DUPONT, Wash., Dec 18 (Reuters) - An Amtrak train derailed on Monday in Washington state on its inaugural run on a faster route from Seattle to Portland, Oregon, sending passenger cars tumbling from a bridge onto a major highway, killing a number of riders and injuring nearly 100.

The derailment caused "multiple fatalities," Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the local sheriff's office, told reporters at the scene, though he did not offer a specific number. The train struck several cars on Interstate 5, he added, causing injuries but no additional deaths.

Thirteen of the train's 14 cars jumped the tracks, and five vehicles plus two semi-trailer trucks were involved in the accident, Washington State Patrol spokeswoman Brooke Bova said.

Seventy-seven people were transported to hospitals in Pierce and Thurston counties, the Tacoma-based healthcare network CHI Franciscan Health said, including four "level red" patients with the most severe injuries. Another 20 patients were treated at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, nine in "serious but stable" condition, the center said.

Four hours after the 7:40 a.m. (1540 GMT) crash in DuPont, Washington, several train cars remained dangling from the overpass, with others strewn across the roadway.

About 78 passengers and five crew members were aboard the train, Amtrak said in a statement.

Some people escaped by kicking out windows, passenger Chris Karnes told local news outlet KIRO 7.

"All of a sudden, we felt this rocking and creaking noise, and it felt like we were heading down a hill," Karnes said. "The next thing we know, we're being slammed into the front of our seats, windows are breaking, we stop, and there's water gushing out of the train. People were screaming."

Slide 1 of 15: This aerial image from video provided by KOMO-TV, shows the site of an Amtrak train that derailed south of Seattle on Monday, Dec. 18, 2017. Authorities reported "injuries and casualties." The train derailed about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Seattle before 8 a.m., spilling at least one train car on to busy Interstate 5. (KOMO-TV via AP) TV OUT MANDATORY CREDIT

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1/15 SLIDES  © KOMO-TV via AP 

Amtrak train 501 derailed onto Interstate 5 near Seattle, Wash., on Dec. 18, 2018. Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train, moving at more than 80 mph, derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle before 8 a.m.

This aerial image from video provided by KOMO-TV, shows the site of an Amtrak train that derailed south of Seattle on Dec. 18, 2017. 

2/15 SLIDES © Pierce County Sheriff's Department/Handout via REUTERS 

 Parts of an Amtrak passenger train at the scene of derailment on interstate highway I-5 is seen in this Pierce County Sheriff's Department image, in DuPont, Wash., on Dec. 18, 2017.  

3/15 SLIDES © Tom James/Reuters 

 First responders are seen at the scene of an Amtrak passenger train derailment, in DuPont, Wash., on Dec. 18, 2017.  

4/15 SLIDES © Elaine Thompson/AP 

 Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 alongside smashed vehicles as some train cars remain on the tracks above, on Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash.  

5/15 SLIDES © Elaine Thompson/AP 

 A semi-truck with visible damage to its hood sits parked on the shoulder near where an Amtrak train spilled onto Interstate 5 on Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash.  

6/15 SLIDES © Elaine Thompson/AP 

 Cars from an Amtrak train remain on the tracks above where other cars spilled below onto Interstate 5, on Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash.  

7/15 SLIDES © Elaine Thompson/AP 

 Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below as some remain on the tracks above, on Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash.  

8/15 SLIDES © Washington State Patrol/Shutterstock 

Amtrak train 501 derailed onto Interstate 5 near Seattle, Wash., on Dec. 18, 2018. 

9/15 SLIDES © Pierce County Sheriff/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock 

 Emergency personnel at the scene of the Amtrak train 501 derailment, on Dec. 18, 2018.  

10/15 SLIDES © Pierce County Sheriff/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock 

Emergency personnel at the scene of the Amtrak train 501 derailment, on Dec. 18, 2018.

11/15 SLIDES © Pierce County Sheriff/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock 

 A handout photo made available by the Pierce County Sheriffs Department shows Amtrak train 501 after it derailed onto Interstate 5 near Olympia, Washington, on Dec. 18. 

12/15 SLIDES © Danae Orlob via AP 

This photo provided by Danae Orlob shows the Amtrak train that derailed south of Seattle on Dec. 18, 2017.

13/15 SLIDES © Washington State Patrol/Shutterstock 

Amtrak train 501 derailed onto Interstate 5 near Seattle, Wash., on Dec. 18, 2018.

14/15 SLIDES © Washington State Patrol/Shutterstock 

Amtrak train 501 hanging from overpass onto Interstate 5.

15/15 SLIDES © Washington Dept. of Transportation 

Traffic camera view of the derailment. 

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The derailment occurred on the first day Amtrak trains began using the new inland route between the Washington cities of Tacoma and Olympia, part of a project to reduce travel time, according to an October news release from the state's transportation department.

The rerouting takes trains along I-5, eliminating a major choke point for passenger trains in Tacoma and letting trains reach speeds of 79 miles per hour (127 km per hour), the department has said.

Monday's southbound train, which was scheduled to depart Seattle at 6 a.m. (1400 GMT) for Portland, was the first to run along the new route, which uses tracks owned by a local commuter line.

It was not immediately clear whether the derailment, which came during a busy travel time one week before the Christmas holiday, was connected to the rerouting.

A statement from the state transportation department said the track had undergone "weeks of inspection and testing" before Monday's launch.

A member of the train's crew told an emergency dispatcher that the train came around a corner before the bridge and then "we went on the ground," according to an audio recording posted by Broadcastify.com.

After the dispatcher asked whether everyone was OK, the crew member replied, "I am still figuring that out. We got cars everywhere and down onto the highway." The dispatcher also asked for the driver's location, and he responded, "As soon as I know exactly where all of my train is, I'll let you know."

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was sending a team of investigators to the site. Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency due to "loss of life, injuries and damage to infrastructure."

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that the crash "shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly." Trump has said he will unveil his long-delayed infrastructure proposal after Congress passes its tax bill.

The rerouting project was budgeted at $180.7 million and was funded by the Federal Railroad Administration, according to Washington State's transportation department. The work was done by Sound Transit, which owns the track, and reviewed by the FRA, the department said on Monday.

Interstate 5 is the West Coast's major north-south highway, running between the U.S-Mexican border in San Diego, California, and the border with Canada in Washington.

The mayor of one of the towns through which the rerouted trains travel warned earlier this month that the high-speed trains were dangerously close to cars and pedestrians.

"Come back when there is that accident, and try to justify not putting in those safety enhancements, or you can go back now and advocate for the money to do it, because this project was never needed and endangers our citizens," Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson told transportation officials in early December, according to Seattle's KOMO News.

The derailment was Amtrak's second in Washington state this year. On July 2, a southbound train with more than 250 people aboard derailed in the town of Steilacoom, just a few miles north of Monday's crash site. No serious injuries were reported.

In May 2015, an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people and injuring more than 200. The NTSB concluded the driver became distracted by radio transmissions and lost track of where he was.

If at the end of 2016 someone told me I would spend nearly the entire year watching North Korea test long-range missiles that could potentially strike the U.S. homeland and a hydrogen bomb, with prominent national leaders daily weighing the chances of potential war, I would have said they sipped a little too much spiked eggnog.  

To be honest, until this year, most national security experts—including yours truly—thought the real threat from Pyongyang wasn’t nuclear weapons but regime collapse that would force an international crisis of the gravest of magnitudes.

And while there has been fears since the late 1990s that North Korea could eventually develop technology to hit America with a nuclear tipped missile, most assumed such a threat was years away. North Korea was known more for failed missile tests than successes, with many doubting if the so-called hermit kingdom could ever really become a true nuclear power with global reach.

But failure can be one of the greatest teachers and make no mistake, going into 2018, the world’s collective gaze will be cast upon North Korea once again. Kim Jong Un and his band of bad guys are committed to developing a military armed to the teeth with evermore advanced weapons that, as Secretary of Defense James Mattis pointed out, “threaten everywhere in the world�.

So what can we expect from North Korea going into the new year? To put it simply: more of the same. Here are six things I will be watching in 2018—and why next year will bring far more tensions from the Kim regime—with the possibility of armed conflict now closer than ever before.  

More Long-Range Missile Tests: Yes, North Korea slowed the number of missiles tests it conducted as 2017 closed. And, to be fair, if history tells us anything, we won’t see a tremendous amount of missile tests until the spring. But, Pyongyang will test  its Hwasong-15 ICBM at least once more in the next few weeks, following a pattern of testing all new missile platforms at least twice. From there, North Korea has more advanced solid-fuel missiles that it has been developing for years that could be even more dangerous. Look for a test of those systems, along with the accompanying pictures and video, sometime in 2018.

Submarine Launched Missiles: While Pyongyang for sure has been working on nuclear-tipped missiles that can be fired from under the sea, we should expect the pace and scope and such tests will quicken next year. With the regime likely working on a new submarine design, Kim will be eager to demonstrate any new advances his underwater nuclear program may have made. And with some speculating this new weapon could have a range of three to four thousand kilometers, Kim would have another dangerous platform to attack U.S. allies and bases all over Northeast Asia—and eventually beyond.

Nuclear Weapons Tests: Recent reports show North Korea tunneling once again at their nuclear proving grounds, demonstrating that Kim is not done testing nuclear weapons. Expect the regime to test at least one more nuclear weapons design next year, an attempt to ensure they have a weapon that is compact enough to fit atop any of their missile designs that also has the destructive power to turn a U.S. or allied city into ash.

Some sort of Trouble at the Olympics: Mark my words, while I doubt Pyongyang will directly attack the Olympics, they will make sure the world knows they are only 50 or so miles away, just across the DMZ.

My guess is that Kim decides to launch some sort of cyber strike, say attacking TV network connections to the internet and broadband networks to knock out media coverage or go after South Korea’s banking networks and ATM machines. But North Korea won’t make it easy, using cyberwarriors stationed all over the world while also using proxy servers so there is reasonable doubt Kim’s forces were not involved—and get away with it.

No Help from China: With President Trump’s new national security strategy just being released, a document that labels China a revisionist power and attempts to tackle Chinese “economic aggression,� Beijing will not exactly have that warm and fuzzy feeling towards Washington. Such an action, just about as badly timed as you can imagine, will only cement China’s view that it has done all it can to help America contain the North Korea threat—and should do no more. There will be no oil embargo imposed by China. What seems more likely is a slow and steady weakening of sanctions—Beijing’s standard playbook.

China’s goal on North Korea is quite simple: make sure North Korea does not collapse or start a war—and use its ally to keep America from worrying about China’s push to dominate the South China or East China’s Seas or Taiwan. While Beijing might not likely Pyongyang’s aggressive push to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, it will use such moves to its advantage. That’s just International Relations 101.

No Help from Russia: While things with Moscow might be warm and fuzzy for now, just as in the case of China above, President Putin will not take too kindly to being labeled essentially an enemy of America. While he will likely see through the new “America First� national security strategy as what such strategies always are—a mission statement-style document that most administrations launch and quickly forget about—he has very little incentive to do much on this issue.

Just like China, Putin has every incentive to make sure North Korea does not collapse or start a war, but likes the idea of America being bogged down over Kim’s nuclear and missile programs—as Russia has its own national security objectives to focus on without American interference.

2018 Will Be the Year of North Korea: The above only scratches the surface of what will be a year filled with North Korea related headlines and times of tension. In many respects, 2018 will be a virtual repeat of 2017: more missile tests starting in the early spring followed by at least one big nuclear test, lots of fiery rhetoric from both sides and a Trump administration agonizing over how best to respond.

The good news, if there is any when it comes to North Korea, is that we have been down this road before, with a so-called “rogue regimeâ€� that is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to slam them into our homeland—think murderers of millions Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin. 

Unless we are attacked first, right now, America can easily contain and deter North Korea, a nation that has an economy the size of Vermont. There is no need to embark on a dangerous war of choice, one that would be far worse than the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq combined many times over. 

Sanctions combined with international isolation—while not the fastest way to bring Kim and his band of thugs to the table—will work. If not, and the administration decides to embark on the so-called “military option,� well, 2018 could be a year like no other. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gleeful Republicans on Tuesday muscled the most sweeping rewrite of the nation's tax laws in more than three decades through the House. House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed criticism of the widely unpopular package and insisted "results are what's going to make this popular."

The vote, largely along party lines, was 227-203 and capped a GOP sprint to deliver a major legislative accomplishment to President Donald Trump after a year of congressional stumbles and non-starters.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate would vote Tuesday evening, sending the legislation to Trump for his signature.

The massive $1.5 trillion package would touch every American taxpayer and every corner of the U.S. economy, providing steep tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, and more modest tax cuts for middle- and low-income families. It would push the national debt ever higher.

The standard deduction used by most families would be nearly doubled, to $24,000 for a married couple, while those who itemize would lose some deductions.

"We're delivering a tax code that provides more jobs, fairer taxes and bigger paychecks to Americans across the country," said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, Republican chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. "Our local job creators will see the lowest rates in modern history so they can invest more in their workers and in their future."

© AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, steward of the GOP tax bill, smiles as he arrives for a closed-door meeting as the Republican majority in Congress prepares to vote on the biggest…

Democrats called the bill a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy, providing little if any tax help to the less-than-well-to-do and no likelihood that business owners will use their gains to hire more workers or raise wages.

And the Republicans' contention that the bill will make taxes so simple that millions can file "on a postcard" — an idea repeated often by the president — was simply mocked.

"What happened to the postcard? We're going to have to carry around a billboard for tax simplification," declared Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee.

Tax cuts for corporations would be permanent while the cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 in order to comply with Senate budget rules. The tax cuts would take effect in January. Workers would start to see changes in the amount of taxes withheld from their paychecks in February.

During debate, decorum on the House floor was fleeting as two New Yorkers — a Democrat and a Republican — voiced their opinions on the bill. Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., yelled, "Hell no" in opposition to the bill. Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., replied, "Hell yes!" The proceedings were interrupted several times by protesters shouting from the gallery.

The bill is unpopular among the public, and Democrats plan to campaign against it in next year's congressional elections. Senate Democrats posted poll numbers on the bill on a video screen at their Tuesday luncheon.

"This bill will come back to haunt them, as Frankenstein did," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Not so, said Ryan, who has worked for years on tax overhaul.

"When we get this done, when people see their withholding improving, when they see jobs occurring, when they see bigger paychecks, a fairer tax system, a simpler tax code, that's what's going to produce the results," said Ryan, R-Wis.

The bill would slash the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The top tax rate for individuals would be lowered from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.

It scales back a popular deduction for state and local taxes, repeals a key tenet of Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and allows drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Despite GOP talk of spending discipline, it is projected to add $1.46 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade. GOP lawmakers say they expect a future Congress to continue the tax cuts so they won't expire. If achieved, that would drive up deficits even further.

Republicans acknowledged they still have to convince many Americans of the benefits of their bill. Many voters in surveys see the legislation as a boost to the wealthy, such as Trump and his family, and only a minor gain for the middle class.

"I don't think we've done a good job messaging," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. "I don't think we've gotten out there with specifics, and the final bill has only come together in the last week or so. Now, you're able to look at the final product."

The $1,000-per-child tax credit doubles to $2,000, with up to $1,400 available in IRS refunds for families who owe little or no taxes. Parents would have to provide children's Social Security numbers to receive the child credit, a measure intended to deny the credit to people who are in the U.S. illegally.

The legislation also repeals an important part of the health care law — the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or face a penalty — as the GOP looks to unravel a law it failed to repeal and replace this past summer.

The bill would initially provide tax cuts for Americans of all incomes. But if the tax cuts for individuals expire, most Americans — those making less than $75,000 — would see tax increases in 2027, according to congressional estimates.

Disgruntled Republican lawmakers from high-tax New York, New Jersey and California receded into the background as the tax train rolled. They oppose the new $10,000 cap on the deduction that millions use in connection with state and local income, property and sales taxes. The cap remains in the final bill.

The deduction is especially vital to residents of high-tax states.

Several defectors reaffirmed their "No" votes for the final bill on Tuesday. Rep. Peter King conveyed what people in his Long Island, New York, district were telling him about the tax bill: "Nothing good, especially from Republicans. ... It's certainly unpopular in my district," he said.

NBC NewsAli Arouzi and Alexander Smith and Reuters37 mins ago

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UN to vote on aid deliveries to Syria's rebel areas

© Provided by NBCU News Group, a division of NBCUniversal Media LLC SAUDI-YEMEN-CONFLICTAn F-15 fighter jet lands at an airbase in Saudi Arabia as the Saudis conduct operations over Yemen in 2015. A loud boom shook the Saudi capital Tuesday as Patriot missiles whistled through the sky and intercepted an incoming rocket.Rebels in neighboring Yemen said they had launched the rocket at Riyadh's al-Yamama palace, where they claimed a meeting of Saudi leaders was taking place.It never reached its destination. The Saudi Arabian military said in a statement that it shot the rocket down using Patriot missiles, and that there was no injuries or damage.Far from an isolated incident, the rocket firing comes against the backdrop of much larger ongoing tensions between the regional powers of Saudi Arabia and neighboring Iran.The nations are engaged in what experts view as several proxy wars in the Middle East that pit the Saudis, who are majority Sunni Muslims, against the mostly Shiite Iranians.In Yemen, Saudi airstrikes are supporting government forces that are battling rebels, known as the Houthis, who have been linked to Iran.Officials in Tehran support the Houthis but deny arming them. Saudi Arabia and the U.S., on the other hand, 

blame Iran for rocket attacks like the one on Tuesday.Col. Turki al-Maliki, a Saudi military spokesman, called the launch Tuesday a "hostile and indiscriminate action" that "proves the continued involvement of the Iranian regime's support of the Houthi armed group."Last week, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., presented the charred remains of what she claimed was an Iranian-made missilethat was fired from Yemen toward Riyadh in November.She held it up as proof that Iran was violating international restrictions on arms dealing.Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's reformist and influential crown prince, said after that launch that Iran was guilty of a "direct military aggression" that could "constitute an act of war."Iran dismissed the claim as "fake and fabricated." Its foreign minister, Javad Zarif, then compared Haley to Colin Powell and his 2003 statement, as secretary of state, about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction.Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. criticized longtime ally Saudi Arabia, signed the nuclear deal with historic enemy Iran, and told the pair that they needed to "share the neighborhood."By contrast, President Donald Trump made Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit and has vehemently condemned Tehran.This pivot has concerned some observers in Iran.Foad Izadi, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 "started with false accusations against the Iraqi government.""Seeing those signs again with the Trump administration is worrying to Iranian leaders because they don't want to have a war with the United States," he said.While most analysts say all-out war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is unlikely, an animated video that went viral over the weekend raised the specter of just that.The warlike fantasy imaged a Saudi warship sinking incoming Iranian boats, the kingdom's jets shooting Iranian planes out of the sky, and its tanks rolling through Tehran to the cheers of welcoming civilians.The video received almost 900,000 views in just four days and was translated in English, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Spanish and Japanese. There is no suggestion the video was created or endorsed by the government in Riyadh. NBC News received no immediate response when it reached out to Saudi officials; the YouTube account that posted the video also did not respond.It comes almost two years after another video was circulated widely that showed Iranian missile strikes on several Saudi targets.

a man standing in a room: Pope Francis greets Jordan's King Abdullah during a private meeting at the VaticanPope Francis and Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday discussed U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a move that both say is dangerous to Middle East peace.

Abdullah and the pope spoke privately for about 20 minutes at the start of the king's visit to the Vatican and France.

A Vatican statement said they discussed "the promotion of peace and stability in the Mideast, with particular reference to the question of Jerusalem and the role of the Hashemite Sovereign as Custodian of the Holy Places".

King Abdullah’s Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, making Amman sensitive to any changes of status of the disputed city.

When Trump announced his decision on Dec. 6, the pope responded by calling for the city's "status quo" to be respected, saying new tension in the Middle East would further inflame world conflicts.

Among an outpouring of international criticism, Jordan also rejected the U.S. decision, calling it legally "null" because it consolidated Israel's occupation of the eastern sector of the city.The United States was further isolated over the issue on Monday when it blocked a U.N. Security Council call for the declaration to be withdrawn.

Both the Vatican and Jordan back a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with them agreeing on the status of Jerusalem as part of the peace process.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state, whereas Israel has declared the whole city to be its "united and eternal" capital.

The statement said both sides wanted to encourage negotiations.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Alison Williams)

At least 136 civilians have been killed over 10 days of Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen this month, the United Nations said Tuesday, with the organisation's human rights chief decrying an "inferno" on the ground.The UN human rights office said it had tallied 136 civilians killed and another 87 injured in the strikes on Sanaa, Saada, Al Hudaydah, Marib and Taez governorates between December 6 and 16."We are deeply concerned by the recent surge in civilian casualties in Yemen as a result of intensified air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition," spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.A Saudi-led coalition has been waging an air campaign against Huthi rebels since March 2015 in an attempt to shore up the internationally recognised government of Abedrabbo Mansur Hadi.More than 8,750 people have been killed in the conflict since the intervention in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, where more than 2,000 people have also died of cholera this year.The air strikes have intensified since the December 4 killing of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of the Huthis after his alliance with the rebels collapsed.In an interview with AFP on Monday, UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein lamented "the total impunity that seems to exist (in) attacks from all sides", although he said "the majority of casualties is still coming from the coalition air strikes."- 'Horrifying situation' -He said a combination of the violence and a blockade the coalition imposed on rebel-held ports last month, blocking desperately-needed aid, had created "a horrifying situation in Yemen... literally an inferno for many Yemenis."Last week, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, warned: "8.4 million Yemenis are a step away from famine."And on Tuesday, the UN children's agency UNICEF said the blockade had sparked critical shortages and had hit access to safe water across the country."Water pumping stations serving over three million people via public networks in 14 cities are quickly running out of fuel," it said in a statement.Colville said the rights office had verified that four civilians were killed on December 9 when coalition strikes hit the official Yemen TV channel, Qanat Al Yemen.At least seven civilians were also killed when air strikes hit the Al Hudaydah on December 10, with 45 more perishing in attacks on a prison in Sanaa three days later, he said. The office said it had also just verified reports that 20 civilians, including 14 children, were killed in an attack on a farmhouse in Hudaydah governorate on December 15, while one woman and nine children were killed a day later as they returned from a wedding party in Marib governorate.Colville called on all sides in the conflict to "take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimise, the impact of violence on civilians." Zeid voiced hope that a recently-appointed team of international war crimes investigators, set to arrive in Yemen next month, "will have a chilling effect on actions taken against civilians."

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President Moon Jae-in said in an exclusive sit-down interview that drills could be pushed back if Pyongyang also shows willingness to pause its nuclear and missile tests before the Winter Games in February.

"If North Korea stops its provocations leading up to the Pyeongchang Olympics, it will greatly help in holding a safe Olympics," he said. "Also, it will help in creating conducive atmosphere towards inter-Korean as well as U.S.-North Korean dialogue."

The 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang, 110 miles east of Seoul, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25, followed by the Paralympics Games from March 9 to March 18.

"It is possible for South Korea and the U.S. to review the possibility of postponing the drill," Moon said. "I have made such suggestion to the U.S., and the U.S is currently reviewing."

"It all this depends on how North Korea behaves," he added.

The U.S. and South Korea frequently hold military exercises to test their readiness should a conflict break out with North Korea. The biggest are held each spring — known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle — involving about 17,000 U.S. troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

The North has offered to freeze its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for the U.S. and South Korea halting these drills, which it sees as a rehearsal for an invasion. Russia and China also back what they call a "dual suspension" solution to the standoff.

In November, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the country was considering postponing the drills.

Ensuring that the Games take place without interruption from North Korea is a primary concern for the South.

It has invested heavily in infrastructure, building a high-speed train from the Seoul airport to the Olympics site at a cost of $3.4 billion. The Moon interview with NBC News was conducted aboard the train.

It has also bolstered security for the event. Seoul plans to deploy around 5,000 troops, double the number at the 2002 World Cup. It has ratcheted up cybersecurity to ward off hacking attempts.

Moon sought to allay any fears Tuesday, telling NBC News that "there's no reason to be concerned about the safety, and as the president of the Republic of Korea I assure you that."

He added: "I hope that this Olympics will be able to promote the peace between the North and South Korea and become an Olympics for peace."

Ticket sales have been disappointing in the lead up to the Games, with only a third of the 1.1 million available sold as of mid-November. Nearly 80 percent of the tickets allocated to South Koreans were still available.

This year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un conducted his most powerful nuclear test to date, as well as his first three intercontinental ballistic missile launches — the last of which Pyongyang claimed could reach anywhere in the U.S.

For a moment it appeared that security concerns might keep athletes away. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., initially indicated that whether American athletes would participate was undecided, calling it an "open question." Soon after the White House stated that U.S. athletes would attend.

Moon downplayed concerns about Olympics security in the interview with NBC News and expressed his wish to see North Korea participate. It remains unclear whether any North Korean athletes will do so, though two figure skaters have qualified.

Moon assumed the presidency in May, after a bribery scandal felled his predecessor, Park Geun-hye. The left-leaning Moon has emerged as a levelheaded pragmatist, despite heated sparring and mounting nuclear tensions between the U.S. and North Korea in recent months.

Elected on a promise to engage in dialogue with North Korea, his first few months in office have been eventful ones.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Trump administration's more hawkish approach toward the North. He has also faced trade-related criticism from Trump, who complains bitterly of the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea.

Trump has responded to North Korea's missile and nuclear tests by threatening to reign "fire and fury" and to "totally destroy" the country.

Moon has taken a different tack, ruling out any offensive military action as "unthinkable," an approach Trump called "appeasement" on Twitter.

Though Trump has disparaged negotiations with the North as "wasting time," he seemed to put more faith in dialogue after a November visit to South Korea. Kim would do best to "come to the table and to make a deal," he said. Relations warmed between Moon and Trump after that visit.

A Trump official claims in an op-ed that the US has proof that it was North Korea behind the WannaCry cyber attack, citing a “careful investigation.â€� However, he also launched into various allegations against other countries. 

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “It’s Official: North Korea Is Behind WannaCry,� White House Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert claimed on Monday that the US's findings in their investigation.

The video released by ISIS hacking group Islamic Ghosts of the Caliphate also declares: ‘Muslims will return to being masters of the world and kings of the earth.’

It starts with disturbing images of maimed or killed Syrian and Iraqi children while a voice says in Arabic: ‘The Islamic State did not start the war against you and you will pay a great price as your sons will return to you as amputees or in coffins.       

As scenes of war, bombings and terror attacks flash up, the voice continues: ‘You will pay a price as you walk along your streets fearing Muslims. We will attack your homeland - you will not even feel secure in your bedrooms.’       

 continues: ‘We have sent the information to our lone wolves to assassinate you and to increase frequent jihadist operations against you.’

The video then shows a series of American websites with the names and addresses of employees which the group claims to have gained after hacking the sites.The examples of hacked websites shown in the video are not from the State Department or US Army but other lower-security sites including the Geological Society of Nevada and the National Caves Raphael Gluck of monitoring group JihadoScope told MailOnline: ‘It’s hard to tell how much of a threat this poses.‘Their tactic seems to be to say: “Here's some info we have, it’s just a sample of the info we have hacked and we have sent our lone wolves to the addresses we have gained.� They’re trying to sow the seeds of fear.’

It comes after the hacking group threatened a wave of global cyber attacks starting in the US. At the end of the video, the group declares their next target for hacking will be Russia.

The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion said there is a chance of a devastating earthquake with a magnitude exceeding 8.8 striking off the eastern coast of Hokkaido island, projecting the possibility to be between 7 and 40 percent.“I hope disaster preparations are reviewed based on the possibility that a super-gigantic quake, like the one that struck the Tohoku region, could also strike Hokkaido,” Asahi Shimbun quoted a seismology professor at the University of Tokyo, Naoshi Hirata, who headed the panel, as saying.In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s main island of Honshu, becoming the most powerful quake recorded in the country. Subsequent tsunami waves reached up to 40 meters (130ft) in height and crashed some 10km (6 miles) inland. Often referred to as the Great Tohoku earthquake, the disaster left almost 20,000 people dead or missing.Meanwhile, the Hokkaido region is long overdue for such a powerful earthquake, the panel estimated. With a cycle taking 340 to 380 years on average, the last mega-quake is said to have occurred nearly 400 years ago. Back then, tsunami waves as high as 20 meters are believed to have traveled up to 4km inland.The report also outlined predictions for certain areas. An earthquake with a magnitude between 7.8 and 8.5 is likely to strike off Nemuro with a 70 percent probability. The Kuril Islands of Shikotan and Etorofu have a 60 percent chance.

We are hoping this report will help local municipal governments to make the necessary preparations and raise 

“We are examining the use of yuan instead of the US dollar for trade between the two countries,â€� the minister told the media after the official launch of the         Bilateral trade between Pakistan and China was worth $13.8 billion in 2015 to 2016, a decade after the countries signed a free trade agreement. Pakistan will continue to use the rupee domestically, according to Iqbal.

The LTP includes cooperation between the countries in energy, information network infrastructure, road and rail connections, trade and industrial parks, tourism, agriculture, and poverty alleviation. The plan will be implemented in three phases, the first ending in 2020, followed by another in 2025, with completion in 

Under the plan, the countries intend to develop multi-level cooperation and strengthen policy coordination, as well as establish and improve the cross-border credit system and financial services. Karachi and Beijing are also planning to enhance currency swap arrangements and create a bilateral payment and                Earlier this year, China pledged to invest $57 billion in Pakistan to fund the CPEC project as part of its “Belt and Roadâ€� initiative, which aims to build a ‘New Silk Road’ of land and sea trade routes across more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa

A South Korean defense ministry official said up to 20 warning shots were fired as North Korean troops approached too near the "military demarcation line" at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), apparently in search of the missing soldier.

Thursday's defection came about five weeks after a North Korean soldier suffered critical gunshot wounds during a defection dash across the border.

Two North Korean civilians were also found in a fishing boat on Wednesday and had sought to defect, officials in the South said.

That brings the total number of North Koreans who have defected by taking dangerous routes either directly across the border or by sea to 15 so far this year, including two other soldiers. That is three times the number last year, according to South Korean officials.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula were already high after reclusive, impoverished North Korea accelerated testing of its missile and nuclear programs this year in defiance of international pressure and UN sanctions.

The defections also threaten to complicate South Korea's efforts to ensure the smooth running of the 2018 Winter Olympics, which begin in Pyeongchang in February.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday he had proposed postponing major military drills with the United States until after the games in an attempt to soothe relations, although officials in Seoul later said any proposed delay would depend on the North not engaging in any "provocations."

In a notice published online, the U.S. military's 8th Army said a "significant number of North Korean propaganda leaflets and CDs" had been distributed at "strategic locations" on multiple U.S. military bases in South Korea.

The notice called on troops to report any suspicious individuals to help combat potential "insider threats" that could disrupt military operations.

The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, and North Korea says regular U.S.-South Korean military drills are a prelude to invasion. It regularly threatens to destroy the United States and its two key Asian allies, South Korea and Japan.© JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images A North Korean guard post (C) in the border county of Kaepoong is seen from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on November 14, 2017. 

Seoul says more than 880 North Koreans have defected to the rich, democratic South so far this year, but the vast majority have taken a less dangerous route through China.

Going through China, North Korea's neighbor and sole major ally, means they avoid the DMZ, which features landmines, barbed wire, surveillance cameras, electric fencing and thousands of armed troops on both sides.

The number of defectors arriving successfully in the South has dropped since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011, a trend defectors and experts say may be linked to a crackdown by Pyongyang.

There was no immediate comment from the secretive North about the latest incidents.

However, the North's state media released a statement sharply denying U.S. allegations this week that Pyongyang was behind a number of recent cyber attacks.

Washington has publicly blamed North Korean hackers for a cyber attack in May that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies. Researchers also say the North was likely behind attacks on virtual currency exchanges.

The military drills with the United States have also complicated relations with China. The proposed delay in drills was discussed during a summit between Moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week after the proposal was submitted to Washington, an official at the presidential Blue House said this week.

China and Russia have proposed a "freeze for freeze" arrangement under which North Korea would stop its nuclear and missile tests in exchange for a halt to the exercises, but there has been little interest from Washington or Pyongyang.

In Thursday's defection, a low-ranking soldier crossed the border near a South Korean guard post, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman, Roh Jae-cheon, said. No shots were fired at the soldier.

Surveillance equipment detected him despite heavy fog that limited visibility to about 100 meters (110 yards), Roh said.

South Korean guards fired about 20 warning shots at North Korean troops near the border presumably searching for the defector about half an hour later, a defense ministry official in the South told Reuters.

Gunfire from the North was detected later but the target could not be determined, the official said.

South Korea's Unification Ministry also said maritime police had found two North Korean men drifting in a small boat off the coast on Wednesday. The pair "expressed their willingness to defect," a ministry official said, and their claim for asylum was being investigated.

The North Korean soldier who was shot several times during a daring dash across the border on Nov. 13 has since been identified as 24-year-old Oh Chong Song and is now in a military hospital south of Seoul.

His treatment for gunshot wounds and pre-existing conditions has included two major operations and intelligence officials will begin questioning him soon. (Additional reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Heekyong Yang in SEOUL; Editing by Nick Macfie)

A mega earthquake as big as Fukushima may strike Japan within the next 30 years, a government report has showed.

On Tuesday, the Japanese government’s Earthquake Research Committee said in a revised report that there was a 70 percent chance that a magnitude 8 to 8.6 earthquake could hit eastern Hokkaido, Japan News reported.

The panel, headed by Professor Naoshi Hirata of the University of Tokyo, also predicted that the possibility of a magnitude 9.0 class earthquake hitting the same location within the next 30 years was between 7 to 40 percent.

“We are hoping this report will help local municipal governments to make necessary preparations and raise households' awareness of disaster risk,� Science and Technology Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

The report also outlined predictions for specific locations off the eastern coast of Hokkaido. A magnitude 8 to 8.6 is 70 percent likely to hit near Nemuro during the same time, and there is a 60 percent chance a quake will occur off the disputed Shikotan and Etorofu islands.

“I hope disaster preparations are reviewed based on the possibility that a super-gigantic quake like the one that struck the Tohoku region could also strike Hokkaido,� Naoshi Hirata, a seismology professor at the University of Tokyo and chairman of the panel’s Earthquake Research Committee, told the Asahi newspaper.

The predictions were based on data from the Great East Japan Earthquake which hit Hongshu in 2011. Dubbed the most powerful megaquake recorded in the country, the magnitude 9 shock caused subsequent tsunami waves that reached up to 130 ft in height and crashed 6 miles inland. 20,000 people were killed or presumed dead.

An earthquake cycle takes between 340 to 380 on average and the report noted that almost 400 years have passed since one hit the Kuril islands and Hokkaido region, reported the Japan Times. The panel believes one is long overdue.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Monday laid out a national security strategy based on Trump's "America First" vision, singling out of China and Russia as "revisionist powers" seeking not only to challenge U.S. power but to erode its security and prosperity.

China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday cooperation between China and the United States was the only correct choice.

The spokesman for its defense ministry, Ren Guoqiang, said in a statement posted on the ministry website late on Wednesday that the U.S. strategy had "without regard for the facts, created sensational hype over the modernization of China's defenses".

Ren also said the strategy had "called into question the intentions of China's military development plan" and that it ran counter to peace worldwide and the development of China's relations with the United States.

China's contribution to world peace was plain for all to see, he said.

"Attempts by any country or any document to distort the facts or cast aspersions will be in vain," Ren said.

China's armed forces, the world's largest, are in the midst of an ambitious modernization program, which includes investment in technology and new equipment such as stealth fighters and aircraft carriers, as well as cuts to troop numbers.

The tough U.S. national security strategy comes after Trump has sought to build strong relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump has called upon Xi to ensure China does more to help the United States rein in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.

The U.S. administration cited China's growing military might and its efforts to build military bases on manmade islands in the contested South China Sea as evidence of Chinese attempts to alter the status quo.

China says its expansion of islets in the South China Sea is for peaceful purposes only and that, as it has irrefutable sovereignty there, no other country has the right to question its actions.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Robert Birsel)

© KENA BETANCUR/AFP/AFP/Getty Images US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley speaks during a UN Security Council meeting over the situation in the Middle East on December 18, 2017, at UN Headquarters in New York. The UN Security…The US faces an embarrassing loss in the United Nations General Assembly Thursday

 despite comments by President Donald Trump suggesting countries that vote against the US could face repercussions.Egypt called for a vote at the UN General Assembly after the US vetoed a resolution put to the Security Council rejecting Washington's decision to recognize Jerusalem and relocate its embassy there. The US cannot veto General Assembly motions, which require a simple majority to be adopted."We're watching those votes," Trump said Wednesday. "Let them vote against us, we'll save a lot. We don't care. But this isn't like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and nobody knows what they're doing."US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also attempted to put pressure on other countries not to vote against Washington, vowing to "take names."But how realistic is this threat? And which governments are most vulnerable to US economic pressure? Massive military aid budgetIronically, one of the most vulnerable to US financial pressure is also the least likely to go against Washington in Thursday's UN vote: Israel. In 2016, Israel received $3.1 billion in military funding from the US, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Only Afghanistan and Iraq, where the US has been involved militarily since 2001 and 2003 respectively, received more money from the US Department of Defense (DOD). The fourth biggest recipient of military funding however, is far more sensitive. Egypt received $1.1 billion from the DOD's Foreign Military Financing program and it's Cairo which is leading the push at the UN to condemn Trump's Jerusalem decision. US funding has made up around 20-25% of Egypt's total military budget in recent years, according to statistics from the International Institute for Strategic Studies. No other country gives a comparable amount in military assistance to Cairo. While that spending might make both a good carrot and stick, a chunk of it was already suspended over human rights concerns. There were reported plans to resume it next year, but Trump could very well reverse that. Any long term cutting off of aid to Egypt's military -- which has run the country since a coup in 2013 -- is unlikely. US spending in Egypt ramped up after Cairo signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, and the country remains vital to US security interests in the wider region. Overseas development assistanceMilitary spending may be the biggest cudgel Washington has to bring to bear, but it's also the least likely to be cut. Most countries that receive significant military assistance from the US do so because they are key to American security interests -- like Iraq, Ukraine or Pakistan. Overseas development assistance, such as that provided by USAID, is a more likely target for cuts -- though reductions would still have a knock on effect on US businesses and citizens who rely on projects funded by donor programs. Trump has long been a skeptic of foreign aid, claiming the US is being taken advantage of. Since coming to power he has pledged to cut US overseas assistance, which at $43 billion previously only made up around 1 to 2% of the federal budget, or almost 10% of what has been spent on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.Of the top 10 recipients of USAID money in 2016, many were African nations, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Unlike Middle Eastern nations, which will face strong pressure internally to condemn the US Jerusalem move, these countries are also potentially less invested in supporting the Palestinians. However, unlike in the Middle East and North Africa, where US assistance, particularly militarily, makes up a large portion of the total, African nations also receive significant funding from other sources. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which tracks global aid spending, between 2014-2015, Ethiopia received some $700 million from the US, compared to more than $800 million from the World Bank, $526 million from the UK and $224 million from European Union funds. South Sudan will be more wary of losing US funds, which were more than the next four top donors combined, but Kenya, Nigeria and the DRC all receive significant sums from other sources, particularly the World Bank and the UK. Any US retreat from Africa would also be a huge boon to China, which has been massively increasing its footprint and influence on the continent. Beijing is already poised to replace Washington as the primary donor for much of the developing world, according to watchdog AidData, with much of its spending already going to African nations. Nick Bisley, a professor of international relations at Australia's La Trobe University, said any move by the US to cut foreign assistance would be seen as a major opportunity by China. "If (Washington) were to follow through on this threat, people who had that money withheld can go to Beijing," he said, where China's leaders are very much "in the market for winning friends and influence." Breach of diplomatic normsIt's difficult to judge how seriously to take Haley and Trump's threats, and whether they are being followed up with behind-the-scenes diplomatic pressure on certain countries to vote in Washington's favor. But it remains almost impossible the US could sway enough countries to avoid censure by the General Assembly, where only a simple majority is required. Nor will US pressure necessarily have the effect Washington hopes. "Personalizing it, making it a vote for or against President Trump, is a bizarrely stupid tactic," said Richard Gowan, a New York based UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. A senior foreign diplomat, who spoke anonymously to protect relations with the US, told CNN Wednesday "no matter how close we can be to the US, we are keen to keep up our longstanding attachment to UN Security Council resolutions on the Jerusalem status." "For many members, especially Western ones, their votes reflect positions they've held for 50 years," the diplomat said. "The two-state solution, the status of Jerusalem through negotiation, etc. — they are supposed to abandon 50 years of policy, for what exactly?"Every other member of the Security Council, including staunch US allies Japan and the UK, voted in favor of Egypt's earlier resolution this week. Bisley said Trump and Haley's rhetoric was "pretty crude and unsophisticated" and symptomatic of the administration's lack of a broader view of world affairs and the US role in them. "They see everything in a short-term, reactive way, and don't see how this has negative repercussions for global influence," he said. "There's a real lack of big picture thinking and sense of the big, interconnected world out there." The diplomat added any significant US pressure on this issue could leave Washington isolated when it needs UN support on issues like North Korea or Iran. "Most of the time, the diplomatic community in New York is willing to put up with (Haley's) rhetorical flourishes," said Gowan. "This week is a bit different."CNN's Nicole Gaouette, Richard Roth and Michelle Kosinski contributed reporting.

\© Provided by AFP Map locating the area where a ferry capsized in the Philippines. Four people were killed and 11 others were missing Thursday after a ferry with hundreds on board capsized in stormy weather off the Philippines, rescuers said.Over 200 passengers and crew were plucked to safety after the Mercraft 3 keeled over in heavy seas en route to a remote island, officials said."The wind suddenly picked up and the boat was forced to stop when the bow started taking in water. Passengers ran to the side just before it tipped over," student Donel Mendiola told DZMM radio."Some of us swam, but I saw some old people who were apparently already dead," Mendiola said.Two men and two women were killed, while the search for those still missing has been suspended for the night, Ron Crisostomo, a civil defence official in Infanta town near Real told AFP."It was rainy and the wind was up. It was no longer safe for the rescuers, but they will continue tomorrow," Crisostomo said.Janet Balili, a local council member, told ABS-CBN television 11 people remain missing. The station aired footage of rescuers taking injured survivors to a hospital. Four body bags were also seen being laid out on the floor.The boat tipped over between the remote island of Polillo and Real town, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of Manila, shortly before noon (0400 GMT), the coastguard said.It said the ferry was carrying 251 passengers and crew when it left the port of Real for Polillo, a 2.5-hour trip."We believe the weather was a big factor" in the accident, coastguard spokesman Armand Balilo told a news conference in Manila.The ferry sailed as Tropical Storm Tembin loomed over the southern Philippines, nearly a thousand kilometres away.The vessel, which is licensed to carry up to 286 people, was allowed to sail as there were no storm warnings at or around Real or Polillo, Balilo said.The government had advised Filipinos planning to return to their home provinces for Christmas to do so earlier than usual to avoid heavy weather forecast to hit ahead of the holidays.Another storm killed more than 40 people in the central Philippines last weekend.The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, is plagued by poor sea transport, with its badly regulated boats and ships prone to overcrowding and accidents. The latest incident occurred 30 years after another Philippine ferry, the Dona Paz, collided with an oil tanker in a pre-Christmas accident that claimed more than 4,000 lives in the world's worst peacetime disaster at sea.More recently, the Kim Nirvana ferry capsized shortly after departure off the city of Ormoc in the central Philippines in 2015, killing 61 people. The accident was thought to have been due to overcrowding. 

U.S. military forces reportedly trained earlier this month for a mission that would put them on North Korean soil, with the objective of “infiltrating" and "removing weapons of mass destruction," according to foreign military sources.

Revealing photos of a recent exercise, dubbed Warrior Strike IX, show a U.S. military unit known as "The Black Jack Brigade" training alongside their South Korean counterparts at Camp Stanley, in Korea. The pictures were featured in a post on the unit's Facebook page.

The images show soldiers training with night-vision equipment, armored vehicles and full-face protective gear, including gas masks. Descriptions of the event suggest soldiers practiced for eventualities such as transporting injured comrades and capturing combatants.

According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which quoted anonymous military sources, the combined exercise was designed to simulate "infiltrating North Korea and removing weapons of mass destruction in case of conflict." An Army spokesperson stationed in South Korea declined to comment.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested repeatedly that one of his main goals in Korea was to avoid sending U.S. forces into North Korean territory. But he also seemed to concede last week that is a scenario that might need to be addressed.

On Dec. 13, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert reiterated to reporters what Tillerson has described as the four things he won’t do when it comes to North Korea – a list he calls the “four no’s.�

"We are not seeking the collapse of the North Korean regime. We are not seeking regime change. We are not seeking the accelerated reunification of the Korean Peninsula. And we are not seeking an excuse to send our military north of the [border with South Korea]," according to Nauert.

She was responding to a question concerning remarks Tillerson had made a day earlier. Speaking to an audience at the 2017 Atlantic Council-Korea Foundation Forum on Dec. 12, Tillerson was asked about concerns China could experience a mass influx of refugees in the event of a regime collapse in Pyongyang.

© Provided by Fox News While acknowledging those concerns, Tillerson noted refugees wouldn't be the most pressing problem.

"The most important thing to us would be securing those nuclear weapons they’ve already developed and ensuring that they – that nothing falls into the hands of people we would not want to have it.� He added the Chinese have apparently been privy to some of the planning that's been done for this eventuality, which includes the crossing of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), otherwise known as the 38th Parallel.

"We have had conversations that if something happened and we had to go across a line, we have given the Chinese assurances we would go back and retreat back to the south of the 38th Parallel when whatever the conditions that caused that to happen," Tillerson said.

In rare remarks before the U.N. Security Council on Dec. 15, North Korea's ambassador suggested his nation's pursuit of nuclear weapons is a direct response to "nuclear blackmail" on behalf of the United States.

John Bolton, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and a Fox News contributor, dismissed the North Korean speech as "propaganda.� He added one of the only solutions he sees when it comes to North Korea's nuclear arsenal is to convince China to support a regime change in Pyongyang.

If that solution doesn't pan out, however, Bolton suggested the U.S. could soon be forced to make a difficult decision.

"We're either going to have to kind of play it using military force, or accept that North Korea will be the nuclear arms sale center of the world - to Iran, to terrorist groups, to other third-world countries that have nuclear aspirations,� Bolton said. “That is not a future I look forward to," he added.

The notion of "regime change" is a frequent topic of conversation. It can mean everything from putting pressure on allies to support a transition of power to actually removing political leaders by force - sometimes referred to as a political "decapitation."

As Fox News reported over the summer, a South Korean lawmaker suggested the country's intelligence agency had determined North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is so terrified of being targeted that he travels incognito, and is now "obsessed with collecting information about the 'decapitation operation' through his intelligence agencies."

According to that South Korean lawmaker, Kim is so frightened that he now disguises his movements, travels primarily at dawn, and in the cars of his henchmen. Public appearances and jaunts in his prized Mercedes Benz 600 have been curtailed.

North Korea’s U.N. representative referenced the “beheading operation� in a sternly worded, 2016 letter to the Security Council, suggesting the joint military operations regularly conducted by the U.S. and South Korea “constitute a grave threat to [North Korea], as well as international peace and security.�

By January of this year, there were reports South Korea was speeding up the creation of a specialized unit designed for this mission, initially slated to be ready by 2019.

During this year's Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises with South Korea, one of the largest annual military exercises in the world, members of U.S. Navy SEAL teams reportedly participated in decapitation drills with South Korean counterparts for the first time.

Airwars , an independent organization that documents air and artillery strikes in Iraq and Syria and shared its database with the AP."There doesn't seem to be any disagreement about that, except from the federal government and the coalition. And understanding how those civilians died, and obviously ISIS played a big part in that as well, could help save a lot of lives the next time something like this has to happen. And the disinterest in any sort of investigation is very disheartening," Woods said, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group.In addition to the Airwars database, the AP analyzed information from Amnesty International , Iraq Body Count and a United Nations report. The AP also obtained a list of 9,606 people killed during the operation from Mosul's morgue. Hundreds of dead civilians are believed to still be buried in the rubble.Of the nearly 10,000 deaths the AP found, around a third of the casualties died in bombardments by the U.S.-led coalition or Iraqi forces, the AP analysis found. Another third of the dead were killed in the Islamic State group's final frenzy of violence. And it could not be determined which side was responsible for the deaths of the remainder, who were cowering in neighborhoods battered by airstrikes, IS explosives and mortar rounds from all sides.But the morgue total would be many times higher than official tolls. Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi told the AP that 1,260 civilians were killed in the fighting. The U.S.-led coalition has not offered an overall figure. The coalition relies on drone footage, video from cameras mounted on weapons systems and pilot observations. Its investigators have neither visited the morgue nor requested its data.What is clear from the tallies is that as coalition and Iraqi government forces increased their pace, civilians were dying in ever higher numbers at the hands of their liberators: from 20 the week the operation began in mid-October 2016 to 303 in a single week at the end of June 2017, according to the AP tally.Abdel-Hafiz Mohammed, who kept his job as undertaker throughout the militants' rule, has carved approximately 2,000 headstones for the al-Jadidah graveyard since October 2016.After the city fell to IS in 2014, undertakers like him handled the victims of beheadings and stonings; there were men accused of homosexuality who had been flung from rooftops. But once the operation to free the city started, the scope of Mohammed's work changed yet again."Now I carve stones for entire families," Mohammed said, gesturing to a stack of four headstones, all bearing the same name. "It's a single family, all killed in an airstrike."___DYING AT HOME, ON THE FRONTMosul was home to more than a million civilians before the fight to retake it from IS. Fearing a massive humanitarian crisis, the Iraqi government dropped leaflets or had soldiers tell families to stay put as the final battle loomed in late 2016.Thousands were trapped when the front line enveloped densely populated neighborhoods.Blast injuries, gunshot and shrapnel killed thousands as the Mosul operation ground westward, according to morgue documents.When Iraqi forces became bogged down in late December, the Pentagon adjusted the rules regarding the use of airpower, allowing airstrikes to be called in by more ground commanders with less chain-of-command oversight.At the same time, Islamic State group fighters took thousands of civilians with them in their retreat west. They packed hundreds of families into schools and government buildings, sometimes shunting civilians through tunnels from one fighting position to another.They expected the tactic would dissuade airstrikes and artillery. They were wrong.As the fight punched into western Mosul, the morgue logs filled with civilians increasingly killed by being "blown to pieces."By early March, Iraqi officials and the U.S.-led coalition could see that civilian deaths were spiking, but held the course. The result, in Mosul and later in the group's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, was a city left in ruins by the battle to save it.Most of the civilians killed in west Mosul died under the weight of collapsed buildings, hit by airstrikes, mortars, artillery shells or IS-laid explosives. The morgue provided lists of names of civilians and place of death. Names often included entire families.The coalition has defended its operational choices, saying it was the Islamic State group that put civilians in danger as it clung to power."It is simply irresponsible to focus criticism on inadvertent casualties caused by the Coalition's war to defeat ISIS," Col. Thomas Veale, a coalition spokesman, told the AP in response to questions about civilian deaths."Without the Coalition's air and ground campaign against ISIS, there would have inevitably been additional years, if not decades of suffering and needless death and mutilation in Syria and Iraq at the hands of terrorists who lack any ethical or moral standards," he added.Civilian deaths in the second half of the battle reflected the looser rules of engagement for airstrikes and the sheer numbers of trapped residents. From Oct. 17 to Feb. 19, the AP tally found at least 576 deaths by coalition or Iraqi munitions.From Feb. 19 — when the fight crossed the Tigris River — to mid-July, there were nearly 2,400 civilian deaths. That total is in addition to the 326 confirmed by the coalition in the city. The U.S. and Australia are the only two coalition countries to acknowledge civilian deaths, though France had fighter jets and artillery and the UK also carried out airstrikes.Of the nearly 10,000 names listed by the morgue, around 4,200 were confirmed as civilian dead in the battle. The AP discarded names that were obviously those of Islamic State group fighters and casualties brought in from outside Mosul. Among the remaining 6,000 are likely some number of Islamic State group extremists, but the morgue civilian toll tracks closely with numbers gathered during the battle itself by Airwars and others.Neither toll includes thousands of people killed by the Islamic State group who are believed to be in mass graves in and around Mosul, including as many as 4,000 in the natural crevasse known as Khasfa.Imad Ibrahim, a civil defense rescuer from west Mosul, survived the battle to retake the city and is now tasked with excavating the dead. He mostly works in the Old City, where on a recent day the streets still reeked of rotting flesh."Sometimes you can see the bodies. They're visible under the rubble. Other times we dig for hours, and suddenly find 15 to 30 all in one place. That's when you know they were sheltering, hiding from the airstrikes," Ibrahim said.Behind him an excavator dug through jagged cement blocks, searching for the body of a woman who was hiding in her home when it was hit by an airstrike.Ibrahim said he spent years waiting for liberation, but the victory itself was hollow."Honestly, none of this was worth it."___DIGGING INTO DEATHBy dawn, dozens of Mosul families begin to line up outside the civil defense office each day. One by one they flatly describe their personal tragedies: "We buried my cousin's body in the garden under the tree." ''My mother was hiding in the back of the house, near the kitchen when the airstrike hit her home." ''We buried my father in the street in front of our home after he was shot."Radwan Majid said he lost both his children to an airstrike in May."There were three Daesh in front of my house, so when the airstrike hit, it also killed my children," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group."We can see their bodies under the rubble, but we can't reach them by ourselves," he said. "All I want is to give them a proper burial."Reports of civilian deaths began to dominate military planning meetings in Baghdad in February and early March, according to a senior Western diplomat who was present but not authorized to speak on the record.After a single coalition strike killed more than 100 civilians in Mosul's al-Jadidah neighborhood on March 17, the entire fight was put on hold for three weeks. Under intense international pressure , the coalition sent a team into the city to investigate.Iraq's special forces units were instructed that they were no longer allowed to call in strikes on buildings. Instead, the forces were told to call in airstrikes on gardens and roads adjacent to IS group targets.A WhatsApp group shared by coalition advisers and Iraqi forces coordinating airstrikes previously named "killing daesh 24/7" was wryly renamed "scaring daesh 24/7.""It was clear that the whole strategy in western Mosul had to be reconfigured," said the Western diplomat.But on the ground, Iraqi special forces officers said after the operational pause, they returned to the fight just as before.The WhatsApp group's name was changed back to "killing daesh."The Pentagon investigation into the March strike concluded that a U.S. bomb resulted in the deaths of 105 civilians but ultimately blamed secondary explosions from IS-laid bombs.The 500-pound (227-kilogram) bomb, the investigation concluded, "appropriately balanced the military necessity of neutralizing (two IS) snipers." Witnesses and survivors told the AP that IS had not set any explosives in the house that was hit. The house was packed with families sheltering from the fighting.At the time, just two American officers were fielding all allegations of civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria from a base in Kuwait. The team now has seven members, though none sets foot inside Mosul or routinely collects physical evidence.The Americans say they do not have the resources to send a team into Mosul; an AP reporter visited the morgue six times in six weeks and spoke to morgue officials and staffers dozens of times in person and over the phone.Because of what the coalition considers insufficient information, the majority of civilian casualty allegations are deemed "not credible" before an investigation ever begins .Col. Joseph Scrocca, a coalition spokesman, defended the coalition figures in an interview in May, saying they may seem low because of a meticulous process designed to "get to the truth" and help protect civilians in the future."I do believe the victims of these strikes deserve to know what happened to their families, Scrocca said. "We owe them that."Daoud Salem Mahmoud survived the fight for the Old City by hiding with his family in a windowless room deep inside their home.With the fight over, Mahmoud now returns to his neighborhood daily to retrieve the dead. He's recovered hundreds of bodies of extended family members and neighbors.A large, imposing figure, Mahmoud breaks down in tears when asked to describe specific events at the height of the violence. But without a moment of hesitation, he said he believes the fight to retake the city was worthwhile.Despite the death and destruction, he said he now feels like his family has a chance at a future brighter than his own."Everything can be rebuilt. It's the lives lost that cannot be replaced," he said. Then, shaking his head, he added, "This war, it turned Mosul into a graveyard."___Michael reported from Cairo and Hinnant from Paris.

South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Program Administration has established a process for procuring the 20 additional aircraft, the Joongang Ilbo newspaper reported, citing multiple government sources.

In 2014 South Korea formally announced a plan to buy 40 F-35As from American defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

(Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Michael Perry)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/south-korea-plans-to-buy-20-additional-f-35-aircraft-report/ar-BBH5Vgh?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp

© Provided by IBT Media North Korea has countered President Donald Trump's accusations that supreme leader Kim Jong Un was developing chemical and biological weapons, claiming that it was the U.S. that had developed such weapons of mass destruction and used them in various conflicts around the world, including on the Korean Peninsula.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for American Studies issued a statement Wednesday in response to claims by "some U.S. media and experts" that the reclusive, militarized state had amassed a deadly arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. The state-run institute denied the charge, which was recently included in Trump's debut National Security Strategy, and branded the U.S. "an empire of evils full of plots, fabrications, lies and deceptions." Attacking the U.S.'s long history of involvement in conflicts abroad, the government body then suggested that the Pentagon's own alleged use of chemical and biological agents during warfare against North Korea and other foes may have been racially motivated.

"The barbarous bacteriological atrocities perpetrated by the U.S. imperialist beasts during the Korean War still stand in relief in our people's memories," the institute's press director said in a statement, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

"And they are also the American politicians and the white supremacists making conceived attempts for state terrorism and racial extinction through overt research and development of the biological weapons in the worldwide-scattered U.S. laboratories," it added.

The 1950-1953 conflict fought between North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, supported by the U.S. and U.N., followed the post-World War II division of the Korean Peninsula and has been widely regarded as the first active conflict of the Cold War. The Korean War ended in what was essentially a territorial stalemate and an armistice that offered no lasting guarantee of peace, paving the way for decades of hostility between the rival neighbors.

Residual enmity, especially from the North Korean side, has been fueled in the form of accusations of war crimes committed during the vicious conflict. All three generations of North Korea's ruling Kim dynasty have charged the U.S. and its allies of causing wanton death and destruction via a massive, non-discriminatory air campaign and of weaponizing diseases to wipe out communist forces. The U.S. has fervently denied resorting to biological warfare, but it may have taken then-President Harry Truman himself to prevent the U.S. military from using a nuclear bomb by relieving his top commander, General Douglas MacArthur, when China intervened in 1951.

As the conflict raged on abroad, the U.S. did, however, test dispersing biological agents on its own people, including in the city of San Francisco between September 1950 and February 1951. In June 1966, the U.S. exposed commuters on the New York City subway system to an anthrax substitute. While these experiments were generally considered harmless, if not ethically ambiguous, the infamous, four-decade Tuskegee syphilis experiment both anticipated the suffering of its unknowing participants and was explicitly racial in nature. From 1932 to 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service recruited hundreds of African-Americans suffering from syphilis, purporting to help them, while in actuality refusing them adequate treatment to test the progression of the disease.

The uncovering of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the outrage that ensued led to other revelations, including a 1946-1948 U.S. government experiment in which U.S. health workers intentionally infected hundreds of unconsenting Guatemalans with gonorrhea and syphilis. The study reportedly included Guatemalan sex workers who were later encouraged to spread the disease among locals. In 2010, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized for the experiment, calling it "clearly unethical," in a statement cited by Reuters.

North Korea has long been critical of U.S. foreign policy abroad, especially the 21st-century invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter of which was partially inspired by the belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Despite international sanctions, North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon in 2006 and further U.S. intervention in conflicts in countries such as Libya and Syria hardened its resolve to develop a hydrogen bomb and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S., both of which the youngest Kim managed to do this year, despite Trump's threats.

Facing increased U.S. military pressure, North Korea has vowed to cling to its nuclear weapons as long as it felt Washington posed a danger to Kim's government, but has deflected claims it possessed thousands of tons of chemical weapons of its own and reports of human rights abuses. North Korea has instead accused the U.S. of devising "Plan Jupiter," an alleged U.S. chemical and biological assault "to exterminate the Korean nation in order to realize its wild ambition for dominating the world." North Korea then claimed to have foiled such a plot against Kim's life in May, but did not provide any specific details of the alleged attempt.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-accuses-us-of-racist-biological-attacks/ar-BBH5CBe?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp

© ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images This photo taken on November 21, 2017 shows a general view of a public sqaure in Rason. At the northeastern tip of North Korea, where the isolated, nuclear-armed country meets its giant neighbours China and Russia…The United States has given China a draft resolution for tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea and is hoping for a quick vote on it by the U.N. Security Council, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday.

A senior official of the Trump administration confirmed efforts were under way to negotiate a new U.N. resolution, but added that there had been no agreement.

"We're trying to get another one," said the official, who did not want to be identified. "They're not there yet."

Details of the draft given to China last week were not immediately available, but the United States is keen to step up global sanctions to pressure North Korea to give up a weapons program aimed at developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.

Among the steps it wants is a tightening of restrictions on North Korea's supply of refined petroleum, which is capped by previous U.N. sanctions at 2 million barrels a year.

China, which supplies most of North Korea's oil, has backed successive rounds of U.N. sanctions but has resisted past U.S. calls to cut off supplies to its neighbor. Its embassy in Washington and Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Any move to curb exports of Chinese fuel to North Korea may have limited impact after China National Petroleum Corp suspended diesel and gasoline sales to its northern neighbor in June over concerns the state-owned company would not get paid.

Business has slowed steadily since then, with zero shipments of diesel, gasoline and other fuel in October. November data will be released on Monday.

The United States has also called on the U.N. Security Council to blacklist 10 ships for circumventing sanctions on North Korea, documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday showed.

The documents said vessels had been conducting ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum products to North Korean vessels or transporting North Korean coal in violation of existing U.N. sanctions.

Earlier on Tuesday, China responded to the announcement of a new U.S. national security strategy this week that branded Beijing a competitor seeking to challenge U.S. power by saying that cooperation between it and Washington would lead to a win-win outcome for both sides, but confrontation would bring mutual losses. 

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Josephine Mason; Writing by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Richard Chang and Paul Tait)

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a measure critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s warning that the move could put funding for their nations and the global body at risk. 

The nonbinding UN resolution passed on Thursday by a vote of 128-9, with 35 nations abstaining. Key U.S. allies backing the measure over Trump’s threats included the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and Germany. The U.S. was joined in opposition by countries including Guatemala, Nauru and Micronesia. Abstentions included Australia, Canada and Argentina.

“The United States will remember this day when it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly,â€� Haley said at the U.N. podium ahead of the vote. “We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they often do, to pay even more. This vote will be remembered.â€� 

That threat was repudiated by speakers from countries supporting the resolution, which says the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations. A similar resolution had 14 votes in favor in the 15-member Security Council last week, prompting Haley to exercise the first U.S. veto since 2011. 

We were all asked to vote no or face the consequences,â€� Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said before Thursday’s vote. “Some even threatened to cut development aid. This is bullying. It is unethical to think that the votes and dignity of member states are for sale.â€� 

The debate follows Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement, which included a decision to begin moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The announcement prompted criticism across the Middle East and from key U.S. allies in Europe who said it would harm efforts to foster Middle East peace. 

Haley and her team argued afterward that 21 nations not present for the vote — including Moldova, Zambia and the Caribbean island nations of Saint Lucia and St. Kitts & Nevis — should be counted as backing the U.S. position. 

A U.S. spokesman said the vote breakdown made clear that many countries gave their relationship with the U.S. priority over an attempt to isolate the country over a decision it had the sovereign right to make. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a similar point, with his office issuing a statement praising “the great number of countries that did not vote for the action.â€� 

U.S. allies who backed the measure didn’t see it that way. 

“The resolution adopted today only confirms relevant international law,â€� said Francois Delattre, France’s ambassador to the U.N. “It is more important than ever to rally the international community around the agreed parameters of the peace process, and this of course includes the U.S.â€� 

Palestinian officials said Trump’s Jerusalem decision disqualified the U.S. from being a mediator in any Israel-Palestinian negotiations. 

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Russia ramped up its calls for the U.S. military to depart from Syria on Thursday, contending it has no substantial reasons to be in the country and its presence there "must end."Any reasons cited by the Americans to justify their further military presence... are just excuses and we think their presence must end," Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy to Syria, told reporters. Lavrentiev was in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday ahead of peace talks regarding the Syria conflict between Russia, Iran and Turkey, Reuters reports. Russia, a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has played a significant role in the Syria conflict. 

This is not the first time the Russian government has expressed such views in recent weeks. Russia seemingly feels the U.S. military has no purpose in Syria now that the the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has largely lost its foothold in Syria and Iraq. The envoy's remarks also come after the U.S. and Russia have sparred over airspace in Syria. In mid-December, two U.S. warplanes in Syria were diverted from supporting ground operations against ISIS to intercept Russian fighter jets that allegedly crossed into U.S. coalition airspace. 

But the Pentagon has signified it has no plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria any time in the near future. "We are going to maintain our commitment on the ground as long as we need to, to support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups," Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon told Agence France-Presse earlier this month. "To ensure an enduring defeat of ISIS, the coalition must ensure it cannot regenerate, reclaim lost ground or plot external attacks," he added. There are currently nearly 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, according to numbers from the Pentagon. 

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, it has claimed more than 400,000 lives, according to the U.N., and contributed to the worst refugee crisis since World War II. 

It's an emergency even when your symptoms are mild.
                   

Women don't always feel chest pain. Compared to men, they're more likely to have heartburn or heart flutters, lose their appetite, cough, or feel tired or weak. Don't ignore these symptoms. The longer you wait to get treatment, the more damage can be done.
                   

If you think you're having a heart attack, call 911 right away, even if you're not sure. Don't wait to see if you feel better. And don't drive yourself to the hospital. The EMS team will come to you and start work right away. A fast response can save your life.

California evokes images of sunny beaches, majestic mountains, Hollywood celebs, coastal highways and all variations of good times.

But lately, the Golden State has elicited visions of a different kind -- houses buried in mud, scorched hillsides and flu-stricken hospital patients.

Californians have dealt with all that and more in these first, whirlwind days of 2018. Pretty much every day so far, the state has made headlines for one calamity or the other.

The rainy season had a horrendous start in Southern California, where heavy rains this week triggered deadly mudslides that killed at least 17 people. Raging rivers of mud and debris rushed down hillsides in Santa Barbara County, wiping out or burying homes down below. Rescuers are digging through mud, downed trees and power lines, wrecked cars and even boulders searching for survivors. Some were plucked off their rooftop by helicopters while mud surged through their home. At least eight people remain missing.

The affluent coastal town of Montecito was hit especially hard. A "deep rumbling" sound followed by massive mountains of mud awakened residents early Tuesday when the slides hit. Residents had little or no time to flee. Rescuers pulled children and babies from the muck, including a 14-year-old girl -- coated in mud from head to foot -- after she was trapped for hours.

The mudslide was so massive that it temporarily shut down US 101, a major West Coast highway, from Montecito to Santa Barbara. Oprah Winfrey, who lives in the area, wasn't spared. She shared photos of the damage on social media, including a video of her walking through knee-deep mud in her backyard.

Wildfires

Mudslides aren't anything new in California, but they were made much worse when the rains that spawned them dislodged vegetation in areas charred by wildfires. Protective brush on hillsides, which would usually be able to soak up floodwater, was consumed by fire, leaving little to no vegetation to prevent mudslides and debris flow.

Wildfires were an absolute menace in California last year. Blazes took 39 lives and torched 199,000 acres in the wine country fires in Northern California in October. One firefighter was killed in the Southern California fires in December. And the largest of those fires smoldered on into 2018. The Thomas Fire -- the 282,000-acre monster blaze that burned an area the size of Dallas and Miami combined -- is still burning, listed at 92% contained by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It's the largest fire in state history.

Deadly flu season

The flu season has slammed California so far. There have been 27 flu-related deaths of patients younger than 65, more than normally seen during this point of the season.

"Usually, at this time of year, we have reported in the neighborhood of three or four deaths in people under age 65," said Dr. James Watt, chief of the Division of Communicable Disease Control at the state Department of Public Health.

California is one of 26 states that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified as having "high" flu activity.

More people in the state are in the hospital with flu-like symptoms, and there's been some shortages of medications, such as Tamiflu, in pharmacies.

There is some good news though. There is no widespread shortage of the influenza vaccine in California, so if you haven't had that flu shot yet, go ahead and roll up those sleeves.

Earthquakes

Quakes and California go hand in hand, and the state's first big temblor came four days into the new year.

A magnitude 4.4 quake jolted the Bay Area in the early morning hours a week ago near Berkeley. It woke people up from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz. It didn't seem to do much damage beyond some broken dishes and windows, but it forced delays on area commuter trains so that inspectors could check the tracks.

Thankfully there weren't any deaths or major damage, but it drove home another fact of life for Californians: The threat of the "next big one" may be right around the corner.

Iran on Saturday rejected any modification of its nuclear deal with world powers after US President Donald Trump demanded tough new measures to keep the agreement alive.

Iran "will not accept any amendments in this agreement, be it now or in the future, and it will not allow any other issues to be linked to the JCPOA," the foreign ministry said in a statement, using the 2015 deal's technical name.

Trump again waived nuclear-related sanctions on Friday -- as required every few months to stay in the agreement -- but demanded European partners work with the United States to "fix the deal's disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw".

 

He said the new deal should curb Iran's missile programme and include permanent restrictions on Iran's nuclear plants, removing expiration dates due to kick in after a decade.
But Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the 2015 deal could not be renegotiated.

North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold working-level talks at the Tongil Pavilion on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on Jan. 15, South Korea's unification ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The delegation led by the unification minister Cho Myung-kyun, will be sent to hold talks on the prospects of North Korea sending its performance art group to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, the ministry said in a statement.

Inter-Korean talks are held alternately at the Peace House, which is on the South Korean side of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone, and Tongil Pavilion in the North.

The ministry said earlier on Saturday that North Korea had proposed holding talks on Jan. 15 about the matter.

"In addition, the ministry also requested for a quick response for South Korea's proposal on Jan. 12 to have working-level talks about the North's participation in Pyongchang winter Olympics," added the ministry.

Officials from North and South earlier this week said they had agreed to hold negotiations to resolve problems and avert accidental conflict, after their first official dialogue in more than two years amid high tension over the North's weapons program.

South Korea had also said that it is seeking to form a combined women's hockey team with the North. The North Korea's International Olympics Committee (IOC) official said the committee is considering the proposal, while the two sides will also have talks hosted by IOC on Jan. 20.In a joint statement after 11 hours of talks on Tuesday, North and South Korea said they had agreed to hold military to military talks and that North Korea would send a large delegation to next month's Winter Olympics.Washington welcomed as a first step to solving the North Korean nuclear weapons crisis, even though Pyongyang said those were aimed only at the United States and not up for discussion.(Reporting by Dahee Kim; editing by Alexander Smith and Ros Russell)

Russian jets launched a series of live-fire maneuvers in skies near its borders with North Korea and northern China in the first air drills held in the east of the country in 2018. 

Russia is one of only three countries that shares a land border with North Korea. Last year, its armed forces undertook a series of drills that included practice bombings by the air force, paratrooper jumps and amphibious landings by water.

Russian jets launched a series of live-fire maneuvers in skies near its borders with North Korea and northern China in the first air drills held in the east of the country in 2018. 

Russia is one of only three countries that shares a land border with North Korea. Last year, its armed forces undertook a series of drills that included practice bombings by the air force, paratrooper jumps and amphibious landings by water.