(TIBET) — At least 126 people were killed and more than 188 others were injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Tibet’s holy city on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, Shigatse City, Tibet, just after 9 a.m. with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre. More than 3,600 houses had collapsed, state media said.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1, pinpointing the epicenter in Xizang, the local name for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“The region near the India and Eurasia plate boundary has a history of large earthquakes,” the USGS said in a summary of the quake. “In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater within 250 km of the January 7, 2025, earthquake.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s exiled spiritual leader, said in a statement that he was “saddened” to learn of the deadly earthquake.
“It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property,” he said. “I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured.”
The Chinese media also reported that as of 10 a.m. local time, multiple aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which was 4.4.
The death toll has risen steadily in the hours since the earthquake, according to Xinhua, a state media outlet. First reported at 53, with about 60 other injured, it climbed hours later to about 95 dead and 130 injured, the outlet reported.
(TIBET) — At least 95 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Tibet’s holy city on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, Shigatse City, Tibet, just after 9 a.m. with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, according to China Earthquake Networks Centre.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1, pinpointing the epicenter in Xizang, China, the local name for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“The region near the India and Eurasia plate boundary has a history of large earthquakes,” the USGS said in a summary of the quake. “In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater within 250 km of the January 7, 2025, earthquake.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s exiled spiritual leader, said in a statement that he was “saddened” to learn of the deadly earthquake.
“It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property,” he said. “I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured.”
The Chinese media also reported that as of 10 a.m. local time, multiple aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which was 4.4.
The death toll had previously been reported at 53, with about 60 other injured.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(LONDON) — North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday claimed a successful test a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, with leader Kim Jong Un touting the weapon as a major military achievement.
KCNA said the successful test took place on Jan. 6. The launch marked Pyongyang’s first missile test of 2025 and came with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the region for what is expected to be his last foreign trip as America’s top diplomat.
Kim personally oversaw the test, KCNA said.
Kim said the missile’s hypersonic glide vehicle travelled more than 930 miles at 12 times the speed of sound. It reached two different peaks of 62 miles and 26.4 miles before hitting a simulated target at sea, the North Korean leader said.
The development of the weapon is “mainly aimed to steadily put the country’s nuclear war deterrent on an advanced basis by making the means of changing the war situation, the weapon system to which no one can respond, the linchpin of strategic deterrence,” Kim said, as quoted by KCNA.
“This is clearly a plan and effort for self-defence, not an offensive plan and action,” Kim added.
“The performance of our latest intermediate-range hypersonic missile system cannot be ignored worldwide and the system can deal a serious military strike to a rival while effectively breaking any dense defensive barrier,” the leader added.
The launch “clearly showed” Pyongyang’s “rivals” that the country is “fully ready to use even any means to defend our legitimate interests,” Kim continued.
“The hypersonic missile system will reliably contain any rivals in the Pacific region that can affect the security of our state,” he said.
North Korea has embarked on an intense program of weapons tests in recent years, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, medium-range rockets and hypersonic weapons. The increase in tests came as relations with the U.S. and its regional allies deteriorated and Pyongyang pulled closer to Russia.
North Korea has been testing hypersonic weapons — which fly at more than five times the speed of sound, their speed and trajectory making them difficult to intercept — since 2021.
South Korea cast doubt on its neighbor’s purported test. Lee Sung Joon, the spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul’s military believed Pyongyang was exaggerating its capabilities, the Associated Press reported.
Lee said the missile covered a shorter distance than Kim claimed and that there was no second peak.
The latest test came as Blinken visited South Korea and Japan — two key American regional allies.
Blinken on Monday condemned North Korea’s launch as “yet another violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” and again criticized Pyongyang for its materiel and personnel contributions to Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 31: Ukrainian soldiers watch the Zelensky New Years Eve address from their base in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on 31 December 2024. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that some 38,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region since August, with Kyiv now launching a fresh offensive in the border region.
“We continue to maintain a buffer zone on Russian territory, actively destroying Russian military potential there,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to the presidency’s website.
Monday marked five months since Ukrainian units crossed into Kursk in a surprise summer 2024 offensive there. Russian forces — recently supported by North Korean troops — have since slowly been reclaiming ground in their bid to eject Ukrainian troops from the region.
On Sunday, Ukrainian and Russian officials confirmed that Kyiv had launched a fresh offensive in Kursk, with fierce fighting reported in several villages.
“Since the beginning of the Kursk operation, the enemy has already lost over 38,000 troops in this area alone, including approximately 15,000 irrecoverable losses,” Zelenskyy said.
“The Russians have deployed their strong units to the Kursk region,” he added. “Soldiers from North Korea are involved there. What’s important is that the occupier cannot currently redirect all this force to other directions, in particular the Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, or Zaporizhzhia regions.”
“I thank all our warriors who are bringing the war back to Russia and providing Ukraine with greater security and strength,” Zelenskyy said.
Multiple Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops, tanks, armored vehicles and demining equipment attacked the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, north of Sudzha — the main administrative border town that Ukraine captured in August. Bloggers also reported an attack further west on the border town of Tetkino.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a Monday statement that two assaults were repelled. “The operation to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations continues,” it wrote on Telegram.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank reported that Ukraine intensified its offensive operations in Kursk through Monday, with Russian forces elsewhere in the region launching their own fresh attacks on the Ukrainian salient.
The think tank reported “tactical advances” by Ukrainian troops in areas northeast of Sudzha, though the extent of their success remains unclear.
Andriy Yermak — the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office — said in a Sunday post to Telegram there was “good news” from the Kursk battlefields, adding: “Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Ukraine launched its latest Kursk push just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has promised to end the war in 24 hours, repeatedly hinting at pressing Ukraine to make territorial and political concessions in exchange for peace.
Zelenskyy and his top officials have been working hard to build ties with the incoming administration and convince the president-elect of the need to support Ukraine and contain Russia.
Zelenskyy said on Monday that he “held a meeting with international relations officials to plan our meetings and negotiations for January.
“We are accelerating arms deliveries to Ukraine and working toward new and more long-term relations with partners,” he said. “We are preparing positive diplomatic news for Ukraine.”
Continued Ukrainian presence in Kursk may give Kyiv more leverage in peace talks with Moscow, with Russian troops still occupying around 25% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory.
“We don’t need Russian territory, but we need our territories back,” Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News.
“This will probably be one of the positions for further negotiations,” Cherniev said.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Natasha Popova contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — In a major development, the Pentagon on Monday announced the transfer 11 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Oman, a move that now leaves only 15 detainees still at the detention facility.
“The United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” said a DOD statement.
In recent weeks, the Pentagon had transferred out four other detainees from Guantanamo including a detainee who was brought to the detention facility at the base in Cuba the day that it opened, but was never charged.
The transfer of the 11 Yemeni detainees is the largest transfer to take place under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Of the remaining 15 detainees still at Guantanamo Bay, three are eligible for transfer; three are eligible for a Periodic Review Board; seven are involved in the military commissions process; and two detainees have been convicted and sentenced by military commissions.
Among the detainees who will remain at Guantanamo is Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attack, who on Friday will appear at a hearing at the base where he is expected to plead guilty in return for the death penalty being withdrawn. The following week, two other 9/11 plotters are expected to plead guilty under the same plea agreement.
Just last week, a military appeals court reaffirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could not withdraw the plea agreements worked out with Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
According to the Pentagon statement, Austn notified Congress on Sept. 15, 2023, of “his intent to repatriate these 11 Yemeni detainees to the Government of Oman and, in consultation with our partners in Oman, we completed the requirements for transfer.”
The 11 detainees identified by their name and corresponding detainee identification number are : Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman (ISN 27), Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi (ISN 28), Khalid Ahmed Qassim (ISN 242), Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharabi (ISN 569), Hani Saleh Rashid Abdullah (ISN 841), Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani (ISN 893), Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rammah (ISN 1017), Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi (ISN 1453), Hassan Muhammad Ali Bib Attash (ISN 1456), Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj (ISN 1457), and Abd Al-Salam Al-Hilah (ISN 1463).
Attorneys for Shaqawi Al Hajj, 51, said in a statement that their client was flown to Oman this week after spending nearly 21 years in the prison at Guantánamo and more than two years in CIA sites.
“Our thoughts are with Mr. Al Hajj as he transitions to the free world after almost 23 years in captivity. His release is hopeful for him and for us. We are grateful to Oman and to the individuals in the administration who made this transfer happen, and to the many people over the years whose work and advocacy paved the way for this moment,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who represents Al Hajj.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heat waves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
Biden bans offshore oil and gas drilling in 625 million acres of ocean
Just days before he leaves office, President Joe Biden is taking executive action to ban offshore oil and gas drilling in more than 625 million acres of ocean.
Using a provision in the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that gives the president the authority to ban drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf ocean zone, Biden declared the entire U.S. East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California and portions of the Northern Baring Sea in Alaska off limits to future oil and natural gas leasing.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs. It is not worth the risks,” Biden said in a statement.
The decision is not unprecedented. President Barack Obama used the act to ban oil and gas production in parts of the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. And President Donald Trump used it to prohibit drilling off both Florida coasts and the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. Trump also tried to overturn the Obama decision in 2019, but a U.S. District Court judge ruled that it would require an act of Congress to undo the ban. With that ruling, Trump may have difficulty ridding himself of the ban.
Environmental groups are praising the decision, and one senior administration official told ABC News that the ban is “one of the most significant climate actions the president could take” regarding climate protection and natural resource protection.
The American Petroleum Institute panned the move, saying, “American voters sent a clear message in support of domestic energy development, and yet the current administration is using its final days in office to cement a record of doing everything possible to restrict it.”
The group, which represents America’s natural gas and oil industry, is urging “policymakers to use every tool at their disposal to reverse this politically motivated decision and restore a pro-American energy approach to federal leasing.”
But Biden is pushing back on the criticism, and the White House says hundreds of municipalities and thousands of elected officials have formally opposed offshore drilling in these areas because of health, environmental and economic threats.
“We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our ocean healthy, our coastlines resilient, and the food they produce secure and keeping energy prices low. Those are false choices,” Biden added in his statement.
While the eastern Gulf of Mexico is considered a lucrative region for drilling, the oil and gas industry has not shown much interest in developing some of the other areas receiving the new protection. And there’s been bipartisan pressure to protect many of these locations as many legislators don’t want oil platforms near their beaches.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser and ABC News White House Correspondent MaryAlice Parks
Could the UK be a model for clean electricity production?
When it comes to curbing climate change, scientists have been clear. The world needs to stop burning fossil fuels. However, much of the world still depends on significant amounts of oil, gas and coal for its energy needs.
England kicked off the coal power revolution in 1882 and, for the next 142 years, burned the greenhouse gas-emitting energy source. But last year, the U.K. became the first G7 country to phase out coal power plants. When the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant in Nottinghamshire closed in September, it marked the end of an era for the most-polluting fossil fuel in that region.
A new analysis by Carbon Brief, a U.K.-based climate publication, found that by eliminating coal and adopting more clean energy sources, the U.K. has significantly cleaned up its electricity generation, meaning it’s generating the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions in its history.
According to the analysis, in 2024, renewable energy sources reached a record-high 45% in the country, while fossil fuels made up 29%. Nuclear energy accounted for another 13%. Over the last decade, renewable energy sources have more than doubled. As a result, carbon emissions have plunged by two-thirds over that time.
While gas-fired power plants are still the U.K.’s single-largest source of electricity, wind power has almost caught up. However, the analysis found that when new wind projects come online in the coming months, the U.K. will likely generate more power from wind than gas in 2025.
While the incoming Trump administration calls for more drilling and fossil fuel use, including coal, in the United States, the U.K. just had its cleanest year ever for electricity generation. The combination of sunsetting coal power plants and increasing the amount of renewable energy is moving the country in the direction scientists say is crucial for stopping the worst impacts of human-amplified climate change.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
New York will make polluters pay for climate change damage
New York State is establishing a “Climate Superfund” that will make companies that release large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions financially responsible for some of the damage that climate change caused to the state’s infrastructure, communities and ecosystems.
On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul, signed a bill into law requiring large fossil fuel companies to “pay for critical projects that protect New Yorkers.” Citing the hundreds of billions of dollars the state will have to spend on climate adaptation through 2050, the law requires that the companies responsible for most carbon emissions, more than a billion metric tons, between 2000-2018 pay nearly $3 billion annually for the next 25 years.
“With nearly every record rainfall, heatwave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment,” Hochul said in a press statement.
The new law calls climate change “an immediate, grave threat to the state’s communities, environment, and economy.” According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists believe human activity, specifically burning fossil fuels, is the primary driver of climate change and global warming. And those changes to the climate have resulted in more intense and more frequent extreme weather events.
The New York legislature said the “Climate Superfund” was now possible because scientific research enables them “to determine with great accuracy the share of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by specific fossil fuel companies over the last 70 years or more, making it possible to assign liability to and require compensation from companies commensurate with their emissions during a given time period.”
“The governor’s approval of the Climate Change Superfund Act is a welcome holiday gift for New York taxpayers,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, in a statement. “Until her approval, New York taxpayers were 100% on the financial hook for climate costs. Now Big Oil will pay for much of the damages that they helped cause.”
The state anticipates collecting up to $75 billion over 25 years, and the law requires that at least 35% of the funds go to disadvantaged communities.
New York State Senator Liz Krueger said the new legislation was modeled after the federal Superfund law that requires polluters to pay for toxic waste cleanups.
But not everyone is cheering the new legislation. In a letter to Gov. Hochul, urging her to veto the bill, the Business Council of New York State, which represents more than 3,000 companies, chambers of commerce and associations, wrote, “The bill discriminates by targeting only the largest fossil fuel extraction and processing firms, including petroleum, natural gas, and coal.”
The Council added, “This legislation ignores the near universal use and benefits associated with fossil fuel.” They argued that the new law would do nothing to address what they said is the primary cause of carbon emissions: “consumption.”
There are still a lot of specifics that have yet to be determined, and the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for figuring out the program’s details over the next few years. With legal challenges all but certain, it will be some time before the companies actually have to pay up.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Could climate change bring more earthquakes?
Earthquakes are usually triggered by seismic activity deep beneath the Earth’s surface and far beyond the influence of atmospheric conditions. However, according to new research, there may be instances where climate change can impact seismic activity.
A recent Colorado State University study suggests that melting glaciers could impact earthquake activity in some areas. Researchers analyzed southern Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains during the last ice age. They found the active fault responsible for triggering earthquakes was held in place by the weight of glaciers sitting on top of it.
Thousands of years ago, as the last ice age ended and the planet began to naturally warm, glaciers in this region began to melt. The study found that as the ice melted, there was less pressure on the quake-prone fault, which triggered an increase in earthquake activity. Basically, the glacier was holding the fault in place — less ice, less weight.
There is limited scientific evidence linking changes in Earth’s climate to earthquake activity. Still, this study demonstrates that, in some cases, climate-related events, like melting glaciers, could influence seismic events.
Sean Gallen, Geosciences associate professor and senior author of the study, highlights that this research helps us better understand the factors that can drive earthquakes.
Even though the study focused on investigating links between Earth’s natural climate variability (an ice age) and seismic activity, this research shows how other glacier-adjacent faults worldwide could respond as greenhouse gas emissions accelerate global warming.
As human-amplified climate change continues to drive global glacier melt, earthquake activity along these faults could increase as glaciers recede.
“We see this in the rapid mountain glacial retreats in Alaska, the Himalayas and the Alps,” said Cece Hurtado, an author of the study. “In many of these regions, there are also active tectonics, and this work demonstrates that as climate change alters ice and water loads, tectonically active areas might see more frequent fault movements and earthquakes due to rapidly changing stress conditions.”
(OTTAWA, Canada) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced he intends to resign as Liberal Party leader and prime minister once a new party leader is determined.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” he said Monday from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa.
Trudeau will serve as prime minister until March 24. He will then be replaced by a new Liberal Party leader.
The Canadian Parliament was supposed to begin its new session of 2025 on Jan. 27, but Trudeau said Monday he asked the governor general to extend and not start a new session of Parliament until March 24.
Trudeau spoke in both English and French during his remarks, and said he shared the news with his children the night prior.
“I’m a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians,” the prime minister said.
Trudeau said he believes his resignation will “bring the temperature down” and allow Parliament to reset and get back to work “for Canadians.”
“Parliament needs a reset, I think, needs to calm down a bit and needs to get to work for Canadians,” Trudeau said when answering reporters’ questions following his announcement.
“Removing me as the leader who will fight the next election for the party should decrease the polarization that we have right now,” he said.
The development comes a month after Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from Trudeau’s Cabinet, a sign of apparent turmoil in his government. Trudeau, 53, the leader of the Liberal Party, began serving as the 23rd prime minister of Canada in 2015.
In a letter to the prime minister announcing her resignation, Freeland cited her differences with Trudeau over how to deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
“Our country today faces a grave challenge,” Freeland wrote in the letter, which she shared on social media. “The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 percent tariffs.”
“We need to take that threat extremely seriously,” she continued, with actions that included the need for Canada to push back and resist “costly political gimmicks” and “building a true Team Canada response.”
Trump has proposed new tariffs on imports from Canada — the United States’ third largest supplier of agricultural products, according to the Department of Agriculture — as well as China and Mexico.
Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida, last month to meet with the president-elect. Trudeau told reporters at the time that his conversation with Trump was “excellent” but did not respond to any additional questions.
In her letter last month, Freeland said Trudeau told her he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister and offered her another position in the Cabinet.
“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the Cabinet,” she said in the letter, which noted that she looks forward to continuing to work with her colleagues as a Liberal member of Parliament and plans to run again for her seat in Toronto in the next federal election.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister of intergovernmental affairs, will now also serve as the new finance minister after Freeland stepped down from the role.
Her resignation comes as Trudeau’s housing minister, Sean Fraser, also announced he will not seek reelection for personal reasons, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.
The next federal election must be held by Oct. 20.
Support for Trudeau’s party has declined steadily for months, with the Liberals currently at their lowest level of support in years, according to CBC News. The Conservative Party holds a 21-point lead over the Liberals leading up to the federal election, according to CBC News.
Trudeau’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, served as the prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984, before retiring from politics before the next election.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands during a joint press conference following their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Lee Jin-man / POOL / AFP)
(SEOUL, TOKYO and LONDON) — The South Korean military detected a projectile fired from North Korea that was suspected to be a medium-range ballistic missile, a test-launch that arrived as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea.
The missile was fired from the area surrounding Pyongyang, the capital, toward the East Sea at about noon on Monday, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The joint chiefs said the South Korean military has heightened surveillance for additional launches and is maintaining a readiness posture for sharing ballistic-missile-related data with the U.S. and Japan.
Blinken condemned the test, which he called “yet another violation of multiple Security Council resolutions.” He added that President Joe Biden’s administration has “sought to engage the DPRK and multiple efforts to sit down to talk without any preconditions.”
“We communicated that on many occasions. We’ve done it privately, we’ve done it publicly,” Blinken said during a press conference in Seoul. “And the only response, effectively we’ve gotten has been more and more provocative actions, including missile launches.”
The last time North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile was Nov. 5, just before the U.S. presidential election.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan have during Biden’s term bolstered their real-time information sharing capabilities, a move that Blinken on Monday had “strengthened our common defense and common deterrence.”
He said the launch on Monday amounted to “just a reminder” of the importance of that trilateral collaboration, which has also included military drills.
“All of that and more is a strong and effective response to the provocations from North Korea,” Blinken said. “So I have confidence that, because it’s so in the interest of all of us, it will continue and future administrations, whether it’s here, whether it’s in the United States, whether it’s Japan, we’ll continue to build on the work.”
Tokyo reacted swiftly to the launch, saying it was reinforcing its regional alliances through coordinated action with the United States and South Korea. Officials condemned Pyongyang while emphasizing the importance of a unified approach.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, speaking from Indonesia, issued a strong condemnation, describing the repeated launches as a grave threat to Japan’s national security and regional peace.
“We strongly protest and denounce North Korea’s actions, which endanger not only our country but also the international community,” he said, reaffirming Japan’s commitment to work closely with the U.S. and South Korea to bolster deterrence and conduct thorough surveillance.
Many office workers in Tokyo were returning to their jobs after the New Year’s holidays when news of the launch broke. The projectile reached an altitude of about 62 miles and traveled about 684 miles before falling into the Sea of Japan, another name for the East Sea, and outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense. The Japan Coast Guard confirmed that no damage to vessels in the affected area had been reported.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed serious concern about North Korea’s advancements in missile technology.
“The frequency of these launches and the evident improvement in technology demand that we redouble our efforts to strengthen deterrence,” he said during a press conference. “Japan’s peace and independence must be safeguarded by our own resolve.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
Security forces and emergency workers respond to the scene of a shooting attack that targeted a bus and other vehicles on January 6, 2025 in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, West Bank. Three people were reported killed and others injured, and security forces are still searching for the assailants. The site is located between the Israeli West Bank settlements of Karnei Shomron and Kdumim. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.
The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip around several Palestinian hospitals. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war is set to resume in Qatar.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
Blinken hopes for Gaza ceasefire in administration’s final weeks
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday that the U.S. wants a ceasefire deal in Gaza and all remaining captives released within the next two weeks, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Blinken told reporters while in Seoul, South Korea.
Blinken reported “intensified engagement,” including by Hamas, on reaching a deal, though added “we are yet to see agreement on final points.”
“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better, more secure for everyone involved,” Blinken said.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Blinken added.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
3 Israelis killed in West Bank shooting
Three Israelis were killed in a shooting that targeted a bus and a vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Monday morning, security and emergency officials said.
The attack occurred in the village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the Palestinian territory, much of which is under Israeli security control.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service confirmed the death of three victims — two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s. MDA said it provided medical treatment to seven injured people, including the bus driver who is in serious condition.
The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a manhunt for the suspected Palestinian shooters.
“Anyone who follows the path of Hamas in Gaza and sponsors the murder and harm of Jews will pay heavy prices, ” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on his X account, reacting to the attack.
Sending his condolences to the families of the victims, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attackers “will not get away.”
“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and with all those who aided them,” his statement said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said in an extensive report Sunday that at least 838 Palestinians — including 173 children — have been killed by Israeli fire and over 6,700 have been injured in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Diaa Ostaz and Somayeh Malekian
WHO director calls for release of Kamal Adwan hospital director
Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organization, said in a statement Saturday that WHO has received no updates about Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of North Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, since he was detained by Israeli forces on Dec. 27th.
“We continue to urge Israel to release him. We repeat: attacks on hospitals and health professionals must end. People in Gaza need access to health care. Ceasefire!” he said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
Israeli strikes kill 150 in Gaza, officials say, as peace talks resume
More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip over the past three days, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The series of airstrikes on dozens of Hamas targets came amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages home before President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month.
Delegations from both Israel and Hamas were dispatched to resume indirect negotiations in Doha on Friday. The talks will be brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement deal, but it remains unclear how close the two sides are.
-ABC News Nasser Atta, Bruno Nota, Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara and Morgan Winsor
Yevhenii Vasyliev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukrainian forces on Sunday launched a new offensive inside Russia’s western Kursk border region, going on the attack with substantial forces according to reports from Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported a large-scale attack by Kyiv’s forces involving armored columns that began on Sunday morning, with Ukrainian troops attacking in three directions inside Kursk.
Ukraine first seized a foothold inside the Kursk region with a surprise offensive in August. But Kyiv’s forces have since been slowly pushed back by Russia, including recently with support from North Korean troops.
A Ukrainian military source confirmed to ABC News that a new offensive operation had begun.
The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andrii Yermark, also appeared to cryptically confirm the offensive, writing on Telegram: “Kursk Oblast, good news! Russia is getting what it deserves.”
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation center, also wrote that Ukrainian troops have gone on the attack in multiple directions inside Kursk.
Videos posted to Russian military blogger channels appeared to show columns of Ukrainian armored vehicles on the move. The Ukrainian assault appears to be Kyiv’s most substantial offensive operation in Kursk since August.
Multiple Russian military bloggers reported that Ukrainian troops, tanks, armored vehicles and demining equipment attacked the villages of Berdin and Bolshoye Soldatskoye, north of Sudzha — the main administrative border town that Ukraine captured in August.
Bloggers also reported an attack further west on the border town of Tetkino.
Prominent Russian military bloggers — some close to Russia’s Defense Ministry — said that the offensive was expected but that the situation is challenging for the Russian defenders.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that two assaults were repelled. “The operation to destroy the Ukrainian Armed Forces formations continues,” it wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian troops appeared to make small advances on Sunday but did not achieve significant breakthroughs of the Russian lines, according to open-source monitors. Some Russian military bloggers said they believe Ukraine will attempt another push through Monday, with others suggesting Kyiv’s main attack was yet to come.
The new Ukrainian assault comes just two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, with the expectation that his new administration will push for a peace deal to end the nearly 3-year-old war.
ABC News’ Natasha Popova contributed to this report.
