SEOUL — South Korea grappled with heavy snowfall for a second day on Thursday, with dozens of flights canceled, ferry operations suspended and at least four people reported dead in a bitter winter, though conditions showed signs of easing.

The winter snowfall was the third-heaviest in Seoul, the capital, since records began in 1907, the Yonhap news agency said, citing data from the city.

More than 40 cm (16 inches) of snow piled up in parts of Seoul by 8 a.m., forcing the cancellation of more than 140 flights, although weather officials lifted heavy snow warnings in the capital’s metropolitan area by 10 a.m. on Thursday.

One person died and two were injured at a golf range after a net overladen with snow collapsed late on Wednesday, while another was killed in the similar collapse of a protective tent at a car park, media said.

Traffic accidents on highways east of the capital killed at least two more, reports showed. Police said 11 people were injured on Wednesday evening in a 53-vehicle pileup on a highway in the central city of Wonju in Gangwon province.

Seoul’s main airport, Incheon, was the worst affected, with passengers facing delays of two hours on average, while 14% of flights were delayed and 15% canceled on Thursday, plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed.

Authorities said about 142 flights were cancelled, and operations of 99 ferries suspended on 76 routes by Thursday, authorities said, while media reported trains were also delayed.

Schools in the province of Gyeonggi adjoining Seoul received permission to close on Thursday if needed, provincial authorities said.

The unusually heavy November snow has been attributed to the warmer-than-usual temperatures of seawaters west of the Korean peninsula encountering currents of cold air.

Neighboring North Korea has also received more than 10 cm (4 inches) of snow in some areas between Tuesday and Wednesday, state broadcaster Korean Central Television said. — Reuters

PARIS  — Some 53% of French people want Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government to fall due to anger over his proposed budget, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll for Sud Radio published on Thursday.

The poll indicated that 67% opposed Barnier’s budget, which aims to cut France’s spiraling public deficit through 60 billion euros ($63 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts, while 33% backed it.

Mr. Barnier’s government could fall before Christmas, and perhaps even by next week, if far-right and leftist foes force a no-confidence motion that he is likely to lose, according to a dozen sources from across the political spectrum.

The findings in the Ifop-Fiducial poll were based on a survey of 1,006 people carried out on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27.

In an Elabe poll for BFM TV on Wednesday, 63% of those surveyed said President Emmanuel Macron should resign if Mr. Barnier’s government fell. — Reuters

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — The US decision to allow Ukraine to fire American weapons deeper into Russia has not increased the risk of a nuclear attack, which is unlikely, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly bellicose statements, five sources familiar with US intelligence told Reuters.

But Russia is likely to expand a campaign of sabotage against European targets to increase pressure on the West over its support for Kyiv, said two senior officials, a lawmaker and two congressional aides briefed on the matter.

A series of intelligence assessments over the past seven months have concluded nuclear escalation was unlikely to result from a decision to loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons. That view has not changed following President Joseph R. Biden’s changed US stance this month on weapons, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive intelligence.

“The assessments were consistent: The ATACMs (Army Tactical Missile System) weren’t going to change Russia’s nuclear calculus,” said one congressional aide briefed on the intelligence, referring to American missiles with a range of up to 190 miles (306 km).

Russia’s launch of a new ballistic missile last week, which analysts say was meant as a warning to Washington and its European allies, has not changed that conclusion.

One of the five US officials said while Washington assessed that Russia would not seek to escalate with its nuclear forces, it would try to match what it views as US escalation. The official said fielding the new missile was part of that effort.

US officials said the intelligence has helped guide an often divisive debate over recent months inside Biden’s administration about whether Washington loosening restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American weapons was worth the risk of angering Putin.

Officials initially resisted such a move, citing escalation concerns and uncertainty over how Putin would respond. Some of those officials, including in the White House, the Pentagon and the State department, feared lethal retaliation on US military and diplomatic personnel and attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

Others were specifically worried about nuclear escalation. Biden changed his mind because of North Korea’s entry into the war before the U.S. presidential election, US officials have said.

Some officials now believe the escalation concerns, including the nuclear fears, were overblown but stress that the overall situation in Ukraine remains dangerous and that nuclear escalation is not out of the question. Russia’s ability to find other covert ways of retaliating against the West remains a worry.

“Russia’s hybrid response is a concern,” said Angela Stent, director of Eurasian, Russian and East European studies at Georgetown University, referring to Russia’s sabotage in Europe.

“The chance of escalation was never not there. The concern now is greater.”

The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the intelligence assessments.

REACTION AND COUNTER-REACTION
Since August, when Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, Moscow and Kyiv have been locked in a cycle of escalating moves and counter-moves.

Russia has enlisted help from North Korea, which sent between 11,000 and 12,000 soldiers to help its war effort, according to the US.

The same day as Ukraine’s first strike under the relaxed U.S. policy, Russia changed its nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike.

Fear of nuclear escalation has been a factor in U.S. officials’ thinking since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns has said there was a real risk in late 2022 that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

Even so, the White House moved forward with Ukraine aid, sending billions of dollars’ worth of military assistance.

The concerns faded for some officials as Putin did not act on his threats but remained central to how many in the administration weighed decisions on how the US should support Kyiv.

In May, the White House allowed Ukraine to use American missiles in limited circumstances to strike across the border but not deep inside Russia, citing risk of escalation by Moscow, marginal tactical benefit and a limited supply of ATACMs.

One of the intelligence assessments from early summer, drawn up at the White House’s request, explained that strikes across the border from the Ukrainian city Kharkiv would have limited impact because 90% of Russian aircraft had been moved back from the border — out of distance of the short-range missiles.

But the assessments also noted while Mr. Putin often threatens to use nuclear weapons, Moscow is unlikely to take such a step in part because they do not provide a clear military benefit. Intelligence officials described the nuclear option as a last resort for Russia and that Mr. Putin would resort to other means of reprisal first, noting Russia was already engaged in sabotage and cyberattacks.

Still, some officials inside the White House and Pentagon argued that allowing Kyiv to use the missiles to strike inside Russia would put Kyiv, the US and American allies in unprecedented danger, provoking Mr. Putin to retaliate either through nuclear force or other deadly tactics outside the war zone.

Pentagon officials worried about attacks on US military bases.

THE NORTH KOREA FACTOR
The introduction of North Korean troops convinced the administration, particularly a group of officials at the White House and the Pentagon concerned about escalation, to allow the long-range strikes, said a senior US official.

Russia was making battlefield gains and the North Korean troops were viewed internally as escalation by Moscow necessitating a response from Washington, the official said.

Given the early intelligence assessments downplaying the risk of nuclear escalation, the nuclear fears were overstated and the decision to allow wider use of ATACMs came too late, said a senior US official and a lawmaker, citing Russia’s recent advances.

Intelligence sources say Moscow’s most robust and successful reprisal operations are likely to come through sabotage. Russian intelligence services have launched a massive international effort in Europe to intimidate countries who support Ukraine, one European diplomat said.

A US official added Moscow was actively looking to advance its “gray-zone” warfare against the West and that Russia has an extensive network of agents and it exploring options for using them. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES — While most of Los Angeles sleeps, 58-year-old Melquiades Flores starts his day at 1 a.m., supervising the unloading of produce at M&M Tomatoes and Chile Company, the wholesaler he started in 2019.

But the business that Mr. Flores hopes to pass to his children one day is bracing for a disruption.

US President-elect Donald J. Trump has pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and Canada when he takes office on Jan. 20, plus an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods.

“Produce of Mexico” is stamped on almost all the boxes of tomatoes and chilies that arrive at Flores’ downtown warehouse, destined for homes, hotels and restaurant kitchens across the city.

“People will have to pay a higher price. Whatever they charge us, we will pass on to the consumer,” Mr. Flores said from his section of the larger complex, the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market.

No matter what happens in January, Mr. Flores says he has no option but to keep importing produce from Mexico, especially in the winter. The chili-growing season in California lasts four months, from August to November, he says. The rest of the year, he gets the produce from the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Baja California and Sonora.

His team stacks boxes upon boxes of tomatoes in every size and shade of red, plus some shiny green ones for making zesty tomatillo sauce.

“Any tariff is an added tax that impacts all of us, including those who buy a pound, two pounds, or a thousand or 10,000 pounds,” said Mr. Flores, who has lived in Los Angeles for 40 years and is originally from the Mexican state of Morelos.

Mr. Trump has pronounced his love of tariffs, presumably for raising revenue and protecting US industries against imports, but he avoids speaking about the inflationary effect or the impact of potential retaliation from the United States’ top three trading partners.

Officials from Mexico, Canada and China and major industry groups have warned that the tariffs Trump proposes would harm the economies of all involved, cause inflation to spike and damage job markets.

“The president should have first seen how much this will impact everyone before speaking,” Flores said. — Reuters