Daily Archives: March 29, 2017

Despite Brexit, Britain still partner in NATO, Europe: Germany – Hindustan Times

Posted: March 29, 2017 at 10:59 am

Britain remains a key ally for the European Union and NATO, a spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said onWednesday, as London formally launched the process to quit the bloc.

We must not forget that the UK is still a partner, in NATO and in Europe, Ulrike Demmer told journalists, adding that Londons Brexit notification would give more clarity on how Britain planned to handle the divorce process.

On this basis, the 27 member states and EU institutions will define their interests and aims, Demmer said, adding that Berlin was well prepared for the coming negotiations.

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German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer echoed the message, saying that we are proud of the clear, unanimous stance of the EU 27, that they stood their ground that there would be no pre-negotiations. They begin now.

Underlining the importance of quickly obtaining clarity on the negotiation process, Schaefer emphasised that uncertainty is poison for the people -- the EU citizens, Germans who live in Britain and what their future status would be, likewise for British citizens living in the European Union.

Perhaps its even more poisonous for economic trade and investment relations, he added, questioning if London really understood what kind of impact there could be for the British economy when all these questions have to be addressed, and noting the damn tight two-year negotiation period.

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Russia and NATO War Games Raise Tensions in Black Sea – Newsweek

Posted: at 10:59 am

Russian warships fired missiles Wednesday as part of amilitary exercise near Crimea in the Black Sea, where rival NATO forces, including the U.S., have also recently deployed for drills.

Moscow's naval drills included the Bora-classSamumhoverborneguided missile corvette, Nanuchka-classMirazhmissile ship and Tarantul-class R-239 missile boat. The Sukhoi Su-24 fighter attack aircraft andBe-200 amphibious plane were also active in separate phases of the training exercises. The operations were held to evaluate Russia's sea and air defenses, Russian Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachyov told Sputnik International, and came in response to recent military actions by Moscow's rival, NATO, near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Last weekNATO members Romania and the U.S. began joint war drills known as "Spring Storm 17" on the coast of the Black Sea. The operations involved 450 U.S. Marines and 750 Romanian soldiers and included handheld surface-to-air rocket tests, according to the Associated Press. The U.S., which was by far NATO's biggest financial contributor, and European allies have been particularly ambitious about securing their interests in the Black Sea region since Russia's intervention in Ukraine, which Kiev and NATO argued was a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. The U.S. has also sent to the region the Harpers Ferry-class USS Carter Hall dock landing ship and USS Porter Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which was involved in an allegedly "unsafe" encounter with two RussianSu-24 fighter-bombers last month, according to Reuters.

NATO's "Spring Storm 17"followed the"Black Shield 2017" exercise in which the Western military alliance joined the forces of the U.S., Spain, Canada, Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania for a massive show of force miles from Russian territory, News Corp Australia reported. Moscow has maintained that its annexation of Crimea, which had an ethnic Russian majority, was done to protect the interests of the Russian community during Ukraine's 2014 political crisis. Both NATO and Russia have accused one another of warmongering behavior, which has led to the largest parallel military escalations between the two factions since the Cold War.

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NATO to spend 3 billion euros on satellite, cyber defenses – Reuters

Posted: at 10:59 am

By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS NATO plans to spend 3 billion euros ($3.24 billion) to upgrade its satellite and computer technology over the next three years as the Western military alliance adapts to new threats, a senior official said.

Seeking to deter hackers, and other threats including Iranian missiles, the investments underscore NATO's recognition that conflicts are increasingly fought on computer networks as well as in the air, on land and at sea.

A senior official at the NATO Communications and Information Agency said the plans include a 1.7-billion-euro investment in satellite communications to better support troops and ships deployed across the alliance, as well as aiding the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones.

It was not immediately clear if NATO allies would fund a new military communications satellite to be launched into space or if an increase in broadband capacity could be gained from existing U.S. and other allied satellites.

Non-NATO member Japan launched its first military communications satellite in January.

The proposals, for which some funding must still be approved by NATO governments, also envisage spending about 800 million euros on the computer systems that help command air and missile defenses, said the official, who declined to be named.

Seventy-one million euros will go to improving the protection of NATO's 32 main locations from cyber attacks.

NATO says it has seen a five-fold increase in suspicious events on its networks in the past three years, while Russian group APT28 is blamed by Western intelligence for the hacking of the U.S. Democratic Party during last year's U.S. election.

NATO officials have told Reuters they suspect Russia sponsors attacks against their networks before major summits.

Another 180 million euros are to be spent to provide more secure mobile communications for alliance soldiers in the field.

NATO will present its needs in detail at a conference in Ottawa in April and then begin launching the bidding process.

It is likely to attract major Western defense contracts including Airbus Group, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp, the official said, in part because "there cannot be content that does not come from NATO nations."

NATO rules prohibit Russian or Chinese suppliers unless there is a specific need that allied companies cannot provide.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

TABQA DAM, Syria Spillways at the Tabqa Dam in Syria are working normally after engineers managed to carry out repairs, a local alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias said on Wednesday, despite shelling by Islamic State that temporarily halted their work.

ROME A rubber boat packed with 147 migrants sank in the Mediterranean and all but one of its passengers drowned, the sole survivor - a 16-year-old Gambian boy - told rescuers, the International Migration Organization (IOM) said on Wednesday.

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‘Biggest mission since Afghanistan’ British troops mass in Poland to ‘deter Russia’ – Express.co.uk

Posted: at 10:59 am

The troops have been deployed to reassure allies fearful of Russia in what Forces TV called 'Britains biggest mission since Afghanistan.'

The 150 Light Dragoons have joined a 1,100 strong American-led forces which will be based just 100 miles from Russian territory.

In total at least 1,350 American, British and Romanian soldiers have been sent to Poland from a base in Germany.

Brigadier General Timothy McGuire, the US Army's Deputy Commander in Europe, spoke to soldiers shortly before their departure reiterating the purpose of their mission.

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He said: This is no invasion force but if necessary it will deter threats.

US army commander Lt. Col. Steven Gventer, insisted that the mission was not being treated as a drill by troops.

He said: You never start a fight but you always finish it.

We'll always be prepared to do that but that's not our desire.

The decision from NATO comes as Putin moved missile systems and troops into the Kaliningrad oblast, which borders Poland and Lithuania. The outcrop of Russian territory is a relic of the Soviet Union and is seperated from the rest of Russia by other Baltic states.

Around 4,000 Nato troops have been placed across Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

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Members of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade fire blanks from a machine gun during a simulated attack

This is no invasion force but if necessary it will deter threats

US army commander Lt. Col. Steven Gventer

A fleet of 300 UK military vehicles are set to be delivered to Estonia including Challenger 2, Titan and Trojan tanks and AS90 self-propelled artillery pieces.

A 450 strong German force has been sent to Lithuania to work alongside Belgian and Danish soldiers in the region.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: In the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, Nato is stepping up its commitment to collective defence.

British troops will play a leading role in Estonia and support our US allies in Poland, as part of wider efforts to defend Nato.

Our rising defence budget means we can support those deployments in the long-term and strengthen our commitment to European security.

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"They’re Like The Praetorian Guard" – Whistleblower Confirms …

Posted: at 10:59 am

Authored by Chris Menahan via InformationLiberation.com,

NSA whistleblower William Binney told Tucker Carlson on Friday that the NSA is spying on "all the members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, both House and Senate, as well as the White House."

Binney, who served the NSA for 30 years before blowing the whistle on domestic spying in 2001, told Tucker he firmly believes that Trump was spied on.

"They're taking in fundamentally the entire fiber network inside the United States and collecting all that data and storing it, in a program they call Stellar Wind," Binney said.

"That's the domestic collection of data on US citizens, US citizens to other US citizens," he said. "Everything we're doing, phone calls, emails and then financial transactions, credit cards, things like that, all of it."

"Inside NSA there are a set of people who are -- and we got this from another NSA whistleblower who witnessed some of this -- they're inside there, they are targeting and looking at all the members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, both House and Senate, as well as the White House," Binney said.

"And all this data is inside the NSA in a small group where they're looking at it. The idea is to see what people in power over you are going to -- what they think, what they think you should be doing or planning to do to you, your budget, or whatever so you can try to counteract before it actually happens," he said.

"I mean, that's just East German," Tucker responded.

Rather than help prevent terrorist attacks, Binney said collecting so much information actually makes stopping attacks more difficult.

"This bulk acquisition is inhibiting their ability to detect terrorist threats in advance so they can't stop them so people get killed as a result," he said.

"Which means, you know, they pick up the pieces and blood after the attack. That's what's been going on. I mean they've consistently failed. When Alexander said they'd stop 54 attacks and he was challenged to produce the evidence to prove that he failed on every count."

Binney concludes ominously indicating the origin of the deep state...

"They are like the praetorian guard, they determine what the emperor does and who the emperor is..."

Who's going to stop them?

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GOP accuses Democrats of blocking closed FBI, NSA testimony on Russia – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 10:59 am

Republicans charged Tuesday that Democrats are blocking the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia from moving forward by refusing to sign a letter that would officially invite FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers back before the committee for closed-door testimony.

Republicans have made clear they want that testimony before hearing from others, and say it will allow the committee to be as informed as possible when interviewing future witnesses.

Committee member Rep. Peter King, R-NY, verified the information about the letter that was described to the Washington Examiner by a source close to the committee who requested anonymity.

"My understanding is that Devin [Nunes] or the general counsel for the Republican side prepared a letter to Director Comey and Director Rogers asking them to testify at a closed session, and that thus far, the Democrats have not signed it," King said.

"The purpose of the closed session is to start getting answers to many of the questions that Director Comey could not answer at the public hearing because of the ongoing investigation. To me, if Democrats want answers to their questions, this is one way to get them. So I'm surprised they're not agreeing to this right away," King added.

A Democratic committee aide replied by accusing Republicans of trying to eliminate the open hearing entirely.

"Republicans wanted to do the closed hearing in lieu of the open hearing they were hoping to schedule it at the exact same time as the open hearing, even though all the witnesses [Brennan, Clapper and Yates] were prepared to testify," the aide said. "We would welcome hearing from Directors Comey and Rogers again just not instead of the open hearing."

The delay in setting up the closed hearing also means that the testimony volunteered by four persons related to Trump campaign Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Roger Stone, and son-in-law Jared Kushner is on hold indefinitely, as the committee wants to have the closed session first.

Comey and Rogers have already given their open testimony to the committee. But just two days later, Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., made his bombshell revelations in which he claimed to have reviewed raw intelligence documents that allegedly show members of the Trump transition team being caught up and named in legal surveillance of foreign nationals. Nunes also briefed the White House on his findings, a move which was controversial enough at the time, but has grown even more so in recent days.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Sanders says to forget about a deal on healthcare.

03/29/17 10:41 AM

Last Friday, Nunes announced the committee was cancelling the already-planned second open hearing which would have included former National Intelligence Director James Clapper and former acting US Attorney General Sally Yates. "We are asking Mr. Comey and Mr. Rogers to come back in. And until we can get them in in a closed session, it's not going to be worth it to have the open session," he said.

Democrats blasted the decision at the time. "What's really involved here is the cancellation of this open hearing and the rest is designed to distract," said ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Democrats said they were skeptical that Nunes' revelations might have been coordinated by the White House. That speculation intensified this week after CNN reported Nunes had been on the White House grounds to meet the source for the documents behind his claims.

Nunes explained the episode in an interview with CNN by saying his White House visit was a fairly common happening, and that the information he needed to view could only be done so at places with the correct computer security and clearances, which was available at the White House.

Numerous Democrats have called for Nunes to step away from the investigation, but thus far he has refused to do so.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"April is a tough reporter that knows how to throw it out and take it back."

03/29/17 10:28 AM

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Closed House intel hearing with Comey and NSA cancelled – TRUNEWS

Posted: at 10:59 am

March 28, 2017

The spokesman for House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes says Tuesdays close door session with FBI Director James Comey is cancelled

(WASHINGTON, DC) The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee will not hold on Tuesday a closed briefing with the directors of the FBI and National Security Agency, a spokesman for the committee's Republican chairman said on Monday.

Representative Devin Nunes, the committee's chairman, last week said he canceled a public hearing on the committee's investigation of Russian influence on the 2016 election because it was necessary to hold the closed session with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers.

"Director Comey and Adm. Rogers could not come in tomorrow as wed hoped, so the Committee will continue to try to schedule a time when they can meet with us in closed session," Jack Langer, a spokesman for Nunes, said in a statement.

CNN reports that though Mr. Nunes cancelled the Tuesday close door meeting, he still plans to hold a private briefings with FBI Director James B. Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rodgers in the near future.

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Report: Phil to invoke Fifth Amendment if asked to testify in insider-trading case – Golf.com

Posted: at 10:58 am

Phil Mickelson's lawyer says that he is "innocent of any wrongdoing" in the case.

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Phil Mickelson won't be called to testify in the insider-trading case involving gambler Billy Walters because he would invoke the Fifth Amendment.Bloomberg reports that Mickelson would make use of his rights under the amendment, which protects against self-incrimination, to avoid testifying.

"He is on our witness list, but we understand from his counsel he would invoke his Fifth Amendment if called," said Barry Berke, one of the lawyers in the case.

Walters is accused of making $43 million using insider trading tips from Tom C. Davis, who was the chairman of Dean Foods Co. Walters was a golfing buddy of Mickelson's and passed some of these tips to Mickelson, who used them to make $931,000. Mickelson has since said he will repay this money. The government did not accuse Mickelson of committing a crime or of knowing that the tips he'd received were from an inside source.

On March 22, the Associated Press reported that Mickelson believed he would not be called to testify in the trial.

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Phil Mickelson to take the Fifth if called as a witness in insider … – GolfDigest.com

Posted: at 10:58 am

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 25: Phil Mickelson looks on after winning his match 4&3 on the 15th hole during round four of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at the Austin Country Club on March 25, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Phil Mickelson has long been known as one of golf's great talkers, but it seems he won't be opening his mouth at an ongoing insider trading trial. Mickelson, who was cleared last year of any wrongdoing in the case involving gambler Billy Walters, could potentially serve as a witness. However, Bloomberg News reported the five-time major champion is unlikely to be called to the stand because he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Mickelson's intention, reportedly, was revealed in court on Monday during a sidebar conference between lawyers and the judge.

"He is on our witness list, but we understand from his counsel he would invoke his Fifth Amendment if called," attorney Barry Berke said, according to a transcript obtained by Bloomberg. "So he will not be called as a witness, although his name will be mentioned."

Billy Walters, a golf buddy of Mickelson, stands accused of making $43 million on inside-trading tips received by Tom C. Davis, the former chairman of Dean Foods Co. Mickelson made nearly $1 million in trades involving Dean Foods after receiving information by Walters, but regulators didn't charge him with any crime. Mickelson has paid back the money and has been named a "relief defendant" by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

During jury selection earlier this month, Mickelson's fame was a common topic of discussion.

"Im going to excuse this juror," U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel reportedly told lawyers out of earshot of the potential jurors. "From my observations, there is an attachment. Mr. Mickelsons name is out there, but this juror impressed me with a different level of reaction. The look of rapture on her face at the mention of his name and her repeatedly saying it wouldnt influence her is enough for me."

At last week's WGC-Dell Match Play, Mickelson told the Associate Press, "I'm not a part of that . . . I'm out. I won't be called."

"I haven't even thought about it," Mickelson continued. "I don't think I'm going to say any more."

RELATED: Understanding the Phil Mickelson case

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Senate Intel Committee May Interview Ex-UK Spy Christopher Steele – NBCNews.com

Posted: at 10:58 am

The Senate Intelligence Committee is in talks to interview Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence operative who compiled the dossier that alleges a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, three sources with direct knowledge told NBC News.

Steele, however, remains concerned about his safety and is not inclined to leave London. He is also concerned about how he might be treated by the Trump administration, according to the sources. The FBI was poised last fall to pay Steele, a former officer with the British Secret Intelligence Service, for information, but that deal fell through, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Two Congressional officials told NBC News that the Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet reached an agreement on how and when to interview the Trump associates who have volunteered to testify, including Paul Manafort, Carter Page and Roger Stone. If any of those men seek criminal immunity for their testimony, the committee would not be inclined to grant it, officials say. The committee could then subpoena them, but they could assert their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to answer questions.

Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who compiled a dossier on Donald Trump, poses in London where he has spoken to the media for the first time on March 7. Victoria Jones / PA via AP Images

A Russian man accused of attacking computers around the world, including thousands in the United States, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday.

Maxim Senakh, 41, was arrested last year in Finland as he was returning to Russia from vacation a move that authorities in Moscow denounced as "an abuse of the law." Russia tried to persuade Finland not to hand over Senakh to American authorities, but he was ultimately extradited.

Prosecutors said Senakh admits he and his co-conspirators used malware to take over a globe-spanning web of computers, creating a botnet that directed users to Internet scams that generated millions of dollars.

He'll be sentenced Aug. 3 in Minneapolis federal court on one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and wire fraud.

President Trumps "cyber czar," ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, has joined the defense team of a gold trader who is under federal indictment for fraud, money laundering and evading sanctions on Iran, and who has ties to Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

Reza Zarrab, 33, was arrested March 19 in Florida. Hes accused of ducking sanctions by moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian firms via offshore entities and bank accounts.

Prosecutor Joon Kim sent a letter notifying the judge in Zarrabs case that Giuliani had joined the defense, and that Zarrab had also hired ex-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Kim said he was "advis[ing] the Court of potential conflicts of interest," since Giuliani and Mukaseys firms also represent some banks Zarrab used in transactions.

Erdogan defended Zarrab when the dual Turkish-Iranian citizen was fingered in a 2013 Turkish corruption scandal that also implicated Erdogan associates. The Turkish leader called Zarrab, who had given his wifes charity $4.5 million, a philanthropist. All charges against Zarrab and Erdogans pals were dropped.

Zarrabs lead attorney, Ben Brafman, told NBC News he would remain as lead counsel, and that neither Giuliani, Mukasey nor their firms would appear in court.

A former New York City prosecutor accused of forging judges' signatures to wiretap a colleague and a detective for personal reasons has been hit with federal charges.

Tara Lenich, 41, was indicted in federal court on Monday, four months after she was arrested and fired by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, where she was a deputy bureau chief.

Authorities say that after Lenich forged the orders, she misappropriated equipment to eavesdrop on her targets' cellphones and also created bogus search warrants to obtain their text messages.

The scheme came to light when it was noticed that the wiretap orders were renewed again and again. A law-enforcement source said Lenich's motive was jealousy; she had a romantic interest in the detective and viewed a female prosecutor as a rival.

"Unfortunately, sometimes those close to the law stray far from the truth," FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney said. "As demonstrated today, however, everyone is expected to play by the rules; for this we'll make no exceptions."

Lenich's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

The anti-Assad, anti-ISIS group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered tweeted out a graphic today that said coalition airstrikes on Raqqa, Syria, the ISIS capital, have increased by more than 100 percent since Jan. 1. Kurdish forces and U.S.-backed Syrian fighters are now massing north of Raqqa for a ground assault.

A top financial supporter of Hezbollah was arrested overseas earlier this month on an 11-count indictment unsealed Friday in federal court.

Kassim Tajideen of Beirut, Lebanon is charged with evading U.S. sanctions placed on his because of his financial support for Hezbollah, officially designated as a terror group by the U.S. government.

The arrest came after a two-year investigation let by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and is part of Project Cassandra, which targets Hezbollah's global support network. Tajideen is accused of operating front companies for Hezbollah, and was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2009.

The indictment says that over the past three years, Tajideen transferred more than $27 million via at least 47 wire transfers to individuals in the U.S., who helped Tajideen continue to do business with U.S. companies and ship U.S. goods out of the U.S.

Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, declined Thursday to endorse his House counterpart's assertion that lawmakers have been briefed on "more than circumstantial evidence," that Trump associates colluded with the Russian operation to interfere in the presidential election.

Leaving a closed-door briefing, the Virginia senator was asked by NBC News whether he agreed with Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Schiff told Chuck Todd on MTP Daily Wednesday,"I can't go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now."

Warned responded, "There are ever increasing amounts of smoke."

Senior U.S. officials believe, based on the latest intelligence, that North Korea is not an immediate threat to the U.S. or Japan.

But South Korea is another story. The threat to South Korea, said one official, is "grave and current."

A senior intelligence official said that the U.S. assessment is that North Korea has eight to 10 nuclear weapons, with the number more likely to be eight than 10. That number is in line with estimates by outside experts. The Federation of American Scientists, for example, estimates 10-to-20, but as Hans Kristensen, director of the FAS Nuclear Information Project, says, "it is unclear if they are operational yet."

Miniaturizing warheads to put them on long-range missiles might be a challenge for the North Koreans. But Seoul is less than 40 miles from the DMZ that separates South and North. Korea has many shorter range missiles that could theoretically deliver nuclear payloads inside South Korea, as well as to border regions of China and Russia.

Kim Jong Un looks at a rocket warhead tip in this undated photo. (C) KCNA KCNA / Reuters / Reuters

The Pakistani Taliban said a U.S. drone strike over the weekend in Afghanistan killed a senior military commander who was known for his skill in training suicide bombers.

Qari Mohammad Yasin, also known as Ustad Aslam, died in a drone strike in Afghanistan's Paktika province. He was linked to an attack on the Pakistani military headquarters in Rawalpindi and an attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka's national cricket team.

"We lost a brave man and the trainer of trainers in a U.S drone attack," said Asad Mansoor, the spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar ( TTP-JA), a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, presently based in Afghanistan.

Yasin was given the title "Ustad," or teacher, because he trained suicide bombers.

The family of a former FBI agent turned CIA consultant who vanished in Iran ten years ago filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the government of Iran, saying it had lied to cover up its role in his detention.

The suit seeks damages from Iran for allegedly inflicting emotional distress on the wife and seven children of Robert A. Levinson, a private investigator who was last seen in 2007 on the Iranian island of Kish. He was apparently on an unauthorized CIA mission at the time.

The Iranian government says it does not know what happened to Levinson. The family received a proof of life photo in 2011 showing Levinson in an orange jumpsuit holding a sign saying, "HELP ME." Levinson, whose 69th birthday was on March 10, was apparently kidnapped on March 9, 2007. The suit alleges that the Iranian government is using photographs and video of Levinson in captivity to create the false impression that someone other than the government is holding him.

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson after they received it in April 2011, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson family via AP

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