North Korea missiles 'a serious threat' after new tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has claimed a series of technological breakthroughs in developing missiles.

Japan has warned North Korean missiles pose "a serious threat" after the country carried out new tests in defiance of international sanctions.

North Korea launched two missiles within hours of each other, with one flying about 400km (250 miles) and reaching an altitude of 1,000km.

A confirmed successful test would mark a step forward for North Korea after four failed launches in recent months.

South Korea, the US and Nato have also expressed alarm over the latest tests.

Both launches are believed to have been intermediate-range Musudan missiles, whose range of about 3,000km is enough to hit South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam in the Western Pacific

A suspected first launch failed, South Korean officials said, travelling about 150km before landing in the sea.

But the second showed what Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani called "some capability".

"I believe the missiles are a serious threat to our country," he said.

North Korea, which is developing nuclear weapons, is banned by UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.

In January it conducted its fourth nuclear test, claiming it as its first use a hydrogen bomb. Shortly after that it launched a satellite, widely seen as a test of long-range missile technology.

This is at least the fifth test of the Musudan medium-range missile in the past few months and while most have ended in failure, one of the latest pair fired does seem to have travelled at a high trajectory for some 400km.

The Musudan appears to be based on the technology of an old Russian Soviet-era submarine launched missile. It is carried on a wheeled launcher and was first seen in parades back in 2003, though it was never test-fired until April of this year.

Experts believe the weapon is intended to be able to strike US bases on Guam, but North Korea's ultimate goal is to be able to threaten the continental United States.

North Korea's progress is mixed and erratic. But it is clearly determined and its missile and associated nuclear weapons programme means that its rocket tests are being carefully watched by Washington.

---

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Seoul and the US were "carrying out an in-depth analysis" of the second missile, and did not say whether they considered it a success.

Several analysts were less cautious though. Jeffrey Lewis, of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies, tweeted: "That's a successful test folks."

In other reaction:

• South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, condemned North Korea's "reckless provocations"
• The US warned the tests would only increase international efforts to stop North Korea's weapons programme
• Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the launches "undermine international security and dialogue"
• China, North Korea's only major ally, said the North "should avoid doing anything to further worsen tensions".

North Korea is thought to have dozens of Musudans but has never conducted a full-distance test.

The four other missiles tested in the past two months either exploded mid-air or crashed.

Read More

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to retire from Sweden duty after Euro 2016

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has announced he will retire from international football after Euro 2016.

His side face Belgium in their last Group E game on Wednesday, which could now be his final match for the country.

He said: "I am very proud of what I have achieved and will always bring the Swedish flag with me."

Manchester United have been strongly linked with the 34-year-old, who became a free agent after leaving French champions Paris St-Germain this summer.

Ibrahimovic's 62 international goals is a national record, whilst an appearance against Belgium would leave him with 116 caps, 32 behind Anders Svensson's 148.

He had been expected to represent his country at the Rio Olympics in August.

Sweden will exit the competition if they fail to beat Belgium at the Stade de Nice on Wednesday (20:00 BST) - a draw would leave them with two points, which will not be enough to warrant a best third-placed spot.

Read More

Iraqi army only retook third of Falluja - US commander

A US military commander in Baghdad has openly contradicted the Iraqi army's claim last week that it had liberated the key city of Falluja and driven out IS militants from most of the city.

Colonel Christopher Garver said Iraqi forces had cleared only a third of the city and the rest remains contested.

Iraqi commanders insist that 80% of Falluja is under their control.

Iraq's prime minister announced Falluja's "liberation" on Friday, after the city council building was retaken.

Haider al-Abadi claimed that remaining pockets of IS fighters would be "cleaned out within hours".

But clashes between government forces and IS militants continue and the militants have dug in in residential neighbourhoods in the north of the city.

Iraqi forces moved into the centre of the city on Friday, raising the national flag from the city council building.

But Colonel Garver warned that the troops would encounter more resistance as they moved out from the centre of the city.

He said: "What it looks like is (an IS) defensive belt around the city with not as stiff defences inside. That could be their toughest fighting."

Iraqi commanders said on Tuesday they had pushed IS out of two northern neighbourhoods of the city.

They say the battle for Falluja has killed 2,500 militants, but the figure has not been independently backed up.

The operation to retake the city has pushed thousands of residents to flee, overwhelming refugee camps.

More than 83,000 people have fled since the government launched the assault and up to 25,000 more are likely to be on the move, according to the UN.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said reception camps for the displaced were overwhelmed, and there was insufficient water, food, shelter and medical care.

Falluja, only 50km (30 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, has been held by IS for longer than any other city in Iraq or Syria.

The jihadist group overran the predominantly Sunni Arab city in January 2014, six months before it seized control of large parts of northern and western Iraq.

Read More

Lost Egyptian City Found underwater After 1,200 Years

After more than four years of underwater searching and digging, archaeologists today displayed the remains of a vanished Egyptian city.

The scientists discovered Herakleion, the precursor to the once-powerful capital of Alexandria, beneath the sand under just 10 or so yards of water.

Today, they showed off some of their most impressive finds atop a barge, including 20-foot-tall pink granite statues representing a pharoah, a queen and Hapi, the Nile goddess of flooding; and a 10-ton black granite stela, or engraved stone, with "Rahinet," the Egyptian name for Herakleion, inscribed on its bottom.

‘Mouth of the Sea’

The stone, some 19 feet tall and 9 feet wide, had been in 15 pieces under the sea bottom, and was one of the largest ever found. The scientists also displayed another such slab, about one-third the size.

"This was a very interesting mission," said Frank Goddio, a Frenchman archaeologist who headed the team. "We discovered so many things. This site is amazingly rich."

Using magnetic wave technology, the divers found the basin of what used to be the city's harbor and electronically surveyed and charted it, finding palaces and temples. Next to the harbor, they found 10 antique shipwrecks.

A coliseum, houses, temples and several other artifacts lay amazingly intact at the bottom of the sea, the archaeologists said. They said they found the statues on the site of what used to be the Great Temple of Herakleion.

The scientists may have also helped solve the mystery of how one of the most thriving cities of ancient Egypt — now in the bay of Abu Qir about 3.5 miles off the coast of the modern Egyptian resort of Alexandria — seemed to simply disappear.

The shipwrecks made them lean toward the idea that Herakleion and two nearby cities were engulfed by a huge, sudden earthquake and tidal wave some 1,200 years ago.

Artifacts to Tour the World

The cities had been known only through ancient writings, such as travelogues and comedies, until Goddio's team announced its discovery about a year ago. They say they discovered the ruins in 1996.

The writings recounted the city's splendor and decadence, and also referred to a temple dedicated to Heracles — or, in Latin, Hercules — the legendary son of the supreme god Zeus, from whose name the city appears to have taken its name.

The writings put the founding of the city more than 2,300 years ago, before ancient Alexandria was founded in 331 B.C.

Herakleion was at the mouth of the Nile, flourishing for thousands of years, from early times of the Egyptian pharaohs into the Middle Ages, according to historians.

The Egyptians used to describe the city as the "city of the mouth of the sea."

The discoveries have led to a new map totally different than any of previous attempts. The first one was drawn in 1866 based on the ancient writings, and several others were drawn during the 19th and 20th centuries.

All assumed that most construction was on the eastern part of the port. Goddio and his team discovered that there were some structures on the western side as well.

The stela and statues are to be taken to a laboratory for desalinization treatment before going on an international tour at the end of 2003.

Read More

China builds world's most powerful computer

The 93 petaflop Sunway TaihuLight is installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi.

At its peak, the computer can perform around 93,000 trillion calculations per second.

It is twice as fast and three times as efficient as the previous leader Tianhe-2, also from China, said Top500 which released the new list on Monday.

Its main applications include advanced manufacturing, weather forecasting and big data analytics, wrote Jack Dongarra in a paper about the new machine.

It has more than 10.5 million locally-made processing cores and 40,960 nodes and runs on a Linux-based operating system.

For the first time since the list began, China has overtaken the US with 167 computers in the top 500 while the US has 165.

"Considering that just 10 years ago, China claimed a mere 28 systems on the list, with none ranked in the top 30, the nation has come further and faster than any other country in the history of supercomputing," said Top500.

The US has four supercomputers in the top 10 of the Top500 list, while China has two which currently occupy the top two places.

The other positions in the top 10, published twice a year, are occupied by machines from Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

"As a computer scientist it's difficult writing software that can take advantage of and control large numbers of computer cores," said Professor Les Carr from the University of Southampton.

"This is why supercomputers are restricted to specialised applications - you need very specialised computing needs to take advantage of them.

"They are like extremely high-spec Grand Prix racing cars - they are fantastic for racing on circuits but they're not great for travelling from London to Edinburgh."

Read More

Anton Yelchin, Star Trek's Chekov, killed by his own car

Anton Yelchin, the Russian-born actor who played Chekov in the new Star Trek films, has been killed by his own car at his home in Los Angeles, police say.

The vehicle struck him after rolling backwards down the drive at his Studio City home, pinning him against a brick postbox pillar and a security fence.

Police did not say why he was behind the car at the time.

Yelchin, 27, also appeared in the crime thriller Alpha Dog and teen comedy Charlie Bartlett.

An only child, he was born to professional figure skaters who moved the family to the US when he was still a baby.

Los Angeles police officer Jenny Hosier said Yelchin had just got out of the vehicle when it rolled back.

He had been on his way to meet friends for a rehearsal, she added.

When he did not show up, the group came to his home and found him dead, the police spokeswoman said.

The actor's publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed his death and said his family requested privacy.

Read More