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US considers 'military response options' after latest North Korea missile test threatens Japan
The United States was considering "military response options" on Friday night after North Korea carried out its second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. The Pentagon confirmed that the missile, which flew for 45 minutes, travelled an estimated 600 miles and landed west of Japan's Hokkaido island, was an ICBM. It flew for six minutes longer than the previous one, on July 4. Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, has called a meeting of the national security council to assess the launch. Graphic: North Korea missile launch “I have received the first report that North Korea again launched a missile and it possibly landed inside the exclusive economic zone,” said Mr Abe. He called the launch “a serious and real threat”, while Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s government spokesman, said: “North Korea’s repeated provocative acts absolutely cannot be accepted.” US and South Korean military officials were discussing military options last night. Marine General Joseph Dunford was joined by the Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of US Pacific Command, when they called General Lee Sun-jin, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chief of Staff. Kim Jong-un watches performance celebrating ICBM launch 01:27 "During the call Dunford and Harris expressed the ironclad commitment to the US-Republic of Korea alliance. The three leaders also discussed military response options," said Captain Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Gen Dunford. While the Pentagon has long planned for the possibility of conflict with North Korea, the blunt language in the statement marked a departure from previous public reactions to missile tests. The Pentagon, which earlier this week warned that North Korea could have a nuclear-enabled ICBM as early as next year, said it detected the launch almost immediately. US Ambassador: We are prepared to use "considerable military forces" on North Korea 00:37 Donald Trump’s administration has said that the period of ‘strategic patience’ towards North Korea is over, US officials have also expressed growing frustration with Beijing for not doing more to pressure its neighbour to rein in its military ambitions. The US and South Korea carry out missile drill to counter North Korea test 01:24 Britain and Australia this week joined the US in calling for China to exert more pressure on Pyongyang. However, China says it has little leverage over leaders in Pyongyang, and regularly calls on the US and South Korea to halt military drills in the region as a means of diffusing tensions. Reports this week suggest that Beijing is preparing for a potential crisis along its shared border with North Korea by building bunkers for civilians and realigning forces in the region. The US and China earlier this week said they are making progress on a new UN resolution that would impose additional sanctions against North Korea in response to the ICBM launch. The rogue state is already under tough UN sanctions which have been enforced since it carried out its first of five nuclear tests in 2006.
Donald Trump uses MS-13 gang violence in Long Island to push for deportations
President Donald Trump travelled on Friday to Long Island, New York, where a community has been shocked by a recent spate of graphic gang murders. The president intends to highlight his efforts to stop illegal immigration and boost deportations. Trump's trip to Long Island gives the president an opportunity to showcase some progress on his agenda even as other legislative efforts flounder - and some respite from the chaos of a nasty power struggle among his senior staff that blew up on Thursday. On Friday, Trump will highlight his administration's push to deport members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, better known as MS-13, the existence of which his White House blames on lax enforcement of illegal immigration from Central America. Departing for Long Island now. An area under siege from #MS13 gang members. We will not rest until #MS13 is eradicated. #LESMpic.twitter.com/GsgbBUXyHS— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 "It's going to be a very forceful message about just how menacing this threat is, and just how much pain is inflicted on American communities," a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the trip. Trump's visit comes as his Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to El Salvador to highlight progress on the gang crack-down. The gang took root in Los Angeles in the 1980s in neighbourhoods populated with immigrants from El Salvador who had fled civil war. The Justice Department has said MS-13 now has more than 10,000 members across the United States. On Long Island - not far from the New York City borough of Queens, where Trump grew up - MS-13 was behind the murders of two teenage girls in a suburban neighbourhood last September, and four young men in a park in April. There have been 17 murders on Long Island tied to the gang since January 2016, the Suffolk County Police Department has said. We will always ENFORCE our laws, PROTECT our borders, and SUPPORT our police! #LESM Harrisburg, Pennsylvania #FlashbackFriday#MS13pic.twitter.com/79Tskiv69j— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017 Under Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has targeted the gang, deporting more than 2,700 criminal gang members in fiscal 2017, up from 2,057 in the whole of the previous fiscal year, the White House has said. "We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fast," Trump said earlier this week at a rally in Ohio. Trump made concerns about illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. One of his first actions in office was to scrap Obama-era guidelines that prioritised convicted criminals for deportations. His administration is now taking a harder line on Central American youth who have crossed the border illegally without guardians - a group that law enforcement has said has been targeted for recruitment by MS-13. President Donald Trump waves before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, July 28, 2017, en route to Brentwood, N.Y. close to where the ultra-violent street gang MS-13 has committed a string of gruesome murders Credit: AP Immigration agents plan to target teenagers who are suspected gang members, even if they are not charged with any crime, according to a memo seen by Reuters. But civil rights groups say police and immigration agents have unfairly targeted some teenagers. "We received complaints in recent weeks from terrified parents on Long Island that teens have already been detained on the thinnest of rationales, such as wearing a basketball jersey," said Sebastian Krueger from the New York Civil Liberties Union. White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Friday, July 28, 2017, to board Air Force One to travel with President Donald Trump to Brentwood, N.Y. close to where the ultra-violent street gang MS-13 has committed a string of gruesome murders Credit: AP There have been at least two lawsuits filed by people claiming they were mistakenly included in gang databases and then targeted for deportation, said Paromita Shah, from the National Immigration Project at the National Lawyers Guild.
Romania blocks Russia minister plane to Moldova
Romania on Friday sparked fury in Moscow by blocking a Moldova-bound plane carrying a senior Russian minister entering its airspace because of an EU travel ban over the Ukraine crisis. The foreign ministry in Bucharest confirmed to AFP that the passenger jet carrying deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin was "not allowed to fly over Romanian airspace".
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