Suspected North Korean missile launch 'failed,' possibly exploding over Pyongyang: Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an "unidentified projectile" Wednesday that appeared to fail immediately after launch, the South Korean military said, amid warnings from the U.S. and its allies of an imminent test of long-range missile technology. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch attempt happened around 9:30 a.m. at Sunan Airport outside Pyongyang, the same site as the country's two most recent missile tests. "At this point, our assessment is that the projectile launch appears to have been botched, as it failed to reach a certain altitude in its early boost phase," a South Korean military official told the Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity. The missile appeared to have exploded in midair at an altitude below 20 kilometers (12 miles), Yonhap later quoted unidentified sources as saying. Seoul-based specialist website NK News said the failed launch had rained debris on or near Pyongyang, citing unnamed witnesses and a photo of the test depicting a red-tinted ball of smoke at the end of a zig-zagging rocket launch trail in the sky above the North Korean capital. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/03/16/asia-pacific/north-korea-missile-test-satellite/ Japan assesses damage after magnitude 7.3 quake strikes off east coast: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the northeastern prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima on Wednesday night, registering an upper 6 on Japan’s Shindo earthquake intensity scale, one step below the top level. [The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Seismic Intensity Scale (known in Japan as the Shindo seismic scale) is a seismic intensity scale used in Japan to categorize the intensity of local ground shaking caused by earthquakes.--from Wikipedia] The weather agency issued a 1-meter tsunami advisory for the two prefectures, urging residents to stay away from the coast. Tsunami waves of up to 30 centimeters were observed in Ishinomaki Port in Miyagi, the Meteorological Agency said. The agency said the initial quake struck at 11:36 p.m. off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture. Several smaller aftershocks hit the area, including one just before 1 a.m. that registered up to a 4 on the earthquake intensity scale. Authorities warned residents in Fukushima, Miyagi, and Yamagata prefectures to expect aftershocks. “There is a possibility that another earthquake as strong as an upper 6 could strike in the next week or so,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a hastily arranged news conference just after midnight. “We need to be on alert.” Public broadcaster NHK said one person had died, with at least 69 people reporting injuries from the quake. The quake caused power outages in northeastern and eastern Japan, affecting a total of more than 2.2 million households, including about 700,000 in Tokyo, according to TEPCO Power Grid Inc. and Tohoku Electric Power Network Co. Power was later restored for most of them. Japan’s nuclear energy authority said it had detected no abnormalities at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which went into meltdown 11 years ago after a magnitude 9 quake and tsunami hit the eastern coast on March 11, 2011. However, it said the cooling of the spent fuel pool at the Fukushima No. 2 plant’s No. 1 reactor had stopped, while power for the No. 3 reactor had been temporarily shut down but later restored. The regulator added that it would take about seven days for the temperature of the spent fuel pool to rise to 65 degrees Celsius. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/03/17/national/japan-earthquake-tohoku-march-16/ Coming home to Israel … - Fair Use - - Fair Use - Starts @ 4:50 - Fair Use -
