Why is North Korea asking countries to evacuate their embassies?

The U.K. and Russia confirm they have been asked to leave

Pyongyang has asked foreign embassies to consider evacuating their embassies because, the North Korean government says, it can't protect them "in the event of conflict." The implication, of course, is that things are about to get violent.

Is this a sign that North Korea is serious about war, or is it just more posturing?

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Britain's Foreign Office seems to think it's all talk, telling Sky News it "has no intention of evacuating [its] embassy in Pyongyang" and that it is "considering next steps, including a change to our travel advice."

Reuters reports that Russia is "examining the request but was not planning an evacuation at this stage, and there were no outward signs of increased tension in the North Korean capital itself."

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Considering that North Korea is now making threats against the United States on a daily basis, it can be hard to determine which warnings are serious and which aren't. As Dashiell Bennett at The Atlantic Wire argues, it's not individual warnings that matter but the cumulative sense of tension they create:

This military brinksmanship has gone about as far as it can go without any shots being fired, and no one is sure if this might be the one time when things go even further. There is the possibility that any missile launch by Pyongyang would be labeled a "test launch," but when you've already primed everyone for war, it's easy for people on the other side to get the wrong idea. [Atlantic Wire]

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UN condemns targeting of insurgents in Afghanistan

Afghan army soldiers stand around a killed Taliban, dressed as an Afghan Army soldier, in the destroyed courthouse in Farah, western Afghanistan, Thursday, April 4, 2013. Suicide bombers disguised as Afghan soldiers stormed a courthouse Wednesday in a failed bid to free more than a dozen Taliban prisoners in western Afghanistan, officials said. At least 53 people, including the nine attackers were reported killed in the fighting. The assault in Farah province was the latest example of the Taliban's ability to strike official institutions despite tight security measures. (AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials released harrowing new details on Thursday about an attack in a western province where assailants shot everyone in their path, sending terrified people jumping from windows trying to escape the assailants who killed at least 46 civilians and security forces.

Civilians have frequently been caught up in the fighting between militants and Afghan and U.S.-led combat forces, but the U.N.condemned Wednesday's attack, saying civilians were deliberately targeted at the courthouse and other government offices in Farah province. Two judges, six prosecutors, administration officers and cleaners working at the site were among the dead, the U.N. said.

Also Thursday, NATO reported that an American F-16 fighter jet had crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing the U.S. pilot. The U.S.-led military coalition did not release further details about Wednesday's crash.

"While the cause of the crash is under investigation, initial reporting indicates there was no insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash," the coalition said in a statement.

Illustrating other dangers, an airstrike by U.S.-led forces mistakenly killed four policemen and two brothers as their car was being searched at a checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Thursday.

The strike occurred in the Deh Yak district of Ghazni province, according to district chief Fazel Ahmad Toolwak. He said NATO troops were fighting Taliban militants about 10 kilometers (six miles) away, but those killed in the strike were not involved in that battle.

A NATO spokesman, U.S. Army Maj. Adam Wojack, said the international military coalition was looking into the report, adding it "takes all allegations of this type seriously."

According to a recent U.N. report, 2,754 Afghan civilians were killed last year — down 12 percent from 3,131 killed in 2011. But the number killed in the second half of last year rose, suggesting that Afghanistan is likely to face continued violence as the Taliban and other militants fight for control of the country as foreign forces continue their withdrawal.

The U.N. said the Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of the civilian deaths and injuries last year, while 8 percent were attributed to pro-government forces. The remaining civilian deaths and injuries could not be attributed to either side.

The number of casualties blamed on U.S. and allied forces decreased by 46 percent, with 316 killed and 271 wounded last year. Most were killed in U.S. and NATO airstrikes, although that number, too, dropped by nearly half last year to 126, including 51 children.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Farah, the capital of the province of the same name near the border with Iran.

The hospital in Farah was so overwhelmed with casualties that helicopters had to ferry some of the wounded to other hospitals in nearby areas.

Provincial Gov. Akram Akhpelwak said two more people had died from the attack, raising the death toll to 55 — 36 civilians, 10 Afghan security forces and nine attackers. More than 100 people also were wounded, he said.

One of the province's members of parliament, Humaira Ayobi, said one elderly man was found hiding in a bathroom, afraid to come out.

"Farah is a city of sadness," she said in a telephone call after attending a funeral for some of the victims. "The stores are closed. There's no traffic in the streets."

The attack began when two suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the courthouse, shattering windows and devastating several buildings. Seven others jumped out of the pickup and ran toward the courthouse and attorney general's office, prompting an eight-hour gunbattle that left many buildings pockmarked from bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.

Ayobi said the attackers went from room to room shooting people, including nearly two dozen people who had taken refuge in a basement. She also said two judges were singled out to be killed in a separate room, and that their bodies were burned.

The attackers were wearing military-style uniforms easily bought in Afghan markets and had painted a pickup in camouflage to disguise it as an Afghan National Army vehicle so it could bypass checkpoints, she said.

An Associated Press photo shows a group of soldiers standing over the body of one of the slain attackers who was lying in a pool of blood and wearing a uniform nearly identical to theirs.

Local officials said Wednesday that they believed the attackers were trying to free 15 Taliban prisoners who were about to stand trial. But Ayobi said the initial target might have been the governor's compound until heavy security there forced the attackers to redirect themselves to the courthouse.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" and called for the perpetrators, organizers and financiers to be brought to justice. The council reiterated its "serious concern at the threats posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida and illegal armed groups to the local population, national security forces, international military and international assistance efforts in Afghanistan."

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Follow Kim Gamel on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kimgamel

Kidnappers target Christians in Egyptian province

MATAI, Egypt (AP) — Ezzat Kromer's resistance to his kidnappers did not last long. One of the masked gunmen fired a round between his feet as he sat behind the wheel of his car and said with chilling calm, "The next one will go into your heart."

The Christian gynecologist says he was bundled into his abductors' vehicle, forced to lie under their feet in the back seat for a 45-minute ride, then dumped in a small cold room while his kidnappers contacted his family over a ransom.

For the next 27 hours, he endured beatings, insults and threats to his life, while blindfolded, a bandage sealing his mouth and cotton balls in his ears.

Kromer's case is part of a dramatic rise of kidnappings targetingChristians, including children, in Egypt's southern province of Minya, home to the country's largest concentration of Christians but also a heartland for Islamist hard-liners.

The kidnappings are mostly blamed on criminal gangs, which operate more freely amid Egypt's collapse in security since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Crime has risen in general across Egypt, hitting Muslims as well. But the wave of kidnappings in Minya has specifically targeted Christians, and victims, church leaders and rights activists ultimately blame the atmosphere created by the rising power of hard-line Islamists.

They contend criminals are influenced by the rhetoric of radical clerics depicting Egypt's Christian minority as second-class citizens and see Christians as fair game, with authorities less likely to investigate crimes against the community.

Over the past two years, there have been more than 150 reported kidnappings in the province — all of them targeting Christians, according to a top official at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police.

Of those, 37 have been in the last several months alone, the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Kromer, a father of three, was snatched on Jan. 29 as he drove home from his practice in the village of Nazlet el-Amoden. By the next day, his family paid 270,000 Egyptian pounds — nearly $40,000 — to a middleman and he was released.

"I cannot begin to tell you how horrifying that experience was," Kromer told The Associated Press in his hometown of Matai, 110 miles (180 kilometers) south of Cairo. His left cheek where he was punched repeatedly is still sore, as is his index finger, which one kidnapper repeatedly bent back, threatening to break it.

He says he was left with the feeling that, as a Christian, the country is no longer for him. He has abandoned his profitable practice in Nazlet el-Amoden and is making preparations to move to Australia. "My wife would not even discuss leaving Egypt. Now she is on board," he said.

"There are consequences to Islamist rule," he ruefully said. "Things are bad now. What is coming will certainly be worse."

Responding to the allegations that authorities do not aggressively investigate crimes against Christians, Minya's security chief Ahmed Suleiman said it is because victims' families negotiate with kidnappers rather than report the abductions.

"We cannot be held responsible for kidnappings that are not reported to us," he said, blaming hardened criminals for the kidnappings.

Christians say they don't bother to report because they have no confidence in the police.

Essam Khairy, a spokesman for the hard-line Islamist group Gamaa Islamiya in Minya, said "there is not a single case of Christian kidnapping that has a sectarian motive or linked to the Islamist groups."

He blamed the "security chaos" in Egypt and said the way to stop kidnappings is to create popular committees — vigilante groups that the Gamaa Islamiya has been promoting since a spate of strikes in the police last month.

Egypt's Christians, followers of one of the world's most ancient churches, make up about 10 percent of the country's estimated 90 million people. They have long complained of discrimination that keeps them out of some top jobs and of inadequate protection by authorities.

But their fears have dramatically escalated with the political rise of Islamists. Election victories vaulted Islamist political parties to domination of parliament, and President Mohammed Morsi is a veteran of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Islamists in Minya and elsewhere in Egypt insist they do not discriminate against Christians. Morsi has repeatedly asserted the equality of Muslims and Christians. Last month, a hard-line cleric was referred to trial for insulting religion for anti-Christian comments.

The governor of Minya, Mustafa Kamel Issa, a Brotherhood member, has met several times with Christian leaders in the province and has spoken of encouraging "a consciousness of tolerance" among Christians and Muslims.

Still, ultraconservative Muslim clerics have become more overt in anti-Christian rhetoric in sermons and on religious TV stations. In rural areas like Minya, hard-liners often hold sway after decades of persecution, taking advantage of the chaos and lawlessness of the two years since Mubarak's ouster to flex their muscles as the only real power on the ground.

The Brotherhood and its political party frequently underline their respect for Christian rights. But at times members reveal an attitude suggesting a second-class status for the community.

On Wednesday, Yasser Hamza, an official in the Brotherhood's party, argued in a TV interview that while the campaign slogan "Islam is the solution" is permissible, the slogan "Christianity is the solution" would not be. He was addressing specific election rules, but then broadly declared, "This is an Islamic nation with an overwhelming Muslim majority ... The minority doesn't have absolute rights, it has relative rights."

In Minya, Christians make up an estimated 35 percent of the population of around 4 million, the highest percentage of any province in Egypt. In the 1990s, it and other parts of the south were the heartland of the insurgency of Islamic militants who attacked police and Christians in a campaign to create an Islamic state that was crushed by Mubarak's security forces. Now, those groups have forsworn violence and have political parties, and they wield a powerful influence.

Beyond kidnappings, Christians here say they are targeted by other criminals, including thugs who squat on Christian-owned land and refuse to leave until paid or gangs who run protection rackets targeting the community's businesses.

Ahmed Salah Shabib, a rights activist from Minya, said criminals are convinced they will not be held accountable.

"They feel that there is a political cover for their actions. Additionally, they see the Christians as second-class citizens to whom they can do whatever they want with impunity," he said.

Father Estephanos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Samalout, a town that has seen multiplekidnappings, says the state has indirectly encouraged crime against Christians by not prosecuting Muslims blamed for attacks on churches and Christian-owned homes and business around the country.

"The state has made Christian blood cheap," he told the AP at his office, as he dealt with the latest kidnapping: a young boy, Andrew, who was snatched from his father's arms on a Samalout street a day earlier.

"Do you have news about Andrew?" he asked the boy's uncle on the telephone. "Did you hear his voice? Are the negotiations underway already?"

Estephanos said the kidnappers wanted a ransom equivalent to about $103,000 from the family, which has a lucrative animal feed business.

"The Islamists see Christians as a people who have no rights or even as non-citizens," he said.

The Interior Ministry official acknowledged that Christians are seen as less defended.

"Kidnapping Christians is an easy way to make money," he said. They "don't have the tribal or clan backup that will deter kidnappers and they are happy to pay the ransom to gain the freedom of their loved ones."

Christians also say they are seeing an increase in the disappearance of Christian underage girls, who are later found out to have converted to Islam and married Muslim men. They accuse conservative clerics of encouraging conversions, which often ignite deadly fights between families that can turn into a cycle of blood feuds.

Christian farmer Ishaq Aziz's 17-year-old daughter Nirmeen went missing on Valentine's Day, fueling speculation that she has converted and will reappear with a Muslim husband once she turns 18.

Aziz, 47, and his family are preparing for that day. They have sold some farmland to buy firearms, and Aziz explained matter-of-factly that Nirmeen and her husband will be killed first — "it is a question of honor" — and then the guns will turn against the groom's family.

Putin urges peace talks to end Syria 'massacre'

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said the civil war inSyria has become "a massacre" that must be stopped through peace talks between the government and the opposition, and repeatedRussia's firm rejection of calls for Syrian President Bashar Assad's ouster.

Speaking to the German ARD television in remarks released by the Kremlin on Friday, he rejected the Western criticism of Russia for continuing to supply weapons to Assad's regime. Putin said that such shipments don't violate international law, and he criticized those who send weapons to the Syrian opposition fighting a "legitimate government."

Russia has been Assad's main ally, shielding him from the U.N. sanctions over his crackdown on an uprising that turned into a civil war that has killed some 70,000 people.

In recent months, it has sought to distance itself from the Syrian strongman and shown a resignation to him losing power. At the same time, it has refused to back calls for Assad to step down, insisting that the opposition should be persuaded to sit down for talks with the regime.

"What is going on is a massacre, this is a disaster, a catastrophe," Putin said. "It has to be stopped."

He added, however, that "when they say that Assad is fighting against his own people, we need to remember that this is the armed part of the opposition."

Putin said that negotiations between the government and the opposition are necessary to provide guarantees to all parties and prevent the country from sliding into chaos.

"We do not think that Assad should leave today, as our partners suggest. In this case, tomorrow we will have to decide what to do and where to go," Putin said

He said that Russia doesn't want to see Syria plunge into a turmoil, which befell Libya, Iraq and Yemen.

"Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to bring everyone to the negotiation table so that all warring parties could reach an agreement on how their interests will be protected and in which way they will participate in the future governance of the country," he said. "And then they will work together on the implementation of this plan with due guarantees of the international community."

He said that French President Francois Hollande offered "some interesting ideas that can be implemented" on his February's visit to Moscow, but added that it will require some diplomatic work.

"We are ready to support these ideas," Putin said without elaboration. "We need to try and put them into practice."

Joint chiefs chairman in Afghanistan for talks

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — A weekend visit to Afghanistan by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is aimed at assessing the type and level of additional training that U.S. troops could provide to Afghan defense forces after 2014.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, who arrived at Bagram Air Field on Saturday after an overnight flight, said that assessment will inform U.S. decisions about how many American troops should remain after the U.S. and NATO combat role ends in December 2014.

The U.S. is expected to keep between 9,000 and 10,000 in a residual force, but no final decision has been made.

Dempsey was expected to meet with U.S. and allied commanders, including the new overall commander of coalition forces, Gen. Joseph Dunford. He also planned to meet with Afghan officials and talk with soldiers in the field.

Dempsey said Friday in Stuttgart, Germany, that he would like to see how Afghan forces perform this summer before determining the size of a residual U.S. force. There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a 2010 peak of about 100,000.