And more. . .
We begin with the state of the American mind on the New Year’s Topic #1, via Gallup:
On to the story of the year thus far, starting with blowback, first from the Associated Press:
German anti-Islam group vows that it won’t be silenced
A German group protesting what it calls “the Islamization of the West” vowed Monday that it won’t be silenced after its weekly rally was canceled following an alleged terrorist threat against one of its organizers.
The planned demonstration in Dresden by PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, was scrapped and local police banned all rallies Monday after being informed of a call for attackers to kill Lutz Bachmann, PEGIDA’s best-known figure.
Monday’s cancellation “doesn’t mean that we’ll let ourselves be gagged … (or) deprived of the right to freedom of assembly and opinion,” co-organizer Kathrin Oertel said at a news conference. Bachmann said a demonstration is planned for next week.
And news from the north, via TheLocal.no:
Anti-Islam march to go ahead in Oslo
Anti-Islam protesters are set to go ahead with a planned march on Monday despite death threats made against the Pegida movement’s organizers in Germany.
Officials in Dresden ordered the cancellation of the weekly march by the so-called Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida) after Isis jihadists threatened to kill its organizers.
“The cancellation in Germany affects all of us,” Norwegian Pegida spokesman Max Hermansen told news agency NTB.
“It’s tragic that we lose some of our freedom of expression because someone doesn’t like what we say.”
The Independent covers vigilantes on the loose in Old Blighty:
Britain First ‘Christian Patrols’ return to east London in wake of Charlie Hebdo shootings
The far-right nationalist group Britain First has restarted its campaign of what it calls “Christian Patrols” in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, drawing widespread condemnation for what experts have described as a desperate push for relevance from a dying organisation.
A video posted to the Britain First Facebook page showed a number of the group’s activists driving through east London in an ex-army issue Land Rover and declaring that they are making “our streets safe for our people”.
Rushanara Ali, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, has condemned the display of “hatred and intolerance” that took place in her constituency on Friday night.
The Independent again, with anger:
UK Muslim leaders outraged after Eric Pickles says followers of Islam should ‘prove their identity’
Muslim leaders have accused Prime Minister David Cameron and his Cabinet colleague Eric Pickles of adopting the mindset of the far-right by suggesting followers of Islam must prove their “British identity”.
In an open letter to Downing Street provided to The Independent, one leading campaigner said Muslims had been left feeling their loyalty to Britain was permanently in question after Mr Pickles wrote to imams asking that they underline being a British Muslim involves being “proud of your faith and proud of your country”.
Mr Cameron was accused of pouring fuel on the fire when he defended his Communities Secretary by saying the letter sent to 1,000 clerics and other Muslim leaders had been “reasonable, sensible and moderate”. The Prime Minister suggested anyone who disagreed with it “really has a problem”.
While France 24 covers one clear winner:
Hollande approval rate doubles in wake of Paris terror attacks
French voters’ approval of their president has jumped by a staggering 21%, according to a survey published on Monday, in the highest leap in polling history.
Ifop polling institute said President François Hollande’s approval rate had more than doubled, from 19% to 40%, in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks against satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris.
Hollande has been unusually prominent since the January 7 assault on Charlie Hebdo, personally directing the response to France’s deadliest attacks in half a century.
Japan’s right wing government moves to take more European advantage, via NHK WORLD:
Japan, Germany to cooperate in fighting terrorism
Foreign ministers from Japan and Germany have agreed that their countries will work with the international community to strengthen anti-terrorism measures.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Brussels on Monday.
Kishida said Japan is ready to help European countries improve terrorism investigations, in response to the growing threat in the region.
The foreign ministers also agreed to prepare for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Japan as early as March for talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
From the Associated Press, outreach:
EU calls for anti-terror alliance with Arab countries
The European Union on Monday called for an anti-terror alliance with Arab countries to boost cooperation and information-sharing in the wake of deadly attacks and arrests across Europe.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Monday that “we need an alliance. We need to strengthen our way of cooperating together.”
Mogherini later met with Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby. She also attended a meeting of the EU foreign ministers who are preparing for a summit of EU leaders in February focused on terrorism.
Some ministers emphasized the importance of working with Muslim countries, rather than blaming them for the problem.
TheLocal.fr covers another development:
France’s new ‘national unity’ starts to fracture
In one of the more high profile incidents on Monday it was reported that a French flag flying over a primary school on the island of Corsica had been burned and replaced by a Moroccan one.
An investigation is underway to find those responsible for an act that is punishable by a fine of up to €7,500 and six months in prison.
The national observatory against Islamophobia also released worrying new figures on Monday that there have been 116 anti-Muslim acts recorded since the Kouachi brothers opened fire at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
That reflects a 110 percent rise on the same period in January 2014.
And from Deutsche Welle, more Charle Hebdo blowback:
Hundreds of thousands join ‘anti-Charlie’ rally in Chechnya
Massive crowds have gathered in Russia’s North Caucasus province of Chechnya to protest against the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The region’s leader has condemned the images as “vulgar.”
Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the center of the Chechen capital Grozny on Monday, holding signs that read “Hands off our beloved prophet” and chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).
Russia’s interior ministry reported that over 800,000 people had attended the government-sponsored rally which was broadcast live on state television.
“This is a protest against those who support the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad,” Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Kremlin leader of the predominantly Muslim region, told the crowds.
On to the world of the cybersnoop, first with Network World:
Report: NSA not only creates, but also hijacks, malware
In addition to having its own arsenal of digital weapons, the U.S. National Security Agency reportedly hijacks and repurposes third-party malware.
The NSA is using its network of servers around the world to monitor botnets made up of thousands or millions of infected computers. When needed, the agency can exploit features of those botnets to insert its own malware on the already compromised computers, through a technology codenamed Quantumbot, German new magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday.
One of the secret documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by Der Spiegel contains details about a covert NSA program called DEFIANTWARRIOR that’s used to hijack botnet computers and use them as “pervasive network analysis vantage points” and “throw-away non-attributable CNA [computer network attack] nodes.”
From the Guardian, snooping on the Fourth Estate:
GCHQ captured emails of journalists from top international media
Snowden files reveal emails of BBC, NY Times and more
Agency includes investigative journalists on ‘threat’ list
Editors call on Cameron to act against snooping on media
GCHQ’s bulk surveillance of electronic communications has scooped up emails to and from journalists working for some of the US and UK’s largest media organisations, analysis of documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.
Emails from the BBC, Reuters, the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, the Sun, NBC and the Washington Post were saved by GCHQ and shared on the agency’s intranet as part of a test exercise by the signals intelligence agency.
The disclosure comes as the British government faces intense pressure to protect the confidential communications of reporters, MPs and lawyers from snooping.
The journalists’ communications were among 70,000 emails harvested in the space of less than 10 minutes on one day in November 2008 by one of GCHQ’s numerous taps on the fibre-optic cables that make up the backbone of the internet.
The New York Times covers snooping on North Korea:
N.S.A. Breached North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say
The trail that led American officials to blame North Korea for the destructive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in November winds back to 2010, when the National Security Agency scrambled to break into the computer systems of a country considered one of the most impenetrable targets on earth.
Spurred by growing concern about North Korea’s maturing capabilities, the American spy agency drilled into the Chinese networks that connect North Korea to the outside world, picked through connections in Malaysia favored by North Korean hackers and penetrated directly into the North with the help of South Korea and other American allies, according to former United States and foreign officials, computer experts later briefed on the operations and a newly disclosed N.S.A. document.
A classified security agency program expanded into an ambitious effort, officials said, to place malware that could track the internal workings of many of the computers and networks used by the North’s hackers, a force that South Korea’s military recently said numbers roughly 6,000 people. Most are commanded by the country’s main intelligence service, called the Reconnaissance General Bureau, and Bureau 121, its secretive hacking unit, with a large outpost in China.
The Japan Times covers snooping from another quarter:
China stole F-35 blueprints from Lockheed, Snowden data appears to show
Chinese spies have stolen key designs for the F-35 stealth fighter, according to documents disclosed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.
The report, citing disclosures published by German magazine Der Spiegel, said Chinese cyberspies stole huge volumes of sensitive military information, including “many terabytes of data” about the fighter, such as details of the radar systems it uses to identify and track targets.
The allegation was contained in a top secret U.S. National Security Agency presentation apparently obtained by Snowden.
The F-35 Lightning II is a next-generation fighter set to join the defense fleets of Australia, Japan and other U.S. allies.
While Reuters delivers a response:
China calls Snowden’s stealth jet hack accusations ‘groundless’
China dismissed accusations it stole F-35 stealth fighter plans as groundless on Monday, after documents leaked by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on a cyber attack were published by a German magazine.
The Pentagon has previously acknowledged that hackers had targeted sensitive data for defense programs such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but stopped short of publicly blaming China for the F-35 breach.
Defense experts say that China’s home-grown stealth jets had design elements resembling the F-35.
And BBC News exemplifies:
Australia fighter jet data theft ‘shows cyber-spy risk’
The reported theft by Chinese spies of designs for Australia’s new warplane, the US-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, highlights the risk of cyber-espionage, an Australian minister said.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also told Sky News she was confident that the US would guard its intellectual property. She was responding to media reports, citing leaked US documents, of the theft of a huge amount of F-35 data.
Australia has ordered 72 F-35 jets, due to come into service in 2020.
The F-35 is the most expensive defence project in US history. The stealth aircraft, manufactured by US-based Lockheed Martin, was developed at a cost of around $400bn (£230bn), in a process dogged by delays and unforeseen costs.
After the jump, a Japanese/Israeli cyberpact, warnings of collateral domestic cybersecurity damage, a Chinese post-leak intelligence crackdown, World Wide Websters voice growing privacy loss fears, on to the war and Canadian troops under fire as their special operators direct air strikes, on to Charlie Hebdo blowback from with conflict in Gaza and Niger riots claiming 45 churches burned and 10 deaths, Boko Haram suffers a Cameroon setback, a Boko Haram raid on Cameroon claims 80 followed by a Cameroon counter-raid, jihadi trouble at China’s borders, Japan ramps its Djibouti military presence, Pakistan blasts U.S. over another drone strike, Moscow and Washington vie over Indian arms deals, Beijing slams Tokyo for siding with New Delhi over a Sino/Indo border dispute, Chinese ships cross Japanese lines, The Seoul/Tokyo Comfort Women rift remains, Shinzo Abe urged to make another apology, two stories from Latin America, and to close, a Guatemalan cop sentenced for murders and a high profile Argentine prosecutor dies in mysterious circumstances. . .
A done deal from Kyodo News:
Japan, Israel PMs reaffirm cybersecurity cooperation
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday the two countries will strengthen cooperation in countering cyberattacks and promote exchanges between defense officials.
The prime ministers, meeting in Jerusalem for a second straight day, also reaffirmed close cooperation regarding peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.
Israel has been pursuing human resource development in the cyber arena and last November the two countries held their first cybersecurity talks in Tokyo.
Warnings of collateral domestic cybersecurity damage, via Homeland Security News Wire:
Proposed changes to CFAA, RICO would criminalize cybersecurity research: Critics
Cybersecurity professionals are concerned that the White House’s proposed changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, could criminalize cybersecurity research.
On 13 January, the Obama administration proposed to crack down on “an unprecedented threat from rogue hackers as well as organized crime and even state actors.” The legislative proposals would make accessing public documents illegal if the documents’ owner would not have approved; create stricter punishments for anyone convicted of a cybercrime; and would allow the government to seize assets connected to cybercrimes. The White House also proposes upgrading hacking to a “racketeering” offense.
Robert Graham, a researcher with security firm ErrataSec, has called the proposals a “War on Hackers,” claiming the changes would act as a chilling effect on researchers’ activities. “Obama’s proposals come from a feeling in Washington, D.C., that more needs to be done about hacking in response to massive data breaches of the last couple years,” Graham wrote on a blog post. “But they are blunt political solutions, which reflect no technical understanding of the problem.”
A Chinese post-leak intelligence crackdown, via Want China Times:
Leaks prompt Xi to rebuild intelligence network: Duowei
China’s president and head of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, is reconstructing the country’s intelligence and counterintelligence framework following several recent embarrassing incidents that have shed light on the system’s inadequacies, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.
Ma Jian, a vice minister at the Ministry of State Security, is the latest high-ranking official to be nabbed by anti-graft authorities after state media announced last week that the powerful intelligence chief is being probed for “serious violations of discipline.” Though no further details have been revealed about the case, it is widely speculated that Ma’s misdeeds are linked to a breach of national security given that he had been in charge of counterintelligence.
Ma is just one of several high-ranking officials to be probed for misconduct in recent years. Liang Ke, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of State Security, was detained by authorities early last year while an unnamed secretary of state security vice minister Lu Zhongwei was reportedly arrested in 2012 after being identified as the source of a leak that had exposed the identity of many Chinese spies in the United States since 2011.
World Wide Websters voice growing privacy loss fears, via Network World:
People are increasingly worried about privacy, say legal protections fall short
Internet users in countries such as France, Germany and the U.S. are increasingly worried about the impact technology has on privacy, and feel legal protections are insufficient.
In 11 of the 12 countries surveyed as part of a report published by Microsoft on Monday, respondents said that technology’s effect on privacy was mostly negative. Most concerned were people in Japan and France, where 68 percent of the respondents thought technology has had a mostly negative impact on privacy.
A majority want better legal protections and say the rights of Internet users should be governed by local laws irrespective of where companies are based.
On to the war and Canadian troops under fire, via CBC News:
ISIS fight: Canadian special forces came under fire in the last week
Lt.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, Brig.-Gen. Michael Rouleau provide update on Canada’s role in Iraq
Canadian special forces came under ISIS fire sometime in the last week when they went to the front lines in Iraq following a planning session with senior Iraqi leaders, their commanding officer told reporters in Ottawa on Monday.
Brig.-Gen. Michael Rouleau, commander of the Canadian special operations forces command, said forces came under “immediate and effective mortar fire” and responded with sniper fire, “neutralizing the mortar and the machine-gun position.”
He said the response was consistent with the inherent right of self-defence and suggested it was an incident typical of military missions, one that wouldn’t have be
As their special operators direct air strikes, from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Canadian special forces guiding missile strikes in Iraq
Canadian special forces soldiers are more directly engaged in the fight against Islamic State forces than the government has previously disclosed, with troops on the ground guiding air-fired missiles to hit targets, the military says.
As many as 69 Canadian special operations troops are in Iraq for the purpose of acting as military advisers to peshmerga fighters. Their roles are supposed to be purely advise-and-assist.
The Canadian Armed Forces says Canada’s soldiers have performed a guiding or “enabling” role for missiles in 13 recent cases, but senior officers say they don’t consider this direct combat.
On to Egypt and Charlie Hebdo blowback, first with Deutsche Welle:
Muslim extremists attempt to storm French center in Gaza
Hundreds of radical Islamists have expressed their support for the Paris massacre in a rally in Gaza, and threatened attacks against France. Police prevented the extremists from breaking into the French cultural center.
Around 200 muslim extremists chanted slogans threatening the lives of French nationals in Gaza during a rally on Monday, while holding up pictures of the Paris terrorists. The protest in front of the French cultural center in Gaza city was organized as a reaction to the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad published by the magazine Charlie Hebdo last week.
“Leave Gaza, you French, or we will slaughter you by cutting your throats,” chanted the protesters.
Palestinian police arrested several dozens of protesters who tried to storm the French cultural center. Many of the activists were dressed in uniforms similar to those of the Islamic State fighters, and waved the black banners of the organization.
“Today, we are telling France and world countries that while Islam orders us to respect all religions, it also orders us to punish and kill those who assault and offend Islam’s Prophet Muhammad,” said one of the protesters, Abu Abdallah al-Makdissi.
The latest numbers from Niger, from BBC News:
Charlie Hebdo: Niger protesters torched 45 churches – police
At least 10 people have been killed and 45 churches set on fire since protests erupted in Niger over the French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, police say.
The government has declared three days of mourning for those who died.
Hotels and bars were also burned to the ground during a weekend of violent protests, the authorities said.
Niger’s interior minister said that some of those taking part in the weekend protests held up flags supporting Boko Haram, an Islamist group based in neighbouring Nigeria.
A Boko Haram raid on Cameroon claims 80, via euronews:
Many women and children among dozens of people kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants in Cameroon
Officials in Cameroon say up to 80 people, mostly women and children, have been kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram islamist militants from neighbouring Nigeria, where it is though the victims have been taken.
They said four people were killed in the cross-border attacks on several villages in northern Cameroon on Sunday.
Boko Haram is reported to have killed thousands of people over the past two years in its fight to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, and has more recently expanded its operations to Cameroon and Niger.
These latest kidnappings come as neighbouring Chad sent troops to support Cameroon forces in the fight against the militants.
And a response from Deutsche Welle:
Cameroon army frees Boko Haram hostages
At least 20 of the dozens of hostages captured in Cameroon by suspected Boko Haram fighters over the weekend have been freed. Some 80 people, many of them children, were seized in the raids.
The Cameroon army said on Monday it had managed to free about 24 people who had been kidnapped during a cross-border attack by militants from northern Nigeria.
“They were freed as defense forces pursued the attackers who were heading back to Nigeria,” defense ministry spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck said.
Sunday’s raid, in which around 80 people were kidnapped near the northern village of Mabass, is the largest abduction ever carried out on Cameroonian soil.
From Want China Times, jihadi trouble at China’s borders:
Jihadist stowaways in China ‘told to inflict casualties if caught’
Many illegal stowaways being smuggled out of southwestern China have been exposed to religious extremist propaganda and have been encouraged to carry out acts of terror on the spot if confronted by border authorities, reports Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
The majority of the smuggling operations attempting to move people across the southwestern Chinese border into Myanmar reportedly belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a jihadist and separatist organization founded by militants from the Uyghur ethnic group in the Xinjiang region of China’s northwest.
The ultimate goal of the stowaways is allegedly to join other extremists fighting a “holy war” in the Middle East, the report said, claiming that they have been exposed to terrorist propaganda and told to inflict maximum casualties before martyring themselves if accosted by police.
From the Asahi Shimbun, basing:
Japan to reinforce SDF anti-piracy base in Djibouti for broader Middle East responses
The mission of a Self-Defense Forces base for anti-piracy operations in Djibouti is expected to be bolstered to include the dispatch of patrol aircraft and the rescue of Japanese civilians in Middle East emergencies, Defense Ministry sources said.
The ministry is considering increasing the duties assigned to the base in East Africa and making it the operational center for SDF troops in the region on the assumption that Japan will continue utilizing it on a long-term basis.
“Based on the government’s principle of ‘proactive pacifism,’ it is a natural matter of course to develop a strategy to utilize more of the SDF’s lone foreign operational base,” said a senior Defense Ministry official. “From the perspectives of cooperation with the U.S. military and NATO forces and sharing terrorism-related information with these forces, it will be to Japan’s benefit to increase functions of the base.”
Pakistan blasts U.S. over another drone strike, via the Express Tribune:
Pakistan condemns North Waziristan drone strike
Pakistan on Monday evening condemned the drone strike in North Waziristan which killed five suspected militants.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government reiterated its known position on such strikes.
“Such strikes constitute a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity and demands their immediate cessation,” the government’s statement read.
The strike targeted a Taliban compound in Pungai, Shawal area of North Waziristan Agency on Monday.
Indian arms lure rivals, via the Times of India:
Russia, US in battle to supply India its armoury
Wooing of the world’s biggest arms importer continues unabashedly. Just before US President Barack Obama touches down in New Delhi on January 24, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu will be town to further boost military cooperation with India.
With India trying to claw out of its embarrassing and strategically-vulnerable position of still importing around 65% of its military requirements, the two erstwhile bitter Cold War rivals have now taken to brandishing their support for Modi’s ‘Make in India’ policy. Both promise an effortless and fruitful transition from the existing buyer-seller relationship to co-development and co-production of top-notch weapon systems.
The new 10-year defence framework to be inked during Obama’s visit will incorporate the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), which the US promises will help strengthen India’s fledgling defence industrial base, as earlier reported by TOI.
Beijing slams Tokyo for siding with New Delhi over a Sino/Indo border dispute, via Reuters:
China protests over Japan’s comments on border dispute with India
China on Monday lodged a protest with Tokyo after Japanese media quoted Japan’s foreign minister as saying that a disputed border region between China and India belonged to India, in the latest source of friction between the two Asian rivals.
Japan’s foreign ministry played down the issue, saying it could not confirm Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida’s reported remarks. It added that it hoped India and China could resolve their dispute peacefully.
Tensions between China and Japan have risen in recent years, fueled by a row over a chain of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Their relations have long been poisoned by what China sees as Japan’s failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two.
Chinese ships cross Japanese lines, via NHK WORLD:
Chinese ships leave Japanese waters
The Japan Coast Guard says 3 Chinese patrol ships have left Japanese territorial waters off the Senkaku Islands after staying there for about 2 hours.
Japan controls the islands. China and Taiwan claim them.
The coast guard says the ships entered the waters in the East China Sea on Monday morning.
The Seoul/Tokyo Comfort Women rift remains, via Kyodo News:
Japan, S. Korea remain apart over ‘comfort women’ issue
Japan and South Korea remained apart Monday over the issue of South Korean “comfort women” who worked in wartime Japanese military brothels, but the two sides agreed to continue talks.
Asked if the two governments made progress on the issue at a meeting in Tokyo, a Japanese official said, “The same as before.” Another Japanese official told reporters that the two sides stated their respective positions, without providing details.
Lee Sang Deok, director general of the Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, also declined to provide details of the meeting but said, “We agreed to continue efforts toward progress in future consultations.”
Shinzo Abe urged to make another apology, via Reuters:
Japan’s Abe could ease doubts by apologizing over World War Two: ex-PM Fukuda
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could help remove international doubts about Japan’s stance toward its wartime past by apologizing over World War Two in a statement he plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the war’s end, said former premier Yasuo Fukuda.
The statement by Abe, whose conservative agenda includes adopting a less apologetic tone toward the wartime past and bolstering Japan’s defenses, will be closely parsed in China and South Korea, where memories of Japan’s past militarism run deep.
Washington, which wants better ties between Japan and its Asian neighbors, will also be keenly watching.
And to close, a Guatemalan cop sentenced for murders, via teleSUR:
Guatemalan Court Sentences Ex-Police Chief for Murdering 37
Justice is served, 35 years on, for the victims of a massacre at the Spanish embassy in Guatemala, as a former police chief is sentenced to 90 years in prison.
A Guatemalan court found Pedro Garcia Arredondo guilty Monday of murder, attempted murder, and crimes against humanity when he murdered 37 people at the Spanish embassy in Guatemala in 1980, EFE report.
Garcia Arredondo, now 69, is responsible for burning the victims of the massacre to death on Jan. 31, 1980, found the court after four months of hearings.
The tribunal outcome confirmed the long-held suspicions in the country, that the fire was the result of a “clandestine police operation,” and that the participants “prevented the Red Cross, emergency services, and journalists from entering” the building.
And a high profile Argentine prosecutor dies in mysterious circumstances, via the New York Times:
Prosecutor in Argentina Bombing Inquiry Is Found Dead
A federal prosecutor who accused top officials including the president of protecting Iranian suspects in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center, considered Argentina’s worst terrorist attack, has been found dead at home from a gunshot wound to the head, the authorities said Monday.
The body of the prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, 51, who had been heavily protected by police sentries because of threats, was discovered Sunday night. He had been scheduled to testify on Monday at a congressional inquiry about his accusations.
The security minister, Sergio Berni, said evidence at the scene, including a .22-caliber pistol and spent cartridge found near Mr. Nisman’s body, indicated suicide. An autopsy announced later said he had died of a bullet wound to the head.
