Pentagon report on NKorea nuclear capabilities stirs worry, doubts

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A Pentagon spy agency report concluded for the first time that North Korea likely has a nuclear bomb that can be launched on a missile, but U.S. defence and intelligence officials cast doubt on Pyongyang’s atomic weapons capabilities. Illustrating the high stakes...
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In Seoul, Kerry Warns North Korea Against Missile Test

SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State John Kerry warned North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, on Friday not to proceed with a test launch of its Musudan missile and underscored that his nation would be defeated if a conflict broke out. The missile has a range of up to 2,500 miles, accordi...
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Hypertension scare

WASHINGTON, DC, USA (CMC) —The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) says that at least one in three adults in the Americas, including the Caribbean, has high blood pressure or hypertension. PAHO, an arm of the United Nations’ World Health Organisation (WHO), said on Wednesday that hy...
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South Korea says North likely to test-launch missile

SEOUL/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – South Korea said yesterday there was a “very high” probability that North Korea, after weeks of threats of war, would test-launch a medium-range missile at any time as a show of strength. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said South Korea had asked China a...
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South Korea Moves to Defuse Tensions With the North

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea appeared to ease its stance on North Korea on Thursday by calling for dialogue to help defuse tensions, as its president moved to calm foreign investors whose confidence the North has tried to shake with increasingly belligerent maneuvers. “We hope the N...
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Chavez gone, but family still has clout in Venezuela

SABANETA, Venezuela, (Reuters) – Sitting under the shade of mango trees in the childhood backyard of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro kicked off his election campaign with a sentimental chat with members of the ex-president’s family. Chavez’s fiv...
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Margaret Thatcher, formidable on many levels

She had the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe. So said Francois Mitterrand, the last serious socialist to lead a major European nation, speaking of Margaret Thatcher, who helped bury socialism as a doctrine of governance. She had the smooth, cold surface of a porcelain figurine, but he...
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Korea nukes

TOKYO, Japan (AP) — It's easy to write off North Korea's threats to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile as bluster: it has never demonstrated the capability to deploy a missile that could reach the Pacific island of Guam, let alone the mainland US. But what about Jap...
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Even in Death, Chávez Is a Powerful Presence

SAN FELIPE, Venezuela — Nicolás Maduro is certainly not the first political candidate to invoke the name and legacy of a dead leader to win votes. But he may be the first to say that his political mentor, President Hugo Chávez, visited him from beyond the grave in the form of a l...
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