North Korea: Nuclear Arsenal 'Will Be Increased'

North Korea has vowed to strengthen its nuclear capability, keeping up a defiant tone a day after warning it was in a "state of war" with South Korea.

Pyongyang also said it would never abandon its atomic weapons in exchange for aid, describing them as a "national treasure".

The central committee of the ruling Workers' Party, chaired by leader Kim Jong-Un, decided at a meeting that the country's nuclear arsenal "should be expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively until the denuclearisation of the world is realised", the official KCNA news agency reported.

Tensions have risen sharply since the United Nations tightened sanctions in response to the North's nuclear and missile tests. Joint US-South Korean military drills south of the border also angered Pyongyang.

On Saturday, the North declared it was in a "state of war" with the South and warned Seoul and Washington that any provocation would swiftly escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict.

Mr Kim presided over a the party's central committee meeting

During their meeting, members of the committee also decided to develop a light water reactor as part of a civilian nuclear power industry to ease electricity shortages, KCNA said.

The North in 2010 disclosed the existence of a uranium enrichment facility and a light water reactor, purportedly to generate power.

Experts said it could easily be reconfigured to make fuel for nuclear weapons, supplementing the existing plutonium weapons programme.

In April 2009, the North formally abandoned six-party talks which offered it economic and security benefits in return for denuclearisation.

Join US-South Korean military drills have angered Pyongyang

On Sunday it reiterated that its atomic weapons were not a bargaining chip.

"They are a treasure of a reunified country which can never be traded with billions of dollars," KCNA quoted the committee as saying.

The meeting vowed to push for nuclear development and boost both agriculture and living standards.

The committee also said it wanted to develop space science and technology, including the launching of more advanced satellites, including communications satellites.

Pyongyang says its long-range rocket launches are aimed at putting satellites into orbit for peaceful purposes. The United States and other nations say the real purpose is to test banned ballistic missile technology.

As tensions have escalated in recent weeks, Washington has maintained a notably assertive stance, flying its nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers over the South.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Afghanistan: Camp Bastion Equipment Return

A major operation to airlift thousands of tonnes of military equipment from Afghanistan has begun as troops prepare to leave the country.

In what could be seen as the biggest spring clean in the world, the redeployment effort will see everything from nuts and bolts to helicopters and armoured vehicles returned to the UK.

The British presence will be almost halved by the end of this year to 5,200 and all combat operations in the country should be over by the end of 2014, leaving Afghan forces in control.

The plan is to leave as little as possible behind.

At Camp Bastion, the main operating base in Helmand which has grown to the size of a town, there are now expanses of dust where canvas villages once stood as empty tents are removed.

From the heavily-armoured trucks to far smaller trailers and buggies, battlefield vehicles sit parked up in a 700-capacity compound.

Used and out-of-date ammunition is collected, ready to be sold for scrap.

Since January some £70m worth of British equipment has left Afghanistan and this is expected to increase rapidly as the withdrawal gathers pace.

A soldier stands in front of the Helmand base's distinctive sign

Lieutenant Charles Ashington-Pickett explained that as well as ensuring nothing goes to waste, the process should prevent weapons and other potentially lethal equipment going astray.

"We class this material as ACTO, meaning attractive to criminal and terrorist organisations," he said.

"This ranges from weapons and ammunition to radios, cameras and batteries."

Until the beginning of this year roughly £500,000 worth of equipment each month moved through six huge canvas warehouses at Camp Bastion.

They are now handling 60 times as much - about £30m each month. Some is reused within Afghanistan but increasingly it is being flown back to the UK and stored or sold on.

Major Katie Lamont's unit is responsible for sorting and packaging the loads. One of their roles is to handle spent ammunition and live rounds which can no longer be used.

These will be melted down as scrap metal, with the high brass and steel content meaning the decommissioned rounds can be sold for £2,000 per tonne.

Maj Lamont said: "One aircraft can carry 80 tonnes worth about £160,000. The cost of the flight is about £20,000 so it represents good value for money."

Unwanted armoured vehicles will go through an advanced service, similar to an MOT, and a high powered chemical car wash to ensure no insects or contamination are brought back to the UK.

Staff sergeant Paul Dunning, whose team of engineers are coming to the end of a six-month tour, expects to have serviced 370 vehicles ready to return by the time they leave this month.

Those in charge stress that the fight is not over. British troops still import more equipment than they export but this balance is shifting as the 2014 deadline approaches.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Train Near Miss Video: Lucky Escape In Brazil

A woman is lucky to be alive after she narrowly avoided being crushed by a train.

It is thought she had climbed down to the tracks at the station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after dropping her mobile phone.

Footage filmed on a mobile phone shows the moment she scrambled back onto the platform with barely a second to spare as a train pulled to a halt.

Two men at the scene helped to drag her to safety and she walked away unharmed, reports said.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

India Bus Rape: Female Tourist Visits Down

Falling levels of safety and security highlighted by the gang rape of a young student on a bus have led to a 25% slump in the number of tourists visiting the country, a survey of tour operators has revealed.

And it says that since December, when the attack occurred, the number of women tourists going to the country has gone down by 35%.

A survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) says foreigners' fears and the global economic slowdown have combined to hit badly the number of visitors.

The bus rape suspects on the way to court

There was a wave of outrage across India and the world following the death of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student who was raped, allegedly by six men in front of a male friend on December 16.

The tourist slump has hit many major Indian cities, not just Delhi where the attack took place, the survey of 1,200 tour operators across the country reveals.

Assocham secretary general D S Rawat said the industry has primarily been hurt by deteriorating standards of safety and security. Tourists had chosen to visit other Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Mr Rawat said: "During last winter season, Goa, Jaipur, Agra and Kerala happened to be highly congested tourist spot(s) but due to recent incidents in India, there has been ... substantial fall in the tourist traffic."

More than seven in 10 tour operators said they had seen cancellations - especially from women - in the last three months, mainly from the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Those who continued with their visits were "taking extra precautions and avoiding affected areas".

According to Indian tourism ministry data, in 2012 about 6.6 million international tourists visited India, earning the country almost $18bn (£12bn).

In March, a Swiss cyclist was allegedly gang-raped in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, and British tourist Jessica Davies jumped from a hotel balcony fearing an attack in Agra.

Mr Rawat said recent crimes against women could impact on tourism in the long term. Security needed to be further strengthened at major tourist sites, he said, and the importance of tourism and respect for tourists needed to be acknowledged.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Bird Flu: New Strain Kills Two In China

Two men have died in China after contracting a strain of avian influenza that has never been passed to humans before, the Chinese official news agency has reported.

The men, aged 87 and 27, became sick late last month and died in Shanghai in early March, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The strain of the bird flu virus was identified as H7N9, which had not been transmitted to humans before, Xinhua said, quoting the national health and family planning commission.

There are no known vaccines against the H7N9 virus.

However, the strain does not seem highly contagious because no health abnormalities were detected among 88 of the victims' close contacts, the commission said.

Another woman in nearby Anhui province also contracted the virus in early March and is in a critical condition.

All three cases showed symptoms of fever and coughs that later developed into pneumonia.

It is unclear how the three were infected.

China is considered one of the nations most at risk from bird flu because  it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.

The World Health Organisation says more than 360 confirmed human deaths from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza have been reported globally from 2003 until March 12 this year.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope Francis Calls For Korea 'Reconcilliation'

Pope Francis prayed for a "political solution" in Syria and for "reconciliation" on the Korean peninsula in his first Easter Sunday message.

Thousands of people packed into St Peter's Square to see the pontiff celebrate his first Easter mass and to hear his message to the faithful.

Latin America's first pontiff also issued an appeal for hostages held by militants in Nigeria and condemned human trafficking as "the most extensive form of slavery in this 21st century".

The pope delivered his "Urbi et Orbi" blessing to Rome and the world from the same balcony of St Peter's Basilica where he made his first appearance after his momentous election to the papacy this month.

Speaking in front of some 250,000 people from around the world, Francis prayed for "dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort."

He asked: "How much blood has been shed? And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found?"

"On the Korean peninsula, may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow," he said, a day after North Korea declared it was in a "state of war" with South Korea.

Francis also prayed for Nigeria "where great numbers of people, including children, are held hostage by terrorist groups" -- an apparent reference to a French family kidnapped in Cameroon and believed held by the Nigerian group Boko Haram.

The pope also toured St Peter's Square in his open-top "popemobile" -- kissing babies and waving to cheering crowds who held up flags from around the world including his native Argentina.

Pope Francis arrives for the mass in St Peter's Square

Easter is the holiest day in the Christian calendar and celebrates the belief in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. It is the culmination of weeks of intense prayer for Christians.

At an Easter Vigil in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday, the first pontiff from outside Europe in nearly 1,300 years of Church history reached out to non-believers and lapsed Catholics, urging them to "step forward" to God.

The Catholic Church has been struggling in the face of rising secularism, particularly in Europe where attendances at masses are falling sharply.

During his message, Francis prayed God would reach "every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons."

On Holy Thursday, Francis celebrated an unprecedented Mass in a youth prison in Rome in which he washed the feet of 12 inmates including two girls and two Muslims -- a ritual seen as a gesture of humility towards the 12 apostles attributed to Jesus.

Previous popes only ever performed the ritual with priests or Catholic laymen.

Francis took over the papacy after the resignation of Benedict XVI who stunned the world by announcing he wanted to become the first pope to leave office voluntarily in more than 700 years.

The 85-year-old admitted he no longer had the physical or mental strength to carry out his papal duties.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Supercomputer Pioneer Roadrunner To Shut Down

A supercomputer, which was once the world's fastest and the first to perform a million billion calculations per second, is being decommissioned.

Roadrunner spent five years testing the reliability and safety of the US's nuclear weapons stockpile at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nuclear facility in New Mexico where atomic bombs were developed in the 1940s.

"Roadrunner was a truly pioneering idea," said Gary Grider of the Laboratory's High Performance Computing Division.

"Roadrunner got everyone thinking in new ways about how to build and use a supercomputer. Specialised processors are being included in new ways on new systems, and being used in novel ways.

The supercomputer has about 55 miles of cable (Picture: LANL)

"Our demonstration with Roadrunner caused everyone to pay attention."

Roadrunner combines two different kinds of processors on an industrial scale, which was unique when the supercomputer was launched in 2008.

It was designed to perform high-speed calculations and has been used to understand how nuclear weapons work, as well as helping scientists map out the universe and see how viruses spread.

But it is expensive to run and is being replaced by newer computers which are more energy efficient and can better handle and store the large amounts of data being generated.

Roadrunner was described as "truly pioneering"

Although the computer is being switched off this weekend, it is not quite the end for Roadrunner.

Before it is dismantled, researchers will have about a month to do experiments to help guide the design of future supercomputers.

"These are things we never could try while Roadrunner was running production problems," Mr Grider said.

"Even in death, we are trying to learn from Roadrunner."

Although Roadrunner was the first computer to break the petaflop barrier of one quadrillion calculations per second, it is estimated that sometime between 2020 and 2030 supercomputers will be able to perform one quintillion calculations per second - 1,000 times faster than Roadrunner.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russia: Homeless Battling Brutal Cold Spring

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Russia celebrated Maslenitsa, the traditional end of winter festival, a fortnight ago - but the weather does not seem to have taken the hint.

Large stretches of the Moscow river remain frozen, the streets are still packed with ice and snow.

The state weather service says the country is experiencing its coldest March for more than half a century.

Last week, temperatures dropped to -25C overnight.

The unusually cold spring is having serious consequences for the capital's homeless.

Sky News joined a mobile field kitchen run by a charity handing out food near one of Moscow's busiest stations.

The crowd began to gather just before 5pm, standing to one side of the busy pavement as the capital's rush hour hurried home.

Several people asked us to promise our footage would not be shown on Russian television as they were too ashamed for their families to see them.

Volunteers from the Just Help charity arrived to hand out small pots of pasta from the back of a van, with a couple of slices of bread and a hot drink.

It wasn't much, but for many of those gathered it was the only hot food they would eat all day, and a brief respite from the relentless cold.

One of the men, Yuri, told us: "When you are out in the cold 24 hours a day your whole body is cold all the time, you feel like you are freezing.

"Cold weather makes it much worse, you are losing your health. That's why I am trying to eat something hot once a day, trying to take care of myself."

Another man, Augustin, who had both hands amputated, sobbed as he told us: "I had a bladder infection and frostbitten feet, I even got into the hospital because of it, they gave me a surgery.

Homeless people queue at the mobile field kitchen run by Just Help

"My legs were really badly damaged, but the doctor managed to save them. This doctor is the best."

The charity is run by Dr Elizaveta Glinka, but everybody here knows her as 'Dr Liza'.

As she handed out warm socks and medical supplies from an ambulance, she told Sky News: "Many more of them [the homeless] die when spring comes.

"In winter they understand that it's dangerous and are more alert. In March and April, they die from road accidents and from cold as they start sleeping outside.

"Around 30 homeless people freeze every month - those are official statistics. When it gets warmer and the snow piles melt, there will be many bodies found."

A young man called Sasha told us he had been on the streets since he was eight years old and offered to show us how he survived the cold.

He took us to the railway station where he explained that sometimes he slept in the doorways, but often he would just ride around on the metro.

A single ticket is valid all day on the Moscow underground as long as you don't leave the station.

One route, he told us, takes three hours and let's you get some sleep.

Sasha said: "It's very cold in winter, I often get ill. It's much harder to find food. I have to sleep in railway stations and on the metro, but of course the metro is closed at night.

"Winter is a very hard season."

With that he headed off back down to the underground - disappearing into the crowds to take the trains in circles until the stations close.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyprus Bank Deposits 'To Lose 60% Of Value'

Savers with more than 100,000 euros in the Bank of Cyprus could lose up to 60% of their deposits, two senior officials have warned.

The Central Bank official and the Finance Ministry technocrat said sums held at the country's largest lender will  lose 37.5% of their value after being converted into bank shares.

And the pair said the deposits could lose up to 22.5% more in value, depending on an assessment by officials who will determine the exact figure aimed at restoring the troubled bank back to health.

Both figures were speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to publicly discuss the issue.

Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades

It comes after Cyprus agreed on Monday to make depositors contribute to a financial rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros (£8.5 billion) in loans from the eurozone and the IMF.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades defended the bailout deal, saying it had contained the risk of national bankruptcy.

"We have no intention of leaving the euro," the conservative leader told a conference of civil servants on Friday in the capital, Nicosia.

"In no way will we experiment with the future of our country," he said.

Cypriots have expressed anger at the price attached to the rescue - the winding down of the island's second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki, and an unprecedented raid on deposits over 100,000 euros.

Under the terms of the deal, the assets of Laiki bank will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

North Korea Says 'We Are At War With South'

North Korea says it has entered a "state of war" with South Korea in the latest threat aimed at Seoul and Washington.

Amid escalating tensions, Pyongyang also threatened to shut down a factory complex that is the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

South Korea said the North's threats "are never acceptable" but noted there was no visible movement of troops at the border.

Russia urged restraint, while Britain said the threat risks further isolating North Korea, one of the world's most reclusive states.

"We have made clear to North Korea that its long term interests will only be served by constructive engagement with the international community. These threatening statements will only seek to isolate it further," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said travel advice for British nationals is "under constant review and will update it as necessary".

The announcement by Pyongyang was broadcast by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"As of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol," it said.

"The long-standing situation of the Korean peninsula being neither at peace nor at war is finally over."

The statement also warned that any military provocation near the North-South land or sea border would result "in a full-scale conflict and a nuclear war".

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un

Hours later, a spokesman for the North Korean office controlling the Kaesong industrial complex threatened to close the factory park, saying the South was undermining its dignity.

He was referring to media reports saying the factory - just across the border in North Korea - had remained open because it is a source of hard currency for the North.

The two Koreas have always technically remained at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Earlier this month, the North said it was ripping up the armistice and other bilateral peace pacts signed with the South in protest against South Korea-US joint military exercises.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official, Grigory Logvinov, said: "We expect all sides to show maximum responsibility and restraint, and that no-one will cross the line after which there will be no return."

"Naturally, we cannot remain indifferent when an escalation of tensions is taking place at our eastern frontiers," the diplomat told the Interfax news agency. "We cannot but worry."

The South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman, Kim Min-seok, said: "North Korea's continuing threats against South Korea such as saying it is 'entering a state of war' are never acceptable since it is harming peace and stability on the Korean peninsula."

The US has used B-2 bombers as a 'deterrence' measure in the region

He said recent military exercises with the US "were defensive in nature against North Korea's possible provocations".

The ministry also said "no particular troop movement" had been observed along the border.

Former South Korean foreign minister Han Sung Joo told Sky News that the announcement amounted to "certainly more than rhetoric, even by North Korean standards".

The US said it was taking the new threat "seriously" but said it was following a familiar pattern.

"We've seen reports of a new and unconstructive statement from North Korea. We take these threats seriously and remain in close contact with our South Korean allies," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Most analysts still believe this will remain a rhetorical rather than a physical battle, but the situation has now become so volatile that any slight miscalculation carries the potential for rapid escalation.

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "It is more rhetoric by North Korea until they actually do something. Wars tend to begin with bangs not announcements on state news agencies, so this is Mr Kim pushing the rhetoric up another level.

"The problem is, he hasn't got any more levels to go to after this other than actual war - that is the big worry and the big unknown. Does his belligerence have a limit or not?"

South Korean soldiers at a check point during a drill near the border

Sources in Pyongyang say life continues as normal in the city.

There are signs of civil construction with thousands of workers. Many of them are conscripts, and if war was imminent, then Kim would have called them up and they would not be busy building apartment blocks and hotels.

Earlier this week, the North's leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over the South.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel stressed that Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

The standoff has its roots in the North's successful long-range rocket launch in December and the third nuclear test it carried out in February.

Both events drew UN sanctions that incensed Pyongyang, which then switched the focus of its anger to the annual joint South Korea-US military drills.

As tensions escalated, Washington has maintained a notably assertive stance, publicising its use of nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2 stealth bombers.

The long-distance deployment of both sets of aircraft was intended as a clear signal of US commitment to defending the South against any act of aggression.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More