From the Guardian, of course they did:
HSBC files: Swiss bank hid money for suspected criminals
Documents detail customers who faced allegations including drug-running, corruption, doping and money laundering
HSBC’s Swiss bank concealed large sums of money for people facing allegations of serious wrongdoing, including drug-running, corruption and money laundering, leaked files reveal.
Despite being legally obliged since 1998 to make special checks on high-risk customers, the bank provided accounts for clients implicated in six notorious scandals in Africa, including Kenya’s biggest corruption case, blood diamond trading and several corrupt military sales.
HSBC also held assets for bankers accused of looting funds from former Soviet states, while alleged crimes by other account holders include bribery at Malta’s state oil company, cocaine smuggling from the Dominican Republic and the doping of professional cyclists in Spain.
The Swiss bank also held accounts for “politically exposed people” – defined as senior political figures or their relatives at heightened risk of involvement in corruption, money laundering, or avoiding international sanctions – with little evidence of any extra scrutiny of their activities.
From the Independent, plutocratic hypocrisy:
HSBC leaks: Owners of Le Monde attack paper’s ‘Swissleaks’ coverage in tax row
The newspaper behind the “Swissleaks” revelations about tax evasion has been attacked as irresponsible and “populist” by its proprietor.
To the fury of the staff and editors of Le Monde, Pierre Bergé, 84, a millionaire businessman and long-time lover of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, accused the paper of “acting like informers” and “throwing people to the wolves”.
The incident is the latest in a series of acrimonious disputes between Mr Bergé and Le Monde since he became part-owner of France’s most respected newspaper in 2010. The chairman of Le Monde’s board, Alain Beuve-Méry, accused him of violating his written commitment to the paper’s editorial freedom.
From United Press International, getting ready for another war:
Air Force: A-10s headed to Europe
The U.S. Air Force has announced it is sending 12 A-10 Thunderbolts, also known as Warthogs, to Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The A-10s will be sent to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and forward deployed to partner nations in Eastern Europe.
“The Air Force is increasing rotational presence in Europe to reassure our allies and partner nations that our commitment to European security is a priority,” Lt. Gen. Tom Jones, vice commander, United States Air Forces in Europe, said in a statement.
From the Miami Herald, enduring torture:
9/11 defendant still suffering from ‘black site’ injuries, lawyer says at Guantánamo
A defense lawyer for an alleged 9/11 plotter said Thursday that his Saudi captive client was rectally abused in CIA custody — and continues to bleed now, at least eight years later.
Attorney Walter Ruiz made the disclosure in open court in a bid to get a military judge to intervene in the medical care of Mustafa Hawsawi, 46, accused of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers with travel and money.
He was captured in March 2003 with the alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, 49, and at the CIA’s secret prison was subjected to unauthorized “enhanced interrogation techniques,” according to the recently released so-called Senate Torture Report. He got to Guantánamo in September 2006.
The Toronto Globe and Mail covers cops behaving badly:
RCMP rebuked for firearms seizures during 2013 Alberta floods
The RCMP is being rebuked for a series of “failings” as part of the unauthorized seizure of 609 firearms during its response to the massive High River floods in Alberta in 2013.
In a report released Thursday, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP said that officers who conducted the “warrantless” seizures were undersupervised. The subsequent anger in the population was badly handled by the RCMP communications teams, the report also found, as citizens complained that “their homes were forcibly entered, and in some cases windows were broken, doors were kicked in and firearms were taken.”
“The community’s reaction was somewhat predictable, given that the sanctity of one’s home from state interference is a deeply rooted principle,” the report said.
From the American Civil Liberties Union, they’ve got your number — and your picture:
License Plate Scanners Also Taking Photos of Drivers and Passengers
The Drug Enforcement Administration is using its license plate reader program not only to track drivers’ locations, but also to photograph these drivers and their passengers, according to newly disclosed records obtained by the ACLU via a Freedom of Information Act request.
One internal 2009 DEA communication stated clearly that the license plate program can provide “the requester” with images that “may include vehicle license plate numbers (front and/or rear), photos of visible vehicle occupants [redacted] and a front and rear overall view of the vehicle.” Clearly showing that occupant photos are not an occasional, accidental byproduct of the technology, but one that is intentionally being cultivated, a 2011 email states that the DEA’s system has the ability to store “up to 10 photos per vehicle transaction including 4 occupant photos.”
The DEA documents are just the latest indication that license plate scanners are not always focused just on license plates.
Wired threat level covers suspicious circumstances:
Did the NSA and the UK’s Spy Agency Launch a Joint Cyberattack on Iran?
An NSA document newly published today suggests two interesting facts that haven’t previously been reported.
The Intercept, which published the document, highlighted that in it the NSA expresses fear that it may be teaching Iran how to hack, but there are two other points in the document that merit attention.
One concerns the spy tool known as Flame; the other refers to concerns the NSA had about partnering with the British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters and Israeli intelligence in surveillance operations.
In the document, prepared in April 2013 for a meeting between the NSA director and GCHQ, the author cites the Flame attack against Iran as an example of a US/GCHQ partnership. Flame was a massive spy platform exposed by Kaspersky Lab and Symantec in 2012. Flame targeted more than 10,000 machines in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, the Israeli Occupied Territories and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa and was active for at least six years before it was discovered. It used some of the same code that Stuxnet used, leading researchers to conclude that it had been created by the same US/Israel teams that had created Stuxnet. The Washington Post reported in 2012 that the US and Israel were both behind Flame, quoting anonymous US officials. But the new Snowden document hints that GCHQ might have been involved in Flame with the US.
And on the subject of irrational Middle Eastern extremists, consider this from the Washington Post:
Israel Prize judges resign, say Netanyahu meddling
Israel’s prime minister faced accusations on Thursday of politicizing the country’s most prestigious award after moving to disqualify some of the judges because he disagreed with their political views.
A number of judges for the Israel Prize have resigned in protest, while nominees say they won’t accept the award. One of the nominees, author David Grossman, told Channel 10 TV on Thursday that he pulled out in response to the “prime minister’s campaign of incitement,” calling it an attack on “freedom of thought.”
Netanyahu recently rejected the nominations of two judges in the literature category. In a Facebook post, he said the panel is controlled by judges with “extremist views” on the far left of the political spectrum, such as encouraging soldiers not to serve in the army. He said the committee needs to reflect the wider public.
“This man who is supposed to be taking care of the Iranian issue at his speech before the U.S Congress, or the country’s welfare or health issues, is dealing with this? For heaven’s sake what is going on here?” asked filmmaker Hayim Sharir, who was originally supposed to be on the committee.
On to the war with Defense One, and a blank check:
Obama’s ISIS War Powers Request Has Few Limits on Who, Where, How
President Obama’s requested authorization for the use of force against ISIS has few limits on how, where, and whom the fight is against
President Barack Obama, who won the White House on promises to end never-ending wars and the Bush-era laws that permitted them, on Wednesday sent Congress a new request for legal authorities to fight the Islamic State, or ISIS, that places few limits on the U.S. war against the terrorist group.
“The resolution we’ve submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war, like Afghanistan or Iraq,” Obama said in his announcement at the White House. “I’m convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East … At the same time, this resolution strikes the necessary balance by giving us the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances.”
Already, lawmakers are criticizing the request for being too “ambiguous” about the president’s powers to wage or limit ground combat.
CBC News covers a celebrity interview:
Hayat Boumeddiene, widow of Paris kosher market attacker, gives interview with ISIS
Woman believed to have left Paris while Charlie Hebdo and kosher market attacks were unfolding
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group published what it described as an interview with the widow of the French gunman who attacked a kosher supermarket and a police officer in Paris last month, claiming for the first time that she was among extremist fighters.
The text interviews in French and English, published Wednesday and Thursday, did not directly name Hayat Boumeddiene or show images of her, instead identifying her only as the wife of Amedy Coulibaly, or Umm Basur al-Muhajirah. She is considered key to the investigation into the attacks in Paris, which left 20 people dead including the gunmen, although she left France just beforehand.
The publication appeared to be the first confirmation from ISIS that she had joined the group in Syria, as was widely believed after a posthumous video emerged of Coulibaly, pledging allegiance to its leader.
Another development from Reuters:
Islamic State says it’s holding ‘Israeli spy’ in Syria
Islamic State said on Thursday it was holding an Israeli Arab who had posed as a foreign fighter in order to spy for Mossad, an account denied by Israel and by the man’s family, who said he had been kidnapped.
In an interview published by Islamic State’s online English-language magazine Dabiq, Muhammad Musallam, 19, said he had joined the insurgent group in Syria so as to report to the Israelis on its weapons caches, bases and Palestinian recruits.
After his conduct aroused the suspicion of Islamic State commanders, Musallam was quoted as saying, he broke cover by phoning his father in East Jerusalem, leading to his capture.
From Deutsche Welle, trying to cut off the pipeline:
Security Council seeks to block ‘Islamic State’ petrofunding
The UN Security Council has passed a resolution to stop “Islamic State” from raising funds through oil, antiquities and hostages. The EU is debating antiterrorism steps that could prove palatable to the 28-nation bloc.
More than 35 countries co-sponsored Thursday’s show of resolve to confront the “ Islamic State” (IS). The council banned all trade in antiquities from besieged areas, threatened sanctions on anyone buying oil from IS and al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front militants and urged states to stop ransom payments on kidnapped citizens. Fifteen nations unanimously adopted the resolution, drafted by Russia, which gives the council authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions but does not authorize using military force.
“We took yet another very important step in suppressing the funding of terrorists,” Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Thursday.
Following attacks that started January 7 at a magazine in Paris and ended January 9 in a supermarket, France and other EU countries have sought more effective ways to deal with armed militancy, especially the problem of Europeans who leave to fight in Syria or Iraq and then return home. As heads of state and government gathered in Brussels on Thursday, EU President Donald Tusk, the host of an official summit, said he would seek the leaders’ agreement on a “work plan to step up the fight against terrorism.”
From TheLocal.no, eclectic fundamentalists:
New Norwegians take top roles in Isis jihadi group
Several Norwegian citizens have risen to leadership positions in Isis, the militant group battling to establish a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, according to the latest information gathered by Norwegian military intelligence.
“We believe that some of the Norwegians in Isil [Isis] have risen to middle-management functions,” Lieutenant General Kjell Grandhagen, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, told Dagbladet newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.
The most prominent Norwegian Isis commander, Bastian Vasquez, a Norwegian Chilean from Bærum, outside Oslo, was reportedly killed in the autumn. But Grandhagen said several others had also been given senior ranks in the organisation.
After the jump, Israel alarmed by an anti-ISIS coalition, a lethal Al Qaeda data breach, Anthem’s healthcare data grows more serious, phishing kits go on sale — cheap, Washington protests new Chinese cybersecurity rules, Jeb Bush spills vital data of his former constituents, West Africa under cyber siege, the Cameroonian president promises Boko Haram defeat, Boko Haram escapees speak out, Al Qaeda seizes a Yemeni army base as the nation borders on collapse, thousand flee from Boko Haram Niger assaults, Afghanistan slides into narco-statehood, Pakistan seeks school massacre planners, a former Pakistani spy says the ISI knew of Osama’s whereabouts, Chinese World War II slave laborers demand retribution from Mitsubishi, Shinzo Abe pushes hard for Japanese constitutional revision, his party promises but his foreign minister ppromises continued passivity, Japan hits a road block on North Korean abductions, and a reminder of dark forces that just won’t die. . .
From Homeland Security News Wire, a Israeli alarm:
Alarm in Israel: Hezbollah, Assad army fight to take areas near Israel border from rebels
In a move viewed with growing alarm in Israel, Syrian and Hezbollah forces, under the command of senior Iranian officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, have launched a sweeping campaign to take over areas on the Syrian side of the Israel-Syria border on the Golan Heights.
These areas have been under the control of moderate anti-Assad rebels since the spring of 2014. Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, last October acknowledged that Israel has reached a tacit understanding with moderate anti-regime rebels: the rebels would keep the Islamist ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra away from the border area in exchange for Israeli humanitarian aid, which has included blankets and baby food to villagers under moderate rebels’ control, and the treatment of hundreds, if not thousands, of injured Syrians – both civilians and anti-regime fighters – in Israeli hospitals.
Iran, eager to increase the military pressure on Israel, has decided to gain control of areas to the east of Israel’s northern Galilee, now under the control of moderate Syrian rebels. Hezbollah’s control of south and south-east Lebanon already allows Iran a presence on immediately to the west and north Israel’s northern Galilee region.
The New York Times covers a lethal Al Qaeda data breach:
Data From Seized Computer Fuels a Surge in U.S. Raids on Al Qaeda
As an October chill fell on the mountain passes that separate the militant havens in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a small team of Afghan intelligence commandos and American Special Operations forces descended on a village where they believed a leader of Al Qaeda was hiding.
That night the Afghans and Americans got their man, Abu Bara al-Kuwaiti. They also came away with what officials from both countries say was an even bigger prize: a laptop computer and files detailing Qaeda operations on both sides of the border.
American military officials said the intelligence seized in the raid was possibly as significant as the information found in the computer and documents of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after members of the Navy SEALs killed him in 2011.
In the months since, the trove of intelligence has helped fuel a significant increase in night raids by American Special Operations forces and Afghan intelligence commandos, Afghan and American officials said.
From the Los Angeles Times, Anthem’s healthcare data grows more serious:
Anthem says hackers had access to customer data back to 2004
Insurance giant Anthem Inc. said Thursday that hackers had access to customer data going back to 2004 as investigations continue into the massive breach.
The nation’s second-largest health insurer disclosed the new time frame as it prepares to offer two years of free identity-theft protection to millions of affected consumers starting Friday.
Anthem announced last week that hackers infiltrated one of its giant databases containing Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and other personal information of up to 80 million Americans across the country.
Phishing kits go on sale — cheap, via SecurityWeek:
Phishing Kits Hook Victims in Attacks
Fishing successfully in a lake requires patience. Phishing successfully in cyberspace however takes only a few dollars of investment
According to Symantec, scammers can buy phishing kits for between $2 and $10. These kits do not always require technical skill to use – with just basic knowledge of PHP, attackers can customize their phishing pages to meet their needs, blogged Symantec’s Roberto Sponchioni.
“Some of the kits that we observed were quite basic and only included two web pages,” he blogged. “However, others appeared to be more professional and convincing, with more than 25 PHP source files and 14 different language files that can be loaded based on the user’s location. Scammers can use some of the more professional kits to not only steal user names and passwords, but also personal data such as names, surnames, dates of birth, credit card numbers, CVV numbers, Social Security numbers, and much more. These phishing kits can be used to mimic the appearance of popular websites belonging to companies involved in cloud storage, banking, email, and more.”
The scammers sometimes attempt to compromise legitimate content management systems (CMS) or blogs in order to install the kit on servers, Sponchioni explained. Attackers often build automated scripts to exploit vulnerabilities in order to compromise as many servers as possible, he noted.
From Reuters, Washington protests new Chinese cybersecurity rules:
U.S. has raised concerns with China about new cyber rules-official
The Obama administration sees planned new cybersecurity rules in China as a “major barrier” to trade and has raised concerns with Beijing at the highest level, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman said the new regulations, which would force technology vendors to Chinese banks to hand over secret source code and adopt Chinese encryption algorithms, ran counter to Beijing’s moves to open its markets and economy.
“Our view is that it’s a major barrier to trade,” he said an event on trade in services.
“There’s been engagement at the highest levels of the U.S. government and cabinet with Chinese counterparts asking for those (regulations) to be put on hold.”
From the Associated Press, Jeb Bush spills vital data of his former constituents:
Jeb Bush posts emails containing Social Security numbers
By posting online all of his personal email from his eight years as Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush sought to show himself as a tech-savvy executive, in touch with constituents and an active administrator.
But tucked away in a small percentage of those hundreds of thousands of messages were the names, birthdates and Social Security numbers — the three pieces of information key to identity theft — of more than 12,000 people, according to an independent firm.
Bush’s attempt to demonstrate transparency comes as he prepares for a likely presidential run in 2016. His political action committee, Right to Rise, wasn’t involved in the email-posting effort, a Bush spokeswoman said.
From Network World, West Africa under cyber siege:
Cyberattacks in West Africa spark debate over online security
A wave of cyberattacks aimed at government-related websites in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal over the last two months has triggered a debate over how to bolster online security and deal with politically motivated hacking.
A popular Senegalese news site, Seneweb and the website of the government’s ICT management agency, L’Agence De l’Informatique de l’Etat (ADIE), were the first to be hacked in the latest round of attacks, in December and January, respectively (though the Seneweb hack was not disclosed until January).
The attacks were reportedly launched in response to Senegalese President Macky Sall’s participation in a rally in support of the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people were killed on Jan. 7 by two heavily armed men at the Paris office of satirical news weekly Charlie Hebdo. The attack was reportedly prompted by satirical material involving Muslim themes and historical figures.
On to the Boko Haram front, via StarAfrica:
Cameroonian leader promises victory over Boko Haram insurgency
The Cameroonian head of state Paul Biya has in a speech to the nation delivered on Tuesday, promised the victory of the joint multilateral force (FMM) in the fight against the Nigeria-based Islamist sect Boko Haram which has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in the far-northern part of the country.
In an address read on the eve of the 49th National Youth Festival (FNJ) celebrated on 11 February, President Biya has hailed the “young soldiers who are ensuring our security along our borders”.
“The anti-Boko Haram fight in which they are engaged and risking their lives for the nation. With the support of each and every one of us, there is no doubt we shall win the fight,” the veteran leader went on.
And from Independent Online, escapees tell their stories:
Boko Haram escapees speak
When Islamic extremists snatched more than 270 girls from the Chibok boarding school in Nigeria in the dead of night, protests broke out worldwide.
The US pledged to help find them, and the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag was born. Some 10 months later, most are still missing.
The Boko Haram extremist group sees the mass kidnapping as a shining symbol of success, and has abducted hundreds of other girls, boys and women. The militants brag to their new captives about the surrender of the Chibok girls, their conversion to Islam and their marriage to fighters.
“They told me the Chibok girls have a new life where they learn to fight,” says Abigail John, 15, who was held by Boko Haram for more than four weeks before escaping. “They said we should be like them and accept Islam.”
From BBC News, Al Qaeda seizes a Yemeni army base:
Yemen army base seized by Al-Qaeda linked fighters
Al-Qaeda linked fighters have seized an army base in southern Yemen, militants and officials say. The Ansar al-Sharia group said they set off a bomb at the base in the central town Bayhan before capturing soldiers.
The attack comes amid fears that the country is plunging into chaos after Shia rebels took over the capital.
Shia Houthis have been expanding south from their northern stronghold, prompting clashes with al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP) and other Sunni groups.
From Channel NewsAsia Singapore, collapse nears:
UN says Yemen collapsing, on brink of civil war
The United Nations warned on Thursday (Feb 12) that Yemen is “collapsing before our eyes”, on the brink of civil war and prime for Al Qaeda militants to grow stronger in the country as talks on a political settlement continue.
Al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim militants have stepped up attacks since rival Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters from the north seized the capital in September and started expanding across the country.
The Houthis have sidelined the central government in Yemen, which borders oil giant Saudi Arabia. The country is also home to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the global network’s most active arms that has carried out attacks abroad.
And from Reuters, taking flight:
Thousands flee Niger town after Boko Haram attacks
Thousands of civilians fled their homes in the southeastern Niger town of Diffa this week, officials said on Thursday, following waves of cross-border raids and suicide bombings by Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.
Attacks in Niger are deepening a humanitarian crisis in the remote border zone. The area, struggling to feed some 150,000 people who have run to escape violence in northern Nigeria, has seen around 7,000 arrive this week in Zinder, Niger’s second biggest town some 450 km (280 miles) west of Diffa.
Niger’s military said its forces had killed 260 Boko Haram militants and had arrested others in fighting since Feb. 6. A suspected local leader of the group was arrested and several weapons including rocket launchers seized from his home.
Afghanistan slides into narco-statehood, via the Diplomat:
The Narco-State of Afghanistan
Deconstructing the nexus between drug trafficking and national security
The threat of a drug industry in Afghanistan is palpable and disheartening. Over a 12-year period (2002 to 2014), the country has reportedly cultivated 1,868,000 hectares of land and produced a total of 69,200 metric tons of opium poppy. In 2013 and 2014, the cultivation and production of opium poppy in Afghanistan reached record levels despite millions of dollars spent by the international community on eradication, alternative livelihoods, and law enforcement programs.
In Afghanistan, many sub-national government officials, particularly law enforcement agents, in key strategic border provinces and border crossing points, are inextricably associated with drug trafficking networks and transnational criminals. Given Afghanistan’s precarious situation, the central government in Kabul does not have the ability to oversee and monitor these rogue elements either in provincial capitals or at border crossing points. Many of these government officials have been able to establish their own networks of protection and patronage at the epicenter of the Afghan government, making them immune from any types of incursions intended to eradicate corruption or bad governance in certain provinces. Consequently, they continue to be involved in drug trafficking. Some of these former or incumbent sub-national government officials are warlords, maintaining their own militia and armed groups in several provinces throughout Afghanistan. Over the past 13 years, the government has systematically failed to disarm their armed groups or to dismantle their drug trafficking networks; indeed, the government, for the most part, has facilitated their growth and strength. While Taliban and other anti-government elements provide protection to the farmers to cultivate poppies in those areas that they control, in many border provinces government officials and their networks have facilitated the trafficking of narcotic drugs from Afghanistan. Many claim that the involvement of senior government officials in the drugs is more serious than the Taliban’s own connection with drug cultivation and production.
Many respondents confirmed that most of the officials who are deeply involved in illicit drugs in key border provinces are attached to the Afghanistan Border Police, Afghanistan Customs Department, and provincial police headquarters. A number of other respondents also confirmed that many officials in the local court system were also involved in narcotic drug trafficking. The indirect interaction among the rogue government elements and their networks at the sub-national level, drug traffickers, warlords, and the Taliban insurgents inside Afghanistan has sustained a cycle of violence, extremism and corruption.
On to Pakistan and killers sought, via BBC News:
Pakistan still hunting Peshawar school massacre plotters
The Pakistani army is still searching for six militants it says helped carry out December’s massacre at a school in Peshawar, in which 150 people died.
Major General Asim Bajwa said 27 were involved the attack, nine of whom had been killed and 12 captured. The dead are believed to include all of the gunmen who stormed the school.
He said Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah had masterminded the attack.
He is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
From intelNews, a former Pakistani spy says the ISI knew of Osama’s whereabouts:
Ex-spy chief says Pakistan probably knew bin Laden’s whereabouts
A former director of Pakistan’s all-powerful national intelligence agency has said that senior officials in Pakistan were probably aware that Osama bin Laden was living in the country prior to his assassination. Lieutenant General Asad Durrani led the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1990 to 1992. He was later appointed Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany, from 1994 to 1997, and then to Saudi Arabia until 2002.
Durrani was asked during an appearance on Al-Jazeera’s flagship interview program Head to Head, on Tuesday, whether he believed that the al-Qaeda founder could have been living in Pakistan for several years without the ISI knowing about it. The former spy chief said he had no specific information on the issue. He added, however, that although “it is quite possible that [the ISI] did not know”, his personal assessment was that “it was more probable that they did”.
The former ISI strongman was then asked why the ISI would have chosen to shelter bin Laden instead of delivering him to the Americans. He responded that “the idea was that at the right time his location would be revealed” to Washington. He added that “the right time” would have depended on when Islamabad could have received “the necessary quid pro quo”.
Chinese World War II slave laborers demand retribution from Mitsubishi, via the Asahi Shimbun:
Wartime Chinese laborers call off settlement talks with Mitsubishi company
Chinese plaintiffs seeking compensation for their wartime forced labor decided to reject a proposed settlement by one of two Japanese companies named in the suit, their lawyers said.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp. offered compensation and an apology but the 40 former forced laborers and their relatives spurned the terms, the lawyers said Feb. 11.
The suit was filed last February against Mitsubishi Materials and Nippon Coke and Engineering Co., formerly known as Mitsui Mining Co. The plaintiffs said that they or their relatives were taken to Japan during World War II and forced to work in coal mines and other sites.
They sought 1 million yuan (19.3 million yen, or $160,000) in individual compensation to former laborers and a formal public apology.
Shinzo Abe pushes hard for Japanese constitutional revision, via the New York Times:
Japanese Premier Makes Impassioned Appeal to Change Constitution
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his most emotional appeal yet on Thursday for rewriting Japan’s pacifist Constitution, asking for what he called the country’s “biggest reform since the end of the war.”
In the equivalent of a State of the Union speech to Parliament, the first since his governing party swept national elections in December, Mr. Abe made an impassioned plea for change. At times almost seeming to shout at the chamber, the prime minister said the time had come for Japan to try the same kind of sweeping transformation that it accomplished after its defeat in World War II.
“People of Japan, be confident!” said Mr. Abe, a conservative who has often called for the country to play a more active role in global affairs. “Isn’t it time to hold deep debate about revising the Constitution? For the future of Japan, shouldn’t we accomplish in this Parliament the biggest reform since the end of the war?”
But his foreign minister promises continued passivity, via Jiji Press:
Kishida Says Japan Will Remain a Peaceful Nation
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that Japan is determined to remain a peace-loving nation as it marks the 70th anniversary this year of the end of World War II.
“There will be no change in the path Japan follows as a peaceful nation,” Kishida said in a foreign policy speech at a plenary meeting of the House of Representatives.
Condemning the apparent killing of two Japanese nationals by the Islamic State militant group, Kishida said, “Japan will never give in to terrorism and will make every effort to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals at home and abroad.”
Japan hits a road block on North Korean abductions, via Kyodo News:
N. Korea fails to present abductees’ info in secret talks in late Jan.
Japan and North Korea held unofficial talks in late January in Shanghai, but Pyongyang did not present new information about the fate of Japanese citizens it abducted decades ago, a Japanese government source said Thursday.
But Tokyo sees the two sides “appear to have come to build a relation of mutual trust” because Pyongyang sent a senior official of the Ministry of State Security, North Korea’s secret police organ directly linked to leader Kim Jong Un, to the talks, the source said.
Kang Song Nam, a director at the North’s ministry, may have been the official who met with Junichi Ihara, director general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, in Shanghai, according to a diplomatic source.
And to close, a reminder of dark forces that just won’t die, via TheLocal.no:
Norway under threat from neo-Nazi groups
Norwegian extremists are building stronger ties with Scandinavian neo-Nazi groups, and their activity is increasing, the head of the Norway’s domestic intelligence agency Benedicte Bjørnland has warned.
“There are reasons to believe we are going to see an increase in activity in the extreme right during 2015,” Bjørnland told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. “The specific reasons are the connections across national borders. They are connected to other extreme right-wing groups in Northern Europe.”
Over the last year, the neo-Nazi group Nordfront, which is established in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, has run a recruitment drive in at least six counties in Norway, she reported.
