The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 29

The International News Weekly World
January 19, 2018 | Toronto 06
Ex-CIA officer suspected of
helping China arrested
UK media: Police probe 3rd
Spacey sex assault allegation
Agencies
IANS
Washington: Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau faced
difficult questions from the
crowd at a town hall in the
Halifax area Tuesday, including
from a member of the
navy who has ALS and from
the mother of a boy with severe
autism.
A former CIA officer
suspected by investigators
of helping China dismantle
Washington's spying operations
and identify informants
has been arrested, the Justice
Department said.
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a
naturalised US citizen, was
held after arriving at New
York's JFK airport on Monday.
Lee worked for the CIA
between 1994 and 2007. He
later left for Hong Kong.
When Lee returned to
the US in 2012, FBI agents
searched his hotel rooms
in Hawaii and Virginia and
found finding two small
books with secret records,
the New York Times reported
on Tuesday.
Lee, 53, was charged in
a federal court in northern
Virginia with the "unlawful
retention of national defence
information and faces a maximum
penalty of 10 years in
prison, if convicted", the Justice
Department said.
He appeared in Brooklyn
court on Tuesday and was
being held there. He does
not have a lawyer, an official
said. It was unclear why Lee
decided to risk arrest by coming
to the US this month, according
to the report.
In the books the Federal
Bureau of Investigation
agents found, Lee had written
down details about meetings
between Central Intelligence
Agency informants and undercover
agents, as well as
their real names and phone
numbers, the court papers
stated.
Prosecutors said that material
in the books reflected
the same information contained
in classified cables
that Lee had written while at
the agency.
Lee, also known as Zhen
Cheng Li, began his CIA career
as a case officer, maintained
a top secret clearance
and signed non-disclosure
agreements. He has made no
public comments on the issue.
Officials expressed concern
that Lee's case and at
least one other represent a
troubling pattern of Chinese
intelligence targeting former
agency officials, an easier
task than trying to recruit
current CIA operatives.
In June, a former CIA officer
was charged with providing
classified information
to China and making false
statements. Prosecutors said
that the former officer, Kevin
Patrick Mallory, 60, of Leesburg,
Virginia, had top-secret
documents and incriminating
messages on a communications
device he brought
back from Shanghai.
In March, prosecutors
announced the arrest of a
longtime State Department
employee, Candace Marie
Claiborne, accused of lying to
investigators about her contacts
with Chinese officials.
According to the criminal
complaint against Claiborne,
who pleaded not guilty, Chinese
agents wired cash into
her bank account and lavished
her with thousands of
dollars in gifts.
US calls for new relationship
with Pakistan
Indo-Asian News Service
Islamabad : The US on
Tuesday called for a new
bilateral relationship with
Pakistan at the conclusion
of a top US diplomat's
two-day visit here. Deputy
Assistant Secretary for
South and Central Asia Alice
Wells highlighted the
need to step up measures
against terrorism in order
for the US-Pakistan relationship
to develop, Efe
news agency reported.
"Ambassador Wells underlined
that the US seeks
to move toward a new relationship
with Pakistan,
based on our mutual interest
in realizing a stable and
prosperous region," according
to the US Embassy
in Islamabad.
Wells, who did not address
the press during her
stay in Pakistan, headed
the first high-level visit
by the US to Pakistan, following
the former's decision
earlier this month to
suspend security aid to the
country.
During her visit, she
urged the Pakistani government
to act against the
Haqqani network, a faction
of the Afghan Taliban
that Washington and Kabul
claim have taken refuge
in Pakistan along with
other terror groups.
The US diplomat underlined
that US's South
Asia strategy represents
"an opportunity to work together"
in bringing peace
to Afghanistan, defeating
the Islamic State and eliminating
terrorist groups
that threaten both the US
and Pakistan.
As part of this strategy,
unveiled in August by US
President Donald Trump,
the US announced an increase
of 3,000 troops in
Afghanistan in September.
On January 4, Washington
suspended its coalition
support funds program
towards Pakistan,
amounting up to $900 million,
until Islamabad took
decisive steps in the fight
against terrorism.
The announcement
came after Trump posted
a message on Twitter on
January 1, in which he accused
Islamabad of "lies
and deceit" and "giving
safe haven to the terrorists"
after receiving $33 billion
from the US over the
last 15 years.
On Monday, Wells met
Pakistan's Foreign Secretary
Tehmina Janjua,
who expressed to need for
carrying forward the relations
with the US in an environment
of trust and mutual
respect, according to a
statement by the Pakistan
Foreign Ministry.
The US and Afghanistan
for years have accused
Pakistan of providing
refuge to the Taliban's
Haqqani network, which
stages attacks on US and
Afghan troops, a claim that
Islamabad denies.
LONDON: Britain's media say police in London are
investigating a third allegation of sexual assault
against two-time Academy Award winning actor Kevin
Spacey.
The Metropolitan Police force said Thursday it
had received an allegation "that the man sexually assaulted
a man (Victim 3) in 2005 in Westminster."
The force didn't identify Spacey as the alleged perpetrator,
as authorities in Britain don't name suspects
until they are charged. But it said the same man was
accused of an assault in 2005 and one in 2008, both in
the south London borough of Lambeth. The suspect in
those cases has been widely named in British media
as Spacey.
The 58-year old Spacey was artistic director of
London's Old Vic Theatre, located in Lambeth, between
2004 and 2015.
Indian Army chief's comments
will hurt peace: China
Indo-Asian News Service
Beijing: China on Monday expressed anger over Indian
Army chief Bipin Rawat's remarks, saying such "unconstructive"
comments would hurt peace and tranquility
in the border area. Gen Rawat last week said India
needed to shift its military focus from its western border
with Pakistan to its northern border with China. He also
said that if China was strong, India was not weak either.
"During the past one year, relations between China
and India witnessed some twists and turns," Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
Lu pointed out that in September, the leaders of India
and China reached some important consensus on properly
handling the differences and promote China-India
relations. "Recently, two sides enhanced dialogue on
consultation and bilateral relations have shown sound
momentum of improvement and development.
"Under such background, the unconstructive remarks
by the Indian senior officials not only go against
the consensus reached by the two heads of state but not
conform to the efforts made by the two sides to improve
and develop bilateral relations. "It cannot help to preserve
tranquillity and peace at the border areas."
Man resembling Pakistani
minor's rape-murder
suspect arrested
Continued from page 01
The brutal murder of Zainab has incited anger
among residents as it is the 12th such case to occur within
a two kilometre radius in the city in the last year. Kasur
made international headlines in 2015 when a gang of
paedophiles running a child sex ring was busted.
The gang allegedly abducted and sexually assaulted
at least 280 children in the area, had blackmailed the
families of the victims since 2009 and even sold video
clips and images of the assault.
A Supreme Court bench on Tuesday expressed its
displeasure over the lack of progress by the Punjab government
and police on the Zainab case.
According to the authorities, around 1,100 suspects
have been questioned in the case.
"If the issue isn't solved then it'll be a failure of the
government and police," the Chief Justice observed during
the proceedings, adding that the same mistakes are
made in every case after which suspects are exonerated
due to shoddy investigations.
The Chief Justice also said that the accused in the
Zainab case was a serial killer.