Israelis and Palestinians were downbeat about peace prospects, a day after the two sides held their first face-to-face talks since September 2010 at a meeting in Amman. Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti said in a letter from his prison cell that “the peace process has failed; it’s finished. It’s not worth desperately trying to resuscitate a corpse.” “Consider 2012 as the year of massive peaceful popular resistance against colonialism, aggression, the Judaisation of Jerusalem, the blockade and roadblocks,” Barghuti, who is serving several life terms for anti-Israeli attacks, was quoted by the Palestinian press as saying. Mahmud al-Aloul, a leader of Abbas’s Fatah » Read More

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The Syrian navy and air force conducted live-fire maneuvers to test their preparedness to repulse “any aggression against the homeland,” the official SANA news agency reported. “The air force and air defenses conducted maneuvers with live ammunition… with a view to testing the combat capabilities of the air forces and to test their readiness to respond to any aggression” against the country, SANA said. The agency added that naval forces had carried out similar exercises. In early December, rockets and tanks were tested in “as part of a 2011 training program to deter any enemy attack,” SANA reported at the time. The exercises were » Read More

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Fire engulfed one of Russia’s biggest nuclear submarines while it was being repaired, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky, but officials said all weapons had been removed and no radiation leak was reported. Emergency workers launched a massive operation to douse the flames after the blaze broke out on the 11,740-tonne Yekaterinburg while it was docked in the northern Murmansk region near Russia’s border with Norway. The sub had all of its nuclear missiles and conventional rockets removed before entering the Roslyakovo dock, a defense ministry spokesman said, adding that its two reactors had been switched off well in advance » Read More

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Corruption watchdog Transparency International for the first time has included Pakistan’s military in an annual survey, listing it as a notch more corrupt than the country’s education department. The Pakistan chapter of Transparency International reviews and ranks government departments according to the prevalence of graft in the system. “Our land revenue and police departments are on top in corruption. The judiciary is ranked fourth while military is in ninth position followed by the education department,” Sohail Muzaffar, TI Pakistan chairman, told AFP. Tensions between Pakistan’s powerful military and weak civilian government have soared recently over alleged attempts by an aide of the president » Read More

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North Korea staged a massive memorial service for Kim Jong-Il to end almost two weeks of official mourning, and formally declared his untested young son Jong-Un as the new supreme leader. Addressing tens of thousands of troops and civilians packing a wintry Pyongyang square, ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam praised the late leader for contributing to “global peace and stability of the 21st century”. Kim Jong-Un, “the supreme leader of our party and army and people”, had inherited his late father’s spirit, leadership, personality, morality and fortitude, he added. The service in Kim Il-Sung Square, named after the communist country’s founder and » Read More

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Protesters in Okinawa blocked a van attempting to deliver a report to a local prefecture on the relocation of the U.S. Marine base Futenma. The Japanese Defense Ministry said it will send by mail to the prefecture in the Okinawan capital of Naha the government’s Environmental Impact Assessment regarding the move. The proposal is to relocate the helicopter base from the densely populated civilian area in Ginowan, north of Naha, to an environmentally sensitive but remote area near another U.S. military base. The blockade is the latest attempt by protesters and others opposed to having U.S. Marine bases on Okinawa, one of the » Read More

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In 2009 the army ordered 20 of the ROV Daksh from the Defense Research and Development Organization, the government’s main military equipment developer, a report by The Times of India said. The Indian army’s corps of engineers has taken delivery of the first six indigenously made, remotely operated vehicles designed for bomb disposal. The Daksh has been designed and is being manufactured by a consortium of public and private sector businesses, led by the DRDO’s robotics group at the Research and Development Establishment laboratories in Pune. Other companies include Tata Motors, Dynalog India, Theta Controls and Bharat Electronics. “The ROVs will be deployed » Read More

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Business was booming for flower sellers in the Chinese border city of Dandong on as mourners gathered at the North Korean consulate to pay their respects to late leader Kim Jong-Il. Scores of stony-faced mourners clutched bunches of yellow and white flowers as they entered the consulate, where large flat-screen televisions had been put up to show funeral. Another 100 people crammed into a North Korean restaurant across the street that had been closed since Kim’s death — along with scores of others in the city — but had reopened its doors for people to watch the ceremony. Dandong, a city of 2.5 » Read More

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China is the sole major ally and economic prop of the impoverished but nuclear-armed North Korea, and is seen as one of the few countries that can influence its behavior. Senior South Korean and Chinese officials held talks to discuss the aftermath of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and ways to revive stalled talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament. South Korean vice foreign minister Park Suk-Hwan called the previously scheduled talks timely “when security conditions on the Korean peninsula have been in focus since the passing of Kim Jong-Il”. Maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula is in the interests » Read More

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The surface-to-air missiles, produced by US firm Raytheon, were discovered on a British-registered ship docked in the Finnish port of Kotka and bound for the Chinese port city of Shanghai, according to Finnish police. Finland did not receive the paperwork required from Germany to allow the transit of 69 Patriot missiles through its territory, despite Berlin’s claims it had sent the documents, a government official said. Finnish customs are investigating the case as one of illegal export of defense material. Two Ukrainians — the ship’s captain and the first mate — have been detained. “The applications for transit licenses are confidential, but we » Read More

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