Pakistan talks with Nato, Afghan forces

This is the first meeting between the three forces after the deadly US airstrikes on a Salala checkpost that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Nov 26 last year.—File Photo

RAWALPINDI: Representatives of the Pakistan Army held a meeting with the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan National Army at a border coordination centre in Torkham on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.
The Pakistan Army was represented by Director General Military Operations Major General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed.
According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the meeting was held in an effort to improve coordination between the three forces.
“The meeting is part of a tripartite engagement to discuss and improve various coordination measures on Pak-Afghan border,” said the statement.
This is the first meeting between the three forces after the deadly US airstrikes on a Salala checkpost that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Nov 26 last year.

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7,000 kg whale shark docks in Karachi Fish Harbour

In what is believed to be one of the biggest catch in the high seas, Pakistani fishermen have caught a giant whale shark - about 36 foot long and weighing over 7,000 kg.
The fishermen bought the giant fish to the Karachi Fish Harbour and claimed to have found it dead in the open sea. Though some experts believed that the shark might have been killed after it got entangled in a net, The Dawn daily reported.


Pic/AFP
The whale shark was taken out of the channel with the help of two cranes amid rapturous applause by hundreds of onlookers.
"I have bought the fish, which usually has no significant commercial value, with the help of my friends just to appreciate the efforts of the fishermen who deserve some reward after spending an entire day in the open sea," Haji Qasim, who said he bought the fish for Rs 2 lakh, was quoted as saying by the daily.
The authorities, he said, had allowed him to keep the fish at the harbour for at least three days for public viewing. "Then I will sell the meat to the people running poultry meal business," he said.
The shark was spotted floating unconscious in the sea ten days ago, around 90 miles away from shore, another daily reported.
The Daily Mail of London reported that the largest confirmed whale shark was 41ft long but it is thought they can grow to considerably greater lengths. The shark is found in tropical waters and lives for around 70 years. They feed mainly on plankton, microscopic plants and sometimes small fish.
The whale shark, a gentle giant of the seas, does not pose a significant danger to humans - and in the past some have even allowed swimmers to hitch a ride on their fins, it reported.

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Deeper Iran sanctions; US targets its central bank

 

FILE- In this April, 9, 2007, file photo Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks at a ceremony in Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, 300 kms 186 (miles) south of capital Tehran, Iran. For the first time in nearly two decades of escalating tensions over the Iranian nuclear program, it appears that world leaders are genuinely concerned that an Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic could be imminent, an action that many fear might trigger war, terrorism and global economic havoc. Photo: Hasan Sarbakhshian / AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Targeting Iran's economy, the U.S. ordered tough new penalties Monday to further pinch the country's financial system and encourage Israel to give sanctions more time before any military action against Iran's nuclear program.
The new, stricter sanctions, authorized in legislation that President Barack Obama signed in December, will be enforced under an order he signed only now. They give U.S. banks new powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government and close loopholes that officials say Iran has used to move money despite earlier restrictions imposed by the U.S. and Europe.
The action against the Central Bank of Iran is more significant for its timing than its immediate effect. It comes as the United States and its allies are arguing that tough sanctions can still persuade Iran to back off what the West contends is a drive to build a nuclear bomb.
The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and pay for the nuclear program. But many experts believe Iran will be able to find other buyers outside Europe.
The European Union announced last month it would ban the import of Iranian crude oil starting in July. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil, but last month it placed sanctions on Iran's banks to make it harder for the nation to sell crude. The U.S., however, has delayed implementing those sanctions for at least six months because it is worried about sending oil prices higher at a time when the world economy is struggling. Iran exports about 3 percent of the world's oil
The faster and more painfully sanctions can be seen to work, the better the case to shelve any plan by Israel to bomb Iran, a pre-emptory move that could ignite a new Mideast war. Taking this initial step against the Central Bank, the first time the U.S. has directly gone after that major institution, is one way the Obama administration can show momentum now.
Israel, meanwhile, has been increasingly open about its worry that Iran could be on the brink of a bomb by this summer and that this spring offers the last window to destroy bomb-related facilities. Many Israeli officials believe that sanctions only give time for Iran to move its nuclear program underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes.
White House spokesman Jay Carney denied that Monday's unexpected announcement of new banking sanctions was a sign of heightened worry about an Israeli attack.
"There has been a steady increase in our sanctions activity and this is part of that escalation," he said.
Carney said U.S. sanctions on Iran are already squeezing Iran's economy and have exacerbated tensions within the Iranian leadership.
"There is no question that the impact of the isolation on Iran and the economic sanctions on Iran have caused added turmoil within Iran," he said.
Iran is the world's third-largest exporter of crude oil, giving its leaders financial resources and leverage to withstand outside pressure. Last year, Iran generated $100 billion in revenue from oil, up from $20 billion a decade ago, according to IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm.
If Iranian oil is prevented from getting to market, other suppliers could make up the difference. The U.S. has been pressuring other Middle East and African nations to step up production for sale to Europe. Saudi Arabia has said it could increase production to make up for any lost Iranian crude.
Iran's disputed nuclear program became a global concern more than five years ago, when the extent of the country's research and uranium enrichment began to be known. Since then a web of international economic and other sanctions have failed to stop Iran's progress toward a point when it could build one or more nuclear devices.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is indeed close to that ability but has not yet decided to go ahead. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and denounces sanctions as aggression.
The new U.S. penalties were unexpected now. The sanctions were included as an amendment in the wide-ranging defense bill the president signed in late December, though when and how they were to be levied on Iran was unclear.
The White House had previously said it would take months to evaluate the likely effect on the fragile global economy before taking the next large steps, including new penalties on the Central Bank.
Now, U.S. institutions are required to seize Iranian state assets they come across, rather than rejecting the transaction involved.
The value of Iranian assets affected by the new order was not clear. Iran does almost no direct business with the United States after three decades of enmity, but its money moves through the world financial system and its oil is sold in dollars.
In a letter to Congress, Obama said more sanctions were warranted, "particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks."
He cited the hiding of transactions of people or institutions and other loopholes.
In an interview Sunday with NBC, Obama said the U.S. has "a very good estimate" of when Iran could complete a nuclear weapon, and he spoke favorably of the effect of sanctions and diplomacy to resolve the impasse.
Obama addressed the concern about Israel but suggested there is still time.
"I don't think Israel has made a decision on what they need to do," Obama said.
He did not answer a question about whether Israel has promised to notify the United States before any pre-emptory strike.
Republican presidential candidates have accused Obama of being too timid in his dealings with Iran, and while U.S. officials reject that characterization they acknowledge they are stepping cautiously because of fear of upsetting the global economy.

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Anonymous gain access to FBI and Scotland Yard hacking call

The hackers published a video of the call on YouTube

Hacking network Anonymous has released a recording of a conference call between the FBI and UK police in which they discuss efforts against hackers.

The call, said to have taken place last month, covers the tracking of Anonymous and similar groups, dates of planned arrests and details of evidence held.
Anonymous also published an email, apparently from the FBI, showing the email addresses of call participants.
The FBI and Scotland Yard confirmed the leak and said they were investigating.
It also emerged on Friday that hackers linked to Anonymous had accessed the websites of several US law enforcement agencies and that of the Greek justice ministry.
 
'Email intercept'

The FBI said in a statement: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

London's Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.
It was unclear how Anonymous had managed to obtain the recording but a lawyer for one of the suspects discussed told the BBC it appeared to have been taken as an audiofile from an intercepted email, rather than having been eavesdropped on.
A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the recording, which was published on YouTube, will be highly embarrassing for the cyber crime detectives.
At one point an FBI agent thanks the Metropolitan police for their help with investigations, to which the British detective replies: "We're here to help. We've cocked things up in the past, we know that."

Analysis

Leo Kelion Technology reporter

While it now appears that the FBI-Scotland Yard conference call was obtained through an intercepted email recording, recent research does suggest it is possible for hackers to intercept communications systems once thought secure.
Earlier this week, two researchers from Germany's Ruhr University Bochum announced they had reverse engineered two of the secret ciphers used to encode calls made by satellite phones. The pair said the devices - used in military campaigns and natural disaster areas - used algorithms that were "considerably weaker" than what was available elsewhere.
Another noted security researcher, Karsten Nohl, told a conference he had generated a code book which allowed calls made on mobiles using the GSM standard to be decrypted.
One solution is to make VoIP (voice over internet protocol) calls using the latest encryption techniques. But such conversations only remain safe if any recordings are similarly encrypted and the decryption codes safely guarded.

The FBI said in a statement: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

London's Metropolitan Police's central e-crime unit said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.
It was unclear how Anonymous had managed to obtain the recording but a lawyer for one of the suspects discussed told the BBC it appeared to have been taken as an audiofile from an intercepted email, rather than having been eavesdropped on.
A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the recording, which was published on YouTube, will be highly embarrassing for the cyber crime detectives.
At one point an FBI agent thanks the Metropolitan police for their help with investigations, to which the British detective replies: "We're here to help. We've cocked things up in the past, we know that."
'Attention seeker'
According to the alleged leaked email, the 17-minute phone call took place on 17 January.
The email was sent to law enforcement officials in the US, UK, Sweden, Ireland and other countries, inviting them to "discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous, Lulzsec, Antisec, and other associated splinter groups".
The recording features the voices of about five men, apparently speaking from London, Los Angeles and Washington.

What is Anonymous?

Anonymous describes itself as an "internet gathering". The term is used to describe a collective of people who come together online, commonly to stage a protest.
The groups vary in size and make-up depending on the cause. Members often identify themselves in web videos by wearing the Guy Fawkes masks popularised by the book and film V for Vendetta.
Its protests often take the form of disrupting websites and services.
Its use of the term Anonymous comes from a series of websites frequented by members, such as the anarchic image board 4Chan.
These allow users to post without having to register or provide a name. As a result, their comments are tagged "Anonymous".
In the past, groups have staged high-profile protests against plans by the Australian government to filter the internet and the Church of Scientology.
Many Anonymous protests tackle issues of free speech and preserving the openness of the net.

They begin with light-hearted conversation but move on to discussing the names of some of the people being tracked and their plans for legal action.

The online pseudonyms of suspects are included in the recording, but some of the real names appear to have been bleeped out.
Among those discussed are several British men accused of being behind cyber attacks in the US and UK, including Jake Davis and Ryan Cleary who were arrested last year.
The British detectives discuss delaying some arrests while US investigations are being carried out.
The police also refer to a 15-year-old who claims to have been behind an attack on online gaming site Steam last year, where the identities and credit card details of tens of thousands of users were accessed.
"He's a 15-year-old who's basically just doing this all for attention," says the British detective.
Anonymous is a loose collective of hackers, anarchists and pranksters which has targeted the websites of a range of governments, companies, law enforcement agencies and individuals in recent years.
Also on Friday, Anonymous claimed credit for an attack on a police website in the US city of Boston. A message posted on the site said it had been hacked several months ago in response to "police brutality" towards the Occcupy Wall Street movement.
This followed another attack on a police website in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, where officials say personal information on informants, crimes and residents were accessed.
Hackers operating under the Anonymous name also took over the website of Greece's justice ministry on Friday, prompting officials to take the site down.
The hackers said the action was a protest against Greece's signing of a global copyright treaty and the government's handling of the economic crisis.
The website was replaced with a video of a figure wearing the symbolic white mask of Anonymous supporters, saying: "Democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it."

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PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s more than 30 fan pages were hacked today in a single go, costing the political party millions of fans go wasted.
No one has taken the responsibility for this massive hack down of PTI’s facebook fan pages.
Citing President of the Insaf Students Federation in Karachi, Arsalan Ghumman, The Express Tribune reported that the official Facebook pages of PTI leader Imran Khan, the student wing Insaf Students Federation, and several, more including that of Dr. Alvi were hacked into and hidden from the public’s eye.
“The pages were hijacked at 3 pm on Friday. We are in touch with the Facebook authorities to recover them,” he said.
On other hands Facebook is notorious for taking such cases non-seriously.
Reportedly, hacker first cracked the gmail id of Mr. Imran Ghazali, the web manager of PTI social media team before cracking into facebook pages of political party.
It is unclear so far if pages were deleted or are kept private (hidden from public) by the hacker.
If not recovered, this is going to be a big blow PTI’s short term plans. This incident yet again reminds us that we are living in a country without cyber law..
 

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Breaking News : Bomb blast herd near Raided Osama bin laden House in Abbotabad- Routers

Alleged Osam Bin House in Abbotabad

Abbottabad- Routers, A big Sound of blast at Usama's house heard.Police and Security officials has covered the area and investigating.It is noted that Usama bin Ladin's house at Abbottabad was in media after US forces killed him on 2 MAY.
Local media in Pakistan is reporting by quoting a foreign news agency that Bomb blast sound was heard near Raided Osama Bin Laden house in Abbotabad.

Our sources said that this blast was did by CIA to remove all evidence from Bin laden's house.

The reports are still not confirmed by local news agencies.

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