Category Archives: Fail!

In Germany, pressure mounts to handle right-wing violence against refugees

German politicians have called for the government to take tougher action to prevent appalling right-wing incidents against refugees. The police are also facing criticism.

Source: In Germany, pressure mounts to handle right-wing violence against refugees

“I was married for 25 years and had five children, but I allowed… word to the unwise

“I was married for 25 years and had five children, but I allowed myself to make decisions based on emotional glitches. I had affairs. But they were affairs of the heart. I think I had a hunger to see myself as a great man in someone else’s eyes. My wife was a fine person, and she still is, but after 25 years of marriage things become settled. And when somebody else comes along and makes you feel like something special—it’s like catnip. You want more of it. You want to say: ‘Let’s get lunch sometime.’ But in the end, you are what you are no matter how somebody makes you feel. It’s just a feeling. And I wish I hadn’t chased it.”

Source: “I was married for 25 years and had five children, but I allowed…

Why is US storing new tanks in hidden Norwegian caves? – The Local

Russian aggression in the Nordics has been an ongoing concern for Norway and its neighbours in recent years.

In 2015, it was revealed that Russia rehearsed military takeovers of northern Norway, the Swedish island of Gotland and the Danish island of Bornholm.

Norwegian, Swedish and Danish intelligence services have all reported that Russia is one of the biggest threats in the region.

Just last week, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) singled Russian spying out as having major “damage potential” for Norwegian interests.

The Marines statement said that more than 16,000 troops will use equipment stored in the Norwegian caves later this month for cold weather training exercises.

Source: Why is US storing new tanks in hidden Norwegian caves? – The Local

 

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Customer Letter – Apple — back door

A Dangerous Precedent Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority. The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer. The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge. Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Rather than asking for legislative action through Congress, the FBI is proposing an unprecedented use of the All Writs Act of 1789 to justify an expansion of its authority. The government would have us remove security features and add new capabilities to the operating system, allowing a passcode to be input electronically. This would make it easier to unlock an iPhone by “brute force,” trying thousands or millions of combinations with the speed of a modern computer. The implications of the government’s demands are chilling. If the government can use the All Writs Act to make it easier to unlock your iPhone, it would have the power to reach into anyone’s device to capture their data. The government could extend this breach of privacy and demand that Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages, access your health records or financial data, track your location, or even access your phone’s microphone or camera without your knowledge. Opposing this order is not something we take lightly. We feel we must speak up in the face of what we see as an overreach by the U.S. government. We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications. While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.

Source: Customer Letter – Apple

Aboriginal minister Bess Price denied request to speak Indigenous language in NT Parliament – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The failed request from Local Government Minister Bess Nungarrayi Price came after the central Australian MP was warned over disorderly conduct after she interjected in a parliamentary debate in Warlpiri, prompting NT Speaker Kezia Purick to declare that “the language of the assembly is English”. “Should a member use a language other than English without the leave of the assembly it will be ruled disorderly and the member will be required to withdraw the words,” Ms Purick said in Parliament last December after receiving complaints from Labor MPs about Minister Price’s Warlpiri interjection. Late last week — in part prompted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaking an Aboriginal language in Parliament during his Closing the Gap address — Minister Price wrote to the Speaker challenging the Parliament’s interpretation of its standing orders. “I seek clarification as to where in the standing orders it states the official language of the chamber can be English only,” Minister Price said in a letter obtained by the ABC. “I am very concerned that our Parliament may be seen as not providing mutual respect and parity to our Aboriginal members and our constituents. I feel that I cannot effectively represent my electorate without using my first language, Warlpiri.”

Source: Aboriginal minister Bess Price denied request to speak Indigenous language in NT Parliament – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

IRIN | The Aegean’s nameless dead

More bodies have surfaced recently – some in an advanced state of decay. On 5 January, a young woman was found bobbing in the shallows of the north shore, 10 kilometres from Iero. “She was completely naked,” remembers Kalliopi Katte, the doctor who lifted her onto a stretcher. “It was an awful sight because although she had her arms and legs, her face was missing. There was no skin or flesh. It was just a skull.” The woman’s belly was bloated, not from pregnancy, but from the gases emanating from her decomposing bowels. Katte believes she had been at the bottom of the sea for about two weeks. Like the other bodies, it too had to be cut loose from a life vest that failed to save the woman’s life. The patch of coast where the body was found is so remote. Katte and three firemen had to carry the body up a mountainside for an hour to reach the nearest road. “The bodies are always found after strong northern winds because they’ve sunk to the bottom of the sea and the weather brings them up against the rock,” says Katte. “The bodies have been eaten by fish – they’re not just decomposing.”

Source: IRIN | The Aegean’s nameless dead

Egypt: Torture and murder of Giulio Regeni

People all over the world were shocked and saddened to learn of the torture and murder of Giulio Regeni, a young academic who was in Egypt to research the situation of independent trade unions. As Kamal Abbas, an Egyptian labour leader, has written: “The announcement of Giulio’’s death came after 10 days of his disappearance. The condition in which the body was found reveals that Giulio was murdered viciously and was subjected to monstrous torture before his death. This caused international outrage.” There have been open letters and online campaigns from Giulio’s academic colleagues. We in the trade union movement are also demanding answers from the Egyptian government, and the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for this horrific crime.

Source: Egypt: Torture and murder of Giulio Regeni

Beijing ‘deploys’ surface-to-air missiles on disputed island in South China Sea – nedhamson@gmail.com – Gmail

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Source: Beijing ‘deploys’ surface-to-air missiles on disputed island in South China Sea – nedhamson@gmail.com – Gmail

Why Narendra Modi’s government is at war with students | Opinion | DW.COM | 16.02.2016 (Was only a matter of time before Hindu Nationalists showed their fascist core!)

Both the government and its political supporters are upping the ante with overblown and anti-leftist nationalism. Virtually every institution and individual is being marked as either traitorous or nationalist. Since JNU is considered a leftist bastion, Hindu nationalists are demanding on Twitter that the university be shut down, and the demand to arrest “traitors” is trending on Twitter. One section of the political divide has assumed the monopoly over the power to issue certificates of patriotism. Shivam Vij writes for DW from India It has long been a grouse of Hindu nationalists that intellectual spaces in India, such as academia and English-language media, are dominated by leftist elements. Since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the government has tried to install right-wing heads in many such institutions, the key criterion being political affiliation and not talent. This in itself caused protests. But now the nationalists seem to have decided to go a step further, turning students into political prisoners and taking to vigilantism and violence with impunity, as the police often stand by and do nothing. On Monday, journalists, academics and activists were attacked by lawyers close to the ruling party. “We’ll break your phones and your bones,” they said. Journalists were punched, slapped and abused, called terrorists and asked to leave.

Source: Why Narendra Modi’s government is at war with students | Opinion | DW.COM | 16.02.2016