ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

White House says president "actively supportive" of reinstating ban on assault weapons in aftermath of school massacre. Americas Obama backs US assault weapons ban White House says president "actively supportive" of reinstating ban on assault weapons in aftermath of school massacre. Last Modified: 18 Dec 2012 21:38 The White House has said that President Barack Obama is "actively supportive" of efforts in the US Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban. White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday that Obama would also support legislation to close the gun show "loophole", which allows people to buy guns from private dealers without background checks. The president has pledged to address gun violence in the coming weeks following Friday's deadly shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that killed 26 people, including 20 children and six adults. Obama had vowed to use "whatever po

Eleven prisoners and six guards killed during attempted prison break in norther city of Gomez Palacio. Eleven prisoners and six guards have been killed in armed clashes at a prison in northern Mexico that erupted when inmates attempted a prison break. The shootout broke out on Tuesday as wardens were "thwarting the inmates' attempted prison break" in the city of Gomez Palacio, the public security office in Durango state said in a statement. Wardens rang the alarm bells in the facility as the inmates shot at guard towers as they attempted to escape through a back wall and tunnel, and guards fired back to contain the revolt, according to the statement which cited by the El Universal and Milenio newspapers. Troops eventually put a stop to the attempt and regained control of the facility. Mass jailbreaks have become a recurrent problem in Mexico. In September, 131 prisoners escaped through the front door of a prison in Piedras Negras, a city on the US border. In th

US Secretary of State agrees that security arrangements were "grossly inadequate" during the September attack in Libya.   US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she accepts the findings of an independent panel that faulted the State Department over the deadly September attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya. An inquiry into the attack on the US mission, which saw the US ambassador and three other US citizens killed, found that the State Department security arrangements there were "grossly inadequate". The months-long probe found there had been "no immediate, specific" intelligence of a threat against the mission, which was overrun on September 11 by dozens of heavily armed fighters who killed the four Americans. Clinton also ordered widespread changes to bolster US diplomatic security overseas. She said in a letter to US congressional committees on Tuesday that she had instructed the State Department to implement its findings "

By ELLEN BARRY and THOMAS ERDBRINK Published: December 18, 2012 MOSCOW — Russia sent warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry announced, in what appeared to be preparation for a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria . Russian officials began formulating plans during the summer for an evacuation, but have delayed announcements, analysts say, to avoid signaling a loss of confidence in President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime strategic ally. Moscow staunchly opposes international intervention in Syria and has blocked United Nations Security Council resolutions meant to force Mr. Assad from power. Officials have repeatedly said that Russia’s position has not changed. However, Moscow has signaled in recent days that it sees Mr. Assad’s forces losing ground, and that it is beginning to prepare for a chaotic transition period. One immediate concern is the large number of Russian citizens scattered across Syria, as a result of decades of

By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL R. GORDON Published: December 18, 2012 WASHINGTON — An independent inquiry into the attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11 sharply criticized the State Department for a lack of seasoned security personnel and for relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound, according to a report by the panel made public on Tuesday night. The investigation into the attack on the diplomatic mission and the C.I.A. annex in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans also faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests from the American Embassy in Tripoli for more guards for the mission and for failing to make sufficient safety upgrades. The panel also said American intelligence officials had relied too much on specific warnings of imminent attacks, which they did not have in the case of Benghazi, rather than basing

How did the baby-faced leader of the pariah state win? Blame it on online messageboard 4Chan Supremely popular? Kim Jong-un. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Age: 29. Probably. Appearance: Kim Jong Deux. As in the leader of North Korea? No, as in the Supreme Leader of North Korea. Is there a difference? Of course. A Supreme Leader is better than a normal leader. Do we have any evidence for that? We do now. Kim Jong-un was just voted Time magazine readers' person of the year . Seems legit. Was it close? Not even slightly. He beat the second most popular candidate, US satirist Jon Stewart, by more than three million votes. Seems less legit. What happened? Users of online messageboard 4Chan hijacked the poll and sent Kim Jong-un , as he would put it, "onwards toward the final victory". How come they were able to vote for him at all? He was one of 40 possible candidates put forward by Time's editors. Why exactly? Maybe because he had already been

The US has said that North Korea's rocket launch in defiance of a UN ban has left no option but to increase pressure on Pyongyang.  North Korea was also condemned on Sunday by South Korea and Japan for launching the satellite last week, while some officials feared it was a veiled test for a long-range ballistic missile.   The criticism on Sunday comes as a US scientist said that the satellite appears to not be functioning properly. North Korea had succeeded on Wednesday in putting an object into orbit that the communist state said was observing the earth and airing patriotic songs. "What's left to us is to continue to increase pressure on the North Korean regime and we are looking at how to best to do that, both bilaterally and with our partners going forward until they (North Korea) get the message. We are going to further isolate this regime,'' Victoria Noland, a US state department spokeswoman, said on Monday. The US and its allies are pushing for tig

Middle East Syrian forces surround Palestinian camp Troops stationed outside Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus day after air raid killed eight people there. Last Modified: 17 Dec 2012 20:06 Syrian troops have surrounded a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus a day after air raids killed at least eight people sheltering in a mosque there. Many residents on Monday fled the area amid clashes between Palestinian factions loyal to and opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Rasim Abu Thawra, an activist who lives close to Yarmouk, told Al Jazeera that the neighbourhood has been bombarded again on Monday. "Hundreds of families had the opportunity to escape the camp this morning," he said. "They headed to different destinations. Some of them have relatives outside the camp so they can take shelter there. Others went to mosques in neighbouring areas like al-Midan and al-Zahira." Hundreds of Palestinians also crossed into Lebanon. The attack o