Day: December 4, 2023

White House budget director Shalanda Young warned in a letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and other congressional leaders on Monday that the United States was running out of time and money to help Ukraine fight its war with Russia, Report inf

The Armenian government is awaiting a response to the latest proposals from official Yerevan regarding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safaryan told a briefing with journalists, Report informs via Armenian media.

<div><img class=”invisible” style=”display: none” src=”[images%7COpenAccessDataProvider]319ca3a5-a524-444f-b89e-95e6b0eae24b?sfvrsn=1b8e7a1_2″></div><div class=”w-100 position-relative”> <img src=”/ResourcePackages/Janes/assets/dist/images/placeholder-16-9.jpg” class=”invisible w-100″> <div style=”background-image: url(“https://www.janes.com/images/default-source/news-images/bsp_66782-jdw-24275.jpeg?sfvrsn=1b8e7a1_2″)” class=”news-hero bg-center bg-cover position-absolute left-0 top-0 h-100 w-100″></div></div>
<p class=”text-body text-muted small”>SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket (pictured) launched South Korea’s first military reconnaissance satellite on 1 December. The satellite is expected to strengthen the RoK Armed Forces’ early warning capabilities against potential North Korean threats. (SpaceX)</p>
<p>South Korea has launched its first military reconnaissance satellite using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.</p>
<p>The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the reconnaissance satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 1 December, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced on 2 December.</p>
<p>The satellite separated from the Falcon 9 after about 14 minutes of the launch, and made its first communication with an “overseas” ground control station after about 78 minutes, confirming that it had been placed in orbit in “good condition”, the MND said.</p>
<p>Once the Republic of Korea (RoK) Armed Forces complete in-orbit testing, the satellite will start conducting surveillance and reconnaissance operations, the MND added.</p>
<p>The reconnaissance satellite has been developed and launched as part of a programme called Project 425, which aims to launch four more reconnaissance satellites by 2025. The MND contracted SpaceX in April 2022 to launch these satellites.</p>
<p>According to <em>Janes</em> data, Project 425 is valued at about KRW1 trillion (USD770.8 million), and will involve development and production of satellites with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical infrared capabilities, enabling the generation of high-resolution remote sensing imagery. These satellites are being developed by the MND in collaboration with Korea Aerospace Industries, Hanwha Systems, and Thales.</p>

Israel ordered people out of swathes of the main southern city in the Gaza Strip on Monday as it pressed its ground campaign deep into the south, sending desperate residents fleeing even as bombs fell on areas still described as safe.

Israel’s military posted a map on X on Monday morning with around a quarter of the city of Khan Younis marked off in yellow as territory that must be evacuated at once. Three arrows pointed south and west, telling people to head further towards the Mediterranean sea and the Egyptian border.

Many of those taking flight were already displaced from other areas, many sleeping rough under makeshift shelters with their few remaining belongings in plastic bags.

Abu Mohammed told Reuters it was now the third time he had been forced to flee since abandoning his home in Gaza City in the north.

“Last night Israeli tanks shelled from the east, and the north, and the west too from (naval ships in) the direction of the sea, rings of fire around us, and the house kept shaking and covered in red light from the explosions, causing panic and horror for the adults and the children alike,” he said. “Why did they eject us from our homes in Gaza (City) if they planned to kill us here?”

At a home in Khan Younis that was struck overnight, flames licked the collapsed masonry and grey smoke billowed out from the rubble. A child’s stuffed toy of a sheep lay in a pile of dust. Boys were picking through the wreckage with bare hands.

Next door, Nesrine Abdelmoty stood amid damaged furniture in the rented room where she lives with her divorced daughter and two-year-old baby.

“We were sleeping at 5:00 am when we felt things collapse, everything went upside down,” she told Reuters. “They told (people) to move from the north to Khan Younis, since the south is safer. And now, they’ve bombed Khan Younis. Even Khan Younis is not safe now, and even if we move to Rafah, Rafah is not safe as well. Where do they want us to go?

As many as 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes in an Israeli bombing campaign that has reduced much of the crowded coastal strip to a desolate wasteland. Medical officials in the enclave say bombing has killed more than 15,500 people, with thousands more missing and feared buried in rubble.

Israel launched its assault to annihilate Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamists in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by its gunmen, who killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages according to Israeli tallies.

Israeli forces largely captured the northern half of Gaza in November, and since a week-long truce collapsed on Friday they have swiftly pushed deep into the southern half. Tanks driving into Gaza from the border fence in the east along the road that divides Khan Younis from the city of Balah al-Deir further north have reached a flour mill half way to the Mediterranean coast, cutting off the main north-south road, residents say.

ISRAELI GROUND OPERATION ‘IN ALL OF THE GAZA STRIP’

“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centres in all of the Gaza Strip,” Israel’s top military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, told reporters in Tel Aviv overnight. “The forces are coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them.”

It released footage of troops patrolling in tanks and on foot, in fields and in badly damaged urban areas, and firing from weapons, without specifying the location inside Gaza.

Government spokesperson Eylon Levy said the military had struck more than 400 targets over the weekend “including extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area” and had also killed Hamas militants and destroyed their infrastructure in Beit Lahiya in the north.

The United Nations humanitarian office said the southern areas ordered evacuated since the truce were home to more than 350,000 people before the war, not counting the hundreds of thousands now sheltering there from other areas.

Israel’s closest ally the United States has publicly called on Israel to do more to safeguard civilians in the southern part of the Gaza Strip than in last month’s campaign in the north, especially as there are so many people already homeless there.

Israel permitted additional humanitarian supplies to enter the enclave during the truce, but the United Nations says this was paltry compared to the territory’s vast humanitarian need, and has now been interrupted by the renewed fighting.

During the truce, Hamas released 105 of its hostages in return for 240 Palestinian detainees. But with most women, and children hostages now believed free, the truce collapsed over terms for releasing more, including Israeli men and soldiers. Israel says 136 hostages are still being held.

Britain’s armed forces face an equipment funding shortfall of 17 billion pounds ($21.6 billion) over the next 10 years, a public spending watchdog said on Monday, a concern for defence chiefs at a time of heightened geopolitical risks.

The National Audit Office (NAO) put the estimate for the budget for new weapons and equipment at 305.5 billion pounds for 2023-2033, 16.9 billion pounds over budget, the largest deficit since its first report in 2012.

Soaring costs in nuclear and naval programmes, as Britain works on a replacement nuclear deterrent, as well as high inflation have pushed up the future budget, the NAO said.

This had resulted in a “marked deterioration” in the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) financial position.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has highlighted the need for extra military spending across Europe, with Britain an important ally and provider of military equipment to Kyiv. It has also been investing in improving its own equipment readiness and expanding munitions facilities.

Defence Minister Grant Shapps said in response to the watchdog’s report that while the government was forecasting budgetary pressure, “the department is confident it can live within its equipment budget”.

There were also scenarios in which the MOD would have a surplus over 10 years, he said.

The government raised spending on defence by an extra 5 billion pounds earlier this year, increasing it to about 2.25% of gross domestic product this year and next. It had been about 2%.

Shapps said that the NAO’s report did not take into account the government’s aspiration to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP when economic conditions allowed.

“The Ministry of Defence acknowledges that its Equipment Plan for 2023–2033 is unaffordable,” NAO head Gareth Davies said in a statement.

NAO said decisions over scrapping or scaling back projects likely to be deemed “unaffordable” should not be deferred as this would risk “poor value for money”.

The budget deficit could be even higher, the NAO said, because the equipment plan it studied does not include things such as the cost of developing new capabilities or extending the life of some equipment including combat vehicles such as the Warrior and Challenger 2.

🔉The US Defense Secretary has warned Israel that protecting civilians is both a moral responsibility and a ‘strategic imperative.’

On Reuters World News podcast with @kimvinnell, @jeffmason1 explains why US officials are getting increasingly vocal https://t.co/yx1k3ZqfQN pic.twitter.com/Ty9Q9H27Tm

— Reuters (@Reuters) December 4, 2023