US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in South Korea as intelligence report admits North could have nuclear warhead fitted to missile
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in South Korea today on an unusual diplomatic journey, traveling directly into a region bracing for a possible North Korean missile test and risking that his presence alone could spur Pyongyang into another headline-seeking provocation.
Kerry was kicking off four days of talks in East Asia amid speculation that the North's unpredictable regime would launch a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as the US territory of Guam. Kerry also planned to visit China and Japan.
EUROZONE CRISIS
EU finance ministers grapple with Cyprus' debt problem
EU finance ministers in Dublin are discussing debt repayments from ailing eurozone countries as well as tax fraud. But Cyprus’ shock demand for billions more money will likely dominate the meeting.
The finance ministers are meeting to finalize the terms for the 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout for Cyprus , agreed on in March by the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
But the situation has changed dramatically, with Cyprus' announcement on Thursday that they need a substantially bigger sum to plug the hole in their budget: 23 billion euros ($30 billion) rather than the 17.5 billion previously stated.
Egyptian protesters operated on without anaesthetic: report
The Egyptian military ordered senior doctors to operate without anaesthetic on protesters injured during demonstrations against military rule, according to extracts of a leaked report published in the Guardian newspaper on Friday.
The report into military and police malpractice since 2011, commissioned by President Mohamed Mursi, also found evidence that medical staff and soldiers attacked demonstrators inside the same Cairo hospital, the British newspaper reported.
Earlier leaks of the report accused the military of torture and forced disappearances during the uprising against the rule of long-time leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The latest chapter deals with the treatment of protesters at the Kobri el-Qoba military hospital in Cairo in May 2012.
According to the Guardian, the investigation was told that a senior military doctor told doctors to operate without anaesthetic or sterilisation.
Think Chávez was paranoid? Venezuela's Maduro warns of US-funded biker gangs.
Interim President Nicolás Maduro has spoken publicly about conspiracies ranging from murder plots to Salvadoran mercenaries. They serve as a political tool to unify the population and silence criticism.
Since the day of Hugo Chávez’s death, acting president and presidential candidate Nicolás Maduro and other top government officials have put forward a steady flow of conspiracy theories unmatched by any period in the Chávez era, eight by our count.
March 5, acting President Maduro expels two US attachés for “searching for active military personal in order to propose conspiratorial plans to them.”
March 5, Maduro, in the last public announcement before the passing of the President, suggests that Chávez was “inoculated” with cancer by foreign enemies (See our previous post on the issue). He afterwards insisted many times on this theory, originally proposed by Chávez himself, the latest on March 21.
Iraq struggles to solve electricity crisis
Thick clusters of electric wires hang low from tilted wooden poles, winding their way through Baghdad's alleyways to distribute privately generated electrical power.
It is one of the most common scenes across Iraq's urban landscapes and seems to reflect much of what is wrong with the country's electricity sector - crumbling infrastructure, unreliable services, and a tangled web of bureaucracy and corruption.
But all of that will soon be history, according to the Ministry of Electricity.
"Fourteen gas turbine stations are being built in addition to four new ones that are already generating power," said ministry spokesman Musaab Mudarres.
Japan
Japan's militarized island seeks makeover
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
GINOWAN, Japan - The island of Okinawa has long been known as the base camp for a majority of the United States' 50,000 troops in Japan. But now, against the backdrop of escalating nuclear threats from North Korea, local leaders are pushing hard to promote this island - the largest of 60 that comprise Japan's southern prefecture - and its surrounding islets as a lucrative site for commercial enterprises.
"Okinawa, with its unique culture and natural surroundings, wants to expand its tourism industry and become an Asian hub for education and entertainment," Shigenobu Asato, chairman of the
Convention and Tourism Bureau, said in his keynote address at the Okinawa Film Festival that ended Mar. 30.
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