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Obama: U.S. will provide Jordan with $200 million aid package for Syrian refugees

“President Barack Obama says his administration is working with Congress to provide Jordan with an additional $200 million in aid this year. He made the announcement during a news conference in Amman, Jordan, with King Abdullah II. Jordan’s economic troubles have been made worse by the influx of more than 450,000 refugees fleeing the civil war across the border in neighboring Syria. The Syrians are crowding refugee camps in Jordan and overwhelming aid agencies run by the important U.S. ally in the Middle East.” Continue reading →

New York Cops Arrest Artist Who Posted Embarrassing ‘NYPD Drone’ Posters [2012]

“Back in mid-September, the NYPD (and the city of NY) was embarrassed by the work of an artist who managed to install 100 posters in pay phone kiosks that appeared to show the city was using armed drones to control crime. Last week, police finally arrested Essam Attia, the man they believe was at the center of the campaign. Mr. Attia has been charged with 56 counts of possession of a forged instrument — a fairly serious crime for someone who put up some posters that he claims were meant to spark a conversation about the troubling use of drones both domestically and abroad.” Continue reading →

Bloomberg on NYC drone program vs. street cameras: ‘What’s the difference?’

“New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an interview on Friday that the city may turn to the use of a drone program for public safety monitoring. According to CBS New York, the mayor believes that the thousands of surveillance cameras already mounted all around the city are not enough, but that a program of unmanned surveillance drones would not be a significant incursion into resident’s privacy. ‘What’s the difference whether the drone is up in the air or on a building?’ the mayor asked. ‘I have trouble making the distinction.'” Continue reading →

Drones: A Booming Business?

“Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, may soon become commercialized. In Grand Forks, N.D., people are preparing for a coming boom in drones-related business.” Continue reading →

Cyprus concedes big bank account tax, nationalizing pension funds

“As Cypriot party leaders met, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters that Nicosia had agreed with EU/IMF lenders on a 20 percent levy over and above 100,000 euros at No. 1 lender Bank of Cyprus, and four percent on deposits over the same level at others. Cypriot lawmakers voted in late-night session on Friday to nationalize state pensions and split failing lenders into good and bad banks. They also gave the government powers to impose capital controls, anticipating a run on banks when they reopen on Tuesday. A plan to nationalize semi-state pension funds has met with resistance, being possibly even more painful for ordinary Cypriots than a deposit levy.” Continue reading →

1,000 bank workers march on Cyprus’ presidential palace to protest bank restructuring

“At least 1,000 bank workers fearing for their jobs staged a march on the Cyprus presidency on Saturday ahead of a planned protest outside parliament which is to debate a bailout to save the island from bankruptcy. The workers marched from union headquarters towards the presidential compound where they held a brief rally at the gates before heading towards the finance ministry. The marchers held placards that read: ‘Hands off provident funds’ and ‘No to the bankruptcy of Cyprus’ as well as ‘Let us dream.’ Police initially blocked the protesters from nearing the presidential palace before then letting them through.” Continue reading →

NYPD officers testify stop-and-frisk program motivated by quotas and race

“The New York police department’s controversial stop-and-frisk program is being driven by a high-pressure quota system imposed upon lower-ranking officers by their supervisors, two NYPD officers testified in court this week. The claims were made as part of a landmark class action lawsuit that seeks to prove that the nation’s largest police department has demonstrated a widespread and systemic pattern of unconstitutional stops that disproportionately target minorities. The trial represents a historic challenge to the legacies of NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly and mayor Michael Bloomberg, who have both vocally supported stop-and-frisk.” Continue reading →

Brooklyn man released from jail after 22-year murder conviction is overturned

“A 58-year-old Brooklyn man was released from prison Thursday after his murder conviction was overturned following a witness’ confession that he was coaxed by authorities into identifying him as the suspect, CNN reported on Friday. ‘As I said from the beginning, I had nothing to do with this case,’ David Ranta said after leaving prison. Ranta’s case was reopened in 2011, after a witness, Menachem Lieberman, told his court-appointed attorney that police had told him to ‘pick the guy with the big nose’ when identifying suspects in a lineup.” Continue reading →