The influential sister of North Korea’s leader warned Tuesday that her country is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea, a day after the U.S. flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber in a demonstration of strengthen against the North.

Monday’s U.S.-South Korean training involving the B-52 bomber over the Korean Peninsula was the latest in a series of drills between the allies in recent months.

Kim Yo Jong didn’t elaborate on any planned actions in her statement, but North Korea has often test-launched missiles in response to U.S.-South Korean military drills because it views them as an invasion rehearsal.

“We keep our eye on the restless military moves by the U.S. forces and the South Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” Kim Yo Jong said in the statement carried by state media.

After Monday’s training, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the B-52’s deployment demonstrated the allies’ decisive capacities to deter North Korean aggressions.

The U.S. deployed a long-range U.S. B-1B bomber or multiple B-1Bs to the peninsula a few times earlier this year. Last month, the U.S. and South Korea also held a simulation in Washington aimed at sharpening their response to North Korean nuclear threats.

Biden budget unveil has 2024 campaign flair

With an eye on 2024, President Joe Biden will showcase his election-year budget plans this week in must-win Pennsylvania rather than sticking with the usual White House unveiling.

Biden’s trip to Philadelphia on Thursday is a sign that the president’s budget proposal will be a form of political messaging, not just an outline of the government’s finances for the upcoming fiscal year.

The White House budget plan will be a “what if” document, aimed at telling voters what the federal government could do if Democrats were solidly in control of the White House and Congress. Right now, the Republican majority in the House opposes most of Biden’s ideas.

The president hinted in a Monday speech that tax increases on the wealthy will be at the core of his budget plan, declaring that one provision will targets billionaires.

Man allegedly disrupts flight to Boston

A Massachusetts man tried to open an airliner’s emergency door on a cross-country flight from Los Angeles to Boston and then tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon, federal prosecutors alleged Monday.

Francisco Severo Torres, 33, of Leominster, was tackled and restrained with the aid of passengers and arrested Sunday at Boston Logan International Airport when United Airlines Flight 2609 landed, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement.

He was charged with interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, the statement added.

The man was detained at an initial appearance in federal court on Monday and awaits a hearing scheduled for Thursday. An email seeking comment was left with his federal public defender.

Bird strike causes fire on airliner from Cuba

A Southwest Airlines flight to Florida from Cuba was forced to turn back Sunday after it struck birds that caused an engine to catch fire and fill the cabin with smoke, the airline said. No injuries were reported.

Southwest Airlines flight 2923 departed José Martí international Airport in Havana en route to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sunday afternoon. The aircraft “experienced bird strikes to an engine and the aircraft’s nose,” the airline said in a statement.

A passenger told WSVN that the impact sent fumes through the airplane and caused emergency oxygen masks to deploy.

2 dead after stampede at N.Y. rap concert

The death toll rose to two on Monday following a stampede at a rap concert in Rochester, N.Y., that authorities said may have been triggered by unfounded fears of gunfire.

The Memphis rap stars GloRilla and Finesse2tymes had finished performing Sunday night at Rochester’s Main Street Armory when something prompted people to surge dangerously toward the exits just after 11 p.m., Police Chief David M. Smith said at a news briefing Monday.

“We do not have any evidence of gunshots being fired or of anyone being shot or stabbed at the scene,” Smith said.

Police found three badly injured women in the auditorium. One, Rhondesia Belton, of Buffalo, died at a hospital.

Rochester Police also announced the death of a 35-year-old woman late Monday. Her name was not released. Another woman remained in critical condition, police said.

Former Trump aide Hicks testifies in N.Y.

Hope Hicks, an aide to Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and later a White House spokeswoman, met with the Manhattan district attorney’s office Monday — the latest in a string of witnesses to be questioned by prosecutors as they investigate the former president’s involvement in paying hush money to a porn star.

The appearance of Hicks, who was seen walking into the Manhattan district attorney’s office in the early afternoon, represents the latest sign that prosecutors are in the final stages of their investigation.

She is at least the seventh witness to meet with prosecutors since District Attorney Alvin Bragg convened a grand jury in January to hear evidence in the case.

Iran’s leader condemns schoolgirls’ poisonings

Iran’s supreme leader has condemned a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected girls in dozens of schools as an “unforgiveable crime.”

“The perpetrators of this crime must be severely punished. There will be no amnesty for such people,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday, according to state media.

This was the first time that Khamenei, who has the final say in all major state matters, has commented on the poisonings that have worried parents across the country.

The first cases of mysterious illnesses were reported in November; since then hundreds of schoolgirls have been treated in hospitals across the country.

Belarus targets two more dissidents

Belarus’ judiciary has sentenced opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who is in exile, to 15 years in prison for attempted seizure of power and treason.

In a trial, the Minsk City Court delivered the sentence to Tikhanovskaya in absentia on Monday, without presenting any evidence.

Many people saw Tikhanovskaya and not current ruler Alexander Lukashenko as the winner of the presidential election in August 2020.

The court in the capital Minsk also sentenced opposition ex-culture minister Pavel Latushko, who lives in Poland, to 18 years in prison. Latushko was accused of alleged abuse of office and bribery.

— From news services