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TOP NEWS: Nat’l Security / Foreign Affairs: June 1, 2012
- Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran
- Clinton: Russian Inaction May Lead to Syrian Civil War
- Status Quo Between 2 Sudans Is Not War, Not Peace
- Somalia donor money ‘goes missing’
- Egypt state of emergency lifted after 31 years
Excerpts below
Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran – David E. Sanger, NY Times
From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.
Clinton Says Russian Inaction May Lead to Syrian Civil War – Steven Lee Myers and J. David Goodman, NY Times
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled the Obama administration’s mounting frustration with Russia over the unending violence in Syria on Thursday, saying that Russia’s refusal to take decisive action against President Bashar al-Assad threatened to precipitate the very civil war that Russian diplomats have said they wanted to avoid.
Status Quo Between 2 Sudans Is Not Quite War, Not Quite Peace – Jeffrey Gettleman, NY Times
For the first time in months, after killing scores if not hundreds of each other’s men, Sudan and South Sudan are back at the negotiating table, wrangled into peace talks by an increasingly worried international coalition, including the United States and China, that was terrified that the two countries were on the brink of a cataclysmic war.
Somalia donor money ‘goes missing’ – BBC
Large sums of money donated to Somalia’s UN-backed interim government have not been accounted for, a World Bank report says. The report, seen by the BBC, is being circulated at talks in Turkey on how to end Somalia’s decades of anarchy. It alleges a discrepancy of about $130m (£85m) in the accounts over two years.
Egypt state of emergency lifted after 31 years - BBC
Egypt’s state of emergency, that gave security forces sweeping powers to detain suspects and try them in special courts, has ended after 31 years. It has been in place without interruption since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Lifting the law was a key demand of activists in last year’s uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
===More News===
Intisar Sharif Abdalla, Sudanese Woman, Sentenced To Stoning In Sudan - Alexander Dziadosz, The Huffington Post
Sudanese woman, believed to be around 20, has been sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery, and is being held near Khartoum, shackled in prison with her baby son, rights groups and lawyers said on Thursday. Campaigners condemned the ruling, saying it violated international standards and raised concerns that Sudan might start applying sharia, or Islamic law, more strictly following the secession of mostly non-Muslim South Sudan last year.
Venezuela bans private gun ownership – BBC
Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition. Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer. The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October.
U.S. Trade Position Protecting High Drug Prices Blasted By U.N. Agencies - Zach Carter, The Huffington Post
Two major United Nations organizations warned world leaders on Thursday to avoid restrictive free trade agreements that may threaten public health, amplifying international pressure against President Barack Obama’s controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. The Obama
Iranian support for Assad regime ‘needs to stop,’ Pentagon says- Carlo Munoz, The Huffington Post
Iran’s continued efforts to prop up Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime is generating concern inside the Pentagon and raising tensions among U.S. allies in the region. “We have reason to believe Iran continues to assist [the] Assad regime,” Defense Department spokesman Capt. John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, during a briefing at the Pentagon. “That needs to stop.”
Euro Zone Unemployment Rises to a Record 11% – David Jolly, NY Times
European stocks and the euro fell sharply on Friday after disappointing employment data from both sides of the Atlantic. The jobless rate in the 17-nation euro zone reached 11 percent in March and April, the highest since the start of the data in 1995, Eurostat, the European statistical agency, said in Luxembourg.
