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Wikileaks cables criticise UK military in Afghanistan

Criticism in the cables of the British military effort in Afghanistan goes back to 2007

The latest US diplomatic documents released by Wikileaks contain harsh criticism of the UK military effort in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2009.

The cables say US officials and Afghan President Hamid Karzai believed UK forces were not up to the task of securing Helmand province on their own.
A US general, Gen Dan McNeill, is quoted as saying that British forces have made a mess of Helmand.
The details have been published in the Guardian newspaper.
Criticism of the British military effort goes back to 2007 when Gen McNeill was the US general in charge of Nato forces.
He was said to be "particularly dismayed by the British effort" and is reported to have said "they had made a mess of things in Helmand, their tactics were wrong".
He criticised a deal with the Taliban which allowed British troops to be withdrawn from Musa Qala in 2006, saying it "opened the door to narco-traffickers in that area, and now it was impossible to tell the difference between the traffickers and the insurgents".
 

'Not ready to fight'
A cable dated late 2008, from the US embassy, says "we and President Karzai agree that British forces are not up to the task of securing Helmand" without US support.
In another cable, the then Afghan foreign minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, expressed disappointment at the ordering of an extra 2,000 British soldiers to Helmand, saying: "They were not ready to fight as actively as American soldiers."
At a meeting with Senator John McCain in December 2008, President Karzai said he was relieved that US marines were being sent to reinforce the British-led mission in Helmand and "related an anecdote in which a woman from Helmand asked him to 'take the British away and give us back the Americans'."

They reinforce a criticism made before of British forces that they have not been aggressive enough or present in sufficient numbers.
This should not come as a huge surprise. President Karzai has been critical of British military efforts in the past. British commanders have long acknowledged that, until the recent US reinforcements, they did not have sufficient forces to stabilise the major population centres within Helmand.
The blunt private comments are also contradicted by more recent public praise from US military commanders.
US Marine, Major General Richard Mills said the UK's efforts in Sangin had been "simply nothing short of remarkable".
And they need to be tempered by the realities on the ground. The US Marines who have now taken over Sangin have found it to be just as dangerous and deadly as the British.
Yet these words could still cause hurt and offence - not least for the families of those 345 British servicemen who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

According to the Guardian, criticism of the British operation in Helmand centres on its failure to establish security in Sangin.

Helmand governor Gulab Mangal told a US team led by vice-president Joe Biden in January 2009 that American forces were urgently needed as British security in Sangin was inadequate.
He is reported to have said British troops "must leave their bases and engage with the people".
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said these criticisms related to a period in which British commanders themselves were making clear they wanted more troops and resources.
Responding to the latest leaks, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "UK forces did an excellent job in Sangin, an area which has always been and continues to be uniquely challenging, delivering progress by increasing security and taking the fight to the insurgency.
"That work is now being continued by the US Marines as part of a hugely increased Isaf presence across the whole of Helmand Province.
"Both Afghan leaders, including the Governor of Sangin, and the US Marines have publicly recognised and paid tribute to the sacrifice and achievements of the UK forces in that area."
A Pentagon spokesman said the contribution and sacrifice of UK troops to the war in Afghanistan was "certainly recognized and appreciated" in the US.
"Marine commanders on the ground in Afghanistan have publicly recognized that British forces did an excellent job in Sangin, an area which has been and continues to be uniquely challenging," he said.
Meanwhile, former defence secretary Geoff Hoon revealed he had written a paper at the time of the Helmand deployment - which took place under his successor John Reid - raising concerns about the manpower available for the operation.
Mr Hoon told The Times that his paper "basically said that we could do this, but only once we had drawn down significant numbers in Iraq".

European countries amid weather chaos

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European countries battle weather chaos

At least 18 people have died in the cold in Poland

People across northern Europe are still facing heavy snow and freezing temperatures, with more cold weather forecast for the weekend.

Up to 28 people are thought to have been killed by the cold or in weather-related accidents.
Thousands of people have been left stranded after roads and rail networks were disrupted and airports closed.
In the Balkans, heavy flooding has forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Temperatures in Poland have fallen to as low as -33C (-27F) in the past few days.
Police in the country say 18 people are now known to have have died from exposure, most of them homeless people who had been drinking alcohol outside.
Russian media reported three deaths in Moscow and at least two people were also reported to have been killed in Germany.

They included a 73-year-old man in Lower Saxony who was said to have been hit by a train while attempting to clear snow.

 

Airports closed
Thousands of railway passengers in Germany had to spend the night in their trains after the snow forced high-speed inter-city routes to a halt.

Many people have had to flee flooding in the Balkans

The authorities in Berlin kept underground stations, soup kitchens and heated buses open all night to provide shelter for the city's homeless.
There has been widespread disruption to international travel, with several major airports forced to close.
Significant flight delays were reported at London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schiphol, Berlin Tegel and Duesseldorf airports.
London's Gatwick airport re-opened on Friday morning after two days, but passengers have been warned to expect delays and cancellations. London City airport and Edinburgh airport in Scotland also suffered closures.
Eurostar says it expects to operate a significantly reduced service until Sunday, but that no more tickets will be available until Monday.
In other developments

• Denmark mobilized its army to help emergency vehicles make their way through snow in the south-east

• Snowfalls trapped hundreds of motorists in Brittany and Normandy

• In Belgium, 650km (403 miles) of traffic jams were reported, with Flanders hit hard

Cold air moving down from Siberia has contributed to the wintry conditions in northern Europe.
Temperatures are an average 5-10C below average in some major cities.
Meanwhile, heavy rain has led to severe flooding in parts of Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.
More than 1,000 people have fled their homes to escape rising waters and officials have declared a state of emergency in several affected areas.

Israel forest fire kill dozens prison guards

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Israeli fire near Haifa kills dozens prison guards

About 40 people have died in a forest fire that is raging out of control in northern Israel, police have said.

Many of the victims were prison guards travelling on a bus which was caught in the inferno in the Carmel Mountains near the city of Haifa.
Thousands of people, some of them prison inmates, have been evacuated from the area, police said.
Scores more have been injured, the ambulance service said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
The Israeli prison service said the bus was carrying guards to help with the evacuation of nearby Damon Prison because of the blaze.
The men had not worked at the prison but had raced to the area from central Israel to assist in the rescue, prison service spokesman Yaron Zamir said.
A fire brigade spokesman told the Jerusalem Post that the blaze had travelled 1,500m (4,920ft) in less than three minutes.
"The bus had no chance. They tried to escape but were burned alive. It was a horrific scene," the spokesman told the newspaper.
No inmates were reported injured.
 

'Catastrophe'
"This is a disaster of unprecedented proportions," Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"We are harnessing all the forces of the state to deal with this disaster and rescue those who are injured and to stop the fire," Mr Netanyahu said.
He called on Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Russia to help Israel tackle the fire.

The fire in the northern Carmel region broke out about midday, and hundreds of firefighters were battling the flames on the ground and from the air amid heavy winds.
Emergency crews from across the country tried to reach the scene, weaving through heavy rush hour traffic as night fell.
"We're on a road that takes you down Carmel Mountain and everything is burning on both sides," a paramedic supervisor from the ambulance service, Erez Geller, told the BBC.
"It's dark now and this makes it very complicated with the fire. It's a catastrophe because we have so many fatalities.
"We have had several fires in the last 10 to 12 years but nothing like this," Mr Geller said.
Israeli media said it was the biggest forest fire in the country's history, with 7,000 acres (2,800 hectares) of land destroyed by Thursday evening.
Israel is currently suffering a period of drought with no significant rain since the spring.

Russia won 2018 Fifa bid

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Russia PM Vladimir Putin thanks Fifa for World Cup vote

Mr Putin said the vote was a "tough and fair fight"

Russian PM Vladimir Putin has thanked Fifa "from the bottom of my heart" for choosing Russia to be the host of the 2018 World Cup.

Arriving in Zurich, Mr Putin said the competition would be held to the highest standards.
He said it had been a "difficult decision" not to come for the result earlier in the day.
He did so out of respect for Fifa members who, he said, had been under unacceptable and unjustified pressure.
A recent investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme, which was broadcast on Monday, accused three executive committee members of accepting payments and alleged Fifa vice-president Jack Warner attempted to supply ticket touts.
Russia was selected as 2018 host ahead of co-bidders Spain-Portugal, Holland-Belgium and England. Qatar won the 2022 bid.
 

 'Tough and fair fight'

 

Russia received nine votes in the first round of 

voting and an outright majority of 13 in the second round.Mr Putin said the decisiveness of Russia's victory in two rounds had been "absolutely unexpected"."We are honoured to win in this tough and fair fight," he said."From the bottom of my heart, thank you."Mr Putin said that in Russia, football "brings a spark into the lives of people young and old".He recalled the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis in World War II, saying football matches were played even then despite harsh living conditions and the lack of food and heating.

      

The Russian prime minister had been expected to be a prominent figurehead for the Russian bid in the 

final days of campaigning but instead he remained in Moscow, leading to speculation that Russia's bid was likely to fail.

But Mr Putin explained that his absence was prompted by the corruption allegations against Fifa executive members.

"I did this out of respect," he said. "There was unacceptable campaigning that was deployed for the World Cup in 2018."

"People were accused of corruption. There were accused without any grounds, without any reasons, no justifications."

The Russian leader's presence in Guatemala in 2007 for the announcement of the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics is thought to have been a key factor in choosing the Russian city of Sochi.

 

Free transport

Mr Putin's promise to scrap visas for people in possession of tickets for the competition was seen as crucial to his country's prospects of winning the vote, as nationals of almost all countries outside the former Soviet Union must obtain permission to visit Russia.

There had been concerns that Russia's vast size, its remoteness from other countries and what is seen as a relatively weak transport system could make traveling around the country problematic.

All the host cities are in the European region of the country and Mr Putin has promised that fans will be able to travel on public transport for free during the event.

Snowfall disrupts northern Europe

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Snowfall disrupts northern Europe's airports and roads

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Snow has shut Geneva airport, while eight homeless people have died in after the mercury dropped below -20C in Poland

Heavy snowfall has caused disruption across northern Europe, closing airports and bringing traffic to a standstill.

In Poland, eight homeless people died as temperatures fell below -20C (-4F).
Airports were closed in the UK, France and Switzerland. Dozens of flights were affected in Germany and Spain.
Prominent figures including Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero faced delays as they headed to Zurich for the Fifa World Cup vote.
In the Russian capital, Moscow, temperatures dropped to -23.6C (-10.5F), the lowest on record for 1 December since 1931.
In Poland it was even colder, with the eastern city of Bialystok registering temperatures of -26C (-14.8).
Police in the country appealed to the public to get in touch if they found any homeless people living outdoors after eight homeless men were found frozen to death.
 

Winter warnings
In Britain, thousands of schools were closed and police in the southern county of Surrey described conditions as the worst they had ever seen.
The Met Office has issued heavy snow warnings for much of the eastern side of Britain and some central areas.

Passengers faced delays of up to an hour on Eurostar services linking London with Paris and Brussels.

One of Britain's busiest airports, Gatwick, was closed, as was Edinburgh airport. Geneva airport in Switzerland and Lyon-Bron airport in southern France were also closed as staff struggled to clear runways of snow.
There were severe flight delays reported in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Prague.
In France, 12 regions in the frozen east and centre banned the use of lorries, forcing more than 7,000 of them to park overnight.
Thick snow across Germany blocked roads, and caused flight cancellations and school closures. Bild newspaper said it was the coldest start to December for centuries, with some areas reporting temperatures as low as -18C (-0.4F).
Increased demand for gas and electricity saw a rise in prices on Europe's energy markets.

"It's insane, there's a lot of panic," one gas market participant was quoted as telling Reuters news agency. "If we have the smallest supply issue it's going to be worrisome."

In northern Italy, where heavy rains have caused severe flooding in some areas this week, the Civil Protection Authority warned more downpours were expected.
Rome's Tiber river came close to overflowing in parts after water levels rose by more than a metre in one day.
In Albania, meanwhile, a state of emergency was declared due to widespread flooding along the Drini River delta north-west of the capital, Tirana.

While the north of the continent shivered, though, it was a different picture in parts of southern Europe, with Cyprus enjoying an unseasonably warm start to December and clocking temperatures close to 30C (86C).

Major methamphetamine haul seized in Georgia

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Major methamphetamine haul seized in Georgia raid

Police seized 983lb (445kg) of methamphetamine, an addictive stimulant also known as crystal meth

Investigators seized close to half a tonne of the drug methamphetamine just outside the city of Atlanta in one of the biggest such finds in US history, authorities have said.

Police uncovered the haul, with an estimated street value of $44.6m (£28.6m), during a raid on a home in Norcross in the state of Georgia.
Crystal methamphetamine and liquid methamphetamine oil were discovered in a large drug lab, the authorities said.
The find totalled 983lb (445kg).
The home targeted in the investigation was being "strictly used for the production of methamphetamine", police said in a statement, adding that the seizure was thought "to be one of the largest methamphetamine confiscations in the United States".
"This would feed hundreds and hundreds of addicts and destroy who knows how many lives, countless lives," said federal Drug Enforcement Administration official Rodney Benson.
Investigators suspect a Mexican-based drug trafficking organisation of involvement in the operation, but have not yet determined what group is responsible.
Jose Galvez-Vela, 33, was arrested in Texas and charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, police said.
Methamphetamine, which also goes by the street names "speed" and "crank", is an addictive stimulant often made in home laboratories.

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15 year old high school hostage-taker died

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US high school hostage-taker dies of wounds

Officials said classes at Marinette High School would resume on Wednesday

The 15-year-old boy who shot himself after taking 23 students and a teacher hostage at his school in Wisconsin has died of his wounds.

Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik said Samuel Hengel died on Tuesday morning at a hospital in Green Bay.
Hengel shot himself with a handgun as police stormed a classroom at Marinette High School on Monday night, after a stand-off lasting several hours.
Chief Skorik said police were still trying to ascertain his motives.
"As far as what caused this, it seems to be a mystery," he said. "We have not been able to identify anything that precipitated this incident."

'Most respectful kid'

He said the incident at Marinette High School began at about 1330 (1930 GMT) on Monday, sometime after which the first shots were fired.

One of the hostages said Hengel left the classroom while a film was being shown and came back with a duffel bag, which police later said contained two semi-automatic handguns and ammunition.

He then reportedly shot at the film projector and a wall, before sitting down at the front of the class.
"He didn't say anything," Austin Biehl, 15, told reporters. "We were just scared and shocked he was doing this. My legs were shaking."
The authorities were first notified of the incident by the high school's principal at 1548, after he was told of the situation by a student whom Hengel had allowed to leave.
After a stand-off of four hours - during which the teacher, Valerie Burd, communicated with the hostage negotiation team and Hengel's classmates tried to keep him calm by chatting with him about hunting, fishing and movies - five students were released because they needed to go to the toilet.
Chief Skorik said that at 2003, officers outside the classroom heard three shots and "breached the door". At the front of the room was Hengel, who then shot himself in the head, he added. The remaining hostages were evacuated.

Hengel was transported to the nearby Bay Area Medical Center, and later to St Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, where he died.
Family friends of the Hengel family said he was "the most respectful kid you would ever meet" and that his actions were completely shocking.
"I don't think he intended to hurt anyone," Austin Biehl said. "If he wanted to, he probably would have done it."
Classes at Marinette High School will resume on Wednesday.

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US high school 'hostage drama'

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All hostages released from Wisconsin high school

Dozens of people gathered near the school, hoping for news of the stand-off

An armed student has released the 23 students and a teacher he was holding hostage at a school in Wisconsin.

An administrator at Marinette High School called the authorities shortly after 1500 (2100 GMT) to say a student with a handgun had taken over a room.
After a stand-off lasting five hours, Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik said all the hostages had been released.
The perpetrator was a 15-year-old student at the school who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
He is now received treating in hospital, where his parents are with him, Police Chief Skorik said.
None of the hostages were wounded, although several shots were fired from the two weapons the student was carrying.
The police blocked off roads near the school, and local media report that a Swat team was called to the scene from Green Bay.

The armed student was a member of class in the room where he took the hostages. He does not have any police history.
Chief Skorik earlier said that all contact between the student and hostage negotiators had been through the female teacher being held hostage.
"We have no idea as far as motivations at this point," he said.

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Iranian nuclear scientist killed

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Iranian nuclear scientist killed in motorbike attack

The scientists were targeted in separate attacks on their way to work

An Iranian nuclear scientist has been killed and another wounded in two separate but similar attacks in the capital, Tehran.

The scientists were targeted by men on motorbikes who attached bombs to the windows of their cars as they drove to work, officials said.
The scientist killed has been named as Majid Shahriari.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused "Western governments" and Israel of being behind the killing.
Another scientist was killed in a bomb blast at the beginning of the year.
Dr Shahriari was a member of the nuclear engineering department of Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. His wife is said to have been injured in the attack.
The nuclear scientist injured in the second attack was named as Fereydoon Abbasi. His wife was also wounded.

'Isotope specialist'
According to the conservative news website Mashregh News, Dr Abbasi is "one of the few specialists who can separate isotopes" - a process that is crucial in the manufacture of uranium fuel for nuclear power stations and is also required for the creation of uranium-based nuclear weapons.
Dr Abbasi has also been a member of the Revolutionary Guards since the 1979 revolution, the website said.
At a news conference, President Ahmadinejad accused Western powers and Israel of being behind the murder.
"One can undoubtedly see the hands of Israel and Western governments in the assassination which unfortunately took place," he said, without specifying which Western governments.
He said the assassination would not stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear programmes.
Earlier, state television reported a similar claim by Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, who accused US and Israeli intelligence services of killing the scientist.
"Mossad and the CIA are the enemies of Iranians and always seek to hurt this nation. They particularly want to stop our scientific progress," he said.
The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, who went to visit the surviving scientist in hospital, said he had a message for the country's enemies: "Do not play with fire".
Controversial programme

Masoud Ali Mohammadi died in a bomb blast in January as he left his home

The Iranian scientist killed in January this year, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was said to be a nuclear scientist assassinated by counter-revolutionaries, Zionists and agents of the "global arrogance", Iranian media said at the time.
But scientists in the UK and the US said that, from his substantial body of published research, Dr Mohammadi was unlikely to have been working on Iran's nuclear programme, and that his expertise was in another field of physics altogether - quantum mechanics.
There has been much controversy over Iran's nuclear activities.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes, but the US and other Western nations suspect it of seeking to build nuclear weapons.
On Saturday, Iran said its first atomic power plant in the southern city of Bushehr had begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers over the country's nuclear drive.

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Afghan 'policeman' kills six NATO servicemen

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Afghan 'policeman' kills six Nato troops

Attackers in Afghafn police uniform have targeted Nato troops and Afghan security forces before

A gunman in an Afghan police uniform has killed six service members in eastern Afghanistan, NATO forces have said.

NATO says the man turned his weapon on the troops during a training mission. He was also killed in the incident.
It was not immediately clear if the attacker was a real police officer or an insurgent infiltrator.
NATO has not revealed the nationalities of the dead, but Americans make up most of the foreign troops in the area.
"An individual in an Afghan border police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Forces (Isaf) during a training mission today, killing six service members in eastern Afghanistan," the statement said.
"The individual who fired on the Isaf forces was also killed in the incident. A joint Afghan and Isaf team is investigating this incident."
Taliban insurgents have dressed as police to carry out attacks before now.
Only at the weekend, two suicide bombers in police uniform killed 12 police officers in south-eastern Paktika province.
In November last year, five British soldiers were shot dead in Helmand province, by an Afghan policeman, possibly a militant infiltrator, who then escaped.

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Wikileaks reveal US secret concerns

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Wikileaks release of embassy cables reveals US concerns

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah reportedly said of Iran's nuclear programme: "Cut off the head of the snake"

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks begun releasing extracts from secret messages sent by US embassies which give an insight into current global concerns.

They include reports of some Arab leaders - including Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah - urging the US to attack Iran and end its nuclear weapons programme.
Other concerns include the security of Pakistani nuclear material that could be used to make an atomic weapon.
The widespread use of computer hacking by China's government is also reported.
The US government condemned the release of the documents, which number in the hundreds of thousands, saying they put the lives of diplomats and others at risk.
The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, countered by saying the US authorities were afraid of being held to account.
The leaked US embassy cables, published on the Wikileaks site and at length in newspapers including the New York Times and the UK's Guardian, also reportedly include accounts of:

• Iran attempting to adapt North Korean rockets for use as long-range missiles
• Corruption within the Afghan government, with concerns heightened when a senior official was found to be carrying more than $50m in cash on a foreign trip
• Bargaining to empty the Guantanamo Bay prison camp - including Slovenian diplomats being told to take in a freed prisoner if they wanted to secure a meeting with President Barack Obama
• Germany being warned in 2007 not to enforce arrest warrants for US Central Intelligence Agency officers involved in an operation in which an innocent German citizen with the same name as a suspected militant was abducted and held in Afghanistan
• US officials being instructed to spy on the UN's leadership by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• The very close relationship between Russian PM Vladimir Putin and his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi
• Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime
• Yemen's president talking to then US Mid-East commander General David Petraeus about attacks on Yemeni al-Qaeda bases and saying: "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours"
• Faltering US attempts to prevent Syria from supplying arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon

The leaked embassy cables are both contemporary and historical, and include a 1989 note from a US diplomat in Panama City musing about the options open to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega and referring to him as "a master of survival" - the author apparently had no idea that US forces would invade a week later and arrest Noriega.

In a statement, the White House said: "Such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government.

"President Obama supports responsible, accountable, and open government at home and around the world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter to that goal."
Earlier, Wikileaks said it had come under attack from a computer-hacking operation.
"We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack," it reported on its Twitter feed.
No-one has been charged with passing the diplomatic files to the website but suspicion has fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak of classified US documents to Mr Assange's organisation.
Wikileaks argues that the site's previous releases shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

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US and South Korea pursue military exercises

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US and South Korea begin military exercises

China has expressed concern about military activity so close to its territory

South Korea and the United States have begun four days of joint military exercises in the waters off the Korean west coast.

The US says they are defensive exercises designed to deter North Korea from launching further attacks across its border with the South.
North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island last week left two marines and two civilians dead.
North Korea has condemned the exercises as a provocation.
China has also expressed concern about military activity by foreign navies so close to its territory, and has warned the Americans not to stray too close.
The BBC's Chris Hogg, in the South Korean capital Seoul, says military sources there say that planning for the war games began before North Korea's deadly attack on Yeonpyeong island. But they add that the intensity of the live fire and bombing drills will now be stepped up.
The US aircraft carrier the USS George Washington and four other US navy vessels are being joined by South Korean destroyers, patrol vessels, frigates, support ships and anti-submarine aircraft.
The drills are taking place about 125km (77 miles) south of the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas, about 40km off the Korean coast.

North Korea: Timeline 2010

26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors
20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement
July-September: South Korea and US hold military exercises; US places more sanctions on Pyongyang
29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move
29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border
12 November: North Korea shows US scientist new - undeclared - uranium enrichment facility
23 November: North shells island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four South Koreans

 continue reading the main story

The aircraft carrier is likely to be stationed further south in international waters, but still technically within striking range of Chinese cities.

A statement from North Korea's official KCNA news agency said: "If the US brings its carrier to the West Sea of Korea (Yellow Sea), no-one can predict the ensuing consequences."

Funerals
On Saturday, North Korea accused the South of using civilians as human shields on Yeonpyeong island.
The North's state media said the South was using the deaths of the two civilians for propaganda, in its words "creating the impression that the defenceless civilians were exposed to indiscriminate shelling from the North".
Pyongyang said it had been provoked by the South's military exercises, which were being carried out close to Yeonpyeong. It said the North had sent a "telephone notice" on the morning of the shelling "to prevent the clash at the last moment" but the South continued its "provocation".
South Korea says two men in their 60s, who were working on the island, were killed by the shells.
The funeral service for the two marines who died, Seo Jeong-woo and Moon Kwang-wook, was held on Saturday at a military hospital in Seongnam, close to Seoul, and was broadcast on television nationwide.
Hundreds of government and military officials, politicians, religious leaders, activists and civilians attended. Among them were Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik.

The US has called on China, North Korea's only ally, to increase its pressure on Pyongyang to prevent further incidents.
China has said its "top priority" is to keep the situation under control. Beijing has begun a series of talks in an attempt to ease the tension.
However, the top US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, said he did not know "why China doesn't push harder" with Pyongyang.
In an interview with CNN due to be broadcast on Sunday but released as a transcript, Adm Mullen said Beijing appeared to mistakenly believe it could control North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il.
"I'm not sure he is controllable," Adm Mullen said.
South Korea has increased its troop numbers on Yeonpyeong and says it will change its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully if incidents such as Tuesday's happen again.
The tension comes as the North is undergoing an apparent transition of power from Kim Jong-il to his young son Kim Jong-un.

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North Korea uncover

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Satellites uncover North Korea

By Adrian Brown BBC News

North Korea is one of the most secretive states in the world. Its citizens cannot travel abroad and have little, if any, contact with those who visit their country. The few tourists who do make it are carefully herded to a handful of destinations and rarely get off the beaten track.
Yet, thanks to satellite imagery and the internet, North Korea's secretive world is gradually being unveiled. Here is a series of remarkable photographs showing aspects of North Korea's hidden world that are rarely seen by outsiders, as well as some unusual views of more familiar sights.

North Korea's elite family compounds

Image: DigitalGlobe

Kim Jong-il

This image shows an elite residential compound to the north of the capital Pyongyang. North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, lived there and it is believed that his son, Kim Jong-il - the country's current leader - has a residence there. As well as the large houses and well-tended gardens, there is a swimming pool in the upper left hand corner, complete with water slide.
Out of shot, it is also possible to see that the compound has its own dedicated train line that seems to run into a tunnel underneath the area. A long time North Korea watcher, Dr Hazel Smith, says it's difficult to know where Kim Jong-il lives as, public appearances aside, his activities are shrouded in secrecy. "These look similar to some of the diplomatic compounds I've seen which also have swimming pools. The party people live in the city proper, whereas this is clearly outside the city as there are so many trees," she said.

Water slide can be seen on the right hand side of the pool

Curtis Melvin, an American economist who has compiled a catalogue of detailed satellite images of North Korea, says sources within the country confirmed this location as being used by Kim Jong-il. "There are houses like this everywhere. At one point, there was a residence in every province. There are lots on the coast. Most of the nice roads in the country are built up to the gates of these compounds," he says.
Life for most of North Korean's 23 million people is harsh. North Korea's economy went into steep decline during the 1990s after the collapse of communism elsewhere. Though the economy has recovered to an extent, thanks to greater co-operation with South Korea and some small scale market reforms, living standards and output remain far below the levels of the 1990s. Another factor that holds back the economy is the significant share of GDP that is spent on the military.

Taedongang brewery

Image: DigitalGlobe

The distinctive entrance to the brewery

This unprepossessing building houses the Taedongang brewery on the outskirts of the North Korean capital. It was once the Ushers Brewery in Trowbridge in the UK. It was bought from the owners in 2000 and dismantled on site in a matter of weeks by a team of North Koreans and British engineers. It was shipped over to North Korea and was up and running 18 months later. But rather than traditional ale, it now brews a variety of lagers.
"The North Koreans, like the Japanese, like their beer," says Dr Smith who is Professor of Resilience and Security at Cranfield University. But as sanctions have taken their toll, the key ingredients for brewing are not always available. "The chaff from the harvest is used in brewing. Nothing is wasted," says Dr Smith.

Brewing kettles inside the brewery today Read more about Ushers brewery

Curtis Melvin says he located the brewery "after a tourist sent in a picture of the entry gate which is a very unusual shape. From the air it looks like a large M which I matched to a photograph from an official publication."
He says the lager he tried when he was last in Pyongyang "had a full flavour" but others are less palatable. "Ryesong beer is pretty awful, leaving a distinct metallic taste," he says, adding: "In the capital, they drink a lot of beer but outside in the countryside, they prefer their traditional spirit drinks."
North Korean television recently broadcast an advert for Taedong River Beer. Dubbed the "Pride of Pyongyang", the advert showed young women in traditional Korean dress serving trays of beer to men in western suits. Kim Jong-il visited the brewery in 2002 where he "(watched) good quality beer (come) out in an uninterrupted flow for a long while," according to North Korea's state news agency.

Ostrich farm

Image: DigitalGlobe

Ostrich farming was introduced after North Korea's famine in the 1990s

This is an aerial view of an ostrich farm near Pyongyang. It's on the official tourist trail but it's not clear if this is a one-off or part of a network of such farms.
"Everybody knows about the ostrich farm," says Hazel Smith. "North Korea bought into propaganda that you could make money out of ostriches. I never saw anything in the way of ostrich meat when I was there," she says, adding: "The government never boasted about it and so I suspect it hasn't done that well."
Curtis Melvin says he tracked down the location after seeing a picture of the farm in an official North Korean publication. He says North Korea got into ostrich farming during the famine in the 1990s when between 500,000 and two million North Koreans are thought to have died from starvation.
North Korea continues to suffer widespread food shortages due to economic problems, limited arable land and lack of agricultural machinery and energy shortages. The UN World Food Programme estimates that almost nine million people are in need of food aid.

Juche Tower

The Juche Tower from ground level

This is the Juche Tower, in central Pyongyang. It's 170 metres high and is one of the key landmarks in the capital. Just in front of the tower is a 30-metre-high classic communist statue featuring a peasant carrying a sickle, a worker with a hammer in his hand, and a third character, a "working intellectual" who is carrying a writing brush.
"It's a very nice area," says Dr Smith. "There's a light at the top of the tower which goes out at 10pm, when everyone goes to bed because they get up early and of course they need to save electricity. Lots of people go there on Saturday and Sunday. It's close to the river where people fish and people will go there to spend the afternoon."
Kim Jong-il is officially credited with designing the tower though the exact extent of his involvement is disputed. It is named after his father's own particular brand of political philosophy whose key tenets are self-reliance, isolationism, Korean traditionalism and Marxism-Leninism.
The tower is lined up directly with the statue of Kim Il-sung on Mansu Hill on the opposite side of the river. "The view is incredible," says Curtis Melvin who was also able to watch preparations for the traditional October parade during a 2005 visit. On that visit he describes how he had his picture taken in front of a couple of huge images of Kim Jong-il and his father, but was eventually chased away "by one of the men in charge of the training".

Kim Il-sung statue

A North Korean family poses in front of Kim Il-sung's statue

This is a monument to North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, a massive 20-metre-high bronze statue. It stands on Mansu Hill in the capital and is a major tourist destination. When North Koreans visit the statue they bow before it and leave flowers as a mark of respect.
Flanking the statue, which is visible atop its white square plinth, are two giant stone replica flags. One is the North Korean flag, the other is that of the Workers Party of Korea. Arranged around the base of these structures - which in this picture are casting huge shadows - are some 200 almost life-size bronze statues of various military and civilian figures striking heroic poses. Behind the statue is the Korean Revolution Museum.
Erected in April 1972 to celebrate Kim Il-sung's 60th birthday, it was originally coated in gold but this was later removed apparently at the insistence of China, North Korea's chief benefactor. Similar, less grandiose, structures are located in over 70 major cities elsewhere in North Korea.
There is apparently just one statue of his son, Kim Jong-il. Lamps are supposed to shine on the statue from 10pm until 4am each day. It's also reported that dedicated bunkers have been built to house the statues in the event of war.

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US teenager held in Oregon for plotting car bomb attack

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US teenager held in Oregon over Christmas 'bomb plot'

Mr Mohamud is a naturalised US citizen

A teenager has been arrested in the US state of Oregon after allegedly plotting to carry out a car bomb attack at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested after reportedly making a telephone call he thought would set off the bomb in the centre of Portland.
However, the bomb was a fake supplied by agents in a sting operation.
Mr Mohamud is a naturalised US citizen who had allegedly been in contact with an associate in north-west Pakistan.
He has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

'Lot of children'
Mr Mohamud, who lives in the town of Corvallis, had driven a van to the ceremony and was arrested at around 1740 local time on Friday (0040 GMT Saturday), about 20 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur.
Prosecutors said Mr Mohamud had shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great!) and tried to kick agents as they closed in.

Court documents said the case began in August 2009 with e-mail exchanges between Mr Mohamud and his alleged associate in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province.
Special FBI agent Arthur Balizan said: "The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale. I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack."
The Oregonian newspaper quoted Oregon US Attorney Dwight Holton as saying: "This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people - even here in Oregon - who are determined to kill Americans."
He said there was "no reason to believe there is any continuing threat arising from this case".
An undercover agent had posed as an associate of the Pakistan contact and met Mr Mohamud to discuss the plan, the court papers said.
The agent informed Mr Mohamud there would be "a lot of children" at the ceremony but Mr Mohamud allegedly said he was looking for a "huge mass that will be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays".
Mr Mohamud allegedly told the FBI agent that he had been thinking of carrying out a jihad, or holy war, against infidels since the age of 15.

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Passive smoking 'kills 600,000' worldwide

Children are particularly at risk of the effects of passive smoking in their own homes

The first global study into the effects of passive smoking has found it causes 600,000 deaths every year.

One-third of those killed are children, often exposed to smoke at home, the World Health Organization (WHO) found.
The study, in 192 countries, found that passive smoking is particularly dangerous for children, said to be at higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, pneumonia and asthma.
Passive smoking causes heart disease, respiratory illness and lung cancer.
"This helps us understand the real toll of tobacco," said Armando Peruga, of the WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative, who led the study.

'Deadly combination'

The study used estimates of the incidence of specific diseases and of the number of people exposed to second-hand smoke in particular areas.
The global health body said it was particularly concerned about the estimated 165,000 children who die of smoke-related respiratory infections, mostly in South East Asia and in Africa.

It said that this group was more exposed to passive smoking than any other group, principally in their own homes.
"The mix of infectious diseases and second-hand smoke is a deadly combination," Mr Peruga said.

"An education programme to help people understand the dangers they cause to these children would be a starting point." Tio Terry

As well as being at increased risk of a series of respiratory conditions, the lungs of children who breathe in passive smoke may also develop more slowly than children who grow up in smoke-free homes.

Worldwide, as many as 40% of children, 33% of non-smoking men and 35% non-smoking women were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004, researchers found.
This exposure was estimated to have caused 379,000 deaths from heart disease, 165,000 from lower respiratory infections, 36,900 from asthma and 21,400 from lung cancer.
According to the study, the highest numbers of people exposed to second-hand smoke are in Europe and Asia and the lowest rates of exposure were in the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa.
The research also revealed that passive smoking had a large impact on women, killing about 281,000 worldwide. This is due to the fact that in many parts of the world, the study suggests, women are at least 50% more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke than men.
However, the researchers said were limitations to the study, including uncertainties about the underlying health data and gaps in the data relating to exposure to second-hand smoke.
Writing in the Lancet, Dr Heather Wipfli of the University of Southern California and colleagues, said: "There are well acknowledged uncertainties in estimates of disease burden.
"However, there can be no question that the 1.2bn smokers in the world are exposing billions of non-smokers to second-hand smoke, a disease-causing indoor air pollutant." 


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