North Korea has issued a fresh threat to retaliate if South Korea goes ahead with its latest planned artillery exercise in the Yellow Sea.

Pyongyang's official news agency quotes the military as saying "second and third self-defensive blows that cannot be predicted will be dealt" if South Korea holds a live-fire drill on Yeonpyeong island.

South Korea says that between Saturday and Tuesday, depending on weather and other conditions, it will hold an artillery drill on the island.

Street protests in Ivory Coast against incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo have turned violent with at least four dead. Witnesses said heavy artillery fire has been heard near the base of president-elect Alassane Ouattara, who called for the street demonstrations.

The situation erupted Thursday in Abidjan as demonstrators prepared to march with the government of internationally-endorsed presidential election winner Ouattara to the state television headquarters to install a new station director.

In a move likely to further escalate tension on the Korean peninsula, Seoul's military says it will resume live-firing artillery drills from an island North Korea attacked last month.

South Korea's military Thursday said artillery training will resume from Yeonpyeong island, possibly as soon as Saturday.

Spokesman Colonel Lee Boong-wu calls the exercise routine and legitimate. He says it is meant to bolster the defenses of the country's northwestern islands, which sit below the maritime border, the Northern Limit Line.

Three Kenyan ministers are among six high-profile figures accused of crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. At a press conference in The Hague, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he was requesting charges to be brought against six prominent Kenyans who allegedly incited or facilitated ethnic violence following Kenya's 2007 elections. The judges will next decide whether to issue indictments.

South Korea has staged its largest-ever air raid drill. The 15-minute nationwide exercise took place Wednesday afternoon, amid a period of heightened tensions with North Korea.

An air raid siren sounding near Namsan Mountain in central Seoul, that was the signal, along with a notification aired nationwide by radio stations, for the 48 million people of South Korea to stop whatever they were doing.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been granted bail by a British court. The bail was set at $315,000 (200,000 British Pounds).

The BBC Tuesday reported that Assange, as part of his bail conditions, is to wear an electronic bracelet and will be subject to a curfew.

Assange was being held since last week in a British jail on a warrant from Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on allegations of rape. He denies the allegations.

South Korea says it is looking into reports there may be additional uranium enrichment facilities in North Korea, in addition to its main nuclear complex at Yongbyon.

South Korea's foreign minister says the government is well aware of the possibility that North Korea has additional uranium reprocessing facilities.

Kim Sung-hwan on Tuesday said there are intelligence reports about this but he would not go into specifics.

The foreign minister says he suspects that what experts have said about North Korea having other enrichment sites is correct.

Officials in southern Yemen say gunmen kidnapped six soldiers in two separate incidents Saturday and Sunday after a court sentenced a man to death for twin bombings that killed three people in October.

The sentencing also sparked protests in the southern town of Dalea, where hundreds took to the streets and blocked traffic.

The court sentenced Faris Abdullah Saleh to death Saturday for his role in the bombing of a sports club in Aden. The attack was blamed on the Southern Movement, which is fighting for independence and increased autonomy for the south.

By James Simpson
http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-washington-dc/a-conversation-with...