And a great deal more.
A longish compilation, in part because we’ve been under the weather of late.
We begin with the story of the year today, via Reuters:
French forces kill newspaper attack suspects, hostages die in second siege
Two brothers wanted for a bloody attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were killed on Friday when anti-terrorist police stormed their hideout, while a second siege ended with the deaths of four hostages.
The violent end to the simultaneous stand-offs northeast of Paris and at a Jewish supermarket in the capital followed a police operation of unprecedented scale as France tackled one of the worst threats to its internal security in decades.
With one of the gunmen saying shortly before his death that he was funded by al Qaeda, President Francois Hollande warned that the danger to France – home to the European Union’s biggest communities of both Muslims and Jews – was not over yet.
And the inevitable, first from the London Telegraph:
Al-Qaeda plotting attack on Britain
After the Charlie Hebdo attack, the head of MI5 warns of a Paris-style atrocity on UK soil
Al-Qaeda is planning a Paris-style terrorist atrocity against Britain, according to the head of MI5.
Andrew Parker, the Director General of the Security Service, warned that the threat of a “mass casualty attack” was growing and that intelligence pointed to the existence of specific plots.
Security was stepped up on Wednesday at British ports, and armed police were put on patrol at the Eurostar terminal at London’s St Pancras station.
Mr Parker warned that although three terrorist plots had been foiled in recent months, it was almost inevitable that one would eventually succeed.
More from the New York Times:
Britain’s Domestic Intelligence Chief Calls for Greater Authority for Spies
Britain’s domestic intelligence chief has demanded greater authority for spies to help fight the threat of Islamist extremism, a sign that the attack on a satirical newspaper in Paris is likely to sharpen the security-versus-privacy debate in Western countries.
Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, said militants were planning attacks in Britain similar to the one that killed 12 people at the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.
More than 600 Britons have traveled to Syria to join jihadists, he said, and three terrorist plots in Britain have been stopped by security services in recent months alone.
“Death would certainly have resulted otherwise,” he said.
And enthusiastic submission, via the Guardian:
David Cameron: ‘We will give the security services whatever they need’
Despite a Lib Dem refusal to give further powers to the security agencies, the coalition has handed over an extra £100m
David Cameron will step up his public support for Britain’s intelligence agencies as they demand greater powers to help fight Islamist extremism amid continuing coalition differences over the extent of state surveillance, Downing Street has confirmed.
As the head of MI5, Andrew Parker, warned that the threat to Britain has worsened, Downing Street said the prime minister would make the case that the government needs to work closely with the agencies on the powers they need. On Thursday, Parker called for new powers to help fight Islamist extremism following the terrorist attacks in Paris, where 12 people died following an assault on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
No 10 spoke out after George Osborne pledged to give MI5 and MI6 whatever resources they need to allow them to maintain their “heroic job” in protecting the British people from terrorist threats at home and abroad. The chancellor endorsed the view of the MI5 director general in a speech on Thursday night that the fight against Islamist extremism is Britain’s main national priority.
Deutsche Welle puts France to the question:
Will the French give up personal liberties for better safety?
As France comes to terms with this week’s terrorist murders, experts are predicting a new era for national security. Civil liberties could be threatened as intelligence services more closely scrutinize extremist groups.
How could a pair of brothers with such strong known links to terrorist networks manage to successfully pull off France’s deadliest terrorist attack in half a century?
As the dust begins to settle after days of shootings, hijackings, hostage takings and terror in and around Paris this week, questions are beginning to mount as to how two of the attackers were able to slip through the cracks of France’s intelligence network.
Security experts say officials may need to change their protocol for surveillance and thwarting planned attacks, such as the one on the Charlie Hebdo offices.
More from the New York Times:
As Trauma Grips France, Government Faces Questions Over Intelligence Lapses
As twin hostage dramas ended violently on Friday with the deaths of armed jihadists who killed at least 13 people and traumatized France, the government faced gaping questions over the failure to thwart such brazen attacks, especially on a well-known target like the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The French intelligence services knew that striking the newspaper and its editor, for their vulgar treatment of the Prophet Muhammad, had been a stated goal of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, through its propaganda journal, Inspire. And they had the Kouachi brothers, Saïd, 34, and Chérif, 32, on their radar as previously involved in jihad-related activities, for which Chérif went to jail in 2008.
The French apparently also knew, or presumably should have known, either on their own or through close intelligence cooperation with the United States, that Saïd had traveled in 2011 to Yemen, where news reports on Friday said he had met with the American-born Anwar al-Awlaki, a member and propagandist for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who was later killed by an American drone strike.
A voice heard at home from CNN:
U.S. official on terror attacks: ‘This isn’t going to stop’
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials say the attacks in France are a realization of one of their biggest concerns about the threat of terror activity in Western countries.
One senior official told CNN: “We’ve expected this.”
The official says the attacks demonstrate how “the boundaries between all of these affiliates is seemingly breaking down and the threat is metastasizing and turning into a global network.”
And from NHK WORLD, Tokyo jumps on board:
NPA orders tighter security after Paris shootings
Japan’s National Police Agency has ordered police stations across the nation to tighten security following the Paris shootings.
Anti-terrorism measures proposed by the agency include data gathering, tighter immigration control at airports and enhanced patrol of airports, nuclear and other critical facilities.
The agency urged coordination between the Immigration Bureau and airport operators to keep terrorists from entering Japan.
Earlier, the agency instructed relevant police stations to increase their patrols around a dozen French-related facilities in Tokyo, including the French Embassy.
Equally predictable, via TheLocal.at:
Pegida plans to hold anti-Islam demo in Vienna
The Vienna branch of the German anti-Islam movement Pegida has announced that it plans to hold a demonstration in the Austrian capital on February 2nd, at 6.30pm. Numerous left-wing counter demonstrations are also planned.
A police spokesman said on Thursday that police are still considering whether to allow the Pegida march to go ahead.
Organizers have said that they expect around 250 people to march through the city centre, from Europaplatz near to the Westbahnhof, down Mariahilfer Strasse, ending at Museumsplatz.
The rally would be held under the title ‘Peaceful movement of the civil rights movement Pegida Vienna’. If it does go ahead there is likely to be a heavy police presence to prevent clashes with left-wing activists.
Also in Austria, via TheLocal.at:
Vienna mosque defaced by graffiti
In the wake of the Islamist-inspired terror attack in Paris, a mosque in a building used by the Vienna Islamic Centre was defaced by Islamophobic graffiti on Thursday.
Police were called to investigate the incident on Thursday morning, when the faithful turned up for their morning prayers.
The graffiti next to the door of the Tuna mosque at the corner of Adamgasse and Krieglergasse said “Paris! Islam = shit out”.
A mosque official said that he saw the graffiti, and reported the incident to police. He added that the act was most likely motivated by the attack in Paris, in his opinion.
Meanwhile in Italy, via TheLocal.it:
New mosque ban in Padua after Paris attacks
The mayor of Padua has said that no more permits will be granted for the construction of mosques in the northern Italian city in the wake of the shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine, in Paris on Wednesday.
Massimo Bitonci, a Northern League member who earlier this year said crucifixes must be hung on the walls of all schools and offices across the Veneto city, said in a tweet on Friday: “No to new mosques”.
The mayor was quoted in Corriere as saying that unlike in the past, “the council will not grant any more public space for the construction of mosques and Islamic places of worship.”
Reuters offers attribution:
Attack on French newspaper prompted by insults to prophets-AQAP leader
A leader of the Yemeni branch of al Qaeda said in an audio recording that an attack in France was prompted by insults to the prophets, but stopped short of claiming responsibly for the deadly assault on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Sheikh Hareth al-Nadhari also said in the recording posted on YouTube that the attackers were a group of “the faithful soldiers of God” who taught the French the limits of freedom of speech.
From the Independent, a state mediums policy changed:
No ban on depictions of prophet Mohamed as BBC changes guidelines
The BBC is to revise its editorial guidelines after stating that it did not operate a ban on broadcasting depictions of the prophet Mohamed.
During this week’s Question Time, presenter David Dimbleby said it was BBC policy not to depict the prophet.
He read from the BBC’s editorial guidelines a statement: “The prophet Mohamed must not be represented in any shape or form.”
The supposed ban prompted outrage from audience members, following the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
After the jump, terror war casualties in the Philippines, charges sought against a former general, allegations of a Feguson prosecutor behaving badly, Ukrainians claim a German government hack, PandoDaily debunks Zuckerman, charges in dam secrets leaked to China, Wisconsin seeks a cybersecurity bonanza, a Saudi activist blogger flogged, home routers used in mass website attacks and another router vulnerability, a lawmaker seeks to exploit the Sony attack to enable more corporate computer spying, another OSX weakness, a major hack takes over a German steel plant, federal cybersecurity billions questioned, Japan opens a new cybersecurity center, a single IP address may serve all of Korea, thousands dead in Boko Haram slaughter, on to Japan and a political cold shoulder over an American base, Japan aims for security in space, Chinese ships cross a Japanese line, a school text wartime whitewashing, comfort women journalistic litigation, a bizarre Russian insecurity. . .
From the Associated Press, casualties of the terror war:
At least 25 wrong arrests mar Philippines anti-terror work
More than a decade ago, the military declared they had killed an Abu Sayyaf kidnapping suspect named Abdulmukim Idris. Yet a man authorities accuse of being Idris continues to languish in a maximum-security jail where the Philippines holds some of its most notorious terror suspects.
In the country’s dogged pursuit of terror suspects, it also has nabbed two “Black Tungkangs,” two “Abdasil Dimas,” two “Hussien Kasims.” Those are just a few of the signs that Philippine law enforcers have made a slew of mistaken arrests in going after Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic militant groups long active in this Southeast Asian nation’s south.
Complaints of false arrests prompted low-key but unprecedented reinvestigations of some of the country’s high-profile terrorism cases by state prosecutors. They have led to the release of more than two dozen people who were either mistaken for Abu Sayyaf fighters or brought to trial without evidence, according to official findings.
The New York Times covers charges sought against a former general:
F.B.I. and Justice Dept. Said to Seek Charges for Petraeus
The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against David H. Petraeus, contending that he provided classified information to a lover while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.
The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information.
F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public.
From the London Daily Mail, allegations of a Ferguson prosecutor behaving badly:
EXCLUSIVE: Now Ferguson prosecutor is accused of lying about evidence in ANOTHER grand jury which cleared police of killing two unarmed black men
Grand jury decided to clear Officer Darren Wilson in November after he shot Michael Brown to death in Ferguson, MO, in August
Decision sparked nationwide protests under slogan ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ though claims Brown were later discredited
Now St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch stands accused of lying about another high-profile grand jury which cleared police of shooting unarmed black men in Missouri
The ‘Jack In The Box’ killings in 2000 have parallels to Ferguson death of Michael Brown claim American Civil Liberties Union
Claim is part of legal case in which grand juror is asking for right to speak publicly and claims prosecutor is not being ‘transparent’ about hearing
Lead attorney for ‘Grand Juror Doe says McCulloch is using the secrecy of the grand jury to ‘cover up’ shocking truth of Darren Wilson hearing
From the New York Times, Ukrainians claim German government hack:
German Government Websites Shut Down, and Ukraine Group Claims Responsibility
At least three official German websites, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s page, were inaccessible on Wednesday after an apparent cyberattack.
A group demanding that Germany sever ties with Ukraine and halt financial and political support for the government in the capital, Kiev, claimed credit for shutting down at least two sites, the chancellor’s page and the website of the Bundestag, or lower house of Parliament.
A Foreign Ministry official later said that the ministry’s site was also inaccessible.
The sites were at least periodically inaccessible after about 10 a.m., according to Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert. Seven hours later, a government spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity said that the attack was still being analyzed and that no comment could be made on the identity of the attackers.
PandoDaily debunks Zuckerman:
Mark Zuckerberg is full of it
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wants the world to believe that his company stands up for free speech in the wake of the massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. He says as much in a status update ending with “#JeSuisCharlie,” the hashtag used to show solidarity with the political cartoonists killed during the attack on Wednesday.
There’s only one problem: Facebook doesn’t support free speech as much as the magazine Zuckerberg invokes, and it’s actually quite harsh when it comes to censoring content.
Usually this censorship results from a government lawsuit, with which Facebook often complies, especially in countries like India or Pakistan. In those instances it blocks some illegal content, including images mocking religions or governments, within the countries. Facebook is actually considered the social network most likely to bow to such requests.
But it doesn’t always remove images just because a government asked it to. The company actually has a strange aversion to the female body, as it’s demonstrated by censoring everything from a New Yorker cartoon to a charity calendar featuring women instead of men, which the company is apparently fine with posing for semi-nude photographs.
Charges in dam secrets leaked to China, via Homeland Security News Wire:
NOAA employee charged with giving information on vulnerabilities of U.S. dams to China
A National Weather Service (NOAA) employee is being charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) with stealing sensitive infrastructure data from a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers database and handing it off to a Chinese government official in Beijing.
TheWashington Times reports that the FBI probe targets Xiafen “Sherry” Chen, a 59-year-old naturalized American citizen employed at an office in Ohio. She was arrested in October and charged in federal grand jury indictment with illegally accessing the Army’s National Inventory of Dams (see “China steals confidential data on the vulnerabilities of major U.S. dams,” HSNW, 24 October 2014).
The dam database is considered sensitive data and has also been compromised by Chinese hackers in 2013, as part of a covert Chinese government operation.
Wisconsin seeks a cybersecurity bonanza, via Science:
Shh! Wisconsin seeking to get in on secret cybersecurity research
The state of Wisconsin is ramping up its presence in the hush-hush world of classified science. A new cybersecurity research center, being built in cooperation with private firms and the University of Wisconsin (UW) system, aims to lure more high-tech research dollars to the state, particularly some of the billions spent each year on classified work.
The Wisconsin Information Security Center in Madison brings UW into a select club of U.S. universities affiliated with labs specifically built to shield secret research from spying eyes. It also highlights the tricky act universities face in balancing the openness that is the bedrock of academic science with the secrecy demanded by agencies funding classified projects.
The Wisconsin legislature last year passed a law explicitly allowing the university system to take contracts for classified work. Backers said the bill and the new center are aimed at overcoming a perceived wariness on UW campuses toward secret science.
Saudi activist blogger flogged, via CNN:
Saudi activist to be flogged in public, Amnesty International says
Prominent Saudi online activist Raif Badawi will be flogged for the first time in public on Friday following prayers in front of a mosque in Jeddah, according to Amnesty International.
Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately $267,000) in May 2014 by a Saudi court accusing him of insulting Islam, said his wife and a source who followed the case closely.
A respected rights activist in Saudi Arabia, Badawi first got into legal trouble with the Saudi government after he started the Free Saudi Liberals website in 2008, which included a forum for users to discuss religion.
His trial, guilty verdict, sentence and imprisonment have raised outrage among international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which accused Saudi authorities of cracking down on activism and attempting to suppress dissent in the ultraconservative nation.
Home routers hacked for online attacks, via Nextgov:
Your Router Could Be Behind Lizard Squad’s Attacks
Lizard Squad, the online group that claimed responsibility for the attacks on PlayStation’s and Xbox’s networks last month, is using thousands of hacked Internet routers to run a new attack service it’s selling to consumers.
Last month, the group launched Lizard Stresser, which is capable of launching denial-of-service attacks for as little as $3 a month. So far, Lizard Squad has taken credit for temporarily bringing down image site 8chan and security blog Krebs on Security.
According to the blog, Lizard Stresser is taking advantage of the fact many online users—including some companies and universities—never change their routers’ user names and passwords, and using malicious code to control this network of bots (a good reminder to change those default passwords).
Network World covers another router vulnerability:
Exploit allows Asus routers to be hacked from local network
A vulnerability in Asuswrt, the firmware running on many wireless router models from Asustek Computer, allows attackers to completely compromise the affected devices. Malicious hackers, however, need to launch their attacks from within the local networks served by the vulnerable routers.
The flaw is located in a service called infosvr, which runs on Asuswrt-powered routers by default. The service, which is used by a tool called the Asus Wireless Router Device Discovery Utility, listens to packets sent to the router’s LAN (local area network) interface over UDP broadcast port 9999.
“This service runs with root privileges and contains an unauthenticated command execution vulnerability,” security researcher Joshua Drake, who found the vulnerability, said on his GitHub account.
From PandoDaily, business as usual:
A Congressman is using the Sony hack as an excuse to revive CISPA
Lawmakers are using the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack as cover to re-introduce what critics describe as a misinformed bill which would provide companies more opportunities to spy on consumers and share any collected information with law enforcement officials.
The bill is called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and it was first introduced in 2011, when it passed the House but stalled out in the Senate — not that it would’ve become law had it passed, since the White House promised to veto the bill.
It’s being reintroduced by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, who told the Hill he’s reviving CISPA to “keep the momentum going on what’s happening out there in the world” because “we have to move forward.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has come out against the revived CISPA and other bills meant to expand companies’ ability to share information with themselves and the government without consideration for the effect it might have on consumer privacy.
Network World covers another OSX weakness:
Glitch in OS X search can expose private details of Apple Mail users
A glitch in the search software in Apple’s OS X Yosemite can expose private details of Apple Mail users, revealing their IP address as well as other system details to spammers, phishers and online tracking companies.
The potential privacy risk appears when people use the Spotlight Search feature, which also indexes emails received with the Apple Mail email client. When searching a Mac, Spotlight shows previews of emails and when it does this, it automatically loads external images linked in HTML email.
The Spotlight preview loads those files even when users have switched off the “load remote content in messages” option in the Mail app, a feature often disabled to prevent email senders from knowing if an email has arrived and if it has been opened. What’s more, Spotlight also loads those files when it shows previews of unopened emails that landed directly in the junk folder.
A major hack takes over a German steel plant, via Homeland Security News Wire:
Stuxnet-like cyberattack on German steel plant deepens security concerns
Critical infrastructure operations around the world are increasingly facing threats from cyber criminals. In 2014, a steel plant in Germany was attacked by hackers using spear-phishing to gain access to the office network of the plant. Once inside the network, the hackers hijacked the plant’s production process. The attack led to control components and several production machines shutting down. The outages then prevented the plant from appropriately shutting down a blast furnace, causing “massive damage to the system,” according to a report by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
The precise scope of the damage to the plant is unclear. The physical damage to the blast furnace seemed to be an unintended side effect of the breach, said Germany-based Gartner analyst Oliver Rochford. The attack was certainly conducted by someone with advanced technical knowledge of not only conventional IT security, but also industrial control systems (ICS), and production processes, Security Week reported. Rochford believes the breach was likely issued for competitive reasons.
“In order to do such a damage, it is not simply to know a lot of Windows systems. Yes, all started by infecting the computers in the office, but after that, things get complicated. Usually, those computers don’t run Windows, but some special real time operating systems like QNX, OSE or VxWorks. Not an easy task to write code for these,” said IT security consultant Sorin Mustaca. “But writing code is not the biggest problem here, the complex part is to know how to control those industrial devices. For a furnace, to know how to control it requires special knowledge which can’t be just read in some books.”
From Nextgov, federal cybersecurity billions questioned:
Federal Cybersecurity Spending is Big Bucks. Why Doesn’t It Stop Hackers?
Despite paying $59 billion for data protections since fiscal 2010, the federal government couldn’t stave off hacks against the White House, State Department, Army and dozens of other agencies.
Across-the-board funding cuts last year hit cyber budgets, but the total tab, $10.3 billion, still more than doubles the $4.1 billion industry reportedly spent on computer security. And we all know those corporate expenditures did little to prevent data breaches at Sony, Home Depot and almost every other company, if you count the undetected compromises.
The apparent futility of cyber spending does not bode well for the American population’s online security. Government and private systems increasingly are interdependent.
The Pentagon spent $7.1 billion for Cyber Command, the National Security Agency and other military components to defend critical U.S. industry systems at home and abroad. Nevertheless, banks, along with airports, were hacked.
Japan opens a new cybersecurity center, via Jiji Press:
Japan Cabinet Opens Cybersecurity Center
The Japanese government set up in the cabinet Friday a powerful body to respond to cyberattacks.
The cybersecurity center, formally called the national center for incident rediness and strategy for cybersecurity, or NISC, was created under a law enacted in November. Nobushige Takamizawa, assistant deputy chief cabinet secretary, heads the NISC.
The NISC came into being with investigative authorities attached through reorganization of the National Information Security Center, where some 80 officials were working.
A single IP address may serve all of Korea, via SecurityWeek:
Dissection of North Korean Web Browser Shows Country May Run Off Single IP Address
There has been no shortage of news recently about North Korea and how the hermit nation controls the Internet usage of its citizens. Security researcher Robert Hansen, VP of WhiteHat Labs at WhiteHat Security, recently dug into the software used by North Koreans and discovered the extent that the government goes to censor and monitor all Internet activity within its borders.
“It’s weirder than we thought,” Hansen said.
Hansen was digging into the Naenara Browser, a version of Mozilla Firefox modified by North Korea and bundled into Red Star OS, the country’s official operating system. Red Star OS restricts what reaches the browser and network, allowing the government limit what their people get to do, see, and contribute, Robert Hansen, vice-president of White Labs at White Hat Security, wrote in a blog post Thursday.
When the Naenara Browser is first run, it immediately makes a request to another IP address, Hansen found. That in itself was not remarkable, except for the fact that the address it called was not a public address, but rather, one meant for internal networks. Addresses in the 10.x.x.x space are not designed to be routable on the Internet, but it appears from Hansen’s explorations that all of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is non-routable IP space. It was well known that North Korea exercised rigid control over what IP addresses were used because it owned a small block of IP addresses, but it appears to be funneling all traffic through one—or a handful—of public IP addresses.
The Guardian covers massive slaughter:
Nigeria: 2,000 feared killed in Boko Haram’s ‘deadliest massacre’
Amnesty International calls the killings ‘a disturbing and bloody escalation’ and a local defence group says its fighters have given up trying to count the bodies
Hundreds of bodies – too many to count – remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria from an Islamic extremist attack that Amnesty International described as the “deadliest massacre” in the history of Boko Haram.
Fighting continued on Friday around Baga, a town on the border with Chad where insurgents seized a key military base on 3 January and attacked again on Wednesday.
“Security forces have responded rapidly, and have deployed significant military assets and conducted air strikes against militant targets,” said a government spokesman.
District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims are children, women and elderly people who could not run fast enough when insurgents drove into Baga, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on town residents.
On to Japan and a political cold shoulder over an American base from the Asahi Shimbun:
Frustration builds over Tokyo’s snubbing of Okinawa governor
The government and the ruling party are making no attempt to conceal their disdain for Takeshi Onaga, the Okinawa governor who has been repeatedly snubbed in attempts to discuss the situation in his prefecture.
“We are going to show that Governor Onaga has no connections with the government,” said a Liberal Democratic Party Diet member elected from a constituency in Okinawa Prefecture.
The lawmaker made the comment after the governor’s request for a meeting with the agriculture minister was ignored, a common occurrence since Onaga assumed the governor’s post on Dec. 10.
The reason for the cold-shoulder treatment is clear: Onaga opposes the government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago, also in Okinawa Prefecture.
Japan aims for security in space, via Kyodo News:
Japan adopts new space policy focusing on security
The Japanese government approved Friday a new space development policy focusing on security, with an aim to boost the total value of the country’s space industry to 5 trillion yen over the next decade.
Under the 10-year Basic Plan on Space Policy, the government said it will enhance cooperation with the United States in the area of security.
To reduce danger of space debris, Japan will work to establish systems and develop technology to monitor them by sharing information with the Unites States.
Chinese ships cross a Japanese line, via NHK WORLD:
3 Chinese ships enter Japan’s territorial waters
Three Chinese patrol ships have entered Japan’s territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Japan controls the islands. The Japanese government maintains the islands are a part of Japan’s territory. China and Taiwan claim them.
The Japan Coast Guard says the ships entered waters south of Uotsuri Island shortly after 2 PM on Friday.
From the Japan Times, a school text wartime whitewashing:
Textbook publisher to delete, dilute ‘comfort women’ passages
A Tokyo-based textbook publisher has obtained government approval to delete depictions of “comfort women” and references to foreign workers forcibly brought to Japan, from its high school social studies books, sources said Friday.
The education ministry approved publisher Suken Shuppan’s November request to delete such references from three textbooks.
Suken Shuppan refused to comment on why it chose to cut the references. The textbooks were to be distributed for use this April.
The Japan Times covers comfort women journalistic litigation:
Former Asahi reporter files libel suit over ‘comfort women’ issue
Bashed and threatened for months by right-wingers and history revisionists, a former Asahi Shimbun reporter made a rare appearance in Tokyo Friday to file a libel suit against a major publisher and a noted scholar of Korean studies.
Takashi Uemura is seeking ¥16.5 million in damages from Bungeishunju Ltd. and Tsutomu Nishioka, a professor of Korean studies at Tokyo Christian University, saying they erroneously claimed he fabricated stories about “comfort women,” Japan’s euphemism for the thousands of women who were forced into Japan’s wartime military brothels
At a news conference, Uemura said their “unfounded slander” prompted some anonymous nationalists to threaten his employer, and violated the privacy of his family by posting a photo of his daughter on the Internet.
And to close, VICE News covers a bizarre Russian insecurity:
New Russian Law Bans Transvestites, Cross-Dressers, and Pyromaniacs from Driving
Human rights advocates are speaking out against a new Russian law published this week that prohibits transvestites, cross-dressers, and transgender people from driving automobiles within the country.
The new decree, titled “On Road Safety,” was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on December 29 and published January 4. The decree covers a number of physical medical conditions, such as hereditary eye diseases and blindness, but also includes people who “desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex” and “wear clothes of the opposite sex in order to experience temporarily membership of the opposite sex.”
The Russian government has defended the decree, featured on its official website, by citing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ICD-10 classifications of illnesses that include “gender identity disorder” and “disorders of sexual preference.”
