Mainstream News

Federal court upholds California ban on foie gras sales

"A US federal appeals court upheld California’s ban on the sale of foie gras Friday, 13 months after the block on the controversial delicacy came into force. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims that the ban interferes with free trade, made in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by a group of Canadian and US foie gras producers. California lawmakers agreed the ban in 2004, but gave the western US state’s only foie gras producer seven-and-a-half years to comply before it came into effect on July 1 last year. Restaurants serving the gourmet item — made by force-feeding ducks or geese, a practice some animal rights campaigners regard as cruel — can be fined up to $1,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFederal court upholds California ban on foie gras sales

We interviewed the guy who prank-called the NSA about his lost e-mail

"The NSA is in dire need of customer service training — at least in the case of Bahram Sadeghi, a Dutch-Iranian filmmaker who decided to call the surveillance agency for “help” after one of his e-mails was accidentally deleted. In a three-minute exchange with NSA spokespeople, Sadeghi manages to confound one with his request (you can almost hear the relief in her voice when Sadeghi asks to speak to someone else) and gets a curt reply from another. How did Sadeghi pull off his trick? In an interview Sunday, the prankster revealed how his plan came together and where it went off the rails. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWe interviewed the guy who prank-called the NSA about his lost e-mail

Roger Waters backs Bulgarian protesters during performance of ‘The Wall’

"Red captions 'No f*cking way' and 'Ostavka' in Cyrillic — which means resignation in Bulgarian — flashed upon Waters’ famous Wall during the performance of the song 'Mother'. The slogans appeared right after Rogers sang the line 'Mother, should I trust the government' and were met with rounds of applause and shouts of 'Ostavka' by the crowd of over 40,000 people in Sofia’s national stadium. Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets of the capital every evening since June 14 to protest against the three-month-old Socialists-backed cabinet of technocrats, which they see as corrupt and too easily swayed by shady business interests behind the scenes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRoger Waters backs Bulgarian protesters during performance of ‘The Wall’

Britain fights EU’s ‘Big Brother’ bid to fit every car with speed limiter

"Drivers face having their cars fitted with devices that slam on the brakes if they go over the speed limit, under draconian new road safety measures being drawn up by officials in Brussels. All new cars would have to include camera systems that ‘read’ the limits displayed on road signs and automatically apply the brakes. And vehicles already on the road could even be sent back to garages to be fitted with the ‘Big Brother’ technology, meaning that no car in the UK would be allowed to travel faster than 70mph – the speed limit on motorways. The EC’s Mobility and Transport Department aims to slash the death toll from traffic accidents by a third by 2020." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritain fights EU’s ‘Big Brother’ bid to fit every car with speed limiter

AT&T paid for access to 4 billion call records a day for federal, local drug investigations

"US law enforcement officers working on anti-drugs operations have had access to a vast database of call records dating back to 1987, supplied by the phone company AT&T. The project, known as Hemisphere, gives federal and local officers working on drug cases access to a database of phone metadata populated by more than four billion new call records each day. Unlike the controversial call record accesses obtained by the NSA, the data is stored by AT&T, not the government, but officials can access individual’s phone records within an hour of an administrative subpoena. AT&T receives payment from the government in order to sit its employees alongside drug units to aid with access to the data." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAT&T paid for access to 4 billion call records a day for federal, local drug investigations

The Middle East, explained in one (sort of terrifying) chart

"Sir, Iran is backing Assad. Gulf states are against Assad! Assad is against Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood and Obama are against General Sisi. But Gulf states are pro-Sisi! Which means they are against Muslim Brotherhood! Iran is pro-Hamas, but Hamas is backing Muslim Brotherhood! Obama is backing Muslim Brotherhood, yet Hamas is against the U.S.! Gulf states are pro-U.S. But Turkey is with Gulf states against Assad; yet Turkey is pro-Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi. And General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf states! Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Middle East, explained in one (sort of terrifying) chart

Pakistan orders fresh murder charges against Pervez Musharraf

"An anti-terrorism court last month charged Musharraf with the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who died in a gun and suicide attack after a political rally in December 2007. It was the first time a head of Pakistan’s army has been charged with a crime, challenging beliefs that the military is immune from prosecution and threatening to fan tensions with civilian institutions. While murder will be difficult to prove, it may embolden efforts to try Musharraf for treason for seizing power in 1999 and for violating the constitution by sacking judges and imposing emergency rule in 2007. Treason can carry the death penalty." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPakistan orders fresh murder charges against Pervez Musharraf

France will ‘prove’ Syria regime behind chemical attack

"France will hand over evidence to lawmakers on Monday proving President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind last month’s chemical weapons attack in Syria, a government source told AFP. 'It will be a set of evidence of different kinds that will allow the regime to be clearly identified as responsible for the August 21 chemical attack,' the source said. Another government source said the evidence would include 'declassified secret documents' and that 'some of them could be made public'. France has become Washington’s main ally in the Syria crisis after the British parliament in a shock move rejected plans for military action mooted by Washington." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance will ‘prove’ Syria regime behind chemical attack

Fifth of CIA applicants with suspect backgrounds have ‘significant terrorist’ connections

"Although the file did not describe the nature of the jobseekers’ extremist or hostile ties, it cited Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda and its affiliates most often. The fear of infiltration is such that the NSA planned last year to investigate at least 4,000 staff who obtained security clearances. The NSA detected potentially suspicious activity among staff members after trawling through trillions of employee keystrokes at work. The suspicious behavior included staffers accessing classified databases they do not usually use for their work or downloading several documents, two people familiar with the software used to monitor staff told the Post." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFifth of CIA applicants with suspect backgrounds have ‘significant terrorist’ connections

FBI increases surveillance of Syrians in U.S.

"The FBI has beefed up its surveillance of Syrians living in the United States ahead of a possible US military attack on Syria, The New York Times reported Sunday. The newspaper said FBI agents are set to interview hundreds of Syrians in the coming days. US officials are especially concerned because Syria’s close ally Iran has warned that any military action on Syria would leave Israel in flames. It said senior FBI officials have also directed the bureau’s field offices to follow up with sources linked to Syrians as part of an effort to identify any talk of a retaliatory strike. And Syrians currently under investigation will be placed under closer scrutiny." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI increases surveillance of Syrians in U.S.