Category Archives: Uncategorized

Chinese hackers ‘compromise’ US weapon systems designs

Posted on May 29, 2013 by

Chinese hackers have accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems, a US newspaper has reported. Designs for combat aircraft, ships and missile defences were among those compromised, a Pentagon paper found, the Washington Post reported. A public version of the same Defence Science Board report said in January that the US was unprepared for a full-scale cyber attack. A Pentagon spokesman said “intrusions” had not eroded its technological edge. The Defense Science Board did not return requests for comment from the BBC. The Washington Post report comes as Australia discloses Chinese hackers stole floor plans for the new headquarters of its domestic intelligence agency. The compromised US … Continue reading →

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Venezuela’s opposition leader to challenge vote in court

Posted on April 28, 2013 by

Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles has vowed to challenge President Nicolas Maduro’s narrow victory in the 14 April presidential poll in the Supreme Court. Mr Capriles announced on Thursday his movement would pull out of an audit of the vote, which he agreed on last week. He said the proposed conditions for the audit were unfair, calling the process a “joke”. The opposition leader claims votes were “stolen” by Mr Maduro’s government. Mr Capriles said his movement would boycott the audit because the electoral authorities had not accepted his demand for voter signatures and fingerprints to be examined. The electoral council failed to meet his “deadline” of 25 April to … Continue reading →

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Gen Musharraf avoids treason charge by caretaker government

Posted on April 23, 2013 by

The caretaker government in Pakistan has said it will not put former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on trial for high treason. The government said such a move exceeded its mandate and a decision should be taken by the winner of next month’s polls. The former president, who led Pakistan for nine years, is currently under house arrest in Islamabad. He was held last week over the illegal detention of judges in 2007. Mr Musharraf has described all the cases against him as politically motivated. In a written reply at a court hearing, the interim government said that its mandate was limited to organising elections and tackling the security threats in … Continue reading →

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U.S. commander discloses Afghan troop recommendation

Posted on March 6, 2013 by

A top U.S. military commander said on Tuesday he has recommended keeping 13,600 American troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when the NATO combat mission ends and most Western troops withdraw. General James Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee he believed that properly designing the residual force would be “critical” for a good outcome to America’s longest war. “I have made my recommendation,” Mattis said in response to a question from Republican Senator John McCain. “That recommendation is for 13,600 U.S. forces.” The figure provided by Mattis, who leads the U.S. military’s Central Command, is above the range of troop levels U.S. officials have said were being considered by the White … Continue reading →

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Missile blast wounds Syrian rebel commander – activists

Posted on February 21, 2013 by

 A missile struck the command centre of the main Syrian rebel force near Damascus on Wednesday, wounding its leader, activists said, and a football player was killed when a mortar bomb hit a stadium in the centre of the capital. The missile attack on Liwa al-Islam Brigade, which is spearheading a three-week-old offensive that has given the rebels a foothold inside Damascus, deals a blow to efforts to undermine President Bashar al-Assad in his seat of power. A rebel spokesman said Sheikh Zahran Alloush, founder of the brigade, was wounded but declined to give further details. “We cannot disclose Sheikh Zahran’s condition,” said the spokesman, Islam Alloush, who is also … Continue reading →

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US wary of Africa “terrorist” threat as Senegal detains suspects

Posted on February 16, 2013 by

Senegal has detained a Mauritanian and a Malian for suspected terrorist links, its government said on Friday, and a top U.S. defense official called for international teamwork to counter a growing presence of al Qaeda and its allies in Africa. The United States and African governments are backing a five-week-old French military campaign against Islamist rebels in Senegal’s neighbor Mali, calling it a blow against jihadists who threaten attacks in Africa and elsewhere. After driving the bulk of the rebels from north Mali towns such as Gao and Timbuktu, French, Malian and African troops are pursuing the insurgents in the remote mountainous northeast where they are thought to be holding … Continue reading →

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Brazilian Congress elects leaders probed for corruption

Posted on February 9, 2013 by

In a country that has taken big strides toward greater transparency in government in recent years, the Brazilian Congress is out of step. The lower chamber of Congress voted overwhelmingly on Monday for Henrique Alves to become its speaker, even though he is under investigation for graft. The selection of Alves came after the Senate chose a new leader who is also accused of corruption. Ordinary Brazilians see the choices as a step backward in an unprecedented clean-up in Brazilian politics in the past two years that saw six ministers fired because of corruption allegations and a judiciary crackdown on political graft. Alves is a veteran of 42 years in … Continue reading →

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More than 50 nations involved in global torture scheme

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

The U.S. counterterrorism practice known as extraordinary rendition, in which suspects were quietly moved to secret prisons abroad and often tortured, involved the participation of more than 50 nations, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Open Society Foundations. The OSF report, which offers the first wholesale public accounting of the top-secret program, puts the number of governments that either hosted CIA “black sites,” interrogated or tortured prisoners sent by the U.S., or otherwise collaborated in the program at 54. The report also identifies by name 136 prisoners who were at some point subjected to extraordinary rendition. The number of nations and the names of those detained provide … Continue reading →

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Iran’s Salehi says U.S. is changing approach to Tehran

Posted on February 5, 2013 by

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday he saw U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden’s offer this weekend of bilateral dialogue between their two countries as a sign of a change in approach to Tehran by Washington. Iran is embroiled in a long stand-off with big powers over its nuclear program. Tehran insists its atomic activity is for peaceful energy only while the United States and other powers suspect it of seeking the capability to build a nuclear weapon. “As I said yesterday, I am optimistic, I feel this new administration is really this time seeking to at least divert from its previous traditional approach vis-a-vis my country,” Salehi told … Continue reading →

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Israel ministry paper proposes ‘toppling’ Abbas over UN bid

Posted on November 15, 2012 by

A position paper by Israel’s foreign ministry proposes “toppling” President Mahmoud Abbas if a Palestine’s bid for UN non-member state status is approved. The internal document says it is “the only option” if deterrence efforts do not succeed, despite the consequences. It also suggests that the Palestinians should be offered immediate recognition of statehood within provisional borders as an incentive to drop their UN bid. Mr Abbas plans to submit a request to the UN General Assembly on 29 November. Currently, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the umbrella group which represents most Palestinian factions and conducts negotiations with Israel, only has “permanent observer” status at the UN. Mr Abbas, who … Continue reading →

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