N Korea's Human Rights 'Worst In The World'

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

The United Nations Security Council has held its first ever meeting to discuss "unspeakable atrocities" and "grave human rights violations" allegedly being carried out in North Korea.

The 15-member council, which includes the UK, the US, China and Russia, discussed whether North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un should be referred to the International Criminal Court for "crimes against humanity" after objections from China were overcome.

Australian Ambassador to the UN Gary Quinlan described the move as "an historic step".

"The DPRK (North Korea) is in effect a totalitarian state which uses violence and repression against its own citizens to maintain itself and its threatening military apparatus in power."

US Ambassador Samantha Power said: "The human rights violations in North Korea are among the worst in the world. They are widespread. They are systematic."

She added: "Given the threat they pose to peace and security, they have been going on outside the scrutiny of the UN Security Council for far too long."

Video: Getting A Glimpse Of N Korea Life

But North Korea rejected the council's decision and said it would decide how to respond.

The meeting was called following an unprecedented UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) report, published in February, catalogued a list of crimes which it said were "widespread and systematic" and "unparalleled in the modern world".

The COI, chaired by retired Australian judge Michael Kirby, sat through witnesses' testimony from scores of North Korean defectors who described their lives inside the country.

The report lists murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, sexual violence, forcible transfers and forced disappearances.

Mr Kirby said there were "many parallels" between the evidence he heard and crimes committed by the Nazis in World War Two.  He said the international community could not claim, as it did with the Nazis, that they were unaware of the crimes.

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1. Gallery: Sky News On China's North Korea Border

   Sky News has filmed rare pictures across the Chinese border into North Korea. The images demonstrate the poverty inside the country and the degree to which China cooperates with its old ally

At the border town of Ji'an only a narrow river separates China with North Korea

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North Korea Hacked? State's Internet Cut

North Korea's limited internet service collapsed for more than nine hours just days after the US vowed to retaliate for a cyber-attack on Sony, which has been blamed on the reclusive state.

A US-based analyst said all internet went down after a period of instability over the weekend before links were eventually restored.

"For the past 24 hours North Korea's connectivity to the outside world has been progressively getting degraded to the point now that they are totally offline," said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Dyn Research.

"There's either a benign explanation - their routers are perhaps having a software glitch; that's possible. It also seems possible that somebody can be directing some sort of an attack against them and they're having trouble staying online."

Sony pulled The Interview - a comedy about the assassination of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un - after hackers threatened showings of the movie.

Video: N Korea Currency Is 'Worthless'

The group, calling itself Guardians of Peace, had already leaked five unreleased films, the script of the next James Bond movie, embarrassing email exchanges between executives and private individuals' data after attacking Sony's systems.

Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any role in the attack but said it could have been carried out by the country's supporters.

But the FBI blamed North Korea for the devastating attack on the media giant and President Barack Obama said the US would respond "in a place and time and manner that we choose".

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said she could not confirm North Korea had been the target of a cyber-attack.

Video: Doubts Raised Over Hacking Claims

"We aren't going to discuss ... publicly, operational details about the possible response options or comment on those kind of reports in anyway except to say that as we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen," she said.

However, Ms Harf did respond to Pyongyang's calls for a joint investigation into the attack, saying: "If they want to help here they could admit their culpability and compensate Sony for the damages that they caused."

The internet is only available to trusted government officials in North Korea and its main web presence is through its Uriminzokkiri website, which has Twitter and Flickr feeds best known for sharing propaganda videos attacking the US and South Korea.

Mr Madory said the internet connection had historically been stable, but had come under attack in the past.

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1. Gallery: Sky News On China's North Korea Border

   Sky News has filmed rare pictures across the Chinese border into North Korea. The images demonstrate the poverty inside the country and the degree to which China cooperates with its old ally

At the border town of Ji'an only a narrow river separates China with North Korea

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Man Stabs Himself After Ploughing Into Market

A man driving a van has ploughed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Nantes, western France, injuring 10 people.

The driver drove at a chalet serving hot wine in front of which several people were gathered, a witness said.

"I just saw the car charging into the stand, completely ramming into people," an elderly woman said.

A source close to the investigation said he then stabbed himself "at least nine times," causing himself serious injuries.

A local official said five people were injured, including the driver

The Christmas market was evacuated and secured by police.

The crash followed a similar incident in the French city of Dijon yesterday. In that incident at least 13 people were injured, two of them seriously, after a driver targeted passers-by in five different areas of the city.

Witnesses told police the driver was heard shouting he was "acting for the children of Palestine" during the rampage, which lasted about half an hour.

However, a prosecutor said the 40-year-old driver had been to psychiatric hospital 157 times and had no known links to jihadist groups.

That attack came a day after another man, who was also heard shouting "Allahu Akbar," stabbed three police officers in the central town of Joue-les-Tours.

Bertrand Nzohabonayo, the man arrested over the stabbings, has a brother on a domestic terrorism watchlist but is not on it himself.

Two days before attacking the police station, Bertrand had copied his brother in posting an Islamic State flag on his Facebook page.

President Francois Hollande has aske dthe prime minister to call an emergency meeting to discuss the three attacks.

However, the source said they had "no account pointing to any religious demands" in connection with the latest crash at the market.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attacker appeared to be "unbalanced" and not motivated by politics or religion.

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