Trump reacts as Kim Jong-un threatens Guam
- Donald Trump says ‘fire and fury’ warning may not have been tough enough
- Kim Jong-un's regime dismisses US threats as 'a load of nonsense'
- North Korea prepares missile strike off the US territory of Guam
- US intelligence warns Pyongyang has developed nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles
3.30pm: Russia warns the military risks are ‘very high’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned: "Unfortunately, the rhetoric in Washington and Pyongyang is now starting to go over the top."
He said: "We still hope and believe that common sense will prevail."
Asked about the risks of the stand-off escalating into armed conflict, he said: "The risks are very high, especially taking into account the rhetoric."
He added: "Direct threats of using force are heard... The talk (in Washington) is that there must be a preventive strike made on North Korea, while Pyongyang is threatening to carry out a missile strike on the US base in Guam. These (threats) continue non-stop, and they worry us a lot."
3pm: Troops prepare for US and South Korean drill
A joint US and South Korean military drill is scheduled to take place on August 21, the Pentagon has confirmed.
The annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise will involve thousands of US and South Korean troops.
12.30pm: Donald Trump: Military solutions now ‘locked and loaded’
Donald Trump tweeted: “Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.
“Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”
World stocks tumbled for a fourth day and were on course for their worst week since November, as the escalating war of words over North Korea drove investors toward the yen, the Swiss franc and gold.
"What has changed this time is that the scary threats and war of words between the U.S. and North Korea have intensified to the point that markets can't ignore it," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital in Sydney.
"Of course, it's all come at a time when share markets are due for a correction, so North Korea has provided a perfect trigger."
11am: Japan and US drills on Japanese island Hokkaido
US and Japanese troops yesterday began an 18-day live fire exercise on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, which was to include rocket artillery drills and involve 3,500 troops.
The Northern Viper drills are one of the scheduled exercises that Japan's Self Defence Forces conducts regularly with their U.S. counterparts and are not a response to the latest tensions.
10am: China calls for caution
China's Foreign Ministry has called on all sides to speak and act with caution, rather than taking turns in shows of strength.
Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister of US ally Australia, said he had discussed North Korea and recent United Nations sanctions imposed on Pyongyang with US Vice President Mike Pence in a telephone call on Thursday.
"His view and the view of the administration is that the way to resolve the situation with North Korea... is through these economic sanctions. That's the preferred way to deal with it," Turnbull said in a radio interview.
"But of course if North Korea decides to carry out some of its violent threats, then obviously terrible consequences will follow, and there's no point ducking that inevitable consequence," he said, promising Australian military support for the United States if it was attacked.
4.50am: China to 'should remain neutral' if North Korea attacks the US
China should remain neutral if North Korea launches an attack that threatens the United States, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday.
"China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral," the Global Times said in an editorial.
The Asian giant, North Korea's most important ally and trading partner, has reiterated calls for calm during the current crisis. It voted for tougher UN sanctions.
Thursday August 10
11.45pm: James Mattis: 'We are ready'
US Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters the US still preferred a diplomatic approach to the North Korean threat and that a war would be "catastrophic".
Asked if the United States was ready if North Korea made a hostile act, he said: "We are ready."
9.15pm: Donald Trump: North Korea should be 'very, very nervous'
Mr Trump was asked if he would consider a pre-emptive strike against North Korea to deny it the ability to launch a nuclear attack against the United States
Mr Trump said: "If North Korea does anything in terms of even thinking about attack of anybody that we love or we represent or our allies or us, they should be very, very nervous. I'll tell you what.
"And they should be very nervous. Because things will happen to them like they never thought possible."
8.13pm: Donald Trump says 'fire and fury' warning might not be tough enough
President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric on North Korea, saying his "fire and fury" comment might not be "tough enough."
"Maybe
that statement wasn't tough enough," Mr Trump said. "North Korea better
get their act together or they are going to be in trouble like few
nations have ever been in trouble."Earlier this week Mr Trump made the unprecedented threat that North Korean aggression would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen".
8pm: Donald Trump: ‘We will always consider negotiations’
President Donald Trump insisted that the US will "always consider negotiations" with Pyongyang
Mr Trump blamed former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton for their failure to stop North Korea's weapons programmes.
However Mr Trump underlined that he thinks China could be more active and do a lot more to rein in its volatile neighbour.
6.30pm: US Senator says Trump would launch a pre-emptive strike to prevent nuclear attack
US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican voice on foreign policy, said that based on his conversations with Donald Trump he believes the president would be willing to launch a pre-emptive strike to prevent Pyongyang from launching a nuclear attack on the US homeland.
"If negotiations fail, he is willing to abandon 'strategic patience' and use pre-emption," Mr Graham said during an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. "I think he's there mentally. He has told me this."
4.20pm: US dollar slips against the yen
The US dollar slips to an eight-week low against the Japanese yen today as continuing tensions between the United States and North Korea led investors to look for assets viewed as less risky.
The dollar was down 0.53 percent against the yen at 109.48 yen, after briefly dropping as low as 109.53.
3pm: Jeremy Corbyn says nuclear attack 'would kill millions'
During a visit to Cornwall, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The idea that anyone can kind of contemplate using nuclear weapons at any stage against anybody is unthinkable - there is no such thing as an isolated nuclear attack.
"It would kill millions on both sides of the Korean border and of course in neighbouring countries."
2pm: EU expands North Korea sanctions list
The EU has added nine people and four entities - including the state-owned Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) - to its North Korea sanctions list.
The European Council said: "The decision brings the total number of persons under restrictive measures… to 62 persons and 50 entities as listed by the UN.
“In addition, 41 persons and 7 entities are designated by the EU autonomously.
Beijing has kept a low profile in recent days after Donald Trump ignored China’s calls to calm tensions with North Korea by making his 'fire and fury' threat.
Conflict on the Korean peninsula would affect China and in worst-case scenarios unleash a radioactive cloud or waves of refugees into its northeast.
10.50am: Britain back UN process not Donald Trump's 'fire and fury'
First Secretary of State Damian Green responded to Donald Trump’s ‘fire and fury’ warning by saying the “sensible way” to proceed is through the UN.
"It is obviously in all our interests to make sure that nothing escalates," Mr Green told reporters during a visit to Edinburgh.
"We are very strongly in support of the UN process, which has and continues to put pressure on North Korea to stop acting in an irresponsible way, and we will continue strongly to support the UN process which will, I hope, help to de-escalate tensions."
Despite the prospect of the waters off Guam becoming a new testing ground for North Korea intermediate-range missiles, there are no signs of panic on Guam.
Clarissa Baumgartner, 25, from Guam, said Pyongyang's second threat in as many days to train its ballistic missiles on Guam was not something she was taking too seriously.
"I'm not really too worried about it. I feel it would be a pretty stupid idea to do that," she said.
Baumgartner was confident US forces on the island's two bases were ready to intervene, and she bore no grudges about that military presence making Guam a North Korean target.
"Definitely, I know Guam is a pretty good target because it's important to the US because of the military," she said. "I'm pretty confident that the US will protect us."
The South Korean government urged North Korea to stop all action that is driving up tension on the Korean Peninsula.
Presidential Blue House spokesman Park Su-hyun said the nation is seeking all possible methods to resolve the tensions.
8am: Trump adviser said US will use "any appropriate measures"
An adviser to Donald Trump said that Washington would use "any appropriate measures" to protect the US from threats from North Korea which has said it is developing a plan to fire rockets close to US territory Guam.
"Donald Trump has been unequivocal: he will use any appropriate measures to protect the United States and her citizens," Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to Trump, told BBC radio.
"We do not telegraph our future scenarios and how we are going to react," he said. "If you show players around a table your poker hand, you will lose that game. It is not a good idea in cards, it is a very bad idea in geopolitics."
Japan's Nikkei handed back earlier gains to shed 0.1 percent, Shanghai fell 1.1 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.6 percent and South Korea's KOSPI dropped as much as 1.2 percent.
Kota Hirayama, senior emerging markets economist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo, said: "At the moment, it is unclear how the Korean situation will play out and that is hampering the markets.
"But as past incidents involving the Korean Peninsula have shown, the impact on financial markets tends to fade away over a span of few days."
The governor of Guam dismissed North Korea's warning about launching missiles at the US Pacific territory as coming from "a position of fear”.
"They like to be unpredictable. They'll pop a missile off when no one is ready and they've done it quite a few times. Now they've telegraphed it," Guam Governor Eddie Calvo said.
"They're now telegraphing their punch, which means they don't want to have any misunderstandings. I think that's a position of fear."
North Korea's state media said four intermediate-range missiles would be fired into waters 18-25 miles from Guam "to signal a crucial warning to the United States".
5am: North Korea plots to launch four missiles at Guam
North Korea warned it is finalising plans to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land 18 to 25 miles from the US Pacific territory of Guam.
The army will complete its plans in mid-August, ready for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's order, KCNA reported, citing General Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army.
"The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA [Korean People's Army]) will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi Prefectures of Japan," the report said.
"They will fly 3,356.7 km [2,085.8 miles] for 1,065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam."
As sunrise approached, police were still finding people who had taken cover during the attack, Lombardo said.
He added: “It's going to take time for us to get through the evacuation phase.”
Video of the attack showed panicked crowds fleeing as sustained rapid gunfire ripped through the area.
Steve Smith, a 45-year-old visitor from Phoenix, Arizona, who had flown in for the concert, said: “People were just dropping to the ground. It just kept going on.” He said the gunfire went on for an extended period of time.
He added: “Probably 100 shots at a time.
”It would sound like it was reloading and then it would go again."
Las Vegas's casinos, nightclubs and shopping draw some 3.5 million visitors from around the world each year and the area was packed with visitors when the shooting broke out shortly after 10 pm local time (0500 BST).
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