North Korea ATTACKS Japan? South Korea on VITAL THREAT Alert WATCHCON 4!

Seems emergency response workers in the Japanese city of Yokohama are a little trigger happy after mistakenly announcing the launch of a North Korean missile to 40,000 followers on Twitter.. The city, south of Tokyo, prematurely fired its tweet just before noon (local time), announcing “North Korea has launched a missile” with blank spaces to indicate the exact time.

Apparently a worker at the Yokohama Crisis Management Centre had prepared a draft Tweet that was to be released IF North Korea launched a missile attack on the city. geez… who hasn’t hit the publish button to early, and mistakenly sent something live. The city retracted the tweet about 20 minutes later and apologised to followers of @yokohama_saigai, the official said. Japan is on full alert ahead of an expected mid-range missile launch by North Korea, with Patriot missiles stationed in its capital to protect the 30 million people who live there.

TENSIONS RISE! South Korean and US forces have raised their alert status to “vital threat” before an expected North Korean missile test, with tensions high in the run-up to a key anniversary. Any launch could coincide with visits by US secretary of state John Kerry and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who will both be in South Korea this Friday.

The North last week told foreign diplomats in Pyongyang they had until April 10 to consider evacuation, fuelling speculation of a launch between Wednesday and April 15 birthday celebrations for late founder Kim Il-Sung. On Tuesday the North reiterated a warning that the peninsula was headed for “thermo-nuclear” war and advised foreigners to consider leaving South Korea.

South Korean foreign minister Yun Byung-Se told parliament the launch could take place “any time” and warned Pyongyang it risked triggering a fresh round of UN sanctions. There is growing global concern that sky-high tensions might trigger an incident that could swiftly escalate. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said during a visit to Rome that he had spoken to the Chinese leadership to try to calm tensions, and would discuss the issue with US President Barack Obama :: Read the full article »»»»

RELATED! For a blow-by-blow on the escalating stand-off check: www.indeepmedia.com.au

Australians Addicted to Mobile Devices

Blogger and ABC contributor Peter Ryan has a superneat post on a new report confirming what most of us  already knew: Australians are addicted to their smartphones. The survey of smartphone users by tech behemoth Cisco reveals that the daily ritual for Gen Y Aussies kicks off with a quick txt.

Many of the survey participants admitted that they checked for messages, emails and updates at least twice an hour, many becoming anxious when their phone goes astray.

Kevin Bloch isn’t alone, our favourite news agency – Reuters – has an ubercool post on our latest addiction, Social Media.

Social media is now apparently a recognised addiction, a study undertaken last year by the University of Chicago found that Liking and Tweeting can be even more addictive than cigarettes or alcohol. The research showed that social networking sites gave users a burst of the addictive neurotransmitter dopamine. Check the Reuters Video :: Read the full article »»»»

Lamb of God Frontman Held In Custody Over Fans Death

Authorities in the Czech Republic say they have have arrested an American rock singer in connection with the death of a fan at a concert in Prague in 2010. Randy Blythe of the Grammy-nominated heavy metal band Lamb of God has reportedly been accused of pushing a fan off the stage.

The 19-year-old fan hit the concrete floor and died of his injuries two weeks later. According to reports, the fan had repeatedly tried to climb onto the stage before allegedly being pushed by Mr Blythe and hitting the concrete floor. A post-mortem examination reportedly found that he had not been drunk or under the influence of drugs. He died 14 days later of his injuries, said Czech TV station TV Nova.

Blythe, 44, will reportedly be released on bail on Monday  :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATED: News Limited Shakes It ALL Up

Australia’s media landscape has been through the ringer over the past few weeks, the ground is changing at a pace not seen since the eighties. The latest shake-up comes from the ever stoic News Limited – the Australian arm of News Corporation – the company has announced a massive restructuring of the way it delivers news.

The announcement on last week, which included job cuts and a reduction in east coast operations from 19 divisions to five, came days after Fairfax Media outlined plans to axe 1,900 staff, move jobs offshore, close two major printing presses and downsize its flagship newspapers to tabloids, as well as it’s ongoing boardroom battles with billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Despite the cuts, News Limited CEO Kim Williams has told staff that the organisation remains committed to print :: Read the full article »»»»

Julian Assange Applies For Political Asylum to South American Republic of Ecuador

Julian Assange is seeking asylum in Ecuador in a last-ditch bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault. The Australian born founder of Wikileaks visited Ecuador’s embassy in London this morning to seek political asylum.

A statement on the embassy’s website said Ecuador was a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights and had an obligation to review all applications for asylum.

The decision to consider Mr Assange’s application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden.

The statement from the Embassy of Ecuador in London said,  ”While the department assesses Mr Assange’s application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorian Government,” the statement said. ”The decision to consider Mr Assange’s application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the Government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden.”

On June 15, 2012 Britain’s Supreme Court has dismissed a bid by Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes :: Read the full article »»»»

World Wild Web: Tajikistan Blocks Facebook

The Republic of Tajikistan has blocked local access to Facebook and two Russian-language sites that published an article critical of its long-serving president -Emomalii Rahmon. The shutdown was ordered by the state-run communications service, the local Internet providers told Reuters, requesting anonymity. Users who tried to access Facebook or the two websites, which published a story critical of President Imomali Rakhmon, were automatically re-directed to the home page of their provider.

Freedom of the press is officially guaranteed by the government, although independent press outlets remain restricted, as does a substantial amount of web content. According to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, access is blocked to local and foreign websites including avesta.tj, tjknews.com, ferghana.ru and centrasia.ru and journalists are often obstructed from reporting on controversial events. In practice, no public criticism of the regime is tolerated and all direct protest is severely suppressed and does not get reported in the local media. Read the full article »»»»