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The missile launched by Pyongyang on Tuesday is alleged to be an “improved” version of a munition tested earlier this year

North Korea said it successfully tested a new hypersonic missile, with leader Kim Jong-un reportedly present for the launch. Officials in Seoul have claimed the weapon was an upgraded model of a system tested last week.

“The test fire was aimed at making a final confirmation of the overall specifications of the developed hypersonic weapon system,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday, referring to a test conducted the day prior, adding that the missile struck its target in the sea some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away.

North Korea’s Kim, who attended the test, “underscored the need to strengthen the strategic military power of the country both in quality and quantity,” according to the outlet, which noted that the latest launch “clearly proved the superb maneuverability of the hypersonic gliding warhead.”

Kim Jong Un just officially observed his first missile test since March 2020, pictures show in today’s Rodong Sinmun.

The test took place roughly the same time as UNSC condemnation of last week’s test — and after South Korea’s govt publicly doubted that test was ‘hypersonic’. pic.twitter.com/8Rlpmmta0H

— Chad O’Carroll (@chadocl) January 11, 2022

Tuesday’s weapon test comes just days after a similar launch off North Korea’s east coast – the first of its kind of the year – which Pyongyang also said used a hypersonic missile. Military officials in South Korea noted some “improvement” made to the munition in the time since, saying it flew at a speed of Mach 10, or 10-times the speed of sound. The previous launch, which Kim was reportedly not present for, was said to have traveled at Mach six.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced some alarm following the most recent test, calling it “concerning” while asking officials to “come up with necessary measures to ensure no further tension in inter-Korean relations and so that our people do not feel nervous.”

Washington’s Indo-Pacific Command, meanwhile, said it was “aware” of Tuesday’s test, claiming it highlighted “the destabilizing impact of [North Korea’s] illicit weapons program,” though added that the launch posed no threat to US personnel or territory.

READ MORE: North Korea fires ‘unidentified projectile’ in new launch – reports

The Federal Trade Commission will move ahead with the amended antitrust lawsuit against the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp

The same federal judge who dismissed the first FTC antitrust lawsuit against Facebook has now allowed the amended complaint against Meta to move ahead, saying it was “more robust and detailed.”

“Second time lucky? The Federal Trade Commission’s first antitrust suit against Facebook, Inc. stumbled out of the starting blocks, as this Court dismissed the Complaint last June,” US District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a 48-page opinion on Tuesday. 

Though the “core theory of the lawsuit remains essentially unchanged,” Boasberg wrote, the new complaint contains “significant additions and revisions,” while the “facts alleged this time around to fortify those theories, however, are far more robust and detailed than before.”

Last year, Boasberg dismissed both the initial FTC complaint and the lawsuit by 48 states and the District of Columbia, alleging monopolistic behavior by Mark Zuckerberg’s social media behemoth. Facebook’s market cap surged past $1 trillion as a result. The company has since rebranded as Meta.

Read more

Facebook ‘bought & buried’ rivals because it lacks ‘talent’ to compete fairly, FTC claims in revived antitrust suit  

The commission has since filed an amended complaint, alleging that Zuckerberg bought out competing platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp and established a monopoly in personal social networking, in a class of its own.

Noting that the FTC “may well face a tall task down the road in proving its allegations,” Boasberg said the revised complaint has “now cleared the pleading bar and may proceed to discovery.”

He also addressed what he called a “flanking” attempt by Meta to get the lawsuit tossed, which alleged that the deciding vote to file the amended complaint was cast by Lina Khan, a Democrat who currently chairs the FTC.

The company alleged Khan should have recused herself, given that she had worked on the 2020 House Judiciary Committee report that paved the way for the antitrust lawsuit. Khan made her name in 2017, when she published an article describing Amazon as a monopoly in the Yale Law Journal. 

Boasberg disagreed, saying that Khan had been acting in her prosecutorial capacity at the time of the vote, and that her views “do not suggest the type of ‘axe to grind’ based on personal animosity or financial conflict of interest that has disqualified prosecutors in the past.”

A Saudi clip that purported to show the smuggling of “Iranian ballistic missiles” into Yemen was revealed to be old US footage

Saudi Arabia and a coalition of allies have been accused of presenting footage from a documentary on the Iraq war as “proof” of alleged missile smuggling at the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, which is still held by Houthi rebels.

The claim was made by a spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition, Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, during a press conference on Saturday. The presser was aired by the state-run Al-Saudiya broadcaster, with footage still available on its YouTube channel.

Al-Maliki said the coalition obtained evidence that the Houthis were stockpiling and assembling weaponry at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The official alleged that the port is used to smuggle Iranian-made missiles into the country, adding that the munitions are then put together at workshops hidden in the city. Riyadh has repeatedly accused Iran of smuggling weaponry to the Houthis in circumvention of the UN arms embargo, yet Tehran has consistently denied the charge.

A short two-second clip showing two large ballistic missile boosters, sitting at a warehouse, was played at Saturday’s press conference, with Al-Maliki insisting it showed a “specific location” at the Hodeidah port, the Middle East Eye reported. The exact location of the workshop, however, could not be revealed, Al-Maliki reportedly added.

The claims by the Saudi-led coalition came under scrutiny from online sleuths, who traced the footage back to a 2009 documentary on the second US-led invasion of Iraq.  

#SaudiArabia #Yemen :Journalist in Yemen @zakaria_sharabi for Daily Yemen points out that footage used by #Saudi coalition spokesman as proof of major weapons store of #Houthis in #Hodeidah seems to come from documentary on #US invasion of #Iraq #ٱلْيَمَن pic.twitter.com/oZP0g9a9ov

— sebastian usher (@sebusher) January 9, 2022

The video used by the Saudis appeared to be identical to the one featured in ‘Severe Clear,’ an American film based on video diaries filmed by US marines during their advance on the Iraqi capital in April 2003. Observers pointed out that the Saudi version was carefully cropped so it would not show US servicemen both to the left and to the right of the boosters they were inspecting in the captured warehouse, as is seen in the full-length video.

The Saudi allegations drew outrage from the Houthis, with spokesman Yahya Saree branding the use of the footage a “scandal” that exposed the “bankruptcy” of the Saudi-led coalition.

“This is the aggression which from the start is filled with lies and deception and attempts to cover their eyes with sand but the string of lies is short,” the spokesman tweeted.

Saudi Arabia and the coalition it leads – originally comprised of some 10 states – have been fighting in Yemen since 2015, when they staged a bombing campaign and subsequent invasion in a bid to reinstall ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. The ongoing intervention has come under fire from the United Nations and other international observers for repeatedly targeting non-combatants and civilian infrastructure, and the war has helped to fuel one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the UN estimating that up to 400,000 Yemeni children risked starvation last year alone.

Quebec province to require unvaxxed residents to make ‘significant’ contributions to state-run health system as Covid-19 infections surge

Fresh from banning people who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering liquor stores or cannabis shops, Canada’s Quebec province is unveiling a new health tax for the unjabbed.

Premier Francois Legault vowed on Tuesday to enact the new financial penalty, saying those who refuse to get their first vaccine dose in the coming weeks will have to start paying for their impact on the health care system. “Right now, it’s a question also of fairness for the 90% of the population who made some sacrifices,” he told reporters. “I think we owe them this kind of measure.”

Asked about the legal and ethical challenges that the government will likely face over the unprecedented tax, the prime minister acknowledged that the move is a “big deal.” He added, “If you look at what’s happening in other countries or other states, everybody is trying to find a solution. It’s a question of equity because right now, these people, they put a very important burden on our health care network, and I think it’s normal that the majority of the population is asking that there be a consequence.”

Legault didn’t disclose the amount of the new tax. He said Quebec will continue expanding application of the province’s vaccine passport requirements, but he argued that “we have to go further” than banning unvaccinated residents from public places. The passport mandate was extended to liquor and cannabis stores last week after previously being ordered for entrance to such venues as restaurants, theaters, bars and casinos.

Read more

Unvaccinated to be banned from booze and marijuana in Canada – media

With Covid-19 hospitalizations rising amid rapid spread of the Omicron variant, Quebec will need an additional 1,000 hospital workers and 1,500 nursing home staffers within the next few weeks, Legault said.

However, it’s not only unjabbed Quebeckers who are straining the province’s health care system. In fact, most of the new Covid-19 patients are fully vaccinated. Of the 433 new patients who checked in for Covid-19 treatment in the past day, 117 were reportedly unvaccinated, while 290 were double-jabbed. Among patients newly admitted to intensive-care units, 12 were unvaccinated, while 17 were double-vaccinated.

Quebec reported 62 Covid deaths on Tuesday, the most since January 2021, before the province’s vaccine rollout was in full swing.

Seth tested positive days after becoming the first wheelchair user sworn into the Welsh Youth Parliament.

David Bennett, 57, is the first person in the world to receive a heart transplant from a genetically-modified pig.

The PM faces uproar about parties held at Downing Street when Covid-19 lockdown rules were in place.

NT, Australia pic.twitter.com/E88oXkYCXr

— Anti-illuminati Society (@fixx_halo) January 11, 2022

North Korea’s latest weapons test involved a hypersonic missile, state media reported Wednesday, saying the second such launch by the nuclear-armed nation in less than a week had been successful.

The United States and its European allies coordinated their position Tuesday ahead of new NATO-Russia talks to defuse the Ukrainian border crisis, as Kyiv demanded an international summit.