The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and came to the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon (Defense), after Iran threatened to close the strategic sea route. 
"USS Abraham Lincoln completed a regular and routine transit through the Strait of Hormuz planned to conduct maritime security operations," said DefenseDepartment spokesman John Kirby told AFP via email .
"The transition was completed as planned and without incident."
The carrier, which carries up to 80 aircraft and helicopters, was escorted by themissile cruiser USS Cape St. George and two destroyers.
Earlier the Ministry of Defence in the UK reported that a British frigate and a French ship joined the aircraft carrier group to cross the strait.
While Allied ships are participating in naval exercises in the U.S., Britain and France's presence in the strait seems to be a message to Iran on the Westerndetermination to keep open the sea.
Political and military leaders warned Iran earlier this year that would close the strait if the increasing pressure from Western sanctions over its nuclear program stoppedits oil exports.
The strait is a key route for Gulf oil output.
Iran tried to defuse tensions last week after threatening with a response if the United States resubmitted an aircraft carrier to the Gulf.
The Organization for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) verified the existence of undeclared chemical weapons were discovered by the Libyan National Transition Council after the fall of the regime of Moammar Jaddafi. 
A team of inspectors visited 17 to January 19 to discuss weapons Libya after Tripoli's new government report last year and present the findings on November 28, a formal declaration of weapons, the OPCW said in a statement .
The inspection was to verify the statement regarding the types and quantities of chemical weapons and to help the Libyan authorities in determining whether a part of discovery materials must be declared under the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention Chemical.
The experts determined that the declared chemical weapons consist especially sulfur mustard, also known as mustard gas, which has not been loaded ammunition.
They have also examined, at the request of the Libyan authorities, other weapons, especially artillery, which has been found to be chemical munitions and therefore have to be declared.
All material was stored recently declared in the town of Ruwagha, in southeastern Libya, in a warehouse where sulfur mustard stored chemicals and precursors that have already been declared by the regime of former dictator when Tripoli joined the OPCW in 2004 .
The Government of Jaddafi destroyed 54% of mustard gas were found and 40% chemical precursors before the operation was suspended in February 2011.
Tripoli should be submitted by next April 29 a "detailed plan" that contains the deadlines for stockpile destruction.
The OPCW is responsible for promoting the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the global treaty entered into force in 1997 to prohibit the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The organization also promotes cooperation in the sphere of the use of chemical weapons for peaceful purposes.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened on Friday with withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and training operations suspended after an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers, a month after two were killed in the same conditions. 
"French armed forces are by their allies, but we can not accept that a soldier is killed or hurt us by our allies," said the president, after the death of four soldiers who joined two French legionnaire killed it one months also an Afghan army gunfire that were forming.
"It is unacceptable and will not accept it," insisted the president, who must meet within a week with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in Paris to sign a cooperation agreement between the two countries. The Afghan president gave his condolences to France for the deceased.
"All operations of the French army training and fighting are suspended aid," said Sarkozy in a speech to the diplomatic corps.
"If you do not clearly establish the conditions for security, then we will consider the question of an early withdrawal of the French Army," said the authority gala.
For its part, the defense ministry said another 15 French soldiers were wounded in the shooting, eight of them seriously. The portfolio holder, Gerard Longuet, said that the soldiers were not armed and were "killed."
The French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the conditions of recruitment of Afghan forces. Kabul authorities should "commit to take steps to clarify the arrangements for recruitment of Afghan army and ensure the safety of the French," he said.
In his first reaction, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, gave his condolences to France. "It's a very sad day for our troops in Afghanistan and the French people," he said.
The International Force Security Assistance (ISAF) had announced just before the death of four of its soldiers by an Afghan military shooting and said that the soldier had been arrested locally.
For now, the French Army gave no details about what happened.
The attack occurred around 08:00 local (00:30 hours in Chile) in Tagab district in Kapisa province, "the area of deployment of French forces, Afghan sources said.
"The alleged attacker was arrested," he said, for its part, ISAF had informed moments before the attack without specifying the nationality of the deceased.
After the shooting, the French army prohibited access to the base of Tagab Afghan soldiers, they said other sources.
On 29 December, an Afghan soldier and killed two French legionnaires who were forming in the province of Kapisa, northeast of Kabul, an area infiltrated by Taliban rebellion.
The four deaths today bring to 82 the number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the deployment of an international force in late 2001.
France currently has 3,600 troops deployed in Afghanistan, after which 400 were withdrawn last October. In total, 130,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, are currently in that country.
Megaupload.com founder was arrested at his mansion in Auckland, New Zealand, and appeared in court Friday along with three others responsible for the site as part of a U.S. offensive against illegal downloading on the Internet .
Kim Schmitz, a German citizen of 37 years known as Kim Dotcom, resident in New Zealand and Hong Kong, was arrested in a spectacular raid along with three others responsible for Megaupload: Dutchman Bram van der Kolk and Batata Finn and German Mathias Ortmann.
All appeared before a district court of Auckland (North Island), where they were denied bail, police said.
Dotcom Kim's arrest took place within the framework of an operation worthy of a gangster movie, which included a search of ten places in Auckland, including the "Mansion Dotcom."
Police seized several luxury cars, a 1959 pink Cadillac and a Rolls Royce Phantom and a firearm. In addition, eleven million NZ dollars (about 8.79 million U.S. dollars) in bank accounts were blocked.
According to Inspector Grant Wormald, Megaupload.com creator tried to take refuge in a shielded room when police arrived.
"Dotcom entered his house and activate various electronic locking mechanisms," he said. "Once the police neutralized codes are entrenched in a shielded room (...) and when the police managed to enter Dotcom found near a gun that looked like a hunting rifle with the barrel cut," he added.
Megaupload was closed on Thursday by U.S. authorities in what they described as "one of the biggest cases of violation of copyright ever presented by the United States."
Washington seeks to extradite the four arrested in Auckland to bring them to trial for online piracy, on charges of extortion and money laundering that could lead to prison sentences of 20 years.
The Department of Justice and the FBI charged a total of seven people as "responsible for massive online piracy worldwide from various types of works protected by copyright, through Megaupload.com and other related sites."
The defendants have generated more than $ 175 million in criminal activity and caused "more than $ 500 million loss for holders of rights" in their pages by offering movies, series and other pirated products, officials said estadounidenses.O
Three other men remain at large: the German Sven Echternach, 39, Slovak Julius Benck, 35, and Estonian Andrus Nommo, 32.
After a decade of being involved in two simultaneous wars, the U.S. announced its new defense strategy, which envisages a reduction in the number of troops, the overall objectives reorients the Asia-Pacific and, especially, brings down the bulkymilitary budget.
"Our armed forces will be reduced, but the world must know that the U.S. maintain military superiority," said President Barack Obama yesterday in an appearance at the Pentagon.In his rare appearance in the Department of Defense, Obama emphasized that, since the terrorist attacks on America in September 2001, "the military budget has grown rapidly and is now greater than at the end of President George W. Bush" .Anticipating critics, made it clear that the country's military assignments remain greater than the sum of the ten nations that follow the amount of spending on defense.When you are about, Obama said, to "turn the page on a decade of war" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon spending must be reduced by about 487,000 million dollars in ten years, and that undoubtedly lead to forces armed "lighter" and "less conventional ground forces."In the case of the Army, the figure has come out in the media indicates that the troops would go from 570,000 to 490,000 within 10 years.As the emphasis of the new U.S. strategy now goes to the Asian region, and very in tune with the above, this allows to assume that U.S. military power will increasingly focus on naval and air components."We will strengthen our presence in the Asia-Pacific, and budget cuts will not occur at the expense of this critical region," Obama said, adding that the country will pay close attention to Middle East, denomination ranging from North Africa to Afghanistan .In the document entitled "Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities of Defense for the XXI Century", is mentioned directly the growth of China's military power as a cause for concern and suggests that it "must be accompanied by a great clarity of strategic intent to avoid causing frictions in the region. "The Chinese government has been building apace in recent years, submarines, destroyers, fighter jets and ballistic missiles, in a disturbing behavior to its neighbors, which in addition to territorial disputes with the Asian giant, are also closely allied with Washington, as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.Military capabilitiesIn the same press conference where Obama spoke, the Pentagon chief, Leon Panetta said that the U.S. maintain its ability to "fight and defeat an enemy more than once." "The military presence in Europe will adapt and evolve" according to the new strategy.In Latin America and Africa, Washington "seek innovative ways" to maintain its presence and military programs.The U.S. defense budget -Which includes not only military spending but also espionage, weapons research and nuclear programs under the Department of Energy, grew from about $ 300 billion in 2000 to more than $ 700 billion in fiscal 2012 .Within this expenditure, nearly 20% has gone to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, undertaken while the Bush tax cuts, so the funding has been made at the expense of swelling the national debt.For over five decades, the fundamental principle of U.S. military strategy, and occupied also by Bush, has been the ability of its armed forces to address two major wars simultaneously.The new strategy behind this approach and would prefer a lower ability to deliver simultaneous conflicts. According to Obama, the Pentagon will reduce or eliminate some weapons programs and military structures, strengthening its operations and equipment for special forces, defense and space, particularly in cyberspace.The document also mentions the possibility of having smaller nuclear forces."The size and structure of our military and our military budget must respond to a strategy, not vice versa," stressed the President."We will continue doing away with antiquated systems of the Cold War, to invest in intelligence, counterterrorism, elimination of weapons of mass destruction, and the ability to operate where the opponents try to deny us access."
Hundreds of Albanians protested violently Friday against the visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic, two monasteries in Kosovo.
Followers of the third largest party in the Parliament of Kosovo, "Vetevendosje" (Self Determination) for hours blocked access to the monasteries of Decani and Pec in the west.
Witnesses told that angry people threw stones at a convoy. With a delay of hours, the police and military might eventually allow the president's trip from Belgrade toDecani, where Tadic wants to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas.
Kosovo police units, led by Albanians, and associations of the EU mission inKosovo (EULEX) and the international KFOR troops had taken position in the twomonasteries to avoid confrontations.
Officials said the protesters were kept away with pepper spray. Kosovo's government, dominated by Albanians, had allowed Tadic's journey under thecondition that they not make political statements and attend only as a believer. In past years, Tadic did not observe similar conditions.
Kosovo, inhabited almost only by Albanians seceded from Serbia four years ago.While Europe's youngest nation is recognized by nearly 80 percent of countries, Belgrade wants to regain Kosovo.
In the Middle Ages, Kosovo was part of the Serbian kingdom. Kosovo today live injust ten percent of Serbs. Some of the monasteries of Decani and Pec almost noSerbs live. While Serbs in Decani monks 25 praised the visit of Tadic, who considered a sign of support, Albanians saw it as a provocation.
The French magazine "Marianne" reported Friday that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation, dedicated to the fight against illiteracy, would have received $ 4.45 million unlawfully Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
According to the weekly, for tomorrow will publish the entire investigation of journalist Frédéric Martel, the fund-of which the French president's wife is an ambassador-transferred the money "outside the law, no-bid, at the request of the First Lady France and several companies of one of his friends. "This is the musician and businessman Julien Civange adds the publication, counselor and wedding witness Carla Bruni with French Head of State, Nicolas Sarkozy.The scandal referred to "Marianne" and still does not offer many details because it would have cost the French Ambassador on AIDS, Patrice Debré, once came to light in the board that the institution is held in Accra ( Ghana) in late November.French diplomacy, however, attributes the Debré output to "a change of positioning of the fund", the newspaper "Libération".In addition, at the request of Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, the CEO of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Michel Kazatchkine French, will step down after the presidential elections to be held in France next spring."Nicolas Sarkozy would have acted in this respect and the highest level in Washington," said "Marianne".The station "France Info" noted that "since the issue exploded in late 2011, the Elysee Palace was cut all financial ties between the founding of the first lady and the bottom."Civange, meanwhile, declined to comment, but sent word to the station that "there is no criminal act that seek" regarding him or the general manager of the fund.The friend of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who was in charge of the campaign fund "Born HIV Free" (born without HIV), provides "a certain character likelihood" to the investigation of "Marianne", but believes that "the facts have swollen. "For its part, the fund held in a statement that the article is "inaccurate and tricky" and stressed that the campaign in which he participated Civange "was reflected in the regular budget of the fund" and represents a total of 2.8 million dollars, or less than the amount referred to the magazine."The campaign received significant support from several media partners in the form of advertising and creative services offered free of charge, but whose value rises to $ 20.4 million," he said.
United States recalled after the death of Kim Jong-Il, who "remains committed to the stability ofthe Korean peninsula and the freedom and security of its allies," an allusion to the U.S. administration will respond to any attempt to exploit the possible power vacuum in North Koreato attack South Korea or Japan.
Although the threat from Iran is seen as an imminent danger, Asia is the region of the world where U.S. military involvement is more direct and more security responsibilities. United Stateshas about 30,000 troops in South Korea and major bases in Japan, its two main Asian alliesand both nations left in American hands much of his own defense. President Barack Obama spoke at the last hours by telephone with the leaders of those two countries to renew the supportin times of great uncertainty about developments in North Korea, a regime which lacks reliable information and developed a program has created enormous nuclear anxiety among its neighbors. 
The Korean peninsula is the world's stage in which more clearly displays the rivalry betweenChina and the United States for world leadership. China, an ally of North Korea now has a great responsibility to control that country and ensure it does not open a phase of regional instability.U.S., across the 38th parallel, which established the Demilitarized Zone in 1953 after the war between the two Koreas and formally still holds, is responsible for protecting the South. The two countries share name is not yet officially signed a cessation of hostilities, and the incidents at that point, sometimes dead, were repeated over recent years and created several moments of high international tension.
Kim Jong-il has died. North Korean leader died last Saturday of a heart attack, as announced on national television Monday KCTV. He was 69. Kim suffered a stroke in 2008, which left him with sequels in his arms and left leg. She also had diabetes. The Central News Agency of Korea (KCNA) said that the leader "died due to a mental and physical stress" at 08.30 on Saturday (eight hours behind mainland Spain), while on a train in one of inspection trips around the country. KCNA has urged the people to support her son and intended heir, Kim Jong-un.
"All party members, army personnel and the public must faithfully follow the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the party's united front, the army and the public," said an excited announcer black dress on national television. The authorities have declared national mourning from 17 to 29 December. The funeral will take place on 28.South Korea, technically still at war with the North since the Korean War (1950-1953) ended with an armistice that never became a peace treaty, has put his army in a state of "high alert" and convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council.
The death of North Korean dictator, who has repeatedly used the nuclear threat to its neighbors, has raised the tension in the whole area with reactions between prudence and fear. Only China expressed "deep condolences" said it was a "good friend" of China and said Beijing would continue to support Pyongyang to "safeguard peace and stability" in the region.Kim Jong-il, revered and feared in their country and reviled outside, inherited power from his father, Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founder, under the principle of self-reliance (Juche) - in 1994;then, was 20 years preparing to inherit the throne of the communist dynasty. 
Kim Il-sung, who fought for years for independence from Japanese colonial rule from a base in Russia, emerged as a communist leader to return to Korea in 1945, after Japan's defeat in World War II.Now, if the script is met, the rod will go to the third of his sons, Kim Jong-un, which is less than 30 years of age. The younger Kim was unveiled as a potential successor in September 2010, amid continuing rumors about the health of so-called Dear Leader. Kim had at least three children with two wives and a daughter, with a third.
But beyond the few facts about what happens outside one of the world's most isolated countries, where even the birthplace of late leader is a mystery. His official biography says he came into the world on February 16, 1942 in a secret camp of rebels led by his father near the famous Mount Paektu, one of the most revered in the country. His birth was announced, according to legend, by a pair of rainbow and a new star of great brightness. There is consensus among those who have investigated his life in the West who was probably born in the Soviet Union, where his father was exiled with other Communist leaders receiving military training.Despite having been at the forefront of the country almost two decades, little is known about Kim Jong-il. Rarely spoke in public, almost never traveled abroad, when he did, going by train, and his official biography is full of propaganda and lack of facts.
He was president of the National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the KPA.But between their positions was not, however, the president, as the title was granted posthumously for eternity to his father, Kim Il-sung.Followed exactly the policy of his father "military first", to which allocated the best of the country's scarce resources, even when North Korea suffered heavy floods and famines in the 1990s.Nuclear tensionIn recent years, its mandate had been marked by the failed multilateral negotiations to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program, in which they participate, as well as North Korea, United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan.In 2002, tension grew in the area after Washington said Pyongyang had admitted having a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 agreement. North Korea expelled inspectors from the Atomic Energy Agency in December 2002 and January 2003 stated that abandoned the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In February 2005, said he had nuclear weapons and in October 2006, caused shivers in the area by conducting an underground nuclear test. In May 2009, made a second.According to some reports, Kim Jong-il told some of their foreign partners that the desire of his father when he was dying was to achieve a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, and that he had picked up the baton and was working to achieve this goal, but before that Washington wanted to treat his country with respect. United States and other countries have in place tough diplomatic and economic sanctions against Pyongyang.Regional tensions peaked a long time in 2010, when the torpedoing of a South Korean frigate, killing 46 sailors. Seoul blamed the attack on the North, but Pyongyang has denied any responsibility. Later that year, North Korea bombed a South Korean island, in waters disputed both countries.The death of Kim Jong-il opens a stage in which, probably, the power rests in a collective leadership of the party, government and military for some time because the heir Kim Jong-un is still very young, according to some political analysts .
The Russian Customs Service said on Friday the seizure of radioactive material found in the luggage of a passenger bound for Iran from the international airport Sheremetyevo in Moscow.
In a statement, the authorities reported that tests showed it was an isotope sodium 22 - which is available only "as a result of the operations of a nuclear reactor."
Their discovery came after the control system to the cabin threw the presence of 18 pieces ofradioactive metal into individual steel boxes.
Airport authorities immediately launched a criminal case and sent the case to the Office ofTransport of Moscow.
The finding comes at a time in that part of the international community accuses the Tehran regime to produce nuclear weapons. This fact is mirrored by Iran.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday at critics who complain that their attempts to redistribute wealth and challenged Republican opponents to deal with the growing income inequality.
In an interview with CBS, Obama said opponents who accuse him of promoting socialist-stylepolicies and promote class warfare.
"The problem is, is that our politicians have reached the point where we can have an honest conversation about the greatest income inequality since the 1920s," said Obama.
"And we can not have an honest conversation about the irresponsibility that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, without anyone saying that somehow we are beingdivisive. No, we're being honest about what happened and we must be honest on how to move forward, "he said.
Obama said he has tried to work with Republicans on tax and deficit levels, but the opposition party does not loose its position of rejecting a tax increase.
"And what I said was that a balanced approach means exactly that. It means it's balanced,"Obama said. "What we have not seen is a serious movement on the other side."
The president acknowledged that Americans should not be satisfied with the current state of theeconomy.
"We've been through incredibly difficult times in this country. And I would be surprised if theAmerican people feel happy right now," he said.
"They should not feel satisfied. We have a lot of work to do to get the country and the economyforward in a way that benefits everyone, not just a few," said Obama.
Thousands of Russians began to appear Saturday at the extreme east of the country and in Siberia, before a large demonstration in Moscow, in an unprecedented day of action against the outcome of the parliamentary party that won the Vladimir Putin.
Hundreds of people responded in social networks are called to appear on Saturday across the country. This week there were demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and were the first since Putin came to power in 2000.
These demonstrations were broken up harshly by police, who arrested 1,600 people in both cities.
"Annul the election results", "Counterfeiters to jail!", Required about 500 protesters in Vladivostok, the Russian port of the Pacific coast, seven time zones away from Moscow.
Other demonstrations were also held in Blagovechensk, Chita and Ulan-Ude, eastern Siberia, with the assistance of hundreds or thousands, depending on the locale.
Tens of thousands are expected from 14:00 pm local (07:00 in Chile) in Moscow to denounce the election results, fraudulent by the opposition.
A helicopter flew over the center of the city at low altitude.
The Official Journal published on Saturday the official election results confirming the victory of ruling party United Russia with 49.32% of votes and an absolute majority of 238 seats out of 450 in the Duma (lower house).
The mission of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in Moscow on Monday that it had found irregularities "frequent" and "serious indications that the polls were filled with votes" not issued at the end of the election .
The organizers of the demonstrations - a set of political movements and social organizations - negotiated with the mayor of Moscow's permission to organize in the city center that brings together a rally to 30,000. Authorities warned that number could not be overcome.
The State will use "all lawful means" to suppress any incident, said this week Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Putin also accused the U.S. of having encouraged the protests, spurring a picture of "chaos" for which he claimed would have been delivered "hundreds of millions of dollars."
Iran has asked the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and UN General Assembly to condemn the violation of its airspace by an unmanned spy plane the United States. 
Agency official said today, "IRNA" in the letter sent to Ban and the presidents of the principal organs of the UN, Iran's representative to the UN, Mohammad Khazai, notes that "the blatant and provocative violation (of airspace) conducted by the U.S. government is a hostile action. "
The Iranian government understands that the U.S. action "Obviously contradicts international law and basic principles of the UN Charter," and therefore asks his sentence.
Khazi says the reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned U.S. spy RQ-170 Sentinel, undetectable and manufactured with the most modern electronic equipment, penetrated 250 miles into Iran from Afghanistan, until he was overthrown by the Armed Forces of Iran.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the legitimate right to carry out the necessary measures to protect its sovereignty," the letter Khazai,
Therefore, requires "the condemnation of the aggression and the implementation of effective and clear, according to the responsibility of the UN to stop these dangerous and illegal actions and to maintain regional peace and security, according with the United Nations Charter. "
Yesterday, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires of Switzerland in Tehran, Livia Leu Agosti, to express their protest and request compensation for the incursion of U.S. spy plane.
In the letter delivered to the Swiss diplomat whose embassy houses the U.S. Interests Section in Tehran, Iran stated that the violation of airspace "is against all rules and regulations recognized by international law and poses a threat to peace and regional and international security (Iran). "
"The Islamic Republic strongly warns the U.S. government against the repetition of these events and reserves the right to take any appropriate measure to protect the rights of Iranians," the ministry said.
Last night, the official Iranian television showed a video from unmanned U.S. spy plane that the military overthrew Iran's claim that the eastern part of the country last December 4.
During the two minutes it lasted the images, two soldiers, the Body of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, examine the device, delta-shaped white and ivory, which Iran says is an RQ-170 Sentinel, the most advanced the reconnaissance drones and U.S. spy ware.
Iranian television said the plane was shot down for four days for electronic warfare unit of the Army of Iran while flying over the city of Kashmar, about 225 kilometers from the border with Afghanistan, a country from which you entered Iranian airspace .
U.S. sources and NATO admitted two days ago they had lost an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in western Afghanistan, near the border with Iran, which could correspond with the Iranians claim to have shot down.
Yesterday some U.S. media, in its website, said the apparatus shown on Iranian television is indeed the RQ-170 lost by the U.S. Sentinel in the border area between Afghanistan and Iran.
