Russian warships, k‑pop balloons, and Aer Lingus unrest: A global digest

It happened while you were sleeping. Here’s what global agencies reported overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

• Media: Russian warships and planes en route to exercises in the Caribbean. US authorities are tracking the movements of Russian warships and aircraft heading to the Caribbean to participate in maneuvers in the coming weeks. According to the AP agency, these are meant to be a show of strength amid tensions related to Western support for Ukraine. It's also possible that Russian ships may call at ports in Venezuela and Cuba. American officials assess that the Russian military presence in the Western Hemisphere is not alarming. The exercises will involve only a "handful" of Russian ships and auxiliary units, which the US military will monitor.

• The Korean balloon war continues. Balloons filled with US dollars, leaflets critical of Kim Jong Un, and recordings of K-pop were sent across the border by a group of North Korean defectors. The group, known as the Free North Korea Movement, stated on Thursday that they sent 10 giant balloons. This is in response to the release of a thousand balloons over South Korea containing trash, cigarette butts, and what appeared to be excrement.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized Western long-range weapon supplies to Ukraine. According to "The Guardian," Moscow warned that it could supply similar weapons to other countries to attack Western targets. "If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply our weapons," Putin said.

• The French anti-terrorism prosecutor's office launched an investigation after a man from Donbas tried to detonate explosives in a hotel room north of Paris. A source in the French anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) reported that firefighters provided medical assistance to a 26-year-old man at a hotel in Val-d'Oise on Monday evening. A preliminary search of his hotel room led to the discovery of products and materials intended for the production of explosive devices, the source said. The man, of Ukrainian and Russian nationality, was questioned by the police.

• Pilots of the Irish airline Aer Lingus are voting on industrial action. The Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) reported that the vote comes after pilots rejected a recommendation from the Irish labour court to increase pilots' pay by 9.25 percent. The union advises its members to vote in favour of industrial action, including a strike. Voting will last until June 12 at 8:00 AM ET. The airline stated that the pilots are demanding a 27 percent pay increase. The last time pilots in Ireland received a pay raise was in July 2019, while workers in other sectors in the country received an average 24 percent increase over that period, the union said.