World

The United States, Japan and South Korea warned Wednesday that a North Korean nuclear test would warrant an “unprecedentedly strong response”, vowing unity after a blitz of missile launches from the hermit state.

Following talks in Tokyo, the three nations’ deputy foreign ministers said they would ramp up their deterrence in the region.

“We agreed to further strengthen cooperation … so that North Korea can immediately stop its illegal activities and return to denuclearisation talks,” said South Korea’s Cho Hyun-dong.

“The three countries agreed on the need for an unprecedentedly strong response if North Korea proceeds with its seventh nuclear test,” he told reporters.

Seoul and Washington have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang could be close to testing an atomic bomb for the first time since 2017, after a flurry of ballistic missile launches.

One missile flew over Japan last month, and North Korea has separately claimed to have carried out tactical nuclear drills.

“All of this behaviour is reckless and deeply destabilising,” said US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, urging North Korea to “refrain from further provocations”.

Last month, the North’s leader Kim Jong Un declared the country an “irreversible” nuclear power, effectively ending negotiations over his banned arms programmes.

Kim met three times with Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, reducing tensions but resulting in no lasting agreement, and the country has shown little interest in taking up US President Joe Biden’s offer of working-level talks.

Japan’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeo Mori said North Korea’s “intensifying nuclear and missile activities… are a clear and serious challenge to the international community”.

“We agreed to ramp up the deterrence in our region with a view towards the denuclearisation of North Korea,” he said.

The trio said they had also discussed a wide range of issues including the war in Ukraine, China and Taiwan.

But Mori and Cho said there had been no discussion of bilateral relations between Japan and South Korea, which have long been strained.

Hong Kong authorities have arrested two men for laundering funds worth HK$3.5 billion ($446 million) by reselling precious metals, one of the city’s largest money-laundering cases, officials said Wednesday.

The two were involved in a scheme selling around eight tonnes of precious metals — mostly gold and palladium — between 2020 and 2021 for returns “incommensurate” with their backgrounds, customs official Rita Li said at a press conference.

It was a record for money-laundering cases busted by Hong Kong Customs, Li said, although the police have cracked larger cases.

Precious metals can be bought and sold anonymously in Hong Kong and are attractive to criminals because of their high value, small size and ease of transportation, Li added. 

“Unlawful elements can easily use proceeds from crime to buy precious metals and then resell them, or conduct multi-layer transactions, to launder money,” she said.

The two men used company accounts to receive large sums from precious metal trading firms and jewellery stores, then quickly transferred the funds to shell companies or accounts abroad, authorities said.

The suspects — believed to be linked to a crime syndicate — were arrested for money laundering last Friday and are on bail pending investigation.

Authorities say they are investigating the origins of the precious metals and will not rule out further arrests.

Last month, four suspected Hong Kong gang members were arrested for laundering $52 million over a two-year period.

Hackers accessed millions of medical records at one of Australia’s largest private health insurers, the company said Wednesday, prompting the government to admit the nation’s cyber safeguards were “inadequate”.

This was the latest in a series of hacks targeting millions of people that have brought Australian companies’ lax approach to cyber security into sharp relief.

Medibank chief executive David Koczkar said information about each of the company’s 3.9 million policy holders — some 15 percent of Australia’s population — had been compromised.

“Our investigation has now established that this criminal has accessed all our private health insurance customers’ personal data and significant amounts of their health claims data,” he said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

“This is a terrible crime. This is a crime designed to cause maximum harm to the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The cyber attack was revealed last week, but it was not known until now how many people were impacted.

The hackers have previously threatened to leak the data, starting with 1,000 famous Australians, unless Medibank pays a ransom.

Medibank on Wednesday also confirmed it was not insured against cyber attacks, estimating the hack could cost the company as much as Au$35 million (US$22 million).

The Medibank hack followed an attack on telecom company Optus last month that exposed the personal information of some nine million Australians — almost a third of the population.

The Optus attack was one of the largest data breaches in Australian history.

– ‘Inadequate’ –

Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has previously accused companies of stockpiling sensitive customer data they did not need. 

Firms currently face paltry fines — Au$2.2 million — for failing to protect customer data. 

Dreyfus last week said these fines would be ratcheted up to Au$50 million. 

“Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate,” he said. 

“It’s not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil on Tuesday said the fallout from the Medibank hack was “potentially irreparable”.

“One of the reasons why the government is so worried about this is because of the nature of the data,” she told Australia’s parliament. 

“When it comes to the personal health information of Australians, the damage here is potentially irreparable.”

O’Neil has previously described hacking as a “dog act” — an Australian phrase reserved for something especially shameful or despicable. 

With her tattooed arms bare and her head uncovered, Talia looks somewhat out of place shopping at a Jerusalem discount supermarket that caters to modestly dressed ultra-Orthodox Jews. 

“I have no choice but to come here,” the 32-year-old nurse told AFP, asking not to be fully named as she discusses her family’s financial struggles at a time food prices are surging in Israel.

She worries about being able to feed her two children even though she and her husband, who repairs household appliances, “work like crazy”, including night shifts for her and weekend jobs for him. 

“We can’t do it anymore,” she said in frustration as she filled her cart with packets of pasta while avoiding the pricier items.

It’s a familiar problem for millions of Israelis who have endured soaring consumer prices for years, failing to fully benefit from an era of rapid economic growth driven by a high-tech boom.

Much of the world has endured rapid inflation since Russia’s war in Ukraine started early this year, driving up energy and food prices everywhere.

But in Israel — where 400 grammes of canned tuna can each cost around 30 shekels (about $8.50) — the problem has been acute for years, blamed in part on the strong shekel which makes imports more expensive.

Tel Aviv, with its soaring property prices, was ranked the world’s most expensive city by The Economist magazine last year, and simmering rage over costs and income inequality is especially widespread. 

– ‘Hardly coping’ –

Israel, with its turbulent politics, heads back to the polls next Tuesday, for the fifth general election in less than four years. 

Historically, Israeli voting patterns have been shaped by religious and ethnic affiliation and, most importantly, views on the Palestinian conflict.

But this time, ahead of the November 1 vote, the cost-of-living crisis has become a major issue for the candidates, including Prime Minister Yair Lapid and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Both have promised action to redress the problem as inflation hit a decade-high this month of 4.6 percent year-on-year according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, though without offering too many specifics. 

Rami Levy, the owner of a popular supermarket chain that bills itself as low-cost, told AFP that his sales are up 15 percent over the past year as middle class earners have increasingly sought cheaper food. 

“With prices rising, people who used to be able to afford to shop closer to home are coming to us because they know it’s cheaper,” said Levy, whose chain of eponymous stores are spread across Israel and West Bank settlements. 

One Rami Levy shopper was Ayelet Benshoshan, who strolled the aisles beneath bold coloured signs offering discounts on cucumbers, meat and canned tuna. 

“We have always been careful, but now there are things that we have simply stopped buying,” she said, explaining that she has cut out “candy, crackers, cream desserts and certain cornflakes at more than 20 shekels (about $6) a packet”.

With five children at home, she said she and her husband, a maintenance worker, are “hardly” coping. 

“I’m making more and more things at home, especially bread and cakes, to avoid buying them.”

– ‘Skipping meals’ –

Aron Troen, who teaches at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s School of Public Health, stressed that even middle class families are facing food security pressures and that healthy eating has become less affordable. 

“When there is rapid inflation in food prices and wages don’t keep pace, the middle class have to spend more, not only on food but on rent, transportation, gas and education,” he told AFP.

He noted that many families face “difficulty getting healthy food… People start by changing what they eat, then the quality of what they eat and then they start skipping meals or only feeding their children.”

Israel’s social security agency estimates that in 2021 more than 20 percent of the population was food insecure, a term the UN defines as lacking regular access to safe and nutritious food. 

Israel’s largest non-government group combating poverty and food insecurity, Latet, has put that figure at 30 percent for last year. 

Only days before the election, Benshoshan voiced hope that politicians would make middle class hardships a focus in future. 

“I would like them to think of us, ordinary citizens, who work hard and whose salaries have not increased, who have children, who pay our taxes, who have done our civil or military service,” she said. 

“We deserve an easier life… We are the middle class that is really starting to fall apart. I hope they will listen to us.”

Rishi Sunak will on Wednesday face off against opposition lawmakers for the first time as British prime minister, in a likely raucous parliamentary session following weeks of political turmoil. 

It comes after he took power Tuesday as the first UK leader of colour, vowing to repair the damage wrought by outgoing leader Liz Truss through her disastrous budget, which sparked economic carnage.

Pledging also to unite his fractured Conservatives, and an increasingly unimpressed country, Sunak began his tenure by re-appointing a host of ministers from his predecessor’s top team.

The former finance minister retained Jeremy Hunt as chancellor of the exchequer, bidding to keep markets on side after he stabilised the situation with his initial appointment nearly two weeks ago.

He also kept Truss’s foreign, defence, trade and culture ministers, among others, as well as controversially bringing back recently fired Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The line-up “reflects a unified party and a cabinet with significant experience, ensuring that at this uncertain time there is continuity at the heart of government”, a Downing Street source said.

The largely same-look cabinet could hold an inaugural meeting Wednesday before Sunak heads to the House of Commons for his first weekly “Prime Minister’s Questions”, when he will battle Labour leader Keir Starmer and other opposition lawmakers.

They will undoubtedly seek to capitalise on weeks of chaos at the top of government, and reiterate demands for a general election following the selection — by Conservative MPs — of their third leader in two months.

“The Tories have crashed the economy, with low wages, high prices and a cost-of-living crisis,” Starmer said Tuesday, in a taste of the attack-lines to come. 

“The public needs a fresh start and a say on Britain’s future.”

– ‘Difficult decisions’ –

Truss left office as the UK’s shortest-serving premier in history, replaced by its youngest since 1812 and first Hindu leader.

Sunak, 42, triumphed in a 96-hour Tory leadership contest after rival contender Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough nominations from Tory lawmakers and Boris Johnson dramatically aborted an audacious comeback bid.

Truss and Johnson offered their support — though Johnson, who privately blamed his ex-minister for toppling him in July, is thought to be fuming and still harbouring hopes of an eventual Downing Street return.

Addressing the nation outside Number 10 shortly after his appointment by King Charles III, Sunak conceded the country faced “profound economic crisis”. 

“I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda,” he said, adding: “This will mean difficult decisions to come.”

In an apparent bid for better domestic unity, Sunak held immediate calls with the devolved leaders of Scotland and Wales — something Truss failed to do in her seven-week tenure.

In his first call with a foreign leader, Sunak told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Britain would continue its “steadfast support” following Russia’s invasion.

He also spoke to US President Joe Biden, who had earlier hailed the appointment of the first British-Indian prime minister as “groundbreaking”.

“President Biden said that the UK remains America’s closest ally, and the Prime Minister agreed on the huge strength of the relationship,” Sunak’s office said of their discussions.

European leaders offered their own congratulations, while Irish premier Micheal Martin reminded Sunak of their “shared responsibility” to safeguard peace in Northern Ireland following tensions under Johnson and Truss.

Sunak is unlikely to enjoy much, if any, of a political honeymoon, as he inherits an array of problems.

Markets — and opposition parties — are eagerly awaiting an October 31 Halloween fiscal statement from Hunt, which is likely to contain curbs on public spending to meet tens of billions of pounds in budget shortfalls. 

It will be accompanied by much-scrutinised independent assessments of the government’s sums.

Labour and others are expected to keep demanding a snap election — not due until January 2025 at the latest — given Sunak is the second prime minister in succession without a direct mandate from the electorate.

Opposition parties have no way to force one, unless dozens of Conservative MPs agree, which appears unlikely as a flurry of polls show Labour with its largest lead in decades.