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Koreas snarl at each other
Fake Passports |
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Man, son, grandson — all born on same day
Gilani: Pak united on Kashmir
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Koreas snarl at each other
Seoul/Beijing, May 24 The United States, which backs Seoul, warned that the situation was “highly precarious”. China, the North’s only major ally, urged calm. The mounting tension follows last week’s report by international investigators accusing the North of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War. The United States, which has 28,000 troops on the peninsula, threw its full support behind South Korea and said it was working hard to stop the situation from escalating. With US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Beijing, Washington pressed China to rein in the hermit state. China has avoided taking sides in the issue. Analysts say it is fearful of destablising the grip of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is looking increasingly frail as he tries to secure the position of his youngest son as successor to the family dynasty that has ruled the state for more than 60 years. The vitriolic comments across the heavily defended Cold War border are rattling investers and niggling at diplomatic relations in the economically powerful region. Few analysts believe either Korea would dare go to war. The North’s military is no match for the technically superior South Korean and US forces. And for the South, conflict would put investors to flight. “I solemnly urge the authorities of North Korea ... to apologise immediately to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the international community,” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a nationally televised address. Lee said he would take the issue to the UN Security Council, whose past sanctions are already sapping what little energy North Korea’s economy has left. His government also banned all trade, investment and visits with North Korea and stopped its commercial shipping using a cheaper route through its waters. The White House called South Korea’s measures to punish the North entirely appropriate and told Pyongyang to stop its “belligerent and threatening behaviour” as tensions on the peninsula escalated to their highest in years. But Clinton avoided answering a question on whether Washington would support additional UN sanctions against North Korea. China is very unlikely to support more UN sanctions. Japan’s prime minister instructed his cabinet to consider what form of sanctions could be taken against North Korea over the sinking. An angry North Korea threatened to fire at equipment the South said it would put up to broadcast anti-Pyongyang messages and was ready to take stronger measures if the South escalated tension. It also issued a statement repeating its position that it had the right to expand its nuclear deterrent. “North Korea’s goal is to instigate division and conflict,” said Lee, speaking from the country’s war memorial in the capital Seoul. “It is now time for the North Korean regime to change.” In what may alarm Pyongyang as much as anything, its wealthy neighbour said it plans to reduce the number of workers in a joint factory park just inside the North which has long been an important source of income for the North Korean leadership. Much of the diplomatic focus will be on China, the only major power to support North Korea and which earlier this month-to the annoyance of the South-hosted a rare overseas visit by the North’s sickly looking leader Kim Jong-il. Analysts say China’s leaders are terrified that if North Korea’s government collapses, it will send chaos across into its territory and, perhaps more worrying, lead to US troops moving up the peninsula right to its border. — Reuters
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Fake Passports
Melbourne, May 24 In a statement to the Parliament, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said an investigation by Australian Federal Police, ASIO and ASIS left the government in no doubt that the sophisticated forgery was the work of a state, namely Israel. “No government can tolerate the abuse of its passports, especially by a foreign government. This represents a clear affront to the security of our passport system,” he said. Smith said intelligence sharing with the Israeli spy agency Mossad would also be cut as the fake passports affair dragged relations between the two countries to a “new low”. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, 50, a founder of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was allegedly killed by Mossad agents in a luxuary Dubai hotel on Januay 20. Suspects in the killing of Mahmud al-Mabhuh used the identities of 12 Britons, as well as those from France, Germany and Ireland along with the four Australians, Dubai police have said. The fake passports were of such a nature that they “could only (have been) affected by a nation through a state intelligence service”, the minister said. This had led to the conclusion that “Israel was responsible for counterfeiting and cloning of the passports”. Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Director-General of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had been visiting Israel to investigate the allegations. Smith said the investigation cleared four Australians whose identities were used in the operation. They were “innocent victims”. The Israeli embassy in Canberra, however, declined to comment on the development. —
PTI
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Man, son, grandson — all born on same day
London, May 24 Benjamin Fox was born May 8 and he shared the same birthday with his
father Lee and grandfather Harry Fox. Bookmakers, who have worked out the odds of three generations of boys being born on the same day, as 272,910 to one, the Daily Mail reported. Lee was born May 8, 1975 and Harry was born on May 8, 1949. Lee from Romford, Essex, said he was stunned when he was informed that his baby was expected to be born on his birthday of May 8. Harry said: "The odds of one family having boys all born on the same day must be very long. It was lovely when Lee was born on my birthday. I thought that was a coincidence but I was on the golf course when I was told out Benjamin had been born on my birthday too, it's absolutely incredible. We are going to have some brilliant birthday parties in the future." — IANS
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Gilani: Pak united on Kashmir
Islamabad, May 24 During a meeting with Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir "president" Raja Zulqarnain Khan and "prime minister" Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider, Gilani said, Pakistan will "continue to support the just cause of the people of Kashmir. The whole nation is united on the Kashmir issue and stands with their Kashmiri brothers and sisters for the realisation of their fundamental and inalienable rights." He also sought an end to the "long legacy of hostility and distrust" between India and Pakistan so that the two countries could work towards the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. "There is an imperative need to end the long legacy of hostility and distrust and to work towards a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Gilani was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his media office. Earlier, addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "Trust deficit is the biggest problem and unless we tackle the trust deficit we cannot move to substantive negotiations." — PTI
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South Korea today announced steps to tighten the vice on the North’s already stumbling economy in punishment for sinking one of its navy ships, with both sides stepping up their war-like rhetoric.
