North Korean troops are already in Russia, Lloyd Austin confirms
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(LONDON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday the U.S. has evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia.
“What exactly they’re doing” remains to be seen, Austin told journalists while in Rome, Italy. “These are things that we need to sort out.”
Ukraine and South Korea have warned that North Korean soldiers have traveled to Russia for training ahead of planned deployment to fight on battlefields in eastern Ukraine and western Russia.
Austin said Wednesday that the U.S. would “continue to pull this thread” to establish whether Pyongyang can be considered a co-belligerent in the conflict.
“That is a very, very serious issue and it will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well,” Austin warned.
Austin said there is “certainly” a “strengthened relationship, for lack of a better term, between Russia and DPRK,” using the acronym of the country’s official name — the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Pyongyang, he added, provides “arms and munitions to Russia and this is a next step.”
The development may indicate resource strain on President Vladimir Putin, Austin added.
“You’ve heard me talk about the significant casualties that he has experienced over the last two and a half years,” he said. “This is an indication that he may be even in more trouble than most people realize.”
North Korea has denied the reports of its forces being active in Russia or Ukraine.
“My delegation does not feel any need for comment on such groundless stereotyped rumors,” a North Korean representative to the United Nations said during a U.N. General Assembly session this week, as quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, said earlier this week of the reports, “There is a lot of contradictory information, and that is probably how it should be treated,” describing North Korea as a close neighbor and partner.
“This should not cause anyone any concern, because this cooperation is not directed against third countries,” Peskov added.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — Māori lawmakers interrupted a New Zealand parliamentary vote with a Haka on Thursday to protest a proposed law that critics say would erode the land and cultural rights of Indigenous New Zealanders.
When asked how her party’s representatives would vote during the session, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of New Zealand’s Māori party stood up and began a soaring Haka, a ceremonial Māori dance that demonstrates pride, strength and unity through a series of intricate movements and facial expressions. She ripped a copy of the bill in half as she did the Haka.
About half of the lawmakers present, including members of the Labour and Green parties, joined in, along with members of the public seated in the gallery, their chants echoing through the chamber.
Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, appeared to roll his eyes as the Haka began. Unable to regain control of the room, he later suspended the House and ordered the gallery to be cleared.
He suspended Maipi-Clarke for one day. Earlier in the session, he ejected veteran Māori lawmaker Willie Jackson for yelling “Shame! Shame!” at the representative who proposed the controversial law.
The Treaty Principles Bill proposes reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi, an 1840 agreement guaranteeing the Māori certain land and cultural rights in exchange for allowing the British to govern.
Critics of the bill said it will eliminate dedicated land, government seats, health care initiatives and cultural preservation efforts granted to the Maori people under the Treaty of Waitangi. Together for Te Tiriti, a group that advocates for Maori people, said the bill “clears the way for politicians and corporations to have greater control over our communities.”
David Seymour, a Māori lawmaker who authored the Treaty Principles Bill, argued that the existing laws grant Māori people “different rights from other New Zealanders.”
Under the Treaty of Waitangi, lawmakers set up programs to revitalize the Māori language and tackle poor health metrics through a Māori Health Authority.
Although the Treaty Principles Bill is unlikely to pass, leaders, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, voted for it in the first stage as part of a political coalition deal, promising they would not allow it to pass any further.
Thousands of New Zealanders marched toward Wellington on Monday to protest the Treaty Principles Bill. The protest is expected to be the biggest race relations march in the country’s history.
(LONDON) — Iran launched missiles at Israel on Tuesday in an attack it said was retaliation for a wave of assassinations carried out by Israel over the last several weeks targeting Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon.
Iran has also said the attacks were for Israel’s extensive attacks on Hezbollah, the destruction in Gaza as well as the assassinations of key Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, including Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Hezbollah has clashed with Israel for decades, going back to Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon in 1978, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York City-based independent think tank.
Hezbollah and Israel have repeatedly attacked each other, trading fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border for months.
Tuesday’s strike marks the latest development in an intensifying series of attacks in the region.
Here’s a look at the timeline of the recent conflict:
On Oct. 8, 2023, Israel invaded the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. The invasion was in retaliation for Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, where Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and around 250 others were taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.
Hezbollah then began renewed attacks on Israel in opposition to the Gaza invasion, and since Oct. 8, the two sides have been trading attacks with increased intensity in recent months.
In Gaza, about 41,638 people have been killed amid Israeli attacks on the region, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks against Israel until the Israel Defense Forces withdraw from Gaza.
Hezbollah controls much of the Shiite-majority areas of Lebanon, including parts of the capital, Beirut. Iran has long been known to provide support, training and weapons to the group.
The IDF said that its special operations teams have been operating in southern Lebanon since November. Hezbollah has denied this and says the IDF has not crossed Lebanon’s border.
Cease-fire negotiations to end Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and return Israeli hostages have stalled after repeated attempts by the U.S. and others to mediate a deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined a cease-fire proposal concerning its operations in Lebanon.
The conflict intensified with the detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in Lebanon and Syria. Thousands of people were injured and dozens were killed across Lebanon and Syria by remotely detonated pagers on Sept. 17, according to Lebanese officials. ABC News sources confirmed it was an Israeli covert operation.
The Israeli military also ramped up its airstrikes in Lebanon in recent weeks, including striking thousands of apparent Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and killing more than 1030 people and injuring thousands more,according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Israeli officials said they believe about 30 top Hezbollah leaders have been killed.
On Sept. 26, 2024, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City that Iran “will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon.”
Araghchi also warned that Israel’s “crimes will not go unpunished” and said the Middle East region “risks full-scale conflict” if the U.N. Security Council does not “act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire.”
On Sept. 30, the IDF announced it had begun a ground incursion into Lebanon. The IDF described the operations as “limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.”
On Oct. 1, Iran launched missiles into Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the missile attack was retaliation for different assassinations carried out by Israel.
President Joe Biden said on Oct. 1 that the U.S. is prepared to help Israel defend against the Iranian missile attack.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Matt Gutman, Nadine El-Bawab, Emily Shapiro, David Brennan, and Julia Reinstein contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heatwaves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
UN says it will take ‘a quantum leap in ambition’ to avoid climate disaster
The United Nations is calling out the world’s largest polluting nations for failing to take decisive action in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly. And they’re warning that it will require nothing short of “a quantum leap in ambition” if we are to avoid the worst-case global warming scenarios.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report 2024, aptly titled, “No more hot air … please!” the world has made little progress in reversing the use of fossil fuels and faces twice as much warming as agreed to during the Paris Climate Agreement. The report finds that unless we significantly reduce our global emissions and do so quickly, the planet is headed toward a 3.1° C (5.6° F) increase in warming above pre-industrial levels by 2100.
The annual report looks at countries’ emission reduction promises and where we are in meeting those goals. The report said that despite the urgent need to reduce GHG emissions, global emissions actually set a new record in 2023, increasing by 1.3%.
However, the report made a point to emphasize that the majority of global emissions are coming from G20 countries, specifically China, the United States and India. Only the U.S. showed a slight reduction in emissions in 2023, down 1.4%. China and India saw an increase of 5.2% and 6.1% respectively. Both countries produce many of the products purchased and used by American consumers, and some experts say their emissions are our emissions.
In 2015, during a summit in Paris, the majority of the world’s governments agreed to work toward limiting global warming to 1.5° C (2.7° F). This new report said it would require a 42% cut in yearly GHG emissions by 2030 if we want to try to avoid surpassing that milestone.
World leaders will meet in Azerbaijan next month for the UN climate summit COP29 to work on meeting the goals first agreed to in Paris.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Central Park and Philly could break no rain records
The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions are experiencing an unprecedented dry spell, raising concerns of fire danger.
Central Park in New York City is also facing an unusually dry October. The world-renowned landmark has seen zero rainfall this month. Since record-keeping began in 1869, there has never been a month in Central Park that didn’t have some rainfall. With no rain in the forecast through the end of the month, this could be a first.
Similarly, Philadelphia is on the brink of shattering its record for the longest period without rain, reaching 25 days as of Oct. 24. If the city doesn’t receive any precipitation by the end of Monday, Oct. 28, it will surpass an historic 29-day dry streak, the current record. Records go back to 1871.
As a result of these near-record dry conditions, fire danger levels have surged. Elevated warnings stretch from Massachusetts to Virginia, with humidity levels plummeting to around 30% and gusty winds of nearly 30 mph. New Jersey is particularly vulnerable, with most of the state under a Red Flag Warning, indicating a high threat of wildfires. The combination of low moisture and wind creates an environment ripe for the spread of any fire, making it crucial for residents to remain vigilant.
-ABC News meteorologists Max Golembo and Kenton Gewecke and ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
World’s coral in peril: Largest bleaching event in history is underway
A global coral bleaching event that began in Feb. 2023 is now the largest bleaching event on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The agency says nearly 77% of the world’s coral reef areas have experienced bleaching-level heat stress.
NOAA says the previous record, which occurred between 2014 and 2017, impacted 65.7% of the world’s reef area.
“We’ve eclipsed the previous record by 11.3% and did so in about half the amount of time,” said NOAA in a statement to ABC News. “This percentage is still increasing in size.”
The world’s oceans experienced record-breaking temperatures in 2024, and when the water is too warm, coral can expel the algae inside it, causing it to turn completely white. While bleaching doesn’t necessarily kill the coral, it can increase the likelihood of permanent damage or death.
This latest mass bleaching event marks the 4th global bleaching event since 1998 and the second since 2010. NOAA says each event has been more extensive than the last, with the current one setting a global record.
Since Feb. 2023, 74 countries and territories have been impacted by the mass coral bleaching event, affecting the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, according to NOAA.
Coral reefs are among the planet’s most diverse and valuable ecosystems. While they only cover 1% of our oceans, they provide a home to at least 25% of our marine life and significantly impact the global economy. Reefs attract millions of tourists and visitors, supporting local businesses and jobs.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser and Dan Manzo
Study finds biodiversity isn’t safe even in protected areas
In 2022, world leaders agreed to a landmark deal to protect the planet’s biodiversity at the UN Conference of Parties convention (COP15) in Montreal. Dubbed “30 by 30,” the historic agreement called for protecting 30% of the globe’s land and waters by 2030. As a result, many of the participating nations strengthened and expanded protected areas for plants and animals.
But, according to new research conducted by the National History Museum in London, biodiversity in these protected areas is declining faster than in non-protected areas. Using their own “Biodiversity Intactness Index,” which estimates how much of an area’s biological diversity is left in an area in response to human interventions, the Museum found that life in protected areas declined by around 2% compared to 1.8% globally.
The difference was even more significant in areas with the most critical ecosystems. Protected areas saw a loss of 2.12% compared to 1.91% overall.
The study’s authors don’t know for sure why there is this discrepancy but say it could be because many protected areas only focus on protecting a specific species. They also say many of the protected areas were already in trouble, and that’s why they were protected.
The team says we need to not only protect individual species but the land and ecosystem where they live. They are also calling for better monitoring of these critical areas.
The study comes while world leaders meet in Columbia for the UN’s COP16 Biodiversity Conference—a global effort to protect the planet’s biological diversity.
