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U.S. officials stopped hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants entering the country from Mexico on Sunday after a large group broke through Mexican lines to demand asylum in the U.S., only to be thwarted by barbed wire, barriers and shields.

Frustrated with problems securing appointments to seek asylum using a new U.S. government app, the migrants gathered at the frontier in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, but could not breach the crossing connecting the two countries. 

Many of the migrants had small children with them.

At one point, some migrants attempted to hurl an orange, plastic barrier at the U.S. line, Reuters images show. Some people said pepper spray was deployed to repel them.

"Please, we just want to get in so we can help our families," said Camila Paz, an 18-year-old Venezuelan, sobbing heavily. "So I can have a future and help my family."

Neither U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nor the Mexican government's national migration authority immediately replied to requests for comment.

After some pushing and shoving with the officials, the crowd of migrants eventually withdrew, with some heading down to the banks of the Rio Grande where they were monitored by U.S. immigration officials arrayed on the other side.

Many migrants have become fed up with the asylum process since the Biden administration made an app called CBP One available to them that was meant to streamline applications. 

They say the app is beset by persistent glitches and high demand, leaving them in limbo in perilous border regions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said recent app updates will simplify and speed up the process.

Describing her situation as "horrible, horrible," Paz said she had been trying to cross the border for a month, watching her money disappear and getting no nearer to claiming asylum.

"We want answers please," she said, "the (CBP One) application has done absolutely nothing for us." (Reuters)

Nuclear-armed North Korea test-fired two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine on Sunday, state news agency KCNA said on Monday, just as U.S.-South Korea military drills were due to begin.

"Strategic" is typically used to describe weapons that have a nuclear capability.

KCNA said the launch confirmed the reliability of the system and tested the underwater offensive operations of the submarine units that form part of North Korea's nuclear deterrent. 

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the military was on high alert and the country's intelligence agency was working with its U.S. counterpart to analyse the specifics of the launch.

On Monday, South Korean and American troops were scheduled to begin 11 days of joint drills, dubbed "Freedom Shield 23," which will be held on a scale not seen since 2017.

The drills will strengthen the allies' combined defensive posture, the two militaries have said, and will feature field exercises including amphibious landings.

North Korea has long bristled over drills it regards as a rehearsal for invasion. It has conducted a record number of missile tests and drills in the past year in what it says is an effort to boost its nuclear deterrent and make more weapons fully operational.

"It's very regretful that North Korea is using our regular, defensive drills as a pretext for provocation," said Koo Byoung-sam, spokesperson for South Korea's unification ministry handling relations with the North. "I hope North Korea realises that there is nothing they can earn from escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula." 

The submarine launches aimed to show North Korea's determination to control a situation in which, KCNA said, "the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet forces are getting evermore undisguised in their anti-DPRK military manoeuvres."

DPRK stands for North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

KCNA said the strategic cruise missiles were fired from the "8.24 Yongung" submarine in the water off the east coast of Korea in the early hours of Sunday.

The missiles travelled some 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) before hitting a target in the sea, the KCNA report said.

A JCS spokesperson said not everything North Korea claimed was accurate, but he did not give further details.

It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed the miniaturised nuclear warheads needed to fit on such missiles. Analysts say that perfecting smaller warheads would most likely be a key goal if the North resumes nuclear testing.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said that North Korean cruise missiles launched from a submarine represent a threat the United States, and its allies must take seriously, but that Pyongyang could be exaggerating its capabilities.

"The Kim regime wants to show it can match or surpass military capabilities on display during U.S.-South Korea defence exercises. Yet the reality is North Korean soldiers are poorly fed and are being ordered to help farmers address the country’s food shortage," Easley said.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said there was no information that the missile flew toward Japan's waters or caused any damage.

"If North Korea's announcement that the missile had a range of more than 1,500 kilometres was true, it would pose threats to the region's peace and stability – we are concerned," Matsuno said.

He said U.S. military deterrence in Asia-Pacific is "essential" in the region, adding the North "may step onto further provocative acts such as a nuclear test."

North Korea has a large submarine fleet but the 8.24 Yongung (August 24th Hero) is its only known experimental ballistic missile submarine. Analysts say it plays a critical role in the development of missiles, submarine technology and operational procedures, as well as hands-on training of new submariners.

North Korea has said it is building an operational ballistic missile submarine.

While overseeing a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) launching exercise on Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the military to intensify drills to deter and respond to a "real war" if necessary.

On Sunday state media reported that Kim led a ruling party meeting to discuss and decide on "important, practical measures" to boost the country's war deterrence in the midst of stepped-up actions by the United States and South Korea. The report did not provide specifics on the measures. (Reuters)

Australia is briefing neighbouring Asian countries on its plan to build nuclear submarines ahead of an announcement about it in the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as local media reported the programme could generate 20,000 jobs.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will meet in San Diego on Monday local time to announce a plan for Australia to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines next decade.  

Australia was informing its regional neighbours about the plan, known as AUKUS, Albanese said on Sunday in San Diego, after meeting with Sunak.

"I've been talking with other leaders in the region, as well, explaining our position. And it's been well-received and understood why we're doing this," Albanese told reporters.

China has objected to the transfer of nuclear propulsion technology to Australia. AUKUS is seeking to counter China's military buildup and its pressure on Taiwan. read more

The 2021 announcement that the U.S. and Britain would share nuclear submarine technology with Australia came as a surprise to many Southeast Asian governments, said Perth USAsia Centre chief executive Gordon Flake.

"The government is right to reach out: a lot of the initial misunderstanding around the deal in Southeast Asia was they didn't understand the nuance between a nuclear-powered submarine and a nuclear-armed submarine. Those concerns have long since been dissipated," he said. 

At home, Albanese is under pressure to show the nation's most expensive defence project in its history is affordable, and will lead to jobs and a boost for local industry. Reuters has reported that it is expected the first submarines would be purchased from the United States and that in the later stages of AUKUS, a joint project would involve a British design.

Government modelling showed 20,000 jobs, including 8,500 in submarine construction, would be created in Australia over 30 years, local newspapers reported on Monday.

"This is about jobs, including jobs and manufacturing and Adelaide in particular will be a big beneficiary of this announcement, as well as Western Australia," he told reporters on Saturday. read more

Stephan Frühlin, head of the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, said that most manufacturing for Australia's existing Collins-class submarine fleet is local but that it would not be realistic to expect the same for a nuclear submarine.

"A big slice will be built overseas - the nuclear reactor," he said. "The political class conditioned the Australian public to expect defence spending will be good for Australian jobs."

Flake said Albanese was correct to focus on the longer-term economic impact of servicing the nuclear submarine fleet.

"We really shouldn't be fixated on where the first ship will be built and how many dockyard workers. Servicing and sustaining them is a longer jobs pipeline than the build itself," he said. (Reuters)

Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, staged war games around the island in August, firing missiles over Taipei and declaring no-fly and no-sail zones in a simulation of how it would seek to cut Taiwan off in a war.

In a report seeking parliamentary budget approval, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters on Monday, Taiwan's defence ministry said it began reviewing its strategic fuel reserves and repair abilities last year, but did not give details.

In "anticipation of a total blockade of the Taiwan Strait", spending this year would include replenishment of artillery and rocket stocks, and parts for F-16 fighters "to strengthen combat continuity", the ministry said.

In an update on its threat assessment from China, the ministry said China's military has been conducting joint force operations with an eye to controlling strategic choke points and denying access to foreign forces.

"Recently, the Communist military's exercise and training model has been adjusted from a single military type to joint operations of land, sea, air and rocket forces," it said in the report, issued ahead of Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng's taking lawmakers' questions in parliament on Wednesday. 

"It is adopting an actual war approach and shifting from training to combat preparation."

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China must modernise its military to make it a "Great Wall of Steel".

Xi also said that when it came to Taiwan, China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces.

Taiwan's defence ministry said China has systematically increased the strength of its "joint combat readiness" actions around Taiwan.

China's military's Eastern Theatre Command last year sent more than 1,700 aircraft into Taiwan's air defence identification zone. That is more than double the number from a year earlier and poses a "substantial threat" to Taiwan's defence, the ministry said.

China has been "normalising" no-navigation zones around the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.

China hopes to hone its abilities to fight into the "second island chain", which includes an area from Japan to the Pacific islands, to "choke and control" the Bashi Channel, the Miyako Strait and Tsushima Strait, it said, three waterways crucial to access to the Pacific and East China Seas.

The ministry said China has also continued to use "grey zone" tactics to test Taiwan's response, including sending drones, balloons and fishing boats to areas close to Taiwan.

The ministry also said it would include prioritise funding in the budget this year for major U.S.-made weapons, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) mobile rocket launchers. (Reuters)