North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles toward sea, Japan and South Korea say
A North Korea Scud-B missile (R) is displayed at the Korea War Memorial Museum on July 4, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
(SEOUL and LONDON) — North Korea test-launched two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday afternoon, South Korean and Japanese officials said.
The missile launch took place just hours after Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, wrapped up his visit to South Korea early Tuesday morning and arrived in Japan.
Seoul and Pyongyang have been on edge over North Korea’s accusation that South Korea intruded its airspace with drones in January and last September.
The launches amounted to a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and posed “a serious issue concerning the safety of the Japanese people,” the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“Japan has lodged a strong protest against North Korea and strongly condemned them,” the statement said in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
The missiles were fired from the Pyongyang area at about 4 p.m. and both traveled almost 350 kilometers, or about 217 miles, before splashing down into the Sea of Japan, Japanese and Korean officials said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in its own statement that Seoul’s intelligence authorities tracked the launch and shared info with both Japan and the United States.
“Under a robust South Korea–U.S. combined defense posture, the South Korean military is closely monitoring various developments by North Korea and maintaining the capabilities and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.
Japanese officials said the missiles were thought to have landed near the North Korean coast in the Sea of Japan, which is also known as the East Sea.
“The government has provided information to aircraft and ships sailing in the area, but at this time no reports of damage have been confirmed,” Japan said in a statement in Japanese, which was translated by ABC News.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at Parliament House Canberra on December 14, 2025 in Canberra, Australia. (Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Australian prime minister said he’s proposing tougher gun laws after 15 people were killed and more than 40 were hurt in a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
Two gunmen — believed to be a father and son — opened fire on Sunday at an event marking the first night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, according to authorities.
The father, 54, was shot and killed by police and the son, 24, was critically hurt and hospitalized, officials said.
Those killed range in age from 10 to 87, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday the massacre would be remembered as a “dark day in Australia’s history.”
The prime minister encouraged everyone in Australia to put a candle in their windows on Monday evening to show “that light will indeed defeat darkness.”
The National Cabinet met on Monday and ordered police and prosecutors to come up with options for stricter gun laws, including: “Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register; Allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licencing that can be used in administrative licencing regimes; Limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual; Limiting open-ended firearms licencing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and A condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship,” according to the prime minister’s office.
Four guns and three improvised explosive devices were found at the crime scene and two more guns were found in searches at homes, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team said.
The father had a gun license since 2015 and six licensed firearms, officials said.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters the son is an Australian-born citizen and the father arrived in 1998 on a student visa.
Albanese said the son was investigated by authorities in 2019 for links to the Islamic State, but “there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.”
Albanese on Sunday called the attack “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism” and “an act of terrorism.”
Pope Leo spoke out on social media on Monday, writing, “Enough with this antisemitic violence! Let us eliminate hatred from our hearts.”
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
People gather during protest on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — More than 2,500 people have died during nationwide protests in Iran over the past 17 days, activists said Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his support for demonstrators and hinted at potential American intervention against the government in Tehran.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had verified a total of 2,571 deaths — and is reviewing reports of 779 other deaths — since the protests began on Dec. 28.
The confirmed deaths include 2,403 adult protesters, 12 protesters under the age of 18, 147 government-affiliated personnel and nine non-protesting civilians, HRANA said.
Another 1,134 protesters have been seriously injured, HRANA said, with at least 18,137 people arrested.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The Iranian government has not provided any civilian death tolls related to the ongoing protests.
As casualties mounted, Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump added.
When later pressed by a reporter during a visit to Michigan on Tuesday on what he meant by help is on its way, Trump responded, “You’re gonna have to figure that one out, I’m sorry.”
Trump said he thought it was “a good idea” for Americans to evacuate from Iran. The State Department on Tuesday said that all U.S. citizens should leave the country.
Trump said he hasn’t been given an accurate number of how many people have been killed so far in the protests, but said “one is a lot.”
“I think it’s a lot. It’s too many, whatever it is,” he said.
Later Tuesday, he told reporters that he will be receiving “accurate numbers” on how many protesters have been killed in Iran soon and “we’ll act accordingly.”
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran. The president and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested other options are also still under discussion.
One U.S. official told ABC News that among the options under consideration are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
Members of Trump’s national security team — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — met Tuesday morning to discuss Iran, according to Leavitt. Trump did not attend the meeting, nor was he scheduled to, she said.
Vice President JD Vance also led an Iran strategy meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the National Security Council principals committee, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting confirmed to ABC News.
Iranian officials have threatened retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in the event of any outside intervention.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial.
As the protests spread, they have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
Government forces have responded with a major security crackdown. A sustained national internet outage has also been in place across the country. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said on Wednesday that the blackout had surpassed 132 hours.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, suggested Wednesday that there would be expedited trials and executions for those who have been arrested in the nationwide protests.
“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” Mohseni-Ejei said in a video shared online by Iranian state television, according to The Associated Press.
“If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect,” Mohseni-Ejei said.
On Wednesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted by state media telling a meeting with Economy Ministry officials that if economic conditions were improved, “we wouldn’t be witnessing their protests on the streets.”
Dissident figures abroad have urged Iranians to press the protests and topple the government in Tehran.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — who from his base in the U.S. has become a prominent critic of the Iranian government — on Monday appealed to Trump to act in support of the protesters.
On Tuesday, Pahlavi called on members of the Iranian military to join the protests. “You are the national military of Iran, not the military of the Islamic Republic,” he wrote on X.
“You have a duty to protect the lives of your compatriots,” Pahlavi added. “You do not have much time. Join them as soon as possible.”
(LONDON) — At least four people were killed and three others were injured as a major fire engulfed a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Wednesday, with photos and video from the scene appearing to show serious damage to several buildings.
“A fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po at 2.51 p.m. today … The fire was upgraded to No. 3 alarm at 3.02 p.m., and to No. 4 alarm at 3.34 p.m.,” according to a statement from the Hong Kong government.
By 6:22 p.m. local time the fire had been upgraded again to a No. 5 alarm, city officials said.
Officials said nine people had been transfered to two local hospitals, including four people who were pronounced dead.
Three people were in critical condition, one was in serious position and another was listed as stable, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
