North Korea releases another propaganda video, this one with Obama in flames

Just when you thought North Korean propaganda videos could get no crazier, the country’s official news agency Uriminzokkiri has posted a video that reaches new heights of absurdity and bombast. This latest production, flagged by the invaluable NK News, champions the recent nuclear test and repeats the prior video’s obsessive focus on the United States.
The video is simple: text, berating the United States and bragging about North Korea’s latest nuclear test, appears over CGI-flame-covered video clips of American troops and of President Obama. It ends with a CGI simulation of the nuclear test, which NK News thinks might actually be stolen from a foreign news organization (if you look closely, you can see blurred out squares in the upper corners, possibly covering the network logos).
Also like the previous North Korean propaganda video, this borrows from a popular American video game. The last video used music video from the game Modern Warfare 3. This one, Web commenters point out, borrows the theme song from Elder Scrolls 4, a 2006 fantasy role-playing game. Maybe it’s a coincidence that this new North Korean propaganda tactic developed right around the time when Kim Jong Eun took over the country, or maybe the young dictator is a gamer?
Here’s the text from the video, translated into English by NKNews. It trumpets the North Korean nuclear program and repeats long-standing accusations that the U.S. troop presence in South Korea is an imperialist invasion.

China condemns US 'hacking hullabaloo'

The Chinese army's 'Unit 61398', headquartered in a building outside Shanghai, is accused of the hacks [Reuters]

Chinese state media have criticised allegations of sophisticated cyberattacks against US firms, calling them a "commercial stunt" and accusing Washington of ulterior motives. American internet security firm Mandiant earlier this week said that a Chinese military cyberspy unit was targeting US and other foreign firms and organisations with hacking attacks. An editorial in the state-run China Daily on Thursday said, "one cannot help but ask the real purpose of such a hullabaloo."

Flights cancelled as Beijing is blighted by smog yet again

Thick smog that blanketed Beijing and surrounding regions for a record 21 days last month returned yesterday, causing travel chaos as many businesses reopened and people returned after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Highways were forced to temporarily close and airline traffic was disrupted as visibility near Beijing International Airport fell, delaying some early morning flights, Xinhua reported.
At 7.45am, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau issued a "yellow" fog alert, indicating that visibility in eastern and southern parts of the city would be less than 500 metres in the next three hours, and authorities urged residents to take necessary precautions. The yellow warning was lifted at 11am, and the smog levels had fallen sharply by last night.
Since Saturday evening, moderate to severe air pollution was reported in much of the city, accompanied by high levels of health-threatening PM2.5 pollutants.

World powers condemn North Korea nuclear test

North Korea's third nuclear test has been condemned by several countries and organisations, with the US calling it a threat to regional security and Pyongyang's ally China calling for calm.
State media said the country had successfully carried out the underground nuclear test, involving a new "miniaturised", device on Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was "deplorable" that North Korea had defied international appeals to refrain from such provocative acts.
"The secretary-general condemns the underground nuclear weapon test conducted by [North Korea] today," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.

"It is a clear and grave violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions."
The Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted in a safe manner and was aimed at coping with "outrageous" US hostility that "violently" undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign rights to launch satellites.
"The high-level nuclear test, unlike in the past, had more explosive power and involved a miniaturised and lighter atomic bomb and was staged safely and perfectly."

Philippine armed groups in deadly clash

At least 21 rebels have been killed following fierce fighting between two rival groups in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, according to the police and military.
A Philippine police spokesman said on Monday that 13 members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) were killed,  while eight fighters were confirmed dead from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Antonio Freyra, Sulu provincial police chief, told the local media that the ASG had beheaded four of the MNLF rebels in the town of Patikul.
Freyra was also quoted as saying that the fighting was still going, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee in the predominantly Muslim province.
Roughly 200 ASG members and between 700 to 1,000 MNLF fighters were involved in the clashes.

China hints at ‘heavy price’ for North Korea nuclear test

China should exact a “heavy price” from North Korea if an imminent nuclear test goes ahead, state-run media said on Wednesday in their strongest call yet, but analysts say Beijing appears unable to restrain its wayward ally.
The state-run Global Times raised the prospect that the relationship founded on the battlefields of the 1950-53 Korean war, and which Pyongyang has relied on ever since, “might break down” over the issue.
That would “be of no benefit to Pyongyang”, it said. “North Korea would face an even worse situation, but China could find some ways to compensate for geopolitical losses.”
The article appeared in both the English- and Chinese-language editions of the paper.
But analysts and diplomats said that despite its discontent Beijing was unwilling to carry out meaningful action, leaving the media as its only theatre to display its frustrations.

Peace Talks Start Between Myanmar and Rebels

BANGKOK — China hosted peace talks between the Myanmar government and ethnic Kachin rebels on Monday, as outside pressure grew on both sides to end the intense fighting of recent weeks.

The one-day meeting ended without a firm commitment to stop the clashes, which have left at least several hundred soldiers dead and displaced tens of thousands of civilians in the northernmost reaches of Myanmar, near the Chinese border. But the talks were notable for China’s prominent role in getting both sides to the negotiating table.

“The Chinese asked us to come to the meeting,” said Awng Jet, a member of the Kachin delegation. “They told us that U Aung Min would be there and said we should be there, too.” Mr. Aung Min was the head of the Myanmar government’s delegation.

China pledges to narrow income gap

The widening wealth gap has resulted in growing calls for government action [EPA]

The Chinese government has issued a pledge to narrow the widening income gap between rich and poor, which includes raising its minimum wage and requiring state companies to turn over more profits to pay for social programmes.
The pledge on Tuesday promised more spending on health, education and job training but gave few details and no sign of how Beijing will enforce changes that might hurt state industry and other politically influential factions.
China Daily newspaper reported that the government is looking to lower the minimum wage of 40 percent of the current wage of $730 a month.
Communist leaders had been rumoured to be working on a plan but have faced resistance by state companies and their allies in the ruling Communist Party.
"We need to continue to deepen the reform of income distribution to protect social fairness, justice, harmony and stability," said a cabinet statement.
Beijing reported in January that a widely used measure of income distribution known as the Gini coefficient was at 0.474 for China.
That would make China among the most unequal societies.