Earlier, a tearful North Korean television announcer, dressed in black and her voice quavering, said the 69-year old ruler died on Saturday of "physical and mental over-work" on a train on his way to give "field guidance" -- advice dispensed by the "Dear Leader" on trips to factories, farms and the military.

Security concerns over North Korea, which in 2010 shelled civilians on a South Korean island and is accused of sinking one of its warships earlier that year, were heightened after Seoul said the North had test-fired a short range missile shortly before the announcement of Kim's death.

It was the first known launch since June and South Korea's defense ministry said it might abandon plans to light Christmas trees on the border, something the North has warned could provoke retaliation.

Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the missile test had likely been planned before Kim's death and U.S. officials said the military had so far not raised alert levels for some 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency lauded Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un as "the outstanding leader of our party, army and people."

A KCNA dispatch said North Koreans from all walks of life were in utter despair but were finding comfort in the "absolute surety that the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un will lead and succeed the great task of revolutionary enterprise."

There was uncertainty about how much support the third generation of the North's ruling dynasty has among the ruling elite, especially in the military, and concern that he might need a military show of strength to help establish his credentials.

"Kim Jong-un is a pale reflection of his father and grandfather. He has not had the decades of grooming and securing of a power base that Jong-il enjoyed before assuming control from his father," said Bruce Klingner, an Asia policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

"(He) may feel it necessary in the future to precipitate a crisis to prove his mettle to other senior leaders or deflect attention from the regime's failings."

Chinese state television showed North Koreans crying in the capital of Pyongyang. KCNA reported people were "writhing in pain" after losing the man who in 1994 succeeded his father Kim Il-sung, the North's first -- and officially eternal -- president as leader of the totalitarian state.

An "endless stream" of soldiers, working people and students visited a massive memorial of Kim Il-sung in central Pyongyang mourning the death of the "Dear Leader" until past midnight. "They are weeping bitterly out of self-reproach and regret that they failed to keep Kim Jong-il in good health," KCNA said.

Kim will be laid to rest next to his father, the agency said. The funeral of Kim Jong-il, turned into a demi-god by his propaganda machine, will be held on December 28.

News of the death of the man whose push to build a nuclear arsenal left the North heavily sanctioned and internationally isolated, triggered immediate nervousness in the region, with South Korea stepping up its military alert.

China, North Korea's neighbor and only powerful ally, said it was confident the North would remain united and that the two countries would maintain their relationship.

Expressing grief at Kim's death, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying, "We are confident the North Korean people will be able to turn their anguish into strength and unify as one."

There was less regret from Western leaders, with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying Kim had "violated the basic rights of the North Korean people for nearly two decades."

Western officials sought to put a positive spin on Kim's passing, suggesting the new leadership had a chance to engage with the world. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced "hope for improved relations with the people of North Korea."

Clinton also said she had been in touch with other participants in stalled six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program but did not elaborate. Washington and its main Asian allies have resisted calls to resume the talks, saying Pyongyang must first halt provocative actions.

While his father had 20 years as official heir, Kim Jong-un only became successor by taking on official titles last year, months after Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke around August 2008.

He takes over an economy that has been ravaged by years of mismanagement under Kim Jong-il, who only briefly flirted with economic reform, preferring to stick with central planning and the brutal crushing of any opposition.

Under Kim Jong-il's rule, an estimated one million North Koreans died during a famine in the 1990s. Even with good harvests, the state cannot feed its 25 million people.

Little is known of Kim Jong-un, who is believed to be in his late 20s and to have studied briefly at a school in Switzerland.

KCNA said Kim Jong-il died on Saturday after "an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock."

South Korea, still technically at war with the North, placed its troops and all government workers on emergency alert, but said there were no signs of any unusual North Korean troop movements.

The United States said it was committed to its allies and to stability on the divided Korean peninsula. Across the heavily armed border with South Korea, the North maintains an estimated one million troops, one of the world's largest standing armies.

Japan said it was watching developments closely. "We hope this sudden event does not have an adverse effect on the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said after a hastily called ministerial meeting on security.

SHARES FALL

Fears of what might happen next in North Korea unsettled financial markets, with Asian shares and U.S. index futures falling. South Korean stocks tumbled up to 5 percent, and the U.S. dollar strengthened. The Korean won fell 1.8 percent.

Kim Jong-un was at the head of a long list of officials making up the funeral committee, indicating that he would lead it and had taken, or been given, charge.

Zhu Feng, Professor of International Relations at Peking University, said it was clear the mechanism for transition was in place and working.

"In the short term, there won't be new policies, only a stressing of policy stability and continuity. So soon after Kim Jong-il has died, no leader will dare say that an alternative policy course is needed," Zhu said.

Chung Young-Tae at the Korea Institute of National Unification said there was "a big possibility that a power struggle may happen."

UNCHALLENGED HEAD

Kim Jong-il also promoted his sister and her husband, Jang Song-thaek, to important political and military posts, creating a powerful triumvirate.

Jang is seen as effective regent for the younger Kim. He holds a top position in the ruling Worker's Party, providing some balance to the generals who have been seen as more hardline in pushing the North to develop an atomic arsenal.

Experts say Kim Jong-un has the intelligence and leadership skills to make him suited to succeed his father. He is reported to have a ruthless streak that analysts say he would need to rule North Korea.

Pyongyang, which tested a nuclear device in 2006 and again in May 2009, last year unveiled a uranium enrichment facility, giving it a second route to make an atomic bomb along with its plutonium program.

Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London said that while a crisis would probably not erupt immediately, Pyongyang would not agree to the steps Seoul and Washington are demanding to restart the six-party talks.

"If it wasn't ready to countenance such steps under the paramount leader, it surely won't do it immediately after his death," he said.

Hundreds more have been wounded and scores detained in attempts to disperse protests in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square, hub of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the use of "excessive" force against the protests, which have widened a rift among Egyptians over the role of the army and cast a shadow over the country's first free election in decades.

An army general told a news conference that "evil forces" wanted to sow chaos and said soldiers had shown "self-restraint" despite provocation by those trying to burn down buildings and create discord between the army and the people.

The human rights watchdog Amnesty International called on arms suppliers to stop sending small arms and ammunition to Egypt's military and security forces in the wake of the violent crackdown on protesters.

Reporters Without Borders said the army's "systematic use of violence against media personnel," was blocking access to information in and around the square.

Soldiers have been filmed using batons to beat protesters, many of whom have been hurling stones, even after they have fallen to the ground.

"HITLER'S INCINERATORS"

In one incident, a government building housing historic books has been set on fire.

"What is your feeling when you see Egypt and its history burn in front of you?" retired general Abdel Moneim Kato, an adviser to the military, told a local paper, Al-Shorouk.

"Yet you worry about a vagrant who should be burnt in Hitler's incinerators."

The latest round of violence broke out just after the second stage of a six-week election for Egypt's new parliament that starts a slow countdown to the army's return to barracks. The military has pledged to hand power to an elected president by July.

An army source said 164 people had been detained. A security source said a 26-year-old man had died in custody, although the cause of death was not immediately clear.

The state news agency MENA said the public prosecutor had detained 123 people accused of resisting the authorities, throwing rocks at the army and police, and setting fire to government buildings. The prosecutor had released 53 others.

"From the start of the revolution, the evil forces have wanted to drag Egypt into chaos, putting the army into confrontation with the people," General Adel Emara said.

"What is happening does not belong with the revolution and its pure youth, who never wanted to bring down this nation."

He said troops had faced people wielding knives, petrol bombs and other weapons, and that those guarding state buildings had a right to self-defense.

Many Egyptians want to focus on building democratic institutions, not street activism, but have nevertheless been shocked by the tactics of security forces in and around Tahrir.

Video footage showed two soldiers dragging a woman lying on the ground by her shirt, exposing her underwear, then clubbing and kicking her.

General Emara described it as an isolated incident that was being investigated. He also said the army had not given orders to clear Tahrir Square by force.

ELECTION OVERSHADOWED

Ban Ki-moon's office said he was "highly alarmed by the excessive use of force employed by the security forces against protesters, and calls for the transitional authorities to act with restraint and uphold human rights, including the right to peaceful protest."

The violence has overshadowed the election, which is set to give Islamists the biggest bloc in parliament.

Western powers, long friendly with Mubarak and other Arab strongmen who kept a lid on Islamists, have watched warily as Islamist parties have swept elections in Morocco, Tunisia and now Egypt following this year's Arab uprisings.

Hard-core activists have camped in Tahrir since a protest against army rule on November 18, which was sparked by the army-backed cabinet's proposals to permanently shield the military from civilian oversight in the new constitution.

Tough security tactics against angry youths also sparked a flare-up last month in which 42 people were killed.

Some activists asked protesters to stop hurling stones on Sunday, but they refused. Other activists handed over to the army people they said were making petrol bombs.

The violence has deepened the frustration of many Egyptians tired of months of unrest that has left the economy in tatters.

"There are people who wait for any problem and seek to amplify it ... The clashes won't stop. There are street children who found shelter in Tahrir," said Ali el-Nubi, a postal worker.

Hundreds of people gathered in New York City to remember the attacks that took place in the United States on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Families and friends of those who died in the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center gathered at the site to pay tribute as authorities worked to ensure the emotional 10th anniversary was peaceful.

Among them was Gus Moutos, a retired U.S. Army Colonel. He said he’s often been in combat situations.

“I’ve seen it many times. But to attack a building full of innocent civilians defies anything anything I’ve ever seen,” said Moutos.

Law enforcement authorities in New York and Washington were on high alert against what was described as a “credible but unconfirmed” threat of an al Qaeda plot to attack the United States again a decade after the toppling of the World Trade Center’s twin towers by hijacked airliners.

Security in lower Manhattan included police barricades on every block near the World Trade Center site with police asking people for identification. People gathered near the site, some clutching American flags, to watch a large screen set up to show a remembrance ceremony here. Family members arrived wearing T-shirts with the faces of the dead, carrying photos, flowers, American flags and other mementos in an outpouring of emotion.

Sunday’s ceremony was the first 9/11 anniversary event in New York which included an American president.

Both President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush attended the ceremony and made opening remarks.

The ceremony also includes moments of silence marking when the planes hit the twin towers as well as when they collapsed. Other moments of silence mark when a plane hit the Pentagon and another crashed in Shanksville after passengers fought back against the hijackers.

To mark the 10th anniversary, Obama was set to visit all three attack sites.

Leader Kim Jong-il recently told China he was willing to return to stalled nuclear talks “without precondition,” according to Chinese media, following a similar pledge to Russia. North Korea signed an agreement in 2005 to scrap its nuclear programmes in exchange for economic and energy aid and diplomatic relations with the United States and Japan.

While in a visit to Russia last month, Kim promised to consider suspending nuclear arms tests and production if international talks on Pyongyang’s atomic program resume, a Kremlin spokeswoman said. The pledge, made at talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, was intended to improve the chances of reviving the six-nation aid-for-disarmament talks that collapsed when North Korea walked out of them in 2008.

G7 finance chiefs met under heavy pressure to take action to revive flagging economic growth in rich nations and calm the biggest confidence crisis in financial markets since the global credit crunch.

Differences between the economic problems facing the United States, Britain and euro zone states are complicating the task though, meaning one-size-fits-all solutions will not work.   A source in Brussels has said the G7 would likely agree to keep monetary policy accommodative, slow fiscal consolidation in states where that is possible, and implement structural reforms.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission umbrella bloc of activists inside the country appealed to the international community to send in human rights monitors to help deter military attacks on civilians in the increasingly bloody crackdown.

President Dmitry Medvedev signaled that Russia is ready to discuss a possible U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria but will not support a document that targets only the government for censure. Russia has resisted Western efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad for his government’s six-month-old crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Many of the 5.6 million residents in the three prefectures worst-hit by the disaster lost their homes and evacuees peaked at more than 475,000 on March 14.  Sitting only 22 kilometers from the damaged nuclear plant however, one evacuation centre in Minami-soma city still holds over 50 occupants, all from the 12 miles nuclear no-go zone.

Across Japan, nearly 10,000 people still stay in evacuation centers after what has been called Japan’s worst disaster since World War Two.   With Sunday September 11 marking the earthquake’s six month anniversary, the evacuees can only look forward to the future.

The new find, including a hand, undistorted pelvis, the brain endocast and pieces of the foot and ankle were shown to the media at the University’s Origin’s Center. The find has been seen as significant, as it will help scientists understand early human evolution.

Analysis of the two well-preserved fossil skeletons has revealed even more human features than the last study. The Wits helped scientists obtained a more accurate date for the age of Australothipecus sediba of 1.98 million years, which corresponds to the time when the first humans (genus Homo) began to evolve.

Protests against oil and mining companies are fairly common in Latin America’s No. 4 oil producer, with local communities seeking jobs or compensation for damages, and workers complaining about working conditions and pay.

One protester who refused to be identified said they had waited four years for the company to resolve the issues. Petrominerales — which is one of many Canadian explorers and producers in the country — produces around 40,000 bpd from all its fields.