Connect with us

World

North Korea resumes sending trash balloons to South Korea

Published

on

North Korea has resumed sending balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea, officials and news reports said on Sunday, a week after it vowed to continue if anti-North Korea leaflets are flown from the South.

Dozens of balloons with trash attached have been found in Seoul and in areas near the border overnight and early on Sunday, after the South Korean military said late on Saturday the North was again launching them, Reuters reported.

South Korea’s military said on Sunday it takes the balloons “very seriously” and was on alert to take action in response as necessary. It did not elaborate what actions it would take.

South Korea has warned it would take “unendurable” measures against the North for sending the trash balloons, which could include blaring propaganda broadcasts from huge loudspeakers set up at the border directed at the North.

The North Korean government has said the balloons were sent in retaliation to anti-North leaflets flown by South Korean activists as part of a propaganda campaign and launched hundreds of them starting late in May carrying trash and manure.

On June 2, it said it would temporarily halt sending the balloons because 15 tons of trash it sent was probably enough to get the message across how “unpleasant” it was. However, it vowed to resume if leaflets are again flown from the South by sending hundred times the amount.

A group of South Korean activists defied the warning and have since flown more balloons to the North with leaflets criticising its leader Kim Jong Un together with USB sticks containing K-pop videos and dramas, and U.S. dollar notes.

North Korea has shown some of the angriest reaction towards the leaflet campaign and the loudspeaker broadcasts, in some cases firing weapons at the balloons and the speakers in the past.

Experts have said the reaction was an indication Pyongyang considers the propaganda as a serious threat to controlling its public.

World

Israel rejects Trump’s 15-point plan for Gaza, PM Netanyahu says

Published

on

Israel ​has ‌rejected U.S. President ​Donald ​Trump’s Board ⁠of ​Peace 15-point ​plan for Gaza, ​and ​will not withdraw ‌until ⁠Hamas fully disarms, ​Prime ​Minister ⁠Benjamin Netanyahu ​said ​on ⁠Sunday, Reuters reported.

Continue Reading

World

Ex-U.S. President Biden’s cancer has spread, is very painful, son says

Published

on

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him severe pain, his son Hunter Biden has said in an interview with the BBC.

“The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” Hunter Biden told BBC’s Newsnight, according to video of the interview posted online on Friday. He described the illness as “very painful” and “very debilitating in many respects.”

A spokesperson for the 83-year-old Biden declined to comment on Hunter Biden’s remarks on Saturday.

Biden announced in May 2025, less than four months after leaving the White House, that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer. At the time, he said the cancer had already spread to his bones.

In October, a spokesperson said Biden was receiving radiation treatment and hormone therapy.

Biden was the oldest person to be elected U.S. president when he won the 2020 election. His physical health and mental fitness also came under increased scrutiny during his presidency from 2021 to 2025.

Biden attended the dedication of former President Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago in June. He served as Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017.

Biden’s presidential memoir is scheduled to be released on November 17.

 
 
 
Continue Reading

World

US Senate passes Russia sanctions championed by Graham; US House next

In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, ​calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”

Published

on

The U.S. Senate easily passed sweeping Russia sanctions legislation on Friday, advancing a long-delayed measure backed by late ​Senator Lindsey Graham and setting the stage for consideration by the House of Representatives within weeks, Reuters reported.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died ‌last month, was among Kyiv’s most outspoken allies in Congress in its four-year-long war with Russia, and the bill aims to increase economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

It also includes expanded sanctions on Iran sought by President Donald Trump as lawmakers pushed for a vote on the measure well over a year since it was introduced in 2025.

The Senate’s Republican leaders had not ​brought the bill up because of resistance from Trump, who had kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second ​term in January 2025.

The Senate voted 86-11 to pass the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” to sanction ⁠Russian officials and authorize stiff tariffs on China, India and other countries to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

In a statement, the Ukrainian embassy in Washington welcomed passage, ​calling it “a timely and significant step that strengthens pressure on Russia.”

However, broad support may not be enough to secure House passage, with some lawmakers and industries wary that new tariff ​powers for Trump could raise costs for U.S. importers and consumers while exposing Republicans to political blowback.

Representatives Gregory Meeks of New York and Don Beyer of Virginia said in a statement they still had “fundamental concerns” about the tariff powers for Trump, who has made them a central piece of his “America First” approach to foreign policy, read the report.

“What the bill does grant … are ​sweeping new tariff authorities that the president could weaponize with abandon, as he has repeatedly done in the past,” said Meeks, the top Democrat on the House ​Foreign Affairs Committee, and Beyer, the senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee.

Trump’s fellow Republicans control only slim majorities in both the House and Senate.

Only one Senate Republican, Rand Paul of ‌Kentucky, voted ⁠against the bill, likening tariffs to taxes on American consumers.

The chamber erupted into applause after Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill his seat, read out the final tally.

The Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Paul and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have removed the tariff powers.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who also sought to change the tariff language, said he had received a written commitment from Trump’s U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, to put guardrails on the tariff authorities, Reuters reported.

If it is approved by ​the House and signed into law by ​Trump, the measure would allow the ⁠president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that are major consumers of Russian energy, including India, Japan and some countries in the European Union, and leave it to his discretion to lift them.

The legislation’s backers insist that the tariffs ​are narrow enough that they would do their intended job of reducing Russian energy revenue that funds its war on Ukraine ​without negative consequences.

Supporters called the legislation ⁠the best opportunity to support Ukraine, and the strong bipartisan Senate vote provided momentum for it to pass the House after it returns from its summer recess on August 31.

Graham had announced shortly before his sudden death on July 11 that he and Trump agreed finally to move forward with the legislation.

The legislation lets the president impose targeted ⁠tariffs on ​imported goods from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil or gas and enable Russia’s ​evasion of sanctions.

The bill limits these tariffs to the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas and the top five countries that aid Russia’s energy sanctions evasion. The measure includes a provision to ​prevent a lapse in sanctions authority that restricts funding for Iranian energy and weapons.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2025 Ariana News. All rights reserved!


Warning: Undefined array key "slug" in /var/www/vhosts/ariananews.af/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-theme-json.php on line 2117

Warning: Undefined array key "slug" in /var/www/vhosts/ariananews.af/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-theme-json.php on line 2117

Warning: Undefined array key "slug" in /var/www/vhosts/ariananews.af/httpdocs/wp-includes/class-wp-theme-json.php on line 2117