Syria violence undiminished by ceasefire deal

(Reuters) - Opposition activists accused Syrian troops of shelling two cities on Tuesday in a campaign to weaken forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad's government before a ceasefire deadline next week.

Rebel fighters also kept up their attacks, killing three soldiers in separate actions in northern Syria, activists said.

Assad has agreed to a ceasefire negotiated by international peace envoy Kofi Annan from April 10, the latest effort to end a year of bloodshed stemming from an uprising against his rule.

An advance team from the U.N. peacekeeping department is due in Damascus this week to see how observers can monitor the truce, Annan's spokesman said in Geneva.

But Syrian opposition figures as well as Western governments have made clear they are not convinced that Assad, who has failed to honor past commitments, would keep his word. Read More

US faces limited options on North Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) Despite tough talk from President Barack Obama, the United States and its allies have limited options if North Korea goes ahead with its planned long-range rocket launch in mid-April.

Washington is likely to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council, analysts say, and could tighten its already tough sanctions. Such efforts would struggle without support from China, which can be expected to resist any moves that might threaten the stability of its neighbor.

There also is deep uncertainty about where turning the screw further on North Korea would lead. After the Security Council condemned its previous long-range rocket launch in 2009, North Korea responded by kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors, pulling out of aid-for-disarmament negotiations and conducting its second detonation of an atomic device.

"At minimum, there has to be a statement of criticism" at the Security Council, said Gordon Flake, a Washington-based Korea analyst. "The question is how North Korea will react, and history suggests it won't react well." Read More

Rival fighters killed in Libya clashes

(CNN) -- At least four people were killed and dozens more injured in heavy fighting around the coastal Libyan city of Zuwara on Tuesday, a city official said.

The four killed were Zuwara militia members engaged in clashes with rival fighters from two towns bordering the city, said Ayoob Sufyan, a spokesman for the city's local council.

He called the violence the worst in that stretch of western Libya since the fall of Tripoli in August.

"The situation is terrible," Sufyan told CNN. "It is a real war now." Read More

Pentagon activates missile defenses for North Korean launch

The Pentagon recently activated its global missile shield in anticipation of North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile, according to defense officials.

The measures include stepped-up electronic monitoring, deployment of missile interceptor ships, and activation of radar networks to areas near the Korean peninsula and western Pacific.

Three interceptor ships near Japan and the Philippines, as well as U.S.-based interceptors, are ready to shoot down the North Korean missile if space-, land-, and sea-based sensors determine its flight path is targeted at the United States or U.S. allies, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration will regard any launch by North Korea as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions regardless of whether the North Koreans claim the rocket test is for space launch purposes, the officials said. The technology and rocketry used for a space launch is nearly identical to that used with ballistic missiles that carry a warhead, they said.

Also, because the payload or warhead of the test launch cannot be determined prior to launch, the Obama administration decided to activate the missile defense system.

According to U.S. officials, current intelligence assessments indicate the North Korean missile will be launched from a base called Tongchang-ri, located on a west coast peninsula north of Pyongyang between April 12 and April 15. more

Amnesty warns civilians at risk in Mali

(CNN) -- Amnesty International has raised concerns about the safety of civilians in areas of northern Mali now controlled by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, citing reports of violence and looting.

The warning came as international pressure increased on the military junta that grabbed power last month in Mali's capital, Bamako.

"The armed groups who seized these towns in the last three days must ensure human rights abuses do not occur and where they do, they must take action and remove anyone implicated from their ranks," Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty's West Africa researcher, said in a statement on the organization's website.

The Tuareg announced over the weekend that they had seized control of the northern regional capitals of Timbuktu and Gao, a major blow to the military government. Both towns are hundreds of miles north of Bamako. Read More

Mystery surrounds silencing of key al Qaeda websites

Key al Qaeda online forums have fallen silent in the past two weeks, leaving terrorism experts to wonder the cause and whether a key communications mode of the terror group and its affiliates has been purposely undermined.

The sites, where al Qaeda posts messages and jihadists and wannabe jihadists post messages and discussions regarding their ideology and loyalty, started disappearing on March 23, said Aaron Y. Zelin, a researcher in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University. Zelin also maintains the website Jihadology.net.

The outages were first reported by the Washington Post. No entity has claimed responsibility and U.S. officials contacted by CNN would not comment.

The online al Qaeda ecosystem starts with the different branches of al Qaeda - like al Qaeda central in Pakistan, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen or al Qaeda in Iraq - which produce messages through their own media production wings that are distributed by an entity known as al-Fajr Media, which then redistributes them to the various forums, Zelin explained.

"It is an authentication process" so the forums know the al Qaeda communications are legitimate since they come from the same media group, Zelin said. Read More

Syrian activists' claim Tortured bodies found in Homs hospital (Claims could not be verified)

(CNN) -- Anti-government fighters found the bodies of 78 people, apparently tortured to death, in a refrigerator at a hospital in Homs, Syria, captured from government forces Monday, opposition activists said.

CNN could not independently confirm the activists' claim because the government severely restricts access by international journalists.

The Syrian military used the Homs National Hospital as a detention center "for all those violating the regime's law, meaning opposing the government," said activist Tariq al Homsi, who was in the embattled city.

"We know people were captured and taken there to be tortured, and many activists and youths were taken," he said. "The bodies found had marks of torture. Even though they had gunshot wounds, they were in the shoulder or leg. It appears they died of torture, not the gunshots." Read More

Syrian military firing on civilians According to Opposition

(CNN) -- Despite a recent promise by the Syrian government to withdraw its forces from population centers, the military pounded opposition-held northern towns and clashed with defectors, activists said Tuesday.

The Syrian army shelled Binnish, Taftanaz and Taoum and its helicopters fired on fleeing civilians Tuesday, said the Binnish Coordination Committee, an opposition group.

"This is the most intense fighting we have witnessed thus far in Binnish since the beginning of the revolution," said Basher, an opposition activist. "We haven't see this much random shelling on Binnish and the surrounding areas. They are using helicopters and randomly firing on civilians in the cities."

Two civilians were killed in crossfire and shelling in Taftanaz, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Read More

Iranian suspicion grows over Turkey's regional role

(Reuters) - A senior Iranian political figure has spoken out against Turkey hosting Iran's next talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program, in the latest anti-Turkish broadside from politicians in Tehran, Fars news agency reported late on Monday.

Last month Turkey offered Istanbul as the venue for talks expected to take place on April 13, a proposal which appeared to gather momentum last week when Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Istanbul would be "the best option".

Turkey has repeatedly backed Iran's right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. The United States and its allies suspect Tehran of covertly working on nuclear weapons and have imposed tough new sanctions on its financial and energy sectors.

Tehran, which says its nuclear activities are purely peaceful, has agreed to renewed talks with the five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain - and Germany this month. Read More

Annan says Syria agrees to April 10 peace deadline

(Reuters) - Syria has pledged to withdraw all military units from towns by April 10 to pave the way for a ceasefire with rebels two days later, though Western envoys were skeptical on Monday about Damascus' intent to halt its year-long assault on opponents.

The U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan briefed the U.N. Security Council on the deadline behind closed doors. He told them there had been no reduction in violence so far, but urged them to consider an observer mission nevertheless in light of Syria's acceptance of the April 10 deadline, diplomats said.

Washington's U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, president of the 15-nation Security Council this month, said some council members "expressed concern that the government of Syria not use the next days to intensify the violence and expressed some skepticism about the bona fides of the government in this regard." Read More

U.S. puts $10 million bounty on Pakistan militant; India pleased

(Reuters) - The United States has put up a $10 million reward to help arrest Pakistani Islamist leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, suspected of masterminding two spectacular attacks on India's financial capital and its parliament.

The offer comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pakistan and increases pressure on Pakistan to take action against the former Arabic scholar, who has recently addressed rallies despite an Interpol warrant against him.

India has long called for Saeed's arrest and said the bounty - one of the highest on offer - was a sign the United States understood its security concerns. Only last week Saeed evaded police to address an anti-U.S. rally in Islamabad.

"India welcomes this new initiative of the government of the United States," External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said on Tuesday of the reward announced on the U.S. Rewards for Justice website. Read More

Southeast Asia nations, China bring rift to summit

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- New differences could undercut attempts by Southeast Asian countries and China to forge a pact aimed at preventing territorial conflicts from erupting into violence, diplomats said Tuesday at the start of a regional meeting.

The disputes in the South China Sea and North Korea's planned rocket launch this month are top security worries expected to feature prominently at a two-day summit of Southeast Asian leaders in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Myanmar, meanwhile, was basking in praise from colleagues for its recent democratic reforms. It was a marked reversal for the country, condemned for years for massive human rights violations, from its previous black sheep image at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' annual gathering. Read More

Japan OKs 1-year extension of sanctions against North Korea

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government on Tuesday approved extending its sanctions against North Korea for one year, amid a lack of progress in resolving Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese citizens.

The sanctions, which expire April 13, include banning all imports from and exports to North Korea. Japan has been imposing its own punitive measures on North Korea since July 2006 following Pyongyang's long-range missile test.

The extension by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda comes at a time when North Korea is preparing for the launch of a satellite on a long-range rocket to mark the centennial of the April 15 birth of its founder Kim Il Sung.

Japan and many other countries believe that the planned launch in mid-April is actually a test of a long-range ballistic missile in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Japan is exploring the possibility of introducing additional punitive measures if North Korea goes ahead with the launch, according to government officials. Source

Is the U.S. preparing to send NUCLEAR drones to patrol the skies?

Hoping to keep unmanned spy aircraft in the air for a longer period of time, U.S. scientists are reportedly toying with the idea of using nukes.

Plans for such a fleet of drones were drawn up by Sandia National Laboratories, America's top agency for nuclear development, but have not yet reached the building or testing phase, according to The Guardian.

A Sandia rep told the paper: 'The research on this topic was highly theoretical and very conceptual.

'The work only resulted in a preliminary feasibility study and no hardware was ever built or tested. The project has ended'.

Using nuclear power would reportedly provide enough juice to keep drones in the air for months instead of just days.

While it may sound like an exciting technological advance, not everyone is thrilled by the idea. Read More

'Al Qaeda: Coming soon again in New York': Mock movie poster warning of new terror plot sparks FBI investigation

Authorities are trying to identify the source of what appears to be a mock movie poster warning that Al Qaeda wants to come back to New York City.

The New York Police Department and the FBI discovered the graphic on the internet on Monday.

It features a photo of the city at sunset with 'Al Qaeda' in bold type followed by 'Coming Soon Again in New York'.

Both the FBI and the NYPD said investigators have found no evidence so far that the posting represents a credible threat against New Yorkers.

The graphic was seen on several Arabic-language websites, including gulfup.com, according to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

Browne said is was posted in the 'artwork and design' section.

It has since spread to numerous extremist forums.

The NYPD wrote in a press alert its Intelligence Division's cyber unit is investigating the origin and significance of the graphic.

'Until more is learned about their origin, we take all threats against New York City seriously,' read the statement. Read More

Another blow to Al Qaeda? Terror organisation believed to be the victim of a cyber attack after websites shut down

Al Qaeda has been dealt another blow after a number of the terror organisation's web forums were shut down in an apparent cyber attack.

According to The Washington Post, five Al Qaeda websites promoting a 'jihad' or holy war against the West have been offline for almost two weeks.

The newspaper claims that the Shumkh al-Islam site was knocked out on March 22 and four other sites have also been disabled since then, although some less-prominent sites are still running.

U.S. officials have denied targeting the propaganda wing of the organisation - the sites are seen as useful sources for intelligence gathering by anti-terror chiefs.

RBut one expert said the blackout looked like 'a takedown', fueling speculation that the strike may have been launched by a government-backed hacking group. Read More

North Korea goes retro, developing modern version of V-1 buzz bomb as Unmanned Attack Aircraft

Kim Jong Un’s turn as nostalgic replacement for his late grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, wasn’t the only bit of “history made new again” to come out of North Korea this week.

North Korea has acquired US-made MQM-107 Streaker target drones from the Middle East and is seeking to use them as a basis for an unmanned attack aircraft program:

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) — North Korea is developing unmanned attack aircraft using U.S. target drones purchased from the Middle East, a military source in Seoul said Sunday, indicating the aircraft will likely target the South.

“North Korea recently bought several U.S. MQM-107D Streakers from a Middle Eastern nation that appears to be Syria, and is developing unmanned attack aircraft based on them,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

The MQM-107D Streaker is a high-speed target drone used by the U.S. and South Korean militaries for testing guided missiles.

North Korea has conducted numerous tests on high-speed target drones mounted with high explosives, but has yet to master the technology, the source said, citing South Korean intelligence sources. Read More

China mum on fears of Nuclear terrorism in Pakistan

BEIJING: China is unlikely to defend Pakistan if questions are raised at the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit about Islamabad's ability to safeguard its nuclear installations from theft or attack by terrorists.

The summit, to be held in Seoul, South Korea, on March 26-27 , will be attended by leaders of 53 countries including Indian PM Manmohan Singh and Chinese president Hu Jintao. Source