North Korea said Sunday its front-line army units are ready to launch strikes on South Korea, ramping up pressure on its rival that it said flew drones and dropped leaflets over its capital Pyongyang.

South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned it would sternly punish North Korea if the safety of its citizens is threatened.

North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of launching drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened to respond with force if it happened again.

In a statement carried by state media Sunday, the North’s Defense Ministry said that the military had issued a preliminary operation order to artillery and other army units near the border with South Korea to “get fully ready to open fire.”

Also Sunday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described as “suicidal” the South Korean Defense Ministry’s reported warning that North Korea would face the end of its regime if it harms South Korean nationals. She warned Saturday that the discovery of a new South Korean drone will “certainly lead to a horrible disaster.”

North Korea often issues such fiery, blistering rhetoric in times of elevated animosities with South Korea and the United States.

Trump proposed adding 10,000 border agents

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday proposed hiring 10,000 additional Border Patrol agents and giving them a $10,000 retention and signing bonus, after he derailed a bipartisan bill earlier this year that included funding for more border personnel.

Trump made his pledge during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona, roughly 260 miles north of the state’s border with Mexico. He accepted an endorsement from the agents’ union, the National Border Patrol Council, which is a longtime Trump backer that endorsed him during his prior two campaigns.

He did defy the union earlier this year when he convinced Republicans to kill a bipartisan immigration bill that contained additional border resources. According to the White House, the bill would have funded 1,500 personnel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol.

Ex-judge chosen as Macao’s leader

Macao’s former top judge, Sam Hou Fai, was chosen as the Chinese casino hub’s next leader in a largely ceremonial election on Sunday, setting him up to become the city’s first chief executive born in mainland China.

Almost the entire election committee stacked with Beijing loyalists — 394 of 398 — voted for Sam, the sole candidate, in a departure from the longstanding custom of having chief executives who were born in the former Portuguese colony, typically from influential business families. The remaining four were blank votes.

The shift in the city’s leadership to someone from the legal profession is likely to create expectations of a declining influence from business circles, which critics have often accused of colluding with officials, analysts say.

Man charged with $100M insurance fraud

In a major California workers’ comp insurance case, authorities have charged an Orange County man who was twice convicted of fraud, along with a San Diego neurosurgeon and two others, in connection with allegedly billing nearly $100 million in fraudulent fees.

Following a three-year investigation, the Orange County district attorney’s office said on Friday that David Fish, 55, of Laguna Niguel allegedly masterminded an extensive scheme “to control clinics and providers who would see patients, refer them to specific providers in order to receive illegal referral payments, and then unlawfully bill workers’ compensation insurance companies for these services.”

Benjamin N. Gluck, Fish’s attorney in Los Angeles, said the charges are unfounded.

Spitzer’s office Friday also named two co-conspirators — Martin Brill, 78 of Los Angeles and Robert Lee, 61 of Rancho Mirage — alleging that they formed a firm, Southern California Injured Workers, that offered medical management services, including marketing, billing and collections. The company, in fact, was controlled entirely by Fish, authorities said.

The three co-defendants, along with San Diego neurosurgeon Dr. Vrijesh Tantuwaya, also created a medical group called Injured Workers Medical Group, which was the main client for Southern California Injured Workers. Tantuwaya was designated as the owner and CEO of this medical professional corporation, Spitzer’s office said.

— From news services