Japan PM vows to save hostages purportedly threatened by ISIS

 Japan's Prime Minister vowed Tuesday to save the lives of two Japanese hostages threatened with beheading in an online video purportedly released by the Islamic State terror group. 
In the video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, a militant threatened to kill the men unless a $200 million ransom was paid within 72 hours. If confirmed to be from Islamic State, better known as ISIS, the video would mark the first public demand for ransom from the group in exchange for the release of captives. 
Speaking in Jerusalem, Abe called on ISIS to immediately release the hostages, saying that "their lives are the top priority." Abe is in the midst of a six-day visit to the Middle East, accompanied by more than 100 government officials and presidents of Japanese companies.
In the video, the two men, identified by ISIS as Kenji Goto Jogo and Haruna Yukawa, appear in orange jumpsuits like other hostages previously killed by ISIS, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria. The militant who threatens them speaks in a British accent and resembles a militant involved in other filmed beheadings. 
"To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," the knife-brandishing terrorist says. "You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims."
Japan's Foreign Ministry's anti-terrorism section has seen the video and analysts are assessing it, a ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules.
Speaking in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to say whether Japan would pay the ransom.
"If true, the act of threat in exchange of people's lives is unforgivable and we feel strong indignation," Suga told journalists. "We will make our utmost effort to win their release as soon as possible."
In August, a Japanese citizen believed to be Yukawa, a private military company operator in his early 40s, was kidnapped in Syria after going there to train with rebel fighters, according to a post on a blog he kept. Pictures on his Facebook page show him in Iraq and Syria in July. One video on his page showed him holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle with the caption: "Syria war in Aleppo 2014."
"I cannot identify the destination," Yukawa wrote in his last blog post. "But the next one could be the most dangerous." He added: "I hope to film my fighting scenes during an upcoming visit."
Yukawa's father, Shoichi, who lives in Chiba, just outside Tokyo, expressed shock over the news in an interview with Japanese public television station NHK.
"I don't understand this," he said. "I'm quite confused."
Goto is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria's civil war last year and knew of Yukawa.
"I'm in Syria for reporting," he wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October. "I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it."
ISIS has beheaded and shot dead hundreds of captives -- mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers -- during its sweep across the two countries, and has celebrated its mass killings in extremely graphic videos. A British-accented jihadi also has appeared in the beheading videos of slain American hostages James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and with British hostages David Haines and Alan Henning.
The group also holds British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman captured last year in Syria while working for aid groups. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.
Though the militant in the video links the ransom demand to the Japanese funding efforts to counter ISIS, it comes amid recent losses for the extremists targeted in airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition. Its militants also recently released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group couldn't support them.
This is Abe's second Mideast hostage crisis since becoming prime minister. Two years ago, al-Qaida-affiliated militants attacked an Algerian natural gas plant and the ensuing four-day hostage crisis killed 29 insurgents and 37 foreigners, including 10 Japanese who were working for a Yokohama-based engineering company, JCG Corp. Seven Japanese survived.

Fracking Cartoon

Army commanders order removal of 'God and country' recruiting sign

An Army recruiting station has been ordered by higher ups to shelve a sidewalk sandwich board with the wording "On a mission for both God and country.”
The order went out Friday to a recruiting station in Phoenix that had been displaying the outdoor sign since at least October.  The sign board also shows an image of a Special Forces patch and Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces tabs.
An inquiry from Army Times to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command prompted the sandwich board’s immediate removal.
The command’s spokesman told the paper the sign’s text was changed by “local recruiting personnel” but without clearance from command headquarters.
“Had the process been followed, the copy shown would not have been approved,” spokesman Brian Lepley said.
On Thursday, the head of the atheist group Military Religious Freedom Foundation called the sign the “Poster of Shame.”
In an online post, the group’s Mikey Weinstein called the display a “stunning, unconstitutional disgrace,” Army Times reported.
“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is delighted the Constitution has been adhered to by the U.S. Army Recruiting Command,” Weinstein said after the sign’s removal.
It appears that prior to being changed the sandwich board read: “We don’t call for reinforcements. We make them.”

US-built Ebola treatment centers reportedly sit empty in Liberia

Several treatment centers built by U.S. troops and meant to receive Ebola patients are sitting empty or nearly empty in the West African country of Liberia, according to a published report. 
The Washington Post reports that the worst of the deadly outbreak appeared to have passed before the first treatment centers were even completed. A Liberian government official tells the Post that the centers were built "too late."
"If they had been built when we needed them, they wouldn't have been too much," the official, Moses Massaquoi, said. 
President Barack Obama dispatched 3,000 troops to West Africa as part of a $750 million plan to fight the spread of the Ebola virus. However, the Post reports that the response from the U.S. and the international community has far outstripped what was necessary. As an example, the Post cites one treatment center where only 46 patients have been admitted since it opened Nov. 18. In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, there are seven Ebola treatment centers. According to the Post, three of those will temporarily suspend operations, while a fourth will close completely. 
The sparsely populated centers are a positive sign that the worst of the outbreak may have passed. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the outbreak has claimed over 8,400 lives, most of them in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. But for the week ending Jan. 11, WHO said Guinea reported its lowest weekly total of new Ebola cases since mid-August. Liberia had its lowest total since the first week of June and no confirmed new cases for the final two days of the week.
All schools in Guinea, which were closed due to the outbreak, are to reopen on Monday, while in Liberia, the schools are reopening "next month," the Liberian Embassy's Charges d'Affaires in Ghana, Musu Ruhle, told the Associated Press. 
The WHO says there are now enough beds to isolate and treat Ebola patients, but not all are in the hotspots where the disease is spreading fastest. The U.N. estimates that the number of scientists needed to track the outbreak must be tripled.
One place where the outbreak appears to be less contained is Sierra Leone, where at least 16 new cases were reported last week and schools will remain closed until further notice. 
U.N.'s Ebola chief, Dr. David Nabarro, cautioned Thursday that despite the gains "there are still numbers of new cases that are alarming, and there are hotspots that are emerging in new places that make me believe there is still quite a lot of the disease that we're not seeing."

Ted Cruz says 'Democrats will win again' if GOP picks moderate candidate in 2016

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, predicted late Sunday that Democrats would keep the White House in 2016 if Republicans selected a moderate nominee next year.
Speaking at the South Carolina Tea Party Conventions in Myrtle Beach, Cruz, himself a possible presidential candidate, referred disparagingly to political consultants as "Washington graybeards ... telling us about the mushy middle." Cruz has previously used the term when discussing former Massachusetts governor and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who is widely rumored to be considering a third run for the highest office in the land.
"If we nominate another candidate in the mold of [1996 nominee] Bob Dole or [Arizona Senator and 2008 nominee] John McCain or Mitt Romney," Cruz said Sunday, "The same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016 and the Democrats will win again. There is a better way."
Cruz's comments echoed criticism of Romney made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who visited two early primary states, New Hampshire and Nevada, over three days last week. 
"If we try the same thing again we might get the same result," Paul said. "So maybe we need to keep lookin'."
Romney says he has not formally decided whether to join the 2016 race. In a speech Friday at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in San Diego, he said only that he was "giving some serious consideration to the future." 
However, sources close to Romney have told Fox News that he has been been calling former aides, donors and supporters from his 2012 campaign -- as well as GOP leaders and insiders in the vital state of New Hampshire. One longtime adviser who has spoken to Romney in the last few days told Fox News it is "very likely" the 2012 Republican presidential nominee will announce a 2016 campaign for president in the next three to four weeks.
Another possible target of Cruz's remarks Sunday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is likely to join Romney in making a bid for the White House, according to Fred Malek, finance chairman for the Republican Governors Association. 
"They've taken this forward a lot faster and a lot further than I would have imagined," Malek told Fox News Tuesday. "And I don't think they would have done that unless they have a serious intent on moving ahead." Malek went on to say that he guessed there was an "80 percent chance" Romney would join the race.
Romney is scheduled to speak Monday in Indian Wells, Calif. at the kickoff of the 2015 "Desert Town Hall Speaker Series," which has drawn headliners ranging from former presidents George Bush and George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Senator Bill Bradley, and other luminaries.

NSA program reportedly helped US gather evidence against North Korea in Sony hack

A program implemented by the National Security Agency to help the U.S. and its allies track the computers and networks used by North Korean hackers was critical in gathering information that led Washington to conclude Pyongyang was behind last year's cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
The New York Times reported late Sunday that the NSA began placing malware in North Korean systems in 2010. Originally, the purpose of the surveillance was to gain insight into North Korea's nuclear program, but the focus shifted after a large cyberattack on South Korean banks and media companies in 2013. 
In the case of the Sony Pictures hack, which knocked nearly the entire company's system offline, investigators believe that the North had stolen the "credentials" of a Sony systems administrator, which enabled them to spend two months familiarizing themselves with Sony's network and plotting how to destroy files, computers, and systems. The attacks themselves, which Sony first reported to the FBI Nov. 24, are widely considered to be in retaliation for the release of "The Interview," a comedy that features an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Sony hack.
Skeptics have cast doubt on the official story that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, with many suggesting a disgruntled current or former Sony employee was responsible. Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said U.S. investigators were able to trace emails and Internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the attack, and link them to North Korea.
Comey said most of the time, the group sent emails threatening Sony employees and made various other statements online using proxy servers to disguise where the messages were coming from. But on occasion, he said, they connected "directly," enabling investigators to "see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans."
A senior military official told The Times that the evidence against North Korea that was presented to President Barack Obama was so compelling that he "had no doubt" the Communist regime was responsible. The White House has imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyberattack. 
The Times report quotes a North Korean defector as saying that country's military first displayed interest in hacking in 1994, when it sent 15 people to a Chinese military academy to learn the practice. Two years later, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang's primary intelligence service, created Bureau 121, a hacking unit that has a substantial representation in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. 
South Korea's military claims that the North has a staff of 6,000 hackers dedicated to disrupting the South's military and government. That estimate is more than double an earlier projection made by that country's Defense Ministry.

Hillary Cartoon

Clinton clearing primary field for potential 2016 run could leave her vulnerable

Mrs Hillary Benghazi Clinton

Hillary Clinton appears to have scared away much of the competition should she seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. But her early and practically all-encompassing effort also presents the potential liability that she will sail through the primary season largely untested for the bare-knuckled general election. 
And it could deny Democrats the chance to define themselves to Americans, strategists say.
“It's not good for a party because the Democratic Party needs a real debate about what it's for, who it's for, what it's about and where we'll take the country,” says Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic congressman, presidential candidate and a Fox News contributor.
The 67-year-old Clinton plans to make an official announcement in early 2015, leaving some doubt about whether she will indeed run. But her frontrunner status is unquestionable.
She has roughly 62 percent of the likely vote and leads all potential Democratic challengers by a numbing 49.5 percentage points.
And those numbers combined with an ambitious public-speaking schedule and the fundraising and cheerleading group Ready for Hillary are making it difficult for potential primary challengers to raise money.
In addition, Clinton’s most formidable, likely primary challenger now, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, insists she’s not running, leaving the Democratic field so wide open that 73-year-old Bernie Sanders, an independent and junior senator from Vermont, is now fourth behind Clinton, Warren and Vice President Biden, according an averaging of polls by RealClearPolitics.com  
“I think you miss the chance to vet ideals,” says Richard Fowler, a Democrat and host of the progressive-leaning “Richard Fowler Talk Show.” “I think that's what elections are about. Elections are about ideals and how ideals … would then turn into policy that will then turn into how we govern.”
Clinton, a former first lady, secretary of State and New York senator, hasn’t been in a campaign-style debate since 2008, when she lost the Democratic presidential primary to President Obama, then a freshman Illinois senator.
Still, a relatively easy 2016 primary, if Clinton indeed runs, would likely save her from the pummeling she took last time.
“You’re likeable enough, Hillary,” Obama said on stage to Clinton, who was the early Democratic frontrunner in that race, too.
Among the tough questions she will likely face, and needs to answer well, include what she knew about security at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed in a 2012 terror attack.
Clinton, who is worthy millions of dollars, also will likely have to make a strong case that she will champion the country’s poor and working class, after saying on her 2014 book tour: “We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt.”
“Hillary Clinton, I think, has proven that when you're off the trail for a while, you come back rusty,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “She certainly came back rusty on that book tour.”