Author: CorruptionLedger

For the first time since the 1980s, the United States has deployed a nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) to South Korea, as the allies launched talks to coordinate their responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea. White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell confirmed the rare visit on Tuesday, which had been expected after it was announced in a joint declaration during a summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC in…

  WASHINGTON ― The White House on Monday told lawmakers it opposes a provision in the House’s annual defense policy bill that would create a special inspector general for Ukraine aid, modelled after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The Ukraine inspector general was one of several provisions in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that the White House, in an Office of Management and Budget statement on the bill, told Congress it wants removed. The statement also…

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Turkey’s leader has agreed to have Turkish parliament vote on Sweden’s bid to join the defense alliance. The announcement came via a tweet after Stoltenberg met with both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the eve of the NATO summit there. “Glad to announce that after the meeting I hosted with @RTErdogan & @SwedishPM, President Erdogan has agreed to forward #Sweden’s accession protocol to the Grand…

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announces that President Erdogan agrees to forward Sweden’s bid to Turkey’s parliament. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to back Sweden’s bid to join NATO after a year of blocking the move, citing Turkish security concerns. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that Erdogan agreed to forward Sweden’s membership bid to Turkey’s parliament. After talks in Vilnius, Lithuania, with Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Stoltenberg said Turkey had agreed to move forward….

After a weekend of broiling heat waves in the Southwest and South Florida, more extreme heat is forecast to build throughout the week. Forecasters say residents of both regions should stay out of the sun as much as possible. Across the country, heat waves are getting hotter, lasting longer and becoming more unpredictable. Jeff Goodell, the author of The Heat Will Kill You First, called it a dire consequence of climate change. “We know that as we continue to burn…

Conflict-torn Sudan is on the brink of a “full-scale civil war” that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations warned Sunday, after an air strike on a residential area killed around two dozen civilians. The Ministry of Health reported “22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians” from the strike on Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam, which means “House of Peace” in Arabic. After nearly three months of war between Sudan’s…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said she agreed Washington will listen to Chinese complaints about security-related curbs on U.S. technology exports and might “respond to unintended consequences” as she ended a visit to Beijing aimed at reviving strained relations. Yellen defended “targeted measures” on trade that China’s leaders complain are aimed at hurting its fledgling tech industries. She said the Biden administration wants to “avoid unnecessary repercussions” but gave no indication of possible changes. Relations between the two…

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean opposition lawmakers sharply criticized the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for its approval of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant during a tense meeting in Seoul on Sunday, with protesters screaming outside the door. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, arrived in South Korea over the weekend to engage with government officials and critics and help reduce public concerns about…

COLDSPRING, Texas (AP) — Sheriff Greg Capers was the classic picture of a Texas lawman as he announced the capture of a suspected mass killer: white cowboy hat on his head, gold star pinned to his chest, white cross on his belt and a large pistol emblazoned with his name on his hip. For four days, Francisco Oropeza had evaded hundreds of officers after allegedly killing five neighbors when they complained that his late-night shooting was keeping their baby awake….

  PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Prandy Tavarez and his wife were expecting a baby when they bought a four-bedroom house in a well-kept neighborhood of century-old homes here. They got to work making it theirs, ripping off wallpaper, upgrading the electrical and replacing windows coated in paint that contained lead, a potent neurotoxin that can damage brain development in children. That wasn’t the only lead. The pipe carrying water to their home was made of it, too. Providence’s tap water…

BEIRUT (AP) — A French court Tuesday upheld the freezing of the assets of Lebanon’s embattled central bank governor, rejecting his appeal to have them released, an official close to the investigation said. Several European countries are investigating central bank Gov. Riad Salameh and his associates over myriad alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on May 16 issued an international arrest warrant, or Interpol red notice, for the 72-year-old Salameh after…

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has slapped BNK Banking Corporation with a $247,500 fine for failing to meet its data reporting requirements to the APRA.  In a statement, the prudential regulator said BNK was 32 days late in filing statistical reports for the month ending Feb. 23 under the Economic and Financial Statistics program. This failure to report data by required deadlines was in breach of the requirements of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (FSCODA). Therese McCarthy…

China says the UK is sheltering fugitives after Hong Kong put bounties on the heads of eight pro-democracy activists who fled the territory. The statement from its London embassy came after the UK said it would not tolerate attempts by China to silence individuals in the UK or overseas. The eight left the former British territory after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee said they would be “pursued for life”. He…

Steve Li Kwai-wah, Hong Kong’s national security department superintendent, speaks during a press conference to issue arrest warrants for eight activists, in Hong Kong on Monday. Joyce Zhou/Reuters TAIPEI, Taiwan — Hong Kong has issued arrest warrants for eight exiled activists and lawyers, accusing them of violating China’s national security law — and offering a hefty bounty for their capture. Among the eight people Hong Kong’s national security police say are wanted for “collusion with foreign forces” are activist and…

Climate change threatens to deliver a “truly terrifying” dystopian future of hunger and suffering, the United Nations’ human rights chief warned Monday. Volker Turk slammed world leaders for only thinking of the short term while dealing with the climate crisis. Turk told a UN Human Rights Council debate on the right to food that extreme weather events were wiping out crops, herds and ecosystems, making it impossible for communities to rebuild and support themselves. “More than 828 million people faced…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved a plan to use phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste material, in “demonstration projects.” Here, signs block a roadway in Boca Raton during a construction project in 2021. Florida is another step closer to paving its roads with phosphogypsum — a radioactive waste material from the fertilizer industry — after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill into law Thursday. Conservation groups had urged DeSantis to veto the bill, saying phosphogypsum would hurt water quality and…