North Korea has slammed the United Nations leadership over what it described as "double standards" exercised by the international organization in pursuing its nuclear obligations in order to maintain global peace and stability.
North Korea's missile and nuclear program was recently described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a "clear and present danger, driving risks and geopolitical tensions to new heights."
Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's official state media, released a statement on Saturday by Jo Chol Su, a senior official in North Korea's foreign ministry, in which he criticized Guterres for having "typical double standards."
The senior official said by exercising double standards the UN chief was committing the "dangerous act of destroying the trust of the world community in the UN."
Jo rebuked Guterres for ignoring the "reckless arms buildup" by the United States that was "constantly bringing all sorts of nuclear strike means to the Korean peninsula and the region."
In his statement, Jo also accused Japan of having "no moral and legal qualification" to be part of the UN Security Council because of its wartime and colonial past.
The senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official reiterated that his country will never give up its nuclear arsenal, which Pyongyang sees as a deterrent force for purely defensive purposes against the nation’s enemies.
Jo's comments came after the United States on Friday praised Tokyo for its new hawkish military stance.....more below
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The impact of the ongoing federal shutdown on the US economy is far worse than expected because it is lasting much longer than anticipated, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Friday.
"The impact on the economy is far worse than we expected, because it's gone on for so long," Hassett told Fox Business. "I think we were thinking that we could have at least 3% [GDP] growth in the fourth quarter. I think now we're expecting something like half that because of the harm [caused] by the Democrats' policy.".......more here
https://sputnikglobe.com/20251107/federal-shutdown-hitting-us-economy-harder-than-expected--white-house-1123074810.html
Dozens of Palestinians, foreign activists, and journalists have been wounded as Israeli army-backed settlers carried out coordinated assaults across the occupied West Bank.
The attacks took place on Saturday, with the biggest number of the casualties, namely 17 people, being caused after settlers raided the outskirts of the Abu Falah village, northeast of the city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. Those injured included foreign activists.
According to the agency, settlers also torched a home, while Israeli forces attacked the area, targeting the residents, who had gathered near the scene. The latter incident, though, did not lead to any casualties.
In another wave of violence, settlers launched attacks on Palestinian farmers, journalists, and foreign activists participating in the annual olive harvest across several towns, leaving many with fractures and bruises.
The attacks were most severe in Beita, south of Nablus, where settlers descended from nearby outposts and ambushed ...
