Category Archives: terrorism

The NSA Uses Powerful Toolbox in Effort to Spy on Global Networks – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The Way of Tao takes on whole new meaning!

These documents reveal that in 2008, the Texas Cryptologic Center employed fewer than 60 TAO specialists. By 2015, the number is projected to grow to 270 employees. In addition, there are another 85 specialists in the \”Requirements & Targeting\” division (up from 13 specialists in 2008). The number of software developers is expected to increase from the 2008 level of three to 38 in 2015. The San Antonio office handles attacks against targets in the Middle East, Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, not to mention Mexico, just 200 kilometers (124 miles) away, where the government has fallen into the NSA\’s crosshairs.

via The NSA Uses Powerful Toolbox in Effort to Spy on Global Networks – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

The thing to remember is that no one is actually “listening” to your conversations or “reading” your e-mail or tracking your web searches – unless you are up to no good or are in conversation with someone like that. Big cyberdata analogues scoop up billions of activities and sorts them – if it finds you fall into a pattern they are searching for and you are in a network being actively watched – then an individual may start tracking your data – specifically. Otherwise nothing is going on that is not done by Yahoo,Google and Verizon on a daily basis of monitoring lines, customer “wants” and interests to sell us stuff.

UNRWA condemns Israel’s ‘Christmas Eve demolitions’ in the West Bank | Maan News Agency

 

UNRWA condemns Israel’s ‘Christmas Eve demolitions’ in the West Bank | Maan News Agency.

“The structures at hand were illegal,” the COGAT spokesman told Ma’an. “They had been built without a building permit.”Israel’s High Court of Justice denied all petitions to keep the homes standing, he added.He said the demolitions that UNRWA claimed took place in Ein Ayoub had actually taken place in Deir Ammar.Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy

President Barack Obama has deployed a small military contingent to South Sudan to help bolster security at the U.S. Embassy amid escalating violence in the fledgling African nation.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said the 45 military personnel were sent to South Sudan on Wednesday. While they were equipped for combat, Obama said their purpose was to protect U.S. citizens and property and that they would remain in South Sudan until the security situation there improved.

\”South Sudan stands at the precipice,\” Obama said in a written statement. \”Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past.\”

via Obama sends small military to continent to South Sudan to help protect US Embassy.

71 journalists were killed in 2013 – Reporters Without Borders

71 journalists were killed in 2013

2013 in numbers

Journalists killed: 71 (-20%)

Journalists arrested: 826 (-6%)

Journalists threatened or physically attacked: 2160 (+9%)

Journalists kidnapped: 87 (+129%)

Journalists who fled their country: 77 (+5%)

Media assistants killed: 6

Netizens and citizen-journalists killed: 39 (-17%)

Bloggers and netizens arrested: 127 (-12%)

Journalists killed:

39% in a war zone

8% freelance

4% women journalists

Media types

Print: 37%

Radio: 30%

TV: 30%

Website: 3%

via 71 journalists were killed in 2013 – Reporters Without Borders.

Bloggers celebrated in Paris, arrested and beaten in Vietnam – Reporters Without Borders

Plainclothes police beat the bloggers Chau Van Thi and Hoang Dung in Ho Chi Minh City, while in Hanoi, Dao Trang Loan, Le Hien Duc and Pham Minh Vu were roughed up.

A group of bloggers was attacked at round 5 p.m. on 8 December in Ho Chi Minh City while heading to the demonstration. A woman blogger, Nguyen Hoang Vi, was dragged and beaten. Me Nam, another woman blogger, was pushed to the ground while carrying her five-year-old son.

Seven other bloggers – Hoang Dung, Nguyen Tien Tuyen, Tran Hoang Han, Trung Hieu Hieu, Vo Cong Dong, Hoang Bui and Tin Ba – who were nearby were beaten when they rushed to help them. Vi and Nam were forced to return home, where a policeman prevented them from leaving for several hours.

via Bloggers celebrated in Paris, arrested and beaten in Vietnam – Reporters Without Borders.

Avian Flu Diary: Pakistan: 3 More Polio Workers Killed

At least three people have been killed in Pakistan\’s tribal areas after the resumption of an antipolio campaign.

RFE/RL\’s Radio Mashaal reports that gunmen shot and killed two police officers assigned to protect a team of polio-vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan.

The incident occurred north of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, on December 13.

Reports said the attackers fled the scene.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In a second incident, Esmattulah Wazir, a political administrator in the tribal areas, said unknown assailants shot dead a polio worker named Yousef in his home.

via Avian Flu Diary: Pakistan: 3 More Polio Workers Killed.

British Fascists win – EU migrants (Roma and sort of Roma)face 100 new questions to make it harder to obtain benefits | UK news | theguardian.com

Income-related benefits such as housing benefit, income support and council tax benefit are to be harder for EU migrants to obtain from Friday as they face a string of 100 questions, including the reasons they were unable to find a job in their home country. They will also be asked about their ability to speak English.The new 100 questions in the fresh habitual residence test is being rushed out ahead of the transitional controls on Romanians and Bulgarians being lifted on 1 January.

via EU migrants face 100 new questions to make it harder to obtain benefits | UK news | theguardian.com.

Hopi objects go on sale in Paris despite US challenge – CULTURE – FRANCE 24

If the art being sold was from collections of stolen art by Nazi’s – would she rule the same?

The judge who ruled on the legal challenge filed on behalf of the Hopi acknowledged that the sale of the objects could \”constitute an affront to the dignity\” of the tribe.

But she said \”this moral and philosophical consideration does not in itself give the judge the right to suspend the sale of these masks, which is not forbidden in France\”.

via Hopi objects go on sale in Paris despite US challenge – CULTURE – FRANCE 24.

Gaza Returns to Donkey Days – Inter Press Service

GAZA CITY , Dec 5 2013 (IPS) – The garbage trucks of Gaza city are at a standstill due to an ongoing fuel shortage affecting all aspects of daily life, including garbage collection, sewage and waste disposal and other vital services. But the local donkeys are here to help.

Abu Hesham on his donkey cart won’t be able to clear all the streets of garbage. In Gaza’s Barcelona neighbourhood, trash bins are overflowing – a common sight since fuel for motor vehicles became scarce – and as the 33-year-old donkey cart owner approaches the garbage dump, there is no space left and no option but to throw the trash out on the side of the road.

“What else can I do?” he tells IPS as he carries sacks of waste at 7:00 AM through Gaza’s misty weather.

The smell of rotting garbage is getting worse and worse. The people in Gaza attempt to burn the garbage to reduce the quantity and minimise the risk of infection, so the air is filled with black smoke too. Right now, breathing fresh air is not an option for most people in Gaza, whether children or adults.

via Gaza Returns to Donkey Days – Inter Press Service.