Pentagon Signs Deals with Boeing, RTX to Boost Missile Interceptor Component Production
The Pentagon on Friday announced framework agreements with Boeing and RTX to increase production of components of SM-3 Block IIA and SM-3 Block IB munitions, Reuters reported.
Both agreements will strengthen production of a series of critical ship-fired surface-to-air interceptors that underpin the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Eight Dead in Thailand Floods Since Mid-September
Eight people have died in flooding in Thailand since September 16, although none in the capital Bangkok which declared a disaster this weekend following heavy rains, the government said Monday.
The eight died in eastern provinces -- five in Sa Kaeo, two in Chanthaburi and one in Saraburi -- according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), which did not give further details.
Not including Bangkok, more than 500,000 housesholds and 1.7 million people across 27 provinces in the Southeast Asian country have been affected by flooding, the DDPM said.
A further 52,000 households were impacted in the capital, which on Saturday declared a city-wide disaster after almost 48 hours of heavy rain swelled canals and flooded roads.
No deaths have been officially reported in Bangkok, and the DDPM said water levels had stabilized.
However, AFP reporters saw heavy rain and flooding in at least one eastern neighborhood, with residents wading through thigh-high waters.
Schools have been closed and people urged to work from home -- a call that many heeded, with streets and public transport networks noticeably quieter on Monday morning.
"Some areas in Bangkok are still facing high water levels," government spokesman Ekkapob Pianpises told a news briefing.
Drainage systems had reduced water levels to the point that more people could travel, he added.
Thailand is used to wet weather and September is the peak of the rainy season, but many residents said this year seemed worse than previous ones.
South Korea Demands Ukraine Apology Over Denial of Confidential Deal on North's POWs
South Korea's presidential office has demanded an apology from Ukraine for denying an agreement to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul confidential.
The incident came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations that his country had sent two North Korean soldiers to the South, adding they were "not easy to capture alive".
Hours later, South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung said on X, "I do not know why the Ukrainian side broke the agreement and made the matter public, but it is very disappointing."
As a response to this, Zelensky's aide Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists that Ukraine was "an open country" and that it would have been strange to hand over the soldiers in secret.
"From the entire story -- which is long and detailed -- we reported only the fact itself, that they were sent to the Republic of Korea," he said.
"It is in itself a very serious matter that the Ukrainian side violated the confidentiality agreement between the two countries and made the disclosure unilaterally," Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement late Sunday.
"But the Ukrainian presidential press office's false statement that there had been no confidentiality agreement... seriously undermines trust between the two governments and gravely damages friendly relations between the two countries," he said.
The South Korean Presidential office demands "an official explanation and apology," said Seong.
The South Korean presidential office is "considering additional measures that may be necessary regarding this matter," he added, but did not specify what they were.
Early last year, Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers among Pyongyang's troops fighting for Moscow.
A South Korean lawmaker had previously said the pair wanted to live a "normal life" in the South.
Under South Korea's constitution, all Koreans, including those living in the North, are considered citizens, and officials have said this would apply to any North Korean troops captured in Ukraine.
Trump Expects New Iran Talks Despite Rejecting Deal Offer
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran.
Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel.
Trump dismissed the plan and has mused on resuming full-scale air strikes on Iranian targets, but he told the news platform Axios that he expects negotiations to resume.
"They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make," Trump told Axios. "It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago."
"They overplayed their hand," Trump said, in the interview published Sunday.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Axios reported that indirect talks between Washington and Tehran could take place as early as Monday.
On Sunday, Iran was still standing by its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, leaving the Gulf front of the Middle East war locked in a stalemate, while fighting rages in Yemen.
Hormuz is a key chokepoint for the world's energy supplies and is now central to the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which was started nearly seven months ago when the US and Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran.
Iran's plan called for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a return to the conditions in an earlier ceasefire deal that fell apart.
That agreement, which collapsed during fighting over Hormuz, called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade.
