North Korea rocket launch raises nuclear stakes


SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to opponents.


The rocket, which North Korea says put a weather satellite into orbit, has been labeled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear warhead capable of hitting targets as far away as the continental United States.


"The satellite has entered the planned orbit," a North Korean television news reader clad in traditional Korean garb announced, after which the station played patriotic songs with the lyrics "Chosun (Korea) does what it says".


The rocket was launched just before 10 a.m. (0100 GMT), according to defense officials in South Korea and Japan, and was more successful than a rocket launched in April that flew for less than two minutes.


The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.-Canadian military organization, said that the missile had "deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit".


North Korea followed what it said was a similar successful launch in 2009 with a nuclear test that prompted the U.N. Security Council to stiffen sanctions that it originally imposed in 2006 after the North's first nuclear test.


North Korea is banned from developing nuclear and missile-related technology under U.N. resolutions, although Kim Jong-un, the youthful head of state who took power a year ago, is believed to have continued the state's "military first" programs put in place by his late father, Kim Jong-il.


North Korea hailed the launch as celebrating the prowess of all three members of the Kim family to rule since it was founded in 1948.


"At a time when great yearnings and reverence for Kim Jong-il pervade the whole country, its scientists and technicians brilliantly carried out his behests to launch a scientific and technological satellite in 2012, the year marking the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il Sung," its KCNA news agency said. Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather, was North Korea's first leader.


The United States condemned the launch as "provocative" and a breach of U.N. rules, while Japan's U.N. envoy called for a Security Council meeting. However, diplomats say further tough sanctions are unlikely from the Security Council as China, the North's only major ally, will oppose them.


"The international community must work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions have consequences," the White House said in a statement.


U.S. intelligence has linked North Korea with missile shipments to Iran. Newspapers in Japan and South Korea have reported that Iranian observers were in the North for the launch, something Iran has denied.


Japan's likely next prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is leading in opinion polls ahead of an election on Sunday and who is known as a hawk on North Korea, called on the United Nations to adopt a resolution "strongly criticizing" Pyongyang.


A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated that the rocket was a "peaceful project".


"The attempt to see our satellite launch as a long-range missile launch for military purposes comes from hostile perception that tries to designate us a cause for security tension," KCNA cited the spokesman as saying.


"STUMBLING BLOCK"


China had expressed "deep concern" prior to the launch which was announced a day after a top politburo member, representing new Chinese leader Xi Jinping, met Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.


On Wednesday, its tone was measured, regretting the launch but calling for restraint on any counter-measures, in line with a policy of effectively vetoing tougher sanctions.


"China believes the Security Council's response should be cautious and moderate, protect the overall peaceful and stable situation on the Korean peninsula, and avoid an escalation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told journalists.


Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation, said: "China has been the stumbling block to firmer U.N. action and we'll have to see if the new leadership is any different than its predecessors."


A senior adviser to South Korea's president said last week it was unlikely there would be action from the United Nations and Seoul would expect its allies to tighten sanctions unilaterally.


Kim Jong-un, believed to be 29 years old, took power when his father died on December 17 last year and experts believe the launch was intended to commemorate the first anniversary of his death. The April launch was timed for the centennial of the birth of Kim Il Sung.


Wednesday's success puts the North ahead of the South which has not managed to get a rocket off the ground.


"This is a considerable boost in establishing the rule of Kim Jong-un," said Cho Min, an expert at the Korea Institute of National Unification.


There have been few indications the secretive and impoverished state, where the United Nations estimates a third of people are malnourished, has made any advances in opening up economically over the past year.


North Korea remains reliant on minerals exports to China and remittances from tens of thousands of its workers overseas.


Many of its 22 million people need handouts from defectors, who have escaped to South Korea, for basic medicines.


Given the puny size of its economy - per capita income is less than $2,000 a year - one of the few ways the North can attract world attention is by emphasizing its military threat.


It wants the United States to resume aid and to recognize it diplomatically, although the April launch scuppered a planned food deal.


The North is believed to be some years away from developing a functioning nuclear warhead although it may have enough plutonium for about half a dozen nuclear bombs, according to nuclear experts.


It has also been enriching uranium, which would give it a second path to nuclear weapons as it sits on big natural uranium reserves.


"A successful launch puts North Korea closer to the capability to deploy a weaponized missile," said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii.


"But this would still require fitting a weapon to the missile and ensuring a reasonable degree of accuracy. The North Koreans probably do not yet have a nuclear weapon small enough for a missile to carry."


The North says its work is part of a civil nuclear program although it has also boasted of it being a "nuclear weapons power".


(This story has been refiled to clarify reference to NORAD in paragraph five)


(Additional reporting by Jumin Park and Yoo Choonsik in SEOUL; David Alexander, Matt Spetalnick and Paul Eckert in WASHINGTON; Linda Sieg in TOKYO, Sui-Lee Wee and michael Martina in BEIJING,; Rosmarie Francisco in MANILA; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Robert Birsel)



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S'pore strongly urges N.Korea to work with international community






SINGAPORE: Singapore has strongly urged the North Korean government to refrain from further actions that would escalate tensions, and work with the international community to preserve peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said North Korea's rocket launch on Wednesday is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

It added that Singapore deeply regrets this defiance of the concerns of the international community. The launch also does not serve the best interests of the North Korean people.

- CNA/ck





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Chilkur temple stage for Pandit Shankar’s secret wedding

HYDERABAD: For the older priests of the Balaji temple in Chilkur, the news of Pandit Ravi Shankar's sudden demise brought back vivid memories of the day he landed in Hyderabad and paid them a quiet visit, taking them all by surprise.

Not many people know but the sitar maestro married Sukanya Devi, mother of Anoushka Shankar in 1989 at the very temple, when it was frequented by only a handful of devotees.

"They came in a car on that day with their own purohit and nobody had even a faint idea that the marriage of a celebrity was going to take place," said M V Soundara Rajan, hereditary trustee of the Chilkur Balaji temple . "The temple authorities were not informed beforehand. It was a very low-key and simple affair bereft of any celebrity wedding. The marriage ritual was finished within an hour and the guests left soon," recalls Rajan, whose 99-year-old uncle C M Srinivasa Raghava Chary performed the marriage. The maestro, according to temple authorities, was a big devotee of Balaji and had visited the temple several times. Popularly known as the "visa god" as students pray there before applying for visa counseling, the temple witnesses over 5000 people visiting it every day.

Back in the days, the temple was very popular among members of Gujarati and Marwari community from the city who were ardent devotees of the lord.

A Gujarati businessman from the city, who was the patron of the temple, was instrumental in getting Ravi Shankar married here, priests say. "Ravi Shankar was a close friend of a Gujarati devotee who used to visit our temple. Probably this was the reason why he chose this temple. He had accompanied Ravi Shankar and his would-be wife to the temple that day," Rajan recalled.

Soundara Rajan also remembered the Gujarati devotee, whose name he does not remember , speaking of organizing a benefit programme with Ravi Shankar and promising to donate its proceeds to the development of the temple. "But our family had rejected that idea since we did not want any monetary help raised through such programmes since we consider this as a service," he said.

Recalling the marriage, priests said the marriage at this temple would have been confidential and not known to many had it not been for a lucky reporter who stumbled on the information . "Only after the news was splashed many knew that he had visited the city" a priest said.

According to them, Ravi Shankar also chose the temple as he was also a devotee of Chilkur Balaji. "He seemed to have visited the temple before and after the marriage."

C S Rangarajan, chief priest of the temple and son of Soundara Rajan recalled his conversation on this topic with his grandfather , who was the in-charge of the temple then. "This temple might have been chosen because it was quiet and hardly visited by any devotees. He had visited again in 2009 which showed he had faith in Chilkur Balaji," Rangarajan added.

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Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL


WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.


Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.


The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball, and the sides haven't been able to agree on a scientist to help resolve that impasse.


Among the witnesses before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday is Pro Football Hall of Fame member Dick Butkus. In his prepared statement, Butkus writes: "Now, let's get on with it. The HGH testing process is proven to be reliable."


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McAfee Lands in Miami: I'm Free













Software mogul John McAfee has been released from detention in Guatemala City and has landed in Miami.


Immediately upon landing, according to passengers on the plane, McAfee's name was called and he was whisked off the aircraft. Federal officials escorted the 67-year-old Internet antivirus pioneer through customs spirit him out a side door, out of the view of reporters, according to Miami International Airport's communication director, Greg Chin.


It was not clear whether officials intended to help McAfee avoid the inevitable media circus or wanted to question him. However, he has not been charged with committing a crime in Guatemala or Belize, where the authorities have sought to question him about the murder of his neighbor.


McAfee's departure from Guatemala came earlier today.


"They took me out of my cell and put me on a freaking airplane," he told ABC News. "I had no choice in the matter."


McAfee said, however, that Guatemalan authorities had been "nice" and that his exit from the Central American country was "not at all" unpleasant.


"It was the most gracious expulsion I've ever experienced," he said. "Compared to my past two wives that expelled me this isn't a terrible trip."


McAfee said he would not be accompanied by his 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend, but is seeking a visa for her. He also said he had retained a lawyer in the U.S.






Guatemala's National Police/AP Photo











John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala Overnight Watch Video











Software Founder Breaks Silence: McAfee Speaks on Murder Allegations Watch Video





When he was released earlier today, McAfee told the Associated Press, "I'm free. ... I'm going to America."


McAfee, who had been living in a beachfront house in Belize, went on the run after the Nov. 10 murder of his neighbor, fellow American expatriate Greg Faull. Belize police said they wanted to question McAfee about the murder, but McAfee said he feared for his life in Belizean custody.


He entered Guatemala last week seeking asylum, but was arrested and taken to an immigration detention center. He was taken to the hospital after suffering a nervous collapse and then returned to the detention center. The U.S. State Department has visited McAfee, who is a dual U.S.-British citizen, several times during his stay in Guatemala.


During his three-week journey, said McAfee, he disguised himself as handicapped, dyed his hair seven times and hid in many different places during his three-week journey.


He dismissed accounts of erratic behavior and reports that he had been using the synthetic drug bath salts. He said he had never used the drug, and said statements that he had were part of an elaborate prank.


Investigators in Belize said that McAfee was not a suspect in the death of Faull, a former developer who was found shot in the head in his house.


McAfee told ABC News that the poisoning death of his dogs and the murder just hours later of Faull, who had complained about his dogs, was a coincidence.


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North Korea launches rocket in defiance of critics


SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - Isolated and impoverished North Korea launched its second long- range rocket of 2012 on Wednesday and may have finally succeeded in putting a satellite into space, the stated aim of what critics say is a disguised ballistic missile test.


The rocket was launched just before 10 a.m. Korean time (0100 GMT) and overflew the Japanese island of Okinawa.


A rocket launch by North Korea in April was aborted after less than two minutes flight. Wednesday's launch came after the North carried out repairs on the rocket, which South Korean officials said had been removed from its gantry on Monday.


Both South Korea and Japan called meetings of their top security councils after the launch and Japan said it could not tolerate the action. Japanese television station NHK said the second stage of the rocket had crashed into seas off the Philippines as planned.


It was not immediately clear if the third stage carrying the satellite had made it into space.


"Whether the satellite launch (orbit) itself succeeds or not, it is a success for North Korea anyway," said Kim Young-soo, a North Korea expert at Sogang University in South Korea.


There was no immediate announcement from North Korea on the launch. It made a formal announcement when the April launch had failed, but has previously claimed that it put a satellite into space in 2009, something no one has been able to verify.


"We will convene an emergency security meeting at 10:30. The launch was made around 9.50 a.m.," an official at South Korea's presidential office in Seoul said.


The North launched the rocket close to the December 17 anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il last year and as elections loom in South Korea and Japan.


Pyongyang says it is entitled to launch a satellite into space but critics say the rocket development is aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.


North Korea is banned from conducting missile and nuclear-related tests under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests.


The rocket's path was scheduled to pass between the Korean peninsula and China, with a second stage splashing down off the Philippines before launching the satellite into orbit.


Most political analysts believe the launch is designed to bolster the credentials of new leader Kim Jong-un as he cements his rule over the country of 22 million people.


A government official in Seoul said recently that the transition of power to Kim Jong-un did not appear to be going as smoothly as anticipated and there were signs that the regime was concerned over the possibility of rising dissent.


Kim is the third of his line to rule North Korea, whose national output is around one-fortieth of that of prosperous South Korea.


Plans for the launch had drawn criticism from South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States as well as NATO and the United Nations.


The North's only major diplomatic ally, China, has expressed "deep concern" over the launch but is thought unlikely to back any further sanctions against its ally.


(Writing by David Chance; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)



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Britain 'deplores' N.Korea rocket launch






LONDON: Britain said it "deplored" North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket on Wednesday and vowed to summon the Asian country's UK ambassador to the Foreign Office.

"I strongly condemn the DPRK's satellite launch today," Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.

"I deplore the fact that the DPRK has chosen to prioritise this launch over improving the livelihood of its people. We will be summoning the DPRK Ambassador to the UK to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office," he added.

North Korea launched the rocket in defiance of UN sanctions threats over what Pyongyang's critics insist is a disguised ballistic missile test.

"It (the rocket) has been launched," a South Korean defence ministry spokesman told AFP without elaborating further.

The Yonhap news agency, citing a government source, said the rocket had taken off from the Sohae satellite launch centre at 9:51 am (0051 GMT) and was immediately detected by navy vessels deployed by Seoul in the Yellow Sea.

Hague said the launch violated UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874 as it involved the testing of ballistic missile technology and warned it would increase tensions in the region.

Britain will consult its partners in the UN in order to formulate a response, he said.

"It is essential that the DPRK refrain from further provocative action and take constructive steps towards denuclearisation and lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," added the minister.

- AFP/ck



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Seemandhra leaders vow to scuttle Telangana-meet

HYDERABAD: Invoking Telugu pride, Seemandhra Congress leaders on Tuesday vowed to ensure that the all-party meeting on Telangana does not happen on December 28 in view of the three-day World Telugu Conference slated to be held in Tirupati from December 27-29.

"If the Telangana Congress leaders think they can have their way in extracting a forward movement on the separate state demand in return for their vote on FDI in retail in the Lok Sabha, the Seemandhra leaders too can lobby to ensure that the all-party meeting does not happen on December 28," said a senior Congress leader.

"The World Telugu Conference must be the top priority for any Telugu-speaking person irrespective of his region in the state. When such an important event is happening, talking about the division of the state would be an insult to Telugu heritage, which is greater than politics. We have asked the Centre to convene the all-party meeting on December 20. If that is not possible, the Centre should consider holding the meeting in January 2013," Guntur Congress MP Rayapati Samabasiva Rao told TOI.

It's inevitable to postpone the all-party meet, claimed Vijayawada Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal. "We hope the Centre would not play with the sentiments of the people of the state. Any policy must be made on the basis of a democratic process and official procedures. We have brought this to the notice of the Centre, and it is up to them to take a call," Lagadapati said. Meanwhile, Samaikhyandhra Parirakshana Samithi (SPS) has lined up a series of demonstrations starting December 13 in a bid to put pressure on the Centre to postpone the all-party meeting. "We would take out separate padayatras across Seemandhra demanding the rescheduling of the all-party meeting. If the Centre does not oblige, then we will intensify the agitation," said Naraharisetty Srihari, president of SPS.

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DA investigating Texas' troubled $3B cancer agency


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Turmoil surrounding an unprecedented $3 billion cancer-fighting effort in Texas worsened Tuesday when its executive director offered his resignation and the state's chief public corruption prosecutor announced an investigation into the beleaguered agency.


No specific criminal allegations are driving the latest probe into the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, said Gregg Cox, director of the Travis County district attorney's public integrity unit. But his influential office opened a case only weeks after the embattled agency disclosed that an $11 million grant to a private company bypassed review.


That award is the latest trouble in a tumultuous year for CPRIT, which controls the nation's second-largest pot of cancer research dollars. Amid the mounting problems, the agency announced Tuesday that Executive Director Bill Gimson had submitted his letter of resignation.


"Unfortunately, I have also been placed in a situation where I feel I can no longer be effective," Gimson wrote in a letter dated Monday.


Gimson said the troubles have resulted in "wasted efforts expended in low value activities" at the agency, instead of a focused fight against cancer. Gimson offered to stay on until January, and the agency's board must still approve his request to step down.


His departure would complete a remarkable house-cleaning at CPRIT in a span of just eight months. It began in May, when Dr. Alfred Gilman resigned as chief science officer in protest over a different grant that the Nobel laureate wanted approved by a panel of scientists. He warned it would be "the bomb that destroys CPRIT."


Gilman was followed by Chief Commercialization Officer Jerry Cobbs, whose resignation in November came after an internal audit showed Cobbs included an $11 million proposal in a funding slate without a required outside review of the project's merits. The lucrative grant was given to Dallas-based Peloton Therapeutics, a biomedical startup.


Gimson chalked up Peloton's award to an honest mistake and has said that, to his knowledge, no one associated with CPRIT stood to benefit financially from the company receiving the taxpayer funds. That hasn't satisfied some members of the agency's governing board, who called last week for more assurances that no one personally profited.


Cox said he has been following the agency's problems and his office received a number of concerned phone calls. His department in Austin is charged with prosecuting crimes related to government officials; his most famous cases include winning a conviction against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in 2010 on money laundering charges.


"We have to gather the facts and figure what, if any, crime occurred so that (the investigation) can be focused more," Cox said.


Gimson's resignation letter was dated the same day the Texas attorney general's office also announced its investigation of the agency. Cox said his department would work cooperatively with state investigators, but he made clear the probes would be separate.


Peloton's award marks the second time this year that a lucrative taxpayer-funded grant authorized by CPRIT instigated backlash and raised questions about oversight. The first involved the $20 million grant to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston that Gilman described as a thin proposal that should have first been scrutinized by an outside panel of scientific peer-reviewers, even though none was required under the agency's rules.


Dozens of the nation's top scientists agreed. They resigned en masse from the agency's peer-review panels along with Gilman. Some accused the agency of "hucksterism" and charting a politically-driven path that was putting commercial product-development above science.


The latest shake-up at CPRIT caught Gilman's successor off-guard. Dr. Margaret Kripke, who was introduced to reporters Tuesday, acknowledged that she wasn't even sure who she would be answering to now that Gimson was stepping down. She said that although she wasn't with the agency when her predecessor announced his resignation, she was aware of the concerns and allegations.


"I don't think people would resign frivolously, so there must be some substance to those concerns," Kripke said.


Kripke also acknowledged the challenge of restocking the peer-review panels after the agency's credibility was so publicly smeared by some of the country's top scientists. She said she took the job because she felt the agency's mission and potential was too important to lose.


Only the National Institutes of Health doles out more cancer research dollars than CPRIT, which has awarded more than $700 million so far.


Gov. Rick Perry told reporters in Houston on Tuesday that he wasn't previously aware of the resignation but said Gimson's decision to step down was his own.


Joining the mounting criticism of CPRIT is the woman credited with brainstorming the idea for the agency in the first place. Cathy Bonner, who served under former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, teamed with cancer survivor Lance Armstrong in selling Texas voters in 2007 on a constitutional amendment to create an unprecedented state-run effort to finance a war on disease.


Now Bonner says politics have sullied an agency that she said was built to fund research, not subsidize private companies.


"There appears to be a cover-up going on," Bonner said.


Peloton has declined comment about its award and has referred questions to CPRIT. The agency has said the company wasn't aware that its application was never scrutinized by an outside panel, as required under agency rules.


___


Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber


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Shooter Kills Self After Oregon Mall Rampage













A masked gunman opened fire today at Clackamas Town Center, a mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two people, injuring one, and then killing himself.


"I can confirm the shooter is dead of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound," Lt. James Rhodes of the Clackamas County, Ore., Sheriff's Department said today. "By all accounts there were no rounds fired by law enforcement today in the mall."


Police have not released the names of the deceased. Rhodes said authorities are in the process of notifying victims' families. The injured victim has been transported to a local hospital.


Rhodes described the shooter as an adult male.


Witnesses from the shooting rampage said that a young man in a white hockey mask and bulletproof vest tore through the Macy's, food court, and mall hallways firing rounds at shoppers beginning around 3:30 p.m. PT today.


Hundreds of people were evacuated from the busy mall full of holiday shoppers after the shooting began.


The gunman entered the mall through a Macy's store, ran through the upper level of Macy's and opened fire near the mall food court, firing multiple shots, one right after another, with what is believed to be a black, semiautomatic rifle, according to witness reports.










911 Calls From New Jersey Supermarket Shooting Watch Video







Katie Tate said she was in the parking lot of the mall when she saw the shooter run by, wearing a mask and carrying a machine gun, headed for the Macy's.


"He looked like a teenager wearing a gun, like a bullet-proof vest and he had a machine, like an assault rifle and a white mask and he looked at me," she said.


Witnesses described the shooter as being on a mission and determined, looking straight ahead. He then seemed to walk through the mall toward the other end of the building, shooting along the way, according to witness reports.


Those interviewed said that Macy's shoppers and store employees huddled in a dressing room to avoid being found.


"I was helping a customer in the middle of the store, her and her granddaughter and while we were looking at sweatshirts we heard five to seven shots from a machine gun fire just outside my store," Jacob Rogers, a store clerk, told ABC affiliate KATU-TV in Portland.


"We moved everyone into the back room where there's no access to outside but where there's a camera so we can monitor what's going on out front," Rogers said.


Evan Walters, an employee at a store in the mall, told ABC News Radio that he was locked in a store for his safety and he saw two people shot and heard multiple gunshots.


"It was over 20, and it was kind of surreal because we hear pops and loud noises," he said. "We're next to the food court here and we hear pops and loud noises all the time, but we don't -- nothing like that. It was very definite gunshots."


Police are tracing the weapon used in the shooting.



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