US to Focus on Ending War When World Leaders Gather at UN

A handout still image taken from handout video provided on 17 September 2024 by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a Russian BM-21 Grad, a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, firing towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Russia. EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout
A handout still image taken from handout video provided on 17 September 2024 by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a Russian BM-21 Grad, a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, firing towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Russia. EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout
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US to Focus on Ending War When World Leaders Gather at UN

A handout still image taken from handout video provided on 17 September 2024 by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a Russian BM-21 Grad, a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, firing towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Russia. EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout
A handout still image taken from handout video provided on 17 September 2024 by the Russian Defense Ministry shows a Russian BM-21 Grad, a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, firing towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Russia. EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout

The US focus at next week's annual UN gathering of world leaders will include ending the scourge of war and revitalizing an overstretched aid system, US envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday.

She specifically mentioned Russia's war in Ukraine, the conflict in Sudan, instability in Haiti, the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar.

"As we work to silence the guns, we must also redouble our efforts to address humanitarian crises," Thomas-Greenfield told reporters ahead of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly.

"Aid workers put their own lives at risk to save the lives of others. But what we hear time and time again is that humanitarians don't have the resources, they don't have the protection, they don't have the access they need to do their jobs," she said.

More than 130 heads of state or government are due to travel to New York to address the 193-member General Assembly, a week after a second assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

"The situation that happened with President Trump is unacceptable," Thomas-Greenfield said. "We have a responsibility to do everything possible to protect the heads of state who are coming here, but also protect their own political leaders."

"New York City has police everywhere, diplomatic security is supporting Secret Service to also provide security for all the heads of state who will be here," she said, adding that there had never been a security incident related to a head of state at the UN.



NKorea Fires Short-range Ballistic Missiles for 2nd Time in a Week

People watch a news broadcast on a television screen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, 18 September 2024. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
People watch a news broadcast on a television screen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, 18 September 2024. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
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NKorea Fires Short-range Ballistic Missiles for 2nd Time in a Week

People watch a news broadcast on a television screen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, 18 September 2024. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
People watch a news broadcast on a television screen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, 18 September 2024. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday toward its east coast, South Korea and Japan said, days after Pyongyang unveiled a uranium enrichment facility and vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal.
The missiles lifted off from Kaechon, north of the capital Pyongyang, at around 6:50 a.m. (2150 GMT Tuesday) in a northeast direction and flew about 400 km (249 miles), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, without specifying how many were fired and where they landed.
"We strongly condemn North Korea's missile launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," the JSC said in a statement, vowing overwhelming responses to any further provocations.
About 30 minutes after its first missile notice, Japan's coast guard said North Korea fired another ballistic missile, Reuters reported.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at least one of the missiles fell near the North's eastern inland coast and that the launches "cannot be tolerated."
The US Indo-Pacific Command said on X that it was aware of the launches and consulting closely with Seoul and Tokyo.
The North fired several short-range ballistic missiles last Thursday, the first such launch in more than two months, which it later described as a test of a new 600-mm multiple launch rocket system.
South Korea's JCS has said the launch might have been to test the weapons for export to Russia, amid intensifying military cooperation between the two countries.
The United States, South Korea and Ukraine, among other countries, have accused Pyongyang of supplying rockets and missiles to Moscow for use in the war in Ukraine, in return for economic and other military assistance.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, who is visiting Russia this week to attend conferences, met her counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday and discussed ways to promote bilateral ties, the Russian foreign ministry said on its website.
Wednesday's missile launches also came days after the isolated country for the first time showed images of centrifuges that produce fuel for its nuclear bombs, as leader Kim Jong Un visited a uranium enrichment facility and called for more weapons-grade material to boost the arsenal.