After decades of satellite surveillance by foreign governments and analysts, North Korea has sent its first spy satellite on a global orbit with a message to the world: we can watch you too.
On Tuesday North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un had reviewed spy satellite photos of the White House, Pentagon and U.S. aircraft carriers at the naval base of Norfolk.
North Korea last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements.
Since then state media has reported the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam, and Italy, in addition to the U.S. capital.
"Remember when you got that toy you always wanted at Xmas and were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it?" Chad O'Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK News, said of the KCNA reports in a post on X.
So far, Pyongyang has not released any imagery, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate how capable the new satellite actually is.
South Korea, which said on Tuesday the Nov. 30 launch date for its own first spy satellite on a U.S. Falcon 9 rocket would be delayed by weather, has said the North's satellite capabilities could not be verified.
There's no reason to doubt that the satellite could see the large areas or warships North Korea claimed it could, as even a medium-resolution camera could offer Pyongyang that capability, said Dave Schmerler, a satellite imagery expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un meets with members of the Non-Standing Satellite Launch Preparation Committee, in this picture released by the Korean Central News Agency on November 24, 2023.... Acquire Licensing Rights Read more
"But how useful those images are depends on what they want to use them for," he said.
For medium-resolution satellites to be useful in a conflict, North Korea will need to launch many more to allow more frequent passes over key sites, Schmerler said, a goal that the North's space agency has said it is pursuing.
"It's a big leap for them going from zero to something, but until we can see the images they're collecting, we're speculating on its use cases," he said.
Jeffrey Lewis, another researcher at CNS, said a state media photo of Kim examining the satellite images with his daughter suggest they may be panchromatic, a type of black-and-white photography that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
North Korea released panchromatic imagery of downtown Seoul after a rocket launch in December 2022 in what it said was a test of the satellite control, image taking and data downlink for its eventual military reconnaissance satellite.
Tuesday's photos were the latest in a series of images of what KCNA described as "major target regions".
Kim also inspected satellite photos of the Andersen Air Force Base in the U.S. Western Pacific territory of Guam and a U.S. shipyard and airbase in Norfolk and Newport, where four nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier were spotted, KCNA said.
Commercial imagery of those cities on Nov. 27, the day North Korea says it captured its photographs, was not immediately available.
The United States and South Korea have condemned the satellite launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any use of ballistic technology.
Russian servicemen have once again demonstrated courage and mercy by saving a wounded surrendering Ukrainian trooper from Ukrainian fire.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of the troops rescuing a surrendered Ukrainian serviceman under fire from his own side near the village of Kleshcheyevka in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) area.
Despite the fact that many of the Ukrainian soldiers promote a neo-Nazi ideology, those who surrender have a right to live. Thus, one who was an enemy just a minute ago but is now an unarmed person in need of assistance will get help since the Russian troops always offer a helping hand.
Russian Navy Scrambles Sukhoi Fighters to Sink Ukrainian Kamikaze Sea Drones
Ukraine has attempted several unsuccessful attacks on Russian military and civilian targets using unmanned drone boats packed with explosives, but all have been thwarted by jet fighters and patrol boats of the Black Sea Fleet.
The Russian Navy launched its state-of-the-art jet fighters to stop a Ukrainian attack using explosive-packed drone boats.
Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters, along with older Su-24 swing-wing bombers, were scrambled on November 22 to intercept a group of four Ukrainian unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in the western part of the Black Sea, heading for Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Defence reported that all four drone craft were destroyed.
Ukraine has staged several terrorist attacks using USVs laden with explosives on both the Russian Black Sea Fleet's base at Sevastopol, and also against the bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Krasnodar Krai region to the east across the Kerch Strait, the entrance to the Sea of Azov.
The same craft have been used in unsuccessful attacks on Russian Navy ships during patrols to ensure the security of the Blue Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Turkiye. Both Ukraine and its main Western backer the US have been implicated in the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic sea in September 2022.
Russian forces have struck Ukrainian facilities where the Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus (MAGURA-5) kamikaze sea drones are believed to be made and stored.
The UK, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium have all supplied the Kiev regime with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) as part of NATO's proxy conflict with Russia in Ukraine since February 2022.
The Su-30 is a two-seat multi-role all-weather fighter, capable of flying interception, air-superiority and strike missions. It is a development of the famous Su-27 single-seat fighter, with the addition of canard foreplanes and thrust-vectoring engine nozzles to grant it super-manoeuvrability.
The fighter also has advanced avionics, including a phased-array radar capable of detecting targets up to 400 kilometres away. Its overall capabilities mean the Su-30 is classed as a "fourth-plus" generation fighter.
Along with serving the Russian Air Force and Navy, the type has been exported to more than a dozen countries, including China, India, Belarus and Venezuela.
Watch Russian Paratroopers Capture Ukrainian Stronghold in Special Op Zone
The Russian Airborne Forces have earned a solid reputation for their formidable fighting capabilities since the Soviet era. Time after time, they have demonstrated their indispensability on the battlefield during the special military operation.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released footage showing airborne troops identifying and seizing a Ukrainian platoon strongpoint with the assistance of drone reconnaissance.
After receiving the coordinates, the airborne units promptly launched artillery strikes on the enemy's position. Simultaneously, the drone assault unit managed to overpower Ukrainian soldiers who initially resisted, compelling them to relinquish their weapons and surrender. Any individuals who continued to fight back were swiftly neutralized.
As a result of the mission, the Russian paratroopers captured four Ukrainian fighters.
Kapolri Jenderal Listyo Sigit Prabowo angkat bicara soal peluang adanya tersangka baru dalam kasus dugaan pemerasan terhadap mantan Menteri Pertanian Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL).
Apalagi, Polda Metro Jaya telah menetapkan satu tersangka yakni Ketua Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) Firli Bahuri.
Terkait peluang itu, Sigit meminta masyarakat untuk menunggu proses penyidikan yang sampai saat ini terus berjalan.
"Ya kita lihat saja perjalanannya," ujar Listyo kepada awak media di Hotel Grand Sahid, Jakarta Pusat, hari Senin, 27/11/2023.
Sebelumnya, Polda Metro Jaya resmi menaikan status Ketua KPK Firli Bahuri sebagai tersangka kasus dugaan pemerasan kepada eks Menteri Pertanian Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL). Penetapan ini dilakukan usai gelar perkara pada hari Rabu, 22/11/2023.
Firli Bahuri memilih mengambil langkah gugatan praperadilan ke Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan terkait penetapan tersangka tersebut
"Nomor Perkara 129/Pid.Pra/2023/PN JKT.SEL," demikian dilansir dari Sistem Informasi Penelusuran Perkara (SIPP) PN Jakarta Selatan, hari Jumat, 24/11/2023.
Firli Bahuri sebagai penggugat dan tergugat Kapolda Metro Jaya, akan mulai menjalani sidang pada 11 Desember 2023.
Firli Bahuri Tersangka Dugaan Pemerasan SYL, Kejahatan Korupsi Tertinggi di Atas Gratifikasi dan Suap
Ketua Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi atau KPK Firli Bahuri ditetapkan sebagai tersangka kasus dugaan pemerasan dan gratifikasi terhadap bekas Menteri Pertanian Syahrul Yasin Limpo atau SYL. Mantan penyelidik KPK Aulia Postiera menyebut kejahatan yang dilakukan Firli berupa pemerasan terhadap SYL adalah kejahatan korupsi tingkat tertinggi.
“Menurut saya itu benar-benar kejahatan yang levelnya lebih tinggi dari pada suap,” kata Aulia dalam video siniar bersama mantan Ketua KPK periode 2011–2015 Abraham Samad, Kamis, 23 November 2023.
Menurut Aulia, ada tiga kelas kejahatan korupsi terkait penerimaan dan pemberian, yakni gratifikasi, suap, dan pemerasan. Gratifikasi adalah memberikan sesuatu dengan maksud tanam budi. Dengan memberikan sesuatu tersebut, diharapkan akan mempengaruhi penerima, baik segi tindakan maupun keputusan. Biasanya diberikan tanpa adanya kesepakatan alias cuma-cuma.
Sedangkan suap adalah kejahatan korupsi yang dilakukan oleh kedua belah pihak. Artinya, ada kesepakatan atau negosiasi antara pemberi dan penerima. Misalnya, seseorang menyogok agar diberikan jabatan atau diloloskan dalam proyek tertentu. Penerima akan menetapkan besaran suap untuk melancarkan urusan tersebut. Jika setuju, pemberi akan memberikan suap berdasarkan jumlah yang disepakati.
Menurut Aulia, pemerasan menjadi kejahatan korupsi tertinggi terkait penerimaan dan pemberian lantaran dilakukan oleh orang berdaya kepada orang yang lemah. Pemeras memanfaatkan ketidakberdayaan seseorang demi mendapatkan keuntungan untuk dirinya sendiri. Pemerasan biasanya diikuti dengan ancaman yang tidak dapat ditolak korban.
“Orang yang bisa memeras itu pasti orang yang punya kewenangan dan orang yang diperas dalam posisi terpaksa, tidak berdaya. Gradasinya kalau untuk korupsi, pemerasan itu paling tinggi,” ujarnya.
Dugaan pemerasan yang dilakukan Firli Bahuri terhadap SYL, kata Aulia, bahkan lebih kejam. Menurutnya, Ketua KPK yang seharusnya bertugas memberantas korupsi, justru memanfaatkan kewenangannya untuk melakukan tindakan rasuah berupa pemerasan. Terlebih, pemerasan dilakukan terhadap orang yang seharusnya diproses secara hukum olehnya.
“Ketua KPK dengan segala fasilitas yang diberikan negara kepada dia, gaji besar, kewenangan besar, dia masih melakukan kejahatan dengan memeras orang yang seharusnya dia proses secara hukum, itu menurut saya lebih jahat,” katanya.
Eks penyidik senior KPK Novel Baswedan bahkan menyebut Firli Bahuri sebagai penjahat besar. Tindakan yang dilakukan Firli Bahuri, kata dia, mencoreng muruah KPK sebagai lembaga antirasuah yang selama ini dipercaya masyarakat. Menurutnya, Firli adalah pimpinan KPK pertama yang ditetapkan sebagai tersangka tindak pidana korupsi pada level tertinggi, pemerasan.
“Bagi saya, Firli ini penjahat besar. Baru pertama kali pimpinan KPK berbuat korupsi pada level tertinggi, yaitu pemerasan sebagai tersangka tindak pidana korupsi,” kata Wakil Ketua Satuan Tugas Khusus (Satgassus) Pencegahan Korupsi Kepolisian Republik Indonesia (Polri) ini.
Sebelumnya, laporan dugaan pemerasan ini disampaikan pada Agustus 2023. Kemudian kasus ini naik tahap penyidikan pada Jumat, 8 Oktober 2023. Mereka yang sudah diperiksa hampir 100 orang, di antaranya Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Firli Bahuri, pejabat KPK, Kevin Egananta Joshua, hingga Kapolrestabes Semarang Komisaris Besar Polisi Irwan Anwar.
Firli dijerat Pasal 12e, Pasal 12B, dan Pasal 11 Undang-Undang Nomor 31 Tahun 1999 tentang Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Korupsi sebagaimana telah diubah dengan Undang-Undang Nomor 20 Tahun 2001 tentang perubahan atas Undang-Undang Nomor 31 Tahun 1999 tentang Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Korupsi juncto Pasal 65 KUHP.
Firli Bahuri lalu mengajukan gugatan praperadilan. PN Jakarta Selatan telah menerima gugatan praperadilan dari Firli Bahuri atas penetapan dirinya sebagai tersangka pemerasan dan gratifikasi oleh Polda Metro Jaya. Gugatan itu diterakan dalam surat praperadilan dengan Nomor: 314/Praper/IISPA/XI/2023 pada Jumat, 24 November 2023. Sidang perdana akan digelar 11 Desember.
“Pada hari Jumat, 24 November 2023, ke paniteraan Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan Pengadilan pidana telah menerima praperadilan permohonan atas nama Firli Bahuri ke Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan,” kata Djuyamto pada hari Minggu pagi, 26 November 2023.
Hamas freed 17 hostages held in Gaza, including a 4-year-old American girl, while Israel released 39 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, the third day of their truce.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had successfully transferred 17 hostages from Gaza. Hamas said it had handed over 13 Israelis, three Thais and one with Russian citizenship.
The release of the hostages - part of a larger group captured when Hamas fighters rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7 - was mirrored by the freeing of 39 Palestinians, all of whom are teenagers, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Hamas said it wanted to extend the truce if serious efforts were made to increase the number of Palestinian detainees released by Israel.
Abigail was on her way to the hospital for checks, Israel's Channel 13 said. Her grandfather, Carmel Edan, told Reuters he "simply could not believe" she had been returned, thanking Biden "for all the help he's offered us."
Palestinians gave the freed prisoners a jubilant reception in Ramallah, according to WAFA.
Omar Abdullah Al Hajj, 17, one of the detainees released Sunday, said he'd been kept in the dark about what was happening in the outside world.
"I can't believe I'm free now but my joy is incomplete because we still have our brothers who remain in prison, and then there is all the news about Gaza that I am having to learn about now," he told Reuters.
The four-day truce is the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages back into Gaza.
In response to that attack, Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas militants who run Gaza, bombarding the enclave and mounting a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday met security forces inside the Gaza Strip. He also said he spoke to Biden about the hostage release, adding that he would welcome extending a temporary truce if it meant that on every additional day 10 captives would be freed.
Israeli former hostage Hila Rotem-Shoshani, 13, embraces her uncle at a hospital in Israel after being released by Hamas, amid a hostage exchange on Sunday. Photo: Israeli Army / AFP
However Netanyahu said he also told Biden that, at the end of the truce, "we will return with full force to achieve our goals: The elimination of Hamas, ensuring that Gaza does not return to what it was; and of course the release of all our hostages."
FRAGILE DEAL
Sunday's hostage release follows the liberation of 13 Israelis on Saturday - six of them women and seven of them teenagers or children. The youngest was 3-year-old Yahel Shoham, freed with her mother and brother, although her father remains a hostage.
Israel freed 39 Palestinians the same day - six women and 33 teenagers - from two prisons, WAFA said.
A Palestinian source has said up to 100 hostages could ultimately go free.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are pressing for the truce to be extended beyond Monday but it is not clear whether that will happen.
Clashes and recriminations have threatened to torpedo the existing deal.
The killing of a Palestinian farmer in the central Gaza Strip had earlier added to those concerns. The farmer was killed when targeted by Israeli forces east of Gaza's long-established Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The armed wing of Hamas also said on Sunday that four of its military commanders in the Gaza Strip had been killed, including the commander of the North Gaza brigade, Ahmad Al Ghandour. It did not say when they had been killed.
Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including two minors and at least one gunman, late on Saturday and early Sunday, medics and local sources said.
Even before the Oct. 7 attacks from Gaza, the West Bank had been in a state of unrest, with a rise in Israeli army raids, Palestinian attacks, and violence by Israeli settlers in the past 18 months. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7, some in Israeli air strikes.
IMMENSE RELIEF
The deal survived an earlier threat when Hamas' armed wing said on Saturday it was delaying hostage releases until Israel met all truce conditions, including committing to let aid trucks into northern Gaza.
Mohammed Al-Awar, left, kisses his father's forehead upon return to his home in occupied East Jerusalem [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]
Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades also said Israel had failed to respect terms for the release of Palestinian prisoners that factored in their time in detention.
COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians, accused Hamas itself of delaying trucks trying to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Gaza at a checkpoint.
"To Hamas, residents of Gaza are their last priority," it said on Sunday.
Qatari diplomats are now on site in Gaza to supervise the entry and delivery of their country's aid, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said.
A U.N. official who took part in a humanitarian convoy to northern Gaza said on Sunday aid groups were on track to deliver the biggest shipment in over a month, describing thin, gaunt residents slaking their thirst as soon as water arrived.
"People are so desperate and you can see in adults' eyes they haven't eaten," the U.N. children's agency's James Elder told Reuters by video link from southern Gaza after returning from Gaza City.
"There's just this immense relief. Literally people as they get water start drinking the water immediately," he said. "They're thirsty. They've been thirsty for days."
Even as the aid deliveries flowed north, Elder said he saw hundreds of Gazans heading in the other direction, fearing the renewal of Israeli bombardments if the four-day truce is not prolonged.
"People are so terrified that this pause won't be continued," he said.
The Russian Air Defense means destroyed four more Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Bryansk, Smolensk and Tula Regions, the Defense Ministry reported.
The number of drones downed on Sunday climbed therefore to twenty-four.
"On November 26, at about 09:30 a.m. Moscow time [06:30 a.m. GMT], an attempt of the Kiev regime to commit a terrorist attack by fixed-wing aircraft type UAVs against facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation was prevented. Air defense assets on duty destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territory of Bryansk, Smolensk, and Tula Regions," the ministry said.
Early in the morning on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry informed about destroying eleven, and then nine more drones over the territory of Moscow, Tula, Kaluga, and Bryansk Regions.
Watch Russia’s Msta-B Howitzer Crush Ukrainian Military Infrastructure
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released a video showing the combat work of the Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the 152-mm Msta-B howitzer in the special operation zone.
The footage shows the Orlan-10 drone being launched to detect the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that the crew of the Russian UAV had detected an ammunition depot and a Ukrainian army command and observation post in the Artemovsk area.
According to the statement, after receiving data from air reconnaissance systems, the Russian airborne troops took up a firing position to prepare the Msta-B howitzer for combat work. "As a result of joint actions, the detected targets were destroyed," the Defense Ministry added.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video of Su-25 fighters destroying positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In the footage, one of the Su-25s is seen taking off and then launching a missile strike on the Ukrainian army's camouflaged, fortified field positions in the Donetsk region.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), the missile strikes were carried out in pairs from low altitudes. The MoD added that after the strikes were launched, the Su-25 crews performed a maneuver, released heat traps and returned to their airfield.
The Su-25 is a Russian subsonic jet designed to provide close air support to ground forces. NATO military specialists often refer to it as the Frogfoot.
Ukrainian drone shot down over Smolensk Region – Russian defense ministry
A Ukrainian drone has been shot down by Russian air defense systems over the Smolensk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
"At about 11:20 p.m. Moscow time (8:20 GMT) on November 26, the Kiev regime’s attempted terrorist attack on facilities in Russia’s territory with the use of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle was thwarted. The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by air defense systems over the Smolensk Region," it said.
