Cyber spying ring found in 103 countries
TORONTO, March 29 (UPI) -- Government computers in 103 countries have been compromised by a vast cyber-spying ring operated out of China, researchers say.
Researchers at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto say the ring has infiltrated systems belonging to government embassies and foreign ministries, as well as networks belonging to the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The Canadian experts said the ring dubbed "GhostNet" focused mainly on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. There is no evidence the ring was operated by the Chinese government, the newspaper said.
The group reportedly said they found no evidence that U.S. government offices had been infiltrated. But, they added, it was determined that a NATO computer had been monitored by GhostNet spies for several hours and the computers of the Indian Embassy in Washington had been compromised.
Report: Waterboarding produced no leads
WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- The use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on a high-value U.S. terror detainee produced only false leads, sources say.
CIA officials did not uncover any plots based on information extracted under duress from Abu Zubaida ,a Palestinian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp, sources identified only as former senior U.S. government officials told Sunday's Washington Post.
Supposed leads gained during the waterboarding of Abu Zubaida turned out to be false, while the most useful information gained from him -- including the names of other al-Qaida members -- came before the use of the technique, which human rights advocates describe as torture, sources told the Post.
The officials also said Abu Zubaida's connections to al-Qaida were overestimated. Described by the Bush administration as "al-Qaida's chief of operations," later investigations determined he was not an official member of the group and didn't work directly with it until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the newspaper reported.
Others, however, dispute that interpretation, with one unnamed counterterrorism official telling the Post, "It's simply wrong to suggest that Abu Zubaida wasn't intimately involved with al-Qaida."
G20 leaders shoot down Brown's 'new deal'
LONDON, March 29 (UPI) -- Britain's European allies say they can't support Prime Minister Gordon Brown's $2 trillion-plus "global new deal" fiscal stimulus proposal.
Speaking Saturday during the run-up to this week's Group of 20 economic summit in London, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the assault on Brown's proposal.
"I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money," she was quoted as saying in The Sunday Times of London.
Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes also shot down the idea of government spending infusions, saying, "In these conditions, I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans."
Brown's aim to cut taxes to stimulate the world economy has also drawn opposition from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who insisted "radical reform" of capitalism takes precedence over cutting taxes -- throwing fresh doubt on whether Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling's new British budget will contain any significant tax cuts, The Sunday Times said.
The European stance is also a defeat for U.S. President Barack Obama, who wanted to convince Merkel and others to emulate his $800 billion U.S. spending program, observers said.
FLDS case cost Texas $12 million
AUSTIN, Texas, March 29 (UPI) -- The investigation into alleged sex abuse at a polygamist sect with 439 children has cost Texas $12 million so far, officials said.
The costs range from foster care and genetic testing to security, hotels, transportation and overtime pay for hundreds of state workers, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.
In all, child protective workers found that 12 teenage girls among the 439 children had been sexually abused by marrying adult members of their sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The newspaper noted that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office has criminal charges pending against 11 of the sect's men for their role in arranging illegal marriages.
The investigation began with a hoax call to authorities by a woman who claimed to have been abused by members of the sect in Eldorado, Texas.
"They were trying to pull another Waco. They didn't bring in all those guns for looks," said Willie Jessop, the spokesman for the 800 or so living at the compound. "When there wasn't any guns, they changed their story to 'The belief was the problem.'"
In May, a state court ruled that "removal of the children was not warranted." By July, lawyers for child protective officials began moving to dismiss all of the children's custody cases from court.
"It became apparent to us that the decision had been made to kind of shove it (the children's cases) down," said Debra Brown, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County.
