North Korea fired two ballistic missiles towards the sea off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast on Sunday, South Korea’s military said.

Japan’s Vice Defence Minister Toshiro Ino said the North Korean-fired ballistic missiles seemed to have landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The missiles flew to an altitude of 550 kms (342 miles) and covered a range of 250 kms (53 miles), according to the Japanese Defence Ministry.

Ino said there had been no report of damage from the missiles so far.

The North’s missile launch comes just days after the country tested a high-thrust solid-fuel engine that experts said would allow quicker and more mobile launch of ballistic missiles, as it seeks to develop a new strategic weapon and speed up its nuclear and missile programmes.

The test, overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, was conducted on Thursday at North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground which has been used to test missile technologies, including rocket engines and space launch vehicles, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, despite international bans and sanctions.

In November, North Korea test-fired an ICMB that Japanese officials said had sufficient range to reach the mainland of the United States and that landed just 200 kms (130 miles) off Japan

Japan on Friday unveiled its biggest military build-up since World War Two with a $320 billion plan that will buy missiles capable of striking China and ready it for sustained conflict.

Photo by Pedro Fiúza/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Investors are worried that cracks are starting to appear at Binance after the shocking collapse of FTX.
• The crypto exchange giant faces questions about its reserves, and it is under investigation by the DOJ.
• As the crypto market lose confidence in the exchange, its CEO warned staff of “bumpy” times ahead. 

Customers drained billions of dollars from Binance’s crypto platform last week — just one reason the spotlight is glaring on the company in the wake of the FTX implosion.

Spooked investors are on the alert for signs of trouble after the collapse of now-bankrupt FTX, the once-$32 billion crypto empire founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. Some are worried that cracks may be starting to appear at Binance.

Here are 5 things to know about what’s happening at Binance, and why it’s got the crypto community wondering.

People are worried about Binance’s holdings of customers’ funds

After FTX’s bankruptcy showed its coffers were bare, crypto firms came under pressure to show their customers’ holdings were safe and they could pay up if there was a rush of withdrawals. 

On top of that, a Reuters report said FTX’s Bankman-Fried quietly transferred at least $4 billion in user funds to sister trading firm Alameda Research after it suffered losses.

Binance sought to boost confidence in its own business by getting a “proof of reserves” report. It enlisted accounting firm Mazars to verify its holdings, to maybe reassure customers their funds are still in their accounts and not loaned out.

But legal experts and others said the platform’s users shouldn’t be satisfied with the Mazars report, as it didn’t dig into how good the financial controls were. Even though it suggested Binance’s situation was solid, it also showed bitcoin liabilities were $245 million bigger than assets, an  the WSJ reported.

Nearly half of the company’s $75 billion reserves are in its own stablecoin BUSD and its native token binance coin (BNB), according to a Bloomberg report last month.

On Friday, the accounting firm suspended its proof-of-reserves work with Binance and other crypto clients “due to concerns regarding the way these reports are understood by the public,” the FT reported.

Customers pulled a net $3 billion in funds in the space of a day

Binance has seen heavy withdrawals in recent days as questions about its reserves and a DOJ investigation built. Meanwhile, the arrest of FTX founder Bankman-Fried eroded trust in crypto further.

On Tuesday, Binance logged its highest daily withdrawals since June, with net outflows of $3 billion over just 24 hours, according to Nansen data. The exchange was forced to temporarily freeze withdrawals of USD Coin while it boosted its holdings of the stablecoin.

Just over a month ago, the crypto giant held $69.5 billion in digital assets in publicly disclosed wallets, according to Nansen. That total’s now $54.7 billion due to large withdrawals and price fluctuation, it said.

There’s a DOJ investigation into Binance focused on money laundering

Adding fuel to the fire were reports the US Justice Department has been investigating Binance over the company’s compliance with financial crime rules.

Prosecutors are considering whether to file criminal charges against its founder Changpeng Zhao and other executives, according to Reuters. These would cover money laundering conspiracy, unlicensed money transmission, and criminal sanctions violations.

Reuters calculated that Binance processed over $10 billion in illegal payments in 2022 and said it tried to evade regulators, which the crypto giant disputed.

Binance CEO “CZ” isn’t fazed and says it’s business as usual

Zhao, commonly known as “CZ”,  has doubled down on trying to ease customers’ worries about Binance’s liquidity. He’s pushed back against what he sees as “FUD” — the spread of baseless fear, uncertainty and doubt.

“People can withdraw 100% of the assets they have on Binance. We will not have an issue at any given day,” he told CNBC on Thursday. “Crypto businesses have to hold user assets one-to-one, and that’s what we do.”

Earlier in the week, Zhao shrugged off the heavy outflows from the exchange as “business as usual”. And after Binance lifted its freeze on USDC withdrawals, he welcomed the welcomed the events as a credibility-building “stress test” of the exchange’s resilience.

But he warned Binance staff there’s a “bumpy” road ahead 

While Zhao played down concerns, issues remain. The young billionaire told staff that FTX’s problems have put “a lot of extra scrutiny and tough questions” on Binance, which need to weather a confidence crisis.

“While we expect the next several months to be bumpy, we will get past this challenging period — and we’ll be stronger for having been through it,” he said in a memo viewed by Bloomberg.

Pierre Crom/Getty Images

• Convicts and mercenaries have been recruited to help fight Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• One convict recruited to the Wagner group deserted and turned himself in to Ukrainian forces.
• After being returned to Russia in a prisoner swap, a video on Telegram showed his execution.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, its soldiers have complained about being unorganized, under-armed, and under-trained, with many expressing reluctance about entering into battles for which they weren’t prepared.

A New York Times investigation published Saturday recounting Russia’s numerous blunders throughout the war revealed additional details about a specific type of soldiers: convicted criminals and mercenaries. Many of those men were recruited by Wagner, a notorious mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and restaurateur, is also known as “Putin’s chef,” as his catering company has received government contracts worth several billion dollars. After years of denials, in September he identified himself as the founder of Wagner, which was formed in 2014.

Wagner is not under the control of the Russian military as mercenaries are technically illegal in Russia, but the group has come to be seen as the Kremlin’s private army. They’ve been on the frontlines in Ukraine fighting on behalf of Putin and Russia. In order to build up his forces, Prigozhin went to prisons and penal colonies to recruit more soldiers after Russian troops suffered major losses.

In August, he visited a prison near Moscow and recruited 55-year-old Yevgeny Nuzhin, who was serving 20 years on a murder conviction, according to the Times. In one video that captured Prigozhin’s recruiting process, he told inmates they would be pardoned if they agreed to fight — and warned that if they joined and then deserted, they’d be shot.

Nuzhin enlisted, but after two days of recovering dead bodies, fled and turned himself in to Ukrainian forces. In an interview with the Times that occurred while he was a prisoner of war in Ukraine, Nuzhin said: “What good has Putin done in the time that he has been in power? Has he done anything good?”

“I think this war is Putin’s grave,” he added.

But soon Nuzhin would be dead.

Though the Times did not initially publish their interview with Nuzhin, he had also spoken to Ukrainian media, which published his name. During the interviews, he said he joined the Wagner group in order to leave prison and wanted to join Ukrainian forces and fight with them, The Guardian reported in November.

He was eventually returned to Russian forces in a prisoner swap, and shortly after appeared in a video shared by a Telegram account that has been linked to Wagner. The video showed Nuzhin lying down, with a man in camouflage standing over him, several outlets reported. “I woke up in this basement, where I was told that I will be judged,” he says, according to the Times.

The man then strikes Nuzhin’s head with a sledgehammer.

Prigozhin later expressed support for the murder on Telegram: “Nuzhin betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed them consciously.”

Family members of Nuzhin in November said they were “horrified” over the video after it was published. Nuzhin’s son told The Guardian: “Our whole family was in tears watching the video … he was murdered like an animal.”

The Times reported that when asked about the video by journalists, a spokesperson for Putin, Dmitri S. Peskov, said only: “It’s not our business.”

It really does appear that the GOP is heading for civil war. Everyone is unloading on everyone else. The political “party” is cratering. Here are just a few things that have the GOP at war with each other.

Nobody seems able to agree on a speaker. Kevin is still frantically seeking votes, and now reports are moderate republicans are getting angry. Also, there appears to be some rebellion among House republicans toward McCarthy’s idea of kicking democrats off of committees. Some Republicans like Nancy Mace are not enthusiastic about it.

“Teams win. Fractured teams lose,” said GOP Rep. Don Bacon from Nebraska. GOP factions are turning on each other, each faction feeling resentful that the other is “holding them hostage.”

In the meantime, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell do not appear to be getting along, with Kevin taking potshots at Mitch’s spending strategy. Kari Lake is on the mind of many since she will not stop insisting the Arizona election was stolen. The Republican national chair race is getting uglier as I write these words.

Matt Gaetz is saying it is “certain” that McCarthy will never have the votes to be House speaker. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismayed many republicans by bragging about how she and Steve Bannon would have organized a better insurrection than the January 6 terrorists did.

In the meantime, always with them, lurking in the corners of their terrified brains, is Donald John Trump. Any moment now, he might just be indicted. Also a problem is Trump’s continued lashing out at Ron DeSantis and the competition between the two of them.

As we move closer to the end of 2022, the GOP appears not like a triumphant political party but more like a bunch of frightened children stranded in their own private Idaho where nothing and nobody can help save them.

The post GOP Civil War appeared first on Palmer Report.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the Korean Peninsula’s east coast on Sunday, South Korea’s military said.

The North’s missile launch comes just days after the country tested a high-thrust solid-fuel engine that experts said would allow quicker and more mobile launch of ballistic missiles, as it seeks to develop a new strategic weapon and speed up its nuclear and missile programmes.

The test, overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, was conducted on Thursday at North Korea’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground which has been used to test missile technologies, including rocket engines and space launch vehicles, the official KCNA news agency reported on Friday.

North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of missile tests this year, including an ICBM capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, despite international bans and sanctions.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The search for missing campers caught in a deadly landslide at an unlicensed campsite in Malaysia continued for a third day on Sunday, with the fire department saying the chance of finding survivors is slim.

At least 24 people died after a landslide tore through a campsite early on Friday while campers slept in tents at Batang Kali, a popular hilly area about 50km (30 miles) north of capital Kuala Lumpur.

Of the 94 people caught in the landslide, 61 were safe and nine still missing, the Selangor state fire and rescue department said. Those killed included seven children.

Responders have deployed excavators and rescue dogs to search for people trapped under mud and debris, while heavy rain has raised concern of further landslides.

State fire and rescue chief Norazam Khamis said the chance of finding more survivors was slim given the lack of oxygen and weight of mud pressing down on the site.

An initial investigation showed an embankment of around 450,000 cubic metres of earth had collapsed. The earth fell from an estimated height of 30 metres (100 ft) and covered an area of about an acre (0.4 hectares).

Landslides are common in Malaysia but typically occur only after heavy rain. Flooding is also common, with about 21,000 people displaced last year by torrential rain in seven states.

Glenn Kirschner is a former U.S. Army prosecutor turned analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. One thing Kirschner is not is shy. He is quite vocal about his belief that former “president” Donald Trump has committed crimes against the nation. He has a YouTube channel, and he speaks with other outlets when asked. Speaking with Newsweek, Kirschner shared that he believes Mark Meadows either is or will become a cooperating witness against Donald Trump.

We all know Trump is guilty, but the DOJ needs evidence to prosecute him for inciting the violence that occurred on January 6, 2021. The entire fiasco is a result of Trump’s repeated lies about the 2020 election being “stolen.” As Trump’s right-hand-man, it has always been assumed that Meadows was deeply involved. In fact, his involvement came to light during the House Select Committee investigations when the committee obtained text messages between Meadows and members of Congress who support the “stolen election” foolishness. RawStory reported that not only was Meadows texting with members of Congress but that he also engaged people in local government and right-wing activists. The reporter who first broke the news, Hunter Walker, believes what we have seen is only “the tip of the iceberg” because the logs that accompanied the text messages appear to be incomplete. Put nothing past these haters of democracy and their plan to subvert democracy. Meadows, of course, is no stranger to cheating.

It was reported earlier that Meadows (and his wife) may have committed voter fraud by registering in three different states. According to Salon, the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation has submitted its investigation of voter fraud to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who will ultimately determine whether to file charges against Meadows. Interestingly, Stein is the one who requested an investigation after removing Meadows from the North Carolina voting rolls. Stein discovered that Meadows was registered at a ratty-looking mobile home where he never lived. Meadows did so to help his friend Donald Trump, who ended up winning North Carolina by slightly more than one percentage point. Meadows, who did not and never has, lived in the trailer represented to the registrar that he lived at the address, which is a violation of North Carolina law. If this investigation proves that Meadows did not live at the trailer-and we know it will-he could be facing jail time, but Meadows’ deceptive ways go far beyond that.

He also registered in Alexandria, Virginia, a few weeks before that states gubernatorial election, where Youngkin became the first Republican to win the state in some time. Meadows was also simultaneously registered in South Carolina, and according to the Washington Post, he filed three false voter forms in 2020. Meadows is a vocal proponent of the “stolen election” nonsense while he is a fraud. The DOJ can and should use all this information to get Meadows to turn evidence against Trump. None of these narcissists want to spend any time in jail, and it appears that the DOJ may have plenty of them to point fingers at each other.

The post FRAUD appeared first on Palmer Report.