Briefly

DPRK

Cutting-edge weapon system test-fired

The Missile Administration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea successfully tested an important weapon system on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday. Two hypersonic projectiles launched from Pyongyang toward the northeast hit the target point on the tableland of Kwesang Peak in northeastern Orang County, North Hamgyong Province, the report said. "The new weapon system was tested as part of the defense capability development program to enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies," it said. Pak Jongchon, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, who oversaw the test with other officials, said the new cutting-edge weapon system is clear proof of the country's steadily upgrading self-defensive technical capabilities.

TUNISIA

40 die as boat sinks off central coast

Forty people, including infants, died when a boat carrying migrants seeking to reach Europe sank on Wednesday off the coast of Tunisia, according to local judicial authorities. Tunisian naval units that arrived on the scene rescued 30 other migrants on board the boat, which sank off the Mediterranean port of Mahdia in central Tunisia, Mahdia court spokesman Walid Charbi said. Those aboard were from sub-Saharan Africa, Charbi said, without providing further details. The prosecutor's office has ordered an investigation to determine the causes and circumstances of the sinking, Charbi said.

UNITED STATES

Strikes target alleged drug vessels in Pacific

The US military on Wednesday launched its ninth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. It followed another strike on Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people, Hegseth posted on social media. President Donald Trump has justified the strikes by asserting that the US is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, but Washington has yet to release evidence that its targets were drug smugglers. Colombian President Gustavo Petro said: "It is murder. Whether in the Caribbean or Pacific, the US government strategy breaks the norms of international law."

Agencies - Xinhua