BREAKINGBREAKING,
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 has hit Japan’s northeastern region, prompting a tsunami advisory from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The earthquake struck on Friday at 11:44am local time (02:44 GMT) and comes just days after a bigger, 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the same region.
Intense rains that triggered “catastrophic flooding” in North America’s Pacific Northwest have finally eased, though meteorologists warn the effects of overflowing rivers and floodwaters will continue to be felt for several days.
Tens of thousands of people were told to evacuate on Thursday across the US states of Oregon and Washington, up through the Canadian province of British Columbia, after rainstorms battered the region for several days, causing rivers to burst their banks.
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Western Washington state has borne the greatest brunt of the storm, with roughly 100,000 residents under “Level 3” evacuation orders.
State authorities have ordered people living south of the cities of Seattle and Tacoma to leave their homes, with aerial photographs showing farmland already under water, and populated areas perilously close.
In the city of Orting, south of Seattle, authorities warned there is a “significant threat to life and or property”.
There have been no reports of casualties or missing people due to the flooding, according to Karina Shagren, spokesperson for Washington’s emergency management division.
Across the border in British Columbia, swaths of the Canadian city of Abbotsford, east of Vancouver, were swamped as of Thursday night, with hundreds of properties at risk.
Five of the six highways leading in and out of Vancouver were also closed due to floods, falling rocks and the risk of avalanches, the province’s Ministry of Transport said, describing the situation as “evolving and very dynamic”.
The main highway route between Vancouver and Seattle remains open.
The intense downpours were swept into the Pacific Northwest region earlier this week by an atmospheric river, a vast airborne current of dense moisture funnelled inland from the Pacific Ocean.
The storm system, which dumped more than 250mm (10 inches) of rain in some places, also brought heavy showers and flooding as far away as western Montana and the edge of northern Idaho.
Though the downpour began to lessen on Thursday, the after-effects are expected to linger across the region as high volumes of water make their way through swollen river systems.
“While drier weather looks to be in store for this area of the country through the upcoming weekend, the major … catastrophic flooding effects are likely to continue for several days across portions of western Washington State and northwestern Oregon,” the US National Weather Service said.
The National Water Center has issued an updated Key Messages for the ongoing Catastrophic flooding impacts this week in Washington. More info: https://t.co/UZ3ekqUUkq #flooding #wawx pic.twitter.com/KwdS8a9T5y
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un praised the deployment of his troops in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine and promised to root out “evil practices” among some officials, state media reports.
In remarks concluding a key meeting of his ruling party on Thursday, Kim condemned “the wrong ideological viewpoint and inactive and irresponsible work attitude” of some officials, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
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He also spoke of “shortcomings and evil practices that must be corrected”, KCNA said on Friday.
The North Korean news organisation did not offer any specifics regarding the targets of Kim’s comments, though it did say the ruling party had revealed numerous recent “deviations” in discipline – a euphemism often used to refer to corrupt practices.
Wrapping up the three-day meeting, Kim reserved praise for the North Korean soldiers fighting against Ukraine alongside Russia, of whom at least 600 have been killed and thousands more injured in the war, according to South Korean estimates.
“Over the past year, various soldiers of our military have participated in overseas military operations to demonstrate the reputation of our military,” KCNA said, quoting Kim.
The military deployment in support of Russia “demonstrated to the world the prestige of our army and state as the ever-victorious army and genuine protector of international justice”, Kim added.
The North Korean leader also hailed efforts this year in “modernising” his country’s defences in the face of great “global geopolitical and technological changes”.
South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency said Kim had assessed that bolstering military capabilities was an “exact direction to ensure the security and defence of the country”.
The meeting of Kim’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) comes in advance of a party congress that is scheduled for early next year.
The Ninth Party Congress, which is due to be held in January or February, is expected to see North Korea unveil its policy approach to dealing with the United States and South Korea, as well as policies on the economy and defence, Yonhap reports.
The congress will be watched closely, Yonhap said, to determine “whether North Korea will codify Kim’s ‘two hostile states’ stance in the party’s rules as experts forecast Pyongyang to intensify its animosity to Seoul in the new year”.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has taken several steps to ease tensions with the North since taking office in June, including removing propaganda loudspeakers along the border and banning the dropping of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
Lee also said he was considering an apology to Pyongyang over cross-border provocations allegedly ordered by his predecessor, disgraced ex-President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Yoon allegedly ordered drones carrying propaganda leaflets to fly over the North, in a bid, say prosecutors who have indicted the former president, to provoke military tension and boost his political support.
The Midwestern state of Indiana has dealt a setback to United States President Donald Trump’s redistricting push ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections, voting down legislation to redraw its congressional map.
Late on Thursday afternoon, Indiana’s state Senate voted 31 to 19 to reject the proposed congressional districts, despite a strong Republican majority in the chamber.
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Of the state Senate’s 50 seats, 39 are held by Republicans, and the state has voted consistently Republican in every presidential race since 1968, save for a single flip for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008.
The vote is likely to reinforce the sentiment that the Republican Party is fracturing under Trump’s leadership, as his poll numbers slump during the first year of his second term.
Trump was confronted with the results of the Indiana vote at an Oval Office signing ceremony shortly after it happened.
“Just a few moments ago, the Senate there rejected the congressional map to redistrict in that state,” one reporter said. “What’s your reaction?”
Trump responded by touting his successes in pushing other Republican-led states.
“ We won every other state. That’s the only state,” the president said, before referencing his three presidential bids. “It’s funny because I won Indiana all three times by a landslide, and I wasn’t working on it very hard.”
Trump then proceeded to denounce the Indiana Senate president, Rodric Bray, and threatened to support a primary challenge against the Indiana leader.
“He’ll probably lose his next primary, whenever that is. I hope he does,” Trump said.
“It’s, I think, in two years, but I’m sure he’ll go down. He’ll go down. I’ll certainly support anybody that wants to go against it.”
Currently, Indiana sends nine Congress members to the US House of Representatives, one for each of its nine districts. Two of those seats are currently occupied by Democrats.
Republican leaders in the state, however, had proposed a new map of congressional districts that sought to disempower Democratic voters in the state, clearing the way for conservative candidates to claim all nine seats in next year’s midterm races.
The proposed map was part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to defend Republican control in the US Congress.
Already, the partisan map had passed the lower chamber of Indiana’s legislature. On December 5, Indiana’s House of Representatives voted 57 to 41 to send House Bill 1032 to the state Senate.
The bill had the backing of Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Braun, who encouraged the state senators to emulate their colleagues in the lower chamber.
But even before the bill arrived in the state Senate, there were cracks in the Republican caucus. Twelve Republicans in the state House broke ranks to vote against the map.
And certain Republican state Senators likewise expressed reticence.
Some Republicans, like Indiana state Senator Greg Walker, had a history of opposing redistricting efforts. He was quoted in the Indiana Capital Chronicle as saying, “I cannot, myself, support the bill for which there must be a legal injunction in order for it to be found constitutional.”
Partisan redistricting has long been a controversial practice in US politics, with opponents calling the practice undemocratic and discriminatory.
Critics also pointed out that the Indiana proposal would force some voters in urban centres like Indianapolis to commute more than 200 kilometres (124 miles) for in-person voting.
Walker joined a total of 21 Republican state Senators, including Bray, in voting against the redistricting bill on Thursday.
But the Trump administration had invested significant time and effort into swaying the vote.
In October, Vice President JD Vance travelled to the Hoosier State to try to convince wary Republicans. US House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly made personal phone calls to state leaders. And a day before the critical state Senate vote, Trump took to social media with a mixture of cajoling and pressure.
“I love the State of Indiana, and have won it, including Primaries, six times, all by MASSIVE Majorities,” Trump began in a winding, 414-word post.
“Importantly, it now has a chance to make a difference in Washington, D.C., in regard to the number of House seats we have that are necessary to hold the Majority against the Radical Left Democrats. Every other State has done Redistricting, willingly, openly, and easily.”
Currently, the US House of Representatives holds a narrow 220-member Republican majority, out of a total of 435 seats.
All of those seats, however, will be up for grabs in the 2026 midterm elections, and Democrats are hoping to flip the chamber to their control.
Starting in June, reports began to emerge that Trump was petitioning the state legislature in the right-wing stronghold of Texas to redistrict, in an effort to help conservative candidates sweep up five extra congressional seats.
Texas Republicans complied, and in August, the state legislature embraced a new redistricted map, overcoming a walkout from state Democrats.
Republicans in other states, including Missouri and North Carolina, have followed suit, passing new maps that seek to increase right-wing gains in the midterm races.
But Democrats have fired back. In November, California voters passed a referendum to suspend their independent districting commission and adopt a Democrat-leaning map created by state lawmakers.
Indiana, however, appeared poised to buck the redistricting trend. In Wednesday’s lengthy post, Trump warned that the state could put Republican power “at risk” if it failed to pass a new map.
He also called Bray and other Republican splinter votes “SUCKERS” for the Democrats.
“Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again,” Trump wrote.
“One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!”
In the wake of Thursday’s defeat, Trump and his allies doubled down on their threats to remove the 21 Republican state senators who voted against the bill from office.
“I am very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity,” Governor Braun wrote on social media, calling it a decision to “reject the leadership of President Trump”.
Here’s where things stand on Friday, December 12:
Venezuela’s National Assembly has voted to peel back the South American country’s commitment to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC).
On Thursday, top Venezuelan lawmakers applauded the vote as a strike against an antiquated institution – one that has sought to investigate alleged human rights violations in Venezuela in recent years.
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“It is to demonstrate and denounce to the world the uselessness and subservience of an institution that should serve to protect the people,” the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, wrote in a government statement posted online.
Rodriguez is the brother of Venezuela’s vice president and is considered a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro.
In his statement, Rodriguez sought to tie the court’s efforts to those of the United States, a country that has long refused to acknowledge Maduro as Venezuela’s president.
“It only serves the designs of American imperialism,” Rodriguez said of the court.
But the US is not a party to the Rome Statute, and the North American country has repeatedly denounced efforts by the court to investigate allegations of human rights abuses against its citizens and allies.
Just this year, the administration of US President Donald Trump issued multiple rounds of sanctions against officials on the ICC, claiming the judicial body had taken “illegitimate and baseless actions”.
Venezuela, for its part, signed onto the Rome Statute in October 1998, and its legislature ratified the treaty in June 2000, bringing the law into force.
Maduro is expected to sign Thursday’s legislation to revoke the ratification.
The South American country has itself rejected the accusations brought before the court against its leadership.
In November 2021, for example, the ICC opened an investigation into the Maduro government for allegedly carrying out crimes against humanity, including torture, sexual violence and other instances of inhumane treatment.
It cited the violent treatment and even killing of political dissidents, particularly during the 2017 antigovernment protests.
That investigation was paused, however, to allow Venezuela to address the allegations internally. But the court ultimately allowed the probe to proceed in June 2023, finding Venezuela’s efforts insufficient.
According to court filings, Venezuela has maintained that “there was no systematic attack on the civilian population, and that no crimes were committed”.
Multiple human rights organisations, however, have accused the Maduro administration of extrajudicial executions, unlawful imprisonments and violent crackdowns against members of Venezuela’s opposition.
Advocates have also questioned whether Venezuela’s National Assembly can be considered an independent branch of government, given Maduro’s firm grip on its membership.
The Rome Statute counts among its members 125 countries, including Venezuela. As the foundational document for the ICC, the statute outlines the court’s jurisdiction.
The judicial body is tasked with the prosecution and adjudication of major international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.
But critics have long accused the ICC of lacking the teeth to enforce its mandate. Major powers, including the US, China and Russia, are not members.
Israel is also not a party to the treaty: Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant both face arrest warrants that have yet to be carried out, for war crimes against Palestinians.
In the 23 years since the ICC opened its doors, a total of 61 arrest warrants have been issued – but only 22 people have been detained. Eight have died before charges could be brought, and 32 people have evaded the court’s arrest.
The court claims 13 convictions so far, and four acquittals.
Thursday’s vote came, in part, as a reaction to a recent decision by the court to close an office in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
The office was established in 2024 to help with the probe into crimes against humanity.
But the ICC announced it would close the bureau on December 1, with prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang telling an assembly of state parties that achieving “real progress” in the investigation had been a “challenge”.
“Being aware of the need to manage our limited resources effectively, we have decided to close our office in Caracas,” he said.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Relations quickly responded in a statement, denouncing the office’s closure.
“Regrettably, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office showed not the slightest commitment or spirit of cooperation,” its statement said.
“Its agenda in the country was very clear: to disengage and do nothing in order to later instrumentalise justice for political ends.”