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North Korea has announced it has conducted a successful nuclear test, as it steps up what it says are moves to strengthen its nuclear deterrent. The underground test on Monday morning local time was followed shortly afterwards by reports from South Korea that the North had also tested three short-range missiles. Barack Obama, the US president, has condemned the North Korean test as a "threat to international peace" and said it warrants action by the international community. Announcing the nuclear test, North Korea's second, state media said the explosion had increased the power of its nuclear weapons arsenal. "We have successfully conducted another nuclear test on May 25 as part of the republic's measures to strengthen its nuclear deterrent," the official KCNA news agency said. It said the test would "contribute to defending the sovereignty of the country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on the Korean Peninsula." The statement said the test was conducted "on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control".
The test is a dramatic escalation in the long-running stand-off over North Korea's nuclear programme. Japan said that the North's move marked a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. "We will definitely not tolerate it," Takeo Kawamura, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, told reporters in Tokyo. The Security Council is expected to hold an emergency session on Monday in New York to discuss the test, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said. 'Seismic event' Earlier, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said it had detected a magnitude 4.7 tremor in North Korea at 0954 local time (0054GMT) on Monday, indicating that a nuclear test may have taken place.
The USGS located the epicentre of the tremor near the town of Kilchu about 375km northeast of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. The site is close to where North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006. Susan Potter a geophysicist based at the US National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado told Al Jazeera the tremor had been a "relatively shallow seismic event". She said the October 2006 test had registered a somewhat weaker tremor of magnitude 4.3. At the time of the 2006 test, experts said the apparently relatively low yield of the device indicated it may not have exploded correctly. Sanctions
China, North Korea's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, is likely to oppose stronger sanctions as part of any new UN resolution. However, analysts say China is likely to be angered by the North Korean test and will look for other ways to put pressure on Pyongyang. Beijing has not yet given any official reaction to the test, but Al Jazeera's Beijing correspondent Tony Cheng said any public reaction was likely to be muted. However, he said the last thing that Beijing wants to see is an escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. The test comes amid escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and less than two months after North Korea's controversial rocket launch in early April. North Korea says the launch put a satellite into orbit, but the US has said it believes the launch was a cover for a test of the North's long-range missile technology. The April 5 rocket launch triggered condemnation from the Security Council, in turn provoking an angry reaction from the North, which said it was pulling out of nuclear disarmament talks and restarting its weapons programme. It had also repeatedly threatened to conduct a new nuclear test. 'Arms race' North Korea is believed to have extracted enough weapons grade plutonium for about eight bombs and has said it will restart its mothballed nuclear plant at Yongbyon to produce more. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Ron Huisken, a nuclear non-proliferation expert at the Australian National University, said that through Monday's test North Korea had signalled a determination to remain committed to its nuclear weapons capability. But he said the test did not signify an immediate danger. "North Korea can't actually do anything at this point," he said. "To the best of our knowledge, it hasn't actually weaponised its nuclear material. Certainly it hasn't miniaturised it to the point where you can put a bomb on an airplane or – even more technically demanding – on top of a missile." Donald Kirk, a Korea expert based in the South Korean capital, Seoul, said Monday's test was designed to draw international attention and fortify "North Korea's claim to be the ninth nuclear power". He added that the test was also certain to raise tensions in the region and "raises the spectre of a nuclear arms race in northeast Asia" with Japan Taiwan and South Korea, among others, possibly tempted to develop their own nuclear weapons. Brought to you by Jason Fieldhouse by Jason Fieldhouse Productions |
Monday, May 25, 2009
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January 10, 2003: North Korea announces it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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Obama vow on Guantanamo inmates
President Obama: 'I am not going to release individuals who endanger US people'
The US will find a way to cope securely with dangerous detainees at Guantanamo Bay, President Barack Obama has said.
He described Guantanamo as a "misguided experiment", but conceded some of those held still posed a threat to the US.
Some could be jailed in mainland US prisons, Mr Obama suggested, under a new legal framework for detainees that would see the camp close by early 2010.
Congress has rejected Mr Obama's move to fund the closure of Guantanamo, amid concern over moving inmates to the US.
Speaking afterwards, former Vice-President Dick Cheney strongly defended Bush-era security strategies.
He recalled the experience of being in a White House bunker during the 9/11 attacks and said this shaped the way he viewed his responsibilities.
And he defended the "enhanced interrogation" authorised by the Bush administration to extract information from terror suspects as "legal, essential, justified and successful".
Transfer concern
Mr Obama's speech on Guantanamo was made against a backdrop of rising concern in the US Congress at the president's plan to close the camp by January 2010.
 |  James Coomarasamy, BBC News, Washington In a phrase that his political opponents are certain to seize on, Mr Obama said the techniques that were used in the Bush years were "not America". His one olive branch was confirmation that he would not support a truth commission looking into the past. He recognised the practical difficulties in closing Guantanamo - and, while he avoided giving details of which detainees would be transferred and when, he took some time to lay out clearly the different categories of remaining prisoners: from the Uighurs, whom the courts have already ruled should be released, to the dangerous prisoners who won't be taken in by other countries. He addressed the main concerns of Congress, with his clear commitment not to release prisoners onto US soil who pose a security threat to the country. |
Speaking at the US National Archives, where the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are kept, the president regularly spoke of the need to respect the rule of law, at one point calling the US "a nation of laws".
Mr Obama said the administration was reviewing every one of the 240 detainees still held at Guantanamo and considering what to do with them.
Where feasible, some would be tried in US civilian courts, he said; those who violated the laws of war would need to face a military commission; some had been ordered released by the courts; others could be safely transferred to another country.
The most tricky category, Mr Obama said, would be those detainees who could not be prosecuted but who posed a "clear danger to the American people".
Some detainees had received explosives training, or pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, or made it clear, the president said, that they still wanted to kill Americans.
'No dangerous releases'
Telling his audience that he would not endanger American lives, Mr Obama said that nevertheless a new policy for this group, based in law, would need to be drawn up.
"We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall into this category," he said.
"We must have fair procedures so that we don't make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified."
|  We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security  President Obama  |
He praised the US network of maximum-security jails, from which no prisoner has ever escaped.
"We are treating these cases with the care and attention that the law requires and our security demands," he stressed, describing the Bush-era approach as "poorly-planned, [and] haphazard".
The existence of the prison camp itself, Mr Obama said, probably "created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained".
He conceded that following through on his pledge to close Guantanamo would be "difficult and complex", but insisted it was possible.
| OBAMA'S SPEECH IN FULL Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader |
"As president, I refuse to allow this problem to fester. Our security interests won't permit it. Our courts won't allow it."
Twice during the speech he directly promised not to release potentially dangerous people onto the streets of the US.
"We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people," he said.
Cheney riposte
Mr Obama's keynote speech was followed by remarks of a very different tone by Mr Cheney.
 Dick Cheney said the Bush-era decisions had saved US lives |
Mr Cheney, who has emerged as a strong critic of the Obama White House, addressed a Washington think-tank to lay out the "strategic thinking" behind the Bush administration's actions.
He began by saying that Mr Obama deserved cross-party support for wise decisions, but added that: "When he mischaracterises the decisions we made, he deserves an answer."
Mr Cheney recalled the dangerous hours on 11 September 2001 as he was shepherded to a White House bunker as hijacked airliners hit New York and the Pentagon.
He said the experience deeply affected him, and said the Bush administration's policies were dedicated to making sure no attacks of that kind could ever happen again.
Mr Cheney dismissed the "theory" that the use of waterboarding on terror suspects acted as a recruitment tool for those intent on attacking the US.
And he criticised attempts to change Bush-era terminology: even if the phrase "enemy combatants" was not used, Mr Cheney said, "the same assortment of killers and would-be mass murderers are still there".
"Finding some less judgemental or more pleasant-sounding name doesn't change what they are or what they would do."
Source:BBC
Brought to you by Jason Fieldhouse of Jason Fieldhouse Productions
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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| Myanmar military 'to try Suu Kyi' | |||||||
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Myanmar's military government is to put Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's opposition leader, on trial over an American who allegedly sneaked into her home, her political party says. Following the announcement by the National League for Democracy (NLD), police took the Nobel laureate to Insein prison on Thursday morning where she and the two women who live with her were to face trial, an NLD spokesman said. "Her lawyer said the authorities will charge the lady and her two maids at the court in Insein prison," Nyan Win told the AFP news agency, referring to the prison in Yangon, the former capital. Nyan Win said he was informed of the plan to try Aung San Suu Kyi by her lawyer, Kyi Win. 'Cunning' plan Critics say such a trial could be used to justify another extension of her home detention which officially ends on May 27. Zin Linn, the director of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that supports Aung San Suu Kyi, told Al Jazeera there was an "ulterior" motive to the trial. "They are finding fault with her to extend her detention because they didn't allow her to participate in the election, that is their main intention," he said, calling the military's move "very cunning and crooked".
"She was under house arrest. Any security measure was taken by the authorities, so whoever [enters] into the compound of a resident, the responsibility is upon the authorities, not upon her," he added. The military government has in the past found various reasons to extend her periods of house arrest, which has been condemned internationally. The 63-year-old has been detained without trial for more than 13 of the last 20 years, with the military refusing to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990. It was not immediately clear what charges she faced, but Myanmar exile groups said she could be charged under a public security law and face a prison term of seven years. 'Secret meeting' An American man, John William Yettaw, was arrested last week for allegedly swimming across a lake to secretly enter Aung San Suu Kyi's home in Yangon and stay there for two days.
He then swam away on the night of May 5 before being arrested the next morning. Myanmar official sources said the man had succeeded in meeting Aung San Suu Kyi during his time at the house. His motives remain unclear. Myanmar citizens are required by law to notify local officials about any overnight visitors who are not family members. The law also states that foreigners are not allowed to spend the night at a local's home. In poor health Aung San Suu Kyi has of late been ill, suffering from dehydration and low blood pressure. Her condition improved this week after a visit from a doctor who administered an intravenous drip, Nyan Win, the NLD spokesman, said on Tuesday. According to the US Campaign for Burma, a US-based lobby group opposed to military rule in Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, her two helpers, her personal doctor Tin Myo Win, and Yettaw would all be tried together. The two helpers, Khin Khin Win, 65, and her daughter Win Ma Ma, 41, have lived with Aung San Suu Kyi since the start of her latest detention in 2003. Tin Myo Win was arrested without explanation last week, a day after Yettaw was taken into custody. Jason Fieldhouse |
Saturday, May 9, 2009
News Jason Fieldhouse
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| Costa Rica confirms H1N1 death | |||||
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Costa Rica has confirmed its first fatality from the H1N1 strain of influenza that has spread to 25 countries since emerging in Mexico last month. The man died from complications of a chronic lung disease, Avila said. He was one of eight H1N1 flu cases in the Central American country that have been confirmed by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Mexico has recorded 48 H1N1 flu deaths, two have been reported in the US and Canadian officials say a woman who died on Friday had the virus. Most people infected with the new strain - believed to be a hybrid of swine, bird and human influenza viruses - have either travelled to Mexico or been close to someone who has, but it is not the case with all of them. US overtakes Mexico In the United States, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported a jump in the number of confirmed cases from 896 sufferers to 1,639 in 43 states.
The US has now overtaking its southern neighbour Mexico, which put its confirmed cases at 1,319 on Friday. The US centre said the increase had been expected after a backlog of laboratory tests was cleared. "We do expect to see the numbers climbing," Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the centre, said. "But we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to take precautions." Cases jump The repoort of the confirmed death in Costa Rica comes a day after Panama confirmed a case of the virus and Guatemala reportedit had two people who had caught the disease. Rosario Turner, the Panamanian health minister, said the unidentified youth, who arrived in the country on a flight from the United States, was in quarantine. "He is receiving treatment and his condition is stable and does not require hospitalisation," she said. Brazil confirmed on Friday its first case of of the influenza H1N1 transmitted from person to person within the country. Jose Gomes Temporao, the Brazilian health minister, said a new case, one of two found on Friday, was "up to now the only case of person-to-person transmission (of the virus) in Brazil." The discovery brought to six the total number of cases of the virus detected in Latin America's largest nation. Australia hit Australia also reported on Saturday its first case of new flu strain, after a woman tested positive for the disease as she returned from a trip to the United States, the government said. Japan's health ministry said on Saturday a teacher and two students tested positive for H1N1 in the first confirmed cases of the virus in Japan. The three, including a man in his 40s and two teenagers from Osaka, arrived at Tokyo's Narita international airport on Friday from Detroit, the ministry said. "We confirmed the first case of the new type influenza in Japan," said Atsushi Kitamura, a health ministry spokesman. They were then taken to hospital, where further tests were conducted, he said. Kyodo News said all three who tested positive were male. Jason Fieldhouse |
News of the day
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as president of South Africa in an exuberant ceremony Saturday filled with heads of state and former presidents.
Jacob Zuma has been sworn in as South Africa's president after the ANC won a landslide victory.
The large crowd at Union Buildings -- the president's residence -- in Pretoria broke out into song many times before and during the ceremony.
Zuma was elected president Wednesday by the parliament after his party won a landslide victory in nationwide parliamentary elections last month.
Zuma's African National Congress party won about 66 percent of the vote in the elections.
Zuma is an ethnic Zulu whose flamboyant style sits in contrast to more staid predecessors Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Mandela was one of the guests at the event.
The ANC has been dogged by allegations of corruption and has been accused of failing to deliver
The country's prosecuting authority dropped fraud and corruption charges against Zuma two weeks before the elections, citing alleged political interference in the case.
A self-described "farm boy" known to don traditional garb -- including leopard skins and a spear -- at ceremonial events, Zuma, 67, would put a different face on the party than Mandela, the attorney imprisoned under segregationist apartheid rule, and the Western-educated Mbeki.Jason Fieldhouse