newsinsightplus.com
- 2023Top
- abuse3Dragons
- January 28, 2024
- 0 Comments
BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaNorth Korea fires cruise missiles off east coast, Seoul reportsPublished57 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsNorth Korea missile testsImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, A previous North Korean missile launch seen on TV in SeoulBy George WrightBBC NewsNorth Korea has fired several cruise missiles in waters off its east coast, South Korea’s military says.In recent months the nuclear-armed communist state has tested missiles repeatedly, raising regional tension. Sunday’s launch took place near the port of Sinpo. Neither the number nor type of missiles is clear yet.On Wednesday North Korea test fired a new strategic cruise missile called Pulhwasal-3-31, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency says.Reporting the new launch, which took place at 08:00 (23:00 GMT Saturday), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said “our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea’s provocations”.Is North Korea’s leader actually considering war?North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been increasingly aggressive in his policy direction and rhetoric in recent months, ending several agreements aimed at peace-keeping and ramping up military action.Pyongyang has claimed a test of a new solid-fuelled missile, and its underwater attack drones, which can supposedly carry a nuclear weapon, since the start of January.They follow on from two years of near-monthly missile launches and weapons development in blatant contravention of UN sanctions.Earlier this month, Kim Jong Un declared the former bedrock goal of re-unification with South Korea was over, designating the South as the “principal enemy”.This has led to concerns that North Korea is preparing for war. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told his cabinet this month that if the North carried out a provocation, the South “will retaliate multiple times stronger”, pointing to the South Korean military’s “overwhelming response capabilities”.Related TopicsAsiaNorth Korea missile testsSouth KoreaNorth Korea–South Korea relationsNorth KoreaMore on this storyIs North Korea’s leader actually considering war?Published4 days agoNorth Korea fires most powerful long-range missilePublished18 December 2023Top StoriesUN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claimPublished6 hours agoPost Office chairman asked to step downPublished1 hour agoEx-minister of secretive sect admits child sex abusePublished3 hours agoFeaturesWho invented butter chicken? Creamy dish centre of court battleWhen Louis Vuitton tries to make you change your brand nameAuschwitz film was ‘like Big Brother’ in house next to campKuenssberg: What do voters think of party leaders? Not a lotWould it bother you if you only got mail three days a week?Net closes in on vigilante destroyer of Italy’s speed camerasMy dad saved my club, now we’re playing Man UtdOneFour: The rap group dividing AustraliaYour pictures on the theme of ‘wilderness’Elsewhere on the BBCHow are jelly beans made?Gregg Wallace visits a factory in Dublin that makes over ten million of the sweets per day!AttributioniPlayerIs this the greatest Jurassic predator that ever lived?Sir David Attenborough investigates a unique discovery: the skull of a giant, prehistoric sea monsterAttributioniPlayer’I smashed all my trophies’Bradley Wiggins opens up about his mental health and imposter syndromeAttributioniPlayerA Royle Family reunion and the best of the North!Ricky Tomlinson and Ralf Little set off on an epic camper van adventure across Northern EnglandAttributioniPlayerMost Read1World’s largest cruise ship sets sail from Miami2Ex-minister of secretive sect admits child abuse3Dragons’ Den episode edited after ME complaints4Post Office chairman asked to step down5UN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claim6Beauty giant Avon under fire over Russia links7My dad saved my club, now we’re playing Man Utd8Australian drill rap vs the police9North Korea fires cruise missiles off east coast10Cuddly toy sellers chase an unlikely audience
[ad_1] The missile launch follows months of weapons testing by communist North Korea, raising tensions.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaItalian net closes in on ‘Fleximan’ – vigilante destroyer of speed camerasPublished25 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Nuovetecniche/Simone PiccirilliImage caption, At least 15 speed cameras have been destroyed across Northern ItalyBy Stefano FasanoBBC News, RomeItaly has been gripped by a vigilante who calls himself “Fleximan” and has made it his mission to tear down as many speed cameras as possible. Fleximan has already claimed at least 15 successful strikes, and a special police task force and four different prosecutors’ offices are now investigating the attacks. The anonymous vandal began leaving a trail of destruction months ago in the north-east, as more and more of the cameras were put out of action.Photos of his actions then spread on social media, along with the nickname taken from the Italian word for angle grinder, flessibile – the tool he has mostly used to destroy the cameras.The campaign may reflect popular anger about the proliferation of speed cameras, but road deaths in Italy are higher than in many other European countries.What is not clear is whether Fleximan is one man or two, or perhaps he has become a number of copycat vandals.Police in the north-west Piedmont region say they have charged a 50-year-old suspect, but most of the attacks have taken place in the Veneto area of the north-east.Image source, Asti prefectureImage caption, Closed-circuit TV captured two men sawing down a speed camera in the north-western Asti areaAt the scene of one of his most recent attacks, the anonymous vigilante left a handwritten message: “Fleximan is coming.”The vandal’s methods are consistent, and the chorus of approval is growing on social media, where Fleximan is treated as a sort of modern Robin Hood. So much so that a street artist in Padua called Evyrein has dedicated his latest work to Fleximan. His graffiti depicts Uma Thurman’s character from Kill Bill, holding a sword in one hand and a cut-up speed camera in the other. The autovelox, as it is known in Italian, has always been contentious in Europe. But Italy is known to have the highest number on the continent, estimated at more than 11,000.That’s a third more than the UK’s 7,700 and almost three times as many as in Germany with 4,700.This is likely to explain some of the anger towards the Italian speed detector, and local mayors have said they won’t replace the vandalised cameras just yet. The official reason is to calm the situation down.Image caption, This camera was dismantled near Padua in the north eastFines imposed on drivers have risen dramatically in recent years, with Florence taking €23.2m ($25m; £20m) in 2022, according to Italian consumer group Codacons, followed by Milan, Genoa and Rome.But Italy has a less than impressive track record on road safety. The European Transport Safety Council put the number of deaths in Italy per million inhabitants at 54 in 2022, almost twice as many as the 26 per million lives lost in the UK and 37 per million in Spain.For Paola Di Caro, a political journalist with Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, these numbers are highly personal and she has directly challenged Fleximan’s narrative of standing up for people’s freedom with her own devastating experience.Her 18-year-old son Francesco Valdiserri was knocked down and killed by a speeding driver as he waited for a bus in Rome in October 2022. “I would just like [Fleximan] to feel for one day, just one day, what I feel when I go to lay flowers where my son was killed… and then at [the cemetery in] Verano where he was closed forever behind poured concrete.”As she headed to her son’s grave, she told the BBC that the Fleximan enigma reflected a culture that tells people they have the right to feel that rules do not apply to them.”People hail him as a hero, but Fleximan for me is just shameful. The idea that these actions may be done for fun… is just unbearable to me. It is like they are making fun of my son.”Image source, Paola di CaraImage caption, Paola di Cara’s son Francesco was killed by a speeding driver in RomeThe speed camera story has also entered Italian politics, with nationalist League leader Matteo Salvini eyeing an opportunity ahead of regional and European parliamentary elections.Mr Salvini, who is also transport minister and deputy prime minister, has targeted the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, for bringing in a new 30km/h (18mph) speed limit across the city. The Bologna speed reduction was signed off by Mr Salvini’s own ministry, and inspired by European Commission figures that show the risk of death for pedestrians is eight times higher at 50km/h than at 30km/h.Bologna’s reduced speed limit has kickstarted a drivers’ protest, and a campaign for a referendum on the issue has attracted more than 52,000 names. “The problem is that a 30km/h limit is just too low,” complained Guendalina Furini, a 22-year-old student who started the petition.”It takes too long to cross the city, and it does not solve the real problem, which is people driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” she explained.She challenged the mayor at a recent meeting, so far with no success.Although she admits she is no expert on safety statistics she wants her voice to be heard. “We have obtained the right to divorce and abortion through referendums, why shouldn’t this be decided in that way too? This is not the democracy I am studying at university.”Related TopicsItalyRoad safetyTop StoriesUN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claimPublished3 hours agoPost Office chairman asked to step downPublished6 hours agoEx-minister of secretive sect admits child sex abusePublished1 hour agoFeaturesWill $83m defamation damages really deter Trump?Warning over children using anti-ageing skincare productsTwins separated and sold at birth reunited by TikTokHuge push for Gaza aid – but little hope for those sufferingBali bomb families face accused at Guantanamo Bay’What terminal cancer has taught me about life’Jess Glynne says she ‘fell out of love with music’The Kindertransport refugees who made Britain homeCheese, beef, cars: What UK-Canada trade rift meansElsewhere on the BBCA Scottish wild swimming road-trip!Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill take the plunge at Scotland’s breath-taking wild swimming spotsAttributioniPlayerScientists uncover alcohol’s hidden dangersInvestigating what alcohol is and why so many people love to drink itAttributioniPlayerCould this Italian dream turn into a real nightmare?Amanda Holden and Alan Carr don their boiler suits to renovate a dilapidated house in TuscanyAttributioniPlayerBritish television’s greatest double actEric and Ernie share their remarkable journey through TV appearances, rare radio material and BBC archivesAttributioniPlayerMost Read1World’s largest cruise ship sets sail from Miami2Ex-minister of secretive sect admits child abuse3Dragons’ Den episode edited after ME complaints4UN agency condemns aid halt after Hamas attack claim5Post Office chairman asked to step down6Beauty giant Avon under fire over Russia links7My dad saved my club, now we’re playing Man Utd8Cuddly toy sellers chase an unlikely audience9Australian drill rap vs the police10’Rwandans get UK asylum’ and PM wants ‘Saga vote’](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/4C44/production/_132442591_autoveloxabbattutovilladelconte12.jpg)
