Indonesian sailors 'taken hostage by militants'

Ten Indonesian sailors have been kidnapped in Philippine waters by Islamist militants who have demanded a ransom for their release, an official said on Tuesday. 

The crew were travelling on two boats that were transporting coal from Borneo island to the Philippines when they were hijacked, said Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir.

It is not clear when the vessels—a tugboat and a barge—were hijacked but the boats’ owners received a ransom call from someone claiming to be from the Abu Sayyaf militant group on Saturday, Nasir said.

Abu Sayyaf is a Philippines-based Islamist group notorious for bombings and kidnappings, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

“The hijackers demanded a ransom from the owners of the boat. Since March 26, the hijackers have contacted the owners twice,” Nasir told reporters, without elaborating on how much had been demanded for the crew’s release.

It is unclear where the barge Anand 12 and the crew are being held by the kidnappers but the tugboat Brahma 12 had been released to the Philippine authorities, he added.

The Indonesian foreign ministry is working with the Philippines foreign ministry on the case, Nasir said.

“Our current priority is the safety of the 10 citizens who were taken hostage,” he said, adding their families had been informed.

There was no immediate confirmation from authorities in the Philippines.

But the Philippine military chief, General Hernando Iriberri, flew to the main army base in the south of the country to check on the situation and discuss what steps should be taken, his spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told AFP.

The Philippine government has repeatedly said it has a “no-ransom policy”. But parties linked to foreigners held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf often pay to win their release.

Pakistan detains more than 200 after Easter attack in Lahore

Pakistan has detained more than 200 people since the Easter Sunday park bombing which killed 73 people including many children, officials said Tuesday, as the militants behind the attack taunted the prime minister. 

The raids across the eastern province of Punjab were announced as parks reopened under tight security in the teeming provincial capital Lahore.

But Gulshan-i-Iqbal, where explosives packed with ball bearings ripped through crowds near a children's play area, remained closed.

Hundreds were injured in the suicide bombingclaimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban, whose official name is the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

A spokesman for the group said it had targeted Christians, a minority community in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan.

"More than 5,000 people were searched and interrogated and most of them were allowed to go, but some 216 have been apprehended for further investigations," Punjab provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters Tuesday.

Sanaullah said police, paramilitary troops and intelligence agents had launched 56 intelligence operations in the last 24 hours in Punjab.

More were being undertaken in all districts of the province "against sectarian militants and extremists", he said.

Security for hundreds of churches was increased.

Many of the victims were children and anguished families spent Easter Monday burying their dead.

On Tuesday the death toll climbed to 73 after a 16-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries, doctors said.

"The boy had lost his father and sister in the blast while his mother is being treated for critical injuries," Dr Tariq Mohsin told AFP.

Taliban taunts

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his powerful military chief have both vowed to bring those behind the attack to justice.

"Terrorists cannot dent our resolve. Our struggle will continue until the complete elimination of the menace of terrorism," the premier said Monday after visiting victims in the provincial capital, a stronghold of his ruling Pakistan Muslim League.

But on Tuesday Ehansullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction, derided the prime minister on Twitter.

"After the Lahore attack, Nawaz Sharif repeated old words to give himself false assurances," he wrote.

"Nawaz Sharif should know that war has reached his doorstep, and God willing the mujahideen will be the winners in this war."

Kashir Nawab, a 32-year-old Christian from the Youhanabad district of Lahore, said a "pall of gloom" hung over the area as mourners visited the homes of those lost in the blast.

Nawab said he was working to help arrange funeral services.

"Everybody is frightened and the Christians particularly feel unprotected," he said.

The attack was the worst so far this year in a country grimly accustomed to atrocities, and will further fray inter-religious ties.

Christians make up an estimated 1.6 percent of Pakistan's 200 million people and have long faced discrimination.

Twin suicide attacks against churches in Lahore killed 17 people in March last year, sparking two days of rioting by thousands of Christians.

The country is still scarred by a Taliban assault on a Peshawar school in 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly children.

A military operation targeting insurgents was stepped up in response. Last year the death toll from militant attacks was the lowest since the TTP umbrella grouping was formed in 2007.

But analysts have warned the group is still able to carry out major attacks.

Australia to analyse possible debris from flight MH370

A piece of suspected plane debris found on the east African coast will be sent to Australia where experts will examine whether it is the latest piece in the puzzle of missing flight MH370, officials said.

The fragment of suspected aircraft wreckage was reportedly found on the coast of Mozambique, and photos of it have stirred hope it could provide clues into what befell the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight, which went down on March 8, 2014.

Photos of the debris appear to show the fixed leading edge of the right-hand tail section of a Boeing 777, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

MH370, which disappeared two years ago with 239 people aboard, is the only known missing 777.

People who have handled the part, called a horizontal stabilizer, say it appears to be made of fiberglass composite on the outside, with aluminum honeycombing on the inside, the official said.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai tweeted late Wednesday: "Based on early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777," Liow said in a series of tweets.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said the chunk of debris was approximately one metre (three feet) long.

"The debris is to be transferred to Australia where it will be examined by officials from Australia and Malaysia, as well as international specialists," he said in a statement.

He added that the location of the possible find was consistent with oceanic drift models used by Australian authorities overseeing the huge and costly two-year deep-sea search for signs of MH370.

The saga has been marked by a history of false leads, however, and Liow cautioned against "undue speculation" until experts could have a look.

Last July, a wing fragment was found washed ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

Experts later determined it came from MH370, the only confirmed evidence of the plane's fate so far. They believe MH370 veered far off course to somewhere in the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it went down.

The fragment was handed over to Mozambican authorities by its finder Blaine Gibson, said Joao de Abreu, president of Mozambique's Civil Aviation Institute (IACM).

He said Gibson reported finding it earlier this week.

MH370's disappearance remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Theories of what happened include a hijacking, rogue pilot action, or sudden mechanical problem that incapacitated the crew, but there is no evidence to support any one theory.

Passengers' relatives accuse the airline and Malaysian government of a slow-footed, bungled response, as well as withholding information and treating families poorly. Both strongly deny the charges.

Families have begun filing a slew of lawsuits against the struggling carrier and the government in US, Malaysian, Chinese and Australian courts ahead of next week's two-year anniversary, which also is the deadline for launching legal action against the airline.

(AFP)

Indonesian sailors 'taken hostage by militants'

Ten Indonesian sailors have been kidnapped in Philippine waters by Islamist militants who have demanded a ransom for their release, an official said on Tuesday.

The crew were travelling on two boats that were transporting coal from Borneo island to the Philippines when they were hijacked, said Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir.

It is not clear when the vessels—a tugboat and a barge—were hijacked but the boats’ owners received a ransom call from someone claiming to be from the Abu Sayyaf militant group on Saturday, Nasir said.

Abu Sayyaf is a Philippines-based Islamist group notorious for bombings and kidnappings, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

“The hijackers demanded a ransom from the owners of the boat. Since March 26, the hijackers have contacted the owners twice,” Nasir told reporters, without elaborating on how much had been demanded for the crew’s release.

It is unclear where the barge Anand 12 and the crew are being held by the kidnappers but the tugboat Brahma 12 had been released to the Philippine authorities, he added.

The Indonesian foreign ministry is working with the Philippines foreign ministry on the case, Nasir said.

“Our current priority is the safety of the 10 citizens who were taken hostage,” he said, adding their families had been informed.

There was no immediate confirmation from authorities in the Philippines.

But the Philippine military chief, General Hernando Iriberri, flew to the main army base in the south of the country to check on the situation and discuss what steps should be taken, his spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told AFP.

The Philippine government has repeatedly said it has a “no-ransom policy”. But parties linked to foreigners held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf often pay to win their release.

(AFP)

Several dead after flyover collapses in India's Kolkata

Hundreds of emergency workers in India battled Thursday evening to rescue dozens of people still trapped after a flyover collapsed onto a busy street, killing at least 20 people and injuring nearly 100.

The flyover was under construction when a 100-metre (330-feet) section collapsed suddenly onto a crowded street in the eastern city of Kolkata around lunchtime, crushing pedestrians, cars and other vehicles under huge concrete slabs and metal.

"So far 20 people are confirmed dead. The toll is likely to rise as many people are injured," Javed Ahmed Khan, disaster management minister for the state of West Bengal, told AFP.

Anil Shekhawat, a spokesman for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said the number of injured stood at 92.

Most suffered multiple fractures and were in a critical condition, Shekhawat added, saying that the death toll was expected to rise, with an unknown number of people still trapped under the rubble.

Specialist rescue teams armed with concrete and metal cutters, drilling machines, sensors to detect life and sniffer dogs were dispatched to the scene.

Anurag Gupta, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, told AFP hundreds of rescuers would work through the night to rescue the trapped victims.

"Three hundred men from NDRF are at the spot along with 300 Indian army men. Police and local authorities are also helping," Gupta said.

But many of those engaged in the rescue effort appeared to be ordinary people who were seen trying to pull away concrete slabs with their bare hands.

Workers struggled to get cranes and other large machinery through the narrow streets of Burrabazar, one of the oldest and most congested parts of the city, where locals desperately waited for news of missing loved ones.

"Everything is finished," screamed Parbati Mondal, whose fruit-seller husband had not been seen since the accident.

An injured builder told AFP at the scene that he had been working on the structure before it collapsed and had seen bolts come out of the metal girders.

"We were cementing two iron girders for the pillars, but the girders couldn't take the weight of the cement," said 30-year-old Milan Sheikh before being taken away to hospital.

"The bolts started coming out this morning and then the flyover came crashing down."

Construction on the two-kilometre-long flyover began in 2009 and was supposed to be completed within 18 months but has suffered a series of hold-ups.

The disaster is the latest in a string of deadly construction accidents in India, where enforcement of safety rules is weak and substandard materials are often used.

'Like a bomb blast'

Many locals said they were fleeing their houses for fear that more of the damaged structure could collapse.

"We heard a massive bang sound and our house shook violently. We thought it was an earthquake," 45-year-old resident Sunita Agarwal told AFP.

"We're leaving -- who knows what will happen next."

The disaster came just days before the World T20 cricket final, which is set to draw thousands of fans to the city this Sunday.

Television footage showed one bloodied body trapped under a concrete slab, and also the hand of a person sticking out from under twisted debris.

An eyewitness at the scene described a loud bang "like a bomb blast and suddenly there was a lot of smoke and dust".

A crane was seen lifting a mangled car from under the debris and part of a crushed bus was visible protruding from the rubble, although it was unclear if it had been carrying passengers.

K.P. Rao, a representative of the Indian construction company IVRCL, which was contracted to build the giant flyover, called the disaster an "act of God".

The firm was given an 18-month deadline and a budget of nearly $25 million to complete the project in 2009, but after seven years only about 55 percent of the work has been done.

In 2014 the company wrote to the city's development authority to say it was running out of funds to complete the project.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal of which Kolkata is the capital, told reporters those behind the disaster would "not be spared".

The accident comes as the West Bengal government is about to face state elections, with voting scheduled to start in early April and run until May.

(AFP)

Australian PM calls early election

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull set the stage for early elections on July 2, despite signs his personal popularity is sagging, by recalling parliament in the boldest gamble of his short leadership.

Parliament will be recalled from its seven-week recess to sit on April 18, Turnbull said on Monday, to vote on labour reform bills that are likely to be blocked in the upper house Senate by smaller parties such as the influential Greens and the main centre-left opposition Labor Party.

The release of the 2015/16 national budget would also be moved forward by one week to May 3, he said.

"The time for playing games is over," Turnbull said in a nationally televised news conference.

"This is an opportunity for the Senate to do its job of legislating rather than filibustering. The go-slows and obstruction by Labor and the Greens on this key legislation must end," he said.

The wheels were set in motion for an early poll when the Senate passed voting reforms on Friday after a marathon session.

An election is due by January 2017 but had been widely expected among political pundits to be called for the second half of 2016. A piece of legislation must be defeated twice by the Senate to give Turnbull the trigger for an early election.

Turnbull has consistently led opinion polls since he came to power in a party-room coup last year. His ruling conservative Liberal-National coalition has led Labor in recent polls but there are signs his honeymoon period may be ending.

A Newspoll released on Monday showed Turnbull's popularity falling into negative territory for the first time. The poll of 2,049 voters, taken from Thursday to Sunday, showed satisfaction with his performance fell to 39 percent, while dissatisfaction rose to 43 percent.

Australia has become notorious in recent years for its revolving door of political leadership. If Turnbull was to lose a July 2 election, Australia would have its 6th prime ministersince 2010.

The piece of legislation that Turnbull is using for an early poll involves the reinstatement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a watchdog that was empowered to pursue allegations of misconduct in the building industries before it was disbanded under a Labor administration. The bill has already been voted down once in the Senate.

Independent and minor party senators elected at the last national poll in 2013 have stalled other key aspects of the government's agenda, including changes that would make higher education and health care more expensive and limit access to welfare.

The voting reforms passed by the Senate on Friday would make it harder for smaller parties to enter parliament through vote sharing deals. Turnbull argued that by eliminating these parties from parliament, he would be able to pass key economic reforms.

On Monday, Family First Party Senator Bob Day launched a challenge to those reforms in Australia's High Court, arguing they would disenfranchise voters. Experts in constitutional law have said they expect the challenge to be rejected.

Burmese president nominates Suu Kyi for cabinet post

Burma's president-elect on Tuesday proposed an 18-member cabinet that will include party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy icon who for decades has campaigned for an end to the country's military junta.

President-elect Htin Kyaw, a close Suu Kyi ally, submitted the names to the parliament for a formal review and approval by legislators on Wednesday, after which the cabinet positions of the ministers will be decided.

Notable, and top on the list, is Suu Kyi, who was not able to become president because of a constitutional block, even though she led her party to a landslide win in general elections last November.

It was widely rumoured that Suu Kyi would become the foreign minister, but that's far from certain because if she were to take that post she would have to give up her parliament seat and end party activities.

"I doubt that Aung San Suu Kyi would take the position of the foreign minister," said Toe Kyaw Hlaign, a political analyst. "Also, working as a foreign minister requires a lot of time travelling around the world. She will have to do a lot of international relations and overseas trips, and she won't have the time to exercise control over the government," he told The Associated Press.

Suu Kyi has said in the past that she will be "above the president" and indirectly govern the country from behind the scenes.

Her entry into the government marks a remarkable turn of fortunes not only for the Nobel Peace laureate but also for the country, which had been under an iron-fisted military rule since 1962. For decades the junta kept Burma, also known as Myanmar, in isolation and economic stagnation while refusing to listen to international counsel or homegrown demands for democracy.

Tentative transition

Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence hero Aung San, came to prominence in 1988 when popular protests were building up. The junta simply crushed the protests that had turned into anti-government riots, killing thousands of people and placing Suu Kyi under house arrest in 1989.

The regime did call elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won overwhelmingly. Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year later.

As Burma continued to wallow under military rule, Suu Kyi was released and re-arrested several times. The junta finally started loosening its grip on power in 2010, allowing elections that were won by a military-allied party after the NLD boycotted the polls as unfair.

After more reforms, another general election was held on Nov. 8, 2015, that was swept by the NLD, a reflection of Suu Kyi's widespread public support.

The constitutional clause that denied her the presidency excludes anyone from the job who has a foreign spouse or children. Suu Kyi's two sons are British, as was her late husband. The clause is widely seen as having been written by the military with Suu Kyi in mind.

While the military no longer runs the country as a junta, it continues to wield power amid a tentative transition to democracy. It has reserved for itself 25 percent of the seats in parliament, ensuring no government, current or future, can amend the constitution without its approval.

Also, it has ensured that one of the two vice-presidents of Htin Kyaw is a former military man, Myint Swe, a controversial figure who is seen as a close ally of former junta leader Than Shwe.

Myint Swe remains on a US Treasury Department blacklist that bars American companies from doing business with several tycoons and senior military figures connected with the former junta.

Suu Kyi aide sworn in as Burma president in historic power shift

Htin Kyaw, the man chosen by Aung San Suu Kyi to serve as her proxy, was sworn in as the president of Burma, also known as Myanmar, on Wednesday in a historic power shift away from outright army rule.

Htin Kyaw takes power from former general Thein Sein who has helmed far-reaching reforms since 2011.

Suu Kyi, 70, is barred from becoming president by the junta-scripted constitution but has declared that she will steer the government anyway, taking on a clutch of cabinet positions including that of foreign minister.

The handover at the junta-built parliament in the capital Naypyidaw marks the final act of a prolonged transition since Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party swept the November elections.

'FIRST NON-MILITARY PRESIDENT SINCE 1960S'

The NLD won 80 percent of parliamentary seats, handing them a massive public mandate to rule after generations of army domination.

Wearing a collarless shirt in the NLD's peach-coloured parliamentary colours, the bespectacled Htin Kyaw pledged to be "faithful to the people of the republic of the union of Myanmar".

'Hungry for change'

The Southeast Asian nation of 51 million people is in the throes of a dramatic transformation as it emerges from domination by paranoid and repressive generals who cut the country off from the outside world.

As a result expectations for an NLD-dominated government run high, but Myanmar's new rulers face a steep task.

Civil wars continue to rage in ethnic minority borderlands, poverty is widespread and the military continues to hold huge political and economic powers.

"The country is ready and hungry for change," political analyst Khin Zaw Win told AFP.

He said the party would be under pressure to quickly build on the reforms of the outgoing quasi-civilian government and not try to "start from scratch".

Myanmar has witnessed a staggering political change shepherded by outgoing President Thein Sein, a former senior junta general.

Investors and tourists have begun to pile in as many of the junta's worst repressions have eased promising a better future to a public who now have access to mobile phones, cheaper cars and other coveted consumer goods.

A key challenge for Suu Kyi's administration will be maintaining smooth relations with a military that locked her and many of her colleagues up for years.

The charter ring fences a quarter of parliamentary seats to unelected soldiers and gives the army chief control over the home affairs, border and defence ministries -- and with it sweeping powers over the civil service.

The NLD has also hit stumbling blocks even before taking office.

There are concerns over the cabinet line up in which Suu Kyi is the only woman and the majority of members are in their 60s or older, despite representing one the region's youngest populations.

Suu Kyi is also rumoured to be taking four ministerial posts -- president's office, energy, education and foreign affairs.

The minister widely expected to take the role of finance chief was also swept into a row last week when it was spotted that his officially released CV contained a fake PhD. He said he had been the victim of a scam.

Philippines seizes North Korean ship in wake of UN sanctions

The Philippines said Saturday it had impounded a North Korean vessel in response to tough new United Nations sanctions introduced in response to Pyongyang's recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

The 6,830-tonne cargo ship Jin Teng will not be allowed to leave Subic port, northeast of the capital Manila, where it had been docked for three days and its crew will be deported, presidential spokesman Manolo Quezon said on state-run radio station Radyo ng Bayan.

It was the first reported enforcement of the sanctions, the toughest to date, which were adopted late Wednesday by the UN Security Council.

"The world is concerned over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and as a member of the UN, the Philippines has to do its part to enforce the sanctions," Quezon said.

A team from the UN is expected to inspect the ship in the port, located near a former United States naval base, foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said.

Jose told AFP the ship was impounded "in compliance with the UN resolution" regardless of the results of the inspections.

The Jin Teng, carrying palm kernels, was searched for the second time on Saturday, this time using electronic weapons sensors, coastguard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told AFP, adding the 21 crewmen were "very cooperative".

Balilo said no explosives, drugs or banned substances have been found so far.

Heightened tensions

North Korea has no embassy in the Philippines. Its embassies in Thailand and Indonesia were unavailable for comment when contacted by AFP.

However, North Korean state media blasted the new round of sanctions again on Saturday, calling the UN resolution a "disgrace".

"It is a disgrace to the world community to allow such high-handed practice of the US and other big powers possessed of many satellites and nuclear warheads," read a statement published by the North's official KCNA news agency.

"We will resolutely use all means and methods to take powerful, merciless and physical counteractions against the hostile forces' anti-DPRK moves."

There are no other North Korean ships docked in Subic, according to the coastguard.

The Jin Teng arrived in the Philippines from Palembang, Indonesia Thursday afternoon, just hours after the latest sanctions were unanimously passed.

In response to the UN's move, Pyongyang fired six short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, whileNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered its nuclear arsenal put on standby for pre-emptive use at any time.

Kim also warned that the situation on the divided Korean peninsula had become so dangerous that the North needed to shift its military strategy to one of "pre-emptive attack".

Washington downplayed Kim's threat as posturing.

"We have not seen North Korea test or demonstrate the ability to miniaturise a nuclear weapon and put it on an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)," a US defence official told AFP.

Still, the official added, "our forces are ready to counter-eliminate strikes if necessary".

On Friday, the European Union also tightened sanctions against North Korea by adding 16 people and 12 entities to a list of some 60 individuals and groups who were hit with travel bans and asset freezes.

(AFP)

Date created : 2016-03-05

North Korea fires two short-range missiles

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday, fuelling a build-up in military tensions after its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The South Korean Defence Ministry says the missiles were fired from North Hwanghae province, flew about 500 kilometres (310 miles) and fell into the water off the country’s east coast. They are believed to be Scud-type missiles, said ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun.

Such missile firings by the North are not uncommon when animosity rises here. North Korea hates the massive annual military drills staged by Seoul and Washington, calling them invasion preparations.

The allies say the drills, which this year are described as the biggest ever, defensive and routine. Pyongyang is also angry over tough United Nations sanctions following its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The firings come a day after North Korea caused a new stir by publicising a purported mock-up of a key part of a nuclear warhead, with leader Kim Jong Un repeating a claim that his country has developed miniaturised atomic bombs that can be placed on missiles.

The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photos on its front page showing Kim and nuclear scientists standing beside what outside analysts say appears to be a model warhead part — a small, silverish globe with a ballistic missile or a model ballistic missile in the background.

The newspaper said Kim was briefed by his nuclear scientists and declared he was greatly pleased that warheads had been standardised and miniaturised for use on ballistic missiles.

Information from secretive, authoritarian North Korea is often impossible to confirm, and the country’s state media have a history of photo manipulations. But it was the first time the North has publicly displayed its purported nuclear designs, though it remains unclear whether the country has functioning warheads of that size or is simply trying to develop one.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry quickly disputed the North’s claim that it possesses miniaturized warheads. It called the photos and miniaturization claim an “intolerable direct challenge” to the international community.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, saying it was an intelligence matter, but told reporters the U.S. takes Pyongyang’s rhetoric seriously.

North Korea warned Monday of pre-emptive nuclear strikes after the United States and South Korea began the war games, which are to last until the end of April.

North Korea has previously said it has nuclear warheads small enough to put on long-range missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland, but experts have questioned those claims.

The round object shown in the photos appears to be a model of a warhead trigger device which would contain uranium or plutonium, according to nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of Kyung Hee University in South Korea. He said it was obviously a model because Kim and others would not stand near an actual device because of concerns about radioactivity.

Karl Dewey, a senior analyst for IHS Jane’s, a defence and aerospace publishing company, said the sphere could be a simple implosion weapon, possibly with hydrogen isotopes added to make it more efficient.

“It is unlikely that the object in the photo is a thermonuclear bomb (also referred to as a hydrogen bomb),” he said in a statement.

“Thermonuclear weapons are multistage devices and in modern weapons the need to place two separate stages together would result in a more oblong-like structure.”

Also shown in the photos is a KN-08 ballistic missile or its model, which reportedly has an estimated range of 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles), according to South Korean analysts.

The KN-08, which North Korea showed off in 2012, is said to be capable of being launched from a road-mobile vehicle, which would make it difficult to monitor via satellite. The South Korean Defence Ministry said it believes the missile hasn’t been proven functional.

North Korea says it tested its first Hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6, followed last month by the launch of a rocket that put a satellite into orbit but which violated U.N. resolutions because it employs dual-use technology that could also be applied to long-range ballistic missiles.

(AP)
 

Date created : 2016-03-10

Suu Kyi’s former driver nominated for Burma president

Aung San Suu Kyi was Thursday finally ruled out of the running to become Myanmar's next president, as her party nominated one of her most loyal aides to rule the formerly junta-run nation as her proxy.

Suu Kyi has vowed to rule "above" the president, despite being barred from top office by the army-scripted constitution, as she strives to fulfil the huge mandate delivered by millions of voters in herNational League for Democracy's landslide election victory in November.

Many in Myanmar had clung to faint hopes that the 70-year-old democracy campaigner could still be named president, but months of talks with the powerful military failed to remove the legal obstacles in her way.

At a parliamentary session in Naypyidaw Htin Kyaw, a genial 69-year-old economics graduate who now helps run Suu Kyi's charitable foundation and once acted as her driver, was named as one of the party's two presidential candidates, and is widely seen as the anointed person to rule in her place.

His nomination was warmly received by observers and comes after months of fevered speculation.

Myanmar historian and political analyst Thant Myint-U said he was a "stellar choice" who had "unimpeachable integrity".

"I think he's probably the best fit for the job, someone of proven and longstanding loyalty to (Suu Kyi) and also a person of considerable standing in his own right," he told AFP.

'Important step'

Myanmar's first civilian government in generations will face soaring expectations in the country of 51 million eager to see further changes as it shakes off the shackles of junta rule and international isolation.

"This is an important step in implementing the desires and expectations of voters who enthusiastically supported the NLD," Suu Kyi said in a statement published on her party website early Thursday.

She is barred by a charter clause that disqualifies anyone with close foreign relatives. Her late husband and two sons are British.

Even Suu Kyi's own MPs had been kept in the dark about the presidential deliberations, with the party fearful of upsetting a delicate political transition in a nation where the military still casts a long shadow.

The NLD also nominated ethnic Chin MP Henry Van Theu, a law graduate, as a presidential candidate from the upper house. He is expected to become vice president.

Htin Kyaw's official confirmation may take days.

Three candidates will be put to a vote of the combined houses -- one each from the upper house, lower house and from the military's parliamentary bloc, which represents a quarter of the legislature.

A final vote of the combined houses, in which the NLD has a majority, will then determine which will become the president, leaving the other two as vice presidents.

Ruling together

Myanmar's democracy movement runs through the family blood of Htin Kyaw, an affable former university teacher.

His father was a legendary writer and early member of the NLD and he is married to sitting NLD MP Su Su Lwin, whose late father was the party's respected spokesman.

Neither Htin Kyaw nor his wife attended the parliament on Thursday.

Online comments reacting to the announcement were generally positive.

"We have waited a long time to see an educated president for Myanmar. And now he and Mother Suu will lead the country together," said Thiri Khinsanar in a post on a local news website.

Suu Kyi has not outlined what her precise role will be or how she will be able to play puppet-master to a president.

Some have suggested she could mimic India's Sonia Gandhi, who wielded huge influence over her Congress party's administrations despite having no official government role.

There has also been speculation that she could take the role of foreign minister, which would give her a cabinet post as well as a seat at the country's influential military-dominated security council.

But under Myanmar's complex political system, this would mean ceding her party role.

The former ruling generals held Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years and swatted away the NLD's 1990 election landslide.

Thein Sein, whose quasi-civilian government took power in 2011, has ushered in a raft of political and economic reforms that saw most sanctions lifted.

His successor is faced with resuscitating long-neglected healthcare and education, improving decrepit infrastructure and tackling a graft saturated bureaucracy.

But the key challenge will be to maintain smooth relations with the army, which controls the key home, defence, and border ministries.

Suu Kyi has vowed to create a government of national reconciliation and the cabinet is expected to contain figures from across the political spectrum.

(AFP)

Date created : 2016-03-10