• Japan has detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing for another ballistic missile launch. 
• Such signals are not unusual and satellite images did not show fresh activity.
• Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported late on Monday that the Japanese government was on alert after catching such radio signals, suggesting a launch could come in a few days

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan has detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing for another ballistic missile launch, although such signals are not unusual and satellite images did not show fresh activity, a Japanese government source said on Tuesday.

After firing missiles at a pace of about two or three a month since April, North Korean missile launches paused in September, after Pyongyang fired a rocket that passed over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island.

“This is not enough to determine (if a launch is likely soon),” the source told Reuters.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported late on Monday that the Japanese government was on alert after catching such radio signals, suggesting a launch could come in a few days. The report also said the signals might be related to winter military training by the North Korean military.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing a South Korean government source, also reported that intelligence officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan had recently detected signs of a possible missile launch and have been on higher alert.

Asked about the media reports, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning told reporters the United States continued to watch North Korea very closely.

“This is a diplomatically led effort at this point, supported by military options,” he said.

“The Republic of Korea and U.S. alliance remains strong and capable of countering any North Korean provocations or attacks.”

Two U.S. government sources familiar with official assessments of North Korean capabilities and activities said that while they were not immediately familiar with recent intelligence suggesting that North Korea was preparing to launch a new missile test, the U.S. government would not be surprised if such a test were to take place in the very near future.

Other U.S. intelligence officials noted North Korea has previously sent deliberately misleading signs of preparations for missile and nuclear tests, in part to mask real preparations, and in part to test U.S. and allied intelligence on its activities.

Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in TOKYO, Phil Stewart, Mark Hosenball and John Walcott in WASHINGTON, and Soyoung Kim in SEOUL; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Lincoln Feast

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• US, South Korea, and Japanese sources have all detected activity that may indicate North Korea is readying a missile launch.
• North Korea hasn't launched a missile since September 15. It rarely fires missiles in the winter or fall.
• But North Korea has faked preparations for missile launches before.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government experts think North Korea could conduct a new missile test within days, in what would be its first launch since it fired a missile over Japan in mid-September, two authoritative U.S. government sources said on Tuesday.

One of the U.S. sources, who did not want to be identified, said the United States had evidence that Japanese reports about the monitoring of signals suggesting North Korea was preparing a new missile test were accurate.

Both sources said U.S. government experts believed a new test could occur "within days."

A Japanese government source said earlier on Tuesday that Japan had detected radio signals suggesting North Korea may be preparing another ballistic missile launch, although such signals were not unusual and satellite images did not show fresh activity.

Other U.S. intelligence officials have noted North Korea has previously sent deliberately misleading signs of preparations for missile and nuclear tests, in part to mask real preparations, and in part to test U.S. and allied intelligence on its activities.

After firing missiles at a rate of about two or three a month since April, North Korean missile launches paused inSeptember, after it fired a missile that passed over Japan’s northern Hokkaido island on Sept. 15.

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• On Tuesday, North Korea fired a missile that went higher and longer than any it had previously shot, but the regime did not release pictures.
• North Korea claims it used a new type of missile that nobody has ever seen.
• But the Hermit Kingdom may have just fired its old intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) without any payload in it to make it fly further.

North Korea made headlines around the world on Tuesday by launching a missile in the dead of night that soared 2,800 miles above the earth's surface and stayed in the air for almost an hour.

But unlike other missile launches from North Korea, no images came out from the launch.

As it landed a good distance off Japan's coast, no Japanese cameras caught the payload's splashdown either, as has been the case in the past.

The fact that South Korean, Japanese, and US defense authorities noticed and tracked the launch puts it beyond a reasonable doubt that North Korea did indeed test a missile — but they still could have faked an important element.

The purpose of the missile test, as experts assess it, was to demonstrate that North Korea's missiles could reach the US. Moments after the test, US scientists had calculated that based on the missile's flight time, distance traveled, and height reached, it could likely hit any target in the US.

But what we don't know is what the missile carried. Missiles alone don't cause nuclear devastation, nuclear warheads do. Moving a nuclear warhead, which can weigh upwards of 1,000 pounds, causes considerable difficulties for engineers.

"This missile could reach all of the United States," David Wright, a physicist and missile expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Business Insider this week. "But it doesn't mean much without considering the payload."

North Korean media later claimed that the missile was an Hwasong-15, a completed ICBM that no outsider has seen. North Korea's previous ICBM's were classed as Hwasong-14s.

It seems beyond a reasonable doubt that North Korea demonstrated a missile that could hit anywhere in the US. But the country did not prove it could hit the US with a nuclear warhead.

Additionally, North Korea has come under considerable pressure. The US declared North Korea a sponsor of terror, staged a three-aircraft-carrier naval drill with Japan, flew bombers over the Korean Peninsula, and announced a military drill with stealth aircraft to little response from North Korea.

The world awaits imagery from North Korea to substantiate its claims, which is strangely absent so far.

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• North Korea launched a ballistic missile in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
• The launch was broadcast on state television and Kim Jong Un was in attendance.
• The missile travelled for 1000km before it landed in the sea of Japan.

North Korea's state-run television KRT on Thursday (November 30) broadcast footage of its leader Kim Jong Un monitoring the launch of a Hwasong-15 missile.

North Korea said it successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday (November 29) in a "breakthrough" that puts the U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons whose warheads could withstand re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere.

The state's first missile test since mid-September came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a U.S. list of countries it says support terrorism, allowing it to impose more sanctions.

North Korea, which also conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test in September, has tested dozens of ballistic missiles under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of international sanctions. The latest was the highest and longest any North Korean missile had flown, landing in the sea near Japan.

Produced by Jasper Pickering.

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North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile towards Japan early Wednesday morning. The missile reached an altitude of about 2,800 miles, with initial estimates saying it will be the highest altitude reached by a North Korean missile.

In the last two decades, North Korea has launched more than 40 missiles in major provocations, with around 30 in the last two years alone.

Beginning in 1976, North Korea began developing missiles using Scud-B from the Soviet Union and launchpads from Egypt. Through the 1980's and 1990's, it began testing additional missiles, like the Rodong in 1990, and the Nodong-1 missile in 1993.

North Korea launched its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1 rocket, in 1998, and has since made significant advances both with nuclear warheads and with ballistic missiles. 

There have been more than a dozen ballistic missile tests in 2017 so far, and here's what we know about each of them:

SEE ALSO: Images of North Korea's latest missile launch reveal a big problem for the US

February 12: North Korea successfully tested a Pukguksong-2, missile, a new intermediate-range missile.

It was the first missile launched into the Sea of Japan since US President Donald Trump took office. General John Hyten, the commander of US Strategic Command, said this launch marked a significant advancement for North Korea.

North Korea names its missiles Pukguksong when they're meant to fire from submarines, and Hwasong when they're meant to fire from ground launchers.

March 6: Four ballistic missiles were fired from the North Pyongan province, near China's border.

The tested missiles flew 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) before landing in the Sea of Japan. The US also began installing the a missile defense system (THAAD) in South Korea as protection against missile attack from the North.

March 22: North Korea tested a mobile-launched missile that exploded within minutes of taking off.

The type of missile launched was not confirmed. The launch signaled increasing frequency of North Korean missile testing.

• Saudi Arabia shot down a missile fired at the country by Yemen’s armed Houthi group.
• This is the second missile fired in a month. 
• Saudi allies have launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis who still control much of Yemen’s main population centers.
• The conflict has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and killed at least 10,000 people.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s armed Houthi group at Saudi Arabia was shot down on Thursday near the south-western city of Khamis Mushait, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya channel reported.

It was the second ballistic missile fired from Yemen this month, after an earlier rocket was brought down near King Khaled Airport on the northern outskirts of the capital Riyadh.

A Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen has closed air, land and sea access in a move it says is meant to stop a flow of Iranian arms to the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen. The blockade has cut food imports to seven million people on the brink of famine.

“Air defense intercepted a ballistic missile, fired by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait,” Arabiya said on its Twitter account, without giving details.

The Houthis and allied militias loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who have fired dozens of missiles into Saudi territory during a 2-1/2 year war, said on their official news agency they had launched a mid-range ballistic missile that “hit its military target with high precision”.

SABA, quoting a military source, added the “successful test was a new start of locally made missile launches”.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, who receive logistical and intelligence help from the United States, accuse the Houthis of being a proxy of Iran.

The coalition has launched thousands of air strikes against the Houthis who still control much of Yemen’s main population centers including the capital Sanaa and the strategic port and city of Hodeidah.

The conflict has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and killed at least 10,000 people.

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• US President Donald Trump dismissed China's diplomatic efforts to reign in North Korea. 
• Trump said in a tweet that the recently returned Chinese envoy seemed to have "no impact on Little Rocket Man."
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington’s approach was dangerously provocative.

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed a Chinese diplomatic effort to rein in North Korea’s weapons program as a failure on Thursday, while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Beijing was doing a lot, but could do more to limit oil supplies to Pyongyang.

In a tweet, Trump delivered another insulting barb against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who he called “Little Rocket Man” and a “sick puppy” after North Korea test-fired its most advanced missile to date on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington’s approach was dangerously provocative.

Trump’s tweets further inflamed tensions reignited this week after North Korea said it had successfully tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile in a “breakthrough” that put the U.S. mainland within range of its nuclear weapons whose warheads could withstand re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere.

“The Chinese envoy, who just returned from North Korea, seems to have had no impact on Little Rocket Man,” Trump said on Twitter, a day after speaking with Chinese President Chinese President Xi Jinping and reiterating his call for Beijing to use its leverage against North Korea.

Tillerson on Thursday welcomed Chinese efforts on North Korea, but said Beijing could do more to limit its oil exports to the country.

“The Chinese are doing a lot. We do think they could do more with the oil. We’re really asking them to please restrain more of the oil, not cut it off completely,” Tillerson said at the State Department. China is North Korea’s neighbor and its sole major trading partner.

While Trump has been bellicose at times in rhetoric toward North Korea, Tillerson has persistently held out hopes for a return to dialogue if North Korea shows it is willing to give up its nuclear weapons program.

However, Tillerson may not remain in his job long, with disagreements with Trump over North Korea being one factor. On Thursday, senior Trump administration officials said the White House was considering a plan to replace Tillerson with Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he still had confidence in diplomatic efforts on North Korea and that the United States would be “unrelenting” in working through the United Nations.

In spite of Trump’s rhetoric and warnings that all options, including military ones, are on the table in dealing with North Korea, his administration has stressed it favors a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Trump has pledged more sanctions in response to the latest test and, at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting late Wednesday, the United States warned North Korea’s leadership would be “utterly destroyed” if war were to break out.

“This administration is focused on one big thing when it comes to North Korea, and that’s denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told a regular White House briefing.

“Anything beyond that is not the priority at this point,” she said, responding to a question on whether regime change was on the administration’s agenda after Trump’s recent tweets and a speech by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.

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• Yemen’s militant Houthi group has fired a cruise missile toward a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi.
• There were no reports of any missiles reaching the UAE.
• The Iran-aligned Houthis control much of northern Yemen and had said Abu Dhabi was a target for their missiles.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s Houthi group has fired a cruise missile toward a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the group’s television service reported on its website on Sunday, without providing any evidence.

There were no reports of any missiles reaching the UAE.

The Iran-aligned Houthis control much of northern Yemen and had said Abu Dhabi, a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting against them since 2015, was a target for their missiles.

“The missile force announces the launching of a winged cruise missile ... toward the al-Barakah nuclear reactor in Abu Dhabi,” the website said. It gave no further details.

The Barakah project, which is being built by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), is expected to be completed and become operational in 2018, the UAE energy minister has said.

It is the second time this year the Houthis have said they have fired missiles toward the UAE. A few months ago they said they had “successfully” test fired a missile toward Abu Dhabi.

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• Peregrine falcons target prey the same way that missiles hit moving targets, according to a new study by Oxford University researchers.
• The birds use quick adjustments to maintain the same angle as they close in on a target.
• The same technique could be used by drones to hunt down other drones. 

The fastest predators on Earth dive bomb their prey at speeds topping 200 mph, swooping down out of the sky and snatching other birds mid-flight with their talons.

Scientists have debated how Peregrine falcons manage to calculate their angles of attack. Now they may have an answer.

According to a study newly published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the birds of prey operate essentially like guided missiles.

To figure this out, the Oxford University researchers behind the study attached GPS units and cameras to eight Peregrine falcons, and to various dummies designed to mimic prey animals.

"Falcons are classic aerial predators, synonymous with agility and speed," zoologist Graham Taylor, principle investigator behind the study, said in a press release. "Our GPS tracks and on-board videos show how Peregrine falcons intercept moving targets that don't want to be caught."

The study authors used data from 23 attacks on stationary targets and 22 attacks on moving targets to assess how the falcons aimed their dives.

Instead of calculating the direction a meal might be flying and setting an intercept course, Peregrines select a target and dive towards it in a way that maintains a consistent line-of-sight angle, making adjustments en route as needed. This is an efficient way for a fast and agile creature to target another one, since it doesn't require any information on where the target is going or how fast it's moving, the researchers wrote. The strategy relies on maintaining the same angle while closing distance, and making tiny adjustments as needed en route.

This sort of navigation, known as "proportional navigation," is the same sort of targeting that guided missiles use to track moving targets.

It's quite effective, as you can see in the video from the Oxford researchers below.

Since this technique relies solely on having a visual angle on a target (and on being fast and agile), the researchers wrote that the same navigation strategy could work for anti-drone attack drones. They could employ the technique to knock anything that didn't have a reason to be in restricted airspace out of the sky.

"Our next step is to apply this research to designing a new kind of visually guided drone, able to remove rogue drones safely from the vicinity of airports, prisons and other no-fly zones," said Taylor.

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• Japan will buy a new missile with a range of over 600 miles, meaning it can strike North Korea.
• Japan officially renounced the right to wage war after World War II, but its current government has dialed that back in light of North Korea's provocations.
• The missile will be mounted on Japan's F-15 fighters, and eventually its F-35s.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is to acquire medium-range, air-launched cruise missiles, capable of striking North Korea, a controversial purchase of what will become the longest-range munitions of a country that has renounced the right to wage war.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera did not refer to North Korea when announcing the planned acquisition and said the new missiles would be for defense, with Japan still relying on the United States to strike any enemy bases.

"We are planning to introduce the JSM (Joint Strike Missile) that will be mounted on the F-35A (stealth fighter) as 'stand-off' missiles that can be fired beyond the range of enemy threats," Onodera told a news conference.

Japan is also looking to mount Lockheed Martin Corp's extended-range Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM-ER) on its F-15 fighters, he said.

The JSM, designed by Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, has a range of 500 km (310 miles). The JASSM-ER can hit targets 1,000 km away.

The purchase plan is likely to face criticism from opposition parties in parliament, especially from politicians wary of the watering down of Japan's renunciation of the right to wage war enshrined in its post-World War Two constitution.

But the growing threat posed by North Korean ballistic missiles has spurred calls from politicians, including Onodera, for a more robust military that could deter North Korea from launching an attack.

Japan's missile force has been limited to anti-aircraft and anti-ship munitions with ranges of less than 300 km (186 miles).

The change suggests the growing threat posed by North Korea has given proponents of a strike capability the upper hand in military planning.

North Korea has recently test-fired ballistic missiles over Japan and last week tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km before splashing into the sea within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

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• A new report sheds light on the origins of the weapons ISIS militants use in Iraq and Syria.
• An investigation revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency may have purchased anti-tank missiles, which eventually fell into the hands of ISIS militants.

Amid the chaos of the Syrian Civil War, it looks like armaments manufactured from around the globe and supplied to different factions eventually fell into the hand of Islamic State militants.

A new report from Conflict Armament Research (CAR) sheds light on the amount and type of weapons and ammunition ISIS forces obtained in Syria and Iraq. From 2014 to 2017, CAR has documented the origins and supply chain of over 40,000 items, including rifles, missiles, and improvised explosive devices.

Around 97% of weapons and 87% of ammunition used by ISIS is assumed to have originated primarily from China, Russia, and eastern European states, as evidenced by their 7.62mm caliber.

According to the report, the US and Saudi Arabia purchased much of the arms from European Union countries in eastern Europe, which were distributed, without authorization, from the supplying country to Syrian rebel forces battling President Bashar al-Assad's army.

"At the very least, the diversion of weapons documented in this report has eroded the trust that exporting authorities placed in the recipient governments," the report said. "At worst, the diversions occurred in violation of signed agreements that commit recipient governments not to retransfer materiel without the exporter’s prior consent."

In one such case, CAR found that an advanced anti-tank guided weapon that was manufactured in the European Union was sold to the US, only to be given to a party involved in the Syrian conflict, which then found its way to ISIS militants in Iraq — a process that took two months.

Judging by its serial number, the report stated, the anti-tank guided missile found in Iraq is believed to have been part of the same supply chain as the ones provided to a US-supported rebel group in Syria. In the same year, sources with knowledge of the Syrian conflict reportedly said that the CIA was establishing small rebel units capable of taking down tanks and had received anti-tank missiles, a BuzzFeed News report said.

Although the exact process in which the militants obtained their arms from groups involved in the Syrian conflict remain unclear, it has been previously reported that members of rebel groups, such as the Free Syrian Army, were believed to have joined ISIS forces amid the sectarian violence in the country.

"These findings are a stark reminder of the contradictions inherent in supplying weapons into armed conflicts in which multiple competing and overlapping non-state armed groups operate," the report said.

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• Japan's public broadcaster raised a false alarm about a North Korean missile test.
• It comes just days after a similar mistake in Hawaii.
• Japan has been preparing for an attack from North Korea.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK issued a false alarm about a North Korea missile test.

The broadcaster sent a push alert to users of its disaster prevention app, warning of them of an imminent launch from Kim Jong-un's regime.

But soon after, NHK said the warning was raised incorrectly and it apologised. The error was spotted by The Japan Times and The Wall Street Journal's Japan editor Alastair Gale.

It comes after the people of Hawaii received a false alarm on Saturday, warning of an inbound ballistic missile. It was apparently caused by an employee at Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency pushing the "wrong button" by accident.

The false alarm in Japan is a sign of increased tension over North Korea's military aggression. Pyongyang fired intercontinental ballistic missile's towards Japan and fired missiles over Japan's territory in 2017.

Japan has since signaled its intention to shoot down the tests if they present a threat.Japanese people have also been conducting nuclear attack drills.

SEE ALSO: 38 minutes of panic: Here's how people in Hawaii reacted to a false ballistic missile alert

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• A photo of the poor user interface used by the operator who sent a terrifying alert to Hawaii residents on Saturday telling them about an inbound ballistic missile has been released.
• The interface is unclear and features links to various kinds of alerts that look similar to one another.
• The operator who made the error has been reassigned but not fired.
• Hawaii's governor and the Emergency Management Agency have expressed regret about the false alarm and said it would not happen again.

It looks like a poor user interface might be partly to blame for the false ballistic missile alert that caused widespread panic in Hawaii on Saturday.

A newly released photograph of the screen that emergency-alert operators use to issue statewide alarms shows a confusing interface that relies on technical language, unclear shorthand, and a variety of single-color links for everything from county amber alerts to statewide tsunami warnings that look incredibly similar to one another.

The photo of the interface was obtained by the Honolulu Civil Beat.

The two links related to ballistic-missile bombardments — labeled PACOM (CDW) - STATE ONLY and DRILL - PACOM (CDW) - STATE ONLY — are not immediately identifiable within the system and are separated by a tsunami-related alert.

According to the head of Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency, Vern Miyagi, the operator had to answer an "Are you sure?" prompt before releasing the alert.

The false alarm sent to every person in Hawaii on Saturday morning was triggered when an operator clicked the link to a real alert instead of the link to a emergency drill.

"A missile may impact on land or sea within minutes. This is not a drill," the alert read.

It took operators 38 minutes to issue another alert telling people it was a false alarm, but the person realized he had made a grave mistake within minutes of issuing the alert. The newly added link to this "false alarm" feature is the BMD False Alarm button at the top of the interface photograph.

But despite the hugely consequential error, Miyagi said the operator would not be fired and will instead be reassigned.

"This guy feels bad, right. He's not doing this on purpose — it was a mistake on his part and he feels terrible about it," Miyagi told reporters.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued a formal apology following the weekend mishap, and vowed to never let such a scenario happen again.

"On Saturday, Hawai'i's residents and visitors experienced an unfortunate situation that has never happened before and will never happen again — a false alert issued by the Hawai'i' Emergency Management Agency that a ballistic missile was on its way to the Hawaiian Islands," Ige's statement read. "On behalf of the State of Hawai'i, I deeply apologize for this false alert that created stress, anxiety and fear of a crisis in our residents and guests."

SEE ALSO: News anchor posts terrified texts she received after a false alarm about an impending ballistic missile threat in Hawaii

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• Hawaii Gov. David Ige reportedly said he couldn't notify the public during the 38-minute false missile alarm  because he forgot his Twitter password.
• The missile notification system was accidentally triggered last week after an employee mistakenly pushed the wrong button.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige said the panic that ensued during a false alarm warning of an imminent missile attack wasn't addressed sooner because he forgot his Twitter password and couldn't notify the public.

During a press conference on Monday, Ige took some of the blame the mix-up that caused panic throughout Hawaii and made headlines worldwide, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

The missile defense notification system was accidentally triggered on January 13 after an employee mistakenly pushed the wrong button and sent mobile notifications to all in the vicinity, warning them of an imminent ballistic missile attack.

The blunder caused mass panic around Hawaii, as people quickly took cover and prepared for impact.

A second alert clarifying that there was no missile threat to Hawaii was not sent out until 38 minutes after the initial notice.

Soon after, officials confirmed that the alert was a mistake.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted, "NO missile threat to Hawaii."

Ige responded to the incident at the time, saying the triggering of the alert system was an "error" and was being investigated to avoid the incident from "ever happening again."

Hawaii began testing its nuclear warning system in December, CNN reported. It is the first time since the Cold War that Hawaii brought back the system and comes amid North Korea's increased missile testing.

SEE ALSO: Panic ensues after false alarm warns of incoming ballistic missile threat to Hawaii

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• The US Federal Communications Commission blamed the false alert of a missile attack in January in part on the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, which was practicing for the event of a real attack.
• The FCC cited the employee who sent the alert as saying he or she believed the alert was real, rather than a drill.
• Previously, the Hawaiian governor had suggested the employee simply pressed the wrong button.

WASHINGTON — The US government on Tuesday faulted Hawaii's handling of a false alert of a missile attack in January, saying the employee who issued the warning mistakenly believed an attack was in progress.

The false alarm, which went uncorrected for 38 minutes after being transmitted to mobile phones and broadcast stations, caused widespread panic across the Pacific islands state.

The US Federal Communications Commission blamed the error in part on a miscommunication and a lack of supervision of a drill by the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to practice for the event of a real attack.

The employee who transmitted the alert said in a written statement to Hawaii that he or she believed it was an actual alert, rather than a drill, and clicked yes in response to a prompt asking "Are you sure that you want to send this Alert?" the FCC said in a presentation.

The drill recording did not follow the standard script for a drill but included the phrase "This is not a drill." It ended with the phrase "Exercise, exercise, exercise." The officer who issued the alert heard "This is not a drill" but did not hear "Exercise, exercise, exercise," he told Hawaii in a written statement.

Hawaii's governor has said the employee pressed the wrong button by mistake.

The FCC said it had been unable to interview the employee who issued the alert. The FCC said "a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards contributed to the transmission of this false alert." It also said Hawaii's "lack of preparation for how to respond to this transmission of a false alert" was largely responsible for the 38-minute delay in correcting it.

Hawaii plans to issue a separate report later Tuesday.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)

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• At a military parade on Thursday, North Korea showed off a mystery missile that nobody had seen before.
• Some experts think it looks like a newer Russian missile, which could suggest Moscow is giving covert aid to Pyongyang. Another expert said it looked like a South Korean design.
• The missile poses a big problem for US forces in South Korea and could have devastating effects if used.

North Korea's military parade on Thursday featured much of what we've come to expect from Pyongyang: grandiose speeches, choreographed crowds, and a procession of missiles.

But it also featured a mystery missile never before seen.

While many analysts have focused on the big intercontinental ballistic missiles like the Hwasong-14 and the Hwasong-15 — and the threat they pose to the US mainland — a smaller missile slipped by relatively unnoticed.

Here are a few shots of the new system:

The author of the Oryx military blog pointed out the system's resemblance to a Russian system, the Iskander.

Take a look at the Iskander:

Justin Bronk, a military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider that North Korea's mystery missiles looked "enormously like Iskander missiles" and were not ones that North Korea had "been seen with before."

Bronk pointed out that Russia has a history of helping North Korea with its missile program. Talented engineers left unemployed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and often found good-paying work in North Korea, Bronk said.

But the Iskander isn't a Cold War design. If Russia collaborated with North Korea as recently as the Iskander, it would have huge geopolitical implications and strain the US's already fraught relationship with Russia.

The new missile, however, is not confirmed to be a Russian design.

Mike Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said it was "inconsistent with the Iskander" and was just as likely a clone of South Korea's Hyunmoo-2 missile system. (North Korea has in the past been found to obtain South Korean defense information through hacking.)

Regardless of its origin, the little missile may be a big problem for the US

Regardless of where the information for the mystery missile came from, it poses a major threat to US forces in South Korea and the region.

Bronk said North Korea's existing fleet of ballistic missiles didn't have the accuracy of more-modern systems like the Iskander. If North Korea were to deploy the newer, more accurate ballistic missiles, that could lay the groundwork for an opening salvo of an attack on South Korea that could blindside and cripple the US.

US missile defenses could become overwhelmed with a large number of precise short-range missiles, which the mystery missile appears to be. US military bases, airfields, and depots could fall victim to the missile fire within the first few minutes of a conflict.

Whatever the mystery missile's origin, its appearance is likely to have geopolitical and tactical implications for the US's push to denuclearize Pyongyang.

SEE ALSO: North Korea paraded ICBMs in a show of force on the eve of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea

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• The Army and Navy are testing a missile to replace the vaunted Hellfire.
• Pilots trying out the missile have spoken highly of its capabilities.
• More testing is slated before the missile is deployed for combat operations.

US Army aviators have been putting the new Joint Air-to-Ground Missile through its paces, as the program works its way to its next milestone, a low-rate initial production decision.

The JAGM is meant to provide precision standoff-strike capability to target high-value fixed and moving targets, both armored and unarmored, even in poor weather conditions. It will replace several air-launched missiles, including the AGM-114 Hellfire, which has seen extensive use in the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The versatility and simplicity of the new missile won high marks from pilots testing it.

"Before, we had to put a lot of thought into, 'What do I need?' As soon as I launch, I don't get to come back and change out my missiles,"said Chief Warrant Officer 5 John Bilton, the first nonexperimental test pilot to fire the missile late last year. "In combat, you don't want to encounter a target you need to hit and not have on-board the right missile for the job."

The JAGM combines semi-active laser guidance, like that used on the Hellfire II, and millimeter-wave radar, like that used by the Longbow Hellfire, into a single system. Paired with a Hellfire Romeo warhead, motor, and flight-control system, the new missile is designed to hit vehicles and personnel in the open. A programmable delay feature allows it penetrate buildings or vehicles before detonating.

The JAGM is an Army program, but it has joint requirements for the Navy and Marine Corps. Lockheed Martin won the engineering and manufacturing development contract in summer 2015. Army and Marine Corps attack helicopters will be the first to see it, though it could eventually make its way on to any aircraft that fires Hellfires, such as unmanned vehicles like the MQ-9 Reaper drone.

In addition to allowing the aircrew to fire from outside the range of defense systems, the new missile is designed to protect them with a terminal-guidance capability, which allows the aircraft to leave the area after firing. The aircrew can switch the missile's guidance between the semi-active laser or a radio frequency within seconds.

"Using a SAL missile, the last six seconds of the missile flight is the most critical to keep your laser sight on target,"said Michael Kennedy, an experimental test pilot with the Aviation Flight Test Directorate at Redstone Test Center.

"If you're getting shot at and your line of sight goes off the target, your missile misses," Kennedy added. "JAGM can start off using the laser, then transition to the radar portion and still hit the target if the crew has to use evasive maneuvers."

"The ability to not have to put the laser directly on the target and let the adversary know that you are about to kill him is a tremendous benefit," said Al Maes, an aviation weapons technical adviser for the Training and Doctrine Command's Capability Manager Recon Attack.

"Once you have the missile off the rail and encounter smoke or dust or fog, a regular laser missile could lose that target," Maes said in an Army release. "With JAGM, I have a pretty good guarantee that I am going to kill that target with a single missile instead of multiple missile shots."

In May 2016, a JAGM was successfully tested from an unmanned aircraft, hitting a truck going roughly 20 mph at a distance of about five miles at testing area in Utah. In December, an Apache successfully tested a JAGM off the coast of Florida, hitting a boat from about 2.5 miles away, using both laser and radar sensors for guidance. The Navy also successfully tested the missile from an AH-1Z attack helicopter in December at a site in Maryland.

Overall, as of September 2017, the Army had done two successful ground launches and 20 successful test launches from an Apache, according to a January report from the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, which covered fiscal year 2017.

Eighteen of those 20 air-launch tests hit their intended targets under test conditions. Four of those launches included a live warhead — one of which failed to detonate. The DOTE report says that failure analysis is currently underway to find the root cause.

The report also said testing showed that Apache targeting systems "occasionally generate erroneous target velocities that are passed to the missile without cueing the gunner of the errors." Initial cybersecurity testing on the missile found what the DOTE report called a Category 1 vulnerability: "A trained and knowledgeable cyber analyst could gain access to the missile-guidance software."

The JAGM program plans to test-fire 48 more missiles to support its Milestone C goal in fiscal year 2019, which begins in October 2018. Operational tests are complete, but developmental testing, including new software to support the JAGM's use on the Apache, will continue at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.

SEE ALSO: The Air Force is ordering more of its biggest nonnuclear bomb — designed to take out underground targets like those in North Korea or Iran

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The Royal Saudi Air Defense was forced to shoot down missiles which were headed for the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Houthi rebels were suspected of firing the missiles, on the third anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen.

One man was killed by debris, and images of the successful intercepts were shared on social media:

The RSAD employs several anti-missile technologies, including Lockheed Martin’s THAAD system, and Raytheon’s MIM-104 Patriot.

Saudi state news channel Al-Akhbariya claimed the intercepts took place "northeast of Riyadh."

SEE ALSO: Video shows Houthi rebels in Yemen using a jury-rigged Russian fighter-jet missile to take on an F-15

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• Saudi Arabia's missile interceptors may have "failed catastrophically" in their attempts to shoot down several missiles headed toward the capital of Riyadh over the weekend, one expert said.
• One person died and two others were injured from shrapnel, according to a news outlet based in the United Arab Emirates.
• Yemen's Houthi rebel group has launched dozens of missiles in recent months.
• The latest launches coincided with Saudi crown prince's visit to the US.

Saudi Arabia's missile interceptors may have "failed catastrophically" in their attempts to shoot down several missiles headed toward Riyadh over the weekend, according to one expert.

Seven ballistic missiles launched from the Yemeni Houthi rebel group were intercepted on Sunday, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The National, an English news outlet based in the United Arab Emirates, reported that one person died and two others were injured by shrapnel over Riyadh.

Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said on Twitter that in video footage released of the missiles, it appeared one defense system "failed catastrophically" while another "pulled a u-turn" and exploded over Riyadh.

Lewis said it was "entirely possible" that the defense-system failure rather than the missiles themselves led to any casualties or injuries.

"Will have to see where debris fell, impact points, and where people were killed/injured before we can make educated guesses," Lewis tweeted.

The militant group has been protesting Saudi Arabia's role in Yemen's bloody civil war and has engaged in an increasingly violent border conflict with the kingdom since 2015. Experts say Sunday's barrage could be the largest number of ballistic missiles fired at once by the rebel group since the war escalated four years ago.

The Houthis have launched dozens of missiles in recent months, including one in November at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. Saudi Arabia has said it downed that missile, while the Houthis say it reached its target.

The latest strikes coincided with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to the US, signaling that they may have been a display of disapproval by the Iran-backed rebels.

On Thursday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis urged the crown prince to pursue "urgent efforts" for a peaceful solution to Yemen's civil war.

SEE ALSO: The Saudi Crown Prince's visit to the US will focus on changing his image rather than policy

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• The US fired more than 118 missiles in "precision strikes" on Syria on Friday night.
• Defense Secretary James Mattis said the number of weapons used was "a little over double" that  of a 2017 air strike on Syria which involved 59 Tomahawk missiles.
• If Tomahawk missiles were used, the minimum weapons cost of the Friday strike would be $165 million.

The US fired more than 118 missiles on Syria on Friday in precision strikes that were fired in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack last weekend.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed that the US used more than twice as many missiles as it did in a 2017 strike on Syria's Sharyat Airbase on April 7, 2017. That attack used 59 Tomahawk missiles, and was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the action was in response to a chemical attack three days earlier.

"We used a little over double the number of weapons this year than we used last year," Mattis said on Friday.

"We were very precise and proportionate, but at the same time it was a heavy strike," he said.

It's unclear yet what weapons were used. But if the Raytheon-produced Tomahawk missiles, which have an estimated cost of $1.4 million each, were used in Friday's strike, that puts the minimum weapons cost at $165.2 million.

Friday's strike was launched in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack last Saturday which killed dozens of people, and injured scores more.

Shortly after the attack, President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to a "strong, joint response" if it was found the attack believed to be made by Assad's regime used a chemical weapon. UK Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly also spoke with Trump this week.

France and the UK have joined the US military operation.

SEE ALSO: US, Britain, and France hammer Syria with airstrikes in response to suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens

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NOW WATCH: Why Russia is so involved in the Syrian Civil War