North Korea Nuclear Test: China Urged To Step In

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

Kim Jong-Un held a military meeting at the weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Punggye-Ri nuclear test facility

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Syria War: 'Children Are Biggest Casualty'

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Aleppo

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamid Sakia was shot by a sniper while playing football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The city's scarred buildings

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is Aleppo.

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Fidel Castro Makes Surprise Appearance

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

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

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

Fidel Castro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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European Football Match-Fixing Ring Smashed

A criminal ring suspected of fixing 380 matches, including World Cup qualifying games, has been smashed by police in Europe.

The matches included European Championship qualifiers, two Champions League games and some top-flight matches in European national leagues.

One of the Champions League matches was played in England in the last three or four years, according to Sky sources.

Rob Wainwright, head of the European police agency Europol, said the investigation had identified about 425 corrupt officials, players and serious criminals in 15 countries.

It had uncovered "match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before", he said.

Most of the fixed matches were played in Turkish, German and Swiss championships, but other suspicious matches were identified in Africa, Asia and south and central America.

Inquiries found evidence that a Singapore-based crime group was spending up to 100,000 euros (£86,000) per match to bribe players and officials.

The probe uncovered 8m euros (£6.9m) in betting profits and 2m euros (£1.7m) in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.

Europol declined to identify any of the suspects, players or matches involved, citing the ongoing investigations.

Mr Wainwright said while many fixed matches were already known, the Europol investigation lifted the lid on the widespread involvement or organised crime in rigging games.

"This is the first time we have established substantial evidence that organised crime is now operating in the world of football," he said, adding that there was now a "concerted effort" across the soccer world to tackle the corruption.

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Malala: Schoolgirl Shot By Taliban Speaks Out

The Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban has spoken out about her recovery for the first time since she was nearly killed.

Malala Yousufzai, 15, underwent successful surgery to reconstruct her skull and restore her hearing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham at the weekend.

She escaped death by a matter of inches when she was shot on a school bus in northwestern Pakistan on October 9 last year - as the bullet entered just above her left eye and ran along her jaw, "grazing" her brain.

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

In a message recorded by the hospital on Sunday, Malala said she was "feeling alright" and "happy that both the operations were successful".

She said: "I can also walk a little bit, I can talk and I'm feeling better."

"It does not feel like I had a very big operation," she added, despite undergoing five hours of surgery.

Malala on her path to recovery

Her doctors have expressed their delight at her recovery. They hope that the latest procedures - to put a titanium plate on her damaged skull and to fit a cochlear implant - will be the last surgery she needs.

Neurosurgeon Anwen White said that her "brain is healing very well" and she did not expect any long lasting cognitive problems.

She said the teenager would continue with rehabilitation and then "hopefully be discharged home fairly soon".

University Hospitals Birmingham medical director Dave Rosser said Malala was "doing very well".

He added that just a day after the operations Malala was "already talking about resuming her work and furthering her cause for women's education".

"Most of us would be feeling sorry for ourselves 24 hours after an operation like that, not talking about helping other people."

In another video interview, filmed before her surgery on January 22 but only just published, Malala is heard saying that she was "getting better, day by day".

Surgeons operating on Malala

Speaking clearly but with a slight stiffness in her upper lip, she said: "Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak, I can see you, I can see everyone.

"It's just because of the prayers of people. Because all people - men, women, children - all of them have prayed for me. And because of all these prayers God has given me this new life, a second life.

"And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason, we have organised the Malala Fund."

Malala was airlifted to Britain from Pakistan in October to receive specialist medical care and protection against further Taliban threats.

She is expected to remain in the UK for some time as her father, Ziauddin, has received a diplomatic post based in Birmingham.

The Malala Fund is a girls' education charity set up in late 2012. It launched with a $10m (£6.4m) donation from Pakistan.

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North Korea Meeting Hints At Nuclear Test

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Activity around the test tunnel (Pic: IHS James)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chris Kyle: Ex-US Navy Seal Sniper Shot Dead

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

Chris Kyle, who also wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper, was killed alongside another man, 35-year-old Chad Littlefield.

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

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

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

A 25-year-old suspect, identified as Eddie Ray Routh, was arrested, according to Texas Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Lonny Haschel.

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

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

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

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

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

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Assad: Syria Can Confront Israeli Aggression

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

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

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

Saeed Jalili and Bashar al Assad

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

Purported images of the targeted site show destroyed cars, trucks and military vehicles. A building has broken windows and damaged interiors, but no major structural damage.

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

Following the attack, Syria's ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, said Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation," but that it was up to the relevant authorities to choose the time and place.

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

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

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

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Malala: Shot Teen's Surgery 'Successful'

A schoolgirl who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan has had successful surgery, doctors have said.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham confirmed that Malala Yousufzai, 15, underwent cranial reconstruction and cochlear implantation procedures on Saturday.

A hospital spokeswoman said Malala's medical team were "very pleased" with her progress following the operations, which lasted for some five hours.

Commenting on the surgery, the spokeswoman said: "Both operations were a success and Malala is now recovering in hospital.

Malala was shot by a Taliban gunman

"Her condition is described as stable and her medical team are very pleased with the progress she has made so far. She is awake and talking to staff and members of her family."

Malala has been receiving treatment at the hospital since she was flown to Britain in October after being shot in north-west Pakistan for promoting women's rights.

Doctors at the hospital said on Wednesday that Malala was set to undergo surgery for what they hoped would be the last time.

The teenager required the fitting of a custom-made titanium plate to repair damage to her skull, as well as a cochlear implant to help her recover hearing in her left ear.

Malala has been in hospital since October

Speaking earlier this week, Dr Dave Rosser, medical director at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said both procedures were routinely carried out at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Dr Rosser described Malala as a "remarkable young woman" who had made great progress in her recovery.

He also said she was fully aware of the threats the Taliban had made against her life.

Addressing a media briefing on Wednesday, Dr Rosser said: "She's not naive at all about what happened to her and the situation in terms of her high-profile.

"She's incredibly determined to continue to speak for her cause."

Dr Rosser said it could take "between 15 and 18 months" for any hearing to recover in her left ear but added that in time she would have almost normal levels of hearing, thanks to the surgery.

Dr Rosser also credited the surgeons who operated on Malala in Pakistan soon after she was shot with saving her life.

Malala escaped death by a matter of inches when she was shot on October 9 last year - as the bullet entered just above her left eye and ran along her jaw -"grazing" her brain.

In a statement, the hospital said Malala would continue her recuperation as an inpatient until she was well enough to be discharged.

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Iraq: 33 Dead In Bomb Blasts And Gun Attack

At least 33 people have been killed in two co-ordinated suicide car bombings and a gun attack in northern Iraq.

A car bomb went off at the city's telephone exchange building and simultaneously at a police base.

Two militants dressed in police uniforms and armed with guns, grenades and suicide vests also stormed the police compound in the city of Kirkuk.

A further 70 people were injured in the rush-hour attacks - shattering a relative calm in recent days in the war-torn country.

An injured man is stretchered away from the scene

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

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

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

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

Rescue workers look for survivors among the debris

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

"I saw many people killed inside their cars."

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

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

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

Firefighters tackle a smouldering vehicle

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

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

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

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

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

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