World Briefing: October 31, 2024

North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday in its first test in almost a year of a weapon designed to threaten the U.S. mainland and occurring days ahead of the U.S. election. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the missile test and was at the launch site, calling the launch “an appropriate military action” to show North Korea’s resolve to respond to its enemies’ moves that has threatened the North’s safety, according to its Defense Ministry. The United States, South Korea and Japan had also identified the weapon as an ICBM and condemned the launch as raising tensions. The launch came as Washington warned that North Korean troops in Russian uniforms are heading toward Ukraine, likely to augment Russian forces and join the war. North Korea confirmed the launch hours after its neighbors detected the firing of what they suspected was a new, more agile weapon targeting the mainland U.S. The statement was unusually quick since North Korea usually describes its weapons tests a day after they occur - AP

The US and South Korean defense chiefs called Wednesday for North Korea to withdraw its troops from Russia, where Washington says some 10,000 of them have been deployed for possible action against Ukrainian forces. Russia and North Korea have deepened their political and military alliance as the Ukraine war has dragged on, but sending Pyongyang's troops into combat against Kyiv's forces would mark a significant escalation that has sparked widespread international concern. “I call upon them to withdraw their troops out of Russia," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the Pentagon, echoing a call by his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun, who stood beside him. Austin said the United States will "continue to work with allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat." But there is a "good likelihood" that Moscow will still do so, according to the US defense secretary, who said that North Korean forces are being outfitted with Russian uniforms and weapons. Kim, speaking through a translator, said he believes the North Korean deployment to Russia "can result in the escalation of the security threats on the Korean peninsula." France 24

The US has drawn up a draft plan to end the war between Israel and Hizbollah, calling for an initial 60-day ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Lebanese militant group and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. But the proposal would also give Israeli forces the right to target Hizbollah “in self-defence against imminent threats to Israel” and allow its war planes to continue flying over Lebanon for “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance”, according to a draft leaked to Kann, Israel’s state broadcaster. The leak came hours before US envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk were due to arrive in Israel to discuss Washington’s efforts to end the more than year-long conflict. They were expected to present an updated version of the document to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to people familiar with the matter. US officials confirmed that the document was authentic, but also cautioned that edits had been made to the leaked draft since last week, when the paper was dated. - RFE/RL

Israel’s ban on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), if implemented, would severely hamper aid operations in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, experts have warned. The Israeli parliament approved legislation on October 28 that bans UNRWA from operating in Israel. The new law could effectively end the agency’s operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza because Israel controls access to both territories. Experts say Israel’s ban would have dire ramifications for the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who rely heavily on humanitarian assistance and services from UNRWA, the largest aid provider in the territory. “It's a major blow to any humanitarian efforts trying to save lives in the Gaza Strip,” said Anders Fange, a Swedish aid worker who oversaw UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank from 2003 to 2007. “No other agency or institution can replace UNRWA.” - RFE/RL

Georgia’s president has refused to appear at the country’s Prosecutor’s Office after being summoned as a part of a probe into alleged vote-rigging in last weekend’s election. “I just want to say that it's not up to the President to provide the proof that exists in society," Salome Zourabichvili said at a press conference in Tbilisi after showing footage of alleged ballot violations. “The non-governmental organisations, the observers and regular citizens have been providing huge amounts of proof that are every day coming out and are showing more and more how large, how systemic, how massive the rigging of the elections was," she added. The investigation was opened after Georgia's opposition denounced the parliamentary elections as illegitimate. Separately, police have arrested two people accused of stuffing ballot boxes during the October 26 election, Georgia's Interior Ministry said on October 31. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, "Russia has won in Georgia", warning it will do the same in Moldova unless the West ends its rhetoric on crossing Moscow’s "red lines” - Euronews

Despite the rhetoric about “Trump-proofing”, Nato cohesion will be at risk from a hostile or isolationist Republican president, who has previously threatened to leave the alliance if European defence spending did not increase. “The truth is that the US is Nato and Nato is the US; the dependence on America is essentially as big as ever,” said Jamie Shea, a former Nato official who teaches at the University of Exeter. “Take the new Nato command centre to coordinate assistance for Ukraine in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is inside a US army barracks, relying on US logistics and software.” Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defence minister, was recently asked whether Nato was ready for Trump. “Elections will have a result whatever,” he began, before acknowledging that much of Europe had been slow to increase defence budgets, missing the warning of Russia’s capture of Crimea in Ukraine in 2014 and only reacting substantively in 2022 after Russia’s full invasion. “What we did was push the snooze button and turn around,” Pistorius said. - Guardian

All commercial foreign-flagged vessels have mysteriously departed Ukrainian territorial waters in the Black Sea. According to (my own observations) and several marine tracking sites, there were no vessels off the coast of Odesa - where’s in the weekend there was as many as eight waiting on the horizon to load. No official explanation has been given and when some local business owners near the coast were asked for a possible explanation they just shrugged their shoulders. Yesterday several cruise and ballistic missiles were fired towards Odesa oblast, especially near the crucial Danube river ports. Odesa, as many other Ukrainian cities, have also been subjected to almost daily drone attacks. One theory is that ship owners and insurers were tipped off about a possible escalation and decided to pull their vessels from Ukrainian waters. As of 10:30 CET there were no vessels on marine tracking sites shown to be headed for Odesa. Last night the main port facing the city was unusually quiet.

Ukraine has received only 10% of the aid package approved by the U.S. Congress in 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters. “This isn’t funny. The issue isn’t money, it’s bureaucracy and logistics.” He said that his request for long-range was meant as “prevention” against Russia but allies thought that it will bring escalation. He also accused the U.S. of leaking information to the NYTimes about his request for Tomahawks. “It was confidential information between Ukraine and White House. So, it means, between partners there is no confidential things!” Zelensky also said that he was told by western leaders that he was asking for too much. “Too much what? Is it too much that we want to live?”

Starbucks office workers will risk losing their jobs if they fail to comply with the company’s hybrid work requirement that employees are in the office three times a week. An internal message sent to employees warns that an “accountability process” will start in January 2025. Consequences for non-compliance are “up to, and including, separation”, according to the company message. The message said the company will no longer make Tuesday a required in-office day, leaving it up to managers to determine the best day for their teams. The three-day office policy has been in place for two years. Starbucks’s new CEO, Brian Niccol, has faced criticism for taking a corporate jet to commute nearly 1,000 miles from his home in Newport Beach, California, to Starbucks headquarters office in Seattle, Washington, three times a week. Starbucks claimed the CEO will meet or exceed the company’s hybrid work requirements. Niccol assumed the role in September 2024 after departing as CEO of Chipotle. At Chipotle, Niccol required employees to be in the office four days a week - Guardian

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