North Korea's missile programme - BBC News

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17399847 North Korea is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles of varying capabilities, includinglong-range missiles which couldone day strike the US.
Pyongyang's programme has progressed over the last few decades from tactical artillery rockets in the 1960sand 70s to short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles in the 1980sand 90s. Systems capable of greater ranges are understoodto be under research and development.
The country's missile programme has mainly been developed from the Scud, itself a development from the German V2 rockets of World War II.
It first obtained tactical missiles from the Soviet Union as early as 1969, butits first Scuds reportedly came via Egypt in 1976. Egypt is believed to have supplied North Korea with missiles and designs in return for its support against Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
By 1984, North Korea was buildingits own Scuds, the Hwasong-5. The larger, longer range Hwasong-6 followed, and eventually the Nodong - essentially a 50% larger Hwasong-6.
Following these came the multiple-stage Taepodong missiles, which can potentiallybe configured as satellite launchers or missiles.
In 2006, it test-fired a Taepodong-2 missile, which experts say could have a range of many thousandsof miles, and rockets with related technologyin 2009 and 2012. All three launches ended in failure.
However, North Korea made another, apparently successful, launch of a three-stage rocket on 12 December 2012. It was condemned by many in the international community as cover for a missile test.
In June 2014, a North Korean propagandafilm briefly showed what some experts said might be a newly developed cruise missile, believed to be similar to the Russian KH-35 anti-ship missile. It is unclear whether North Korea previously owned any cruise missiles.
In February 2016 North Korea claimed it had successfully launched a satellite into orbit, and pledged to launch more. The North said it successfully launched the "Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite", a more advanced model than it launched in Dec 2012. It is notyet clear whether the launch was indeed a success.
Cruise missiles are weaponsguided by on-board computers, used to attack specific targets.
Short range missiles
North Korea is believed to be in possessionof a variety of short-range missiles, such as the KN-02, which can reach up to 120km and could target military installationsin neighbouringSouth Korea.
The Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, also knownas Scud-B and C, have longer ranges of 300km and 500km respectively, according to the US Center for NonproliferationStudies . These missiles can deliver conventional warheads, butmay also have biological, chemical and nuclear capabilities.
The Hwasong-5 and 6 have both been tested and deployed, defence experts believe, and would enable North Korea to strike any area in South Korea. The Hwasong-6 has also been sold to Iran, where it is knownas the Shehab 2.
Relations between the two Koreas are fraught and they remain, technically, in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace treaty after an armistice ended their 1950-53 conflict.
They are separated by one of the world's most heavily fortified borders and both have strong military capabilities.
Nodong missile
North Korea went on to embark on a programme in the late 1980sto build a new missile, known as the Nodong, with a range of 1,000km. Its likely target is Japan.
The missile is based on the Scud design, butis 50% larger and has a more powerful engine.
But, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies , few exact details are known aboutthe Nodong's development, production, and deployment.
The institute believes the weapon is notaccurate enoughfor effective use against military targets, such as US military bases in Japan.
A March 2006 report by the US Center for Non-proliferation Studies,concluded it had a "circular error probable" of 2km to 4km, meaning thathalf the missiles fired would fall outside a circle of thatradius.
Analyststherefore believe thatshould the Nodong be used as a weapon against Japan, it could lead to high levels of civilian casualties.
Nodongsare believed to have been test-fired in 2006, 2009 and 2014.
Musudanmissile
The Musudan, also knownas the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa, Japan, and US bases in the Pacific.
Range estimates differ dramatically. Israeli intelligence believes they have a 2,500km range while the US Missile Defense Agency estimates they have a range of 3,200km; other sources put the upper limit at 4,000km.
These differences are due in large part to the fact thatthe missile has never been tested publicly, according to the Center for NonproliferationStudies. Its payload is also unknown.
Taepodong-1 and 2 missiles (includingthe Unha space launcher)
The Taepodong-1 - knownas Paektusan-1 in North Korea - was the country's first multi-stage missile.
Based on satellite photographs,independent think-tank the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) believes the first stage is a Nodong missile and the second stage a Hwasong-6.
It has an estimated range of 2,200km, butis understoodto be even less accurate than the Nodong.
The Taepodong-1 is understoodto have test flown once in August1998 as a space launcher. Instead of a normal ballistic missile payload, the missile carried a third stage thatwas meant to send a small satellite into low Earth orbit.
The FAS believes thatalthough the first two stages worked, the third stage did notfunction correctly and no satellite entered orbit. The federation also says it is possiblethe Taepodong-1 was always meant as a space launcher and was never intended to be an intermediate range military missile.
The Taepodong-2 - or Paektusan-2 - is also a two to three-stage ballistic missile, butis a significant advance on the Taepodong-1. Its range has been estimated at anythingbetween 5,000-15,000km. The Center for Nonproliferation Studiesputsthe figure at a maximum estimated 6,000km.
Before December 2012, Taepodong-2 and its technologyhad been flight tested three times, in 2006, 2009 and April 2012. It failed to perform on all these occasions.
In the early morning of 5 July 2006 (still 4 July in the US), it flew only 42 seconds before exploding - according to US sources.
Three-stage space launcher versions of the Taepodong-2 were then used in failed attempts to send a satellite into space in April 2009 and April 2012. These launches were condemned by the US and South Korea, among others, as covers for a long-range missile tests.
North Korea refers to the space launcher version of the Taepodong-2 as Unha - Korean for galaxy - and describes it as a "carrier rocket".
Following its previous failed launch attempts, on 12 December 2012 North Korea appeared to make a successful launch of a three-stage rocket usingthe same Unha technology.
The rocket, launched at 09:49 local time (00:49 GMT), appears to have followed its planned trajectory, with stages falling in expected areas. The US confirmed an object had been putinto space.
Althoughspace launches and missile launches follow slightly different trajectories and the rocket may be optimised for one purposeor the other, the basic technologyused is the same. This includes the structure, engines and fuel.
If the Taepodong-2 were successfully launched and it reached its maximum estimated range, its increased power could putAustralia and parts of the US, among other countries, within range.

Assange ‘smiling’ after UN ruling

http://www.news.com.au/world/uk-rejects-un-finding-that-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-has-been-arbitrarily-detained/news-story
Aprecalls on UK, Sweden to ‘implement’ UN finding
JULIAN Assange called for Britain and Sweden to “implement” a UN panel finding saying that he should be able to walk free from Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has lived in self-imposed confinement since 2012.
“It is now the task of the states of Sweden and the United Kingdom as a whole to implement the verdict,” the WikiLeaks founder said through a video link from the embassy shown at a press conference in London overnight.
“We have a really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face,” said the lanky 44-year-old Australian hacker, who has published millions of classified military and diplomatic documents for years.
“It is the end of the road for the legal arguments ... Those arguments lost. There is no appeal. The time for appeal is over,” said Assange, who looked pale and dishevelled and spoke in a monotone.
“I’ve been detained without charge in this country, the United Kingdom, for five and a half years ... I’ve had great difficulty seeing my family and my children,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond earlier dismissed the UN panel opinion as “ridiculous”.
Assange reacted to that saying: “I find those comments to be beneath the stature that a foreign minister should express.” “This is a serious finding,” he added.
Police have said they are obliged to detain Assange if he sets foot outside the embassy on British soil because of a European arrest warrant against him stemming from a rape allegation in Sweden.
He has exhausted all appeals in British courts against an extradition to Sweden.
Assange press conference
According to Ecuador’s foreign minister, Assange must be allowed to go free.
“What more do they want to be accused of before they start to rectify their error?” Ricardo Patino told regional broadcaster Telesur overnight, in reference to Britain and Sweden.
Assange, a computer hacker who enraged the United States by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables, has been holed up in the embassy since June 2012 to avoid a rape investigation in Sweden.
Saying Assange was a victim of “evident political persecution,” Patino added Ecuador was analysing its next steps in the legal and diplomatic arena.
The United Kingdom earlier ‘completely rejected’ a United Nations ruling that Assange has been ‘deprived of liberty’ and must be allowed to walk free.
The UN human rights panel has released its reasoning for finding that Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden since December 2010,and should be freed and compensated.
UK police, however, insist he still faces arrest. Downing St said the ruling was not binding and that the arrest warrant will remain in place.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which falls under the offices of the UN human rights chief, made the call in an 18-page document made public after it had notified Assange.
The five human rights experts who make up the panel said Assange’s virtual imprisonment in the Ecuadorean Embassy “should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected ... and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation.”
“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said panel chairman Seong-Phil Hong in a statement.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape stemming from a working visit he made to the country in 2010 when WikiLeaks was attracting international attention for its secret-spilling.
Assange has consistently denied the allegations but declined to return to Sweden to meet with prosecutors and eventually sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has lived since June 2012.
In an indirect swipe at Sweden’s judicial system, the panel noted that Assange was never formally charged in Sweden - only placed under preliminary investigation.
The British government disagrees.
“We have been consistently clear that Mr Assange has never been arbitrarily detained by the UK but is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy,” a Downing St spokesman said. “The UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden.”
The panel’s decisions are not binding on states, even if they are generally considered a good arbiter of international law.
“The statement from the Working Group has no formal impact on the ongoing investigation, according to Swedish law,” said Karin Rosander, spokeswoman for Sweden’s Prosecution Authority, in a statement.
She said the prosecutor in charge of the case was travelling and not immediately available for comment on the decision.
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Strongsupport... Julian Assange’s legal team listen on as the WikiLeaks founder speaks via video link at a press conference in London. Picture: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
A supporter of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holdsa poster outside the Ecuadorean embassy. Source: AFPSource:AFP
UK under pressur

Thai Smile Airways offers full price tickets and meals to ‘Spirit Dolls’

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/thai-smile-airways-offers-up-extra-seats-and-meals-for-socallenews-story
Thai Smile Airways offers up extra seats and meals for so-called ‘spirit dolls’ at full price
A THAI budget airline has become the latest travel company to capitalise on a growing trend for so-called “spirit dolls” by offering to sell extra seats and meals for the supernatural companions.
Spirit dolls, or Luk Thep in Thai, are factory-manufactured dolls said to be infused with a wandering spirit by a witch doctor, in ceremonies costing up to $US800 ($A1,142).
The dolls, which otherwise resemble normal children’s dolls in style and size, are supposed to bring good fortune if the host takes good care of the spirit by clothing it, feeding it, bathing it and adorning it with jewels.
Low-budget airline Thai Smile confirmed it would sell seats and meals for the dolls, joining the Thai branch of Air Asia and bus company Nakorn Chai among others in offering services for spirit dolls at full price.
The trend has raised concern among officials with National Police Chief Jakthip Chaijinda telling reporters that criminals may attempt to hide drugs or other illegal items inside the dolls.
“We will have to search these dolls carefully because criminals may attempt to use its sacredness to smuggle contraband,” he said.
“However, we respect the public and their right to their beliefs.” Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters that he personally did not have a doll but would not “pass judgment on those that do.”
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UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic accused of raping women, girls

http://www.news.com.au/world/africa/united-nations-staff-accused-of-raping-women-and-girls/news-United Nations staff accused of raping women and girls
THEY were hired to protect vulnerable women and young girls. Instead, it is alleged, the protectors became predators.
That’s the story emerging from the Central African Republic this week where seven women and one 14-year-old girl say they were set upon by United Nations peacekeepers. Worse still, the UN staff are accused of using food as a trade piece in exchange for sex.
As shocking as that might sound, it is not a unique experience. Last year, an independent panel released a report on sexual exploitation and abuse by UN staff and peacekeepers that showed at times perpetrators committed the crimes while wearing the agency’s signature blue helmets.
Human Rights Watch says UN staff were implicated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, among others.
Troops from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were also accused.
‘I DIDN’T WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH THEM’
The most recent cases are believed to have taken place between October and December last year in Bambari where war rages between Christian and Muslim militias and thousands of people have been displaced.
For one young woman, she says she was set upon after being asked to trade her body for food.
The woman says she was approached by peacekeepers working near a military base and dragged into the bush.
“I didn’t want to have sex with them,” she said. “There were three of them on me. They said if I resisted they would kill me. They took me one-by-one.”
A 14-year-old girl told a similar story. She said she too was pulled into long grass where the attack took place.
“The men were dressed in their military uniforms and had their guns,” she said. “I walked by and suddenly one of them grabbed me by my arms and the other one ripped off my clothes.
“They pulled me into the tall grass and one held my arms while the other one pinned down my legs and raped me. The soldier holding my arms tried to hold my mouth, but I was still able to scream. Because of that they had to run away before the second soldier could rape me.”
Each of the victims identified by Human Rights Watch was living in a camp for the displaced, the group said.
UN RESPONDS TO CLAIMS
In January, similar cases were reported. When the United Nations’ Assistant Secretary-General Anthony Banbury spoke about them in a press conference, he was visibly shaken and almost broke down in tears.
On January 29, the UN’s human rights office said it had uncovered six cases of alleged sexual abuse against children. One of those cases involved a seven-year-old girl who told authorities she traded sex for water and biscuits. French soldiers working in the Central African Republic were implicated.
Human Rights Watch says the attacks represent a failure within the UN to appropriately screen peacekeepers before they are hired.
“The UN should ensure that peacekeepers are vetted prior to deployment and trained on the UN’s zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse,” the group wrote in a report this week.
Africa researcher for HRW said the UN’s reputation was at stake if strong action wasn’t taken in response to the alleged crimes.
“Peacekeepers who rape, exploit, or kill should not simply be sent home with no commitment to justice,” Lewis Mudge said.
“The UN should use its full leverage with troop-contributing countries to ensure that those who abuse victims and tarnish the UN and its mission face justice befitting their crimes.”

Dangerous Drug - Fentanyl

IT’S the drug nicknamed “Drop Dead” because just a few grains of the pure product can killyou.
Fentanyl is commonly used in hospitals as a stronger alternative to morphine, but recreational use is spiralling out of control on the streets of America.
The popularity of the highly addictive opiate among addicts is said to have started with a man named George Marquardt, the so-called Walter White of Wichita.
The chemistry prodigy spoke as part of a fusion.net investigation this week, revealing how he started cooking up heroin in his parents’ basement at just 14 or 15 using basic equipment and old textbooks. He quickly gained a reputation, graduating to manufacturing whatever drug dealers requested.
Marquardt spent the 1970smaking ingredients (or precursors) for amphetamines, Mescaline, and LSD.
He was far from ashamed. In 1978, when police raided his Oklahoma lab, he proudly talked them through his
system for making meth, and was sentenced to jail, Newsweek reported. That’s where he first learned about fentanyl, also known as “Tango & Cash”, a drug 50 times stronger than heroin.
By 1989,the science fair winner had learned how to replicate the prescription drug and was essentially
creating a market for it in America, according to fusion.net.
Manufacture was tricky, taking up to 10 days of solid work for one batch, and extremely dangerous, with the drug producing toxic fumes and a risk of explosions.
But Marquardt was making money beyond his wildest dreams. He wasn’t scared of the dealers, because he knew they needed him.
In the early 1990s, Drug Enforcement Agency officers discovered an epidemic of fentanyl overdoses in the northeastern US, with between 126and 300users found dead in a year , some with needles still in their arms, the
Baltimore Sun reported.
Marquardt had made a point of varying the molecular structure of the drug to make it look as though there was more than one fentanyl lab. But eventually it was traced back to his makeshift lab.
Today, former DEA agents say he was no Walter White from Breaking Bad — he was far worse. He has been called the most talented illicit chemist in the history of America, an “evil genius” and a “serial killer.”
The criminal chemist was the only person to ever build his own mass spectrometer, a machine that determines the structures of organic molecules, to ensure the purity of his compounds.
He was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, serving 22 before his release last year aged 69.
The self-taught chemist admitted to fusion.net that he was addicted to the money, and arrest was the only thing that would have stopped him. He never felt guilty.
“It’s, if you will, a kind of a partnership forged in hell, right? And everybody basically knows we’re on the same page in that regard. So I don’t feel like I’m supplying a product to an innocent or naive population.”
But he wouldn’t do it again. “Scares me to death. Too popular.”
In his heyday, Marquardt was a maverick, but now there are perhaps hundreds of illicit labs making fentanyl. Its prescription for anything from chemotherapy to labour pain has helped popularise the drug, and assisted illegal manufacturers in developing their own recipes.
Fentanyl is so potent that it is usually only prescribed outside operating rooms as a slow-release patch — and even then, patients have died from chewing on the patches.
Last year, personal trainer Michael Clayton died on the Gold Coast after applying a fentanyl patch to help relieve his sore muscles. He went to bed and never woke up.
And in 2001, toxicologist Kristin Rossum, who wsa having an affair with her Aussie boss, was convicted of murdering her husband Greg DeVillers in San Diego with fentanyl. He was found dead of an overdose, surrounded by rose petals. Fentanyl was also among the prescription drugs found at Michael Jackson’s home after his death.
Twenty-eight people died of a pure heroin overdose in New Hampshire last year. Nearly 10 times that number overdosed on fentanyl or fentanyl-laced heroin.
The scourge of the US could be coming to a street near you. And you have a new generation of Walter Whites to thank for it.
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George Marquardt began making heroin at 14, then graduatedto super-charged fentanyl. Picture: Fusion TV
The basement chemis

Investigating Strange Phenomena

Newest issue of Strange Magazine is now available exclusively online! Eyes have been seen to glow, flash, and even project beams of light! In issue 23 we investigate the phenomenon of
animal and human eye glow. Mystery objects imbedded in asphalt — known as Toynbee Tiles — have been sighted in locations from New York to Chile. Who could be making these mysterious tiles and what, if anything,is their meaning? Editor Mark Chorvinsky continues his two-decade-long investigation into a photograph of a large bird or pterodactyl affixed to the side of a barn, with some cowboy-types standing in front of it. This latest installment takes a look into the small but growing number of Thunderbird Photograph hoaxes. Vincent H. Gaddis looks into tales of huge
sailing ships abandoned in the sands of the deserts of California's Imperial and Coachella Valleys. The Cottingley Fairies Photo case is examined by Douglas Petherbridge, who also reviews several Fairy feature films. Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker parades the marvelous and monstrous, including the short-lived enigma of Ward's Zebra, the Orange Squirrels of Boston,moose-cows, silver cats, whales with legs, Living Unicorns, Pseudo-Sea Monsters and the Hydra of Heracles, the Bones of the Thunder Horse; and the purple cow — from rhyme to reality! first person is an ongoing collection of alleged firsthand experiences with the stranger side of life including Green Glowing Wood, the Potato from Elsewhere, a Grim Reaper Encounter, Chesapeake Bay Plesiosaur Sighting,a Translucent Pterodactyl, and more. Strange news from around the world includes the Sea Serpent of Cape Breton; Flattened Corn fields; Chilean Dinosaur Kangaroos; Furry hopping shark; Globster Identified; Iranian, Caspian and Ottawa UFOs; Ghostsin Plymouth Naval Docks; and Japanese RobotGladiators.

New Zealand police investigate ‘weird’ outbreak of biting attacks

New Zealand police investigate ‘weird’ outbreak of biting attacks in the town of Napier
A NUMBER of people have been injured during a series of vampire like biting attacks on New Zealand’s North Island.
Over the past two days a woman was accused of biting a man’s neck so hard her teeth cut through an artery, while another woman was arrested after allegedly chomping on a woman ear.
Stuff.co.nz reports the two incidents on Saturday and early Sunday morning were unrelated.
“It was a fight between three females and during the fight one of the females has bitten another one’s ear and drawn blood. She hasn’t bitten it off, but quite badly so she needed some medical attention, a Hawke’s Bay District Command Centre spokesman said in relation to the first incident.
A few hours later, police were called to a separate biting attack at a Napier pub.
Officers said a woman became involved in a brawl at The Thirsty Whale and bit a man on the neck.
The man lost so much blood he was taken to hospital in a serious condition, the Hawke’s Bay District Command Centre spokesman said.
“She obviously got the right spot.”
Thirsty Whale bar owner Chris Sullivan said the fight took place in the early hours of Sunday.
“We’ve never seen these people before, they’re certainly not locals,” he said.
“It’s a very nice area. We’re a restaurant, we do have a dancefloor on a Saturday night, but we have nice people ... people having a great time. But a couple that night clearly didn’t.”
Earlier in the week another person was bitten during a family violence incident.
“It is a little bit weird,” the police spokesman said.

The Allure of ISIS

A MOTHER who took her toddler to Syria and joined the Islamic state (IS) group was sentenced to six years in prison overnight after becoming the first British woman to be convicted after returning home.
Tareena Shakil, 26, was found guilty by a court in Birmingham of IS membership and encouraging terrorism in posts on Twitter before leaving Britain.
“You were well aware that the future which you had subjected your son to was very likely to be indoctrination and thereafter life as a terrorist fighter,” Judge Melbourne Inman said.
The court heard that Shakil was radicalised online and in October 2014 told her family she was going to Turkey for a beach holiday.
Instead, she crossed the border into Syria and went to IS stronghold Raqa.
“I left to build us all a house in heaven, Allah promised us heaven if we sacrifice our worldly life,” she wrote in a message to a relative.
“I’m not coming back.”
In Raqa, she was kept in a large house with other single women and posed with her son for a selfie while wearing a black balaclava branded with the IS symbol.
Other pictures found on her phone showed her posing with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun.
However, Shakil found life under IS rules too strict.
In January 2015,after repeatedly looking up “I want to leave ISIS” on the internet, she and her son travelled by road to the Turkish border.
They ran 1km to escape into Turkey, dodging a three-man IS patrol before handing themselves in to the Turkish military, she told the court.
She was arrested when police boarded her flight home at London’s Heathrow Airport last February.
During her trial, Shakil claimed she only travelled to Syria because she wanted to live under sharia law.

UK troops to tackle ISIS in Libya

UK set to deploy troops to Libya to fight escalating Islamic State terrorism
BRITAIN is looking to deploy troops to Libya as the country teeters on collapse and Islamic state consolidates a camp of more than 3000 militants in the North African country.
The move came as security chiefs tell the British Parliament the nation was the latest “major concern” for regional stability and as the world’s foreign ministers including Australia’s Julie Bishop meet in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing war with terror.
US and UK delegations of intelligence agents and diplomats have met privately to discuss joining an Italian-led multinational military force of 6000 troops to train local soldiers to tackle the growing ISIS menace.
The British are proposing sending 1000 troops, as is France which warned that
ISIS had established itself in former dictator Colonel Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte.
Intelligence has pointed to 3000 militants now in the country, having first arrived in the vacuum created by the overthrowing of Gaddafi in 2011, and were now recruiting further followers from the local clans.
Downing Street said no decision had been taken to deploy troops to the North African nation but confirmed discussions were being held with international partners on how to support the country which currently has no clear ruling government.
That was followed by the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser Sir Mark Lyall Grant, who confirmed that Libya had been regularly discussed by the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Cameron.
He told the parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy it had been discussed “two or three times” in the past six months.
“It is an issue of major concern in a number of different contexts — in the counter-terrorism context, the stability context and the migration context,” he said.
“When we discuss counter-terrorism, Libya is a feature. When we discuss migration, Libya is a feature. But we have also discussed Libya itself in terms of instability and the political progress. We take them into account on all of these issues.”
The possibility of opening up a new battlefront on the Mediterranean coast poses numerous dangers including prompting more refugees to flee the troubled region.
The French Government has warned that with that exodus could be ISIS fighters and since the country was leaderless it was virtually impossible to determine a genuine refugee from a fighter in the chaos.
Rival militias seen as moderate are also not yet keen to allow a force from the West to be in their country.
Today the Ministerial Meeting of the “Small Group Global Coalition to Counter ISIS/Daesh” will meet in Rome.
Co-chaired by Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and US Secretary of State John Kerry, the meeting will pick up from a meeting last September to halt the “uncompromising threat to the international community”.
Discussion on Libya is to feature as is the refugee crisis that was now threatening civil stability in Europe.

Racism via Facebook

A village has been torn apart by a bitter Facebook row over migrants following violence and murder on the streets, with neighbours accusing each other of racism.
“Now this has happened, do you really want them here in the village?” asked one member of the community page for Harlosa in Sweden, posting a news article about 22-year-old refugee worker
Alexandra Mezher, who was stabbed to death by an asylum seeker last week.
“Does something have to happen here in Harlosa for people to wake up?”
The post has now been deleted, but not before it triggered a furious argument, reported by the UK Telegraph. “Is there some special race you don’t want placed in Harlosa?” one user asked the original poster.
Another went further, saying: “I don’t particularly like racists.”
The moderator deleted the conversation, noting that the creator of the post had asked for it to be removed because he hadn’t expected such an emotional response.
It illustrates the chaotic situation in Sweden right now, where masked men believed to belong to a Neo-Nazi gang stormed Stockholm’s main train station this weekend and attacked foreigners.
The mob, wearing black balaclavas and armbands, targeted kids as well as adults who didn’t appear ethnically Swedish. On Friday, gangs handed out leaflets urging the infliction of “deserved punishment on children of the North African street”.
More than 35,000unaccompanied children arrived in Sweden last year alone, and Harlosa is set to be one of many communities opening centres to accommodate migrant youths.
It was at one of these homes that 15-year-old Youssaf Khaliif Nuur allegedly stabbed staff member Ms Mezher to death. The 6ft-tall youth’s appearance in court on Thursday was pounced upon by anti-immigration campaigners who claim many young asylum-seekers are, in fact, adults.
The case highlights disturbing tensions in a country that was initially generous with its migrant intake but has now said it will expel 80,000 people over the next few years.
Migrants were linked to thousands of crimes last year, according to one Swedish newspaper, including 559 assaults, 450fights and four rapes.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Stockholm on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and the acceleration of deportations, along with counter-protesters who see them as fascists.
The situation in Sweden echoes recent conflict in Germany, where many citizens have turned against refugees aftermass sex attacks in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Vigilantes vowed to “clean up the streets” of the city, with police saying at least 11 foreigners, including Pakistanis, Guineans and Syrians, had been injured in revenge attacks.
Google searches for pepper spray and firearms licences skyrocketed, while searches for the phrase “refugees welcome” had plummeted since September. German newspaper Bild
reported that less than 40 per cent of the population now believed police could ensure their safety, with rumours of an Islamic attack circulating.
Facebook, Google and Twitter agreed to delete “hate speech” posted to their sites in the country within 24 hours, as the government attempted to crack down on anti-immigration sentiment.
A 13-year-old Russian-German girl today admitted to making up a story about being kidnapped and raped by migrants in Berlin, The Guardian
reported.
Lisa was reported missing on 11 January after she failed to appear at school, but reappeared 30 hours later with injuries on her face, telling her parents she had been attacked by men of Middle Eastern or North African appearance.
Her case caused outrage, but when questioned by specialists three days later she “immediately admitted that the story of the rape was not true”, said the state prosecutor. She had spent the night with a friend, who is not being treated as a suspect.
She is now having treatment in a psychiatric ward.

The lesser of two evils | The Guardian Nigeria

The-lesser-of-two-evils/ The lesser oftwoevils
By Luke Onyekakeyah on February 2, 2016 2:08 am
IMF.
Depending on where one is standing, what is good in one place may be bad in another and vice versa. This is corroborated by the dictum that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Different cultures have their dos and don’ts. What might be taboo in one culture might be acceptable in another. It is foolish for one to live his or her life copying others. Philosophers call it inauthentic life.
Copycats never produce original. The photocopier machine, good and excellent invention as it is, never gives you the original of any job. It will always produce the duplicate. The circumstances of individuals, communities or countries differ. Wisdom demands that one should be aware of his or her circumstances and act accordingly, without imitating others.
Against this background, the controversy over whether or not to devalue the naira raises fundamental questions about Nigeria’s sovereignty.  If this country is truly a sovereign state, then it should be able to stamp her feet on the ground and do things that are in her national interest without being pushed by anyone.
While the protagonists strongly support the devaluation of naira, with, of course, their reasons; the opponents, comprising people like me, equally, with reasons, are against devaluation. The truth is that both devaluation and non-devaluation have their positive and negative sides. It is a matter of which side favours Nigeria most.
Whereas President Muhammadu Buhariis vehemently opposed to devaluation, undue pressure has been mounted on him, especially, from among others, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to devalue the naira. Like a spirit that passes and people start dying, the naira took a dramatic plunge to N300/$ after the recent visit of the IMF boss, Christine Lagarde. Economists regard that huge depreciation as unofficial devaluation. But the devaluation warriors still want official devaluation to match the parallel market rate against national interest.
During last week’s Monetary Policy Committee Meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), many people had thought that naira’s devaluation was a fait accompli. But the CBN, patriotically, resisted the pressure and left the current official exchange rate untouched at N197/$.
President Buhari has since endorsed the CBN decision, arguing that he is yet to be convinced that Nigeria and its people will derive any tangible benefit from an official devaluation. This is not the first time the president had taken that position. Buhari’s latest declaration in Kenya reinforced his earlier stand, which, obviously, is in our national interest.
The president rightly noted that while export-driven economies could benefit from a devaluation of their currencies, the case would be different for import-dependent economies like Nigeria, as devaluation will only result in further inflation and hardship for the poor. Buhari added that he had no intention to bring further hardship on the country’s poor, who he said, have already suffered enough. He likened devaluation of the naira to having it “killed”.
Moral theologians counsel that when one is faced with two evils, one should choose the lesser evil. It is not that either devaluation or non-devaluation is evil per se; the point is that the circumstances of countries differ. Devaluation or non-devaluation could become evil when misapplied. The lesser of two evils in this case is non-devaluation.
A country’s economy could go crashing with untold adverse consequences if by mistake the currency is devalued. There is one example in Africa – Zimbabwe. Because of the adverse consequences of irrational devaluation, sane countries make rational decision before devaluing their currency for a purpose without being pushed.
Strategically speaking, the strength of any country is as good as the strength of her currency. The currencies of the world powers – United States dollar, British pound sterling, French francs, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, etc, command strength anywhere in the world in line with the strength of the countries. On the contrary, the currencies of the weak nations, found mostly in Africa, have no strength like the countries concerned.
Considering Nigeria’s strategic position in Africa and global geopolitics, the country cannot afford to let the naira turn to tissue paper in the erroneous belief that devaluation will bring any good.
Last August 2015, China devalued her currency, the yuan, for three days, to boost export. China is the industrial powerhouse of the world. As a major exporter, a strong yuan discourages export and harms her economy. So, it is rational to devalue her currency, which is in her national interest. I have lived in Japan and had the same experience. The Japanese always desire a weak yen to boost export.
What is Nigeria exporting that should warrant devaluation of the naira? How could an import dependent country like Nigeria devalue her currency and let the prices of goods skyrocket? The little foreign reserve garnered from oil will evaporate if the naira is devalued to say N300/$. The parallel market could exchange to around N500/$. What then will become of Nigeria? Nigeria is in soup because she misused the huge money garnered when oil sold for over $100 per barrel.
The exchange rate of the naira is not the problem.
Two of the reasons advanced by the proponents of devaluation include to attract investors and to boost manufacturing and by extension employment. Where in the world is the interest of investors given preeminence over that of the country and its citizens?
Foreigners dominate Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy while Nigerians suffer. Why should investors dictate what the exchange rate of the naira should be? Any investor who doesn’t like the official exchange rate of the naira but prefers the black market rate is a scammer. No investor goes to China or Japan to dictate the exchange rate of their currencies.
Second, the mass unemployment and low manufacturing in the country did not start today. These started in the mid 80s following the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). It is senseless to believe that non-devaluation of the naira would hamper manufacturing and employment. The naira was recently devalued to the present rate of N197/$. What positive impact did that make on the economy other than increase inflation?
One way to get out of the economic downturn is by opening the economy to the states and citizenry. The Federal Government should stop the culture of sharing money and let the states work by exploiting the resources in their domain. This is the right time to do it.