North Korean test of ICBM is condemned by two-thirds of UN Security Council

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North Korean test of ICBM is condemned by two-thirds of UN Security Council

2024-11-06 04:58 Last Updated At：05:01

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.S.-led statement approved by 10 of the 15 U.N. Security Council members Tuesday condemned a recent North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile launch and called on Pyongyang to return to negotiations and abandon its missile programs.

The statement follows a series of recent North Korean missile launches, including the test Thursday of the country’s newest ICBM that is designed to reach the United States.

The 10 Security Council members said that launch — in addition to more than 100 North Korean ballistic missile launches since 2022 — violates multiple Security Council resolutions prohibiting the North from using ballistic missile technology and jeopardizes international peace and security.

The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies also decried last week's launch in a statement Tuesday, saying North Korea “continues to advance its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and to escalate its destabilizing activities.” The G7 is Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.

At the United Nations, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood read the statement to reporters surrounded by diplomats from the nine other nations that signed on — Ecuador, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. They were joined by representatives from three countries that will join the council in January — Denmark, Greece and Panama.

Five Security Council nations didn’t support the statement — Russia, China, Algeria, Mozambique and Guyana.

In the statement, the 10 council members said the United States sought the required approval of all 15 council members for a press statement condemning the ICBM test and calling for North Korea to adhere to the Securitiy Council's legally binding sanctions.

But the statement said two countries — identified by council members as North Korea’s allies Russia and China — refused to join the denunciation of Pyongyang’s actions.

The 10 members stressed that all council nations are obligated to implement sanctions on North Korea, urging all the nations on the Security Council to abide by that responsibility, maintain international peace and security, and uphold the treaty banning the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

While Russia and China were not named, the statement appeared aimed especially at Russia, which has reportedly received munitions and troops from North Korea for its war against Ukraine.

At a Security Council meeting Monday, the U.S. and its allies sparred with Russia, China and North Korea over Pyongyang's ICBM tests and troop deployment to Russia.

Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that their troops engaged North Korean units for the first time in Russia’s Kursk border region, which Ukrainian forces occupy.

The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years, seeking — so far unsuccessfully — to cut funds and curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The last sanctions resolution was adopted by the council in December 2017. China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of ICBM launches and have blocked any council action since then.

A turbulent campaign nears its finale as Americans choose between Harris and Trump

2024-11-06 04:58 Last Updated At：05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — A presidential campaign marked by upheaval and rancor headed for its Election Day finale on Tuesday, as Americans decided whether to send Donald Trump back to the White House or elevate Kamala Harris to the Oval Office.

Voters faced a stark choice between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the world’s largest economy and dominant military power. More than 82 million people voted early. Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.

Trump voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club, and said afterward that he was feeling “very confident.”

“It looks like Republicans have shown up in force,” the former president told reporters. He said he had not prepared a speech on the results — win or lose — saying: “I’m not a Democrat. I’m able to make a speech on very short notice.”

Harris, the Democratic vice president, did phone interviews with radio stations in the battleground states, then visited Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington carrying a box of Doritos.

“’This truly represents the best of who we are,” Harris told a room of cheering staffers. She was handed a cellphone by supporters doing phone banking, and when asked by reporters how she was feeling, the vice president held up the phone and responded, “Gotta talk to voters.”

Harris stands to be the first female president if elected and has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by President Joe Biden. Trump has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Liza Fortt arrived at her polling location in a wheelchair and not feeling well. But she said she ventured out anyway to vote for Harris.

“It means a lot to me and my grandkids, my granddaughters, my nieces. ... I was just waiting for this day to come,” said Fortt, who is 74 and Black. She said she never thought she’d have such an opportunity, to cast a ballot for a Black woman in a presidential race.

“I’m proud, to see a woman, not only a woman, but a Black woman,” Fortt said.

Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused on seven swing states, five of them carried by Trump in 2016 before they flipped to Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively carried in the last two elections, also were closely contested.

First-time voter Jasmine Perez, 26, cast her ballot at the Las Vegas Raiders’ stadium in Nevada for Trump, citing his spiritual values.

“What really attracted me to Donald Trump is I’m a Christian," Perez said, noting of the former president, “I like that he openly promotes Christianity in America.”

The closeness of the race and the number of states in play raised the likelihood that, once again, a victor might not be known on election night.

Trump said Tuesday that he had no plans to tell his supporters not to refrain from violence if Harris wins, because they “are not violent people.” Asked about accepting the race’s results, he said, “If it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge it.” He visited a nearby campaign office to fire up staffers before a party at a nearby convention center.

After her DNC stop, Harris planned to attend a party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.

Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve as president. She also would be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 36 years.

“I think this is an inflection point in terms of this is the moment where we have two very different visions of the future of our nation," Harris said in a Tuesday interview with The Big Tigger Morning Show on V-103 in Atlanta. “And mine is focused on progress.”

A victory would cap a whirlwind campaign unlike any other in American history. Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket less than four months ago after Biden, facing massive pressure from his party after a disastrous debate performance, ended his reelection bid.

Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.

He survived one assassination attempt by millimeters at a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.

A Trump victory would affirm that enough voters put aside warnings from many of Trump's former aides or instead prioritized concerns about Biden and Harris' stewardship of the economy or the U.S.-Mexico border.

It would all but ensure he avoids going to prison after being found guilty of his role in hiding hush-money payments to an adult film actress during his first run for president in 2016. His sentencing in that case could occur later this month. And upon taking office, Trump could end the federal investigation into his effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

Harris, pointing to the warnings of Trump's former aides, has labeled him a “fascist” and blamed Trump for putting women's lives in danger by nominating three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In the closing hours of the campaign, she tried to strike a more positive tone and went all of Monday without saying her Republican opponent's name.

Federal, state and local officials have expressed confidence in the integrity of the nation’s election systems. They nonetheless were braced to contend with what they say is an unprecedented level of foreign disinformation — particularly from Russia and Iran — as well as the possibility of physical violence or cyberattacks.

Both sides have armies of lawyers in anticipation of legal challenges on and after Election Day. And law enforcement agencies nationwide are on high alert for potential violence.

JD Jorgensen, an independent voter in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, said voters should have made up their minds by now.

“I think that the candidates, both being in the public eye as long as they both have been, if you’re on the fence, you hadn’t really been paying attention,” said Jorgensen, 35.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Palm Beach, Florida, Darlene Superville and Eric Tucker in Washington, and Marc Levy in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.