National security advisers for the US, South Korea and Japan expressed “grave concern” on Oct 25 over the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia for possible use against Ukraine, the White House said.

       The trio see the North Korean troop presence as the latest sign of growing Moscow-Pyongyang military ties, and they called on Russia and North Korea to cease arms and missile transfers, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

       The transfers violate UN Security Council resolutions, he said.

       Mr Kirby briefed reporters after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks in Washington with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Mr Shin Won-sik and Mr Takeo Akiba, respectively.

       READ MORE HERE

       The Kremlin on Oct 25 denied a report by the Wall Street Journal that Russian President Vladimir Putin and billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk had been in regular secret contact since 2022.

       The WSJ report claimed Mr Putin had discussed personal and political matters with the world’s richest man, who has supported Donald Trump’s election campaign with donations and messages on his X platform.

       The report alleges Mr Putin asked Mr Musk to avoid activating his Starlink satellite Internet service over Taiwan as a favour to Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

       READ MORE HERE

       A Nasa astronaut was flown to a hospital with an unspecified medical issue on Oct 25, shortly after returning to Earth from a nearly eight-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency said.

       The astronaut, who Nasa did not name for privacy reasons, had splashed down off Florida’s coast at 3.29am ET on Oct 25 (3.29pm in Singapore) aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule with three other crew members - two Nasa astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut.

       The crew included US astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. Their 235 days in space made it longer than the usual six-month ISS mission duration and marked the longest stay in orbit for SpaceX’s reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft.

       READ MORE HERE

       There is a new temporary statue attracting attention near the US Capitol: a brass-coloured desk with poop on top of it.

       The faeces atop - slightly larger than a soccer ball - looks like the popular iPhone poop emoji without the eyes and sits on top of the approximately 2m-wide desk. Viewed from the right perspective the pyramid of poop traces the outline of the Capitol’s famous round dome.

       A sign below the desk reveals its purpose: “This memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021 to loot, urinate, and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election.”

       READ MORE HERE

       Formula 1 drivers are seeking clarity about why Max Verstappen was not penalised for a controversial move during the Oct 20 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

       With four laps to go, McLaren’s Lando Norris veered off the track to pass Red Bull’s Verstappen and incurred a five-second penalty.

       Verstappen, who also left the track, was not penalised for pushing Norris to the outside.

       READ MORE HERE