North Korea said Tuesday its top diplomat is visiting Russia, in another sign of their deepening relations as rival South Korea and Western nations say the North has sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui departed for Russia on Monday, but didn’t specify the purpose of the visit. In a closed-door hearing at South Korea’s parliament, the South’s spy agency said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions on sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return, according to Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.
Two ballot drop boxes in the Pacific Northwest were damaged in a suspected arson attack just over a week before Election Day, destroying hundreds of ballots at one location in Vancouver, Washington.
At the other, in neighboring Portland, Oregon, it appears a fire suppression system worked to contain the blaze and limited the number of ballots damaged to three. Authorities are reviewing surveillance footage as they try to identify who is responsible.
Three people were killed in two shootings at Minneapolis homeless encampments over the weekend, and police haven’t ruled out that they might be related.
On Saturday, police found three men with gunshot wounds at a south Minneapolis encampment. All three were rushed to the hospital. Two survived but the third, a 31-year-old man, died.
Police responded to another shooting on Sunday a different small tent encampment near railroad tracks in south Minneapolis. Officers found two men, ages 38 and 32, with fatal gunshot wounds. They also found a woman who had been shot. She was taken to a local hospital and was being treated Sunday night.
Investigators said they have not ruled out the possibility that the shootings are connected. Police had not identified any suspects as of Sunday evening.
Milla Mirkovic can be reached at mirk1654@stthomas.edu.