White House seeks to play clean up after Biden calls Trump supporters ‘garbage’
The White House attempted to walk back President Biden’s comments after the president unleashed a firestorm after calling Trump supporters “garbage.” During a virtual Vice President Kamla Harris campaign call with Voto Latino, Biden took a swipe at former President Trump’s rally in Madison Square Garden, which made headlines after insult comedian Tony Hinchiffe made jokes mocking different ethnic groups, with one joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “[Trump’s] demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it is un-American.” His remarks were quickly likened to Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, a comment that was widely seen as undermining her campaign. TRUMP CALLS FOR SUPPORTS TO ‘FORGIVE’ BIDEN IN SHOW OF UNITY AFTER PRESIDENT CALLS SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’” “The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating ‘garbage’ in the middle of the ocean,” he said. BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY The White House earlier told NBC News that the president was referring to Hinchcliffe. WATCH: Later, Biden tried to further clarify his comments, saying that he was denouncing Hinchicliffe’s comments – not Trump supporters. “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden wrote in a post on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.” Speaking at a campaign event with Trump on Tuesday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) picked up Biden’s remark as “breaking news” and told Trump supporters that Biden had marginalized a huge number of everyday Americans as “garbage.” Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Biden and Harris “despise the tens of millions” who support him. LIVE UPDATES: BIDEN ATTEMPTS TO DENY CALLING TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DESPITE VIDEO “There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” she wrote in a release. Backlash from the comments came from both sides of the aisle, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro condemning Biden’s remarks. “I’m giving you my fresh reaction to it,” he told Fox News Radio Political Analyst Josh Kraushaar on Tuesday. “I would never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn’t support.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. Fox News Digital’s Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Trump calls for supporters to ‘forgive’ Biden in show of unity after president calls supporters ‘garbage’
President Trump called on a crowd of supporters to “forgive” President Biden after he compared the former president’s supporters to garbage. “Wow. That’s terrible,” Trump said, invoking Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorable” remarks in the weeks before the 2016 election. “And then she said irredeemable. That didn’t work out.” The Republican nominee called on his supporters to forgive him during a packed rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Garbage, I think, is worse,” he said. “But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him.” BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY Trump said that Biden “really doesn’t know” what he said. JON STEWART ADMITS HE FINDS WIDELY CRITICIZED TRUMP RALLY COMEDIAN FUNNY “Please forgive him for not knowing what he said,” Trump said. “These people are terrible, terrible, terrible to say a thing like that. But he really doesn’t know. He really honestly, he doesn’t. And I’m convinced that he likes me more than he likes Kamala. But that’s a terrible thing.” WATCH: Trump’s call for unity – and forgiveness – came after the president called Trump supporters’ garbage during a get-out-the-vote call for Voto Latino. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.” LIVE UPDATES: BIDEN ATTEMPTS TO DENY CALLING TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DESPITE VIDEO Biden’s comments came after Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. “And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico ‘a floating island of garbage.’ Well, let me tell you something,” Biden said. “I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know… or Puerto Rico where I’m – in my home state of Delaware – they’re good, decent, honorable people.” Biden’s remarks came just as Vice President Kamala Harris was set to take the stage for a major rally in Washington, DC. “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden posted on X later that evening after his comments drew swift backlash. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say,” he said. “The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’” “The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating “garbage” in the middle of the ocean,” Bates said. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024: CM Eknath Shinde’s wealth triples in five years
CM Eknath Shinde’s total assets has gone up from 11.56 crore in 2019 to Rs 37.68 crore in 2023-2024, however, his financial declaration reveals a negative shift in his income.
New York Republican in toss-up district gains momentum in key race to determine House control
An incumbent Republican congressman from New York now holds a surprising lead over his progressive opponent, according to a new poll. The poll, which was conducted by PIX11, The Hill and Emerson College, found that Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., holds a 49%-44% lead over former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones. The two are running in New York’s 17th congressional district, and the poll comes a week before the Nov. 5 election. The survey, which was published on Tuesday, was conducted Oct. 24 through Oct. 26 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points. According to Emerson College, the data was collected via cell phone surveys. Lawler gained a four-point increase in support, based on an earlier poll conducted by Emerson College. The other survey, conducted Oct. 1 to Oct. 3, found that Lawler had 45% of voters’ support and put Jones at 44%. BATTLEGROUND STATE OFFICIALS SAY FOREIGN ENEMIES USING MISINFORMATION TO ‘UNDERMINE’ DEMOCRATIC PROCESS The poll also found that 52% of voters have a favorable view of Lawler, compared to 44% of voters having a favorable view of Jones. The district still leans blue in presidential election polls, and the survey found that half of voters support President Kamala Harris and 47% support former President Donald Trump. “The top issue for voters in the 17th district is the economy, at 30%, followed by immigration (20%), housing affordability (15%), crime (11%), and threats to democracy (10%),” the findings read. “Half (50%) of voters in the 17th district say they are worse off financially today than a year ago, while 32% say they are doing about the same, and 18% are better off.” TRUMP MERCHANDISE OUTSELLS PRO-HARRIS MERCH BY STRIKING MARGIN, AS ELECTION DAY DRAWS NEAR Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said that the recent findings highlight a significant gender divide between voters. “There is a stark gender divide in the 17th district, with men breaking for Lawler by 27 points, and women breaking by 16 for Jones, while men are more divided in the 18th district: 47% support Esposito and 46% support Ryan,” Kimball explained. “Women break for Ryan by 20 points.” Earlier this month, Lawler was accused of dressing in blackface when photos of him dressed as Michael Jackson in October 2006 emerged. Lawler, a student at the time, said that his costume was intended to be complimentary and apologized for causing offense. Fox News Digital reached out to the Lawler and Jones campaigns for comments.
Colorado Secretary of State site ‘improperly’ displayed partial passwords for voting systems
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office mistakenly posted a spreadsheet to its website with a hidden tab that included voting system passwords on Wednesday. The Colorado Department of State issued a statement and acknowledged it was aware of the situation. “The Colorado Department of State is aware that a spreadsheet located on the Department’s website improperly included a hidden tab including partial passwords to certain components of Colorado voting systems. This does not pose an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it impact how ballots are counted,” the statement read. The Colorado Secretary of State spokesperson told FOX31 that the partial passwords leaked do “not pose an immediate threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it impact how ballots are counted.” EARLY IN-PERSON VOTING BEGINS IN DC, COLORADO The state office said that Colorado elections include many layers of security and include two unique passwords for every election equipment component, which are kept in separate places and held by different parties. “It goes without saying how significant this is,” the Colorado GOP wrote to the Secretary of State’s Office. “We can only imagine that, since the discovery last week, you and your staff have been working tirelessly to remedy these vulnerabilities.” The state office added that passwords can only be used with physical in-person access to a voting system. “Under Colorado law, voting equipment must be stored in secure rooms that require a secure ID badge to access. That ID badge creates an access log that tracks who enters a secure area and when,” the state office said. According to the state office, there is also 24/7 video camera recording on all election equipment. MILLIONS OF VOTERS HAVE ALREADY CAST BALLOTS FOR NOV. 5 ELECTION “Clerks are required to maintain restricted access to secure ballot areas, and may only share access information with background-checked individuals. No person may be present in a secure area unless they are authorized to do so or are supervised by an authorized and background-checked employee,” the office explained. The state office added that there is also a strict chain of custody requirements that track when a voting systems component has been accessed and by whom, stating it is a felony to access voting equipment without authorization. Every Colorado voter votes on a paper ballot, which is then audited during the Risk Limiting Audit to verify that ballots were counted according to voter intent, the state office said. NEWS ANCHOR DROPPED AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POST TELLING TRUMP-HATERS SUPPORTING HARRIS: ‘STAY HOME, DON’T VOTE’ Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams called the possible exposure of the election system’s passwords “shocking.” “We hear all the time in Colorado from Secretary Griswold and Governor Polis that we represent the ‘Gold Standard’ for election integrity, a model for the nation,” Dave Williams, Chairman of the Republican Party of Colorado said in a statement to FOX31. “One can only hope that by the Secretary of State posting our most sensitive passwords online to the world dispels that myth.” The Colorado Republicans also asked for confirmation or a plan regarding how the “exposed systems” will or still meet the certification requirements of a “trusted build,” noting that a breach by a party with BIOS access may be difficult or impossible to identify. “The Department took immediate action as soon as it was aware of this, and informed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which closely monitors and protects the county’s essential security infrastructure. The Department is working to remedy this situation where necessary,” the state office said. Fox News Digital reached out to the Colorado Secretary of State and Colorado GOP for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Trump pledges ‘America’s new golden age’ as he rallies in PA’s post-industrial third-largest city
“A very special hello to Allentown,” former President Trump began his remarks at the PPL Center at the heart of Pennsylvania’s third-largest city on Tuesday. Trump’s remarks followed several speeches by local candidates and notably Shadow Sen. Zoraida Buxo, R-P.R., who threw her support behind the GOP nominee after a comic at his Madison Square Garden rally caused controversy. “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Trump asked the crowd at the arena, which is home to the Flyers affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms and has hosted performers such as Neil Diamond. Trump spoke at length about the economy, a perennial issue since the time Billy Joel penned his famous anthem about the area’s economic challenges in 1982. He said the Democrats including Vice President Harris have helped “kill 50,000 manufacturing jobs this year alone,” and pledged to “end inflation.” “Kamala has embarrassed us… she doesn’t have what it takes,” Trump said as he went on to promise “America’s new golden age.” Trump later said Democrats are showing their desperation at the current state of the election, pointing to former First Lady Michelle Obama’s several minutes of criticism during a recent address. “Michelle Obama was very nasty to me… I’ve gone out of my way to be nice to Michelle – never said a bad thing about her when people didn’t like her so much, but she hit me the other day because they’re desperate.” Obama had condemned Trump’s “lies and ignorance,” and claimed his “failures had real costs.” KEY PA REGION SEES ‘WAITLIST’ FOR TRUMP SIGNS AS LAWMAKER SAYS VOTERS ARE READY TO REVERSE DEM POLICIES However, most of Trump’s remarks focused around his plan for his second nonconsecutive term, including securing the border and invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deal with the illegal immigrant deluge. Trump was preceded by Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., whose district stands about 20 miles northwest of the rally site. Meuser said Trump was right when he attempted to correct ABC News anchor David Muir during a recent debate, and took a shot at Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. “A quick word on this Tim Walz character – one thing you can say about him: He’s much better at loading tampons into boys bathrooms than he is at loading a shotgun,” he said. The Republican who hopes to represent the Allentown area in Congress, State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Macungie, also spoke, saying unseating incumbent Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., would help bring about the change Trump spoke of. “We need leaders like Donald Trump who will make peace around the world,” Mackenzie said. State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown, an airline pilot by trade who rose to local political prominence as a member of the Parkland School Board during the height of national controversies, used his remarks to criticize repeated claims that Republicans are the “extreme” party. “Let’s talk about who’s really extreme here,” Coleman said. He pointed outside to the historic Soldiers & Sailors Monument in the middle of the 7th & Hamilton Street intersection, and said it was just several months ago that “Democrats, including Allentown Democrats, were calling to defend the police: that’s extreme.” SWING STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS LARGELY SUPPORT HARRIS BUT ACKNOWLEDGE RAZOR-THIN MARGIN WITH TRUMP “Kamala Harris bailing out rioters instead of supporting law enforcement: that’s extreme. Allowing abortion up until the moment of birth – thats extreme. Banning gas stoves and gas lawnmowers – folks, that’s extreme.” “And yet those positions are the highlight reel from the party of Kamala Harris – We’re at a tipping point, and that’s why we’re all here today.” “Fire the failure and hire the fighter,” Coleman said. However, not all high-profile Allentonians were praising Trump this week. On the latest episode of C-Span’s Washington Journal, the city’s former congressman, Republican Charlie Dent, spoke about how he will vote for Harris this year. Dent, who frequently traded criticisms with Trump while in office, said he had policy disagreements with Harris, but that “sometimes, elections aren’t about right or left in terms of policy. Sometimes, it’s about right or wrong.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I’m going to choose honorable over dishonorable,” he said. “[W]e’ve all seen the narcissism, the ADD, the impulse control issues, the temper, a lack of interest in policy,” Dent added, according to Mediaite. While the city itself is heavily Democratic, the suburbs are a mix of purple and red, leading to its position in many recent elections as the site of hard-fought narrowly-won victories for either side. Trump won neighboring Northampton County in 2016, while President Biden took it back in 2020. Lehigh County, where Allentown is based, skews Democratic in county-wide and larger contests, but hosts a reliably red northern tier along Blue Mountain and southern tier, where former Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., hails from.
PM Modi to visit Gujarat today, to inaugurate, lay foundation stone of Rs 280 crore projects
The Prime Minister will address the Officer Trainees of the 99th Common Foundation Course on the eve of the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas in Aarambh 6.0.
Why is Israel banning the UN’s relief agency for Palestinians?
Israel’s parliament passed bills that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory. Israel’s move to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has provoked widespread international condemnation. A deeper catastrophe looms for millions of people, many of them already under Israeli attack. What will be the legal, diplomatic and humanitarian consequences of the ban? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Daniel Levy – President of the US/Middle East Project Gry Ballestad – Director of Development and Humanitarian Cooperation at Norwegian People’s Aid Triestino Mariniello – Professor of law at Liverpool John Moores University Adblock test (Why?)
More outrage after Trump calls controversial New York rally ‘a lovefest’
The United States presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing more blowback from a controversial Madison Square Garden rally marred by sexist and racist insults, by calling it a “beautiful” event and “an absolute lovefest”. Trump made the comments during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday, saying the rally in which a headline comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” was an unprecedented display of affection. Despite a firestorm of outrage on social media from Democrats and a host of Puerto Rican celebrities, as well as some leading Republicans, Trump made no apology for the racist comments by Hinchcliffe and others. Instead, he brushed off the critics who compared it to a 1939 Nazi event at the arena. “There was love in the room. The love in that room was breathtaking,” Trump said. “Politicians that have been doing this for a long time – 30 and 40 years – said there’s never been an event so beautiful,” he added. “It was like a love fest, an absolute love fest, and it was my honour to be involved”. “It was not full of love, except for him. There was a lot of love for Donald Trump there,” quipped CNN’s political reporter, Dana Bash. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, was quick to slam Trump’s characterisation of the event and called on voters to end his election hopes. “No explanation, no apology,” the group wrote on X. “He’s trash, throw him away in the dustbin of history in 7 days.” Trump’s comments were reminiscent of other notorious events which he has sought to describe in positive terms. When hundreds of pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, injuring policemen in the process, Trump called it a “day of love.” Trump’s New York rally on Monday involved some 30 speakers dishing out multiple insults aimed at Black people, Latinos and Democrats. One speaker described Vice President Kamala Harris as “the devil” and “the antichrist,” while former Fox News host Tucker Carlson mocked Harris’s biracial heritage. But the fiercest backlash came from Americans of Puerto Rican descent, some 500,000 of whom live in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. “Right now, we have no business and no relationship with Trump,” Angel M Cintron, the Republican party’s chair in Puerto Rico, said during a Monday talk show. “If Donald Trump doesn’t apologise, we won’t vote for him.” The popular Puerto Rican singer, Bad Bunny, released an eight-minute tribute video to his homeland on Tuesday. Touching on the controversy, he captioned it simply “garbage” on his Instagram page which has more than 45 million followers. “Not a joke” The rally also prompted a harsh editorial in the island’s leading newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, which called on Puerto Ricans who can vote in the United States to support Democrat Kamala Harris. “Politics is not a joke and hiding behind a comedian is cowardly,” wrote the paper’s editor, Maria Luisa Ferre Rangel, in the editorial that appeared on Tuesday’s front page and the website. But not all Puerto Ricans were offended. Trump was set to hold a rally later Tuesday in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a city with a large Hispanic population, where Puerto Rico’s shadow US senator, Zoraida Buxo, will join him, AP reported. Buxo, who does not have a vote in the Senate because Puerto Rico is not a state, voiced her support for Trump in a post on X. She said Trump is the “strong leader” that Puerto Rico needs. Trying to stem the damage, Trump’s campaign has sought to distance itself from the Puerto Rico quip by Hinchcliffe, even though it reviewed at least part of the routine beforehand, reported The Bulwark. Campaign spokesperson Daniella Alvarez said Hinchcliffe’s joke “does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign”. Trump simply said, “I don’t know him, someone put him up there”, when asked about the comedian by ABC News. Colonial history The US took Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines and other colonial possessions from Spain during the brief Spanish-American War in 1898. The first large wave of migration of Puerto Ricans to the US occurred after World War II to ease labour shortages on the mainland. Today, about 5.9 million people identify as ethnically Puerto Rican, according to 2022 estimates from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, making up the second-largest population of Hispanic origin in the US after Mexicans. Steve Herman, chief national correspondent at Voice of America, told Al Jazeera that Puerto Rican voters who choose to punish Trump at the ballot box could have a huge impact, especially in Pennsylvania. “Pennsylvania is a bellwether state, and it’s very unlikely that either candidate will win enough electoral votes to become president without [it],” said Herman. “It’s possible that a few Puerto Ricans who were planning on voting for Trump would now be so angry that they would vote for Harris or not vote at all.” He added that a few thousand votes could be sufficient to swing the election result. “That’s just how tight this is.” Next stop Pennsylvania Trump spent much of his Tuesday news conference railing against the administration of his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris, accused her of running “a campaign of absolute hate”. Trump zeroed in on immigration, a central issue of his, blaming Harris and President Joe Biden for weakening the US border, as well as “runaway inflation” and triggering global instability. “They’ve unleashed a war and chaos all over the world … look around, everything’s blowing up or getting ready to blow up,” said Trump, speaking in front of a banner with the words “Trump will fix it!” He also repeated several campaign pledges, including to ramp up tariffs, end taxes on social security and impose the death penalty for migrants who commit murder in the US. Trump also pledged that if he’s elected he will seize “the assets of the criminal gangs and drug cartels … and we will use those assets
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says Russia war is being pushed ‘beyond borders’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front line in Ukraine are pushing the almost three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties. Western leaders say North Korea has sent some 10,000 soldiers to help Russia’s military campaign and warn that its involvement in a European war could also unsettle relations in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia. Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he spoke to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and told him that 3,000 North Korean soldiers are already at military bases close to the Ukrainian front line and that he expects that deployment to increase to 12,000. Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder on Tuesday said a “relatively small number” of North Korean troops are now in Russia’s Kursk region, where Russian troops have been struggling to push back a Ukrainian incursion, and a couple thousand more are heading in that direction. South Korea, which has been in close contact with NATO, the US and the European Union about the latest developments, warned last week that it could send arms to Ukraine in retaliation for the North’s involvement. “There is only one conclusion – this war is internationalised and goes beyond the borders” of Ukraine and Russia, Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. The Ukrainian president also said he and Yoon agreed to step up their countries’ cooperation and exchange more intelligence, as well as develop concrete responses to Pyongyang’s involvement. More US military support? In Washington, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Tuesday with Zelenskyy’s top adviser to discuss the North Korean troops, as well as a coming surge of weaponry that the US is delivering to Kyiv to help the Ukrainians harden protection of their energy infrastructure, The Associated Press news agency reported, citing White House officials familiar with their private talks. Sullivan and Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, shared concerns that North Korean troops could be deployed to Russia’s Kursk region and what such a development could mean for the war. The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly, said during the two-hour meeting at the White House, Sullivan also briefed Yermak on President Joe Biden’s plans to push additional artillery systems, ammunition, hundreds of armoured vehicles and more to Ukraine before he leaves office in January. Sullivan told Yermak that by year’s end, the US administration plans to provide Ukraine with 500 additional Patriot and ARAAM missiles to help bolster air defences, according to the officials. Later on Tuesday, Biden said Ukraine should strike back if North Korean troops crossed into the country. “I am concerned about it,” Biden said when asked about North Korean troops being present in the Kursk region. “If they cross into Ukraine, yes,” he said when asked if the Ukrainians should strike back. Meanwhile, North Korea said its top diplomat was visiting Russia, in another sign of their deepening relationship. North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Russia’s far east on Tuesday on her way to Moscow, Russian state media said. Russian state news agencies said it was not clear who Choe, making her second visit in six weeks, would meet. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had no plans to meet her. What role the North Korean troops may play remains unclear. “The numbers make this more than a symbolic effort, but the troops will likely be in support roles and constitute less than 1 percent of Russia’s forces,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank said in a note. “Russia is desperate for additional manpower, and this is one element of Russia’s effort to fill the ranks without a second mobilisation,” it added, noting the presence could grow. Ukraine cities bombarded Meanwhile, Russian drones, missiles and bombs smashed into Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s biggest cities, in nighttime attacks, killing four people and wounding 15 in a continuing aerial onslaught, authorities said Tuesday. Russia has bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine almost daily since its full-scale invasion of its neighbour, causing thousands of casualties. The Russian army is also pushing hard against front-line defences in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that Russian troops captured the Donetsk town of Hirnyk and the villages of Katerynivka, and Bohoiavlenka. Adblock test (Why?)