North Korea’s leader has ordered that the country’s nuclear weapons are prepared for use at any time and the military to be in “pre-emptive attack” mode. Citing growing enemy threats, Kim Jong-un made his announcement on Friday a day after the UN approved its harshest sanctions crafted by the US against the impoverished nation, marking a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula.
The Pentagon is drawing up plans for a large scale air assault on ISIS forces in Libya based on faulty and overestimated intelligence reports. Top Washington officials and analysts warn against military escalation in Libya, saying that it is based on overblown estimates of the Islamic State’s strength and would in fact add more fuel to the jihadists’ fire. They say it is reminiscent of the disastrous decision to invade Iraq in 2003 which was based on faulty intelligence. That decision consequently led to the birth of ISIS in the Middle East and its expansion into north Africa.
Kurdish forces in Iraq have discovered elaborate network of tunnels in towns and cities they have recaptured from ISIS. The jihadists used a network of tunnels in Iraqi Kurdish cities under their control and used them as escape routes and command centers. The tunnels have undermined the foundations of recaptured towns and cities. Russia Today reports: In the Yazadi city of Sinjar, recaptured by Kurdish Peshmerga militia from Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) last December, 70 tunnels have already been discovered.
A report published by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon indicates that UN peacekeepers have been accused of sexual abuse in various parts of the world. According to the recently published report, there were 99 allegations of sexual assault in 2015 against UN Peacekeepers in 21 countries and so far not one person has been prosecuted. Young children traded oral sex for food in war-zones while officials looked the other way. UN human rights spokesman, Rupert Colville admitted in May that it was possible that further inquiries would reveal even more unreported instances.
The role presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton played as secretary of state in the 2011 military intervention in Libya is starting to unravel as more than 50 officials from the US, Europe, and Libya speak out. In a two part report for The New York Times many of those directly involved in the mission that overthrew the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, portray Clinton as a catalyst in the decision to go to war.