Monday, May 30, 2011

DTN News - GERMANY DEFENSE NEWS: Germany Wants Nuclear Exit By 2022 At Latest

Asian Defense News: DTN News - GERMANY DEFENSE NEWS: Germany Wants Nuclear Exit By 2022 At Latest
(NSI News Source Info) BERLIN, Germany - May 30, 2011: Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition declared on Monday it would shut all nuclear reactors by 2022, in a policy u-turn drawn up in a rush after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The coalition, sensitive to accusations it may increase dependence on highly polluting brown coal, said it planned to cut power use by 10 percent by 2020. But Merkel may be hard pressed to present the plan as anything but a political defeat at the hands of Social Democrat and resurgent Green rivals.

The proposal may be even more ambitious than the nuclear exit planned when the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens were in power in 2000. It takes eight of 17 nuclear plants offline now and six by 2021.

But it could still face opposition from utilities.

Only nine months ago Merkel announced an extension of the lifespan of unpopular nuclear plants by an average 12 years. In March, after Japan's earthquake and tsunami, she reversed that and put Germany's entire energy strategy under urgent review.

"Our energy system has to be fundamentally changed and can be fundamentally changed. We want the electricity of the future to be safer and, at the same time, reliable and economical," Merkel told reporters on Monday.

To accompany the nuclear exit, Germany plans to cut electricity usage by 10 percent by 2020 and double the share of renewable energy sources to 35 percent over the same period, according to a government paper seen by Reuters.

Merkel did not outline further details of the plan but the government paper said Germany's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 remained in place.

Most voters in Germany oppose atomic energy, which provided 23 percent of overall power before the seven oldest stations were shut down in March.

A disputed 2.3 billion euro a year tax on spent fuel rods will not be scrapped even as the coalition plans to go ahead with the shutdown, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor's office between leaders of the center-right coalition.

"(It's) definite: the latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022," Roettgen said after the meeting and before leaving on his bicycle.

Merkel's about-turn has done little to gain her support, but has drawn scorn from the opposition and within her own party ranks. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against nuclear energy at the weekend all across Germany.

Nuclear policy is heavily disputed in Germany and the issue has helped boost the Greens, which won control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg, in a March vote.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house, where the states are represented, vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto the populous North Rhine-Westphalia state. Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg, a vote held in the shadow of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

Germany's largest power provider RWE, which had suggested ending nuclear power in 2025, signaled its opposition to the deal. A spokesman for the company said the firm would keep "all legal options open."

"The end (of nuclear power in Germany) by 2022 is not the date we had hoped for," the spokesman said, declining to comment on the effect of the decision on the company's earnings.

The decision could still face opposition from RWE's peers E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the other three utility companies that run the 17 plants.

German baseload power in the wholesale market on Monday rose 70 cents from Friday to 60.20 euros a megawatt hour.

"Prices must go up to account for permanently lower capacity. Neighboring Europe will have to price in the potential absence of German power in case of unfavorable supply situations," one trader said.

Shares in utilities E.ON and RWE fell 2.2 and 2.4 percent respectively at the open.

NO WAY BACK

Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for revision of the agreement in future. The Free Democrats, junior partners in Merkel's center-right coalition, wanted no firm date but a flexible window for exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in an emergency.

"There will be no clause for revision," Roettgen said.

The coalition agreed to keep one of the older reactors as a "cold reserve" for 2013, if the transition to renewable energies cannot meet winter demand and if fossil fuels do not suffice to make up for a potential shortfall.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan's Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.

The coalition wants to keep a nuclear tax, which was expected to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) a year from this year, but so far has not been levied. With the immediate exit of eight plants it will raise less than envisaged.

It had mulled dropping the tax in return for the utilities supporting and not suing the government over an early exit.



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Sunday, May 29, 2011

DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Lockheed Martin Hit By Unspecified Cyber Incident

Asian Defense News: DTN News - LOCKHEED MARTIN DEFENSE NEWS: Lockheed Martin Hit By Unspecified Cyber Incident
**Lockheed says thwarted "tenacious" cyber attack
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 29, 2011: Lockheed Martin Corp., the U.S. government's top information technology provider, said on Saturday it had thwarted "a significant and tenacious attack" on its information systems network a week ago but was still working to restore employee access.

No customer, program or employee personal data was compromised thanks to "almost immediate" protective action taken after the attack was detected May 21, Jennifer Whitlow, a company spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

She said the company, the world's biggest aerospace company and the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, was working around the clock to restore employee access to the targeted network while maintaining the highest security level.

The U.S. Defense Department said in statement late Saturday night that it was working with Lockheed to determine the scope of the attack.

The incident's impact on the department is "minimal and we don't expect any adverse effect," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel April Cunningham said by email.

She declined to specify the nature of the impact, saying that as a matter of policy, the department does not not comment on operational matters.

The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, said that it and the Defense Department had offered to help curb the risk from the incident.

Lockheed is the maker of the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets as well as warships and other multibillion-dollar arms systems sold worldwide.

There was no word on where the attack may have originated. Military contractors' systems contain technical specifications on weapons under development as well as those currently in use.

The U.S. government has offered to help Lockheed analyze "available data in order to provide recommendations to mitigate further risk," Chris Ortman, a DHS official, said in an e-mailed reply to a query from Reuters.

A person with direct knowledge told Reuters on Friday that unknown attackers had broken into sensitive networks of Lockheed and several other U.S. military contractors.

Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman, the Pentagon's No. 2 and No. 3 suppliers respectively, declined to discuss matters involving corporate security.

CYBER ESPIONAGE

U.S. officials may investigate a cyber breach at a company's request. DHS, the lead agency for securing federal civilian networks, can deploy a team to analyze infected systems, develop mitigation strategies, advise on efforts to restore service and make recommendations for improving overall network security.

Several top cybersecurity experts with extensive government dealings said they were in the dark about the origin of the attack.

"I think it tells us that DHS doesn't know much about what's going on either," said Anup Ghosh, a former senior scientist at the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency who worked on securing military networks.

Ghosh, who now runs Invincea, a software security company, said there had been a string of intrusions against defense contractors, security companies and U.S. government labs, including the U.S. Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, since the start of this year.

These attacks typically were carried out through so-called "spear-phish" inducements to click on a certain link to web sites or through emailed attachments carrying malicious code.

Once so compromised, a computer can surreptitiously download other code that can log a victim's key strokes, giving an attacker a path to potentially wide network access.

"Defense industrials is where our military technology secrets are," Ghosh said in an email interview. "What's happening here is nothing short of theft of a nation."

The person with direct knowledge told Reuters on Friday that an intrusion at Lockheed was related to a recent breach of "SecurID" token authentication technology from EMC Corp's EMC.N RSA security division.

Cyber intruders were reported in 2009 to have broken into computers holding data on Lockheed's projected $380 billion-plus F-35 fighter program, the Pentagon's costliest arms purchase.

A series of once-secret U.S. diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website suggests that China has jumped ahead of the United States when it comes to cyber espionage.

More than 100 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to break into U.S. networks, Deputy U.S. Secretary of Defense William Lynn wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs last fall. Some already have the capacity to disrupt U.S. information infrastructure, he wrote.



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Saturday, May 28, 2011

DTN News - BATTLE FOR LIBYA: 'Talks Under Way' To End Libya Fighting

Asian Defense News: DTN News - BATTLE FOR LIBYA: 'Talks Under Way' To End Libya Fighting
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 28, 2011: Secret channels are being opened between the Libyan government of Muammar Gaddafi and British citizens with a view to ending the conflict, sources have told Al Jazeera.

Abdelati al-Obeidi, the Libyan deputy foreign minister, who has been leading the government's diplomacy after Musa Kousa, the foreign minister, defected, gave hints on Saturday to Al Jazeera's James Bays about the secret talks to end the war.

The Al Jazeera correspondent, who spoke to al-Obeidi on a flight to the southern Tunisian town of Djerba, said the Libyan official was quite guarded in his approach and said that "he really was not authorised to tell me what had taken place at this meeting."

"The deputy foreign minister did admit that he had come for talks which have been taking place with British citizens. He could not say what the talks were about but did say it was an exchange of views and a channel of communication being opened by them," he said.

Though he denied that there was any talk of an exit strategy for Gaddafi, he said the government was willing to talk to the opposition in Benghazi, our correspondent said.

He quoted al-Obeidi as saying: "We want to end this war and we want to end soon."

"It is an indication of British agenda playing quite a leading role here, and in this behind-the-scene process, probably British diplomats or members of MI6 may have been involved. Remember they [MI6] were also involved in Kousa's defection about two months ago," our correspondent said.

Britain denies talks

Britain has denied the reports that its officials were involved in any talks with Gaddafi regime.

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "No representatives of HMG, or intermediaries, are involved in negotiations with the Libyan regime about a ceasefire. Our position is clear. Qadhafi must go, so that the Libyan people can determine their own future."

The response from Britain has been reasonably low key, Al Jazeera's Bays said.

"I have talked to a representative of the British foreign ministry, a spokeswoman, who said there have been no talks with British diplomats. She said 'they were aware that meetings had taken place with the minister and British citizens but made it clear that they were not civil servants and not diplomats'."

The reports of the ceasefire talks came just hours after NATO carried out a rare day-time air raid on the capital, Tripoli.

A number of explosions were heard throughout the night into Saturday, and at least one of the blasts was said to be near a compound used by Gaddafi.

Columns of smoke were seen rising over the skyline of the city and loud booms could be heard.

State television said earlier that overnight NATO raids caused "human and material" damage near Mizda, to the south.

Discussing the reported secret ceasefire talks, Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Misurata on Saturday, said: "The rebel fighters would not be in favour of any kind of ceasefire. They want Gaddafi to stand trial for crimes against humanity."

Misurata - Libya's third largest city - is now controlled by opposition forces and has been the scene of some of the fiercest battles in the conflict.

"On the ground there's some kind of stalemate here," our correspondent said. "The area, 35km west of Misurata, is free and relatively safe but the situation at the frontline is very fluid. There have been exchanges of fire here and Grad rockets fired from the Gaddafi forces."

Misurata's western outskirts were shaken by heavy fighting on Friday.

Doctors at the local hospital said five opposition fighters were killed and more than a dozen others wounded in the combat.



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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Sets Up Military Cyber-Warfare Team ~ Report

Asian Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Sets Up Military Cyber-Warfare Team ~ Report
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 28, 2011:
China's military has set up an elite Internet security task force tasked with fending off cyber attacks, state media reported Friday, denying that the initiative is intended to create a "hacker army".

The People's Liberation Army has reportedly invested tens of millions of yuan (millions of dollars) in the project -- which is sure to ring alarm bells around the world among governments and businesses wary of Beijing's intentions.

"Cyber attacks have become an international problem affecting both civilian and military areas," the Global Times quoted China's defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng as telling a rare briefing this week.

"China is relatively weak in cyber-security and has often been targeted. This temporary programme is aimed at improving our defences against such attacks."

The 30-member "Cyber Blue Team" -- the core of the PLA's cyber force -- has been organised under the Guangdong military command in the country's south, and will carry out "cyber-warfare drills", the newspaper said.

The United States, Australia, Germany and other Western nations have long alleged that hackers inside China are carrying out a wide-range of cyberattacks on government and corporate computer systems worldwide.
But in a commentary, the Global Times hit out at "some foreign media" for interpreting the programme as a breeding ground for a "hacker army".

"China's capability is often exaggerated. Without substantiated evidence, it is often depicted by overseas media as the culprit for cyberattacks on the US and Europe," the paper said.

"China needs to develop its strong cyber defence strength. Otherwise, it would remain at the mercy of others."

China's military has received annual double-digit increases in its budget over much of the last two decades as it tries to develop a more modern force capable of winning increasingly high-tech wars.

In 2007, the Pentagon raised concerns about a successful Chinese ballistic missile test strike on a satellite, a weapon that could be used to knock out the high-tech communications of its enemies.

US computer firm McAfee said in February that hackers from China have also infiltrated the computer networks of global oil companies, stealing financial documents on bidding plans and other confidential information.

According to US diplomatic cables obtained and published by WikiLeaks, the United States believes that China's leadership has directed hacking campaigns against US Internet giant Google and Western governments.

In one cable, the US embassy in Beijing said it learned from "a Chinese contact" that the Politburo had led years of hacking into computers of the United States, its allies and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.


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DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Steals Top Gun Video Clip

Asian Defense News: DTN News - CHINA DEFENSE NEWS: China Steals Top Gun Video Clip
**Proud bulletin on state TV news about air force training contains dogfight scene lifted from Tom Cruise movie
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 28, 2011:
China's air force is again under close scrutiny as internet users pore over images of its fighter pilots in action. For the second time in a month pictures of military manoeuvres – this time aired by the state broadcaster – have spread rapidly across websites and blogs.




This time the craft is not the country's new stealth fighter; and the reaction is not excitement but amusement. Sharp-eyed viewers have spotted that a key clip came straight from the film Top Gun.

Tom Cruise in Top GunTom Cruise in Top Gun. Photograph: Cine Text/Allstar

China Central Television News last week broadcast a training exercise by the People's Liberation Army Air Force with one plane firing a missile at another. But an observant viewer spotted that the resulting explosion matches a blast from the final fight scene in the Tom Cruise movie.

The frame-by-frame comparison of the images, by someone posting under the name Liu Yi,demonstrates the likeness, and the Wall Street journal has produced a video comparing the news clip with the movie scene.

The news broadcast was posted on the CCTV website but vanished after news of the gaffe began to spread.

A spokeswoman in the foreign affairs department at CCTV said she was not aware of the claims and would need to look into them. She was not available when the Guardian rang back.

While the clip is no doubt the work of a maverick employee, many internet users have enjoyed the broadcaster's embarrassment. The authorities censor television more strictly than publications and CCTV's news bulletins, in particular, are notorious for their unflinching dullness.


When fire consumed a building in the glossy new CCTV headquarters in 2009, many attacked the broadcaster for censoring the images in its own reports. The celebrity blogger Han Han described the blaze as an act of self-castration by "the world's number one eunuch media"


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