hiroyukinagato: March 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

U.N. says Syrian refugee numbers could triple by end of 2013

ANKARA (Reuters) - The number of refugees outside Syria could triple by the end of the year from the 1 million registered now if there is no political solution to the conflict, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said on Sunday.

The millionth Syrian refugee was registered in Jordan on Wednesday, following a dramatic acceleration in the number of civilians fleeing fighting in their homeland in the first two months of this year.

Syrians started trickling out of the country nearly two years ago when President Bashar al-Assad's forces shot at pro-democracy protests inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.

The uprising has since turned into an increasingly sectarian struggle between armed rebels and government soldiers and militias. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed.

The U.N. refugee body, UNHCR, says more than 400,000 Syrian refugees - nearly half the total - have fled Syria since January 1. Around half the refugees are children, most of them under 11.

In December, there were 3,000 refugees on average a day. In January, it had risen to 5,000. By February, there were 8,000.

"If this escalation goes on ... we might have in the end of the year a much larger number of refugees, two or three times the present level," High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters in Ankara.

"Everything depends on whether or not we will have a political solution but we need to be prepared for a very strong increase of the present numbers," he said.

Most refugees have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt and some to North Africa and Europe. In addition to the refugees, the UNHCR says more than 2 million of Syria's 22 million people have been internally displaced.

TURKISH CAMPS

Guterres, who is on a 4-day visit to Turkey, also warned of the risk of an "explosion" in the Middle East if there was no political end to the conflict in Syria, which has increasingly spilled beyond its borders. He did not explain his comments further.

Guterres will meet Turkish leaders during his trip as well as visiting a refugee camp near the Syrian border.

Turkey, which has more than 185,000 Syrians registered in camps on its territory, and tens of thousands more living in towns and cities, has long advocated setting up internationally protected zones inside Syria to protect fleeing civilians.

However, the notion has gained little traction in Western countries, who do not want to get further embroiled in the Syrian conflict.

Guterres said his agency was not against such safe zones in general but that they should not undermine the right for refugees to seek asylum in other countries.

Despite pledges of $1.5 billion by international donors for a U.N. response plan to help Syria's displaced, only 25 percent has been funded, UNHCR has said.

Turkey alone says it has spent some $700 million setting up 17 refugee camps, with more under construction. But the country's disaster and relief management body, AFAD, said last week the actual cost of caring for the refugees was closer to $1.5 billion.

There is no end in sight to the conflict in Syria, which has divided world powers. Russia and Shi'ite Iran support Assad, while the United States, along with some European and Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab nations back a fractured opposition.

Damascus and some of its opponents have said they will consider peace talks, but no meetings have been arranged.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-says-syrian-refugee-numbers-could-triple-112247944.html

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Osbourne confirms seizure, tweets hospital photo

AAA??Mar. 8, 2013?2:20 PM ET
Osbourne confirms seizure, tweets hospital photo
AP

FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 file photo, TV personality Kelly Osbourne arrives at the 85th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Osbourne has been hospitalized after fainting on the set of E!?s ?Fashion Police.? A spokeswoman for Osbourne told the cable network Thursday, March 7, 2013, that the 28-year-old TV personality is awake, alert and in stable condition, and she will be staying overnight for observation as a precautionary measure. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kelly Osbourne says she had a seizure and doctors are trying to figure out why.

The 28-year-old TV personality posted a photo on Twitter late Thursday of an IV in her tattooed left arm. She thanked her fans for their "beautiful well wishes."

Osbourne was hospitalized Thursday after collapsing on the set of E! network's "Fashion Police," where she serves as a panelist alongside Joan Rivers, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos.

Osbourne is the daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and "The Talk" co-host Sharon Osbourne. She was profiled with her family on the MTV reality series "The Osbournes" and has appeared as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars."

Representatives for E! and Kelly Osbourne didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-08-US-People-Kelly-Osbourne/id-c675445191e5480ba0126d59956882ba

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Al Qaeda claims killing of Syrian soldiers in Iraq

(Reuters) - Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for killing 48 Syrian soldiers and state employees in Iraq last week, saying their presence proved collusion between the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Unidentified gunmen last week attacked a convoy of Syrians who had fled across the border into Iraq from a Syrian rebel advance, and were being escorted back home through the western province of Anbar, Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland.

"Military detachments succeeded in annihilating an entire column of the Safavid army," al Qaeda's Iraqi wing, Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted online, referring to the dynasty that ruled Shi'ite Iran from the 16th to 18th centuries. Tehran is Assad's closest regional ally.

"The lions of the desert and the men entrusted with difficult missions laid ambushes on the road leading to the crossing," it said.

The group said the presence of the Syrians in Iraq showed the Baghdad government's "firm co-operation" with Assad. The Syrian leader's Alawite faith is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Iraq's Defence Ministry has blamed the attack, which also killed nine Iraqi soldiers, on Syrian armed groups it said had infiltrated the country.

The conflict war in Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to topple Assad, is straining Iraq's own precarious sectarian and ethnic balance of Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds.

Since December, tens of thousands of Sunni protesters have staged demonstrations, especially in Anbar province, venting frustrations that have built up since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein and empowered majority Shi'ites.

Islamic State of Iraq and other Sunni Islamist groups oppose Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is close to Iran. Iraq says it takes no side in the Syrian conflict.

The militant group said the Iraqi government had failed to conceal "the reality of its firm co-operation" with Assad.

While violence in Iraq has eased since sectarian slaughter that killed tens of thousands peaked in 2006-2007, insurgents have carried out at least one major attack a month since U.S. forces left in December 2011. Bombings and killings still happen daily, often aimed at Shi'ite areas and local security forces.

(Reporting by Suadad al-Salhy; Eediting by Isabel Coles and Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-claims-killing-syrian-soldiers-iraq-083949786.html

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Friday, March 8, 2013

UN approves new sanctions against North Korea

Members of the United Nations Security Council vote for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, during a meeting at U.N. headquarters Thursday, March 7, 2013. The unanimous vote by the U.N.'s most powerful body sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

U.K. Ambassador Mark Lyall, left, and U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice confer before members of the United Nations Security Council vote for tough new sanctions against North Korea for its latest nuclear test, during a meeting at U.N. headquarters Thursday, March 7, 2013. The unanimous vote by the U.N.'s most powerful body sparked a furious Pyongyang to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

North Koreans attend a rally to support a statement given on Tuesday by a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War as well as boasting of the North's ownership of "lighter and smaller nukes" and its ability to execute "surgical strikes" meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday, March 7, 2013. North Korea on Thursday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test. The billboard in background depicts a large bayonet pointing at U.S. army soldiers with writing reading "If you dare invade, only death will be waiting for you!" (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

North Koreans attend a rally in support of a statement given on Tuesday by a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army vowing to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War as well as boasting of the North's ownership of "lighter and smaller nukes" and its ability to execute "surgical strikes" meant to unify the divided Korean Peninsula, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Thursday, March 7, 2013. North Korea on Thursday vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, and a furious Pyongyang threatened a nuclear strike against the United States.

The sanctions drafted by North Korea's closest ally, China, and the United States send a powerful message that the international community condemns the ballistic missile and nuclear tests ? and repeated violation of Security Council resolutions.

"Adoption of the resolution itself is not enough," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said. "We want to see full implementation of the resolution." Li also urged calm and a resumption of the stalled six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

"The top priority now is to defuse the tensions, bring down heat ... bring the situation back on the track of diplomacy, on negotiations."

Immediately before the vote, an unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for "a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors" because Washington is "set to light a fuse for a nuclear war."

The statement was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which issued no immediate comment after the Security Council vote.

In North Korea, Army Gen. Kang Pyo Yong told a crowd of tens of thousands that North Korea is ready to fire long-range nuclear-armed missiles at Washington, which "will be engulfed in a sea of fire."

The White House responded by saying the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself against a North Korea ballistic missile attack.

Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for several crude nuclear devices.

The United States has long been concerned that North Korea could eventually pose a missile threat to U.S. territory. It was mainly with such a potential threat in mind that the Defense Department first began to operate a ground-based missile defense system in late 2004.

The United States responded to North Korea's threat saying it will take the necessary steps to defend itself and its allies.

"Taken together, these sanctions will bite, and bite hard," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said after the vote. "They increase North Korea's isolation and raise the cost to North Korea's leaders of defying the international community."

South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said North Korea's threats and inflammatory statements will be dealt with "resolutely."

"North Korea must wake up from its delusion of becoming a ... nuclear weapons state and make the right choice," he said. "It can either take the right path toward a bright future and prosperity, or it can take a bad road toward further and deeper isolation and eventual self-destruction."

Tensions have escalated following a rocket launch by Pyongyang in December and its third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Both acts defied three Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from testing or using nuclear or ballistic missile technology and from importing or exporting material for these programs.

The resolution is the fourth sanctions resolution against North Korea since its first nuclear test in 2006.

It condemns the North's third nuclear test in February "in the strongest terms" for violating and flagrantly disregarding council resolutions. It bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests "or any other provocation" and demands that North Korea return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It condemns all of North Korea's ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment.

But the resolution also stresses the council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" to North Korea's nuclear program and urges a resumption of six-party talks.

It strengthens inspections of suspicious cargo heading to and from the country, calls on states to step up "vigilance" of possible illegal activity by North Korean diplomats and reiterates the council's commitment to a diplomatic solution. In a measure targeted at the reclusive nation's ruling elite, the resolution bans all nations from exporting expensive jewelry, yachts, luxury automobiles and racing cars to the North.

The U.N. resolution identifies three individuals, one corporation and one organization that will be added to the U.N. sanctions list. The targets include top officials at a company that is the country's primary arms dealer and main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national organization responsible for research and development of missiles and probably nuclear weapons.

The success of a new round of sanctions could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based.

According to the resolution, all countries would now be required to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to North Korea's nuclear or missile programs.

To get around financial sanctions, North Koreans have been carrying around large suitcases filled with cash to move illicit funds. The resolution expresses concern that these bulk cash transfers may be used to evade sanctions.

The resolution also bans all countries from providing public financial support for trade deals, such as granting export credits, guarantees or insurance, if the assistance could contribute to the North's nuclear or missile programs.

It includes what a senior diplomat called unprecedented new travel sanctions that would require countries to expel agents working for sanctioned North Korean companies.

The resolution also requires states to inspect suspect cargo on their territory and prevent any vessel that refuses an inspection from entering their ports. And a new aviation measure calls on states to deny aircraft permission to take off, land or fly over their territory if illicit cargo is suspected to be aboard.

___

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Peter J. Spielmann at the United Nations, Robert Burns in Washington and Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-07-AS-UN-North-Korea/id-1ce62c57916441b98f948b202022298c

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Winter clings on with Upper Midwest snowstorm

Snow-covered trees form a scenic canopy over Avenue C in Bismarck on Monday, March 4, 2013, in the wake of a slow moving winter storm that passed through the state leaving southern areas of North Dakota with rain that later turned to snow. Northern areas of the state received significant snowfall totals causing school closings and many cancellations of scheduled events and travel advisories. (AP Photo/The Bismarck Tribune, Tom Stromme)

Maury Lawson drags his suitcase through the snow Monday, March 4, 2013, while crossing N.P. Avenue in Fargo, N.D., on his way to the bus depot. (AP Photo/Michael Vosburg, The Forum)

A winter storm will move into the East, bringing more snow to the southern Upper Great Lakes and Ohio Valley and rain to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Scattered thunderstorms will also become possible in the Tennessee Valley and the Southeast.

CHICAGO (AP) ? Mother Nature is apparently saving the best, or at least the biggest, for last.

Chicago residents expected to find themselves in the midst of a storm that could wind up dumping as much as 10 inches of snow in the area before the end of Tuesday ? the most since the 2011 blizzard and its more than 20 inches of snow.

"This will be the biggest widespread storm of the winter," National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Seeley said. The forecast is for 8 to 10 inches throughout northeastern Illinois and northwest Indiana, a far cry from last March, which saw less than a half-inch of snow and was the warmest one on record in Illinois.

Hardware stores in and around the city did brisk business Monday, selling salt and snow shovels at a time many usually turn their thoughts toward gardening and baseball.

"Everybody's got a little comment with every bag they're buying," said Mike McIntosh, who works at Dressel's Hardware in Oak Park just outside Chicago. Workers had started to stock the shelves with tools and supplies associated with spring and summer, only to find the shovels and salt they thought they'd hold for another year were still in demand.

"Everybody's a bit surprised, but it's good for us, we've got a lot of this stuff to move," he said.

On Monday, the system moved across the Dakotas and Minnesota, dropping up to a foot of snow in some areas and freezing rain in others. Some schools closed and officials warned motorists to stay off the roads.

As it moved eastward, emergency officials in a number of states issued similar warnings in the hopes that commuters will leave their cars in the garage and take public transportation to work. In Wisconsin, where as much as a foot of snow is in the forecast, emergency managers urged residents to put winter survival kits in their vehicles and check on road conditions.

State patrol officers were searching for a semi driver in the Red Cedar River near Menomonie in western Wisconsin early Tuesday after the vehicle slid off the nearby snow-covered Interstate 94 into the frigid waterway.

A wet snow pelted commuters as they slid along the slick streets of downtown Chicago through the soggy wintery mix early Tuesday. Snow was forecast for the morning and afternoon rush hours, Seeley said. The weather service also said that as much as 1.5 inches of snow could fall per hour, "making snow removal difficult and travel extremely dangerous."

Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn urged motorists to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary, insisting that "safety comes first."

The Illinois Department of Transportation planned to send a fleet of 360 trucks to plow roadways in northeastern Illinois early Tuesday, with a total of 600 throughout Northern Illinois.

The storm is creating wet, heavy snow ? known euphemistically as "heart attack snow" ? which could pose a risk when it comes time to shovel for the elderly, sedentary people or those who have heart problems.

"Shoveling snow is a lot of work. ... It is taxing their bodies and their hearts," said Dr. David Marmor, a cardiologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston. "People are really testing their limits, and if they're already at high risk they are better off paying the kid across the street to do it."

If the area does get 10 inches of snow, it would only underline that this has been a mild winter, Seeley said. That amount would raise the snowfall this season from 20.3 inches to 30.3 inches ? just a tenth of an inch more than what Chicago sees in a typical winter.

In northern Iowa early Tuesday, at least one person was enjoying the gentle snowfall.

"It's absolutely gorgeous out," said Mary Hermanson, the night shift front desk clerk at the Super 8 in Mason City.

"If I'm going to have snow come down, that's what I want to have come down," she said of the 10 inches that had fallen in the area in the past 24 hours. She happily said it reminded her of Christmas.

___

Associated Press writers Nelson Lampe in Omaha, Neb., and Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-05-US-Winter-Storm/id-a8701a765f684160b6efda4a8221c6ef

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UN says 20 peacekeepers detained on Golan Heights

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? The United Nations said Wednesday about 20 peacekeepers in the force charged with monitoring the cease-fire between Israel and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights were detained by approximately 30 armed fighters.

U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the U.N. observers were on a regular supply mission earlier Wednesday when they were stopped near an observation post that sustained damage and was evacuated last weekend following heavy combat.

He said the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as UNDOF, has dispatched a team to assess the situation and attempt a resolution.

Video circulated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims to show Syrian rebels detaining UNDOF peacekeepers in the city of Daraa.

The rebels, according to the report, accuse the peacekeepers of assisting the Syrian regime in redeploying in an area near the Golan which the fighters had seized few days ago in battles that led to the death of 11 fighters and 19 regime forces.

The Observatory said the peacekeepers being held by the rebels are 20 Filipinos. It said they would not be released until regime forces withdraw from a village called Jamla.

The U.N. force was established in 1974 following the 1973 Yom Kippur war to monitor the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces and maintain the cease-fire. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and Syria wants the land returned in exchange for peace.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned of escalating military activity along the Israeli-Syrian border as a result of the intensifying Syrian conflict, which has gone on for two years and cost more than 70,000 lives.

In December, Ban accused the Syrian government of serious violations of the 1974 separation agreement and called on both countries to halt firing across the cease-fire line. He also cited numerous clashes between Syrian security forces and opposition fighters in the disengagement zone.

In response, he said, UNDOF has adopted a number of security measures.

___

Associated Press Writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report from Beirut

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-06-UN-Syria-Israel/id-b9cb5906c44b41268b750b66904ef4b3

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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

First look at Katniss's wedding dress in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' (Photos)

The fifth image from Lionsgate's "Capitol portrait series" for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire appears to offer a first look at the wedding gown Katniss will wear in the movie.

The image, released via MSN this evening, shows Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss wearing a dramatic white gown with a ruffled, layered skirt and Mockingjay-esque "wings" flaring up from the bodice.

Katniss famously wears a wedding gown that transforms into a Mockingjay costume during her big interview scene in Catching Fire. Fans have anxiously been theorizing what the dress will look like in the movie. Of course, this gown could be just a fabulous dress -- and filmmakers are saving the real dress for the movie itself.

The image was released as part of the "Capitol portrait series," which features characters in formal portrait settings, each seated on a fancy chair and showing off the dazzling couture fashions of the Capitol. The images have a stylized, painted look to each of them. Katniss is the only character (so far, at least) who is seen standing next to her chair, and not seated.

Earlier today, Lionsgate released portraits of Lenny Kravitz as Cinna and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch. Yesterday, Lionsgate released images of Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman.

The portraits are part of the relaunch of Lionsgate's Capitol Couture website, which is part of the studio's viral marketing campaign for The Hunger Games movies and acts as a sort of portal from the movie's fictional world, Panem.

More portraits are expected to be released throughout the week at various online media outlets.

Follow The Hunger Games Examiner on Sulia for even more news & features!

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/first-look-at-katniss-s-wedding-dress-the-hunger-games-catching-fire?cid=rss

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