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U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:47:00 +0000

North Korea has sentenced American citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years' forced labor for unspecified crimes against the regime.

Bae, also known as Pae Jun Ho, is accused of attempting to "topple" North Korea, according to state-run media. He has supposedly admitted the charges.

"The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime," North Korea's official news agency announced Thursday.

Bae, 44, was detained in the northeast city of Rason on Nov. 3 after entering North Korea on a tourist visa.

According to reports, he is a Korean-American who runs a travel company and was in the country to lead a tour group. A devout Christian, he had made several previous trips to North Korea to do humanitarian work, friends told the Associated Press.

7.8 earthquake rocks Iran

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:55:00 +0000

A powerful earthquake struck the southeast of Iran on Tuesday, causing tremors across the Middle East.

State-run Press TV is reporting that at least 40 people were killed in the quake, which hit in Sistan and Baluchistan province on the border with Pakistan.

Pakistani officials told Reuters that at least five people died in Pakistan, reportedly a family whose house collapsed on top of them, while hundreds of buildings were damaged.

One Iranian official said it was the biggest tremor to hit the country in 40 years, and "we are expecting hundreds of dead."

Iran's Seismological Center measured the quake at 7.5 on the Richter scale, though the US Geological Survey put it higher, at 7.8. It struck at a depth of 9.4 miles, according to the USGS.

World reacts to North Korea’s nuclear test

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:28:00 +0000

North Korea's strictly unauthorized nuclear test has drawn sharp criticism from around the world, with even China joining the outcry against its ally.

The US, North Korea's so-called "arch enemy," led the condemnation. In a statement, President Barack Obama called North Korea's third successful nuclear test a "threat to US national security," and hinted at action by the international community.

Obama also called the underground explosion — registered by US seismologists as a 4.9-magnitude earthquake — a "highly provocative act" that "undermines regional stability."

On the other side of the border, South Korea condemned the test as an "unacceptable threat" and a "head-on challenge to the international community."

"North Korea won't be able to avoid grave responsibility," the government warned in a statement, after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.

Meanwhile China, North Korea's most powerful ally, summoned the country's ambassador to lodge a formal protest.

Lawyer: Delhi gang rape suspects were “tortured” into confession

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:25:00 +0000

NEW DELHI, India — A lawyer who plans to defend the men accused of raping and fatally wounding a young woman in Delhi claims they were tortured by police.

"All these people have been tortured badly," Manohar Lal Sharma, who intends to represent three of the six suspects, told reporters this morning.

"It's under pressure that they have made statements in court," he added. "Evidence has been manipulated to calm the anger among people."

Sharma alleged that police sexually assaulted one of his clients, 22-year-old Mukesh Singh, with a stick and "urinated in his mouth," Reuters reported.

He added that the suspects now face abuse from other inmates in the Delhi jail where they're awaiting trial.

A spokesman for the jail denied that, telling the BBC that "their safety is guaranteed."

Syrian officers defect

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Several members of Syria's military have defected and are sheltering in Turkey, Turkish media says.

A Syrian general, two colonels, two majors, a lieutenant and around 30 other soldiers crossed the border into Turkey last night, according to state television reports cited by Reuters.

They and their families were reportedly among some 200 people who made their way to Turkey's southern Hatay province overnight. They have been taken to a refugee camp a few miles inside the border, the BBC said.

Turkey says 12 other Syrian generals have already defected, but according to Reuters, "there has been little indication of any broader trend to desertion in the senior ranks of the armed forces, bound often to Assad by their Alawite background."

Most defectors so far have been "low-level conscripts," Al Jazeera said.

One Syrian colonel, one of at least four officers reported to have defected last week, told the network that many more members of the military wanted to join the opposition, but feared violent repercussions for their families.