In their first mass protest this year, anti-nuclear protesters rallied outside the prime minister's office Jan. 11 and denounced the Shinzo Abe administration for failing to commit to reducing Japan's reliance on nuclear energy.

Organizers of the Friday-evening rallies, which began in March 2012 and were held throughout the year, say the protests will continue.

"Abe is putting economic measures first, but those who benefit from spending on public works will be general contractors," said 61-year-old Osamu Ishigaki from Yokohama, who joined the rally straight from work. "Investing in renewable energy would offer better prospects for the overall economy."

Award-winning journalist Trevor Aaronson digs deep into the FBI's massive efforts to create fake terrorist plots.

Editor's note: This story is adapted from The Terror Factory, Trevor Aaronson's new book documenting how the Federal Bureau of Investigation has built a vast network of informants to infiltrate Muslim communities and, in some cases, cultivate phony terrorist plots. The book grew from Aaronson's award-winning Mother Jones cover story "The Informants" and his research in the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California-Berkeley.

Quazi Mohammad Nafis was a 21-year-old student living in Queens, New York, when the US government helped turn him into a terrorist.

His transformation began on July 5, when Nafis, a Bangladeshi citizen who'd come to the United States on a student visa that January, shared aspirations with a man he believed he could trust. Nafis told this man in a phone call that he wanted to wage jihad in the United States, that he enjoyed reading Al Qaeda propaganda, and that he admired "Sheikh O," or Osama bin Laden. Who this confidant was and how Nafis came to meet him remain unclear; what we know from public documents is that the man told Nafis he could introduce him to an Al Qaeda operative.

It was a hot, sunny day in Central Park on July 24 when Nafis met with Kareem, who said he was with Al Qaeda. Nafis, who had a slight build, mop of black hair, and a feebly grown beard, told Kareem that he was "ready for action."

"What I really mean is that I don't want something that's, like, small," Nafis said. "I just want something big. Something very big. Very, very, very, very big, that will shake the whole country."

Nafis said he wanted to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, and with help from his new Al Qaeda contact, he surveilled the iconic building at 11 Wall Street. "We are going to need a lot of TNT or dynamite," Nafis told Kareem. But Nafis didn't have any explosives, and, as court records indicate, he didn't know anyone who could sell him explosives, let alone have the money to purchase such materials. His father, a banker in Bangladesh, had spent his entire life savings to send Nafis to the United States after his son, who was described to journalists as dim by people who knew him in his native country, had flunked out of North South University in Bangladesh.

The CIA has escalated its use of drones in Pakistan, launching seven deadly strikes during the first 10 days of 2013 and killing at least 40 people, 11 of which may have been civilians.

The flurry of strikes has raised speculation that the Obama administration is accelerating attacks in the wake of the 2014 withdrawal from Afghanistan, in fear of losing the capacity to carry them out.

In 2012, the US launched 43 drone strikes in Pakistan with an average 7 to 8 days between strikes. At the current rate, the US is set to kill far more people than last year.

This year's drone attacks have so far done little to spare civilians: the Long War Journal found that US drones have killed at least 11 civilians since Jan. 1, which exceeds the number of civilians US officials say were killed in all of 2012.

US intelligence officials claim the increase in drone strikes is an initiative to take out as many possible opponents of the Afghan government because of the looming 2014 withdrawal of 66,000 US troops.

The head of the New York City Police Department announced this week that the largest local law enforcement agency in the United States might soon rely on spy drones for conducting surveillance.

During an open conversation held Thursday between Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, the chief of police confirmed that New York's boys in blue aren't entirely opposed to acquiring an unmanned aerial vehicle for the sake of security.

"We're looking into it," Kelly reportedly told an audience at the 92nd Street Y Thursday evening. "Anything that helps us."

Jill Colvin, a producer for the website DNAinfo, says Kelly told his crowd that adding an UAV to their arsenal of surveillance tools could come in handy during future mass protests in the Big Apple. For starters, she reports, Kelly said cops could begin with using basic civilian models that are available for purchase online and in stores.

"You can go to Brookstone and buy a drone," Kelly told the crowd.

The U.S. military's Southern Command on Friday said it had handed down non-judicial punishments for three of the dozen noncommissioned officers involved in a prostitution scandal during President Obama's April trip to Cartagena, Colombia.

All three service members were reprimanded for relations with prostitutes, and one of the cases involved adultery, according to a command press release.

The command said it will dock two months base pay from two of the soldiers, both of whom also received letters of reprimand and 45 days of extra duties.

A recent test of the U.S. Navy's standard-issue blue camouflage uniforms found they are extremely flammable and will melt onto the skin if burning - and the Navy brass allegedly were aware of this danger.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Navy officials released findings of a December test that found their standard uniforms are not designated flame-resistant, and will burn "robustly until completely consumed" when subjected to flames.

"We knew when we designed this uniform that it wasn't flame-resistant," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Navy's top spokesman, told the paper. "When we were making the uniform, sailors wanted a uniform that was comfortable, that didn't require maintenance and would stand up under a lot of washing, and one of the ways to get that is a nylon-cotton blend."

Kirby added that there was no requirement for a fire-resistant uniform in the Navy's working environment.

A federal judge Friday approved a long-awaited consent decree to reform the New Orleans Police Department, but the far-reaching and expensive agreement is already running into objections by the city.

Buried in the "order and reasons" issued by U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan is a note that the city intends to seek relief from the 123-page agreement.

"The City has informed the court that it intends to file a motion seeking relief from the judgment entered in connection with this order under the Federal Rules of Procedure," Morgan wrote.

The parties to the consent decree gathered in Morgan's chambers today to finalize the agreement, but according to multiple sources, objections by the city were set in motion before the ink was dry on Morgan's signature.

"The judge signed the consent decree, but under very, very difficult circumstances," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. "It's not a done deal." (See Landrieu's full statement)

Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says that there is one abortion clinic in the state and "of course" his goal is to "shut it down."

A federal judge last year delayed enforcement of a law that abortion-rights advocates say is designed to be so restrictive that it effectively abolishes abortion in the state. Under the law, Mississippi's only abortion clinic would need toget "admission privileges" from local hospitals, which have not been willing to cooperate.

The judge's order is set to expire on Friday and state officials have said that they will make an unannounced visit to the clinic in Jackson to determine if it was able to comply.

"My goal of course is to shut it down," Bryant told a group of pastors in video captured by WJTV on Thursday.

The standoff between Japan and China escalated to a new level after both sides sent their jets to tail each other in airspace near the cluster of disputed islands that has created tension between the two powers.

A Chinese Y-8 transport plane flew near the vicinity of the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands (as they are known by the Chinese and the Japanese respectively) on what the Defense Ministry in Beijing described as a "routine patrol" on Thursday. It was immediately tailed by a Japanese F-15. Chinese authorities then ordered two more J-10 planes into the air, to perform "verification and monitoring" on the Japanese aircraft.

"Aircraft from Japan's Self-Defense Forces have intensified their surveillance activities against China, and expanded the area of their scope, disturbing the normal patrols and training of Chinese civilian and military aircraft," said a spokesman from China's Ministry of Defense.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman followed with another statement, accusing Tokyo of "creating tension".

Homemade bombs have exploded at the homes of five journalists from major media outlets in Athens. Police are linking the attacks to the current economic crisis in the country and the way the mainstream media have reported it.

The devices, made of gas canisters, exploded outside residences in different areas of Athens. The explosions caused minor damage to the buildings' entrances, but no one was injured.

Among the bomb targets, the editor of the state-run Athens News Agency, two journalists employed by state broadcaster NET and two presenters from the private Mega television channel.

The outlets singled out- either state-run or controlled by some of the country's leading business groups- have traditionally been seen by leftist groups as closely tied to Greece's political establishment.

"We believe the attacks are related to the latest economic developments and the way the journalists present the facts," a police official, who preferred to be unnamed, told Reuters.