North Korea could carry out another missile test soon, US officials warn

WASHINGTON: US officials said on Tuesday they have seen increased North Korean activity that could be preparations for another missile test within days.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that over the past week intelligence has spotted equipment, possibly for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or an intermediate-range missile, moving into a site in the western city of Kusong.

Earlier this month, reclusive North Korea, which regularly threatens to destroy the United States and South Korea, said it had conducted its first test of an ICBM and mastered the technology needed to deploy a nuclear warhead via the missile.

Pyongyang’s state media said the test verified the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead, which experts say may be able to reach the US state of Alaska.

However, the vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff recently said the July 4 test stopped short of showing North Korea has the ability to strike the United States “with any degree of accuracy.” The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the Defense Intelligence Agency , the Pentagon spy agency, has assessed that North Korea will be able to field a nuclear-capable ICBM by next year. NEW DELHI: International volunteers battling the Islamic State in Syria have formed a new unit of LGBT people to take on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s terror group, which has targeted the community for execution by stoning and being thrown off rooftops.

The formation of The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army (TQILA), pronounced as tequila, was announced on Twitter by the International Revolutionary People’s Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) on Monday, complete with a photo of a rainbow flag flying in Raqqa, at the centre of the IS’ so-called caliphate.

These foreign fighters include students, former soldiers and even white collar workers who gave up lucrative jobs in the West to take on the IS.

The IS has been particularly vicious in targeting LGBT people. Since it established its so-called caliphate, it has issued a stream of videos and images depicting the execution of men accused of homosexuality by stoning and being thrown off the roofs of multi-storey buildings.

The courts of the IS have also declared that homosexuality is punishable by death and dozens of LGBT people have fled Iraq and Syria to escape persecution by the group.

“TQILA’s members have watched in horror as fascist and extremist forces around the world have attacked the Queer community and murdered countless of our community members citing that they are ‘ill’, ‘sick’ and ‘unnatural’,” a statement by the group said.