to Iberdrola, an energy provider in Valencia, adding that workers were encountering difficulties in restoring service.

“It has been something out of the ordinary,” said Ricardo Gabaldón, the mayor of Utiel to RTVE, adding that helicopters and boats had been reaching stranded residents all afternoon. “The material damage is incalculable, but what worries us is the personal damage.”


Destruction in a neighborhood of Valencia on Wednesday.Credit...Ruben Fenollosa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Highways leading to the region’s capital, also named Valencia, were littered with debris and covered with mud, according to footage from local media, and the subway was flooded. Regional trains on Wednesday were halted, and schools were closed in several places.

The Spanish Parliament on Wednesday held a minute of silence to mourn the victims. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez vowed in an address to help the flood-struck regions recover. “Together we are going to rebuild your streets, your squares, your bridges,” he said from Madrid. “All Spain cries with you,” he added.

The deluge is not yet over: More rain was expected on Wednesday, with Spain’s meteorological agency raising an emergency alert for the Valencia region to the highest level. A popular tourist destination, Valencia is also known for being a key agricultural producer, and grows citrus and other fruits and vegetables.

One union representing young farmers in the region, the Valencia branch of ASAJA, said that while it was too early to assess the floods’ economic impact on agriculture and livestock, it predicted that thousands of hectares of citrus, persimmons, vegetables, vines and other crops would lose their harvest this season.

Some areas recorded “historic accumulations of water,” the union said, and the force of the water in inland areas uprooted thousands of vines and other crops that had just gone through one of the driest years in history. Other farms nearer to the coast were also flooded, the union said.

Though storms are typical during the fall in Spain, local residents were shocked at the sheer amount of rain: more than 70 gallons per square yard in some villages. In the village of Chiva, more than 100 gallons per square yard of rain fell in eight hours, practically a year’s worth, Spain’s meteorological agency said.

The agency added that it expected some 40 gallons per square yard of rain before 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday over parts of Valencia, Andalusia and Murcia. The storm was moving toward the north and northwest of Spain, with rain expected to continue until at least Thursday.

Flooding is a complex phenomenon and while linking climate change to a single flood event requires extensive scientific analysis, scientists have said that climate change is causing heavier rainfall in many storms. Warmer atmosphere holds, and releases, more water.

Meteorologists have said that the rainfall in Spain is most likely the result of a sudden “cold drop,” known in Spanish as a “gota fría.” That happens when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, allowing the hotter, moist air at the surface to rise quickly and producing giant rain clouds. Then, the storm system pushes these moisture-rich clouds over land.

The Mediterranean is also getting hotter, which is making such rainfalls more violent and more frequent. In August, the sea hit its highest recorded temperature.

The record rainfall that led to devastating floods in Belgium and Germany in the summer of 2021 was made much more likely by global warming, scientists have determined.

Mark A. Walsh contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/worl ... encia.html

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Desperate hunt for survivors as mobs and looters strike shops across Valencia after 'apocalyptic' floods
31 October 2024, 18:13 | Updated: 1 November 2024, 00:31

By Danielle de Wolfe

@dannidewolfe
The desperate hunt for survivors continues after flash floods swept through Spain, as the country's death toll hit 158.


As floodwaters subsided, Spanish police announced a major crime crackdown after looters and gangs took to supermarkets and electrical stores in Valencia in a bid to scavenge goods. Picture: Getty


Search for missing people underway after devastating storm kills 104 in Spain. Picture: Getty

The water carried away cars, derailed a train and rose several feet into the lower levels of homes, as landslides caused by the floods also caused disruption.

Locals described seeing people clambering onto the roofs of their cars as a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away chunks of masonry from buildings.

Recent hours have seen gangs reportedly caught looting electrical stores as well as supermarkets in the Valencia region.

Local police are now said to be redirecting man power away from rescue efforts and upping patrols near shops, Spanish outlet El Pais reports.


Flooding And Heavy Rain In Valencia Region Of Spain. Picture: Getty

According to reports from Spain's Civil Guard, 39 alleged perpetrators have now been arrested in the Valencia region over looting offences, with that figure expected to rise.

More than 1,000 soldiers were sent to the worst-hit areas to help with rescue efforts following the floods.

President of the Andalusian government, Juanma Morena, said a 71-year-old British man was rescued on the outskirts of Alhaurin de la Torre.

He was found with hypothermia and died after suffering several cardiac arrests.

Karen Loftus, 62, from Dorset - who was with her husband - says it was "just like a disaster movie".

The mayor of Utiel, a town in Spain, said Tuesday was "the worst day of [his] life".

"We were trapped like rats," Ricardo Gabaldon said.

"Cars and trash containers were flowing down the streets. The water was rising to three metres."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain "weeps with" the people who are still searching for family and friends.

He told reporters: "Our thoughts go out to those whose homes and possessions have been devastated and whose lives have been covered in mud.

"We are united and we will rebuild your streets and your squares and bridges. Mr Sanchez added: "Spain will be with you."

He said the government and emergency services would be working "24 hours a day as long as the emergency goes on".

Mr Sanchez said the "devastating event" may not be over, as more storms could be on the way.

A British couple in Spain reported seeing "nine or 10" overturned lorries in a short stretch of motorway near Valencia on Tuesday ngiht.

Spanish news agency EFE said that one truck driver was missing in L'Alcudia, a town in Valencia.

Also in Valencia, the mayor of Utiel, Ricardo Gabaldon, told RTVE that several people were trapped in their homes.

Police and rescue services used helicopters to lift people from homes and cars.

An emergency rescue brigade of Spain's army deployed to help rescue efforts.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: "I am closely following with concern the reports on missing persons and the damage caused... in recent hours."

He told people to listen to the emergency services and "be very careful and avoid unnecessary trips."

Storms were forecast to continue until Thursday, according to Spain's national weather service.

Spain has experienced similar autumn storms in recent years.

The country is recovering from a severe drought this year thanks to rainfall.

Scientists say that increased episodes of extreme weather are probably linked to climate change.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/spain-floods ... -valencia/

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Why UNDESTANDINGLY? Why should throwing mud and eggs to the King and Queen should be accepted? Do we still live in an era in which we believe that "god punished us" for the sins of the monarchy?
I am against ALL monarchies; they are incredibly silly structures. But in this case, the King came to see how to help. Let him.

[ashkor87]

Yes, they have shown true leadership by visiting in person ..don't deserve mud and eggs..since they don't direct the government anyway