The US, South Korea and Japan staged joint naval defense drills off the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, North Korea's Kim Jong Un blamed the three countries for increasing nuclear tensions in the region in a Navy Day speech to assembled sailors in Pyongyang.  "Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the US and other hostile forces, the waters off of the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world's biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of nuclear war," North Korean state news agency KCNA on Tuesday cited Kim as saying. According to North Korean authorities, the actual event took place on Sunday. As usual, independent journalists were not allowed to attend in the secretive state. Kim says Navy to become part of 'nuclear deterrent' Kim was speaking before the US, Japan and South Korea staged joint naval missile defense drills off of South Korea's southern Jeju island, to improve their ability to detect and track targets, and share information in the event of a provocation by Pyongyang.  Leaders of the three countries met earlier this month at Camp David, the first standalone trilateral summit of its kind, agreeing to hold annual trilateral military exercises and to implement real-time sharing of information on North Korea's frequent missile launches and tests.  Kim referred to US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as the "gang bosses" of the countries.  "The prevailing situation requires our navy to put all its efforts into rounding off the war readiness to maintain the constant combat alertness and get prepared to break the enemy's will for war in contingency," Kim told assembled navy personnel in Pyongyang. Kim has called for "radically" upgrading the country's naval weapons and equipment, and on Tuesday KCNA reported he said it should become part of the "state nuclear deterrence."  More and bigger drills, after NK ramped up its own activities North Korea has conducted more than 100 weapons tests since early 2022, most of them defying UN sanctions and some of them testing long-range nuclear-capable missiles designed to be able to reach the US mainland. This has, in turn, prompted increased activity from the US, Japan and South Korea and enhanced "regular visibility" of US strategic assets in the region — perhaps most notably by deploying a nuclear-armed submarine to the region in July, for the first time in decades.  Washington, Tokyo and Seoul describe their military activity as defensive in nature and blame Pyongyang's repeated transgressions for their heightened activity. North Korea, meanwhile, categorizes the military exercises as rehearsals for invasion.  The US and South Korean militaries began the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises on August 21, with the second phase starting this week. The annual training is a computer-simulated command post exercise, but this year it also included field exercises. Pyongyang typically responds to such activity with military tests of its own. KCNA claimed on the day the drills began that Kim had observed test-firings of strategic cruise missiles, and last Thursday, North Korea's second attempt to launch a spy satellite into space failed as the first did.  Kim's presumed daughter on show  North Korean propaganda images of Kim greeting thousands of naval personnel also appeared to show a young woman believed to be his daughter, and thought to be named Ju Ae, accompanying him at the event. As with Kim himself, her exact age is not known, though she's thought to be about 10. According to South Korean officials, Kim Ju Ae has not been appointed her father's heir. However, they also believe her public appearance could serve to indicate to people that one of Kim's children would most likely inherit his power one day, as Kim did from his father and grandfather before that. 

Seoul and Washington turn away from a policy of detente with Pyongyang with the largest joint exercises in four years as China and Russia engage in their own displays of force. This coming Monday the United States and South Korea will commence their largest joint military training exercises in four years, as Washington seeks to revitalize its strategic partnership with one of its closet Asian allies. The US-South Korean Ulchi Freedom Shield drills will involve tens of thousands of troops in live-fire exercises combining land, sea and air forces. The maneuvers are set to include joint mock attacks, reinforcement of frontline units and simulations involving the securing of weapons of mass destruction. Units will also practice using drones for surveillance and a number of new developments in warfare that have emerged as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a South Korean Defense Ministry official told reporters in Seoul. Recalibrating defensive posture The exercises mark a departure from the policy of detente with North Korea pursued by the previous South Korean presidency of Moon Jae-in. Regular US-South Korea drills were suspended under former US President Donald Trump, as Trump and Moon held talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and drew down military cooperation as a sign of goodwill toward Pyongyang. However, talks on signing a treaty to officially end the Korean War and the North committing to abolishing its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees ultimately floundered. Trump was reluctant to resume the exercises, arguing that they were expensive and unnecessary, while their resumption was further delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The relaunch has been planned for several months and have taken on added significance over growing concerns that North Korea is planning to carry out a seventh underground nuclear test. Tensions between the US and China remain high, as Beijing continues to exert pressure on Taiwan in the aftermath of the visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month. Russia also recently announced that it will host military units from China, Belarus, Mongolia, India and Tajikistan for the seven-day Vostok military exercises starting on August 30. Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, said senior military officers in Washington and Seoul have been calling for the drills to resume, on the grounds that troops capabilities have been weakened by failing to practice for a crisis. This is a recalibration and resuscitation of critical exercises to enhance the shared defensive posture on the Peninsula, he told DW. It must also be pointed out that in the years during which the US-South Korean drills have been suspended, the North has continued to carry out missile tests, has been working on its nuclear program and has been doing exercises with its conventional forces, Pinkston added. But now we have different leaders in Washington and Seoul, this is a correction to both the threats posed by North Korea and other uncertainties in an unstable world, he added. A triad of tension in East Asia North Korea signaled its displeasure with events in the South on Wednesday, launching two cruise missiles into the Sea of Japan. Wednesday also marked the 100th day since the inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol, the South Korean president, who has taken a firmer line with Pyongyang than his predecessor. However, this week Yoon offered development assistance were the North to commit to scrapping its nuclear arsenal. Yoon is following through on promises he made in the election campaign to reinforce the security relationship with the US in order to protect the nation from the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons, Yuji Hosaka, a professor of history and politics at Seoul’s Sejong University, told DW. More controversially, Yoon has also committed South Korea to a closer security relationship with Japan, with Japanese naval units joining the US and South Korea, for missile search and tracking exercises off Hawaii And although upcoming joint maneuvers in South Korea are designed to simulate a confrontation involving North Korea, Hosaka said their significance will not be lost on China less than three weeks after Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. Beijing will see these exercises as a message, I am sure, and the US clearly wants South Korea to commit to a role against China if the situation around Taiwan worsens, Hosaka said. But Seoul is reluctant to go that far, he added. China is by far South Korea’s largest and most important trading partner, and successive governments have had to walk a fine line between not upsetting Beijing and remaining militarily aligned with the US. China has in the past imposed what were effectively powerful economic inducements on South Korea. This included banning concerts in China by K-pop stars and forbidding Chinese tourists from traveling to South Korea, although Beijing repeatedly denied the moves were sanctions. Yoon wants to protect the nation’s peaceful trade with China and bring about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and he knows he needs the security that is provided by the US, but he will not commit the South to a fight with China, Hosaka said.

To meet the demand of Qurbani animals this year Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is keeping reliance on local cattle. According to their calculation, nearly 6 lakh cattle are excess against the demand. Meanwhile, on pretext of the demand of farm owners the government this year also has taken measures to prevent arrival of illegal cattle from the neighboring countries. There is surveillance to stop use of harmful steroid. Department of Livestock said, this year the number of sacrifice able cattle is one crore 16 lakh 27 thousand. In against the demand of cattle is one crore 10 lakh. According to the calculation the excess number of cattle is nearly 6 lakh. So, no tension. But the process of fattening cattle has increased this year than the previous. So the Livestock Department has claimed that we need not to depend on neighboring country’s cattle this year. Dr. Hiresh Ranjan Bhoumik, Director General of Livestock Department assured that there will be adequate animals in the Qurbani cattle markets. He said, we are self sufficient to supply sacrifice able animals. It is our own production. No animal will enter in the country illegally, it was decided in inter ministerial meeting. Direction was given to BGB from the Home Ministry in that way. He also said, we have taken initiative to stop use of steroid. We have also informed people about demerits of steroid use. Following the steps steroid use has stopped in farm owner level. Strong surveillance was done over steroid use on the wholesalers who bought cattle one month earlier of Eid and raised those. He also claimed that farm owners are much conscious about not using of harmful medicines due to increased campaign on mass media. So the Director General of Live Stock Department has assured that healthy animals will be available in Qurbani cattle markets. AH          

Students are holding processions on main roads in the capital demanding justice for attack on students, resignation of Shipping Minister and safety on roads. Students from different universities take position on roads instead of the school children. They began to seize different intersections in Dhaka from Sunday morning. Allegation came in as police fired tear gas shells to disperse students at Jigatola. Jigatola: Students from Dhaka University and BUET took their position at Shahbag intersection at 11 am. Later they began to move towards Science Lab-Jigatola area with procession. Police set up barricade in the area to stop them. Tension spread there as the students attempted to move away the barricade. Police dispersed the procession by firing tear shells in front of Jigatola bus stand. Later the students moved back towards Shahbag with procession. -------------------------------------------------------- more read  : 3G, 4G internet service suspended for 24 hours -------------------------------------------------------   Farmgate: A group of students from Asia Pacific University brought out a procession near Ananda cinema hall at around 12:30 pm. A group of young people attacked the procession when it was on the way towards Farmgate. The young men were wearing helmets. The attackers vandalized the glasses of the university building. Rampura: Students of different private universities went on roads at Rampura area. They seized the roads in the area chanting slogans. The clash started when a group of people try to attack the students. At one stage the attackers retreated. Mirpur: Mirpur was quite calm on Sunday though the area was quite fierce in the past several days. Police took position in different important places in the area. Police moved the students away when they tried to gather. Airport Road: Students took their position near Banani police box area and were checking documents of the vehicles. They were checking driving licenses also. As a result vehicle movement turned limited in the area. Banani: Several hundred students from different universities including South East University took their position on roads at around 12:30 pm. They began to chant slogans for safe roads. Uttara: Demonstration of students is continuing at Uttara. Students began to gather at House Building area from the morning and were holding demonstration there. Vehicle movement was less in the area. The movement of students is continuing for the eight consecutive days which started from July 29. Vehicle movement is halted during the ongoing movement throughout the country. General people are in great sufferings following the incidents. AH