The United States, South Korea, and Japan held their first ever combined aerial exercise Sunday in an effort to send a tough message to North Korea.

It’s not new for the United States to hold aerial drills with Japan or with South Korea. But the three countries had never held such an exercise together until Sunday.

That’s when a U.S. B-52 bomber flew alongside Japanese and South Korean fighter jets just south of the Korean Peninsula.

Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to Seoul, called it a “new era” in defense ties.

Though Japan and South Korea are both close U.S. allies, their bilateral ties are strained by historical disputes.

But in August, the three countries agreed to hold more defense drills to counter North Korea.

It is particularly significant that a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber participated in this week’s drill, says Seoul-based scholar Park Won-gon.

Park says Pyongyang particularly fears strategic aircraft like the B-52, because it was bombers like this that devastated the North during the Korean War.

North Korea has also blasted U.S.-Japan-South Korea military cooperation.

In an editorial Friday, North Korean state media called the air drill an “intentional nuclear war” provocation.

North Korea has rapidly expanded its number of nuclear weapons in recent years, and now regularly threatens to conduct preemptive strikes if necessary.
…

Charles Nahale spent a restless night trying to sleep in the back seat of his pickup truck after a wildfire destroyed his home and the town of Lahaina. The next two nights weren’t much better: The singer and guitarist put his feet on one chair and sat in another as he took refuge on the grounds of an evacuated hotel where he once performed for guests.

Nahale eventually found a timeshare condo with a bed, shower and kitchen — lodging he was able to keep until Friday, when, yet again, he had to move, this time with officials setting him up in a different hotel condo.

He is one of many whose lives have become transient since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century left at least 99 people dead. The blaze destroyed thousands of buildings and unmoored residents who now face myriad challenges posed by Maui’s location and status as a vacation hub.

“It’s hard to begin the healing process when you’re worried about the essentials,” Nahale said.

Some are bouncing from hotel room to hotel room, in some cases to make way for the return of tourists who are crucial to the local economy. Many are struggling to find places to rent amid a housing shortage — and steep prices — that plagued the island even before the fire wiped out an estimated 3,000 homes and apartments in Lahaina.

And it’s not feasible for authorities to bring in the mobile homes used to shelter people after natural disasters elsewhere, given Hawaii’s humidity and the difficulty of shipping them from the U.S. mainland.

The government, via the Federal Emergency Management Agency, paid for Nahale and some 8,000 other displaced residents to move into hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term housing after the Aug. 8 fire. There are still about 6,900 people in short-term lodging more than two months later.

It’s unusual for FEMA to put so many people in hotels after a disaster, particularly for months, but Maui had plenty of empty hotel rooms after tourists left in the wake of the fire.

In other states, people unable to move home after a disaster might move in with friends and family members who live within a few hours’ drive. That’s trickier on Maui, an island of about 150,000 people that’s a 30-minute plane ride from the nearest major city, Honolulu.

Bob Fenton, administrator of the FEMA region including Hawaii, is leading the government’s response. His agency has the authority to house people in hotels for six months, and in some cases that can be extended, he said. Still, he wants to see people get into stable housing — “a place they could be for the next two Christmases,” Fenton said in an interview.

The Red Cross, whose case workers are administering FEMA’s hotel stay program, is sending Nahale to another condo unit with a kitchen, but it will only be available for 12 days. Finding a long-term rental is hard when thousands of others are also looking, he said.

Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern said at a news conference Wednesday that no one is being cut off from short-term housing before there is a long-term solution. Gov. Josh Green urged anyone who feels they are being pushed out to talk to a Red Cross worker.

Tiffany Teruya is among the lucky ones who found a two-bedroom rental to stay in with her 13-year-old son. The monthly cost for the “tiny, tiny cottage” was $3,000, more than double what she paid for their subsidized apartment in a building that burned in Lahaina.

She signed a lease on Wednesday, paying the first month’s rent and a deposit using aid money and $2,000 from a cousin. Catholic Charities is arranging to pay for the next three months.

The cottage belongs to a member of her extended family. She said about 30 others saw the house before her, including families of three, four and even six people.

“These people are desperate too, you know what I’m saying?” said Teruya, who was a restaurant waitress on Lahaina’s famed Front Street before the fire.

A Maui-based software developer, Matt Jachowski, built a website aimed at matching fire evacuees with landlords. More than 600 families have sought housing on the site, but he said very few have actually found lodging because landlords want more in rent than the evacuees can afford to pay.

His analysis showed that the median rent that evacuees are requesting — $1,500 for a one-bedroom, $2,400 for a two-bedroom — is about two-thirds of market rate. Some landlords wanted as much as $8,000 to $10,000 a month, saying they could get that from tourists, Jachowski said.

To help, FEMA has raised the rental assistance it’s offering to evacuees by 75%. Displaced Lahaina residents will be eligible for up to nearly $3,000 for a one bedroom. This could help plug the gap between what renters can pay and what landlords are asking — at least in the short term, Fenton said.

Longer term, Maui will need to build more affordable housing, Fenton said, noting some developments are awaiting zoning approval or need to be evaluated for sufficient sources of water.

If other temporary solutions fall short, FEMA is preparing to build up to 500 modular units using prefabricated materials or 3D printing. The agency has identified four sites — three in Lahaina and one in central Maui — near power, water and sewer infrastructure. Utility lines would have to be extended to individual lots but could then be repurposed for permanent housing after the modular homes are removed.

Nahale called the experience of rotating hotels on the island a “second wave of humanitarian disaster.” He said the compassionate thing would be to let people stay where they are through the holidays.

But tourists are returning and beginning to fill some of the rooms. Green and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen say the island needs to welcome travelers back to support the economy and give people jobs. Maui’s unemployment rate hit 8.4% in September compared to 3.4% the same month last year.

Playing music helps Nahale cope with the ordeal. Before moving to his new condo, he showed two visiting journalists the only guitar he was able to grab before his home burned. Then he began strumming a song written by his late friend, the famous Hawaiian musician Roland Cazimero.

“Please be careful/ Of the dangers of the world/ Careful not to be afraid/ Of the roads we’ve yet to go,” Nahale sang, first in English and then in Hawaiian.

“That song just came to mind,” he said. “That song can help heal.”
…

A California research team is conducting a five-year ecological study of six songbird species in northwestern New Mexico oil fields to see how sensory intrusions affect the birds’ survival, reproduction and general health.

The Santa Fe New Mexican says the study by avian researchers from California Polytechnic State University will zero in on the specific impacts of noise and light pollution.

As the human population swells and generates more light and sound, researchers are curious about how those multiplying stressors might compound the challenges of climate change in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, the newspaper reported.

Clint Francis, an ecology professor at California Polytechnic, said early studies that examined whether excessive noise and light decreased bird populations were done in more urban settings, where the birds were threatened by prowling cats, toxic chemicals and speeding cars.

The next step is to isolate either noise or light in a rural area to see how one or the other affects the songbirds, Francis said.

He did such research in this same northwestern New Mexico region in 2005. This time the aim is to observe how the two together affect the birds in a locale where the conditions can be clearly measured in tandem.

“We try to hold everything constant but vary noise and light pollution to try to understand whether there is, perhaps, surprising cumulative effects when you have both of those stimuli together,” Francis told the New Mexican.

The research will focus on six types of songbirds: ash-throated flycatchers, gray flycatchers, mountain bluebirds, Western bluebirds, chipping sparrows and house finches.

Francis hopes the study will uncover information that can help people adjust their noise and light to coexist better with birds.

The study is being funded by a grant of almost $900,000 from the National Science Foundation.
…

Nine U.S. Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives – none of them well-known to the American public – announced by the Sunday deadline that they are running to become House speaker, the leader of the lower chamber of Congress.

The House has been without a speaker for nearly three weeks after a hard-right faction of eight Republicans joined with all 212 Democrats in the chamber to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  

The small group of Republicans was angered that McCarthy agreed to a government spending deal with Democratic President Joe Biden they felt was too big to avert a partial government shutdown and keep government operations funded through November 17.

Since McCarthy’s ouster, House Republicans have been unsuccessful in coalescing around a replacement. They first nominated Rep. Steve Scalise of the southern state of Louisiana, McCarthy’s No. 2 in the House Republican leadership, as its speaker-designate, but Scalise dropped out of the contest when he realized he could not amass the 217-vote majority he would need in a full House vote.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House, but such a small edge that any nominee can only afford to lose four Republican votes to other speaker candidates and still prevail.

The Republican caucus next gave its nod to Rep. Jim Jordan of the midwestern state of Ohio. Jordan is a conservative firebrand and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump. But Jordan also failed to gain a 217-vote majority in the House, falling well short on a first vote in the full House and then losing ground on two subsequent ballots.  

Then, Republican lawmakers in a secret ballot vote within their own caucus decreed that Jordan was no longer their choice for the speakership and opened the contest to anyone who wanted to run for the position.

Nine lawmakers said they are trying to win the speakership, with all of them expected to state their case at a party caucus Monday evening. If the Republicans decide on a choice, the full House could vote again Tuesday.

The nine are Jack Bergman of Michigan, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Byron Donalds of Florida, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Pete Sessions of Texas, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Austin Scott of Georgia, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania and Mike Johnson of Louisiana.  

There appeared to be no overwhelming immediate favorite although Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the House, might have a slight edge since McCarthy endorsed his candidacy. 

The absence of a House speaker — second in line to the U.S. presidency if vacancies occur — has left the chamber rudderless. The House has been unable to act on any legislation, not even a widely supported resolution supporting Israel after the shocking October 7 Hamas militant attack on the Jewish state.

When the chamber resumes operations, it will have less than a month to agree on a new spending plan to again avert any partial government shutdown. The government’s new fiscal year started October 1, but as is the case almost every year, lawmakers have reached few agreements on spending levels over the next 12 months for individual federal agencies.
…

Venezuelans became the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. border, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September was the second-highest month for arrests of all nationalities.

Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022.

Arrests of all nationalities entering from Mexico totaled 218,763 in September, up 21% from 181,084 in August and approaching an all-time high of 222,018 in December 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrests for the government’s budget year that ended Sept. 30 topped 2 million for the second year in a row, down 7% from an all-time high of more than 2.2 million arrests in the same period a year earlier.

Venezuela plunged into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing more than 7 million people to leave. They initially settled in nearby countries in Latin America but began coming to the United States in the last three years, settling in New York, Chicago and other major cities.

The Biden administration recently announced temporary legal status for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans who were already in the United States on July 31, while vowing to deport those who come illegally after that date and fail to get asylum. It recently began deportation flights to Venezuela as part of a diplomatic thaw with the government of Nicolás Maduro, a longtime adversary.

The U.S. “surged resources and personnel” to the border in September, said Troy Miller, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said.

For decades, Mexicans accounted for the vast majority of illegal crossings but flows shifted over the last decade to Central Americans and, more recently, to people from South America, Africa and Asia.

Mexicans were arrested 39,733 times crossing the border in September, well behind Venezuelans. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Colombians rounded out the top five.

Republicans seized on the latest numbers as its leading presidential candidates have tried to frame the border as a major issue in next year’s elections.

“This fiscal year may have ended, but the historic crisis at our Southwest border sparked by (Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro) Mayorkas’ policies rages on,” said Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The Biden administration proposed about $14 billion for the border in a $106 billion spending package announced Friday and has insisted that any long-term solution requires help from Congress.

The administration has adopted a carrot-and-stick approach of new legal pathways to seek asylum with restrictions on those who don’t adhere to them.

About 43,000 migrants entered the country at land crossings with Mexico in September using a mobile app called CBP One, bringing the total to nearly 278,000 since the online appointment system began in January. Also, more than 265,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela entered through September at airports after applying online with financial sponsors.

Including those legal pathways, the number of crossings hit a new all-time monthly high of 269,735 in September and a new budget-year high of nearly 2.5 million.
…

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday through a rainy London to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza, and similar calls were heard in cities around the world as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week. 

On the day a trickle of aid entered Gaza, where more than 1 million people have left their homes because of the conflict, protesters gathered in at Marble Arch near London’s Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall. 

Police estimated the crowd that wound its way through the city for three hours at “up to 100,000.” 

Waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Stop bombing Gaza,” participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza. 

Authorities in Gaza say more than 4,300 people have been killed in the territory since the latest war began. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ attack on October 7. 

Israel continued to bombard targets Saturday in Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive. A small measure of relief came when 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed to enter Gaza across the southern Rafah border crossing with Egypt. 

The war has raised tensions around the world, with both Jewish and Muslim communities feeling under threat. The British Transport Police force said it was investigating after footage was posted online that appears to show a London Underground driver leading passengers in a chant of “Free, free Palestine” over the subway intercom. 

British authorities urged demonstrators to be mindful of the pain and anxiety felt by the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared to last year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled. 

Police said there had been “pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech” during protests over the war, but “the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.” 

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered in Belfast and in Northern Ireland’s second city, Londonderry, where speakers included lawmaker Colum Eastwood of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party. 

“The murder of children is wrong,” he told the crowd, calling for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict. “I don’t know how that is so difficult for some of our world leaders to actually utter. It doesn’t matter whether they are Israeli children or Palestinian children.” 

Across the border in the Republic of Ireland, thousands marched through the capital, Dublin, calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment. 

In France, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in several cities including Rennes, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, where thousands of people could be seen chanting “we all are Palestinians” in the central square. 

In Marseille, the country’s second-largest city, some people took to the streets, waving Palestinians flags and shouting “Free Gaza,” despite the protest being banned by local police. 

A pro-Palestinian gathering scheduled for Sunday in Paris has been allowed by police. 

German police said almost 7,000 people took part in a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration Saturday in Dusseldorf. The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags or banners calling for an end to “violence and aggression in Gaza.” 

Police in Berlin banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration that was scheduled for Sunday in the center of the city, German news agency dpa reported. Police in the German capital have stopped several similar events in recent weeks, citing the potential of violence and antisemitic hate speech. Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators have taken to the streets anyway, resulting in clashes with police. 

Authorities allowed a pro-Israel demonstration scheduled for Sunday that was expected to draw together thousands of people in central Berlin. 

Elsewhere, several hundred people marched Saturday through Rome, some holding signs saying “Palestine, Rome is with you,” and “No peace until we get freedom.” 

“Israel carries out war crimes there, crimes against humanity there, and the international community has never acted,” said Maya Issa, president of the Movement of Palestinian Students in Italy, which organized the demonstration. 

In Muslim-majority Kosovo, several hundred people walked from mosques to Pristina’s Zahir Pajaziti square after lunchtime prayers to express support for Palestinians. 

In Australia, thousands marched Saturday through central Sydney, shouting “Shame, shame Israel” and “Palestine will never die.” 

The war sparked protests across the Arab world and beyond Friday, including in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at Israeli military checkpoints. Israeli security forces responded firing tear gas and live rounds. 

Crowds gathered in Israel’s northern neighbor Lebanon; in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in cities and towns across Egypt; in Turkey’s capital Ankara and its most populous city of Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Venezuela, and South Africa. 

In New York, hundreds of protesters from Muslim, Jewish and other groups marched to U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand’s Manhattan office, many shouting “cease fire now.” Police later arrested dozens of protesters who blocked Third Avenue outside Gillibrand’s office by sitting in the road. 

Pro-Israel demonstrations and vigils have also been held around the world, many focused on securing the return of hostages captured by Hamas. 

Rome’s Jewish community Friday remembered the more than 200 people believed held by Hamas by setting a long Shabbat table for them outside the capital’s main synagogue and empty chairs for each of the hostages. 

On the back of each chair was a flyer featuring the name, age and photo of each missing person. On the table were candles, wine and loaves of challah, the braided bread typically eaten during the Friday night meal. 
…

In Orange County, California, there is a neighborhood that has earned the name Little Arabia because most residents are Palestinians and Afghans. Angelina Bagdasaryan visited the neighborhood and spoke with locals about the situation in the Middle East. Anna Rice narrates her story. Camera — Vazgen Varzhabetian.
…

The latest:

Hamas released two American hostages Friday, a mother and her teenage daughter, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ cross-border attack two weeks ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people. … At the same time, we'll continue to fight until victory."
Israel said Friday it plans to evacuate Kiryat Shmona residents to state-funded guest houses. The city is near Israel’s border with Lebanon where there have been repeated rocket and missile attacks.
The death toll from the hospital strike in Gaza is now reported to be on the lower end of 100-300 people.
More than 1,400 Israelis, 4,100 Palestinians have been killed.        

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would “fight until victory” in Gaza, signaling there would be no pause in Israel’s bombing of the area or an expected invasion there despite Hamas’ release of two U.S. hostages.

“Two of our abductees are at home. We are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people,” Netanyahu said in a statement released Friday night.

“At the same time, we’ll continue to fight until victory,” he said.

His remarks came hours after two Americans, a mother and daughter from the Chicago area who also hold Israel citizenship, were released by Hamas. They were the first of what Israel says is more than 200 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza to be freed.

Reporters asked U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday as he was walking up the stairs to board Air Force One whether Israel should delay an invasion of Gaza until more hostages can be freed. Biden replied, “Yes,” but the White House said shortly afterward that Biden did not fully hear the question.

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said Biden was far away when the question was asked.

“The question sounded like ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?’ He wasn’t commenting on anything else,” LaBolt said.

Earlier Friday, Biden said he believed Hamas was motivated to attack Israel partly because the militant group wants to stop Israel from normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.

Biden told a campaign fundraiser in Washington on Friday that Hamas “knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis.”

The United States had been working toward bringing Israel and Saudi Arabia together to establish diplomatic relations following U.S. efforts in 2020 that succeeded in getting the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to recognize Israel.

Meanwhile early Saturday, Israeli planes bombed six homes in Gaza, killing at least eight Palestinians and injuring 45, Palestinian media said. According to the United Nations, 140,000 homes in Gaza have been damaged, which amounts to nearly a third of all homes in the territory. It says nearly 13,000 homes have been destroyed.

In Egypt, an official told The Associated Press that two trucks filled with aid entered the Egyptian side of the border crossing with Gaza early Saturday but said they have not passed through into the Gaza Strip.

Israel said Wednesday that that aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt, but the border has remained closed. Egypt says the crossing has been damaged by Israeli air strikes.

Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip on Friday night with airstrikes, amid warnings that Israeli forces could invade the Hamas-ruled territory at any time.

The Israel Defense Forces posted Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter: “During the night, fighter jets attacked over a hundred operational targets of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, destroying tunnel shafts, munitions warehouses and dozens of operational headquarters.”

In other developments, Israel is planning to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. Authorities said Friday that the residents will be placed in state-funded guest houses. The northern city is near Israel’s border with Lebanon and has been subjected to numerous rocket and missile attacks from Palestinian militant groups.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled Friday to Egypt, his latest Middle Eastern destination, as the conflict continues to grow. Sunak has already met with Israeli leaders and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Sunak followed Biden with a visit to Israel to demonstrate Western support for the war against Hamas militants.

“You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism, and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you,” Sunak said. Later, he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We will stand with your people. And we also want you to win.”

Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told hundreds of thousands of the country’s ground troops to get ready to invade the Gaza Strip.

Gallant met with Israeli infantry soldiers positioned on the Gaza border, telling the forces to “get organized, be ready,” but did not say when the order would come for the invasion.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “I promise you.”

Israel has amassed 300,000 or more troops along the border following Hamas’ cross-border Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Biden said after his brief visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday that he had candid discussions with Israeli leaders as they conduct military strikes that have taken more than 3,400 lives in Gaza, many of them civilians.

“I was very blunt with the Israelis,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Biden said that while Israel “has been badly victimized,” the country has “an opportunity to relieve the suffering” of innocent civilians in Gaza “who have nowhere to go.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…

Russia’s top diplomat shrugged off U.S. claims that North Korea transferred munitions to Russia, saying Washington had failed to prove the allegation. 

Russian state television broadcast Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments on Friday. Lavrov made a two-day trip to Pyongyang this week for talks on ways to boost the two countries’ ties following a September summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

The White House said last week that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and weapons to Russia. It released images that it said showed the containers had been loaded onto a Russian-flagged ship before being moved via train to southwestern Russia. 

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believed Kim was seeking sophisticated Russian weapons technologies in return for the munitions to boost North Korea’s military and nuclear program. 

Lavrov scoffed at the U.S. claims, saying “the Americans keep accusing everyone.” 

“I don’t comment on rumors,” he added. 

Since last year, the U.S. has accused North Korea of providing ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia for the fighting in Ukraine. North Korea has steadfastly denied it shipped arms to Russia. South Korean officials charged that weapons provided by North Korea have been used in Ukraine. 

When Kim visited Russia for six days last month, Russian and North Korean officials said that boosting defense ties between the two countries was discussed but they didn’t disclose specific steps. 

On Thursday, Lavrov and Kim exchanged views on joint efforts to expand bilateral ties in all areas and discussed other key issues of mutual concern, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. It said Kim expressed his resolve to carry out unspecified agreements he had reached with Putin during his Russian visit. 

Lavrov described the talks as “comprehensive” and said, “We have an understanding on how to proceed to fulfill the agreements” between Putin and Kim. 

After he arrived in Pyongyang, Lavrov gave a speech in which he said that Russia deeply valued North Korea’s “unwavering and principled support” for its military operation in Ukraine. Back in Moscow, he stressed that the effort to deepen the relationship between Russia and North Korea was based on bilateral concerns. 

“Our friendship isn’t directed against anyone. It’s intended to help promote mutually beneficial projects,” he said. 

Lavrov also told reporters that he supported holding regular talks on security issues on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea and China.
…

The third time was not a charm for Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, hoping to become U.S. House speaker.

Twenty-five Republicans voted Friday morning against the arch-conservative congressman, while all Democrats cast voice votes for their party’s leader in the chamber, Hakeem Jeffries of New York — meaning no candidate hit the threshold of 217 votes needed to be elected speaker.

Three more Republicans voted against Jordan in the third round than in the second.

Later in the day, Republicans dropped Jordan as their speaker nominee  in a private meeting. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said party members would go home “and start over” on Monday in their search for a candidate.

The House has been paralyzed for more than two weeks since eight Republicans joined with Democrats in a historic vote to remove California Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday was dispatching to Congress a $106 billion foreign aid request, primarily composed of money to aid Israel and Ukraine in their wars against Hamas and Russia, respectively.

Until the House elects a speaker, the body will not be able to vote on any spending bills. The House faces a November 17 deadline when funding for the entire federal government runs out. If no new funding measure is approved, millions of members of the U.S. military and federal workers will not be paid.

Jordan was a favorite of the Republicans who are closely allied with former President Donald Trump, the party’s leading candidate in next year’s race for the presidency. Other Republicans rebelled against Jordan’s strongarm tactics to get elected speaker, and many expressed that he was not suited to lead, as during his 16 years in Congress he has never sponsored a bill that became law.

“Jim Jordan is an effective legislator,” McCarthy said in his third-round nomination speech in support of his fellow Republican. That remark prompted laughter and jeering from the Democrats, who have not seen a single member of their caucus vote for anyone else except Jeffries in the numerous rounds this year to elect speakers.  

Prior to the third round, Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told reporters Jordan was not going to gather enough votes to be victorious, no matter how many rounds of voting members had to endure.

“There is a time when you have to put country above ego and self,” he said. “It gets to a point where this now becomes just an egofest.”

Jeffries, at a news conference earlier Friday, said Jordan was a “clear and present danger to our democracy” because the Republican attempted to overturn the 2020 election on behalf of Trump.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
…

Fifty years after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the current crisis in the Middle East has the potential to disrupt global oil supplies and push prices higher. But don’t expect a repeat of the catastrophic price hikes and long lines at the gasoline pump, experts say.

The Israel-Hamas war is “definitely not good news” for oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

Markets will remain volatile, and the conflict could push oil prices higher, “which is definitely bad news for inflation,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA, told The Associated Press. Developing countries that import oil and other fuels would be the most affected by higher prices, he said.

International benchmark Brent crude traded above $91 a barrel on Thursday, up from $85 per barrel on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel, killing hundreds of civilians. Israel immediately launched airstrikes on Gaza, destroying entire neighborhoods and killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the days that have followed.

Fluctuations since the attack pushed oil prices as high as $96.

The price of oil depends on how much of it is getting used and how much is available. The latter is under threat because of the Hamas-Israel war, even though the Gaza Strip is not home to major crude production.

One worry is that the fighting could lead to complications with Iran, home of some of the world’s largest oil reserves. Its crude production has been constrained by international sanctions, but oil is still flowing to China and other countries.

“In order to get a sustained move (in prices), we really would need to see a supply disruption,” said Andrew Lipow, president at Lipow Oil Associates, a Houston-based consultant.

Any damage to Iranian oil infrastructure from a military strike by Israel could send prices jumping globally. Even without that, a shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz that lies south of Iran could also shake the oil market because so much of the world’s supplies goes through the waterway.

Until something like that happens, “the oil market is going to be like everyone else, monitoring the events in the Middle East,” Lipow said.

One reason 1970s-style gas lines are unlikely: U.S. oil production is at an all-time high. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

“The energy crisis of 1973 taught us many things, but in my mind, the most critical is that American energy strength is a tremendous source of security, prosperity and freedom around the world,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. oil industry’s top lobbying group.

In a speech Wednesday marking the 50th anniversary of the 1973 oil embargo, Sommers said current U.S. production contrasts sharply with “America’s weakened position during the Arab oil embargo.” He urged U.S. policymakers to heed what he called the lessons of 1973.

“We cannot squander our strategic advantage and retreat on energy leadership,” said Sommers, who has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden’s policies restricting restricting new oil leases as part of Biden’s efforts to slow global climate change.

“With an unstable world, war in Europe, war in the Middle East, and energy demand outstripping supply, energy security is on the line,” Sommers said in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.

“American oil and gas are needed now more than ever,” Sommers said. “Let’s take to heart the lessons we learned from 1973 and avoid sowing the seeds of the next energy crisis.” 

For now, the crisis isn’t a repeat of 1973. Arab countries aren’t attacking Israel in unison, and OPEC+ nations have not moved to restrict supplies or boost prices beyond a few extra dollars.

There are several wild cards in the energy market. One is the supply of Iranian oil. Eager to avoid a spike in gasoline prices and inflation, the U.S. has quietly tolerated some exports of Iranian oil to destinations such as China instead of going all in on sanctions aimed at Iran’s nuclear program.

If Iran, which has warned Israel not to undertake a ground offensive, escalates the Gaza conflict — including a possible attack by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon supported by Iran — that might change the U.S. stance. “If the U.S. were then also to enforce the oil sanctions against Iran more strictly again, the oil market would tighten noticeably,” say commodities analysts at Commerzbank.

Lawmakers from both parties have urged Biden to block Iranian oil sales, seeking to dry up one of the regime’s key sources of funding.

Another wild card is how Saudi Arabia would respond if Iranian oil is restricted. Oil analysts say that while the Saudis may welcome recent oil price hikes, they don’t want a massive price spike that would fuel inflation, higher central bank interest rates and possible recession in oil-consuming countries that ultimately would limit or even kill off demand for oil.

A third unknown is whether more oil will reach the market from Venezuela. The U.S. agreed Wednesday to temporarily suspend some sanctions on the country’s oil, gas and gold sectors after Venezuela’s government and a faction of its opposition formally agreed to work together on election reforms.

Venezuelan production could increase in 2024. In the next six months, however, production could ramp up by some 200,000 barrels a day, a relative drop in the ocean, according to Sofia Guidi Di Sante, senior oil market analyst at Rystad Energy.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, slammed the U.S. action as a “gimmick” that appeases a brutal regime in Venezuela.

“Joe Biden’s energy policies put America last,” Barrasso said, citing the Democratic president’s decisions to kill the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline and sell off significant portions of the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking it to its lowest level since the 1980s. The Energy Department said Thursday it will seek offers to start refilling the oil reserve in December, with monthly solicitations expected through May 2024.

“He eased sanctions on Iran, which funds terrorism across the Middle East. Now with Israel under attack, Biden is desperate for anything to mask the consequences of his reckless policies,” Barrasso said. “America should never beg for oil from socialist dictators or terrorists.”

The Treasury Department says it has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups in the region.

“We will continue to take action as appropriate to counter Iran’s destabilizing activity in the region and around the world,” Treasury said in a statement.
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As the Israel-Hamas war intensifies, the United States Thursday launched a visa waiver program allowing Israelis wishing to visit the United States for 90 days or fewer to come without applying for a visa. 

The U.S. announced Sept. 27 that it was admitting Israel into the visa waiver program, adding the country to a select group of 40 mostly European and Asian countries whose citizens can travel to the U.S. for three months without visas. 

At the time, the U.S. said Israelis could start traveling to America without visas as of Nov. 30. In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security said the program was operational as of Thursday. 

Officials gave no reason for the changed timeline in a news release Thursday. But just days after Israel’s admittance to the visa waiver program, Hamas launched attacks against numerous locations in southern Israel. Since then, the Israeli military has relentlessly attacked locations in the Gaza Strip as it prepares for a ground invasion. 

Under the waiver program, Israelis first register with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. That’s an automated system that helps determine whether the person is eligible to travel, Homeland Security said in the news release. The process can take up to 72 hours. Then they can travel to the U.S. 

To be eligible, Israelis must have a biometrically enabled passport. Those who don’t have such a passport still must apply for a U.S. visa, the department said. 

Countries that want to take part in the visa program have to meet three critical benchmarks. Israel met two of those benchmarks over the past two years: a low percentage of Israelis who applied for visas and were rejected and a low percentage of Israelis who have overstayed their visas. Israel had struggled to meet the third, for reciprocity that essentially means all U.S. citizens, including Palestinian Americans, must be treated equally when traveling to or through Israel. 

Many critics said that despite American assertions, Palestinian Americans were still facing discrimination when traveling to Israel. 

 
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