Latest news with #WorkersParty
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
North Korea deploys mystery balloon-like objects to stricken warship, satellite photos show
New satellite images show that North Korea has deployed what appear to be balloons alongside its damaged 5,000-ton warship that has been laying on its side and partially submerged since a botched launch last week. While the purpose of the objects is unclear, experts told CNN they could be used to help get the ship back upright, or protect it from the prying eyes of drones. The stricken destroyer was the country's newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea's ambitious naval modernization effort. Instead, a malfunction in the launch mechanism on May 21 caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, state media KCNA reported, in a rare admission of bad news. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the failed launch in the northeastern city of Chongjin, called it a 'criminal act' and ordered the country to swiftly repair the as-yet-unnamed ship before the late-June plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party, calling it a matter of national honor. Officials have since scrambled to undo the damage and punish those they claim are responsible, detaining four people in recent days, including the shipyard's chief engineer. Analysts say it appears balloons are being used in North Korea's effort to swiftly repair the destroyer. 'It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,' said Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean National Assembly lawmaker and military analyst. Retired United States Navy Cpt. Carl Schuster said if the objects are indeed balloons, they could have one of two purposes – either to prevent 'low- to mid-level drone reconnaissance,' or to reduce the stress on the part of the ship still stranded on the pier. 'That is the area that is most likely to have been damaged, suffered the most severe damage and remains under intense stress while the forward area remains out of the water,' he said. Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said North Korea could be in danger of further damaging the ship if it's using balloons to keep it afloat or raise it. 'It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot of stress anyway,' and lifting from above could compound those stresses, he said. Normal procedure would be to get as much buoyancy as possible in the ship and then raise it from below, Childs said. According to satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies, more than a dozen white, balloon-like objects have been deployed around the destroyer since May 23. Based on the objects' shape and what appear to be tail fins, they could be smaller versions of what are known as aerostat aircraft, balloons with a slight resemblance to dirigibles, defense experts told CNN. Like blimps, dirigibles get buoyancy from a lifting gas that allows them to float in air or in water. The images don't appear to show any flotation bladders supporting the hull or the body of the ship, Schuster said – something the US might use in such a situation. He added that North Korea's maritime industry might not be advanced enough for such techniques. North Korean state media had previously reported that the damage was less severe than initially feared, and that there were no holes in the hull, though it was scratched along the side and some seawater had entered the stern. It estimated repairs could take about 10 days – though analysts are skeptical. Schuster had previously told CNN that repair work could take up to six months, depending on how far the hull damage extends, how much water entered the warship, and how much 'salt crust' might have formed on metal surfaces such as joints. The ship's precarious position also makes the salvage operation unusually complex. 'Having it half in and half out of the water is basically the worst possible situation,' said Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a nonprofit specializing in defense research. He added that the operation would be simpler if the ship had fully capsized into the water, or if it had fallen over entirely on land. 'But as it's half on land and half on water – if you try to pull the sunken half out, you're risking twisting and breaking the keel,' Eveleth said, referring to the structural spine running along the ship's bottom. 'And if you do that, the whole ship is junk.' Childs said North Korea may have to cut the ship into pieces and then try to salvage what it can because righting it from its current position is an extremely complex task. 'Very often the only way you clear the dock … is to dismantle at least part of the ship to make the operation easier, right what you have left and tow it away and make a decision on whether you rebuild it or scrap it,' he said. CNN's Jessie Yeung contributed to this report.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
North Korea deploys mystery balloon-like objects to stricken warship, satellite photos show
New satellite images show that North Korea has deployed what appear to be balloons alongside its damaged 5,000-ton warship that has been laying on its side and partially submerged since a botched launch last week. While the purpose of the objects is unclear, experts told CNN they could be used to help get the ship back upright, or protect it from the prying eyes of drones. The stricken destroyer was the country's newest warship and was meant to be a triumph of North Korea's ambitious naval modernization effort. Instead, a malfunction in the launch mechanism on May 21 caused the stern to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway, state media KCNA reported, in a rare admission of bad news. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the failed launch in the northeastern city of Chongjin, called it a 'criminal act' and ordered the country to swiftly repair the as-yet-unnamed ship before the late-June plenary session of the ruling Workers' Party, calling it a matter of national honor. Officials have since scrambled to undo the damage and punish those they claim are responsible, detaining four people in recent days, including the shipyard's chief engineer. Analysts say it appears balloons are being used in North Korea's effort to swiftly repair the destroyer. 'It looks like what appear to be balloons have been installed not to refloat the ship, but to prevent the ship from further flooding,' said Rep. Yu Yong-weon, a South Korean National Assembly lawmaker and military analyst. Retired United States Navy Cpt. Carl Schuster said if the objects are indeed balloons, they could have one of two purposes – either to prevent 'low- to mid-level drone reconnaissance,' or to reduce the stress on the part of the ship still stranded on the pier. 'That is the area that is most likely to have been damaged, suffered the most severe damage and remains under intense stress while the forward area remains out of the water,' he said. Nick Childs, senior fellow for naval forces and maritime security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said North Korea could be in danger of further damaging the ship if it's using balloons to keep it afloat or raise it. 'It is highly likely that the ship is under quite a lot of stress anyway,' and lifting from above could compound those stresses, he said. Normal procedure would be to get as much buoyancy as possible in the ship and then raise it from below, Childs said. According to satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies, more than a dozen white, balloon-like objects have been deployed around the destroyer since May 23. Based on the objects' shape and what appear to be tail fins, they could be smaller versions of what are known as aerostat aircraft, balloons with a slight resemblance to dirigibles, defense experts told CNN. Like blimps, dirigibles get buoyancy from a lifting gas that allows them to float in air or in water. The images don't appear to show any flotation bladders supporting the hull or the body of the ship, Schuster said – something the US might use in such a situation. He added that North Korea's maritime industry might not be advanced enough for such techniques. North Korean state media had previously reported that the damage was less severe than initially feared, and that there were no holes in the hull, though it was scratched along the side and some seawater had entered the stern. It estimated repairs could take about 10 days – though analysts are skeptical. Schuster had previously told CNN that repair work could take up to six months, depending on how far the hull damage extends, how much water entered the warship, and how much 'salt crust' might have formed on metal surfaces such as joints. The ship's precarious position also makes the salvage operation unusually complex. 'Having it half in and half out of the water is basically the worst possible situation,' said Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a nonprofit specializing in defense research. He added that the operation would be simpler if the ship had fully capsized into the water, or if it had fallen over entirely on land. 'But as it's half on land and half on water – if you try to pull the sunken half out, you're risking twisting and breaking the keel,' Eveleth said, referring to the structural spine running along the ship's bottom. 'And if you do that, the whole ship is junk.' Childs said North Korea may have to cut the ship into pieces and then try to salvage what it can because righting it from its current position is an extremely complex task. 'Very often the only way you clear the dock … is to dismantle at least part of the ship to make the operation easier, right what you have left and tow it away and make a decision on whether you rebuild it or scrap it,' he said. CNN's Jessie Yeung contributed to this report.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Brazil's environmental movement is under threat – and Lula is siding with oil industry
Political bullying is rarely as brutal as it was in Brazil this week when the environment minister Marina Silva was ambushed in a senate meeting. Her thuggish tormentors – all white male politicians on the infrastructure committee – took turns to publicly belittle the 67-year-old black woman, who has done more than anyone to protect the natural wealth of the country – the Amazon rainforest, Pantanal wetlands, Cerrado savannah and other biomes – from rapacious abuse. One by one, they lined up to attack her for these globally important efforts. Decorum gave way to name-calling and sneering: 'Know your place,' roared the committee head, Marcos Rogério, a Bolsonarist who cut Silva's microphone as she tried to respond. The leader of the centre-rightPSDB, Plínio Valério, told her she did not deserve respect as a minister. The Amazonas senator Omar Aziz – from the Centrão party and a supporter of president Lula – talked over her repeatedly. Their motives appeared to be partly ideological, partly misogynistic and largely self-interested. All of them were trying to force through economic projects – roads, oilfields, dams or plantations – that are under scrutiny by Silva's environment ministry. Never mind that this is her job, they seemed to say, how dare she not allow them to have their way? But she did dare. Despite her frail physique, Silva is a fighter. Born in the Amazon rainforest, she helped to found the Workers' party alongside Lula during the era of military dictatorship. She campaigned against deforestation alongside Chico Mendes, who was assassinated in 1988. In her first stint as environment minister, between 2003 and 2008, she established a monitoring-and-penalty system that she said reduced forest clearance by 80%. Later, she ran as president for the Green party, securing nearly 20m votes – more than any other Green candidate in world history. Twelve years ago, she founded her own party – the Sustainability Network. Silva refused to tolerate being abused and silenced, and walked out of the senate meeting. Outside, when she finally had a chance to speak, she turned on her tormentors: 'My place is the place to defend democracy, my place is the place to defend the environment, to combat inequality, sustainable development, to protect biodiversity, and infrastructure projects that are necessary for the country,' she said defiantly. 'What is unacceptable is for someone to think that because you are a woman, black, and come from a humble background, that you are going to say who I am and still say that I should stay in my place. My place is where all women should be.' This version of what happened has been reported widely in the Brazilian media, but it tells only part of the story. What is missing – and more important – is why the pack of senators felt Silva was vulnerable. That is because over the previous few days, Lula had taken the side of the oil industry rather than the Amazon rainforest, and then – not by coincidence – the Brazilian environmental movement suffered one of the biggest legislative defeats in its history. At the centre of everything is a long-running row over oil exploration in the Foz do Amazonas. BP and the French oil company Total used to hold most of these rights, but they baulked at the political and environmental challenge of drilling so close to the world's biggest centre of terrestrial biodiversity. Instead, Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, stepped up. For Lula – and the senators in nearby regions – that meant potential votes, jobs and export earnings. The only thing standing in their way was the environment ministry, which has delayed a licence for years due to the risks of a possible spill in such an ecologically sensitive area. That handbrake was lifted earlier this week, when the head of the environmental regulator, Ibama, ignored the warnings of 29 expert advisers by moving on to the next stage of the approval process for operations in the Foz do Amazonas. This capitulation followed pressure from Congress and the president. This was followed by the biggest legislative setback for the environment in more than 40 years. To the delight of the mining, construction and farming industries, the senate has passed a long-pending bill that strips a range of environmental licensing powers from Silva's ministry. This piece of legislation – dubbed the devastation bill by opponents – allows companies to self-license or avoid environmental licensing for road construction, dam-building and other projects. It is a shift of control from the representatives of the people to the executives of big companies. Lula could yet wield a veto on this bill. But so far the president's response has been tepid. His party has a weak presence in congress, so he depends on a broad and fractious coalition, many of whose members are enmeshed in agribusiness or mining. Next year's presidential election seems to be weighing on his mind more than November's Cop30 climate summit in Belém. In the wake of the attacks on Silva by the senate infrastructure committee, Lula publicly came to her defence. He said she was right to walk out in the face of so much provocation. But he has not faced up to his responsibility for leaving her exposed. Nor has he faced up to the contradictions of his own promise to achieve zero deforestation by 2030 and his support for evidently incompatible projects, such as oil drilling off the coast of the Amazon, an upgraded BR319 road that would open up the forest between Manaus and Porto Velho to greater clearance activities, and a new grain railway that would increase pressure for more soya bean plantations. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion At the Amazon Summit in Belém two years ago, he declined to sign up to Colombian president Gustavo Petro's calls for a fossil-free rainforest. Soon after, at Cop28 in Dubai, his government shocked many of its supporters by announcing it would join the Opec+ oil cartel. Lula can argue that this is pragmatism as Brazil depends on petroleum sales for a growing share of its GDP. Fossil fuel realpolitik is likely to be evident at a Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro in July, where the Brazilian president will rub shoulders with China's Xi Jinping of China, Russia's Vladimir Putin, India's Narendra Modi and other world leaders. Lula has thrown Marina Silva under a cement mixer once before – in 2008, when she was forced to leave his second-term government because too many ministers saw her as a drag on economic development. He may feel reluctant to do so again before Cop30, because he knows she is vital for Brazil's environmental credibility in the eyes of much of the world, and he does not want his country to return to the pariah status it endured during the Bolsonaro years. But the sands are shifting and Lula seems unsure of his footing. His base – the working class and poor – are already suffering the brunt of climate impacts. The south of Brazil has been deluged by devastating floods. The northern Amazon has been stricken by record droughts and fires. Civil society and progressive thinkers – almost all of whom usually support Lula – have been far more active than the president in opposing the devastation bill and defending the environment minister on social media, where many public figures have posted 'Marina is not alone' messages of support. But like many other centre left leaders in the world, Lula is struggling in the age of Trump, of rightwing extremism, of warmongering, of geopolitical realignment and corporate backtracking on the environment. As Silva showed, it takes courage to face those forces. Lula has often stood by her in that fight, but does he still have the stomach and the inclination to continue?
NHK
4 days ago
- General
- NHK
North Korea's Kim orders stronger control over military
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered stronger ruling party control over the military, following a warship accident during its launch last week. State-run Korean Central Television reported on Friday that Kim attended an expanded meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday. At the meeting, Kim said the roles of the party's organizations in the military should be strengthened to solve all problems arising from military development and operations. The commission reportedly appointed new senior military officials, although details have not been disclosed. South Korea's Unification Ministry said photos released so far indicate that Jong Kyong Thaek, head of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, has been demoted. Jong oversees ideological education in the military. South Korean media say the measures taken in the meeting appear aimed at tightening party control over the military in the wake of last week's warship accident.
Reuters
4 days ago
- General
- Reuters
North Korea's Kim Jong Un leads meeting on strengthening military, inspects artillery drill
SEOUL, May 30 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led a party meeting on strengthening the military on Wednesday and inspected an artillery drill on Thursday, state media KCNA said on Friday. In an expanded meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea, Kim emphasised that roles of party organisations carrying out measures from the central leadership should be strengthened to solve "all the problems arising in the army building and military activities." Kim also said it is "very important to frequently organize firing contests close to the actual warfare environment" to build a powerful military force, KCNA said. This was the latest in a series of moves by Kim reported by KCNA focused on strengthening the military in the past weeks. During May alone, Kim visited tanks and munitions plants, led a short-range missile test and an air drill, and condemned a failed warship launch as "criminal," according to state media.
