Boston Marathon suspect's injuries hinder investigation

The surviving Boston bombings suspect is so seriously injured that investigators may struggle to interrogate him effectively, it was suggested on Sunday, as further questions were raised about the FBI's previous contacts with his dead brother.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old who is accused of planting the pressure-cooker bombs with his older brother Tamerlan that killed three and injured more than 180 at the Boston Marathon last Monday, was being treated in hospital for a reported bullet wound to the throat and was unable to speak. He was captured on Friday night, a day after a violent gun battle with police that left his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, dead.

The FBI admitted that it interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in early 2011 at the request of a foreign government, believed to be Russia, which had concerns he was linked to Islamist terrorism. The FBI said it concluded he was not involved in terrorism, and was left scrambling at the weekend to find out more about a six-month visit he made to Russia in 2012.

I just hope some people are not playing pranks somewhere. As usual, time would tell

Fashion sense:Bill Clinton lends his fedora to Charlize Theron at GLAAD Media Awards

New stylist?: Charlize Theron took a style cue from former president Bill Clinton as she donned his black fedora at the GLAAD Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday night

'You'll thank me later': Charlize initially seemed ambivalent about adding the accessory, but later accepted it at Bill's insistence

Charlize Theron and Bill Clinton couldn't help initiating a role reversal when they met at Saturday night's GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles.

                       Quite the pair: Charlize dazzled in gold statement jewelry while Bill looked downright debonair in a classic suit

The South African beauty took a style cue from the former president as she topped her blonde crop with his black fedora.

The chapeau added unexpected flair to Charlize's figure-hugging black jumpsuit.

North Korea:U.S. Will Take 'All Necessary Steps' To Protect Its People

President Obama

President Barack Obama says now is the time for North Korea to end its belligerence. He says the United States will take, in his words, "all necessary steps" to protect its people.

But Obama also says that no one wants to see a conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea ratcheted up its threats against the U.S. after the U.N. Security Council levied new economic sanctions on the isolated nation. The penalties were in response to a February rocket launch.

Obama spoke alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after the two met in the Oval Office.

North Korea behind hacking attack in March, claims Seoul

North Korea was behind the cyber attack in March that wiped hard drives on more than 30,000 PCs in TV stations and disrupted banks in south Korea, a spokesman for its internet security agency said on Wednesday, ratcheting up the tension between the two sides another notch.

The agency said six computers in the north accessed computer servers in the south using more than a thousand access points on the internet, called IP addresses, based overseas. Those were then used to set up the attack.A spokesman told the Associated Press that the attack, planned up to eight months earlier, had similarities to past North Korean hacking attempts, which he said were carried out by an espionage agency run by the military there.

That will raise concerns that even a minor conflict between the two nations could be presaged by a cyber attack aimed at critical infrastructure in the south, which is one of the most networked nations in the world – in stark contrast to the north, which is one of the least networked.

North Korea has been using increasingly aggressive language in public statements: on Tuesday it warned foreigners to leave South Korea for "safe places", implying a nuclear war was imminent. The two nations have never signed a peace treaty; the three-year-long Korean war ended in a ceasefire, but not a peace treaty. They have thus remained at war despite the peace that has reigned since July 1953.

The online realm has become the most active frontier in what is so far a phoney war between the two nations. North Korea's Twitter feed was hacked last week, apparently by hackers from the Anonymous collective.

I have looked at all the scenarios. It seems to me like these poor guys( North Korea) just want to bother the rich guys(South Korea, US, Japan) andvto what end?

North Korea: US and Seoul brace for missile test

The US and South Korean combined forces command in the South has stepped up surveillance of the North and added intelligence staff as the region prepares for an expected missile test.

The joint command has increased its alert level one notch above the standard status, an unnamed military official told the South's Yonhap news agency, while Seoul's foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, told parliament the prospects of a launch were "very high".

While tensions on the peninsula have escalated rapidly in recent weeks, with Pyongyang issuing a series of threats and withdrawing workers from a joint industrial zone, analysts believe the North is simply trying to exert pressure on other countries in the hope of a security guarantee and aid."

North Korea warns foreigners to leave South

As the world waits to see if North Korea launches a ballistic missile, the regime has attempted to raise tensions further, warning foreigners living in South Korea to make evacuation plans because the peninsula is on the brink of war.

"We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war," the official KCNA news agency quoted an official from a North Korean organisation calling itself Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee as saying.

Analysts noted that Pyongyang had issued similar threats in the past, adding that this latest warning is designed to elicit aid and political concessions from Seoul and Washington.

Amid the bluster of recent weeks – during which the North has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the US – the regime appears to have made good on its threat to withdraw its workers from the Kaesong industrial complex.None of the 53,000 North Korean workers at the site, located just north of the border, arrived for work on Tuesday morning – a day after Pyongyang accused the South of turning the jointly run zone into "a hotbed of war".

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Time will tell

Kim Jong un has been noticed!?

Kim Jong un

At the end of a week in which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shattered the illusion that his rule would mark a departure from bellicosity, signs are emerging that there may be method in his apparent madness.

His motivation is not war, but simple regime survival, top-level defectors in the South have said.

The 20,000 North Koreans who have made new lives in the South since the end of the Korean war in 1953 are among the few people placed to give reliable insights into a country that often generates more speculative heat thananalytical light.

While they are divided on how far Kim will to go in his campaign to pressure the US and South Korea into offering talks on aid and a peace treaty, they say he is as aware as officials in Washington and Seoul that all-out war and the continuation of his dynasty are mutually exclusive.

"Kim Jong-un's aim is to unite the North Korean military and people around his regime and win their trust," said Jang Se-yul, a former mathematics professor who spent 10 years in the cyberwarfare unit of the North Korean army in Pyongyang. "They don't trust Kim yet, and they're looking for strong signals from him."

All for trust? This young ruler is truly mad.

North Korea: US defends moves

The US has defended its robust response to military threats from North Korea amid criticism that both sides are to blame for the escalating rhetorical standoff.

Pyongyang ratcheted tensions in the region to new levels on Thursday by reportedly moving a medium range missile to its eastern coast after warning it has been authorised to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons.

This followed steps by Washington to move interceptor missiles and warships to the region to defend against possible attack by the North.But the US State Department responded to questions from reporters about the danger of a downward spiral by insisting that it had no choice but to respond in this way.

"When you have a country that is making the kind of bellicose statements and taking the kind of steps that they have, you have to take it seriously and you have to take steps to defend the US and its allies," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Enough said. The US has done the necessary.

North Korea threat: US missile battery deployment to Guam

The Pentagon ordered an advanced missile defence system to the western Pacific on Wednesday, as the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, declared that North Korea posed "a real and clear danger" to South Korea, Japan and America itself.

The deployment of the battery to the US territory of Guam is the biggest demonstration yet that Washington regards the confrontation with North Korea as more worrying than similar crises over the past few years. It also suggests the Americans are preparing for a long standoff.

North Korea ramped up its rhetoric on Wednesday, warning that it had authorised plans for nuclear strikes on targets in the US. The North Korean military said that the "moment of explosion is approaching fast" and that war could break out "today or tomorrow".

The Pentagon announced the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System (THAAD) before the latest statement from Pyonyang. It is intended to provide protection for US military bases in the region against short- and medium-range North Korean missiles. North Korea has, over the past few weeks, warned that it could strike Guam, Hawaii and the US west coast.The $800m (£529m) battery was not due for deployment until 2015, but will now be in place in weeks.

There had been debate within the US defence department about deploying it first to the Middle East to protect Israel, but the threat from North Korea is now viewed as more serious.

I just do not know what to think anymore. North Korea is taking this far. I agree they do have a valid reason but we do not need a needless bloodshed.

S. Korea President Vows Strong Retaliation Against North

South Korea's president has warned that the country's military will strike back swiftly and decisively against any North Korean attack, as tensions on the peninsula continue to mount.

In a meeting with senior defense officials Monday, President Park Geun-hye ordered them to respond to any provocation from the North without regard to "political considerations."Ms. Park's blunt message came as North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament held its annual one-day session, reaffirming the government's commitment to expand its nuclear arsenal and continue rocket launches.

In Washington Monday, the White House said that despite days of provocative rhetoric from North Korea, the United States has not detected any military mobilizations.White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the United States and its allies are looking closely at both North Korean rhetoric and the situation on the ground."I would note, that despite the harsh rhetoric we are hearing from Pyongyang, we are not seeing changes to the North Korean military posture, such as large-scale mobilizations and positioning of forces. Now we take this seriously, we have said that in the past, and we are vigilant and we are monitoring the Korean situation very diligently," said Carney.

In another development Monday, the United States further strengthened its naval capabilities in international waters off North Korea, moving a guided missile destroyer to the southwestern coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Russia urges US and North Korea to show restraint

Russia has urged the US and North Korea to show restraint after Pyongyang said it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea in a further escalation of its bellicose rhetoric.

On Friday the Pentagon declared that the US was flly capable of defending itself and its allies against a missile attack from North Korea, whose leader, Kim Jong-un, had declared that rockets were ready to be fired at American bases in the Pacific. Kim's words came in response to the US flying two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula this week.

"We hope that all parties will exercise maximum responsibility and restraint and no one will cross the point of no return," said senior Russian foreign ministry official Grigory Logvinov on Saturday.

US taking North Korea threat seriously

US warns North Korea of increased isolation if threats escalate further.

From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly,” a special statement by the country’s top military command reads, according to the KCNA state news agency.“The situation in the Korean Peninsula, which is neither peace nor war, has come to an end,” the statement said earlier.

Washington "should be clear that in era of Marshal Kim Jong-un, the greatest-ever commander, all things are different from the past," went a statement on North Korean radio early Saturday

Meanwhile the White House is taking the fresh North Korean threats seriously, but not without a bit of skepticism.“We've seen reports of a new and unconstructive statement from North Korea,”said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “We take these threats seriously and remain in close contact with our South Korean allies.”