North Korea demands recognition as nuclear weapons state

After weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula, the North has in recent days begun to at least talk about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea. (Reuters)

North Korea demands to be recognized as a nuclear weapons state, a state newspaper reported on Tuesday, in a defiant show of the country refusing to agree to U.S. conditions on their nuclear arms.

The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper rejected the U.S. and South Korean condition "as groundless and unacceptable" that it agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons and suspend missile launches, according to a Reuters report.

"If the DPRK sits at a table with the U.S., it has to be a dialogue between nuclear weapons states, not one side forcing the other to dismantle nuclear weapons," the newspaper said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

After weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula, including North Korean threats of nuclear war, the North has in recent days begun to at least talk about dialogue in response to calls for talks from both the United States and South Korea.

Threatening letter

The news came as South Korea's defense minister on Tuesday recieved a package containing a threatening letter and suspicious powder, in what his ministry described as an attempted act of "terror".

The parcel was delivered a day after hundreds of threatening leaflets were found scattered outside Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin's office.

North Koreans including soldiers attend a rally in support of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order to put its missile units on standby in preparation for a possible war against the U.S. and South Korea. (Reuters)

The leaflets condemned Kim for his perceived hardline stance against North Korea, which has made the minister a focus of Pyongyang's more vitriolic propaganda attacks on the South.

"The parcel contained suspicious white powder, and an investigation is under way to trace its origins," a defense ministry spokesman told AFP news agency.

It was "an attempted act of terror", the spokesman said, while stressing that the powder's contents had not been verified yet.

The Korean peninsula has been in a state of heightened military tension since the North carried out its third nuclear test in February.

Incensed by fresh U.N. sanctions and joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, Pyongyang has spent weeks issuing blistering threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

Earlier this month, a White House spokesman said North Korea would need to show it was serious about abandoning its nuclear ambitions for talks to be meaningful.
 

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/23/North-Korea-demands-recognition-as-nuclear-weapons-state.html
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Arab League rejects ban call to end Syria arms supplies

An Arab League meeting in Doha last month gave member states the "right" to offer Syrians all means of self-defense, including arms supplies. (AFP)

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon appealed Monday for an end to outside arms supplies to rival sides in the Syrian war but the Arab League chief said that would not be possible.

Ban pleaded for a halt during talks with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, whose country has been accused by Damascus of arming Syrian rebels.

"The secretary general called for stemming the supply of arms to any side in the Syrian conflict. More arms would only mean more deaths and destruction," said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.

But Al-Arabi turned down the idea when he spoke to reporters after the meeting.

"If there is a political settlement or a beginning of a political settlement, that could happen but at this point I don't think it is possible," he said.

"The government is getting arms from certain parties so if the other side gets some arms from certain parties I think you can get some form of a balance there," the Arab League chief said. Qatar's prime minister did not speak after the meeting.

An Arab League meeting in Doha last month gave member states the "right" to offer Syrians all means of self-defense, including arms supplies.

Ban, Al-Arabi and Al-Thani also discussed the deadlock in efforts to halt the conflict, now into its third year and with a death toll of "well over" 70,000 people, according to the U.N..

Ban, Al-Arabi and U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held a separate meeting later. There has been speculation that Brahimi could step down.

"Something has to be done, but no specific ideas came," Al-Arabi said, while insisting that all sides are still "supporting the joint mission" by Brahimi because the United Nations and Arab League have the "same objective" to end the conflict and establish a democratic government.

On Brahimi's future, Al-Arabi said: "We are very happy with him and I repeated that upstairs now."

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Arab-League-rejects-ban-call-to-end-Syria-arms-supplies-.html
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Two bishops kidnapped in northern Syria, state media reports

A man pictured in the al-Amirya neighborhood of the city of Aleppo. (AFP)

An armed group kidnapped two bishops in a village in Aleppo province in northern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported late on Monday.

"An armed terrorist group today kidnapped Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church [in Aleppo] and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox church [in Aleppo] while they were on humanitarian operations in the village of Kafr Dael in Aleppo province," the news agency said.

"Terrorists intercepted the bishops' car in Kafr Dael village, took the driver out of the car and kidnapped the bishops," it added.

Reached by AFP, sources in the Greek Orthodox diocese of Aleppo declined to comment on the incident.

Christian residents of Aleppo reached by AFP said Ibrahim set out in his car to pick up Yaziji from the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border, which is under rebel control.

The car was intercepted on the way back by gunmen who kidnapped the bishops and killed their driver, the residents said on condition of anonymity.

Kidnappings have become increasingly prevalent in Syria as law and order has broken down with the spread of the conflict between rebels and loyalist troops.

Activists and human rights groups say minority groups, including Christians, have been particularly vulnerable.

Christians account for about five percent of Syria's population, and they have remained largely neutral or supportive of the regime since the outbreak of the uprising against the government in early 2011.

But the Syrian opposition also includes prominent Christian members, including George Sabra, a long-time dissident who was named interim head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Monday.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Two-bishops-kidnapped-in-northern-Syria-state-media-reports.html
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