North Korea moves two more missile launchers

North Korea has moved two short-range missile launchers to its east coast, apparently indicating it is pushing ahead with preparations for a test launch, a South Korean news agency reported on Sunday.

South Korea and its allies have been expecting some sort of North Korean missile launch during weeks of heightened hostility on the Korean peninsula.

An unidentified South Korean military source told the South's Yonhap news agency that satellite imagery showed that North Korean forces had moved two mobile missile launchers for short-range Scud missiles to South Hamgyeong province.

"The military is closely watching the North's latest preparations for a missile launch," the source said.

The North moved two mid-range Musudan missiles in early April and placed seven mobile launchers in the same area, Yonhap said. A North Korean show of force could be staged to coincide with the anniversary of the founding of its army on April 25.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official said he could not confirm the news report and said there had been no sign of unusual activity in North Korea. North Korea fairly regularly test-fires short-range missiles in the sea off its east coast.

North Korea stepped up its defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions in December when it launched a rocket that it said had put a scientific satellite into orbit. Critics said the launch was aimed at developing technology to deliver a nuclear warhead mounted on a long-range missile.

The North followed that in February with its third test of a nuclear weapon. That brought new U.N. sanctions which in turn led to a dramatic intensification of North Korea's threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States.

The tension has eased over recent days with the North at least talking about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea.

On Saturday, North Korea reiterated that it would not give up its nuclear weapons, rejecting a U.S. condition for talks although it said it was willing to discuss disarmament.

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/04/21/North-Korea-moves-two-more-missile-launchers.html
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Israel police parade cuffed Palestinian teenager to protesters

An Israeli spokesman said the police parading a cuffed Palestinian teenager was an attempt to calm tempers of hundreds of Palestinian protesters. (AFP)

Israeli police paraded a cuffed Palestinian teenager to protesters in what a human rights group charged Saturday was abuse of a "human shield" but an Israeli spokesman said was a move to calm violence.

Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI) posted a 76-second video clip on YouTube showing helmeted border policemen removing a young Palestinian it identified as "Muhammad R,17," from their armored jeep and forcing him to stand beside them, cuffed hands raised above his head.

"We're outraged that Israeli soldiers continue to use Palestinian children as human shields with impunity," Ayed Abu Eqtaish of DCI-Palestine said in a statement.

"The teen in this case was deliberately exposed to danger after he had been taken into custody. Israeli authorities must conduct a prompt, transparent and impartial investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable."

The incident reportedly took place on Friday in Abu Dis, a Palestinian neighborhood on the outskirts of Israeli-annexed Arab east Jerusalem.

Israeli border police spokesman Shai Hachimi said the officer in charge put the prisoner on view to prove that he was unharmed.

To calm protesters?

He said it was an attempt to calm tempers after 400 Palestinian protesters, some of them throwing rocks and petrol bombs, attacked a border police base for almost four hours.

"One of the main stone-throwers was arrested," Hachimi told AFP. "At that point the Palestinians spread a rumor that he had been injured as a result of his arrest.

"All the officer wanted to do was to show them that everything was OK. He was on view for about 20 seconds then they returned him to the jeep. Ten minutes later the demonstration was over.

"There was no human shield or any such thing."

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/21/Israel-police-parade-cuffed-Palestinian-teenager-to-protesters-.html
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Iraq counts votes from first polls since U.S. pullout

Iraq counts votes from first polls since U.S. pullout

Electoral employees begin sorting out ballots at a polling station after the polls closed for the provincial elections on April 20, 2013 in Baghdad's Sadr City district. (AFP)

Iraqi election officials were to begin counting votes on Sunday from the country's first elections since US troops departed, which served as a key test of its stability amid a spike in violence.

Attacks killed three people on election day, a fraction of those who died in a wave of violence preceding Saturday's polls, which seemed generally well-organized, according to diplomats touring polling stations and AFP journalists.

Turnout for the provincial vote was about 51 percent, according to officials from Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission.

But the credibility of the elections came into question, as 14 candidates were killed in attacks ahead of the polls and a third of Iraq's provinces -- all of them mainly Sunni Arab or Kurdish -- not voting due to security concerns and political disputes.

The vote for provincial councils, responsible for naming governors who lead local reconstruction, administration and finances, is seen as a key gauge of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's popularity ahead of a general election next year.

Every Iraqi who votes "is saying to the enemies of the political process that we are not going back," Maliki said on state television after casting his ballot at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Security was tight on Saturday, with voters searched before entering polling stations and numerous new checkpoints set up by soldiers and police in Baghdad.

For most of the day, only approved vehicles were allowed on the streets, which were largely deserted except for security forces, and groups of children who took the opportunity to play football.

Despite heightened security in Baghdad and elsewhere, militants were still able to carry out attacks, although the death toll was much lower than the preceding six days, when an average of 20 people were killed daily.

Nine mortar rounds, four bombings and five stun grenades, all outside Baghdad, killed three people and wounded two, officials said.

And gunmen dressed in police uniforms entered a polling station near Baquba, north of Baghdad, burned boxes of ballots, then escaped.

The elections, which came a decade after U.S.-led forces ousted now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein, were the first since parliamentary polls in March 2010, and also the first time Iraqi forces secured elections without support from American or other international forces since 2003.

U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011.

An estimated 13.8 million Iraqis were eligible to vote for more than 8,000 candidates, with 378 seats being contested.

Major issues affecting voters such as poor public services and rampant corruption were largely ignored during the campaign.

21 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/21/Iraq-counts-votes-from-first-polls-since-U-S-pullout-.html
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