Xi Jinping officially named China’s president

     

The National People’s Congress officially confirmed Xi Jinping as China's new president on Thursday at a time when public faith in the government has waned, leaving many clamouring for change.       

US imposes new sanctions as N. Korea threatens war

     

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un stepped up rhetoric against South Korea on Tuesday, threatening to “wipe out” the border islands of Baengnyeong, as the US imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang amid escalating tensions.

          

Chinese President Xi calls for 'great renaissance'

     

China's new President Xi Jinping said on Sunday he will fight for the "great renaissance of the Chinese nation and the Chinese dream", in a keynote speech at the National People's Congress parliament meeting in Beijing.

          

Feed industry well presented at VIV Asia 2013

Feed industry well presented at VIV Asia 2013

For professionals in the international feed industry, the upcoming VIV Asia, to be held 13-15 March, 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, will be an event not to miss. The eleventh edition of the show presents a full range of exhibitors from the feed to meat chain and has a wide range of seminars and congresses to offer on topical feed processing and nutritional issues.

The 2011 edition of VIV Asia attracted a record number of almost 29,000 visitors.
Almost 600 exhibitors from 40 countries, filling six full halls of the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC). Add to that about 25,000 expected visitors from the Middle East to Oceania and from India to Japan. These figures alone should convince you that VIV Asia 2013 has a good selection to offer, comprising global market leaders and regional as well as national Asian players of importance. With Aquatic Asia 2013 co-located with VIV Asia, professionals active in the production of pork, poultry meat, eggs, fish and dairy all have good reasons to meet up in Bangkok in March.

Where many international livestock shows these days go for more and bigger, VIV Asia deliberately chooses to keep the total surface of the show relatively concise, zooming in on quality rather than quantity. Events like the Rabobank conference and the Animal Health Summit (see opposite), designed for CEO-levels, testify this approach, explains Ruwan Berculo, project manager VIV, Asia-Pacifi c & Europe. “We want to stand out as the event where agricultural companies can present themselves in a business environment.”

CropTech-FeedTech Asia 2013
For the animal feed industry, the major feature jumping into view is the pavilion CropTech-FeedTech Asia 2013. The
pavilion is set up against developments of growing investments in Asia in technology and equipment for the milling, processing, storage and handling of raw materials to produce feed. The demand is driven by a rapidly growing population, the increased level of income and the focus on food safety. In particular China, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia propose many opportunities.

With almost 5,000 visitors dedicated to feed milling throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the 2011 edition showed
that feed milling had developed itself into a strong segment on its own. All global market leaders have confirmed
their participation, many of them with significantly larger booths. The space allocated for CropTech-FeedTech Asia
2013 has been extended as a result. In addition to the CropTech-FeedTech pavilion at the exhibition, two feedrelated
conferences will be held:

• Digital engineering in the feed industry (March 13, 2 pm – 4 pm, focusing on engineers). Eight participants will give ten minute presentations as input for the closing debate.

• Nutrition, (March 14, 2 pm – 4 pm, focusing on nutritionists). International keynote presentations, with e.g. ‘The future of enzymes in poultry feed’ by Christos Antipatis, DSM and ‘The use of immunoglobulins in piglet feed’ by Thomas Heile, EW Nutrition.

General programme
The show’s opening ceremony will consist of five parts and will take place in the Grand Hall, second floor and starts at
10.30 am on March 13th. On March 14th, the conference ‘Developments in the animal protein sector: A multi-species approach’.
This CEO-level conference, starting at 10.30 am, presents developments in feed manufacturing, poultry breeding, pig breeding and aquaculture. On the very same day, another option is to visit the Animal Health Summit Asia. This two-tier event focuses on the reduction of antibiotics in the livestock industry related to the current increase in antibiotic resistance, which has led to a worldwide discussion. The widespread occurrence of multiresistant bacteria is considered to be a threat for future human and animal health. The safety of meat and eggs and the discussion on how to deal with this worldwide problem in the Asian markets is the theme of this summit.

From 10.30 am until 1.30 pm, several seminars with speakers from different exhibitors will present their vision and related solutions on reducing antibiotics in livestock production tomorrow. Shortly after the morning session, a two
hour CEO-level conference runs from 2-4 pm. Four international keynote speakers present the global context as well as specific best practices related to the reduction of antibiotics in livestock production.

Aquatic Asia 2013
As Asia is the world’s market leader in aquaculture, everything benefiting the production of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and shrimp also receive a lot of attention at VIV Asia. Countries like China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand rank high on the list of the largest producers. This is why joint organisers VNU Exhibitions Europe, VNU Exhibitions Asia and NEO present a new edition of this trade show for the Asia-Pacific Aquaculture business: Aquatic Asia 2013.
For other interesting events, please check the box ‘Events at VIV Asia’. AAF

Feed-related highlights at 11th VIV Asia
• Mycotoxins & Salmonella 2013: One day paid conference (Imperial Queens Park Hotel, Bangkok – Tuesday, March 12, 8 am – 4.15 pm)
• Exhibitor seminars: One-hour exhibitor presentations (BITEC, March 13-15, 10 am onwards)
• Country pavilions: Presenting exhibitors from feed to meat; Belgium, China, France, Israel, Korea, Spain, Thailand, the Netherlands, United Kingdom (BPA), USA (BITEC, all days)
• Indonesia partner country seminar: International investment opportunities in the Indonesian poultry industry (BITEC, Thursday, March 14, 10 am - noon)
• The Philippines partner country seminar: International investment opportunities in the Philippine livestock industry (BITEC, Thursday, March 14, 10.30 am – 12.30 pm)
• Dairy Production Conference: ‘Taking the Asian Dairy industry into the 22nd Century’ - International keynotes addressing visions and solutions for the Asian dairy industry in the fi eld of breeding, animal health and nutrition. (BITEC, Thursday, March 14, 2-4 pm)
• GlobalGAP: ‘Good Agricultural Practices’ (BITEC, Friday, March 15, 10.30-11.30 am)

After fatal shark attack, New Zealand official confident "the beast is dead"

Dennis Rodman is North Korean leader's 'friend for life'

Dennis Rodman visits North Korea

(CNN) -- Former NBA star Dennis Rodman declared his eternal friendship with North Korea's supreme leader Thursday.

Chinese hackers seen as increasingly professional, experts say Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/02/25/chinese-hackers-seen-as-increasingly-professional-experts-say

Beijing hotly denies accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets, insinuating such activity is the work of rogues. But at least one element cited by Internet experts points to professional cyberspies: China's hackers take the weekend off.
Accusations of state-sanctioned hacking took center stage this past week following a detailed report by a U.S.-based Internet security firm Mandiant. It added to growing suspicions that the Chinese military is not only stealing national defense secrets and harassing dissidents but also pilfering information from foreign companies that could be worth millions or even billions of dollars.
Experts say Chinese hacking attacks are characterized not only by their brazenness, but by their persistence.
"China conducts at least an order of magnitude more than the next country," said Martin Libicki, a specialist on cyber warfare at the Rand Corporation, based in Santa Monica, California. The fact that hackers take weekends off suggests they are paid, and that would belie "the notion that the hackers are private," he said.
Libicki and other cyber warfare experts have long noted a Monday-through-Friday pattern in the intensity of attacks believed to come from Chinese sources, though there has been little evidence released publicly directly linking the Chinese military to the attacks.
Mandiant went a step further in its report Tuesday saying that it had traced hacking activities against 141 foreign entities in the U.S. Canada, Britain and elsewhere to a group of operators known as the "Comment Crew" or "APT1," for "Advanced Persistent Threat 1," which it traced back to the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398. The unit is headquartered in a nondescript 12-story building inside a military compound in a crowded suburb of China's financial hub of Shanghai.
Attackers stole information about pricing, contract negotiations, manufacturing, product testing and corporate acquisitions, the company said.
Hacker teams regularly began work, for the most part, at 8 a.m. Beijing time. Usually they continued for a standard work day, but sometimes the hacking persisted until midnight. Occasionally, the attacks stopped for two-week periods, Mandiant said, though the reason was not clear.
China denies any official involvement, calling such accusations "groundless" and insisting that Beijing is itself a major victim of hacking attacks, the largest number of which originate in the U.S. While not denying hacking attacks originated in China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday that it was flat out wrong to accuse the Chinese government or military of being behind them.
Mandiant and other experts believe Unit 61398 to be a branch of the PLA General Staff's Third Department responsible for collection and analysis of electronic signals such as e-mails and phone calls. It and the Fourth Department, responsible for electronic warfare, are believed to be the PLA units mainly responsible for infiltrating and manipulating computer networks.
China acknowledges pursuing these strategies as a key to delivering an initial blow to an opponent's communications and other infrastructure during wartime -- but the techniques are often the same as those used to steal information for commercial use.
China has consistently denied state-sponsored hacking, but experts say the office hours that the cyberspies keep point to a professional army rather than mere hobbyists or so-called "hacktivists" inspired by patriotic passions.
Mandiant noticed that pattern while monitoring attacks on the New York Times last year blamed on another Chinese hacking group it labeled APT12. Hacker activity began at around 8:00 a.m. Beijing time and usually lasted through a standard workday.
The Rand Corporation's Libicki said he wasn't aware of any comprehensive studies, but that in such cases, most activity between malware embedded in a compromised system and the malware's controllers takes place during business hours in Beijing's time zone.
Richard Forno, director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County's graduate cybersecurity program, and David Clemente, a cybersecurity expert with independent analysis center Chatham House in London, said that observation has been widely noted among cybersecurity specialists.
"It would reflect the idea that this is becoming a more routine activity and that they are quite methodical," Clemente said.
The PLA's Third Department is brimming with resources, according to studies commissioned by the U.S. government, with 12 operation bureaus, three research institutes, and an estimated 13,000 linguists, technicians and researchers on staff. It's further reinforced by technical teams from China's seven military regions spread across the country, and by the military's vast academic resources, especially the PLA University of Information Engineering and the Academy of Military Sciences.
The PLA is believed to have made cyber warfare a key priority in its war-fighting capabilities more than a decade ago. Among the few public announcements of its development came in a May 25, 2011 news conference by Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng, in which he spoke of developing China's "online" army.
"Currently, China's network protection is comparatively weak," Geng told reporters, adding that enhancing information technology and "strengthening network security protection are important components of military training for an army."
Unit 61398 is considered just one of many such units under the Third Department responsible for hacking, according to experts.
Greg Walton, a cyber-security researcher who has tracked Chinese hacking campaigns, said he's observed the "Comment Crew" at work, but cites as equally active another Third Department unit operating out of the southwestern city of Chengdu. It is tasked with stealing secrets from Indian government security agencies and think tanks, together with the India-based Tibetan Government in Exile, Walton said.
Another hacking outfit believed by some to have PLA links, the "Elderwood Group," has targeted defense contractors, human rights groups, non-governmental organizations, and service providers, according to computer security company Symantec.
It's believed to have compromised Amnesty International's Hong Kong website in May 2012, although other attacks have gone after targets as diverse as the Council on Foreign Relations and Capstone Turbine Corporation, which makes gas microturbines for power plants.
Civilian departments believed to be involved in hacking include those under the Ministry of Public Security, which commands the police, and the Ministry of State Security, one of the leading clandestine intelligence agencies. The MSS is especially suspected in attacks on foreign academics studying Chinese social issues and unrest in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.
Below them on the hacking hierarchy are private actors, including civilian universities and research institutes, state industries in key sectors such as information technology and resources, and college students and other individuals acting alone or in groups, according to analysts, University of Maryland's Forno said.
China's government isn't alone in being accused of cyber espionage, but observers say it has outpaced its rivals in using military assets to steal commercial secrets.
"Stealing secrets is stealing secrets regardless of the medium," Forno said. "The key difference is that you can't easily arrest such electronic thieves since they're most likely not even in the country, which differs from how the game was played during the Cold War."

Philippines seeks peaceful solution to Borneo stand-off

Philippines seeks peaceful solution to Borneo stand-off

Malaysian policemen return from a sea patrol in Tanjung Labian near Lahad Datu, on the Malaysian island of Borneo, on February 16, 2013. The Philippines called for a peaceful resolution to a tense stand-off in a remote area on Borneo island in Malaysia, where hundreds of armed Filipinos landed on Tuesday.

Local policemen conduct a security check near the village of Bakapit, near Lahad Datu, on the Malaysian island of Borneo, on February 14, 2013. The Philippines on Saturday called for a peaceful resolution to a tense stand-off between Malaysian forces and a group of gunmen claiming to be followers of the heir of a former Borneo sultan.

New Zealand dolphin faces extinction, group warns

New Zealand dolphin faces extinction, group warns

Campaigners dressed as dolphins call on New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to help save the critically endangered Maui's dolphin, in Wellington, on May 2, 2012. Scientists have also urged New Zealand to take immediate action to protect the animal.

UN Security Council vows action after North Korea test

     

 

        

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday ‘strongly condemned’ North Korea’s third nuclear test and vowed to take action, the president of the council said. Pyongyang is already under a heavy sanctions regime due to its earlier atomic tests.      

North Korea confirms 'successful' nuclear test

     

 

North Korea has confirmed that it "successfully" carried out a third nuclear test, drawing immediate condemnation from world powers. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to debate a response.           

 

South Korea successfully launches satellite into orbit

© AFP

South Korea succeeded Wednesday in a third attempt to put a satellite into orbit following North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket last month. The Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-I) blasted off at 4 p.m. from the Naro Space Center.

By News Wires (text)

N Korea remains defiant on nuclear tests

© AFP

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed “substantial and high-profile important measures” at a meeting with top security officials, state media said on Sunday, days after announcing a third nuclear test in defiance of UN sanctions.

By News Wires (text)

Australia and Sri Lanka make peace

Australian and Sri Lankan players officially made peace following a fiery end to their final Twenty20 international won by the tourists off the last ball, Cricket Australia said.
They also sought to play down the angry exchanges as the two sides walked off the pitch after Sri Lanka won by two runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Cricket Australia admitted the rain-hit match finished with "ugly scenes" but stressed "both teams apologised".
Trouble erupted when all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, needing four runs from the final ball to clinch victory for Australia, told the Sri Lankans, in no uncertain terms, to get on with it.
Sri Lanka veteran Mahela Jayawardene, who earlier hit an unbeaten 61, yelled back at Maxwell. After the last ball was finally delivered the pair jostled in an angry face-to-face exchange.
Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and captain George Bailey also bickered with Jayawardene and bowler Thisara Perera during the on-field handshakes.
"I went into the Sri Lankan rooms after and they apologised for going over the top. All good," Maxwell said on Twitter.
He also admitted Tuesday he too had been at fault.
"Just to clarify... I apologised to Mahela and SL players as well. I have a good friendship with Mahela, and it's gonna stay that way!"
Australian captain George Bailey put the dispute down to "passion mate" and "heat of the moment".
"People care about the game and care about the way they play," he said.
"I know we get along very well with this side. Even just the chats there coming off, I think it's all just heat-of-the-moment stuff.
"But I think what you're seeing is individuals and teams that are pretty keen to win."
Jayawardene agreed. "To be honest it was just the heat of the moment. Things happen and you exchange a few words," he told reporters.
"They play it hard and we play it hard. After the game you are friends."
The tourists won the first T20 match by five wickets at the Sydney Olympic Stadium on Saturday night.
The one-day series was drawn 2-2 after Australia took the Test series 3-0.

5 hours 19 min ago - Japan PM suggests summit with China to improve relations

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday suggested a summit with China would improve a relationship that has been badly troubled for months.
"A high-level meeting should be held because there is a problem. If necessary, there might be a need to build the... relationship again, starting with a summit meeting," he told a television show.
Asia's two largest economies have been at diplomatic daggers, drawn since Tokyo nationalised islands at the centre of a festering territorial dispute in September.
Japan insisted its move to take formal ownership of islands it controls under the name Senkakus was nothing more than an administrative shift, transferring the title deeds from an individual to the state.
But China reacted with fury to the move over what it calls the Diaoyus, accusing Japan of reverting to its war-like ways of the last century and forgetting the lessons of history.
Anti-Japan demonstrations erupted in China, targeting Japanese businesses and shops and badly denting the multi-billion dollar relationship on which both countries are dependent.
Since the nationalisation, China has repeatedly sent its ships into waters around the islands in a move that analysts say is intended to prove Japan does not have effective control over them.
Beijing's planes have also flirted with the area and on at least one occasion ventured into what Japan considers its airspace, a move that led to commanders scrambling Japanese fighter planes.

Chinese stage rare protest over censored newspaper

Hundreds of people gathered outside the offices of a liberal newspaper at the centre of a censorship row in Guangzhou on Monday, in a rare public protest for greater freedom of the press and one that is likely to challenge China’s new leadership.


A dispute over censorship at a Chinese newspaper known for edgy reporting evolved Monday into a political challenge for China’s new leadership as prominent scholars demanded a censor’s dismissal and hundreds of protesters called for democratic reforms.
The scholars and protesters were acting in support of the Southern Weekly in its confrontation with a top censor after the publication was forced to change a New Year’s editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the ruling Communist Party. Rumors circulated that at least one of the newspaper’s news departments was going on strike, but they could not be immediately confirmed.
Protesters, including middle school students and white-collar workers, gathered outside the offices of the newspaper in the southern city of Guangzhou to lay flowers at the gate, hold signs and shout slogans calling for freedom of speech, political reform, constitutional governance and democracy.
“I feel that the ordinary people must awaken,” said one of the protesters, Yuan Fengchu, who was reached by phone. “The people are starting to realize that their rights have been taken away by the Communist Party and they are feeling that they are being constantly oppressed.”
Political expression in the public sphere is often viewed as risky in China, where the authoritarian government frequently harasses and even jails dissidents for pro-democracy calls.
Another protester, Guangzhou writer and activist Wu Wei, who goes by the pen name Ye Du, said the protest marked a rare instance in which people were making overt calls for political freedom since large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed in a military crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“In other cities, we’ve seen people march, but most of the time they are protesting environmental pollution or people’s livelihood issues,” Wu said. “Here they are asking for political rights, the right to protest. The Southern Weekly incident has provided an opportunity for citizens to voice their desires.”
The protest came as 18 Chinese academics signed an open letter calling for the dismissal of Tuo Zhen, a provincial propaganda minister blamed for the censorship. The scholars included legal professors, liberal economists, historians and writers.
Peking University law professor He Weifang, who was among the signers, said the newspaper’s good work needed to be defended from censorship.
“Southern Weekly is known as a newspaper that exposes the truth, but after Tuo Zhen arrived in Guangdong, he constantly pressured the paper. We need to let him know that he can’t do this,” He said. “This incident is a test to see if the new leadership is determined to push political reform.”
Six weeks ago, China installed a new generation of Communist Party leaders for the next five years, with current Vice President Xi Jinping at the helm. Some of Xi’s announcements for a trimmed-down style of leadership, with reduced waste and fewer unnecessary meetings, have raised hopes in some quarters that he might favor deeper reforms in the political system to mollify a public long frustrated by local corruption.
The Guangdong provincial propaganda department did not immediately respond to a faxed list of questions. But the Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial that no Chinese media outlet should fool itself into thinking that it could occupy a “political special zone” in which it is free from government control.
“Regardless of whether these people are willing or unwilling, common sense says: In China’s current social political reality, there cannot be the kind of ‘free media’ that these people hope in their hearts for,” the editorial said.
China’s media in recent years have become increasingly freewheeling in some kinds of coverage, including lurid reports on celebrities and sports figures. Still, censorship of political issues remains tight – although government officials typically claim there is no censorship at all – and the restrictions have drawn increasingly vocal criticism from journalists and members of the public.

N Korea remains defiant on nuclear tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed “substantial and high-profile important measures” at a meeting with top security officials, state media said on Sunday, days after announcing a third nuclear test in defiance of UN sanctions.


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened top security and foreign affairs officials and ordered them to take “substantial and high-profile important state measures,” state media said Sunday, indicating that he plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.
The meeting of top officials led by Kim makes clear that he backs Pyongyang’s defiant stance in protest of U.N. Security Council punishment for a December rocket launch. The dispatch in the official Korean Central News Agency did not say when the meeting took place.
Last week, the Security Council condemned North Korea’s Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The council, including North Korea ally China, punished Pyongyang with more sanctions and ordered the regime to refrain from a nuclear test - or face “significant action.”
North Korea responded by rejecting the resolution and maintaining its right to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful civilian space program.
It also warned that it would keep developing rockets and testing nuclear devices to counter what it sees as U.S. hostility. A rare statement was issued Thursday by the powerful National Defense Commission, the top governing body led by Kim.
Kim’s order for strong action and the recent series of strong statements indicate he intends to conduct a nuclear test in the near future to show “he is a young yet powerful leader both domestically and internationally,” said Chin Hee-gwan, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Inje University.
North Korea cites a U.S. military threat in the region as a key reason behind its drive to build nuclear weapons. The two countries fought on opposite sides of the Korean War, which ended after three years in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S.-led U.N. Command mans the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, and Washington stations more than 28,000 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the country’s nuclear complex northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.
However, it is not known whether North Korean scientists have found a way to build nuclear warheads small enough to mount on a long-range missile.
Experts say regular tests are needed to perfect the technique, and another atomic test could take the country closer to its goal of building a warhead that can be mounted on a missile designed to strike the United States. North Korea has carried out two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009.
South Korean defense officials say North Korea is technically ready to conduct a nuclear test in a matter of days.
Satellite photos taken Wednesday show that over the past month, roads have been kept clear of snow and that North Koreans may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be detonated.
Analysis of the images of the Punggye-ri site was provided Friday to The Associated Press by 38 North, the website of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Kim could order a nuclear test ahead of the Feb. 16th birthday of his late father and former leader Kim Jong Il to “create a festive mood,” Chin predicted. Kim Jong Il died at age 69 in December 2011.
The U.S., South Korea and other countries have warned North Korea not to go ahead with a nuclear test, saying that would only deepen the country’s international isolation.
After meeting with Chinese officials Friday, U.S. envoy for North Korea Glyn Davies said a nuclear test would set back efforts to restart regional talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament.
North Korea has accused the U.S. and South Korea of leading the push for the U.N. Security Council resolution.
Sunday’s KCNA dispatch said the U.N. punishment indicates U.S. hostility toward North Korea has reached its highest point. North Korea also warned South Korea on Friday of “strong physical countermeasures” if Seoul takes part in the U.N. sanctions.

Burmese army launches air strikes on northern rebels

Burmese army launches air strikes on northern rebels
Burma's army has launched air strikes in recent days against ethnic rebels as it fights to regain one of its bases from the Kachin Independence Organisation, government sources said Wednesday, amid an escalation in clashes.


Myanmar's army has used air strikes against northern ethnic rebels, sources from both sides said Wednesday, in an escalation of a conflict that has raised doubts over the country's reform drive.

Fighting between the country's military, known as the 'Tatmadaw', and the armed wing of the KIO (Kachin Independence Organisation) has worsened in recent days as the army battled to regain one of its bases, a government negotiator involved in peace efforts told AFP.

"We heard the military used helicopters and training jets while trying to get their camp back," said Hla Maung Shwe, who is also an adviser to President Thein Sein.

He declined to specify how the aircraft were used, but a report on the military's Burmese language Myawaddy news website said a key base had been seized from the rebels on December 30 "with the help of air strikes in the region".

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and Kachin rebels broke down.

The rebels are calling for greater political rights and an end to alleged human rights abuses by the army.

Clashes in Kachin, along with communal unrest in western Rakhine state, have cast a shadow over Myanmar's widely praised emergence from decades of army rule.

KIO deputy chief of foreign affairs Colonel James Lum Dau said that the fighting in Kachin had become "more serious" since last week, adding that it was concentrated in an area about seven miles (11 kilometres) from the rebel headquarters in Laiza on the Chinese border.

"Before they (attacked) with helicopters, now they are using jets with rockets and bombs," he said.

AFP was not able to independently verify whether the jets had been used to fire on the rebels.

A close observer of the situation, who asked not to be named, said there had been a "marked escalation" in fighting.

"They are firing a lot from helicopter gunships and using heavy artillery. It has been very close to the KIO headquarters," he said.

Civil war has gripped parts of Myanmar since independence from Britain in 1948.

Myanmar's new quasi-civilian government has reached tentative ceasefires with most of the country's other major ethnic rebel groups, but several rounds of talks aimed at resolving the conflict in the country's far north have shown little tangible progress.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay, who declined to give details of the latest fighting, said the Kachin rebels had not responded to an invitation for further dialogue.

The UN recently appealed to Myanmar to stop blocking aid to tens of thousands of displaced people in rebel-held territory in Kachin.

North Korean leader calls for end to “confrontation” with South

North Korean leader calls for end to “confrontation” with South
In the first televised New Year address by a North Korean leader in 19 years, Kim Jong-un called for the end of “confrontation between the north and the south” of the Korean peninsula. The two Koreas never signed a treaty to end the 1950-1953 war.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media.

The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers.

Impoverished North Korea raised tensions in the region by launching a long-range rocket in December that it said was aimed at putting a scientific satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.


EXCLUSIVE REPORT: INSIDE NORTH KOREA

North Korea, which considers North and South as one country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

“An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the north and the south,” Kim said in the address that appeared to be pre-recorded and was made at an undisclosed location.

“The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war.”

The New Year address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.

The two Koreas have seen tensions rise to the highest level in decades after the North bombed a Southern island in 2010 killing two civilians and two soldiers.

The sinking of a South Korean navy ship earlier that year was blamed on the North but Pyongyang has denied it and accused Seoul of waging a smear campaign against its leadership.

Last month, South Korea elected as president Park Geun-hye, a conservative daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung-hee whom Kim Il-sung had tried to kill at the height of their Cold War confrontation.

Park has vowed to pursue engagement with the North and called for dialogue to build confidence but has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, something it is unlikely to do.

Conspicuously absent from Kim’s speech was any mention of the nuclear arms programme.

North Korean rocket 'could have reached US'

North Korean rocket 'could have reached US'
A North Korean rocket launched earlier this month has shown that the country has likely developed the technology to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km, theoretically putting the US West Coast within range, South Korean officials warned on Sunday.


This month’s rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.

North Korea said the Dec. 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch.

South Korea retrieved and analysed parts of the first-stage rocket that dropped in the waters off its west coast

“As a result of analysing the material of Unha-3 (North Korea’s rocket), we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000 km in case the warhead is 500-600 kg,” a South Korean Defence Ministry official told a news briefing.

North Korea’s previous missile tests ended in failure.

North Korea, which denounces the United States as the mother of all warmongers on an almost daily basis, has spent decades and scarce resources to try to develop technology capable of striking targets as far away as the United States and it is also working to build a nuclear arsenal.

But experts believe the North is still years away from mastering the technology needed to miniaturise a nuclear bomb to mount on a missile.

South Korean defence officials also said there was no confirmation whether the North had the re-entry technology needed for a payload to survive the heat and vibration without disintegrating.

Despite international condemnation, the launch this month was seen as a major boost domestically to the credibility of the North’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, who took over power from his father who died last year.

Apparently encouraged by the euphoria, the fledgling supreme leader called for the development and launching of “a variety of more working satellites” and “carrier rockets of bigger capacity” at a banquet in Pyongyang on Friday which he hosted for those who contributed to the lift-off, according to North Korean state media.