North Korea fires ballistic missile 685 miles, Biden awards Medal of Honor to seven recipients, Tricare West beneficiaries granted extension to set up recurring payments.
1. North Korea on Monday fired a ballistic missile that flew 685 miles before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea’s military said, extending its heightened weapons testing activities into 2025 weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the midrange missile was fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and that the launch preparations were detected in advance by the U.S. and South Korean militaries. It denounced the launch as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The joint chiefs said the military was strengthening its surveillance and defense posture in preparation for possible additional launches and sharing information on the missile with the United States and Japan.
2. President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor – the nation’s highest military award for valor – to seven US Army soldiers in a White House ceremony Friday, marking the last time he would preside over such an occasion as commander in chief. “These are genuine, to their core heroes. Heroes of different ranks, different positions and even different generations. But heroes who all went above and beyond the call of duty – heroes who all deserve our nation’s highest and oldest military recognition, the Medal of Honor,” Biden said as he introduced the stories of courage and gallantry. Six of the medal recipients were posthumously recognized decades after their heroic actions during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, while the seventh, then-Private First Class Kenneth J. David, attended the White House ceremony in person.
3. Beneficiaries living in Tricare’s West Region who missed last Tuesday’s deadline to set up recurring payments with the new regional contractor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, have been granted an extension. Beneficiaries enrolled in Tricare Young Adult, Tricare Reserve Select and Tricare Retired Reserve plans now have until Jan. 15 to set up recurring payments directly with TriWest, while those enrolled in Tricare Prime or Tricare Select have until Jan. 30, according to Tricare’s website. The requirement applies to those who pay enrollment fees or premiums by credit card, debit card or electronic funds transfer.
4. The U.S. government has proposed selling 1,200 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles to Japan to help counter threats in the Indo-Pacific region. The State Department approved the sale of up to 1,200 AIM-120 (D-3/C-8) advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, or AMRAAMs; up to 20 AIM-120D-3 guidance sections; and up to four AIM-120C-8 guidance sections, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced in a news release Thursday. The proposed sale is worth an estimated $3.64 billion.
5. Russian troops in eastern Ukraine have captured the stronghold of Kurakhove after a monthslong battle, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Monday, adding the wrecked town to the Kremlin’s list of conquests in the partially occupied Donetsk region during the almost three-year war. The claim, which drew no response from Ukrainian authorities, came a day after the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had launched a new thrust in Russia’s Kursk border region. The inauguration in two weeks’ time of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has brought a new element of uncertainty into the conflict and triggered an apparent effort by both sides to establish battlefield gains before any possible peace talks are held.
- News