Pakistan Arrests Terrorist Group Leader

Pakistani police on Friday detained the head of a banned extremist group that claimed responsibility for deadly sectarian bomb attacks in the southern city of Quetta.
Malik Ishaq, the leader Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), was held after two recent bombings in the city targeting the Shiite Hazara minority killed more than 180 people, sparking nationwide protests.
Shiites, who make up around 20 percent of the mostly Sunni Muslim population of 180 million, are facing record numbers of attacks, raising serious questions about security as nuclear-armed Pakistan prepares to hold elections by mid-May.
Ishaq was detained at his home in the central city of Rahim Yar Khan, where he was living openly, before being taken to a local jail, police said.
He was being held under the “Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law on the orders of the Punjab provincial government,” a senior police official in Rahim Yar Khan, Tanveer Ahmad, told AFP.
A court released Ishaq on bail in July 2011, even though he has been implicated in dozens of murders. He was detained briefly in 2012 for inciting sectarian hatred.
He has been accused of masterminding the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which wounded seven players and an assistant coach and killed eight Pakistanis. The latest bomb attack in Quetta was on Saturday last week, in which 89 people were killed. On January 10, 92 people were killed in an attack at a Hazara snooker hall.

Italians to Vote in Parliamentary Elections

Italians hit by austerity and recession on Saturday prepared to take to the polls for an election that could reverberate throughout the eurozone, a day after a mass rally in Rome showed rising discontent.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for Beppe Grillo, a comedian turned activist whose grassroots Five Star Movement could receive a massive protest vote and become Italy’s third biggest political party after the elections on Sunday and Monday, AFP reported.
Grillo has promised to slash politicians’ salaries, increase unemployment benefits and hold a referendum on whether Italy should retain the euro.
No campaigning is allowed by candidates on Saturday.
“I am worried for my country,” centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, the favorite in the polls, told supporters at his final rally on Friday.
Renowned film director Nanni Moretti also appeared at the event and said it was time to “liberate” Italy from the scandal-tainted Silvio Berlusconi.
Outgoing premier Mario Monti promised to overhaul the labor market to create more jobs in a speech in Florence and three-time prime minister Berlusconi said he was confident he would win.
Bersani, a cigar-chomping former communist who now espouses broadly pro-market views, has said he will continue with the budget discipline enforced by Monti to the delight of financial markets.
But he will come under pressure to ease back on austerity and do more to promote growth and jobs as Italy endures its longest recession in 20 years and unemployment is at a record high of 11.2 percent.

Washington State Nuclear Waste Tanks Leaking

Six underground storage tanks at a nuclear site in the US state of Washington are leaking, authorities said.
Governor Jay Inslee described the situation at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation as “disturbing news”.
But he stressed that there was no current risk to human health.
Nearly 200 ageing containers hold millions of liters of radioactive waste left from decades of plutonium production for nuclear weapons. “There is no immediate or near-term health risk associated with these newly discovered leaks, which are more than five miles (8km) from the Columbia River,” Inslee said in a statement.
“But nonetheless this is disturbing news for all Washingtonians,” he added.
Last week, a leak was reported in one of the storage tanks. Officials said it was leaking at a rate of up 300 gallons (1,136 liters) per year.
They said that tests had not detected higher radiation levels near the tanks.
Established as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943, Hanford was home to the world’s first full-scale plutonium production facility.
It was part of America’s bid to build the world’s first nuclear weapon during World War II. The site produced the plutonium for the bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Production at Hanford continued until 1989.
Under a costly clean-up proposal, the waste will eventually be treated in a special plant. It will then be safely disposed of underground in stainless steel canisters.

US Sends Troops to Niger for Drone Missions

The Pentagon has deployed about 100 troops to the West African nation of Niger to conduct unmanned reconnaissance flights over Mali and share intelligence with French forces fighting Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants, President Barack Obama told Congress on Friday.
Obama, in a letter to congressional leaders, said the last 40 of the approximately 100 military personnel had arrived in Niger on Wednesday and were “deployed with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security.”
“This deployment will provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region,” the president said.
The United States and Niger signed a Status of Forces Agreement last month that governs the presence of American troops in the country, paving the way for sending unarmed drones and military personnel.
A Pentagon official said US Africa Command, which handles military ties with Africa, had sent the unmanned planes to Niger “to support a range of regional security missions and engagements with partner nations.”
“This effort is designed to promote regional stability in support of US diplomacy and national security and to strengthen relationships with regional leaders committed to security and prosperity,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
France intervened in Mali, which borders Niger, last month as extremist forces, who seized control of the north in the confusion following a military coup in March 2012, pushed towards the capital Bamako.
That lifted Mali to the forefront of US and European security concerns, with fears the Islamists would turn the country into a base for international attacks.
The United States already has drones and surveillance aircraft stationed at several points around Africa. Its only permanent military base is in the small country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, more than 3,000 miles (4,828 km) from Mali.
Niger gave permission for US surveillance drones to be stationed on its territory to improve intelligence on Al-Qaeda-linked extremist fighters in northern Mali and the wider Sahara, a senior Niger government source said in January.

US-Japan Leaders Discuss Trade, China, N. Korea

Japan’s new prime minister declared on Friday he would make his country a stronger US ally and joined President Barack Obama in warning North Korea that its recent nuclear provocations would not be tolerated.
After meeting Obama in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also sent a clear message to China: that while Japan does not want confrontation with Beijing, it won’t tolerate challenges to its sovereignty over islands disputed by the two Asian powers. Those regional tensions served as the backdrop for Friday’s meetings, which came just two months after Abe began his second stint as Japan’s prime minister following a convincing election victory.
Obama said he and Abe were united in their “determination to take strong actions” in response to North Korea’s nuclear test this month, which followed a successful long-range rocket launch last month. That has propelled the isolated, authoritarian state closer to having a weapon of mass destruction that could threaten the US.
Abe said he and Obama have agreed to push for tougher sanctions by the UN Security Council and spelled out why Pyongyang’s actions are cause for worry.
“They (North Korea) have increased the range of their missile immensely and have attained the ability to reach even the mainland United States,” Abe said at a Washington think tank after his White House visit. He said Pyongyang was also claiming it has made a smaller nuclear bomb that could be delivered by missile.
Speaking through a translator, the Japanese leader said this was why the United States was pressuring China to exert more influence over its North Korean ally. Abe said it was important for the entire international community to do the same.
Most experts believe North Korea is still some years away from being able to hit America, although its shorter-range missiles could already threaten its neighbors.
Abe, a nationalist and advocate of Japanese relations with the United States, is the latest in a revolving door of Japanese prime ministers--the fifth since Obama took office.
That’s made it difficult to establish a personal rapport between Japanese and US leaders, notwithstanding the enduring nature of the bilateral relationship. Japan hosts about 50,000 American forces and is a cornerstone of Washington’s Asia policy.
His first stint as prime minister was cut short in 2007 by ill health, but Abe’s now riding high in the polls. He outlined Friday his policy to revive his nation after years of malaise by building a strong economy and strong national defense.
Japan’s relationship with Washington has assumed more importance for Tokyo in recent months as it has locked horns with China over the control of unoccupied islands in the resource-rich seas between them.
The dispute flared after Tokyo nationalized some of the islands in September. China also claims the tiny islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
It has stepped up patrols into what Japan considers its territorial waters, heightening concern that a conflict could be sparked.
The tensions highlight the rivalry between China, the world’s second-largest economy, and Japan, which is the third.

FBI Report Details Spread Of Employee Misconduct

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Some of the penalties for misconduct were moderate--an employee who paid for sexual favor at a massage parlor was suspended for 14 days. Other penalties were severe--an employee who knowingly dated and married a drug user, who is also possibly a drug dealer, was dismissed from the agency.
Fittingly for the agency, surveillance tactics were also used by and against the employees.
One employee secretly put a recording device in their supervisor’s office and conducted an “unauthorized search” of the office. This while pursuing a lawsuit against said supervisor.
One employee used a lost or stolen debit card to take out money and another was caught shoplifting. They were caught by surveillance video.
According to reports, some employees treat their job with the same casual attitude of any seasoned worker.
One employee stored evidence, jewelry and more than $100,000 in a locked FBI filing cabinet for an extended period of time. Another left an FBI shotgun, computer and camera in an agency vehicle, which was then broken into.
Yet another drove an agency motorcycle off-hours and then “caused substantial damage to the motorcycle”. Someone else walked the streets, drunk, while carrying an agency weapon.
“It is important to note that the ratio of disciplinary issues among FBI agents are among the lowest in the federal government and private sector,” FBI Agent Association president Konrad Motyka told CNN.

13 Chadian Soldiers, 65 Rebels Killed in Mali War

From Page 1
Earlier this month Chad deployed 1,800 soldiers in the northern city of Kidal to secure what had been the rebels’ last urban stronghold, putting itself in the frontline in the fight against the Islamists.
A car bomb attack Thursday there near a military camp for French and Chadian troops had wounded two civilians.
North of Kidal lie the Ifoghas highlands -- to where many of the Islamist forces have withdrawn -- and the town of Tessalit.
Two vehicles targeting civilians and members of the ethnic Tuareg rebel group, the MNLA, exploded near the town Friday, killing three and wounding several others, a security source said.
A spokesman for the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in Burkina Faso confirmed the report.
A US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, meanwhile confirmed that drones were now flying out of Niamey, Niger, from a base with a 100-strong contingent of air force personnel.
President Barack Obama had announced earlier Friday that US troops had been sent there to provide intelligence for the French forces and “other partners” in the region.
France sent in troops on January 11 to help the Malian army oust Islamist militants who last year captured the desert north of the country. Since then, thousands of soldiers from African countries have also deployed and France plans to start withdrawing its troops next month.
The French-led forces met little resistance during the initial offensive that drove the Islamists from the main northern centres of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.
Now however, they are facing a guerrilla campaign that includes sudden raids, suicide attacks and land mines.

King’s Son-in-Law in Court

The Spanish king’s son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin appeared before a judge on the island of Mallorca to respond to charges of tax fraud in a six-million-euro embezzlement case.