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US Air Force sends message to North Korea with display of air power

U.S. Air Force officials made it clear to North Korea they were not messing around, launching a surprise military exercise with full combat air power in Japan Wednesday.
The jets in the arsenal of the 18th Wing, which conducted the exercise, include HH-60 Pave Hawks, F-15 Eagles, E-3 Sentries and KC-135 Stratotankers. Military officials call it the Air Force's largest combat-ready wing.

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U.S. Air Force 44th and 67th Fighter Squadron F-15 Eagles and 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron E-3 Sentries taxi down the runway. (U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman John Linzmeier)

IS USA REALLY IN NORTH KOREA'S 'NUCLEAR SIGHT'?
Photos showed a large group of the jets on a runway at Kadena Air Base in Japan.
Meanwhile, China has urged North Korea's opponents not to do anything rash, Reuters reported, despite signs the rogue nation soon may conduct a sixth nuclear test.
GREG PALKOT: DEFIANCE ON DISPLAY IN PYONGYANG
"Military force cannot resolve the issue," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing. "Amid challenge there is opportunity. Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks."
Satellite imagery showed activity at North Korea's Punggye-ri testing site, a sign the secretive regime could be preparing for another nuclear test, analysts from the U.S. research institute 38 North wrote.
On Wednesday, President Trump voiced confidence Chinese President Xi Jinping would help him control North Korea's mounting threat.
"I think he wants to help us with North Korea," Trump said of Xi, crediting China in a White House news conference with taking a "big step" by turning back boats of coal that North Korea sells to its northern neighbor. North Korea conducts some 90 percent of its trade with China.
Trump also repeated that trade concessions could be on the table for more cooperation on North Korea. He said he told Xi last week: "The way you're going to make a good trade deal is to help us with North Korea, otherwise we're just going to go it alone. That will be all right, too. But going it alone means going it with lots of other nations."'
The United States has been urging Beijing to use its economic leverage with North Korea, which conducted two underground nuclear explosions and two dozen missile tests last year. It is moving closer to developing a nuclear-tipped missile that could threaten the U.S. mainland, analysts have said.

North Korea nuclear threat: Defiance on display in Pyongyang

Amid new reports the North might be preparing for another nuclear test or missile launch to mark the anniversary Saturday of the birth of the country’s founder Kim il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, the regime organized a mass turn-out of residents and soldiers to mark the opening of a new government-backed building complex in the capital.
North Korean Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju said the project was a sign North Korea would not be cowed by America and international sanctions adding the achievement had the symbolic impact of a 100 thermonuclear bombs
Kim Jong Un, in fact, happily officiated at the ribbon-cutting for the new complex, but he no doubt has other things on his mind. Like President Trump and his talk about ally China helping in the dispute, as well as that still-possible U.S. military option, and reports of the Trump administration planning more sanctions.
One resident angrily rejected those.
“We really don’t care,” one man told me. “We’ve lived under the sanctions of the U.S. since the very first day. We don’t give a damn.”
As for that new building complex? Despite the fact that no one lives or works there yet, and the shops looked decidedly “un-shopped,” this addition to the showcase capital seemed to please at least one person:
“Our future looks bright,” a woman told me, “thanks to Kim Jong Un.”
And what do the officials think about all the tough talk coming from the Trump administration? To sum up the reaction of one?  Bring it on.

Carter Page: 'All of the lies ... are finally coming out into the open'

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page decried what he called "false allegations" against him on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" Thursday.
Page reportedly was the target of a so-called FISA order issued last summer that permitted investigators to monitor his communications as part of an ongoing investigation into ties between Russia and Trump campaign officials. He told Fox News Wednesday that the warrant would have been based on "false evidence" and has denied any wrongdoing.
CARTER PAGE SAYS SURVEILLANCE ORDER WOULD HAVE BEEN BASED ON 'FALSE EVIDENCE'
"I’m very encouraged by all this new information that’s coming out about some of these unethical practices and potentially illegal practices," Page told host Eric Bolling Thursday. "When you introduce false evidence in a court of law, including the FISA court, that is illegal."
"Do you think there was some false evidence about you introduced to the FISA court to obtain that warrant so they could surveil you?" Bolling asked.
"Well, there's certainly a lot of indications," answered Page, who referred to information about him in the so-called "dodgy dossier," which contained salacious allegations about Trump and members of his campaign team and was compiled by a former British intelligence officer.
CONGRESS EXPANDS 'UNMASKING' PROBE AMID QUESTIONS OVER RICE ROLE
Page told Bolling the information about him in the dossier was "completely false [and] based on a private investigator people associated with the [Hillary ]Clinton campaign hired."
"I’m very encouraged that all of the lies that have been a drag on this administration are finally coming out into the open," Page added. "So many people have lied against me from the Clinton campaign and many of their surrogates ... let's see what actually comes out."

'Mother of all bombs' kills 36 Islamic State militants, Afghanistan officials say

Afghanistan officials said 36 Islamic State militants were killed when the U.S. dropped the “mother of all bombs” on a tunnel complex Thursday.
The Afghanistan Ministry of Defense added in a statement Friday that there were no civilian casualties and that several Islamic State caves and ammunition caches were destroyed.
The GBU-43B, a 21,000-pound conventional bomb, was deployed in Nangarhar Province close to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. The MOAB -- Massive Ordnance Air Blast -- is also known as the “Mother Of All Bombs.” It was first tested in 2003, but hadn't been used in combat before Thursday.
President Trump told media Thursday afternoon that "this was another successful mission" and he gave the military total authorization.
Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said the bomb had been brought to Afghanistan "some time ago" for potential use. The bomb explodes in the air, creating air pressure that can make tunnels and other structures collapse. It can be used at the start of an offensive to soften up the enemy, weakening both its infrastructure and morale.
"As [ISIS'] losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense," Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against [ISIS]."
The MOAB had to be dropped out of the back of a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane due to its massive size.
"We kicked it out the back door," one U.S. official told Fox News.
Ismail Shinwari, the governor of Achin district, said the U.S. attack was carried out in a remote mountainous area with no civilian homes nearby. He said there has been heavy fighting in the area in recent weeks between Afghan forces and ISIS militants.
 Hakim Khan, 50, a resident of Achin district where the attack took place, welcomed the attack on ISIS, saying: "I want 100 times more bombings on this group."
The strike came just days after a Green Beret was killed fighting ISIS in Nangarhar, however, a U.S. defense official told Fox News the bombing had nothing to do with that casualty.
“It was the right weapon for the right target, and not in retaliation,” the official said.
The U.S. estimates that between 600 to 800 ISIS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The U.S. has concentrated heavily on combatting them while also supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban.
In August, a company of nearly 150 Army Rangers killed "hundreds" of ISIS fighters in Nangarhar, though five of the Rangers were shot. Some weapons and equipment, including communications gear and a rocket launcher, were also left behind following the operation.