Kerry in Japan for talks on North Korean tensions
14 April 2013 Last updated at 08:00 GMT
The BBC
US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Japan, the last stop of his four-day Asian tour which has focused on tensions on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea has recently threatened attacks against South Korea and the US, sparking alarm in the region.
After meeting China’s top leaders on Saturday Mr Kerry said China was “very serious” in its pledge to help resolve tensions with North Korea, its ally.
Mr Kerry has said the US will defend itself and its allies from any attack.
Speculation has been building that the North is preparing a missile launch, following reports that it has moved at least two Musudan ballistic missiles to its east coast.
Guantanamo Bay – President Obama’s shame: The forgotten prisoners of America’s own Gulag
No charge, but no release. Yesterday the anger of hunger-striking detainees boiled over in clashes with their jailers
RUPERT CORNWELL WASHINGTON SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2013
For long periods we forget it, even though it is a human rights disgrace surely unequalled in recent American history. But now, 11 years after it opened, the prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay is demanding our attention once again, thanks to the largest hunger strike by detainees in its infamous history. Al-Qa’ida has been decimated; America’s war in Iraq is over and the one in Afghanistan soon will be. But the scandal of Guantanamo endures.
Film-maker captures Israeli spy chiefs’ doubts over covert killing operations
Director rejects charge that Oscar-nominated secret services documentary is one-sided
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
The Observer, Sunday 14 April 2013By the time Dror Moreh had finished filming more than 70 hours of interviews with six former chiefs of Israel’s shadowy Shin Bet secret service agency, the director knew he had “dynamite in my hands”.
The result, The Gatekeepers, a 97-minute documentary which has just opened in the UK, is indeed explosive. The Oscar-nominated film has played to packed audiences in Israel, many of whom emerged stunned at what they had seen and heard.
Anti-terror march in Munich ahead of NSU trial
‘No to Nazi terror, state and everyday racism’ was the slogan for demonstrators in Munich ahead of the planned trial for a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground terror group.
“Home is a feeling and not a country” were the words with which the German-Turkish-Italian rap group Microphone Mafia from Cologne greeted demonstrators on Saturday (13.04.2013). An estimated 5,000 people took part in a demonstration tied to the imminent start of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) trial in Bavaria’s State Court of Appeals.
Africa’s economic boom: Five countries to watch
South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, and Ethiopia all have economies that are growing at a brisk pace. But their future depends on how they invest that money
By C. Matthew Hawkins, Guest blogger
As competition for raw resources heats up globally, economic and political elites in the West are turning to Africa for quick and generous capital gains and for the promotion of British and American geostrategic interests.
This is not the first time that these elites have been optimistic about Africa – about a decade and a half ago “Africa experts” boosted new “progressive-minded” leaders, who were said to represent political reform, more grassroots participation in government, more transparent economic policies, and an end to tribal favoritism and conflicts.
Venezuela tightens security ahead of vote
Acting president says he is ready to accept outcome of elections, but opposition candidate says race was not fair.
Last Modified: 14 Apr 2013 08:05
Venezuela has stepped up security in advance of crucial presidential election that would determine the country’s next leader following the death of Hugo Chavez.
Soldiers and police took to the streets of the capital Caracas on the eve of Sunday’s election, pitting Chavez’s hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro and his younger rival Henrique Capriles, governor of the state of Miranda, who is promising change in a polarised Venezuela.
In a meeting with foreign dignitaries, Maduro, the acting president, said he will recognise the election results, whatever they might be.
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