And plenty of etc.
We begin with a threat to the very concept of humanity, via TheLocal.no:
Norway to ban aiding beggars in new law
Anyone helping homeless people by offering them travel money, shelter or food could face up to a year in prison according to the draft of a draconian new anti-begging law put out for consultation in Norway.
The scope of the law, which was originally intended to ban homeless people from begging on the street, has been extended to also criminalise those offering money or other help, outraging many in Oslo who believe they risked being charged simply for helping less fortunate people.
Inger Husby, from the Oslo suburb of Bøler, who frequently invites homeless people into her house, told NRK that she feared that her altruistic acts could also be deemed illegal should the bill pass as it is.
Vocativ covers a security threat on campus:
Universities Are Actually Underreporting Sexual Assault
According to data analysis, the number of sex crimes at U.S. universities and colleges could be more than 40 percent higher than what’s on record
Contrary to the sentiment that rampant false allegations inflate the reported frequency of campus sexual assaults—something that took hold in the wake of the Rolling Stone and University of Virginia rape scandal—a new study published by the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that schools are accurately reporting incidences of sexual assault on campus only when someone’s paying attention.
By comparing sexual assault data that universities submitted before, during and after federal investigations by the Department of Education, the study found that crime reporting increased up to 44 percent while under the scrutiny of government watchdogs, only to drop down to pre-audit levels following the completion of investigations.
“When it comes to sexual assault and rape, the norm for universities and colleges is to downplay the situation and the numbers,” says researcher Corey Rayburn Yung, JD, a law professor at the University of Kansas. “The result is students at many universities continue to be attacked and victimized, and punishment isn’t meted out to the rapists and sexual assaulters.”
From the Associated Press, ornamental reform:
Obama tightens rules on use of bulk intelligence data
The Obama administration has tightened rules governing how the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies use Internet and phone communications of foreigners collected by the National Security Agency.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced the new policy Tuesday. It’s the latest in a series of changes stemming from the disclosures by Edward Snowden, the former NSA technician who leaked secret documents exposing surveillance programs.
The policy allows agencies to use “signals intelligence” data collected in bulk for six specific purposes: hunting foreign spies; counterterrorism; counter-proliferation; cybersecurity; countering threats to U.S. or allied armed forces or personnel; and combating transnational criminal threats. It requires that the data be deleted after five years if not relevant for intelligence requirements.
From the Guardian, and hardly surprising:
Proposed changes to US data collection fall short of NSA reformers’ goals
US intelligence community issues limited list of tweaks to data collection and surveillance at end of year-long effort to respond to Snowden revelations
The US intelligence community has delivered a limited list of tweaks to how long it can hold information on ordinary citizens and hide secret trawls for data, responding to Barack Obama’s call for reform of its surveillance practices in the wake of revelations about NSA practices.
Published by the office of the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, just six days before a recently announced visit to Washington by German chancellor Angela Merkel, the report is the culmination of a year-long effort to respond to revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
But the report does not appear to address the role of telecommunications companies in collecting metadata and the use of encryption to prevent against hacking. The outline from the intelligence community also appears to fall short of the legislative changes attempted by campaigners in Congress, focusing instead on measures to tighten internal guidelines and provide foreigners with some of the protections allowed for US citizens.
From the Toronto Globe and Mail, Snowden sounds the alarm over Canadian security state overreach:
Edward Snowden urges caution over Ottawa’s proposed security law
Edward Snowden, the fugitive American who leaked state secrets, wants Canadians to know that anti-terrorism laws are easy to pass but very hard to undo.
“We saw on Friday the Prime Minister of Canada proposed a new law,” Mr. Snowden told a teenaged Toronto audience via an Internet link on Monday night.
He told the high school students that they should “always be extraordinarily cautious” and press for answers, whenever governments rely on “fear and panic” to set up powers that can be exercised in secret.
A Pentagon spook evokes China cyberfears, via the Associated Press:
Intel chief warns US tech threatened by China cybertheft
The U.S. defense intelligence chief warned Tuesday that America’s technological edge over China is at risk because of cybertheft.
Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, told a congressional hearing the U.S. retains technological superiority. But he said China had stolen “a lot” of intellectual property from U.S. defense contractors and that effort continues.
He’s declined to say publicly whether that has affected U.S. defense capabilities.
“I do not believe we are at this point losing our technological edge, but it is at risk based on some of their cyber activities,” Stewart told a House Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats.
Homeland Security News Wire covers gaps:
U.S. yet to develop a strategy to secure nation’s critical infrastructure
While recent cyberattacks against Sony Pictures, Target, JPMorgan Chase, and Home Depot have brought to light some of the private sector’s cyber vulnerabilities, an NBC Bay Area investigation raises questions about the security of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
For years, the U.S. government has warned federal and state agencies about the threat posed by hackers who may target computer systems responsible for operating nuclear plants, electric substations, oil and gas pipelines, transit systems, chemical facilities, and drinking water facilities. “It’s those systems, that if we lose them, it’s going to have a serious impact on our way of life,” said Perry Pederson, former director of the Control Systems Security Program at DHS.
In 1998 President Bill Clinton issued a directive warning about the dangers of potential cyberattacks. “I intend that the United States will take all necessary measures to swiftly eliminate any significant vulnerability to both physical and cyber-attacks on our critical infrastructures, including especially our cyber systems,” read the memo. NBC News reports that since then, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have warned about vulnerabilities in computer systems which control drinking water and gas pipelines. In February 2013 President Barack Obama followed Clinton when he issued a directive stating, “It is the policy of the United States to strengthen the security and resilience of its critical infrastructure against both physical and cyber threats.”
From the Guardian, a lack of video vigilance?:
Do webcams watch the watchmen? No sticker on ex-NSA chief’s laptop camera
ACLU’s principal technologist spotted former NSA director Keith Alexander on a train working on his laptop. Its webcam was conspicuously uncovered
Paranoid about the National Security Agency spying on you via your webcam? Don’t be. It’s safe to webchat again. Well, at least if you’re Keith Alexander, former director of the National Security Agency. That is, unless he’s watching you.
Alexander was spotted on Tuesday on a train from Washington to New York by the principal technologist of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Chris Soghoian. The four-star general turned top paid security consultant was working away on his Apple Macbook with the webcam uncovered.
— Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) February 3, 201
Ex-NSA Director Keith Alexander is on my train. He uses a macbook, and doesn’t have a sticker over his webcam.
According to documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the spying agency can easily hack webcams. Partnering with the UK’s GCHQ, the NSA collected millions of images from webcams through Yahoo accounts under a program called Optic Nerve. The agencies were disheartened to learn that a large percentage of the images contained “undesirable nudity”.
The Indian military ups mobile security, via the Hindu:
Formations getting snoop-proof mobile network
While the Army is making progress in fielding its own mobile network in a couple of years under the Mobile Cellular Communications System (MCCS) and also contemplating a cloud network for its rank and file, basic concerns still persist with continued reliance on imports for hardware and software.
As part of a major drive towards enabling a digital army, the Army is also envisaging setting up a private virtual drive for its personnel to access information anywhere and reduce dependency on open platforms.
Currently one of the corps, the largest mobile formation in the Army, has been fully equipped with the army mobile network based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology being built by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), while another corps has acquired 70-80 per cent. Three more corps have been sanctioned the network, Army sources said. All the five corps are in forward areas and the process will be completed by 2017-18.
Cyber computer kidnaping-in-place, via Threatpost:
New Wave of CTB-Locker/Critroni Ransomware Hitting Victims
There is a new wave of attacks delivering the CTB-Locker or Critroni crypto ransomware, arriving through spam messages with a variety of lures in several different countries.
CTB-Locker is one of the newer variants in the crypto ransomware family, a kind of malware that encrypts victims’ hard drives and demands a relatively large payment in order to get the decryption key. The most famous strain of this kind of malware is CryptoLocker, which has infected tens of thousands of machines and generated millions of dollars of revenue for the gang behind it. Last year, the the FBI and other authorities took down the infrastructure behind the GameOver Zeus malware, which had been used to distribute CryptoLocker, an action that disrupted some of the malware’s effectiveness.
But shortly thereafter, CTB-Locker came onto the scene, and it has a couple of interesting features. The CTB in the name stands for Curve-Tor-Bitcoin, and the malware uses elliptic curve cryptography to lock up users’ files. It also has used the Tor anonymity network for command and control operations and it typically demands the ransom payments in the form of Bitcoin.
Network World covers bait for phisherpholk:
Dangerous IE vulnerability opens door to powerful phishing attacks
An Internet Explorer vulnerability lets attackers bypass the Same-Origin Policy, a fundamental browser security mechanism, to launch highly credible phishing attacks or hijack users’ accounts on any website.
The flaw, described as a universal cross-site scripting vulnerability, was disclosed Saturday on the Full Disclosure mailing list by David Leo, a researcher with a security consultancy firm called Deusen. Leo’s post included a link to a proof-of-concept exploit that demonstrates the attack using the dailymail.co.uk website as the target.
When opened in Internet Explorer 11 on an up to date installation of Windows 8.1, the exploit page provides the user with a link. When the link is clicked, the dailymail.co.uk website opens in a new window, but after 7 seconds the site’s content is replaced with a page reading “Hacked by Deusen.”
From the Christian Science Monitor, Merkel’s reservations:
Ukraine arms request to fight rebels divides US, Germany
The White House seems ready to provide lethal arms to Ukraine’s beleaguered forces against a fresh offensive by pro-Russian rebels. German officials are much cooler on the prospect.
“Germany will not support Ukraine with weapons,” Ms. Merkel said after meeting with Hungary’s prime minister Victor Orban in Budapest. Merkel said she prefers the pressure exerted by economic sanctions on Russia and negotiations to “solve or at least mitigate the conflict,” The Associated Press reports.
But US officials say such measures are not enough to deter further aggression by the Russia-backed rebels. Having provided nonlethal aid – including protective vests, night-vision goggles, and gas masks – to Ukraine for several months, the US is now considering supplying the country with antitank missiles, small arms, and ammunition.
For the White House, the big question is whether providing so-called “defensive lethal arms” to Ukraine’s military would prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to reduce his support for the rebels – or to increase it, further destabilizing the country.
From the Associated Press, a hopeful development:
AP Exclusive: US, Iran discussing nuclear talks compromise
With time for negotiations running short, the U.S and Iran are discussing a compromise that would let Iran keep much of its uranium-enriching technology but reduce its potential to make nuclear weapons, two diplomats tell The Associated Press.
Such a compromise could break the decade-long deadlock on attempts to limit Iranian activities that could be used to make such arms: Tehran refuses to meet U.S.-led demands for deep cuts in the number of centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium, a process that can create material for anything from chemotherapy to the core of an atomic bomb.
Experts warn that any reduction in centrifuge efficiency is reversible more quickly than a straight decrease in the number of machines, an argument that could be seized upon by powerful critics of the talks in the U.S. Congress.
After the jump, ISIS burns a captive Jordanian pilot alive and a response provoked, Canadian cops bust an ISIS cell “related” trio, French soldiers stabbed outside a Jewish center, a bipartisan deal seals Spain’s new “Patriot” act, a G-20 terrorism funding crackdown conclave, a Dutch journalist faces Turkish terror charges, Pentagon brass call for arsenal replenishment, UNESCO laments ISIS purge of Iraqi museums and libraries, the Pentagon can’t locate weapons dealt to Yemen, Chad enlists in the anti-Boko Haram war, the U.N. calls for piling on, ECOWAS joins in, a new twist in the dead Argentine prosecutor story, China mulls a new naval fleet for the Indian ocean, Japan’s prime minister makes a militarized constitutional move but concedes his proposal wouldn’t help in the inciting instance, and he sends more military bodies to the hot zone, an investigation is launched, and a new spy satellite launch is planned. . .
From Al Jazeera, an abomination:
ISIL video purportedly shows death by burning of captive Jordanian pilot
Jordan declares period of mourning after apparent killing of 26-year-old captured after his jet crashed in December
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) published a video on Tuesday that purportedly shows the death by burning of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh.
The head of the Jordanian armed forces told the family of the pilot that he was killed, a member of the family said.
The 26-year-old first lieutenant was taken hostage in ISIL’s stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, after his F-16 jet crashed in late December. ISIL members claimed to have shot down Kassasbeh’s plane with a heat-seeking missile.
And a response provoked, via FRANCE 24:
Jordan vow’s ‘earth-shaking’ response to pilot’s slaying
Jordan on Tuesday vowed an “earth-shaking and decisive” response to Islamic State group’s killing of a Jordanian pilot, announcing near-immediate plans to execute a female al-Qaeda prisoner whose release the militants had tried to negotiate.
The woman, Iraqi national Sajida al-Rishawi, is currently on death row in Jordan for her role in three hotel bombings in Amman in 2005 that killed 60 people.
“The sentence of death pending on… Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi will be carried out at dawn,” a security official requesting anonymity told AFP.
Canadian cops bust an ISIS cell “related” trio, via the Associated Press:
Canada police make IS terror cell arrest
Canadian police made another arrest and are announcing charges against three men related to an Islamic State recruiting cell in Ottawa, a senior police official said Tuesday.
The official said the case is linked to the arrest of three men in Ottawa last month. It involves alleged recruiting for the Islamic State group and Canadian John Maguire, a fighter who appeared in an IS video overseas and who reportedly might have been killed recently.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak ahead of the planned announcement Tuesday, said charges will be brought against Maguire, who police can’t confirm is dead.
From Channel NewsAsia Singapore, French soldiers stabbed outside a Jewish center:
Three French soldiers attacked outside Jewish centre
A knife-wielding man attacked three soldiers patrolling outside a Jewish community centre on the French Riviera on Tuesday (Feb 3), with sources saying he was expelled from Turkey only last week.
The attack took place in broad daylight in Nice as the troops were guarding the centre under reinforced security measures introduced following last month’s deadly militant attacks in Paris.
Two of the soldiers sustained minor injuries. Their assailant was immediately arrested, a police source said. A second person who was seen with the suspect before the incident was also detained, a source close to the case added.
Bipartisan deal seals Spain’s new “Patriot” act, via El País:
Government and Socialists sign anti-terrorism pact to tackle jihadists
Opposition leader Sánchez says PSOE may appeal life-sentence clause linked to deal
The Popular Party (PP) government and the opposition Socialists on Monday signed a far-reaching anti-terrorism pact, the fourth such agreement to be signed between Spain’s two main parties in the last 30 years.
The difference is this is the first anti-terrorism deal not to specifically address Basque terrorist group ETA, but instead seeks to tackle jihadist extremism and support activities for radical groups in Syria and Iraq.
But one day after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez put their signatures to the pact, Socialists said they were prepared to appeal a measure linked to the proposed law that calls for life sentences for anyone convicted of deadly terrorist attacks or other violent crimes.
Sánchez convinced top party officials to accept the clause as it currently stands despite concerns raised by regional leaders and legal experts about the notion of life imprisonment.
Nikkei Asian Review covers a G-20 terrorism funding crackdown conclave:
Global leaders to discuss blocking terrorist financing
Alarmed by the recent rise in terrorism threats, Group of 20 countries will discuss ways to stem the flow of funds to Islamic State and other extremists at a meeting in Istanbul next Monday.
Japan launched a terrorism task force within the prime minister’s office Tuesday. In a news conference that day, Finance Minister Taro Aso mentioned previous G-20 discussions on curbing terrorist financing and said that “similar topics will probably come up this time around.”
At the gathering of finance ministers and central bankers, member countries are expected to stress cooperation in stopping the monetary flows. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin is calling for stricter regulations on paper companies, through which large amounts of terrorism funds are funneled.
A Dutch journalist faces Turkish terror charges, via DutchNews.nl:
Dutch journalist faces terrorist propaganda charges in Turkey
A Dutch journalist who lives in Turkey faces charges of ‘terrorist propaganda’ and could be jailed for up to five years, according to local paper Hurriyet Daily News.
Frederike Geerdink was briefly detained last month and her home in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish south-east, was searched by police. Hurriyet Daily News said Geerdink is accused of making pro-PKK propaganda by sharing the organisation’s flags and members’ activities on social media.
Geerdink works for NRC.next, de Groene Amsterdammer, radio programme Dichtbij Nederland and the Muslim broadcaster Moslimomroep.
Pentagon brass call for arsenal replenishment, via USA Today:
Pentagon seeks to reload amid air war
The Pentagon wants to re-stock its arsenal of smart-bombs and missiles after five months of airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria have depleted supplies.
Satellite-guided bombs and missiles that can be dropped from jets and fired from drones top the requests. A small bomb that can zoom in on moving targets such as cars and trucks is also in high demand for the fight against militants from the group, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
“The military has been skimping on money for munitions due to tight budgets, but now it has to replenish stockpiles because of the air war against ISIS,” said Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant and military analyst at the Lexington Institute, a Washington-area think tank.
From the U.N. News Center, UNESCO laments ISIS purge of Iraqi museums and libraries:
UNESCO deplores ‘cultural cleansing’ of Iraq as armed extremists ransack Mosul libraries
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voiced alarm today over the reported destruction of thousands of books in museums, libraries and universities across Mosul – the northern Iraq city currently controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
According to the UN agency, the books – on topics ranging from philosophy and law to science and poetry – have been “deliberately burned” over the past several weeks in what may be “one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history.”
“This destruction marks a new phase in the cultural cleansing perpetrated in regions controlled by armed extremists in Iraq,” UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, declared in a press release issued earlier today. “It adds to the systematic destruction of heritage and the persecution of minorities that seeks to wipe out the cultural diversity that is the soul of the Iraqi people.”
UNESCO has been taking stock of the “cultural cleansing” perpetrated by armed groups in Iraq over the past several months and has repeatedly condemned the targeting of cultural heritage sites as well as minorities.
Drawing comparisons with recent book burnings by Islamist extremists in Mali, Ms. Bokova said that the act constituted “an attack on the culture, knowledge and memory” and was evidence of “a fanatical project, targeting both human lives and intellectual creation.”
From the Guardian, Pentagon can’t locate weapons dealt to Yemen:
Pentagon loses track of weaponry sent to Yemen in recent years
Chaos in the functionally leaderless country has seen Houthi rebels reportedly take control of Yemeni military’s arms depots and bases
Chaos in Yemen has left the US military unable to monitor the vast arsenal it has spent years providing to its Yemeni counterpart.
Yemen is now functionally leaderless after Houthi rebels took over the capital of Sana’a last month, prompting the resignation of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The rebels are said to control the Yemeni military’s arms depots and bases, giving them effective control of US-provided and other heavy weaponry, including tanks and artillery.
The unrest has “limited our ability to conduct routine end-use monitoring checks and inspections we would normally perform”, a US defense official told the Guardian.
US military officials would not specify which military equipment it could no longer track, but in recent years the US has sold or leased equipment including helicopters, night-vision gear, surveillance equipment, military radios and transport aircraft to Yemen.
Chad enlists in the anti-Boko Haram war, via Deutsche Welle:
Chad’s troops join fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria
Chad has deployed troops to join the fight against the militant Islamist group Boko Haram in Nigeria.This move is part of a regional effort to tackle the conflict with the militants.
Chadian troops clashed with Boko Haram fighters in the northeastern Nigerian town of Gambaru on Tuesday in a bid to liberate it from the Islamists, according to military sources from Chad. “Our troops entered Nigeria this morning. The combat is ongoing”, one of the sources said. Chad is said to have deployed about 2,500 soldiers to its neighbor.
The Nigerian military, that was widely criticized for failing to stifle Boko Haram’s insurgency, claimed that the town of Gambaru had already been liberated on Monday.
The Islamist group Boko Haram launched its military operations in 2009, with the goal of creating a caliphate in Nigeria which would also incorporate parts of Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Since 2009, the Islamists killed more than 13,000 people and abducted hundreds, including at least 200 schoolgirls from the Nigerian town of Chibok.
The African Union (AU) authorized a force of 7,500 troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin to fight Boko Haram. Chad’s 2,500 soldiers will form part of that force.
From the Associated Press, the U.N. calls for piling on:
UN urges stepped up regional operations against Boko Haram
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday urged immediate stepped up regional military coordination and operations to more effectively combat the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria and neighboring countries.
The council reiterated its “deep concern” in a statement that Boko Haram is “undermining the peace and stability of the West and Central African region.”
Council members condemned the escalating attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria and against Chadian army soldiers deployed to fight the terrorist group in Cameroon.
The council singled out the Islamic extremist group’s recent attacks on Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria, in Borno State and in the Lake Chad Basin region including against the Chadian army.
ECOWAS joins in, via AllAfrica:
West Africa: Ecowas Calls for Partnership Against Boko Haram
The Economic Community of West African Heads of State and Government, have expressed serious concern over the humanitarian consequences of Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria and neighbouring countries and called for synergies between national, regional and international actions in the fight against the terrorist group.
As one of the outcomes of their consultation on the sidelines of the African Union 24th Summit in Addis Ababa, the regional leaders welcomed the establishment of the Multinational Joint Task Force as well as the commitment demonstrated by Benin, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad in the fight against Boko Haram.
The Heads of State called for the support of the International community and for the African Union to refer the matter to the United Nations’ Security Council for action.
A new twist in the dead Argentine prosecutor story, from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
Dead prosecutor drafted arrest warrant for Argentine President
Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor whose mysterious death has gripped Argentina, had drafted a warrant for the arrest of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, accusing her of trying to shield Iranian officials from responsibility in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre here, the lead investigator into his death said Tuesday.
The 26-page document, found in the garbage at Nisman’s apartment, also requested the arrest of Héctor Timerman, Argentina’s Foreign Minister. Both Fernandez de Kirchner and Timerman have repeatedly denied Nisman’s accusation that they tried to reach a secret deal with Iran to lift international arrest warrants for Iranian officials wanted in connection with the bombing.
The new revelation that Nisman had drafted arrest warrants for the president and the foreign minister further illustrates the heightened tensions between him and the government before he was found dead Jan. 18 at his apartment with a gunshot wound to his head. He had been scheduled the next day to provide details before Congress about his accusations against Fernandez de Kirchner.
From Want China Times, China mulls a new naval fleet for the Indian ocean:
PLA Navy may establish fourth fleet for Indian Ocean
To extend its reach to the Indian Ocean, China’s PLA Navy may establish a fourth fleet after the North Sea, East Sea and South Sea fleets, according to Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese.
Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, spokesperson for the Chinese defense ministry, said on Jan. 29 that the PLA Navy is ready to increase its activity in the Indian Ocean. In the future, the Chinese military will send different kinds of naval ships to take part in escort missions in accordance with the situation and need, Yang was quoted as saying by the UK-based IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly.
Responding to concerns about the movements of Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean, Yang said these are only “normal activities” of the PLA Navy and that not too much should be read into them. The Chinese military has sent various kinds of naval ships to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast to conduct escort missions since 2008, Yang said, adding that countries concerned had been notified of the PLA escort missions, which have included submarines.
Japan’s prime minister makes a militarized constitutional move, via the Japan Times:
Constitutional change necessary to protect Japanese citizens: Abe
After being unable to save two hostages held by Middle Eastern extremists, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said constitutional change will be needed to protect the lives and assets of Japanese citizens.
Abe has said at times that with the current interpretation of Article 9, which forbids both the use of force to settle international disputes and the maintenance of regular armed forces, it is difficult to protect Japanese citizens in a changing security environment.
“The Liberal Democratic Party has already presented a draft amendment to Article 9, and amending it is to carry out our duty of protecting the lives and assets of Japanese citizens,” Abe told the Upper House Budget Committee on Tuesday.
But an admission is made, from the Asahi Shimbun:
Planned new security laws no help in Japan’s response to hostage crisis
Even with new national security legislation, no military action could have been undertaken to rescue the two Japanese held hostage by the Islamic State in Syria.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged as much Feb. 2 in discussing plans to submit new legislation to the current Diet session with a provision to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces overseas to rescue Japanese nationals in distress.
Abe said that even if the even if the legislation had been in force when two Japanese were taken hostage, it could not have been applied to the situation.
And he sends more military bodies to the hot zone, via Jiji Press:
Japan to Increase Defense Attaches in Middle East
The Japanese government is planning to increase the number of its defense attaches in the Middle East to boost military intelligence, it was learned Tuesday.
The move is part of a government counterterror effort following the killings of two Japanese citizens by the Islamic State militant group.
The government also hopes that the introduction last year of the state secret protection law, which imposes heavier penalties on those who leak designated state secrets, will help Japan exchange classified information with other countries.
And an investigation is launched, from the Mainichi:
Japan investigation team to question local guides over slain journalist
A joint investigation team of the Metropolitan Police Department and Chiba Prefectural Police is set to question several local guides reported to have been in touch with Japanese journalist Kenji Goto when he entered an area of Syria controlled by the Islamic State militant group before he was purportedly killed.
According to sources from the Japanese government, Goto entered Syria via Turkey on Oct. 24 last year and stepped inside the extremist-controlled zone the following day. He is believed to have been taken hostage by Islamic State after Oct. 25.
Local guides are believed to travel back and forth between Syria and Turkey. Officials at the investigation headquarters are considering seeking cooperation from both the Syrian and Turkish governments through diplomatic channels in questioning the guides.
Finally, from NHK WORLD, a countdown commences:
Japan to launch intelligence satellite in March
Japanese space agency officials will launch a new intelligence-gathering satellite next month.
On March 26th, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan carrying an optical satellite. It will replace a satellite whose service life is soon to expire.
Japan maintains a reconnaissance system made up of two optical satellites and two radar satellites.
