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Pressure on Syrian regime heats up but cease-fire still 'incomplete'

(CNN) -- International envoy Kofi Annan is expected to brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, as reports of carnage in Syria steadily increase despite the council's agreement to boost the number of monitors there.

At least 80 people were killed across Syria on Monday, including 50 in the western city of Hama, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists. 

The violence in Hama, which included heavy shelling, came a day after international monitors visited the city, the group said belt conveyor pulley.

Only a handful of U.N. observers are in Syria, but the Security Council recently authorized sending up to 300 monitors for 90 days.

"It is our hope that the deployment of observers will help to stop the killing and consolidate the calm," said B. Lynn Pascoe, U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs. "The objective, however, is clearly not to freeze the situation but to create the conditions for a serious and credible political process."

The monitors are tasked with observing a cease-fire imposed on April 12. The cease-fire is part of a six-point peace plan laid out by Annan and accepted by the Syrian government.

But the cessation of armed violence in Syria remains "incomplete," and human rights violations are still perpetrated with impunity, Pascoe told the Security Council on Monday.

International leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, are ratcheting up pressure on the Syrian regime.

"I have signed and executive order that authorizes new sanctions against the Syrian government and Iran and those who abet them for using technologies to monitor and track target citizens for violence," Obama said Monday. "... It's one more step that we can take toward the day that we know will come -- the end of the Assad regime."

In addition, European Union foreign ministers agreed to ban the export of goods and technology that might be used by Damascus to produce chemical or biological weapons.

The EU also agreed to ban export of luxury goods to Syria,according to a statement Monday by British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

"Despite the urgent need for Assad to end the violence immediately, he and his close supporters continue to lead comfortable lives, conveyor roller" Hague said.

Though they agreed to beef up the observer mission, Russia and China, two permanent countries on the 15-member Security Council, have vetoed attempts to take tougher action against the Syrian regime.

U.N. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin defended his country's position.

"As a matter of principle, we believe that the U.N. Security Council is not about regime change," Churkin told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday. "We believe that ... if there is crisis in a country, the role of the international community should be to help the parties involved to find a political, peaceful way out of this crisis.

"And when we saw some of the resolutions -- which included sanctions -- we knew that those were resolutions which were heading in the direction of regime change by force, which would, in turn, lead only to much more bloodshed in Syria."

The Annan peace plan calls for the government and the opposition to end the violence, provide access for humanitarian groups, release detainees and start a political dialogue.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, expressed doubt that al-Assad's regime would follow through with Annan's plan.

"The regime's long track record is one of dependable deceit and deception," she said. "We will work to ensure there will be consequences should the Syrian regime continue to ignore this council's decisions, press ahead with its murderous rampage and flout the will of the international community."

On Saturday, Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari said security forces will exercise the "utmost degree of restraint" but remain prepared to defend their national interests against terrorists.

Syria has consistently blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence wracking the country.

Reports of bloodshed dropped immediately after after the cease-fire deadline of April 12, but opposition activists have reported hundreds of deaths since then conveyor idler.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths, as the government has restricted access by international media.

Syria has been engulfed in violence since March 2011, when the government started a crackdown on demonstrators who were peacefully protesting the regime of al-Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for 42 years.

The United Nations estimates that at least 9,000 people have died since the protests began, while activist groups put the death toll at more than 11,000. Rice put the total at 10,000.

Mexico preps shelters as volcano roars, spews ash

XALITZINTLA, Mexico (AP) – The white-capped volcano that looms over Mexico Cityemitted a terrifying low-pitched roar Friday and spewed roiling towers of ash and steam as it vented the pressure built up by a massive chamber of magma beneath its slopes. Authorities prepared evacuation routes, ambulances and shelters in the event of a bigger explosion.

Even a large eruption of the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) cone of Popocatepetl is unlikely to do more than dump ash on one of the world's largest metropolitan areas. But the grit could play havoc with Mexico City's busy airport, and tens of thousands of people in the farming villages on its flanks could be forced to flee.

Popo, as it's commonly known, has put out small eruptions of ash almost daily since a round of eruptive activity began in 1994. A week ago, the eruptions started growing larger and authorities slightly elevated the alert level for people living nearby jaw stock of jaw crusher.

Before dawn on Friday, the mountain moved into what appeared to be a new level of activity, spitting out dozens of ash clouds and shot fragments of glowing rock down its slopes while frightening the residents of surrounding villages with deep roaring not heard in a decade.

People in the village of Xalitzintla said they were awakened by a window-rattling series of eruptions. Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center said one string of eruptions ended in the early morning, then the volcano started up again at 5:05 a.m., with at least 12 eruptions in two hours.

"Up on the mountain, it feels incredible," said Aaron Sanchez Ocelotl, 45, who was in his turf grass fields when the eruptions happened. "It sounds like the roaring of the sea."

A 35 million cubic foot (1 million cubic meter) chamber of magma is seething about six miles (8 to 10 kilometers) beneath Popocatepetl, Roberto Quaas, director of the disaster prevention center, said at a news conference laying out emergency preparations.

Scientists have no way of predicting whether the molten rock in the chamber will be slowly released, or erupt in a powerful explosion like one on Dec. 18, 2000, that sent up a plume of red-hot rock and forced the evacuation of thousands of people who live at the volcano's base, Quaas saidimpact crusher blow bars.

He compared the volcano to a bottle of champagne: "You could take the cork out quickly and all the gaseous material and liquid rushes out suddenly, or it could also happen slowly."

However, he said, "we know that this lava dome, sooner or later, will be destroyed by internal pressure."

Scientists have detected fracturing about 3.5 miles (5 to 6 kilometers) down, accompanied by small earthquakes measuring about 3.4 magnitude, he said.

An iconic backdrop to Mexico City's skyline on clear days, Popocatepetl sits roughly halfway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla — meaning some 25 million people live within a 60-mile radius of the volcano, Quaas said.

"These are figures that obviously alarm and concern us," he said.

President Felipe Calderon and the governors of Mexico, Puebla and Morelos states that neighbor Popocatepetl said on a live national television broadcast that they were keeping roads open around the mountain, preparing emergency shelters and making sure residents know the latest information about a potential eruption.

"It's our obligation to stay alert, to stay on guard, so we can keep carefully following developments and have the opportunity to respond quickly, if needed, and efficiently, to whatever might happen," Calderon said

Gregorio Fuentes Casquera, the assistant mayor of Xalitzintla, a village of 2,600 people about seven miles (12 kilometers) from the summit, said the town had prepared 50 buses and was sending out its six-member police forces to alert people to be ready to evacuate.

"Everyone needs to take this seriously. This buzzing, this roaring isn't normal," he said, adding that he believed about half the populace would be willing to evacuate, while the rest would want to stay.

As the quiet of the corn fields and fruit orchards was pervaded by the volcano's spooky roaring, dozens of women lined up in Xalitzintla's main square to get free face masks and bottles of water. Health authorities were giving out 10 masks and 10 bottles of water to each family, and the surgical-style masks, intended to filter out the fine ash released by the volcano, were becoming common among the town(asterisk)s students, who are required to wear them in school. Few adults wore them.

"Right now we're not scared. When it's scary is at night, when it's putting out lava," said Nancy Agustin Inclan, 14, as she removed her mask and took a break outside the gate of the town's middle school.

Webcam images on the site of the National Disaster Prevention Center showed the plume rising from the top of the peak at dawn, though clouds obscured the volcano for people further away. The Televisa television network broadcast images of red, glowing material rising from the crater and falling on its slopes impact crusher rotor.

The ash was blowing to the northeast, in the general direction of Puebla.

The recent round of eruptions ended a period of decades in which the volcano named after a legendary Indian warrior was seen as peaceful, sleeping giant, and a tourism attraction.

Homero Aridjis, a Mexican poet who has written about Popocatepetl and the sharper-edged neighboring Iztaccihuatl, named for the warrior's mythical lover, said people ascribed deep significance to the volcano's eruptions.

He noted that the last times Popo, also known as Don Goyo, had major activity were in 1994 and 2000, both presidential election years like this one, and some believed he was angry at the choice of candidates.

For others in Mexico, the eruption and a series of recent strong earthquakes are fueling speculation about what some believe to be a Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012.

" Popo is a godlike figure," Aridjis said. "Like the Japanese with Mount Fuji… a natural presence, a historical one, a figure of legend."

David Gorzo Navarro, a 45-year-old street vendor in Huejotzingo, said even if there was a major eruption, people wouldn't leave.

"The people will bring mole to Don Goyo," he said. "Every year we bring an offering and today we're going to do it even earlier."

"I'm not afraid. He's my uncle," said Oscar Olate, expressing the personal relationship many in the Mexico Valley feel toward Popocatepetl, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the indigenous Nahuatl language of the Aztecs.

 

India tests long-range, nuclear-capable missile

NEW DELHI (AP) — India announced the successful test launch Thursday of a new nuclear-capable missile that would give it the ability to strike the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai for the first time, a significant step forward in its aspirations to become a regional and world power.

The Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), still requires a battery of tests and must clear other bureacratic hurdles before it can be inducted into India's arsenal. But officials hailed the launch as proof the country has taken its place among the world's most powerful and scientifically advanced nations.

"The nation stands tall today," Defense Minister A.K. Antony said, according to the Press Trust of India Jaw crusher eccentric shaft.

The test came just days after North Korea's failed rocket launch, but sparked none of the same global condemnation aimed at Pyongyang, an internationally isolated regime that has been banned by the U.N. from testing missile technology.

China is far ahead of India in the missile race, with intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching anywhere in India. Currently, the longest-range Indian missile, the Agni-III, has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,100 miles) and falls short of many major Chinese cities.

"At the moment there is a huge assymetry in China's favor," said C. Uday Bhaskar, the former head of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. After it adds the missile to its arsenal, however, "India's deterrent profile in the region would be appropriately burnished."

Video released by the government showed the Agni-V taking off from a small launcher on what appeared to be railroad tracks at 8:07 a.m. from Wheeler Island off India's east coast. It rose on a pillar of flame, trailing billows of smoke behind, before arcing through the sky.

The missile hit an altitude of more than 600 kilometers (370 miles), its three stages worked properly and its payload was deployed as planned, the head of India's Defense Research and Development Organization, Vijay Saraswat, told Times Now news channel.

"India has emerged from this launch as a major missile power," he said to Movable jaw plate of jaw crusher.

The Chinese government did not immediately comment on the missile launch. State-owned China Central Television called the test "a historic moment for India and it shows that India has joined the club of the countries that own ballistic missiles."

The state broadcaster then enumerated some of the missile's shortcomings, from a problem with guidance systems to its 50-ton-plus weight, which it said would require it to be fired from fixed, not mobile positions and thus make it more vulnerable to attack.

"It does not pose a threat in reality," CCTV said.

The Agni-V is a solid-fuel, three-stage missile designed to carry a 1.5-ton nuclear warhead. It stands 17.5 meters (57 feet) tall and was built almost completely with Indian-made technology at a reported cost of 25 billion rupees ($486 million). It can be moved across the country by road or rail and can be used to carry multiple warheads or to launch satellites into orbit.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the launch as "another milestone in our quest to add to the credibility of our security and preparedness and to continuously explore the frontiers of science."

The missile will need four or five more trials before it can be inducted into India's arsenal at some point in 2014 or 2015, Indian officials said.

India hailed the test as a major step in its fight to be seen as a world power.

"India has today become a nation with the capability to develop, produce, build long-range ballistic missiles and today we are among the six countries who have this capability," Saraswat said.

Analysts say France, Russia, China and the United States also have this technology, while Israel is believed to have developed such missiles.

Others were more cautious.

Defense analyst Rahul Bedi said much needed to be done, noting that a government that is notoriously slow with defense decisions now needs to push forward with more tests, work out strategic doctrines, define targets, figure out manufacturing issues and how many missiles to build among a host of other issues.

"We need to build on today's success ... to build in a very capable dissausive deterrence capability," he said. "But going back to past records I don't know if we can sustain it."

India and China fought a war in 1962 and continue to nurse a border dispute. India has also been suspicious of Beijing's efforts to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean in recent years.

India already has the capability of hitting anywhere inside archrival Pakistan, but has engaged in a splurge of defense spending in recent years to counter the perceived Chinese threat.

The Indian navy took command of a Russian nuclear submarine earlier this year, and India is expected to take delivery of a retrofitted Soviet-built aircraft carrier soon.

The new Agni, named for the Hindi word for fire, is part of this military buildup and was designed to hit deep inside China, Bedi said Jaw crusher tooth plate.

Government officials said the missile should not be seen as a threat.

"We have a declared no-first-use policy, and all our missile systems, they are not country specific. There is no threat to anybody," said Ravi Gupta, spokesman for the Defense Research and Development Organization, which built the missile. "Our missile systems are purely for deterrence and to meet our security needs."

The test came days after North Korea's failed long-range rocket launch. North Korea said the rocket was launched to put a satellite into space, but the U.S. and other countries said it was a cover for testing long-range missile technology.

One Delhi-based Western diplomat dismissed comparisons with the international condemnation of North Korea's launch, saying that Pyongyang was violating U.N. Security Council resolutions requiring it to suspend its missile program, while India is not considered a global threat. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on India's security affairs.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States urges all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint regarding nuclear capabilities.

"That said, India has a solid non-proliferation record," he told a news briefing. "They're engaged with the international community on non-proliferation issues."

 

China Joins World Powers in Strong Warning to North Korea

China has joined other world powers in warning North Korea that they will not tolerate any more provocations after the isolated nation's failed rocket launch last week.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said late Monday in Brasilia that the U.N. Security Council members, including China, are agreed there will be "further consequences" in the event of another provocative act by North Korea. Recent satellite photographs show Pyongyang may be preparing for an underground nuclear test Impact crusher spare parts.

 

China's state-controlled media are also showing signs of frustration with Pyongyang, noting that China took "a clear attitude in condemning" its longtime ally when it backed a U.N. Security Council statement criticizing the rocket launch.

 

China's Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper said Tuesday that Pyongyang should not be misled into thinking it can ignore Beijing's wishes with impunity. The paper said North Korea will "pay the price if it tries to abduct China's North Korea policy."

 

In its unanimous statement Monday, the Security Council condemned Friday's rocket launch as a "serious violation" of existing U.N. resolutions, and ordered its sanctions committee to tighten measures aimed at preventing North Korea from developing and exporting nuclear and missile technology. The statement said the council will respond accordingly to any further provocations.

 

Pyongyang had announced the failed launch as an effort to put a weather satellite into orbit, but the United States and other countries condemned it as a covert attempt to test a ballistic missile that could later be used to fire a nuclear warhead. Existing U.N. resolutions bar it from any use of ballistic missile technology.

 

Japanese media reported Tuesday that Pyongyang has also withdrawn an invitation for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit its facilities in retaliation for the U.S. cancelation of a food aid package.

 

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, who heads the Security Council this month, said in New York Monday that the failed space shot had caused "grave security concerns" across much Crusher spare parts of East Asia.

 

"The swift and unanimous adoption of this strong presidential statement shows that the international community is united in sending a clear message to North Korea that such provocations are serious and totally unacceptable.  Critically, the Security Council made clear there will be consequences for any further North Korean launch or nuclear test," she said. "If North Korea chooses again to defy the international community, then the Council has expressed its determination to take action accordingly."

 

Hours later in Brasilia, Clinton stressed China's commitment to punishing any further provocations. China has long been North Korea's most reliable ally and is believed to have more influence over its behavior than any other country.

 

Several analysts have noted that two previous failed North Korean missile launches were shortly followed by underground nuclear tests. South Korean officials last week made available satellite photos of new activity at North Korea's nuclear test site.

 

However, Global Times quotes the dean of the Center for Korean Peninsula Studies at Tongji University in Shanghai as saying Pyongyang knows the consequences of another nuclear test would be much graver than in the past Genuine spare parts.

 

"The rocket launch has already cost the state roughly $850 million, enough to buy 2.5 million tons of corn," Cui Zhiying told the paper. "Does it have enough money to carry out another nuclear test? I seriously doubt it."

 

Tornado watch: Early warnings may have saved Iowa town

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., issued a stern warning about oncoming storms more than 24 hours in advance. Residents credited early warnings with saving lives.  

WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) — The television was tuned to forecasters' dire warnings of an impending storm when Greg Tomlyanobich heard a short burst from a tornado siren blare after midnight Sunday. Then silence. Then rumbling.

The 52-year-old quickly grabbed his wife and grandson, hurrying them into the emergency cellar as debris whirled around their heads at their mobile home park in northwest Oklahoma. They huddled inside with about 20 other people before the tornado — among dozens that swept across the nation's midsection during the weekend — roared across the ground above, ripping homes from their Stone crusher for sale.

"It scared the hell out of me," Tomlyanobich said.

The storm killed five people, including three children, and injured more than two dozen in Woodward, a town about 140 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. But it was the only tornado that caused fatalities. Many of the touchdowns raked harmlessly across isolated stretches of rural Kansas, and though communities there and in Iowa were hit, residents and officials credited days of urgent warnings from forecasters for saving lives.

When Tomlyanobich emerged from the underground shelter after the storm subsided, he saw a scattered trail of destruction: home insulation, siding and splintered wood where homes once stood; trees stripped of leaves, clothing and metal precariously hanging from limbs.

"It just makes you sick to your stomach. Just look at that mangled steel," he said Sunday, pointing to what appeared to be a giant twisted steel frame that had landed in the middle of the mobile home park, which is surrounded by rural land dotted with oil field equipment.

The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system tracked by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., which specializes in tornado forecasting. The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of a possible "high-end, life-threatening event."

Center spokesman Chris Vaccaro said the weather service received at least 120 reports of tornadoes by dawn Sunday and was working to confirm how many actually touched down.

The storm system was weakening as it crawled east and additional tornadoes were unlikely, though forecasters warned that strong thunderstorms could be expected as far east as Michigan.

Woodward suffered the worst of the destruction from the storms, which also struck in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Woodward City Manager Alan Riffel said 89 homes and 13 businesses were destroyed, and bloodied survivors in the 12,000-resident town emerged to find flipped cars and smashed trailers.

Retired firefighter Marty Logan said he spotted the tornado when it knocked down power lines, causing flashes of light, and saw a radio tower's blinking lights go black. He later saw a man emerge from a twisted, wrecked sport utility vehicle that had been tossed along the side of the road.

"The guy had blood coming down his face," Logan said to Mining Machinery Manufacturer. "It was scary, because I knew it was after midnight and a lot of people were in bed."

The state medical examiner's office identified the victims as Frank Hobbie and his 5-year-old and 7-year-old daughters, who died when the tornado hit the mobile home park, and Darren Juul and a 10-year-old girl who died when the home they were in a few miles away was hit. Office spokeswoman Amy Elliot said no other details were available, but she said a critically hurt child was air lifted to a Texas hospital.

Authorities said a signal tower for Woodward's tornado sirens was struck by lightning and hit by a tornado early Sunday morning. Police Chief Harvey Rutherford said the tower that was supposed to send a repeating signal to the town's tornado siren system was knocked out.

Considering the tornado struck at night and the sirens were damaged, it was remarkable that there wasn't a greater loss of life, Rutherford said. "We had the hand of God take care of us," he said.

Frank and Treva Owens knew dangerous storms were moving toward Woodward, and although they didn't hear sirens, the elderly couple was watching TV weather reports all day.

"I heard them say we had nine minutes and that's when I hit the cellar," Frank Ownes said, noting that the 12-foot by 12-foot shelter was prepped with their medications, food and clothing.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin toured the area by helicopter before walking through some of the town's hardest hit neighborhoods.

"Getting the response out immediately throughout the community -- it's just remarkable what you have done," Fallin told a group of emergency officials. "Once again that emphasizes how important it is to have a plan."

In the tiny western Iowa town of Thurman, piles of toppled trees lined the streets in front of homes where missing walls and roofs exposed soaked living rooms. Longtime resident Ted Stafford recalled feeling his home shake, then hearing three windows shatter as the storm hit. He was amazed that no one in town was seriously injured.

"We're all OK, fortunately. Nobody's hurt. We can fuel this recovery with beans and coffee," the 54-year-old said while standing on the broken concrete of what had been his home's new basement foundation.

In Kansas, a reported tornado damaged McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants in Wichita late Saturday. Preliminary estimates suggest damages could be as high as $283 million in the area, where the storm also toppled a 65-foot Ferris wheel at a local amusement park.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback acknowledged that the damage could have been far worse, noting in an interview with CNN that residents appeared to have heeded safety warnings. "God was merciful," he said to Grinding Mill manufacturer.

Yvonne Tucker rushed to a shelter with about 60 of her neighbors at Pinaire Mobile Home Park in Wichita. She said people were crying and screaming, and the shelter's lights went out when the twister hit. When they went back outside, they found several homes destroyed, including Tucker's.

"I didn't think it was that bad until I walked down my street and everything is gone," Tucker said. "I don't know what to do."

Fellow mobile home resident Kristin Dean, who was pushed out of her home in a wheelchair, grabbed some possessions before going into the shelter, and she later learned that was all she had left. Her home was gone.

"It got still," she said. "Then we heard a 'wham,' things flying. Everybody screamed, huddling together. It is devastating, but you know, we are alive."

 

No sign of North Korean rocket launch on 1st day of window

Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- The first opportunity for North Korea to launch its controversial rocket passed uneventfully Thursday, keeping the region on tenterhooks for at least another day.

As the launch window opened Thursday morning, the reclusive, nuclear-armed regime's neighbors were nervously watching for developments from the launch site, which is in a remote area in the northwest of the country.

Japanese missile defense systems scanned the skies above Tokyo and Okinawa. Japan has threatened to shoot down the North Korean rocket if it is seen threatening its territory.

International journalists in Pyongyang were taken on an official visit to a conference that had no connection to the launch. North Korean state television made no mention of the rocket, which the country says is necessary to put a weather satellite in orbit cone crusher motor.

North Korea has said that it plans to carry out the launch sometime between Thursday and Monday, between the hours of 7 a.m. and noon (6 p.m.-11 p.m. ET Wednesday-Sunday).

It said Wednesday that fueling of the rocket was under way and would be completed at the "appropriate time."

The announcement last month of the satellite launch -- which countries like the United States and South Korea see as a cover for a ballistic missile test -- ratcheted up tensions in the region and prompted Washington to suspend a recent deal to supply food aid to the North.

International leaders have urged North Korea to cancel the imminent rocket launch, but Pyongyang has refused to back down, insisting that the operation is for peaceful purposes.

''We would like to call (on North Korea) for restraint until the very end," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said outside his office Thursday, according to the news agency Kyodo.

He added, "We are fully prepared to deal with any contingency," the sand washing machine manufacturers reported.

South Korea has described the move as a "grave provocation" and says it will respond with "appropriate countermeasures."

The Philippines and South Korea have ordered commercial planes and fishermen to stay clear of the rocket's proposed path during the next few days.

"This launch will give credence to the view that North Korean leaders see improved relations with the outside world as a threat to the existence of their system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week. "And recent history strongly suggests that additional provocations may follow."

A recent report from South Korean intelligence officials claimed that North Korea is planning a new nuclear test in the area where it staged previous atomic blasts.

The South Korean intelligence report noted that the two previous rocket launches that Pyongyang said were intended to put satellites into orbit were followed a few weeks or months later by nuclear tests.

The last time Pyongyang carried out what it described as a satellite launch, in April 2009, the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated.

Also Wednesday, the North Korean ruling Workers' Party held a special conference that helped firm up the position of the secretive state's new leader.

Korean television showed a somber Kim Jong-Un standing beneath two towering statues of his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, while receiving applause from party functionaries and the military.

The meeting of party delegates and the expected launch come as the nation prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea who ruled the Communist state for more than four decades. His birthday on April 15, known as the "Day of the Sun," is a key public holiday in the North Korean calendar.

At the conference, the late former leader Kim Jong Il was given an everlasting title. He is now eternal general secretary of the Workers' Party of North Korea. Current leader Kim Jong Un was named the first secretary of the Workers' Party of North Korea.

The title appears to be a newly created position that sets the stage for a virtual coronation of Kim Jong Un, says North Korea watcher Jonathan Pollack of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

"Creating this new position is sort of like retiring a jersey number for a famous baseball player," said Pollack. "It shows a deference to his father and to the old guard, while still cementing his control on power."

North Korea announced several other titles for Kim Jong Un, including making him a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Kim Jong Un was already being described as the supreme leader of the party, state and army. But it is still unclear how directly the young Kim, thought to be in his late 20s, is involved in policy decisions.

The leadership transition bears some similarities to the previous transfer of power from one generation of the Kim family to another beneficiation equipment for sale.

"Kim Jong Il is now venerated at the same level as his father, buried in the same tomb and they are making statues of them riding together on horseback," said Pollack.

"But Kim Jong Un never got the on-the-job training his father did, so he may have this title to allow some mentoring or sharing power and decisions with his elders."

 

North Korea readies controversial rocket launch

Tongchang-ri, North Korea (CNN) -- As North Korea presses forward with a controversial rocket launch, journalists were granted a rare glimpse Sunday of the reclusive country's preparations.

CNN was part of a group taken to the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri, in the northwest part of the country.

North Korea announced last month that it would launch a rocket carrying a satellite between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the Communist state. His birthday on April 15, known as the "Day of the Sun," is a key public holiday in the North Korean calendar.

Pyongyang says the operation is for peaceful purposes, but Japan, the United States and South Korea see the launch as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

Firing the long-range rocket would breach U.N. Security Council resolutions, and Washington has suspended a recent deal to provide food aid to North Korea as a result. Japan has said it will shoot down any part of the rocket that enters its territory.

"If you look for yourselves with your own eyes, then you can judge whether it's a ballistic missile, or whether it's a launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit," Jang Myong Jin, head of the launch site, said through a translator. "That's why we've invited you to this launch site."

Journalists -- who were not allowed to take laptops or cell phones to the site, but were permitted to film -- were shown the control center and the satellite that officials said would be shot into space.

The rocket itself is 30 meters, or about 100 feet, long. It was white, with some red and blue paint.

International leaders have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, but Pyongyang has refused to back down, insisting that the operation is for scientific purposes.

The last time Pyongyang carried out what it described as a satellite launch, in April 2009, the U.N. Security Council condemned the action and demanded that it not be repeated.

An independent European analyst who visited the launch site said he saw nothing obvious that raised red flags.

"I don't know what they want to do in the future, but today what we see is a space launcher," said Christian Lardier to Mobile Crusher Merchant.

On Sunday, the government spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he could not talk on the record about intelligence matters, said satellite images showed a growing pile of earth near the entrance of one tunnel.

Government analysts said they considered it a potential sign of preparations for a test. A large amount of earth is needed to seal a tunnel before detonating a nuclear device inside.

The spokesman was confirming reports carried Sunday by the South Korean national news agency, Yonhap, and other national news outlets. The domestic news media reports were identical in their wording and details. South Korean television stations also carried satellite images showing the pile but did not reveal who had provided them.

The main opposition Democratic United Party accused the government’s National Intelligence Service of leaking the information to the domestic news media ahead of Wednesday’s parliamentary elections. Party officials said they suspected that the spy agency was trying to help the conservative governing party by emphasizing the North’s nuclear threat.

“North Korea has been hinting at a possible nuclear test for a month,” said Park Yong-jin, a spokesman for the opposition party. “We wonder why the National Intelligence Service was highlighting this to the people and news media now, only three days before the election.”

During a campaign speech on Sunday, Park Geun-hye, leader of the governing New Frontier Party, sought to consolidate conservative support by mentioning the news reports about a possible North Korean nuclear test and the planned satellite launching.

The spy agency, which denies meddling in domestic politics, declined to comment on the opposition’s claim.

North Korea’s planned satellite launching, scheduled for sometime between Thursday and next Monday, had already deepened international tensions. The United States and its allies have warned that launching a missile would further isolate the North by prompting more severe enforcement of international sanctions.

The South Korean government spokesman also confirmed that the latest satellite images showed all three stages of a rocket placed on the North’s launching pad. In a dispatch from the Tongchang-ri launching site, Associated Press also confirmed the rocket was in position. The AP’s journalists are among the foreign reporters invited to observe the launching.

North Korea’s two previous nuclear tests involved plutonium devices. If the country attempts a third test, analysts have said, it may use a nuclear device fuelled by highly enriched uranium. North Korea revealed an advanced, industrial-scale uranium enrichment plant in 2010, though it is unclear how much highly enriched uranium it has acquired.

North Korea says it has been planning its satellite launching for several years to coincide with national celebrations of the 100th birthday this year of Kim Il-sung, its revered national founder and the grandfather of its new leader, Kim Jong-un. But American officials say they believe that North Korea’s satellite program is a cover for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles that might someday be able to deliver nuclear warheads.

North Korea conducted its two previous nuclear tests after the United Nations Security Council imposed more sanctions to punish it for a long-range missile test in 2006 and its Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite launching in 2009.

Many analysts have feared a repeat of the cycle of confrontation if North Korea launches a new satellite this month.

 

Navy jet crash a "Good Friday miracle" - but how?

(AP) VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A 12-ton Navy jet loaded with tons of fuel crashes in a spectacular fireball into a big apartment complex, scattering plane parts and wiping out some 40 units. How is it that everyone survived?

The mayor of Virginia Beach could only call it a "Good Friday miracle" and pilots marveled at how a failed training flight that engulfed buildings in flames managed to crash without killing anyone. The student pilot, his instructor and five on the ground were hurt, but all were out of the hospital by Saturday.

Investigators, witnesses and experts said multiple factors were at play:

-- Most of the F/A-18D jet's fuel was dumped before the crash, causing less of an explosion.

-- The Navy credited neighbors and citizens with pulling pilots away from the flames after they safely ejected.

-- The plane crashed into the apartment complex's empty courtyard, and two days before Easter in the middle of the day, most residents weren't home.

"At the end of the day," said Daniel O. Rose, a former Navy jet pilot, "I think it was a lot of fortuity. You look at this as a one-off and you still got to scratch your head."

Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms took to Twitter on Saturday to celebrate the fact no lives were lost, calling it a "Good Friday miracle." Adm. John C. Harvey, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, said he was "quite surprised, to be honest", that no one had died, calling it an "amazing miracle."

The F/A-18D Hornet suffered some sort of massive mechanical problem while soaring above Virginia Beach on Friday, sending it plunging into the Mayfair Mews apartment complex and taking out dozens of units. All residents had been accounted for early Saturday after careful apartment checks, fire department Capt. Tim Riley said to Crusher Merchant.

Investigators will work from the outside of the site toward the center to gather parts from the jet and examine them, as well as check out the flight data recorders, which had not yet been recovered, Harvey said. The investigation could take weeks, he said.

Wearing protective white suits and yellow boots, investigators walked through the site Saturday, where blackened facades and partially demolished brick walls jutted out from the debris.

The airmen were from Naval Air Station Oceana, less than 10 miles away. They were able to safely escape the aircraft, which weighs up to 50,000 pounds fully fueled and armed, before it careened into the apartment complex, demolishing sections of some buildings and engulfing others in flames.

Jeff Swoope, who spent the night in a hotel with about two dozen other homeless residents, had just pulled out of his parking space to run errands when he noticed the low-flying jet heading right at his building.

"I thought I'd better get out of there quick," he said. "It could have hit a gas line, there could have been a bigger explosion."

The aviators on board the F/A-18 Hornet had careful training -- even the student would have had 1 » years of intensive training before taking flight with his instructor on Friday, said J.F. Joseph, a former airline pilot, retired Marine colonel and decorated Navy pilot who flew with the daredevil Blue Angels.

They likely did everything they could to mitigate damage on the ground; one pilot apparently waited until the last second to eject because he was found still strapped to his seat, Joseph said. But maneuvering would have been extremely difficult.

The jet likely was carrying thousands of pounds of fuel on board, which authorities said apparently had been dumped before impact. Fuel was found on cars and homes in the area, though it wasn't clear if that was an intentional move by the pilots or the result of mechanical problems like a ruptured fuel line. The fuel ignites and burns very quickly and could have sparked an even more massive fireball had it not been dumped.

Once emergency officials learned of the crash, they already had practice for what to do next. The military and city cooperate closely to prepare for hypothetical disasters, including simulated crashes, said Virginia Beach spokesman Marc Davis.

The Navy also maps out areas where crashes could occur to make sure residential growth is limited there; the Mayfair Mews complex was in an area where future growth is limited. City and state officials also have spent millions in recent years to buy land where military planes would be most likely to crash.

Rose, the former pilot who is now an aviation attorney, said the fact no one was killed on the ground was "about as close as you can get to a miracle." He called a military crash like this one extremely rare -- a fighter jet crash in 2008 after a training exercise in a San Diego neighborhood killed four family members -- but said a confluence of fortuitous circumstances were behind it.

Local officials were reluctant to express relief, after dozens of people lost their homes.

While many people weren't home in the destroyed apartments, others nearby were going about their day and could only wonder how they avoided such a close call. The plane somehow missed them, in one case by no more than the length of a football field.

Fourteen-year-old Taylor Saladyga was relaxing at home by herself, enjoying spring break, when she heard a blast. The girl lives only about 100 yards from the apartment complex. Her aunt had been driving home at the time and called Saladyga to look up at the billowing smoke.

"I was terrified," Saladyga said. "I thought it was terrorists at first."

Travis Kesler, a special education teacher at a city middle school near the crash, said he thought he was watching a disaster movie when he saw the plumes of black smoke and flames in the air. "Flames coming out of the backside of the building, the roof on fire. It was just insane," he said.

A day later, he said the disaster could have been far worse.

"There are so many apartment complexes through here, there are so many people that live there. people are walking up and down the street all the time, riding bikes," he said. "It's crazy that nobody passed away."