The museum in Josef Stalin's hometown in Georgia is changing its focus to highlight the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator's rule.

Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua said Monday the museum in Gori is incompatible with modern-day Georgia, which became independent in 1991.

The museum was built in 1937 and includes the small house where Stalin was born.

Stalin was born Iosif Dzhugashvili in Gori in 1878. He ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist from the early 1920s until his death in 1953.

Historians say that during Stalin's rule, millions of people were executed, died in prison camps, or starved to death in famines caused by the forced collectivization of agriculture.

But many older Russians revere Stalin as the man who defeated the Nazis in World War Two and turned the Soviet Union into a superpower.

A massive avalanche that buried more than 135 Pakistani soldiers and civilians at a military base in northern Kashmir has revived calls for the region's demilitarization.

A 20-meter wall of snow plowed into the military complex in the high-altitude Siachen Glacier region near the Indian border early Saturday.

Pakistan and India both claim the glacier, located on the northern tip of the Line of Control — a de facto border that divides Pakistani- and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The two nuclear-armed neighbors have deployed thousands of troops to the region at an altitude of around 6,000 meters, making it the world's highest battleground.

On Monday, poor weather conditions hampered recovery efforts and rescue workers have not recovered anyone dead or alive three days after the disaster.

An eight-member team of U.S. military experts arrived in Islamabad to aid in rescue operations, but were unable to travel to the site. U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Stroh told VOA Washington is ready to do whatever it can to help Pakistan deal with what he called a “horrific incident.”

Pakistan's military said a team of experts from Germany and Switzerland is also due in the country to provide help.

Pakistan and India have thousands of troops stationed on either side of Siachen, which has been violently disputed since 1984, when Indian troops seized the heights of the 78-kilometer-long glacier. But the region has been calm in the last decade, with the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain claiming more lives than gunfire.

Critics have long urged India and Pakistan to pull their troops from the Siachen region, calling it a “pointless conflict.”

Saturday's snowslide has revived those demands, which had been echoed Monday in Pakistan's parliament. Lawmakers urged President Asif Ali Zardari to aggressively pursue a diplomatic resolution with India in an effort to prevent further financial and human losses.

Pakistan and India both claim the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in full. Territorial disputes over control of the rugged region have sparked two wars between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

The United States says a rocket launch or future nuclear test by North Korea would only isolate its communist government further.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland made the comments Tuesday as South Korean intelligence photos, obtained by VOA, showed what appear to be preparations for a third North Korean nuclear test.

Nuland said she was not in a position to confirm whether the North is preparing for another nuclear test, in addition to a long-range rocket launch planned for this month. She urged China to use its influence with North Korea to persuade it to not go ahead with a rocket launch.

Pyongyang maintains that the rocket, to be launched between April 12 and 16, will carry only a weather satellite, but the U.S. and South Korea say the event is a test of a ballistic missile.

North Korean space officials took the rare step Sunday of allowing foreign journalists, including one from VOA , to see the rocket. Reporters said all three stages of the Unha-3 rocket were on the launch pad at the new Tongchang-ri space facility in North Phyongan province on the west coast.

Jang Myong Jin, general manager of the launch site, said that under the Space Treaty, every country has the right to develop space technology for peaceful purposes.

“The United States-sponsored United Nations Security Council resolution did talk about the technology of ballistic missile launches. However, there is a more important treaty than this resolution and that is the Space Treaty. The Space Treaty clearly states that every country has the right to develop space technology and explore space for peaceful purposes.”

Responding to a question from VOA, Jang Myong Jin dismissed criticism that North Korea is developing technology in spite of severe food shortages in the country.

“No matter how much we starve, don't we have to innovate and better develop technology?”

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said at a news conference in Seoul that his government sees the launch as a provocation.

“We want to clarify that it (the launch) is a provocation that threatens the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia. We (the South Korean military) are fully prepared to protect the South Korean people and respond firmly against any acts of provocation (by North Korea) that threaten the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula.”

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi acknowledged that Beijing — Pyongyang's most important ally — is troubled by the launch plan. At a press conference after talks Sunday with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, he called for more diplomacy.

“We considered and exchanged views about the situation on the Korean peninsula, including the announcement by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) that they plan to launch a satellite. The Chinese side once again pressed our point. The China side is troubled by the developments, and strongly encourages everyone involved on all sides, at high and low levels, to remain calm and reasonable. These issues need to be worked out in a diplomatic and peaceful manner.”

VOA meanwhile has obtained South Korean intelligence photos showing that North Korea appears to be preparing for a third nuclear weapons test.

An accompanying intelligence document, first disclosed Sunday by Yonhap news agency, says the images show workers digging a new tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast. The North conducted two previous nuclear tests in tunnels at the site — first in October 2006 and again in May 2009.

The report says it appears the tunnel work is in its final stage.

North Korea agreed in February to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches. At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced U.S. plans to provide the impoverished North with more food aid. That aid was canceled following the announcement of this week's rocket launch.

The United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan have jointly negotiated with the North to end its nuclear program. But those talks broke down in late 2009, when Pyongyang expelled international inspectors and then conducted its second nuclear test.

Iran has confirmed it will meet with Western powers in Istanbul Saturday but is urging them to take pre-conditions off the table ahead of the nuclear talks.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed Monday it will meet with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France — plus Germany. Iran wants a further round of talks held in Baghdad at a later date to discuss its controversial nuclear program.

There was no immediate response from the world powers. Iran has been balking at holding talks in Istanbul because it says Turkey has turned against its ally, Syria.

World powers say the talks, the first since January 2011, should bring a curtailment of Iran's high-level uranium enrichment and the closing of an underground nuclear development site,

But Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told Iranian media Monday that pre-conditions on the talks are “meaningless.”

Western powers suspect Tehran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the allegation and maintains its nuclear activities are purely for power generation and medical research purposes.

Iran's nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi told Iranian media Sunday the country may scale back production of highly enriched uranium. Abbasi said Iran may eventually reduce production of 20 percent enriched uranium to 3.5 percent enrichment levels — the purity needed for power generation — once enough fuel is created to keep its research reactor going.

Iran's uranium enrichment lies at the heart of the dispute between Tehran and Western powers. Uranium enriched to 20 percent could be turned into weapons-grade material within months.

Earlier this year, Iran confirmed it had started enriching uranium at an underground facility near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom. The Fordo complex is beneath a mountain and is better protected from potential air strikes by nations suspicious of the intent of Iran's nuclear program.

The computer hacking group Anonymous, blamed for a spate of cyber-attacks in China in the past week, says it will continue to target government websites to protest Internet censorship and human rights abuses.

Anonymous-China claims to have hacked into hundreds of government and commercial Chinese sites so far this month, and last week there were numerous reports of defaced websites in the country.

Those sites, many of which appeared to be operational Monday, included the home page for the Chengdu business district. A message on that page read in part: “Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall.”

Reuters news agency quotes an Anonymous hacker as saying Anonymous-China consists of 10 to 12 people — most of them based outside China. The hacker said the group has “hundreds” of translators working to hack Chinese sites.

A message recently posted on the defaced website hockeychina.net also warned Beijing that its government is not infallible. That message went on to say: “…We do not forgive. Never. What you are doing today to your great people, tomorrow will be inflicted on you. With no mercy.”

China boasts the world's largest online population, with more than one-half billion users. But the government tightly controls the Internet access, using a vast system of censorship that critics call “the great firewall of China.”

The United States says the U.S. government has been hit by many high-profile hacking attacks that appear to come from China. Those targets include U.S.-based human rights groups that advocate for Tibetan autonomy, as well as for other ethnic minorities and some U.S. companies.

China has consistently denied involvement in those attacks and claims that it too is a frequent target of cyber vandalism.

The computer hacking group Anonymous, blamed for a spate of cyber-attacks in China in the past week, says it will continue to target government websites to protest Internet censorship and human rights abuses.

Anonymous-China claims to have hacked into hundreds of government and commercial Chinese sites so far this month, and last week there were numerous reports of defaced websites in the country.

Those sites, many of which appeared to be operational Monday, included the home page for the Chengdu business district. A message on that page read in part: “Dear Chinese government, you are not infallible, today websites are hacked, tomorrow it will be your vile regime that will fall.”

Reuters news agency quotes an Anonymous hacker as saying Anonymous-China consists of 10 to 12 people — most of them based outside China. The hacker said the group has “hundreds” of translators working to hack Chinese sites.

The website hockeychina.net, on Monday also warned Beijing that its government is not infallible. The message went on to say: “…We do not forgive. Never. What you are doing today to your great people, tomorrow will be inflicted on you. With no mercy.”

China boasts the world's largest online population, with more than one-half billion users. But the government tightly controls the Internet access, using a vast system of censorship that critics call “the great firewall of China.”

The United States says the U.S. government has been hit by many high-profile hacking attacks that appear to come from China. Those targets include U.S.-based human rights groups that advocate for Tibetan autonomy, as well as for other ethnic minorities and some U.S. companies.

China has consistently denied involvement in those attacks and claims that it too is a frequent target of cyber vandalism.

Poor weather conditions are hampering recovery efforts two days after an avalanche buried more than 135 Pakistani soldiers and civilians in what is known as the world's highest battlefield.

A 20-meter wall of snow plowed into the military complex in the Siachen Glacier region near the Indian border early Saturday. Both Pakistan and India have military outposts near the disputed glacier, high in the mountains of Kashmir.

An eight-member team of U.S. military experts arrived in Islamabad to aid in rescue operations, but were unable to travel to the site on Monday due to bad weather. U.S. Embassy spokesman Mark Stroh told VOA the United States is ready to do whatever it can to help Pakistan deal with the “horrific incident.”

Pakistan's military says a team of experts from Germany and Switzerland is also arriving in the country to provide help.

Nearly 300 Pakistani troops and civilians have been using bulldozers, search dogs and helicopters to locate those buried under more than 70 meters of snow. There is no sign that anyone has survived the disaster. Military officials say no bodies have been recovered so far.

Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, visited the disaster site on Sunday and supervised rescue efforts on the remote 6,000-meter peak.

The Pakistan military said at least 124 soldiers from the 6th Northern Light Infantry Battalion and 11 civilians were buried under the snow.

Pakistan and India have thousands of troops stationed on either side of Siachen, which has been violently disputed since 1984. But the region has been calm in the last decade, with the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain claiming more lives than gunfire.

India's foreign secretary says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered humanitarian assistance to Pakistan during Sunday's talks with President Asif Ali Zardari in New Delhi.

Pakistan and India both claim the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in full. Territorial disputes over control of the rugged region have sparked two wars between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

The museum in Josef Stalin's hometown in Georgia is changing its focus to highlight the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator's rule.

Georgia's culture minister said Monday the museum in Gori is incompatible with modern-day Georgia,which became independent in 1991.

The museum was built in 1937 and included the small house where Stalin was born.

Born Joseph Dzhugashvili in Gori in 1878, Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist from the late 1920s until his death in 1953.

He is accused of causing the death of hundreds of thousands of people through executions, and forced labor in Gulag prison camps.

An explosion in the Somali town of Baidoa has killed at least 11 people and injured more than 30 others.

A witness told VOA that a thermos filled with explosives was placed in a local market and was detonated Monday afternoon.

The regional governor, Abdifatah Mohamed Gesey, told VOA that “more than 10″ people were killed but the figure is not final.

He said that two people have been arrested for the attack.

“Our troops on patrol have arrested a man who carried the ice thermos into the market and another man who may have had the remote detonator. They will be put on trial.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

African Union troops deployed to Baidoa last week, a few weeks after Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government captured the town from militant group al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab has lost large amounts of territory to AU, Ethiopian, and Kenyan forces in the past year but continues to carry out bombings and suicide attacks.

The group claimed responsibility for the bombing of Somalia's newly-reopened National Theater in Mogadishu last week. That blast killed at least seven people, including the heads of Somalia's Olympic committee and football federation.