North Korea Urges Rapid Nuclear Weapons Growth After US Drills
Visiting the recently launched destroyer Choe Hyon, Kim said the security environment around the country requires North Korea to make a 'rapid expansion of nuclearization' and speedily develop its naval forces, state media Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.
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Associated Press
8 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Humanitarian aid cuts leave victims of sexual violence in global conflicts without help, UN says
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Major cuts in humanitarian aid have left victims of sexual violence in conflicts around the world without lifesaving help as clinics and shelters close, a senior U.N. official warned Tuesday. Pramila Patten, U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, lashed out at the U.N. Security Council and the broader international community for making essential services for survivors the 'least accessible at the very moment they are needed most.' In conflict-torn eastern Congo, clinics are forced to turn away rape survivors because they aren't able to provide basic care, she said. And in conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine, northeastern Ethiopia and Gaza, 'health care systems have been decimated' and humanitarian groups are having to do more with less to help victims, Patten said. She decried humanitarian assistance being slashed without naming any countries, but she was clearly referring to the United States and other major donors. President Donald Trump has decided to pull the U.S. back from its position as the world's single largest aid donor, drastically curtailing funding that kept millions of people alive around the world. Even before his move, many other donor nations had reduced humanitarian spending. Acting U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea stressed Trump's commitment to eliminating sexual violence in conflicts globally and expressed support for the work of Patten's office — but her remarks to the council made no mention of funding. Patten warned that as 'militarism is on the march and the clock is being turned back on women's rights,' organizations helping women affected by conflict 'are going from underfunded to unfunded.' 'We are told there is no money for lifesaving aid, even as military expenditure soars, and the world spends more in 24 hours on arms than it does in a year on addressing gender-based violence in conflict,' she said. Patten was presenting U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' annual report on sexual violence in conflicts, which was released last week and showed a 25% increase in cases last year. The U.N. chief reported that more than 4,600 people survived sexual violence in 2024, with armed groups carrying out the majority of the abuse but some committed by government forces. The highest number of cases were in the Central African Republic, Congo, Haiti, Somalia and South Sudan. Patten stressed the unseen faces behind the figures, citing as one example a young woman who boarded a bus in Sudan's capital to collect her college diploma and was dragged off by four members of a paramilitary force, gang-raped and left unconscious in a dark alley. She became pregnant and is struggling to care for her baby and deal with her trauma. Patten said she wished she could say the U.N. Security Council and international community would take responsibility for the suffering and stand with survivors and the organizations that help them. 'I wish I could say that the donor and diplomatic community will uphold its values and hold the line on funding for protection and assistance,' she said. 'But we shall see.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump weaponization czar urged New York Attorney General James to resign over mortgage probe
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office 'as an act of good faith' four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house. Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department's Weaponization Working Group, told James' lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the 'good of the state and nation' by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home. 'Her resignation from office would give the people of New York and America more peace than proceeding," Martin wrote. "I would take this as an act of good faith.' Then last Friday, Martin turned up outside James' Brooklyn townhouse in a 'Columbo'-esque trench coat, accompanied by an aide and New York Post journalists. He didn't meet with James or go inside the building. A Post writer saw him tell a neighbor: 'I'm just looking at houses, interesting houses. It's an important house.' James' lawyer Abbe Lowell shot back on Monday, telling Martin in a letter his blunt request for James' resignation defied Justice Department standards and codes of professional responsibility and legal ethics. The Justice Department 'has firm policies against using investigations and against using prosecutorial power for achieving political ends,' Lowell wrote. 'This is ever more the case when that demand is made to seek political revenge against a public official in the opposite party.' 'Let me be clear: that will not happen here,' Lowell added. Lowell also blasted Martin's visit to James' home as a 'truly bizarre, made-for-media stunt' and said it was 'outside the bounds' of Justice Department rules. He included an image from security camera footage showing Martin, in his trench coat, posing for a photo in front of James' townhouse. He said Martin looked as if he were on a 'visit to a tourist attraction.' The Associated Press obtained copies of both letters on Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left for Martin's spokesperson. James' office declined to comment. The letters were the latest salvos in a monthslong drama involving Trump's retribution campaign against James and others who've battled him in court and fought his policies. James has sued the Republican president and his administration dozens of times and last year won a $454 million judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied about the value of his assets on financial statements given to banks. An appeals court has yet to rule on Trump's bid to overturn that verdict. Earlier this month, the AP reported, the Justice Department subpoenaed James for records related to the civil fraud lawsuit and a lawsuit she filed against the National Rifle Association. Martin's investigation stems from a letter Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi in April asking her to investigate and consider prosecuting James, alleging she had 'falsified bank documents and property records." Pulte, whose agency regulates mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cited 'media reports' claiming James had falsely listed a Virginia home as her principal residence, and he suggested she may have been trying to avoid higher interest rates that often apply to second homes. Records show James was listed as a co-borrower on a house her niece was buying in 2023. Lowell said records and correspondence easily disproved Pulte's allegation. While James signed a power-of-attorney form that, Lowell said, 'mistakenly stated the property to be Ms. James' principal residence," she sent an email to her mortgage loan broker around the same time that made clear the property 'WILL NOT be my primary residence.' Pulte also accused James of lying in property records about the number of apartments in the Brooklyn townhouse she has owned since 2001. A certificate of occupancy issued to a previous owner authorized up to five units in the building, where James lives and has rented out apartments. Other city records show the townhouse has four units, a number James has listed in building permit applications and mortgage documents. On Aug. 8, Bondi appointed Martin, a former Republican political operative, to investigate. Martin, the current U.S. pardon attorney and former acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., is also investigating mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff's lawyer called the allegations 'transparently false, stale, and long debunked." Lowell said it appears the working group Martin leads 'is aptly named as it is 'weaponizing'" the Justice Department "to carry out the President's and Attorney General's threats.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US appeals court puts the brakes on contested land transfer for Arizona copper mine
A U.S. appeals court has temporarily blocked the transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international companies that plan to mine one of the largest copper deposits in North America. The transfer was scheduled for Tuesday. But a panel of judges with the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction late Monday in response to last-minute appeals by a Native American tribe and environmentalists. The land includes Oak Flat — an area used for centuries for religious ceremonies, prayer and gathering of medicinal plants by the San Carlos Apache people and other Native American tribes. The fight over Oak Flat has spanned two decades, with the latest legal wrangling centered on a required environmental review that was released by the U.S. Forest Service earlier this summer and an appraisal of the land to be mined by Resolution Copper about 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of Phoenix. Before the land exchange can happen, the plaintiffs argued that the federal government must prepare a comprehensive review that covers 'every aspect of the planned mine and all related infrastructure.' They said the government failed to consider the potential for a dam breach, pipeline failure and if there was an emergency plan for a tailings storage area. As for the appraisal, they said it doesn't account for the value of the copper deposits that are at least 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface. The appeals court plans to hear arguments on the merits of the case later this year. Opponents of the mine consider the court action a victory, saying prayers are paying off. 'This injunction comes in a desperate time of asking for miracles, all over the country and all over the world,' Wendsler Nosie Sr. of the group Apache Stronghold said in a statement shared on social media. Nosie, a former tribal chairman, described the land and water at Oak Flat as precious. Apache Stronghold, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and other plaintiffs having been fighting for years to save what tribal members call Chi'chil Bildagoteel. The area is dotted with oak groves and traditional plants the Apaches consider essential to their religion. 'We will continue praying that the court understands the grave injustice of trading our sacred grounds to foreign mining companies that seek to destroy Chí'chil Biłdagoteel to extract copper that will be exported overseas,' Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler said in statement. Resolution Copper — a subsidiary of international mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP — estimates the mine will generate $1 billion a year for Arizona's economy and create thousands of jobs. The project has support in the nearby community of Superior. Resolution Copper has said the project underwent an extensive review by the U.S. Forest Service that has included consultation with tribes that have ancestral ties to the land. 'The collaborative process has directly led to major changes to the mining plan to preserve and reduce potential impacts on tribal, social, environmental and cultural interests,' the company stated. The Forest Service has argued in court filings that it has no discretion because the land exchange was mandated by Congress when language was included in a must-pass national defense spending bill that was signed into law in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama. There have been unsuccessful legislative attempts in the years since to withdraw the Oak Flat area from mining activity. Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
