Israel Army Chief Says Cooperation with US against Iran ‘Unprecedented’

Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Wednesday hailed "unprecedented" cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities. (AP)
Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Wednesday hailed "unprecedented" cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities. (AP)
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Israel Army Chief Says Cooperation with US against Iran ‘Unprecedented’

Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Wednesday hailed "unprecedented" cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities. (AP)
Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi on Wednesday hailed "unprecedented" cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities. (AP)

Israel’s army chief on Wednesday hailed “unprecedented” cooperation with the US, as he wrapped up a US visit focused on preventing Tehran from obtaining military nuclear capabilities.

Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi’s remarks came the same day as Iran said it had foiled a sabotage attack on an atomic energy agency building, as talks continue in Vienna between Tehran and world powers aimed at reviving their 2015 nuclear deal.

Israel staunchly opposes the deal, which it fears could enable its arch-nemesis to obtain nuclear weapons, according to AFP.

Kohavi’s visit, which began on Sunday, also came four weeks since Israel and Gaza’s Palestinian Islamist rulers Hamas agreed a cease-fire ending 11 days of heavy fighting.

At the US military’s Central Command in Florida, Kohavi met Centcom commander General Frank McKenzie, where he discussed the Gaza war, the Syrian arena and coordination between the countries.

“The mutual and main goal of action for the two armies is thwarting Iranian aggression,” he said.

“Iran seeks to establish and entrench terrorists in many countries (and) continues to pose a regional threat in terms of nuclear proliferation, advanced weapons systems including ballistic missile capabilities, and the financing of terrorist armies,” the Israeli general said.

Kohavi was also meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on “Iran’s regional entrenchment throughout the Middle East and the flaws” of the nuclear deal with Iran, a statement from the military said.

In meetings with Sullivan and CIA head William Burns, Kohavi was “presenting multiple ways to prevent Iran from acquiring military nuclear capabilities,” the army revealed.

Kohavi was due to return to Israel on Friday.



US Studies: No Evidence of Havana Syndrome Brain Injury

View of the US embassy in Havana, on March 18, 2024. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP)
View of the US embassy in Havana, on March 18, 2024. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP)
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US Studies: No Evidence of Havana Syndrome Brain Injury

View of the US embassy in Havana, on March 18, 2024. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP)
View of the US embassy in Havana, on March 18, 2024. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE / AFP)

A US government research team found no significant physical evidence of brain injury in a group of federal employees suffering symptoms of the "Havana syndrome" ailment that emerged in 2016, according to studies published in a medical journal.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers also found no differences in most clinical measures between a group of 86 employees and their adult family members reporting unusual health incidents and a group of healthy volunteers with similar work assignments.
Symptoms of the mysterious ailment, first reported by US embassy officials in the Cuban capital Havana and later afflicting diplomats, spies and other personnel worldwide, have included hearing noise and experiencing head pressure followed by headache, migraines, dizziness, and memory lapses.
"These individuals have symptoms that are real, distressing and very difficult to treat," Dr. Leighton Chan, NIH Clinical Center acting chief scientific officer and lead study author, said on a call to discuss the findings published in JAMA.
Study participants, including personnel who had been stationed in Cuba, China, Vienna and the United States, underwent a battery of clinical, auditory, balance, visual, neuropsychological and blood testing. They also received different types of MRI scans aimed at investigating volume, structure and function of the brain, Reuters reported.
Mark Zaid, a Washington-based lawyer who has represented Havana sufferers, said the findings of no significant medical differences between the two populations after time had passed "do nothing to undermine the theory that a foreign adversary is harming US personnel and their families with a form of directed energy."
An NIH spokesperson said the studies sought to identify structural brain or biological differences and did not seek to determine whether some external phenomenon was the cause of symptoms, nor could they rule that out.
"We understand that some patients may be disappointed that researchers were unable to identify clear markers of injury," the spokesperson said.
EARLIER STUDY HAD DIFFERENT FINDING
The NIH studies, conducted from 2018-2022, do not match results from a study done at the University of Pennsylvania in 2019, which showed subtle brain changes in those affected.
Chan said the NIH used more rigorous MRI imaging protocols and a control group more closely matched in terms of work activities and location.
The researchers in a statement later said if the symptoms were caused by some external phenomenon, there is no persistent physical evidence, but acknowledged the possibility that such evidence is no longer detectible by methods they used.
An accompanying JAMA editorial from Dr. David Relman, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, noted that earlier studies concluded that some of the cases could be plausibly explained by exposure to radiofrequency energy.
NIH researchers did find that more than a quarter of patients reporting symptoms developed a chronic condition called persistent postural-perceptual dizziness. They also reported significantly increased symptoms of fatigue, post-traumatic stress and depression, compared to the control group.
The MRI brain imaging results "should be some reassurance for patients," since researchers did not find a link between unusual symptoms and neurodegenerative changes, said Louis French, study investigator from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“The post-traumatic stress and mood symptoms reported are not surprising given the ongoing concerns of many of the participants,” he said.
The US State Department on Monday said it was reviewing the NIH report on what the department calls anomalous health incidents (AHI).
A spokesman said Secretary of State Antony Blinken was determined the department would do "everything possible to ensure employees and family members who report an AHI are treated with respect and compassion and receive timely access to medical care and all benefits to which they are entitled."
US intelligence agencies last year concluded that it was "very unlikely" a foreign adversary was responsible for the Havana syndrome cases.
Dr. Mitchell Valdes, who spearheaded a Cuban task force that investigated the incidents from Havana, said the US intelligence conclusion and NIH studies, were "devastating blows to the entire story that was put together that there was an attack with a mysterious energy weapon that had caused damage to (the diplomats') brain."


Out of Money, Pentagon Chief Tries to Convince Allies of Commitment to Ukraine 

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the American military's Ramstein Air Base, near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, March 19, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the American military's Ramstein Air Base, near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, March 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Out of Money, Pentagon Chief Tries to Convince Allies of Commitment to Ukraine 

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the American military's Ramstein Air Base, near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, March 19, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the American military's Ramstein Air Base, near Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, March 19, 2024. (Reuters)

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday sought to convince European allies that President Joe Biden's administration is still committed to supporting Ukraine, even as Washington has essentially run out of money to continue arming Kyiv and few signs that Congress will move to replenish funds.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to call a vote on a bill that would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine and the White House has been scrambling to find ways to send assistance to Kyiv, which has been battling Russian forces for more than two years.

Austin is leading the monthly meeting known as the Ukraine defense contact group (UDCG), held at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, of about 50 allies that have been militarily supporting Ukraine.

"The United States will not let Ukraine fail...This coalition will not let Ukraine fail," Austin said at the start of the meeting.

Austin, who is traveling for the first time this year since prostate cancer treatment, did not say how Washington would support Ukraine without additional funding and did not specifically mention Congress.

Officials say the lack of funding available is already having an impact on the ground in Ukraine and Ukrainian forces are having to manage scarce resources.

"I think our allies are acutely aware of our funding situation and the Ukrainians more so than anyone because of the shortages that are resulting from us not being able to supply them," a senior US defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

Last week the Biden administration said it would send $300 million in military assistance to Ukraine, but added that it was an extraordinary move after unexpected savings from military contracts the Pentagon had made.

Officials have not ruled out that they could find additional savings, but they say that amount would not be enough to make up for the lack of Congressional action.

Experts say that Austin will face a skeptical audience in Europe.

"It's becoming harder and harder for US leaders to travel to Europe, with the message that the United States is committed to Ukraine in the long-term," Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Europe Center in Washington, said.

"The message of this long-term financial, military, economic commitment flies in the face of the reality of what's happening on Capitol Hill," Rizzo added.

At a joint press conference in Berlin on Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, whose ammunition-starved troops face their toughest battles since the early days of Russia's invasion two years ago.

European support has become increasingly key with Biden unable to get a big Ukraine aid package through Congress, and much of his foreign policy energy is focused on the war in Gaza.

But US officials say that the reality is that without the United States, European support for Ukraine will not be enough to fend of Russian forces.

"There isn't a way that our allies can really combine forces to make up for the lack of US support," the senior US defense official said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Russia is preparing a new offensive against Ukraine starting in late May or summer.


Armenia’s PM Says He Must Return Disputed Areas to Azerbaijan or Face War 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
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Armenia’s PM Says He Must Return Disputed Areas to Azerbaijan or Face War 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, February 2, 2024. (Sputnik/Dmitry Astakhov/Pool via Reuters)

Armenia could face a war with Azerbaijan if it does not compromise with Baku and return four Azerbaijani villages it has held since the early 1990s, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a video published on Tuesday.

Pashinyan was speaking during a meeting on Monday with residents of border areas in northern Armenia's Tavush region, close to a string of deserted Azerbaijani villages that Yerevan has controlled since the early 1990s.

The four villages, which have been uninhabited for over 30 years, are of strategic value to Armenia as they straddle the main road between Yerevan and the Georgian border.

Azerbaijan has said the return of its lands, which also include several tiny enclaves entirely surrounded by Armenian territory, is a necessary precondition for a peace deal to end three decades of conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku's forces retook last September.

Russia's TASS state news agency quoted Pashinyan as telling residents in the video clip that was circulated by his government that failure to compromise over the disputed villages could lead to war with Azerbaijan "by the end of the week".

"I know how such a war would end," he added.

Yerevan suffered a major defeat last September when Baku's forces retook Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive, prompting almost all of that region's estimated 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Though Karabakh is recognized internationally as Azerbaijani territory, the region's ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence from Baku since the war of the early 1990s.

Peace treaty

Baku and Yerevan have said they now want to sign a formal peace treaty, but talks have become bogged down in issues including demarcation of their 1,000 km (620 mile) shared border, which remains closed and heavily militarized.

Pashinyan has signaled in recent weeks that he is willing to return Azerbaijani land controlled by Armenia, and suggested rerouting Armenia's road network to avoid Azerbaijani territory.

Azerbaijan also continues to control areas internationally recognized as part of Armenia.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday his country was "closer than ever" to a peace with Armenia, in remarks made after holding talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Baku.

Stoltenberg held talks on Tuesday with Pashinyan in Armenia, which is nominally a Russian ally though its relations with Moscow have deteriorated in recent months over what Yerevan says is Russia's failure to protect it from Azerbaijan.

As a result, Armenia has pivoted its foreign policy towards the West, to Moscow's chagrin, with senior officials suggesting it might one day apply for European Union membership.

In a statement posted on Tuesday on the Telegram messaging app, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested Yerevan's deepening ties with the West were the reason for Armenia having to make concessions to Azerbaijan.


North Korea Says Kim Jong Un Supervised Tests of Rocket Launchers Targeting Seoul 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division, in North Korea, March 18, 2024, in this picture released on March 19, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division, in North Korea, March 18, 2024, in this picture released on March 19, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
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North Korea Says Kim Jong Un Supervised Tests of Rocket Launchers Targeting Seoul 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division, in North Korea, March 18, 2024, in this picture released on March 19, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on as he guides a training of the fire division, in North Korea, March 18, 2024, in this picture released on March 19, 2024, by the Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire drill of nuclear-capable “super-large” multiple rocket launchers designed to target South Korea's capital as he vowed to boost his war deterrent in the face of deepening confrontations with rivals, state media said Tuesday.

The report came a day after South Korea and Japan said they detected North Korea firing multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast, adding to a streak of weapons displays that have raised regional tensions.

Experts say North Korea’s large-sized artillery rockets blur the boundaries between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery. The North has described some of these systems, including the 600mm multiple rocket launchers that were tested Monday, as capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads.

Photos published by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency showed at least six rockets being fired simultaneously from launch vehicles and flames and smoke blanketing what appeared to be a small island target.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said later Tuesday that it assesses North Korea conducted more launches than what was shown on the photos. Lt. Col. Lee Chang-hyun, a deputy JCS spokesperson, said that South Korea categorizes the North Korean weapons system tested Monday as a ballistic missile in view of its characteristics and capacities.

KCNA also said North Korean troops in a separate test simulated exploding an artillery shell at a preset altitude. The report didn't specify whether that test was to rehearse how a nuclear weapon would be detonated over an enemy target.

Kim called the 600mm multiple rocket launchers key parts of his arsenal of weapons that are supposedly capable of destroying Seoul if another war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.

“(Kim) said that it is necessary to further impress upon the enemies that if an armed conflict and a war break out, they can never avoid disastrous consequences,” the KCNA said. He called for his army to “more thoroughly fulfill their missions to block and suppress the possibility of war with the constant perfect preparedness to collapse the capital of the enemy and the structure of its military forces.”

Lee, the South Korean deputy spokesperson, said South Korea and the United States have been bolstering their response capabilities against North Korea's increasing nuclear threats.

North Korea’s launches came days after the end of the latest South Korean-US combined military drills that the North portrays as an invasion rehearsal. It was unclear whether the North timed the launches with a visit to Seoul by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Monday attended a democracy summit and held talks with South Korean officials over the North Korean threat.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen since 2022, after Kim used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his testing of missiles and other weapons. The United States and South Korea have responded by expanding their combined training and trilateral drills involving Japan and updating their deterrence strategies built around strategic US assets.

There are concerns that North Korea could further dial up pressure in an election year in the United States and South Korea.

In a fiery speech to Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament in January, Kim declared that he was abandoning North Korea’s long-standing goal of reconciliation with the South and ordered the rewriting of the North’s constitution to cement its war-divided rival as its most hostile adversary. He said the new charter must specify North Korea would annex and subjugate the South if another war broke out.


Iranians Tighten Belts for Nowruz Festivities

People shop at a market in Tehran on March 12, 2024, as they prepare for Nowruz. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
People shop at a market in Tehran on March 12, 2024, as they prepare for Nowruz. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iranians Tighten Belts for Nowruz Festivities

People shop at a market in Tehran on March 12, 2024, as they prepare for Nowruz. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
People shop at a market in Tehran on March 12, 2024, as they prepare for Nowruz. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Millions of Iranians will travel to be with their families for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Wednesday but economic troubles in the sanctions-hit country are weighing on the festivities.

Iranians will celebrate the start of the year 1403 at exactly 26 seconds past 6:36am (0406 GMT) on March 20, matching the astronomical time of the spring equinox.

Globally, some 300 million people will wish each other "Happy New Year" ("Nowruz mobarak") including in Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and among Kurds in Türkiye, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

"It's the most important holiday of the year, the one where we forget our problems to get together with our loved ones and dream of a better year," said Marjan, a young woman from Tehran who, like the other people AFP spoke to, declined to give her full name.

Celebrated for 3,000 years, Nowruz marks a two-week break when Iranians travel within the country or, for the more fortunate, abroad. Yet many have plans for diminished feasts this year.

"Food products are far too expensive because of inflation," Afshar, a 44-year-old accountant, told AFP at the Tajrish bazaar in northern Tehran.

Annual inflation officially stands at 44 percent, according to local media, after hitting 46 percent last year.

"I bought meat at 700,000 toman (around $12) per kilo, but I only earn 9.8 million ($160) per month after a 30-year career," said a 68-year-old resident of Tehran who did not wish to be named.

In a bid to simplify transactions, Iranians have long referred to their currency as the toman and chopped off a zero.

"The situation is deplorable," said Ghassemi, a 28-year-old real estate agent, calling on the government "to mobilize to improve the situation and better manage the country".

Last Nowruz, Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei acknowledged that Iranians felt "bitterness" due to "high prices, particularly of food and basic necessities".

He then tasked the government with measures to implement "inflation control".

Authorities in Iran have blamed Western economic sanctions for the surge in prices.

The sanctions were reimposed by the United States in 2018 after Washington unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 agreement that eased sanctions in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program.

Since then, Iran has suffered from the continued devaluations of its currency and a surge in prices.

Despite the headwinds, Iran recorded stronger growth than expected in 2023.

The International Monetary Fund estimated that growth reached 5.4 percent last year and increased its 2024 forecast from 2.5 percent to 3.7 percent.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi recently denounced "the enemy's strategy" which he said aimed "to create despair within society".

He was speaking two weeks after the March 1 legislative elections, which had a turnout of just 41 percent, the lowest since the 1979 Revolution.

"Dissatisfaction" is high with the "economic, employment, poverty or inequality" situation, Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Ruhollah Khomeini who founded the Islamic republic, told reformist newspaper Etemad on Saturday.

Many experts in Iran have attributed the low voter turnout to popular dissatisfaction, in particular over economic issues.


Daughter of North Korea’s Kim Might Be Heir Apparent, Says Seoul

This picture taken on March 15, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter Ju Ae (2nd R) visiting the Gangdong Comprehensive Greenhouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on March 15, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter Ju Ae (2nd R) visiting the Gangdong Comprehensive Greenhouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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Daughter of North Korea’s Kim Might Be Heir Apparent, Says Seoul

This picture taken on March 15, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter Ju Ae (2nd R) visiting the Gangdong Comprehensive Greenhouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on March 15, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 16 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and his daughter Ju Ae (2nd R) visiting the Gangdong Comprehensive Greenhouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

Seoul's Unification Ministry on Monday added its voice to growing speculation around Kim Jong Un's succession plans, saying they have not "ruled out" that his daughter could be next in line to lead North Korea.

Pyongyang state media on Saturday referred to Kim's teenage daughter as a "great person of guidance" -- "hyangdo" in Korean -- a term typically reserved exclusively for top leaders and their successors.

Analysts said it was the first time Kim's daughter -- never named by Pyongyang, but identified as Ju Ae by South Korean intelligence -- had been described as such by the North.

It has redoubled speculation that the teen, who often appears next to her father at key public events, could have been chosen as the next leader of the nuclear-armed North, for a third hereditary succession.

"Usually the term 'hyando' is only used to refer to the highest-ranking official," Koo Byoung-sam, a spokesman for Seoul's Unification Ministry, said at a briefing Monday.

"We are not ruling out the possibility of Ju Ae's succession", he said, adding that Seoul was "monitoring the situation and remaining open to possibilities."

However, he warned that if Ju Ae were to take her father's place as the fourth leader of the reclusive state, "North Korean people will bear the brunt of the fallout", he said.

Ju Ae was first introduced to the world by state media in 2022, when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Since then, the North's official outlets have referred to her in various ways, including the "morning star of Korea" and "beloved child".

She has been seen at many of her father's official engagements, including military drills, a visit to a weapons factory, and a stop at a new chicken farm.

In an image released by Pyongyang on Saturday, Ju Ae was seen using binoculars to observe recent paratroop drills, standing beside her father and senior military officials.

Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a visit to the North in 2013 and claimed he'd met a baby daughter of Kim's called Ju Ae.

Seoul had initially indicated that Kim and his wife Ri had their first child, a boy, in 2010, and that Ju Ae was their second child.

But last year, Seoul's unification minister said that the government was "unable to confirm for sure" the existence of Kim's son.

Kim Jong Un inherited the regime after his father's death in late 2011 and has overseen four nuclear tests under his watch, with the latest one conducted in 2017.


Kremlin Says Only Way to Protect Russia Is to Create a Buffer Zone with Ukraine 

This handout photograph published on the official Telegram account of the Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on March 17, 2024, shows a fragment of a rocket following a missile strike in Belgorod. (Photo by Handout / Telegram / @vvgladkov / AFP)
This handout photograph published on the official Telegram account of the Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on March 17, 2024, shows a fragment of a rocket following a missile strike in Belgorod. (Photo by Handout / Telegram / @vvgladkov / AFP)
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Kremlin Says Only Way to Protect Russia Is to Create a Buffer Zone with Ukraine 

This handout photograph published on the official Telegram account of the Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on March 17, 2024, shows a fragment of a rocket following a missile strike in Belgorod. (Photo by Handout / Telegram / @vvgladkov / AFP)
This handout photograph published on the official Telegram account of the Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on March 17, 2024, shows a fragment of a rocket following a missile strike in Belgorod. (Photo by Handout / Telegram / @vvgladkov / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that the only way to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian attacks was to create a buffer zone that would put Russian regions beyond the range of Ukrainian fire.

The Kremlin was commenting after President Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of setting up such a zone in a speech after winning re-election on Sunday.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Against the backdrop of (Ukrainian) drone attacks and the shelling of our territory: public facilities, residential buildings, measures must be taken to secure these territories.

"They can only be secured by creating some kind of buffer zone so that any means that the enemy uses to strike us are out of range."

After winning re-election, Putin said he did not rule out setting up such a buffer zone.

"I do not exclude that, bearing in mind the tragic events taking place today, that we will be forced at some point, when we deem it appropriate, to create a certain 'sanitary zone' in the territories today under the Kyiv regime," Putin said.

Putin declined to give any further details, but said such a zone might have to be big enough to stop foreign-made weapons striking Russian territory.

He made the remark after being asked whether he thought it necessary for Russia to take Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which borders Belgorod, a Russian province that has come under regular attack from Kyiv's forces since 2022.

Russian forces initially tried to seize Kharkiv region in February 2022, but were routed from most of the area in a Ukrainian counteroffensive in September that year.

Russian in September 2022 said it had annexed the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though it did not fully control any of them.

The Ukrainian leadership has said that Russia's annexation is illegal and that it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian soil.


Mahsa Amini's Death in Iran Custody was 'Unlawful', UN Mission Says

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Mahsa Amini's Death in Iran Custody was 'Unlawful', UN Mission Says

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by Iran’s "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

A fact-finding mission mandated by the United Nations said on Monday the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of Iran's morality police was "unlawful" and caused by violence and that women in the country remain subjected to wide-ranging discrimination.
The death of 22-year-old Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman, in September 2022 while in custody for allegedly violating the Islamic dress code unleashed months of mass protests across Iran. Her death marked the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in decades, Reuters said.
"Our investigation established that her death was unlawful and caused by physical violence in the custody of state authorities," Sara Hossain, chairperson of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She said the protests that followed were marked by "egregious human rights violations", including extra-judicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and ill-treatment, as well as rape and sexual violence.
"These acts were conducted in the context of a widespread and systematic attack against women and girls, and other persons expressing support for human rights," Hossain said.
"Some of these serious violations of human rights thus rose to the level of crimes against humanity."
In response, Kazem Gharib Abadi, secretary general of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, accused the fact-finding mission of a "glaring lack of independence and impartiality".
Hossain said that since the protests, women and girls in Iran were confronted daily by discrimination "affecting virtually all aspects of their private and public lives".
"It is hard to fathom that in the 21st century, women's access to the most basic service and opportunities, such as schools, universities, hospitals, and courts, or to opportunities for employment in government or other sectors, should be subjected to a wholly arbitrary requirement of wearing the mandatory hijab," she said.


Azeri President Says Peace with Armenia Is Closer Than Ever 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg deliver press statements following their talks in Baku on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Handout / Azerbaijani presidency / AFP)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg deliver press statements following their talks in Baku on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Handout / Azerbaijani presidency / AFP)
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Azeri President Says Peace with Armenia Is Closer Than Ever 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg deliver press statements following their talks in Baku on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Handout / Azerbaijani presidency / AFP)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg deliver press statements following their talks in Baku on March 17, 2024. (Photo by Handout / Azerbaijani presidency / AFP)

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday his country is "closer than ever" to a peace with Armenia, half a year after Azerbaijan recaptured its Karabakh region from its ethnic Armenian majority, prompting a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians.

"Today, we are in an active phase of peace talks with Armenia," Aliyev said in remarks after meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Baku, according to a transcript published on the Azeri leader's website.

"We are now closer to peace than ever before."

Stoltenberg said he welcomed the move towards peace between the two nations.

"I appreciate what you say about that you are closer to a peace agreement than ever before," Stoltenberg said, according to a transcript published on NATO's website.

"And I can just encourage you to seize this opportunity to reach a lasting peace agreement with Armenia."

In December, the South Caucasus neighbors issued a joint statement saying they want to reach a peace deal and have since held numerous talks, including two days of negotiations in Berlin in February.

The press office of Armenian's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not immediately respond to Reuters' request to comment on Aliyev's statement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan first went to war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988. After decades of enmity, Azerbaijan in September recaptured Karabakh, controlled by its ethnic Armenian majority since the 1990s despite being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

The offensive prompted most of the region's 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to neighboring Armenia.

Armenia described the offensive as ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan denied that and said those who fled could have stayed on and been integrated into Azerbaijan.

Key elements in securing a treaty are demarcation of borders and the establishment of regional transport corridors through each others' territory.

Armenia has also raised the issue of determining control of ethnic enclaves on both sides of the border.


China Congratulates Putin on Election Win, Says Ties Will Strengthen 

Russian President and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin meets with the media at his campaign headquarters in Moscow on March 18, 2024. (AFP)
Russian President and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin meets with the media at his campaign headquarters in Moscow on March 18, 2024. (AFP)
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China Congratulates Putin on Election Win, Says Ties Will Strengthen 

Russian President and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin meets with the media at his campaign headquarters in Moscow on March 18, 2024. (AFP)
Russian President and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin meets with the media at his campaign headquarters in Moscow on March 18, 2024. (AFP)

China congratulated Vladimir Putin on Monday on winning Russia's presidential election and said the strategic relationship between the two countries will continue to strengthen.

Putin won a record post-Soviet landslide in Russia's election on Sunday, cementing his already tight grip on power in a victory he said showed Moscow had been right to stand up to the West and send its troops into Ukraine.

"We firmly believe that under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Putin, China-Russia relations will continue to move forward," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters when asked about the vote.

"China and Russia are each other's largest neighbors and comprehensive strategic partners in the new era."

China has strengthened its ties with Russia over the past few years, even as Western criticism of the war in Ukraine intensified.

The two countries declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

It has been reported that China and Russia are preparing "several meetings" between Xi and Putin this year.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, and Lin said the two heads of state would continue to maintain close exchanges.