And more. . .
We begin with the ironic, via United Press International:
NYPD officers gain millions in overtime during protests
Police officers have also recorded higher levels of overtime pay in past protests, such as Occupy Wall Street in 2011
New York police officers have collected overtime pay amounting to millions of dollars due to extended hours dealing with protests over Grand Jury decisions in Missouri and New York, officials say.
Following a Grand Jury decision to not indict a New York police officer for the death of Eric Garner — as well as the decision to not indict Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown — thousands broke into protest across the nation.
Since then officers of the New York Police Department have accumulated “several million dollars” in overtime, law enforcement officials told the New York Post.
From EnetEnglish,gr, unrest in Athens:
Riot police attack students outside Athens Polytechnic
Liberal use made of batons, stun grenades and tear gas
Video footage shows riot squad officers – who reportedly had given no prior warning to the students to disperse – chasing protesters, hitting them indiscriminately with batons, and spraying gas into a crowd of people they had cornered around the university entrance
Amid scenes of panic, riot police used batons, stun grenades and tear gas to attack hundreds students attempting to hold a protest meeting on the campus of Athens Polytechnic on Thursday night.
In a video filmed from a balcony on Stournari St, where students had managed to force open a side gate to the university, which reportedly had been locked on the orders of the rector, a detachment of MAT riot police can be seen attacking the demonstrating students as they approached the entrance at around 8pm.
The footage shows officers – who reportedly had given no prior warning to the students to disperse – chasing protesters, hitting them indiscriminately with batons, and spraying gas into a crowd of people they had cornered around the university entrance.
The students had planned to hold a general assembly to discuss events earlier in the day at Athens University, where riot police moved in to prevent the building being occupied ahead of Monday’s commemoration of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising which was bloodily suppressed by the junta.
A video update from Reuters:
Greek protest march turns into clashes
Program notes:
What started earlier in the day as a protest march in Athens turns into sporadic clashes with police by nightfall. Mana Rabiee reports.
From EnetEnglish.gr again, incredulously incredulous:
‘Why did you annoy them?’ Coastguard officials acquitted of torture convictions
Moroccan says he was subjected to waterboarding in 2007
Calling for the sentences to be squashed, the prosecutor claimed that no torture could have taken place as there was no evidence that the coastguard officers had received training in torture methods
Two coastguard officials who were convicted last year of torturing a Moroccan asylum seeker on the island of Chios in 2007 were acquitted by an Athens appeals court last week.
Calling for the coastguards’ sentences to be squashed, the state prosecutor claimed, among others, that no torture could have taken place as there was no evidence that the officers had received training in torture methods.
In November of last year, Piraeus naval court found the pair guilty of having tortured their victim by putting a bag over his head and submerging it in a bucket of water, a type of waterboarding known as the so-called “wet and dry submarino”, and by carrying out a mock execution. They were handed jail sentences ranging from three to six years for the torture, which was carried out aboard a coastguard boat that was taking migrants from a small islet to the port of Chios.
In two hours of testimony to the appeals court, the victim described what was done to him by the accused. Writing in Avgi newspaper, journalist Eleni Rousia said the victim was treated in the court as if he himself was accused of a serious crime. At one stage, when querying what could have led the coastguards to torture someone, the prosecutor asked the victim “why did you annoy them?”.
Boots on the ground, lingering longer, via the Guardian:
Chuck Hagel: more US troops will remain in Afghanistan
US will keep up to 10800 troops in country through early 2015
Defense secretary announces changes in last official visit to Kabul
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday the United States will keep as many as 1,000 more troops in Afghanistan than planned for the first part of 2015.
At a joint news conference at the presidential palace with President Ashraf Ghani, Hagel said the original plan to cut US troop levels to 9,800 by the end of this year had been abandoned, but not because of a recent surge in Taliban attacks.
Hagel said the US will keep up to 10,800 troops for the first few months of next year and then restart the drawdown, which is scheduled to reach 5,500 troops by the end of 2015.
Boots departing, via Reuters:
Germany pledges support to Afghanistan after combat troops leave
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged on Friday to support Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his new unity government after NATO combat troops withdraw from the country at the end of more than a decade of fighting Islamist insurgents.
Afghanistan’s 350,000-strong military and police forces have taken over security in most of the country, facing off against the Taliban in their first real test since the militant Islamists were ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led forces.
The United States and its allies intend to keep about 12,000 troops in Afghanistan for counter-terrorism and training of local personnel after combat forces formally withdraw this year.
RT covers a return:
Britain reopens Bahrain navy base after 40 yrs – to fight ISIS
The UK is returning to its naval base in Bahrain, a former British protectorate, after more than 40 years. The base will serve as the main British hub for operations in the Persian Gulf.
Under an agreement with Bahrain, the Royal Navy will be able to deploy ships of larger deadweight and in greater numbers.
The base will become the Royal Navy’s largest center of operations outside the UK.
“This new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint and will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf,” British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said. “We will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term,” he said.
While critics raise questions, via the Independent:
British military base in Bahrain is a ‘reward’ for UK’s silence on human rights, say campaigners
The Royal Navy will set up a permanent base in Bahrain, to the dismay of human rights campaigners who say the base is a “reward” for the British’s government silence over torture, attacks on peaceful protesters and arbitrary detention in the tiny kingdom.
British minesweeper vessels have operated from temporary structures at Mina Salmon port for several years, but speaking in Bahrain the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond announced a new deal with kingdom for a £15m naval base. It will be able to host destroyers and the Royal Navy’s powerful new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers, which are currently under construction in Scotland.
Britain closed all is major bases east of the Suez canal following major defence spending cuts in 1971 and while the return to the region has been welcomed by defence sources, it has been widely condemned by Bahraini human rights activists who have attacked the British Government’s ongoing support for the “repressive regime” in Manama.
And TheLocal.dk offers a reminder:
Dane gets three years for ‘insulting’ Bahrain’s king
Just days after her sister was sentenced to prison in absentia, Zainab al-Khawaja has now also been convicted of charges in Bahrain. Their father also sits in a Bahraini jail.
A Bahrain court sentenced Danish-Bahraini dual citizen Zainab al-Khawaja to three years in prison for ripping up a picture of the country’s king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Amnesty International has reported.
The court found al-Khawaja guilty of “insulting” the king and in addition to her three-year prison sentence, she was also ordered to pay a 48,000 kroner fine.
The Express Tribune covers a casualty in Pakistan:
South Waziristan raid: Security forces kill key al Qaeda leader
Security forces killed key al Qaeda leader Adnan el Shukrijuma and rounded up several suspected militants on Saturday during a targeted operation in Wana subdivision of South Waziristan Agency.
According to a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces raided a hideout of militants in Shin Warsak area of South Waziristan and killed el Shukirjuma and several of his accomplices during an encounter. Shukrijuma was indicted in the United States for his alleged involvement in a plot to bomb New York’s subway system.
The ISPR said el Shukirjuma had recently relocated to South Waziristan to evade Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which is being carried out in North Waziristan Agency. “The al Qaeda leader was hiding in a local compound in the area,” it said.
And the New York Times covers a botched U.S. mission:
2 Hostages Killed in Yemen as U.S. Rescue Effort Fails
United States commandos stormed a village in southern Yemen early Saturday in an effort to free an American photojournalist held hostage by Al Qaeda, but the raid ended badly with the kidnappers killing the American and a South African held with him, United States officials said.
The hostages — Luke Somers, an American photojournalist, and Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher — were killed by their captors, militants from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, when they realized the rescue effort was underway. President Obama said he had authorized the operation, led by two dozen SEAL Team Six commandos, after concluding that Mr. Somers’s life was in “imminent danger.”
“It is my highest responsibility to do everything possible to protect American citizens,” the president said in a statement. “As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located.”
The raid was the second failed operation by United States forces to rescue Mr. Somers from Yemen in less than two weeks. The deaths of the hostages — as well as several Yemeni civilians — seemed likely to raise new questions about the Obama administration’s reliance on military power to free its captured citizens. It also raised questions about the timing: Mr. Korkie was expected to be released by the militants on Sunday, according to a disaster relief organization that said it had successfully negotiated the teacher’s release.
And the Washington Post covers one of its own:
Washington Post reporter charged by Tehran court
Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter detained in Iran for more than four months, was officially charged Saturday in a day-long proceeding in a Tehran courtroom, according to a source familiar with the case.
The nature of the charges were not immediately clear, at least to those not present in the courtroom. His court appearance came two days after word arrived in the West that Rezaian’s detention has been extended until mid-January because the investigation against him is continuing.
The charges were the first lodged since Rezaian, an Iranian American who holds dual citizenship, was arrested July 22. His family has hired an attorney for him, but the lawyer has not been permitted to visit him. The State Department has repeatedly raised the case of Rezaian, and other Americans jailed in Iran, during lengthy talks with the government about a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear capacity and ease international sanctions.
After the jump, a top British cops voices police state fears, on to the latest warnings about the hack of the year and a reminder that there are even bigger things to worry about, drone hack anxieties, a Dutch alliance battles for online privacy, Azerbaijan jails a journalist, on to China and oceanic arbitration rebuked, a Hong Kong Occupy leader ends his fast as the end nears and donations pour in — for the cops, on to Japan and continuing controversy over an American base relocation, a Japanese/American remembrance, protests against state secrecy legislation, on to Japan and continuing controversy over an American base relocation, and as booksellers apology for selling hatred. . .
From the Independent, you know it’s getting bad when. . .:
Britain could drift towards a police state, says one of Britain’s top police officers
One of Britain’s most senior police officers has said the country is in danger of a “drift towards a police state”.
Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, told the Guardian newspaper that under the UK’s current trajectory officers might be forced to adopt the role of “thought police” in the fight against extremism.
He called for government and civil society to have a discussion about where the line between free speech and extremism should be set, arguing that it was not the security services’ job to define such limits. Sir Peter stressed that he supported new counter-terrorism measures announced by the Government last week, however.
“If these issues [defining extremism] are left to securocrats then there is a danger of a drift to a police state,” he told the newspaper.
On to the latest warnings about the hack of the year from the Los Angeles Times:
Sony hack ‘unprecedented, damaging and unique’ cyber security firm says
A cyber security firm investigating the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment has called the attack on the studio’s technology systems “unprecedented,” Michael Lynton, Sony chief executive, told employees Saturday in an email.
“The scope of this attack differs from any we have responded to in the past, as its purpose was to both destroy property and release confidential information to the public,” reads a statement which Lynton shared with employees from Kevin Mandia, founder of the cyber security firm Mandiant. “The bottom line is that this was an unparalleled and well planned crime, carried out by an organized group, for which neither SPE nor other companies could have been fully prepared.”
Lynton’s message to employees, which was obtained by The Times, comes a day after the hacking group Guardians of Peace emailed Sony staffers threatening harm to their families.
Since launching the attack Nov. 24, the group has already publicized troves of sensitive financial information, including the salaries and Social Security numbers of thousands of employees, and uploaded several of the studio’s films to the Internet, including its unreleased holiday musical “Annie,” which isn’t due in theaters until Christmas.
And a timely reminder from the Guardian:
Forget North Korea – the real rogue cyber operator lies much closer to home
A cyber-attack on Sony Pictures distracted attention from a more worrying story about a piece of malware used by GCHQ
[T]he really big cyber story of the past two weeks is less glamorous but rather more worrying in the longer term. It concerns Regin, a piece of malware that has only recently come to light, although it’s been around for years. The security firm Symantec describes it as “a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen. Customisable with an extensive range of capabilities depending on the target, it provides its controllers with a powerful framework for mass surveillance and has been used in spying operations against government organisations, infrastructure operators, businesses, researchers and private individuals.”
The company goes on to speculate that developing Regin took “months, if not years” and concludes that “capabilities and the level of resources behind Regin indicate that it is one of the main cyberespionage tools used by a nation state”.
Ah, but which nation states? Step forward the UK and the US and their fraternal Sigint agencies GCHQ and NSA. A while back, Edward Snowden revealed that the agencies had mounted hacking attacks on Belgacom, a Belgian phone and internet services provider, and on EU computer systems, but he did not say what kind of software was used in the attacks. Now we know: it was Regin, malware that disguises itself as legitimate Microsoft software and steals data from infected systems, which makes it an invaluable tool for intelligence agencies that wish to penetrate foreigners’ computer networks.
RT covers drone hack anxieties:
Watching the watchmen: Drones made stick to routine to shield from cyber attacks
Pentagon-sponsored engineers have developed a system to shield unmanned aerial vehicles from cyber-attacks. It sounds the alert if a drone starts doing something that it is not supposed to do.
Called System-Aware Secure Sentinel, the new system detects “illogical behavior” compared to how the aircraft normally operates.
“Detections can serve to initiate automated recovery actions and alert operators of the attack,” said Barry Horowitz, a systems and information engineer at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, in a statement.
Apparently, the system is meant to prevent embarrassing situations like the loss of a US spy drone in December 2011 to Iran. A CIA RQ-170 Sentinel drone was brought down after what the Iranians claimed to have been a hacker attack as it was flying in the country’s airspace.
A Dutch alliance battles for online privacy, via DutchNews.nl:
Lawyers, journalists take Dutch state to court over internet privacy
Dutch lawyers, journalists, privacy organisations and publishers are taking legal action against the state to stop telecom firms storing phone and email information via what is described by critics as a ‘snoopers charter’.
The Dutch government requires telecom firms to keep the information for up to 12 months but the Dutch criminal law association and other groups say this conflicts with EU legislation.
A number of telecoms firms are also considering joining the legal campaign website nu.nl said. In April, the European Court of Justice said the European guidelines on data retention go further than required and conflict with European law. The directive is ‘invalid’ because it ‘interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data’, the court said.
The New York Times covers another journalist’s arrest, albeit the outfit she works for has a very interesting history:
Azerbaijan Jails Reporter Who Angered Top Officials
A court in Baku on Friday ordered the jailing of a prominent journalist who has long drawn the ire of the Azerbaijan government by reporting on the business dealings of President Ilham Aliyev’s family, as well as on accusations of human rights abuses, including the persecution of opposition figures and other activists.
The reporter, Khadija Ismayilova, works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is financed by the United States government, and her jailing in connection with charges that she nearly drove a man to suicide was the latest and most drastic development in a sharp deterioration of relations between Azerbaijan and the West.
In Washington, a State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said that Ms. Ismayilova’s arrest appeared to be part of a broader crackdown. “Broadly speaking, we are deeply troubled by restrictions on civil society activities, including on journalists in Azerbaijan, and are increasingly concerned that the government there is not living up to its international commitments and obligations,” Ms. Harf said.
From People’s Daily, on to China and oceanic arbitration rebuked:
Chinese government denounces the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines
The Chinese foreign ministry was authorized to release on Sunday the Position Paper of the Government of the People’ s Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines.
On 22 January 2013, the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines presented a note verbale to the Embassy of the People’ s Republic of China in the Philippines, stating that the Philippines initiated compulsory arbitration proceedings with respect to the dispute with China over “maritime jurisdiction” in the South China Sea. On 19 February 2013, the Chinese Government rejected and returned the Philippines’ note verbale together with the attached Notification and Statement of Claim. The Chinese Government has subsequently reiterated that it will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration thus initiated by the Philippines.
This Position Paper is intended to demonstrate that the arbitral tribunal established at the request of the Philippines for the present arbitration ( “Arbitral Tribunal” ) does not have jurisdiction over this case. No acceptance by China is signified in this Position Paper of the views or claims advanced by the Philippines. Nor shall this Position Paper be regarded as China’ s acceptance of or participation in this arbitration.
A Hong Kong Occupy leader ends his fast as the end nears, via South China Morning Post:
Joshua Wong ends hunger strike; 2017 consultation will happen ‘soon after Occupy ends’
After student leader gives up his hunger strike, democracy debate poised to move from streets with second round of 2017 election discussion
The debate over the 2017 chief executive election looked to be moving from the streets to the political arena yesterday, as government officials pledged to start a second round of consultation “soon after Occupy ends”.
Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that when the consultation begins, “I’ll be very willing to meet student representatives and listen to them”.
The comments came as student leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung ended a 108-hour hunger strike. The officials ruled out dialogue with Wong, saying talks were possible only within the framework of the Basic Law and Beijing’s guidance on 2017.
South China Morning Post covers $1.2 million U.S. in blue largess:
HK$10 million donated to support officers policing Hong Kong’s Occupy protests
Internal as well as public support for officers dealing with Occupy protests expressed in cash, with panel to decide how to spend it
An outpouring of support for the police – driven by their front-line and often controversial role in the Occupy Central protests – has seen close to HK$10 million donated to support officers in the past month.
Officially, the force remains tight-lipped about the amount raised both internally and externally. But according to informed sources, cash donated by serving officers since a special fund was set up in October, added to the amount raised through a public fundraising drive that ends today, brings the total amount donated close to eight figures.
The fund was set up by two unions to support officers whose livelihoods were affected by the Occupy Central protests. However, it is unclear how the cash will be spent, as relatively few officers have suffered directly as a result of the protests.
On to Japan and continuing controversy over an American base relocation, via the Mainichi:
Outgoing Okinawa governor makes last-ditch push for Henoko relocation
Outgoing Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima has come under fire for approving changes to construction methods over the planned relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in a way that will facilitate the base transfer to the Henoko district of Nago.
Gov. Nakaima gave the green-light on Nov. 5 to two of the three proposed changes to construction methods for an alternative facility in Henoko, sparking fierce criticism among Okinawa residents opposed to the base relocation. The Okinawa Defense Bureau had applied for the changes with the Okinawa Prefectural Government in September.
The move came as Nakaima is set to leave office on Dec. 9, after suffering a crushing defeat by Takeshi Onaga in the Nov. 16 gubernatorial election by a margin of some 100,000 votes. Onaga is a staunch opponent of the plan to relocate the Futenma airstrip in the city of Ginowan to Henoko, and Nakaima’s decision runs counter to his request that the decision be left up to the incoming governor.
A more phlegmatic take from the Diplomat:
The Okinawa Reality
Geopolitical realities suggest that the recent election of an anti-base candidate is unlikely to change much
Yet another high profile gubernatorial election has come and gone in Okinawa, and yet again another anti-base candidate has won. Takeshi Onaga, the anti-base candidate who ran as an independent, handily defeated incumbent Hirokazu Nakaima. The governor-elect promises to be a thorn in the side of the central government and current Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe.
Onaga has vowed to halt the construction of the runways at Camp Schwab, a Marine Corps base that lies adjacent to the small village of Henoko on Okinawa’s northeastern shore. Camp Schwab has been designated the replacement facility for Marine Corps Air Base Futenma, currently located in the densely populated city of Ginowan in central Okinawa. Futenma and the proposed replacement facility at Camp Schwab have been a source of political contention for decades. Onaga is just one of many Okinawa political leaders who have promised to have the plans for the replacement facility scrapped and Futenma relocated outside Okinawa prefecture altogether. Yet, Futenma still functions at full capacity and the landfill and construction for the replacement facility continue virtually unimpeded.
Conceivably, Onaga could prove to be a political disturbance potent enough to force Tokyo to abandon its plans. More likely, Tokyo will call his bluff and clamp down politically and economically. Regardless of the rhetoric from anti-base Okinawan politicians, not a lot has been accomplished in terms of large-scale base reductions. In reality, besides generally being a nuisance, there is not much Onaga can do to halt the construction of the Futenma replacement facility already underway at Camp Schwab. As recent history has shown, Okinawan leaders simply do not have the leverage to force Tokyo’s hand, leaving anti-base politicians quite able to make promises, but quite unable to keep them.
And remembering the-not-so-good old days with Kyodo News:
Japan, U.S. to release initiative on 70th anniv. of postwar relations
Influential people from Japan and the United States started work Friday on releasing an initiative next year that will feature a variety of visions to enhance bilateral ties on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The 24 participants in the meeting in Washington from political, business and academic circles will reconvene in Tokyo in May and announce an initiative called Pacific Vision 21, according to Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister, who co-chairs the meeting.
“We’ll be having (more) discussions so a variety of people including those from the young generation can be actively involved in Japan-U.S. relations and play a role in the Pacific region,” Fukuda told a press conference.
Official secrets act decried, via the Japan Times:
Protesters vow to continue fight against secrecy law
Protesters against the contentious secrecy law enacted exactly a year ago vowed Saturday to continue fighting to have it scrapped, amid concern the legislation will undermine the public’s right to know.
With the law that toughens penalties for leakers of state secrets set to take effect Wednesday, about 1,600 people gathered in Tokyo’s Hibiya Park before marching through the swanky Ginza district, while around 700 demonstrators took to the streets of Nagoya.
Lawyer Yuichi Kaido, an organizer of the Tokyo rally, said civic groups must remain vigilant as the secrecy law takes effect to ensure that activities at military bases and nuclear power plants can continue to be monitored.
And to close, an apology, via JapanToday:
Sankei newspaper apologizes over ad for anti-Semitic books
A conservative Japanese daily on Saturday apologized for carrying an advertisement for books by an author who claims Jewish people were behind the country’s 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster.
The advert ran in a regional edition of the Sankei Shimbun national newspaper on November 26, and promoted the works of Richard Koshimizu, a self-styled journalist and activist who also blames Jews for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.
A little-known figure in Japan, Koshimizu used the promotional space to market a book claiming the United States is a “Jewish dictatorship state” that detonated an atomic bomb deep underwater to deliberately trigger the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
It was intended to destroy the Japanese economy and defend the dollar, he claimed.
