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Fire during protest at migrant center kills 38 in Mexico, officials say

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At least 38 migrants from Central and South America died after a fire broke out late on Monday at a migrant detention center in the Mexican northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, apparently caused by a protest over deportations, officials said Tuesday.

Mexico's National Migration Institute lowered the death toll on Tuesday evening to 38 from 40, saying a visit to the city's hospitals where victims were being treated had confirmed the lower number, Reuters reported.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said authorities believed the blaze in the city opposite El Paso, Texas, broke out around 9:30 p.m. local time (0330 GMT) as some migrants set fire to mattresses in protest after discovering they would be deported. He did not provide more details about how so many had died in the incident.

"They didn't think that would cause this terrible tragedy," Lopez Obrador told a news conference, noting that most migrants at the facility were from Central America and Venezuela.

The fire, one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in years, occurred as the United States and Mexico are battling to cope with record levels of border crossings at their shared frontier, read the report.

A video shared on social media, which appears to be security footage from within the center, shows a flame in part of a cell which is filling up with smoke as men kick desperately on the bars of a locked door.

In the 30-second video, three people in what appear to be official uniforms walk past but make no attempt to open the door. By the end of the video the smoke is so thick the cell can no longer be seen, read the report.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the video. Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez in an interview broadcast on local media appeared to confirm its veracity saying the government had the video since shortly after the incident, without commenting in any detail on its content.

Alejandra Corona, a representative of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) which visits the facility once a week to monitor conditions, confirmed the video showed the men's cell. The door the men were kicking on was the only exit, she said.

Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM), which runs the center, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.

In a statement Tuesday evening, in which the INM revised down the death toll it listed the names of 68 men at the detention center, without clarifying who on the list had or had not survived.

Thirteen of the dead were Hondurans, according to the country's deputy foreign minister.

A Reuters witness at the scene overnight saw bodies laid out on the ground in body bags behind a yellow security cordon, surrounded by emergency vehicles. The fire had been extinguished.

The migration institute said it was also providing assistance to 15 women who had been safely evacuated from the center when the fire started, read the report.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday evening he had been informed that those "directly responsible" had been turned over to the Attorney General's office, which is investigating the incident. He provided no further details.

Two migrants told Reuters that authorities had rounded up migrants off the streets of Ciudad Juarez on Monday and detained them in the center.

Activists have frequently flagged concerns of poor conditions and overcrowding in detention centers as migration has risen.

"Last night's events are a horrible example of why organizations have been working to limit or eliminate detention in Mexico," said Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Mexico-based Institute for Women in Migration, which supports migrant rights.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that the secretary-general called for a "thorough investigation" of the tragic event.

Mexico's INM did not respond to a request for comment about when the Ciudad Juarez site was opened, or how many migration centers are currently in operation.

As of 2019, there were 53 INM detention centers operating across Mexico, according to a report from Mexico's Human Rights Commission (CNDH), with a total official capacity of around 3000.

Viangly Infante, a Venezuelan national, had been waiting outside the center when the fire started.

"I was here since one in the afternoon waiting for the father of my children, and when 10 p.m. rolled around, smoke started coming out from everywhere," the 31-year-old Venezuelan national told Reuters.

Her husband, 27-year-old Eduard Caraballo, was detained on Monday by Mexican migration authorities and put in a holding cell inside the facility.

He managed to survive by dousing himself in water and pressing against a door as the fire blazed, said Infante.

"His chest was really hurting, struggling to breathe because of all the smoke, but he wasn't burnt," said Infante of her husband, who is now in a hospital.

The couple and their three children left Venezuela last October in search of better economic opportunities and a good education for their kids, as well as to escape rampant crime.

By late December, they had reached the U.S. border and crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, where they handed themselves over to U.S. migration authorities. But they were immediately returned to Mexico, where they then headed by bus to Ciudad Juarez.

Recent weeks have seen a buildup of migrants in Mexican border cities as authorities attempt to process asylum requests using a new U.S. government app known as CBP One, Reuters reported.

Many migrants feel the process is taking too long and earlier this month clashes occurred between U.S. security and hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants at the border after frustration welled up about securing asylum appointments.

Mexico's migration law says migrants can only be detained for 15 days under normal circumstances, though the Supreme Court in March ruled that such lengths were unconstitutional, and that migrants should be held no longer than 36 hours.

In January, the Biden administration said it would expand Trump-era restrictions to rapidly expel Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to contain the border flows.

That came after a decision in October to the expand expulsions, under a controversial policy known as Title 42, to Venezuelans.

At the same time, the United States said it would allow up to 30,000 people from those countries to enter the country by air each month, Reuters reported.

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Nineteen reported injured in central Israel after projectile launch

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Nineteen people in central Israel's Sharon region were injured, the Israeli police said, after the military reported the launch of three projectiles from Lebanon into Israeli territory early on Saturday.

The national ambulance service previously reported that seven people in the central Israeli town of Tira were injured, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said that sirens sounded in several areas of central Israel after the projectile launch. Some projectiles had been intercepted, it said.

"A fallen projectile was most likely identified in the area," the army added, noting that details were under investigation.

The national ambulance service and local media said the injuries in Tira ranged from mild to moderate, while two other people suffered stress symptoms.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said later in a statement it had launched drones at a "vital target" in northern Israel. It was not immediately clear if the group's action was related to the injuries.

Fighting in Lebanon has escalated dramatically in recent weeks between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

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Russia fires missiles to simulate ‘massive’ response to a nuclear attack

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that the purpose of the drill was to practice delivering “a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy”

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Russia test-fired missiles over distances of thousands of miles on Tuesday to simulate a "massive" nuclear response to an enemy first strike, Reuters reported.

"Given the growing geopolitical tensions and the emergence of new external threats and risks, it is important to have modern and constantly ready-to-use strategic forces," President Vladimir Putin said as he announced the exercise.

It took place at a critical moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, after weeks of Russian signals to the West that Moscow will respond if the United States and its allies allow Kyiv to fire longer-range missiles deep into Russia.

On Monday NATO said that North Korea has sent troops to western Russia, something Moscow has not denied.

In televised comments, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that the purpose of the drill was to practice delivering "a massive nuclear strike by strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy".

The exercise involved Russia's full nuclear "triad" of ground-, sea- and air-launched missiles.

A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia to Kamchatka, a peninsula in the far east.

Sineva and Bulava ballistic missiles were fired from submarines, and cruise missiles were launched from strategic bomber planes, the defence ministry said.

The 2-1/2-year-old war is entering what Russian officials say is its most dangerous phase as the West considers how to shore up Ukraine while Russian forces advance in the east of the country.

Putin said using nuclear weapons would be an "extremely exceptional measure".

"I stress that we are not going to get involved in a new arms race, but we will maintain nuclear forces at the level of necessary sufficiency," he said.

He added that Russia was moving to new "stationary and mobile-based missile systems" which have a reduced launch preparation time and could overcome missile defence systems.

The drill follows an Oct. 18 exercise in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, involving field movements by a unit equipped with Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, capable of striking U.S. cities, Reuters reported.

Nuclear Signals

Since the start of the war, Putin has sent a series of pointed signals to the West, including by changing Russia's position on major nuclear treaties and announcing the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles to neighbouring Belarus.

Ukraine has accused him of nuclear blackmail. NATO says it will not be intimidated by Russian threats.

Last month the Kremlin leader approved changes to the official nuclear doctrine, extending the list of scenarios under which Moscow would consider using such weapons.

Under the changes, Russia would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack - a warning to the United States not to help Ukraine strike deep into Russia with conventional weapons.

Putin has said that Russia does not need to resort to the use of nuclear weapons in order to achieve victory in Ukraine.

Russia is the world's largest nuclear power. Together, Russia and the U.S. control 88% of the world's nuclear warheads.

U.S. officials say they have seen no change to Russia's nuclear deployment posture during the war.

But the United States in 2022 was so concerned about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia that it warned Putin over the consequences of using such weapons, according to Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns.

 

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North Korea’s foreign minister leaves for Russia amid troop dispatch

U.S. President Joe Biden called the situation “very dangerous”.

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North Korea's foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, is on her way to Moscow, state media KCNA and Russian officials said on Tuesday, for her second trip to Russia in six weeks amid rising concerns about Pyongyang's involvement in Moscow's war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

KCNA said a delegation led by Choe left on Monday for an official visit to Russia, without elaborating.

Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, saw off Choe at the airport, the Russian embassy said in a statement posted on the embassy's Vkontakte social media page.

"The visit of the head of the DPRK Foreign Ministry to the Russian Federation is taking place within the framework of a strategic dialogue - following an agreement to enhance ties reached by the leaders of our countries during the June 2024 summit," the statement said.

DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

During a televised cabinet meeting, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said "illegal" military cooperation between Russia and North Korea posed a serious threat to the international community, read the report.

"I want everyone to be on alert about risk management," Yoon told the meeting.

Choe's visit comes as NATO joined Seoul, Washington and Kyiv in confirming Pyongyang's dispatch of troops to Russia, saying that North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

The Pentagon said on Monday that Washington would not impose new limits on Kyiv's use of American weapons if North Korea entered Moscow's war against Kyiv. It also said that North Korea had sent 10,000 troops to eastern Russia for training, up from its estimate of 3,000 on Wednesday.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the situation "very dangerous".

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, after a meeting on Monday with a South Korean delegation, said the deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang posed a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security, Reuters reported.

South Korea's president, in a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said the deployment of North Korean troops to the front lines of the war in Ukraine may come sooner than expected.

Since the meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin in Russia's Far East last year, North Korea and Russia have upgraded their military ties. They met again in June this year to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership that includes a mutual defence pact.

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