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Pyongyang has accused the US of pushing the world ‘to the brink of nuclear war’.

North Korea has denounced major United States-South Korea military drills set to start next week as a provocation that heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent, a spokesperson for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday, according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Pyongyang routinely denounces military drills in the south as a provocation that heightens tensions.

The drills – named “Ulchi Freedom Shield” – are due to start on August 17 and will last until August 27. They will incorporate exercises to counter drones, GPS disruption, and cyberattacks as the US and its allies adapt to North Korea’s evolving capabilities.

“The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in the statement.

“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement, published by KCNA, added.

Lessons learned in Russia-Ukraine

North Korea sent an estimated 12,000-15,000 soldiers to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, and the country is now thought to be preparing the deployment of another 10,000.

Thousands died, but the deal provided North Korea with valuable battlefield experience, as well as payment in arms, energy and direct financial support, according to reports.

Colonel Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the US and South Korean Combined Forces Command, said this week that North Korea’s deployment to the European war had changed the threat his soldiers may face on the Korean Peninsula.

“They’ve taken those lessons they learned there and brought them back to North Korea,” he told reporters. “Our training accounts for that threat.”

Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry statement said the US-South Korea drills are being staged “at a time when military and political situation is becoming more serious with each passing day in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world”.

North Korea also said on Friday that it would further strengthen its nuclear deterrence, accusing the US of lowering its threshold for nuclear weapons usage and pushing the world “to the brink of nuclear war”.

On Wednesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast, just six days after firing another missile.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield drills will include 18,000 South Korean soldiers and counterparts from the 28,500-strong US contingent in the country.

Love Island winner Julia Majchrzak fumed ‘it’s not funny’ after she was left ’embarrassed’ by fellow winner and partner Lorenzo Alessi when he was seen to be liking models’ photos on Instagram

Love Island star Julia Majchrzak has accused Lorenzo Alessi of leaving her “embarrassed” with his post-villa antics during another car-crash interview for the winners.

Appearing on Capital FM in what should have been an upbeat catch-up with the lovebirds, Julia said “it wasn’t funny” as she was reminded of her partner liking the photos of models on social media after leaving the villa.

The pair had a disastrous first interview on This Morning, where it was revealed that they had last seen each other at the airport after flying back from Majorca. Lorenzo claimed he had been too “busy” to arrange a date with Julia.

After the tense scenes, the duo appeared on Capital XTRA on Wednesday, where the Polish bombshell continued to hit out Lorenzo’s ‘disrespectful’ behaviour.

When they were asked about Lorenzo’s social media ‘like-spree’, Julia said: “Guys, this is not funny. He’s already embarrassed me online… He had no time to arrange a date in five days, but was sat in bed liking other girls’ Instagram pictures.”

Lorenzo admitted that he had messed up and was still “learning what is acceptable”. But, the winner, who has been called the ‘King of Situationships’ by some fans, also reminded people that he and Julia were still early on in their relationship. He said: “This is the thing. I feel like why I didn’t want to rush things in the villa… We’re not running around getting married tomorrow. I’m learning how to be in a committed relationship, and I’m learning what is acceptable and what is not.

“To be 100% honest, it was pure naivety. I did not think it would be picked up by the press… These are now real-world things that we can experience together.”

Julia then looked at her phone to see if he had liked her pictures as well as those of models, and he had not. “Did you even have time to like my photos?” she asked. “Guess what guys, he’s not under my Instagram!”

Lorenzo argued that Julia’s posts simply hadn’t turned up on his feed yet. This came only a day after Julia confronted Lorenzo live on TV. When This Morning host Josie Gibson asked the couple if they had said they loved each other yet, they both answered “no”. Lorenzo added: “It’s going that way. The feelings are developing, everything is in the right position, everything is moving in the right direction…so I feel like give it some time.”

When asked if she felt the same way, Julia turned to her partner and asked him why they hadn’t been on a date: “Well, where’s the date? Where’s the date Lorenzo?”

He immediately answered: “The date is coming. I’ve been busy.” But this wasn’t good enough for Julia who said it had “been five days” and she was “still waiting”.

Amid their awkward interviews, fans on TikTok have also claimed that Lorenzo was saving their videos about him – particularly edits of him and Jasmine Muller. The pair were together at the start of the show and remained friends, but many fans wanted them to end up back together and made videos about the two of them being in love.

One fan who had made a video saying Lorenzo should “go get your Princess Jasmine” shared a screenshot of her notifications, where it said that Lorenzo had saved her video. She said over the top: “Lorenzo, I’m taking your phone away cause this is so funny but actually insane.”

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A woman has sparked a heated debate after claiming a fellow passenger took over part of her plane footwell with his backpack before making her feel like she was the one being rude

Long-haul flights can test even the most patient travellers, but one woman was fuming after claiming a fellow passenger had taken over part of her footwell before acting as though she was the one in the wrong. Sharing her frustration online, the passenger explained she had deliberately booked a window seat in an exit row because it offered extra legroom.

While the seat comes with a few downsides, including having no entertainment screen within easy reach and slightly narrower armrests, she said the extra space usually makes it worthwhile. However, her latest journey didn’t quite go to plan. She claimed the man sitting in the row in front placed his large backpack in the empty space where a window seat would normally be.

Because there is no seat directly in front of her in the exit row, she said the bag ended up taking over part of the legroom she specifically paid for.

To make matters worse, she alleged the passenger kept looking back at her as though she was being rude whenever her legs came close to his belongings.

Alongside a photo of the seating arrangement, she pointed out her own backpack was stored correctly underneath the seat in front of her, while his had been left in the open space beside him.

She wrote: “Not a huge deal… just curious. Other than this guy is making me feel like I’m being an a***hole.

“I’m in the exit row 21 window seat where there is no window seat in the exit row in front of you. I choose this seat at times even though, in exchange for the additional leg room, I’m giving up a screen and have limited seat width due to the arm rests.

“This guy plops his large backpack down directly to the left of him, where the ’20A seat’ would be if there were one. And is constantly looking back at me like I’m being rude, for my legs being near his bag.

“Mine is under the seat directly in front of me. As it should be. I’m tired. I’m annoyed. And to be honest, I just feel like complaining, but not enough to actually say something since it’s only an hour flight. But am I wrong to be this bothered by it?”

The post quickly attracted dozens of comments, with many siding with the woman and arguing the bag should have been kept out of the shared space.

One person said: “Former flight attendant here! This is a safety hazard – the reason bags go under seats is so they don’t go flying.

“He’s directly putting you in danger in case of turbulence. If he won’t move it I’d call the flight attendant over.”

Another user added: “Regardless of etiquette, his bag shouldn’t be there at any time. That’s an emergency exit. I doubt his priority will be finding a place to move his bag in a water exit – it’ll just be the reason everyone rear of the lav drowns.”

Seat swap drama

It comes after a man refused to give up his business class plane seat so a child could sit next to their parent.

He explained how he had specifically booked his seat in advance to ensure he was as comfortable as possible during the flight.

But after a flight attendant noticed a child sitting alone in economy while their parent was in business class, they reportedly made it their mission to reunite the pair.

Jeremy Clarkson and Lisa Hogan ran into problems with their Guineafowl flock in Clarkson’s Farm season 5.

Jeremy Clarkson made his feelings known about a ‘massacre’ in the new episode of Clarkson’s Farm.

Clarkson’s Farm season five is back on Prime Video with two brand new episodes, and viewers discovered that Jeremy Clarkson had encountered yet another maddening setback — just one of many this series.

In earlier episodes, he revealed that Diddly Squat Farm had welcomed some unexpected new residents — a flock of Guineafowl donated by one of his daughters.

In episode five, which has just dropped, Jeremy explained how his partner Lisa Hogan had called him back to the farmyard because things had gone suspiciously “too quiet”.

Guineafowl are well known for being boisterous birds, so alarm bells rang when the pair couldn’t hear a single sound coming from the area where they were being kept.

Clarkson’s eldest daughter, Emily, had presented her father with the birds, but Jeremy soon concluded: “They are not in here, are they?”

As he and Hogan searched the surrounding area, Jeremy exclaimed: “Oh s***”, upon spotting Guineafowl feathers strewn across the grass.

Moments later, he uttered: “Oh no,” as he made the grim discovery of a dead Guineafowl. “Oh and another one, for god’s sake,” he added, as he uncovered more of the stricken birds.

“That’s a fox, isn’t it? Just killing for fun,” he concluded. “How am I going to explain this? Granddaughter comes for the weekend, ‘Can I go and see the Guineafowl?'”

He went on to brand the fox a “murdering b******”, though there was a glimmer of hope as one bird had managed to survive by flying up into a tree.

Later in the episode, Jeremy returned to check on the surviving bird, only to find it had also fallen victim to a fox. “I started the day by checking in on our one remaining Guineafowl,” he narrated, as viewers watched him calling out for the bird.

“Oh no, f*** sake, this is just beyond belief,” he exclaimed, holding up the stricken bird, which had been completely decapitated.

“It’s just bitten its head off, it hasn’t even eaten it. He’s had the lot.”

Jeremy rounded off his narration by saying “there was, though, only time to seethe, not mourn, because today was a big day on the ag-bot front”.

He was subsequently shown attending to his agricultural robot, a piece of kit he had purchased to ease the burden of farm life following his health scare.

Clarkson’s Farm season 5 is airing on Prime Video