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.

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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.

Travel advice for British nationals was "under constant review and we 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.

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."

South Korea's 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 is continuing 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.

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Justin Bieber's Pet Monkey Seized At Airport

A monkey has been seized from pop star Justin Bieber after he flew it into Munich from the US on a private plane.

The pet, a capuchin called Mally, is thought to have been given to the singer for his 19th birthday on March 1 by music producer Jamal Rashid.

Earlier this week Rashid, also known as Mally Mall, uploaded a picture of Bieber and Mally to his Instagram feed with the caption: "OG MALLY FIRST PIC WITH HIS POPS @JUSTINBIEBER."

Bieber took Mally on a Cessna Citation X he rents for £13,000-a-time from LA to Munich's Franz Josef Strauss Airport on Thursday, The Sun reported, ahead of his gig at the city's Olympiahalle.

The Canadian star was detained "for some time" while customs officials took Mally into quarantine at the airport.

The singer faces a fine of more than £10,000 and will have to pay for the animal's care.

A customs spokesman confirmed to Sky News that Justin Beiber tried to bring his monkey into Germany without the correct papers on Thursday.

The monkey is currently being held in quarantine until the singer produces the correct paperwork.

On Monday, Bieber, who has been touring for months, had flown from Poland to Los Angeles and caused a stir at Lodz airport by stripping off his shirt as he walked through security.

Earlier in the month Bieber and his entourage were asked to leave the Hotel Le Meurice in Paris apparently because of the "nuisance caused by the presence of his fans around the buildings".

Bieber stripped off his shirt to walk through security at Lodz airport

And before that Bieber, who has 36 million Twitter followers, was forced to apologise to fans in London after arriving late on stage.

Many young fans left the capital's O2 Arena without seeing their idol, sparking anger among both the devotees and their parents.

He also collapsed on-stage at another UK concert and received oxygen before staying overnight in hospital.

He later cancelled a concert in Portugal, saying he had had a "rough week" in London.

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Nelson Mandela 'Breathing Without Difficulty'

Nelson Mandela is now "breathing without difficulty" after being treated for pneumonia, South Africa's president has said.

Jacob Zuma's office issued the statement after the 94-year-old had fluid drained from his chest.

It said the treatment had "resulted in him now being able to breathe without difficulty".

"He continues to respond to treatment and is comfortable," the statement added.

It comes after Mr Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj gave an upbeat report on Friday.

"He was in good spirits, he had a full breakfast, and the doctors report that he's making steady progress,"  he said.

"He sat up and had his breakfast in bed."

It remains unclear how long Mr Mandela will remain at the undisclosed hospital.

The former South African president's recent health troubles have triggered an outpouring of prayers, with his country coming to terms with the mortality of the revered Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Nearly 20 years after he came to power in 1994, he remains a unifying symbol in a country still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

It is the second time this month that he has been admitted to hospital, after spending a night for check-ups on March 9.

That followed a hospital stay of nearly three weeks in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone surgery.

He was diagnosed with early-stage tuberculosis in 1988 during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime and has long had problems with his lungs. He has also had treatment for prostate cancer and has suffered stomach ailments.

Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told public broadcaster SABC that "Tata (father) is doing well".

"He's responding very well to treatment," said Madikizela-Mandela, who attended a Friday church service in Soweto where the congregation prayed for Mandela.

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US Film-maker Who Saved Orphans Shot Dead

The shooting followed an apparent dispute with a neighbour over the trimming of shrubbery outside John Upton Jr's home in Southern California.

The 56-year-old was found dead on Thursday on a path in the garden of his Encinitas property.

San Diego County Sheriff's Department said detectives arrested Michael Vilkin, 61, on suspicion of murder. He was being held without bail, and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

Vilkin, in an interview conducted in jail, told KGTV in San Diego he fired gunshots in self-defence after Mr Upton allegedly threatened him with a gun during a dispute over foliage.

Actress Jessica Lange helped John Upton save Romanian orphans

A statement from the police department said a dispute between the two men led to the shooting, which was under investigation.

Mr Upton's brother, Michael Upton, told U-T San Diego that his brother and Vilkin had previously argued about trees.

John Upton's work in Romania gained the attention of influential activists, inspiring billionaire philanthropist Richard Branson and actress Jessica Lange to help rescue youngsters from its orphanages.

He went on to create an online network of films about charitable causes called Media4aCause.

Mr Upton was instrumental in bringing an estimated two dozen orphans to the US for medical care and adoption.

The film-maker's Emmy Award came in 1990 for an after-school special on teenage promiscuity.

The same year, after he watched a film about Romanian orphans on ABC's 20/20 programme, Mr Upton decided to help publicise the brutal conditions of the orphans and bring as many as possible to America.

"There just wasn't any doubt in my mind that I could do something, that I could make a difference with these kids," he told The Los Angeles Times in 1990.

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North Korea Rockets 'Ready To Hit US Bases'

North Korea's leader has told rocket units to be on standby for an attack on US bases, according to state media.

The country's KCNA news agency said Kim Jong-Un had signed off on the order to train sights on American bases in South Korea and the Pacific after a midnight meeting with top generals.

The move was followed by reports of increased activity at North Korea's mid to long-range missile sites, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Mr Kim at a meeting of army information workers on Thursday in Pyongyang

It comes after two American stealth bombers flew over South Korea in a show of force to Pyongyang, following an escalation of rhetoric from the North's young leader.

Both China and Russia have appealed for calm.

Moscow said the heightened military activity was slipping into a "vicious cycle" that could get out of control, implicitly criticising the US bomber flights.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that North Korea should also cool down, calling on "all sides not to flex their military muscle" and avoid the danger of a belligerent response.

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

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: "We call on all relevant parties to make joint efforts to turn around the tense situation. Peace and stability on the Korean peninsula as well as Northeast Asia serves the common interest."

The two nuclear-capable B-2 planes flew a 13,000-mile round trip from an air base in Missouri, dropping a dummy bomb on a target range in the South.

The planes were taking part in a joint South Korea-US military exercise that has inflamed tensions with Pyongyang, which earlier this month threatened to unleash an "all-out war" backed by nuclear weapons.

Mr Kim presides over an urgent operations meeting

"This .... demonstrates the United States' ability to conduct long range, precision strikes quickly and at will," the US military said in a statement.

"The B-2 bomber is an important element of America's enduring and robust extended deterrence capability in the Asia-Pacific region."

KCNA reported that Mr Kim had "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists in view of the prevailing situation".

The agency said: "He finally signed the plan on technical preparations of strategic rockets of the KPA, ordering them to be on standby for fire so that they may strike any time the US mainland, its military bases in the operational theatres in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea."

Following their leader's call to arms, thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally in the main square in the capital.

Chanting "Death to the US imperialists" and "Sweep away the US aggressors," soldiers and students marched through Kim Il-Sung Square during the 90-minute rally.

The US has denied its military exercise was provocative but said it was "committed to a pathway to peace" and "prepared to deal with any eventuality" in the region.

Mr Kim had 'judged the time has come to settle accounts with the US'

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the B-2 bombers were a message intended more for allies than Pyongyang.

"The North Koreans have to understand that what they're doing is very dangerous," Mr Hagel said.

"I don't think we're doing anything extraordinary or provocative or out of the ... orbit of what nations do to protect their own interests."

The US, he added, must make it clear to South Korea, Japan and other allies in the region that "these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously, and we'll respond to that".

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Peng Liyuan: Tiananmen Square Photo Censored

A photo of China's new first lady Peng Liyuan singing to troops following the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square is causing a stir on the internet.

The image shows Ms Peng wearing a green military uniform, her windswept hair tied back in a ponytail as she sings to helmeted and rifle-bearing troops seated in rows.

The photo was taken after the military crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people on June 3 and 4, 1989.

Many Chinese are still unaware that the massacre happened.

The photo has circulated mainly on Twitter, which is blocked in China - but there have been some postings on popular domestic microblogs.

The latter were swiftly scrubbed from China's internet before they could generate too much discussion online.

President Zuma shares a toast with Ms Peng in South Africa

The picture contrasts with Ms Peng's appearances this week in trendy suits and coiffed hair while touring Russia and Africa with her husband President Xi Jinping, waving to her enthusiastic hosts.

It revives a memory the leadership prefers to suppress and shows one of the challenges in presenting the first lady on the world stage as the softer side of China.

The country has no recent precedent for the role and faces a tricky balance at home.

The leadership wants Ms Peng to show the human side of Mr Xi, while not exposing too many perks of the elite.

And it must balance support for the couple with a wariness of personality cults that could skew the consensus rule among the Chinese Communist Party's leaders.

Ms Peng with President Xi, President Zuma and his wife

"I think that we have a lot of people hoping that because Xi Jinping walks around without a tie on and his wife is a singer who travels with him on trips that maybe we're dealing with a new kind of leader, but I think these images remind people that this is the same party," said Kelley Currie, a China human rights expert for the pro-democracy Project 2049 Institute in Arlington, Virginia.

"It's using some new tools and new techniques, for the same purposes: to preserve its own power."

Ms Peng, 50, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, is best known for soaring renditions of patriotic odes to the military and the party.

She has kept a low profile in recent years as her husband prepared to take over as Communist Party chief.

Her re-emergence has been accompanied by a blitz in domestic, state-run media hailing her beauty and charm, in a bid to harness the couple's popularity abroad.

President Xi and the First Lady arrive in Moscow

However, the government is stepping into little-charted and possibly treacherous waters for China.

In 1963, the glamorous Wang Guangmei, wife of President Liu Shaoqi, wore a tight-fitting qipao dress to a state banquet in Indonesia.

When the political tides turned against Mr Liu four years later, radical Red Guards forced Ms Wang to don the same dress and paraded her through the streets as a shameful example of capitalist corruption.

Revolutionary leader Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, played a key role in the same radical campaign in which political opponents were mercilessly persecuted; after his death, she was put on trial and imprisoned, then moved to a hospital where she hanged herself.

The image is a snapshot of the back cover of a 1989 issue of a publicly available military magazine, the PLA Pictorial, according to Sun Li, a Chinese reporter.

Mr Sun said he had taken a photo of it on his cell phone several years ago when it was inadvertently posted on his microblog.

He said he quickly deleted it and had no idea how it resurfaced on the internet years later.

Microblog users can easily save images and recirculate them even after the original posts have been deleted.

The picture spread further after it was tweeted by the US-based China Digital Times, which tracks Chinese online media.

For Ms Peng, the Tiananmen photo was no one-off: She has been in the military since age 18 and has fronted TV music videos featuring dancing lines of men with combat fatigues and heavy weaponry.

In an indication of her appeal in China despite her past, a man whose 19-year-old son was killed in the Tiananmen crackdown said he bears no grudges against her.

"If I had known about this back then, I would have been very disgusted by it. But now, looking at it objectively, it's all in the past," said Wang Fandi, whose son Wang Nan died from a bullet wound to his head.

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Cyprus Banks: President Makes Rallying Call

Cyprus' president has called on the country to "share the burden" of its financial crisis - as bank withdrawal limits remained at 300 euros.

President Nicos Anastasiades made a rallying call for understanding as queues formed outside banks on the Mediterranean island.

The banks reopened on Thursday for the first time since closing on March 16 to prevent people from draining their accounts at the height of the crisis.

The country has imposed daily withdrawal limits of 300 euros (£250) for individuals and 5,000 euros (£4,200) for businesses.

The limits are the first so-called capital controls that any country has applied in the eurozone's 14-year history. 

Depositors wait for the opening of a branch of Laiki Bank in Nicosia

Speaking at a civil servants union convention on Friday, Mr Anastasiades said: "The deal we agreed on, after the dramatic hours we all lived through last week, is without doubt painful.

"Everyone will have to make sacrifices as our financial situation, in the violent way in which it has developed, will oblige all of us to share the burden."

Despite the turmoil of the past weeks and harsh conditions of the rescue, Mr Anastasiades stressed that his country's future lay firmly within the euro.

"We are not going to leave, I stress, from the euro ... We will not, I stress, endanger the future of our country with dangerous experimentation."

Meanwhile, queues formed outside some banks just after opening time, but most were gone by mid-morning.

Financial strains are building on families and businesses, and the recession in Cyprus is likely to deepen.

Cyprus' banks became much bigger than the country's government could afford to rescue - more than seven times the size of the country's economy.

On Monday, Cyprus agreed to make the banks' bondholders and big depositors contribute to the rescue in order to secure 10 billion euros (£8.4bn) in loans from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.

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Warlord 'Batko' Jailed For Sarajevo Killings

A warlord has been jailed for 45 years for the murder, rape and torture of non-Serb civilians in Sarajevo in the Bosnian war.

Veselin Vlahovic, a Montenegrin nicknamed Batko, received the longest sentence handed down so far by the Bosnian war crimes court.

He was found guilty of the murders of 31 people, rapes of at least 13 women and torture and robbery of dozens of civilians in Grbavica and Vraca, Serb-occupied areas of Sarajevo, in 1992, said presiding judge Zoran Bozic.

Vlahovic, 44, was known by his victims as the Monster of Grbavica and Master of Life and Death. The judge said he carried out "horrid, cruel and manifold criminal acts".

Vlahovic showed no emotion during his sentencing

Prosecutors compiled a 66-count indictment against Vlahovic, the most extensive ever for crimes committed in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The 45-year sentence is the maximum that can be given for such crimes.

The judge said Vlahovic, a member of paramilitary group White Angels, which was allied to the Bosnian Serb army, often demanded ransoms of money or gold for his captives.

"Victims who could not pay for their lives would be typically taken to a recognisable location on Trebevic hill and shot in the head," he said.

"In June 1992, he forced 13 members of the Pecar family out of their home and ordered three male relatives to run across a front line street planted with mines."

Vlahovic then ordered his soldiers to open fire knowing the act would provoke a return of fire from the combat lines. One woman died and three, including a girl, were wounded and left on the street.

"It was a typical pattern (of his) behaviour. Those who had nothing to offer in turn for their lives were typically killed by a shot in the forehead, mouth or temporal bone, according to forensic accounts," said Judge Bozic.

The judge also described how Vlahovic raped a woman who was seven months pregnant in front of her young daughter in their Grbavica apartment, and in another incident raped a woman and then forced her to watch him rape her mother.

Vlahovic, dressed in a light blue shirt, was emotionless throughout the proceedings, even when the verdict drew loud applause from members of victims' associations in the packed courtroom.

Tiny Montenegro, now independent, was still in union with Serbia during the Balkan wars and many Montenegrins sympathised with the Serb cause against Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Kosovo Albanians.

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Tanzania Building Collapse Buries Dozens

School children are among at least 45 people missing in the rubble of a building that has collapsed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

At least three people have died but many others are under the rubble, with some desperate survivors calling for help using their mobiles.

Among those trapped are believed to be a number of children from a school in the area.

Hundreds of people, including residents and army rescuers, are clawing through piles of rubble after the collapse in an affluent area of the country's economic capital.

Dozens of people are believed trapped in the rubble

The building collapsed as many people including children were working or playing nearby, witnesses said.

"I thought there was an earthquake and then I heard screaming. The whole building fell on itself," witness Musa Mohamed said.

Dar es Salaam regional police chief Suleiman Kova said the rescue operation was "going well".

"So far we have managed to retrieve 19 people," he said as he briefed Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete during a visit to the scene.

Rescuers search for survivors

Mr Kova said that although it was too early to establish the cause of the accident, "the owner of the building would be held responsible and taken to task".

Scores of people were reportedly working in and around the building at the time of the incident at around 8.45am.

Residents said that during normal working days, the area bustles with activity from a mix of business people, passers-by and playing children.

A survivor is pulled from the rubble

"My children normally come to play here during Sundays and holidays. I am not sure whether they are also trapped," one desperate local resident Elizabeth Richard sobbed.

In 2008, another building collapse in Dar es Salaam claimed at least four lives.

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Brazil Doctor 'May Have Killed 300 Patients'

A Brazilian doctor charged with killing seven patients at a hospital could be responsible for up to 300 deaths, an investigator has said.

Virginia Helena Soares de Souza and her medical team gave muscle relaxing drugs to patients and reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxiation, claim prosecutors.

The doctor and her seven assistants were suspected of injecting patients with "drug cocktails" and of tampering with their respirators, a health ministry official said.

If prosecutors prove De Souza was responsible for 300 deaths, it could be one of the world's worst serial killings, rivalling the case of British GP Harold Shipman who killed at least 215 patients.

Prosecutors said De Souza's taped phone conversations revealed her motive was to free up beds for other patients at an intensive care unit, which she headed up.

"I want to clear the intensive care unit. It's making me itch," she allegedly said in one recording released to Brazilian media.

Deaths are being investigated at the Evangelical Hospital in Curitiba

"Unfortunately, our mission is to be go-betweens on the springboard to the next life," she reportedly added in the same phone call.

Prosecutors said De Souza felt "all powerful" running the unit, to the point where she "had the power to decree the moment when a victim would die".

In some cases, she was absent from the hospital and gave instructions to end the life of a patient by phone to members of her medical team, it was alleged.

The 56-year-old widow was arrested last month and charged with seven counts of aggravated first degree murder. She was released on bail a week ago pending the outcome of the investigation.

Three other doctors, three nurses and a physiotherapist who worked for her have also been charged with murder.

GP Harold Shipman killed at least 215 patients

More cases are expected to emerge as investigators look through 1,700 medical records of patients who died in the last seven years at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.

"We already have more than 20 cases established, and there are nearly 300 more that we are looking into," the chief investigator assigned by Brazil's health ministry, Dr Mario Lobato, told Globo TV.

He said the deaths he reviewed happened under similar circumstances: a muscle relaxant such as Pancuronium was administered, increasing the patients' dependence on artificial respiration; then the oxygen supply was reduced, causing death by asphyxiation.

Some of the patients were conscious moments before they died, he said.

De Souza's lawyer, Elias Mattar Assad, said investigators had misunderstood how an intensive care unit works and she would prove her innocence.

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Putin Orders Black Sea Warship Exercises

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia's Black Sea fleet to begin large-scale, unscheduled naval exercises involving dozens of ships and thousands of troops.

The order was reportedly presented to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a sealed envelope at 4am Moscow time as Mr Putin flew back from an international summit in South Africa.

President Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the exercises would involve 36 warships and up to 7,000 troops, as well as an unspecified number of aircraft.

He said that the exercises were designed to test the battle-readiness of Black Sea units.

Mr Peskov told Russian news agencies: "These are large-scale unannounced test exercises. The main goal is to check the readiness and cohesion of the various units."

He declined to say how long the exercises would last.

Russia's military muscle-flexing is unlikely to go down well with its post-Soviet neighbours Ukraine and Georgia.

The Black Sea fleet was instrumental in Russia's five-day war with the latter in 2008, and disputes over the fleet's base in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol have strained relations between Moscow and Kiev.

But Mr Peskov said Russia was under no obligation to provide advance warning of military exercises as long as fewer than 7,000 personnel were involved.

Mr Putin at the BRICS summit with Brazil, India, China and South Africa

Russian military expert Alexander Golts, a contributor to the Moscow Times, told Sky News: "Several weeks ago military training similar to this was carried out in Ural mountains by order of the minister of defence.

"It happened in a similar way, unexpectedly for troops, without warnings. This is the right way to carry out exercises because only when it's unexpected it gives the government the right idea about the level of battle readiness of their troops.

"The situation is a bit different though with the Black Sea fleet, as it is based in the territory of another country. According to international rules, the country needs to warn about military exercise if the number of personnel involved exceeds 7,000.

"However, the order given tonight represents a difficult situation. Experts can only guess now, whether the Kremlin was taking it in mind when thinking over these military exercises. If Russian troops are acting with no warning, it might mean there is not much respect towards the sovereignty of another country."

He added: "I don't know what reasons can be behind these actions. Maybe there is no reason. Maybe it's a permanent desire to demonstrate that Russia has stood up from its knees."

Earlier this month Russia's defence ministry announced plans to send a permanent fleet of up to six combat ships to the Mediterranean, in what some have seen as an echo, albeit on a much smaller scale, of the Soviet era Fifth Mediterranean fleet.

That fleet was permanently deployed as a counter to the US Navy's Sixth Fleet at the height of the cold war.

The fleet will be Russia's first full-time naval presence in the Mediterranean since 1992.

Russia still maintains a naval maintenance and supply base in the Syrian port of Tartus - its only military base outside the former Soviet Union - but the ongoing conflict there has threatened its long-term strategic capability.

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Newtown Gun Massacre Took Just Five Minutes

Newtown gunman Adam Lanza had access to a vast arsenal of weapons and took just five minutes to kill his 26 victims and himself, according to newly-released police documents.

Search warrants reveal several guns, a safe with shotgun shells, a bayonet and several swords were found at his home.

The Connecticut prosecutor leading the investigation said Lanza fired 154 bullets from a Bushmaster .223-calibre rifle to kill the 20 students and six adults, before shooting himself with a Glock 10mm handgun.

He added that Lanza had another loaded handgun with him inside the school as well as three, 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster.

Nancy Lanza was shot dead by her son before his killing spree

A loaded 12-gauge shotgun was also found in the passenger compartment of the car Lanza drove to the school containing 70 shotgun rounds.

The 20-year-old was found dead after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December wearing a bulletproof vest and military-style clothing.

Among the other items police seized in their search of the house he shared with his mother were a bolt-action rifle, another pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for a variety of weapons.

Investigators also recovered articles on other shootings and a cheque made out to Adam Lanza for the purchase of a firearm, written by his mother, Nancy.

Lanza shot her in the head at the start of his deadly shooting spree, the warrants revealed.

The home also contained books about living with autism and Asperger's syndrome, as well as an NRA guide to the basics of pistol shooting.

Although detectives list Lanza's journal and other personal documents among the evidence, nothing about the contents is revealed.

Twenty school children and six adults died in the massacre

Police said they found a smashed computer hard drive and a gaming console.

Lanza, an academically-gifted but emotionally-disturbed young man, was known to be an avid gamer who played Call of Duty and other violent games and rarely left his home.

Some details have been redacted, including the name of a witness, telephone numbers, serial numbers on items found and a few paragraphs of an affidavit.

Authorities have said it will take until June or later for the investigation to be completed.

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Nelson Mandela Responding Well In Hospital

Nelson Mandela is said to be "responding positively" to treatment after being taken back to hospital suffering from a lung infection.

The 94-year-old former president of South Africa remains under observation, the office of President Jacob Zuma said.

Earlier, Mr Zuma confirmed that Mr Mandela was readmitted just before midnight on Wednesday and said: "We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts.

"We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery."

Mr Mandela's spokesman Mac Maharaj told Sky News that the former president was "conscious".

He said: "At the moment doctors are saying it is a recurrence of an old lung infection. It is a matter of concern ... 

"They are doing everything they can to keep him comfortable and happy."

The most recent picture of Mr Mandela, taken on February 2

He said that last time he had seen Mr Mandela he had been frail but in a "good frame of mind".

Mr Mandela spent 18 days in hospital in December, where he was treated for a lung infection and gallstones.

He was discharged on December 26, however, doctors warned he was "not yet fully recovered" and he continued to receive medical treatment at his Johannesburg home, including being given extra oxygen.

Mr Mandela has had recurring lung problems since contracting tuberculosis in 1988, during his 27 years in prison under the apartheid regime.

The Nobel Peace Laureate spent a night in hospital on March 9 for what was described as a scheduled medical check-up.

Mr Mandela at his home (Picture: Being Mandela/Cozi TV)

However, Sky News' Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said that it was now understood that the visit was required for further treatment of the lung infection and that on that occasion he is believed to have had his lungs drained.

She said that there were now significant concerns over his health and added: "The time of his hospitalisation certainly suggests they were alarmed at his deterioration."

In February, Mr Mandela's granddaughters showed the first picture of him to be seen in more than seven months as they promoted a reality television series in which they star.

He was seen with his great grandson, Zen, sitting on his lap at his Johannesburg home.

Earlier this month, George Bizos, the human rights lawyer who represented Mr Mandela at his treason trial, said that he was suffering memory lapses and sometimes forgot his fellow anti-apartheid activists were dead.

Mr Mandela contracted tuberculosis during his time in prison

In an interview he told Eyewitness News: "Unfortunately he sometimes forgets that one or two of them had passed on and has a blank face when you tell him that Walter Sisulu and some others are no longer with us."

In February 2012 Mr Mandela, who is known by his tribal name of Madiba in South Africa, spent the night in hospital after a minor exploratory procedure to investigate persistent abdominal pain.

In 2001 he had radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer.

Mr Mandela, who was released from prison in 1990, suffered damage to his tear glands because of being forced to smash limestone rocks in the quarry on Robben Island due to the alkalinity of the stone. He had cataract surgery at the age of 75, in 1994, a few months after being sworn in as president.

Mr Mandela stepped down after one term as president. He has not appeared in public since South Africa's World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring.

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Cyprus Banks Finally Reopen But Anger Lingers

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent in Cyprus

Cyprus' banks have opened their doors after the longest enforced bank holiday in Europe's history.

Queues grew outside branches across the country, with no signs of panic as employees limited the number of customers allowed in at any one time.

But many residents expressed anger at the country's controversial bailout - which requires Cyprus to raise 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn).

After a rush when the doors first opened, customers queued calmly

"They have stolen our money," Milton Loucas told Sky News.

"I have been working for 60 years. I am 80 years old. I cannot work again for my living - they have cut the lot.

"Our money, our social insurance - they have cut them. How are we going to live?"

Another Cypriot, Stelios, came out of the bank empty handed.

"I tried to get my February wages and they gave me a piece of paper only," he said.

"I have two children in the army and they asked for money - I don't have money to give them.

"The Government didn't pay anybody. My old parents didn't get their pension."

Banks are giving customers information about the capital restrictions

The country's President - who has cut his own salary by 25% - tweeted his thanks to Cypriots for showing "maturity" as the banks reopened.

"I would like to thank the Cypriot people for their maturity and collectedness shown in their interactions with the Cypriot Banks," Nicos Anastasiades said on his official Twitter account.

Cash withdrawals and other transactions are subject to tough restrictions, introduced by the country's Finance Ministry in an effort to avoid a run on the banks.

The country's crippled banking system was effectively closed down on March 16 while the terms of the 10bn euro (£8.5bn) bailout were agreed and implemented.

Large depositors face losses of as much as 40% of their savings as part of the deal, leading to fears that customers would attempt to withdraw large amounts of money when the banks reopened.

Demonstrations against austerity measures continued in Cyprus on Wednesday

As a result, strict capital controls include a withdrawal limit of 300 euros (£253) a day and a ban on cashing cheques.

Travellers leaving the country can only take up to 1,000 euros (£845), or the equivalent in foreign currency, with them in cash - significantly less than expected.

Police and security staff were deployed to maintain order at branches, and G4S guards called in to work alongside police officers and other security firms across the country.

The giant global firm was the contractor that failed to meet their promises over security at the London Olympics prompting the British military to step in.

G4S's managing director in Cyprus, John Arghyrou, told Sky News: "I feel we have the resources, I feel extremely confident as a security company that we can undertake and meet the requirements of our customers."

With just 860,000 people, Cyprus has around 68bn euros (£57bn) in its banks.

This outsized financial system attracted deposits from foreigners but has struggled since investments in neighbouring Greece went sour.

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Cyprus Imposes Limits Ahead Of Bank Reopening

Cyprus is to impose strict limits on money transfers as it prepares for the planned reopening of its crippled banking system.

The measures, aimed at preventing a run on banks in the wake of the nation's controversial bailout, will include restrictions on large-scale transfers from the country's two largest and most troubled lenders, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki, it is understood.

They are expected to reopen tomorrow, almost two weeks after the Cypriot banking system was effectively shut down while the terms of the sovereign rescue were agreed and implemented.

Big depositors face losses of as much as 40% of their savings under the terms of the 10bn euro (£8.5bn) EU bailout.

Leaks of the draft capital controls include limits of 3,000 euros (£2,530) on the amount of cash individuals can take abroad.

The cashing of cheques will not be accepted though the authorities are looking to increase the daily cash withdrawal limit per account from 100 euros to 300 euros.

Payroll payments will be allowed in order to help businesses, which have taken a huge hit as people cut down on their spending amid the uncertainty about the banks.

Local media said that other measures would limit what travellers could take out of banks while credit card purchases would also be restricted.

More follows...

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Boy Found Starved In Apartment With Dead Mum

An emaciated four-year-old boy was found in an apartment with the body of his mother, who had been dead for five days.

Police said that the child had tried to get food from the refrigerator but could not open the door.

Officers said that he had also rubbed lotion on his mother's body in an attempt to revive her, leaving behind his hand prints.

Neighbours were alerted to the plight of the boy and his mother when a maintenance worker at the apartment block in Union, New Jersey, reported a bad smell.

The door was locked with the chain, but ajar.

Officers said that the woman's body was discovered in a bedroom and her son was taken to hospital for treatment.

The death of the woman, who is not being named, is not being treated as suspicious.

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North Korea Cuts Military Hotline To South

North Korea has cut another military hotline with the South as state media said the country's leadership would meet in the coming days to discuss taking a "drastic turn".

A message to South Korean military officials said staff at the military communications liaison office would stop their activities "from this moment".

"Under the situation where a war may break out any moment, there is no need to keep north-south military communications which were laid between the militaries of both sides," it said.

"Not words but only arms will work on the US and the South Korean puppet forces."

North Korea has become increasingly bellicose in recent weeks, ending an armistice agreement with the South and ordering the military to be ready to strike US bases in Guam, Hawaii and mainland America.

However, it military threat maybe not be as fearsome as portrayed in images of North Korean military exercises released by the state news agency on Tuesday.

Experts said images of a sea-borne assault using hovercraft on an unidentified beach on the country's east coast had been doctored, with one or two vessels copied and pasted a number of times along the shore.

AFP analysis of the hovercraft image revealed "various anomalies"

Eric Baradat of AFP, which examined the image, told SKy News that analysis had "revealed various anomalies and proved that indeed in-depth changes had been made to the picture".

"Usually a very simple examination with our software dismisses KCNA pictures but they tend to be better with Photoshop recently," he added.

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: I was slightly curious yesterday ... because what usually happens in these cases is that they release the stills and then within an hour or two there we get the video.

"The people who are watching the state television channel will never hear that this was photoshopped, what they will hear is that they have got some sort of great military."

The faked photo emerged as a company which runs tours to North Korea reported that 3G access for tourists had been shut down, just one month after first being permitted by the state.

Pyongyang's latest threats followed the decision to impose new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear ambitions and military exercises involving US and South Korean troops.

Cho Han-Bum, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the forthcoming meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers' Party would probably seek to keep "the momentum going" through some symbolic gesture.

South Korea's Park Geun-Hye

"I envisage a resolution that further raises the alarm, like declaring a top alert for the entire nation beyond the military, or something like that," Mr Cho said.

Several weeks ago North Korea severed the Red Cross hotline that had been used for government-to-government communications in the absence of diplomatic relations.

Severing the military hotline could affect operations at the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial complex, established in the North in 2004 as a symbol of co-operation, as the hotline was used to organise movement of people and vehicles in and out.

The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a state body in charge of propaganda and inter-Korean affairs, has also launched an attack on the South, accusing President Park Geun-Hye of slander and provocation.

It said she would meet a "miserable ruin" if she keeps "defying the warnings" of the North.

On Tuesday, President Park warned North Korea that its only "path to survival" lay in abandoning its nuclear and missile programmes, and she urged Pyongyang to "change course".

Meanwhile, a Chinese border province, Jilin, has said it will improve its trade and transport links with North Korea, building new railways and a road link.

The Jilin government proposals come despite Beijing working with the US on a UN Security Council resolution targeting Pyongyang's efforts to raise funds for its nuclear programme.

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Worst Crash Scenes Revealed By Australia Cops

Police in Australia have released a video of police officers talking about the worst road crashes they have come across in their careers.

The authorities in South Australia are hoping to persuade motorists to consider the consequences of bad driving as the roads get busy around the Easter holiday break.

Three police officers - Brevet Sergeant Wayne Liebich, Sergeant Lauren Cox and Brevet Sergeant Narelle Janeway - tell of their experiences.

The three explain how what they saw affected them, the victims' families and the potential repercussions.

They also set out how motorists can avoid becoming another statistic.

Police Assistant Commissioner Linda Williams told news.com.au: "What we are urging people to do is take care on our roads, think about their trips, think about the country driving they will be undertaking.

"All this (poor) driving behaviour can actually be avoided by people just taking their time and thinking about getting to their destination safely and in one piece."

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Berlin Wall: Anger As Parts Are Torn Down

Parts of the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall have been torn down in a surpise move by developers to make way for a luxury building project.

A newly-installed gate at a section torn down by the developer

Work crews backed by about 250 police removed four sections - each 1.2m wide - of the 1.3km long East Side Gallery before dawn.

By mid-morning the gap was covered by a wooden fence and protected by scores of police. It will make way for an access route to planned high-rise apartments along the nearby Spree River.

It follows several protests including one attended by former Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhof. Critics are angered that developers are sacrificing history for profit.

Construction workers removed a first piece of the wall earlier this month as part of a plan to make a road to a new luxury apartment complex.

A stretch of the wall near a demolished section

The public outcry brought a halt to the project while local politicians and the investor said they were looking for a solution to keep the rest of the wall untouched.

But despite this, the investor Maik Uwe Hinkel decided to go ahead with the demolition.

In an emailed statement, Mr Hinkel said it was a temporary move to enable trucks to access the building site.

He said after four weeks of fruitless negotiations with city officials and owners of adjacent property he was no longer willing to wait.

A giant drill at a construction site behind the wall

Kani Alavi, the head of the East Side Gallery's artists' group, said: "I can't believe they came here in the dark in such a sneaky manner. All they see is their money, they have no understanding for the historic relevance and art of this place.

"If you take these parts of the Wall away, you take away the soul of the city. This way, you make it like every other city. It's so sad," said Ivan McClostney, 32, who moved to Berlin a year ago from Ireland.

The East Side Gallery was recently restored at a cost of more than 2m euros (£1.6m) to the city.

Only 3km of the wall remains today

The wall section stood on the eastern side of the elaborate border strip built by communist East Germany after it sealed off West Berlin in 1961. At the time it stretched 155km but today only 3km is left.

At least 136 people died trying to scale the wall during the Cold War until it fell in 1989.

The stretch of wall was transformed into an open-air gallery months after the opening and is now covered in colourful murals painted by about 120 artists, attracting scores of tourists.

The Berlin Wall as it used to be during the Cold War

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Central African Republic: Rebels Condemned

The self-proclaimed leader of a rebel takeover in the Central African Republic is due to name a new power-sharing government as he faces international criticism for a coup that killed 13 South African soldiers.

The UN Security Council has said it is ready to take "further measures" after soldiers led by strongman Michel Djotodia forced the president of the mineral-rich nation to flee on Sunday.

Michel Djotodia has declared himself leader of the rebel coalition

The rebel coalition, called Seleka, overran the city of Bangui at the weekend pushing aside hundreds of South African soldiers.

The soldiers who died were part of a training contingent deployed in the CAR at the request of the government.

South African president Jacob Zuma said: "The actions of these bandits will not deter us from our responsibility of working for peace and stability in Africa."

The 15-member Security Council said Seleka had "jeopardised the precarious stability" of the country and breached a January 11 peace accord.

Mr Djotodia has asked regional peacekeepers for their help in restoring order after his own men joined in a second day of looting on Monday.

His organisation's ousting of President Francois Bozize has also been condemned by the African Union.

However, despite criticising Seleka's actions over the weekend, the US has refused to support Mr Bozize and declined to call his ousting a "coup".

The US State Department said it was focused on keeping a power-sharing peace accord alive and is reviewing all aid programmes to the country.

President Francois Bozize fled power 10 years after his coup

The US is also thought to be concerned about how political instability will disrupt the hunt for African warlord Joseph Kony. Mr Bozize was a strong supporter of African efforts to dismantle Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.

The removal of Mr Bozize, who had himself seized power in a coup backed by Chad in 2003, was just the latest of many rebellions since the poor, landlocked country won independence from France in 1960.

Mr Djotodia said after thousands of rebels swept into Bangui: "We will lead the people of Central African Republic during a three-year transition period, in accordance with the Libreville Accord."

January's peace deal signed at Libreville, the capital of Gabon, was drafted by regional mediators after the rebels besieged Bangui in December.

The accord had created a government drawn from Bozize loyalists, rebels and the civilian opposition.

Some 600,000 residents of the capital remained without power and running water for a third day on Monday and there were widespread reports of looting by rebels and civilians.

Neighbouring Cameroon confirmed on Monday that Mr Bozize had arrived there but said it was not giving him permanent refuge.

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Hero Bus Driver In Close Shave With Huge Pole

A bus driver has been hailed a hero after managing to stop his vehicle despite being struck by a huge lamppost smashing through the windscreen.

CCTV footage appears to show Mao Zhihao chatting to someone before spotting the danger ahead, but he has little time to react before the giant blue pole pierces the glass.

Mr Mao was pinned down but managed to steer the vehicle to a halt

He seems to dive out of the way and manages to avoid being hit head-on, but the pole apparently swipes him to the left of his body.

He suffered a ruptured spleen in the accident.

The pole fell because of a separate crash

Mr Mao was able to bring the bus to a halt before rising to his feet and helping the 26 passengers to safety.

"I was pinned down by the lamppost and put the bus into gear instinctively," he said.

"I just wanted to slow the bus down.

Mr Mao was taken to hospital with a ruptured spleen

"I couldn't see the road, and tried to drive it to one side of the road. The bus hit the guardrails and finally stopped."

Mr Mao, who reported the accident to police, was taken to hospital for treatment.

The lamppost toppled after a separate two-car crash in Jiangshan, in China's eastern province of Zheijang, on Monday afternoon.

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Cyprus Moves To Prevent Run On Banks

Cyprus Facing Jobless Total Of 30%

Updated: 10:40am UK, Tuesday 26 March 2013

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent, in Nicosia

Cyprus is facing a recession so deep that 30% of people may find themselves unemployed.

The EU bailout means massive restructuring of the financial system, the inevitable loss of many investors and thousands of people seeing their jobs disappear.

Professor Hari Tsoukas, a business analyst, told Sky News: "Unemployment is likely to at least double from 14% to at least 25% and possibly up to 30%. Not so long ago it was just 5%.

"It is a huge challenge now facing the Cypriot people, we have been resilient before and we will need all that again," he added.

For a week now people have been rationed to how much they can withdraw from cashpoints.

Wages have not been paid, businesses have been unable to pay suppliers and the whole economy has seized up.

Banks have been closed since March 16 but Cyprus' president Nicos Anastasiades has said they will reopen on Thursday.

However, he added that the island will introduce some limits on transactions to prevent a huge outflow of money.

Politicians have been struggling to come up with a plan that would raise enough funds to qualify for an international bailout.

In a televised address to the country, the president said: "The central bank will implement capital controls on transactions. I want to assure you that this will be a very temporary measure that will gradually be relaxed."

He did not specify what limitations would be imposed on transactions.

He said he had taken "painful decisions to save the country from bankruptcy" and pledged Cyprus "would find its feet again".

It follows a bailout deal which reports suggest could see Bank of Cyprus savers with deposits above 100,000 euros (£85,000) hit with a levy of "around 30%".

In a smart fourth floor apartment, Sky News met one Cypriot woman prepared to show us where she has been stashing her money.

Fearful of losing control of her cash by leaving it in the bank she now has a daily routine of hiding it in drawers or cupboards around her bedroom.

She didn't want to be identified but said: "You just want to know your money is safe, this is quite small scale but it is all I can do."

Her flat was burgled last year so she is taking no chances - every time before she leaves home for over an hour she collects together her growing stash of notes and takes it with her stuffed in her handbag.

She hates having to do it but while banks remain closed some people feel they have little option but to take control of their own money.

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North Korea Rocket Strike Threat Targets US

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

North Korea has ordered its military to be ready to strike US bases in Guam, Hawaii and mainland America, according to state TV.

North Korea threatens a missile attack on Guam, Hawaii and the US mainland

"The Korea People's Army top command declares that all artillery troops including strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units are to be placed under class-A combat readiness," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The announcement came as images were released showing a new round of military exercises by the isolated state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un talks to a group of female soldiers

The still photographs show what appears to be a sea-borne assault using hovercraft and an artillery drill using multiple rocket launchers - none of which would have the capacity to reach more than a dozen or so miles.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is pictured visiting troops and watching the exercise from a vantage point above the unidentified beach on the country's east coast.

North Korea has previously threatened a nuclear attack on US military bases

The photographs, released by KCNA, are accompanied by language which matches weeks of rhetoric.

According to the news agency, Mr Kim "stressed the need to destroy and wipe away any enemy who lands on their coast through strong firepower and ordered the soldiers of the heroic Korean People's Army to display their mettle in the great war against the enemies".

It's not thought to have the technology to hit the US with an atomic weapon

"Crazy like wild wolves threatened with fire, send all of them to the bottom of the sea," he is quoted as saying.

The exercise and the photographs of it are a clear response to a series of month-long exercises taking place across the border in South Korea involving American and South Korean troops and naval forces.

Defence analysts have been studying the latest photographs with interest.

Kim Jong-Un is photographed visiting troops

James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific Editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, told Sky News he had not seen hovercraft like those in the photographs before.

However, he added: "I can categorically state that multiple rocket launchers and 'long-range artillery' are not going to threaten the US mainland, Guam or Hawaii, unless they are put on a ship and sailed to within firing distance (which I doubt the North Koreans are about to do)."

Rockets and long-range artillery have been ordered to be combat ready

It has been an uneasy few months on the Korean peninsula with rhetoric and threatening language at a level not seen for several years.

The increased tension comes as Seoul marks the third anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean warship.

On March 26, 2010, the Cheonan was torpedoed by the North Korean military with the loss of 46 sailors.

Order was issued in a statement from the North's military "supreme command"

In December, North Korea launched a satellite into orbit in the tip of a rocket.

Their claim then was that this was all part of Pyongyang's legitimate right to pursue a space programme.

Few countries bought that claim, believing instead that it represented the latest move in North Korea's development of a ballistic missile programme.

The fresh threat marks the latest fiery rhetoric from Pyongyang

The rocket launch was followed in February by an underground nuclear test and a sharp escalation in tension.

Faced with unprecedented UN sanctions, backed by his historical ally China, Mr Kim admitted the rocket launch and nuclear test were indeed all part of his ideological desire to destroy America and its allies.

The warning follows joint military drills by the US and South Korean forces

Asked about the accuracy and range of rockets like that fired in December, Mr Hardy said he believed North Korea was still some way off possessing an operational missile of this type.

"It's a mish mash of fuel types and requires quite a bit of time to assemble on a purpose-built launch pad," he continued.

"The US, or anyone else, would have plenty of time to scope it out before it got airborne so its operational value is quite low even before you start talking about the challenges of placing a warhead on it," he added.

US military bases in the Pacific are in range of its medium-range missiles

The annulment of the armistice agreement with South Korea and repeated threats to attack the South over the past three weeks have, so far, been exposed as nothing more than bluff and bluster.

However, with unattributed cyber attacks in Seoul, repositioned missile defence systems on America's west coast and the presence of US B-52 bombers in the skies above the Korean peninsula, there's no doubt minds across the region and beyond are very focused on a fragile peace and an unpredictable regime.

The South says it has seen no signs of an imminent military action

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