Launch is North Korean con job, say experts
SEOUL: Photographs showing a North Korean missile launched from a submarine were manipulated by state propagandists, and the country might be years away from developing such technology, analysts and a top US military official said yesterday.
North Korea, sanctioned by the US and UN for nuclear tests, said on May 9 it had conducted an underwater test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile which, if true, would indicate progress in its pursuit of missileequipped submarines.
Ex-cop among bikers
WACO: A retired police detective is among more than 170 bikers facing charges after Sunday's gang shoot-out in Waco, Texas.
Martin Lewis, 62, retired from the San Antonio Police Department in 2004, after 32 years. He was among scores of bikers at the Twin Peaks restaurantwhen gunfire erupted in the car park. Nine died and 18 were wounded. All were members of the Cossacks and Bandidos motorcycle clubs. – AP
Book ban overturned
LONDON: A British concert pianist whose autobiography was banned because it contained harrowing details of childhood rape that could psychologically harm his son, would be allowed to publish the book after the Supreme Court overturned the ban yesterday.
James Rhodes was repeatedly raped by a boxing coach at his school, starting when he was 6 years old. – Reuters
North Korea warned the US not to challenge its sovereign right to boost military deterrence and boasted of its ability to miniaturise nuclear warheads, a claim it has made before and which has been questioned by experts, but never verified.
But North Korea was still “many years” from developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, US Admiral James Winnefeld told an audience at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Tuesday.
‘Teacher’ on trial
KIEL: The trial of a 50-year-old woman charged with teaching for years with faked documentation began in the German city of Kiel yesterday.
The woman from the Baltic coast town of Wismar is accused of not having received her degree or state examination to become a qualified teacher. – dpa
120 held after protest
COLOMBO: More than 120 people were arrested yesterday after violent clashes between protesters and Sri Lankan police outside a northern court over the alleged gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl.
Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, who were demanding the highest punishment be meted out to the nine suspects who were arrested. – Xinhua
“They have not gotten as far as their video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe,” said Winnefeld, who is vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Analysis from aerospace engineers Markus Schiller and Robert Schmucker of Schmucker Technologie appeared to support Winnefeld’s assertion. The Munich-based pair said photos of the launch were “strongly modified”, including reflections of the missile exhaust flame in the water which did not line up with the missile itself. – Reuters
Building collapses
BEIJING: A nine-storey residential building partly collapsed after a landslide in south-west China yesterday, with 16 people unaccounted for.
The rain-triggered landslide that took place in the morning led to the collapse of large sections of a block of flats in Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou province, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Residents of nearby buildings were evacuated. – dpa
District mayor shot
ISTANBUL: A Turkish ruling AK Party mayor was seriously wounded after being shot yesterday, a hospital official and local media said, less than three weeks before a parliamentary election.
Cuneyt Yildiz, the mayor of the Gursu district of Bursa province, was shot in his office. After the incident, a municipal staff member fled from the scene. – Reuters