The United States has sent some 12,000 soldiers to Libya, in the first phase of deployments to the oil-rich North African nation. - According to Asharq Alawsat, the troops landed in the eastern oil port city of Brega. Although the deployment is said to be aimed at generating stability and security in the region, the troops are expected to take control of the country's key oil fields and strategic ports. Brega, the site of an important oil refinery, serves as a major export hub for Libyan oil. The town is also one of the five oil terminals in the eastern half of the country. Following the popular uprising of the Libyan people, NATO launched a major air campaign against the forces of the former regime on March 19, 2011 under a UN mandate to “protect the Libyan population.”

A controversial American anti-piracy act was recalled on Friday, which came as no small victory for hacktivists who launched history's largest attack on several websites – including that of FBI – in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act. - Those opposing the controversial law have grown jubilant, with many seeing Friday's news as real victory in a sort of war for online freedom. The vote on the anti-piracy legislation, which was due on January, 24, has been postponed. The words of House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith – who was the chief sponsor of SOPA – came as a bombshell: he stated that American legislators would delay action on similar proposals until the matter is more widely agreed upon.

“I have heard from the critics, and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” “The Committee will continue work with copyright owners, Internet companies, and financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.”

He said in a statement that the Judiciary Committee welcomes input “from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem.”

Russia Today: PIPA postponed indefinitely

Britain has revoked the press license of Iran-based English language broadcaster Press TV, accusing it of violating press regulations. But some say the decision was really motivated by British geopolitical interests. - The Office of Communications (Ofcom), a government-approved watchdog overseeing broadcasting and telecommunications in the UK, says the channel does not control its content. It also says the channel’s license should be held by its office in Tehran, not London, since its editorial control is clearly coming from the Iranian capital. In addition, Press TV is accused of not paying a fine of £100,000 ($156,000) for airing an interview with an imprisoned journalist in 2009. Press TV says it's being silenced, calling the withdrawal of the license “a clear act of censorship."

PressTV: 'Taking Press TV off air: UK censorship'
PressTV: Ofcom fines Press TV after ban in UK
PressTV: How to watch Press TV in UK

Disclosure likely to intensify controversy over long-running police operation to infiltrate and sabotage protest groups. - Two undercover police officers secretly fathered children with political campaigners they had been sent to spy on and later disappeared completely from the lives of their offspring, the Guardian can reveal. In both cases, the children have grown up not knowing that their biological fathers – whom they have not seen in decades – were police officers who had adopted fake identities to infiltrate activist groups. Both men have concealed their true identities from the children's mothers for many years. One of the spies was Bob Lambert, who has already admitted that he tricked a second woman into having a long-term relationship with him, as part of an intricate attempt to bolster his credibility as a committed campaigner. The second police spy followed the progress of his child and the child's mother by reading confidential police reports which tracked the mother's political activities and life. The disclosures are likely to intensify the controversy over the long-running police operation to infiltrate and sabotage protest groups.

The Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giant laboratory to conduct a series of secret germ warfare tests on the public. - A government report just released provides for the first time a comprehensive official history of Britain's biological weapons trials between 1940 and 1979. Many of these tests involved releasing potentially dangerous chemicals and micro-organisms over vast swaths of the population without the public being told. The report reveals that military personnel were briefed to tell any 'inquisitive inquirer' the trials were part of research projects into weather and air pollution. Asked whether such tests are still being carried out, she said: 'It is not our policy to discuss ongoing research.'

After an Afghan soldier turned on French troops, killing four, Sarkozy has doubt about efficacy of NATO mission. - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that he was suspending training operations in Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and wounded a dozen more in a shoot out. Sarkozy also said the shooting raises serious doubts about the efficacy of NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan and could possibly lead France to withdraw its 3,600 troops from the mission sooner rather than later. The attack that killed the French troops is just one in a long line of similar attacks that have been occurring in recent weeks. U.S. Marines and other coalition troops are being killed and attacked by Afghan army soldiers that are receiving training from NATO. The government has been mum about the rising number of such incidents because it flies in the face of, for example, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s comment last month that the U.S. is “winning” in Afghanistan. A central goal of the mission is to train an Afghan army, but so far the army is made up of illiterate criminals and drug addicts who sometimes attack NATO soldiers and quit in droves.

AWIP: Four French troops shot by Afghan soldier
PressTV: Another US-led soldier killed in S Afghanistan
PressTV: US army base attacked in Afghanistan

Scientists who created a potentially more deadly bird flu strain have temporarily stopped their research amid fears it could be used by terrorists.

In a letter published in Science and Nature, the teams call for an "international forum" to debate the risks and value of the studies. US authorities last month asked the authors of the research to redact key details in forthcoming publications. A government advisory panel suggested the data could be used by terrorists. Biosecurity experts fear an altered, more contagious form of the virus could spark a pandemic deadlier than the 1918-19 Spanish flu outbreak that killed up to 40 million people. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) recommended key details be omitted from publication of the research, which sparked international furore.

Russia Today: Bird flu mutation study stopped in fear of deadly global outbreak

Two legal rights groups on Thursday asked the United Nations to investigate allegations that Spanish and U.S. officials collaborated to quash criminal probes into whether the Bush administration authorized illegal killings and torture of terrorism suspects. The request, made to the U.N.'s special rapporteur for judicial independence, accused the United States of interfering with Spain's justice system in three different criminal cases. The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights asked that the U.N. demand that both governments refrain from meddling in court cases.