ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

New satellite photos suggest construction work has been halted for the last eight months at a key North Korean launch site intended to test bigger and more advanced rockets. The 38 North research institute says North Korea had been making rapid progress on building a launch pad, control center, and missile assembly building at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground on the northeast coast. This May 26, 2013 satellite image taken by Astrium, and annotated and distributed by 38 North shows an unfinished new launch pad, center, at the Tonghae facility in North Korea. (AP Photo/Astrium - 38 North) x T his May 26, 2013 satellite image taken by Astrium, and annotated and distributed by 38 North shows an unfinished new launch pad, center, at the Tonghae facility in North Korea. (AP Photo/Astrium - 38 North) ​ Commercial satellite images taken late last year showed that construction mysteriously stopped. The U.S.-based institute initially said the projects may have been temp

CONAKRY — Authorities in Guinea on Thursday identified bodies of people hacked and burned to death and rounded up dozens of suspects after days of ethnic clashes killed 58 people and injured at least 160, officials said. Residents said that towns in southeastern Guinea where the military has moved in to restore order were mostly calm after days of violence between rival communities. The violence erupted after a man accused of being a thief was lynched on Sunday. It took place against a background of preparations for long-delayed legislative elections that are meant to end years of transition back to civilian rule after a 2008 military coup. "We have identified 58 dead up until now but calm has returned," government spokesman Damantan Albert Camara said. "The number of arrests has doubled," he added. "The security forces have detained about 100 people. Some of them were armed with machetes when they were arrested." A local radio journalist, who asked to re

North Korea is demanding that Panama release a Pyongyang-flagged ship seized in Panamanian waters, saying the commandeered Cuban arms shipment on board was part of a legitimate deal. In a statement late Wednesday, Pyongyang's foreign ministry described the cargo as "aging" Cuban weapons that North Korea agreed under contract to overhaul. The statement also called for the immediate release of the ship, the Chong Chon Gang , and its crew. Hours earlier, Panama called on the United Nations to investigate the seizure, as allegations swirled that the North Korean ship was smuggling arms in breach of U.N. sanctions. Panamanian Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said his government asked the world body how to proceed with the case, and said Panama intends to forward the ship to U.N. custody. Mulino also said two more containers with suspected arms have been discovered and the 35 ship crew members are to be charged with crimes against Panama's internal security. Panama stoppe

By Aref Mohammed BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - A string of bomb blasts in predominantly Shi'ite Muslim provinces of Iraq killed at least 24 people on Sunday, police and medics said. The violence is part of a sustained campaign of militant attacks this year that has prompted fears of wider conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds and Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable power-sharing compromise. A suicide bomber killed at least four people in a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Mussayab, and in Kut city, a car bomb went off in a busy market, killing five, police and medics said. Three bombs exploded in quick succession near the headquarters of a Shi'ite political party in the southern oil hub of Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killing at least eight people, police said. ." View gallery Iraqi security forces and firefighters inspect the site of bombs attacks in Basra, 420 km (260 miles … "When the first explosion happened,

Egypt's military chief says the ousted president violated his mandate and entered into conflict with the armed forces. Egypt's military chief has defended removing Mohamed Morsi from office, saying the ousted president had violated his popular mandate and antagonised state institutions. Speaking to an auditorium filled with military officers on Sunday, General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Morsi "entered into a conflict with the judiciary, the media, the police and the public opinion. Then [he] also entered into a conflict with the armed forces." He did not elaborate on the nature of the conflict with the military, but said that the armed forces could no longer stand on the sidelines as millions of Egyptians took to the streets to call for Morsi to step down over allegations he was abusing his power. The military chief said he frequently advised Morsi and finally reached out to him before giving him a 48-hour ultimatum to reconcile with opponents and address public

Long-suppressed report finds Pakistani government was negligent, inefficient, and incompetent in the bin Laden affair. If there were one, simple conclusion to be drawn from the report of the Pakistani commission established to investigate Operation Neptune Spear - the US raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011 - it would be that there are times when things are precisely as they appear. The long-suppressed Abbottabad Commission report has now emerged to provide a timely reminder of a truism which this author learned long ago through hard experience: When seeking to explain negative events, and given a choice between some grand conspiracy and simple incompetence, bet on incompetence every time. Who would have guessed? Surely, few either in the US or Pakistan were prepared to believe that Osama bin Laden, easily the most wanted man in the world, could have lived for years with multiple wives and many children in the heart of a military town

Summary There is a great debate underway in Egypt on whether the move to oust President Mohammed Morsi is tantamount to a military coup. Considering that the Egyptian army is forcibly removing a democratically elected president in the wake of nation-wide unrest, the military intervention is indeed a coup. However, it differs from other coups in that direct military rule will not be imposed. Analysis There is a great debate underway in Egypt on whether the move to oust President Mohammed Morsi is tantamount to a military coup . Considering that the Egyptian army is forcibly removing a democratically elected president in the wake of nation-wide unrest, the military intervention is indeed a coup. However, it differs from other coups in that direct military rule will not be imposed. There is considerable public support for Morsi's removal, so the provisional authority that will replace him likely will be a broad-based entity that includes representatives of the nation's main politi