EXCLUSIVE – Freddie Flintoff is back this Sunday with a new episode of Bullseye
Bullseye host Freddie Flintoff has a hilarious one-word response as a contestant reveals their unusual talent on Sunday’s episode.
The revamped ITV gameshow is back for another fun episode on Sunday night as three more pairs made up of keen darts player and quizzing partners compete against one another to win points and prizes.
In an exclusive clip obtained by the Mirror of this Sunday’s episode, it sees Freddie, 47, baffled over a contestant’s unique party trick.
In the video, Freddie speaks to contestants Graham and Becky to which the latter reveals she’s a paediatric nurse.
Freddie then says: “I hear you’ve got a anatomy party trick, haven’t you?” to which Becky replies: “Yes I do! I can name a part of the body for every letter of the alphabet!”
Issuing a one-word response, a baffled Freddie says: “Why?” to which Becky responds: “I don’t know!” However, making a joke, Freddie then says: “But Y, Y, I’ve just thrown one at you! Can you do then A to J?”
Becky then starts reciting body parts to the alphabet letters before hilariously asking: “What’s after E, F?!” to which she then misses out the letter G.
This prompts Freddie to joke: “So you know your anatomy but not your alphabet?” to which Becky responds: “Yeah, that’s it!”
Firing another joke, Freddie says: “I was going to say, do you know your a**e from your elbow but I’m not quite sure!”
It comes as Bullseye has returned for a new series and a 2025 Christmas special following last year’s one-off Bullseye festive special, which drew in audiences of over 8.6 million.
The original Bullseye aired from 1982 until 1995 and was hosted by the late Jim Bowen.
Meanwhile, Freddie will not be using his real name as the former England cricketer hosts the ITV quiz show.
The 47-year-old has always gone by Freddie but is actually named Andrew.
Cricket icon Flintoff has always been known as Freddie ever since his school days. He was given the nickname because his surname was similar to that of cartoon character Fred Flintstone.
UNAIDS says millions across the world lost access to treatment and preventive care due to financial shortfalls.
The United Nations agency for combating AIDS has announced that global funding disruptions for treatment and prevention programmes are leaving millions of people without access to care.
In a report released on Tuesday, UNAIDS said the global response to the disease “immediately entered crisis mode” after the United States halted funding when President Donald Trump took office in January.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The Trump administration had suspended all new foreign aid funds on January 25, except for military assistance to Israel and Egypt.
Some of the HIV funding was restored in the second half of the year, but in the wake of Trump’s decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), certain programmes have not resumed.
UNAIDS said the cuts were compounded by “intensifying economic and financial pressures on many low and middle-income countries”.
The funding shortfalls, it added, are having “having profound, lasting effects” on the lives of people across the world.
“People living with HIV have died due to service disruptions, millions of people at high risk of acquiring HIV have lost access to the most effective prevention tools available, over 2 million adolescent girls and young women have been deprived of essential health services, and community-led organizations have been devastated, with many being forced to close their doors,” the report read.
Due to the funding cuts, the number of people using preventive HIV medication, known as PrEP, fell by 64 percent in Burundi, 38 percent in Uganda and 21 percent in Vietnam. Condom distribution in Nigeria dropped by 55 percent.
“The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve,” said Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS.
“Behind every data point in this report are people … babies missed for HIV screening, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them.”
Despite the financial crisis, UNAIDS said there were some positive trends emerging, including national and regional initiatives to bolster health programmes and treat the disease.
“Communities are rallying to support each other and the AIDS response. Although the most impacted countries are also some of the most indebted, limiting their ability to invest in HIV, governments have taken swift action to increase domestic funding where they can,” the report read.
“As a result, some countries have maintained or even increased the number of people receiving HIV treatment.”
The report recommends restructuring the international debt of lower-income countries and pausing their payments until 2030 to allow them to direct more resources to HIV care and prevention.
It also called for “inspiring innovation with prizes instead of patents, and treating health innovations as global public goods in times of pandemics”.
On top of dwindling funds, the report highlighted another challenge in the fight against AIDS: “a growing human rights crisis”.
“In 2025, for the first time since UNAIDS began monitoring punitive laws in 2008, the number of countries criminalizing same-sex sexual activity and gender expression increased,” it said.
“Globally, anti-gender and anti-rights movements are growing in influence and geographic reach, jeopardizing gains made to date on the rights of women and girls, people living with HIV and LGBTIQ+ people.”
A major star from Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things has addressed the wild theories about her next role in a highly-anticipated blockbuster
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has issued a cryptic response to who she could be playing in an upcoming Marvel movie.
The actress is best known for portraying Maxine ‘Max’ Mayfield in Netflix’s smash-hit series, which is returning for its fifth and final season this week.
She has since been cast in the upcoming superhero sequel Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with Tom Holland returning as the web-slinger, though details of her role are currently a mystery.
With fan theories ranging from iconic comic book favourites such as Gwen Stacey and Jean Grey to more obscure characters, fans may be in the dark for some time as both Marvel Studios and Sony are keeping things under wraps.
Sink has recently addressed some of the most popular rumours, many of which point to the redheaded actress portraying someone with a similar look.
“A lot of people forget that hair colour can change, but, yeah, I understand all of the theories,” she teased to Entertainment Weekly.
Her four-word clarification that “hair colour can change” could point to her casting as Spider-Man’s blonde girlfriend Gwen after his love interest MJ, played by Holland’s real-life partner Zendaya, was left with her memory wiped in the last film.
However, Sink’s casting as X-Men team member Jean has also been a popular choice since before she joined the franchise, as she notes: “That was happening before I even knew that I would be working on this project.
“I was like, ‘Wait! What are people talking about?’”
The odds are also strong that the Stranger Things alum is playing a lesser-known character called Rachel Cole, the sidekick of vigilante the Punisher who will also be making an appearance in Brand New Day portrayed by Jon Bernthal.
“People will just have to wait and see,” Sink teased. “I’m excited for all of it to maybe be put to rest.”
The actress currently has multiple mysteries surrounding her upcoming on-screen appearances, as the fate of her Stranger Things character Max was also left up in the air at the end of season four.
Watch Bridgerton on Netflix for free with Sky
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Bridgerton.
Following an intense confrontation with Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), Max was left in a coma while her friends anxiously await her revival, which may never actually arrive.
“For the most part, I think people trust me to keep my mouth shut,” she said.
“Press is pretty boring if you can’t talk about the episodes — for me, at least. She’s in a coma. That’s all I can say.”
Stranger Things season 5 premieres Wednesday, 26th November.
On his second day as chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Jaime Moore criticized what he called media efforts to “smear” firefighters who responded to the worst wildfire in city history.
Moore’s comments Tuesday appeared to be in reference to a Times report that a battalion chief ordered firefighters to roll up their hoses and leave the burn area of the Jan. 1 Lachman fire, which days later reignited into the deadly Palisades fire, even though they had complained that the ground was still smoldering.
The Times reviewed text messages between firefighters and a third party, sent in the weeks and months after the Palisades fire, indicating that crews had expressed concerns that the Lachman fire would reignite if left unprotected.
“The audacity for people to make comments and say that there’s text messages out there that say that we did not put the fire out, that we did not extinguish the fire,” Moore told the Board of Fire Commissioners. “Yet I have yet to see any of those text messages.”
Moore’s statements represented a dramatic shift from his comments last week, when he told the L.A. City Council’s public safety committee — two days before the full council approved his appointment as chief — that the reports had generated an “understandable mistrust” of the fire department.
“The most alarming thing to me is … our members were not listened to, or they were not heard,” he said last Wednesday.
In response to Mayor Karen Bass’ request that he investigate the department’s missteps during the Lachman fire, Moore had called for an outside organization to conduct the probe.
On Tuesday, he said he would review LAFD’s response to the Lachman fire, though he did not specify who would conduct the investigation.
“I will do as Mayor Bass asked, and I will look into the Lachman fire, and we will look at how that was handled, and we will learn from it, and we’ll be better from it,” he said.
In one text message reviewed by The Times, a firefighter who was at the Lachman scene Jan. 2 wrote that the battalion chief in charge had been told it was a “bad idea” to leave because of visible signs of smoldering terrain.
A second firefighter was told that tree stumps were still hot at the location when the crew packed up and left, according to the texts. And another firefighter said in more recent texts that crew members were upset when directed to leave the scene, but that they could not ignore orders.
The firefighters’ accounts line up with a video recorded by a hiker above Skull Rock Trailhead late in the morning Jan. 2 — almost 36 hours after the Lachman fire started — that shows smoke rising from the dirt. “It’s still smoldering,” the hiker says from behind the camera.
At least one battalion chief assigned to LAFD’s risk management section knew about the complaints for months, The Times found. But the department did not include that finding, or any detailed examination of the reignition, in its after-action report on the Jan. 7 Palisades fire — or otherwise make the information public — despite victims demanding answers for months about how the blaze started and whether more could have been done to prevent it.
Moore, a 30-year LAFD veteran, told the City Council on Friday that one of his top priorities is raising morale in a department that has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
In January, The Times reported that LAFD officials decided not to pre-deploy any engines or firefighters to the Palisades — as they had done in the past — despite being warned that some of the most dangerous winds in recent years were headed for the region.
The LAFD after-action report released last month described fire officials’ chaotic response, which was plagued by major staffing and communication issues, as the massive blaze overwhelmed them.
After Bass ousted Fire Chief Kristin Crowley over her handling of the Palisades fire, the department was led by interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva until Moore took over Monday.
Genethia Hudley Hayes, president of the Board of Fire Commissioners, which provides civilian oversight for the fire department, said at Tuesday’s meeting that she had not seen the text messages quoted in The Times. Because she hadn’t seen them, she said, the messages have “no bearing on the work of the fire commission.”
She also said that the commission supported the fire department’s after-action report, noting that that the report was not about the rekindling of the Lachman fire, but about the first 72 hours of the department’s response to the Palisades fire.
“It has nothing to do and should not have had anything to do with the Lachman fire, because that is not what we asked for,” Hudley Hayes said.
When Donald Trump apologized for saying in 2005 that he could grope women because of his celebrity, he immediately pointed to Bill Clinton as having done worse. Trump appeared before a debate alongside Clinton’s accusers and again mentioned the former president’s past while onstage with Hillary Clinton. But Trump’s argument was undercut when more women publicly came forward with allegations that he had groped or kissed them without consent.
Here’s a look at the pasts of both Trump and Bill Clinton and accusations against them.
Donald Trump
In a screen grab of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video, Donald Trump prepares for his cameo on “Days of Our Lives” with actress Arianne Zucker and Billy Bush, right, then “Access” co-host. (Getty)
(Getty)
1977, 31-year-old Trump
Trump marries his first wife, Ivana Trump
Donald Trump Jr. is born
Early-1980s, 30-something Donald Trump
Allegation: While Trump was seated next to her on a plane, businesswoman Jessica Leeds said, he lifted her armrest and touched her inappropriately.
“He was like an octopus,” Leeds, now 74, told the New York Times. “His hands were everywhere.”
Response: Trump called it a “ridiculous tale.” At a rally in North Carolina, he said, “She would not be my first choice.”
Allegation: Ivana Trump used the word “rape” in a 1992 deposition during their divorce to describe an encounter with Trump when they were married in 1989. In 2015, after the allegation resurfaced, she said it was “without merit” and that she had made it “at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald.”
Response: After the allegation resurfaced last summer, Michael Cohen, a lawyer for the Trump Organization, incorrectly said that a man cannot legally rape his wife. Many states have laws outlawing marital rape. Trump distanced himself from that statement.
Early 1990s, 40-something Trump
Allegation: Kristin Anderson told the Washington Post that when she was at a Manhattan nightclub, someone sitting next to her “touched her vagina through her underwear.” Anderson said she fled the couch and only then realized it was Trump.
Response: “Mr. Trump strongly denies this phony allegation by someone looking to get some free publicity. It is totally ridiculous,” Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said to the Post.
1991, 44-year-old Trump
Ivana Trump files for divorce.
1992, 45-year-old Trump
Accusation: Donald Trump reportedly talked about dating young girls once they reached maturity. A 1992 wire service report said he joked to 14-year-old girls that he’d be dating them “in a few years.” In CBS footage from around the same time, he says of a 10-year-old girl that he’d be “dating her in 10 years.”
Response: Trump has not commented specifically on those allegations.
Accusation: Jill Harth filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Trump, alleging that while working on a beauty competition with him, he harassed her to the point of what she called “attempted rape.”
“He pushed me up against the wall, and had his hands all over me and tried to get up my dress again,” she told the Guardian. “And I had to physically say: ‘What are you doing? Stop it.’”
Response: In an interview with CNN on Friday, Trump said he was the victim of a political smear campaign.
1993, 46-year-old Trump
Tiffany Trump is born.
Trump marries Marla Maples.
1997, 50-year-old Trump
Trump and Marla Maples separate.
Accusation: Temple Taggart told the New York Times that when she was Miss Utah, Trump kissed her on the lips without consent.
Response: Trump has denied the allegations.
1998, 51-year-old Trump
Accusation: During a press conference with Gloria Allred on Thursday, Karena Virginia said Trump approached her after the 1998 U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing, N.Y. He then grabbed her arm and touched her breast.
“Don’t you know who I am?” Virginia said Trump asked her when she flinched.
Response: “Gloria Allred, in another coordinated, publicity seeking attack with the Clinton campaign, will stop at nothing to smear Mr. Trump,” Trump spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said. “Give me a break. Voters are tired of these circus-like antics and reject these fictional stories and the clear efforts to benefit Hillary Clinton.”
1999, 52-year-old Trump
Trump and Marla Maples divorce
2003, 56-year-old Trump
Accusation:Mindy McGillivray says Trump groped her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida while she was working with a photographer at the site. She was 23.
Response: Trump has denied the allegations.
2005, 58-year-old Trump
Trump marries Melania Trump
Allegation: Trump makes lewd comments about groping women.
Response: Apologized, calling it “locker room talk,” while dismissing it as a distraction.
Accusation: Rachel Crooks says Trump kissed her without permission outside an elevator bank at Trump Tower in Manhattan when she was 22.
Response: Trump denied the allegations. When questioned by a New York Times reporter, he told the journalist, “You are a disgusting human being.”
2006, 59-year-old Trump
Barron Trump is born.
Allegation: During a Saturday press conference with Gloria Allred, adult film star Jessica Drake said she met Trump in 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe where she said he made sexual advances toward her and two friends.
“When we entered the room he grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking permission,” Drake said, releasing a posed photo she took with Trump at the event.
Drake said that later, Trump or a “male speaking on his behalf” offered her $10,000 and use of his private jet for sex. She said she declined.
Response: “This story is totally false and ridiculous. The picture is one of thousands taken out of respect for people asking to have their picture taken with Mr. Trump,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement. “Mr. Trump does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her.”
2007, 60-year-old Trump
Accusation: Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos says Trump invited her into his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel and proceeded to kiss her against her will, groped her and shoved his genitals towards her.
Response: “To be clear, I never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. That is not who I am as a person, and it is not how I’ve conducted my life,” Trump said in a statement.
Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
(Getty Images)
1975, 29-year-old Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton marries Hillary Rodham.
Mid-1970s to 1992, 30- to 40-something Clinton
Allegation:Dolly Kyle Browning, a high school friend of Clinton’s, said she had an occasional sexual relationship with him over about 15 years.
Response: Clinton has not publicly responded.
1978, 32-year-old Clinton
Allegation:Juanita Broaddrick said in 1999 that when Clinton was Arkansas governor, he invited her to a hotel room where she said he kissed, then raped her.
Response: Clinton denied the allegations.
1980, 34-year-old Clinton
Chelsea Clinton is born.
1982, 36-year-old Clinton
Allegation: In 1998, Elizabeth Ward Gracen said she had had a consensual one-night stand with Clinton when he was Arkansas governor in 1982. It was the same year she won the title of Miss America.
Response: Clinton denied the allegations.
1983, 37-year-old Clinton
Allegation: In 1994, 1958’s Miss Arkansas, Sally Perdue, said she had an affair with Clinton the previous year. She claimed that a Democratic staffer told her not to reveal any information, and was warned “they knew that I went jogging by myself and he couldn’t guarantee what would happen to my pretty little legs.”
Response: He has not publicly responded to the allegation.
1991, 44-year-old Clinton
Allegation: Paula Jones said a state trooper asked her to meet then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in his hotel room. Jones said that Clinton dropped his pants and underwear and told her to “kiss it.” She refused.
Jones sued Clinton for sexual harassment in 1998, prompting the investigation that culminated in the revelation of Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Response: Clinton settled a sexual harassment suit with Jones with no apology or admission of guilt.
1980-1992, 45-year-old Clinton
Allegation: During Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992, Gennifer Flowers said she had had a 12-year sexual relationship with him.
Response: Clinton admitted to a sexual affair with Flowers while under oath in 1998.
1993, 46-year-old Bill Clinton
Allegation: In 1998, Kathleen Willey alleged Clinton groped her without permission in the Oval Office.
Response: Clinton denied the encounter while under oath in 1998.
1995-1996, 49-year-old Bill Clinton
Allegation:Monica Lewinsky’s affair with Bill Clinton surfaced in 1998, when Lewinsky’s friend Linda Tripp learned that she had signed an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying her relationship with Clinton. Tripp handed secret recordings of Lewinsky’s account of the affair to investigator Kenneth Starr.
Response: Clinton initially denied the allegations.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” he said famously.
Clinton later admitted to the affair, and the House of Representatives voted to impeach him.
Updated at 11:10 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2016: This story was updated with Jessica Drake’s statements.
Updated at 1:20 p.m. on Oct. 20, 2016: This story was updated with Karena Virginia’s statements.
This article was originally published at 3:35 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2016.
The winner of this year’s ITV series has been named and they were shocked with the result
Richard was named this year’s Big Brother winner(Image: ITV)
The Big Brother 2025 champion has finally been revealed.
A total of 17 housemates, including latecomers and surprise entrants, were narrowed down to a final six. Cameron, Elsa, Emily, Jenny, Richard and Tate were announced as this year’s Big Brother finalists earlier in the week.
This was followed by a shocking last-minute double back-door eviction that left viewers at home stunned. Marcus and Teja just missed out on the grand prize as they were sent packing after the final Wicked-themed task.
The latest series has been jam-packed with drama, from forming rivalries to divisions and heated debates. One contestant was booted out on the very first night only to make a surprising comeback and secure a spot in the final.
Meanwhile, one housemate was shown the door by Big Brother due to repeated rule violations, reports OK!.
Presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best graced our screens once again to host ITV’s live grand finale on Friday (November 14), where they disclosed the public vote results for each remaining contestant.
The final rankings were: Tate in 6th, Emily in 5th, Cameron in 4th and Jenny in third. This left Richard and Elsa battling it out for the top two spots.
Before the final result was unveiled, viewers got a glimpse of how the contestants spent their last night and day in the house, including partaking in Big Brother’s last supper.
Cameron confessed: “Seven weeks in this mad house. It’s been a hell of a ride in here. I can’t say in a nutshell how much I’ve appreciated coming into this house and spending it with you guys, and how great you’ve all been. So, thank you for that. Jenny I probably couldn’t have done it quite without you. It certainly wouldn’t have been as fun and enjoyable and you know I think the world you, never change never change.”
Richard declared to the group: “This experience has been without doubt the most bonkers, crazy, madcap, incredible, extraordinary thing I have ever done. It’s been great to meet all of you, it’s been a magnificent, magnificent ride and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. So, here’s to you, it’s been great!”.
After this, the crucial moment arrived. Will enthusiastically revealed the victor during the live finale and AJ was the first to greet the jubilant housemate, £100,000 richer, as they stepped out to thunderous cheers.
In a nail-biting climax, it came down to a showdown between Elsa and Richard, with the latter clinching victory.
Before leaving the house Richard embraced imaginary housemates and addressed the house: “Big Brother team it has been an absolute pleasure and delight. Good night and thank you.”
When asked by AJ how he felt about winning the series he responded: “Absolutely crazy.”
Fans were quick to voice their opinions on the outcome. One fan took to social media, posting: “Absolutely made up for Richard! He’s been the most decent, genuine and authentic person in the Big Brother house this year! Well deserved!”.
Another chimed in: “He was one of 4 late arrivals that entered without a crowd and now Richard will not only leave the house to a crowd, but he’ll be leaving it with £100k as the Big Brother GRAND CHAMPION 2025! ! ! Huge congratulations, sir.”
A third fan remarked: “Huge congrats to Richard for winning this year’s Big Brother, he has been such a brilliant housemate and he deserves to win especially being the oldest at 60.”
Another said: “I’m fine with Richard winning for the sheer fact that Caroline will have to sit there and watch his winning interview.”
The Big Brother 2025 final is merely days away, but only one housemate can claim the winning title and a substantial cash prize. As personalities continue to clash, tensions keep rising as the finale approaches.
Tonight’s episode (November 9) showed the housemates reacting after Friday’s live eviction. And it was Richard’s seemingly savage response that got fans talking.
Chatting to Big Brother in the Diary Room, Richard was questioned if he missed Caroline, as he said: “Deeply. I could hear violins playing as I sobbed myself to sleep, and the pillow was steeped with my tears.”, reports OK!.
He added, “I wondered how on earth I’m going to manage when I wake up in the morning and she’s not there on the other side of the room to throw her barbed comments in my direction.
“And I woke up this morning and I looked across at the empty bed and I thought Yes.”
Richard then laughed at his remarks as he appeared to celebrate the eviction outcome.
Taking to X, viewers said they were “screaming” at the star’s response. One person wrote: “I’ve seen enough. Richard has to win.”
Another viewer wrote: “I knew Richard was a winner from the moment i saw his VT Maybe i have a boring sense of humour but this man has me howling everytime hes in the diary room.”
A third added: “Richard, I’m screaming.” A fourth penned: “I’m crying at Richard in the diary room, he’s so funny.”
One person said: “I love when Richard just starts howling over himself, he’s so me.”
Another commented: “Richard’s wheeze actually cracks me up.”
One person echoed: “Richard is an absolute comedy genius.”
The ongoing tension between Richard and Caroline began when the pair first met following Richard’s late entrance to the house. Caroline was frequently spotted making digs at him, never letting him forget about ‘pinching’ her eyeball currency.
Richard has characterised their dynamic as “pantomime-like”. Yet during her departure interview, Caroline stuck to her guns that she found Richard “boring”, saying it multiple times, leaving hosts Will and AJ uncertain whether she genuinely meant it.
Big Brother airs Sunday to Friday on ITV2 and ITVX at 9pm.
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Thursday denounced the latest U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang as a demonstration of Washington’s hostile policy, vowing to take proper measures to counter it with patience.
The North’s reaction came as the U.S. announced Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and two entities for their involvement in laundering money stolen through illicit cyber activities.
The sanctions came even as U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his wish to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to resume stalled diplomacy with Pyongyang.
Kim Un-chol, North Korea’s vice foreign minister in charge of U.S. affairs, said in a statement that by imposing fresh sanctions, the U.S. has showed its “invariable hostile” intents toward North Korea in an “accustomed and traditional way,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” the statement showed.
Denouncing the U.S. for revealing its “wicked nature,” the North’s official warned Washington should not expect its tactics of pressure, appeasement, threat and blackmail against North Korea will work.
“The U.S. sanctions will have no effect on the DPRK’s thinking and viewpoint on it in the future, too, as in the past,” Kim said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In regard to North Korea’s statement, South Korea’s unification ministry assessed the North appears to have responded to the imposition of U.S. sanctions in a “restrained” manner.
The U.S. move came as North Korea has not responded to Trump’s proposal to meet with the North’s leader during his latest trip to South Korea on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering.
Earlier this week the U.S. State Department also raised the need to seek U.N. sanctions on seven ships accused of illegally exporting North Korean coal and iron ore to China in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea’s spy agency said this week there were signs that North Korea had been preparing for a possible meeting with the U.S. in time for last week’s APEC gathering.
The National Intelligence Service said there is a high possibility that the North and the U.S. would hold a summit some time after an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. in March next year.
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.
The Los Angeles Police Department has released a report that identifies several shortcomings in its response to the devastating Palisades fire, including communication breakdowns, inconsistent record-keeping and poor coordination at times with other agencies — most notably the city’s Fire Department.
The after-action report called the January blaze a “once in a lifetime cataclysmic event” and praised the heroic actions of many officers, but said the LAPD’s missteps presented a “valuable learning opportunity” with more climate-related disasters likely looming in the future.
LAPD leaders released the 92-page report and presented the findings to the Police Commission at the civilian oversight panel’s public meeting Tuesday.
The report found that while the Fire Department was the lead agency, coordination with the LAPD was “poor” on Jan. 7, the first day of the fire. Though personnel from both agencies were working out of the same command post, they failed to “collectively establish a unified command structure or identify shared objectives, missions, or strategies,” the report said.
Uncertainty about who was in charge was another persistent issue, with more confusion sown by National Guard troops that were deployed to the area. Department leaders were given no clear guidelines on what the guard’s role would be when they arrived, the report said.
The mix-ups were the result of responding to a wildfire of unprecedented scale, officials said. At times the flames were advancing at 300 yards a minute, LAPD assistant chief Michael Rimkunas told the commission.
“Hopefully we don’t have to experience another natural disaster, but you never know,” Rimkunas said, adding that the endeavor was “one of the largest and most complex traffic control operations in its history.”
Between Jan. 11 and Jan. 16, when the LAPD’s operation was at its peak, more than 700 officers a day were assigned to the fire, the report said.
The report found that officials failed to maintain a chronological log about the comings and goings of LAPD personnel at the fire zone.
“While it is understandable that the life-threatening situation at hand took precedence over the completion of administrative documentation,” the report said, “confusion at the command post about how many officers were in the field “resulted in diminished situational awareness.”
After the fire first erupted, the department received more than 160 calls for assistance, many of them for elderly or disabled residents who were stuck in their homes — though the report noted that the disruption of cell service contributed to widespread confusion.
The communication challenges continued throughout the day, the report found.
Encroaching flames forced authorities to move their command post several times. An initial staging area, which was in the path of the evacuation route and the fire, was consumed within 30 minutes, authorities said.
But because of communication breakdowns caused by downed radio and cellphone towers, dispatchers sometimes had trouble reaching officers in the field and police were forced to “hand deliver” important paper documents from a command post to its staging area on Zuma Beach, about 20 miles away.
Several commissioners asked about reports of journalists being turned away from fire zones in the weeks that followed the fire’s outbreak.
Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said there was some trepidation about whether to allow journalists into the fire-ravaged area while authorities were still continuing their search for bodies of fire victims.
Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields said that while she had some concerns about the LAPD’s performance, overall she was impressed and suggested that officers should be commended for their courage. The department has said that dozens of officers lost their homes to the fires.
The report also recommended that the department issue masks and personal protective equipment after there was a shortage for officers on the front lines throughout the first days of the blaze.
The Palisades fire was one of the costliest and most destructive disasters in city history, engulfing nearly 23,000 acres, leveling more than 6,000 structures and killing 12 people. More than 60,000 people were evacuated. The deaths of five people within L.A. city limits remain under investigation by the LAPD’s Major Crimes Division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The LAPD reports details how at 11:15 a.m., about 45 minutes after the first 911 calls, the call was made to issue a citywide tactical alert, the report said. The department stayed in a heightened state of alert for 29 days, allowing it to draw resources from other parts of the city, but also meaning that certain calls would not receive a timely police response.
As the flames began to engulf a nearby hillside, more officers began responding to the area, including a contingent that had been providing security at a visit by President Trump.
Initially, LAPD officers operated in largely a rescue- and traffic-control role. But as the fire wore on, police began to conduct crime suppression sweeps in the evacuation zones where opportunistic burglars were breaking into homes they knew were empty.
In all, 90 crimes were reported in the fire zone, including four crimes against people, a robbery and three aggravated assaults, 46 property crimes, and 40 other cases, ranging from a weapons violation to identity theft. The department made 19 arrests.
The new report comes weeks after the city of Los Angeles put out its own assessment of the fire response — and on the heels of federal prosecutors arresting and charging a 29-year-old Uber driver with intentionally setting a fire Jan. 1 that later grew into the Palisades fire.
The LAPD’s Major Crimes and Robbery-Homicide units also worked with the ATF to investigate the fire’s cause.
