BOBBY_M Artistic: September 2017

Thursday 7 September 2017

North Korea's missiles 'could reach Europe sooner than expected'

Donald Trump and Theresa May hold a call to discuss North Korea as the reclusive state warns it will send the US "gift packages".

11:05, UK,Wednesday 06 September 2017

By Philip Whiteside, News Reporter

North Korea could develop missiles that can reach Europe sooner than expected, the French defence minister has warned.

Florence Parly told the French military in Toulon there are risks to the continent from intercontinental ballistic missiles being built by Kim Jong Un's regime.

Her comments came as President Trump and Theresa May held a call to discuss North Korea, during which the Prime Minister insisted it was "important for the international community to send out a clear message" to the reclusive state.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump said on Twitter he is allowing Japan and South Korea to buy "a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States".

:: Sanctions on North Korea are 'useless' - Putin

France's defence minister Ms Parly said in a speech: "The scenario of an escalation towards a major conflict cannot be discarded.

"Europe risks being within range of Kim Jong Un's missiles sooner than expected."

The North was reportedly seen moving what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile towards its west coast.

South Korea's Asia Business Daily cited an intelligence source as saying the rocket was spotted moving on Monday, the day after Pyongyang's sixth and largest nuclear test.

The North Korean missile programme's launch facilities are on its west coast - and the move was reportedly made during the night to avoid surveillance.

:: How does H-bomb compare with atomic bomb?

South Korea's defence ministry could not confirm the report, but it said on Monday its neighbour was ready to launch more missiles.

In July, North Korea tested two ICBMs capable of flying about 6,200 miles, threatening parts of the US mainland.

The closest European country to North Korea is Norway, which is a straight-line distance of around 3,900 miles away.

Ms Parly's warning comes days after North Korea claimed to have carried out a hydrogen bomb test - estimated by South Korea to have been three times as powerful as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the test as "another perilous advance in North Korea's nuclear ambitions", adding that China should "use all of its leverage to ensure a peaceful settlement of this grave crisis".

"Kim Jong Un claims to want security and prosperity for North Korea's people," he told the Commons.

"The only way to achieve this goal would be for North Korea to obey the UN and halt its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, disarming in a complete and verifiable manner."

:: Mark Austin: Big threats from Trump benefit Kim Jong Un

Earlier, one of North Korea's top diplomats said his country was ready to send "more gift packages" to the United States.

Han Tae Song, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, told a conference on disarmament: "The recent self-defence measures by my country...are a 'gift package' addressed to none other than the US.

"The US will receive more 'gift packages' from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK."

South Korea's UN representative, Kim Inchul, accused Pyongyang of "delusion" over its nuclear programme.

He told the conference: "Under that delusion they dare to make the preposterous advice, which is inadmissible in the conference of disarmament, that it is OK to pursue a nuclear programme."

Submarine owner says Kim Wall died after being hit by hatch cover

The Swedish journalist disappeared after boarding Peter Madsen's Nautilus submarine in waters off Copenhagen on 10 August.

18:02, UK,Tuesday 05 September 2017

Peter Madsen, the Danish inventor charged with killing Kim Wall, has said she died after being hit by a hatch cover aboard his submarine.

Testifying in court on Tuesday, Madsen claimed he had been holding the hatch for Ms Wall and had slipped, causing the heavy cover to fall on the journalist.

"I lose my foothold and the hatch shuts," he said. "Kim had been severely hurt and was laying with an intense bleeding. There was a pool of blood where she had landed."

The accident happened as the pair were sailing in the strait between Denmark and Sweden, he claimed.

Ms Wall, a Swedish freelance reporter, had been visiting Madsen in his Nautilus submarine to research an article when she disappeared on the night of 10 August.

Private ships and the Danish navy were called to an emergency search for the 60ft submarine after Ms Wall was last seen boarding it and did not return home.

The following morning Madsen had to be rescued from the vessel as it sank, initially telling authorities that Ms Wall had been safely dropped off near Copenhagen.

But when it emerged the reporter was still unaccounted for he told investigators she had died in an accident on board. He was then charged with manslaughter.

Ms Wall's mutilated remains - a torso with the head, arms and legs sawn off - were later discovered by a cyclist in Koge bay.

Investigators later revealed that the body, identified by DNA evidence, had been attached to a piece of metal and cut in a way that aimed to ensure it would sink and remain on the sea bed. The rest of Ms Wall's remains have not been found.

Police also concluded that the submarine - built and crowdfunded by Madsen himself, and the largest privately built vessel of its kind - had been purposefully sunk.

Strict reporting restrictions in Danish courts mean only limited information has been available on the case and the cause of the young woman's death has not yet been determined.

Ms Wall, 30, was a respected freelance journalist, who had reported from China, Uganda and Haiti for a wide range of publications, on topics including furries, feminism and voodoo.

Commenting on her death, her family said her work had brought her to many dangerous places, but that it was "unimaginable" something could happen "just a few miles from the childhood home".