Nation & World Glance

Kim wants to make more nuclear material for bombs

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of weapons.

The report in state media Tuesday followed a series of missile launches – seven launch events in this month alone – and rising threats to use the weapons against his enemies. North Korea’s weapons tests and U.s.south Korea military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle, underscoring heightened tensions in the region.

Officials say North Korea could further up the ante in coming weeks or months with more provocative displays of its military nuclear program, possibly including its first test detonation of a nuclear device since September 2017.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during a meeting on Monday with officials and scientists at a state nuclear weapons institute stressed the need to ramp up bomb fuel production to meet his goals to expand his nuclear arsenal “exponentially,” and issued unspecified “important tasks” for his nuclear industry.

Kim also examined the country’s established plans for nuclear counterattacks as scientists briefed him on the North’s latest nuclear-capable weapons systems and progress in technologies for mounting nuclear warheads on missiles, the agency said.

Key witness returns, no Trump indictment vote yet

NEW YORK — A pivotal figure in the hush money

BY THE NUMBERS

Dow Jones Industrials: +194.55 to 32,432.55 Standard & Poor’s: +6.54 to 3,977.53 Nasdaq Composite Index: – 55.12 to 11,768.84 payment investigation of Donald Trump returned on Monday to the building where a grand jury has been meeting for months, a repeat appearance suggesting his testimony could be key as prosecutors push toward potential criminal charges.

There was still no word on when the panel might vote on a possible indictment of the former president.

David Pecker, a longtime Trump friend and the former chief executive of the parent company of The National

Enquirer, was back as the grand jury heard testimony in the probe for the first time since last Monday, when a witness favorable to the ex-president appeared.

The grand jury is now back on the Trump matter, according to a person familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss secretive proceedings. The ex-president is being investigated over payments during his 2016 campaign to two women who alleged affairs or sexual encounters with him.

Trump denies being involved with either of the women, porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen Mcdougal, and claims he’s the victim of “extortion.”

Among the witnesses the grand jury has already heard from is Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who has said he orchestrated the payoffs. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges arising from the payments and has become a potentially major witness for state prosecutors.

Landslide in Ecuador kills at least 16, with dozens missing

ALAUSI, Ecuador – A massive landslide swept over an Andean community in central Ecuador, burying dozens of homes, killing at least 16 people and sending rescuers on a frantic search for survivors, authorities said Monday.

Ecuador’s Risk Management Secretariat said more than 30 people were rescued and nearly 50 others remained missing following Sunday’s landslide in Alausí, about 137 miles (220 kilometers) south of the capital, Quito. The agency also reported 23 people were injured when the mountainside collapsed around 10 p.m.

“My mother is buried” under the mud, said Luis Ángel González, 58, who also lost other family members Sunday. “I am so sad, devastated. There is nothing here, no houses, no anything. We are homeless (and) without family.”

The South American country’s risk management agency estimated that 500 people and 163 homes were affected by the disaster, which also destroyed a portion of the Pan-american Highway.

The governor of Chimborazo, Ivan Vinueza, told The Associated Press that some of the injured were taken to area hospitals. He explained officials had already asked people to evacuate the area after landslides and cracks began to develop about two months ago. Some followed the advice, and by Saturday, as tremors intensified, others fled.