South Korean intelligence apparently had no information about Kim Jong Il’s death two days ago until North Korea announced it.

According to the North’s TV broadcasts, the 69-year-old leader died of a heart attack Saturday during a train trip.

South Korean officials are under public and media fire for their apparent failure to collect credible intelligence on the sudden death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The lapse in intelligence on North Korea kept President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea in the dark until the North’s announcement, the sources said.

According to Seoul government sources, there was no inside intelligence that indicated the North’s announcement would be about the leader’s death.

When North Korea’s state television aired the news of Kim’s death, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin was in parliament briefing lawmakers on a defense reform bill. He rushed back to his ministry after being informed of the news.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was also on a tour of a front-line unit when the news broke out.

In May, the South Korean government also came under fire for failing to collect accurate information about the North Korean leader’s trip to China.

At that time, officials said that Kim’s heir-apparent son, Jong-un, was accompanying his father on the China trip, but he actually did not.

Ministers meeting in Brussels also working on other measures that could target Iran’s energy sector.

The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

The sanctions follow a UN report, that Iran had carried out tests related to ‘development of a nuclear device’.

But despite the report, Iran was not referred to the UN Security Council because Russia and China were opposed to the move.

Last week the US, Canada and the UK announced new sanctions against Iran in the wake of the report from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Britain announced on Wednesday it was expelling all Iranian diplomats from London, after pulling its own out of Tehran.

Ahead of the Brussels talks, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he wanted ‘an intensification of the economic pressure’, particularly the isolation of Iran’s financial sector.

The 27-member EU has already frozen the assets of hundreds of Iranian companies and has adopted measures to prevent new investment and technological assistance to Iran’s gas producing and refining industry.

The EU is yet to release details about the 180 officials and entities targeted by the sanctions.

Correspondents say foreign ministers failed to agree on an oil embargo against Iran because some EU countries are dependent on Iranian oil.

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A US$ 1.6 million (1 million pounds) will be given every two years for a ‘groundbreaking advance in engineering which has led to significant international public benefit’.

Former British Petroleum (BP)chief executive and charitable trust head John Browne who oversee the awards has this to say: “Engineering underpins every aspect of our lives. As the bridge between scientific discovery and commercial application, engineering feeds and clothes us and enables us to work, travel and communicate.
“But too often the engineers behind the most brilliant innovations remain hidden. The Queen Elizabeth Prize aims to change that.”

The prize, the world’s biggest, will be given to an individual or team of up to three people after deliberations by an international judging panel of experts.

Trustees believe it will inspire youngsters to study engineering and generate pioneering new ideas.

The first awarding of the prize will take place in December 2012.

Prime Minister David Cameron hoped the award would “carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes” .

Firms who sponsor the awards will be launched at the Science Museum in London, among them are defense giant BAE Systems, oil producer Shell and drugs company GlaxoSmithKline.

During his visit to the State Department, the two time Oscar winner said that diplomacy is cheaper than war especially in this hard economic times.

“People don’t take the time to understand just how important diplomacy is. It takes a long time, it’s quiet but it’s certainly a lot cheaper than a war,” the veteran actor said.

Douglas approved the employment of diplomacy that led to the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between Russia and the United States in February.

The agreement reduces existing warhead ceilings between two countries by 30 percent over the next decade and restricts each side to 700 deployed long-range missiles and heavy bombers.

The actor could not hide his concern on Iran’s uranium enrichment program and the risk that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands.

In his visit to the State Department, Douglas wanted to discuss with its officials about the Ploughshares Fund’s nonproliferation and arms control efforts and issues relative to President Barack Obama’s Prague Agenda.

The flood water is filthy, and there is a very real risk of waterborne or communicable diseases such as diarrhea and skin infections taking hold among the local residents if they can’t maintain basic standards of hygiene.

The next threat could be lurking in the floodwater where a a two-meter (6.5-ft) snake was caught by a motorcycle taxi driver and residents have also had to contend with crocodiles escaping from flooded farms with some already caught by local residents.

Seven of Bangkok’s 50 districts, all in the northern outskirts are heavily flooded, and residents have fled aboard bamboo rafts and army trucks and by wading in waist-deep water. Another eight districts have seen less serious flooding.

The higher than normal tides in the Gulf of Thailand, expected to peak tomorrow, are obstructing the flood runoff from the north of the country, and there are fears that the overflows could hit parts of the city center.

The government is also worried that major barriers could break. This morning’s high tide passed without a major breach, but the waters briefly touched riverside areas closer to the city’s central businesses districts of Silom and Sathorn.

The flood walls protecting much of the inner city are 2.5 meters, and tomorrow’s high tide is expected to reach 2.6 meters (8.5ft).

Economic analysts have quoted that damage estimates of US$ 6 billion (£3.7 billion) could double if floods swamp Bangkok.

The floods, the heaviest in Thailand in more than half a century, have drenched a third of the country’s provinces, killed close to 400 people and displaced more than 110,000 others.

The water has crept from the central plains south toward the Gulf of Thailand. It is surrounded by massive pools of water flowing around and through the city via a complex network of canals and rivers.

The airport will remain closed until at least November 1st as flood water covers the tarmac. The excess waters make it difficult for passengers and employees to access its terminals.

However, the city’s main airport Suvarnabhumi is still operational where air travel into Bangkok is still currently possible.

The Thai government had set up its flood crisis headquarters at the airport, and will now have to relocate its operations to a less flood prone location.

Some 4000 refugees from flood damaged regions have been taking shelter at the airport, and will now have to be moved.

The continuing crisis has led to growing concerns that the floods will have a severe impact on the country’s tourist industry.

Tourism accounts for about 15 per cent of employment in Thailand, and around six per cent of the country’s GDP.

Although central parts of Bangkok are still unaffected, the surrounding areas have been struck by the flood with almost 10 million people have been displaced, and 370 killed in the unusually heavy rains.

Thailand’s main tourist destinations that includes the coastal hotspots of Phuket, Pattaya and Samui are so far unaffected by the calamity, but northern and central provinces of the country have been badly hit.

The plant was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March, according to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in an interview with public broadcaster NHK on Thursday.

It is estimated that the government has to remove and dispose around 29 million cubic meters of soil from an area in Fukushima, about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.

The disaster has driven some 80,000 people to leave their homes after the government banned entry within a 20 km radius of the plant because of the radiation.

For the clean up work, the Japanese government, has so far raised 220 billion yen and plans to allocate a further 250 billion yen in the third extra budget.

The new appointee who is known as a no nonsense magistrate inside the courtroom had replaced Edilberto Sandoval who retired from the service last June 20, 2011.

Villaruz could be well remembered when he convicted former President Joseph Estrada for plunder. He was then the the senior member of the Special Division of the anti-graft court.

The magistrate completed his law degree at the University of the Philippines and passed the Philippine Bar Examination of August 1967 with a bar rating of 84.6 percent.

Villaruz, 68, is the Sandiganbayan chief until June 8, 2013 when he will be 70, the mandatory age of retirement.

Malacanang spokesman Edwin Lacierda described Villaruz as very professional and diligent as shown by his record of six decisions and 100 resolutions every month.

Villaruz is the current chairman of the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division and among the notable cases he had resolved were:

The acquittal of Rep. Rodolfo Valencia of Oriental Mindoro, when the Ombudsman found that the lawmaker had been wrongly accused .

The conviction of Brig. Gen. Vladimir delos Trino, an Air Force official of graft and malversation charges.

The dismissal of the case of former Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City in line with
the demolition of a P2-million canal cover park in the city.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, compared data from 80,000 heart attack patients living in 15 urban areas in England and Wales with local levels of PM10 (pollutant particles), ozone, CO (carbon monoxide), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), and SO2 (sulfur dioxide).

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found the chance of suffering an attack increased by 1.3% in the six hours after coming in contact with high levels of vehicle-related pollutants.

Studies show that car exhaust fumes can thicken the blood making it more likely to clot putting anyone at higher risk of a heart attack.

Heart attack risk is raised for about six hours post-exposure and goes down again after that, researchers found.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which co-funded the study, said: “This large-scale study shows conclusively that your risk of having a heart attack goes up temporarily, for around six hours, after breathing in higher levels of vehicle exhaust.”

“Unhealthy diets and smoking are much bigger heart attack risk factors, but car fumes are the cream on the cake that can tip you over,” Pearson added.

Criminals try to feed a growing demand in China and other Asian countries, where medicine from ground rhino horns is believed to be an aphrodisiac and to cure diseases.

Rhino experts take great pains to rebut the claims that the horns have medicinal value. Dr. Raj Amin, a researcher at the Zoological society in London, said recently on an episode of ‘Nature’ on American public television that ingesting rhino horns would be about as healthful as “chewing your own nails.”

The law enforcement organization Europol says the thefts are believed to be the work of an organized gang of itinerant people known as Irish travelers, who are also involve in drug smuggling and money laundering.

Since January the horn thieves have struck a Czech castle; natural history museum in Belgium, Germany, France and Italy; and other targets in Portugal and Sweden.

In England, the Ipswich Museum contains many alluring and potentially theft worthy items. When thieves forced their way on July 28, after midnight, they were seeking something else entirely.

Their target, a large rhinoceros horn which was still attached to its owner. It has been there in the museum since 1907. “They just snapped it off,” said Bryony Rudkin, the Ipswich Borough Council member in charge of culture.

Ian Lawson, a detective in the art and antiques unit at the Metropolitan Police Service in London, said that galleries and museums are being urged to keep images of their rhinos off their Websites, to lock the horns away, or, as the Natural History Museum in London has done, to replace them with fake horns.

While rhino horns have recently sold for up to US$ 200,000 dollars, the powder is reported to fetch about US$ 97,500 a kilo on the black market more than gold, heroin or cocaine according to Mr. Lawson.

Stricter laws governing the sale of used rhino horns, the kind found on rhinos that were long ago killed by big game hunters and stuffed have also played a part.

The crackdown has inadvertently threatened the efforts of conservation groups to preserve wild rhinoceros in Africa, as the thieves have turned to poachers who hack off horns from live animals, often leaving the rhinos bleed to death, said Cathy Dean, director of Save the Rhino, an advocacy group in Britain.

There have been 260 rhino deaths this year from poaching in South Africa alone, she added. The problem was a major focus of the recent meeting in Geneva of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

This year Britain and other European countries tightened their regulations, making it virtually impossible to export most rhino horns from the European Union legally, thus increasing the value of purloined ones.