AFP USA

The US Supreme Court is to hear arguments on Tuesday in a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico accusing American gun manufacturers of fueling drug trafficking and violence.Smith & Wesson and US gun distributor Interstate Arms are seeking a dismissal of the Mexican government’s suit, which has been winding its way through US courts since 2021.A federal judge tossed out the case in 2022 saying Mexico’s claims failed to overcome the extensive protections offered to US firearms manufacturers by the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).Passed by Congress in 2005, the PLCAA shields gunmakers from liability for criminals misusing their products.An appeals court revived the case, citing an exception to the law, and Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms have sought relief from the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority and an expansive view of gun rights.In its suit, Mexico, which is under mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump to curb drug trafficking, accuses Smith & Wesson and other US gun makers of engaging in a “negligent and illicit” trade that fuels drug cartel violence.”Mexico simply seeks to halt the unlawful flow of guns into Mexico,” lawyers for the country’s government said in a brief in the suit, which seeks $10 billion in damages.The case is “not a platform for a debate about Americans’ right to bear arms,” they said in a reference to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the rights of Americans to gun ownership.Lawyers for Smith & Wesson and Interstate Arms said the companies cannot be held accountable for the misuse of their products and a ruling in Mexico’s favor would “eviscerate” the PLCAA.”When a company engages in routine business practices to supply lawful products to market, it is not responsible for downstream crimes involving those products,” they said. “Responsibility for any criminal acts by those who misuse the product rests with those criminal actors themselves.”The Mexican government maintains that 70-90 percent of the weapons recovered at crime scenes in Mexico have been trafficked from the United States and between 200,000 and 750,000 US-made weapons are smuggled across the border every year.Mexico tightly controls firearms sales, making them practically impossible to obtain legally.Even so, drug-related violence has seen around 480,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.- ‘Slander’ -Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned US gunmakers last month they could face fresh legal action and be deemed accomplices if Washington followed through on a threat to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist groups.On February 20, the State Department went ahead and designated Mexico’s two main drug trafficking organizations, the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels, and others as foreign terrorist organizations.Sheinbaum also angrily rejected an accusation by the United States that her government has an alliance with drug cartels.”We categorically reject the slander made by the White House against the Mexican government about alliances with criminal organizations,” the president wrote on X.”If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the US gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups,” she added.Tensions between the neighbors soared when Trump, shortly after taking office, announced duties of 25 percent on Mexican imports, citing illegal immigration and the flow of deadly fentanyl.Sheinbaum vowed retaliatory tariffs before Trump agreed to a one-month pause — which expires on Tuesday — in return for Mexico deploying 10,000 more troops to the border.Last week, Mexico extradited some of its most notorious imprisoned drug lords to the United States, including a cartel kingpin wanted for decades over the murder of a US undercover agent.

The parishioners of St Mary’s Ukrainian church in Allentown, Pennsylvania were still in shock at Sunday mass following US President Donald Trump’s stunning “slap” of Ukraine’s president.”I felt that Ukraine was slapped in the face. And I felt that slap. I felt that slap as a Ukrainian American,” said St. Mary’s priest, Father Richard Jendras.Jendras learned of the unprecedented Oval Office showdown between visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump as he was leaving his optician.”When I watched the video, I was absolutely horrified,” he said. “I felt the same way that I had felt three years ago when the invasion happened in Ukraine.”Jendras delivered mass to a congregation of around 40, switching between English and Ukrainian as he delivered a service emphasizing forgiveness ahead of Lent.Trump’s clash with Zelensky has shaken the tightly-knit Ukrainian community in and around Allentown, where many Ukrainians emigrated to work in the steel industry and in textiles.In the unprecedented public spat Friday, Trump raised his voice repeatedly as he said his Ukrainian counterpart should be more grateful for US aid in the war against the Russian invasion and pressed him to “make a deal” to end the war with Russia.US Vice President JD Vance also berated Zelensky, calling him “disrespectful.” Zelensky triggered Trump and Vance’s ire by questioning whether Russia could be trusted to uphold a truce. Trump has said he trusts his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to “keep his word.”The meltdown resulted in Zelensky leaving the White House without signing a pact on sharing Ukrainian mineral rights as  scheduled.”People have been turning up at my home, on my doorstep,” said Jendras wearing black vestments and a Ukraine pin.”The community is coming out and expressing (itself). I’ve gotten numerous emails, numerous phone calls here at the church — people that want to do something now to somehow or other make up for the actions of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance.”- Oval Office ‘circus’ -The church is ringed by posters counting the “years of Russia’s devastation in Ukraine” as well as commemorating the “fallen defenders” of the conflict.The father of one of the church’s servers joined up to fight. News that he had been killed in Bakhmut reached the US community a few months later, Jendras said.”Let that be the beginning of our prayer for fasting that hopefully will bring justice and peace, not just to Ukraine, but to each and every one of us in the world,” Jendras said in his sermon below the church’s dome, intricately painted with Orthodox saints.Worshipper Maria Norton, 74, said “I’m spiritually uplifted that so many people are appalled” by what happened at the White House.”(Zelensky) was bullied and set up… they were going to bully him into submission,” said Norton, who wore a Ukrainian anchor pendant.”He’s the ultimate diplomat, and they caused him to really raise his voice — but I’m proud of President Zelensky for standing up for our people and not being bullied by someone like President Trump.””They made this a circus in the Oval Office. Everybody I’ve talked to, even Republican Ukrainians, are embarrassed,” said Norton, who last visited Ukraine ahead of its independence, travelling to her ancestral village of Boberka near the Polish border.The community will soon meet with the region’s Congressman, Ryan Mackenzie, to discuss the situation, Jendras said. Mackenzie has a delicate reelection battle in 2026 in which every vote will matter.His fellow Pennsylvania Republican, former Representative Charlie Dent, has been vocal on social media calling the episode “a disgraceful display” “Total betrayal of Ukraine and contemptible shakedown of a man and country fighting for survival,” he wrote on X.The community was still in shock, Jendras said, and would continue the weekly prayer meetings for Ukraine that started two weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, rotating between several Ukrainian churches in the region.”This can’t continue. The well-being of Ukraine has ramifications (for) Europe, and that has ramifications that will be felt here in America,” said Jendras. “It absolutely will be felt in America.”

US President Donald Trump has said his looming tariffs on Canadian goods are necessary to force action on the migrants and drugs entering the United States through its northern border. He has also described billions of dollars in daily cross-border trade as a US subsidy and claimed Canada would not be “viable as a country” without it. According to Trump, Canada’s economic dependence on the United States is one of the reasons it should become the 51st US state. AFP fact-checked some of the president’s claims about Canada, which include misrepresentations about bilateral economic relations and the situation at the border. – US supply of Canadian imports – Trump has claimed that Canada gets 95 percent of its “product” from the United States. For Canada’s imported goods, that figure is inaccurate, according to Statistics Canada.In 2024, 62.2 percent of Canada’s total imports came from the United States, the federal agency said. But, as University of Toronto economist Joseph Steinberg noted, “a lot of what Canadian consumers buy is produced domestically,” so Trump’s 95 percent claim can only be credibly scrutinized if it is assumed he was talking about imports. “If we… focus on imports, does the US account for 95 percent? Not quite, although it is a really high number,” Steinberg said. Statistics Canada also reported 75.9 percent of the country’s exports went to the United States last year. – US trade deficit – During the question-and-answer portion of his January World Economic Forum appearance, Trump claimed the United States had a $200 billion or $250 billion trade deficit with Canada.  “That’s an inflated number,” Steinberg said. The United States Trade Representative and the US Census Bureau put the trade deficit with Canada at $63.3 billion at the end of 2024, while Statistics Canada reported its surplus with the United States as Can$102.3 billion ($70.3 billion). But trade deficits are not subsidies and the data does not affirm that the United States is propping up Canada’s economy, Steinberg said.  “International trade is a mutually beneficial transaction,” he said. “The United States pays Canada for products, it wouldn’t pay Canada for those products if it didn’t feel that it was worth it in this case.”US oil purchases from Canada are a main driver of the trade deficit, he added. – American banks in Canada – “American banks are not allowed to do business in Canada,” Trump said in a social media post last month. That claim is also false.  Foreign banks, including American financial institutions, are regulated by Canada’s federal Bank Act. “There are 16 US-based bank subsidiaries and branches with around Can$113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada,” the Canadian Bankers Association said in a February 3 statement on X. These include JP Morgan Chase, CitiBank and Bank of America, which have offices in most major Canadian cities. – Border security – The Trump administration has said improving border security is a central issue in its relations with Canada. Trump has claimed that undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl are flowing across the border in large numbers. Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said there is no evidence to back up Trump’s claims on fentanyl, as data shows less than one percent of the killer opioid that enters the United States came from Canada.  According to the United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency, out of over 21,800 pounds (9,900 kilograms) of fentanyl intercepted by agents during the 2024 fiscal year, 43 pounds was seized near the northern border with Canada. CBP data also reported US border patrol agents apprehended 23,721 people illegally crossing the Canadian border in fiscal year 2024.Nationally last year, CBP agents came into contact with more than 1.5 million undocumented migrants.  “Canada is under greater threat from the United States than the United States is from Canada for most things — guns, drugs (and) illegal immigrants,” Sundberg said. He said more relaxed drug laws in Canada could project an inflated sense of illicit substances entering the United States.  

Residents of the Canadian border city of Windsor had held out hope US President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs on imports from Canada would prove hollow, but that faith was dashed Monday, sparking fear for their futures. Trump had unveiled — and then paused — blanket tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from major trading partners Canada and Mexico in February, accusing the US neighbors of failing to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Canadian leaders had been pushing for a deal ahead of the expiration of the halt this week, but Trump said there was “no room left” on Monday for both countries to avoid fresh levies.The pronouncement sent shockwaves through Windsor, Ontario, home to 250,000 people and the thriving heart of the Canadian auto industry — located just across the border from US industry powerhouse Detroit, Michigan. Residents said they felt betrayed by Canada’s neighbor and now fear the closures of factories and subcontractors.”The mood is overall like we’re pretty scared,” said Joel Soleski, 26, who works for carmaker Stellantis.”The impact would be a layoff until further notice,” he told AFP. “I just bought my first house… I might have to look for work elsewhere.”The manufacturer is one of the most exposed to the looming tariffs, according to ratings agency Moody’s: 40 percent of Stellantis cars sold in the United States — under the Ram, Fiat, Dodge, or Chrysler brands — are made in Canada and Mexico. Automotive parts can cross between the United States and Canada up to six times before a vehicle is assembled in Windsor, where the border can be almost forgotten and the economy is deeply integrated with Detroit’s.Anxiety and anger were palpable among Stellantis workers clocking off on Monday afternoon.  Trump’s decision is “not even logical, it makes absolutely no sense,” said John D’Agnolo, president of a union in Windsor representing 2,000 workers at Ford.”I can’t imagine how that would work,” he added, predicting layoffs could be seen in a few weeks after the tariffs go into effect, and that vehicles would become more expensive in the long term.More than two million jobs are at stake in Canada, with 500,000 alone in Ontario, the country’s most populous province.Ford employee Christina Grossi was in shock. “They’re our jobs. We’ve been doing this for 100 years,” she said.”It’s terrifying,” added the woman in her fifties, feeling betrayed by a country she has always considered a strong ally, and where her son is studying. On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford pledged to fight back.  “They want to hit us hard. We will hit them back twice as hard,” he said.

Major League Soccer’s newest club, San Diego FC, say they will take action to stop homophobic chanting after a taunt used in Mexican football blighted their first ever home game.San Diego drew 0-0 at home to St Louis City FC at their Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday but the one-word chant was heard several times throughout the match.Mexico’s national team has been fined several times by FIFA over the same chant which has also been an issue in Mexican club games.The club posted messages during the game warning supporters that the chants were “offensive” and adding that “discrimination has no place in our sport and in our stadiums and will not be tolerated.”On Monday the club issued a statement saying they would be taking action to deal with the problem.”What took place during our first-ever home match does not reflect who we are as a club or the values we stand for. The sport of football brings people together and in San Diego that inclusive spirit thrives,” the club said.”The use of homophobic language in our stadium is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. San Diego FC is built on respect and the belief that soccer is for everyone. “We are committed to fostering an environment where all fans, players, and staff feel safe and welcome. We will take immediate steps to address this behaviour and will communicate a detailed plan prior to the next home match,” they concluded.Coach Mikey Varas said that the chants had not come from the organized supporters groups but fans elsewhere in the ground.”This came from more the general population in the seats, and it wasn’t everybody,” Varas told reporters after the game.”I understand that, but it was enough people, and I just want to make very clear that it has no place here. If they’re going to continue to come to the game and make that chant, it’s better that they don’t come here,” he said.

Bitcoin’s price plunged nearly 10 percent on Monday as an escalating trade war and uncertainty over creation of a US crypto reserve fund sent investors running from risk.After jumping on US President Donald Trump’s talk of creating a national cryptocurrency reserve, bitcoin and similar digital assets dove in the face of concerns it might not actually happen.”Everything is getting sold,” Forexlive manager Adam Button said, adding: “There’s a de-risking that’s unfolding” among crypto investors. Late in the day, Bitcoin was down 9.47 percent at $85,321.69 each. There is more than a trillion dollars worth of bitcoin in the largest overall valuation in the crypto realm.The second largest digital asset, ether, saw its price drop more than 15 percent.Other major cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Cardano and Solana were down by almost 20 percent.Weighing on cryptocurrency prices was Trump’s confirmation of 25 percent tariffs on all products imported to the United States from Mexico or Canada, which have already promised to retaliate.Button believes that concern about this trade war is compounded by worries about US economic growth, which many see weakening in the first quarter.Cryptocurrency prices had climbed early Monday, buoyed by Trump the previous day naming five that could be used in a national strategic reserve fund.Along with bitcoin and ether, Trump mentioned XRP, Cardano and Solana.This reserve would be created by bringing in digital currencies already in US possession, mainly from seizures in court cases or assets of individuals or companies under sanctions.Some in the industry have expressed reservations about the array of currencies considered.The chief executive of leading US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase felt that limiting the reserve’s holdings to bitcoin “would probably be the best option.””It’s the simplest and there’s the idea that it could be a successor to gold,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a message posted on X. After Trump talked up the idea of a cryptocurrency reserve “everyone started buying, then wondered if it was really going to happen”, Button said.Creation of such a reserve would have to go through the US Congress.”It’s one thing to tweet about it, but you need to pass legislation to make this happen,” Button said.”And that’s still a long shot.”

Donald Trump’s pick for US education secretary, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, was confirmed by the Senate Monday to lead a department the president has been clear he wants to dismantle.Trump, 78, promised to decentralize education as he campaigned for a return to the White House, saying he would devolve the department’s powers to state governments.McMahon, a 76-year-old businesswoman, appeared to concur as she told the Senate education committee earlier in February that “the excessive consolidation of power” in Washington was damaging education.”So what’s the remedy? Fund education freedom, not government,” she said.The co-founder of the wildly popular WWE wrestling league, McMahon worked in the organization from 1980 to 2009, serving as its president and chief executive.She also served in Trump’s first term government, as the head of the Small Business Administration.The Republican leader’s threat to shut down the education department has angered Democrats, teachers’ unions and many parents, who see it as an attack on the public education system.Underscoring his intention, Trump had earlier directed McMahon to “put herself out of a job.” “The American people do not want to see cuts to education and the consequent rise in property taxes. But that is the danger of confirming Ms McMahon,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.Conservative groups hail the proposal to dismantle the department as a long-overdue measure to reassert local control over American classrooms. But they acknowledge that the task of winding down the vast department will not be easy. At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, Senator Bernie Sanders said the department was “providing vital resources for 26 million children in this country who live in high-poverty school districts.”He asserted it was “the responsibility of the federal government to say that every kid in America, whether you’re poor, middle class, rich, gets a quality education.”McMahon, a major donor to the Republican Party, has financially backed Trump’s political career since 2016.She is married to Vince McMahon, also a powerful figure at the WWE, a wrestling empire that was founded in the 1950s and combines scripted combat with stunning stunt work and soap-opera-esque storylines. The nominee was questioned about the WWE “ring boys” scandal, in which teenage employees were allegedly sexually assaulted in the 1980s and 90s by a ring announcer. Five former ring boys filed a civil suit against the McMahons in October, accusing them of knowing about the assaults but failing to act. Linda McMahon’s lawyers dismissed the accusations as “baseless.”Senate Majority Leader John Thune described her as an “accomplished businesswoman and public servant.”

US First Lady Melania Trump on Monday threw her support behind a bill aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake revenge pornography, in her first solo public engagement since her husband returned to the White House.Appearing in a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, she sought to shine a spotlight on the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes the online publication of non-consensual sexual imagery that is often created using cheap and widely available artificial intelligence tools.”In today’s AI-driven world, the threat of privacy breaches is alarming and high,” the first lady told the panel, sitting next to two teenage female victims of deepfake porn.”It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content,” she added.The bill, introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, would require social media platforms and websites to have procedures in place to swiftly remove non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated pornography, upon notification from a victim.Though it has passed a vote in the US Senate, the bill has yet to clear the House of Representatives.While urging bipartisan support for the bill, Melania took a dig at Democrats for not prioritizing its passage.”I expected to see more Democrat leaders with us here today to address this serious issue,” she said.”Surely as adults, we can prioritize American children ahead of partisan politics.”An online boom in non-consensual deepfakes is currently outpacing efforts to regulate the technology around the world due to a proliferation of AI tools, including photo apps digitally undressing women.A handful of US states including California and Florida have passed laws making sexually explicit deepfakes a punishable offense, and campaigners are calling on Congress to urgently pass a host of bills to regulate their creation and dissemination, including the Take It Down Act.While high-profile politicians and celebrities, including singer Taylor Swift, have been victims of deepfake porn, experts say women not in the public eye are equally vulnerable.A wave of AI porn scandals have been reported at schools across US states — from California to New Jersey — with hundreds of teenagers often targeted by their own classmates.Such non-consensual imagery can lead to harassment, bullying or blackmail, sometimes causing devastating mental health consequences, experts warn.The scandals led to a warning from the FBI last year that such child sexual abuse material, including realistic AI-generated images, was illegal.”In an era where digital interactions are integral to daily life, it is imperative that we safeguard children from mean-spirited and hurtful online behavior,” the first lady said.The roundtable marked Melania’s first solo public engagement since Donald Trump began his second White House term.The first lady has largely been an elusive figure at the White House, spending only limited time in Washington since her husband took the oath of office on January 20. 

With his flailing of Ukraine’s leader, Donald Trump is making clearer than ever that he cares more about power than friends — a chilling message for America’s global network of allies.In the eight decades since World War II, the United States has sought to lead a global order by promoting international rules and ensuring the security of democracies in Europe and East Asia as well as oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies.US presidents, self-proclaimed “leaders of the free world,” have dropped or weakened support to dependent partners before, including Afghanistan, South Vietnam and, when forging relations with Beijing, Taiwan.Still, there was little precedent for the dramatic, on-camera rupture Friday in the Oval Office in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has relied on Western support to withstand a three-year Russian invasion.Vance accused Zelensky of ingratitude for billions of dollars in US assistance and Trump threw a spotlight on the US ally’s weakness, telling him angrily, “You don’t have the cards.”Trump had days earlier declared that he was making a “decisive break” with past US foreign policy, which he described as “foolish” and responsible for “the deaths of many, many people.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for the United States to act like Russia and China in pursuing self-interest first — a contrast to former president Joe Biden, who prioritized alliances as a force multiplier for US influence.- ‘Profound shift’ on democracy -Trump has long described NATO allies as trade competitors who freeload off the US military, although last week he voiced support for the alliance’s mutual defense commitment.He mocked Zelensky as a “dictator” for not holding elections since the invasion, while praising Vladimir Putin, who has been president or prime minister of Russia for 25 years.Trump has also refused to rule out military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, saying that the United States — not unlike Russia — should take what it wants.While Washington’s championing of democracy has “rightly been accused of hypocrisy, now there’s not even any pretense that the United States is upholding those values,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”I think that’s going to be very bad for nascent democracies around the world, for democratic movements and for human rights. So I think this is a really profound shift in the international global order,” he said.Bergmann said that Trump was also providing a “real opening” to rival China.”The United States has been trying to convince countries that when you do deals with China, that China could betray you,” Bergmann said.”Well, here’s the United States essentially doing the ultimate betrayal, or completely switching sides, and stopping to support a democracy at war.”- Message on Taiwan? -European leaders immediately spoke of ramping up defense without the United States. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a “new age of infamy has begun” after the “unspeakable” scene in the White House.Among places to feel the greatest jolt: former Soviet bloc nations that eagerly joined NATO as protection against Moscow, and Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing.Trump said Monday that a Chinese invasion would be a “catastrophic event” as Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC announced $100 billion of investment in the United States.Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, said Taiwan “has reason to be nervous.” Unlike Ukraine, which has backing from nearly all of Europe, Taiwan relies for weapons exclusively on the United States.But she said the economic stakes also made the situations different and pointed to Taiwan’s influence as the world’s foremost chipmaker and a major investor.In the words of Trump to Zelensky, “Taiwan has cards,” Glaser said — though the US president himself said Monday that the TSMC deal could mitigate that slightly.Joshua Rovner, a political scientist at American University, said Trump sees uncertainty as part of his strategy and in his first term, despite criticizing Europe, actually raised US troop levels on the continent.”Trump’s language you can interpret in a million different ways,” Rovner said.”What really matters is what he ultimately does with US forces.”

North Korea has slammed the United States for “political and military provocations” over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan.The statement by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un, was published Tuesday by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).”As soon as its new administration appeared this year, the US has stepped up the political and military provocations against the DPRK, ‘carrying forward’ the former administration’s hostile policy,” her statement read.DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.The USS Carl Vinson, the flagship of a carrier strike group, arrived in Busan for a scheduled port visit on Sunday, the US Navy said in a statement.”The visit to Busan exemplifies the US commitment to the region, further enhancing relationships with ROK leaders and the local population,” the US Navy said, using the acronym for the South’s formal name.Military cooperation between Seoul and Washington regularly invites condemnation from Pyongyang, where the government sees such moves as preparation for an invasion, and often carries out missile tests in response. “The US vicious moves for confrontation with the DPRK have been intensified in March with the appearance of Carl Vinson in the Korean peninsula,” said Kim Yo Jong.Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of United Nations sanctions.Last week, North Korea carried out a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea, in a drill Pyongyang said was aimed at showing off its “counterattack” capabilities.Joint South Korea-US “Freedom Shield” military exercises are set to begin this month.The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.Kim Yo Jong’s missive ended with what appeared to be a threat to “renew its records” in the testing of nuclear-capable missiles and other such technology.”If the US continues to renew its records in the anti-DPRK military demonstration, the DPRK will be naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence,” she said.She said the United States and its allies were the “root cause of escalating tension” in the region, and that the North “bitterly condemns the reckless visible actions and muscle-flexing” of Washington.