Obama pledges US to defend its ally South Korea

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged the United States would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with South Korea after what the White House branded a provocative, outrageous attack by North Korea on its neighbor. Its options limited, the U.S. sought a diplomatic rather a military response to one of the most ominous clashes between the Koreas in decades.

"South Korea is our ally. It has been since the Korean war," Obama said in his first comments about the North Korean shelling of a South Korean island early Tuesday. "And we strongly affirm our commitment to defend South Korea as part of that alliance."

Working to head off any escalation, the U.S. did not reposition any of its 29,000 troops in the South or make other military moves after North Korea fired salvos of shells into the island, setting off an artillery duel between the two sides.

The president, speaking to ABC News, would not speculate when asked about military options.

Obama called South Korean President Lee Myung-bak later Tuesday night, saying the U.S. would work with the international community to strongly condemn the attack that killed the two South Koreans and injured many more, the White House said.

The White House said the two presidents agreed to hold combined military exercises and enhanced training in the days ahead to continue the close security cooperation between the two countries.

Obama assured Lee that "the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with our close friend and ally, the Republic of Korea," the White House statement said.

"President Obama said that North Korea must stop its provocative actions, which will only lead to further isolation, and fully abide by the terms of the armistice agreement and its obligations under international law," the statement said.

The U.S. has relatively few options when dealing with the Pyongyang government. Military action is particularly unappealing, since the unpredictable North possesses crude nuclear weapons as well as a huge standing army. North Korea exists largely outside the system of international financial and diplomatic institutions that the U.S. has used as leverage in dealing with other hostile countries, including Iran.

North Korea has also resisted pressure from its major ally, China, which appears to be nervous about the signs of instability in its neighbor.

"We strongly condemn the attack and we are rallying the international community to put pressure on North Korea," Obama said in the ABC interview, specifically citing the need for China's help. Obama said every nation in the region must know "this is a serious and ongoing threat."

An administration official said Tuesday evening that U.S. officials in Washington and in Beijing were appealing strongly to China to condemn the attack by arguing that it was an act that threatened the stability of the entire region, not just the Korean peninsula. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates phoned South Korea's defense minister to express sympathy for the deaths of two of the South's marines in the artillery shelling of a small South Korean island and to express appreciation "for the restraint shown to date" by the South's government, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Obama called North Korea's action "just one more provocative incident" and said he would consult with Lee on an appropriate response.

In his phone call to South Korea's defense minister, Gates said the U.S. viewed recent attacks as a violation of the armistice agreement that ended the Korea War in 1953, and he reiterated the U.S. commitment to South Korea's defense, said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

Obama was awakened at 4 a.m. Tuesday with the news. He went ahead with an Indiana trip focused on the economy before returning to the White House after dark.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. would take a "deliberate approach" in response to what he also called provocative North Korean behavior. At the same time, other administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the emerging strategy, said the White House was determined to end a diplomatic cycle that officials said rewards North Korean brinksmanship.

In the past, the U.S. and other nations have sweetened offers to North Korea as it has developed new missiles and prototype nuclear weapons. North Korea is now demanding new one-on-one talks with the United States, which rejects that model in favor of group diplomacy that includes North Korea's protector, China.

"We're not going to respond willy-nilly," Toner said. "We believe that it's important that we keep a unified and measured approach going forward."

Both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill accused North Korea of starting the skirmish.

The violence comes as the North prepares for a dynastic change in leadership and faces a winter of food and electricity shortages. It is the latest of a series of confrontations that have aggravated tensions on the divided peninsula.

The incident also follows the North's decision last week to give visiting Western scientists a tour of a secret uranium enrichment facility, which may signal an expansion of the North's nuclear weapons program. Six weeks ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il anointed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as his heir apparent.

The administration official said the U.S. did not interpret North Korea's aggression as a desire to go to war, but as yet another effort to extract concessions from the international community.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said no new equipment or personnel have been relocated to South Korea, while Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz seemed to shrug off the latest incident as something that Seoul can handle on its own.

"The North Koreans have undertaken over time a number of provocations that have manifested themselves in different ways," Schwartz said.

The USS George Washington carrier strike group will join South Korean naval forces in the waters west of the Korean peninsula Nov. 28-Dec. 1 to conduct air defense and surface warfare readiness training that had been planned well before Tuesday's attack, the White House said.

The artillery exchange was only the latest serious incident between the two nations. In March, a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan, exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea, killing 46 sailors. South Korea accused the North of torpedoing the vessel; the North denied the allegation.

In August, the South Korean military reported that the North had fired 110 artillery rounds into the Yellow Sea near the disputed sea border but said the shells fell harmlessly into North Korean waters.

South Korean officials said Tuesday's clash came after Pyongyang warned the South to halt military drills near the small South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.

When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into the water near the disputed sea border, the North bombarded Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.

Recent joint U.S.-Korean naval exercises and strenuous denunciations of the North may only have provoked the regime in Pyongyang. Some experts say the secretive regime may be trying to promote Kim Jong Un as a worthy successor who, like his father, is capable of standing up to the U.S.

"I think it may be all wrapped in this succession planning, in the way the North is looking at it," said Robert RisCassi, a retired Army general who commanded U.S. forces in Korea from 1990-93.

The U.S.-South Korea exercises also angered China. Beijing is regarded as the key to any long-term diplomatic bargain to end North Korea's nuclear program and reduce tensions on the peninsula.

But U.S. officials say the North's motives and internal politics are opaque and sometimes appear inconsistent.

"I don't know the answer to any question about North Korea that begins with the word 'why,'" Gates told reporters Monday.

India district bans cell phones for unmarried women

NEW DELHI (AFP) – A local council in northern India has banned unmarried women from carrying mobile telephones to halt a series of illicit romances between partners from different castes, media reports said Wednesday.

The Baliyan council in Uttar Pradesh state decided to act after at least 23 young couples ran away and got married over the last year against their parents' wishes.

"The panchayat (assembly) was convinced that the couples planned their elopement over their cell phones," village elder Jatin Raghuvanshi told the Calcutta Telegraph.

The rules of inter-caste marriages are complicated and extremely rigid in many rural communities in India, with some lovers even murdered in "honour killings" by relatives trying to protect their family's reputation.

"All parents were told to ensure their unmarried daughters do not use cell phones. The boys can do so, but only under their parents' monitoring," said Satish Tyagi, a spokesman for the village assembly.

Caste discrimination is banned in India but still pervades many aspects of daily life, especially outside the cities.

Traditional Hindu society breaks down into brahmins (priests and scholars), kshatriya (soldiers), vaishya (merchants) and shudra (labourers). Below the caste system are the Dalits, formerly known as "Untouchables".

Caste categories often determine Indians' life prospects, and conservative families will only marry within their own caste sub-division.

North Korea shells South in fiercest attack in decades

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korea fired scores of artillery shells at a South Korean island on Tuesday, killing two soldiers, in one of the heaviest attacks on its neighbor since the Korean War ended in 1953.

The barrage -- the South fired back and sent a fighter jet to the area -- was close to a disputed maritime border on the west of the divided peninsula and the scene of deadly clashes in the past. South Korea was conducting military drills in the area at the time but said it had not been firing at the North.

The attack came as the reclusive North, and its ally China, presses regional powers to return to negotiations on its nuclear weapons program and revelations at the weekend Pyongyang is fast developing another source of material to make atomic bombs.

It also follows moves by leader Kim Jong-il to make his youngest, but unproven, son his heir apparent, leading some analysts to question whether the bombardment might in part have been an attempt to burnish the ruling family's image with the military.

"Houses and mountains are on fire and people are evacuating. You can't see very well because of plumes of smoke," a witness on the island told YTN Television before the shelling, which lasted about an hour, ended.

YTN said at least 200 North Korean shells hit Yeonpyeong, which lies off the west coast of the divided peninsula near a disputed maritime border. Most landed on a military base there.

Photographs from Yeongyeong island, just 120 km (75 miles) west of Seoul, showed columns of smoke rising from buildings. Two soldiers were killed in the attack, 17 wounded. Three civilians were also hurt.

News of the attack rattled global markets, already unsettled by Ireland's debt woes and a shift to less risky assets.

Experts say North Korea's Kim has for decades played a carefully calibrated game of provocation to squeeze concessions from the international community and impress his own military. The risk is that the leadership transition has upset this balance and that events spin out of control.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who has pursued a hard line with the North since taking office nearly three years ago, said a response had to be firm following the attack.

But he made no suggestion the South would retaliate further, suggesting Seoul was taking a measured response to prevent things getting out of hand.

The North has a huge array of artillery pointed at Seoul that could decimate an urban area home to around 25 million people and cause major damage to its trillion dollar economy.

The two Koreas are still technically at war -- the Korean War ended only with a truce -- and tension rose sharply early this year after Seoul accused the North of torpedoing one of its navy vessels, killing 46 sailors.

North Korea said its wealthy neighbor started the fight.

"Despite our repeated warnings, South Korea fired dozens of shells from 1 p.m. ... and we've taken strong military action immediately," its KCNA news agency said in a brief statement.

South Korea said it had been conducting military drills in the area beforehand but had fired west, not north.

The international community was quick to express alarm at the sudden rise in tension in a region that is home to three of the world's biggest economies -- China, Japan and South Korea.

A French diplomatic source said the U.N. Security Council would call an emergency meeting in a day or two over North Korea, against which it has imposed heavy economic sanctions for previous nuclear and missile tests.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the escalation in tensions a "colossal danger.

China was careful to avoid taking sides, calling on both Koreas to "do more to contribute to peace.

"China hopes that the relevant parties will do more to contribute to peace and stability in the region ... it is imperative now to resume the six-party talks," a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hong Lei, told reporters.

Those talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program -- involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- have long been on ice.

But the North has recently been pushing to resume the talks, which previously it has used to win massive aid in return for promises to end its weapons program.

WON TUMBLES

News of the exchange of fire sent the won tumbling in offshore markets with the 1-month won down about four percent at one stage in NDF trading. U.S. 10-year Treasury futures rose and the Japanese yen fell.

The South Korean central bank, after an emergency meeting, said it planned to cooperate with the government to take measures to stabilize markets if necessary. Many traders expect South Korea's financial markets to fall further when trading opens on Wednesday.

The attack comes just as a U.S. envoy is in Beijing on a tour of the region and is expected to ask China to use its influence over North Korea.

Washington has branded the North a danger to the region and expressed concern Pyongyang would sell nuclear weapons technology to other states. It has said it was ready to return to talks but wants to see more commitment to denuclearization by the North beforehand.

The White House condemned the attack, telling the North to halt its "belligerent action" and saying it was committed to defend the South.

It has about 28,000 troops in South Korea, their combined forces facing an estimated one million North Korean soldiers who make up one of the world's biggest standing armies.

"UNBELIEVABLE"

"It's unbelievable," said Zhu Feng, professor of international relations at Peking University. "Today's news proves that North Korea, under unprovoked conditions, shot these South Korean islands. It's reckless provocation. They want to make a big bang and force the negotiations back into their favor. It's the oldest trick."

The North depends heavily on China for economic and diplomatic support and Kim Jong-il has visited China twice this year, in part to gain backing for the anointment of his son as heir.

Those ties have become a sore point with Washington after reports that North Korea appears to have made big steps toward enriching uranium, possibly using technology that passed through or even originated in China.

China has urged returning to the nuclear disarmament negotiations but has also fended off calls from Washington and its regional allies to use its vital food and energy aid to North Korea as a lever.

Officials find 2,000 fetuses at Bangkok temple

BANGKOK – On the grounds of a Buddhist temple, dozens of white plastic bags lay in carefully arranged rows. Each sack was knotted at the top and contained the remains of a fetus. Thai authorities found about 2,000 remains in the temple's mortuary, where they had been hidden for a year — apparently to conceal illegal abortions.

A strong stench had drawn police to the temple in Bangkok's old city Tuesday, and authorities searching the mortuary — where bodies awaiting cremation are normally kept — initially found more than 300 fetuses. They returned Friday to find more than five times that number, according to police Lt. Col. Kanathud Musiganont.

Health officials, police and charity workers counted the fetuses, placing each one in a white plastic bag bearing the charity's name in red Thai script and Chinese characters. The group is often involved in the handling of remains, including recovering bodies from accident scenes and organizing burials.

As the remains were laid out, Buddhist worshippers left offerings for the fetuses: milk and bananas to nourish their spirits in the afterlife.

Abortion is illegal in Thailand except under three conditions — if a woman is raped, if the pregnancy affects her health or if the fetus is abnormal.

Although Thailand is home to a huge and active sex industry, many Thais are conservative on sexual matters, and Buddhist activists especially oppose liberalizing abortion laws.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that more must be done to prevent illegal abortions but that his government would not revise the laws. He said his government has discussed the matter and believed that "the existing laws are appropriate and flexible enough."

Several people have already been arrested in the case: two undertakers for hiding bodies to conceal the cause of death and an abortion clinic employee on charges of operating an unlicensed medical clinic and performing abortions. The undertakers could each be sent to prison for up to a year and fined 2,000 baht ($67). The clinic employee — who police said confessed she had delivered the fetuses to the morgue workers starting early this year — could face up to five years in jail and a fine of 10,000 baht ($333).

Suchart Poomee, 38, one of the undertakers being questioned, confessed Tuesday he had been hired by illegal abortion clinics to destroy the fetuses, police said. He said he had been collecting the fetuses since November 2009. It was not clear why they had not yet been cremated.

Police Col. Sombat Milintachinda said the fetuses found Friday seemed to have been hidden for a longer period of time than those found earlier in the week.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisith said around 1 million Thai women get pregnant each year, with 60,000 suffering miscarriages and another 80,000 getting legal abortions. He gave no estimate for the number of illegal abortions.

Illegal abortion "requires efforts from both the government and the private sector to promote better understanding about sex among the Thai youngsters," Jurin said.

Suriyadeo Tripathi, the director of Thailand's National Institute for Child and Family Development, said young people were getting mixed messages, and sex education needs to be improved.

"On the one hand, you see many campaigns trying to promote safer sex, but on the other, a lot of people still strongly encourage abstinence and retain a stigma against premarital sex," he said

Pentagon says "aware" of China Internet rerouting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Defense Department is aware that Internet traffic was rerouted briefly through China earlier this year, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday, referring to what a congressionally appointed panel has described as a hijack.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission charged in its annual report on Wednesday that state-owned China Telecom advertised erroneous network routes that instructed "massive volumes" of U.S. and other foreign Internet traffic to go through Chinese servers during an 18-minute stretch on April 8.

Marine Colonel David Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters, "We're aware that on the 8th of April ... Internet traffic was rerouted through China."

He added at one point that he did not know if "we've determined whether that particular incident ... was done with some malicious intent or not."

Moments later, he said there was no evidence that anything malicious had occurred, a position he repeated when pressed about the discrepancy in his remarks.

The U.S.-China Commission in its 2010 report said the incident affected traffic to and from U.S. government and military sites, including those for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' office, the armed forces and some commercial websites.

In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the commission's report on China's military capabilities and economic policies, saying it distorted reality and was symptomatic of Cold War thinking.

China Telecom separately has denied the charge that it "hijacked" U.S. Internet traffic by sending false notifications that prompted other servers to route traffic through China on the assumption that it was the most efficient path.

The commission said the evidence did not clearly show whether the incident was perpetrated intentionally "and, if so, to what ends. However, computer security researchers have noted that the capability could enable severe malicious activities," the report said.

Commissioner Larry Wortzel, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served two tours as a military attache in China, told reporters that the incident could have let someone mine email addresses and then send authentic-looking messages bearing attachments with malicious code or other harmful software.

"When I see things like this happen, I ask: 'Who might be interested in all the communication from the entire Department of Defense and the federal government? It's probably not a graduate student from Shanghai University,'" Wortzel said on Wednesday.

Lapan, the Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department's internal networks would not have been affected by any improper rerouting of traffic through Chinese servers.

"We do have tools to protect any of the traffic that goes outside" the internal networks, he added, referring to encryption and devices that warn when Internet traffic is being rerouted.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who led a Senate Intelligence Committee cyber task force that submitted a classified report to the panel in July on cyber threats, said on Wednesday that certain threats cannot be countered without the U.S. government's unique "authorities and capabilities."

In a Senate floor speech, the Rhode Island Democrat reiterated a proposal to create a "dot.secure" domain to protect crucial U.S. services such as power grids, financial networks, transportation and communications hubs.

"We simply cannot leave that core infrastructure on which the life and death of Americans depends without better security," Whitehouse said.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was set up in 2000 to examine the security implications of growing economic ties with China.

Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese security issues at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the alleged Internet hijacking appeared to be part of what he described as a disturbing pattern of aggressive Chinese cyber activities.

"All of this suggests that, from China's view, a global conflict is already underway - in the virtual world of cyberspace," he wrote. "The ability to redirect vast amounts of data constitutes a threat, not only to national security, but also to private companies and individuals, as their information, too, has now been put at risk."

Congo general 'profits from blood gold'

A senior officer in the Democratic Republic of Congo has used the military to illegally profit from a gold mine, sources have told the BBC.

The BBC has evidence that Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba installed a mining firm at the Omate mine in return for a 25% cut.

Following a mining ban in September, production is continuing at the mine under direct military control.

The general refused to answer questions about his role and the firm involved, Geminaco, denies there was a deal.

The lure of profits from mines in eastern DR Congo has turned the area into a battlefield.

Rebels target civilians in the surrounding villages near the border with Rwanda and Uganda and there have been reports of kidnapping, massacres and mass rapes, fuelled by the profits from minerals.

The military was sent in to suppress the rebels and ensure security for the local people.

Raw gold

During the last 12 months, Geminaco approached Gen Amisi, the second in command of the army, asking him to help it take over Omate.

Rene Mwinyi, head of Geminaco, told the BBC the company had the rights to mine the area.

In February, the general wrote to the regional army commander in North Kivu, telling him to evict a rival company, Socagrimines, in favour of Geminaco.

The BBC has a copy of the letter, which says: "I order you to proceed to the eviction of the administration in place and all military involved in mining activities and to reinstate Geminaco in its initial positions."

But the head of the government's mining division in North Kivu, Emmanuel Ndimubanzi, said the general should have had no role in the dispute between the two companies.

He added that neither Socagrimines nor Geminaco had the right to mine at Omate.

A well-placed source in the industry told the BBC the general benefited from the arrangement.

"The head of Geminaco in Congo, Rene Mwinyi, is a friend of General Amisi, or 'Tango Fort' as they call him," he said.

"They struck a deal to exploit Omate gold mine, which would give Amisi 25% of the monthly production of the raw gold."

A soldier, who spent over two months at the mine, also told the BBC: "At Omate there is the company Geminaco which exploits the minerals… and there are also soldiers who were sent by our chief of staff, General Tango Fort, who are also mining."

"The gold goes to the brigade commander in charge of units which are supposed to hunt down rebels…it also goes to Kinshasa. This is very serious: Instead of benefiting the state, this money goes to unknown pockets."

Mr Mwinyi said no such deal was done with Gen Amisi.

However, the 25% arrangement was confirmed by a provincial government source. Like many of the people who spoke to me, he would not go on the record because of fear of reprisals.

A source at Socagrimines said the company had tried and failed to do a deal with Gen Amisi itself. He said it was impossible to mine in the area without military support.

'Soldiers desert posts'

In September, Congolese President Joseph Kabila ordered a ban on mineral production in the east of the country, to root out what he called "mafia groups" who control the trade.

Geminaco has since been evicted, and its manager at the mine was arrested in October.

A source told the BBC that the manager was arrested because Gen Amisi was not getting his promised cut of the profits. The manager himself denied there was any deal between the company and the general.

He said Geminaco's ejection from the mine was related to the ban - which contradicts Mr Mwinyi's statement that the firm has an exemption from it.

Despite the ban, mining has continued at Omate - now under direct control of the military.

A gold digger confirmed that he was working at the Omate mine very recently. Armed soldiers control the mine and often beat the diggers, he said.

I was unable to visit the mine myself because of the heavy deployment of soldiers. However, a friend visited on foot and confirmed that production is continuing.

When the BBC contacted Gen Amisi, he refused to answer questions about Omate, saying he was not entitled to talk to the media.

He referred us to the army's spokesman who said we had no authority to investigate the general's interests.

DR Congo remains one of the world's poorest countries, despite its rich resources of minerals like gold, cassiterite and coltan.

The east of the country was ravaged by many years of war involving Congolese, Ugandan and Rwandan forces.

An estimated five million people died and the area has suffered continuing conflict involving armed groups who have committed numerous atrocities.

Just this summer, more than 300 civilians were raped in this area by a coalition of rebel groups.

An internal memo from the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo suggested that the villages attacked were vulnerable because there were no Congolese soldiers to protect them.

The soldiers deployed there had left their posts to go to mining areas nearby, including Omate.

Ghana Telescope - Accra Ghana

Brazil prison riot leaves at least 18 dead


A prison riot in northern Brazil has left at least 18 inmates dead after fighting broke out between rival gangs.

Several victims were reportedly decapitated by cell mates and their heads thrown out of the windows.

The rebellion, which has now ended, erupted on Monday at the jail in the state of Maranhao when a group of prisoners wrestled a gun off a guard and went on the rampage.

Inmates had demanded better conditions in the overcrowded jail.

Guards released

Prisoners at the Pedrinhas prison in Sao Luis, the capital of Maranhao, overpowered and shot a guard during an inspection on Monday. He and five other guards were taken hostage.

The wounded guard was freed on Monday and taken to hospital, where he was said to be stable. The other guards were released unharmed on Tuesday.

State secretary for security Aluisio Guimarares told Agence France-Presse news agency that police had retaken control of the prison and restored calm.

There are frequent riots in Brazilian prisons, which are often overcrowded.

The Pedrinhas prison was built to house 2,000 men but currently holds about 4,000.


Nigerian militants seize workers from oil rig



Gunmen in Nigeria have attacked an oil rig and seized up to seven workers after a recent lull in such raids.

Afren, the company which operates the rig, said two workers had been wounded. Those seized are reportedly from the US, France, Canada and Indonesia.

The raid came as an e-mail was sent to journalists warning of new attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta.

Violence in the oil-producing region had subsided after the main militant group accepted an amnesty last year.

London-based Afren PLC said the gunmen had also attacked a support ship but that both the boat and the rig in the Okoro field off the coast of Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state were now under its control.

The wounded pair have been flown by helicopter for medical treatment, it said.

The company did not provide any further details of Sunday's attack but said drilling operations had been suspended.

It said five workers had been taken hostage but several other reports say seven people were seized - two from France, two from Indonesia, two from the US and one from Canada.

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley confirmed that two US citizens had been taken.

An e-mail reportedly sent by the main oil militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it had carried out the attack and that all those seized were safe and well, Reuters news agency reports.

Violence in the Delta region had caused a sharp fall in Nigeria's oil output until the amnesty offer saw thousands of gunmen lay down their arms.

But a Mend faction is accused of carrying out twin car-bombings in the capital, Abuja as Nigeria was celebrating 50 years of independence on 1 October.


Mystery missile launch reported off California coast



Pentagon officials say they cannot explain reports of a missile launch off the coast of California on Monday.

A CBS News helicopter captured what looked like the vapour trail of a missile rising from the water about 35 miles (56 km) offshore.

"Right now all indications are that it was not [defence department] involvement in this launch" Pentagon spokesman Col David Lapan said.

The Pentagon does not consider the missile a threat.

"So far we've come up empty with any explanation," Col Lapan said. "We're doing everything we can to try to figure out if anybody has any knowledge of what this event may have been."

Under normal circumstances, the launch of a US missile would require several different authorisations and notifications, but none are evident.

It is unclear if the suspected missile was launched from land or sea.

Ghana Cocoa Board Lifts Buying Ban on Three Companies


Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer, partially lifted a ban on three licensed cocoa- buying companies from operating in its biggest growing region after allegations they were involved in smuggling.

Armajaro Holdings Ltd., Transroyal Ghana Ltd. and Diaby Ltd. complied with the ban placed in April on purchasing beans in the western region near the border with Ivory Coast, and had trained their staff on anti-smuggling, the Accra-based Ghana Cocoa Board said in an e-mailed statement today. They are still not allowed to trade in some districts of the region, it said.

The board, also known as Cocobod, says Ghana has lost about 100,000 metric tons of beans because of smuggling to Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer of the chocolate ingredient, where a liberalized market can fetch farmers higher prices for their produce than in Ghana, where prices are fixed. Cocobod increased the price it paid to farmers for the 2010-11 harvest season by a third to 3,200 cedis ($2,228) per ton, partly to stop smuggling. The season started on Oct. 1.

Thomas Ladi, a finance manager of Transroyal, denied the company was involved in smuggling.

“It is not in our interest to smuggle the cocoa,” he said in a phone interview today. “We make our margin from the number of tons we are able to sell to Cocobod.”

It will take time for the company to re-start operations in the region, since “depots will have to be acquired and staff moved back to the area,” Ladi said.

Cocoa for December delivery increased 26 pounds, or 1.4 percent, to 1,855 pounds ($2,997) a ton by 3:14 p.m. in London.






Gold Advances on Increased Investor Demand for Alternative to Currencies


Gold climbed on speculation that European governments may struggle to pay debt, which boosted demand for the precious metal as an alternative to currencies.

Gold for immediate delivery gained 0.4 percent to $1,398.20 an ounce at 2:30 p.m. in Seoul. The metal reached to an all-time high of $1,424.60 an ounce yesterday on concern that Ireland and Greece will struggle to repay bondholders, and spending cuts may stifle growth in the region.

“Paper money is being printed and printed, but there’s no other alternative,” said C.S. Oh, head of overseas futures team at NH Investment & Futures Co. in Seoul. “There’s no change to the fundamentals in the gold market. The dollar looks a bit stronger now, but it’s poised to weaken in the long term.”

The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback’s strength against six other counterparts, has fallen 1.2 percent since Oct. 1, while gold has gained 6.9 percent. Bullion typically moves inversely to the U.S. currency. The metal has gained 27 percent this year, heading for the 10th straight annual gain.

Governments have spent trillions of dollars to bolster their economies, driving the value of currencies lower. Last week, the Federal Reserve said it will buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries through June.

Gold futures for December delivery dropped 0.9 percent to $1,397.20 an ounce on the Comex in New York after reaching a record $1,424.30 yesterday.

Currency tensions may increase protectionism, World Bank President Robert Zoellick told reporters in Singapore today, adding that he doesn’t see a currency war developing. Zoellick also said he’s not advocating a return to the gold standard.

Gold ‘Compass’

There is “some sense” in using gold as tool to guide monetary authorities in the U.S., said Dennis Gartman, an economist and the editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter. “We are not proponents of a gold standard,” he said yesterday in his daily note. The metal could be used “as a target, as a guide-post, as a compass.”

Silver for immediate delivery gained 2.4 percent to $27.555 an ounce. The metal fell yesterday as much as 4.5 percent after reaching $29.36, the highest price since March 1980, as CME Group Inc.’s Comex unit raised margin requirements.

The minimum amount of cash that traders must deposit when borrowing from brokers to trade silver futures will rise to $6,500 per contract from $5,000 for exchange members, Michael Shore, a spokesman for the exchange in Chicago, said yesterday.

Spot palladium gained 0.2 percent to $693.88 on ounce and platinum was little changed at $1,762.38 an ounce.