Ukraine special forces claim over 100 North Koreans killed or wounded

(CAIRO) — More than a dozen tourists were feared missing after a diving boat sank off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, authorities said on Monday.

The boat, The Sea Story, sank off the southeastern Egyptian town of Marsa Alam, near the Shaab Satayah area, which is popular for its coral reefs, the Red Sea Governorate said in a statement.

Sixteen of the 44 people on board were still missing Monday afternoon, officials said. The other 28 had been rescued, officials said.

The boat had 31 tourists of various nationalities and at least a dozen crew members on board when it sank, officials said. Two Americans were on board, a local council source told ABC News on Monday.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo told ABC News it was not aware of any U.S. citizen fatalities in the incident.

“We are aware of the incident that occurred and are in touch with the authorities to provide assistance as necessary. At this time, we are not aware of any U.S. citizen fatalities or unaccounted for U.S. citizens,” spokesperson Gina Cabrera told ABC News.

Some passengers were trapped inside cabins on the tourist boat and were unable to escape, the Red Sea Governate said.

The search-and-rescue operations have stopped for the day, the governate added.

Gov. Amr Hanafy had said earlier that some tourists were rescued, without revealing how many remained missing. A search-and-rescue helicopter airlifted some survivors from the Wadi el Gemal reserve area to receive treatment, and a frigate was dispatched to assist with the ongoing rescue efforts.

The Sea Story set sail from the port of Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday for a diving trip and was scheduled to arrive at Hurghada Marina on Friday.

A crew member sent a distress signal at 5.30 a.m. on Monday before the ship dropped off the radar, officials said.

Egypt’s Red Sea resorts are popular with tourists for their beaches and diving spots.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

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(LONDON and SEOUL) — Refuse carried by a North Korean “trash balloon” landed inside the South Korean presidential compound in the capital city of Seoul on Thursday amid rising tensions between the two neighbors.

The South Korean Presidential Security Service “identified trash that blew up in the air and fell in the office compound early this morning,” the service said in a Thursday statement.

“After a safety inspection, the service collected the fallen objects after confirming they do not contain danger or contagiousness,” the service added. “The service is monitoring the situation in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

This is the second time one of North Korea’s trash balloons fell inside the South Korean Presidential Office Compound.

Cross-border balloons have been one element of the recent deterioration in inter-Korean relations, with the period of diplomatic thaw from 2017 giving way to new tensions since the election of conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in the spring of 2022.

The balloons have been found carrying household waste items including paper, vinyl and plastic bottles, according to the South Korean military. Some trash balloons carried manure.

Several fires have also been reported in metropolitan areas attributed to “heat timers” attached to the balloons.

North Korea launched a total of 5,500 trash balloons at South Korea on 22 occasions from May 28 to Sept. 23 this year, Lee Sung-joon — a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff — said last month.

Seoul estimated that North Korea spent 550 million won — around $411,600 — to produce the balloons, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

Lee said in September after 120 balloons were launched that Seoul would consider military action to down them if necessary. “If North Korea’s continued trash balloons are judged to pose a serious threat to the safety of our citizens or to have crossed the line, the military will take stern military action,” he said.

South Korean civic groups have also launched balloons across the border, much to Pyongyang’s chagrin.

Such balloons often carry rice, essential medicine and leaflets critical of leader Kim Jong Un’s regime. North Korea has repeatedly protested such action and threatened a response.

The frontier region has been particularly tense this month. On Oct. 15, Seoul said North Korea blew up two border roads and deployed “heavy equipment” for “further operations.”

South Korean troops along the border fired warning shots in response, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

The detonations followed a North Korean warning that it intended to permanently seal off border access routes, cutting rail and road connections and reinforcing defensive fortifications.

The explosions came shortly after Kim ordered his artillery forces — traditionally the most potent threat to the capital Seoul, which sits around 35 miles from the frontier — onto full alert, having accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang.

The face-off on the Korean Peninsula may now spread to Ukraine, where Seoul, Kyiv and Washington, D.C. have accused Pyongyang of deploying troops in support of Russia’s invasion.

Yonhap reported that Seoul is now considering sending weapons to Ukraine in response, having so far only provided humanitarian aid.

Yonhap also said South Korea is considering sending military and intelligence personnel to Ukraine to probe North Korean battlefield performance and help with interrogations of captured North Korean fighters.

ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — Russia’s war on Ukraine dominated the opening stages of President Vladimir Putin’s annual marathon press conference on Thursday, with the Russian leader also addressing issues including future relations with President-elect Donald Trump and the situation in Syria.

Among the questions was how Moscow would deal with the incoming Trump administration given Russia was in a “weaker position.”

In response, Putin said he had not spoken to Trump for four years but was ready for a meeting. “You would very much like Russia to be in a weakened position, but I hold a different point of view,” he said.

Discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Putin claimed that the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile recently used to strike the Ukrainian city of Dnipro cannot be intercepted by Western air defense systems.

Western technology, he said, “stands no chance” against the missile.

Putin even suggested arranging “an experiment or a duel” in which Russia would select a target for an Oreshnik strike in Kyiv and Ukraine would set up its Western-supplied air defenses to intercept the missile.

“It will be interesting for us,” Putin said.

Asked about missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice — who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago — Putin said he would raise the issue with former Syrian President Bashar Assad, now living in exile in Russia having been toppled by a rebel offensive earlier this month.

Tice’s mother has reportedly written to Putin asking for help in finding Tice, who is now the subject of a major search effort by the U.S. with assistance from regional allies and the new rebel-led authorities in Syria.

Putin said he has not seen Assad in Moscow since he was granted asylum there, but he will raise the issue of Tice’s whereabouts.

“I promise that I will definitely ask this question,” he said. “I can also ask questions to people who control the situation.”

ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva, Tanya Stukalova and Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.

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