The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully returned four astronauts to Earth this Friday, including a midnight dip, off the coast of Florida. The crew left the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, ending their six-month stay there. The team had been launched into space in November as part of the Crew-3 mission and took more than a month to return home.
U.S. officials are predicting that North Korea will complete preparations for its seventh nuclear test within this month. Earlier, North Korea was known to have begun to restore the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, but recently, new movements that have not been seen in the past have been caught by satellites one following another.
First news, Correspondent Yunsu Kim from Washington.
This is a satellite image of North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site released by 38 North, a US media outlet specializing in North Korea.
The bridge to the command post that was damaged in the flood last year has been restored.
A cargo truck was also spotted parked in front of the command post building for the first time since restoration of the nuclear test site began.
38 North analyzed that under these circumstances, North Korea appears to have long-term plans for a nuclear test site.
In the United States, there are predictions that North Korea will finish preparations for its seventh nuclear test within this month.
[젤리나 포터/미 국무부 부대변인 : 미국은 북한이 풍계리 핵실험장을 복구하고 있고, 이르면 이달 안에 핵실험 준비를 마칠 수 있을 것으로 평가하고 있습니다.]
The U.S. State Department said it was working closely with allies and partners to share relevant information.
In particular, he added that President Biden’s trip to South Korea and Japan this month will further strengthen security commitments with allies.
After the sixth nuclear test in September 2017, North Korea declared a waiver of its nuclear test and intercontinental ballistic missile test launch as the North Korea-U.S. summit was held the following year.
At that time, it was said that the Punggye-ri nuclear test site was destroyed by bombing, but it was evaluated that the underground structure was left behind.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are likely to peak if North Korea carries out a nuclear test following an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
“As for the Russian Federation, we only contemplate the possibility of responding (with a nuclear device) to a targeted attack,” Volodin told “Komsomolskaya Pravda” radio station.
He added that “for us it is only a response, within the framework of defense.” “If they attack us, we respond,” she insisted.
According to Volodin, so far “the only country that has used nuclear weapons is the United States.” Therefore, from Washington “you can expect anything,” he said.
Speaker of the Duma speaks of “preemptive strike”
“They bombed the peaceful cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In August, on the 6th and 9th, there will be another anniversary of that. You can expect that from them,” he insisted, adding that US doctrine allows for a “preemptive strike.”
Russia announced at the end of February that it was putting its nuclear deterrence forces on alert in the face of “aggressive declarations” by the main NATO countries due to the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
jov (efe, meduza.io)
The main opposition party in Sri Lanka, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), presented this Tuesday two motions of censure once morest the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and his Government, harshly criticized for the management of the serious economic crisis that the island nation is suffering.
“The SJB has delivered two motions of no confidence once morest the President and the Government to the Speaker of Parliament,” the opposition party led by Sajith Premadasa said on Twitter.
The objectives of the SJB are to remove the president and abolish the constitutional amendments promoted by Rajapaksa when he came to power in the 2020 elections, which grant enormous powers to the president.
The motions of censure were announced by the opposition party in the middle of last April, although it is not clear whether the SJB has the necessary support in the Chamber to advance the process.
The island nation is facing an unprecedented economic crisis caused, in part, by its heavy debt, the economic downturn during the pandemic and a drastic drop in tourism activity.
Without enough foreign currency to buy food, fuel and basic necessities, Sri Lanka entered an inflationary spiral and scarcity months ago, which led to the announcement last week of the temporary suspension of the payment of its external debt.
The economic crisis has also precipitated a wave of political instability and massive protests.
Rajapaksa’s cabinet of ministers resigned en masse in early April due to the demonstrations, forcing the president to appoint a new executive from which he excluded all members of his clan except for his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has remained as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
The tone of the protests worsened following the Sri Lankan authorities increased power cuts in the country to 13 hours on March 30, and since then several camps have been set up in front of the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s residence in the capital.
Last Sunday, on the occasion of International Labor Day, tens of thousands of people called by unions and opposition parties protested once morest Rajapaksa and his government.
Former president and leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Maithripala Sirisena, affiliated with the government until the protests began, called for early elections, while the opposition SJB promised to “knock down” Rajapaksa.
Despite the massive protests, both the president and the prime minister have remained firm in their posts, while Rajapaksa has reiterated calls to form a government of national unity.