Winter is typically a volatile time in North Korea, which struggles with chronic food shortages. What makes this year especially concerning, say analysts who follow North Korea, is the country’s closure of its borders since early 2020, even with critical trading partner China.

Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java province spewed thick columns of ash more than 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) into the sky in a sudden eruption Saturday triggered by heavy rains.

An army officer said the soldiers fired at a truck after receiving intelligence about a movement of insurgents in the area and killed six people. As irate villagers burned two army vehicles, the soldiers fired at them, killing nine more people, the officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

A witness told The Associated Press that the protesters had been on his street for just two minutes when the military truck hit them, leaving three people lying motionless on the road.

India takes delivery of Russia's S-400 advanced missile-defense system that's part of a $5 billion weapons deal. A similar purchase by NATO ally Turkey prompted the U.S. to ban Ankara from its advanced F-35 fighter jet program.

One way to counter China’s military modernization, growing nuclear capabilities and technological advances is to strengthen U.S. alliances in the region, Austin told a security conference in California on Saturday, fresh from a visit to South Korea.

The Army and Navy have been trucking in water to the affected communities, as well as setting up makeshift showers and laundry facilities.

China's Communist Party took American democracy to task on Saturday, sharply criticizing a global democracy summit being hosted by President Joe Biden next week and extolling the virtues of its governing system.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro is scheduled to be the keynote speaker for Tuesday’s event commemorating 80 years since the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, raising optimism among some county and state leaders that addressing Red Hill concerns will become a bigger issue for the Navy.

Water samples taken by state health inspectors earlier this week at Red Hill Elementary School and Aliamanu Child Development Center, where fuel is suspected of contaminating the drinking water, were damaged in transit and unable to be analyzed by a lab in California, according to the Hawaii Department of Health.