North Korea Fires Ballistic Missiles as Blinken Visits South
North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Monday, the Yonhap News Agency has reported, citing senior South Korean military officials. The launches were carried out as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul for a state visit.
The ballistic missile tests, Pyongyang’s first in two months, were detected between 7:44am and 8:22am local time, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) stated. The missiles traveled around 300km and landed in the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan), they added.
“North Korea fired at least three missiles, and their trajectories were similar to those of [the] KN-24,” a senior military official was quoted as saying. The KN-24 is a solid-fuel ballistic missile with a range of up to 410km and an estimated payload of 400-500kg.
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s latest missile launch, which is a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the JCS said.
The Defense Ministry in Tokyo confirmed the launch, saying all three missiles had traveled about 350km before landing in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 370km from the coast. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the tests, adding that Japan was analyzing them while working with the US and South Korea.
READ MORE: North Korea condemns latest US-South Korea drills
The launches come after South Korea and the US wrapped up large-scale annual joint military drills earlier this month. The 11-day Freedom Shield exercises on the Korean Peninsula reportedly involved twice the number of troops compared to 2023 and carried out roughly double the number of field-training drills.
North Korea branded the exercises “reckless” and a “further escalation of military threats,” claiming they were preparation for “an invasion attempt.” Earlier this month, Pyongyang warned the US and South Korea to stop any further “provocative and destabilizing” actions, adding that “a nuclear war may be ignited even with a single spark.”
Blinken arrived in Seoul on Monday to attend the Summit for Democracy conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol. The event, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, is reportedly aimed at discussing ways to stop democratic backsliding and the erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide. Blinken is expected to meet his South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, during the visit.
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Putin Says US Is Not A Democracy
By criticizing the democratic processes in other countries while suppressing a presidential candidate in its own election, the US has become a global laughing stock, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shortly after preliminary results […]
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Female Athletes Sue NCAA For Allowing Men to Compete in Women’s Sports
A group of female athletes filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) on Thursday over its decision to allow “transgender” athletes to compete against and use women’s locker rooms. Filed by the […]
The post Female Athletes Sue NCAA For Allowing Men to Compete in Women’s Sports appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Biden Admin Preparing ‘Toughest Ever’ Auto Emission Standards
Despite pretty much the entire country making it clear that EV mandates are hurting the industry (with major automakers like Ford and GM slashing investment), President Biden is forging forward with his “green agenda” even further.
This go-round, Biden is “preparing to roll out the toughest-ever” emissions restrictions, according to Bloomberg.
The report says that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to implement emissions limits that (Biden thinks) could significantly boost electric vehicle sales, requiring EVs to constitute about two-thirds of new car and light truck sales by 2032, a sharp increase from less than 10% last year.
Unless, of course, people stop buying new cars.
Regardless, this regulation supposedly aims to cut down on pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, and marks a major action under President Joe Biden’s administration and a step toward meeting the US’s Paris Agreement goal of slashing its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The transportation sector is currently the largest contributor to the US’s climate pollution, Bloomberg writes.
Manish Bapna, head of the Natural Resources Defense Action Fund commented: “Cars and light trucks on their own are roughly 20% of the carbon footprint.” Bapna says cutting that is “absolutely essential to real, concrete progress.”
Biden faces a challenge in balancing new emissions regulations with concerns from Michigan voters and autoworkers wary of a swift move to electric vehicles. U.S. carmakers have argued that the proposed EV targets are unattainable without more charging infrastructure. The costs have also weighed against rising labor costs for U.S. automakers.
John Bozzella, leader of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, emphasized to Bloomberg the crucial next few years for building out supply chains and charging networks.
To address these concerns, the EPA is expected to set less aggressive emissions reduction goals in the short term while still aiming for the same 2032 objectives.
David Cooke, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists noted: “The rule doesn’t meet the moment,” but still creates “some guarantees around movement toward zero-emission vehicles nationwide.”
“We will end up with more EVs on the road as a result of these rules than if we didn’t have them,” he added.
What can be said about such poor policy that flies in the face of economic common sense? We guess that’s just the miracle of Bidenomics, Jack.
WWIII ALERT: Learn How France Plans To Start Nuclear War With Russia
US is Not a Democracy – Putin
The US has become a global laughing stock by criticizing democratic processes in other nations while suppressing a presidential candidate in its own election, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has claimed.
Speaking to journalists in Moscow early on Monday morning, shortly after preliminary results indicated he would be reelected with 87% of the vote in the Russian presidential election, Putin stated that the “whole world is laughing at what is happening” in the US.
“We are behaving with more restraint than their opponents in other countries, but this is just a catastrophe, not a democracy – that’s what it is,” the Russian leader added.
Putin claimed that the current US administration is using all its resources to attack a candidate for this year’s presidential election, seemingly referring to Donald Trump. The former US leader is facing a litany of lawsuits despite being the presumptive Republican nominee for the vote in November.
READ MORE: Putin recalls how Trump asked him about ‘Sleepy Joe’
In a pre-election interview earlier this week, Putin insisted that Russia does not meddle in foreign elections and will work with any elected US president.
“I think it’s obvious to everyone that the American political system cannot claim to be democratic in any sense of the word,” he said in an interview with journalist Dmitry Kiselyov. Putin refused to comment further on the current presidential campaign in the US, but described the atmosphere as becoming “increasingly uncivilized.”
WWIII ALERT: Learn How France Plans To Start Nuclear War With Russia
People Are The Power in Russia – Putin
Vladimir Putin has given a victory speech at his campaign headquarters in Moscow, after preliminary results from the Russian presidential election showed him securing a fifth term with over 87% of the vote.
Speaking in front of his supporters on Sunday night, Putin stressed that the “only source of power in the country is the Russian people,” adding that the vote of every citizen counts when its comes to charting the nation’s course.
The Russian leader noted that while the country faces numerous challenges, its people will be up to the task if they remain united.
“No matter who and how they would try to intimidate and suppress us, our will, our consciousness… Nobody in our history has ever succeeded, won’t succeed now or in the future. Never.”
Putin went on to thank Russian citizens for the trust they have placed in him. “I will do my best to solve the tasks set before the country and achieve the goals we all consider to be of the highest priority.”
READ MORE: Putin set for landslide win – Russia’s election commission
This year’s election was marked by record-high turnout. According to Central Election Commission (CEC) data, it topped 74%, exceeding the figure for the 2018 election (67.47%). The voting took place for the first time in Russia’s new regions – the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as in Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, which voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in the fall of 2022.
Putin specifically praised the Russian military for risking their lives on the frontlines to protect the country’s “so-called new, but in fact historic territories.”
According to the CEC, almost 95% of the votes had been counted as of 1am Moscow time, and Putin was leading the race with an estimated 87.3%.
WWIII ALERT: Learn How France Plans To Start Nuclear War With Russia