Today, a US Soldier crosses into North Korea, Donald Trump faces more legal troubles, India's opposition parties unite, and the EU and Tunisia sign a controversial migration deal. From the Real News, this is your daily briefing for Wednesday 19 July. On Tuesday, in a strange turn of events, a US soldier was detained in North Korea after crossing the border willfully and without authorization. When the news first broke and details were scarce, there were all sorts of questions.
Was this a defection, a mistake, or something else? But the story has actually gotten more interesting as new details emerge. So let's explore what we know so far. The U.S.
army has identified the soldier as 23 year old Private Travis King, a cavalry scout who joined the military in January 2021 and and at some point was stationed in South Korea. The US Military said that he willfully and without authorization crossed the military demarcation line into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, there's a lot we're still trying to learn. We believe that he's in North Korean custody and so we're closely monitoring and investigating the situation.
Now, King had apparently been on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone, or dmz, between the two countries when this happened, and according to an eyewitness who was also on the tour, King laughed loudly before running across the border. But here's the thing, King shouldn't be on the tour in the first place. According to U.S. officials, King spent 50 days in a detention facility in South Korea following an assault and was meant to be flown back to the United States.
Now, to make this happen, he was escorted to the airport, but his escorts were unable to accompany him all the way to the gate, so he slipped away and never boarded the flight. He then somehow managed to join a civilian tour of the DMZ where, as we said, he split from the group and ran across the border into North Korea. The Joint security area where the tour is taking place is the most famous point along the dmz. That's because it's the only point of contact between the two countries along the 250 kilometer heavily fortified border and is the site where the 1953 armistice was signed, ending hostilities in the Korean War.
Anyway, Travis King's mother said that she's shocked by the incident and that she can't see Travis doing anything like that. Right now, though, there's still a lot we don't know. The big question of why is at the time of rating still unanswered and the US Are trying to establish exactly where King is being held and under what conditions. More broadly, this incident comes at a time of tense relations between North Korea and the US Just last week, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan while the US docked its first nuclear submarine in South Korea since 1981.
Now, there's more on the way, but be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to make the daily briefing part of your daily routine. Or just search for us in your podcast app of choice to listen along. Former US President Donald Trump is seemingly facing further legal difficulty after the Justice Department notified him that he's a target into their investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential elections. Trump announced on Truth Social that he received the target letter and that he expected to be indicted soon.
Now, any new federal charges will be in addition to the state and federal charges that Trump already faces as a result of the separate investigations relating to hush money payments and the mishandling of classified documents. Now, we don't yet know which specific things Trump may be charged with. However, the investigation by Special counsel Jack Smith is looking into Trump's efforts to overturn Joe Biden's election victory, including the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th. During this investigation, the grand jury has heard testimony from key former Trump administration officials, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
Anyway, despite Trump's myriad legal troubles, he does remain the clear front runner in a crowded field for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. According to LAC's polling average from 5.38, Trump sits just above 50%, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in a distant second place with just over 21%. Next up, 26 opposition parties in India have formed an alliance aimed at unseating Prime Minister Nehendra Modi in next year's parliamentary elections, with this alliance known as the Indian National Development Inclusive alliance or better known by its acronym, India. According to the president of the Indian National Council, which is the country's main opposition party, the new opposition alliance's main aim is to stand together to safeguard democracy and the constitution.
In their statement, they said that the Karachweb Republic is being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the bjp, which is Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party. And they also added that they would confront the grave economic crisis of ever rising prices and record unemployment. Now, while this is a big step in the run up to India's 2024 election, most analysts think that the opposition's chances of winning are slim and consider the BJP to be the favourites to win. Just this week, the BJP organised a meeting of its own existing multi party alliance called the NDA, during which Prime Minister Modi said, we unite the people of India.
They divide the people of India. They underestimate the ordinary people of India, and added that alliances built on negativity never succeed. Next up, the European Union of Tunisia signed an agreement aimed at tackling irregular migration across the Mediterranean into Europe. Now, the route from Tunisia to Europe, particularly Italy, has increasingly become the main route for those seeking refuge in European countries, despite the risks posed by the dangerous sea crossing.
In fact, according to the European Commissioner For Home Affairs, 45,000 people have attempted to make the journey from Tunisia so far this year. Within this new agreement, then, the EU will provide more than 100 million euros to Tunisia to strengthen its borders, stop smuggling and trafficking, and prevent boats from leaving the country for Europe or All of this is part of a wider financial package aimed at supporting Tunisia's struggling economy and boosting cooperation on things like trade, investment, green energy and more. Regardless, though, this agreement with Tunisia has been met with criticism from MEPs and humanitarian groups who highlighted Tunisia's democratic backsliding and mistreatment of migrants under the current president. In fact, just a few days ago, Libyan border guards rescued dozens of sub Saharan migrants who were reportedly dumped by Tunisian authorities in the desert near their border and left without food, water or shelter.
Tunisia has also seen an increasing number of violent incidents against migrants, largely from sub Saharan Africa, which critics say might have been sparked by the President's rhetoric. Finally, earlier this week we covered the story of the Australian man and his dog who had been rescued after months lost at sea. Now, when we told that first time around, a few people commented, asking us to clarify whether or not the dog had survived and been rescued too. So in today's uplifting section of the briefing, I'm happy to confirm that yes, the dog has also been rescued.
In fact, remarkable new footage has emerged at the moment that Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella were rescued by a Mexican fishing vessel. Yeah, you're good. That's a way of number on YouTube. But the briefing isn't over.
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