Seoul has announced it would resume broadcasting propaganda into North
Korea in response to Pyongyang's nuclear weapon test. Use of the
loudspeakers triggered a military crisis between the two Koreas last
year.
South Korea on Thursday said loudspeakers would resume blasting
propaganda across the heavily militarized border with the North, a
practice that Pyongyang last year threatened to respond to with a
military attack.
"Our military is at a state of full readiness, and if North Korea wages provocation,
there will be firm punishment,"
a senior presidential national security official, Cho Tae-yong, said in a statement.
North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire in August over the
propaganda broadcasts into the hermit regime. Seeking to defuse
tensions, the two Koreas struck a deal that saw the South cut the music
and propaganda that it had been blaring across the border for two weeks.
Part of the deal stipulated the loudspeakers would remain silent "unless an abnormal case occurs."
North Korea's widely condemned nuclear test - its fourth - presumably counts as an "abnormal" occurrence.
A man armed with a knife was been shot dead by security forces
Thursday after attempting to enter a police station in northern Paris,
police sources said.
The shooting took place outside a police
station in the Goutte-d'Or area of the French capital’s 18th
arrondissement, the sources told Reuters.
A witness told AFP he had heard "two or three shots" fired by police.
Paris police confirmed shots had been fired without providing more detail.
Pictures posted on Twitter showed a man, the alleged assailant, lying
on the pavement after being shot with what appeared to be a police bomb
disposal robot inspecting the body.
The incident took place as France marked the one-year anniversary of
last January’s terror attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
It is also responsible for a
range of paramilitary activities as well — including the Spetsnaz, the
clandestine special forces that Moscow deployed in its March 2014
annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.
Under Sergun, the GRU recovered
from a range of setbacks stemming from Russia's 2008 invasion of
Georgia. Although Georgia's military was decisively beaten in the war,
the GRU performed poorly during the conflict. According to an IHS Jane's analysis,
during the war the GRU was deemed responsible for "friendly-fire
incidents as a result of poor inter-service co-operation," including one
in which six Russian paratroopers were killed.
As a result, the directorate
underwent what New York University professor and Russian security sector
expert Mark Galeotti described in a May 2014 blog post as "a savage round of cuts," in which 1,000
officers and 80 of the directorate's 100 general-level officers were
either transferred or retired. All Spetsnaz brigades were disbanded or
moved under other military commands, while the GRU's presence in Russian
embassies abroad was dramatically scaled back
Under
Sergun, the GRU regained control of the Spetsnaz and became a crucial
instrument of Russian policy.
The Spetsnaz were expanded in early 2014
under the pretext of providing additional security for the Sochi Winter
Olympics, according to IHS Jane's.
And shortly after that, they became a central part of the boldest
Russian geopolitical gambit in a generation, helping to annex Crimea and
maintaining pro-Moscow separatists' control over parts of eastern
Ukraine.
The GRU's emergence under Sergun demonstrates the evolution of Russia's strategy and priorities since the Georgia war. Galeotti notes that after that conflict, there was some doubt as to whether the GRU would even retain its status a main directorate.
Military
espionage and paramilitary aspects of Russian military operations were
in danger of being reorganized under a series of different offices,
showing the GRU and its functions had fallen out of favor among Russia's
security elite.
It
now seems surprising that this was ever the case. After the Ukraine
war, the annexation of Crimea, and a host of other GRU activities —
including its role in propping the military of embattled Syrian president Bashar al Assad — it's hard to imagine Russian foreign policy without "Putin's secret weapon."
Sergun was a crucial part of Russia's security apparatus in a time when
Moscow became increasingly ruthless, and less restrained by
international norms.
Having lost Ramadi to Iraqi army troops and allied volunteer forces, Daesh has gone on a revenge killing spree in areas under its control, reports from the country say.
Daesh
executed dozens of civilians, including women and children, in a
village in the al-Qiara district of the Nineveh province on Monday,
satellite television network al-Sumaria News reported.
The
villagers had forced Daesh members into retreat months ago, but the
militants have returned over the past days, renewing their atrocities
there, it said.
In
the east of Mosul, Nineveh’s provincial capital, the militants executed
two teachers for refusing to teach the material Daesh had dictated.
Daesh militants also killed a local imam in western Mosul for refusing to pledge allegiance to the group.
Meanwhile,
a senior police commander in Nineveh said a mass grave, bearing 120
bodies, had been found in a village northwest of Mosul. There were a
number of villagers and military personnel among the dead.
Claims from Belgian officials that the two men arrested for plotting
terror attacks on New Year's Eve in Brussels belonged to the Kamikaze
Riders motorcycle club is not the first time the group has been linked
to Islamic extremism.
Founded by Belgians of Moroccan descent,
gang members show off their prowess on their Japanese motorcycles,
wearing the leather jackets emblazoned with samurai imagery. However,
investigations have exposed links between group members and Belgium's
shadowy jihadist underworld.
In 2013 one of the club's founders, Abdelouafi Elouassaki, was
arrested after providing material support to two of his brothers, who
were fighting in Syria for jihadist groups.
All three were found
to have ties to now-banned group Sharia4Belgium, which radicalised
hundreds of young Belgian and Dutch men to fight for jihadist groups in
Syria, including Islamic State (Isis) and the al-Qaeda affiliated Jabhat
al Nusra.
Before his death in 2013 in a motorcycle accident,
Elouassaki was questioned by police about his support for terrorism. One
of his brothers was killed in Syria with the other seriously wounded.
According
to Belgian media, one of the two men arrested on 28 December, Said K,
was a Salafist preacher with links to the Eloussaki family.
Probing the social media accounts of Bilal Hafdi, one of the Belgians responsible for the 13 November Paris attacks, Vocative found praise for Brussels street gang Versailles, and links between networks of gang members and Kamikaze club members.
Another
of the group's founders, Said Saouti, is a Salafist preacher with
firearms and burglary convictions who lists al-Qaeda preacher Anwar al
Awlaki as a "teacher", crime expert Alexandra Jones writes.
On social media, members openly flouted their adherence to violent jihad.
However,
club member Ludovic Ansel told the Belga press agency that the club was
being smeared, and its members included hundreds of people throughout
the country "of all backgrounds and faiths, not specifically Muslim."
"This
is a family that likes to be around its passion, the motorcycle. It
hurts my heart to see the name of this club soiled by the media. Because
someone made a mistake, others must suffer," he said.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday gave Iranian diplomats two days to leave after
a row over the Saudi execution of a top Shia Muslim cleric and a
subsequent attack on its embassy in Tehran.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are the key Sunni and Shia powers in the region and back opposing sides in Syria and Yemen.
Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni Muslim king but its population is majority Shia.
The kingdom on Monday gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.
It accused Iran of "increasing, flagrant and dangerous meddling" in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states.
It
said the attack on the Saudi embassy was part of a "very dangerous
pattern of sectarian policies that should be confronted... in order to
preserve security and stability in the entire region".
Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet, has frequently accused
Iran of supporting a low-level Shia insurgency that flared following the
regional Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.
There are fears sectarian
strife may spread in the region following the execution of Sheikh Nimr
al-Nimr and 46 others in Saudi Arabia on Saturday after they were
convicted of terror-related offences.
On Monday, two Sunni mosques in Iraq were bombed and an imam killed.
Saudi Arabia announced late on Sunday that it was severing diplomatic
relations with Iran after demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in
Tehran. It has recalled its own diplomats.
Iran's foreign ministry on Monday accused the Saudis of "continuing the policy of increasing tension and clashes in the region".
Ministry
spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said: "Saudi Arabia sees not only its
interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations
and attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the
outside."
He defended Iran's response to the embassy attack,
saying it had "acted in accordance with its obligations to control the
broad wave of popular emotion". Fifty arrests were made.
The UK's security and intelligence
agencies are examining a video by so-called Islamic State, to identify a
man and young boy with British accents.
The video purportedly shows the killing of five men who IS says were spying for the UK.
The
authorities will also be carrying out voice-print analysis to match
what is heard against individuals known to have travelled to Iraq and
Syria.
The man threatens attacks in the UK, during the 10-minute film.
He also says the footage, which has not been independently verified, is a message for Prime Minister David Cameron.
After
the apparent killings the young boy, who seems to be aged about six or
seven years old and is wearing military-style clothing, is seen pointing
into the distance and talking about killing "unbelievers".
'Break borders'
In
the video, the masked man who has a British accent and is holding a
gun, mocks Mr Cameron for daring to "challenge the might" of the
extremist group.
He goes on to say: "We will continue to wage
jihad, break borders and one day invade your land where we will rule by
the Sharia."
The
five men, wearing jumpsuits and kneeling in a desert location, then
appear to be shot in the back of the head, after making what is claimed
to be their confessions.
One of the men says he had been asked to
provide information about the location of IS militants, including two
Britons, apparently to help target them with air strikes.
Some of
the five say they are from Raqqa in Syria while another says he is from
Benghazi, Libya, but none say they are from the UK.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the video and are examining its content."
'Jihadi John'
IS,
also referred to as Daesh, has previously released propaganda videos
showing killings, including footage showing the apparent beheading of
two US journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and two British aid
workers David Haines and Alan Henning.
Mohammed Emwazi, the
Briton who became known as Jihadi John, appeared in the videos. He was
killed in a drone strike in Syria in November.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says it
would "probably be a fairly short-lived attempt... to take on the mantle
of Mohammed Emwazi".
He says the UK government is unlikely to say
who they think he is or confirm whether the men killed in the footage
were working for Britain.
"IS is absolutely paranoid about [informants]," our correspondent says.
"They
are looking over their shoulders, wondering where the next drone strike
is coming from and they are wondering who in their midst is informing
and reporting on them."
Analysis
By Gordon Corera, BBC security correspondent
It
is less than two months since British IS propagandist Mohammed Emwazi,
the man known as Jihadi John, was killed by a drone strike in Syria.
This latest video by IS seems to show another man trying to take up his mantle.
The identity of the masked man is so far unknown but authorities will be trying to identify him and confirm if he is British.
Emwazi was killed after intelligence - most likely from informers - located him in a vehicle in Raqqa, Syria.
The
fact that this latest video shows the killing of alleged spies
indicates the extent to which IS is trying to track down those who might
be providing information.
Children also regularly feature in IS propaganda videos
and the brief appearance of a child - apparently with a British accent -
at the end of the video will also most likely be of interest to the
authorities.
Abu al-Furat, a member
of a Raqqa-based group which opposes IS, told BBC Radio 4's Today
programme they doubted the killed men were spying for Britain.
"Daesh [IS] has been harmed very much after the death of some British citizens who are fighting with Daesh," he said.
"And
in this video, the executor is trying to copy John [Emwazi]. They want
to say that if John died, there are others that can do this job."
Margaret
Gilmore, senior associate fellow at security think tank the Royal
United Services Institute, told BBC Radio 5 live the video had "an air
of desperation".
"They are trying to detract from recent setbacks," she said, highlighting recent losses in Iraq.
'IS brand'
But
Shiraz Maher, senior research fellow at the International Centre for
the Study of Radicalisation at Kings College London, told Today the
group remained "very powerful".
Jonathan Russell, head of policy
at the counter-extremist think tank, the Quilliam Foundation, said it
was "shocking" to hear British voices and to see a child in the video,
but that both were being used "to reinforce the IS brand".
At least 700 people from the UK have travelled to support or fight for jihadist organisations in Syria and Iraq, British police say. About half have since returned to Britain. The IS group,
notorious for its brutality, seized large swathes of territory in Syria
and Iraq in 2014, when it formally declared the establishment of a
"caliphate" - a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or
Sharia, by God's deputy on Earth, or caliph.
