Japan faced with ghost ships - 11 of them arrive with with decaying bodies

Japan is faced with a unique problem of ghost shops. Eleven of them, some with decaying corpses on board, have arrived off the coast of Japan and, on board, are 20 as-yet-unidentified bodies. These have arrived during the past two months - four of them washed up in early November and another seven were spotted floating in the Sea of Japan during the past three weeks.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 29 November 2015.

In the opinion of experts, the badly damaged vessels may have been at sea for months. One of the ships was sighted by Coastguard about 100-Km offshore on the Sea of Japan. It was towed in at Fukui Port, about 400-Km north of Tokyo and there were three bodies in it.
While authorities have begun investigations as to the origin of the ships, Japanese media have speculated that the boats may have come from North Korea, about 1000-Km across the Sea of Japan. There are Korean writing on the boats and on clothing inside the vessels.
Moreover, the remains of a North Korean flag found on board along with Tangled ropes, hooks and other fishing equipment would tend to suggest that they may be fishing craft from North Korea. Incidentally, fishing ships from the impoverished state have been lost since they do not have modern equipment like GPS installed.
Another suggestion is that the boats might have been fleeing from the oppressive rule of Kim Jong-un and landed in a storm.

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

The 'Pat & Jolie' instant noodles worry Lord Shiva (satire)

Make in India (satire)

Pat & Jolie and their biscuit making (satire)


Murder of Uzbek belly dancers in Hapur

Maggi instant noodles - 3.3-crore packets vanish within 10 days

Indians hate holidays - India is 4th most holiday-starved nation


Music venues in UK beef up their security in view of Paris terror attacks

Academy Award winner Kate Winslet and The Dressmaker

Sir Terry Wogan drops out of presenting Children In Need citing health reasons


The terror attacks in Paris bring Obama and Putin into a huddle

France joins Russia in joint airstrikes against ISIS in Raqqa

Suicide bombings by Boko Haram kill 49 in Nigeria

North Korea flexes its muscles with nuclear weapons – threatens the US

North Korea is flexing its muscles and, in its latest salvo, it has warned the United States referring it to as “hostile forces”. Pyongyang has warned the US mentioning that its nuke capability can face up to any “reckless hostile policy”.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 15 September 2015.

A high ranking atomic energy official of North Korea has said that the country is improving its nuclear weapons "in quality and quantity." He has also added that in case the US and other hostile forces seek to follow up their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK they will face trouble. The DPRK is apparently ready to cope with them by using nuclear weapons.
The official has also given the first official confirmation that its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon is operating normally. This reactor is North Korea's main nuke complex and, if re-started, it could produce plutonium required to make one bomb per year.
It may be recalled that Yongbyon's reactor had been shut down in 2007 but North Korea promised to restart it in 2013, when the tension with South Korea ran high after it conducted its third nuclear test.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

Some more interesting 'must reads'-

City of Jinan to eliminate all dogs even if they are registered pets and vaccinated

Two foreign tourists killed as Kalka-Shimla toy train derails

Molesters flee bleeding from the clutches of a karate girl in Barasat, West Bengal


Ringo Starr, Beatles drummer, bemoans the decline in the music industry

Lindsay Lohan fails to keep her date with Toronto Film Festival

Kangana Ranaut in Paris for ‘Queen’ hates actors endorsing fairness creams


This is the age of drone warfare - pick and eliminate the jihadists from miles away

RAF readies to strike ISIS in Syria to check flow of refugees into Europe

Russia’s game plan not clear – it sends Pantsir-S missile system to Syria


Bengalis are a politically conscious lot

Rasgulla, the juice-dripping sweet that Bengalis swear by

Bengalis are daydreamers tied to mothers’ apron strings

Pyongyang cannot prevent airdrop of ‘The Interview’ bomb

#balloonbomb #pyongyang #TheInterview #KimJongUn The Sony movie ‘The Interview’, a spoof on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his assignation had created tension with the United States and, Sony Pictures, after much hesitation finally released it in America. However, the international tensions over the movie may not end soon.
A South Korean activist Park Sang-hak has decided to make it available to the people of North Korea. He plans to pass on the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy directly to the isolated country. His plan is to airdrop 100,000 DVDs and thumb drives containing the movie over North Korea as early as January.
These would be carried out clandestinely, the pace would pick up in March, when he expects wind direction to be more favorable.
He has revealed that the absolute leadership of North Korea would crumble if the idolization of leader Kim breaks down. Park wants to make the people of North Korea to become more aware of the world they live in. In order to accomplish the cinematic airdrop and pass on the message, he is expected to rope in the U.S. nonprofit the Human Rights Foundation which is an "organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies."
Of course, given the ground realities in North Korea, it is not known how effective this balloon-airdrop project would be. Many people in the country may not have access to a computer, however access to televisions and DVD players is believed to be more widespread. Hence, that could be used.

Sony cancels release of The Interview - a film on North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un

#TheInterview #KimJongUn The film ‘The Interview’ is made by Sony and is one that mocks the regime of North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-Un. It was scheduled to be released in the United States on Christmas Day but, that has been put on hold.
The reason is that studio of Sony suffered a damaging cyber-attack and it had no other option but to pull out The Interview, because cinema chains across the US had backed away from showing the film.
The film depicts a plot to assassinate North Korean leader #KimJongUn and stars Seth Rogen and James Franco. As per reports, the group that claimed responsibility for the cyber-attack had made terrorist threats against US cinemas if they went ahead and showed the movie.
U S President Barack Obama has criticized this decision of Sony and remarked that he believed the studio had "made a mistake". He minced no words when he said that there cannot be a society in which some dictatorship someplace can start imposing censorship.
The decision of Sony has been criticized by celebrities and film makers as well.
Sony has clarified that it has only cancelled the Christmas Day release and is exploring alternatives to release the film on another platform and hopes that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so.
It seems the FBI is of the opinion that the hacking had been done by North Korea and has termed it as an act of state-sponsored "intimidation" but Pyongyang has denied it. Of course, a North Korean diplomat said that the film affected the image of their country.

North Korea woos foreign tourists – launches website

North Korea wants foreign tourists. The country, known as the Hermit Kingdom, has launched a website to lure in foreign tourists. The Korean-language website is complete with pictures of happy looking children, pools, a ski resort --and missiles. It showcases attractions of the country in the form of a pyramid-themed water park, children in traditional dress, and statues of Dictator Kim Jong-Un.
The website contains information about hotels tours and flight schedules from cities like Beijing and Vladivostok. And there is a section on the reclusive nation's political ideology and photos of short-range missiles.
In spite of a restrictive travel ban due to the Ebola outbreak, North Korea has been trying to attract foreign tourists and their money. It has opened the Masik Pass ski area which is billed as the "most exotic ski resort on Earth" and offers surfing tours along the east coast.
It seems nearly 237,000 tourist had visited North Korea in 2012 – most of them hailed from China. Westerners also visited but only a tiny fraction, with some estimates at about 4-5000.
North Korea is mired in controversies of human rights abuse and violations and foreign visitors should bear in mind the fact that they must book their tours through an accredited company and cannot move about on their own but must be accompanied at all times by foreign and North Korean guides.