North Korea vows nuclear strike on U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea vowed on Thursday 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.

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 pushing to start a nuclear war against the North.

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.

Such inflammatory rhetoric is common from North Korea, and especially so in recent days. North Korea is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills. At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, tens of thousands of North Koreans protested the U.S.-South Korean war drills and sanctions.

"Now our enemies are trying to make additional sanctions against us, but we can never accept this," said Ri Kum Il, a Pyongyang citizen at the rally. "We will make a preemptive nuclear attack against our enemies wherever they are and turn their strongholds into a sea of flames."

The U.N. Security Council is set to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, said the council would vote on the draft sanctions resolution Thursday morning.

The resolution was drafted by the United States and China, North Korea's closest ally. The council's agreement to put the resolution to a vote just 48 hours later signaled that it would almost certainly have the support of all 15 council members.

The statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

It accused the U.S. of leading efforts to slap sanctions on North Korea. The statement said the new sanctions would only advance the timing for North Korea to fulfill previous vows to take "powerful second and third countermeasures" against its enemies. It hasn't elaborated on those measures.

The statement said North Korea "strongly warns the U.N. Security Council not to make another big blunder like the one in the past when it earned the inveterate grudge of the Korean nation by acting as a war servant for the U.S. in 1950."

North Korea demanded the U.N. Security Council immediately dismantle the American-led U.N. Command that's based in Seoul and move to end the state of war that exists on the Korean Peninsula, which continues six decades after fighting stopped because an armistice, not a peace treaty, ended the war.

In anticipation of the resolution's adoption, North Korea earlier in the week threatened to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War.

North Korean threats have become more common as 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.

U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said the proposed resolution, to be voted on at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), would impose some of the strongest sanctions ever ordered by the United Nations.

The final version of the draft resolution, released Wednesday, identified three individuals, one corporation and one organization that would be added to the U.N. sanctions list if the measure is approved.

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.

The United States and other nations worry that North Korea's third nuclear test pushed it closer to its goal of gaining nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. The international community has condemned the regime's nuclear and missile efforts as threats to regional security and a drain on the resources that could go to North Korea's largely destitute people.

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

But the proposed resolution stresses the council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" and urged a resumption of six-party talks with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula "in a peaceful manner."

The proposed resolution would make it significantly harder for North Korea to move around the funds it needs to carry out its illicit programs and strengthen existing sanctions and the inspection of suspect cargo bound to and from the country. It would also ban countries from exporting specific luxury goods to the North, including yachts, luxury automobiles, racing cars, and jewelry with semi-precious and precious stones and precious metals.

According to the draft, 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 draft resolution expresses concern that these bulk cash transfers may be used to evade sanctions. It clarifies that the freeze on financial transactions and services that could violate sanctions applies to all cash transfers as well as the cash couriers.

The proposed 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 draft 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.

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Lederer reported from the United Nations. Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/furious-over-sanctions-nkorea-vows-nuke-us-092213643.html

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China's new priority: social wellbeing over growth

BEIJING (AP) ? China's government pledged Tuesday to repair the country's ravaged environment and boost public services under its new leadership, an acknowledgment that quality of life was sidelined during the outgoing administration's decade of breakneck economic growth.

In a policy speech opening the national legislature's yearly session, soon-to-retire Premier Wen Jiabao went through a list of problems that had built up in recent years and was being left to his successors: a sputtering growth model; poisoned air, waterways and soil; a vast and growing rich-poor gap; and rampant official corruption that has alienated many Chinese.

"Is this a time bomb?" Yao Jianfu, a retirement government researcher, asked. Yao's specialty is China's army of migrant workers who are often deprived of access to housing, education and other government services. "If there's an economic downturn and massive unemployment, will the 200 million migrant workers become the main force of the next Cultural Revolution?" he said, referring to the excesses of the chaotic 1966-76 period.

The unfinished agenda of China's past decade are now central concerns of the new leadership as it seeks to assuage a public that is looking beyond pocket-book issues, empowered by the Internet and increasingly vocal about the need for change.

Wen acknowledged the responsibility he and other retiring leaders have for leaving such a tangle of problems, even as they have guided China to prosperity and power on the world stage.

"Some of these problems have built up over time, while others have emerged in the course of economic and social development, and still others have been caused by inadequacies and weaknesses in our government work," Wen said in a 100-minute speech to the nearly 3,000 legislative deputies in the Great Hall of the People, his last address before stepping down.

Though Wen delivered the address, it represents the priorities of the new leadership headed by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping and it underscores the inflection point many Chinese feel the country has reached: The policies that delivered stunning growth are foundering in the ill-effects of corruption and environmental degradation, and many Chinese believe benefits unfairly accrue to a party-connected elite.

The legislative session completes the once-a-decade leadership transition that began four months ago when Xi and other younger leaders were installed as party leaders. The largely ceremonial legislature, known as the National People's Congress, will approve appointments to top government posts to manage the economic and foreign policies, rounding out the team Xi will need to govern.

In his first months in office, Xi has raised expectations for change, talking about the urgent need to stanch graft and adhere to laws rather than rule by untrammeled power.

The policy address and an accompanying budget presented Tuesday give a mixed picture of how different a course Xi intends to steer. Defense spending will increase 10.7 percent to 720 billion yuan ($114 billion) ? a higher rate than the overall growth of the budget that comes as China engages in tense territorial disputes with neighbors and seeks to reduce U.S. influence in the region.

Spending on public security is getting an 8 percent boost to 769 billion yuan ($124 billion), making this the third year in a row that outlays for the police, courts and other law enforcement exceeds defense spending. This, despite public unhappiness over the enormous state security system that is used to repress threats to the party and runs roughshod over the legal system.

Wen called several times for a change in the country's growth model to reduce waste, build out the service sector as a source of much-needed employment and direct spending to subsidized housing and other social programs that would boost household consumption. On restoring the environment, Wen called for curbing pollution and reducing energy consumption.

In all cases, however, the address was short on specifics, especially on the sore-points of the environment and corruption, and that drew critical reviews.

"A report like this did not move me one bit," said Beijing-based historian Zhang Lifan. He called Wen's farewell address "comprehensive but mediocre."

The speech failed to address public calls for greater political freedom, which have swelled in the months since Xi took over as party chief. Academics and activists have signed various open letters and petitions on issues ranging from constitutional governance or an easing of censorship.

Raising the standard of living is "important to everyone ... but people want more freedom, they want less control, and I don't see a glimpse of political reform in" the report, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China politics expert at the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Meanwhile, even a delegate to the top government advisory body, members of whom are usually coached to give only positive remarks about the annual work report, said what mattered was whether the objectives laid out in it were met in reality.

"The report itself of course is good, but the implementation needs to be solid and real, so it will not turn out to be a gust of wind," said Yu Wenliang, a Christian priest from Yunnan province.

Hundreds of soldiers, police and plainclothes security officer ? equipped with fire extinguishers and anti-explosive blankets ? ringed the Great Hall and the adjacent Tiananmen Square for the opening session. The public was kept well away behind cordons as the deputies gathered for the 13-day session.

The legislature, most of whose members belong to the party and are bound to vote as the leadership dictates, will approve a proposed streamlining of government ministries, as well as appointments. In reality, the decisions have already been made by Xi and party power-brokers behind closed doors.

Among the changes: Xi will be formally given the title of president, taking the last of the titles from his predecessor, Hu Jintao. The party's No. 2, Li Keqiang, will replace Wen as premier.

Leaders targeted a 7.5 percent economic growth rate for the coming year, which is the same as last year and lower than the 8 percent rate that dominated planning for decades. However, the figure is largely symbolic because in reality growth has typically been higher. Last year's growth was 7.8 percent and this year's is expected to be even higher.

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Associated Press writers Charles Hutzler, Christopher Bodeen and Didi Tang contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-priority-social-wellbeing-over-growth-031357723.html

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Is China Going to Pull Up the Drawbridge to Android?

By Maureen O'Gara

Article Rating:

March 5, 2013 03:06 PM EST

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374

The Red Chinese government doesn't much care for the pervasiveness of Android-based smartphones in the country or the dependence of local R&D on Android and, according to a white paper put out by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, "While the Android system is open source, the core technology and technology roadmap is strictly controlled by Google."

In Q3 Android owned 90% of the smartphones in China, which is now the world's largest smartphone market, passing the US last year.

The white paper said Google has discriminated against some Chinese companies developing Android forks by delaying code drops as well as through commercial licensing agreements that restrain these companies from developing mobile devices.

Perhaps the ministry was thinking of that Acer-Alibaba smartphone that was toast after Google - conveniently forgetting that it forked Java to create Android - reportedly leaned on Acer to prevent the release of an incompatible Android platform.

Although China is weak in software and operating systems, the ministry claims the country is capable of creating its own mobile operating system.

Reuters observed that the ministry recommended no specific policies or regulatory actions but the white paper could be a "signal to the industry that regulations against Android are on the horizon."

Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE use Android.

See www.catr.cn/kxyj/qwfb/bps/201303/P020130301397809834073.pdf.

Source: http://maureenogara.sys-con.com/node/2566523

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