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Nov. 20 (UPI) — Toys that use AI to interact with children might seem like a fun idea, but one organization is warning against them.

The nonprofit Fairplay released an advisory Thursday warning parents to avoid artificial intelligence-based children’s toys this holiday season.

AI toys are chatbots embedded in children’s toys — such as plushies, dolls, action figures, or kids’ robots — and use AI technology designed to communicate like a friend.

Examples include Miko, Curio Interactive’s Grok and Gabbo, Smart Teddy, FoloToy’s Kumma bear, Roybi and Keyi Technology’s Loona Robot Dog. Some of the toys are marketed to children as young as infants, Fairplay said in a statement.

“It’s ridiculous to expect young children to avoid potential harm here,” said Rachel Franz, a Fairplay program director, in a statement to NPR.

“Young children are especially susceptible to the potential harms of these toys, such as invading their privacy, collecting data, engendering false trust and friendship, and displacing what they need to thrive, like human-to-human interactions and time to play with all their senses. These can have long and short-term impacts on development,” she said

Singapore-based FoloToy suspended sales of its Kumma bear after it was found to give inappropriate advice to children, CNN reported Wednesday. The bear’s chatbot talked about sexual fetishes, how to find knives in the home and how to light a match.

FoloToy CEO Larry Wang told CNN that the company had withdrawn Kumma and its other AI toys and is now “conducting an internal safety audit.”

The Toy Association, which represents toy manufacturers, told NPR that toys sold by responsible manufacturers and retailers must follow more than 100 strict federal safety standards and tests, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which governs children’s privacy and data security online.

“The Toy Association urges parents and caregivers to shop only from reputable toymakers, brands, and retailers who prioritize children’s safety above all else,” the statement said. The organization added that it offers safety tips for AI and other connected products.

Fairplay offered more reasons that AI toys are not safe for children.

AI toys are usually powered by the same AI that has already harmed children, and young children who use them are less equipped to protect themselves than older children and teens, Fairplay said.

AI chatbots have caused children to use them obsessively, engaged in explicit sexual conversations, and encouraged unsafe behaviors, violence against others, and self-harm.

AI toys may sabotage children’s trust by pretending to be trustworthy companions or “friends.” Young children are likely to treat connected toys and devices as if they were people and develop an emotional attachment to them.

These “relationships” can disrupt children’s real relationships and resilience by offering “genuine friendship,” which isn’t possible from a machine.

Probably most concerning is that AI toys can invade family privacy by collecting sensitive data using audio and video recording, speech-to-text technology, and even voice, gesture, and facial recognition software, Fairplay said.

A child might talk to the toy and tell it their personal thoughts, emotions, fears, and desires, which will be delivered to a third party. They could also record private family conversations or record other children in the room.

Some toys even have facial recognition and video recording, which could take video of children in the bath or getting dressed.

The Yantar, a notorious Russian spy ship, directed lasers at the crews of U.K. Royal Air Force aircraft in waters off the north of Scotland, the British government said today. While the Yantar has been a worrying presence around critical undersea infrastructure for years now, this development represents a concerning new trend, and one that could be very hazardous.

The alleged incident took place after a U.K. Royal Navy Type 23 frigate and Royal Air Force aircraft, including P-8A Poseidon MRA1 maritime patrol aircraft, were sent to monitor and track the vessel. Publicly available flight-tracking data suggests that Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters, supported by Voyager tankers, may also have been involved.

It’s not clear what kind of laser was used by the Yantar, but these encompass a wide range of systems, some of which can have significant power, at least enough to be a major concern. Depending on their output, lasers have the potential to temporarily obscure optics and the vision of personnel or cause permanent damage to both. More powerful laser weapons can burn holes in craft, damaging or destroying them, but are highly unlikely to have been installed on this vessel.

It is worth noting that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has regularly been accused of using shipborne lasers to harass military aircraft, as you can read about here.

As for the Yantar, this vessel has been active off the coast of the United Kingdom for the last few weeks, according to the U.K. defense secretary, John Healey, who disclosed details of its activities today.

“This is a vessel designed for gathering intelligence and mapping our undersea cables,” Healey said.

Referring to the laser incident, the defense secretary described the Russian ship’s action as “deeply dangerous,” noting that this is the second time this year that the Yantar has deployed to British waters.

Healey continued: “My message to Russia and to Putin is this: we see you, we know what you’re doing, and if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”

The Yantar is part of the Russian Defense Ministry fleet, being operated by the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, a secretive branch that works on behalf of the Russian Navy and other agencies. The ship is around 112 feet long and, among other duties, operates as a mothership for uncrewed underwater vessels (UUVs), which can be used to investigate the seabed and potentially undertake sabotage and other activities, including manipulating objects on the seafloor.

As we have discussed in the past, the Yantar is officially classified as a Project 22010 “oceanographic research vessel,” but its specialized equipment can reportedly tap or cut submarine cables and investigate and retrieve objects from depths of up to 18,000 feet. The vessel is also likely to be able to place devices on the seabed that could cut cables long after the ship has moved on.

Russia has repeatedly claimed that the vessel is used for legitimate maritime “research” or “survey,” but it has an established pattern of operating around critical undersea infrastructure. In particular, it is assessed that the Yantar is used for surveilling the U.K.’s crucial network of undersea cables, around 60 of which branch out into the sea from the British Isles.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense has long considered the Yantar a spy ship and tracks it closely, leading to several run-ins with the vessel in the past.

In September, the U.K.’s National Security Strategy Committee stated that the government was being “too timid” in its approach to protecting British undersea cables, some of which also have a military role.

Meanwhile, another British government oversight body, the Defense Select Committee, recently concluded more broadly that the United Kingdom “must be willing to grasp the nettle and prioritize homeland defense and resilience.”

At the beginning of this year, the United Kingdom confirmed that one of its Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines surfaced close to the Yantar, to make it clear it was being observed. The Yantar was sailing in British waters in November last year, when that incident occurred. Specifically, the Russian ship was said to be “detected loitering over U.K. critical undersea infrastructure.”

At one point, one of the Royal Navy’s Astute class attack submarines surfaced close to the Yantar “to make clear that we had been covertly monitoring its every move,” Healey said.

Tracking the Yantar is not necessarily a difficult job, since its position is typically broadcast at regular intervals using the automatic identification system (AIS), an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships. This data is then also published by online ship tracking services. However, commercial tracking can be manipulated and spoofed, or it can just go dark, making the vessel harder to pinpoint.

At the same time, it should be noted that the vessel has been operating within the U.K.’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but in international waters, which is entirely legal.

Earlier this year, the Yantar was reported in the Mediterranean. On this occasion, it was assumed to be involved in searching and potentially salvaging the wreck of the Russian cargo vessel MV Ursa Major, which sank after an apparent explosion in its engine room in late December.

🚨📸 Overview in the 🌊Alboran Sea on 16 January: the 🇷🇺Russian research vessel Yantar with the 🇺🇸American DDGH Paul Ignatius, then the 🇺🇸Ignatius with the 🇪🇸Spanish PSO Tornado.
With #NATO forces in the 🌊Mediterranean, the 🇷🇺Yantar passing Gibraltar illustrates that the… pic.twitter.com/h6fC64rKkB

— Russian Forces Spotter (@TiaFarris10) January 20, 2025

Back in 2018, the U.K. Royal Navy also escorted the Yantar through the English Channel as it headed into the North Sea. At this time, it was carrying a Saab SeaEye Tiger deep-sea robot on its deck. Russia acquired this underwater drone after the Kursk submarine disaster. It can reach depths of 3,280 feet.

A year before that, the Yantar was involved in a high-profile operation in 2017 when it sailed off the coast of Syria to recover the wreckage of two fighter jets, a Su-33 and a MiG-29KR, that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during operations from Russia’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

While the reported use of a laser in a hostile capacity by the crew of the Yantar is a new development, its activity comes as NATO becomes increasingly concerned about apparent sabotage to undersea infrastructure carrying oil, gas, electricity, and the internet. More generally, the threat to undersea infrastructure, specifically data cables, is of growing concern internationally.

In the Baltic Sea alone, cables have been damaged on several occasions, with all of them carrying at least some of the hallmarks of sabotage. In the most notable event, on December 25 last year, an oil tanker dragging its anchor damaged a power cable running between Finland and Estonia.

The vessel responsible for that incident in the Baltic was the Russia-connected Eagle S. The oil tanker was reportedly found to be brimming with spy equipment after it was seized by authorities. Finnish authorities filed charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications against members of its crew.

Incidents like this led to NATO launching Baltic Sentry, a mission intended to ensure the security of critical undersea infrastructure in the region. As you can read about here, the mission also involves crewed surface vessels, UUVs, and various aircraft.

The scale of the threat was apparent even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after which tensions between the Kremlin and the West heightened significantly.

“We are now seeing Russian underwater activity in the vicinity of undersea cables that I don’t believe we have ever seen,” U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Andrew Lennon, then serving as NATO’s top submarine officer, told The Washington Post back in December 2017. “Russia is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations’ undersea infrastructure.”

As Russia ramps up its hybrid warfare activities, which you can read more about here, the potential risk to undersea infrastructure is put into a much sharper focus. In many cases, such activities are deniable.

While NATO has long been aware of how difficult it can be to defend this kind of infrastructure against hostile actors, the apparent use of lasers by part of Russia’s spy fleet is another serious cause for concern.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Forecasters warn more flooding, landslides expected as tens of thousands of people are evacuated from their homes.

Authorities in Vietnam say at least 41 people have been killed in a barrage of torrential rain, flooding and landslides, as rescue crews worked to save stranded people from the rooftops of submerged homes.

Rainfall exceeded 150cm (60 inches) over the past three days in several parts of central Vietnam, a region home to a key coffee production belt and the country’s most popular beaches.

At least 41 people have been killed across six provinces since Sunday, while the search was continuing for nine others, the environment ministry said on Thursday.

More than 52,000 houses were flooded, and nearly 62,000 people were evacuated from their homes, while several major roads remained blocked due to landslides, and one million customers were left without electricity.

A suspension bridge on the Da Nhim River in Lam Dong province was swept away on Thursday morning, the VietnamNet newspaper reported.

Photos taken by the AFP news agency also showed hundreds of cars underwater as flooding inundated entire city blocks in Nha Trang, a popular tourist spot on the coast.

Local business owner Bui Quoc Vinh said his ground-floor restaurants and shops were under about a metre (3.2 feet) of water in the city.

“I am worried about our furniture in my restaurants and shops, but of course I cannot do anything now,” he told AFP.

“I don’t think the water is going to recede soon, as the rain has not stopped.”

The national weather forecast agency has warned of more flooding and landslides on Friday, with heavy rain set to continue in the region.

Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung told the leaders of three flood-affected provinces – Khanh Hoa, Dak Lak and Gia Lai – to mobilise the army, police and other security forces to “promptly relocate and evacuate people” to safe areas, according to a government statement.

Meanwhile, state media reported that rescuers using boats in Gia Lai and Dak Lak pried open windows and broke through roofs to assist residents stranded by high water on Wednesday.

Photographs shared in state media reports showed residents, including children, sitting on the roofs of flooded houses and calling for help via social media platforms.

“Any group out there please help! We’ve been sitting on the roof since 10pm last night, including kids and adults,” a resident of Khanh Hoa province posted on a local Facebook page.

Natural disasters have left 279 people dead or missing in Vietnam and caused more than $2bn in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office.

The Southeast Asian nation is prone to heavy rain between June and September, but experts say the climate crisis has made extreme weather events more frequent and destructive.

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Nov. 20 (UPI) — Verizon said Thursday it will lay off thousands of jobs in a cost reduction measure.

The telecommunications giant said some 13,000 workers will be let go due to “cost structure limits” in order for Verizon to be “faster and more focused,” according to CEO Dan Schulman.

“Changes in technology and in the economy are impacting the workforce across all industries,” he said in a message. “We see it in our families and within our communities.”

The company began 2025 with a roughly 100,000 strong workforce.

Schulman told Verizon employees that “every part” of the company will experience “some level of change” as Verizon focuses on “delighting our customers.”

Last month, Schulman, who arrived from PayPal, took over the Verizon helm hoping to cultivate a “leaner” business operation.

A Verizon spokesperson reiterated that cuts do not target a specific department.

The layoffs will impact roughly 20% of Verizon’s non-union management in a pool of approximately 70,000 employees, Verizon spokesman Kevin Israel told USA Today.

Meanwhile, Verizon announced it unveiled of a $20 million career transition fund for its recently fired personnel for “reskilling.”

The “toxic and chaotic” culture at the centre of the United Kingdom’s government led to a delayed response to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in about 23,000 more deaths across the nation, a damning report from an inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic has found.

The inquiry, which former Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered in May 2021, delivered a blistering assessment (PDF) on Thursday of his government’s response to COVID-19, criticising his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking their own rules and castigating his top adviser Dominic Cummings. The inquiry was chaired by former judge Heather Hallett.

“The failure to appreciate the scale of the threat, or the urgency of response it demanded, meant that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too late and a lockdown had become unavoidable,” the inquiry found. “At the centre of the UK government there was a toxic and chaotic culture.”

The global pandemic, which began in 2020, killed millions of people worldwide, with countries enforcing lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

The UK went into lockdown on March 23, 2020, at which time it was “too little, too late,” the inquiry found, revealing that if the nation had gone into lockdown just a week earlier, on March 16, the number of deaths in the first wave of the pandemic up to July would have been reduced by about 23,000, or 48 percent.

“Had the UK been better prepared, lives would have been saved, suffering reduced and the economic cost of the pandemic far lower,” the inquiry found.

A failure to act sooner again, as cases rose later in the year, also led to further national lockdowns, Hallett’s inquiry found.

A campaign group for bereaved families said “it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different Prime Minister”.

There was no immediate comment from Johnson on the inquiry’s findings.

The UK recorded more than 230,000 deaths from COVID, a similar death rate to the United States and Italy, but higher than elsewhere in western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

“Mr. Johnson should have appreciated sooner that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to inject urgency into the response,” the inquiry found.

Following the release of the inquiry’s findings, Sir Ed Davey called on Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, to apologise on behalf of the Conservatives.

“As this report is published, my thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, and everyone who suffered,” Davey said. “This report confirms the abject failure of the last Conservative government.”

Ellie Chowns, a Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, said the British people were “let down” by their government.

“Families and communities – especially children – are still living with the consequences. It’s vital to learn from this report, and invest far more seriously in pandemic preparedness, so that Britain can be secure and resilient if – or when – we are again faced with such a challenge.”

The first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and information from the country is seen as key to preventing future pandemics. As late as June 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was working to uncover the origin of the pandemic, with its work still incomplete, as critical information has “not been provided”.

“We continue to appeal to China and any other country that has information about the origins of COVID-19 to share that information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in June.

In 2021, Tedros launched the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a panel of 27 independent international experts.

Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said earlier this year that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals.

But she added that after more than three years of work, SAGO was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for detailed information made to the Chinese government.

United States job growth accelerated in September despite a cooling job market as the unemployment rate rose.

Nonfarm payrolls grew by 119,000 jobs after a downwardly revised 4,000 drop in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released on Thursday.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.4 percent, up from 4.3 percent in August.

The healthcare sector had the most gains, totalling 43,000 jobs in September. Food and beverage services sectors followed, adding 37,000 jobs, and social assistance employment grew by 14,000.

Other sectors saw little change, including construction, wholesale trade, retail services, as well as professional and business services.

The federal workforce saw a decline of 3,000, marking 97,000 jobs cut from the nation’s largest employer since the beginning of the year. Transportation and warehousing, an industry hit hard by tariffs, also saw declines and shed 25,000 jobs in September.

Average wages grew by 0.2 percent, or 9 cents, to $36.67.

Government shutdown hurdles

The September jobs report was initially slated for release on October 3, but was pushed out because of the US government shutdown. The jobs report typically comes out on the first Friday of each month. Because of the 43-day-long shutdown, the US Labor Department was unable to collect the data needed to calculate the unemployment rate for the month of October.

Nonfarm payrolls for the month of October will be released as part of the November employment report, which is slated to be released on December 16.

Heading into the economic data blackout, the BLS had estimated that about 911,000 fewer jobs were created in the 12 months through March than previously reported. A drop in the number of migrant workers coming into the US in search of work – a trend which started during the final year of former US President Joe Biden’s term and accelerated under President Donald Trump’s administration – has depleted labour supply.

“Today’s delayed report shows troubling signs below the topline number: the underlying labour market remains weak, leaving working Americans with shrinking opportunities and rising insecurity. Month after month, the Trump economy is producing fewer jobs, more instability, and fewer pathways for families trying to get ahead,” Alex Jacquez, chief of policy for the economic think tank the Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

Economists estimate the economy now only needs to create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population, down from about 150,000 in 2024.

Behind the stalling growth

The rising popularity of artificial intelligence is also eroding demand for labour, with most of the hits landing on entry-level positions in white collar jobs, and locking recent college graduates out of work. Economists said AI was fueling jobless economic growth.

Others blamed the Trump administration’s trade policy for creating an uncertain economic environment that had hamstrung the ability of businesses, especially small enterprises, to hire.

The US Supreme Court earlier this month heard arguments about the legality of Trump’s import duties, with justices raising doubts about his authority to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Despite payrolls remaining positive, some sectors and industries are shedding jobs. Some economists believed the September employment report could still influence the Federal Reserve’s December 9-10 policy meeting on interest rate decisions.

US central bank officials will not have November’s report in hand at that meeting, as the release date has been pushed to December 16 from December 5. Minutes of the Fed’s October 28-29 meeting published on Wednesday showed many policymakers cautioned that lowering borrowing costs further could risk undermining the fight to quell inflation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials visited southern Syrian territory, where Israel expanded its occupation after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year.

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (UPI) — Kenneth Bae, the Korean-American missionary who endured 735 days as a political prisoner in North Korea, is now leading a renewed international effort to realize a unified Korean Peninsula.

Bae, 57, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the longest-held American citizen in North Korea since the Korean War — an experience he now views as a mission to become a “voice for the voiceless” North Korean people.

Bae’s ordeal began in 2012 when he was arrested while leading his 18th “Love DPRK Tour” group. He was charged with “conspiracy to overthrow the state” and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He became the first U.S. citizen to be confined to a North Korean kyohwaso, or re-education camp.

“The ultimate charge was that I had tried to overthrow the North Korean regime through prayer and worship,” Bae said in an interview. His unintentional mistake was bringing an external hard drive containing a documentary that showed the suffering of ordinary North Koreans, which became evidence for the regime’s accusations.

Before his arrest, the “Love DPRK Tour” was focused less on proselytizing and more on cultural exchange and prayer for the land. Bae took some 300 people from 17 countries over two years to engage in activities like making kimchi, learning traditional dance and simply “walking the land” while praying for the North Korean people.

He was released in 2014 after a high-level diplomatic intervention led by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, an event that highlighted his strong, enduring ties to Washington policymakers.

New focus: from defector aid to unification

After his release, Bae initially established the Nehemiah Global Initiative in South Korea, primarily focusing on aiding North Korean defectors with settlement, education and even the financial support needed to rescue family members from third countries. Over eight years, NGI provided English education to about 800 young defectors.

In 2022, he rebranded the organization as the New Korea Foundation International, signaling a critical shift in focus. While support for defectors continues, the core mission is now actively preparing for reunification and the reconstruction of North Korea.

“Reunification is not an option; it is a necessity and a mission for our people,” Bae said, emphasizing the stark difference between his two years of captivity and the seven decades the North Korean populace has lived without freedom.

He insists on a South Korea-led unification that is welcomed by North Korean citizens and supported by the international community. He stresses that the true “target of unification” is the North Korean populace, not the Pyongyang regime.

Mobilizing global support: the “One Korea” campaign

The foundation launched the New Korea Unification Campaign under the slogan, “One State, One Nation, One Future, One Korea.” The campaign is a comprehensive, multi-faceted effort to build global consensus for a free and democratic unified Korea.

The campaign offers three primary ways to participate: sign, give and serve.

• It urges global citizens to join the Signature Campaign (Petition movement) to showcase worldwide support and to join the Nehemiah Prayer Pledge.

This prayer movement, originally launched by Bae’s founding organization, the Nehemiah Global Initiative, already has garnered 6,500 signatures from 75 countries to pray for the people of North Korea and for unification.

• The New Korea Gospel Broadcast is a cornerstone project, a planned U.S.-based AM Christian broadcast intended to reach North Koreans with information about the outside world and the Christian Gospel.

Recognizing the challenges and interruptions faced by official broadcasts like the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, this private-sector effort aims to maintain a vital source of outside information.

The broadcast will share “letters of hope,” directly inspired by the hundreds of letters Bae received while imprisoned. To fund this critical initiative, the foundation is seeking 1,000 people to contribute $20 per month.

• Other core campaign projects include Raising the Reunification Reconstruction Fund to support relief for refugees, the Human Rights Advocacy Movement and the Nehemiah Scholarship for defectors.

Urgency of the three-year window

Bae views the current geopolitical climate as critical, warning against the danger of the peninsula’s division becoming permanent through the “Two States” theory. He believes that if the two-state narrative is allowed to solidify, it would be a moral “betrayal” of the North Korean people.

He strongly urges the younger generation in South Korea to reject the notion that unification is a financial burden, arguing instead that North Korea is a “land of opportunity.”

“With its natural resources and a combined population exceeding 80 million, a unified Korea would become a powerful and prosperous nation,” he asserted.

He sees the next three years as a crucial window to prevent the permanent entrenchment of the division. Bae is actively appealing to U.S. leaders and policymakers for their support of the Unification Campaign, emphasizing his strong personal connections to American officials and his belief that global consensus is paramount.

Bae believes that by focusing on creating interest, knowing the situation and action, the Korean people and the international community can ensure the path to a single, free Korea remains open.

For more information on the New Korea Unification Campaign, visit the New Korea Foundation International website: newkoreafi.org.

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and was not given medical attention, leading to his death. He is among dozens of children who have been targeted and killed by Israeli troops in the occupied territories.

Kanu’s Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wants a swathe of the southeast, the homeland of the Igbo ethnic group, to split from Nigeria.

A Nigerian court has convicted separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu on charges related to “terrorism” after a years-long trial.

In his ruling on Thursday, Nigerian Judge James Omotosho said prosecutors proved that Kanu’s broadcasts and orders to his now-banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group incited deadly attacks on security forces and citizens in the southeast.

The violence was part of his push for an independent Biafra state for the ethnic Igbo-dominated region.

“His intention was quite clear, as he believed in violence. These threats of violence were nothing but terrorist acts,” Omotosho said.

Kanu, who has been in custody since his controversial re-arrest in Kenya in 2021, shouted angrily in objection to the proceedings and was ejected from court ahead of the ruling. He had argued that his unlawful extradition from Kenya undermined any chance of a fair trial.

Kanu pleaded not guilty in 2021 to seven charges that included “terrorism”, treason and perpetuating falsehoods against Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Kanu was first arrested in 2015, but fled the country while on bail. His social media posts during his absence and his Radio Biafra broadcasts outraged the government, which said they encouraged attacks on security forces.

Ultimately, security agents brought Kanu to court in Abuja in June 2021 after detaining him in Kenya, where his lawyer alleged he was mistreated. Kenya has denied involvement.

In October 2021, Kanu’s lawyers argued that his statements on Radio Biafra shouldn’t be admissible in a Nigerian court since they were made in London.

“I can’t see how someone would make a statement in London and it becomes a triable offence in this country,” Kanu’s lawyer Ifeanyi Ejiofor told reporters at the time.

Kanu, a dual Nigerian-British citizen, started Radio Biafra – an obscure, London-based radio station – in 2009 after he left Nigeria to study economics and politics at the London Metropolitan University.

In one broadcast, Kanu said: “We have one thing in common, all of us that believe in Biafra, one thing we have in common, a pathological hatred for Nigeria. I cannot begin to put into words how much I hate Nigeria.”

IPOB wants a swathe of the southeast, the homeland of the Igbo ethnic group, to split from Nigeria. An attempt to secede in 1967 as the Republic of Biafra triggered a three-year civil war that killed more than one million people.

From Dylan Hernández: While the game didn’t provide any definitive answers about what LeBron James will do in his record-breaking 23rd season, it offered promising signs about what he won’t do.

He won’t disrupt what the Lakers are doing.

The point was made most emphatically by how he played in the 140-126 victory over the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena.

In the 30 minutes he played, James shot the ball only seven times, less than any other Lakers starter.

He didn’t have problems with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves remaining the team’s primary options.

He didn’t mind picking his spots.

He didn’t mind spending most of the game as a peripheral figure on the court.

“Just thought he played with the right spirit,” coach JJ Redick said. “Very unselfish all night. Willing passer. Didn’t force it. Took his drive and his shots when they were there.”

Continue reading here

‘The dude’s a machine’: Three takeaways from LeBron James’ return to the Lakers

RAMS

From Gary Klein: The Rams, Super Bowl contenders riding a five-game winning streak, will navigate at least the next four games of the season without three veteran starters.

The Rams on Wednesday placed safety Quentin Lake, tight end Tyler Higbee and right tackle Rob Havenstein on injured reserve.

Lake, who had surgery Tuesday for a dislocated left elbow, Higbee (ankle) and Havenstein (knee/ankle) must sit out at least four games before they are eligible to return. The earliest return would be a Dec. 18 game against the Seahawks in Seattle.

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From Ryan Kartje: Last month, in the span of a single half, USC’s top two running backs were lost to serious injuries. For Eli Sanders, the knee injury he suffered against Michigan prematurely ended his season. For Waymond Jordan, ankle surgery meant missing most of the Trojans’ critical stretch run.

For USC, it made for a particularly cruel one-two punch. Through the first six games, the Trojans duo had been a top-10 rushing attack in the nation, trending toward the best rushing season USC had seen in two decades. Then, in less than an hour’s time, a promising start had been derailed by injury.

“That could almost be a death sentence,” coach Lincoln Riley said Wednesday.

But with just two games left in the season, the Trojans rushing attack still is very much alive. And USC still is clinging to College Football Playoff hopes because of it.

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Hot coaching commodity Lane Kiffin has a tough decision 12 years after USC fired him

College Football Playoff rankings

DUCKS

Ian Moore scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:35 to play, and Lukas Dostal made 36 saves in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.

Jansen Harkins. Radko Gudas and Ryan Strome also scored for the first-place Ducks, who have won nine of 12 after sweeping their season series with the Bruins.

The Bruins dominated long stretches of play and tied it with 12:21 left with Morgan Geekie’s second goal on a power play just seven seconds after Harkins took an awful cross-checking penalty.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1934 — Busher Jackson scores four third-period goals to power the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Eagles.

1960 — Jerry Norton of St. Louis intercepts four passes to send past the Washington Redskins 26-14.

1969 — Brazilian soccer legend Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.

1977 — Walter Payton rushes for an NFL record 275 yards, and the Chicago Bears edge the Minnesota Vikings 10-7.

1979 — Red Holzman of the New York Knicks wins his 500th game, a 130-125 overtime victory over Houston at Madison Square Garden. Holzman is the second coach, after Red Auerbach, to reach that mark.

1983 — Seattle’s Dave Krieg passes for 418 yards and three touchdowns, lifting the Seahawks to a 27-19 victory over the Denver Broncos.

1983 — Steve Bartkowski throws a 42-yard desperation pass that is deflected to Billy Johnson at the 5-yard line, and he then fights his way into the end zone to give the Atlanta Falcons a 28-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

1994 — Tisha Venturini scores twice and Angela Kelly, Sarah Dacey and Robin Confer add goals for North Carolina, which beats Notre Dame 5-0 for its ninth consecutive NCAA women’s soccer championship.

1997 — A.C. Green breaks the NBA record for consecutive games — his 907th straight appearance in the Dallas Mavericks’ 101-97 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Green surpasses Randy Smith’s mark of 906 set from 1972-83.

1999 — TCU’s LaDainian Tomlinson rushes for an NCAA Division I record 406 yards on 43 carries with six touchdowns in a 52-24 victory over UTEP.

2001 — Ball State beats No. 3 UCLA 91-73 in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational, one day after knocking off No. 4 Kansas in the opening round.

2010 — Mikel Leshoure of Illinois rushes for a school-record 330 yards and scores two touchdowns in the Fighting Illini’s 48-27 win over Northwestern at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. All offensive plays are run toward the same end zone because a brick wall, although heavily padded, is too close behind the other one.

2011 — Brittney Griner has 32 points and 14 rebounds while Baylor establishes itself as the clear No. 1 team with a 94-81 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame in the preseason WNIT championship game.

2011 — Landon Donovan scores in the 72nd minute on passes from Robbie Keane and David Beckham, and the Galaxy’s three superstars win their first MLS Cup together with a 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo.

2012 — Jack Taylor scores 138 points to shatter the NCAA scoring record in Division III Grinnell’s 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible in Grinnell, Iowa.

2016 — Jimmie Johnson ties Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with a record seven NASCAR championships when he defeats Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and defending champion Kyle Busch at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Nov. 20 (UPI) — The Trump administration announced that it plans to roll back protection for some animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act, changes that officials say will make the law less confusing.

The U.S. Department of the Interior proposed four rules under the act that it says will strengthen U.S. energy independence, improve regulatory predictability and ensure federal actions align with “the best reading of the law.”

“This administration is restoring the Endangered Species Act to its original intent, protecting species through clear, consistent and lawful standards that also respect the livelihoods of Americans who depend on our land and resources,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said Wednesday in a press release.

The four proposed rule changes affect how endangered species are determined, listed and delisted; change the definitions for phrasing that describes the effects of a species being listed; eliminate the “blanket rule” in favor of requiring species-specific rules; and clarify how economic, national security and other impacts are weighed when deciding whether to list a species under the act.

In all four cases, the department is rolling back changes made under the Biden Administration to broaden the species that can be protected under the act. The Biden era changes were a restoration of changes made during the first Trump administration.

Although the changes are meant to simplify complying with the act, critics have challenged the changes are not about protecting animals to prevent them from going extinct.

“This isn’t about protecting endangered species,” Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity, told The Hill.

“This is about the biggest companies in the country wanting to drill for oil and dig coal, even if it causes wildlife like the polar bear and other iconic species to go extinct,” she said.

The proposed rules have been published in the Federal Register and are open for public comment for 30 days starting on Nov. 21.

Russia’s Sukhoi Su-57 Felon is benefiting from lessons learned in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, according to the head of the country’s state-run defense conglomerate Rostec. Work to continue evolving the jet’s design is visible at this year’s Dubai Airshow, especially through a model depicting an export “Su-57E” variant featuring two-dimensional thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzles. A pre-production prototype is also on display and flying at the event, sporting a new wide-area cockpit display.

Speaking through a translator, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov talked about the Su-57, as well as other Russian aviation and defense industry developments, with TWZ and other outlets on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow yesterday. Among his remarks, he also claimed that work to improve the Felon’s capabilities based on feedback from real-world combat operations has led to a surge in overseas interest in the type. On Monday, Vadim Badekha, head of the United Aircraft Corporation, of which Sukhoi is currently a division, separately announced the delivery of the first two Su-57s to an unnamed foreign customer, something we will come back to later on.

“So, I will not confirm any contract number or any of our partners,” Chemezov said, responding to a question about export orders, according to the translator. “I can definitely highlight that we have a very huge demand from many countries for this particular aircraft, and we’re hoping to even expand this demand.”

The video below offers a close-up walkaround of the pre-production Su-57 prototype at this year’s Dubai Airshow.

“The upgrade of the fighter jet is kind of a non-stop process that continues as we continue our special military operation, we get the feedback from our pilots from the war zone, and we are tweaking and adjusting our equipment accordingly,” Chemezov also said in response to a separate query about recent updates to the Su-57 design, again per the translator. “And that’s why you can witness the high demand from our foreign customers, because they understand, and they know that our equipment goes through a continuous upgrade based on the experience we gain in the real combat environment.”

The extent to which Su-57s have been used in combat in the ongoing war in Ukraine, which the Russian government refers to as a “special military operation,” is unclear. Reports have said the jets flew their first combat missions in support of operations in Ukraine within weeks of Russia launching its all-out invasion in 2022. Additional reporting, as recently as last year, has claimed that Su-57s have continued taking part in the conflict, on and off, at least on some level, flying air-to-air and air-to-ground missions, but hard details remain scant. There are reports that an Su-57 was responsible for shooting down a friendly S-70 Okhotnik-B (Hunter-B) flying wing unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) over Ukraine in an incident last year that you can read more about here.

How many Su-57s the Russians have in service currently is also unclear. The Russian Air Force only began to receive serial production examples in 2022 after placing an order for a relatively modest 76 jets. Around 18 aircraft are at least understood to have been delivered between then and the end of 2024. Whether more deliveries have occurred this year is unclear. At least one Su-57 (and possibly two) was at least damaged in a Ukrainian attack on Akhtubinsk airfield last year.

A total of 10 pre-production prototypes, also referred to as T-50s, were also built, but not all of them are flyable, let alone suitable for operational use. The type’s first flight came on January 29, 2010, more than 15 years ago.

Chemezov did not elaborate on how any real combat experiences have directly impacted the design and capabilities of the Su-57 while speaking yesterday in Dubai, where the Su-57 has been heavily showcased. This has included a flight demonstration that offered the best look to date at the jet’s internal weapons bays.

As noted, there is a scale model of an Su-57E with two-dimensional thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzles on display at this year’s Dubai Airshow. This nozzle design has been seen in the past and is also linked to work on an improved engine for the Felon, the AL-51F-1 turbofan, as you can read more about here.

As TWZ has previously written:

“In its initial form, the AL-51F-1 also retains a similar three-dimensional thrust vectoring nozzle, but what we see in the new imagery is an alternative nozzle, this time of the two-dimensional type, which provides pitch control as well as limited roll control if engaged asymmetrically. It isn’t clear if the angled installation of the nozzle is meant to provide extra control in the latter.

This kind of stealthy ‘flat’ engine nozzle is also used on the F-22 Raptor, for example, and is primarily chosen to reduce radar signature compared with an axisymmetric nozzle design. It also provides infrared signature advantages, as well.

…

For the Su-57, the flat nozzle would bring notable advantages in terms of improving its low observability from the rear aspect. The original design of the Felon better optimized low observability from the frontal aspect, with less attention paid to the side and rear aspects. At the same time, the revised nozzles will reduce thrust output to some degree, but this is clearly considered a worthwhile penalty based on the improved low-observable aspects it brings…”

As an aside, the Russians are also showing off a relatively new turbofan engine design called the Izdeliye 177S at this year’s Dubai Airshow. This engine was first unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow in China last year. It is reportedly a derivative of the AL-41F-1, the original engine for the Su-57, which also incorporates technology from the AL-51F-1. It has been presented a potential powerplant for new-production export Su-57s, as well as an upgrade option for existing jets with AL-31 engines, especially newer generation Flanker variants.

As also mentioned, the flying pre-production prototype on display at the Dubai Airshow, also known as T-50-9, has notably received a new wide-area display in its cockpit. This is said to be reflective of the Su-57E configuration the Russians are now pitching to prospective export customers. The single-screen unit replaces two smaller displays that had previously been installed. Large, wide-area displays are an increasingly common feature on modern fighters, offering various benefits, above all else providing more overall customizable ‘real estate’ for users to work with and enhanced situational awareness when combined with upgraded processing power.

In terms of actual Su-57 export sales to date, the Russians have only explicitly talked about a firm order from one customer. Algeria is widely posited as being the country in question following a report earlier this year from one of the country’s state-run television networks. Visual confirmation of the delivery of Su-57s to the Algerian Air Force, or any other foreign customer, has yet to emerge.

“Our foreign customer, our foreign partner, has already received the first two aircraft,” Vadim Badekha, United Aircraft Corporation’s General Director, had said on Monday in an interview with Russia’s state-run Channel One television station. “They have begun combat duty and are demonstrating their best qualities. Our customer is satisfied.”

There are broader questions about Russia’s ability to produce Su-57s, or other combat jets, in the face of years of Western sanctions. In Dubai yesterday, Rostec’s Chemezov acknowledged, but downplayed the impacts of sanctions, touting Russia’s resourcefulness in sourcing alternative items domestically. These claims aside, there is substantial evidence that Russia’s defense industry, overall, continues to acquire electronics and other key components from overseas, including from the West and increasingly from China, despite international sanctions.

Chemezov also said that Russian defense exports have been cut roughly in half since the start of the war in Ukraine. However, he blamed this on higher demand from Russia’s own armed forces rather than a drop in international interest in Russian arms. There are certainly reports that some countries have been working to decouple their defense procurement plans from Russia for geopolitical reasons in recent years. Nations that buy Russian weapon systems may also be at risk of triggering secondary sanctions, especially from the United States.

When it comes to the Su-57 specifically, Russia has reportedly offered a degree of local production as part of past pitches to the United Arab Emirates and India to help offset concerns about domestic capacity and sanctions. Bringing additional partners into the Su-57 program would also help reduce the cost burden on the Russian side. India previously cooperated with Russia on the development of a country-specific version of the jet before dropping out in 2018, reportedly over disappointment in the aircraft’s expected capabilities and how the program was progressing overall.

From Dubai Airshow:

Ahead of Putin visit, Russia Pitches to Delhi the Production of Su-57 Fighter Jet in India.

Senior representative of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport says our “technology transfer comes without restrictions and possible sanctions.” pic.twitter.com/tnxbHeQPgc

— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) November 18, 2025

Renewed discussions about Su-57 exports, especially in the Middle East, now also come against the backdrop of a prospective U.S. sale to Saudi Arabia of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The White House confirmed late yesterday that President Donald Trump had approved the deal, though members of Congress could still seek to block it, and other steps would also be required to finalize it. Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, have pursued F-35 purchases in the past, but have been rebuffed, largely over operational security concerns and potential negative impacts to Israel’s so-called “qualitative edge” militarily in the region.

Trump has also taken a favorable stance when it comes to readmitting Turkey to the F-35 program. The Turkish government had been ejected from the program in 2019 in large part over its decision to purchase S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia.

The Su-57 has often been presented as a potential alternative for many countries that cannot get approval to buy F-35s. A significant shift in U.S. policy when it comes to countries eligible to buy Joint Strike Fighters could have impacts on prospects for future Su-57 sales.

Rostec’s Chemezov was asked yesterday about direct competition between the Su-57 and the F-35. He downplayed any such rivalry, saying prospective customers are free to choose whatever design they think best suits their needs, according to the translator.

The international fighter market is not limited to Russia and the United States, either. China, in particular, is making increasing inroads in this space globally, and export variants or derivatives of its J-35 stealth fighter could be on the horizon.

While many significant questions remain about the future of the Su-57, even just in Russian service, work is clearly continuing at least on a level to improve the design, and with renewed focus on potential export sales.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this report.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (UPI) — A U.N. committee adopted a resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights violations, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday, with 61 co-sponsors including South Korea and the United States.

The draft resolution, introduced earlier this month to the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly, “condemns in the strongest terms the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in and by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

The resolution calls on Pyongyang to “respect, protect and fulfill all human rights and fundamental freedoms” and to “immediately close the political prison camps and release all political prisoners unconditionally.”

It was approved by consensus during a plenary meeting of the Third Committee on Wednesday.

South Korea was among the initial 41 member states to co-sponsor the resolution, despite speculation that the liberal administration of President Lee Jae Myung might withhold support in an effort to improve relations with Pyongyang.

However, South Korea maintained the position of former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government, with the Foreign Ministry noting that Seoul’s approach to North Korean human rights would remain a matter of principle.

In a statement on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said the resolution “urges the DPRK to establish an operating environment conducive to the return of international and humanitarian staff and encourages all Member States and U.N. entities to provide more support for the work of civil society organizations.”

“The ROK government will continue its close cooperation with the international community for the substantive enhancement of human rights of DPRK people,” the ministry added, using the official acronym for South Korea.

North Korea has long rejected such resolutions as hostile acts, accusing the United Nations and Western powers of using human rights as a pretext to undermine its government.

During Wednesday’s plenary meeting, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song said Pyongyang “strongly condemns and totally rejects” the resolution, calling it “a document of political plots motivated by the impure intention of defaming the dignity of our republic and undermining its sovereign political system.”

Representatives of China and Russia also dissociated themselves from the consensus, with Beijing rejecting what it called a “politicized approach to human rights issues.”

A September report by the U.N. Human Rights Office found that North Korea’s human rights situation “has not improved over the past decade and, in many instances, has degraded,” citing worsening food shortages, widespread forced labor and tight restrictions on movement and expression.

This week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised his regime’s state security forces, which run the political prison system and have been widely accused of employing brutal methods of repression and torture. The security apparatus has long been central to maintaining the Kim family’s grip on power through pervasive surveillance and the suppression of dissent.

The United States, which was not initially among the co-sponsoring nations, later joined the group that also includes Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

The resolution will be reviewed at the upcoming General Assembly plenary next month for final adoption.

United States President Donald Trump has distanced himself from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying the former friends had severed ties more than a decade before his 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.

But one Democrat is using newly released documents from Epstein’s estate to assert that the two remained friends after Trump first became president in 2016.

Representative Sean Casten, a Democrat from Illinois, highlighted one email exchange and said in a November 12 post on X: “Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017.”

Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017. pic.twitter.com/1CU51k8yl4

— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) November 13, 2025

He attached an image of emails dated November 23, 2017 – Thanksgiving Day – between Epstein and NEXT Management Cofounder Faith Kates, which read:

Epstein: hope today is fun for you.

Kates: Fun!!! When are you back in NYC?

Epstein: all next week

Kates: Ok dylan will want to see you I always want to see you. Where are you having thanksgiving?

Epstein: eva

Faith Kates: That means glenn check out his red hair!!!

Epstein: berries color for holiday

Kates: He’s such a snooze who else is down there?

Epstein: david fizel. hanson. trump

Kates: Have fun!!!

Casten has not responded to a request for comment. “Those emails prove literally nothing,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email.

News reports, photos, videos and White House releases show Trump spent that 2017 Thanksgiving in Mar-a-Lago. PolitiFact, however, did not find any proof that he met Epstein that day.

There are different accounts of when Trump and Epstein had their falling out, with periods ranging from 2004 to 2007. The Miami Herald reported that Trump barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in October 2007, a decade before the Thanksgiving Day in question.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Two of the three people Epstein mentioned in his 2017 email as being “down there” are people who had property in South Florida at the time. It is unclear who he was referring to when he mentioned “Hanson”. It is possible Epstein was not foretelling a specific Thanksgiving Day plan but answering another New Yorker’s question about who among the people in their social circle would also be in the Florida area during that period.

Trump arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 21, 2017, and stayed there for several days, according to the president’s public schedules documented in Roll Call’s FactBase.

On Thanksgiving morning, he spoke to members of the military via video conference and visited coastguard members at the Lake Worth Inlet Station in Riviera Beach, Florida. The White House published transcripts of Trump’s remarks to both groups. Trump also issued a Thanksgiving message to the country and went to the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

Photographers for The Associated Press news agency, The Palm Beach Post and Getty Images, among others, captured photos of Trump’s activities.

A CNN report said Trump held an “opulent” dinner at the Mar-a-Lago members-only club. PolitiFact did not find reports listing who was in attendance, but the White House told CNN the first family would be having “a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the family”.

Trump was also active on social media. In a November 22, 2017, post on X, then known as Twitter, he said he “will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida [Mar-a-Lago]”. He did not specify whom he would be meeting. On Thanksgiving morning, he said in part: “HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well.”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well. Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years….!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2017

Trump left Mar-a-Lago and returned to the White House on November 26, 2017, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Donald Trump has signed a law requiring the US Justice Department to release the remaining Epstein files within 30 days. The Attorney General said her department would comply – but hinted some documents could be withheld for legal reasons.

Militaries are major global polluters, yet they remain exempt from climate reporting, creating a blind spot that threatens the entire COP30 roadmap.

As COP30 negotiations in Belem enter their final stretch, there is hope that countries might finally agree on a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels — a breakthrough that is crucial if we are serious about keeping 1.5C alive. Yet even at this pivotal moment, one major highway is still missing from that roadmap that could undermine the progress made in Brazil: the carbon emissions of the military.

Under the Paris Agreement, governments are not required to report their militaries’ emissions, and most simply don’t. Recent analysis by the Military Emissions Gap project shows that what little data exists is patchy, inconsistent or missing entirely. This “military emissions gap” is the gulf between what governments disclose and the true scale of military pollution. The result is stark: militaries remain largely invisible in the Belem negotiations, creating a dangerous blind spot in global climate action.

The size of that blind spot is staggering. Militaries account for an estimated 5.5 percent of global emissions. This share is set to rise further as defence spending surges while the rest of society decarbonises. If militaries were a country, they would be the fifth-largest emitter on Earth, ahead of Russia with 5 percent. Yet only five countries follow the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) voluntary reporting guidelines for military emissions, and those cover fuel use alone. The reality is far broader: munitions production and disposal, waste management and fugitive emissions from refrigeration, air-conditioning, radar and electrical equipment are left out. And operations in international waters and airspace are not reported at all, leaving massive gaps in both climate accountability and action.

The military emissions gap widens further still when we consider the climate impact of armed conflicts. As if the horror and human suffering from fighting wars were not enough, wars also destroy ecosystems, leave a toxic legacy on lands for decades to follow, and result in significant CO2 emissions, including from the rebuilding following the destruction of buildings and infrastructure. But without any internationally agreed framework to measure conflict emissions, these additional emissions risk going unreported, meaning that we don’t know how much wars are setting back climate action.

But despite this, momentum for accountability is finally building. Nearly 100 organisations have signed the War on Climate initiative’s pledges ahead of COP30, and protesters and civil society groups in Belem are demanding the UNFCCC confront this long-ignored source of pollution. Policymakers are starting to shift, too. The European Union has taken steps towards more transparent reporting and decarbonisation in the defence sector, though this progress is now threatened by rapid rearmament. Combined with NATO’s new target for members to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on militaries, these pledges could produce up to 200 million tonnes of CO2 and trigger as much as $298bn in climate damages annually, putting Europe’s own climate goals at risk.

International law reinforces the urgency and demand for accountability. The International Court of Justice’s recent landmark advisory opinion reminded states that they are obliged under climate treaties to assess, report and mitigate harms, including those caused by armed conflict and military activity. Ignoring these emissions doesn’t just undercount global warming; it masks the scale of the crisis and weakens the world’s ability to tackle its root causes.

The gap between current emission-reduction plans and what is needed to stay below the 1.5C limit remains catastrophic. If COP30 negotiators agree on a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, what happens next will determine whether it delivers real progress or remains symbolic. No sector can be exempt from climate action, and military emissions cannot continue to remain hidden.

Mandatory reporting of all military emissions to the UNFCCC – from combat and training activities to the long-lasting climate damage inflicted on communities – is essential.  That data must form the baseline for urgent, science-aligned reductions, embedded in national climate plans, and consistent with the 1.5C limit.

Security cannot come at the cost of the climate. Tackling climate change is now essential to our collective safety and the survival of our planet.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

One soldier was injured Thursday morning after an explosion occurred inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, officials said.

The explosion took place at 9:20 a.m. on the western front of the DMZ in Paju, just northwest of Seoul, for unknown reasons, according to officials.

A 24-year-old Army staff sergeant, who was on a mission to detect land mines on the southern side of the inter-Korean border at the time, sustained what is presumed to be an ankle fracture due to the blast.

He was wearing anti-mine protective gear and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

Military authorities are investigating the exact cause of the accident.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Bola Tinubu says he suspended the trip in light of the abductions and a separate church attack in which armed men killed two people.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has postponed his trip to South Africa for the Group of 20 summit, promising to intensify efforts to rescue 24 schoolgirls abducted by armed men earlier this week.

The president’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement on Wednesday that Tinubu suspended his departure in light of the girls’ abduction and a separate church attack in which gunmen killed two people.

Tinubu had been set to leave on Wednesday, days before the two-day summit of the world’s leading rich and developing nations was due to begin on Saturday.

“Disturbed by the security breaches in Kebbi State and Tuesday’s attack by bandits against worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church, Eruku, President Tinubu decided to suspend his departure” to the G20 summit, Onanuga said.

It was not clear immediately if or when Tinubu would leave for the weekend summit in Johannesburg.

Search for abducted girls ongoing

The schoolgirls were abducted by unidentified armed men from a secondary school in the northwestern town of Maga in Kebbi State late on Sunday night.

The attackers exchanged gunfire with police before scaling the perimeter fence and abducting the students.

One of the girls managed to escape, authorities said, but the school’s vice principal was killed. No group immediately claimed responsibility for abducting the girls, and their motivation was unclear.

Authorities say the gunmen are mostly former herders who have taken up arms against farming communities after clashes between them over strained resources.

In a separate attack on a church in western Nigeria on Tuesday, armed men killed two people during a service that was recorded and broadcast online.

Supporters of United States President Donald Trump have seized on the violence to embolden their claim that Christians are under attack in Nigeria.

Trump has threatened to invade Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” over what right-wing lawmakers in the US allege is a “Christian genocide“.

Nigeria has rejected the US president’s statements, saying more Muslims have been killed in the country’s various security crises.

The tourist boats that typically navigate Kenya’s renowned Lake Naivasha have recently taken on a new role: rescuing hundreds from inundated homes.

Though the lake’s water level has been increasing for more than a decade with repeated flooding, residents of the modest Kihoto district are stunned by this year’s unprecedented scale.

“It hasn’t happened like this before,” said resident Rose Alero.

According to local officials, the Rift Valley lake has advanced an unprecedented 1.5km (about 1 mile) inland.

“People are suffering,” said Alero, a 51-year-old grandmother, noting that many neighbours have fallen ill.

In her home, water reaches waist height, while throughout the district, toilets are overflowing.

“People are stuck … they have nowhere to go.”

The devastation is widespread: hundreds of homes are completely underwater, churches are destroyed, and police stations are submerged, surrounded by floating vegetation.

During one sudden water surge, children evacuated a school on improvised rafts.

Joyce Cheche, Nakuru County’s disaster risk management head, estimates 7,000 people have been displaced by the rising waters, which also impact wildlife and threaten tourism and commerce.

The county has provided transport assistance and implemented health measures, Cheche said, though financial compensation has not been offered yet.

Workers in the crucial flower export sector are avoiding work, fearing cholera and landslides.

She also highlighted the danger of encounters with the lake’s numerous hippos.

“We didn’t see it coming,” Cheche admitted.

At the lake’s edge, bare acacia trunks that were once lush now stand submerged in waters advancing about 1 metre (3.3 feet) daily.

This phenomenon affects other Rift Valley lakes and has displaced hundreds of thousands.

Numerous studies primarily attribute this to increased rainfall driven by climate change.

However, Kenyan geologist John Lagat, regional manager at the state-owned Geothermal Development Corporation, points to tectonics as the main cause, noting the lakes’ position along a major geological fault.

When English settlers arrived in the late 19th century, the lake was even larger before shifting tectonic plates reduced it to just 1km (0.6 miles) in diameter by 1921.

Subsequent tectonic movements increasingly sealed underground outflows, trapping water, Lagat explained, though he acknowledged that increased rainfall and land degradation from population growth also play a “substantial” role in flooding.

“We are very worried,” said Alero from her flooded home, dreading the upcoming rainy season.

“We can’t tell what will happen.”