International
North Korea launches a dozen ballistic missiles in a rebound in tension with the South
North Korea launched a dozen short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Thursday after sending hundreds of debris-filled balloons to the south and erring in its attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit, in a week marked by the upsurge in tensions in the peninsula.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported in a statement that the missiles were launched from the Sunan area, in Pyongyang, at 6.14 local time (21.14 GMT on Wednesday), and that they flew about 350 kilometers before falling into the Sea of Japan.
Due to the flight distance, it is believed that the approximately 10 projectiles could have been fired from multiple shuttles, which means an unusually high number of missiles launched in the same round by the regime.
The South Korean Army condemned in a statement the latest “provocation” of the North and noted that it has “strengthened vigilance against additional launches, while information is being shared closely with the authorities of the United States and Japan.”
The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said that the projectiles fell outside the exclusive Japanese economic zone without causing any damage to vessels or aircraft, and said that the launches violate the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
In the same vein, nuclear envoys from South Korea, the United States and Japan discussed their coordinated response to the weapons test, through a phone call.
The Director General for South Korean Nuclear Affairs, Lee Jun-il, addressed both missile launches and the other actions of the regime in previous days with the US Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Jun Pak, and with her Japanese counterpart, Yukiya Hamamoto.
“The three parties condemned missile launches as a violation of the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and stressed that they pose a serious threat to peace and security,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Today’s tests, the first of ballistic missiles since Pyongyang tested tactical projectiles equipped according to the regime with a new “autonomous” navigation system on the 17th, took place the day after the North sent more than 200 balloons filled with waste to the neighboring country.
This is the largest number of balloons of this type – similar games were sent through the North across the border in 2016 and 2018 – detected to date, and arrived after Pyongyang threatened to respond to the sending of anti-regime propaganda by activists from the South.
In addition, the South Korean Army reported that the North had tried to interfere with the GPS signals of the South on the maritime border between the two countries, in the second action of this type this week and which caused a malfunction in the navigation systems of fishing and passenger boats in the area.
Likewise, last Monday, North Korea notified the Japanese coast guard of its intention to launch a new spy satellite and offered a launch window between that day and June 3.
Pyongyang launched his space vehicle that same Monday from its space base in Sohae (northwest of the country) and the South Korean Army detected, just two minutes after the launch, the projectile “as a large group of fragments” on the North Korean coast.
North Korea, which attributed the failed launch to a problem in the rocket engine, thus added a new failure for its space program, after two launches were failed in the spring and summer of 2023.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
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