🇮🇷❌🇺🇸❗️ — United States Secret Service ramped up security after receiving intel of Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Sepah/Pasdaran) plot to assassinate Trump, reports CNN

➡️ US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.

➡️ There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.

➡️ The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to access a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.

🔗 Link
https://archive.is/wip/SaWfi

🇪🇸❌🏴🇬🇮 Gibraltar fury at Spain team's 'offensive' Euro victory chants

Gibraltar on Tuesday expressed fury over the "offensive" and "discriminatory" chants by several Spain players during the mass celebrations in Madrid after their Euro 2024 victory over England.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240716-gibraltar-fury-at-spain-team-s-offensive-euro-victory-chants

https://news.sky.com/story/gibraltar-accuses-spanish-players-of-hugely-offensive-remarks-during-euro-2024-celebrations-13179007

@FelipeChannel

🇰🇵💔🇨🇺❌🤝🇰🇷 North Korean Diplomat Defects to the South, Shares News of Political Purge

Ri Il-kyu, who fled to South Korea late last year, alleged that two North Korean officials who had been assigned to negotiate with the Trump administration had been punished.

North Korea diplomat flees to South in highest ranking envoy defection since 2016

Ri Il-kyu was responsible for political affairs at Pyongyang’s embassy in Cuba, the Chosun Ilbo daily has reported

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/world/asia/north-korea-defector-political-execution.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/16/north-korea-diplomat-flees-south-ri-il-kyu-cuba

https://www.chosun.com/english/north-korea-en/2024/07/16/NTK6QOVZLZHLZGAHVBVCG3Q36I/

A North Korean diplomat, Counselor Ri Il-gyu, who was responsible for political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, defected with his wife and children in early November last year and has now settled in South Korea. Ri, 52, a key expert on Cuba within the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had been serving as the political counselor at the Cuban embassy since April 2019. His role included preventing the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba.

Ri is the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea since Thae Yong-ho, the former minister at the North Korean Embassy in the United Kingdom, defected in 2016. Other notable defections include Jo Song-gil, the acting ambassador to Italy in 2019, and Ryu Hyun-woo, the acting ambassador to Kuwait, who held the ranks of first secretary and counselor, respectively.

In an interview with The Chosun Ilbo on July 14, Ri said, “Every North Korean thinks at least once about living in South Korea. Disillusionment with the North Korean regime and a bleak future led me to consider defection.”

Ri joined the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. In 2013, while serving as the third secretary (officially first secretary) at the Cuban embassy, he negotiated with Panama to release the North Korean ship Chong Chon Gang, which was detained for carrying surface-to-air missiles and fighter jet parts. For his efforts, he received a commendation from Kim Jong-un.

From 2016 to 2019, Ri worked as the deputy director for Latin American affairs at the ministry’s headquarters in Pyongyang before returning to Cuba as a counselor.

Despite his elite status and accolades from Kim Jong-un, Ri said, “In fact, North Koreans yearn for reunification even more than South Koreans. Everyone believes that reunification is the only way for their children to have a better future. Today, the Kim Jong-un regime has brutally extinguished even the slightest hope left among the people.”

Kim Jong-un declared late last year that North and South Korea are in a hostile relationship, stating, “There is no possibility of reunification.”

@FelipeChannel

#BREAKING

🥇🚀GOLD smash again a fresh new All Time High, over $2480/oz!

📈+2.34% (+57.3$) in the last 24h

@FelipeChannel

🇺🇸❌🇹🇼 — 📰 Reuters: TSMC shares fall more than 2% after Trump says Taiwan should pay for defence

➡️ Taiwan should pay the United States for its defence as it does not give the country anything, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said, sending shares of Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC (2330.TW), opens new tab down on Wednesday.

"I know the people very well, respect them greatly. They did take about 100% of our chip business. I think, Taiwan should pay us for defence," Trump said in interview with Bloomberg Businessweek on June 25 but published on Tuesday.

"You know, we're no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn't give us anything."

➡️ TSMC is the dominant maker of advanced chips used in everything from AI applications to smartphones and fighter jets, and analyst believe any conflict over Taiwan would decimate the world economy.

➡️ The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international supporter and arms supplier, but there is no formal defence agreement. The U.S. is however bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

🔗 Link
https://archive.is/2qlFp