Tag: InternationalNews

{{Australian officials on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny whether Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints of a new spy agency headquarters as a news report claims.}}

A tiny party essential to the ruling coalition’s government demanded an inquiry into how much damage may have been done.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. television reported on Monday night that the plans for the 630 million Australian dollar ($608 million) Australian Security Intelligence Organization building had been stolen through a cyberattack on a building contractor. Blueprints that included details such as communications cabling, server locations and security systems had been traced to a Chinese server, the network reported.

Des Ball, an Australian National University cybersecurity expert, said China could use the blueprints to bug the building, which is nearing completion in Canberra, the capital, after lengthy construction delays.

Ball told the ABC that given the breach, ASIO would either have to operate with “utmost sensitivity” within its own building or simply “rip the whole insides out and … start again.”

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, the minister in charge of the spy agency, on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny the report, citing a longstanding government policy of declining to comment on security matters.

He later said the lakeside glass and concrete structure did not need to be redesigned, and that ASIO will move in this year.

{Agencies}

{{Republican Senator John McCain, a former presidential candidate and an outspoken advocate for U.S. military aid to the Syrian opposition, met with some of the rebels during a surprise visit to the war-torn country on Monday, his spokesman said.}}

Spokesman Brian Rogers confirmed McCain’s meeting with the rebels, but declined to give any details about the visit, which may fuel pressure on Washington to intervene in a conflict that is believed to have claimed 80,000 lives.

The visit came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pledged to do their utmost to bring Syria’s warring parties together, and new allegations surfaced about chemical weapons use in the civil war.

General Salem Idris, who leads the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, told the Daily Beast in an interview that McCain’s visit came at a critical time for the rebels, who have stepped up their calls for U.S. support, including heavy weapons, creation of a no-fly zone and air strikes.

“The visit of Senator McCain to Syria is very important and very useful especially at this time,” the publication quoted Idris as saying. “We need American help to have change on the ground; we are now in a very critical situation.”

McCain is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Syria since Robert Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, crossed the border into northern Syria to meet with Syrian opposition leaders earlier this month.

{agencies}

{{Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his personal relationship with President Vladimir Putin is an indication that he will not be dismissed.}}

Medvedev, speaking in an interview aired on NTV television late Sunday, sought to lay to rest speculation that his time might be short in a Cabinet facing criticism from lawmakers and analysts impatient with its efforts to boost economic growth.

He said that he feels grateful to Putin for inviting him in 1999 to move to Moscow from St. Petersburg, where he was teaching law at a university, noting that he would never have come to Moscow if it weren’t for Putin.

Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 after being anointed by Putin for the position, described his relationship with Putin as “good and companionable.”

“If it were otherwise, we would have a different government now,” Medvedev told Vadim Tekmenyov, host of the “Central Television” program.

He acknowledged, however, that ministers are not assured of holding onto his post forever.

“I am a more seasoned soldier than many of my colleagues. I tell them, ‘Guys, you hold still and work because sooner or later you all are going to be dismissed. That is life,’” he said.

Appearing laid back and friendly, Medvedev avoided going into detail about his own future, saying only that every politician should be ready to leave politics for good one day. “Many decent people have not been able to survive,” Medvedev said.

While Medvedev is seen as having little chance of becoming president again, with many Russians viewing him as a politically weak figure, he remains a powerful player within the ruling elite, according to a recent study by Minchenko Consulting, an influential think tank.

Medvedev, who has said that he doesn’t regret deciding not to run for a second term as president in favor of Putin, also avoided making any political statements Sunday.

Asked whether he was watching the politically tinged embezzlement trial of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Medvedev said that he was following the case but not “actively.”

The NTV interview, which also showed highlights Medvedev’s daily routine, mirrored a similar interview that the television channel broadcast with Putin last year.

{The Moscow Times }

{{European stocks, bonds and the dollar traded in a calmer fashion on Monday after last week’s turbulence, though another three percent dive in Japan’s Nikkei kept investors on edge.}}

Last week’s shakeout of equity, bond and currency markets was triggered by concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve could wind in its support sooner that had been expected, weak China data and doubts over how low Japan will allow the yen to go.

With UK and U.S. markets both closed for public holidays, European equity and bond markets saw a quieter than usual start to the week.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares started up 0.3 percent as last week’s falls tempted buyers, while demand for safe-haven 10-year German government bond futures eased.

The dollar was also steadier, though it dipped to 101.00 against the yen as the latest steep fall in Japanese equities saw investors continue to unwind their dollar hedges and head for bonds. The euro was little changed at $1.2940.

“Markets are currently experiencing difficulty fully and precisely understanding both the pace of global growth and the implications of central banks’ activism,” Credit Agricole said in a note.

“Expectations cannot remain stable for long and so investors should be prepared for periods of higher volatility in particular asset classes,” they added.

In commodity markets, Brent crude slipped towards $102 per barrel, extending last week’s 2 percent drop, as a weak economic outlook in a well-supplied market pressured prices.

The broader market nerves also helped gold firm as it looked to build on last week’s best run in a month.

{{Agencies}}

{{Serbia held a funeral on Sunday for Yugoslavia’s last king, Peter II Karadjordjevic, who had fled the country at the start of World War II and died in the U.S. in 1970.}}

The former king’s remains, and those of his wife, mother and brother, were interred in the family tomb at St. George church in Oplenac, central Serbia, in a ceremony aired live on the state television.

The funeral was attended by top state officials, who described it as an act of reconciliation and unity.

After fleeing Yugoslavia during its Nazi occupation, the former king never returned because Communists took over the country at the end of the war and abolished the monarchy.

He died in exile at the age of 47 and was buried at a Serbian Orthodox Church monastery in Libertyville, Illinois — the only European monarch laid to rest on U.S. soil.

“We can no longer afford any divisions and injustice,” President Tomislav Nikolic said in a speech at Sunday’s ceremony.

Peter was born into a royal family, and his godfather was Britain’s King George VI, but his life was often tragic and chaotic.

He was only 11 years old when his father, King Alexander I, was assassinated in 1934 in Marseilles, France.

For the next six years the boy’s powers were in the hands of a three-man regency headed by his uncle, Prince Paul.

In March 1941, Prince Paul was overthrown in a military coup after signing a pact with Germany.

Peter, then 17, was made the king by the Serb anti-fascists. But when Germany invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, Peter was forced to flee, first to Greece, then to Egypt, then to Britain, where he headed the government-in-exile.

He later lived in France and ended up in the U.S.

History books portray him as a figurehead leader and a victim of cunning politicians.

AP

{{Officials reacted with outrage Sunday to an audacious attack by about 200 suspected Maoist rebels who set off a roadside bomb and opened fire on a convoy carrying Indian ruling Congress party leaders and members in an eastern state, killing at least 24 people and wounding 37 others.}}

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accompanied by party President Sonia Gandhi, visited the injured in a hospital in the Chhattisgarh state capital and said the government would take firm action against the perpetrators.

“We are devastated,” said Gandhi, who denounced what she called a “dastardly attack” on the country’s democratic values.

Rajnath Singh, president of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, said the country should unite in its fight against the Maoist insurgency.

The convoy was attacked Saturday in a densely forested area about 345 kilometers (215 miles) south of Raipur, Chhattisgarh’s capital, as the Congress members were returning from a party rally.

Four state party leaders and eight police officers were among those killed. Other victims were party supporters.

Police initially reported that 28 people were killed, but they later changed the death toll to 24. It was not clear why it had been revised.

Police officer R.K. Vij said 11 of the 37 injured were in serious condition.

{agencies}

{{Japan and India will work toward an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation during a visit this week by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as Tokyo tries to boost exports of atomic technology and other infrastructure to help revive the economy.}}

Singh told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday that he was hoping for progress on nuclear cooperation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eager to promote exports of Japanese nuclear technology as part of Japan’s push to expand exports, especially in emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Earlier this month, Japan and India signed a set of agreements on economic cooperation and investment, including multibillion-dollar plans for industrial corridors between New Delhi and Mumbai, and between Chennai and Bangalore.

Singh arrives in Tokyo on Monday and departs Thursday.

ABC

{{A French soldier patrolling a business neighborhood west of Paris was stabbed in the neck and injured on Saturday by a man who fled the scene and is being sought by police, President Francois Hollande said.}}

The 23-year-old was patrolling in uniform with two other soldiers as part of France’s Vigipirate anti-terror surveillance plan when he was approached from behind around 6 p.m. and attacked with a knife or a box-cutter.

A police union spokesman said surveillance footage of the attacker showed him as tall and bearded, aged about 35, possibly of North African origin and wearing a white Arab-style tunic.

Hollande, in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa, commented on the stabbing to say police were hunting for the attacker but did not provide any details about his identity or any possible motivation for the attack.

“We still don’t know the exact circumstances of the attack or the identity of the attacker, but we are exploring all options,” Hollande told journalists.

Three days after a British soldier was killed in a London street by two men who said they acted to avenge violence against Muslims, the attack near Paris raised questions about a possible copycat attempt to kill a French soldier.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls noted the similarity in an interview on France 2 TV saying the attacker was clearly trying to murder his victim, but he added that it was too early to offer any theories.

“Let’s be prudent for now,” Valls said of the attacker’s identity and motivations. “Everything is being done to arrest this individual.”

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told journalists near the site of the attack: “The soldier was attacked because he is a soldier.”

{agencies}

{{An Iranian semi-official news agency reports the country has fielded a “massive” number of new long-range missile launchers.}}

The Sunday report by Fars quotes Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as saying the new weapons enable Iranian forces to “crush the enemy” with the mass simultaneous fire of long-range surface-to-surface missiles.

The report did not specify the type of missile that would be fired, nor more details on the number of launchers deployed.

Some of Iran’s surface-to-surface missiles are estimated to have ranges of over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), capable of hitting its arch-foe Israel and the U.S. bases in the region.

Vahidi did not specify who was the “enemy” and said Iran would never start a war.
From time to time Iran announces military achievements that cannot be independently verified.