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North Korea Fired Two Short-Range Ballistic Missiles To Protest Allied Drills

Missiles

(CTN NEWS) – On Monday, hours after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles in an apparent protest of the allies’ growing drills.

Fighter jets screamed off the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and its battle group started training with South Korean warships.

This month’s seventh missile test highlighted the escalating tensions in the area as both the North’s weapons tests and the joint military drills between the United States and South Korea have grown more intense in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Possibly the launches coincided with the arrival of the USS Nimitz and its strike group, which included two destroyers and a guided missile cruiser, as well as air defense exercises with South Korean vessels.

According to Jang Do Young, a spokesman for the South Korean navy, the drills were designed to hone cooperative operating capabilities.

And show that the United States is committed to defending its ally with all available means, including nuclear weapons, in the face of the North’s “escalating nuclear and missile threats.”

On Tuesday, the Nimitz strike group was anticipated to touch down in the Busan port on the South Korean mainland.

Rear Adm. Christopher Sweeney, commander of Carrier Strike Group Eleven, stated that the United States always has deployable strategic assets available. “We can and will keep using those resources.”

Two North Korean missiles were launched from western inland areas

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea reported that the two North Korean missiles were launched from a western interior region south of Pyongyang between 7:47 and 8 a.m. and traveled around 370 kilometres (229 miles) before touching down at sea.

The missiles, which landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, were described as having flown on an erratic trajectory and reaching a maximum altitude of 50 km by the Japanese military. (31 miles).

A North Korean solid-fuel missile that appears to be based on Russia’s Iskander mobile ballistic system and designed to be manoeuvrable in low-altitude flight to better evade South Korean missile defences has previously been described in similar terms by Japan.

The U.S. MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System is similar to another short-range system that North Korea also possesses with similar features.

Hirokazu Matsuno, the chief cabinet secretary of Japan, stated that North Korea may step up its testing activity even further by launching additional missiles or perhaps carrying out its first nuclear test since September 2017.

The militaries of South Korea and Japan condemned the most recent launches as a grave provocation endangering regional peace and said they were collaborating with the US to further examine the missiles.

The launches, according to the U.S. Indo Pacific Command, did not immediately constitute a threat to the country or its allies, but they did demonstrate the “destabilizing impact” of North Korea’s illegitimate nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea, subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions for its nuclear program since 2016

The launches elicited no immediate response from North Korea, which has endured tighter U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2016 due to its nuclear development. 2016

In recent memory, the largest springtime exercises between the United States and South Korea were finished last week and featured both computer simulations and live-fire field exercises.

But as a show of force against the North’s escalating threats, the allies have kept up their field training.

When the USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group arrived in September for joint drills with South Korea—the last time the US dispatched an aircraft carrier to waters near the Korean Peninsula—North Korea had also shot a short-range missile.

As part of North Korea’s efforts to obtain nuclear recognition from the United States and negotiate a lifting of sanctions from a position of strength.

The country has launched more than 20 ballistic and cruise missiles on 11 occasions this year.

An intercontinental ballistic missile and several short-range missiles were tested this month in an effort by North Korea to show that it can launch nuclear attacks on both South Korea and the U.S. mainland.

Last week, the North conducted what it characterised as a three-day practise that mimicked nuclear assaults on sites in South Korea. KIM

The joint military exercises between the US and South Korea have been denounced by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as invasion practise. The exercises, according to the allies, are defensive.

The tests included a rumored nuclear-capable underwater drone

The North said that the tests featured a nuclear-capable underwater drone that could trigger a massive “radioactive tsunami” and destroy naval ships and ports.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement on Monday that it believes the North Korean claims are likely to be “exaggerated and fabricated.” Analysts were dubious about whether such a device posed a significant new danger.

Following some of its ballistic and cruise missile tests this month.

North Korea also asserted that those missiles were fitted with dummy nuclear bombs that exploded 600 to 800 meters (1,960 to 2,600 feet) above their sea targets, indicating that these were the heights that would cause the most damage.

North Korea Has Already Had A Record Year Of Weapons Testing In 2022

In 2022, North Korea launched more than 70 missiles, setting a new milestone for weapons testing.

It had enacted a nuclear strategy that allows for pre-emptive strikes in a variety of circumstances when it might feel that its leadership is under danger.

In the opinion of Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security, North Korea seems to be practicing, or signaling that it is practicing, the use of nuclear strikes, both preemptive and retaliatory, under its nuclear doctrine.

The issue is that Pyongyang’s continued testing aids in advancing its technology, strengthen its nuclear arsenal that threatens South Korea and Japan.

Raises the risk of error that could result in unintended conflict, and builds political clout in advance of future negotiations with Washington.

The South Korean air force revealed information about a five-day joint drill with the United States last week that included live-fire displays of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons after the North announced the drone test on Friday.

In order to counter North Korean nuclear threats, Seoul has adopted a “three-axis” strategy that includes preemptively striking potential attack sources, intercepting incoming missiles, and neutralizing the North’s leadership and key military facilities.

The air force said the exercise was intended to test precision strike capabilities and reaffirm the validity of this approach.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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