SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s attempt to put the country’s first spy satellite into space failed Wednesday in a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to boost his military capabilities as tensions with the United States and South Korea rise. After an unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket liftoff. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal and apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled. South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter during the launch.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite on Wednesday ended in an embarrassing failure, but still prompted public confusion and security jitters in neighboring South Korea and Japan, which are wary of the North’s growing weapons arsenal. About 14 minutes after the launch at 6:27 a.m., authorities in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, sent text messages to all mobile phones in the city urging people to prepare to move to safer places, without explaining the reason. In some areas, the warning was broadcast over loudspeakers. Then, about 22 minutes later, the Interior and Safety Ministry sent messages to Seoul residents saying the earlier warning was sent in error.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has warned of the risks posed by advances in artificial intelligence while calling for heightened national security measures. The statement issued after a meeting Tuesday chaired by party leader and President Xi Jinping underscores the tension between the government’s determination to seize global leadership in cutting-edge technology and concerns about the possible social and political harms of such technologies. It also followed a warning by scientists and tech industry leaders in the U.S., including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, about the perils that artificial intelligence poses to humankind. The meeting in Beijing discussed the need for “dedicated efforts to safeguard political security and improve the security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States has warned that allegations of war crimes against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan could prevent U.S. forces from working with Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment, Australia’s defense force chief said on Wednesday. Gen. Angus Campbell told a Senate committee that he received a letter from the U.S. defense attache in Canberra in March 2021 suggesting the elite SAS may have been “tainted” by the allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan raised in an Australian war crime investigation report that was made public in 2000. Campbell said “one individual” had his “posted position adjusted” following the letter.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s House of Representatives voted overwhelming Wednesday for a referendum to be held this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an advocate aiming to give the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy. While the Voice would advocate for Indigenous interests, it would not have a vote on laws, and debate for and against the elected body has become increasingly heated and divisive. The 121-to-25 House vote that approved the referendum being held does not reflect the level of lawmakers’ support for enshrining the Voice in the constitution. The opposition conservative Liberal Party voted in support of giving Australians a choice at a referendum but is also campaigning for the Voice to be rejected by the public.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s commerce minister met Tesla Ltd. CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday and promised to support the development of foreign companies, the ministry said. Musk earlier met with China’s ministers of industry and foreign affairs. He joined a series of CEOs from global companies, including Apple Inc., who have met with Cabinet officials or Premier Li Qiang, the top economic official, this year following the end of anti-virus controls that blocked most travel into China. The ruling Communist Party is trying to revive investor interest in China’s slowing economy and reassure companies that have been rattled by anti-monopoly and data-security crackdowns, raids on consulting firms, tension with Washington and pressure to align their plans with official development goals.
NAHA, Japan (AP) — Typhoon Mawar appeared to be losing force as it headed Wednesday toward Japan’s Okinawa Islands, where the United States maintains a significant military presence, after largely skirting Taiwan and the Philippines. After tearing across Guam last week, Mawar passed by Taiwan on Tuesday with sustained winds of 155 kph (96 mph) and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph), sending high waves crashing on the island’s east coast. In the Philippines, authorities said heavy rains were expected to continue in the country’s north through at least Thursday and warned of flooding, possible landslides and gale-force winds before the typhoon exits the country’s area of responsibility.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s national airline is asking passengers to step on the scales before they board international flights. Air New Zealand says it wants to weigh 10,000 passengers during a monthlong survey so pilots can better know the weight and balance of their planes before takeoff. But the numbers from the scales won’t be flashing up for all to see. There will be no visible display anywhere, the airline promised, and the weigh-in data will remain anonymous even to airline staff. “We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft — from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold,” said Alastair James, a load control improvement specialist for the airline, in a statement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Tuesday that a Chinese fighter jet flew aggressively close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake. The Chinese J-16 fighter pilot “flew directly in front of the nose of the RC-135,” which was conducting routine operations in international airspace last Friday, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. It called the Chinese move an “ unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.” U.S. defense leaders have complained that China’s military has become significantly more aggressive over the past five years, intercepting U.S. aircraft and ships in the region.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The supreme leader of the Taliban met in Afghanistan with Qatar’s prime minister this month, the first-such publicly known meeting between the Taliban’s reclusive leader and a foreign official, the Al Jazeera satellite news network reported Wednesday. Haibatullah Akhunzada met Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on May 12 in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, Al Jazeera said. Sheikh Mohammed also is the foreign minister of Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula. The state-owned network did not specifically discuss what the two officials spoke about, though it described the meeting as aimed at ways to end the Taliban’s international isolation.
