Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in US prison

Jack Michael Teixeira, center, father of Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira. arrives at federal court for his son's sentencing hearing, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Boston. (AP)
Jack Michael Teixeira, center, father of Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira. arrives at federal court for his son's sentencing hearing, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Boston. (AP)
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Updated 13 November 2024
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Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in US prison

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in US prison
  • Prosecutors, though, countered that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong

BOSTON: Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years in prison for leaking online highly classified US military documents, including some related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and apologized in court for his actions. Teixeira, 22, was sentenced by US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston after pleading guilty in March to perpetrating what federal prosecutors have called “one of the most significant and consequential violations” of US anti-espionage law ever committed.
“I’m sorry for all of the harm that I’ve wrought and that I’ve caused,” Teixeira, dressed in an orange jail uniform, told Talwani during his sentencing hearing.
The judge said Teixeira leaked top-secret information after receiving extensive training on the need to protect classified information from disclosure and warnings about the penalties he could face for failing to do so.




An undated picture shows Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, who was arrested by the FBI, over his alleged involvement in leaks online of classified documents, posing for a selfie at an unidentified location. (Social Media Website/via Reuters)

“Despite that, you posted on the Internet, on Discord, hundreds of documents over a period of a year,” Talwani told Teixeira. “The fact that others did not do more to stop you is truly unfortunate.” Teixeira, who has remained in custody since his arrest in April 2023, pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense over a leak last year of a trove of classified records to a group of gamers on the Discord messaging app. Ahead of his sentencing, Teixeira also entered into a written agreement to resolve separate military charges brought by the Air Force that he obstructed justice and failed to obey a lawful order, defense lawyer Michael Bachrach said in court. Teixeira had been set to face a court-martial in March.
Before his arrest, Teixeira had been an airman 1st class at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where he worked as a cyber defense operations journeyman, or information technology support specialist.
Despite being a low-level airman, Teixeira held a top-secret security clearance, and starting in January 2022 began accessing hundreds of classified documents related to topics including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to prosecutors.
Teixeira shared classified information on Discord in private servers while bragging that he had access to “stuff for Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iran and China,” according to prosecutors.
He did so even though his superiors admonished him twice in 2022 about his handling of classified information and warned him against conducting deep dives into intelligence information, prosecutors said. His leaks included information concerning the US provision of equipment to Ukraine and how it would be used, following Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Teixeira’s lawyers in court papers had urged Talwani to impose only an 11-year term. They said Teixeira was autistic and isolated, and that his intent was never to harm the United States but to educate friends he made online about world events, including the Ukraine war.
“I wanted to know as much about it as possible because I thought it was probably the most — probably the biggest event or thing that happened in my generation’s history,” Teixeira said in February during a debriefing session with the intelligence community, according to court papers.
 

 

 


South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities

South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities
Updated 27 sec ago
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South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities

South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities
Yoon made the announcement during a televised briefing
Yoon has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament

SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.
Yoon made the announcement during a televised briefing, vowing to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” It wasn’t immediately clear how the steps would affect the country’s governance and democracy.
Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months — has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament since taking office in 2022.
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill. He has also been dismissing calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, drawing quick, strong rebukes from his political rivals.
The Democratic Party reportedly called an emergency meeting of its lawmakers following Yoon’s announcement.

King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins

King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins
Updated 2 min 24 sec ago
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King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins

King Charles welcomes Emir of Qatar as state visit begins
  • The emir and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al-Thani arrived at Horse Guards Parade
  • Joined by Prince William and Princess of Wales, Catherine

LONDON: King Charles and Keir Starmer welcomed Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for a state visit to Britain on Tuesday.

The emir and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al-Thani arrived by car at Horse Guards Parade in London with Prince William and his wife Catherine, who was marking her return to formal state visit duties after undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.

Charles, who is continuing his own treatment for cancer, and the emir inspected the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards while a military band played.

The reception was to be followed by a trip to Westminster where the emir was set to address both chambers of the British Houses of Parliament.

 


Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend

Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend
Updated 16 min 50 sec ago
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Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend

Trump says he’ll attend Notre Dame Cathedral reopening celebration in Paris this weekend
  • Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening
  • “It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral,” he wrote

NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election.
The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019 that engulfed and nearly destroyed the soaring Paris landmark. The ceremonies being held Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs, with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend.
Trump announced that he will be among them in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening.
“It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago,” he wrote. “President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”
The trip will be Trump’s first abroad since he won November’s presidential election. He traveled to Scotland and Ireland in May 2023, as a candidate, to visit his local golf courses.
Trump was president in 2019 when a massive fire engulfed Notre Dame, collapsing its spire and threatening to destroy one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures, known for its mesmerizing stained glass.
Trump watched the inferno in horror, along with the rest of the world.
“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” he wrote on what was then named Twitter, offering his advice to the city.
“Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!” he wrote.
French officials appeared to respond shortly after, noting that “All means” were being used to extinguish the flames, “except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”
Trump also spoke with Macron and Pope Francis at the time to offer his condolences and said he had offered them “the help of our great experts on renovation and construction.”
Trump and Macron have had a complicated relationship.
During Trump’s first term in office, Macron proved to be among the world leaders most adept at managing the American president’s whims as he tried to develop a personal connection built in no small part on flattery.
Macron was the guest of honor at Trump’s first state dinner and Trump traveled to France several times. But the relationship soured as Trump’s term progressed and Macron criticized him for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual-defense pact.
As he ran for a second term this year, Trump often mocked Macron on the campaign trail, imitating his accent and threatening to impose steep tariffs on wine and champagne bottles shipped to the US if France tried to tax American companies.
After Trump won another term last month, Macron rushed to win favor with the president-elect. He was among the first global leaders to congratulate Trump — even before The Associated Press called the race in his favor — and beat UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the punch in delivering a congratulatory phone call.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron posted on X early on Nov 6. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Macron and other European leaders are trying to persuade Trump not to abandon America’s support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s nearly three-year invasion. European leaders hope to convince Trump that a victory by Russia would be viewed as a defeat for the US — and for the incoming president, by extension — hoping to sell him on the need to pursue an end to the war more favorable to Kyiv than he might otherwise seek.
Trump over the weekend announced that he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
The reopening of Notre Dame will be an elaborate, multi-day celebration, beginning Saturday.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them, according to the cathedral’s website.
The archbishop will also symbolically reawaken Notre Dame’s thunderous grand organ. The fire that melted the cathedral’s lead roofing coated the huge instrument in toxic dust. Its 8,000 pipes have been painstakingly disassembled, cleaned and retuned.
Macron will attend and address the VIP guests.
After the service, opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Benin-born singer Angelique Kidjo; Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji and others will perform at a concert Saturday evening, according to the show’s broadcaster, France Télévisions.
On Sunday morning, the Paris archbishop will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar.
Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese. The Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy.
Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral sits in the middle of the River Seine, will be blocked off to tourists for the events. A public viewing area with room for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the Seine’s southern bank.


Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says

Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says
Updated 40 min 56 sec ago
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Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says

Police crack encrypted messaging service used by criminals, Europol says
  • The messaging service called MATRIX was discovered on the phone of a criminal
  • “The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes,” Europol said

AMSTERDAM: An encrypted messaging service that was used for international drug and arms trafficking has been taken down by European authorities, Europol said on Tuesday.
The messaging service called MATRIX was discovered on the phone of a criminal convicted for the murder of Dutch celebrity crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in 2021, Europol said.
A large-scale investigation by the Dutch and French authorities managed to intercept the messaging service and monitor activity for three months, leading to the deciphering of more than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages.
“The messages that were intercepted are linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering,” Europol said.
“Authorities were able to monitor the messages from possible criminals, which will now be used to support other investigations.”
The main servers in France and Germany were taken down, with one suspect arrested in France and two in Spain. Homes were also searched in Lithuania, Europol said.


India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
Updated 03 December 2024
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India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections

India’s Naga tribes renew efforts to repatriate ancestral skulls from UK collections
  • British auction house put 19th-century Naga tribesman’s skull up for sale in October
  • Colonial authorities started to collect Naga skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century

NEW DELHI: Ellen Konyak Jamir was left in a state of disbelief when she discovered that the skull of a tribesman from the state of Nagaland was being auctioned in the UK. What made the discovery even more unsettling was that it was being publicly advertised.
Part of a “Curious Collector Sale” at an auction house in Oxfordshire, the 19th-century horned skull was one of thousands of items — including human remains — that British colonial administrators had collected from the northeastern Indian state and placed in museums and private collections.
It was featured on the sale’s website in October as a piece that “would be of particular interest to collectors with a focus on anthropology and tribal cultures,” and was offered with an opening bid of $4,400.
“When the news of the auction by the Swan in Tetsworth, Oxfordshire was brought to our attention, we were absolutely shocked and dismayed,” Konyak, a Nagaland native and member of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, an association of members of various Naga tribes, told Arab News.
“(It was) an act of disrespect, dehumanization and the continuation of colonial violence ... We appreciated the prompt response and the removal of the item.”
The listing was quickly removed, but the incident has resulted in renewed efforts by the Naga community to repatriate the remains of their ancestors held in Britain.
“It created shockwaves of anger, humiliation and disbelief that in this century some people will be advertising to sell human skulls. That’s very serious,” said Visier Sanyu, a professor of history and an elder of the Angami tribe in Nagaland, who leads the Forum for Naga Reconciliation.
“We were approached to bring back these human remains, the skull, the hair, and hands and all from the Pitts River Museum, where they were exhibited for about 100 years ... It is a very long process. It can take 10 to 15 years.”
The University of Oxford’s Pitts River Museum has the largest Naga collection, featuring more than 6,500 items taken from the state. The items include dozens of human remains.
There are 16 Naga tribes inhabiting northeastern India and until the early 20th century most of them would collect the heads of their rivals after winning battles.
British colonial authorities started to take those skulls as specimens in the mid-19th century, but most were collected when anthropologist John Henry Hutton was an administrator in the region.
“He was the one who collected many of them,” Sanyu said.
“Hutton was here somewhere in the beginning of the century and then he went away during World War One and then he came back and stayed on for a long time, probably up till the 1930s or 40s.”
Dr. Dolly Kikon, a member of the Naga community and anthropology professor at the University of California, who co-founded the Recover, Restore, and Decolonize group under the Forum for Naga Reconciliation, is involved in the efforts to return human skulls from the UK.
She said the organization will request the respective tribes to decide what will happen to the remains of their ancestors once they are brought back to India.
“In cases where the remains are clearly identified as belonging to a respective Naga cultural group, it will depend on the elders and community members to determine the process. There are suggestions for burials, common memorial ceremonies, a memorial park signifying Naga unity and history, and also keeping the skulls as part of community history,” she said.
“Our role is to facilitate dialogues and take up awareness programs ... There is a need to connect repatriation to larger issues of colonial violence and the quest for dignity and justice.”
While it is not clear yet who will cover the expenses, some Naga activists, such as retired school principal Nyamto Wangsha, believe the UK should bear them.
“After identifying, we have to bury them and lay a memory stone in their name ... I feel the UK government should bear the expenses,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of the Britishers to bring back the skulls because they have taken them.”