Jimmy Carter, 39th US president, enters hospice care at home
The Carter Center says former President Jimmy Carter has entered home hospice care. The charity created by the 98-year-old former president says that after a series of short hospital stays, Carter “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.” It says he has the full support of his medical team and family, which “asks for privacy at this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.” Carter, a Democrat, became the 39th U.S. president when he defeated former President Gerald R. Ford in 1976. He served a single term and was defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
US ends search for objects shot down over Alaska, Lake Huron
The U.S. military says it has ended its search for airborne objects that were shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 10 and 12. The statement released late Friday came hours after officials said the U.S. has finished efforts to recover the remnants of the large balloon that was shot down Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina. They said analysis of that debris so far reinforces conclusions that it was a Chinese spy balloon, and the debris includes key equipment from the payload that could reveal what information it was able to monitor and collect.
North Korea fires missile as US, S. Korea prepare for drills
North Korea has fired a long-range missile from its capital into the sea off Japan, a day after it threatened to take strong measures against South Korea and the U.S. over their joint military exercises. South Korea this week announced a series of military exercises with the United States aimed at sharpening their response to the North’s growing threats. Japan says no damage has been reported from the missile on Saturday. It’s part of North Korea’s record number of missile tests that have been punctuated by threats of preemptive nuclear attacks against South Korea or the United States over what it perceives as threats to its leadership. The South Korean-U.S. drills mid-March will reflect North Korea’s nuclear threats and lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Marcos: China laser not enough to activate US defense pact
The Philippine president says the Chinese coast guard’s use of military-grade laser against a Philippine patrol vessel in the disputed South China Sea was not enough for him to invoke a mutual defense treaty with the United States. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Saturday he reminded China’s ambassador to Manila that escalating aggression and incursions into Philippine waters by Beijing’s coast guard, navy and civilian fishing fleets violate an agreement he struck with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month. China says the Philippine vessel intruded into Chinese territorial waters and was warned to leave the area with the use of harmless laser.
Russian envoy claims West is determined to destroy Russia
A week before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s U.N. ambassador has claimed that the West is driven by its determination to destroy Russia. And Vassily Nebenzia declared: “We had no choice other than to defend our country — defend it from you, to defend our identity and our future.” Western ambassadors shot back, accusing Russia of using a Security Council meeting it called on lessons learned from the failure to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists that began in 2014 to justify what France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere called “the unjustifiable” — Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. Friday’s council meeting put a spotlight on the deep chasm between the warring parties.
By wire sources