Feds dismiss charges against Swartz, cite suicide

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Federal prosecutors in Boston have dismissed charges against Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz, who was found dead in his New York apartment last week. (from bigstory.ap.org)

This Dec. 8, 2012 photo provided by ThoughtWorks shows Aaron Swartz, in New York. Swartz, a co-founder of Reddit, hanged himself Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, in New York City. In 2011, he was charged with stealing millions of scientific journals from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an attempt to make them freely available. He had pleaded not guilty, and his federal trial was to begin next month. (AP Photo/ThoughtWorks, Pernille Ironside)

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and the lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, filed a three-line notice of dismissal in court Monday.

The notice says the case is being dismissed because of Swartz’s death. Such filings are routine when a defendant dies before trial.

Swartz was indicted in 2011 on 13 counts, including wire fraud and computer fraud. Prosecutors alleged he illegally gained access to millions of academic articles through the academic database JSTOR. His trial was scheduled to begin in April.

Swartz’s family says his suicide was “the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach.”

RAF C17 cargo plane set to help French operation

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An RAF C17 cargo plane is set to leave the UK on Sunday to help French efforts to contain rebels in Mali, Ministry of Defence sources say. (from bbc.co.uk)

The first of two planes will leave RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire later and load up with equipment in Paris before flying to Mali on Monday.

France has attacked militants in Mali to support the Malian government in recent days.

Downing Street said no UK troops would be deployed in a combat role.

The first plane is due to arrive at the French Evreux airbase, where it will be loaded with French armoured vehicles and other equipment before flying to Bamako. It will make just one trip.

A second C17 is due to arrive and will shuttle between Mali and France for the next few days.

The Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, indicated British personnel could play a role in training the Malian army through the European Union.

He said the UK was providing “only very limited strategic tactical support” in the form of the two C17 transport planes, in response to a French request.

“There are no plans to extend the UK’s military involvement at the moment,” Mr Simmonds told the BBC News Channel.

Justifying the government’s decision to help, he told Sky News there was a “thoroughly unpleasant regime” in the north of the country with “raping and sexual violence taking place” and children being forced into the military.

The move to transport foreign troops and equipment was agreed in a phone call between Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande on Saturday night, Downing Street said.

“The prime minister spoke to President Hollande… to discuss the deteriorating situation… and how the UK can support French military assistance provided to the Malian government to contain rebel and extremist groups in the north of the country,” a spokeswoman said.

Northrop Grumman, Cassidian Fly First Sensor-Equipped EURO HAWK Unmanned Aircraft PR Newswire

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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) and EADS Deutschland GmbH, operating through Cassidian, together achieved a major milestone today with the first full system test flight of the EURO HAWK unmanned aircraft system (UAS) equipped with the signals intelligence (SIGINT) advanced sensors for detection of radar and communication emitters. Cassidian is the defence and security division of EADS. (from yahoo.com)

The EURO HAWK took off at 10:36 a.m. Central European time from Manching Air Base and climbed to a ceiling of 54,000 feet within military controlled airspace, far above and at a safe distance from civilian air traffic. After more than eight hours aloft, the aircraft landed safely back at Manching Air Base at 4:38 p.m. Central European time.

“This successful flight demonstrates the EURO HAWK program’s systems integration capabilities and cutting-edge technologies. The Cassidian-developed SIGINT sensor suite, conforming to the German Bundeswehr’s requirements, showed excellent performance within the perfect interplay of the overall system,” said Bernhard Gerwert, chief executive officer of Cassidian. “We therefore are proud to prove with these test flights the new EURO HAWK’s mission capability of strategic SIGINT intelligence for the protection and security of the German armed forces.”

The EURO HAWK system previously completed extensive ground testing at Manching Air Base, receiving final approval from the German Airworthiness Authority to flight test the functionalities of the integrated SIGINT payload.

“Today’s SIGINT sensor flight marks the start of the critical flight test phase of the EURO HAWK payload for the German Bundeswehr,” said Tom Vice, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector. “EURO HAWK represents many significant firsts for Northrop Grumman. Not only is it our first trans-Atlantic cooperation with Germany and Cassidian, but it is also the first international version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk produced by the company and the first high-altitude, long-endurance [HALE] SIGINT UAS in Europe.”

Based on the RQ-4B Global Hawk HALE UAS, the EURO HAWK system includes a ground station consisting of a mission control and launch and recovery elements provided by Northrop Grumman. It is equipped with a new SIGINT mission system developed by Cassidian, providing standoff capability to detect electronic and communications emitters. The SIGINT ground station, which receives and analyzes the data from EURO HAWK as part of an integrated system solution, is also supplied by Cassidian.

“The EURO HAWK success story continues to unfold and will enable Germany to independently conduct round-the-clock surveillance and reconnaissance,” said Neset Tukenmez, chief executive officer for the EuroHawk GmbH. “With this first sensor flight, the EURO HAWK effectively demonstrated its system capability for safe operation within German air space.”

With a wingspan larger than most commercial airliners, endurance of more than 30 hours and a maximum altitude of approximately 60,000 feet, EURO HAWK is an interoperable, modular and cost-effective replacement for the fleet of manned Breguet Atlantic aircraft, which was in service since 1972 and retired in 2010.

Spirit Child

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An investigation into the ritual killing of disabled Ghanaian children deemed to be possessed by evil spirits. (from aljazeera.com)

Every year an unknown number of children – most of them disabled in some way – are murdered in northern Ghana because of the belief that they are in some way possessed by evil spirits set on bringing ill fortune to those around them.

The practice is the consequence of ancient traditions and customs and is shaped by poverty and ignorance in remote and often marginalised communities. But it is still infanticide and no less horrifying than the killing of children anywhere. For years NGOs and the Ghanaian authorities have tried advocacy and education in an attempt to eradicate the practice but with only marginal success. Well into the 21st century, Ghana’s so-called spirit children are still being killed because they carry the blame for the misfortunes of everyday life.

Award-winning Ghanaian investigative reporter Anas Aremeyaw Anas is determined to do something to stop this senseless slaughter. In his shocking and remarkable film for People & Power he sets out to track down and identify some of those responsible and to bring them to justice.

Two French citizens kidnapped in Mali

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Two French geologists were taken hostage at gunpoint early on Thursday after an armed gang stormed their hotel in the Mali desert. The abduction bore similarities to other Al-Qaeda linked kidnappings in the region. (from france24.com)

A gang kidnapped two French nationals at gunpoint from their hotel in the Malian desert early Thursday, local security sources said, the latest abduction of foreigners in the troubled region.

The two geologists were seized from the village of Hombori, which lies in eastern Mali between Mopti and Gao near the border with Niger, in an assault bearing the hallmark of Al-Qaeda linked Islamist militants.

A Hombori municipality source said seven armed men entered the hotel at about 1:00 am (0100 GMT) and made off with their hostages to the north of the country, a hotbed of Al-Qaeda militants.

The latest kidnap brings to six the number of French hostages in the Sahel area, with the group known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb still holding four nationals abducted in Niger in September 2010.

Northern Mali is home to a number of AQIM bases used to launch attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel region on the southern side of the Sahara that includes Mali, Algeria, Niger and Mauritania.

The two geologists, who were working for a cement works in the region, were seized a day after a former French military official involved in efforts to free the hostages in Niger was shot and wounded in the shoulder.

An Italian and two Spaniards kidnapped in Algeria in October are also believed to be held by AQIM, although the group has not claimed responsibilty.

French troops arrive in Mali to stem rebel advance

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François Hollande responds to Malian president’s plea for help, as UN calls for swift deployment of international force (from guardian.co.uk)

French troops have arrived in Mali amid a rapid escalation of international efforts to intervene in the country, where Islamist groups are continuing to clash with the army for control of the desert north.

The French president, François Hollande, announced on Friday night that French armed forces had come to the aid of Mali troops on the ground. He said the operation would last as long as necessary and the French parliament would sit to debate the move on Monday.

The French foreign office has advised ex-pats to leave Mali because of the security situation.

French media quoted Malian officials as saying European military were present on the ground, namely at Sévaré.

Colonel Abdrahmane Baby, a military operations adviser for the foreign affairs ministry, told Associated Press that French troops were in the country but gave no details about how many or what they were doing.

The announcement confirmed reports from residents in central Mali who said they had seen western military personnel arrive and that planes had landed there throughout the night.

Earlier, Hollande said France was “ready to stop the terrorists’ advance if it continues”. In a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps, he said: “I have decided that France will respond, alongside our African partners, to the request from the Malian authorities. We will do it strictly within the framework of the United Nations security council resolution.

The tough-talking announcement by Hollande came after a plea for assistance from Mali’s embattled president, Dioncounda Traoré, who has been under growing pressure in Mali to fight back against Islamist control of the north. The UN called for the swift deployment of an international force to Mali.

On Thursday rebels captured the town of Konna, less than 40 miles from the strategic city and army base of Mopti. The situation in Konna is described as complicated, with army personnel still in the town but rebels now in control.”There are Islamists controlling Konna, but they are integrated into the population, it is very difficult for the army to fight them,” said Boubakar Hamadoun, editor of the Bamako-based newspaper Mali Demain, who has reporters based in the north. “It is a very complicated situation.”

The renewed fighting follows the disintegration of a ceasefire between one of the Islamist groups, Ansar Dine, and the government. It has sparked panic in Mopti and other towns south of the de facto border between government and Islamist control, and prompted concerns in the international community that the Islamist groups – who operate a drug trafficking and kidnap economy in northern Mali and other Sahelian countries – could capture more ground.Hollande’s announcement marked a radical departure from recent agreements that limited the role of French and other international forces to providing Mali’s army with training and logistical support.

France, the former colonial power in Mali and other countries in the Sahel region, has hundreds of troops stationed across west and central Africa. This month it declined to provide a military intervention to another former colony, the Central African Republic, whose government is also under threat from rebel groups.

A UN security council resolution has been passed, paving the way for military intervention in Mali, but the UN’s special envoy for the Sahel, Romano Prodi, said in November there would be no deployment until September.