North Korea fires ballistic missiles, US officials say

North Korea has test-fired two ballistic missiles, the latest in a series of rocket launches.

US officials said the medium-range missiles, launched off the east coast, flew about 800km (500 miles) before falling into the water.

Afterwards, the US called for Pyongyang to refrain from raising tensions.
It comes a day after US President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions, following North Korea's "illicit" nuclear test and satellite launch.

His executive order freezes North Korean government property in the United States. It bans US exports to - or investment in - North Korea and also greatly expands powers to blacklist anyone, including non-Americans, dealing with North Korea.

North Korea fires ballistic missiles, US officials say

The 6 January nuclear test and 7 February satellite launch were violations of existing sanctions, as are ballistic missile tests.

US defence officials said two launches had been tracked of what appeared to be Nodong missiles fired from road-mobile launch vehicles.

With a maximum range of 1,300km, the Nodong would have the capability to reach all of South
Korea and parts of Japan. North Korea's last Nodong test was in March 2014.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe condemned the launch and said his government would work with the US and South Korea to coordinate a response.

Lt Col Michelle Baldanza, from the US defence press office said: "We call on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region."

Amid the heightened tensions, the North sentenced a US student to 15 years hard labour on Wednesday for "severe crimes" against the state.

The US demanded North Korea immediately release Otto Warmbier, 21, who was arrested for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel while on a visit in January.

The US and South Korea are also holding their biggest annual military drills this month, which routinely generate tension.

But this year North Korea threatened to launch a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" against the US and South Korea.

First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday she had no desire to follow Hillary Clinton and run for president herself, saying she could have more impact outside of Washington’s polarized politics.

Obama made the remarks as she addressed the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where she introduced a song for charity to support a UN-backed campaign to improve education access for the 62 million unschooled girls around the world.
“I will not run for president. Nope, nope, not going to do it,” she said in response to a question.
“There is so much that I can do outside of the White House, and sometimes there is much more that you can do outside the White House without the constraints, and the lights and the cameras, and the partisanship,” she added.
“There is a potential that my voice could be heard by many people who can’t hear me now because I’m ‘Michelle Obama, the first lady.’”
Part of the first African American first family, the 52-year-old is a Harvard-educated lawyer who has made no secret of her distaste for the glare of political life and has tried to steer clear of controversy, instead focusing on issues such as fighting obesity.
She said that she also wanted her daughters, Malia and Sasha, to live elsewhere after what will be eight years in the White House.

“They’ve handled it with grace and poise but enough is enough,” she said.
President Barack Obama has also said unequivocally that his wife had no intention to run for president but stated that the couple would stay in Washington after he leaves office in January so their younger daughter Sasha does not have to change high schools.
Hillary Clinton, another highly educated first lady, was active in her husband’s administration and in his final year ran successfully for a US Senate seat in New York.
She is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 race for the White House.
Obama at South by Southwest released the song “This Is For My Girls” by Diane Warren, which features contributions by major female singers including Kelly Clarkson, Missy Elliot and Janelle Monae.
Apple will donate proceeds from sales of the song on iTunes to a Peace Corps fund to support girls’ education.
Obama said she was touched by visits around the world with girls who travel great distances or risk violence to go to school.
“I see myself in these girls — in their ambition and their determination to rise above their circumstances,” she wrote in an essay for the feminist newsletter Lenny Letter. -AFP
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First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday she had no desire to follow Hillary Clinton and run for president herself, saying she could have more impact outside of Washington’s polarized politics.

South Africa risks turning into a “mafia state”, a senior governing party official has warned, as pressure grows on President Jacob Zuma over his links with a wealthy family.

Gwede Mantashe made the comments after deputy Finance Minister Mcebesi Jonas alleged the Gupta family had offered him a government promotion.
The family has denied the allegation.
Main opposition leader Mmusi Maimane was thrown out of parliament during a rowdy session over the controversy.
Mr Mantashe is the third most powerful person in the governing African National Congress (ANC), and his remarks suggest Mr Zuma may be losing the confidence of influential members of the party, correspondents say.
Mr Zuma’s presidency has been marred by allegations of corruption, cronyism and incompetence, amid a worsening economic situation.
The crisis deepened on Wednesday, when Mr Jonas said that a member of the Gupta family had made “a mockery of our hard-earned democracy” by offering to promote him to the minister’s job last year.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Mantashe, the ANC secretary-general, said: “We need to deal with this; it will degenerate into a mafia state if this goes on.”
He is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that no-one, including Mr Zuma, was “untouchable”.

Questioned by the opposition in parliament about Mr Jonas’ allegation, Mr Zuma said: “I’m in charge of the government. There is no minister who was ever appointed by the Guptas.”
Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs walked out in solidarity with Mr Maimane after the speaker ordered him to leave for breaching parliamentary rules.

The Zumas and the Guptas

Bongi Ngema-Zuma, one of the president’s wives, used to work for the Gupta-controlled JIC Mining Services as a communications officer.
Duduzile Zuma, his daughter, was a director at Sahara Computers.
Duduzane Zuma, a son, is a director in some Gupta-owned companies.

Earlier, Mr Maimane said power had shifted from the government to the Guptas.
“You and your family are getting richer while South Africans are getting poorer,” he told Mr Zuma.
The left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party boycotted the session, saying it did not recognise Mr Zuma as leader of South Africa.
The opposition has long accused Mr Zuma of letting the Guptas wield excessive influence.
The Guptas, who arrived in South Africa from India in 1993, have huge interests in computers, air travel, energy, and technology.
They said Mr Jonas’ statement was political point-scoring.
In 2013, there was an outcry after a private jet carrying guests to the wedding of a Gupta family member was allowed to land at a South African military air force base in Pretoria.
The opposition has said that links between President Zuma and the Guptas were so close that they have been nicknamed the “Zuptas”. BBC
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