North Korea vows to go ahead with planned rocket launch
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published March 18, 2012
Dec. 24, 2011: Kim Jong Un, center, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s youngest known son and successor, with military officials, stand in front of his father’s body displayed in a glass coffin, not in photo, at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea.
PYONGYANG – North Korea says it will go ahead with plans to launch an observation satellite into space and that criticism of it is provocative.
North Korea said Friday it would launch the satellite on a rocket next month. The U.S., South Korea and Japan condemn the plan as a disguised test of military missiles because the same type of rocket is used to launch long-range missiles.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday such criticism is a “sinister” provocation by “hostile forces.” It says North Korea has a right to peaceful development in space. The North says the hostile forces are “sadly mistaken” if they think it will cancel the launch plans.
Explosion at Troubled Japanese Nuclear Plant Raises New Fears of Radiation Leaks
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published March 14, 2011
An explosion Tuesday morning at a Japanese nuclear plant damaged by the country’s devastating earthquake and tsunami has elevated the risk of more radiation leaks to “very high,” as the country struggles to respond to the mounting human disaster.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi facility’s precarious state was underscored by the details trickling out in the wake of the blast at the Unit 2 reactor. It was the third explosion in four days at the nuclear plant, and the condition of the Unit 2 reactor is of greatest concern to authorities.
Hundreds Killed by Massive Tsunami After 8.9-Magnitude Quake Rocks Japan
FoxNews.com
Associated Press
Published March 11, 2011
AP2011 – March 11: Smoke billows from houses in Natori, northern Japan, after the area was hit by a powerful earthquake and a tsunami.
TOKYO — A ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan’s biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control.
Hours later, the waves washed ashore the U.S. West Coast, where evacuations were ordered from California to Washington but little damage was sustained. The entire Pacific had been put on alert — including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska — but waves were not as bad as expected.
In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor’s cooling system failed and pressure began building inside.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 137 were confirmed killed, with 531 people missing. Police also said 627 people were injured.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
U.N. Rejects Iran’s Bid for Seat on Women’s Rights Panel
FoxNews.com – AP
Published November 10, 2010
The United Nations on Wednesday rejected Iran‘s bid for a seat to the board of the new U.N. agency to promote equality for women after fierce opposition from the United States and human rights groups to Tehran’s treatment of women.
But the U.N. accepted the bid of Saudi Arabia, which is also opposed by human rights groups.
Iran, which has been criticized for its record on women’s rights, received only 19 votes — short of the necessary 28 votes for approval.
In recent months, Iran sparked an international outcry by sentencing to death by stoning a woman convicted of adultery.
In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive and are barred from many facilities used by men.
The new agency was formed after a General Assembly resolution adopted in July merged four U.N. bodies dealing with women’s issues into one with greater clout to represent half the world’s population. The resolution calls for a 41-member executive board, with 35 members chosen by regional groups and six representing donor nations.
The Asian group put forward an uncontested 10-nation slate that included Iran and Saudi Arabia,selected for one of two slots for emerging donor nations. The other nations selected by the Asian group for the board are Bangladesh, India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Obama: Odd Man Out in Economic Summit!
FloppingAces.net
Posted by: Mike’s America @ 5:53 pm, June 27, 2010
Our allies are moving to cut spending and debt at the same time Obama urges them to party on!
President Barack Obama, right, stands beside French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other G8 Leaders during a family photo with African Outreach Leaders during the G8 Summit at the Deerhurst Resort in Hunstville, Ontario, Canada, Friday, June 25, 2010.
Hatoyama Resigns — Is Japan Falling Apart?
PajamasMedia.com
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has resigned. Was it his own weakness as a leader? Or did he see a threat over the Sea of Japan?
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced his resignation today, just nine months after winning an historic mandate. More significant, the “shadow shogun,” kingmaker Ichiro Ozawa, stepped down from his post as DPJ secretary general. The ruling party is in disarray ahead of crucial upper-house elections next month.
The dramatic developments occurred just days after Hatoyama said he had abandoned his campaign pledge to move Marine Air Station Futenma off crowded Okinawa. Instead, he would, with the United States, build a new American facility in Henoko, a less populated part of the island. For months, the prime minister had been unable to make up his mind as to what to do, signaling change after change in his views. As a result of the controversial decision, announced Friday, the Social Democratic Party left the ruling three-party coalition. That triggered fresh calls for the increasingly unpopular Hatoyama to resign.
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