Syria War: 'Children Are Biggest Casualty'

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Aleppo

The anguished cries of a little boy receiving treatment without anaesthetic for a shrapnel wound to the face fills the putrid air of a converted shop that is an Aleppo field hospital.

The walls are splattered with blood. All around are shop fronts with medics working on the latest injured.

A car pulls out and a young man shot in a drive-by attack staggers inside followed by his screaming mother.

In rebel-held Aleppo, this is just another day. It isn't particularly busy. It is just constant.

Medics, who have gone underground after their hospital was reduced to rubble by a targeted Syrian government bombing campaign, say children are being injured and killed in greater numbers now than the rebel fighters.

Stuck inside this city the children are on the streets more than anyone else. Playing or scavenging amongst piles of rubbish for anything of value to take home, they are now the most vulnerable.

Hamid Sakia was shot by a sniper while playing football

A short distance away in another makeshift hospital room nine-year-old Hamid Sakia whimpers in pain; a sack of draining blood lies on the floor. He was shot by a sniper while playing football. He will lose his kidney. The medics are waiting for a surgeon to get enough anaesthetic to operate.

He whispers a "Yes" as I ask him if it hurts. His mother looks on holding back tears. She buried her daughter this week. Her family is being torn apart.

It is not about the lack of food or heating or supplies, she says.

"What will happen in the future?" She asks: "What will happen? Everyone is scared."

In a room next door, surrounded by seat cushions to try to keep the breeze from her skin, Aya Hussein stares motionlessly ahead. She is dreadfully burnt. Her tiny body a web of fierce welts caused by a fire when her apartment was hit by an artillery round.

Aya Hussein was burned when she was hit by an artillery round

The cushions are her treatment. This is life in Aleppo.

This city is slowly being destroyed. There is barely a building unscarred by the bombing from fighter jets and artillery. A million plus people still live here amongst the ruins where shells and snipers are a constant.

Cars cross the most dangerous parts of town protected by mud walls. You can hear the sniper rounds thudding into the barricade or whining over head as you pass.

The dreadful sound of artillery rounds smashing into buildings never stops wherever you go.

Once tree-filled parks are now open spaces. There is no heat or electricity in Aleppo so wood has become a precious commodity.

In the markets there are plenty of local vegetables. But meat, gas, fuel and pretty much everything else comes from Turkey at a huge cost. Gas bottles are 15 times their proper cost.

The city's scarred buildings

People are living in battered apartment blocks. Theirs is a virtual twilight of dark stair wells and shuttered rooms.

The artillery comes from the south so they huddle in north facing homes. But the shrapnel and the explosive power of the bombs means nowhere is truly safe.

"I am hopeless. I can only trust in my God," 78-year-old Mahmoud tells me. He and his wife Emira are alone. Their family has fled, they depend on the handouts of neighbours. Their flat is freezing and bare.

On the next storey Rada cuddles two of her six children. It is freezing inside and they have just a few scraps of food to eat.

"My husband won't leave Aleppo. We want to stay here whatever happens. Our children are ill, they are frightened, but we have nowhere else to go," she says.

The rebels and the government forces appear to have fought themselves to a standstill. In the middle a population is stuck, surviving but dying as well, every day.

This is Aleppo.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Fidel Castro Makes Surprise Appearance

Cuba's retired leader Fidel Castro chatted with other voters and reporters for more than an hour as he made his first extended public appearance since 2010 to vote in parliamentary elections.

The 86-year-old has voted from home in three previous elections since being taken ill in 2006 and handing power to his brother Raul two years later.

State-run television said the white-bearded Castro spoke to the public at a Havana polling station about efforts to reform the economy, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and praised participation in the election.

Fidel Castro

"The people are truly revolutionary, they have really sacrificed. We don't have to prove it, history will. Fifty years of the blockade and they haven't given in," he said, referring to the US economic blockade of the communist nation.

Cubans went to the polls to elect 612 deputies to the National Assembly and more than 1,000 delegates to provincial assemblies already chosen by the Communist Party-selected list.

About 95% of Cuba's 8.7 million residents over 16 years of age were expected to cast ballots in the election despite their vote having little impact as the number of candidates matches the number of open positions.

The general election cycle began last year with the election of more than 15,000 ward delegates in the only vote in which residents choose between two or more candidates.

"It is a different electoral system. Personally I find it is more democratic than (others) I know," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said after casting his ballot.

Since taking over from his brother, President Raul Castro has decentralised the state-dominated economy, allowing more space for private initiative in agriculture and retail services and has lifted many restrictions on personal freedoms, such as travel and buying and selling homes and cars.

He has also introduced limited top government posts to two five-year terms, but is still to legalise other political organisations.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea Nuclear Test: China Urged To Step In

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

South Korea has issued an urgent request to China to use its influence over North Korea to persuade the isolated nation to abandon its plans for a nuclear test.

Lim Sung-nam, a senior South Korean envoy, met with his Chinese counterpart on Monday as concern mounted that North Korea could carry out a nuclear detonation test this week.

China is North Korea's only real ally and widely seen as the only country with any leverage over Pyongyang.

Seoul's request to Beijing comes as South Korean and US naval forces begin a series of joint exercises in waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The drills, in the Sea of Japan, were pre-planned, but are widely regarded as a tacit warning to North Korea.

Kim Jong-Un held a military meeting at the weekend

Speculation over an imminent nuclear test intensified over the weekend after reports in North Korean state media claimed that Kim Jong-Un, the country's young leader, had chaired an "enlarged meeting of his Central Military Commission". At the meeting, Mr Kim reportedly discussed a "looming great turn" in the country's military capability.

The English-language version of the report did not say when or where the meeting was held, but claimed senior military members of the commission were all present.

The state report read: "Kim Jong-Un made an important concluding speech, which serves as guidelines for further strengthening the (North's Korean People's Army) into a matchless revolutionary army."

Pyongyang has been threatening to conduct a nuclear test for some time.

However, plans for the test, the third since 2006, appear to have been accelerated since the latest round of UN sanctions against the country, themselves prompted by the surprisingly successful rocket launch by Pyongyang in December.

Officials in the South Korean capital Seoul have said their intelligence suggests that all the preparations have been completed and that Mr Kim could order the detonation at any time.

A tunnel under a nuclear test site (Pic: Yonhap News Agency)

The South Korean News agency has published an image which they claim shows the inner structure of a North Korean nuclear test site.

The image is said to be a screen shot from a documentary on North Korean television which shows a tunnel about one kilometre long with 10 doors.

Another image released by the Yonhap News Agency in Seoul shows a mocked-up cross-section of what the nuclear site could look like.

Last week, satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Hamgyong province seen by the South Korean intelligence officials suggested that covers had been placed over a tunnel entrance.

These latest tensions on the Korean Peninsula were sparked in December when North Korea defied and surprised the international community with the launch of a satellite into orbit.

The move prompted the United Nations to levy further sanctions on Pyongyang. The UN resolution had the unusual support of China.

Punggye-Ri nuclear test facility

The Chinese backing is being seen as a clear suggestion of Beijing's frustration at North Korea's continued defiance of international law.

An editorial in China's state-run Global Times newspaper on Monday suggested that China should seize the initiative over the North Korean problem.

"China has the largest stake in Asia, and it will be hit hardest if the situation in Asia becomes disordered," said the editorial; words which would have been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party machine.

"If China doesn't become more active in solving regional hot issues, it will inevitably be affected."

To date, most of Pyongyang's pronouncements have seen by Western governments as little more than bluster and rhetoric.

However, there is increasing international concern that North Korea's inexperienced leader plans to combine his two developing technologies - ballistic missile capability and nuclear detonation tests - to create a nuclear weapon.

Pyongyang's rockets already have the ability to reach far across East Asia, though suggestions that they could reach the west coast of the United States are thought to be wide of the mark.

Analysts also point out that there is a big technological gap between producing a rocket capable of firing a satellite into orbit and developing a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a rocket which could then be fired accurately.

The concerns are compounded by the fact that reliable intelligence is significantly lacking.

Intelligence communities rely largely on the incomplete picture delivered through the many satellites passing over the peninsula.

Information from satellites is useful, but paradoxically, the key questions about how advanced Mr Kim's nuclear programme really is will only be answered once the third test has taken place.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Malala: Schoolgirl Shot By Taliban Speaks Out

The Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban makes her first public statement since she was nearly killed.

In a video interview, 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who is having reconstructive surgery to replace part of her skull at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said that she was "getting better, day by day".

The teenager drew the world's attention when she was shot by Taliban militants on October 9 on a school bus in northwestern Pakistan.

The Islamist group said they targeted her because she promoted girls' education and "Western thinking".

More follows...

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Assad: Syria Can Confront Israeli Aggression

President Bashar al Assad has accused Israel of trying to destabilise Syria after an air strike on a military research base near Damascus last week.

The comments by Assad are the first since the attack on Wednesday that US officials say was targeting a convoy of anti-aircraft weapons inside Syria bound for Hizbollah.

State TV said Assad spoke during a meeting with visiting top Iranian official, Saeed Jalili.

The president said Syria is capable of facing current challenges and can "confront any aggression" that would target the Syrian people.

State news agency SANA quoted Mr Jalili as reaffirming Tehran's "full support for the Syrian people ... facing the Zionist aggression, and its continued coordination to confront the conspiracies and foreign projects".

Israel's defence minister has indicated that his country was behind the air strike, in the first public comments from his government on the attack.

Ehud Barak brought the issue up at a gathering of the world's top diplomats and defence officials in Germany, initially saying: "I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago."

But he added: "I keep telling frankly that we said - and that's proof when we said something we mean it - we say that we don't think it should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon."

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea Meeting Hints At Nuclear Test

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Fears are growing that a planned nuclear test by North Korea may be imminent.

State news reports from the capital Pyongyang claim that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has presided over meeting at which "important decisions" regarding the country's military were made.

According to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Mr Kim chaired an "enlarged meeting" of the country's Central Military Commission.

The English-language version of the report did not say when or where the meeting was held, but claimed senior military members of the commission were all present.

The state report read: "Kim Jong-Un made an important concluding speech, which serves as guidelines for further strengthening the (North's Korean People's Army) into a matchless revolutionary army."

In neighbouring South Korea, President Lee Myung-bak has ordered government agencies to be on the alert.

Mr Lee, who will leave office in the next two weeks, made his comments at an unannounced visit to the underground bunker of the presidential compound.

Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Korea (Pic: Google Maps)

Pyongyang has been threatening to conduct a nuclear test for some time.

However, plans for the test, the third since 2009, appear to have been accelerated since the latest round of UN sanctions against the country, themselves prompted by the surprisingly successful rocket launch by Pyongyang in December.

Last week, satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Hamgyong province seen by the South Korean intelligence officials suggested that covers had been placed over a tunnel entrance.

Both South Korea and the United States are reported to have repositioned intelligence monitoring assets to gain as clear a picture as possible of Pyongyang's intentions.

South Korean and American naval and marine forces are about to begin a pre-planned military exercise in the region.

South Korea's unification minister, Yu Woo-ik, said on Friday that his government believes the third nuclear test will be much more significant than the first two, in 2006 and 2009.

Activity around the test tunnel (Pic: IHS James)

"The first and second tests can be seen as part of Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear capability, while a third detonation could mean it is in the final stages," he warned.

North Korea's successful launch of a satellite into orbit in December defied and surprised the international community.

The move prompted the United Nations to levy further sanctions on Pyongyang. The UN resolution had the unusual support of North Korea's only real ally, China.

The Chinese backing is being seen as a clear suggestion of Beijing's frustration at North Korea's continued defiance of international law.

In the past, much of what comes out of Pyongyang is seen by Western governments as little more than bluster and rhetoric.

However, the surprise success of December's rocket launch did focus minds in Washington, London, Seoul and even Beijing.

The international concern is that North Korea's inexperienced and young new leader plans to combine his two developing technologies - ballistic missile capability and nuclear detonation tests - to create a nuclear weapon.

Pyongyang's rockets already have the ability to reach far across east Asia, though suggestions that they could reach the west coast of the US are thought to be wide of the mark.

Analysts also point out that there is a big technological gap between producing a rocket capable of firing a satellite into orbit and developing a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a rocket which could then be fired accurately.

The concerns are compounded by the fact that reliable intelligence is significantly lacking.

Intelligence communities rely largely on the incomplete picture delivered through the many satellites passing over the peninsula.

Imagery from one satellite, passed to Sky News last week showed increased activity at the probable nuclear test site, but the picture it provides is incomplete.

"The imagery, taken by DigitalGlobe on January 12, displays continued activity at the site, including the presence of three support vehicles and sustained use of roads between different parts of the site." an analyst from IHS Janes told Sky News.

Information from satellites is useful, but paradoxically, the key questions about how advanced Mr Kim's nuclear programme really is will only be answered once the third test has taken place.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chris Kyle: Ex-US Navy Seal Sniper Shot Dead

A former US Navy Seal sniper has been shot dead at a shooting range in Texas, according to reports.

Chris Kyle, who also wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper, was killed alongside another man.

It is believed the 38-year-old had been helping a soldier who was recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Local newspapers have quoted Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant who said the pair were found dead on Saturday afternoon at Rough Creek Lodge's shooting range, which is about an hour from Fort Worth.

The Star-Telegram reported that witnesses told police a gunman opened fire on the men, then fled in a truck belonging to one of the victims.

The newspapers said a 25-year-old man was later taken into custody in Lancaster, southeast of Dallas. The motive is unclear.

Scott McEwen, who co-wrote American Sniper, paid tribute to his friend.

"It just comes as a shock and it's staggering to think that after all Chris has been through, that this is how he meets his end, because there are so many ways he could have been killed," he said.

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History details Kyle's four combat tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars he was awarded for bravery.

It has been claimed he killed 160 people during his career.

After leaving the Navy he founded Craft International, a company that provided combat and weapons training to military, police and corporate and civilian clients.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Iraq: 33 Dead In Bomb Blast And Gun Attack

At least 33 people have been killed in a co-ordinated suicide car bombing and gun attack on a police base in northern Iraq.

A car bomb went off before two militants dressed in police uniforms and armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests stormed the compound in the city of Kirkuk, police said.

A further 90 people were injured in the the rush-hour attacks - shattering a relative calm in recent days in the war-torn country.

Police said there were still bodies trapped under the collapsed debris of buildings following the blast.

An injured man is stretchered away from the scene

The blast caused extensive damage to nearby buildings and vehicles.

The gunmen burst threw the main gates of the police base in the direction of the headquarters block.

They threw several grenades, but were killed before they could get there, witnesses said.

"I saw a vehicle stop at the checkpoint at the main entrance, and the police started checking it," said Kosrat Hassan Karim, who was nearby when the attack took place.

Rescue workers look for survivors among the debris

"Suddenly, a loud explosion happened, it was terrifying.

"I saw many people killed inside their cars."

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack.

Police said the dead including 12 employees at the government office. But a health official said only 16 bodies were at a hospital morgue.

Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city, is at the centre of a dispute over oil and land rights between Baghdad's central government and the autonomous northern Kurdish region.

Firefighters tackle a smouldering vehicle

The unresolved row is persistently cited by diplomats and officials as the biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability.

Tensions between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year.

Militants continue to carry out almost daily strikes, with at least one big attack a month.

Last month a suicide bomber disguised as a mourner killed at least 26 people at a funeral at a Shiite mosque in the nearby city of Tuz Khurmato.

Days earlier, a suicide bomber driving a truck killed 25 people in an attack on a political party headquarters in Kirkuk, which is 105 miles north of the capital Baghdad.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Twitter Hacked: Up To 250,000 Passwords Taken

Around 250,000 Twitter users may have had their accounts compromised by computer hackers.

The social networking site said usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords may have been taken during an "extremely sophisticated" attack on its systems.

It said one attack was shut down moments after it was detected, adding that the passwords of users who may have been affected had been reset.

In a blog, Bob Lord, director of information security at Twitter, said there had been "a recent uptick in large-scale security attacks aimed at US technology and media companies", with the New York Times among those targeted.

He said: "Our investigation has indicated the attackers may have had access to limited user information - usernames, email addresses, session tokens and encrypted/salted versions of passwords - for approximately 250,000 users.

"As a precautionary security measure, we have reset passwords and revoked session tokens for these accounts.

"This attack was not the work of amateurs and we do not believe it was an isolated incident.

"The attackers were extremely sophisticated and we believe other companies and organisations have also been recently similarly attacked."

One expert said the hackers may have gained access through an employee's home or work computer by exploiting vulnerabilities in Java, a widely-used computing language.

Ashkan Soltani, an independent privacy and security researcher, said such a move would give attackers "a toehold" in Twitter's internal network, potentially allowing them to track user information as it travelled across the company's systems or break into specific areas, such as the authentication servers that process users' passwords.

Although the hackers are unlikely to have gained any confidential information, Mr Soltani said the stolen credentials could be used to access other services for which a person has signed up using the same username and password.

Mr Lord said that although "only a very small percentage" of users were potentially affected, everyone who uses the site should ensure their password is secure.

He said passwords should be at least 10 characters long, contain upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, and be different to passwords used for other online accounts.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Egypt: Police Beat Protester Outside Palace

Bloody Scenes Expected In Port Said

Updated: 11:11pm UK, Thursday 31 January 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Port Said

This city has always prided itself on resistance to invaders.

The people of Port Said believe they saw off the British in the 1950s and the Israelis in the 1960s.

Now they're rolling up their sleeves to take on Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi, promising a second round of bloodletting in as many weeks.

A beach resort city that guards the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal, Port Said, was torn by violence last weekend.

Thirty people and two policemen were killed in running street battles.

Locals deny that any of them shot at the police. But there are bullet holes in the walls of the partly burned officers club on the sea front that say otherwise.

Still, there is no hiding the violence that the city met when protestors attacked the prison.

Dozens of market stalls and tiny homes were razed during the fighting – local businesses were riddled with bullets.

The prison was attacked because it housed 21 men condemned to death for their parts in the killing of 74 football fans during a riot on February 1 last year.

Some 59 others, among them nine police, are still waiting for their verdicts in the jail.

The killings last week have fuelled what was already going to be an incendiary brew on the day marking the first anniversary of the riot in which supporters of the Cairo team Al Ahly were beaten and crushed to death.

Ansaf Mousa's son Osama el Sherbiri, 23, an IT graduate was killed last week during the demonstrations.

"Morsi has blood on his hands. Osama el Sherbini exploded the whole world. His death will fuel an explosion.

"There will be a protest against Morsi like none before. This will be the nuclear explosion that blows up the whole place."

Her anger is shared by families across the city.

The bullet that killed Osama wounded his friend Mohammed.

"The youth will be on the streets (on February 1), they have to be to take revenge for Osama and all the others. This isn't going to end here."

A state of emergency was declared in Port Suez, Ismailia and Port Said last week. Curfews imposed for most of the night hours have since been cut back to a token regulation of the small hours of the morning as they were entirely ignored anyway.

General Abdel Fatteh al Sisi, the commander of the Egyptian armed forces, has warned that he fears the nation may fall apart .

He singled out the Suez City as especially troubling – promising to ensure the security of the canal as his top priority.

The region, though prosperous and benefiting from tax free zones and $5.2bn (£3.3bn) in revenues to Egypt for transit fees for shipping, is not associated with the secular middle class that had driven so much of the revolution in Cairo.

Osama's family are deeply religious. Many of the men have callused foreheads from years of prayer.

Yet they object to the Muslim Brotherhood's domination of Egypt's constitutional process and presidency.

"The Muslim Brotherhood are not Muslims – they are just after power," said Osama's mother.

That, in Port Said, seems to be the dominant view.

In a downtown coffee house clattering with domino players El Badry Farghali, a veteran MP who has opposed the military governments which were swept away two years ago and the new Muslim Brotherhood regime ever since, held court to a new generation of young protestors.

"The Muslim Brotherhood will not give up power. They will only manoeuvre. They are backward. They do not have the capacity to run the country on their own. And they will not make concessions. But the Egyptian people will force them to back down," he said.

Port Said has chosen the anniversary of the football chaos to drive home a political message. The odds are that it will be written in blood.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More