• Obama calls for end to North Korea's 'belligerent approach'

    Both the U.S. and Japan have defense systems ready should North Korea's missiles pose a threat. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By Jim Miklaszewski and Becky Bratu, NBC News

    President Barack Obama called for an end to North Korea's "belligerent approach" Thursday, but said the United States will take all necessary steps to protect its people and meet its obligations to allies in the region — meanwhile, it was also officially revealed that the Pentagon believes the rogue nation likely has nuclear-capable missiles.

    Following a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Oval Office, Obama spoke about the situation in the Korean Peninsula for the first time in weeks.

    Join our Google+ Hangout on North Korea with NBC News Correspondents in Seoul, Beijing & Tokyo at 11 a.m. ET

    "We both agree that now's the time for North Korea to end the belligerent approach that they've been taking and to try to lower temperatures," Obama said. "Nobody wants to see conflict on the Korean Peninsula."

    Obama added, "We will continue to try to work to resolve some of those issues diplomatically even as I indicated to the secretary general that the United States will take all necessary steps to protect its people and to meet our obligations under our alliances in the region."

    U.S. officials tell NBC News they believe North Korea does have the capability to put a nuclear weapon on a missile and that they have missile deliverable nukes. Those missiles, however, cannot go more than 1000 miles. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    The North has been threatening the United States and its "puppet" South Korea almost daily in recent weeks. According to assessments by the U.S. and South Korea, the North has placed medium-range missiles on its east coast. U.S. officials said a missile could be fired "at any moment, any hour."

    "We are no longer dealing with technicalities. We are dealing only with intentions," a U.S. official told NBC News.

    A recent assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency claims with “moderate confidence” that North Korea has learned how to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so that it can be mounted on a ballistic missile but that the weapon's “reliability will be low.”

    The public revelation of previously undisclosed information came Thursday from Rep. Doug Lamborn during a budget hearing before the House Armed Service Committee.  The information came within “one paragraph” of the DIA assessment that had the incorrect security designation.

    While the conclusion of the assessment has been publicly reported before, including in an April 3 report on NBC Nightly News, Lamborn's mention of it is the first time a government official has discussed it publicly.

    Related: North Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattles US and allies

    In response to the revelation, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said it "would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities" Lamborn mentioned.

    "While I cannot speak to all the details of a report that is classified in its entirety, it would be inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed, or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced in the passage," Little said in a statement. "The United States continues to closely monitor the North Korean nuclear program and calls upon North Korea to honor its international obligations."

    Related: US on missile watch as North Korea celebrates Kim dynasty

    Gen. James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, tried to distance the administration from the assessment, saying it is not accurate to suggest that the regime has "fully developed and tested" the kind of nuclear weapons mentioned by Lamborn. That, however, does not mean the assessment is inaccurate, as it did not say the weapons were fully tested.

    Related: Federal cuts jeopardize national security, intelligence chief warns

    On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said the United States was "fully prepared to deal with any contingency" or provocation that North Korea may take, but added that the U.S. hopes the rhetoric will be "ratcheted down."

    NBC News' Andrea Mitchell and Robert Windrem contributed to this report.

    Related:

  • China grows weary of North Korea's 'chaos and conflict'

    As Kerry heads to Seoul, South Korea, tensions with North Korea continue to rise as it remains unclear whether or not the latest rhetoric is merely Kim Jong-un showing off his military strength. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By Ian Williams, correspondent, NBC News

    News Analysis

    BEIJING -- There was confusion at the China-North Korea border Thursday after Chinese tour operators halted trips into the North.

    Wang Zhao / AFP - Getty Images

    Two men wait Thursday for dispatch at a customs port in the Chinese border city of Dandong. The largest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official said Wednesday.

    It wasn't clear whether the instruction to do so came from the Chinese authorities, the North Koreans, or was made by the nervous operators themselves.

    But it mirrored a wider confusion over Chinese policy toward Pyongyang, which depends on Beijing for food and fuel, as well as diplomatic support.

    As North Korea readies what is thought to be a missile test, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has spent most of the week deflecting questions with the official line that "all sides" should show restraint and begin dialogue, and that peace and stability are a "shared responsibility."

    But in an interview with NBC News he was more forthright about China's growing concern. "We do not want to see chaos and conflict on China's doorstep," he said.

    In fact, there are signs that China is rethinking its policy toward the North. President Xi Jinping last weekend told a forum of political and business leaders that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain." He didn't mention the North by name, but it was pretty clear who he was referring to.

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described North Korea's actions and "bellicose rhetoric" as "skating very close to a dangerous line."  NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Earlier, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Beijing would not allow "troublemaking on China's doorstep," a line repeated in an editorial in Thursday's China Daily.

    China also supported the latest UN sanctions that followed North Korea's third nuclear test.

    In fact, relations between the two have been souring for some time as Pyongyang has consistently ignored calls by Beijing for restraint.

    "To many in Beijing, North Korea is looking less like a strategic asset and more like a strategic burden," said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor at Renmin University's School of International Studies.

    In the past, even when clearly unhappy, Beijing has treated the North with kid gloves because of fear of the North collapsing, and also as a hedge against U.S. power in Asia.

    'Little Fatty'
    According to leaked 2010 diplomat cables obtained by Wikileaks and posted by newspapers the Guardian and the New York Times, Chinese officials described the regime in the North as behaving like a "spoiled child."

    Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

    The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

    Launch slideshow

    Chinese social media, which is as close a barometer of public opinion as you can get here, has in recent days been buzzing with criticism -- not of the U.S., but of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, for leading his country to disaster and the world close to war.

    Kim is derided as "Little Fatty" or "Fatty the Third."

    One former top U.S. diplomat agrees there are clear signs that China is losing patience with North Korea. Kurt Campbell, the state department's top official for east asia, said there are signs that a relationship once described by Chairman Mao to be "as close as lips and teeth" is wearing thin.

    He said this was notable in public statements and private conversations with U.S. officials. Speaking last week at a forum at Johns Hopkins University, he said this had the potential for a large impact on northeast Asia.

    What's harder to say is how this growing frustration will be translated into concrete actions to pressure the North.

    Cheng of Renmin University noted that in 2003 Beijing turned off the oil supply in order to force Pyongyang to join six-party talks and could use that weapon again.

    Secret filming captures N. Korean smugglers sneaking into China to get supplies for their impoverished country, as a refugee tells of the horror of life under Kim Jong Un. ITN's Angus Walker reports.

    "If China has political will, China can do something," he said. "China can make a difference."

    Secretary of State John Kerry will be taking this up with China's leaders when he is there this weekend.

    "China and the U.S. share common interests in peace, stability and denuclearisation," said the Foreign Ministry's Hong Lei. "We hope to work with the U.S. side towards that end."

    Significantly, there has so far been no Chinese criticism of the display of U.S. high-tech firepower in the region, which is seen as another tacit condemnation of Pyongyang's antics.

    That said, Kerry will no doubt point out, as other officials have done privately, that if China fails to act the result will be an even bigger U.S. military presence in the region and a possible regional arms race -- precisely what China has said it wants to avoid.

    Related:

    US on missile watch as North Korea celebrates

    Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

    Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

    David Guttenfelder / AP

    As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

    Launch slideshow

  • Syria's chaos complicates task for chemical weapons investigators

    What should be the response if Syria deploys chemical weapons? Channel 4's Jonathan Miller reports.

    By Robert Windrem, Senior investigative producer, NBC News

    Prospects for a quick conclusion to a U.N. investigation of a possible chemical weapons attack in Syria will depend on cooperation from the warring parties and safety for investigators — problematic conditions in the chaos of the country's civil war, an expert on weapons control told NBC News on Thursday.


    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that he had agreed to conduct an investigation of allegations of an attack in the northern city of Aleppo. The government and the opposition have accused each other of carrying out that attack on Tuesday.

    Ralf Trapp, a German who works on disarmament and non-proliferation issues, specializing on chemical and biological weapons, said the first job of an inspection team would be safely getting to and operating at the site. He said then -- if the Syrian parties cooperated and the inspectors felt safe — they would:

     

    • Interview victims and bystanders on what they felt, smelled, saw, etc.
    • Search for remnants of any weapons used. That is often difficult and unproductive, but the earlier one gets to the scene, the better.
    • Take samples at the site. Pieces of weapons are rarely found, Trapp said, but the chemical agent can be uncovered in soil, plants and, if in an urban environment, bricks and building materials. Beyond the agent, inspectors will look for chemicals left behind as the agents themselves deteriorate.
    • Conduct medical tests on the victims, including taking tissue samples, blood samples and, if the teams arrive quickly enough, urine samples. Samples in some cases can be analyzed on the scene, but if the inspections are delayed, there are labs in Europe and the U.S. that can find evidence in DNA and proteins.

    Trapp said a big question will be how soon the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – of which Trapp is a former official -- can get a team into Aleppo. He said the team would have to be large and varied, with security officers and medical officers as well as inspectors.

    But each day lost will influence the speed with which the investigation can be concluded, he said, because as more time elapses before biological sampling occurs, more sophisticated DNA and other toxicological testing is required. 

    With optimum cooperation and conditions on the ground, an investigation led by the OPCW could be under way in days, Trapp said. A determination, including the pinpointing of the agent, could be made within days after arrival, he said -- if there is good access to interviews and environmental and biological samples. He said his former organization has equipment at the ready and could move quickly.

    But if the inspection is conducted by the kind of UN group that investigated the allegations against Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, with countries nominating experts and then gathering them, getting inspectors in could take weeks, he said. 

    Considering that Aleppo is a war zone, optimum conditions are unlikely.

    Trapp would not speculate on what agents were used, but he said that he has seen no reports of blistering, and without blistering, it is unlikely to have been mustard gas — although he said it’s possible that some victims might have only internal blistering.

    Evidence of a nerve gas attack, for example, would be found in corpses. Victims would show certain telltale signs, like tiny pupils, saliva around the noses and eyes. There might be evidence of convulsions.

    He did not dismiss the use of more common agents that are not on the proscribed list of chemical weapons. Victims said they smelled chlorine, and those felled in the attacks reported suffocating.  Chlorine, of course, is found throughout the industrial world and in large quantities can kill. Moreover, feelings of suffocation could be associated with a chlorine attack.

    The chemical has a long history of use. It was the first chemical used as a weapon in World War I by German troops against French and French colonial forces. There are reports that insurgents in Iraq used chlorine in huge quantities in their attacks.

    Similarly, tear gas, if used in large quantities in a confined space, can suffocate and kill.

    Trapp was careful to note that even though chlorine or tear gas are not listed as prohibited weapons on the Chemical Weapons Convention, each could be considered a chemical weapon if used as a "method of warfare" rather than as being used for law enforcement or crowd control. The convention bars the use of chemicals in general as a "method of warfare." 

    Related stories

    George Ourfalian / Reuters

    Residents and medics transport a Syrian Army soldier, injured in what they said was a chemical weapon attack near Aleppo, to a hospital on March 19. Syria's government and rebels accused each other of firing a rocket loaded with chemical agents outside the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday.

  • UN to investigate alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria

    George Ourfalian / Reuters

    Residents and medics transport an injured Syrian army soldier after an alleged chemical weapon attack near Aleppo Tuesday.

    By Michelle Nichols, Reuters

    UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday announced that the United Nations will launch an investigation as requested by the Syrian government into allegations that chemical weapons were used in Syria.

    "I have decided to conduct a United Nations investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria," Ban told reporters.

    The Syrian government and rebels are accusing each other of launching a deadly chemical attack. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    He said the investigation will focus on "the specific incident brought to my attention by the Syrian government."

    Syria asked Ban on Wednesday to investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack by "terrorist groups" near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said.

    The Syrian opposition said on Wednesday that there was a second chemical weapons attack on Tuesday in Damascus in addition to the one the government and opposition accuse each other of carrying out in Aleppo on the same day.

    But Ban made clear that the focus of the investigation he announced would be the Aleppo attack.

    Spokesman Jay Carney addresses reports that chemical weapons may have been used in Syria as civil war continues under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

    "I am of course aware that there are other allegations of similar cases involving the reported use of chemical weapons," he said, adding that the United Nations would be cooperating with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organization.

    "Full cooperation from all parties will be essential. I stress that this includes unfettered access," he said. "I reiterated this point in my communications with the Syrian authorities."

    "There is much work to do and this will not happen overnight. It is obviously a difficult mission," Ban said. "I intend for this investigation to start as soon as is practically possible."

    Related:

    'Suffocating in the streets': Chemical weapons attack reported in Syria

    US defense chief: Intel 'raises serious concerns' about Syria chemical weapons

    Syria chaos looms large over Obama's Israel trip

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • UN chief puts 'fast happening' climate change, Syria top of to-do list for 2013

    Laurent Gillieron / EPA

    A worker makes the last preparations Monday before the opening of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Ban Ki-moon, other world leaders and business people will meet.

    By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press

    UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says his top hopes for 2013 are to reach a new agreement on climate change and to urgently end the increasingly deadly and divisive war in Syria.

    The U.N. chief told The Associated Press that he's also hoping for progress in getting the global economy humming again, restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, promoting political solutions in Mali, Congo and the Central African Republic, and providing energy, food and water to all people.

    Ban laid out this ambitious wish list in an interview before heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, saying he plans to take "the uncommon opportunity" of being with some 2,500 government, business and civil society leaders in the Swiss ski resort to exchange frank views on these issues.

    "The world is now experiencing unprecedented challenges," Ban said.

    "Climate change is fast happening — much, much faster than one would have expected," he said. "Climate and ecosystems are under growing strain."

    Ban spoke before President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address Monday, put a similar emphasis on tackling climate change in his second term.

    'Mobilize the political will'
    Two-decade-old U.N. climate talks have so-far failed in their goal of reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that a vast majority of scientists says are warming the planet.

    In December, a U.N. climate conference in Doha, Qatar, agreed to extend the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that limits the greenhouse gas output of some rich countries, and affirmed a previous decision to adopt a new global climate pact by 2015.

    "I will do my best to mobilize the political will and resources so that the member states can agree to a new legally binding global agreement on climate change," Ban said.

    Ban urged progress in getting nations and people to use the world's limited resources without waste and in ways to ensure their replacement, so that all people will have enough to eat and drink and there will be electricity for their homes — and have energy to spare to promote economic growth.

    "We have to have sustainable development," he said. "That's our number one priority together with climate change."

    Momentum for fighting climate change has stalled amid recessions, financial meltdown and government debt crises of the past five years.

    "At the same time, we need to see some economic dynamism," Ban said. "The world is still suffering, struggling to overcome its economic crisis."

    The forum at Davos, opening Wednesday, focuses this year on how to ensure a more sturdy economic recovery that can withstand the kind of shocks the past few years have wrought.

    Among the world leaders he may rub elbows with at Davos are Microsoft founder Bill Gates, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    The secretary-general expressed hope that the major powers will be able to revitalize growth, which will help developing countries meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals to combat poverty by the target date of 2015.

    The goals include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring a primary school education for every child, reducing maternal and infant mortality, and halting and reversing the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

    On the political front, Ban said he is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Syria where the conflict will soon be entering its third year.

    "I believe that world leaders must address this issue with a top priority and a sense of urgency. We cannot go on like this," he said. "More than 60,000 people have been killed, and if the situation continues like this way, we will have to see more and more death, more and more people who are fleeing Syria."

    The secretary-general said he is also mobilizing U.N. envoys and others to try to make progress on the Mideast peace process; in Mali, where a French-led military operation is fighting Islamist extremists; the deteriorating political situation in Congo where M23 rebels have gained ground; and in the Central African Republic where rebels recently signed a peace agreement with the president.

    Related content:

    Climate talks end with deal that's 'not where we wanted to be'

    Kremlin begins evacuation of Russians from Syria

    Insurgents abandon towns in central Mali as French troops advance

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Hamas says 'land war' would cost Israeli PM Netanyahu the election

    The violence continues in Gaza while negotiations between Hamas and Israel are taking place in Egypt. An estimated 100 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed so far. NBC's John Ray reports.

    By NBC News and wire reports

    Updated at 3:02 p.m. ET: GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- The leader of Hamas said Monday it was up to Israel to end the new conflict it had started, adding that a "land war" would cost Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the election.

    "[Netanyahu] can do it, but he knows that it will not be a picnic and that it could be his political death and cost him the elections," Khaled Meshaal, exiled leader of Hamas, told a news conference in Cairo.

    "Whoever started the war must end it," Meshaal said, adding that Netanyahu, who faces an election in January, had asked for a truce, an assertion a senior Israeli official described as untrue.

    For its part, Israel said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire.

    Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon has said that "if there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel's citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack."

    According to a poll by Israel's Haaretz newspaper, 84 percent of Israelis supported the current Gaza assault, but only 30 percent wanted an invasion, while 19 percent wanted their government to work on securing a truce soon.

    Acting as a mediator, Egypt said Monday that a deal for a truce to end the fighting could be close, as Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the densely populated Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population.

    Twelve Palestinian civilians and four fighters were killed in the sixth day of fighting, local officials said, raising the number of Palestinian dead to 101, the Hamas-run Health Ministry told Reuters, listing 24 children among them. Hospital officials in Gaza said more than half of those killed were non-combatants. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike and dozens others have been wounded.

    Slideshow: Israel, Gaza violence escalates

    Ammar Awad / Reuters

    Two sides exchange deadly airstrikes, rocket attacks.

    Launch slideshow

    Among the targets struck in Gaza City Monday was the Al Shorouq media building, which Israeli warplanes hit for the second straight day. The attack targeted a second-floor apartment used by a leading Islamic Jihad militant. He was killed and four others were injured, NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin reported.

    The Israeli military said it targeted only the floor used by the militants. “The senior [Islamic Jihad] cadre was operating in a media building. They weren’t there to be interviewed. They were using reporters as human shields,” it said on Twitter.

    But the lower floors of the building caught fire, trapping journalists on the higher levels. Firefighters were trying to put out the blaze and get the journalists out of the building. The Hamas TV station is located on the top floor.


    Family mourned
    Thousands turned out on Gaza's streets Monday to mourn four children and five women, who were among the 11 people killed in an Israeli strike that flattened a three-story home the previous day.

    The bodies were wrapped in Palestinian and Hamas flags. Echoes of explosions mixed with cries of grief and defiant chants of "God is greatest."

    Israel said it was investigating the strike that brought the home crashing down on the al-Dalu family, where the dead spanned four generations. Some Israeli newspapers said the wrong house may have been mistakenly targeted.

    Since Wednesday, 877 rockets have been fired from Gaza toward Israel, the Israeli military said Monday. Of those, 570 rockets have struck Israel while the country’s air defense system has intercepted 307, according to the military. Forty-five rockets were fired at southern Israel on Monday, causing no casualties, police said.

    Israel's decision to step up targeted attacks on leaders in Gaza on Sunday marked a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the crowded territory of 1.6 million Palestinians.

    A three-story building in Gaza was flattened by an overnight Israeli airstrike that was targeted at a Hamas militant. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    Negotiations inch forward
    International efforts to wrest a cease-fire from the two sides has intensified despite the escalated hostilities. The failure to end the fighting could touch off an Israeli ground invasion, for which thousands of soldiers, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, have already been mobilized and dispatched to Gaza's border.

    Leading cease-fire mediation efforts is Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza and whose Islamist-rooted government has been hosting leaders of Hamas.

    “I strongly urge the parties to cooperate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate cease-fire," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said before leaving for Egypt. He visits Israel on Tuesday.

    European Union governments also said they supported Egyptian efforts to mediate.

    Related links:

    NY Times columnist, Tom Friedman and NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Andrea Mitchell discuss America's role in the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

    Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict

    How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets in Gaza conflict

    Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack

    On Sunday, President Barack Obama said it would be "preferable" to avoid a move into Gaza, but that Israel had a right to self-defense and no country would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens.

    Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby and several other Arab foreign ministers will visit Gaza on Tuesday to show solidarity with Palestinians. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will accompany them, officials said.

    Mohammed Saber / EPA

    A Palestinian woman inspects the rubble of her destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of Gaza City on Monday.

    Forces gather
    Israel launched the current offensive Wednesday after months of intensifying rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which continued despite the strikes.

    Israeli tanks, artillery and infantry have massed in field encampments along the sandy, fenced-off border and military convoys moved on roads in the area. Israel has also authorized the call-up of 75,000 military reservists, so far mobilizing around half that number.

    Overnight, aircraft targeted about 80 militant sites, including underground rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases, as well as command posts and weapons storage facilities located in buildings owned by militant commanders, the military said Monday in a release.  

    Aircraft and gunboats joined forces to attack police headquarters, and rocket squads were struck as they prepared to fire, the release said.

    In all, more than 1,000 Gaza targets have been struck since the operation began.

    Some Hamas rockets reached as far as Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, but were shot down by the country's air defense system.

    As a precaution against the rocket interceptions endangering nearby Ben-Gurion International Airport, civil aviation authorities said on Monday new flight paths were being used.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and force Hamas to stop rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years. The rockets now have greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem within their reach -- a strategic weapon for Gaza's otherwise massively outgunned guerrillas.

    Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images

    Israeli soldiers prepare their weapons in a deployment area near the Gaza border on Monday.

    NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Air raids, car bomb hit Damascus on last day of failed truce

    SANA via EPA

    People at the site of a car bomb explosion in southern Damascus on Monday.
    EDITOR'S NOTE: Picture released by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

    By NBC News wire services

    AMMAN, Jordan -- Syrian jets bombed suburbs of Damascus and a car bomb killed 10 people in the capital on Monday, the last day of a four-day truce that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon acknowledged had failed.

    Each side blamed the other for breaching the Eid al-Adha truce arranged by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who nevertheless promised to pursue his peace efforts.

    "I am deeply disappointed that the parties failed to respect the call to suspend fighting," Ban said in Seoul, where he was visiting to receive the Seoul Peace Prize.

    "This crisis cannot be solved with more weapons and bloodshed ... the guns must fall silent," he said.

    Brahimi, after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, voiced regret that the cease-fire had not worked better. Asked whether U.N. peacekeepers might be sent to Syria, he said there was no immediate plan for that.

    Watchdog: 420 people killed since Friday
    Although President Bashar Assad's government and several rebel groups accepted the plan to stop shooting over the Muslim religious holiday, it failed to stem the bloodshed in a 19-month-old conflict that has already cost at least 32,000 lives.

    According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition watchdog, 420 people have been killed since Friday.

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    /

    A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

    Launch slideshow

    Damascus residents reported heavy air raids on the suburbs of Qaboun, Zamalka and Irbin overnight and on Monday that they said were the fiercest since jets and helicopters first bombarded pro-opposition parts of the Syrian capital in August.


    Syrian state television said women and children were among those killed or wounded by a "terrorist car bomb" near a bakery in Jaramana, in the southeast of Damascus. Damascus residents say the district is controlled by Assad loyalists.

    More photos: Car bomb hits Syrian capital as truce comes to bloody end

    Accusations exchanged
    State media said Assad's armed opponents had broken the truce throughout the Eid.

    "For the fourth consecutive day, the armed terrorist groups in Deir al-Zor continued violating the declaration on suspending military operations which the armed forces have committed to," state news said, later adding that rebels had attacked government forces in Aleppo and the central city of Homs.

    The Damascus air raids followed what residents said were failed attempts by troops storm eastern parts of the city.

    After decades of oppression, Kurds get taste of freedom as Assad's troops flee

    "Tanks are deployed around Harat al-Shwam (district) but they haven't been able to go in. They tried a week ago," said an activist who lives near the area and who asked not to be named.

    Government forces launched airstrikes around Damascus Saturday, flattening buildings. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    Big power conflicts
    Brahimi, who will visit Beijing after Moscow, said the renewed violence in Syria would not discourage him.

    "We think this civil war must end ... and the new Syria has to be built by all its sons," he said. "The support of Russia and other members of the Security Council is indispensable."

    Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed U.N. draft resolutions condemning Assad's government for the violence.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    Beijing has been keen to show it does not take sides in Syria and has urged the government there to talk to the opposition and take steps to meet demands for political change. It has said a transitional government should be formed.

    Big-power rifts have paralyzed U.N. action over Syria, but Assad's political and armed opponents are also deeply divided, a problem that their Western allies say has complicated efforts to provide greater support.

    Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

    NBC News

    People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

    Launch slideshow

    "There has been a lack of desire to take the tough decisions," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center think tank.

    Experts: Greece riskier for investors than war-torn Syria

    "In Washington, they've only been focused on the narrow political goal of their own elections, trying to convince a war-wary public inside the U.S. that we are actually disengaging from the conflicts of the Middle East," he said.

    Syrian opposition figures, including Free Syrian Army commanders, started three days of talks in Istanbul on Monday in the latest attempt to unite the disparate groups.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    More world stories from NBC News:

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  • UN chief denounces Iran to its face over calls to destroy Israel

    Vahid Salemi/AP

    Damaged cars that three Iranian scientists - Masoud Ali Mohammadi, right, Majid Shahriari, center, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan -- were riding in when they were killed in bombings over the last three years are displayed Sunday outside a conference hall hosting the meeting of Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, Iran.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced Iran in its own capital Thursday for calling for the destruction of Israel and denying the Holocaust.


    Ban’s decision to attend the summit in Tehran of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM, has been criticized by the United States and Israel, but he used the opportunity to slam the Iranian regime, albeit without mentioning it by name.

    Iran hopes the high-profile event will prove that Western efforts to isolate it and punish it economically for its disputed nuclear program have failed. The West fears it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

    The remains of three wrecked cars -- in which three Iranian nuclear scientists were traveling when they were assassinated -- were on display outside the summit venue. A photo exhibition called “Iran, the Victim of Terrorism” and subtitled: “More than 17,000 Terror Victims! For What Crime?” was being held nearby, The Financial Times newspaper (operates behind a paywall) reported.

    S. African telecom firm helped Iran evade US tech sanctions, documents show

    But fears of Iranian aggression toward Israel have been stoked by hostile language from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and this month called Israel a "cancerous tumor.”

    In his speech, Ban took Iran to task.

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    “I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as the Holocaust," he said, according to Reuters.

    "Claiming that Israel does not have the right to exist or describing it in racist terms is not only wrong, but undermines the very principle we all have pledged to uphold," he added.

    Iran: We can destroy US bases 'minutes after an attack'

    Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli expert at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, said that Ban deserved credit for his blunt remarks in Tehran and said that Israel should thank him for speaking out so clearly.

    "In the history of the Islamic Republic, nobody has challenged the supreme leader's (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's) position on Israel in front of him, and in such a manner,” he told Reuters. “This is likely to have long-term reverberations and consequences inside Iran's halls of power."

    Not so fast: Ex-Israeli intelligence chief speaks out on Iran strikes

    However, Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Ban would have conveyed a stronger message by boycotting the NAM summit.

    "His going there harmed the message and really sabotaged the efforts, which are so critical today, to stop the illegal Iranian nuclear activity," Ayalon told Israel Radio.

    America's 'bullying manner'
    In his speech, Khamenei criticized the U.N. Security Council as a tool used by the United States "to impose its bullying manner on the world."

    "They (Americans) talk of human rights when what they mean is Western interests. They talk of democracy when what they have is military intervention in other countries," he declared.

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    On Wednesday, Ban urged Khamenei to prove that Iran's nuclear work is peaceful.

    "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei told the conference Thursday, although his words will likely do little to allay Western suspicions.

    Germany arrests 4 suspected of violating Iran embargo

    A report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog this week is likely to voice concern about the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran, to which its inspectors have been denied access.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency believes Iran has conducted nuclear-related explosives tests at Parchin. Western diplomats say satellite images suggest Iran has cleansed the site, which it says is a conventional military facility.

    The IAEA's new quarterly report will say Iran has installed more than 300 new uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Fordow underground site since May, Vienna-based diplomats say.

    Iran is using Fordow to enrich uranium to 20 percent fissile purity, taking it much nearer the 90 percent needed for bombs. Tehran says the material is for a medical research reactor.

    "There is reason to be concerned by increased tempo of enrichment, the larger stockpile of enriched uranium and, most importantly, the additional centrifuges installed in the deeply buried facility at Fordow," said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute of Strategic Studies think-tank. 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Iran condemned after over claim 'cancerous tumor' Israel has no place in Mideast

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sharply criticized Iran's supreme leader and president, describing their latest verbal attacks on Israel as "offensive and inflammatory." 

    Many thousands of Iranians shouted "Death to America, death to Israel" during state-organized protests on Friday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told them there was no place for the Jewish state in a future Middle East. 

    "You want a new Middle East? We do too, but in the new Middle East ... there will be no trace of the American presence and the Zionists," Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University in an event broadcast live on state television. 

    "Saving the existence of the Zionist regime (Israel) is a joint commitment by most arrogant Western governments," he added.

    He called for Muslim unity to foil Western support for Israel, which he described as a "cancerous tumor" for its occupation of Palestinian land. 

    "The Secretary-General is dismayed by the remarks threatening Israel's existence attributed over the last two days to the Supreme Leader and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the U.N. press office said. "The Secretary-General condemns these offensive and inflammatory statements." 

    "(Ban) believes that all leaders in the region should use their voices at this time to lower, rather than to escalate, tensions," it said in a statement issued Friday. 

    "In accordance with the United Nations Charter, all members must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state." 

    Israel prepared for Iran attack
    Earlier this week Iranian media reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel would one day be returned to the Palestinian nation and would cease to exist. 

    The Iranian remarks came on the heels of a series of Israeli media reports suggesting that Israel could attack Iranian nuclear facilities ahead of U.S. presidential elections in November. 

    Israel, the United States and their allies in Europe and elsewhere believe Iran is developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies. 

    Earlier this week, Israel's outgoing Minister of Homefront Affairs Matan Vilnai insisted Israel was prepared for an attack by Iran.

    “There is no room for hysteria as the homefront is prepared as it never was [in the past],” he said, Yeshiva World News reported.

    “Today all elements of the system are clear as to their responsibilities and there will be no repeat of events in which mayors claim they were unaware of their responsibilities," he added. "I say this with a measure of modesty, but I had a central role in this process, backed by the prime minister and defense minister, and today, the homefront is in good shape."

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • 'There will be no winner in Syria,' UN chief warns, as refugee crisis grows

    Most of the people living in the towns near Syria's largest city have fled, and those without money to leave were killed, rebels say. The Syrian troops have created a no-man's land, reportedly so that rebels can't re-supply the fighters inside. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    By NBC News wire services

    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Friday "there will be no winner in Syria," as the world body said nearly 150,000 refugees fleeing the 17-month-old conflict had registered in neighboring countries.

    In Aleppo, rebels fighting in the Salaheddine district, a southern gateway to the commercial hub, said they had been forced to fall back from frontline positions on Thursday by a fierce bombardment which had reduced buildings to rubble.

    "There have been some withdrawals of Free Syrian Army fighters from Salaheddine," rebel commander Abu Ali told Reuters. Others said the main frontlines in the area, which had been held by rebels for more than a week, were now deserted.

    The center of the district, near Salaheddine mosque, was abandoned when Reuters journalists visited on Thursday. The only sound was the constant echo of artillery shelling. There were no rebels, no security forces, and only a few residents darting in and out to pick up belongings -- while evading army snipers.

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    Stringer / Reuters

    After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.

    Launch slideshow

    All-consumed fighting
    President Bashar Assad, engaged in an all-consuming fight with his mostly Sunni opponents, appointed a Sunni as his new prime minister on Thursday after his predecessor fled Monday in the highest-level defection so far in an uprising that has killed around 20,000 people.

    Wael Nader al-Halqi, from the southern province of Daraa where the revolt began, replaces Riyad Hijab, who had spent only two months in the job before making a dramatic escape across the border to Jordan.


    Assad's authority was shaken by the assassination last month of four of his top security officials and by rebel gains in Damascus, Aleppo and swathes of rural Syria.

    But he has persevered with a crackdown on opponents seeking to end half a century of Baathist rule and topple a system dominated by members of the president's minority Alawite sect.

    Rebels say minority Shiite and Alawite Muslims, the groups that have ruled Syria for decades, are being left alone in the carnage inflicted by Syrian troops. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    As the battle for Aleppo raged, Iran, Assad's closest foreign backer, called for "serious and inclusive" negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition.

    Assad replaces fugitive PM, deals blow to rebels in key Aleppo district

    Assad has repeatedly said he is ready for dialogue, but he has vowed to crush the armed rebels he says are terrorists. His opponents say he must step aside before any talks, arguing negotiations would be meaningless while the bloodshed persists.

    Slideshow: Behind Syrian rebel lines

    Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.

    Launch slideshow

    Iran made the call after gathering diplomats from like-minded states in Tehran for talks on the conflict not attended by Western and most Middle Eastern states, which have demanded Assad end his family's 40-year rule.

    'Long-term civil war'
    The violence has already shown elements of a proxy war between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

    "There will be no winner in Syria," Ban said in a statement read by a U.N. representative to the conference in Tehran.

    PhotoBlog: Syrian fighter jet strafes farming village

    "Now, we face the grim possibility of long-term civil war destroying Syria's rich tapestry of interwoven communities," it said.

    Refugees pour across borders
    In Geneva, Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told a news briefing that the number of registered Syrian refugees in four neighboring countries continued to grow.

    'Situation is desperate' at makeshift hospitals on Syrian-Turkish border

    The total includes 50,227 recorded in Turkey, where more than 6,000 Syrians arrived this week alone, the United Nations said.

    "There certainly in the past week has been a sharp increase in the numbers arriving in Turkey, and there many of the people are coming from Aleppo and surrounding villages," Edwards said.

    Slideshow: The lives of Syrian rebels

    NBC News

    People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.

    Launch slideshow

    "Now if you look at other areas, I think that the situation is more of a steady and continued increase, but where fighting happens we tend to see the consequences," he said.

    As of Thursday night, there were 45,869 Syrian refugees registered in Jordan, 36,841 in Lebanon and 13,587 in Iraq -- which has also seen the return of 23,228 Iraqis from Syria since July 18, according to the agency.

    Complete international coverage on NBCNews.com

    "In several countries we know there to be substantial refugee numbers who have not yet registered," Edwards said.

    Some Syrian refugees have also turned up in other countries including Algeria, Egypt and Morocco, and Evros, the Greek region that borders Turkey, he said, adding that the numbers were "really tiny" compared to the flows to Syria's neighbors.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • UN chief condemns new Syrian government attacks against civilians

    Violence in Syria continues to escalate despite a UN-backed cease-fire agreement that is scheduled to take effect within days. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

    By Gil Aegerter, msnbc.com

    The United Nations' secretary general issued a harshly worded condemnation of Syrian authorities on Friday, saying they were still attacking innocent civilians despite promises to stop using heavy weapons in population centers.

    Earlier this week, the government of President Bashar al-Assad publicly accepted an official deadline of April 10 to begin withdrawing government troops from urban centers and flashpoints such as the battered city of Homs.

    "The 10 April timeline to fulfill the Government’s implementation of its commitments, as endorsed by the Security Council, is not an excuse for continued killing," said the statement from the office of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

    The statement said Ban was concerned about reports of growing numbers of refugees arriving in neighboring countries to escape the fighting. It said he had been briefed on the situation by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu by phone on Thursday night.

    Media reports Friday said thousands of refugees were crossing the border with Turkey. Reuters said 2,800 arrived in Turkish camps on Thursday as violence in bordering Idlib province worsened.

    Ban's statement demanded that the Syrian government "cease all military actions against the Syrian people."

    Reuters reported Friday that rebel activists and a Turkish official at the frontier said Syrian forces are pressing a military offensive and laying mines near the border with Turkey in an attempt to block a flow of refugees and supplies for insurgents.

    Reuters said the Syrian army activity was visible across olive groves from the small Turkish border village of Bukulmez.

    "The whole of northern Idlib has become another Baba Amr," Ahmed Sheikh, a law student and activist, told Reuters, referring to a district of the town of Homs devastated by shelling in the past two months.

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  • Be happy, not just rich, says UN chief Ban Ki-moon

    Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

    Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley (left) and Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica's presdent, during a United Nations panel discussion Monday on "happiness and well-being."

    By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

    The world needs a new economic model based around “gross global happiness” rather than simply making money, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

    Ban, speaking at a meeting organized by the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan called “Happiness and Well-being: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”, said social and environmental factors should be considered, a statement posted on a United Nations website said.

    “Gross National Product has long been the yardstick by which economies and politicians have been measured. Yet it fails to take into account the social and environmental costs of so-called progress,” Ban told at the meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York Monday.

    “We need a new economic paradigm that recognizes the parity between the three pillars of sustainable development. Social, economic and environmental well-being are indivisible. Together they define gross global happiness,” he added.

    Bhutan introduced the idea of “Gross National Happiness” in the early 1970s and in 2011 the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution noting that using a purely financial indicator “does not adequately reflect the happiness and well-being of people in a country.”

    May 7, 2009: Government policies and programs will be judged by the happiness they produce in the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan.

    Ban noted that other countries have become interested in the idea, such as the United Kingdom, where authorities are experimenting with measuring “national well-being,” the statement said.

    The President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, added that “today’s unprecedented ecological, economic and social challenges have made the achievement of happiness and well-being an unachievable goal for many.”

    “It is imperative that we build a new, creative guiding vision for sustainability and our future -- one that will bring a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach that will promote sustainability, eradicate poverty and enhance well-being and happiness,” Al-Nasser said, according to the statement.

    With a royal wedding, television in Bhutan comes of age

    In December last year, in a speech to India’s parliament, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley outlined his country’s ideas.

    According to an edited version of his speech posted online, Thinley said the world today was “deeply troubled.”

    “Somewhere, along the way, we lost our nobler sense and let our greed take over to engender an obsession for creation of wealth at any cost,” he said in the speech. “Economists or powers behind market forces and their flawed theories fuelled this obsession.”

    According to the CIA Factbook, the first democratic elections in Bhutan were held in 2008. Some 47 percent of the population are literate and its GDP per person is $6,000.

    Its economy is "one of the world's smallest and least developed," the Factbook says. "The industrial sector is technologically backward, with most production of the cottage industry type," it adds.

    The first radio station was launched in 1973 as a private company but is now owned by the state. The first TV station, also state-owned, was allowed by the government in 1999.

    It introduction prompted concern about children copying WWE wrestling moves, pornography, the loss of Bhutanese culture and a rise in crime, according to BBC News.

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