NEWS,02.02.2013

U.S. Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 1,280 

 

It was Christmas night when Sincere Smith, 2, found his father’s loaded gun on the living room table of their Conway, S.C., mobile home. It took just a second for Smith’s tiny hands to find the trigger and pull. A single bullet ripped into his upper right chest and out his back. His father, Rondell Smith, said he had turned away to call Sincere’s mother, who had left to visit a friend. His back was turned to the toddler, he said, for just that moment.Sincere was still conscious when his father scooped him up and rushed him to the hospital, just a few minutes away.Eleven hours earlier, Sincere Smith had woken up to Christmas  the first that he was old enough to appreciate. His father remembered their last morning well his son ripping through wrapping paper, squealing with delight with each new gift his first bike, a bright toy barn.It was quite a sight seeing Sincere so happy around a cloud of crinkled wrapping paper. “We bought him a little barn thing,” Smith said. “He knew what a barn is. He just seen it ‘Oh Mommy, Daddy! Barn!’ He went crazy over it. … He lit up like a Christmas tree.”Smith, 30, lit up too. “I just wanted to see him open them up,” he said. His own parents were teenagers when they had him. He had vowed to be there for his five children, giving up college and a possible basketball career to take care of them. With Sincere, he promised his wife he’d be a hands-on parent. He said he considered Sincere his best friend.The two kept close that day visiting relatives for more presents and a Christmas dinner of chicken and macaroni and cheese. “Everything was normal,” Smith said. “He was happy. Everything was good then.”Two weeks earlier, Smith had bought a .38-caliber handgun to protect his family after bandits had tried to break into their home. He doesn’t know what to say about the national gun-control debate. He just wants that lost second back. “I would say, man, keep them out of your house,” he offered. “It’s just. Boy. All it takes is a second. Just a second to turn your head. I don’t know, sir.”Sincere died on an ambulance gurney as he was transferred to a second hospital in Charleston.He never got to ride his new blue Spiderman bike outside. It sits in the trunk of his grandmother Sheila Gaskin's car. "He didn't get to ride his bike," she explained. "It was cold [on Christmas]. My daughter doesn't want to take it back to the store."Gaskin lives across the street from her daughter and Smith. She saw Sincere every day of his life. "He hear me coming down the road, my gospel music blasting and he hollering 'Nana!'" she recalled. Now, she said she visits his grave every day. She hasn't gotten a full night's sleep since the accident. "It's just killing me," she said.After Sincere was shot, Rondell Smith thought about taking his own life, Gaskin said. "It's just not good," she said. "It's not good at all. He just has to stay prayed up. ... That's all he can do is give it to God."Smith wasn't at Sincere's side when he died in the ambulance. He was being interrogated by the police, who eventually charged him with involuntary manslaughter. His next court date is Feb. 8.As he was rushing Sincere to the hospital, Smith said he told his son that he loved him. "He couldn't really talk," Smith said. "Last thing I heard him say was, 'Daddy.' He kept trying to say 'Daddy.' Believe me I hear it every day."There were 29 other shooting deaths across the U.S. on Christmas. A soldier was shot and killed in his barracks in Alaska. A man was murdered in the parking lot of Eddie's Bar and Grill in Orrville, Ala. A 23-year-old was shot at a party in Phoenix. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department employee was killed in a drive-by.A 20-year-old Louisville, Ky., man was shot and killed after walking his sister home. On Christmas Eve, he had posted an R.I.P. on his Facebook page for a friend and former classmate, who had been gunned down that day.A 10-year-old in Memphis, Tenn., Alfreddie Gipson, was accidentally shot to death by gun purchased by an older brother, who had gotten the weapon after being bullied at school. Gipson was jumping on a bed when the gun slipped out of a mattress. It discharged when his 12-year-old brother tried to put it back, their mother said at a vigil.There were at least 41 homicides or accidental gun deaths on New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day, at least 54 people died from bullet wounds.Through Google and Nexis searches, The Huffington Post has tracked gun-related homicides and accidents throughout the U.S. since the schoolhouse massacre in Newtown, Conn., on the morning of Dec. 14. There were more than 100 such deaths the first week after the school shooting. In the first seven weeks after Newtown, there have been more than 1,280 gunshot homicides and accidental deaths. Slate has counted 1,475 fatal shooting incidents since Newtown, including suicides and police-involved shooting deaths, which The Huffington Post did not include in its tally.A 17-year-old took his last breath in the backyard of an abandoned house in New Orleans. Prince Jones, 19, was found bleeding to death in a 1998 Buick LeSabre in Nashville, Tenn. A woman was slumped over the steering wheel in Houston, the engine still running.A 52-year-old man was shot and killed at a Checkers parking lot in Atlanta. A 26-year-old man was shot to death in a church parking lot in Jacksonville, Fla. Steven E. Lawson, 28, was shot and killed just outside a church in Flint, Mich., where he was attending a funeral for another gunshot victim.On a Tuesday morning in Baton Rouge, La., police knocked on Alean Thomas' door and told her: "You have a young man dead in your driveway." It was her 19-year-old son. Three days later, a 17-year-old in California was killed visiting family for his birthday.On a Thursday afternoon in New Orleans' Sixth Ward, Dementrius Adams was murdered on his way to buy groceries for his mother. He was 28 and had a 5-year-old daughter. "He was a hard-working man," his sister said told a reporter. "He was so proud of his job. ... He was a good brother, a good father he was a loveable man."Adams had just been promoted from a dishwashing job to cook at a New Orleans restaurant.The dead included grandmothers and a 6 month old. There were police officers and a Texas prosecutor. There was a Bodega worker in Queens, N.Y., and a gas station attendant in East Orange, N.J.A high school majorette, a college freshman at Auburn University and a man planning to get his GED in Bradenton, Fla., were killed. One victim became Chicago's 500th murder of 2012. Another was his town's 40th. One was found frozen and bloody in an alley Tacoma, Wash.'s first slaying of 2013. The victim, a mother, was planning to move with her daughters to Manhattan."I am lost, hollow," said the mother of the GED aspirant gunned down at a Chevron station on New Year's Day.In Newport News, Va., after a shooting broke out, a mother ran outside to protect her two sons, ages 5 and 7. She yelled at one of the gunman and was killed.A Davidson, N.C., husband murdered his wife, then shot himself . Their 3-year-old daughter was found watching T.V. in another room.There were murder-suicides in Florida, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas and California. Most were men killing women, husbands killing wives, boyfriends killing girlfriends, sons killing mothers.There were so many drive-bys. On Jan. 11, in Baltimore, Devon Shields, 26, was found lying in a street with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Three hours later, Delroy Davis was found lying face-up between two houses. Two-and-a-half hours later, Baltimore police rushed to a double-shooting that left one man dead with multiple gunshot wounds. The next day, Sean Rhodes was found "lying face-down in a pool of blood," according to the Baltimore City Paper. Two others survived gunshot wounds. Silly arguments became final arguments. A man was murdered over two broken cigarettes. Another after getting into a spat at a taco truck. Travis Len Massey, 23, was shot and killed by his sister's boyfriend in a family dispute over a missing gun. A 52-year-old Jacksonville man shot and killed a longtime friend over an argument, according to police. When asked what the argument was about, the gunman said he didn't remember, according to a television report.A 6-year-old accidentally killed a 4-year-old. A different 4-year-old accidentally killed a 58-year old.Alexander Xavier Shaw, 18, put a gun to his head to show how safe it was. "Witnesses told officers that Shaw, his uncle, grandparents and some friends were on the back patio talking when he showed them a .38-caliber revolver," a St. Petersburg, Fla., newspaper account said. The gun accidentally fired, killing Shaw.

Spain PM denies corruption claims

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Saturday denied allegations that he received undeclared payments from his ruling party, as he sought to douse a major corruption scandal.Rajoy vowed not to resign despite the publication of documents purportedly showing secret payments to him and other top party officials, branding the damaging reports "harassment".He promised to publish full details of his income and assets, speaking at an emergency meeting of his conservative Popular Party as angry demonstrators outside called for him to step down."I have never received nor distributed undeclared money," he said, adding that he would publish online "statements of income, patrimony and any information necessary" to refute the allegations."I commit myself personally and all of my party to maximum transparency."Rajoy, aged 57, was speaking out for the first time since being named in the scandal which struck at a tense time as the government imposes tough spending cuts on Spaniards suffering in a recession.Last year he defied speculation that the country would need a financial bailout only for the political scandal to erupt in the new year.Leading centre-left newspaper El Pais on Thursday published account ledgers purportedly showing that donations were channelled into secret payments to him and other top party officials.The newspaper said the alleged fund was made up of donations, mostly from construction companies, adding that such payments would be legal as long as they were fully declared to the taxman.Rajoy said the ledgers were false.The allegations fuelled anger among Spaniards suffering in a recession that has thrown millions out of work."We must not allow Spaniards, of whom we are demanding sacrifice to think that we do not observe the strictest ethical rigour," Rajoy said.Protesters say ordinary Spaniards are being made to pay for an economic crisis brought on by the collapse of a construction boom which many blame on corrupt politicians and unscrupulous banks.As Rajoy spoke, demonstrators yelling "Thieves!" gathered near the party headquarters, kept at some distance by police barriers.Among them, 54-year-old school teacher Maxi Sanchez Pizarro vented his anger at the politicians he blamed for economic hardship."My sister is on the verge of being evicted and I didn't get my Christmas bonus, while those ladies and gentlemen not only got their Christmas bonuses but have also been robbing our money," he said."They are shameless crooks and thieves," he added. "I hope they have the honour to resign and call an election."An online petition at change.org calling for Rajoy to resign, launched on Thursday, had gathered nearly 650 000 signatures by Saturday afternoon.On Thursday El Pais cited ledgers kept by former party treasurer Luis Barcenas, apparently showing payments including €25 200 a year to Rajoy between 1997 and 2008.Barcenas was already under investigation in connection with a separate corruption case, with reports that he had millions of euros in a Swiss bank account.Rajoy said that case had nothing to do with the party and that it had never had foreign bank accounts.

Japan PM vows to block China from islands

Japan's prime minister has vowed to defend disputed remote islands from escalating threat from China.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on Japan's Self-Defence Forces on southern Japan on Saturday, saying the disputed islands in the East China Sea are under increasing threat.Abe said he will defend them "at all costs".The uninhabited islands are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China. Japan's nationalisation of the islands in September triggered violent protests across China, hurting Japanese companies there and the economy.China has sent surveillance ships regularly to waters near the islands, and aircraft from the two sides have trailed each other, raising the risk of missteps that could trigger a clash.Japan has recently launched diplomatic efforts to ease tensions, with China-friendly officials visiting Beijing for talks.Japan's coast guard has detained a Chinese fishing boat for "alleged unauthorised coral fishing" near Okinawa, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, quoting the Chinese Consulate General in the city of Fukuoka.The vessel was detained off Miyako, some 150km from islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a simmering dispute between the two countries.

South Korea, US in naval drill

South Korea and the US will hold a joint naval exercise next week, a report said on Saturday, a move seen as a warning to North Korea ahead of its widely expected nuclear test.The three-day exercise involving a US nuclear submarine and other warships will begin on Monday in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) off the South Korean port city of Pohang, Yonhap news agency reported."It will include anti-submarine and anti-air trainings and maritime manoeuvrings," a military official was quoted as saying in the report.The exercise comes as tensions run high on the Korean peninsula, with Pyongyang threatening to carry out its third nuclear test in response to UN sanctions imposed for a long-range rocket launch it carried out in December.The North said the launch was a scientific mission aimed at placing a satellite in orbit, but most of the world saw it as a disguised ballistic missile test.South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Jung Seung-Jo said on Friday the drill aims to test combat readiness between Seoul and Washington while guarding against possible North Korean provocations involving submarines, according to Yonhap.A 6 900-ton US nuclear submarine USS San Francisco and a 9 800-ton Aegis destroyer USS Shiloh were being mobilised for the exercise."The presence of a US nuclear submarine here would itself serve as a message to North Korea", Jung said.North Korea has reportedly covered the entrance to a tunnel at its nuclear test site in an apparent effort to avoid satellite monitoring of its ongoing preparations for a possibly imminent detonation.A camouflage net was placed on the tunnel entrance at Punggye-ri in the north-eastern North Korea, the site of the two previous nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.But a government source in Seoul said that increased activity had been spotted at the site, which has three tunnel entrances and multiple support buildings."At a tunnel in the southern part of the test site in Punggye-ri, we've found that work presumed to be part of preparations for a nuclear test has entered its final stage," the unnamed source told Yonhap on Saturday."The North may conduct the test at either the western or southern tunnels. But the activities spotted near the southern one could be aimed at distracting us from the more likely place of the western tunnel."

NEWS,20.05.2012.

G8 seek ways to soothe financial markets

 

 

World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone today and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalising their economies, which are increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis.In a bold statement of support for Europe, the Group of Eight leaders of the world's major economies meeting at the wooded Camp David in the Cactoctin Mountains of Maryland said the global economic recovery shows promising signs but "significant headwinds persist.""Against this backdrop, we commit to take all necessary steps to strengthen and reinvigorate our economies and combat financial stresses, recognising that the right measures are not the same for each of us," it said in a communique.The leaders said they welcomed discussions in Europe to balance debt reduction with measures to support growth and added: "We reaffirm our interest in Greece remaining in the euro zone while respecting its commitments."It was unusual for the often-bland G8 communique to single out a small nation. But fears that a political stalemate in Greece would lead to the tiny Mediterranean country leaving Europe's monetary union at unknown costs to the financial system have spooked global markets.US President Barack Obama and leaders from other major economic powers met to discuss the global economy and seek ways to soothe markets after worries about Spain's banking problems also played a role in sending world stock prices to their lowest levels this year.Earlier, a shirt-sleeved Obama opened the morning session, promising to seek ways to restore healthy growth and jobs and address concerns in Europe."All of us are absolutely committed to making sure that both growth and stability, and fiscal consolidation, are part of an overall package in order to achieve the kind of prosperity for our citizens we all are looking for," Obama said.British Prime Minister David Cameron, after an early morning treadmill workout with Obama at the Camp David gym, said he detected a "growing sense of urgency that action needs to be taken" on the euro zone crisis.London relies heavily on international finance and banking instability would strike a fresh blow to an economy already in recession."Contingency plans need to be put in place and the strengthening of banks, governance, firewalls - all of those things need to take place very fast," he told reporters.European leaders seemed keen to stress on Friday that they would stand firm in protecting their banks, after news of escalating bad loans raised the specter that rescuing Spain's banks would crash the euro zone's fourth largest economy."We will do whatever is needed to guarantee the financial stability of the euro zone," European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said.Earlier French President Francois Hollande suggested using European funds to inject capital into Spain's banks, which would mark a significant acceleration of EU rescue efforts.An Italian newspaper reported that Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has proposed at the G8 summit creating a Europe-wide system of bank deposit insurance. Officials had no immediate comment.Obama, Monti, Hollande Beyond stabilising the financial system, a key issue on the agenda is how to balance a growth with efforts to lower government debt through fiscal belt tightening.Obama has aligned himself with Monti and the new French president in putting more emphasis on growth.That places pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has pushed fiscal austerity as a the prime means of bringing down huge debt levels that are burdening European economies.Voters in euro zone countries have shown frustration with that approach, ejecting the Greek government. In France the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated by Hollande, a socialist, in the May 6 elections.A draft of the summit communique shown to Reuters will stress an "imperative to create growth and jobs."There are signs of softening in Germany's austerity stance.Germany's largest industrial union, IG Metall, struck its biggest pay deal in 20 years today. The 4.3% pay increase, more than double Germany's inflation rate, will boost worker buying power in the euro zone's richest nation and lift consumption - something the United States long has urged as a means to bolster overall growth throughout the world's second largest economic region.Obama, in the discussion on the global economy, advocated a balanced approach, saying there should be "no artificial boosts," G8 delegation sources said."We need a growth agenda while maintaining fiscal discipline," he said, according to sources.In the G8 group photo outside the presidential log cabin surrounding by lush green trees, Obama also sought balance. He stood with the leaders of Europe's two largest powers - France and Germany - to his right and his left respectively.An adviser to Hollande said France's growth message is winning supporters."The positions he has taken are seeing an extremely positive echo in Europe but also in the United States, Canada and Japan," the adviser said.Global security Also on the summit agenda are concerns about oil and food prices as well as Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and North Korea.Speculation has grown that Obama will use an energy session at the G8 to seek support to tap emergency oil reserves before a European Union embargo of Iranian crude takes effect in July.But with oil prices already sliding, a move by Obama to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - alone or along with other countries - could expose him to criticism that the emergency supply should only be touched in a supply crisis.The Camp David summit kicked off four days of intensive diplomacy that will test leaders' ability to quell unease over the threat of another financial meltdown as well as plans to wind down the unpopular war in Afghanistan.After the Camp David talks wrap up later today, Obama will fly to his home town of Chicago where he will host a two-day NATO meeting at which the Afghanistan war will be the central topic.

NEWS,17.05.2012.

Plans to strike Iran 'ready', says US Israel envoy

 

US plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is "fully available", the US ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms.Like Israel, the United States has said it considers military force a last resort to prevent Iran using its uranium enrichment to make a bomb. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for purely civilian purposes."It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force," Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel's Army Radio today."But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available - not just available, but it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," said Shapiro, who the radio station said had spoken on Tuesday.The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been using sanctions and negotiations to try to persuade Iran to curb its uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for reactors, medical isotopes, and, at higher levels of purification, fissile material for warheads.New talks opened in Istanbul last month and resume on May 23 in Baghdad.Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, feels threatened by the prospect of its arch-foe Iran going nuclear and has hinted it could launch preemptive war.But many analysts believe the United States alone has the military clout to do lasting damage to Iran's nuclear programme.In January, Shapiro told an Israeli newspaper the United States was "guaranteeing that the military option is ready and available to the president at the moment he decides to use it".US lawmakers are considering additional legislation that would increase pressure on Iran, with further measures to punish foreign companies for dealing with Iran in any capacity.

Chinese boats seized by North Koreans in rare spat

 

North Korean officials have demanded payment before they will release Chinese fishing boats with a total of 29 men on board, Chinese media reported today, in a rare public spat between the neighbours and longtime allies.The Chinese owners of the boats said they were seized by a North Korean gunboat on May 8 in the Yellow Sea, between China and North Korea, the Beijing News reported.The owners said the vessels were fishing in Chinese waters. North Korea has not made any public comment on the case.The North Koreans holding the boats and sailors demanded payment of 1.2 million yuan ($NZ247,819) for releasing them, then cut their price to 900,000 yuan and set a deadline of today, Zhang Dechang, owner of one of the captured boats told the newspaper, which called the demand a "ransom".The 29 sailors who were on board the boats are now in North Korea, said one captured seaman in a call with an owner, the newspaper added.The Chinese government would not publicly confirm any details about the reported incident."China is maintaining close contact with North Korea through the relevant channels, and we hope this problem will be appropriately solved as soon as possible," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily briefing."We have also stated to North Korea that it should ensure the legitimate rights of Chinese ship personnel."China is the key economic and diplomatic backer of North Korea, seeing it as a buffer against US influence in the region. Beijing is a major supplier of food aid and oil to the North, which remains isolated by sanctions over its nuclear ambitions and rocket launches.China has been quietly pressing North Korea to scrap plans for a third nuclear test, sources with knowledge of closed-door talks between the countries have told Reuters.Pyongyang has sought to strengthen ties with Beijing through frequent visits and praise of their friendship, but the North can also be resentful about what it sees as infringements of its territory, and Chinese dominance of relations.It was unclear whether the seizure of the boats was authorised by the North Korean government, or was the initiative of local officials.The Chinese Foreign Ministry told the Beijing News the incident was a "fisheries case", and will be resolved as soon as possible.

NEWS,19.04.2012.

India tests missile capable of reaching China

India test-fired a long range missile capable of reaching deep into China and Europe, thrusting the emerging Asian power into an elite club of nations with intercontinental nuclear weapons capabilities.A scientist at the launch site said the launch was successful, minutes after television images showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000 km blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast."It has met all the mission objectives," S.P.Dash, director of the test range. "It hit the target with very good accuracy."The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a now-mothballed missile programme developed primarily with a possible threat from neighbouring China in mind.Only the UN Security Council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the Security Council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it rushes to upgrade equipment for a large but outdated military."It is one of the ways of signalling India's arrival on the global stage, that India deserves to be sitting at the high table," said Harsh Pant, a defence expert at King's College, London, describing the launch as a "confidence boost".The launch, which was flagged well in advance, has attracted none of the criticism from the West faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week.But China noted the launch with disapproval."The West chooses to overlook India's disregard of nuclear and missile control treaties," China's Global Times newspaper said in an editorial published before the launch, which was delayed by a day because of bad weather."India should not overestimate its strength," said the paper, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party's main mouthpiece the People's Daily.India has not signed the non-proliferation treaty for nuclear nations, but enjoys a de facto legitimacy for its arsenal, boosted by a landmark 2008 deal with the United States.On Wednesday, NATO said it did not consider India a threat. The US State Department said India's non-proliferation record was "solid," while urging restraint.India says its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence only.It is close to completing a nuclear submarine that will increase its ability to launch a counter strike if it were attacked.India lost a brief Himalayan border war with its larger neighbour, China, in 1962 and has ever since strived to improve its defences. In recent years the government has fretted over China's enhanced military presence near the border.

Thursday's launch may prompt a renewed push from within India's defence establishment to build a fully fledged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme capable of reaching the Americas, though some of India's allies may bridle at such an ambition."Policy-wise it becomes more complicated from now on, until Agni V, India really has been able to make a case about its strategic objectives, but as it moves into the ICBM frontier there'll be more questions asked," said Pant.The Agni V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni, or Fire, series, part of a programme that started in the 1960s. Earlier versions could reach old rival Pakistan and Western China."India can now deter China, it can impose maximum possible punishment if China crosses the red line," Srikanth Kondapalli, professor in Chinese studies at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University told Reuters.The rocket is powered by easier-to-use solid rocket propellants and can be transported by road.

Too early to tell on Kim Jong-Un: Clinton

Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered some hope on Wednesday that North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong-Un, may yet change course despite the reclusive Communist state's recent rocket launch and the threat of a new nuclear test.Clinton said it was too early to tell what to make of the surprise remarks to soldiers on Sunday by the youngest son of the late Kim Jong-Il, who saw North Korea fall into deep poverty and developed a nuclear weapons programme during his 17-year rule.Without elaborating, Clinton said Jong-Un's speech was analysed as "some of the old - same old stuff" and "some possible new approach"."We really are waiting and watching to see whether he can be the kind of leader that the North Korean people need."If he just follows in the footsteps of his father, we don't expect much other than the kind of provocative behaviour and the deep failure of the political and economic elite to take care of their own people," Clinton said."But he is someone who has lived outside of North Korea, apparently, from what we know. We believe that he may have some hope that the conditions in North Korea can change. But again we're going to watch and wait," she said. Jong-Un is in his late 20s.North Korea said on Wednesday it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation of last week's failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood it will push ahead with a third nuclear test.The United States and others said the launch was a test for a long range missile, while North Korea has insisted it was meant to put a satellite into orbit.

NEWS,18.04.2012.

Angry North Korea threatens retaliation

A bristling North Korea today said it was ready to retaliate in the face of international condemnation over its failed rocket launch, increasing the likelihood the hermit state will push ahead with a third nuclear test.The North also ditched an agreement to allow back inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. That followed a United States decision, in response to the rocket launch it says was a disguised long-range missile test, to break off a deal earlier this year to provide the impoverished state with food aid.Pyongyang called the US move a hostile act and said it was no longer bound by its February 29 agreement with Washington, dashing any hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un would soften a foreign policy that has for years been based on the threat of an atomic arsenal to leverage concessions out of regional powers."We have thus become able to take necessary retaliatory measures, free from the agreement," the official KCNA news agency said, without specifying what actions it might take.Many analysts expect that with its third test, North Korea will for the first time try a nuclear device using highly enriched uranium, something it was long suspected of developing but which it only publicly admitted to about two years ago."If it conducts a nuclear test, it will be uranium rather than plutonium because North Korea would want to use the test as a big global advertisement for its newer, bigger nuclear capabilities," said Baek Seung-joo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analysis.Defence experts said by successfully enriching uranium, to make bombs of the type dropped on Hiroshima nearly 70 years ago, the North would be able to significantly build it up stocks of weapons-grade nuclear material.It would also allow it more easily to manufacture a nuclear warhead to mount on a long range missile.The latest international outcry against Pyongyang followed last week's rocket launch, which the United States and others said was in reality the test of a long range missile with the potential to reach the US mainland.North Korea has insisted the rocket launch, which in a rare public admission it said failed, was meant to put a satellite into orbit as part of celebrations to mark the 100th birthday of President Kim Il-sung, whose family has ruled the autocratic state since it was founded after World War Two.The peninsula has been divided ever since with the two Koreas yet to sign a formal peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.Recent satellite images have showed that the North has pushed ahead with work at a facility where it conducted previous nuclear tests.While the nuclear tests have successfully alarmed its neighbours, including major ally China, they also showcase the North's technological skills which helps impress a hardline military at home and buyers of North Korean weapons, one of its few viable exports.The North has long argued that in the face of a hostile United States, which has military bases in South Korea and Japan, it needs a nuclear arsenal to defend itself."The new young leadership of North Korea has a very stark choice; they need to take a hard look at their polices, stop the provocative action," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Brazil's capital.The Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un, who is in his late 20s, rose to power after his father's death last December. The country's propaganda machine has since made much of his physical likeness to his revered grandfather, the first leader and now North Korea's "eternal president".But hopes the young Kim could prove to be a reformer have faded fast. In his first public speech on Sunday, the chubby leader made clear that he would stick to the pro-military policies of his father that helped push the country into a devastating famine in the 1990s.Kim is surrounded by the same coterie of generals that advised his father and he oversaw Sunday's mass military parade.He urged his people and 1.2 million strong armed forces to "move forward to final victory" as he lauded his grandfather's and father's achievements in building the country's military.

Russia creates 'police crimes' unit

Russia on Wednesday created a special unit to investigate crimes committed by the country's vast but corruption-laden police force.The powerful Investigative Committee's decision to form the unit follows a spate of reports of police torture in the country's prisons and a new focus on the problem in Russia's Kremlin-controlled media."The need to create such a special unit is based on objective reasons," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.It said investigators currently looking into police crimes run into "certain difficulties" because officers and their bosses often use their professional skills "to mislead the investigation and avoid criminal responsibility".Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev was forced to report to parliament last week about a spike in reported police violence and other abuses.The recent death in custody of a petty crime suspect after being raped by officers with a champagne bottle has focussed attention on the problem which has dogged Russia for years.Investigators said they have received 65 complaints against the same police precinct in the central Russian region of Tatarstan since the case initially came to light last month.Russia's outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev had made police reforms one of the planks of his four years in power.But he was recently forced to admit that his campaign to improve the police force may take years.

NEWS,16.04.2012.

UN tightens North Korea sanctions

The UN Security Council on Monday tightened sanctions against North Korea over its failed rocket launch and warned of new "action" if the isolated state stages a new nuclear test.The 15-member council - including permanent member China - unanimously agreed a statement strongly condemning the launch on Friday which it said had caused "grave security concerns" in Asia.The council ordered new "entities and items" to be added to the sanctions committee list created after North Korea staged nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.It also ordered the sanctions committee to revise the individuals and North Korean firms and entities subject to the international measures.The council said the launch of the rocket, which disintegrated over the Yellow Sea shortly after it was sent up, was a "serious violation" of UN resolutions 1718 and 1874.North Korea said its rocket launch was a weather satellite, but the United States and its allies said it was an attempt to test a missile launcher.The council demanded that North Korea hold back from any launches "using ballistic missile technology," suspend "all activities related to its ballistic missile programme" and keep to its promised "moratorium on missile launches"."The Security Council expresses its determination to take action accordingly in the event of a further DPRK launch or nuclear test."

Iran nuclear dispute 'can be solved'

A semi-official Iranian news agency is quoting the country's foreign minister as saying that Tehran is ready to resolve all of its nuclear disputes in talks with world powers scheduled for late May in Baghdad.Isna on Monday quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying that Tehran is "ready to solve all issues very quick and easily" if there is goodwill.Tehran appears to be signalling flexibility after Saturday talks in Istanbul with world powers that both sides hailed as positive. They agreed to a new round of negotiations in the Iraqi capital.Salehi urged the West to lift sanctions imposed on Tehran after it refused to stop controversial nuclear activities that the US and its allies say are aimed at developing weapons technology. Iran denies the charges.

Karzai blames Nato for attacks

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Monday blamed intelligence failures, particularly on the part of Nato forces supporting his government, for the worst coordinated insurgent attacks in 10 years of war.Karzai's accusation came after an unprecedented 18-hour assault by squads of Taliban militants, some disguised as women in burqas, on government offices, embassies and foreign bases in Kabul and neighbouring provinces."The terrorists' infiltration in Kabul and other provinces is an intelligence failure for us and especially for Nato and should be seriously investigated," Karzai said in a statement.Explosions and gunfire rocked the Afghan capital on Sunday and overnight before Afghan forces regained control, heightening fears for the future of the vulnerable nation as Nato prepares to withdraw its 130 000 troops.The Western alliance, which is committed to pulling out by the end of 2014 whatever happens militarily, put a positive spin on the attacks, hailing the performance of Afghan security forces.Karzai also praised the rapid response by Afghan security forces, saying it "proved to the people that they can defend their country successfully".But his laying of the major share of the blame on troops whose home countries are already tired of the long war and its enormous cost, is unlikely to go down well with his allies.The attacks in Kabul and neighbouring provinces killed 11 members of the security forces and four civilians and wounded 32 civilians and around 42 security personnel, Karzai said.Thirty-six insurgents were also killed, the interior ministry said."That they did manage to pull off simultaneous complex attacks shows quite a level of sophistication in preventing detection... so that would be a failure in intelligence," said Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts' Network."But having said that, in a big bustling city like Kabul it is incredibly difficult to stop this type of attack."Afghan security forces took the lead in countering the insurgents, who were finally routed early on Monday, but a spokesperson for Nato forces said they had provided air support in response to requests from the Afghans."I am enormously proud of how quickly Afghan security forces responded to [the] attacks in Kabul," said General John Allen, commander of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the ability of Afghan forces to respond to the attacks was a "clear sign of progress", while ISAF labelled the attacks "largely ineffective".However, the fact that so many militants managed to make it through Kabul's so-called "Ring of Steel" checkpoints and attack high-value targets was a propaganda coup for the Taliban.A Western diplomat with security expertise told AFP: "I don't share at all the optimism of Nato or the Americans."It's true that they did it better than in the past - there is progress but still, to build up so many attacks and being able to launch them simultaneously demonstrates clearly [the Taliban's] ability to strike where and when they want," he said on condition of anonymity.Nato insisted that the attacks would not influence its plans to withdraw."Clearly we still face security challenges," Nato spokesperson Oana Lungescu told a news briefing in Brussels. "But such attacks don't change the transition strategy, they don't change the goal and they don't change the time line that we all agreed to at the Lisbon summit in November 2010," she said.The US, British, German and Japanese embassy compounds came under fire as militants attacked the city's diplomatic enclave and tried to storm parliament, sparking a gun battle as lawmakers and bodyguards fired back from the rooftop.Outside the capital, militants attacked government buildings in Logar province, the airport in Jalalabad, and a police facility in the town of Gardez in Paktya province.The attacks marked the biggest assault on the capital in 10 years of war in terms of their spread and coordination, observers say.In September last year Taliban attacks targeting locations including the US embassy and headquarters of foreign troops in Kabul killed at least 14 during a 19-hour siege.And in August, nine people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural centre.

NEWS,15.04.2012.

Kim Jong Un's makes first public speech

 

Pyongyang - North Korea's new leader addressed his nation and the world for the first time on Sunday, vowing to place top priority on his impoverished nation's military, which promptly unveiled a new long-range missile.The speech was the culmination of two weeks of celebrations marking the centenary of the birth of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung - festivities that were marred by a failed launch on Friday of a rocket that generated international condemnation and cost North Korea a food aid-for-nuclear-freeze deal with Washington.Kim Jong Un's speech took North Koreans gathered at Kim Il Sung Square and around televisions across the country by surprise. His father, late leader Kim Jong Il, addressed the public only once in his lifetime.Appearing calm and measured as he read the 20-minute speech, Kim Jong Un covered a wide range of topics, from foreign policy to the economy. His speech, and a military parade that followed, capped the carefully choreographed festivities commemorating Kim Il Sung's birthday.It was the best look yet the outside world has had of the young Kim, who is believed to be in his late 20s.Punctuating Kim's message that the North will continue to pour funds into its military, the parade culminated with the unveiling of a new long-range missile, though it's not clear how powerful or significant the addition to the North Korean arsenal it is. Some analysts suggested it might have been a dummy designed to dupe outside observers.Although the rocket launch on Friday was a huge, costly embarrassment for the new leadership, Kim's address was seen by analysts as an expression of confidence by the young leader and meant to show that he is firmly in control."Superiority in military technology is no longer monopolised by imperialists, and the era of enemies using atomic bombs to threaten and blackmail us is forever over," Kim said.His message suggested no significant changes in national policy - the "Military First" strategy has long been at the centre of North Korea's decision-making process.But there was strong symbolism in the images of the new leader addressing the country on state TV and then watching - and often laughing and gesturing in relaxed conversation with senior officials - as the cream of his nation's 1.2 million-strong military marched by.Outside analysts have raised worries about how Kim, who has been seen but not publicly heard since taking over after his father's December death, would govern a country that has a nuclear weapons programme and has previously threatened Seoul and Washington with war.At the celebration of Kim Il Sung, he appeared to clear his first hurdle.The speech was a good "first impression for his people and for the world," said Hajime Izumi, a North Korea expert at Japan's Shizuoka University. "He demonstrated that he can speak in public fairly well, and at this stage that in itself - more than what he actually said - is important. I think we might be seeing him speak in public more often, and show a different style than his father."Kim said he will strengthen North Korea's defences by placing the country's "first, second and third" priorities on military might. But he said he is open to working with foreign countries that do not have hostile policies toward his nation, and said he would strive to reunify Korea.He also stressed the importance of national unity, calling his country "Kim Il Sung's Korea" rather than North Korea."That suggests to me that they want to let the country, and the world, know that this is a 'new' country," said Han S Park, a University of Georgia professor who works frequently with top US and North Korean officials, after watching the events in Pyongyang.Despite his youth, Kim has been groomed since his teens to step into this role, Park said, citing conversations with North Koreans with knowledge of the leader's personal history.Cha Myong Hui, a journalist with the government-run Minju Joson newspaper, said she was struck by how much he resembles his father and grandfather."I can tell you every person in my country cried when they heard his voice," she said.The young leader said he will aggressively pursue economic growth to improve people's daily lives. North Korea has suffered decades of economic hardship following a famine in the mid-1990s and the loss of aid from the Soviet Union. Kim Jong Un's formal three-year succession has coincided with a push to improve the economy by employing modern technology.Kim made no direct mention of the rocket failure. But North Korea's state media made an extraordinary announcement hours after the launch, saying that the attempt to send a satellite into space had flopped. It still claims past launches succeeded, which international experts deny.Concerns remain high that North Korea may now feel itself under pressure to make up for the botched rocket launch with a nuclear test - as it did in 2006 and 2009.The finale in Sunday's military parade added to the worries over North Korea's military. But analysts in Japan and South Korea said further examination is needed to determine whether it's a new intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea reportedly has been building.Narushige Michishita, a North Korea military expert at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said the missile appeared to be new, but strongly resembled the rocket used on Friday and also the long-range Taepodong-2, which North Korea first launched, unsuccessfully, in 2006.He said it probably has three stages but did not appear to be big enough to have the 15 000km range needed to effectively attack the United States, which would be the goal of an ICBM for the North."I don't think this is a serious ICBM," Michishita said. "Putting it on display has a psychological impact, and that would have been greater if Friday's launch had worked. But North Korea has a very bad record with long-range missiles. It think this is more a propaganda ploy than a military advance."

Ex-dictator admits 'disappearances'

 

Buenos Aires - Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla admitted for the first time in a new book that "7 000 or 8 000 people" disappeared under his regime between 1976 and 1981.Caferino Reato, author of the book called Final Disposition, says Videla admitted the disappearances during 20 hours of interviews in the federal military prison where he is held."Let's say there were 7 000 or 8 000 people who had to die to win the war against subversion," the book quotes Videla as saying.Sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, the former dictator, 86, also admitted he decided on "the disappearance of the bodies to avoid provoking protests inside and outside the country," according to the book by Reato, who is a journalist and political scientist."Each disappearance must certainly be understood as a way to hide, to conceal a death," Videla is quoted as saying in excerpts published on the website of publisher Random House Mondadori.Videla was the first president of the last Argentine dictatorship, which ran from 1976 to 1983.He said insurgents compelled him to take action that ended in their disappearances and deaths."There was no other alternative," Videla said. Military leaders "were in agreement that it was the price that must be paid to win the war against subversion and we needed that it not be obvious so society would not realise it. It was necessary to eliminate a large group of people who could not be brought to justice nor shot either," he said.The author drew the name of the book, Final Disposition, from a comment made by Videla."Final Disposition" was the phrase used. They are two very military words and they mean to take something out of service that is useless. When, for example, you're talking about a piece of clothing that you no longer use or is no good because it's worn out, it goes to final disposition."The former general said that two months before the 24 March 24 1976 coup, military leaders began drawing up lists of people they thought should be arrested immediately after the overthrow of Isabel Peron, who was president from 1974 to 1976."There are no lists with the fate of the disappeared," Videla said. "There might be partial lists, but they're messy."He added that "from a strictly military point of view, we did not need the coup. It was a mistake."Humanitarian organisations estimate that about 30 000 people disappeared during the dictatorship, most of them in about 600 clandestine detention centres.The Argentine government continues to prosecute some of the accused human rights violators of the military dictatorship. There were 84 new convictions in 2011 and 843 more trials are pending.

NEWS,14.04.2012.

North Korea's rocket launch failure an embarassment

 

North Korea said its much hyped long-range rocket launch failed, in a very rare and embarrassing public admission of failure by the hermit state and a blow for its new young leader who faces international outrage over the attempt.The isolated North, using the launch to celebrate the 100th birthday of the dead founding president Kim Il-sung and to mark the rise to power of his grandson Kim Jong-un, is now widely expected to press ahead with its third nuclear test to show its military strength.

"The possibility of an additional long-range rocket launch or a nuclear test, as well as a military provocation to strengthen internal solidarity is very high," a senior South Korean defense ministry official told a parliamentary hearing.The two Koreas are divided by the world's most militarised border and remain technically at war after an armistice ended the Korean War in 1953.The United States and Japan said the rocket, which they claimed was a disguised missile test and the North said was to put a satellite into orbit, crashed into the sea after travelling a much shorter distance than a previous North Korean launch.Its failure raises questions over the impoverished North's reclusive leadership which has one of the world's largest standing armies but cannot feed its people without outside aid, largely from its only powerful backer, China."(There is) no question that the failed launch turns speculation toward the ramifications for the leadership in Pyongyang: a fireworks display gone bad on the biggest day of the year," said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.In a highly unusual move, the North, which still claims success with a 2009 satellite that others say failed, admitted in a state television broadcast seen by its 23 million people that the latest satellite had not made it into orbit.The failure is the first major and very public challenge for the third of the Kim dynasty to rule North Korea just months into the leadership of a man believed to be in his late 20s."It could be indication of subtle change in the North Korean leadership in how they handle these things, something that may be different from the past," said Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses a thinktank affiliated with South Korean Defence Ministry."I mean it would have been unthinkable for them to admit this kind of failure in the past, something that could be seen as an international humiliation. The decision to have come out with the admission had to come from Kim Jong-un."Embarrassingly, the rocket flew for just a few minutes covering a little over 100km to explode over a sea separating the Korean peninsula and China, far less than the last rocket in 2009 that travelled 3,800km, alarming Japan which it over-flew.The launch is in breach of United Nations Security Council sanctions and drew condemnation from the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan.But North Korea looks to have avoided the threat of fresh UN sanctions - which neighbor Japan is pushing for - after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that at talks with his Chinese and Indian counterparts they had agreed new sanctions would do nothing to help resolve the situation.Regional powers are worried that the North is using launches to perfect technology to enable it to build a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States.North Korea has repeatedly defended its right to launch rockets for what it says are peaceful purposes and may have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the failed launch.China, the North's main backer, again appealed for "calm", although its failure to dissuade Pyongyang from undertaking the launch despite propping up the ailing and impoverished state, showed the limitations of its diplomacy, analysts said."North Korea's provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.The North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, said the first stage fell into the sea west of South Korea and the remainder was deemed to have failed."No debris fell on land," NORAD said. "At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat."

Chavez vows to knock out rivals despite tiring treatment

 

Feisty Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged today that radiation treatment for cancer was wearing him down, but he vowed to squash his opponents in October's presidential election.Ramping up the political rhetoric at a huge rally to mark the 10th anniversary of his return to power after a brief coup, Chavez said three sessions of radiation therapy in Cuba had taken their toll.But he was more combative than usual, vowing to win the October 7 "by a knock-out," repeatedly denouncing his opponents as upper-class "bourgeoisie losers," and launching a new anti-coup force that would prevent any repeat of the events of 2002."I continue to recover from the surgery. The radiation has an impact on my body, it has some impact on my physical strength, but I am doing well. We will be alright, thank God," he told tens of thousands of supporters clad in red T-shirts in honor of his ruling Socialist Party.Chavez, 57, said his doctors had not decided whether he was fit to attend a summit of the hemisphere's leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, this weekend in Colombia.If he did attend, it would only be for a few hours before continuing on to Havana for a fourth session of radiation treatment. This time, he told the rally from the balcony of the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, he would spend the whole week in Cuba - longer than his recent trips.The president said he wanted to avoid "coming and going."His frequent visits to a tightly guarded hospital on the Communist-led island means he is taking himself off the political stage for much of the time, just as the opposition's candidate Henrique Capriles pushes on with a national campaign.The political temperature has heated up with the coup anniversary. All week, state TV has played video of the dramatic events of April 11-13, when big marches by both sides clashed in the streets around Miraflores and about 20 people died.Chavez was ousted from power for two days until giant demonstrations by his supporters, and allies in the military, returned him to power in a saga that has taken on almost religious overtones for some passionate "Chavistas."A decade later, they still fume at the illegality of how he was ousted from office. It is also an emotional date for some in the opposition who had a brief taste of long-sought power and a sense of what a post-Chavez Venezuela might feel like.Others in the opposition were happy to see him replaced, if only temporarily, but remain upset by how it happened.Chavez routinely accuses his political foes of plotting another attempt to seize power by force."Prepare yourselves to receive the biggest and most crushing defeat," he said as the crowd cheered.He gave very few details of the new anti-coup force he launched today, but his fiery comments set the stage for a bitterly contested election.They follow threats he made recently to nationalize private banks and any other local businesses that he said were supporting the opposition in its "violent plan" to topple him."We will make them repent forever," he said last month.While he has a solid 13 percentage point lead over Capriles in the most recent poll published last month, many Venezuelans remain undecided and Chavez faces his toughest electoral challenge.His illness has cast further doubt over the future of the man who has dominated politics in South America's biggest oil exporter during his 13 years in office.Very little is known about Chavez's health, including the type of cancer he is battling. He has undergone three operations in Cuba in less than a year and rumors persist that he is more ill than he has admitted.