Kerry affirms U.S.-Japan bond as North Korean threat looms
North Korea, celebrating the anniversary of its founder's birth, is expected to mark the occasion with missile tests.
By Yuriko Nagano and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
TOKYO — Secretary of State John F. Kerry pledged a strong and continuing U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan in the final stop of an Asia tour that was dominated by North Korea's threats of an attack with nuclear weapons.
Speaking before a packed audience Monday at a Tokyo university, Kerry described the U.S.-Japan relationship as "one of the strongest on Earth" and a global partnership with a strong bilateral security alliance.
"Some people might be skeptical of America's commitment to this region," Kerry said. "Our continued commitment is to stand with the people of Japan in preventing conflict and ensuring safety and security."
Nicolás Maduro declared Venezuela election winner by thin margin
Political heir to Hugo Chávez claims victory in presidential election but rival Henrique Capriles demands recount
The first presidential vote of the post-Chávez era resulted in turmoil on Sunday night after the declaration of a razor-thin win for the ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro left an enraged opposition declaring fraud and demanding a recount.
According to the Central Electoral Commission, Venezuelan voters narrowly endorsed Hugo Chávez's choice of Maduro as his successor with a less than two percentage point margin over his rival, Henrique Capriles.
The former trade union negotiator immediately declared victory. "I'm here to assume my responsibility with courage ... The fight continues!" Maduro, 50, told a rally.
Science moves step closer to developing hydrogen as cheap and clean energy form
Scientists have harnessed the principles of photosynthesis to develop a new way of producing hydrogen – in a breakthrough that offers a possible solution to global energy problems.
Scientists have harnessed the principles of photosynthesis to develop a new way of producing hydrogen – in a breakthrough that offers a possible solution to global energy problems.
The researchers claim the development could help unlock the potential of hydrogen as a clean, cheap and reliable power source.
Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen can be burned to produce energy without producing emissions. It is also the most abundant element on the planet.
‘Alternative for Germany’ party calls for euro zone dissolution
Single currency is polarising continent, says party’s Bernd Lucke
German chancellor Angela Merkel was accused yesterday of polarising Europe by backing flawed rescue measures for a “failed” single currency.
Some 1,500 delegates of the new protest party, “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), gave a sustained standing ovation in Berlin yesterday, applauding claims the euro was surplus to requirements in Germany and damaging to its neighbours.
In his first address, AfD party lead candidate Bernd Lucke launched a full-frontal attack on Dr Merkel’s crisis-era rallying cry that a failed euro would mean a failed Europe.
Anti-Muslim movement grows in Myanmar
April 15, 2013 - 12:12PM
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
BANGKOK: A shadowy anti-Muslim movement known as 969 is spreading throughout central Myanmar, threatening the country's historic democratic transition.
Pamphlets, stickers, DVDs and internet postings are spreading hatred towards the country's Muslim minority following violence last month that left 43 people dead and turned Muslim neighbourhoods in central Mynamar to ashen ruins.
The surge in so-called Islamophobia has emerged as a major challenge for Myanmar's reformist government with President Thein Sein calling for his country to learn from the violence and instability during a speech marking the start of Myanmar's four-day New Year festival.
Nigeria community reports oil spill at Shell site
There has been an oil spill at a Shell facility in Nigeria’s onshore Niger Delta, members of a community there and the military said, adding to output problems for Africa’s biggest producer.
A Shell spokesman in Nigeria said they were looking into the reports of a spill.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main delta militant group before a 2009 amnesty, said on Sunday that it destroyed an oil well in the Nembe region of Bayelsa state, where the spill was reported.
But the military said there had not been an attack.
“The claim by those criminals of blowing up a well head is false,” said military task force spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu.
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