Tag: InternationalNews

{With a view to finalising the chargesheet in VVIP helicopter purchase scam, CBI will send a judicial request to Italy seeking statements of the accused who have been facing trial in that country. }

CBI sources said a detailed questionnaire on various aspects of financial transactions, meetings of alleged middlemen and their interests in Indian and Tunisian companies, among others, would be part of the judicial request.

They said the agency wanted to first get the statements through the judicial request – also known as Letters Rogatory – after which it might seek extradition of the suspects, if needed.

The top executives of Italian firm Finmeccanica and its United Kingdom-based subsidiary AgustaWestland are facing trial in Italy for alleged corruption in supply of 12 VVIP helicopters to India.

Contract under probe

The Rs 3600-crore contract is under probe of Italian and Indian agencies for alleged kickbacks paid to Indian officials, including former IAF chief S P Tyagi, to clinch it. Tyagi has denied allegations of any kickbacks.

Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former and current Chief Executives of AgustaWestland respectively, are facing trial in Italy for alleged corruption. Orsi was heading AgustaWestland when the deal was signed in 2010 and is now the Chief Executive Officer of parent company Finmeccanica.

The statements of both these top executives are important for CBI for finalising its charges which would be levelled in the chargesheet, the agency sources said.

India has become a civil party in the ongoing trial in Italy which helped it in getting court documents submitted by Italian prosecutors in connection with the case.

Sequence of events

CBI needs statements and answers to its queries focusing on its probe so far in the case. The agency will have to corroborate allegations levelled in its FIR, besides piecing together the entire sequence of events in its chargesheet.

Indian express

{Germany and the United States plan to sign a no-spy agreement to prohibit the bilateral spying of citizens and governments in the wake of the diplomatic furore prompted by the Edward Snowden revelations, a German newspaper said Sunday.}

Germany and the United States are to strike a two-way deal not to spy on each other in the wake of the diplomatic furore sparked by the Edward Snowden revelations, a German newspaper reported.

A delegation of German chancellery and intelligence officials reached the deal during talks at the White House this week, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported in its Sunday edition.

The accord is set to be concluded early next year, it said, citing sources close to the German government.

Contacted by AFP, a government spokeswoman declined to comment.
Separately, German weekly Der Spiegel also reported that a deal between the two sides was being discussed.

In a report to be published Sunday, the weekly said Germany and the United States have agreed to not carry out industrial espionage on each other.

Der Spiegel also said that Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, had acknowledged the tapping of Merkel’s mobile phone in the past.

During a meeting with Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein, Alexander had been asked if Washington was listening in to Merkel’s calls. In reply, he had said that was no longer the case, Der Spiegel said, citing unnamed participants at the meeting.

Spy claims have been ricocheting across the Atlantic in a row that has frazzled ties between US and European allies.

Top German envoys were in Washington on Wednesday to rebuild a “basis of trust” after alleged US tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone in sweeping surveillance operations that have outraged Europe.

Merkel’s spokesman said the talks were aimed at clarifying the allegations and working out “a new basis of trust and new regulation for our cooperation in this area”.

The chancellor’s foreign policy advisor Christoph Heusgen and intelligence coordinator Guenter Heiss met top US officials including National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and counter-terrorism advisor Lisa Monaco.

According to the FAS report, the head of Germany’s secret service is now to hold a top-level meeting with US intelligence chiefs on Monday in Washington.
The government spokeswoman did not confirm plans for the meeting.

France, Italy and Spain have also protested after media reports, based on leaks from US fugitive Edward Snowden, that Washington collected tens of millions of European telephone calls and online communications as part of anti-terror operations.

But the documents leaked by Snowden also show that spy agencies in Germany, France, Spain and Sweden are carrying out mass surveillance of online and phone traffic in collaboration with Britain, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday.

Britain’s GCHQ electronic eavesdropping centre—which has a close relationship with the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) – has taken a leading role in helping the other countries work around laws intended to limit spying, the British newspaper said.

The report is likely to prove embarrassing for governments including those of Germany and Spain, given their protests over claims of US spying.

The Guardian’s report said the intelligence services of the European countries, in a “loose but growing” alliance, carried out surveillance through directly tapping fibre-optic cables and through secret relationships with communications companies.

(AFP)

{PSG’s Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani scored a double at a rain-soaked Parc des Princes on Friday as the French title holders thrashed Lorient 4-0 to go three points clear of Monaco at the top of France’s Ligue 1.}

Paris Saint Germain were singing in the rain at Parc des Princes on Friday, the French champions making light of the wintery weather to ease past Lorient 4-0 and extend their unbeaten Ligue 1 run to 23 games.

Goals from Lucas, Jeremy Menez and an Edinson Cavani double lifted Laurent Blanc’s men three points clear of Monaco at the top of the table.

The performance was a perfect riposte to Blanc’s eve-of-match warning about the danger of complacency seeping into his swashbuckling team and their laboured 2-2 draw with Saint Etienne last time out.

The former France boss needn’t have worried as this Friday night run out against struggling Lorient left PSG only six games shy of the club record of 37 games without losing.

“This is a very good result. The satisfaction is at all levels, individually and collectively,” said Blanc.

“We scored goals, created lots of chances and kept the ball despite the difficult weather conditions.

“Our philosophy for the game is the same whatever team we put out. There are players who have little playing time but they always demonstrate their qualities.”

Blanc retained his preferred 4-3-3 system with Cavani filling in the role of Swedish star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, missing with an injured knee.

PSG raced into a three minute lead when Brazil midfielder Lucas, unattended by the far post, volleyed the ball past Lorient keeper Fabien Audard in a move begun by Lucas Digne.

Menez doubled their advantage five minutes before the interval, outfoxing Baptiste Reynet, who had come on to replace the injured Audard between the Lorient posts.

The Ligue 1 champions were running riot in the rain and Cavani’s header made it three after stoic work by Lucas to tighten their grip on the game before they headed off to the dressing rooms.

Lorient never looked capable of fighting their way back and the final word fittingly went to PSG when Cavani fired in a rebound after a late corner taken by Menez to cap a good night’s work in the French capital.

That was the Uruguayan’s ninth of the season and he now heads the Ligue 1 scoring charts.

While Lorient were left hovering just three points above the relegation zone for PSG this win will act as an ideal springboard to next week’s Champions League date with Anderlecht.

Monaco, who had sat second on goal difference before Friday’s action in the French capital, can reduce the gap when they face third-placed Lille on Sunday.

France 24

{The suspected gunman in the LA airport shooting which left one person dead and several others injured was charged with murder Saturday. The man, who said in a note he wanted to kill transport security staff, could face the death penalty if convicted.}

U.S. prosecutors filed a murder charge Saturday against the suspected gunman in the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, and he could face the death penalty.

Paul Ciancia, 23, remained hospitalized after being shot four times and wounded in the mouth and leg by police before his arrest. The FBI said he was unresponsive and they had not been able to interview him.

Friday’s attack also wounded five others, including two other federal security officers. Security officer Gerardo Hernandez was killed. Ciancia was also charged with commission of violence at an international airport.

Ciancia said in a note that he wanted to kill at least one Transportation Security Administration officer and didn’t care which one, authorities said.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said Ciancia strode into Terminal 3, pulled an assault rifle out of his bag and fired repeatedly at point-blank range at a TSA officer who was checking IDs.

After shooting the officer and going up an escalator, he turned back to see the officer move and returned to fire on him again, killing him, according to surveillance video reviewed by the FBI.

Ciancia then fired on at least two other TSA employees and a civilian airline passenger, who were all wounded. Airport police eventually shot him and took him into custody.

It’s not clear why Ciancia targeted the TSA, but the handwritten note found in his bag said he’d “made the conscious decision to try to kill” multiple TSA employees and that he wanted to stir fear in them, said FBI Special Agent in Charge David L. Bowdich.

The FBI said they had not found evidence of past crimes or any confrontations with the TSA. They said Ciancia had never applied for a job with TSA.

The TSA planned to review its security policies in the wake of the shooting. Administrator John Pistole did not say if that meant arming officers.

Terminal 3, the area where the shooting happened, reopened Saturday.

Authorities believe someone dropped Ciancia off at the airport, and agents
are reviewing surveillance tapes and other evidence to piece together the sequence of events.

Ciancia, who was shot four times by airport police, remained hospitalized Saturday, but there was no word on his condition. He was wounded in the mouth and the leg, authorities said.

On Friday, Ciancia’s father called police in New Jersey, worried about his son after the young man sent texts to his family that suggested he might be in trouble.

The call came too late. Ten minutes earlier, police said, Ciancia had walked into the airport, pulled the rifle from his bag and began firing.

When searched by police, Ciancia had five 30-round magazines, and the bag contained “hundreds of rounds in 20-round boxes,” the law-enforcement official said.

Hernandez, 39, was the first TSA official in the agency’s 12-year history to be killed in the line of duty.

The attack at the nation’s third-busiest airport halted caused hundreds of flight delays and cancellations nationwide.

Leon Saryan had just passed through security when he gunfire. He fled and as he was cowering in a corner, the shooter approached.

“He looked at me and asked, ‘TSA?’ I shook my head no, and he continued on down toward the gate. He had his gun at the ready and, but for the grace of God, I am here to tell about it,” said Saryan.

A few more details emerged about Ciancia, who was described as reserved and solitary.

Former classmates barely remember him, and even a recent roommate could say little about the young man who moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles less than two years ago.

“He kept to himself and ate lunch alone a lot,” a former classmate, David Hamilton, told the Los Angeles Times. “I really don’t remember any one person who was close to him …. In four years, I never heard a word out of his mouth.”

(AP)

{{An air strike by Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Hamas has said. The Israeli military said the planes were targeting tunnels used by Hamas to carry out attacks on Israel.}}

An Israeli air strike killed three Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the enclave’s Hamas rulers said, the most killed in an incident on the frontier in months.

The Israeli military said in a statement its aircraft targeted a tunnel used by Palestinian militants to carry out attacks on Israelis and accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire reached a year ago, after an eight-day cross-border war.

Another Palestinian militant was killed in a clash with Israeli forces on Thursday, which also saw five Israeli soldiers wounded.

Fighting broke out when an explosive device went off as troops were clearing a different Gaza tunnel, said the Israeli military.

Hamas’ military wing Ezzedine al-Qassam said in October that it had dug the tunnel as part of a plan to kidnap Israeli soldiers and hold them in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

“This mission was imperative due to the potential to utilise the terror tunnel for future attacks against Israeli civilians,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

The Israel-Gaza frontier had been mostly quiet for the past year after the Jewish state and Islamist Hamas ended a brief war last November with an Egyptian-brokered truce.

On Monday, Gaza militants fired two rockets at a southern Israeli coastal city, and Israel bombed what it said were two concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza. There were no casualties in that incident.

(FRANCE 24 with wires)

{{AFP }} – {UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that a proposed Geneva peace conference to end the war in Syria could not be held without the participation of the opposition.}

“If the opposition does not participate there will be no Geneva conference,” Brahimi said at a news conference in Damascus before returning to Beirut as part of a regional tour to try to garner support for the US and Russian backed peace initiative.

“The participation of the opposition is essential, necessary and important,” the veteran Algerian diplomat said, adding the proposed conference was intended “to help the Syrians and resolve their problems”.

Brahimi, who met with President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, said “the Syrian government has agreed to participate in Geneva”.

“The opposition, whether the National Coalition or others, are trying to find a way to be represented,” he said, referring to the main opposition bloc.

The renewed bid for peace talks aimed at resolving the two and a half-year conflict comes after last month’s US-Russian accord on dismantling Syria’s chemical arsenal.

But Syria’s increasingly divided opposition has thus far balked, with the National Coalition saying it will not take part in the so-called Geneva II process if Assad’s resignation is not on the table, a demand rejected by Damascus.

Powerful rebel groups on the ground have meanwhile denied the Coalition represents them, and some Islamist brigades have warned any Syrians taking part in the talks would be viewed as traitors.

The Coalition, which is under pressure from its Western and Arab backers to attend Geneva II, is to meet on November 9 to decide whether to participate.

The civil war, which erupted after a fierce government crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests in March 2011, has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives and forced millions to flee their homes.

G{{reen politician meets US whistleblower in Moscow to discuss possibility of helping parliamentary investigation into US spying}}

Edward Snowden may be invited to Germany as a witness against the US National Security Agency.

Action is under way in the Bundestag to commission a parliamentary investigation into US intelligence service spying and a German politician met Snowden in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the matter.

Hans-Christian Ströbele, the veteran Green party candidate for Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, reported that the US whistleblower was prepared in principle to assist a parliamentary inquiry.

But Ströbele warned of the legal complications that would come with Snowden leaving Russia, where he has been granted asylum after leaking documents on mass NSA surveillance. Witnesses to parliamentary enquiries are usually given the financial support and legal protection required for them to travel to Germany.

During the meeting, Snowden handed Ströbele a letter addressed to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, which will be read out publicly on Friday afternoon.

The latest developments will encourage those who hope Germany may eventually grant political asylum to Snowden. In June, his application for asylum there was rejected by the foreign ministry because, legally, he had to apply for asylum in person and on German soil. If Snowden was brought to Germany as a witness, he could meet these requirements.

Activists are said to be considering other means of getting Snowden to Germany. Under paragraph 22 of the German residence law, Snowden could be granted a residence permit “if the interior ministry declares it to be in Germany’s political interest”. After reports of Merkel’s mobile phone being hacked by the NSA, such conditions could be said to apply.

Some German politicians and newspaper columnists have backed calls for Snowden to be invited as a witness. The justice minister, Sabine Leuheusser-Schnarrenberger, told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper: “If the allegations build up and lead to an investigation, one could think about calling in Snowden as a witness.”

The Guardian

{Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden has found a job working for a website in Russia, where he was granted asylum after fleeing the United States, a Russian lawyer who is helping him said on Thursday}.

“Edward starts work in November,” lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said, according to state-run news agency RIA.

“He will provide support for a large Russian site,” he said, adding that he would not name the site “for security reasons”.

Snowden, 30, a former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed secret U.S. internet telephone surveillance programmes, fled to Hong Kong and then to Russia in June.

President Vladimir Putin has rejected U.S. pleas to send Snowden home to face charges including espionage, and the temporary asylum he was granted in early August can be extended annually.

Snowden’s location in Russia has not been disclosed and since July he has appeared only in a handful of photographs and video clips from a meeting this month with visiting former U.S. national security officials who support his cause.

Putin, a former KGB spy, said repeatedly that Russia would only shelter Snowden if he stopped harming the United States.

But state media have treated him as a whistleblower and the decision to grant him asylum seemed to underscore Putin’s accusations that the U.S. government preaches to the world about rights and freedoms it does not uphold at home.

Putin has dismissed the widespread assumption that Russian intelligence officers had grilled Snowden for information after he arrived, and Kucherena has portrayed him as trying to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

He said earlier that he hoped Snowden would find a job because he was living on scant funds, mostly from donations.

A tabloid news site on Thursday published what it said was a photo of Snowden on a Moscow river cruise this summer, and the same site earlier published a photo of a man who looked like Snowden pushing a shopping cart in a supermarket parking lot.

Kucherena was not immediately available for comment, an aide said.

Reuters