Daily Mail: “A group of women have launched a sex boycott against men who voted for the newly elected governor of Tokyo, after he claimed females were unfit for government because of their menstruation cycles. Yoichi Masuzoe claimed in an interview with a men’s magazine that women were not able to make critical decisions when they having a period because they are ‘not normal.'”

NBC News: “British spies have developed ‘dirty tricks‘ for use against nations, hackers, terror groups, suspected criminals and arms dealers that include releasing computer viruses, spying on journalists and diplomats, jamming phones and computers, and using sex to lure targets into ‘honey traps.'”

The report is based on documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden.

President Obama’s pick as ambassador to Argentina admitted during a Senate hearing that he’d never been to the country, the Washington Examiner reports.

Said Mament: “I haven’t had the opportunity yet to be there. I’ve traveled pretty extensively around the world, but I haven’t yet had chance to visit Argentina.”

Mamet bundled $500,000 for the president’s re-election bid.

Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, the top U.S. diplomat to Europe, was caught on tape saying “Fuck the EU.”

The Hill: “It’s not clear who recorded or leaked the call, though speculation has immediately fallen on Moscow.”

Kyiv Post: “The leak appears to be a smear campaign aimed to split the EU and U.S., who have been critical of the Ukrainian government’s handling of the more than two months of anti-government protests. The tape is also likely to fuel Russia’s claims the U.S. and EU are manipulating and even funding the protest movement in Ukraine.”

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai “has been engaged in secret contacts with the Taliban about reaching a peace agreement without the involvement of his American and Western allies, further corroding already strained relations with the United States,” the New York Times reports.

“The secret contacts appear to help explain a string of actions by Mr. Karzai that seem intended to antagonize his American backers, Western and Afghan officials said. In recent weeks, Mr. Karzai has continued to refuse to sign a long-term security agreement with Washington that he negotiated, insisted on releasing hardened Taliban militants from prison and distributed distorted evidence of what he called American war crimes.”

Hillary Clinton “made clear she supports President Obama’s call to allow the current negotiations over ending Iran’s nuclear development and that new sanctions being debated by Congress should be shelved while those talks take place,” according to a late-January letter she wrote obtained by Politico.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sharply criticized the foreign policy portion of the State of the Union speech after President Obama pledged to veto any additional sanctions while negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program are ongoing, Roll Call reports.

Said Graham: “The world is literally about to blow up.”

He added: “The world as I know was not remotely described by the president. Syria is a contagion.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told Roll Call the fallout could be disastrous: “The risk is unacceptable. When you have the leaders of a nation who have said, among other things, they intend to drive Israel into the sea and wipe them off the face of the map — if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, the risk is unacceptable that that weapon will be detonated over the skies of Tel Aviv or New York or Los Angeles. The results could be hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost.”

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai “has frequently lashed out at the U.S. military for causing civilian casualties in its raids. But behind the scenes, he has been building a far broader case against the Americans, suggesting they may have aided or conducted shadowy insurgent-style attacks to undermine his government,” the Washington Post reports.

“Karzai has formalized his suspicions with a list of dozens of attacks that he believes the U.S. government may have been involved in… The list even includes the recent bomb and gun assault on a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul, one of the bloodiest acts targeting the international community in Afghanistan.”

Hillary Clinton “called the deadly attack on the United States mission in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 her ‘biggest regret’ in the four years she served as secretary of state,” the New York Times reports.

Said Clinton: “It was a terrible tragedy losing four Americans — two diplomats and now it is public so I can say two C.I.A. operatives. You make these choices based on imperfect information. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be unforeseen consequences, unpredictable twists and turns.”

French President Francois Hollande has confirmed his separation from his partner Valerie Trierweiler and said that their “shared life” had ended, the BBC reports.

“Two weeks ago a magazine published photos which appeared to show Mr Hollande had been having an affair with an actress, Julie Gayet. Ms Trierweiler spent a week in hospital after the revelations.”

“I have no more questions for this incredibly highly qualified group of nominees.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Yahoo News, after U.S. Ambassador-designate George Tsunis displayed a total lack of knowledge of Norway at his confirmation hearing.

Josh Rogin: “Dennis Rodman was already having a rotten month, between the trip to rehab and the global condemnation for cozying up to a dictator. Now things may be about to get much worse. The U.S. Treasury Department is investigating whether he violated the law that prohibits the importing of luxury goods into North Korea.”

“On his third and most recent trip to Pyongyang this month, Rodman reportedly brought several gifts for the young Kim’s 31st birthday. They allegedly included hundreds of dollars’ worth of Irish Jameson whiskey, European crystal, an Italian suit, a fur coat, and an English Mulberry handbag for Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blasted the Obama administration’s Syria policy saying it could pose a terrorist threat to the United States, Roll Call reports.

Said McCain: “If you don’t care about Syria, my dear listeners, if you don’t care about Syria, it’s becoming a regional conflict. It’s spread to Lebanon. It’s spread to Turkey. It’s spread to Jordan. It is spreading throughout the region, and sooner or later it will affect the United States of America if you allow a place to become a base for al-Qaeda.”

He added: “I have never seen anything like this in my life. I thought Jimmy Carter was bad, but he pales in comparison to this president in my view.”

Boston Red Sox pitchers Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa met with U.S.
Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy on Tuesday during a tour to share
the 2013 World Series trophy with baseball fans in the country, AP reports.

Just for Red Sox fans: Check out Sox Wire for the latest news on the World Champions.

New York Times: “As a candidate for the French presidency in 2012, François Hollande promised to be more boring spouse than flamboyant seducer… Twenty months into his presidency, Mr. Hollande’s campaign pledge is faring even less well than the unemployment-cursed French economy.”

“Caught in a clandestine affair that is more bedroom farce than Shakespearean drama — a beautiful actress, a scorned woman at home, surreptitious comings and goings on a most unpresidential scooter — Mr. Hollande is testing the limits of France’s tolerance for private indiscretion and leaving himself vulnerable to ridicule.”

“The episode has revealed a colder, more politically calculating side to Mr. Hollande, familiar to those around him but largely hidden from public view. His judgment, not least about his personal security, has been called into question.”

“One can feel calm and at ease. Just leave kids alone, please.”

— Russian President Vladimir Putin, quoted by the Washington Post, when asked about his country’s attitude towards gays at the Olympic Games.

Topic A: Defense points out that the United States is still at war in Iraq — at least on paper.

“The French president’s burgeoning sex scandal is emerging as a diplomatic headache for the White House amid uncertainty as to whom exactly François Hollande plans to bring to next month’s state dinner,” The Hill reports.