North Korea threatens nuclear strike, U.N. expands sanctions

SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric as the U.N. Security Council approved new sanctions against the reclusive country.

The White House said North Korea's threats would only lead to Pyongyang's further international isolation and declared that the United States was "fully capable" of defending against any North Korean missile attack.

China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said Beijing wanted to see "full implementation" of the new Security Council resolution, which tightens financial restrictions on Pyongyang and cracks down on its attempts to ship and receive banned cargo.

North Korea has accused the United States of using military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has scrapped the armistice with Washington that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

A North Korean general said on Tuesday that Pyongyang was scrapping the armistice. But the two sides remain technically at war as the civil war did not end with a treaty.

North Korea threatens the United States and its "puppet," South Korea, on an almost daily basis.

"Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

North Korea conducted a third nuclear test on February 12, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, and declared it had achieved progress in securing a functioning atomic arsenal. It is widely believed that the North does not have the capacity for a nuclear strike against the mainland of the United States.

With tensions high on the Korean peninsula, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to expand its sanctions on North Korea. The new sanctions were agreed after three weeks of negotiations between the United States and China, which has a history of resisting tough measures against its ally and neighbor.

The resolution specifies some luxury items North Korea's elite is not allowed to import, such as yachts, racing cars, luxury automobiles and certain types of jewelry. This is intended to close a loophole that had allowed countries to decide for themselves what constitutes a luxury good.

"These sanctions will bite and bite hard," said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

The export of luxury goods to North Korea has been prohibited since 2006, though diplomats and analysts said the enforcement of U.N. sanctions has been uneven.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, welcomed the council's move, saying in a statement that the resolution "sent an unequivocal message to (North Korea) that the international community will not tolerate its pursuit of nuclear weapons."

The success of the new measures, council diplomats said, will depend to a large extent on the willingness of China to enforce them more strictly than it has in the past.

However, there was some praise for the new sanctions, which were designed make the punitive measures more like to those used against Iran, which Western officials say have been surprisingly successful.

Pyongyang was hit with U.N. sanctions in retaliation for its 2006 and 2009 nuclear tests. Those measures were subsequently tightened and expanded after several rocket launches by the North.

In addition to the luxury goods ban, there is an arms embargo on North Korea, and it is forbidden from trading in nuclear and missile technology.

George Lopez, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and a former member of the U.N. panel that monitors North Korea sanctions compliance, said the new measures should have a real impact on North Korea's movement of money and constrain access to equipment for its nuclear and missile programs.

"Now, we may yet see another launch or a bomb test, but over the medium term this resolution will degrade DPRK capabilities to grow its program," Lopez said, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

THREATS AND WAR GAMES

Washington moved quickly after the new sanctions were approved and froze the assets of three North Korean citizens who have links to Pyongyang's main arms dealer.

North Korea's threats were the latest in an escalating war of words by both sides across the armed Korean border this week.

The North's unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said it would be entitled to take military action as of March 11 when U.S.-South Korea military drills move into a full-scale phase.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by continued threats and provocations. These will only further isolate the country and its people and undermine international efforts to promote peace and stability in northeast Asia," Rice told reporters.

President Barack Obama's administration said it had reassured South Korea and Japan "at the highest levels" of its commitment to deterrence, through the U.S. nuclear umbrella and missile defense, in the face of the new threats.

Glyn Davies, the State Department's point man for North Korea, also said in testimony prepared for a Senate hearing that Washington will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called for restraint and an end to the threats. "Let's keep our minds cool and keep focused on the need for the only possible rational course of action, and that is returning to six-party talks," he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman (front L) hug in Pyongyang in this undated picture released by North Korea's KCNA news agency on March 1, 2013. KCNA ... more? North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman (front L) hug in Pyongyang in this undated picture released by North Korea's KCNA news agency on March 1, 2013. KCNA reported that a mixed basketball game of visiting U.S. basketball players and North Korean players was held at Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium on February 28, 2013. REUTERS/KCNA (NORTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS SPORT BASKETBALL TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. QUALITY FROM SOURCE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS less? North Korea, which held a mass military rally in Pyongyang on Thursday in support of its recent threats, has protested against the U.N. censures of its rocket launches. It says they are part of a peaceful space program and that the criticism is an exercise of double standards by the United States.

The North's shrill rhetoric, however, rarely goes beyond just that. Its last armed aggression against the South in 2010 came unannounced, bombing a South Korean island and killing two civilians. It was also accused of sinking a South Korean navy ship earlier in the year, killing 46 sailors.

North Korea was conducting a series of military drills and getting ready for state-wide war practice of an unusual scale, South Korea's defense ministry said earlier.

South Korea and the United States, which are conducting annual military drills until the end of April, are watching the North's activities for signs that they might turn from an exercise to an actual attack, said South Korea's defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok.

Kim declined to confirm news reports that the North has imposed no-fly zones off its coasts in a possible move to fire missiles, but he said any flight ban limited to near the coast would not be for weapons with meaningful ranges.

South Korea's military said in a rare warning on Wednesday that it would strike back at the North and target its leadership if Pyongyang launched an attack.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Paul Eckert and Anna Yukhananov in Washington; Writing by Claudia Parsons; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-says-exercise-preemptive-nuclear-attack-against-092109134.html

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MTN South Africa hoping to launch IPTV this year

Karel Pienaar, MD of MTN South Africa

The Managing Director of South African telco MTN has indicated that he hopes to launch a commercial IPTV service either this year or early next year, and is already running limited customer trials, according to local reports.

Online news source TechCentral quotes Karel Pienaar as saying: ?If you look at the evolving of MTN into a services company, content will be a key component of that.

?We have been experimenting for a long time with IPTV and content in all its forms and shapes. We have a new platform where we are doing limited customer trials.?

Pienaar adds however that before launching any TV service, he wishes to ensure that the pricing and experience for consumers is correct, and anticipates a future in which South Africans will eventually be connected by fibre and LTE networks, creating big opportunities for telcos.

?MTN is absolutely there, but it?s not something you rush into. We are experimenting with dozens of different options. Depending on how successful the trials are, we would like to bring IPTV to market this year already.?

A recent report from UK firm Digital TV Research predicted that South Africa will remain the dominant pay-TV revenue generator in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2016 and 2018, although its share of the US$ 4.62bn?total will fall by fourteen percentage points to 47%.

Via TechCentral

We welcome reader discussion and request that you please comment using an authentic name. Comments will appear on the live site as soon as they are approved by the moderator (within 24 hours). Spam, promotional and derogatory comments will not be approved

Source: http://www.iptv-news.com/2013/03/mtn-south-africa-hoping-to-launch-iptv-this-year/

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03/07/2013 - College of Arts and Sciences Dean For A Day

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Paul Ryan budget to balance by 2023 with modestly deeper cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said on Wednesday he will unveil a "no surprises" Republican budget next week that reaches balance in 10 years with only modestly deeper spending cuts than those he proposed a year ago.

The conservative budget blueprint will retain tax increases on the wealthy that were approved in the January 1 deal to resolve the "fiscal cliff," said House Budget Committee aides.

The plan also will make adjustments for an expected decline in war spending, a move that could shave up to $600 billion from expenditures over the next decade.

"So I wouldn't expect big surprises from us next week," Ryan told reporters. "We're making some additional modest changes to get to balance."

Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" budget last year did not achieve balance until around 2040, but that did not include any tax hikes. In fact, it aimed to cut the top tax rate to 25 percent, while eliminating a number of prominent tax credits and deductions.

At the same time, that budget made deep cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs, and other domestic benefit programs and education funding. The document's prominence as a Republican policy tool, however, helped propel Ryan to be chosen by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as his vice presidential running mate.

After four straight years of deficits over $1 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the fiscal 2013 gap will fall to $845 billion. As the economy improves, deficits will to around $430 billion by 2015, CBO said, but they are projected to rise after that, nearing $1 trillion again by 2023 as the massive "baby boom" generation ages and draws more retirement and health benefits.

MEDICARE CHANGES

Both Ryan and his committee aides declined to discuss specific budget policy items in the forthcoming budget plan, but it will again include changes aimed at shoring up the popular but increasingly expensive Medicare program for the seniors.

These changes are expected to be similar to Ryan's budget plan from last year, which proposed turning Medicare into a voucher-like program that offered seniors subsidies private health insurance or coverage through the traditional Medicare fee-for-service-plan.

One committee aide last week said the subsidies, known as "premium support" last year, would be rebranded as "competitive bidding" in this year's budget.

Other congressional sources said that Ryan has decided to back off a proposal he recently floated that would have imposed the Medicare changes on Americans 56 and younger. He had pledged during his vice presidential campaign last year that he would not touch benefits for those 55 or older in a bid to allay the fears of senior citizens who depend on Medicare benefits.

The age tweak would have entailed significant political cost, as Democrats were poised to pounce on a broken campaign promise, and it would not really help balance the budget in 10 years because the today's 56-year-olds would only just be starting to enter the Medicare system when they turn 65.

A Budget Committee aide on Wednesday declined to discuss specific changes related to Medicare, but said they were designed to "make sure that we can protect and save this critical program."

Ryan's budget is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, with approval by the House Budget Committee on Wednesday.

U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray is expected to unveil a rival Democratic budget next week as well. Her plan is widely expected to shield Medicare and other social safety net programs and make investments in education and research while raising significant new tax revenues from eliminating tax deductions, credits and other loopholes.

(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-budget-balance-2023-modestly-deeper-cuts-202733660--business.html

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S.Africa's Aspen H1 profit up, Asia unit robust

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's biggest generic drugs maker, Aspen Pharmacare, reported a 17 percent increase in half-year profit on Thursday boosted by costs cuts and higher sales.

South Africa's Aspen said headline earnings per share totalled 371 cents in the six months to end-December compared with 316.4 cents a year earlier.

Headline EPS, the most widely watched profit measure in South Africa, excludes certain one-off items.

Aspen, the biggest generic drugs maker in the southern hemisphere, is likely to benefit from patent expiries of some of the best-selling name drugs around the world.

Sales increased 20 percent to 9 billion rand with core earnings, or EBITDA, at its Asia Pacific unit increasing by 29 percent, helped by strengthening currencies.

The company expects its Asia Pacific unit to become its biggest revenue generator in the coming year after acquiring Australia's Sigma Pharmaceuticals last year.

Shares in Aspen fell 1.2 percent to 183.85 rand as of 0947 GMT, lagging behind a slightly higher JSE Top-40 index.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africas-aspen-h1-profit-asia-unit-robust-100906093--finance.html

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10 Things to Know for Wednesday

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 5, 2013, after a closed-door committee vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan. The committee voted Tuesday to approve President Barack Obama's pick to lead the CIA after winning a behind-the-scenes battle with the White House over access to a series of top-secret legal opinions that justify the use of lethal drone strikes against terror suspects, including American citizens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 5, 2013, after a closed-door committee vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan. The committee voted Tuesday to approve President Barack Obama's pick to lead the CIA after winning a behind-the-scenes battle with the White House over access to a series of top-secret legal opinions that justify the use of lethal drone strikes against terror suspects, including American citizens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE- In this Aug. 29, 2012 file photo, Yoko Ono appears at a news conference in New York to launch the coalition of artists opposing hydraulic fracturing. Ono and her son, Sean Lennon, formed a group called ?Artists Against Fracking,? which has become the main celebrity driven anti-fracking organization. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Regis Philbin, right, jokes with Terry Bradshaw during a news conference about Fox's new sports network in New York, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Philbin will host a weekday sports talk show for the network's new channel Fox Sports 1. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:

1. CHAVEZ DIES, LEAVING A VOID IN VENEZUELA

During his one-of-a-kind rule, oil revenues poured in and poverty fell. But inflation soared, along with the country's homicide rate.

2. DOW HITS RECORD HIGH

With Tuesday's close, the blue-chip index has regained all the losses it suffered during the Great Recession.

3. TSA OKS SMALL KNIVES ON PLANES

The new rule draws an immediate outcry from unions representing flight attendants and other airline workers.

4. SYRIAN REBELS POISED TO CAPTURE ONETIME REGIME STRONGHOLD

Raqqa, along the Euphrates River, would be first major city to be completely controlled by the opposition in the civil war.

5. WHY BRENNAN ISN'T YET HOME FREE

His nomination to lead the CIA passes a committee and heads to the full Senate for a vote ? but the GOP is threatening further delays.

6. THE LIMITS OF LITIGATION AGAINST THE POPE

Now that Benedict has retired, a debate has begun over whether he can be sued by clergy sex abuse victims.

7. WHO DOESN'T NEED TO COME IN TO THE OFFICE

A study says more workers are telecommuting ? and men are much more likely than women to be granted the freedom to work at home.

8. ANSWER 12 QUESTIONS AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING

There are quizzes for everything these days. What color to wear, whom to date. And now? When you might die. But take this one with a doctor.

9. CAUSE CELEB

As glitterati boost the anti-fracking cause, some experts say "tremendous health gains" from the shift to cleaner-burning gas are being overlooked.

10. FOX TO ESPN: LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

Fox is challenging ESPN with a 24-hour sports cable network called Fox Sports 1, set to launch in August.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-05-10%20Things%20to%20Know-Wednesday/id-df66762279144ebabaf3443b6dafcc75

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Afghan court slaps prison time on Kabul Bank execs

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan tribunal convicted two top executives from Kabul Bank and sentenced them to five-year prison terms on Tuesday for their role in a massive corruption scandal that led to the collapse of Afghanistan's largest bank and threatened the country's fragile economy.

Judge Shams-ul-Rahman Shams said the bank's former chairman Sherkhan Farnood and former chief executive officer Khalilullah Ferozi were guilty of theft of $278 million and $530 million, respectively. Farnood and Ferozi have also been ordered to pay back these funds.

The two were among 21 Kabul Bank and government employees found guilty of wrongdoing on Tuesday.

The convictions were the first from the Kabul Bank debacle, which erupted in 2010 and in which $861 in fraudulent loans disappeared into the pockets of friends and relatives of the powerful men behind the bank.

"These 21 individuals are going to be sentenced because of their role in the Kabul Bank crisis," Shams said, before reading out the list of names.

Among those convicted was the former chief of the country's central bank, Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, who was sentenced to two years in prison for misusing his authority and failing to inform the government of what was going on inside Kabul Bank.

Notably absent from the list were some of the highest-profile names attached to the bank, such as shareholders Mahmoud Karzai, one of the Afghan president's brothers, and Hassan Fahim, a brother of the country's first Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim.

They were not included in this case but Shams said more than 20 people are still under investigation and more indictments may be forthcoming.

The bank's collapse and subsequent bailout represents more than 5 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, making it one of the largest banking failures in the world.

An independent report issued last year said Kabul Bank was run like Ponzi scheme with deposits being used to fund lavish villas in Dubai and other luxury purchases. Hundreds of millions of dollars were sent out of Afghanistan ? some in airplane food trays, according to the report.

The scandal has become a test case for President Hamid Karzai's pledge to clean up the notoriously corrupt government. Karzai has been regularly accused of prosecuting low-level graft while ignoring massive thievery on the part of friends or powerful allies. Last year's report by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee said political interference has stymied much of the Kabul Bank investigation.

The Afghan government is almost entirely paid for by foreign donors, many of whom have threatened to pull or curtail financing if they do not see proof that the Karzai administration is assuring that funds reach Afghan citizens as intended.

The defendants have the option to appeal Tuesday's decision by the three-judge panel, which is considered a primary court ruling.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-court-slaps-prison-time-kabul-bank-execs-074036488--finance.html

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