Asian Politics Headlines at 12:55 a.m. GMT
North Korea says it tested hypersonic intermediate range missile aimed at remote Pacific targets
North Korea says it tested hypersonic intermediate range missile aimed at remote Pacific targets
Russia said on Friday that any placement of British military assets in Ukraine under a new 100-year partnership agreement between Kyiv and London would be of concern to Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about the possibility of Britain setting up military bases in Ukraine under the agreement announced on Thursday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Sparing soldiers for the infantry assault that came later, the unmanned device was operated at a distance by Ukraine's Khartiia Brigade in the latest advance in a conflict that has been defined by a technology race on both sides. The unit said it was the first documented machine-only ground assault in Ukraine's war with Russia. "Our task is to maximally transfer reconnaissance, clearing operations and assaults... to machines that we can afford to lose," said unit spokesperson Volodymyr Dehtiarov.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named Troy Meink, a former Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft navigator and former deputy of the National Reconnaissance Office, as his choice to serve as the top civilian leader for the Air Force.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A mysterious airstrip being built on a remote island in Yemen is nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show, one of several built in a nation mired in a stalemated war threatening to reignite.
A total of 2,434 UK personnel will also be travelling by truck and plane to Romania.
KYIV (Reuters) -A major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov region was attacked, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday, without directly claiming Ukrainian responsibility or specifying the consequences of the attack. "The enterprise is one of the main suppliers of explosive materials for the army of the Russian Federation," Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Telegram of the powder factory. "With the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, production at the plant increased significantly," he added.
Ukraine launched an attack on Russia's Belgorod region with six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles on Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday. It said that Russia would retaliate, but that all the missiles had been intercepted, resulting in no casualties or damage. Moscow has said it will respond every time Ukraine fires ATACMS or British-supplies Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia.
A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.
Ukraine said one of its F-16 pilots shot down six missiles, which it said would be a record for the American jet.
A military doctor who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing dozens of male soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was sentenced Wednesday to just over 13 years in prison, was ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances and was dismissed from the U.S. Army.
Over 12,000 North Korean troops are estimated to be fighting against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Camille Shea told the United Nations Security Council last week. Of those dispatched to the region, an estimated 300 North Korean soldiers in Russia have died and over 2,700 have been wounded, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service’s closed briefing to the National Assembly on Monday. “So unfortunate, that’s all I can say,” North Korean defector Lee Cheol-eun said with a grimace after watching footage of North Korean soldiers fighting in Kursk, Russia, against the Ukrainian forces.
Planned Russian military reforms that would increase Moscow's troop numbers by 30% are a threat to NATO and should be met with vigilance, the chief of Finland's military intelligence service Pekka Turunen said on Thursday. Finland, which shares the European Union's longest border with Russia, joined the Western military alliance NATO in 2023 and drew its Nordic neighbour Sweden to follow in March 2024, both in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defences downed 33 of 50 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Friday. It said 9 drones were "lost", in reference to Ukraine's use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones, while one left Ukraine in the direction of Romania. "Hostile attack drones hit enterprises in Odesa region, and buildings of institutions, private businesses and households in Kharkiv, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions were damaged as a result of the fall of downed enemy drones," the military said on the Telegram messaging app.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army expects to meet its enlistment goals for 2025, marking a dramatic turnaround for a service that has struggled for several years to bring in enough young people and has undergone a major overhaul of its recruiting programs.
The CEO of one of the world's biggest defense contractors, L3Harris Technologies, told President-elect Donald Trump's government efficiency panel in a letter on Wednesday that the Pentagon's huge contracting system is too slow and bureaucratic to meet threats posed by China and Iran and needs to be reformed. The letter, which was seen by Reuters, makes Melbourne, Florida-based L3Harris one of the first big U.S. corporations to directly lobby Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, calling for reforms that could boost corporate profits and speed Pentagon action.
Interviews with pilots paint a graphic picture of the struggle to maintain control of their ships amid one of the most intense and complicated airborne firefights in U.S. history.
North Korea denounced the United States for sending military aircraft over the Korean peninsula several times this month, as well as the U.S., Japan and South Korea for holding an air military exercise, state media KCNA reported on Friday. North Korea also denounced the joint Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) between the U.S. and South Korea that seeks to manage North Korea's nuclear threat, the report said.
US special operations forces could be leveraged in ways similar to the way they were in the Cold War as the US military focuses on China and Russia.
GHADIR AL-BUSTAN, Syria (AP) — Officials in Syria’s new de facto government hardened their tone Thursday against Israel's incursions into Syrian territory after an Israeli strike killed three people and wounded five others in the south of the country.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild.