North Korea details Guam strike plan and calls Trump 'bereft of reason'
Pyongyang says it will launch four missiles into waters ‘30-40km’ off US territory in Pacific OceanNorth Korea has defied threats of “fire and fury” from Donald Trump, deriding his warning as a “load of nonsense” and announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles aimed at the waters off the coast of the US Pacific territory of Guam.
A statement attributed to General Kim Rak Gyom, the head of the country’s strategic forces, declared: “Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him”. The general outlined a plan to carry out a demonstration launch of four intermediate-range missiles that would fly over Japan and then land in the sea around Guam, “enveloping” the island.
“The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA [Korean People’s Army] will cross the sky above Shimani, Hiroshima and Koichi prefectures of Japan,” the statement said. “They will fly for 3,356.7 km for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40km away from Guam.”
Canada builds camp to house asylum seekers near US border
Canada has sent a hundred soldiers to the US border to build a temporary camp for asylum applicants. The Trump administration's targeting of displaced people has led to thousands of unofficial crossings.
With as many as 250 displaced people crossing into Canada from the United States every day - up from 50 just two weeks ago - Canadian soldiers are to help build a temporary camp for 500 asylum seekers who cross the remote Roxham Road border point in northern New York state and southern Quebec.
The military said the soldiers would help the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada
Border Services Agency at the site but would not be involved in security operations. The soldiers will also install lighting and heating equipment.
Canadian police have already set up a reception center in the Quebec community of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Montreal, which is 300 miles (480 kilometers) over the border north of New York City.
Border Services Agency at the site but would not be involved in security operations. The soldiers will also install lighting and heating equipment.
Dozens of young migrants 'deliberately drowned' off Yemen coast, says UN
Up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were "deliberately drowned" when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen's coast, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday, calling the drownings "shocking and inhumane."
International Organization for Migration staffers found the shallow graves of 29 of the migrants on a beach in Shabwa during a routine patrol, the agency's statement said. The dead were buried by those who survived.
At least 22 migrants remained missing, the IOM said. The passengers' average age was around 16, the agency said.
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route despite Yemen's ongoing conflict. Migrants try to make their way to the oil-rich Gulf countries.South-east Asian regimes step up repression of critics, free speech
A Thai man has been jailed for 18 years for posting six video clips deemed insulting to Thailand's monarchy on Facebook, as authoritarian regimes across south-east Asia crackdown on critics and freedom of speech.
Sixty-one-year-old Tara, whose last name has been withheld, cannot appeal the sentence because he was arrested in 2015 while Thailand was under martial law following a military coup the year before.
Thailand's military government has also charged veteran journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk and two political critics with sedition and computer crimes for Facebook commentary.
Venezuela sacks fifth opposition mayor in two weeks
The Supreme Court handed down a 15-month jail sentence to David Smolansky as US slaps Caracas with fresh sanctions.
Venezuela's Supreme Court has ordered the removal and imprisonment of a Caracas-area mayor for not obeying orders to shut down protests in his district.
David Smolansky is the fifth opposition mayor to be removed or jailed in little more than two weeks as President Nicolas Maduro attempts to consolidate his power by going after his enemies.
He was sentenced to 15 months in jail in a ruling Wednesday night.
Mystery as US expels two Cuban diplomats
Washington has expelled two Cuban diplomats after US embassy staff in Havana suffered mysterious physical symptoms, the US state department said.
It was not immediately clear what had happened, with spokeswoman Heather Nauert saying there were no "definitive answers about the source or cause".
One government official quoted by Reuters said that some staff had suffered hearing loss.
Cuba's foreign ministry said it was investigating the allegations.
It called the expulsion of its staff unjustified but said it was willing to co-operate with Washington to clarify what had happened.
Japan could intercept N. Korean missiles if threatened by attack on Guam: minister
Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Aug. 10 expressed the view that Japan could intercept a missile from North Korea heading for Guam as an act of collective self-defense if such an attack posed a crisis threatening Japan's existence.
"It cannot be ruled out that a deficiency in U.S. deterrence and striking power could constitute a crisis threatening Japan's existence," Onodera said during a meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Security.
Onodera's statement came in response to a question from Yuichi Goto of the opposition Democratic Party.
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