Top US general Mark Milley defends calls with China
General Mark Milley, the top US military officer, testified on Tuesday that calls with his Chinese counterpart in the turbulent waning months of Donald Trump’s administration were intended to “de-escalate” tensions and the former president had no intention of attacking China.
“I know, I am certain, President Trump did not intend to attack the Chinese,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“My task at that time was to de-escalate. My message again was consistent: stay calm and steady and de-escalate. We are not going to attack you,” he said.
The calls between Gen Milley and his Chinese counterpart, General Li Zuocheng, were first revealed in the book Peril by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
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Yellen warns Congress of cash supply running out around Oct 18 Janet Yellen warns of 'financial crisis and calamity'
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that her department will effectively run out of cash around Oct 18 unless Congress suspends or increases the federal debt limit, putting pressure on lawmakers to avert a default on US obligations.
"Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by Oct 18," Yellen said in a letter on Tuesday to congressional leaders.
Yellen said separately at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that "catastrophic" results would follow a failure to address the debt limit, including a "financial crisis" and recession.
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Vaccine boosters produce mostly mild side effects: US CDC
People who got Covid-19 vaccine boosters after the shots were cleared for those with weakened immune systems had mostly mild to moderate reactions, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some 22,191 booster recipients registered with a federal monitoring system starting Aug 12, when the doses were first authorised on an emergency basis by US regulators, through Sept 19, the CDC said in a report on Tuesday.
Overall, 71 per cent reported pain at the injection site, while 56 per cent reported fatigue and 43 per cent said they experienced a headache after getting a third dose of a messenger RNA vaccine.
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North Korea says it test-fired new hypersonic missile
The missile North Korea fired off its east coast on Tuesday was a newly developed hypersonic missile, state news media KCNA reported on Wednesday.
North Korea fired the missile towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, as Pyongyang called on the United States and South Korea to scrap their "double standards" on weapons programmes to restart diplomatic talks.
The development of the weapon system increases North Korea's defence capabilities, KCNA said.
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Bond is back: 007 film No Time To Die finally premieres in London Daniel Craig on the red carpet for No Time To Die
With a guest list made up of Oscar winners and British royalty, James Bond film No Time To Die finally held its delayed world premiere in London on Tuesday in the city's most high profile red carpet since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wet weather failed to dampen spirits as Daniel Craig, dressed in an eye-catching pink velvet dinner jacket, and co-stars including Lashana Lynch and Lea Seydoux reunited for the hotly anticipated movie, which cinema operators hope will bring audience numbers back to pre-pandemic levels.
No Time To Die, the 25th Bond movie, has been delayed three times since its original April 2020 slot as movie theatres around the world were forced to shut their doors as well as impose audience number restrictions due to the pandemic.
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