DTN News - MID EAST HOT SPOTS: Syria Shot Down Turkish F-4 Phantom Fighter Jet

DTN News - MID EAST HOT SPOTS: Syria Shot Down Turkish F-4 Phantom Fighter Jet 

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 22, 2012:  Turkey has said it believes that one of its fighter jets has been shot down by Syrian security forces.

The F-4 Phantom disappeared over the Mediterranean, south-west of Hatay province, not far from Syria's coast.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said initially that "the other side have expressed regret" but later was unable to confirm what had happened.

After an emergency security meeting, his office said it was understood that Syria had brought the plane down.

In a statement, it said a search for the two crew members was under way involving Turkish and Syrian coast guard ships. Once all the circumstances were established, it added that Turkey would respond decisively

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DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: UN Monitors Speaks With Syrian Soldiers During Visit To Syrian Military Outpost In Village Of Ain Hawr In Rif of Damascus

DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: UN Monitors Speaks With Syrian Soldiers During Visit To Syrian Military Outpost In Village Of Ain Hawr In Rif of Damascus

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 7, 2012: UN monitors speaks with Syrian soldiers as they climb on top of an army tank during a visit to a Syrian military outpost in the village of Ain Hawr in the Rif of Damascus on May 6, 2012. 

Three people died in violence overnight in Damascus province, one of them shot dead by regime troops and the other two killed in a blast, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (Photo - Getty)

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DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Firm Suspected In Missile-Linked Sale To North Korea According To U.S. official

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Chinese Firm Suspected In Missile-Linked Sale To North Korea According To U.S. official

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 23, 2012: The United States believes a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade and will press Beijing to tighten enforcement of a U.N. ban on such military sales, a U.S. official said on Saturday.

The Obama administration suspects the Chinese manufacturer sold the chassis - not the entire vehicle - and may have believed it was for civilian purposes, which means it would not be an intentional violation of U.N. sanctions, the senior official said.

But such a sale - coming to light amid tensions over a failed North Korean rocket launch earlier this month - raises concerns in Washington on whether China is making enough of an effort to abide by the prohibition on weapons sales to Pyongyang.

The New York Times first reported on U.S. findings about the origin of parts of the transporter launcher system - essentially a large truck on top of which a missile is mounted - displayed in a parade in Pyongyang on Sunday.

The newspaper said the administration suspected the Chinese manufacturer involved in the transaction was Hubei Sanjiang. The official, who confirmed details of the administration's thinking on the matter, said the firm likely sold the part to a front company that was used to mask the buyer's true identity.

Beijing, reclusive North Korea's only major ally, has denied it has broken any rules, although a modern, eight-axle missile transporter spotted in the military parade to celebrate the founder of North Korea was said by some western military experts to be of Chinese design and possibly origin.

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DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: UN Moroccan Military Monitors Arrived In Damascus To Oversee Syria Ceasefire Between Assad's Government Forces And Opposition Activists

DTN News - SYRIA UNREST: UN Moroccan Military Monitors Arrived In Damascus To Oversee Syria Ceasefire Between Assad's Government Forces And Opposition Activists

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 18, 2012: UN monitors who arrived in Syria earlier this week walking through the lobby of a Damascus hotel on April 17, 2012. 

Moroccan advance team leader Colonel Ahmed Himmiche (front -L) acknowledged that a hard-won UN military observer mission to oversee a Syria ceasefire will be 'difficult.' (Photo - Getty)

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DTN News - MYANMAR NEWS: British Prime Minister David Cameron In Myanmar - Support Suspending Sanctions

DTN News - MYANMAR NEWS: British Prime Minister David Cameron In Myanmar - Support Suspending Sanctions

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - April 13, 2012: British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that he would support suspending the European Union's economic sanctions on Myanmar, which are to be reviewed by the end of the month.

Cameron spoke after meetings with the country's reform-minded president, Thein Sein, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a longtime political prisoner who was recently elected to parliament in Myanmar, a former British colony.

However, Cameron specified that he did not want to see an arms embargo on Myanmar be lifted as part of any easing of sanctions. The embargo, along with economic and political sanctions, was imposed during the repressive rule of the country's previous military government.

"We know there is still much, much more needed to be done, as the president himself has acknowledged, that there are more changes that need to be made," Cameron said at a news conference after meeting with Suu Kyi. "The right thing for the world to do is to encourage the change and to believe in the possibility of peaceful progress towards democracy."

By talking of suspending rather than lifting sanctions, Cameron was making clear the move would be a provisional one that could easily be withdrawn, if judged necessary.

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