Sudan's military says it took full control of Greater Khartoum region that includes the capital
CAIRO — Sudan's military on Tuesday said it took full control of the Greater Khartoum region after a long-running battle against remnants of a paramilitary group in the region's west and south.
The development was the latest victory for the military in its more than two years of fighting against the Rapid Support Forces, a civil war that has pushed parts of the country into famine .
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The West tried to make North Korea a pariah – but it's never been stronger
Kim Jong-un sits captivated. Leaning forward with binoculars raised, the North Korean dictator watches tanks manoeuvring over sandy terrain and troops rappelling down from helicopters. Occasionally, he turns to one of the uniformed officers behind him to point something out or ask a question. The scene, captured on video and shared by North Korea's state media last month, offered a rare glimpse into the secretive regime's expanding military capabilities. The isolated country, known for its intensely authoritarian regime, boasts the world's fourth-largest military, with nearly 1.3 million troops. It also has 50 nuclear warheads, with plans to build 150 more by 2027. A recent assessment from the US department of defence found North Korea had reached its 'strongest strategic position' in decades. 'North Korea has never been as strong – strong militarily as well as strong in oppressing its civilian population – as it is right now,' said Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general of the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights. This is, in part, thanks to a new mutual defence treaty signed between North Korea and Russia in November last year. But it is also down to its increasing ability to source foreign income through hacking and forced labour, despite Western sanctions, as it wages an information war against its enemies and its own population. Taken together, these three factors are allowing North Korea quietly to transform itself. Since striking a deal with Russia, North Korea has supplied Moscow with 15,000 soldiers, 100 ballistic missiles and millions of munitions to help Moscow wage war against Ukraine. In return, the Kremlin allowed Pyongyang to have its pick of sophisticated hardware – a huge boost for a regime that commands predominantly outdated, Soviet-era weaponry. While North Korea still has a long way to go in terms of upgrading all of its inventory, the newly strengthened ties with Moscow have reinforced the regime's strength and power. With a defence budget less than one per cent the size of China's, North Korea has had to choose between conventional and nuclear weapons. Kim has largely sided with the nuclear program. Earlier this year, a new intercontinental ballistic missile site was detected near Pyongyang where Kim's 'Winter Palace' once stood, marking the latest developments in the country's nuclear progress. Expanding these capabilities has allowed North Korea to create an effective deterrent against the US, especially in case of any future conflict with South Korea, but it has done this at the expense of upgrading conventional weapons like tanks, warships and fighter jets. 'North Korea has a lot of conventional military power – lots of troops, lots of tanks, but the aircraft are 1950s era,' said Michael Cohen, an associate professor at the Australian National University. 'I suspect Tom Cruise has had more time flying them than the North Korean pilots.' A year before Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed their defence treaty, Kim visited a rocket launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in far eastern Russia. Leonid Petrov, a leading North Korea expert and dean of the International College of Management in Australia, described the visit as a 'shopping trip' for Kim as he 'named the price for sending North Korean troops and conventional armaments' to Russia. North Korea has since received an unspecified number of short-range air-defence systems and 'advanced electronic warfare systems including jamming equipment' from Russia since the visit, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency. Pyongyang has also recently shown off a number of new weapons that closely resemble Russian arms, including a supersonic cruise missile, drones, and a new fighter jet. Satellite images have also shown a rapid expansion of North Korea's drone programme. A report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said that North Korea was 'likely incorporating Russian battlefield experience' as it enhanced its drone capabilities. 'North Korea is now getting unlimited access to Russian natural resources, technology, military and ideological support,' said Dr Petrov. North Korea is subject to dozens of sanctions, imposed by the United Nations, the European Union and governments including the United Kingdom, which aim to cut off Pyongyang from the international banking system as well as arms sales. While Russia has become an increasingly important partner in circumventing these restrictions, Pyongyang's relationship with China has also helped keep it afloat. Beijing is believed to have provided Pyongyang with military and nuclear expertise and a huge chunk of its foreign currency. 'China has been bankrolling the North Korean regime for a long time. About 95% of North Korean trade was with China for decades,' said Dr Petrov. Ms Hosaniak explained that North Korea is able to produce commercial goods domestically at a very cheap rate in forced labour camps, then sell them to the international market through China. She said: 'These goods can be sold in the EU, the UK…There are no restrictions, as long as the labels say 'Made in China', although the goods were produced in North Korea.' Companies facilitating this trade almost always need to have state backing to do so. 'In order to trade with North Korea you have to have an official North Korean trading partner so this is really a government-to-government kind of business that is operated by so-called private businesses,' Ms Hosaniak said. Beyond commercial ties with China, the North Korean regime has also brought in cash through cyber theft, especially from overseas workers. Local news outlet Daily NK reported that dozens of researchers from North Korea had been sent to China and Southeast Asia earlier this year to carry out attacks against cryptocurrency exchanges, engage in illegal cryptocurrency mining and target network firewalls. Pyongyang was also revealed to be carrying out an illegal scheme known as 'laptop farming', in which dozens of laptops in the US were being remotely controlled by thousands of North Koreans using stolen identities. Through these increasingly refined schemes, North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated $6 billion (£4.4 billion) in cryptocurrency, according to analysis firm Chainalysis. As Kim expands his country's defence and revenue streams, he also has to contend with a population of over 25 million people. The most effective way of doing this is to wage a full blown information war. 'The more information that North Koreans get, the more they would know that their government isn't being entirely truthful and life perhaps is better on the other side,' said Shreyas Reddy, the lead correspondent at local outlet NK News. Before the advent of the internet, it was significantly easier to do this, but now Pyongyang has had to develop its own technology and enforce new, draconian laws. A key way that outside information has entered the country was through USB sticks and CDs. These contain a wide variety of media, from South Korean media to much more sensitive information about human rights and politics. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major blow to these efforts, as North Korea shut its borders and erected an electric fence between it and China. A new law introduced in 2020 also increased the punishment for anyone caught consuming or sharing foreign media and in 2023, Kim outlawed common South Korean phrases and made it illegal to speak in a South Korean accent. 'Videos smuggled out of North Korea show people being punished severely for these sorts of incidents and we've heard unverified reports about executions or other permanent punishments for watching or accessing foreign culture,' said Mr Reddy. The constant evolution of censorship and propaganda efforts have allowed Kim to retain an upper hand in the long-standing information war upon which his reign depends. Most experts agree that North Korea will continue on the same trajectory. Kim is only 41 years old and has put in place numerous mechanisms to ensure that his grip on power remains ironclad, while also posing a major threat to enemies abroad. His newly cemented partnership with Russia, forged from shared isolation, is the latest of these efforts. 'Politically, economically, militarily, it makes them stronger,' said Dr Petrov. 'Both need this alliance. It's a mutually beneficial symbiosis of dictatorial regimes, which have been at war with their neighbours for many years.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How a multibillion dollar defence bank could help Canada increase its military spending
A new multilateral defence bank aims to help Canada and its allies build their militaries to meet looming threats in an increasingly hostile world while also giving Canadian industry a leg up when it comes to producing weaponry and military kit to tackle those threats head on. And its Canadian president is hoping it will have a major presence in Toronto. Announced this past spring, the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank could solve financial problems for countries, including Canada, that are under pressure to increase military spending beyond two per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP). Some estimates peg the more likely target as five per cent of GDP as Russia and China grow increasingly belligerent on the world stage. 'We have to use our capital markets of allied nations for overwhelming force against our foes,' Kevin D. Reed, the new bank's president and chief operating officer, said in a recent interview. The theory is the bank would allow Canada and other countries to re-arm, said Reed, who has helped start nine companies including Equity Transfer & Trust. 'Hopefully that acts as a form of deterrent against big conflicts.' The United Kingdom 'has emerged as the lead candidate to take this on,' according to Reed. 'That being said, we've … advocated to our Canadian government that there's a window here for Canada to take a co-leadership role with the U.K.' Reed would like to see a branch of the bank located in Toronto. If Canada chose to be the bank's host nation, or to co-host with London, 'you're probably looking at 2,500-3,500' banking jobs in Toronto, he said. The bank would be owned by member nations, including NATO and Indo-Pacific countries. 'They would capitalize the bank, we would get a triple-A rating, and we would take it to the bond market to raise money,' Reed said. 'If we have all 40 nations in, we would expect about $60 billion of equity into the bank over time, and then subject to the bond markets we would seek to raise $100 billion at first, taking that up to about $400-500 billion over time.' For countries that don't have a triple-A credit rating, it would mean a lower cost to capital, he said. It would also allow nations in immediate need of more defence dollars to tap the bank for money, rather than waiting for annual budget cycles. 'The real driver in this is that it would provide credit guarantees to commercial banks to lend into the defence sector,' Reed said. 'Most commercial banks … unless you're a big prime (like Boeing), if you're a number two or three or four in the supply chain, you're almost unbankable, historically, because of ESG (an investing principle that prioritizes environmental and social issues, as well as corporate governance) and just a view of defence.' The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank would be similar to Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation that provides financial and risk management services to Canadian exporters and investors, 'but way bigger,' Reed said. It would offer large banks such as RBC and BMO credit guarantees 'that would loosen up capital so they could offer lines of credit, trade finance, you name it, but we can grow the industrial base a lot faster,' Reed said. That would, in turn, speed up military procurement, he said. 'It takes nine years to get a jet or seven years to get a shoulder-fired rocket launcher,' Reed said. 'It's because the industrial base just isn't big enough. It's been constrained. So, this would push liquidity into the commercial banks.' Sovereign countries could also 'enhance procurement' by borrowing from the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank on the promise that they 'have to execute within two years,' Reed said. 'We want to foster that rapid-fire procurement that we know has been a problem for all member nations.' Right now, it takes 16 years for startups to go from selling the Department of National Defence on their products to procurement, he said. 'Companies just can't live in that — they call that the Valley of Death,' Reed said. 'That is a problem. If you want to invent a new bullet … in your garage, you're going to wait a long time.' Rob Murray, NATO's inaugural head of innovation and a former U.K. army officer, started writing the blueprint for the bank about five years ago. But, at the time, interest rates were flat, Russia hadn't launched its full-scale war in Ukraine, and U.S. President Donald Trump was not in power. You do not attract first rate people with third rate infrastructure. And right now, you go to any garrison, any base, any wing across Canada and the infrastructure is crumbling When the Ukraine war began, interest rates started climbing and people started recognizing 'threat levels are changing around the world,' Reed said. Then Trump came to power in his second term and started 'forcing the hand of many NATO nations' to increase their defence spending, Reed said. Murray published his blueprint last December. 'On the back of that he was invited down to brief the president elect down at Mar-a-Lago,' Reed said, 'and Rob's world just started to expand rapidly with proposed member nations seeking him out, asking how would this work? How can we get involved?' Murray asked Reed to step in as the bank's president in early February 'to help stitch together the coalition of governments' needed to bring the idea to fruition. 'Every European nation has been briefed,' Reed said. 'And we did the briefing for Canada right after the election' with senior people in Prime Minister Mark Carney's office, the Privy Council Office, and departments including National Defence, Finance, Global Affairs and Treasury Board. Reed also briefed officials in Singapore last week and plans to do the same in Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand this week. 'We're trying to drive this around a consensus of a dozen anchor nations,' he said. NATO figures from last June suggest Canada spent just 1.37 per cent of its GDP on defence in 2024. The Liberals have said they expect it to reach two per cent by 2030 'at the latest.' But that's not fast enough for Trump, who has complained repeatedly about Canada piggybacking on the U.S. for military protection. 'While I don't like what he's saying, I see this as an opportunity to get ourselves going,' Reed said. 'We have not done our job in a long time. We've not fulfilled our commitments, and this a kick in the pants to say who are we, and what do we stand for?' Later this month, Reed expects NATO countries to accept a new spending minimum of 3.5 per cent of GDP for defence and 1.5 per cent for border security. 'To go from our base today … it's another $100-110 billion a year to ramp up to that,' he said of Canada. 'And that's not in future dollars. That's in last year's dollars. So, any available mechanism that can help grow the industrial base and get them towards those NATO soon-to-be targets is going to be well received.' Founding members of the bank will start meeting in the fall to hammer out details. Reed anticipates standing up the bank next year. 'I like the idea of another mechanism, and a very powerful and large one, and I think a very influential one, that can help us do more in the defence and security domain in Western democracies,' said retired general Rick Hillier, Canada's former top soldier, who has joined the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank's board of directors. He predicts Canada is going to need 'a revolution in defence and security procurement' to solve the Canadian Forces' equipment woes. More money could accelerate the acquisition of new aircraft, warships and submarines, he said. 'The component I'm most worried about is the army,' Hillier said. 'The army is broken. We're down people. Our bases and our infrastructure are in very sad condition. And we lack every kind of capability that a force needs in the kind of areas where we would find ourselves fighting right now. If things go south in Eastern Europe and (Vladimir) Putin and Russia get into some kind of thing they can't extract themselves from and start heading into Lithuania and Latvia, where there are several thousand Canadians, our sons and daughters, we are ill-prepared to insure that they're ready to look after themselves.' The army lacks self-propelled artillery pieces, air defence systems, technology that can detect, track, and neutralize drones, and equipment to remove minefields, Hillier said. 'We need to focus a huge amount of that defence spend on the army.' Canada has also been lagging in spending to defend our north, he said. 'We've got to know what's going on in the Arctic, to be able to see what's going on specifically, to be able to communicate what's going on and then to be able to respond to what's going, whether its air, land, or depending on the time of year, sea forces. Right now, we can only do a very small part of that.' The country needs satellites and ultra-long endurance drones to cover the north, Hillier said. Bases should be built in Inuvik, Rankin Inlet, and Iqaluit, he said. 'Then you have to connect … those spots by upgrading the airfields across the north.' The military also needs billions of dollars to repair and replace old buildings, Hillier said. Canada's military has a shortfall of about 15,000 people right now, Hillier said. 'You do not attract first rate people with third rate infrastructure. And right now, you go to any garrison, any base, any wing across Canada and the infrastructure is crumbling.' At CFB Trenton, the military's hub for air transport operations in Canada and abroad, people can't even drink the water on the base 'because it's contaminated,' Hillier said. At CFB Petawawa, 'the fire hall they've been trying to replace for years floods in any kind of a rainstorm,' he said. 'As soon as it shuts down, you shut down operations in that training area, in that garrison, for the brigade, for the helicopter squadron and for the special forces training centre.' Hillier believes the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank could help alleviate all of these problems. 'There's an enormous amount of momentum because the inherent good in it is evident to most people as soon as they sit and think about what it could achieve,' he Two ways to boost Canadian defence spending and minimize Trump's tariff threats Canada's boutique military: 'Should we not be able to defend ourselves?' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Bill would tighten rules for military flights near National Airport
Frustrated by a lack of safety improvements since 67 people died Jan. 29 in the midair collision of an Army helicopter and a passenger jet near Reagan National Airport, Democratic lawmakers are attempting to require that federal officials do a better job of managing dangers. Senate Democrats introduced a bill that would limit instances in which helicopters, including those operated by the military, are allowed to switch off devices that make them easier to track. It also would require the Pentagon to share more details about safety incidents with the Federal Aviation Administration, including close calls between military and passenger flights.
