The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- U.S. contractor charged with passing nuclear secrets to Chinese woman
- Mexico and Brazil reach deal to end short-term visa requirements
- New China leader Xi to meet U.S.'s Lew to discuss cyber row, trade
| U.S. contractor charged with passing nuclear secrets to Chinese woman Posted: 18 Mar 2013 08:49 PM PDT (Reuters) - A U.S. defence contractor in Hawaii has been arrested on charges of passing national defence secrets, including classified information about nuclear weapons, to a Chinese woman with whom he was romantically involved, authorities said on Monday. Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, a former U.S. Army officer who works as a civilian employee of a defence contractor at U.S. Pacific Command in Oahu was arrested on Friday and made his first appearance in federal court on Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii said in a news release. He is charged with one count of willfully communicating national defence information to a person not entitled to receive it, and one count of unlawfully retaining documents related to national defence. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. Bishop met the woman - a 27-year-old Chinese national identified as "Person 1" - in Hawaii during a conference on international military defence issues, according to the affidavit. He had allegedly been involved in a romantic relationship since June 2011 with the woman, who was living in the United States on a visa, and had no security clearance. From May of that year through December 2012, he allegedly passed national defence secrets to her on multiple occasions, including classified information about nuclear weapons and the planned deployment of U.S. strategic nuclear systems. Other secrets included information on the United States' ability to detect foreign governments' low- and medium-range ballistic missiles, as well as information on the deployment of U.S. early warning radar systems in the Pacific Rim. Bishop had top secret security clearance since July 2002. A court-authorized search of his home in November found around a dozen individual documents each with classification markings at the secret level, the affidavit said. The case is being investigated by the FBI's Honolulu Division and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in coordination with U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Army. Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Mexico and Brazil reach deal to end short-term visa requirements Posted: 18 Mar 2013 08:09 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico and Brazil have agreed to eliminate short-term visa requirements for each other's citizens, Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. The agreement was struck following the January meeting between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, in Santiago, Chile, according to the statement.
The new, streamlined process is expected to boost travel between Latin America's two largest economies. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Paul Simao) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| New China leader Xi to meet U.S.'s Lew to discuss cyber row, trade Posted: 18 Mar 2013 05:23 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will meet new Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday at a critical time in relations between the world's two largest economies, with cyber hacking, the Chinese currency and market access high on the agenda for talks. The meeting will be Xi's first with a senior foreign official since he was formally elected as president by China's parliament on Thursday. It is also Lew's first major trip since his confirmation, indicating the importance of the relationship.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the head of government, pledged on Sunday to forge "a new type of relationship" with the United States and called for the end of a cyber-hacking row between the two countries. A private U.S. computer security company said last month a secretive Chinese military unit was likely behind a series of hacking attacks targeting the United States. President Barack Obama raised the issue during a phone call with Xi last week. Lew plans to press Chinese officials to stop cyber attacks directed at the United States. China, in turn, says it is the target of U.S. hacking attacks. Li has said reform was necessary to deliver long-term economic stability and Lew will also push China to accelerate economic reforms. Lew also wants Beijing to allow its currency to rise faster against the U.S. dollar and to take steps to increase market access for U.S. goods and to protect intellectual property rights better. Later on Tuesday, Lew will meet Xu Shaoshi, chairman of China's National and Development Reform Commission, the economic planning agency that wields approval authority over major investment projects. Lew will also meet newly-appointed finance minister Lou Jiwei, formerly head of China's sovereign wealth fund. (Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Paul Tait and Michael Perry) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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