Rasmussen: NATO Will Not Back Down On Missile Shield

NATO’s secretary-general said Saturday the alliance has no intention of backing down on its plans for a European-missile defense system despite ongoing criticism from Russia.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that in dealings with Moscow “this question of missile defense remains ... the big elephant in the room.” But he said NATO’s decision has been made and he hopes Russia will work together with the alliance on the issue, AP reported.
“We have made clear from the outset that NATO has made the decision to establish a NATO missile defense system because it’s our obligation to ensure effective defense of our populations,” Fogh Rasmussen said. “Having said that, we have invited Russia to cooperate and ... now it’s up to Russia to engage in that.”
The comments came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the gathering of top diplomats and defense officials that NATO’s missile defense program and eastward expansion have caused undue friction reminiscent of the Cold War.
“Officially we have abandoned the mindset of the Cold War - Russia and NATO countries say that they do not see each other as adversaries ... but we should admit that we should still come a long way to match our words with deeds,” Lavrov said.
Moscow says the system may eventually grow powerful enough to threaten Russia’s nuclear deterrent. Fogh Rasmussen flatly rejected the criticism, saying: “I clearly denounce these allegations.”
“There is a clear link between what we say and what we do,” he said.

France Launches Major Air Strikes in Mali

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Hollande, who called the trip the “most important day of my political life”, was greeted by ecstatic crowds in the capital, Bamako.
The French-led forces have met little resistance in their campaign, with officials saying many Islamists have likely fled to the mountainous terrain around Kidal.
After taking Kidal’s airport, French troops were delayed by a sandstorm and a delicate situation on the ground, as officials said seven French hostages were believed to be in the area and the rebels splintered, with the breakaway Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA) extending an olive branch by renouncing “extremism and terrorism”.
Kidal residents told AFP they had seen Chadian soldiers shopping at the main market in the sandy northeastern outpost, and observers said Chad now had some 150 troops in the town.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t want war here,” said a former town hall employee.
The crisis in Mali erupted a year ago when rebels from the desert nomad Tuareg community, which has long felt marginalized by Bamako, launched a new insurgency demanding independence for the north.

Taiwan Puts Into Service Early Warning Radar

Taiwan has put into service a US-made billion-dollar early warning radar system capable of giving more than six minutes’ warning of a Chinese missile attack, a senior military officer said on Sunday.
The radar, located on top of a mountain in northern Hsinchu county, started providing surveillance information after a ceremony presided over by chief of the general staff air force General Yen Ming on Friday.
“The radar is able to provide us with more than six minutes’ warning in preparations for any surprise attacks,” said Lieutenant General Wu Wan-chiao, director of the air force command headquarters’ department of political warfare, AFP reported.
According to the Liberty Times, Yen said while addressing a small group of guests: “With the completion of the project, the military’s airborne surveillance capability against missiles and flying objects that may threaten Taiwan has been largely upgraded.”
The paper said the phased array warning system, which cost Tw$40.9 billion ($1.38 billion), is capable of detecting flying objects up to 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) away.
“The system has enabled Taiwan to have comprehensive surveillance controls when North Korea launched a rocket in December and the mainland tested its anti-missile system lately,” the paper quoted an unnamed military officer as saying, speaking of the radar’s trial runs since late last year.
Taiwan decided to buy the costly radar system from the United States following the 1995-1996 missile crisis, during which China carried out ballistic missile tests in waters off Taiwan.

Protests as Spain PM Denies Corruption

Riot police clashed with protesters in Madrid late Saturday and impromptu demonstrations broke out in several other Spanish cities following the prime minister’s televised denial that he had accepted under-the-table payments.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy promised to publicly disclose the amount of funds in all his personal bank accounts, denying recent media reports that allege he and members of his governing conservative Popular Party accepted or made under-the-table payments, AP reported.
Speaking at a special executive committee meeting on Saturday at his party’s Madrid headquarters, Rajoy said “it is false” that he received or distributed undeclared money.
“Next week, my statements of income and assets will be made available to all citizens,” he said, adding they would be published on the official website of the prime minister.
By late Saturday it was clear Rajoy’s pledge had failed to defuse popular disquiet as riot police cordoned off several of Madrid’s main avenues in a bid to stop protesters from gathering in large groups.
Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce said on Friday there is sufficient cause to investigate allegations of irregular financing within Rajoy’s party. Leading newspaper El Pais has published details of secret papers belonging to former party treasurer Luis Barcenas allegedly documenting undeclared payments.
The money was allegedly paid by businesses, many linked to the once booming construction industry, before the sector imploded in 2008. El Pais said nearly two-thirds of the alleged payments violated Spain’s party financing laws.
“I have never received or handed out ‘black money’ in this party or anywhere else,” Rajoy said.
Following the appearance of the allegations, opposition parties demanded Rajoy break his silence of recent days, with some calling for his resignation and the holding of national elections.
Demonstrations broke out late Saturday in Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante, Valladolid, and Sevilla calling on the party to explain its finances.
A strong police presence has in every case stopped protesters from getting close to Rajoy’s Popular Party headquarters, saying the demonstrations were not legally convened.
The revelations come at a delicate moment for Spain, which is beginning to show signs of convincing investors and European authorities that it is serious about reforming the economy and keeping its finances in check to avoid a full bailout like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus.
The scandal broke when the National Court reported recently that Barcenas had amassed an unexplained €22 million ($30 million) in Swiss bank accounts several years ago.
Barcenas was the party’s long-time treasurer, but resigned in 2009 when his name first appeared in the court’s probe into alleged irregular financing practices by the party. His lawyer has denied the Swiss account money was illegally obtained or linked to the party.
The lists published by El Pais said the documents showed that as of 1997, Rajoy received about €25,000 ($34,000) in “envelopes” each year.
Many of the payments occurred during Spain’s boom years of the late 1990s when the Popular Party was in power and the construction industry made the country one of the most successful economies in the European Union.
The corruption scandal is the latest to rock Spain, with dozens of other cases involving bankers, politicians, town councilors and even the royal family. But this one has shocked people more, given that Rajoy and his party are demanding enormous sacrifices of Spaniards as the country battles a double-dip recession and 26 percent unemployment.

One Mass Shooting Per Month in US Since 2009

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The study also indicates that in very few of the mass shooting incidents there were any evidence that a shooter was prohibited from purchasing firearms due mental-health concerns.
Furthermore, the study reflects that nearly one-third of the shooting incidents happened in so-called “gun-free zones.”
“Nineteen of the 43 incidents (44%) took place in private residences. Of the 23 incidents in public spaces, at least 9 took place where concealed guns could be lawfully carried. All told, no more than 14 of the shootings (33%) took place in public spaces that were so-called “gun-free zones.”
The study comes amid a heated gun-control debate in the United States, in which most American lawmakers urge ban of assault weapons and more background checks as the solution to the growing gun violence problem in the country.
Meanwhile, a former Navy special operations team member who wrote a best-selling book about his experiences as a sniper was fatally shot along with another man Saturday on a Texas gun range, local media reported.
Ex-Navy SEAL and “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle, 38, and a second man were found dead at Rough Creek Lodge’s shooting range in Glen Rose, Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Stephenville Empire-Tribune newspapers, AP reported.
Witnesses told sheriff’s investigators that a gunman opened fire on the men around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, then fled in a pickup truck belonging to one of the victims, according to the Star-Telegram. The newspapers said a 25-year-old man was later taken into custody in Lancaster, southeast of Dallas, and that charges were expected.
Kyle wrote the best-selling book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History,” detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009.

N. Korean Leader Issues Guidelines To Strengthen Military

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued “important” guidelines on how to bolster the army and protect the nation’s sovereignty at a high-level ruling Workers’ Party meeting, state media said on Sunday, an indication that Pyongyang may be ready to conduct an atomic test anytime.
North Korea said last month that it would conduct its third nuclear test to protest international sanctions toughened over its long-range rocket launch in December. The US, South Korea and other countries have urged the North to scrap its nuclear test plans or face grave consequences, AP reported.
North Korea says US hostility and the threat of American troops in South Korea are important reasons behind its nuclear drive. The country also says it has the sovereign right to launch rockets to send satellites into orbit under a space development program; the US says the December launch was a disguised test of banned missile technology.
Pyongyang’s two previous nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, both occurred after it was slapped with increased sanctions for similar long-range rocket launches.
Recent satellite photos showed North Korea may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be exploded.
Kim convened a meeting of the Workers’ Party’s Central Military Commission and made a “historic” and “important concluding speech” that serves as a guideline for strengthening the military and defending national security and sovereignty, the official Korean Central News Agency said. It did not say when the meeting took place.
Top party and military leaders who attended the meeting “evinced their firm determination to unconditionally and thoroughly implement the militant tasks set forth by him,” KCNA said.
Analyst Hong Hyun-ik at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said he believes Kim’s guidelines refer to a nuclear test and suggest that North Korea appears to have completed formal procedural steps and be preparing to conduct a nuclear test soon.
By publicizing the Workers’ Party meeting, North Korea also aims to “employ pressure on the West and unite its people” behind Kim, Hong said. Kim took power after the December 2011 death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

Five Afghan Civilians Killed by Roadside Bomb

Taliban roadside bombs killed five civilians, including a family of four, and two police officers in the country’s troubled south at the weekend, officials said Sunday.
The family--mother, father and two daughters aged eight and nine--died along with their driver in Helmand province’s Khanishin district when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb late Saturday, AFP reported.
“The blast was so powerful that nothing was left of the bodies, they are shattered in small pieces,” district governor Shah Mahmoud said, blaming Taliban insurgents for the attack.
Two police officers were killed on the same day in a similar bomb attack in Musa Qala district, another restive part of Helmand where insurgents have an active presence, the local district governor Nemat Khan said.
The officers were on a routine patrol when their pick-up truck was blown up.
Roadside bombs are favorite weapons of Taliban Islamists fighting to oust the Western-backed government and the indiscriminately placed explosives regularly kill civilians.

More UK kids in Poverty

The British government’s squeeze on benefits is to force a further 100,000 children from working families into poverty, ministers have admitted for the first time.