From the world of spies, lies, military posturing, hacks, corporate voyeurism, and the ever diminishing realm of the truly personal, we open with a headline from Homeland Security News Wire:
Most of 2013 terrorist attacks took place in only a few countries
The majority of terrorist attacks occurring in 2013 remained isolated in just a few countries, according to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which is generated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). In 2013, 11,952 terrorist attacks resulted in 22,178 fatalities (including perpetrator deaths) and 37,529 injuries across 91 countries. More than half of all attacks (54 percent), fatalities (61 percent), and injuries (69 percent) occurred in just three countries: Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The majority of terrorist attacks occurring in 2013 remained isolated in just a few countries, according to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), which is generated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland. With the addition of nearly 12,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, the database now includes more than 125,000 events dating back to 1970 and, according to START, it remains the most comprehensive unclassified database of terrorist attacks around the world.
From the McClatchy Washington Bureau, business as usual:
In Senate-CIA fight on interrogation report, another controversy
The background of a key negotiator in the battle over a Senate report on the CIA’s use of interrogation techniques widely denounced as torture has sparked concerns about the Obama administration’s objectivity in handling the study’s public release.
Robert Litt, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is a former defense lawyer who represented several CIA officials in matters relating to the agency’s detention and interrogation program. Now he’s in a key position to determine what parts of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s 6,300-page report will be made public.
Litt’s involvement doesn’t appear to be an ethics issue, at least by the legal definition. But experts say that while it may be acceptable on paper, his involvement in the review should have been a red flag.
From the London Daily Mail, a story Lenny Bruce would’ve loved:
Former HHS cyber security chief convicted in CHILD PORN case after using screen names ‘F***Christ’ and ‘PT***eater’ on underground website
Timothy DeFoggi was found guilty Tuesday on all seven child-porn criminal charges he faced in federal court
Justice Dept says he ‘accessed’ and ‘solicited child pornography … [and] expressed an interest in the violent rape and murder of children’
DeFoggi ‘even suggested meeting one member in person,’ according to the DOJ, ‘to fulfill their mutual fantasies to violently rape and murder children’
The former cyber security pro was listed near the top of the HHS organization chart in a document describing budget requests for 2014
His screen names ‘F***Christ’ and ‘PT***eater’ were mentioned repeatedly in court and are part of the public record
Ars Technica takes the techgeek approach:
Cybersecurity official uses Tor but still gets caught with child porn
Timothy DeFoggi wrongly thought he was covering his tracks.
The former acting cybersecurity director for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Tim DeFoggi, was convicted yesterday on three child porn charges.
As reported by Wired, DeFoggi is the sixth suspect to be caught by the FBI’s Operation Torpedo, which used controversial methods of defeating the Tor anonymizing software in order to find child porn suspects.
One site frequented by DeFoggi was PedoBook, hosted by Aaron McGrath—a Nebraska man who was convicted earlier for his role in the operations. The websites were only accessible to users who installed Tor on their browsers. DeFoggi used names such as “fuckchrist” and “PTasseater” to register on the sites, where he could view more than 100 videos and more than 17,000 child porn images.
From Bloomberg News, they’ve got you covered:
Homeland Security Arms Local Cops With Super Spy Bug
Humvees and body armor, so jarring to see deployed in Ferguson, Mo., aren’t the only concern when it comes to the militarization of U.S. police forces.
The Tacoma News Tribune reported that police in Tacoma, Wash., bought—and quietly used for six years—surveillance equipment that can sweep up records of every mobile telephone call, text message, and data transfer up to a half-mile from the device.
Known as a Stingray and manufactured by Harris (HRS), a Pentagon contractor based in Melbourne, Fla., the device is small enough to be carried in a car. It tricks a mobile phone into thinking it’s a cell tower, drawing information, the paper said. Federal grants, including one from the Department of Homeland Security, were used to buy the equipment, according to public records the newspaper obtained.
Fusion raises an interesting question:
Fusion Investigates: How did America’s police departments lose loads of military-issued weapons?
Fusion has learned that 184 state and local police departments have been suspended from the Pentagon’s “1033 program” for missing weapons or failure to comply with other guidelines. We uncovered a pattern of missing M14 and M16 assault rifles across the country, as well as instances of missing .45-caliber pistols, shotguns and 2 cases of missing Humvee vehicles.
“[The program] is obviously very sloppy, and it’s another reason that Congress needs to revisit this promptly,” said Tim Lynch, director of the CATO Institute’s project on criminal justice. “We don’t know where these weapons are going, whether they are really lost, or whether there is corruption involved.”
More troubling yet is the possibility that some of the missing weapons, which were given to local police departments as part of a decades’ old government program to equip cops for the wars on terrorism and drugs, are actually being sold on the black market, Lynch said.
H/T to Cryptogon.
From the Latin American Herald Tribune, theatrical posturing:
Texas National Guard Deploys on Mexican Border
The first units of the National Guard contingent Texas Gov. Rick Perry is deploying to the Mexican border amid a surge in the arrivals of unaccompanied minors from Central America are in position, authorities said Tuesday.
“The Texas National Guard currently has troops all along the border between Texas and Mexico in support of Operation Strong Safety,” Lt. Col. Joanne MacGregor, public affairs officer at Texas Military Forces, told Efe.
Most of the roughly 63,000 unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who have arrived in the United States since last October entered the country via the 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) boundary between Texas and Mexico.
From the Associated Press, Sisyphus on the Mississippi:
In wake of Ferguson, police try to build trust
In the aftermath of the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, some police departments are renewing efforts to reach out to black communities to build trust — holding public meetings, fielding questions and letting people voice the anger they feel toward officers who patrol their neighborhoods.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown considers it a preventative step.
“I’d much rather they shout at me at a town hall meeting at a church and get to know me afterward than not have a relationship,” Brown said. After a police shooting has already happened, “it’s too late to try to establish relationships.”
From the Los Angeles Times, a Ferguson moment on Wilshire Boulevard:
Beverly Hills police regret holding black producer before Emmys
Beverly Hills police officials said Tuesday that it was “extremely unfortunate” that officers handcuffed and detained an African American film producer who was in the city to attend a pre-Emmy party.
Producer Charles Belk “matched the clothing and physical characteristics” of a suspected bank robber when he was pulled over by officers on Friday evening after he left a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard, according to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Belk said on Facebook that he was walking to his car when he was confronted by police, handcuffed and forced to sit on the sidewalk. He said he was detained for six hours.
“I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn’t know that I was a well educated American citizen that had received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, an MBA from Indiana University … and an executive leadership certificate from Harvard Business School,” Belk said. “Hey, I was ‘tall,’ ‘bald,’ a ‘male’ and ‘black,’ so I fit the description.”
LA Observed has the blowback:
Producer’s ‘detention’ by BHPD creates big backlash
Over the weekend I noticed that producer Charles Belk had posted a lengthy, angry account on Facebook about being detained by Beverly Hills police, handcuffed on the curb and denied access to a phone or a lawyer for six hours after he was stopped while walking to feed his parking meter on La Cienega Boulevard. He is black. The police say he was identified as bank robbery suspect. Belt’s post has been shared and liked more than 34,000 times on Facebook and he has been interviewed about the incident by, among others, NBC News. This incident clearly has legs beyond the BHPD’s explanation that he fit the description and they regret his inconvenience. Belk’s Facebook post has triggered what can only be called a massive outpouring of comments from people who feel they have similarly been detained by police essentially for being black. The media coverage? International.
From the Independent, a possible solution to the above?:
Cannabis-smoking couples are ‘less likely to engage in domestic violence’
Married couples who frequently smoke cannabis together are less likely to engage in domestic violence than those who consume the drug less regularly, a new study has suggested.
Researchers from Yale University, University of Buffalo and Rutgers followed 634 married couples for nine years.
They found that those who used cannabis together three times or more each month reported the lowest number domestic violence incidents (intimate partner violence) over the first nine years of marriage.
From the Associated Press, reviving the Cold War:
Finland, Sweden increase ties to NATO
Finland and Sweden plan to work more closely with NATO by signing a pact that allows assistance from alliance troops in the Nordic countries in emergency situations, officials said Wednesday.
The move comes as NATO prepares for a summit next week in Wales amid heightened tensions with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. Finland shares a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia.
The Finnish government said the Host Nation Support agreement applies to situations which include “disasters, disruptions and threats to security.” It also enables joint training exercises and military cooperation.
While the London Telegraph gets defensive:
Police build ‘ring of steel’ for Wales Nato summit
More than 12 miles of steel fencing and more than 9,000 police will guard the UK’s biggest ever gathering of world leaders
Police are putting the finishing touches to a “ring of steel” of more than 12 miles of security fencing to protect world leaders heading to south Wales for next week’s Nato summit.
The two-day summit in Newport is the UK’s biggest ever gathering of international leaders as the military alliance decides how to deal with crises in Ukraine and Iraq.
Nine foot high steel fencing is being put around key parts of the Celtic Manor Resort where the summit is being held and at venues in Cardiff city centre. Police are also setting up checkpoints and entry gates to screen people as they enter the cordon.
The operations is one of the biggest ever police deployments. More than 9,000 police officers will be drafted in to protect 180 VIPs including 60 heads of state and senior ministers.
Meanwhile plans are underway to give all those coppers plenty of work. From the People’s Assembly:
From the Guardian, why needs the Magna Carta?:
Met chief calls for new anti-terror powers and backs ‘presumption of guilt’
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe also calls for return of ‘something like’ control orders, which tighten authority over terror suspects
Britain’s most senior police chief has called for wide-ranging new powers to tackle homegrown terrorism, including a “rebuttable presumption” that anyone who visits Syria without prior notice should be treated as a terror suspect.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, chief constable of the Metropolitan police, also called for a return of control orders and said Britons who wage jihad in Syria or Iraq should be stripped of their passports.
Most significantly, however, Hogan-Howe became the first serving police chief to back Boris Johnson’s proposal for the presumption of innocence to be overturned for Britons who travel to warzones.
El País cites another source of insecurity:
Spain on alert over new biker gangs
Groups hail mostly from Germany and the Netherlands and have long records of criminal activity
Law enforcement agencies are warning about a new type of criminal in Spain: members of biker gangs, most of whom are coming in from central Europe.
An Interior Ministry report states that “this is the right time to increase preventive police activity and research, considering their incipient state in our country.”
The report mentions gangs such as Hell’s Angels, Satudarah MC, No Surrender MC and Bandidos MC, all of whom are well established in Germany and the Netherlands, among other countries.
All of them also have a long record of criminal activity, ranging from arms and drug trafficking, to money laundering, burglary, extortion and violent robbery.
Bloomberg raises hackery suspicions:
FBI Examining Whether Russia Is Tied to JPMorgan Hacking
Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August, infiltrating and stealing data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and at least one other bank, an incident the FBI is investigating as a possible retaliation for government-sponsored sanctions, according to two people familiar with the probe.
The attack resulted in the loss of gigabytes of sensitive data, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the probe is still preliminary. Authorities are investigating whether recent infiltrations of major European banks using a similar vulnerability are also linked to the attack, one of the people said.
From TheLocal.no, Norse petro-hackery:
300 oil companies hacked in Norway
Around 300 oil and energy in Norway companies has been affected by one of the biggest computer hacking attacks ever to happen in the country, a government source said on Wednesday.
National Security Authority Norway (Nasjonal Sikkerhetsmyndighet – NSM) revealed 50 companies in the oil sector were hacked and 250 more are now being warned by the government agency. NSM is Norway’s prevention unit for serious hack attacks.
The attack was the largest of its kind against Norwegian interests to take place, reported Dagens Næringsliv on Wednesday.
From News On Japan, a terminal alert:
Japan airports’ Wi-Fi allows snooping
Users of free wireless Internet connections at Japan’s Narita, Kansai and Kobe airports are vulnerable to electronic eavesdropping of their e-mail and web browsing, a study by an information and communications specialist showed Tuesday.
Such risks can be prevented by encrypting Wi-Fi connections, but the three airports refrain from doing so in favour of user convenience, as password entry would be required for encrypted Internet connections.
Free Wi-Fi connections are available at about 900,000 locations nationwide including public facilities and convenience stores, but many of them are not encrypted, according to Masakatsu Morii, a professor at a graduate school of engineering at Kobe University.
SecurityWeek gets proactive:
Singapore Boosts Cyber Security After Hacking Incidents
Singapore on Tuesday announced new measures to strengthen cyber security to prevent a recurrence of attacks on government websites including those of its president and prime minister.
Information minister Yaacob Ibrahim said the government is upgrading its Cyber-Watch Centre, allowing it to track malicious activities and respond swiftly when there are security breaches. The upgrades are expected to be completed by January 2015.
“Large-scale cyber security breaches have made headlines and raised public concerns,” Yaacob said in a speech to a conference of experts in Singapore, referring to attacks against US retailer Target and other international incidents. “Governments, businesses, manufacturers and consumers must guard against data leakage, unauthorized access to corporate resources and malware attack against their networks,” he said.
From Network World, ad-umbration:
New malvertising campaign hit visitors of several high-profile sites
Some visitors to several high-profile websites last week were redirected to browser exploits that installed malware on their computers because of malicious advertisements on those sites.
The attack affected visitors to Java.com, Deviantart.com, TMZ.com, Photobucket.com, IBTimes.com, eBay.ie, Kapaza.be and TVgids.nl between Aug. 19 and Aug. 22, according to researchers from Dutch security firm Fox-IT.
“These websites have not been compromised themselves, but are the victim of malvertising,” the researchers said Wednesday in a blog post. “This means an advertisement provider, providing its services to a small part of a website, serves malicious advertisement aimed at infecting visitors with malware.”
After the jump, the latest from the Asian Game of Zones, including cyberwar, simultaneous blasts of rhetorical artillery are accompanied by feelers to set out the rules to a game they’ve been [dangerously] improvising, Abe again invokes vanquished imperialists while China evokes their mortal foes, Tokyo diplomatic posturing, a Pakistani challenge, beefed up Aussie security and a healed intel rift, Hanoi/Beijing fence-mending, Seoul/Tokyo talks, a Pyongyang riposte, a Chinese crackdown, and a telling suppression of free speech in the good ol’ U.S.A. . .
Our first Asian headline, digital via The Diplomat:
Casualties of Cyber Warfare
American and Chinese companies are getting caught in the crossfire of the brewing cyber war.
That the United States and China have engaged in skirmishes in the cyber domain is no secret. Since the beginning of the 21st century, targeted cyberattacks, often with signs of Chinese origin, have attempted to penetrate the computer networks of U.S. corporations and government agencies in search of potentially valuable information. In response to this new strategic threat, the U.S. Military’s Strategic Command commissioned the creation of a sub-unified Cyber Command in 2009, with one of its stated objectives being the “defense of specified Department of Defense information networks.”
U.S. President Barack Obama very clearly defined the threat that cyberattacks pose to the economy, in both the public and private sectors, when he said that the “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.” Indeed, conflict in the cyber domain is still having some serious repercussions for the business world.
The characteristic of cyber warfare that makes it so uniquely dangerous to the corporate sector is that military power in the cyber domain must be extended through computer networks provided and maintained by non-governmental bodies. The use of these networks for cyberattacks or defense requires the conscription or cooperation of civilian resources. This creates extreme liabilities for the corporations that provide these networks, as they will quickly become the targets of suspicion and possible retaliation from the enemy state. In recent years, both Chinese and American companies have been caught in just this situation.
From South China Morning Post, confrontation ahoy:
Beijing to talk tough to US on military encounters
Chinese military officers were likely to square up to the United States in talks at the Pentagon over the rules of behaviour between the two countries’ armed forces, mainland analysts said.
The talks, which began yesterday, were originally agreed as an attempt to improve military ties, but observers said they would be overshadowed by mutual suspicion reflected in the close encounter last week between a Chinese fighter jet and a US Navy surveillance plane in international airspace off Hainan.
“China will likely be hitting back at US criticism and maintain that it is legitimate for the Chinese military to take action if it believes national security is under threat,” said Yue Gang, a military commentator and retired PLA colonel.
South China Morning Post suspects:
US spy plane may have triggered Chinese jet interception by dropping sonar buoy: state media
A Chinese fighter jet’s interception of a US Navy sub-hunter aircraft was possibly triggered when the American plane dropped a sonar surveillance system into the South China Sea, according to state media.
A Chinese J-11 fighter jet reportedly flew within metres of the US Navy P-8 Poseidon when it performed acrobatic manoeuvres around it over international waters east of Hainan Island last week, triggering a war of words between the two nations.
US officials called the act “aggressive” and “dangerous” but China denied its pilot did anything wrong and said the manoeuvre was a response to “large-scale and highly frequent close-in reconnaissance” by US aircraft.
The Diplomat offers a pro-Washington response:
Responding to China’s Air Intercept
The US response to the recent intercept is important in the context of the safety and freedom of international airspace.
Last week, a Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) J-11 fighter aircraft intercepted a United States Navy P-8A aircraft over the South China Sea, at one point coming within 30 feet of the P-8A while making sharp maneuvers and crossing the P-8A’s flight path. According to statements by officials at the U.S. Department of Defense and the White House, both aircraft were operating more than 100 nautical miles from the Chinese coast at the time of the intercept. The U.S. formally protested the intercept as dangerous and unprofessional. China responded to the demarche on Saturday, disputing that its aircraft was as close as the U.S. claimed.
This type of harassment and intimidation by the PLAAF has become common in the skies over the South China and East China Seas. In 2001, a PLAAF J-8 collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3, causing the EP-3 to make an emergency landing and the J-8 to crash into the sea. In May and June, Japan protested dangerous intercepts of military aircraft by PLAAF fighters over the East China Sea. Additionally, U.S. officials indicated that this was the second protest lodged with China since May, the previous one issued in regards to similarly aggressive intercepts that have occurred within the last six months.
The message being delivered by the U.S. following this incident is an important one. The U.S. did not object to the intercept itself, but rather to the manner in which it was conducted. This sets an important example of consistency for China and others and reinforces the U.S. commitment to two important issues in the maritime domain, safety of flight and freedom of navigation.
China Daily takes a different tack:
US surveillance near Chinese coast a growing concern
Frequent surveillance and reconnaissance of China’s coast by US military planes and ships has long been regarded a major hindrance to improving the bilateral military-to-military relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Over the years, China has repeatedly urged the US to stop such activities. That included a request made during Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan’s visit to Washington a year ago.
The Aug 19 encounter of a Chinese fighter jet J-11 and a US Navy surveillance aircraft P-8 off China’s southern coast is the latest reminder of the thorny issue.
China Daily again, and on the other hand:
China and US in talks on code of conduct
China and the United States will hold a working group meeting this week to discuss a military security code of conduct covering international waters and airspace, the Ministry of National Defense told China Daily on Tuesday.
Further concerns have been raised over frequent spying by the US along China’s coastline after a “close encounter” last week between a Chinese navy fighter jet and a US Navy reconnaissance plane.
The incident happened about 200 km from the Chinese coast.
Observers said a code of conduct is needed to avoid friction between the two countries, but no major progress will be made until Washington stops conducting airspace espionage near Chinese territory.
But there’s an even more insidious invader being invited through the gates. From Shanghai Daily:
Number of private-run hospitals on increase
FOREIGN investors have been given the green light to set up wholly owned hospitals in Shanghai and six other province-level jurisdictions, the government said yesterday.
The decision reflects China’s drive to open up the private health care sector as it seeks to take the pressure off the hard-hit state-run system.
Along with Shanghai, the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan are taking part in a pilot scheme that was launched last month, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
From Reuters, another provocation and a pitch for support for a stumbling coalition:
Japan PM Abe sent condolences to memorial for convicted war criminals
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a condolence message to a ceremony honoring “martyrs” convicted as war criminals after World War Two, his top spokesman said on Wednesday, news that could snarl efforts to thaw chilly ties with China.
Abe sent the message in April to a Buddhist temple in western Japan housing a monument to more than 1,000 “Showa Martyrs”, including wartime leaders convicted by Allied tribunals who were executed or died in prison, an official of a group sponsoring the event told Reuters. The term “Showa” refers to the late Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japanese soldiers fought World War Two.
“I offer my sincere condolences to the spirits of those Showa martyrs who gave their lives for the sake of today’s peace and prosperity, becoming the foundation of the fatherland,” the official quoted Abe as saying in the message.
“I pray for eternal peace and pledge to carve out a path to a future of human coexistence,” he added.
People’s Daily scoffs:
Japan is a peace-lover, really?
The recent ‘Fire Power’ exercises held by the Japanese military near Mount Fuji are indicative of the trend in the country’s security policy.
First, Japan is pledged to strive for ownership of the Diaoyu islands, and has made the relevant preparations. The exercise was based on the idea that “Chinese activities are frequent around the Diaoyu Islands and defense of the Southwest Islands has become an important issue”. Japan also announced the three stages of the exercise: the first stage is to deploy its forces; the second stage is to launch an attack; the third stage is to regain the occupied islands. Obviously, Japan is trying to deliver to China the message that Japan has no intention of giving up the Diaoyu islands.
Second, Japan is attempting to build up its military power via strengthening its collective self-defense forces. Japan is deploying large numbers and extensive weaponry in this exercise, including 2300 troops, 80 tanks, and 20 fighters. Japan is showing its hard-line attitude on the Diaoyu island issue.
However, Abe’s whole attitude is no more than wishful thinking.
South China Morning Post ups the ante:
China considers ‘Martyrs’ Day’ to honour those who died for independence
September 30 could become the day when Chinese honour the veterans and others who gave their lives for their country
China is considering a proposal to set September 30 as Martyrs’ Day to commemorate those who gave their lives for the nation in an attempt to promote patriotism at a time when people’s belief in communism seems to be fading.
Martyrs’ Day will honour those who gave their lives for national independence and prosperity since the first Opium War with the British in 1840, when China was made a semi-colony, Civil Affairs Minister Li Liguo said. He spoke in support of a motion made to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which is holding its bimonthly session this week until Sunday.
The purpose “is to foster patriotism and bolster core socialist values among citizens, and to inspire them to work to realise the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Li said. The date of September 30 was chosen because it was on that day in 1949 when China’s communist leaders laid the foundation for the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square. Chairman Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People’s Republic next day; central government leaders usually go to lay flowers at the monument on National Day, October 1.
And Global Times adds a salty tough:
Navy holds sea memorial for Sino-Japanese War
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Wednesday held a memorial ceremony for the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 on the sea near Weihai port in East China’s Shandong Province.
A two-day seminar was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday on the PLA Navy ship to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the war, also known as the Jiawu War, by the Navy and the PLA Academy of Military Sciences.
“The war interrupted China’s development course, aggravated the nation’s woes, and aroused people’s awareness,” according to Senior Colonel Xing Guangmei, the Navy’s spokeswoman, on Tuesday in Weihai.
The Mainichi covers Tokyo posturing:
Japan to open 15 new missions abroad to promote ‘global diplomacy’
The Foreign Ministry has decided to establish new diplomatic missions at 15 locations around the world to promote Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy of “diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the terrestrial globe,” it has been learned.
The ministry is to incorporate the plan into its budget request for fiscal 2015, in addition to its plan to increase the number of staff at its diplomatic missions abroad by 114. The ministry also plans to expand the budget for disseminating information abroad by increasing spending by about 50 billion yen as part of efforts to secure an edge on “information wars” with China and South Korea over issues including territorial rows.
The ministry plans to open nine new embassies in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Maldives and other countries, as well as six consulates general in Leon (Mexico), Bangalore (India), Cebu (the Philippines) and elsewhere. Japan is scheduled to have embassies in 139 countries as of the end of fiscal 2014, but is still lagging behind major countries such as the United States (168 countries) and China (164 countries). Therefore the Japanese government will try to strengthen its foundations for diplomatic activities by opening new diplomatic missions abroad.
And from Pakistan, a challenge via the Express Tribune:
Anyone intending to derail democracy will be challenged: PM
Addressing the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made it clear on Wednesday that anyone intending to derail democracy would be challenged by Parliament and all democratic forces in the country.
In his speech to the National Assembly, the prime minister appreciated the parliament’s resolve to uphold the constitution and democratic values, adding that the parliament is the true representative of 200 million Pakistanis.
“Governments come and go, prime ministers come and go,” the prime minister said. “But keeping faith in democracy and the constitution is what ensures that democracy survives.”
BBC News beefs up:
Australia puts counter-terrorism units in airports
New counter-terrorism units have been set up at two Australian airports, PM Tony Abbott says, amid concern over Australians fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Mr Abbott told parliament units in Sydney and Melbourne began operating last week.
They had already intercepted at least one person of interest, he said.
The Associated Press patches over:
Australia and Indonesia mending intel differences
Australia and Indonesia have reached a new agreement on how they’ll use their intelligence operations in the future, even settling their disagreement on its name.
The agreement their foreign ministers are scheduled to sign Thursday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali is designed to mend a rift sparked last November by accusations that Australians tapped the cellphones of the Indonesian president, his wife and eight ministers and officials in 2009.
The document with the ungainly title of “Australia-Indonesia Joint Understanding on a Code of Conduct” was insisted upon by the Indonesians before diplomatic relations are normalized.
Global Times mends fences:
Vietnam special envoy arrives in Beijing, aims to mend damaged ties
A special envoy headed by Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, started a two-day visit to China on Tuesday, marking the first such visit since the bilateral relationship plummeted in May.
Le Hong Anh, a Political Bureau member and standing secretary of the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee, met with Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Tuesday.
Anh’s China visit aimed at discussing measures “to cool down the situation and prevent tensions between the two countries from happening again,” Le Hai Binh, spokesperson of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday.
Kyodo News calls a sitdown:
Japan, S. Korea eye strategic talks in Sept.
Japan and South Korea are preparing to hold a vice minister-level “strategic dialogue” possibly in early September in Tokyo, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.
If realized, they would be the first such talks since South Korean President Park Geun Hye took office in February last year.
The dialogue is expected to bring together Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki and Cho Tae Yong, South Korea’s first vice foreign minister.
The Associated Press highlights turnabout fair play:
North Korea calls US ‘graveyard of human rights’
North Korea is saying the police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, is evidence that the United States is a “graveyard of human rights.”
The comments by a Foreign Ministry spokesman fit a North Korean pattern of seizing any opportunity to turn the table on Washington’s longstanding criticism of the North as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers.
The Aug. 9 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson triggered nearly two weeks of sometimes-violent street protests.
SINA English covers a crackdown:
Over 84,000 Chinese officials punished in anti-graft drive: minister
More than 84,000 officials were given administrative and Party disciplinary punishments in the first half of this year, Huang Shuxian, minister of supervision, said Thursday.
The number is 30 percent up on the same period of last year, Huang said at an anti-graft seminar of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies.
In 2013, discipline and supervision authorities received over 1.95 million tip-offs, filing more than 172,000 cases and punishing 182,000 officials. Over 9,600 officials’ cases were transferred to judicial authorities, Huang said.
More, also from SINA English:
Hundreds ‘should be sent back to prison’
The country’s top prosecution body has suggested that more than 700 convicts, including 76 corrupt senior officials, whose sentences were commuted illegally, should be returned to prison.
This follows an intensified crackdown on the illegal commutation of sentences or conditional releases, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Tuesday. These prisoners will be under the supervision of prosecuting departments.
“Apart from receiving clues from the public and the media, we have also conducted investigations to find such cases,” said SPP spokesman Zhang Bencai.
For our final item, search this! From PandoDaily:
Code Club cofounder resigns after being ordered not to criticize Google
One of the founding members of Code Club, a volunteer-led organization that teaches programming to kids in the UK, has resigned after being told by its board not to criticize Google or any of the group’s sponsors.
In a blog post, Linda Sandvik writes, “On Monday the 25th of August the Code Club board gave me an ultimatum, either I have to stop saying negative things about Code Club sponsors, or resign as a director. After careful consideration, I have handed in my resignation.”
In February, Google invested £120,000 (or nearly $200,000 US) to help Code Club train 20,000 primary school teachers in programming. Apparently that cash also buys Google a board of directors that will never call the company out for its practices and policies. And despite Google’s innocent “what, me evil?” attitude, there’s plenty to take the company to task over, whether it’s Google’s complicity in mass NSA surveillance, its ties to government military contractors, or its support of think tanks backed by oil and gas magnates Charles and David Koch that have taken stances against women’s and gay’s rights, among other distasteful political positions.
