North Korea Creates Army Of Cyber Trolls

North Korea has assembled a team of 3,000 cyber agents, including hundreds of trolls, whose job is to undermine morale in South Korea, according to a think tank.

The computer experts spread propaganda by hacking into South Korean websites and linking them through to pro-North Korea outlets.

The trolls - believed to number about 200 - reportedly use identities stolen from South Korean internet users to post comments on web forums.

"The North has established a team of online trolls at the United Front Department and the Reconnaissance General Bureau," Ryu Dong-Ryul of the Police Policy Institute told a seminar at the Seoul Press Centre, according to South Korea's Chosun newspaper.

The think tank said the United Front Department hacks into South Korean websites through servers based in 19 countries, using constantly changing IP addresses to avoid detection.

It said the trolls were part of a 3,000-strong cyber army and claimed they posted more than 41,000 items of propaganda online in 2012, up from 27,000 the year before.

An estimated 300 North Koreans are trained in cyber warfare every year, compared to just 30 in the South, Lim Jong-in of Korea University told Chosun.

They are picked from elite middle schools in the North Korean capital Pyongyang and spend 10 years honing their skills at Kim Il-Sung Military University, Mirim University or Kim Chaek University of Technology, the newspaper reported.

In June, internet security company Symantec suggested a string of attacks on South Korean websites dating back four years were the work of a gang known as DarkSeoul.

Although it could not confirm the group is run by North Korea, several major broadcasters and banks in South Korea, as well as the country's presidential office, have been targeted.

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Asda Parking Space Killing: Man In Court

A man has appeared in court charged with manslaughter over the death of a 64-year-old in an alleged row over a disabled parking space.

Alan Watts, 65, appeared before magistrates and was remanded on bail following the death of Brian Holmes.

Mr Holmes, from Sandy, Bedfordshire, died from head injuries the day after the August 3 incident at the Asda supermarket in Biggleswade.

His family were at his bedside when he died.

In a statement released through police, they said: "The family are devastated by the loss of Brian in such shocking circumstances.

Mr Holmes died from a serious head injury the day after the incident

"A wife has lost her husband, best friend and carer all in one go.

"Brian was a family man who adored his grandchildren and family, and had only this week been given the all-clear following treatment for cancer.

"Brian and his wife were only just starting to make plans for the future that they only dared to dream of."

Alan Watts appeared at Bedford Magistrates' Court only to confirm his name and address and that he understood the charge.

He will next appear at Luton Crown Court on August 28 for a preliminary hearing.

Mr Watts has surrendered his passport as part of bail conditions and must also report daily to a local police station.

He is also barred from driving and must not visit the Asda store where the alleged row took place.

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Video: Panda Hugs Cub After Taiwan Zoo Reunion

Taipei City Zoo has released a video showing the tender moment a female giant panda was reunited with her cub after a month apart.

The clip shows the mother Yuan Yuan using her mouth to pick up her cub before cuddling her.

Yuan Yuan was one of the two giant pandas given to Taiwan by China four years ago to demonstrate its warmer diplomatic approach.

She gave birth to a female cub at a Taipei zoo a month ago.

But it had to be removed from her cage because zookeepers feared that Yuan Yuan might kill or even eat her.

To everyone's relief, however, Yuan Yuan showed motherly instincts when reunited with her cub, picking her up and breastfeeding her.

Despite the good response, though, zookeepers eventually decided to reduce the risk of danger to the cub and put her back in an incubator.

They will allow mother and cub to meet regularly.

Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan, the second panda given by China, means reunion in Chinese when said together.

China regards Taiwan as a province, even though the island has been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.

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Jetpack Gets Permit To Begin Test Flights

A jetpack prototype developed in New Zealand can undergo manned test flights after aviation authorities gave its developers a flying permit.

The chief executive of Martin Aircraft said the certification was a significant milestone in the development of the jetpack, which the company hopes to start selling next year.

"For us it's a very important step because it moves it out of what I call a dream into something which I believe we're now in a position to commercialise and take forward very quickly," Peter Coker said.

The company hopes to start rolling out some models next year

Inventor Glenn Martin began working on the jetpack in his Christchurch garage more than 30 years ago, inspired by childhood television shows such as Thunderbirds and Lost in Space.

He aimed to create a jetpack suitable for everyday use by ordinary people with no specialist pilot training.

His jetpack consists of a pair of cylinders containing propulsion fans attached to a free-standing carbon-fibre frame.

The pilot backs into the frame, straps himself in and controls the wingless jetpack with two joysticks.

The jetpack comes with a rocket-propelled parachute if anything goes wrong.

The company has been fine-tuning the prototype to turn it into an aircraft that is safe and easy to use.

The latest prototype, the P12, incorporated huge design improvements over earlier versions.

"Changing the position of the jetpack's ducts has resulted in a quantum leap in performance over the previous prototype, especially in terms of the aircraft's manoeuvrability," Mr Coker said.

The jetpack comes with a rocket-propelled parachute

The company is preparing a specialised version of the jetpack designed for the military and first-responder emergency crews such as firefighters.

That should be ready for delivery by mid-2014, it says.

A simpler model aimed at the general public is expected to be on the market in 2015.

A pair of cylinders are attached to a carbon-fibre frame

The price of your own personal flying machine is estimated at $150,000-250,000 (£97,000 to £160,000), although Mr Coker said the cost was likely to come down over time.

The experimental flight permit issued by the New Zealand Civil Aviation allows someone to pilot the aircraft.

But the test flights are subject to strict safety requirements.

They are not allowed any higher than 20ft (six metres) above the ground and are limited to areas over uninhabited land.

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Gibraltar Row: Spain 'Creating A Diversion'

The Chief Minister of Gibraltar has accused the Spanish government of "banging the nationalistic drum" to divert the people's attention from the country's domestic problems.

Tensions between London and Madrid have deepened, with Spain imposing checks at the border and Downing Street saying it was drawing up plans for legal action over what it said were "politically motivated" controls.

While most of the queues have formed from the Gibraltar side travelling into Spain, long lines are now being reported on the Spanish side, the Gibraltar government said. The waiting time is up to five hours, a spokesman said, calling the queues there the longest in years.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Sky News that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was trying to make people lose focus on problems at home in the same way that the head of Argentina's military junta, Leopoldo Galtieri, did in 1982 in the Falkland Islands.

Fabian Picardo is Gibraltar's top politician

"What is happening in the background is that the Spanish government has been engulfed in allegations of corruption which affect Mr Rajoy himself," Mr Picardo said.

"I think what we are seeing is a little bit like what Mr Galtieri deployed in Argentina in 1982, which is an attempt to bang the nationalistic drum to make people look away from the national problems that Spain is suffering and the PM himself is labouring under."

The Chief Minister was referring to a corruption scandal that has engulfed Mr Rajoy's People Party, forcing the prime minister to deny he or his party have accepted illegal payments. 

Mr Rajoy has rejected opposition calls to step down, but Mr Picardo said a British Prime Minister facing the same allegations "wouldn't last five minutes".

"And yet in Spain Mr Rajoy remains comfortable in his post trying to create diversions like this one," he said.

The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht gave The Rock to the British

Mr Picardo also called Jose Garcia-Margallo "the least diplomatic of the Spanish foreign ministers in history".

Downing Street said it was looking at the "unprecedented step" of taking legal action after the Spanish government failed to lift the additional border checks over the weekend. The measures have caused tailbacks of several hours.

Madrid has remained defiant, saying it would not abandon what it called "legal and proportionate" checks.

Mr Picardo claimed that in a fair international court Gibraltar would win "game, set and match".

The European Commission plans to send a team of investigators to the border in the next couple of weeks to observe the controls following complaints from several MEPs and EU citizens about long waits there.

Spain insists the border checks are legitimate

Adding to the tensions, three Royal Navy warships set sail for the Mediterranean in what defence officials stressed was a long-scheduled deployment. The vessels included the flagship HMS Bulwark, helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and frigate HMS Montrose.

The diplomatic spat between the UK and Spain was sparked by the creation of an artificial reef by the Gibraltarian authorities, which the Spanish say will destroy fishing in the area.

Madrid responded by beefing up border controls, leading to lengthy queues, and suggesting that a 50 euro (£43.30) fee could be imposed on every vehicle entering or leaving the Rock through the fenced border with Spain.

Mr Picardo said that while Madrid is "playing games", the people of Gibraltar do not worry about the spat "because we've lived through so many".

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Peru Drugs Bust: Pair Appear In Police Video

A video has emerged of a British and an Irish woman speaking to police shortly after they were arrested on suspicion of cocaine-smuggling in Peru.

The footage shows the two women answering questions shortly after they were held at an airport near the capital, Lima, last week.

Melissa Reid, 19, and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, protested their innocence after police found 11kg (24.2lbs) of cocaine with an estimated street value of £1.5m in their luggage.

An official weighs and tests the drugs allegedly carried by the two women

The police footage also shows an officer examining a row of food bags, in which the drug was allegedly hidden.

Police accused the two of acting as "drug mules" to carry the contraband back to Europe.

Reid, from Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, told officers: "I was forced to take these bags in my luggage."

The two tourists were arrested at the airport near Lima

Asked if she knew the bags contained drugs, Reid replied: "I did not know that."

The father of Reid told Sky News Scotland Correspondent Jane Chilton that his family is devastated by the arrest.

William Reid said she was a beautiful and intelligent young woman who would never do anything like this of her own free will.

Melissa Reid travelled to Ibiza for the summer

Chilton tweeted: "He said he has spoken to her briefly. She's scared and the family are all distraught but at present don't know what is happening."

Archbishop of Lima Sean Walsh has visited the two women on remand and said "they were weepy and upset".

He told the Irish Independent: "They are embarrassed at how everything has affected their families back home. They are devastated by that but I assured them they need to stay strong.

Peru's capital Lima is on the Pacific Ocean coast of South America

"They believe they were set up and they will use that as a defence."

Ireland's former consul to Peru Michael Russell told Sky News: "There are various rumours or stories about what has happened.

"The main thing is not what happened but what the Peruvian courts believe. They are in very spartan conditions, not up to European standards.

Coca leaf is grown in remote areas of Peru for cocaine production

"They are supposed to be up in front of a judge tomorrow and then they will be transferred to a prison."

He told the Irish Times that prosecutors may push for a charge of drug trafficking, which could carry a sentence of between 15 and 25 years in prison.

He said that if the women were convicted of carrying half of the cocaine each, they would likely be ordered to serve around seven years in jail.

But he added that any appeal would probably see the allegations reduced to the "lesser charge".

The pair had lived in Ibiza and were returning to Majorca

The pair confirmed to police at the Lima airport that they had travelled to the South American country from Spain, and then on a Peruvian domestic flight to Cuzco.

They reportedly stayed four days in Cuzco, which is 350-miles south east of Lima, before returning to the capital.

Both women were detained the following day at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport.

Leftist guerrillas have funded their insurgency through the cocaine trade

Peruvian police said the two had been held and their luggage examined after a sniffer dog detected drugs at the Air Europa check-in counter.

Michaella McCollum Connolly worked as a hostess and model

Reid was allegedly carrying 18 foil packets containing 5.78kg of cocaine while McCollum Connolly was accused of carrying 5.81kg of the drug in 16 bags hidden in food sachets.

They pair said they were planning to travel to Madrid and then to the Mediterranean island of Majorca.

They had apparently spent several weeks before the Peru trip living in Ibiza.

Reid had posted dozens of Facebook photos of her time on the island, although her profile had not been updated since late July.

Belfast-born McCollum Connolly, who refers to herself as just Michaella McCollum in the video, had reportedly been looking for work as a nightclub dancer and hostess in Ibiza.

The apparent disappearance from Ibiza of McCollum Connolly had sparked an online campaign back home, backed by a number of Irish sports stars, to establish her whereabouts.

The Reid family home in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire

McCollum Connolly, from Dungannon in County Tyrone, was travelling on an Irish passport.

A representative for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin confirmed she was no longer considered missing and that consular assistance was being provided to her family.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is offering assistance to Reid while she is in custody.

The FCO said in a statement: "We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Peru on August 7. We are providing consular assistance."

Drug experts say Peru has almost certainly supplanted Colombia as the world's leading cocaine-producing country and the trade is used to fund a violent leftist insurgency.

:: On Monday, two bodies of suspected Shining Path rebel leaders were taken to Lima for DNA testing, after the pair died in a shootout with security forces a day earlier.

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Coalition Gets £520k From Mysterious Donor

A mysterious donor left more than £500,000 to the Tories and Lib Dems in her will after pledging the sum to "whoever is in government".

The bequest of £520,000 in total made Ms Joan L B Edwards the biggest individual donor to both parties between April and June.

Her inclusion in the latest donations list sparked intrigue among pundits who wondered whether she had been won over by the coalition's record.

But it is understood the shared donation came about because she had specified the money should go to "whoever was the party of government of the day".

After some initial confusion about how to proceed given the Tories and Lib Dems currently share power, it was decided to divide the money.

The sum was split based on each party's number of ministers and MPs, with the Tories pocketing £420,576 and the Lib Dems £99,423.

No other details about Ms Edwards are currently known, although reports indicate she was not active politically during her lifetime.

Nigel Farage saw donations for UKIP more than double

The latest figures from the Electoral Commission also lay bare Labour's continued reliance on trade unions.

Unions handed more than £2.4m to the party in the second quarter of the year. Unite was the biggest donor, contributing £772,195. The GMB gave £485,830 and Unison £458,080.

The data shows the challenge facing leader Ed Miliband, who has pledged to reform Labour's union ties following allegations of ballot fixing in Falkirk.

In total, Labour received less than the Tories - on £3,136,447 compared to the Conservatives on £4,116,006.

The largest gifts to the Conservatives were £280,770 and £263,600 respectively from party co-treasurers Michael Farmer and James Lupton.

The Lib Dems raised £801,448 from donations over the three months, down from £842,710 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) was buoyed by its receipts more than doubling to £160,000.

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: "Despite Ed Miliband's promise of change, these independent figures prove his Labour Party is still dominated by the trade unions.

"They choose the candidates, pick the leader and remain Labour's biggest donors - providing three quarters of the Party's money."

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan hit back: "The Tories have raked in over £1m from private dinners with David Cameron and senior ministers in the last quarter.

"More than two thirds of that comes from the City - the bankers and hedge fund bosses whose taxes David Cameron cut.

"Hardworking families are seeing their living standards squeezed, with prices rising faster than wages.

"Meanwhile, David Cameron shows how out of touch he is, standing up for the millionaires who fund his party."

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China Mountain Villa On Tower Block 'Must Go'

By Victoria Wei in Beijing

Officials are hunting a man who infuriated neighbours by building an elaborate residence on an apartment block.

About six years ago Zhang Biqing, said to be an ex-army medic, started his grand project to cover the rooftop of the 26-storey Beijing building with fake rocks, real greenery and even a swimming pool.

The apartment is on the roof of the 26-storey building

But residents have expressed their anger at the penthouse, which has no permission or licence to be there.

Mr Zhang, who became famous after inventing a system of Chinese acupuncture treatment, managed to carry out the building work despite years of constant complaints.

The project has allegedly caused water leaks and structural damage to the flats downstairs.

The pool is said to have flooded other apartments

One family who lives at the opposite building told Sky News that the work was hugely intrusive.

They said it was loud and very bright and it meant they could not open their curtains at night.

"It was not only the construction work that carried on at night but also the camera at the top that seemed to be working and recording all the time - we don't have any privacy," the woman, who did not want to be named, told Sky News.

Mr Zhang has been given 15 days to leave the residence. (Pic: Victoria Wei)

"I heard the swimming pool has caused floods to downstairs flats a few times; those poor families."

Local shopkeepers and security guards suggested bribes had possibly exchanged hands, claiming there were close connections between Mr Zhang and the compound's management, who turned a blind eye to the project.

Chinese officials have given Mr Zhang 15 days to vacate the residence in the city's west district of Haidian - but they face a major issue.

"The only thing now for us is that we can't find the owner," said the Beijing City Enforcement Bureau's Chen Yu told reporters.

Beijing authorities say they cannot find the owner

"We have issued a lot of summonses, but he never came to us to be investigated."

But local media managed to find Mr Zhang, who told them he had to keep the villa to accommodate "famous people coming to stay and sing".

"I live here, so I'm not worried about the complaints," Mr Zhang said.

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Teen Stabbing Death: Arrest Over Poplar Killing

A 16-year-old boy has died and another is in hospital with facial injuries after a knife attack in east London.

The two teenagers were attacked by a group of men wearing bandanas and hoods in Spey Street, Poplar, east London, at around 9.50pm on Monday.

Ajmol was described as a "splendid young man"

Ajmol Alom was pronounced dead at hospital, while the other 16-year-old is still being treated for his injuries, which are not life-threatening.

A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Tuesday morning and has been questioned.

Ajmol's headteacher at Langdon Park School, Chris Dunne, described Ajmol as a "splendid young man" who had a bright academic future ahead of him.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Chalmers said Ajmol, who was of Bengali origin, was with Bengali friends when he was attacked.

Speaking at the scene, he said: "Initial indications are that Ajmol was with four friends. They were peaceful, they were conducting conversations at the location, Spey Street, which is behind me.

"They were then confronted by five to six other males who were wearing bandanas and were hooded.

Ajmol had a bright future, says his headteacher

"There appears to have been an unprovoked attack when the victim received his facial injuries and then Ajmol was stabbed."

Mr Chalmers said police were keeping an open mind as to whether the attack was gang related, adding that "initial indications are that Ajmol was not linked to any gangs".

Mr Dunne said the youngster was due to receive "good" GSCE results next Thursday.

He said: "Hardworking, industrious, but also a very caring and thoughtful young man. He was very able in all areas, but that didn't mean he didn't work incredibly hard."

Mr Dunne added that Ajmol was planning to take A-levels before going on to a "very good university" where he had spoken of studying medicine.

A second 16-year-old was hurt in the stabbing in Poplar

He said the teenager had recently taken part in a conflict resolution project with other young people from Northern Ireland, in which he was "hugely active".

A man, who claimed to be a relative, said the teenager was predicted to get an A* in his maths GCSE but "was hanging around with the wrong crowd".

"He was really quiet, he was into sports. He was really into boxing and got a medal for it," he said.

Ajmol's family has been told about his death and a post-mortem examination will be held, Scotland Yard said.

A forensic team searches an area on Spey Street

Former mayor of Tower Hamlets Doros Ullah said he visited the murder scene after hearing what had happened.

He said: "The chap that got killed was a very good boy. He used to pray five times a day.

"He was not someone who had been involved in any trouble in the past."

Mr Ullah said he had been told the teenager was the victim of mistaken identity.

He said: "There was an incident in the past involving the boys from this area and another area and we believe that it is a repercussion of that, that the boys from the other area decided to come back and take revenge so it's a territorial gang problem."

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Egypt: Morsi Supporters Clash With Rivals

Morsiland: Prepared For Long Haul

Updated: 4:58pm UK, Tuesday 13 August 2013

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Nasr City

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood stands united. The government is divided. But can either, or both, prevent their country from falling apart?

The Arab world's most populous nation already has a vicious Islamic-cum-criminal insurgency in the Sinai which, after two rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Eilat, could spread into the Jewish state and strain a peace treaty that has endured for decades.

Cairo is now a city of schism.

Liberals such as Mohammed al Baradei, the Nobel Laureate, now serving as Vice President in an interim government brought in after a military coup, has been showing discomfort over plans to use force to end Brotherhood mass sit-ins, especially around the Raba'a al Adawiya Mosque.

Nabil Fahmy, the foreign minister, has said that the right to peaceful protest should be preserved in Egypt.

But Egypt's military and Interior Ministry has a hard line element that hails from the days when the Brotherhood was banned, its leadership locked up, and they held the keys to a secular modern future for Egypt. They want to sweep the protestors off the streets of Cairo.

For now it would appear that the "civvies" are winning the day, and holding back the sabres.

That is just as well.

Their gathering around Raba'a Square is on a gigantic scale. It's not a sit-in, nor a demonstration. It's a town, fast growing, inside a city.

The streets ring with hammer blows and the rasp of saws. Wooden framed buildings, some of them two stories high, are shooting up in the central reservation on what was a four-lane highway.

After weeks of camping and bloody massacres, which just over two weeks ago left 74 dead and hundreds wounded, the citizens of "Morsiland" are setting up for a long haul.

The perimeters are now secured with sandbag walls and concrete blockades manned by young men in motorbike helmets armed with staves.

Polite and reserved, they are no match for the might of Egypt's armed forces or the police. Their aim, rather, is to try to keep right on their side.

Visitors are welcomed, volunteers spray pedestrians with cooling water vapour in the midday heat, others dab passers-by with sweet smelling oil.

Now that Egypt's upper house has been dissolved by the armed forces after the coup, some of its senators from the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party sit by the side of the road while a new wood and tarpaulin "senate" is re-erected around them.

More than 300 people have been killed; most of them have been supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, who remains in military detention.

If the Brotherhood is stockpiling medicines and manning a field hospital ahead of any future attack, why are there so many women and children on the streets here?

"Men come here with their wives and families. No one forced them to come here but everybody feels that there is no dignity in life without freedom," said former senator Ashraf Mozayen.

Be that as it may, one doesn't have to be a total cynic to question why a children's playground has been built by pro-Morsi campaigners on an intersection - the wrong side of the barricades.

Still, the military will also be pausing before ordering an assault because of the sheer size of Morsiland.

Tens of thousands of people are camped on streets which radiate in all four directions away from the mosque for half a mile at least.

A civilian movement that, for now, eschews violence, the Brotherhood has proved itself more effective in opposition than when Morsi, a Brotherhood member, was in power.

Taking over an economy on its knees he focussed on filling government and administration posts with Islamists. Instead of re-igniting industry and tourism he appointed a member of Jamaa Islamiya, the movement behind the murder of more than 50 tourists in Luxor, as governor of Luxor.

He put himself above the law at a time when law and order was disintegrating and ruled by decree before a parliament could be sworn in.

Many Egyptians were glad to see him gone.

But the Brotherhood is proving that it's still the most effective civilian organisation in the country.

Morsiland has showers and toilets capable of handling thousands - all improvised. Urinals are fashioned from water coolers.

There are street-side laundries - kitchens feeding anyone in need with mountains of donated food.

Dr Hashem Ibrahim, a consultant laser surgeon who now runs the main field hospital which has treated the dead and wounded from two massacres already, said: "We have enough (donated) medicines for five hospitals - 500 volunteer doctors and paramedics - we are ready for anything."

The choice now lies with the hardliners in government.

If they elect to clear pro-Morsi demonstrators from the streets, there will be blood.

It could force many into the camp of the radicalised mainly Bedouin and Palestinian groups operating in the Sinai, where Egypt's armed forces are already locked in a dangerous conflict they do not have under control.

Egypt then risks an insurgency - and would look back on Morsiland with nostalgia.

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