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(Reuters) - Japan's economy rebounded from recession to grow an annualized 2.2 percent in the final quarter of last year, giving a much-needed boost to premier Shinzo Abe's efforts to shake off decades of stagnation even as the global outlook deteriorates.

But the expansion was smaller than a 3.7 percent increase forecast in a Reuters poll, suggesting a fragile recovery for the world's third-largest economy as consumer mood remained soft and uneven global growth weighed on exports.

Still, the return to growth will allow the Bank of Japan to hold off on expanding monetary stimulus in coming months, even as slumping oil prices push inflation further away from its 2 percent target, analysts say.

The data will be one of the key factors the BOJ will scrutinize at its two-day rate review ending on Wednesday, where it is widely set to maintain the current pace of asset purchases in its monetary stimulus program.

The preliminary reading for gross domestic product (GDP), which translates into a quarter-on-quarter increase of 0.6 percent, follows two straight quarters of contraction blamed on the hit on consumption from a sales tax hike last April.

External demand added 0.2 percentage point to growth in the quarter, a sign the weak yen was finally driving up exports.

Private consumption, which makes up about 60 percent of the economy, rose 0.3 percent in the final quarter, less than a median market forecast for a 0.7 percent increase.

Japan's economy slid into recession in July-September last year, prompting Abe to delay a second sales tax hike initially scheduled in October 2015.

The slump slowed Japan's quest to beat off nearly two decades of grinding deflation, and forced the BOJ into expanding monetary stimulus in October last year.

(Additional reporting by Stanley White; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

With all the media frenzy centering upon hostilities in Ukraine, it's easy to lose track of the original goals of the Maidan revolution which occurred one year ago. Just what was the revolt all about in the first place? It's a somewhat tricky question to ask since rebellion against the unpopular government of Viktor Yanukovych unfolded in distinct phases with constituencies often pushing conflicting agendas. But while the crowd at Maidan may have shared distinct notions about social change, many were united in calling for more overall transparency and accountability when it comes to government.

For Ukrainians, corruption is one of the most pressing problems facing society today. According to the Economist, "weak institutions, low morale, and an underdeveloped sense of public service have made everyone from judges to traffic police liable to corruption over Ukraine's entire post-Soviet history." Such historic trends have continued very much into the present day, and recently Transparency International categorized Ukraine as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In the study, Ukraine ranked only slightly higher than Congo, Angola and Haiti.

Welcome to Kleptocracy

Needless to say, Ukraine is reportedly the most corrupt country in Europe, even more so than Russia. Janek Lasocki, an advocacy coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations, notes "By way of illustration, one can point to the oft-repeated statistic that Poland and Ukraine were similarly run and sized economies in 1990; and yet today Poland's economy is three times larger." Such realities have prompted the likes of Devin Ackles to sit up and take notice. Ackles, who works as an analyst for CASE Ukraine, a not-for-profit specializing in economic research, has remarked that "Ukraine has become one of the biggest kleptocracies in the world."

In a telling article, Ackles succinctly sums up Ukraine's plight. "Shortly after independence in 1991," he writes, "a new tradition developed in Ukraine. People entered the government, whether at the local or national level, primarily to find ways to improve their financial standing by milking the system. When MPs turn up to work in Range Rovers while sporting fancy tailor made suits and unfathomably expensive timepieces, no one is fooled for a second that they were able to pay for these luxuries on their meager state salaries." During this time, so-called "oligarchs" benefited handily from shady privatization deals pursued under President Leonid Kuchma.

Ackles adds that many Ukrainians grew disillusioned with the 2004-5 Orange Revolution, and people began to realize the country was dealing not just with a "few bad apples" but rather "the whole barrel was rotten." On a certain level, he says, "all parties in the government were...complicit in perpetuating the system of corruption." Ukrainians live with corruption in their daily lives, ranging from "small, almost unperceivable bribes given to doctors to ensure slightly better care or the crippling bribes that businesses have to hand over in order to make sure they will not be subject to a raid by the tax inspection police."

Voyage to Kiev

In light of such history, it's hardly surprising the crowd would display a decidedly anti-corruption tint at Maidan. But while rampant abuse and cronyism characterized much of the go-go 1990s, corruption reached incredible new heights under Yanukovych. In a move reminiscent of the mafia, the president created a group called "the Family" which siphoned off rents from Ukraine's many economic sectors and institutions. In a spiral to the bottom, Yanukovych bought off police, judges and even electoral officials. It is estimated that a whopping $1 billion was siphoned off every year through sheer abuse of public procurement tenders.

Summing up the overall political mood of the era, the Economist remarks, "The runaway corruption of Mr. Yanukovych's rule--and the cynicism that it symbolized--was one of the motors of the Maidan protests that toppled him from power." Indeed, for many demonstrators the Maidan Revolution signified the need to move toward the European Union, where people enjoy the rule of law and government institutions are ostensibly more transparent.

During a recent research trip, I touched on such questions with local political activists in Kiev. Denis Pilash, a veteran of Maidan student protest and Ukraine's independent left, had other concerns besides the European Union. Nevertheless, the activist was hardly immune to calls for greater transparency and indeed Pilash and his colleagues distributed leaflets calling for a ban on offshore money laundering.

Over time, Pilash tells me, protest on the Maidan took on a distinctly anti-authoritarian streak and it was not uncommon to hear people chanting "All politicians out!" Many protesters, Pilash adds, began to call for punitive measures against Ukrainian oligarchs and the powerful, and sought to put an end to the corrupt and incestuous alliance between business and government. Moreover, demonstrators sought to shed light on privatization initiatives so as to reveal the true extent of what had been stolen.

Rooting Out Kleptocracy

In the wake of Yanukovych's fall, the new government in Kiev carried out a number of high profile arrests, seized property and put the former president's house on show, which included no less than an ostrich zoo and a vintage car collection. In short order, Kiev passed a raft of anti-corruption laws and even created a new investigative body called the National Corruption Bureau. In an effort to rein in shell companies and hidden financial interests, all enterprises except for state-owned entities would be required to open their books and disclose who, precisely, benefited from their business.

Meanwhile, a reform group comprised of experts and activists has managed to pass laws which will change the process of public procurement, reportedly a huge source of corruption. Under the new system, the process will be opened up and subject to scrutiny, while state purchases linked to connections on tender committees will be halted. In another win for reform advocates, access to information on salaries and benefits of state employees will be publicized.

The spirit of Maidan has even led to changes within the educational realm. Indeed, the new Minister of Education has committed to a "road map" of educational reform including increased accountability and transparency within the agency. Some former progressive protesters from Maidan have cheered such developments. Take for example Nataliya Neshevets, a young activist who has worked with Direct Action, a local student labor union. "Now," she tells me, "the Ministry of Education has all its finances up on the web site so you can check that."

Other former Maidan activists have entered the NGO (non-governmental organization) sector, where they seek to monitor governmental corruption. Vadym Gud, another student veteran of Direct Action, works at Kiev's Center UA within the organization's parliamentary division. In a local café, Gud says the political left views the issue of corruption with slight ambivalence since such developments have traditionally been more of a liberal concern. Nevertheless, he adds, there are plenty of leftists working at his organization and during his free time the Direct Action veteran "wears an activist hat."

Working at Center UA has proved to be an eye-opening experience for Gud, who monitors Ukrainian MPs. "We look at where they get their money; their corruption cases and so on," he remarks. Gud adds that he's encouraged political parties have pledged to disclose their finances, a process which would have been "unimaginable" just a few years ago. Again, however, not all parties have been equally transparent or forthright.

Foreigners In...

In the fight against corruption, politicians have even implied that foreigners may be more trustworthy than local Ukrainians. Indeed, incoming president Poroshenko has called for the appointment of foreigners to head the new anti-corruption bureau. Hoping to reassure jittery western investors in the Wall Street Journal no less, Poroshenko boasted of his new cabinet, including a former U.S. citizen at the helm of the Ministry of Finance; a Lithuanian at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and a Georgian tapped to oversee Ukraine's health system.

Corruption, Poroshenko remarked, was a "tumor" which had sapped the Ukrainian economy for far too long. Indeed, analysts claim that Ukraine's kleptocracy has caused western investors to take flight and abandon Ukraine over the past several years. "The new approach of hiring foreign professionals," Poroshenko continued, "will be practiced throughout the government. We are welcoming representatives of other nations, from the private and public sectors, who are experienced with enacting reforms in their own countries and are ready to accept Ukrainian citizenship."

And (Certain) Ukrainians Out

Even as the government moves to promote foreigners, it has cracked down on supposedly questionable Ukrainians. Under the so-called law on lustration, former members of the Communist Party, KGB, Komsomol [communist youth league] and those who previously worked under Yanukovych are to be excluded from office. The legislation is designed to promote more accountability within the state apparatus.

On the surface the law sounds like it could be a good thing, but conveniently legislation fails to apply to Poroshenko himself, nor to most officials currently elected to office. That would seem somewhat inconsistent, since Poroshenko previously served as Yanukovych's trade minister. Moreover, in the words of the Economist, the current oligarch president made a large fortune through "opaque deal-making" in the 1990s.

In other respects, the law on lustration has been labeled "murky and overly sweeping" and has the "potential for political score-settling." Somewhat ominously, radical protesters have already conducted their own vigilante-style justice by throwing supposedly corrupt politicians into trash bins and even beating them. Reportedly, law enforcement has failed to halt such incidents.

Changing the Culture of Corruption

One can only hope that reform efforts will succeed, but there are severe reasons to doubt that corruption will ever be eliminated. Indeed, Ukraine has long possessed anti-corruption measures, but the state has repeatedly failed to halt cronyism. By the time Yanukovych fled the country, he and his cronies had allegedly siphoned off billion of dollars, thus leaving Kiev in a de facto state of bankruptcy. As a result of such depleted finances, Russia was easily able to take advantage of the situation by annexing Crimea and sparking a separatist war.

As if such troubles weren't challenging enough, the incipient National Corruption Bureau has encountered a number of problems. Some point out the entity is solely dependent on state revenue, and as a result the agency could be "subject to the whims of those in power" and mere vicissitudes of the moment. Furthermore, members of parliament have moved to assert control over the bureau and parliament now has the right to take a no-confidence vote against the agency's head.

It seems natural that nervous MP's would seek to forestall any independent oversight over their own potentially illicit activities, and watchdog groups have been quick to slam such developments. Meanwhile, the bureau hasn't actually gone into action yet, though Poroshenko hopes the agency will be up and ready by August. Even if the new bureau gets off the ground, however, Ukraine's judicial system including police, prosecutors and judges has been untouched by the reform process. As a result, any action by the new agency could be blocked or derailed by corrupt officials.

Oligarchs and War

One of the paradoxes of Ukrainian political life is that so-called "oligarchs," who themselves corrupt the political system, have garnered great power. As if Poroshenko himself weren't proof enough of such trends, one need look no further than Igor Kolomoisky, an oligarch appointed to run the region of Dnipropetrovsk near conflict-ridden Donetsk. Kolomoisky is worth approximately $1.6 billion and has reportedly conducted business deals for twenty years under successive administrations. Lasocki of the European Council on Foreign Relations remarks, "in exchange for keeping his province stable and defended from separatists, [Kolomoisky] has had his businesses interests left untouched."

In Ukraine, oligarchs have become so powerful that they even exert a great degree of control over the media. But even as oligarchs plunder the state budget, ordinary Ukrainians are left to fend for themselves and living standards have stagnated. It's politically challenging, however, to question the oligarchs in the midst of war. When asked if he thought politicians intentionally focused on the war as a means to deflect attention from the need for greater transparency, Gud of Center UA forthrightly replies, "yes, sure."

Oligarchs like Koloimoisky have wrapped themselves in the flag so as to pre-empt unwelcome criticism of their business dealings. Indeed, the oligarch even funds the Dnipro Battalion, a paramilitary outfit. By funding pro-Kiev groups fighting in the east, Kolomoisky has done wonders for his own public relations brand. "These bands of half-trained volunteer warriors," writes the New Yorker magazine, have done much of the fighting in the current conflict, operating largely independently of the government, and often without adequate coordination."

One may ask: why has the Ukrainian war effort been so haphazardly organized? According to the New Yorker, the Ministry of Defense is notoriously corrupt and can't be trusted with state money. In another passage worth quoting at length, the magazine adds, "The Western press often portrays Ukraine's volunteer-led war effort as a feel-good story of solidarity and ingenuity. But behind this volunteerism is a state whose institutions are so dysfunctional that they cause more harm than good. The state's failures could have dangerous consequences. The Maidan movement, Poroshenko, and those in favor of arming Ukraine have referred, again and again, to Ukraine's commitment to 'European values.' But a country full of privately funded battalions looks more like pre-modern Europe than like a potential E.U. member."

Just what kind of impact will corruption have upon the overall course of the war? Recently, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden reportedly warned Poroshenko in Kiev that corruption could prompt western backers to withdraw their support from Ukraine. Indeed, it could be difficult for western allies to justify arms shipments when a large proportion of materiel simply winds up on the black market. In a sign of the times, NATO has announced five trust funds to finance reform of the Ukrainian military even though soldiers don't have uniforms let alone adequate food.

"Trust funds?" Fiscal Times asks rhetorically. "NATO members, it turns out, are so wary of the Ukrainian command that they refuse to provide money directly." Surveying the political landscape, Kyiv Post remarks rather aptly, "The West has stepped on the rake of Ukrainian corruption one too many times to be fooled again. Ukraine should not get more billions in loans or millions more in aid until it changes."

JERUSALEM, Feb 15 (Reuters) - After a deadly shooting at a Denmark synagogue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday such attacks will likely continue and Israel would welcome European Jews who choose to move there.

The attacks resembled the deadly shootings in Paris in January at the office of weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo and two days later at a Jewish supermarket.

Two people were killed in two Copenhagen shootings on Saturday, which police believe were carried out by the same suspect. One person died in an attack at an event promoting freedom of speech and another, a security guard, in the assault at a nearby synagogue.

"This wave of attacks and the murderous anti-Semitic assaults that are part of it is expected to go on," Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting, describing the shootings as "extremist Islamic terrorism."

"Jews deserve protection in every country but we say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters, Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli leader made similar remarks in January after the Paris attacks. His comments then appeared to upset French leaders as they sought to reassure the shaken Jewish community that it was safe to stay in France.

In 2004, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon angered Paris by urging French Jews to flee "the wildest anti-Semitism" in their native country and come to Israel. Netanyahu has avoided making such an explicit call for Jews to up and leave.

Under Israel's Law of Return, anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent has a right of immigration to Israel and, once there, can receive Israeli citizenship automatically.

The cabinet later on Sunday submitted a plan to encourage the absorption of Jews from France, Belgium and Ukraine, and would discuss immigration from other European countries at a later date. (Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Greece and the European Union could face a showdown in their debt talks as early as this week. And if you had to place odds right now, the likelihood is that the stubbornness of Europe's senior leaders will create a catastrophe for both Greece and the EU.

Here is the state of play. The new Greek leaders, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, spent most of the past two weeks making the case for relaxed terms. They hit a stone wall.

Under the current agreement, EU financial institutions spoon-feed loans to Greece, 80 percent of which cycle right out of Greece to pay holders of Greek bonds. Greece itself gets little benefit.

In return, Greece is supposed to continue imposing crushing austerity terms. Most onerously, the Greek government is expected to run a "primary" budget surplus (excluding interest payments) equal to 4.5 percent of GDP. Greece is also supposed to keep cutting wages.

Thanks to this medicine, the Greek economy keeps shrinking and debt as a share of Greek GDP keeps increasing. The policy is madness. But Europe's leaders refuse to relent.

The popularity of the new Greek government has soared at home, because Greece finally has leaders willing to take a stand. But will they prevail?

Tsipras has already moved to rescind some of the scheduled wage cuts and fire-sale privatizations required by the austerity deal. This enraged Greece's masters in Brussels and Berlin.

Europe's leaders have several ways to try to bring the Greeks to heel. Without continued flow of credits under the current austerity deal, Greece doesn't have the funds to pay its debtors. Greek banks also rely on short-term advances from the European Central Bank, which could be cut off it Greece disavows the agreement accepted under duress by previous Greek governments.

Some senior European officials also believe that the new policy of massive bond purchases by the European Central Bank of other nations' sovereign debt ("Quantitative Easing") creates some insulation for the rest of Europe if Greece faces a new crisis. All of this has created an official bullying on the part of Europe's leaders, led by Germany, that matches Greece's own bravado.

The crisis will reach a head in the coming days when the ECB decides whether or not to advance Greek banks the next round of cash under the current austerity for debt restructuring deal. If the ECB refuses, Greece will be plunged into a new financial crisis and a deep depression.

It's anyone's guess how well such a crisis could be contained to Greece, but these things have a way of rattling financial markets and getting out of hand. Outside of Germany, Europe's own recovery is fragile to say the least.

A crisis, at least, would make clear that the current course is unsustainable. Tsipris and Varoufakis are self-described leftists. Varoufakis's academic specialty is game theory and bargaining. Some say his rudeness to Europe's stuffed shirts is carefully calculated. But it's not clear, even to Tsipras and Varoufakis, whether they will subject their long suffering country to deeper economic pain in the hope of "heightening the contradictions" and perhaps bluffing their way to a better deal.

If such a crisis of insolvency did occur, one outcome could be Greece leaving the euro and returning to the old drachma. Such a move could well be accompanied by mass economic dislocation and deeper suffering -- or the ECB and the IMF could decide to lubricate it with new loans to ease the transition as much as possible.

The larger problem is that there is no system of debt restructuring for countries that get into deep economic distress. At home, we have Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. If a corporation can no longer pay its debts, a bankruptcy judge sorts out its assets, decides who gets repaid first, and settles debts at so many cents on the dollar. The corporation can then survive with a fresh start.

Investors who put their money into corporate stocks and bonds do so as consenting adults, knowing that they may reap rewards but that they also might not get all of their money back. Bankruptcy has been viewed as a rational way of settling unpayable debts, ever since it was invented 1706 by ministers to Queen Anne.

But there is no Chapter 11 for countries. Indebted nations that can't repay creditors find themselves at the tender mercy of ad hoc schemes led by political leaders who usually side with bankers. The deal that was forced on the Greeks in 2010 is one of the worst ever.

So the world waits to see who will blink first -- the puritanical Germans who are leading the austerity crusade or the upstart Greeks.

In coming days, there will be great political and financial pressure to paper over this crisis with some kind of gesture that would allow the Germans and the ECB to claim that the old deal is being honored, and the Greek leaders to go back to Athens claiming that they negotiated at least token relief.

In a way, this would be the worst outcome of all. The austerity bargain is destroying the Greek economy in order to save it. The Greek people have had enough and they've elected a radical government to say so. In this case, the radicals are the bearers of common sense. The austerity deal doesn't need adjusting. It needs to be blown up.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday that it has test-fired a new anti-ship cruise missile, a move experts in Seoul viewed as an attempt to raise tensions ahead of joint military drills between the United States and South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was on-site to observe the successful testing of the "ultra-precision" rocket conducted by the country's East Sea fleet, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published front-page photos of Kim watching a missile being fired off a naval vessel, although the state media outlets did not mention the time or location of the exercise. Yang Uk, a Seoul-based security expert and an adviser to South Korea's navy, said the North Korean missile looked similar to Russia's KH-35 anti-ship missile, which has a range of about 130-140 kilometers (81-87 miles) and is capable of traveling at high speeds while staying close to the sea's surface.

North Korea began importing KH-35 missiles in the mid-2000s and the test-firing suggests that the country has succeeded in producing missiles of similar design domestically, Yang said.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea was demonstrating its military capabilities ahead of next month's annual U.S.-South Korean drills, which Pyongyang says are a rehearsal for an invasion. The U.S. and South Korea have repeatedly said that the war games are defensive in nature, and that they have no intentions of attacking the North.

North Korea told the United States last month that it was willing to impose a temporary moratorium on its nuclear tests if Washington scraps the military drills with South Korea this year, but the allies have refused to cancel the exercises.

Nearly $2.9 billion has been pledged to help fight the Ebola outbreak since it swept West Africa last year, but a new study found a large discrepancy between the funds pledged and the amount that actually reached the affected countries.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a study in the British Medical Journal that revealed roughly 40 percent, or around $1.09 billion, of the pledged funds actually went to the countries in need by the end of 2014.

Karen Grepin, the author of the study and an assistant professor of global health policy at NYU, explained to HuffPost Live on Thursday that this discrepancy isn't the fault of the "relatively generous" donors, but rather the international community's slow response and inability to fully understand what was needed to combat Ebola.

"The ask from the international leaders went from something like $100 million at the beginning of August to a billion dollars four weeks later. So people just didn't have a sense of what this would take," she told host Alyona Minkovski.

Grepin said the U.N. and the World Health Organization were initially hesitant to declare the Ebola epidemic a public health emergency. Health officials described the outbreak as a humanitarian crisis late last year.

"This is the first time that a public health threat -- so just a public health issue -- has elevated itself to the level of a humanitarian crisis. It's possible that it never had to become one," Grepin said. "It's possible that had we reacted and treated this as a public health threat earlier in the game, we wouldn't have seen this bigger humanitarian response."

The study points to recommendations, Grepin explained, on how to better handle another public health emergency, including more prevention measures on behalf of organizations and non-financial resources like medical aid being readily available.

Every week, The WorldPost asks an expert to shed light on a topic driving headlines around the world. Today, we speak with leading Argentinian journalist Nelson Castro about the mysterious murder of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who had accused the government of covering up a 1994 terror attack.

Argentina is embroiled in its most sensational political scandal in decades, a twisted saga of terrorism, torture, murder and high-stakes international politics. The deadly 1994 bombing that killed 85 people at Jewish community center has haunted the country for two decades, and the case was thrust back into the headlines following the suspicious death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman on Jan. 18.

Nisman had recently accused President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of cutting a deal with Iran -- a prime suspect in the bombing -- to cover up Tehran's role in the attack. Hours before Nisman was scheduled to testify before Argentina's congress, he was found dead from a gunshot wound in his apartment. Initially ruled a suicide, Nisman's death has since been labeled homicide, sending shock waves through Argentinian politics. The discovery of a draft arrest warrant for Kirchner in Nisman's apartment has only heightened tensions.


Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead hours before he was supposed to present his allegations against President Kirchner to congress.

Kirchner has denied all involvement in Nisman's death, claiming the prosecutor was the victim of a conspiracy by the nation's intelligence agencies to destroy her presidency. She has pointed out that Argentina never asked international police to remove arrest warrants for Iranian leaders, as Nisman alleged, and the country has not benefited from Iranian oil. In a recent speech, Kirchner called for the country's intelligence agencies to be dissolved and rebuilt from the ground up.

Investigations into the bombing have been marred by all manner of corruption and incompetence: The former president stands accused of accepting an Iranian bribe to derail the case, a former judge was fired for bribing a witness, and a separate investigator was kidnapped and brutally tortured with a knife and blowtorch.

The WorldPost spoke with the respected Argentinian radio and television host Nelson Castro to understand what the scandal means to the country's citizens.

What is the sentiment on the ground among Argentinians? What do they make of these conflicting conspiracy theories?

Most people are angry, and also anguished. They suspect that the government is not working hard enough to ensure the total clearing of the case. Even though most people don't believe that the government was involved in the murder of Nisman, most people think the government is not doing enough to clear the case.

Further, the involvement of people from the Argentine intelligence services raises suspicions of the government's responsibility for the lack of protection of Mr. Nisman had, considering the high risk that his denouncement implied. Remember that when he announced the charges, he said that he could be murdered for it. Instead of taking care of him and taking his words seriously, the government mocked him and made fun of him. People are saying that the government is responsible for not taking care of him the way he deserved.

How has the story been reported in local media? Is coverage split along party lines?

That's the problem we have here in Argentina: There are divisions inside the press. The pro-government press will of course side with the government and say that there is a conspiracy against the government. Those who work independently consider the objective facts, and the facts are quite clear concerning the responsibility of the government in not taking care of Nisman. The independent media also covers all of the elements of Nisman's denouncement. The fact of the matter is that everything that the government denied happened to be true. The independent press showed that to the people, and because of this we have to face provocation, defamation, and criticism by the government and the official press.

How dangerous could this be to President Kirchner? Is there danger of this bringing down the current government?

There's no risk that this could bring down the government -- fortunately that doesn't happen in Argentina anymore. But of course this is going to affect those candidates running for Kirchner's party in the next election. That is indisputable. Polls are showing that the image of the government -- which was not so bad considering the whole mess with the economy -- has gone down. The positive image of the government was around 35 to 36 percent, but now it's gone down to 22 to 23 percent.

President Kirchner has blamed Nisman's accusations and death on a conspiracy by the country's intelligence agencies. How do Argentinians view their own intelligence services, particularly in light of their history during the "Dirty War"?

People have a really huge negative view of intelligence services. People blame the government for the situation, but of course that is nothing new. This government has been in power for more than 10 years and has done nothing to improve things. Quite on the contrary, they took advantage of the dark side of the intelligence services in order to damage political leaders from the opposition. So at this moment, that's one of the things people are quite angry at the government about. The Argentinian people have a clear notion that this is something that must be improved, and that it will take a lot of work from the next government.

Paradoxically, the government is clearly affected by the situation at this moment. After having displaced the whole leadership of their intelligence services, the government is blind. It has no intelligence services at all, effectively nothing in order to face the crisis caused by Nisman's death.

What's next for both the investigations that Nisman was carrying out, and the investigations into his death?

Analysts are convinced that the investigation led by Nisman is not going to continue -- nobody else will dare to go as far as Nisman did. So in a way, that case has been definitively ended because of Nisman's death. The government will hugely benefit because no one will dare to take the case the way that Nisman did. Concerning the investigation of Nisman's murder, things are a little uncertain as to whether the prosecutor who is managing the case is going to be able to solve it. So in both cases -- Nisman's death and Nisman's accusation -- we have the idea that impunity will prevail, unfortunately.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

More On The Scandal in Argentina:
- The Unsolved Terror Attack At The Center Of Argentina's Political Crisis
- Why A 1994 Terror Attack Is Still Haunting Argentina Today

Protesters gather outside the governmental palace in Buenos Aires to protest after the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southern China have seized about 8,000 rolls of toilet paper and another 20,000 packages of tissues containing unflattering images of Hong Kong's pro-Beijing chief executive, according to an official of the small political party that placed the order.

The items were to be sold at a market in Hong Kong during Lunar New Year celebrations later this month, said Lo Kin-hei, a vice chairman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party. The seizure came after Hong Kong was shaken by a massive pro-democracy movement in which demonstrators demanded greater electoral freedom than Beijing is willing to grant. During the demonstrations, protesters expressed anger at Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, calling him a puppet of Beijing, and asked him to step down.

No reason was given for the seizure of the $12,900 worth of goods in the city of Shenzhen, outside of Hong Kong, Lo said.

"I guess (the Chinese authorities) don't like people mocking government officials, especially high-ranking government officials, after the movement. They have become more cautious about criticisms about them," he said.

The party's 4,000 rolls of toilet paper with Leung's image sold out at last year's seasonal market, and it decided to get more this year from a factory in Shenzhen, Lo said.

The images of Leung on the novelty products are cartoonish and unflattering. One has him bearing two fangs, and another has the word "lying" on his forehead. The sickle-and-hammer symbol of the Communist Party of China also appears on some products.

The order was placed under the name of a friend to obscure the party as the true buyer, and all communications were done through the friend instead of the party, Lo said.

Citing the need to protect the manufacturer, Lo declined to reveal the factory's name and said he had no information on the whereabouts of the factory owner. "We are worried about what has happened to him," Lo said.

Calls to Shenzhen police rang unanswered on Saturday, and there was no official report about any seizure of toilet paper.

Lo said he found the act worrisome because it indicates further tightening by Chinese authorities on freedom of speech, which is guaranteed in Hong Kong's constitution.

"Many productions in Hong Kong rely on the mainland. This kind of tightening means in the future it will be more difficult to make products in the mainland," Lo said. "It's alarmful for Hong Kong people that they keep suppressing freedom in Hong Kong. We will become the mainland if this kind of mocking will be not allowed in Hong Kong."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak before Congress on March 3, but there's a growing chorus of voices calling on him to cancel the appearance. The latest organization to issue this call? The Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based international organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism.

Abrahm Foxman, the group's national director and a leading voice in the Jewish community, told Haaretz that the controversy over Netanyahu's speech is unhelpful. He added that Netanyahu should stay home.

"One needs to restart, and it needs a mature adult statement that this was not what we intended," Foxman said in an interview published Friday. "It has been hijacked by politics. Now is a time to recalibrate, restart and find a new platform and new timing to take away the distractions."

White House officials have expressed irritation that Netanyahu was invited to speak without their consultation, a breach of traditional protocol. Foxman indicated that he did not want the controversy to overshadow concerns about U.S.-Iranian nuclear talks.

While Foxman said he stood with Israel and its concerns over a potential U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, he lamented the fact that Netanyahu's upcoming appearance has become "a circus." Rather than delivering the speech as planned, Foxman suggested the prime minister postpone it until after Israel's March 17 elections, or else address the matter at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington on March 1.

Israeli opposition leaders on Saturday called on Netanyahu to cancel the speech. Vice President Joe Biden is also expected to miss the address, his office announced on Friday.

Co-authored by Dr. Chethan Sathya, a freelance journalist and surgical resident at the University of Toronto



Dr. Martin Salia, a general surgeon who died from Ebola in November 2014, is pictured on the left operating at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Photo credit: United Methodist Church.

This article originally appeared here on ScientificAmerican.com.

Thaim Kamara is 60 years old and would like to retire this year. But he is one of only eight remaining surgeons in Sierra Leone, a west African country of about 6 million people. Kamara lost two friends to Ebola in 2014 -- Martin Salia and Thomas Rogers, fellow surgeons at Connaught Hospital in the capital, Freetown. In light of the dire circumstances, Kamara has postponed his plan to retire.

Although the rate of new Ebola infections in Sierra Leone, along with neighboring countries Guinea and Liberia, is finally falling, more than 800 health care personnel have been infected with Ebola in the hot zone and nearly 500 have died since the epidemic began, according to a January report by the World Health Organization. And the toll, along with the continuing deaths of health care workers will have devastating implications for the long-term health of these nations.

Salia's death in November was especially devastating for Sierra Leone. The talented surgeon was not only a precious commodity, he was an innovator. The 44-year-old was at the forefront of a campaign to revitalize surgery in that nation via a partnership with King's College London. Surgical care in Sierra Leone is now at a standstill, says Andy Leather, director of the King's Centre for Global Health at the college and a surgeon who worked with Salia in Freetown. There are nearly no elective or emergency surgeries in the country because of a lack of surgeons, he says. And some surgeons -- aware that their risk of contracting Ebola is 100 times higher than that for the general population -- are scared to operate.

Surgery is a critical element of any health care system, but it is often a forgotten one. WHO calls it the "neglected component" of health care and estimates that surgery can be used to treat 11 percent of the global disease burden. The standard of surgical care in Sierra Leone was lacking even before Ebola arrived, according to research by Surgeons OverSeas, a U.S. nonprofit that works to improve such care around the world. It found that 25 percent of deaths in Sierra Leone could be prevented with surgery and estimated that 1.5 million Sierra Leoneans need surgical consultations, mostly for burn injuries and wounds.

Decades of civil war devastated Sierra Leone's public health and medical infrastructure, leaving it vulnerable to epidemics like this one. A lack of health care workers exacerbated the problem. Although the U.S. has 245 doctors for every 100,000 people, Sierra Leone has around two. Of the eight remaining surgeons in the country, only one is below the age of 60.

Short-term solutions to the surgeon shortage include volunteer surgeons who practice in Sierra Leone for a few months at a time. They can help perform some of the vitally needed surgeries such as emergency operations and C-sections. "But that doesn't really help us in the long-term," Kamara says. "What we really need is to train surgeons, and that's not an easy affair because it takes many years."

Training time is not the only challenge. Retaining surgeons in Sierra Leone is an even bigger hurdle, says Anna Dare, a researcher at King's College who was working with Salia to study the state of surgical care in the nation. Brain drain, or the emigration of doctors from the developing to the developed world, is a concern for all countries in the Ebola hot zone. Emigration of doctors from sub-Saharan Africa to the U.S. increased by nearly 40 percent over the last decade. Salia was a rare example of the opposite: He trained overseas but returned to Sierra Leone to work in a local hospital. Before his death Salia was leading efforts to recruit and retain health care professionals, Dare says. "Medical students were starting to warm up to the idea of staying in Sierra Leone and working," she says. "However, now that everyone is dying, they all want to leave as soon as possible."

Even as health officials cautiously declare a decline in the rate of Ebola infections, the epidemic has exacted a new assault against health care workers in the region. Kamara, who has delayed his own retirement plans, worries about his sick mother who recently suffered a stroke and needs his help. "I want to retire soon," he says, "but I don't think I can. Some of the eight [remaining surgeons] have actually retired but they come back to work because we desperately need them."



An operating room at Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Two surgeons who worked at the hospital have died from Ebola. Photo credit: Anna Dare.

Nigeria's election commission on Saturday postponed presidential and legislative elections for six weeks due to security concerns.

The vote was scheduled to take place on Feb. 14, amid concerns that millions of voters would be disenfranchised by Boko Haram's brutal insurgency, as well as delays in distributing voter ID cards.

Election commission chairman Attahiru Jega said Saturday that the vote would be rescheduled for March 28 because security agencies were unable to guarantee safe elections while they focus on battling Boko Haram militants.

"We wish to call on all Nigerians to accept this in good faith to deepen democracy in our country Nigeria," he said.

Earlier Saturday, civil rights groups opposed to postponing elections protested in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the Associated Press reported.

The vote comes at a critical moment for Nigeria. Boko Haram has stepped up its brutal campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate in the country's northeast. More than one million Nigerians have fled their homes amid the slaughter.

The conflict has increasingly spilled over into neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, and this week the African Union pledged thousands of troops for a joint force to battle the Islamists.

CHICAGO (AP) — Six Bosnian immigrants accused of sending money and military equipment to extremist groups in Syria used Facebook, PayPal and other readily available services to communicate and transfer funds, according to a federal indictment.

All are charged with conspiring to provide and providing material support to groups designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group and an al-Qaida-affiliated rebel group known as the Nusra Front. The indictment unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis alleges they plotted by phone, Facebook and email; shared videos and photos related to their plans on social media sites; sent money via PayPal and Western Union; and shipped boxes of military gear through the U.S. Postal Service.

The defendants are accused of donating money themselves and, in some cases, collecting funds from others in the U.S. and sending the donations overseas. It says two of the defendants, a husband and wife in St. Louis, used some of the money to buy U.S. military uniforms, firearms accessories, tactical gear and other equipment from local businesses and ship it to intermediaries in Turkey and Saudi Arabia who forwarded the supplies to fighters in Syria and Iraq.

One of the suspects, Mediha Medy Salkicevic, a 34-year-old mother of four from the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park, appeared Saturday in federal court in Chicago. Wearing an orange jail uniform, she spoke only to confirm that she understood the charges. She appeared calm and smiled occasionally while consulting with her attorney.

Speaking to reporters afterward, defense attorney Andrea Gambino stressed that Salkicevic is considered innocent until proven guilty.

The indictment says the suspects used "coded language" in their communications over email and social media, using terms like "the beach" for places in Iraq and Syria.

But it says they also used terms such as brothers, lions, mujahids and shaheeds, or holy warriors and martyrs. Such language is commonly used among Islamic extremist groups and would seem likely to draw law enforcement scrutiny if posted openly on the Internet.

But terrorism financing expert Loretta Napoleoni said it's a clever tactic to use such usual channels for communicating and sending money as long as the amounts are small, noting that so many people use them that it's easy to "go below the radar."

"That's the easiest way to send money. ... And frankly using the U.S. Postal Service is also a very good way not to be caught," said Napoleoni, author of "The Islamist Phoenix." ''There is so much stuff going through."

The FBI arrested Salkicevic on Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 on each charge. The case will be tried in Missouri, where several other defendants were arrested. A bond hearing Monday will determine whether Salkicevic travels there on her own or in custody.

The indictment alleges the conspiracy began no later than May 2013.

All six people who are charged are natives of Bosnia who were living in the U.S. legally. Three are naturalized citizens; the other three had either refugee or legal resident status, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Besides Salkicevic, the indictment names Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, 40, his wife, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 35, and Armin Harcevic, 37, all of St. Louis County; Nihad Rosic, 26, of Utica, New York; and Jasminka Ramic, 42 of Rockford, Illinois.

Salkicevic is accused of sending several thousand dollars to Ramiz Hodzic in St. Louis via PayPal.

According to the indictment, Hodzic sent her a photo of two sniper rifle scopes being shipped and that Salkicevic replied by saying she hoped they would be put to good use.

Salkicevic has four children and is employed, but her attorney declined to give reporters any other information about her.

Five of the defendants have been arrested; Ramic is overseas, but the Justice Department declined to say where.

Online court records do not list defense attorneys for any of the defendants.

The property manager at the complex where the Hodzics live told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the couple had been living there for 1½ years with their three children. Larry Sorth and his wife, Joyce, said they were surprised by the arrests and that the couple was friendly.

"She was very sweet, to tell you the truth," Joyce Sorth said of Sedina Hodzic.

ANKARA/NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister has warned the United States that failure to agree a nuclear deal would likely herald the political demise of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian officials said, raising the stakes as the decade-old stand-off nears its end-game.
Mohammad Javad Zarif pressed the concern with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at several meetings in recent weeks, according to three senior Iranian officials, who said Iran had also raised the issue with other Western powers. Zarif's warning has not been previously reported.
In a statement posted on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website, Zarif later denied discussing domestic issues with Western officials.
Western officials acknowledged the move may be just a negotiating tactic to persuade them to give more ground, but said they shared the view that Rouhani's political clout would be heavily damaged by the failure of talks.
The warning that a breakdown in talks would empower Iran's conservative hardliners comes as the 12-year-old stand-off reaches a crucial phase, with a March deadline to reach a political agreement ahead of a final deal by June 30.
The agreement aims to end sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program, though hard-to-bridge differences remain, particularly on the timing of the relief on economic sanctions and the duration of the deal.
Both U.S. President Barack Obama and Rouhani, who Iranian officials say has staked his career on the deal, are facing stiff domestic opposition to an agreement, narrowing the scope for compromise.
The Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters said Zarif had raised the concern over Rohani's fate with Kerry. The two men have met repeatedly in recent weeks in an attempt to break the impasse, most recently on Friday when they talked for over an hour on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference .
"As Rouhani is on the frontline, naturally he will be more harmed," said one of the officials, who has direct knowledge of Zarif's discussions with Kerry.
Other Western officials said the Iranian delegation had raised the same concern in talks recently. If the talks fail, Rouhani would likely be sidelined and his influence dramatically reduced, giving hardliners like Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps an upper hand, Iranian officials and Western analysts say.
However, a senior U.S. official denied that Zarif had issued any such warning about Rouhani.
"We'll leave assessment of Iranian politics to the Iranians but this rumor is untrue," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry website quoted Zarif as saying: "Domestic issues were never raised with foreign officials during any of the meetings."

CONFLICTS
A comprehensive nuclear deal is seen as crucial to reducing the risk of a wider Middle East war, at a time when Iran is deeply involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq. After nearly a year of talks, negotiators failed for the second time in November to meet a self-imposed deadline for an agreement.
Iran rejects allegations it is developing the capability to produce atomic weapons. But it has refused to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive atomic work, leading to U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions that have hobbled its economy.
One of the Iranian officials, who also had direct access to the talks, said the Americans were talking in terms of years for the sanctions relief while Iran wanted curbs on oil and banking to be lifted within six months.
Rouhani was elected in 2013 on promises of ending Western sanctions, improving the economy and reducing Iran's diplomatic isolation.
But he faces a worsening power struggle with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has said Iran should immunize itself against sanctions, suggesting he is prepared to live with them. Khamenei has the final word on any deal.
Rouhani has said Iran needs to end its isolation to help its economy, which has also been hit hard by plunging oil prices.
Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are suspicious of the U.S. decision to engage with Iran on the nuclear issue. Israel has threatened to use military force against Iranian nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to contain the threat it feels Tehran poses.
The United States, officials familiar with the talks say, has already compromised on the issue of how many centrifuges Iran would be allowed to operate.
Obama could temporarily suspend many of the harshest unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran but permanent removal would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Congress, where there is little appetite for sanctions relief.
The Senate is finalizing a bill for tougher sanctions if there is no final nuclear deal by June 30. Obama has vowed to veto any new Iran sanctions bill.
Another Western official said Rouhani appeared to have underestimated the resolve of Washington and Europe to demand limitations on Iranian nuclear activities for a decade or more in exchange for sanctions relief.
"Rouhani thought that by speaking nicely and not calling for Israel's destruction, Western powers would rush to sign a deal, any deal, with Iran," the official said. "He miscalculated. The Western powers may also want an agreement but they're also constrained by Congress, Israel and Saudi." (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and John Irish in Paris; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Gareth Jones)