North Korea sends a delegation to Iran in a growing effort to break its diplomatic isolation
A high-level North Korean economic delegation was on its way to Iran, the North’s state media said Wednesday, for what would be the two countries’ first known talks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Embracing the idea of a “new Cold War,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to build up cooperation with countries confronting the United States, as his intensified weapons tests prompted the U.S. and South Korea to expand their military drills.
Pyongyang’s delegation led by Yun Jung Ho, North Korea’s minster of external economic relations, flew out Tuesday for the trip to Iran, official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. State media did not immediately provide further details.
Pyongyang and Tehran are among the few governments in the world that support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and both have been accused of providing Russia with military equipment.
The last known time North Korea sent senior officials to Iran was in August 2019, when a group led by Pak Chol Min, vice chair of Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament, made a weeklong visit. The two countries had active diplomatic exchanges until North Korea sealed its borders in an effort to stave off the pandemic, before a cautious reopening in 2023.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with the North, did not immediately comment Yun’s visit to Iran.
North Korea has made efforts for months to boost the visibility of its ties with Russia and China as Kim attempts to break out of diplomatic isolation and join a united front against the U.S.
In 2023, Kim visited Russia’s Far East for a rare summit with Putin, which highlighted the countries’ expanding military cooperation, including the North’s alleged transfers of artillery shells, missiles, and other munitions to Russia.
Earlier this month, Kim hosted top Chinese official Zhao Leji, who heads the ceremonial parliament and ranks third in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy. It was the highest-level meeting between the countries in years.
On Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s powerful sister, slammed the latest rounds of U.S.-South Korean joint military drills and insisted that the allies will never break the North’s determination to build up “our overwhelming and most powerful military muscle.”
The statement comes a week after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called for the international community to be alert to the possibility of military cooperation between North Korea, Iran and Russia. Iran has been accused of providing drones to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine.
“We are concerned about … the Iranians providing weapons to the Russians and the Russians also supporting efforts to help (North Korea) expand their own research into developing weapons. And certainly, that would be the case with Iran as well,” she said.
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US seeks 36 months’ jail for Binance founder Zhao
ZHAO Changpeng (CZ), the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, should serve 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to violating laws against money laundering, United States prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday (Apr 23).
Zhao, who is expected to be sentenced on Apr 30 in Seattle, stepped down as Binance’s chief last November, when he and the exchange admitted to the violations, and the firm agreed to a penalty of US$4.32 billion.
“Given the magnitude of Zhao’s wilful violation of US law and its consequences, an above-guidelines sentence of 36 months is warranted,” US prosecutors told the US district court for the western district of Washington.
Federal sentencing guidelines set a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for Zhao, who had agreed not to appeal against any stretch up to that length. He has been free in the US on a US$175-million bond.
US authorities have said Binance failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Prosecutors said Binance’s platform also supported the sale of child sexual abuse materials and was a recipient of a large portion of ransomware proceeds.
Zhao, commonly known as CZ, agreed to pay US$50 million and cease involvement with Binance, which he founded in 2017.
Binance’s penalty included a US$1.81-billion criminal fine and restitution of US$2.51 billion.
TikTok faces US ban as bill set to be signed by Biden
The US Senate has approved a controversial landmark bill that could see TikTok banned in America.
It gives TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell its stake or the app will be blocked in the United States.
The bill will now be handed over to US President Joe Biden, who has said he will sign it into law as soon as it reaches his desk.
ByteDance has told the BBC that it did not have an immediate response to the move. Previously the firm said it would oppose any attempt to force it to sell TikTok.
If the US is successful in forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok any deal would still need approval from Chinese officials but Beijing has vowed to oppose any such move. Analysts say the process could take years.
The measure was passed as part of a package of four bills which also included military aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other US partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
It had widespread support from lawmakers, with 79 Senators voting for it and 18 against.
“For years we’ve allowed the Chinese Communist party to control one of the most popular apps in America that was dangerously short-sighted,” said Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee.
“A new law is going to require its Chinese owner to sell the app. This is a good move for America,” he added.
Fears that data about millions of Americans could land in China’s hands have driven Congressional efforts to split TikTok from the Beijing-based company.
Last week, the social media company said the bill would “trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate seven million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes $24 billion to the US economy, annually.”
TikTok has said ByteDance “is not an agent of China or any other country”. And ByteDance insists it is not a Chinese firm, pointing to the global investment firms that own 60% of it.
Its chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, said last month, external the company will continue to do all it can including exercising its “legal rights” to protect the platform.
Mr Shou was grilled by Congress twice in less than a year, and downplayed the app’s connection – and his personal links – to Chinese authorities.
The social media platform made efforts to rally support against the potential ban, including a major lobbying campaign, external.
It also encouraged TikTok users and creators to express their opposition to the bill.
University of Richmond law professor, Carl Tobias told the BBC that a prolonged legal battle is likely to follow and that “could take about two years”.
He also said if a buyer for ByteDance’s stake is not found within the nine-month period, it could delay any action against TikTok in the US further.
Former Labour minister Frank Field dies aged 81
Former Labour minister and crossbench peer Frank Field has died aged 81, his family has announced.
“He will be mourned by admirers across politics but above all he will be greatly missed by those lucky enough to have enjoyed his laughter and friendship,” a statement said.
Lord Field, who spent 40 years as MP for Birkenhead, served as minister for welfare reform in Tony Blair’s government.
He joined the House of Lords in 2020.
A statement from Lord Field of Birkenhead’s family, issued by his Parliamentary office, said: “Frank Field has died at the age of 81 following a period of illness.
“Frank is survived by two brothers.”
Lord Field announced in 2021 that he was suffering from a terminal illness.
He had built a reputation as one of the most effective backbenchers in the House of Commons, with campaigns against poverty and for curbs on EU immigration.
He quit Labour’s group in Parliament in 2018, saying Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership had become “a force for anti-Semitism in British politics”.
He stood as an independent candidate in Birkenhead at the 2019 general election, finishing second with 17% of the vote.
He was made a non-affiliated, crossbench peer by the Conservative government in 2020, after campaigning in favour of Brexit.
Congress clears $95bn aid package for Ukraine and Israel
The US Senate has approved a $95bn (£76bn) foreign aid package that includes military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law on Wednesday.
The Senate on Tuesday evening backed the measure passed by the US House of Representatives on Saturday.
It includes $61bn in military aid for Ukraine, which the Pentagon says can start being delivered to the war-torn nation “within days”.
It passed in a bipartisan vote of 79-18.
Mr Biden hailed its passage in a statement late on Tuesday, calling it “critical legislation [that] will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “After more than six months of hard work and many twists and turns in the road, America sends a message to the entire world: we will not turn our back on you.”
The Senate had passed a similar aid package in February, but a group of conservatives who oppose new Ukraine support had prevented it from coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Last week, Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber joined together to bypass this opposition.
They ultimately agreed to a package bill that included the foreign aid as well as legislation to confiscate Russian assets held by Western banks; new sanctions on Russia, Iran and China; and a provision that will force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell the popular social media service TikTok.
The package is expected to provide a significant boost to Ukraine’s forces, which have suffered from a shortage of ammunition and air defence systems in recent months.
Reacting to the vote, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it “reinforces America’s role as a beacon of democracy and leader of the free world”.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, faced the latest in a series of recent drone and missile strikes, with authorities saying two people in a residential neighbourhood were injured.
The commander of Ukraine’s National Guard, Oleksandr Pivnenko, said he was expecting an attempt by Russian forces to advance on the city near the two countries’ border.
In the House on Saturday, a majority of Republicans in the chamber voted against the foreign aid package.
The bill also faced resistance among a handful of Senate Republicans who opposed any new aid to Ukraine.
Fifteen voted with two Democrats – as well as independent Senator Bernie Sanders who objected to providing new offensive weapons to Israel – against the bill.
“Pouring more money into Ukraine’s coffers will only prolong the conflict and lead to more loss of life,” Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville said in remarks on Tuesday.
“No one at the White House, the Pentagon, or the state department can articulate what victory looks like in this fight.”
The foreign aid package passed on Tuesday also includes:
- $26.4bn in military support for Israel, with $9.1bn of that allocated to humanitarian aid for Gaza
- $8.1bn in funding for allies in the Asia-Pacific, including Taiwan, to “counter communist China”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz reacted to the vote by thanking congressional leaders for their “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security”.
“Israel and the United States stand together in the fight against terrorism, defending democracy and our shared values,” he said.
A Chinese government spokeswoman called the military aid for Taiwan a “serious violation of the one-China principle” that would “send the wrong signal to the pro-independence separatist forces” in Taiwan.
“We urge the US to take practical actions to fulfil its commitment not to support Taiwan independence by not arming Taiwan in any way,” she said.
Taiwan is a self-governing island and considers itself distinct from China, but Beijing views it as a breakaway province and hopes to bring it back under its own control.
The national security package also includes a provision that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok.
The popular social media app’s China-based parent company has nine months to sell its stake and find a US-approved buyer or see TikTok shut down across the US.
The statute gives the US president the option of extending the deadline by an additional 90 days, which means the latest the ban could take effect is nearly a year from now.
The TikTok provision drew bipartisan support, with lawmakers arguing that the Chinese government could invoke security laws to compel ByteDance to hand over data about the app’s estimated 170 million US users.
TikTok has repeatedly said it has not provided, and would not provide, its foreign user data to the Chinese government.
Orpheus Pledger: Australian police launch manhunt for Home and Away star
Australian police are searching for Home and Away star Orpheus Pledger, after a warrant was issued for his arrest on Wednesday.
The actor is facing four charges for allegedly assaulting a woman, authorities say.
He had been granted bail on Monday for a court-ordered hospital assessment.
Mr Pledger was ordered to return to a Melbourne court on Tuesday, but never showed up, prompting both a media frenzy and a manhunt.
Victoria Police have launched a public appeal for help, describing him as “approximately 170cm [5ft 7in] tall with brown hair and tanned complexion” in a public notice.
They added that he is known to frequent the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Northcote “and [its] surrounding areas” and included a current image of Mr Pledger “in the hope someone may be able to provide information on his whereabouts”.
Mr Pledger’s manager, Craig McMahon, told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper he had not been in contact with his client this week but that he had been shocked by the assault allegations.
He also claimed that Mr Pledger had been struggling with mental health issues.
The 30-year-old joined the cast of Home and Away in 2016, where he played the fictional character Mason Morgan for three years.
Prior to that, he appeared on the popular soap opera Neighbours, as well as TV shows Silversun and CrashBurn.
His is due to appear in court again on 10 May.
Tesla profits cut in half as demand falls
Tesla has seen its profits more than halve this year, and says it will bring forward the launch of new models after announcing thousands of job cuts to try to reverse its fortunes.
The electric vehicle (EV) maker said on Tuesday it had made $1.13bn (£910m) over the first three months of the year, compared with $2.51bn a year earlier.
Tesla, owned and run by the billionaire Elon Musk, said it would axe more than 6,000 jobs at its sites in Texas and California.
The company has suffered from falling demand and competition from cheaper Chinese imports which has led its stock price to collapse by 43% over 2024.
Earlier this month, it said it would shed 10% of its global workforce.
Figures for the first quarter of 2024 revealed revenues of $21.3bn, down on analysts’ predictions of just over $22bn.
But the decision by Tesla to bring forward the launch of new models from the second half of 2025 boosted its shares by nearly 12.5% in after-hours trading.
The EV maker did not reveal details on pricing of the new vehicles.
Mr Musk will face investors in a conference call on details of the new models, possibly to include the Model 2 (a cheaper Tesla vehicle which Reuters reported had been shelved in April).
However, the company has already been on a charm offensive, trying to win over new customers by dropping its prices in a series of markets in the face of falling sales.
Tesla said its situation was not unique.
“Global EV sales continue to be under pressure as many carmakers prioritize hybrids over EVs,” it said.
Chinese models have also flooded the market and undercut Tesla’s price point, while still providing reliability.
As a result its share price has fallen by around 40% since the start of this year.
But Tesla has faced similar issues with its stock price in the past – falling as low as $113 in January 2023 – before it more than doubled.
And that is not the end of Tesla’s troubles, after the car firm had to recall thousands of its new Cybertrucks over safety concerns.
Despite plans to bring forward new models originally planned for next year the firm is cutting its workforce.
Tesla said it would lose 3,332 jobs in California and 2,688 positions in Texas, starting mid-June.
The cuts in Texas represent 12% of Tesla’s total workforce of almost 23,000 in the area where its gigafactory and headquarters are located.
However, Mr Musk sought to downplay the move.
“Tesla has now created over 30,000 manufacturing jobs in California!” he said in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Another 285 jobs will be lost in New York.
Tesla’s total workforce stood at more than 140,000 late last year, up from around 100,000 at the end of 2021, according to the company’s filings with US regulators.
Musk’s salary
The car firm is also facing other issues, with a struggle over Mr Musk’s compensation still raging on.
On Wednesday, Tesla asked shareholders to vote for a proposal to accept Mr Musk’s compensation package – once valued at $56bn – which had been rejected by a Delaware judge.
The judge found Tesla’s directors had breached their fiduciary duty to the firm by awarding Mr Musk the pay-out.
Due to the fall in Tesla’s stock value, the compensation package is now estimated to be around $10bn less – but still greater than the GDP of many countries.
In addition, Tesla wants its shareholders to agree to the firm being moved from Delaware to Texas – which Mr Musk called for after the judge rejected his payday.
Huge protest in Argentina against education cuts
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Argentinian capital Buenos Aires on Tuesday to protest against cuts to public universities.
Pictures from the city showed marchers dancing, playing musical instruments and holding banners calling for education funding to be protected.
The country’s President, Javier Milei, came to office last year promising to bring its finances under control with sweeping cuts to the public sector.
His government has kept university funding this year at the same level as in 2023, despite inflation having reduced the real value of the budget by as much as 80%.
The rector of the University of Buenos Aires, Ricardo Gelpi, has warned that the institution may have to shut down within three months unless it receives more funding.
Mr Milei has tried to justify the cuts by repeatedly describing state-run universities as centres of socialist indoctrination.
Reuters Argentina university students march against cuts to university spending. A banner reads: “In defence of the public university always.”
Seven youth arrested in Australian ‘terrorism’ raids
Australian police arrested seven teenagers in a wave of anti-terror raids on April 24, with top officers claiming the network may have been plotting an attack, besides posing an “unacceptable risk” to the public.
More than 400 officers were involved in searches at 13 locations across Sydney, following the non-fatal stabbing of an Assyrian bishop on April 15.
A 16-year-old boy was already in custody for that attack but police said seven more “religiously motivated” juveniles that were part of a “wider network of associates and peers” have now been arrested.
Deputy police commissioner Dave Hudson said “intense” surveillance of the network painted an alarming picture that demanded immediate action.
“Their behaviour, whilst under surveillance, led us to believe that, if they were to commit any act, we would not be able to prevent that,” he told reporters after the raids.
“And we believed, through the investigation, that it was likely that an attack might ensue.
“We considered that the risk was too great,” he said.
Police said the offenders were all juveniles aged from 15 to 17.
“The terrorism landscape and the radicalisation of youth online is a continuing problem for us,” deputy commissioner Hudson said.
Australian Federal Police counter-terror specialist Krissy Barrett said the network “shared a similar violent extremist ideology”.
Although police believed an attack was possible, assistant commissioner Barrett said they had so far failed to turn up any evidence “of specific locations, times or targets”.
Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was slashed in the head and chest by a 16-year-old suspect during a live-streamed sermon last week.
Police were quick to describe the teen’s actions as a “terrorist” act, fuelled by religiously motivated extremism.
Hundreds of congregants and members of the community rushed to the site on the night of the attack.
Some hurled rocks and other projectiles that allegedly wounded about 50 police officers, including one who suffered a broken jaw, and damaged several police cars.
Western Sydney has been on edge in the aftermath because community members fear the attack might spark some kind of reprisal.
Bishop Emmanuel has an online following of almost 200,000, galvanising many with his criticism of Covid-19 vaccines and lockdowns, as well as Islam.
The area is a hub for Sydney’s small Christian Assyrian community, many of whom fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria.
Jamaica Recognizes State of Palestine
The Jamaican government has announced its decision to recognize the State of Palestine, citing concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza and the “ever-deepening humanitarian crisis” in the Palestinian territory.
“The decision is aligned with Jamaica’s strong commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which seek to engender mutual respect and peaceful co-existence among states, as well as the recognition of the right of people to self-determination,“ the country’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
“By recognizing the State of Palestine, Jamaica strengthens its advocacy towards a peaceful solution,” Kamina Johnson Smith, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said in a statement on Tuesday, according to TRT World.
Majed Bamya, Deputy Permanent Observer of the state of Palestine to the UN, took to Twitter to announce Jamaica’s decision.
“Thank you for standing by peace, justice and our people’s right to self-determination,” Amal Jadou, Deputy Foreign Minister of Palestine, wrote on X.
Smith also reaffirmed Jamaica’s unwavering support for an immediate ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid access for the embattled residents of Gaza.
She particularly emphasized solidarity with the countless women and children of Gaza who have borne the brunt of daily suffering, underscoring Jamaica’s commitment to alleviating their plight and fostering hope for a brighter future.
At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and 77,143 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
