Vast international child-porn network uncovered

These undated booking photos, taken by the national police in The Netherlands and provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, show Robert Mikelsons, who was sentenced in Amsterdam on May 21, 2012, to 18 years in prison for abusing dozens of babies and toddlers. A child pornography investigation, which began when a Massachusetts man sent a photo of a young Dutch boy to an undercover federal agent in Boston, led to the arrests of 43 men in seven countries and helped identify more than 140 child victims. (AP Photo/MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh)

BOSTON (AP) — The men came from different walks of life on two continents: a children's puppeteer in Florida, a hotel manager inMassachusetts, an emergency medical technician in Kansas, a day care worker in the Netherlands. In all, 43 men have been arrested over the past two years in a horrific, far-flung child porn network that unraveled like a sweater with a single loose thread.

In this case, the thread was a stuffed toy bunny.

The bunny, seen in a photo of a half-naked, distraught 18-month-old boy, was used to painstakingly trace a molester to Amsterdam. From there, investigators made one arrest after another of men accused of sexually abusing children, exchanging explicit photos of the attacks and even chatting online about abducting, cooking and eating youngsters.

Authorities have identified more than 140 young victims so far and say there is no end in sight as they pore through hundreds of thousands of images found on the suspects' computers. They are also trying to determine whether the men who talked about murder and cannibalism actually committed such acts or were just sharing twisted fantasies.

The still-widening investigation has been code-named Holitna, after a river in Alaska with many tributaries.

"They are the worst of the worst," said Bruce Foucart, agent in charge of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency'sHomeland Security Investigations unit in Boston. "This isn't just a child that's nude and someone's taking pictures of him; this is a child that's being raped by an adult, which is horrific."

The case began to unfold when Robert Diduca, a Sheraton hotel manager from Milford, Mass., sent the photo of the Dutch boy to an undercover federal agent in Boston. Diduca, a married father of three who used the screen name "Babytodd," thought he was sending the picture to another man with a sexual interest in babies and toddlers.

Agents forwarded the photo to Interpol, the international police organization, and to several other countries.

An investigator for the Dutch police recognized the stuffed bunny as Miffy, a familiar character in a series of Dutch children's books. She also traced the boy's orange sweater to a small Amsterdam store that had sold only 20 others like it.

The boy's photo was broadcast on a national TV program similar to "America's Most Wanted." Within minutes, friends and relatives called the child's mother.

Robert Mikelsons, a 27-year-old day care worker who baby-sat the boy, was arrested. On his computer were thousands and thousands of images of children being molested and raped, including the boy holding the stuffed bunny.

Photos and online chats found on computers owned by Diduca and Mikelsons led to more than three dozen other suspects in seven countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. The oldest victim in the Netherlands was 4, the youngest just 19 days old.

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, whose office prosecuted Diduca, said the demand for photos of sexual assaults of young children, including babies and toddlers, has increased sharply in recent years.

"This demand leads to the abuse of children, yet there is this misconception that somehow, viewing child pornography is a victimless crime," said. "It clearly is not."

Diduca pleaded guilty to child porn and sexual exploitation charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. His lawyer, Richard Sweeney, said Diduca was sexually abused as a child by a Boy Scout leader. "He gets it, he knows he needs to be punished, he knows what he did is wrong," Sweeney said.

Mikelsons also received an 18-year sentence, followed by indefinite psychiatric commitment, after confessing to sexually abusing more than 80 children.

The horror did not let up after the Mikelsons case.

In May, authorities arrested Michael Arnett of Roeland Park, Kan., after finding pornographic photos he allegedly produced. Agents discovered the pictures when they searched the computer of a Wisconsin man who had been chatting online with Mikelsons.

What they found on Arnett's computer was unlike anything some of the investigators had ever come across: long, graphic, online chats about his desire to abduct, kill and eat children. They said he had also made photos of a naked 2-year-old boy in a roasting pan inside his oven. The child and two other boys Arnett allegedly abused and photographed were later identified and found alive.

In July, authorities arrested four men they say had online discussions with Arnett about kidnapping and eating children. Those arrested included Ronald Brown, a children's puppeteer from Largo, Fla. (A YouTube video shows Brown during an appearance on a Christian TV kids show in the 1980s. In the video, he tells a child puppet that he did the right thing by refusing to look at "dirty pictures" some other youngsters tried to show him.)

In excerpts of an online chat between Arnett and Brown from 2011, the two men appear to be discussing their desire to cook a child for Easter.

"he would make a fine Easter feast," Arnett says.

"yes, his thighs and butt cheeks would be fantastic for Easter," Brown responds.

A lawyer for Arnett would not comment on the allegations. Brown's lawyer did not return calls.

Prosecutors said Brown acknowledged his online conversations but said that it was all a fantasy and that he would never hurt anyone.

"Obviously the discussions regarding their claims of cannibalism are disturbing and a concern to our agency," said ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein. He said agents are following all leads "to make sure these individuals didn't follow through on any of their claims."

To find the young victims, investigators carefully studied thousands of photos, read hours of Internet chats and worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They also employed some forensic wizardry.

After finding a video on Diduca's computer of a bound, 2-year-old boy being raped, investigators enhanced the images of furniture and carpet and determined the attack took place in a motel room in Bakersfield, Calif.

Then they pinpointed the date by way of a TV that was playing in the background in the video, figuring out exactly when a particular episode of "Family Matters" aired along with a certain Pepperidge Farms commercial.

A man from Black Forest, Colo., was arrested and is awaiting trial.

Similarly, in the Arnett case, investigators discovered that a water bottle in one of the photographs carried the name of a swim and scuba center in Overland Park, Kan. With the help of teachers at an elementary school, they identified three children shown in the photographs, including the toddler posed in the roasting pan.

The mother of one of the boys said she initially did not believe the allegations against Arnett, a family friend for about 15 years. She said her son, now 7, and several nephews often spent weekends at Arnett's home four or five years ago.

"Well, when we first got the phone call, we thought there's no way. You guys got the wrong guy," she said. The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual abuse or their families.

But then investigators showed her photos Arnett had allegedly taken of her son with a shirt and no pants.

"Regret? For sending my son with a sick-minded guy, that's the only regret I have. I had no idea," she said. "It's depressing."

For the agents working on the case, the leads never seem to end.

Last week, they arrested another Massachusetts man after finding child pornography and photos of what appeared to be dead children on his computer. He allegedly had online chats with Arnett and Brown.

More arrests are expected.

"The agents that work for me are extremely driven on this type of investigation," said Bart Cahill, assistant agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston. "They really believe that they are taking out horrific violators and saving kids."

___

Associated Press writers Maria Sudekum in Kansas City, Mo., and Matt Sedensky in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.

The Rare Earth Riches Buried Beneath Greenland’s Vast Ice

• Published: August 5th, 2012

By Fiona Harvey, The Guardian

Inside every wind turbine, inside computers, phones and other high-tech equipment from medical scanners to electric cars, are materials known as "rare earths". This small group of 17 elements are in extraordinary demand — but their supply is limited, and most of the existing sources have already been snapped up by China in its quest for ever more rapid economic growth.

Last month China — which controls more than 90% of the reserves of these essential elements — warned that its supplies were diminishing, despite quotas to limit exports. Beijing's top officials said in a memo: "After more than 50 years of excessive mining, China's rare earth reserves have kept declining and the years of guaranteed rare earth supply have been reducing."

This could spell disaster for the future of green technologies such as renewable energy and low-carbon vehicles.

Europe's Rare Earths Diplomacy

That is why Europe has been engaging in a strenuous bout of diplomacy with the home rule government of Greenland to allow access to the island's natural resources. According to geological estimates, below Greenland's vast ice sheet could lie enough rare earths to satisfy at least a quarter of global demand in the future.

The vice-president of the European commission, Antonio Tajani, has led the push, forging an agreement with Greenland to look at joint development of some of the deposits. The agreement will extend beyond rare earths to metals such as gold and iron, and potentially to oil and gas, which are abundant in the waters around the island.

"We need innovative partnerships with other countries over raw materials. Companies are pushing the commission for this — they need this to survive. Europe is not so wealthy in raw materials and needs to do better [at forming partnerships with other countries]." Tajani said rising commodity prices had created "an intrinsic incentive [to governments] to be more responsive, because companies have to pay more for their raw materials".

Greenland, in return, is keen to press ahead with exploring for its mineral resources, which in many cases lie trapped under 150 metres of ice. Henrik Stendal, head of the geology department at Greenland's Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, a Dane who has worked in Greenland since 1970, told the Guardian: "We have shown that we have huge potential — it has been an eye-opener for the mining industry. The EU has shown a lot of interest and that's been very good — we believe this could be very valuable for Greenland. There could be benefits for everyone — at present most of our income is from fishing and a little bit of tourism, so the government really wants another income."

Environmental Concerns

But the key question is whether these activities can be carried out without damaging the pristine Arctic environment. Stendal says the government is determined to ensure miners adhere to the highest international standards, though he admits officials have little experience of regulating extraction. Jon Burgwald of Greenpeace fears not: "I'm definitely nervous about the current mining projects. The information we need on these operations has not been made public."

Burgwald says waste water from the mines is a major issue, as if it is not disposed of properly it could have "very serious impacts". The use of toxic chemicals in some mining processes is another problem, and the transport of the products to and from the mine sites could also raise issues. Equally problematically, some of the rare earths are likely to be found in deposits that also contain uranium, which could lead to the dispersal of uranium dust in a pristine environment.

China, which controls more than 90% of the reserves of these essential elements, warned that its supplies were diminishing. Credit: Google Earth.

Mikkel Myrup, of the local environmental organisation Avataq, believes the Greenland government lacks the capabilities to ensure the environmental safety of mines at present. "We do not have the institutions ready, or the competencies, and we are facing a huge invasion from many big multinational companies."

The scramble for the Arctic is part of a bigger pattern, a looming resource crunch that connects commuters delayed by stolen power lines to vanishing manhole covers across Europe — a crunch fuelled by severe pressure on key commodities across the world. Rapid economic growth in large developing nations — China, India, Brazil and others — along with growing urbanization and a swelling global population set to top 9 billion have made unprecedented demands on natural resources. In the past few years, we have seen a series of food crises, soaring fossil fuel prices and hikes in the cost of key traditional raw materials such as iron, steel and copper, as well as the rare earths.

Countries in control of such resources can take a commanding position in the world economy. China realised this some years ago and has not only cornered the market in rare earths but embarked on a land grab to secure its food supplies. Other countries have been slower off the mark, but are trying to catch up.

The race for resources is threatening some of the world's most fragile environments, from the Arctic to the Amazon, from Madagascar to Papua New Guinea.

Exporting Technology

Recognizing this, Tajani's prospective partnerships extend well beyond Greenland. "We are working with Africa — and in particular South Africa, where there is an abundance of many important raw materials. The EU is signing an agreement with the African Union and we have also signed an agreement on raw materials with Chile, Argentina, Uruguay. We now even have a dialogue with China and Russia for the first time."

In return, according to Tajani, Europe can offer its expertise. "Technological assistance is something we can contribute overseas," he said. "This will be valuable to other economies."

But in a nod to environmental concerns, Tajani also insisted Europe must seek to use its resources better, wasting less and recycling more, where possible. "We want better resource efficiency. One of the uses of the economic crisis is that it has become more important for companies to show competitiveness by being more efficient with resources, and of course for a green economy this is also a top priority," he said.

The reuse of resources would also be key, he said. "Recycling is very important, we need to do more recycling in Europe. At present, we ship a lot of waste to China but why not do more of it in Europe — if we send abroad, we have all the side costs associated, but if do it here we develop another industry that is very important for raw materials for industry," he said.

A recycling industry could also be a source of exports. "If we do this efficiently, we can export technology to other countries that need to be regulated properly," he said.

Urban Mining

He also urged a new focus on finding resources within the continent that have been overlooked, abandoned, or have been uneconomic to extract until now. "Many mines were left unexploited, but now we can extract more cost-efficiently and so we are looking at areas where we can do that," Tajani said.

He pointed to Greece as one area where more resource extraction could take place, as a boost to the economy. Some of Greece's potential mining areas remain underexploited, in part because of increasing pressure on the land and because the focus of the economy shifted to tourism.

As part of this push, Tajani is keen to explore mining activities within Europe's densely populated landmass — including "urban mining". At present, this is rarely practised because of the difficulty of putting mining operations into inhabited areas, but with the advance of greener mining techniques could be viable. This would mean people being in much closer proximity to mines, with all of the environmental and development difficulties that entails. Such urban mining operations could also include mining old landfill sites for materials — this would follow in the footsteps of China, where companies have been excavating rubbish tips to unearth silicon and other components for use in solar panels.

Eastern Europe may also offer some potential for increasing the production of existing mines, according to Tajani. Beyond that, however, and a few areas of the Arctic and Barents Sea, the scope for new resources from Europe is limited, making Greenland an attractive proposition.

The Arctic Campaign

Tajani also insisted that oil and gas were priorities, and that the Arctic would be a key area for exploration. Greenland's resources could amount to nearly 50 billion barrels of oil, a massive potential resource for the EU as most of Europe's currently exploited oil and gas fields belong to Norway, a non-member of the bloc. But if new oil and gas could be found within less explored waters, that would also a prize. Tajani pointed to the Barents Sea — within the Arctic — that could yield new oil and gas fields.

Greenland ice sheet. Credit: Science.

These would be just as problematic to exploit as those of Greenland, where Greenpeace has mounted a strong campaign to protect Arctic waters from oil and gas drilling. The conservation group argues that not only is it dangerous for the climate to recover these fossil fuels, but dangerous for the pristine environment because oil spills or blowouts of the type that blighted the Gulf of Mexico would have catastrophic consequences.

By contrast, the campaigning group is not opposing mining on the ice sheet if it is tightly regulated. For Greenpeace, the urgent demand for renewable energy technology means mining for rare earths can be an environmentally beneficial activity — provided it is done in the right way.

"Mining can be controllable, in a way that is not possible with deep sea drilling," says Burgwald. "We are keeping a close eye on this, and we could oppose [developments] if we saw they were not being done right, but there is no doubt that opening up for mining in Greenland still could have a very positive impact."

Reprinted from The Guardian with permission.

Eye on Iran and Syria, Israel hardens missile shield

An Arrow II missile interceptor is displayed in front of journalists at an Israeli air defence command in the Palmahim military base south of Tel Aviv May 12, 2011. REUTERS/ Nir Elias

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is upgrading its Arrow II ballistic missile shield in a U.S.-backed "race" against Iran, Syria and other regional enemies, a senior Israeli defense official said on Sunday.

The new "Block 4" generation of guided interceptor rockets, radars and technologies for synchronizing Arrow with U.S. systems was being installed in deployed Israeli batteries, a process that would take several weeks, the official said.

"The accuracy and the reach will be greater," the official said of Arrow, which has been operational since 2000 and is designed to blow up incoming missiles at altitudes high enough for non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely.

"It is part of the technological race in the region," the official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

Long jittery about Iran's disputed nuclear program, the Israelis have more recently worried the Syrian insurgency could loosen Damascus's hold on its chemical weapons and missiles.

Israel has threatened to attack preemptively in both countries, a prospect that could trigger wider war and clash with Washington's efforts to resolve the crises diplomatically.

Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has repeatedly vowed to retaliate against any attack. "(Israel) knows that attacking Iran is an unattainable wish, unless the regime seeks to commit suicide," Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA on Sunday.

The Pentagon and U.S. firm Boeing Co are partners in Arrow, an investment that the Obama administration hopes will help stay Israel's hand.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last week that Israeli interceptors like Arrow and Iron Dome, which shoots down short-range guerrilla rockets, were "designed to prevent wars".

Arrow has scored a 80 percent to 90 percent success rate in field tests, system designer Uzi Rubin told Israel's Army Radio.

ALLIES

"It's always undergoing changes and improvements, as well as adaptations to new threats," Rubin said.

Iran on Saturday unveiled a new short-range missile which it said was capable of striking land and sea targets. Syria, for its part, last month went public with its chemical arsenal, saying it was intended for last-resort use against "external aggression".

Tehran also has Islamist guerrilla allies in Lebanon and Gaza who could shell neighboring Israel during any regional conflict. Their short-range rocket arsenals have been expanding and improving as well, the senior Israeli defense official said.

Having helped underwrite Arrow, the Americans were free to draw on its technologies for their own uses, the official said.

"The policy of the (Israeli) Ministry of Defense is to provide all data to the U.S., for the security of the U.S., including on targets, interceptors, radars and command and control," the official said.

With Congress also lavishing cash on Iron Dome, some U.S. lawmakers have called on Israel to share that system, too.

The Israeli official said that though Iron Dome was different to Arrow as it was developed entirely by Israel, the current policy was to provide the Americans data upon request while a more permanent arrangement is negotiated.

In parallel to Arrow II, Israel is developing Arrow III, which is due to be operational in 2014 or 2015. Unlike previous generations of the interceptor, Arrow III will engage incoming missiles in space, using detachable warheads that, turning into "kamikaze" satellites, will seek out and slam into the target.

Israel is also working on a more powerful rocket interceptor than Iron Dome, known as David's Sling or Magic Wand, which is due out next year. Meshed together and with U.S. counterparts, the three Israeli systems would form a multi-tier shield providing several opportunities to intercept incoming missiles.

(Adiitional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai, Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Anthony Boadle and Rosalind Russell)

New study ties global warming to recent year heat

An analysis by a top government scientist says the extreme heat and drought seen in the U.S., Europe and other regions in recent years must be global warming. Specifically the study by NASA scientist James Hansen blames climate change for last year's drought in Texas and Oklahoma, the 2010 heat wave in Russia and the 2003 European heat wave that led to tens of thousands of deaths.

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2011 file photo, Sailboats and a floating dock lie on the dry, cracked dirt in a harbor at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City as drought continues to be a problem across the state. The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare and off-the-charts that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist says.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — An analysis by a top government scientistsays the extreme heat and drought seen in the U.S., Europe and other regions in recent years must be global warming. Specifically the study by NASA scientist James Hansen blames climate changefor last year's drought in Texas and Oklahoma, the 2010 heat wave in Russia and the 2003 European heat wave that led to tens of thousands of deaths.

Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview that the world is now experiencing scientific fact.

Hansen's research is respected by other climate scientists. But he is also an activist who has pushed for curbing greenhouse gases. Some experts don't expect the new study to change any minds. Hansen's work was published online Saturday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

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Iran warns against foreign intervention in Syria

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran warned against foreign intervention in Syria on Sunday and said the conflict there could engulf Israel, Iranian media said.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani accused the United States and regional countries he did not name of providing military support to rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran.

Syria has accused Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia of backing rebels in Syria and fuelling violence there. Iran has supported Assad's efforts to crush the 17-month revolt and has accused Western countries and Israel of interfering in the crisis.

"The fire that has been ignited in Syria will take the fearful (Israelis) with it," Larijani said on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

"What really allows these countries to interfere in internal Syrian affairs?" Larijani was quoted as saying.

Larijani is considered a moderate conservative and a close follower of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful man in Iran who decides foreign policy. Larijani is also a critic ofPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and widely expected to run for president in 2013.

Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, a key ally of Khamenei and father-in-law to the paramount leader's son, Mojtaba, said on Sunday the people of Syria should not allow the United States and Israel to break the "resistance front", IRNA reported.

"Since the Americans and (Israelis) do not want to solve the Syrian issue, they continue to make the...region insecure," Haddad Adel was quoted as saying.

On Friday, following his visit to Moscow to discuss Syria, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said "terrorist groups" supported by foreign forces were operating in Damascus and Aleppo, IRNA reported.

Amir-Abdollahian said "tens of thousands of weapons" had entered Syria from neighboring countries and were being used by groups including al Qaeda.

"Unfortunately America and regional countries ... do not take steps to control the borders," Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying.

Amir-Abdollahian said he did not believe Syria would be attacked by foreign powers, but that if it were, it would not need Iran's help in defending itself.

"Syria has been ready for years to respond to any military attack against it by (Israel) or other countries, and can respond strongly to any military action by itself and with complete readiness," he was quoted as saying.

Iran and Russia support the six-point plan presented by former UN peace envoy Kofi Annan to solve the crisis. A frustrated Annan resigned his post last week, blaming "finger-pointing and name-calling" at the U.N. Security Council for his decision to quit.

Iran has blamed the United States and countries in the region for the failure of Annan's plan.