People in the Philippines are braced for the arrival of Typhoon Hagupit, expected to hit land on Saturday.

Hagupit, which is building strength over the Pacific, is slowly bearing down on the region devastated by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.

Hagupit has gusts of up to 170km/h (105mph) and is expected to be a category 4 storm by Saturday.

Thousands of people, many still living in temporary shelters, have been told to go to evacuation centres.

Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land.

It tore though the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.
Local people have been stocking up on supplies ahead of the storm's arrival

Hagupit is not expected to be a powerful as Haiyan, but could bring storm surges up to one storey high.

The vice-mayor of Tacloban, the city which was worst hit by Haiyan, said the authorities were enforcing evacuation orders.

"We have no more excuse, we have gone through Yolanda, and to lose that many lives, it's beyond our conscience already," Jerry Yaokasin told reporters on Wednesday.

But he told AFP news agency: "Our problem is, we don't have enough evacuation centres."

Meteorologists say there is a chance Hagupit could veer north towards Japan and miss the Philippines altogether, but officials said they were preparing for a worst case scenario.

Helen Buena, an employee at a supermarket in Tacloban, told AFP people were stocking up on supplies.

"It's not raining yet but people are panic buying after hearing about the typhoon warnings on television and radio," she said.

Iran has conducted air strikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in eastern Iraq during recent days, a Pentagon spokesman says.

Rear Adm John Kirby said the US, which has conducted its own air strikes in Iraq, was not co-ordinating with Iran.

A senior Iranian military official also dismissed talk of co-operation.

Representatives of the US-led international coalition against IS are gathering at Nato headquarters in Brussels for a summit.

The talks chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss military strategy as well as ways to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining IS and how to counter its propaganda, officials told AFP news agency.

The ministers meeting will discuss ways to send "counter-messages" to de-legitimise IS, which has been adept at using social media to promote its cause, an unnamed senior US state department official told AFP.

"As we are able to de-legitimise [IS], we are able to turn populations against [IS], reduce their recruiting basis," he added.
'Nothing changed'

The US has said it would be inappropriate for Iran to join the coalition, even though the two long-time adversaries face a common enemy in IS.

A jet filmed over Iraq by Qatari-based broadcaster al-Jazeera has been identified by Jane's Defence Weekly as an Iranian Phantom.

Rear Adm Kirby's comments followed reports that American-made F4 Phantom jets from the Iranian air force had been targeting IS positions in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
There had been reports of Iranian air strikes in Diyala province, where Iraqi forces have been battling IS

"We have indications that they did indeed fly air strikes with F-4 Phantoms in the past several days," he said.

It was up to Iraq to oversee and co-ordinate flights by different countries in its airspace, he added.

"We are flying missions over Iraq, we co-ordinate with the Iraqi government as we conduct those," he said. "It's up to the Iraqi government to deconflict that airspace."

"Nothing has changed about our policy of not co-ordinating military activity with the Iranians."
'No place for US'

The Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brig-Gen Massoud Jazayeri also denied collaboration.

He said Iran considered the US responsible for Iraq's "unrest and problems", adding that the US would "definitely not have a place in the future of that country".

Shia Muslim-ruled Iran has close ties to Iraq's Shia-led government, which struggled to counter IS militants as they seized swathes of territory in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq.

Military analysts said earlier this year that Iran was supplying Iraq with Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets to help in the fight against IS.

Shia militias trained and funded by Iran have also been sent to Iraq to support Kurdish fighters battling IS militants.

Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the US and Iran have had a fraught relationship.

Washington severed ties the following year after Iranian students occupied the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. They were freed in 1981.

At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being devoured on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs online in the wake of the hack attack that hobbled the studio earlier in the week.

Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared with the frenzy enveloping “Fury,” the war pic still in theaters that bowed last month.

“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most-downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.

Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”

“The theft of Sony Pictures Entertainment content is a criminal matter, and we are working closely with law enforcement to address it,” a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement to Variety.

A source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the hacking earlier this week divulged that the multi-title leak is likely related to the hacking. Many of the leaked copies are watermarked.

In the attack on the studio’s corporate systems Nov. 24, an image of a skeleton appeared on company computers with a message that said, “Hacked by #GOP,” with the group behind it calling itself “Guardians of Peace.” The message threatened to release “secrets and top secrets” of the company. Currently being investigated is a connection between upcoming Sony movie “The Interview,” and North Korea.

Sony’s outbreak marks the biggest piracy incident since July, when Lionsgate saw “Expendables 3″ pop up online three weeks before its theatrical release. Police arrested two men in London earlier this week in connection with the stolen file.

While “Fury” has emerged as a hot ticket in file-sharing circles, the other Sony titles aren’t seeing as much sampling. “Annie” has been downloaded by over 184,000 unique IP addresses. Studio is hopeful “Annie” won’t be pirated as much because family films aren’t subject to as much illegal downloading as titles that skew more toward young males.

“Still Alice,” “Mr. Turner” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100,000 unique IP addresses since Nov. 27.

[UPDATE, Nov. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific: “Fury” now has been downloaded via piracy sites more than 1.2 million times, while “Annie” has topped 206,000 downloads by unique IP addresses, according to Excipio. Downloads of “Still Alice” stood at 103,832, followed by “Mr. Turner” at 63,379 and “To Write Love on Her Arms” at 19,946.]

Sony Pictures Entertainment has been targeted by computer hackers in an attack which reports say forced it shut down its systems on Monday.

A skull appeared on computer screens along with a message threatening to release data "secrets" if undisclosed demands were not met, reports said.

The message showed "#GOP" indicating a group called Guardians of Peace was behind the attack.

Sony has issued a statement saying the firm is investigating the "IT matter".

The tech firm has reportedly shut down its computer network as a precaution and advised employees that resolving the situation could take anywhere from one day to three weeks.

Meanwhile, an anonymous user on the Reddit news website posted an image allegedly from a Sony computer screen, which said "Warning: We've already warned you, and this is just the beginning… We have obtained all your internal data including secrets and top secrets".
Sony under attack

News of the online attack comes just months after Sony's Playstation network was forced offline by a cyber attack in August.

Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics research at Euromonitor said any negative news for Sony just "piles" pressure on the company that has been struggling financially in both its TV and mobile business.

"Three years ago, the hack on PlayStation network was massive, expensive and absolutely embarrassing. This time round, I don't believe that there will be massive damage, save for Sony's ego, even if the hack is real," Mr Loo said.

Charles Lim, senior industry analyst at ICT, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, however, said the attack has put into question what "multi-layers of prevention" Sony has to detect and handle such risks.

"In this breach, GOP claimed to have accessed private keys, source codes, password files and even their production schedule and notes, and that will raise questions," Mr Lim said.

High profile companies like Sony can be targeted and hacked every day, according to Naveen Menon, partner at consulting firm AT Kearney.

In its latest research, the firm said that experts estimate that at least 25% of all companies have already suffered financial loss through some form of cyber attack.
Analysis: Richard Taylor, BBC North America Technology Correspondent

Sony is understandably keen to downplay this latest hacking threat. "We are investigating the matter" is the kind of benign language more commonly used for routine technological issues, not chilling messages threatening to unleash reams of data to the world.

The demands are opaque so it is unclear how damage could be wrought should Sony fail to resolve the situation before the deadline. Sony Pictures has at least reclaimed its compromised Twitter accounts.

Nevertheless, this internal corporate attack does not yet appear to be of the magnitude of previous public breaches that Sony has suffered.

But the fact that hackers have again apparently infiltrated Sony's systems will do nothing to restore public faith that the Japanese technology giant has its security affairs in order.

And it is somewhat ironic that Sony has only just dismissed the allegation made by hackers that they had succeeded in breaching the Playstation network earlier this year. This latest attack cannot be so easily dismissed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed it is investigating a hack into Sony Pictures Entertainment's network last week.

The hack took down the firm's email systems and paralysed its network.

A group called Guardians of Peace took credit for the attack, flashing the message "hacked by #GOP" on screens.

The FBI said that "the targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat.''

Previously, Sony has said the firm was investigating the "IT matter".

Armata ucraneană a anunţat miercuri că o coloană de blindate ruseşti înainta în partea de sud-est a Ucrainei, unde s-a deschis un nou front luni. "Avem informaţii cu privire la înaintarea unei coloane alcătuite din 100 de vehicule, inclusiv tancuri, blindate, lansatoare multiple de rachete de tip Grad pe drumul către Starobeşeve-Telmanove".

"Avem informaţii cu privire la înaintarea unei coloane alcătuite din 100 de vehicule, inclusiv tancuri, blindate, lansatoare multiple de rachete de tip Grad pe drumul către Starobeşeve-Telmanove", a precizat centrul de presă al Statului Major al operaţiunii ucrainene în estul ţării, într-un comunicat.

Această coloană "marcată cu un triunghi sau un cerc alb" se îndreaptă către localitatea Telmanove, situată al aproximativ 20 de kilometri de frontiera rusă şi la aproximativ 80 de kilometri sud de Doneţk, un bastion al rebelilor proruşi.


Telmanove se află la aproximativ 40 de kilometri nord de Novoazovsk, unde autorităţile ucrainene au afirmat că au oprit altă coloană de blindate ruseşti. Forţele armate ucrainene şi separatişti proruşi erau implicate marţi în tiruri de artilerie, iar cu o zi înainte în lupte terestre.

Rebelii proruşi au anunţat luni lansarea unei contraofensive la sudul bastionului lor de la Doneţk, aparent într-o tentativă de a prinde armata ucraineană într-un cleşte.

Potrivit armatei ucrainene, altă coloană, alcătuită din şase lansatoare de rachete de tip Grad şi camioane cu combatanţi la bord a efectuat o incursiune de pe teritoriul Rusiei în localitatea Dibrovka, situată la 110 kilometri est de Doneţk.

Rebelii jihadişti sunniţi au preluat miercuri controlul asupra unui alt oraş din Irak, avansând către capitala Bagdad într-o ofensivă fulgerătoare, obligând Consiliul de Securitate să se reunească, joi, şi Washingtonul să ia în considerare atacuri aeriene, relatează AFP.

Acest avans al combatanţilor din cadrul organizaţiei Statul Islamic în Irak şi Levant (SIIL) în faţa forţelor guvernamentale în derută şi a unei puteri şiite neputincioase, a determinat aproximativ jumătate de milion de locuitori să fugă.

Purtătorul de cuvânt al SIIL, Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, le-a cerut insurgenţilor să se îndrepte către Bagdad şi l-a criticat pe premierul irakian Nuri al-Maliki pentru "incompentenţa" sa, într-o înregistrate audio datată miercuri şi tradusă de reţeaua americană de supraveghere a site-urilor islamiste SITE.


De marţi, combatanţii islamişti - excluşi din reţeaua Al-Qaida deoarece erau consideraţi prea radicali - au preluat controlul asupra nordului ţării, asupra celui de-al doilea oraş ca mărime din Irak, Mosul, a provinciei Ninive din care face parte aceste şi a unor sectoare din două provincii apropiate, Kirkuk şi Salaheddine, cu majoritate sunnită. Miercuri, ei controlau Tikrit, oraş situat la nord de Bagdad şi avansau către capitală. Ei au încercat, fără succes însă, să preia controlul oraşului Samarra, situat la circa 100 de kilometri de Bagdad, potrivit martorilor oculari.

SIIL a luat ostatici 49 de turci la consulatul Turciei din Mosul, printre care şi consulul şi membri ai forţelor speciale, precum şi 31 de şoferi de camion turci din această provincie.

Consiliul de Securitate al Naţiunilor Unite se va reuni cu uşile închise începând cu ora 11.30 (18.30 ora României) pentru a discuta despre situaţia din Irak. Trimisul special al ONU în Irak, Nikolai Mladenov, va interveni prin videoconferinţă.

Secretarul general al ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a lansat un apel la solidaritate internaţională cu Irakul.

El a cerut, de asemenea, eliberarea imediată şi fără condiţii a circa 50 de cetăţeni turci luaţi ostatici la consulatul din Mosul.

Ministrul turc al Afacerilor Externe, Ahmet Davutoglu, a ameninţat SIIL cu "represaliile cele mai severe" dacă le va face cel mai mic rău.

Iranul şiit dar şi Statele Unite au sprijinit Guvernul lui Nuri al-Maliki în faţa "terorismului".

"Statele Unite vor susţine liderii irakieni în timp ce realizează unitatea naţională necesară pentru a câştiga lupta împotriva SIIL", a afirmat purtătorul de cuvânt al Casei Albe, Jay Carney, într-un comunicat.

- Fără militari americani trimişi în Irak

Irakul a declarat oficial Statelor Unite că este deschis ideii unor atacuri aeriene americane pentru a stăvili ofensiva jihadistă, a afirmat miercuri pentru AFP un oficial american, confirmând o informaţie apărută în Wall Street Journal.

Administraţia preşedintelui Obama are în vedere mai multe opţiuni pentru a ajuta Bagdadul, eventual prin intermediul unor atacuri efectuate cu avioane fără pilot, potrivit accestui oficial care s-a exprimat sub acoperirea anonimatului.

Diplomaţia americană s-a apărat că a fost luată prin surprindere, afirmând că şi-a exprimat de mai multe luni "îngrijorările" cu privire la "ameninţarea teroristă" pe care o presupune SIIL pentru întreaga regiune.

În consecinţă, Washingtonul "este pregătit" să vină în ajutorul Bagdadului în faţa "agresiunii" SIIL, a declarat purtătoarea de cuvânt a Departamentului de Stat, Jennifer Psaki, anunţând o "creştere a asistenţei" americane.

Dar în niciun caz Statele Unite "nu intenţionează" să trimită trupe la sol în Irak, potrivit lui Psaki, după retragerea lor la 31 decembrie 2011, la încheierea unui angajament militar masiv american timp de opt ani.

În 2011, Bagdadul şi Washingtonul nu au reuşit să ajungă la un acord privind menţinerea unui contingent american în Irak şi mulţi s-au alarmat atunci de o eventuală intensificare a violenţelor după plecarea americanilor.

Washington a cheltuit ulterior zeci de miliarde de dolari pentru a forma şi echipa forţe armate irakiene, aceleaşi care, în mod evident, au fugit din faţa jihadiştilor.

- Reuniune a Parlamentului joi

SIIL care vrea să instaureze un stat islamic, a avertizat că "nu va opri seria de invazii binecuvântate". Grupul controlează deja sectoare din provincia occidentală Al-Anbar de la frontiera cu Siria. Acuzat de abuzuri în Siria, acesta deţine sectoare vaste în provincia petrolieră Deir Ezzor (nord-est), generând temeri privind o unire teritorială cu nord-vestul irakian.

Simbolic, grupul a difuzat miercuri pe Internet fotografii cu jihadişti care creează o rută între Siria şi Irak aplatizând cu un buldozer un zid de nisip.

Neputincios şi subminat de clivaje confesionale, Guvernul irakian a cerut Parlamentului, care se va reuni joi, să declare "stare de urgenţă".

Dar în faţa avansului din nord al combatanţilor jihadişti antrenaţi, militarii şi poliţiştii au demonstrat o rezistenţă redusă, guvernatorul privinciei Ninive, Athil al-Nujaifi, acuzând comandanţii militari că au abandonat câmpul de bătălie.

Potrivit Organizaţiei Internaţionale pentru Migraţie (OIM), "peste 500.000 de persoane s-au mutat în interiorul şi în jurul Mosul", care numără în mod obişnuit două milioane de locuitori.

La 50 de kilometri de Mosul, cozi interminabile de bărbaţi, femei şi copii aşteaptă la un baraj kurd să obţină permis de sejur pentru a trece în Kurdistanul autonom.

Ajunsă cu familia sa, Zahra Sherif, în vârstă de 39 de ani, explică faptul că a "părăsit oraşul de teama unor masacre dacă armata lansează un asalt asupra acestuia".

În Mosul, combatanţii îmbrăcaţi în uniforme militare sau în ţinută neagră, cu feţele acoperite, sunt poziţionaţi în apropiere de bănci, administraţii publice şi sediul Consiliului provincial, potrivit martorilor oculari.

Potrivit experţilor, SIIL este format în mare parte în Irak din foşti oficiali şi membri obişnuiţi ai serviciilor de securitate ale lui Saddam Hussein care s-au alăturat rebelilor după invazia americană din 2003.