Politics
North Korea acknowledges its troops cleared mines for Russia
- Nine troops died during 120-day deployment: Kim Jong Un.
- State honours given to fallen engineering regiment members.
- Some returned troops appeared injured and in wheelchairs.
SEOUL: North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong Un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, a rare acknowledgement by Pyongyang of the deadly tasks assigned to its deployed soldiers.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.
Analysts say Russia is giving North Korea financial aid, military technology, food, and energy supplies in return, allowing the diplomatically isolated nation to sidestep tough international sanctions on its nuclear and missile programmes.
Hailing the return of an engineering regiment, Kim noted that they wrote “letters to their hometowns and villages at breaks of the mine-clearing hours”, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Nine members of the regiment died during the 120-day deployment that started in August, Kim said in his speech at a welcome ceremony on Friday, Korean Central News Agency reported.
He awarded the deceased state honours to “add eternal lustre” to their bravery.
“All of you, both officers and soldiers, displayed mass heroism overcoming unimaginable mental and physical burdens almost every day,” Kim said.
The troops had been able to “work a miracle of turning a vast area of danger zone into a safe and secure one in a matter of less than three months”.
Images released by the Korean Central News Agency showed a smiling Kim embracing returned soldiers, some of whom appeared injured and in wheelchairs, at the ceremony in Pyongyang on Friday.
One of them looked visibly emotional as Kim held his head and hand while he sat in a wheelchair in a military uniform.
Other images showed Kim consoling families of the deceased and kneeling before a portrait of a fallen soldier to pay his respects, placing what appeared to be medals and flowers beside images of the dead.
The North Korean leader also mentioned the “pain of waiting for one hundred and twenty days, in which he had never forgotten the beloved sons, even for a moment.”
Killed in combat
In September, Kim appeared alongside China’s Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at an elaborate military parade in Beijing.
Kim did not respond to an offer from Donald Trump to meet during the US President’s Asia trip in October.
North Korea only confirmed in April that it had deployed troops to support Russia and that its soldiers had been killed in combat.
At a previous ceremony in August, images released by Korean Central News Agency showed an emotional Kim embracing a returned soldier who appeared overwhelmed, burying his face in the leader’s chest.
In early July, state media showed a visibly emotional Kim honouring flag-draped coffins, apparently of the deceased soldiers returning home.
In yet another incident of hate crime against religious minorities in India, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar removed the hijab (veil) of a newly recruited Muslim doctor during an official event on Monday, drawing widespread criticism worldwide.
The shameful incident took place at “Samvad,” the CM’s secretariat, where appointment letters were being handed over to newly recruited doctors, The Indian Express reported.
When the hijab-clad woman went to collect her job letter, the CM, 75, looked at her and asked: “What is this?”
Then, he bent a little and pulled her hijab down.
Meanwhile, the flustered appointee was hastily pulled aside by an official standing near the stage.
The shocking incident triggered a wave of anguish among minorities in the country and drew strong criticism from the opposition parties, especially the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Reacting to the video, the Congress accused Kumar of inappropriate conduct towards the woman official, calling it a “vile act”.
In a post on X, the party said, “This is Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Look at his shamelessness—a female doctor had come to collect her appointment letter, and Nitish Kumar pulled off her hijab. A man occupying the highest position in Bihar is openly indulging in such a vile act.”
The RJD questioned Kumar’s mental health.
“What has happened to Nitish ji? His mental state has now reached a completely pitiable condition,” the party said in a post on X.
In India, hate crimes against religious minorities have alarmingly increased during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last month, a US report recommended designating India as a country of “special concern” due to religious prejudice and serious violations of religious freedom.
US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its report, exposed religious discrimination in India and extremist policies of the RSS and the BJP’s Hindutva agenda.
The report revealed that Modi and the BJP had implemented discriminatory policies against minorities in line with the Hindutva ideology.
It added that the BJP, as the political wing of the RSS, promotes Hindu nationalism.
The RSS has been involved for decades in violent acts against minorities, particularly Muslims and Sikhs.
- Private firms may import, process uranium under new bill.
- Foreign firms in joint ventures may apply for licence.
- New bill requires approval from both houses of parliament.
NEW DELHI: India on Monday set in motion steps to end decades of state control over nuclear power, by introducing a bill in parliament that would allow private firms to build and operate plants as the government seeks to make atomic energy central to its clean energy push.
Foreign companies in a joint venture with Indian companies could apply for a licence if selected to do so by the government.
India’s nuclear sector has been tightly guarded since its first reactor went online in 1969, shaped by Cold War politics and fuel-technology restrictions after its 1974 nuclear test.
State-run Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) owns and operates India’s current fleet of nuclear power plants but Reuters reported last year that India was looking to invite domestic private firms such as Tata Power, Adani Power and Reliance Industries to invest about $26 billion in the sector.
The new bill, which must be approved by the lower and upper houses of parliament to become law, would allow any “person expressly permitted by the central government” to apply for a licence to enter the nuclear sector, a major shift from decades when only state-run companies could operate reactors.
India plans to expand nuclear power capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) over the next two decades, more than 12 times the current 8.2 GW.
The new bill, named the Sustainable Harnessing of Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill, 2025, drops a rule that lets operators sue suppliers for equipment defects, a provision foreign suppliers have long opposed. Foreign suppliers include General Electric Co, Westinghouse Electric Co and France’s EDF.
The bill doubles operator liability for large reactors to 30 billion rupees ($330.75 million), retains the overall compensation cap at previous levels and proposes a nuclear liability fund to cover accident claims in line with global norms.
Private firms will be allowed to import and process uranium, according to the bill. The government has kept strategic activities such as uranium mining, nuclear fuel enrichment and fuel reprocessing under government control, and all operators would require licences.
- Four people charged with conspiracy, reads complaint.
- Group also planned to target ice agents, vehicles, says official.
- Says plot included planting explosives at 5 sites on New Year’s Eve.
WASHINGTON: The FBI has foiled a bomb plot targeting multiple targets, including immigration agents and vehicles, in Los Angeles and Orange County, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Monday.
“The Turtle Island Liberation Front—a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group—was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve. The group also planned to target ICE agents and vehicles,” Bondi said in a statement.
Four people have been charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
The bombing plot called for planting explosive devices at five locations targeting two US companies at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area, it said.
The four defendants named in the complaint are Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai.
According to a sworn statement in support of the complaint, Carroll in November presented an eight-page handwritten document to a paid confidential source titled “Operation Midnight Sun” which described a bomb plot.
Carroll and Page later allegedly recruited the other two defendants to help carry out the plan, which included them “acquiring bomb-making materials and traveling to a remote location in the Mojave Desert to construct and detonate test explosive devices on December 12, 2025,” the sworn statement alleges.
FBI agents intervened, however, before they could complete their work to assemble a functional explosive device.
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