Mainstream News

‘We can do this without Congress’: Obama to unilaterally impose cell phone tax

"President Barack Obama is looking to unilaterally impose a $5-per-year tax on all cellphone users to avoid asking a recalcitrant Congress for funding. Obama hopes to rake in enough funds for a project called ConnectED that will cost taxpayers billions: expanding high-speed Internet access in classrooms across the country so that 99 percent of public school students can freely access the Internet. Obama administration officials promise that the tax would end in three years after the FCC filled its coffers with $6 billion, but gave no details on how the government would prevent potential cost overruns or measure the program’s progress." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘We can do this without Congress’: Obama to unilaterally impose cell phone tax

Egypt death toll soars as Obama leads muted international condemnation

"The US president interrupted his family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard to condemn the bloodshed, but stressed that any move toward peaceful democracy was a difficult process that could take decades. 'We appreciate the complexity of the situation,' he said. 'We recognise that change takes time. There are going to be false starts and difficult days. We know that democratic transitions are measured not in months or even years, but sometimes in generations.' His statement disappointed many who had hoped for a cancellation of $1.3bn in annual US military aid to Egypt, but the administration is anxious to retain this link for future leverage over the generals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt death toll soars as Obama leads muted international condemnation

Egypt death toll soars as Obama leads muted international condemnation

"The US president interrupted his family vacation on Martha’s Vineyard to condemn the bloodshed, but stressed that any move toward peaceful democracy was a difficult process that could take decades. 'We appreciate the complexity of the situation,' he said. 'We recognise that change takes time. There are going to be false starts and difficult days. We know that democratic transitions are measured not in months or even years, but sometimes in generations.' His statement disappointed many who had hoped for a cancellation of $1.3bn in annual US military aid to Egypt, but the administration is anxious to retain this link for future leverage over the generals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt death toll soars as Obama leads muted international condemnation

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say

"Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier than previously reported, according to U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter. David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, declined to comment on any aspect of Snowden's employment with the company, saying Dell's 'customer' - presumably the NSA - had asked Dell not to talk publicly about him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say

"Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier than previously reported, according to U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter. David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, declined to comment on any aspect of Snowden's employment with the company, saying Dell's 'customer' - presumably the NSA - had asked Dell not to talk publicly about him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say

Iraq Kurds reach out to Baghdad to fight surging al Qaeda

"The Shi'ite-led Iraqi government and Kurdish authorities are now looking at examples like the Shirqat attack and considering the once unthinkable - launching joint security operations and sharing intelligence - to combat the common enemy of al Qaeda. Such cooperation has been extremely rare since U.S. troops left at the end of 2011, while the central government and the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region in the north have been locked in an increasingly hostile dispute over land and oil. That the two sides are publicly contemplating working together underlines how worried they are about the insurgency and the threat of Iraq slipping back into all-out sectarian war." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIraq Kurds reach out to Baghdad to fight surging al Qaeda

Audit finds NSA violated ‘thousands’ of its own privacy rules

"The National Security Agency (NSA) has breached privacy rules or acted outside its authority several thousand times since being granted sweeping new powers five years ago, the Washington Post reported. The breaches had been revealed after analysis of an internal audit and other top secret documents, the details of which were made available to the Post by US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. It cited an instance in 2008 when a 'large number' of calls from Washington were monitored after a programming error mixed up the area code for the US capital — 202 — with the international dialing code for Egypt — 20." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAudit finds NSA violated ‘thousands’ of its own privacy rules

Obama’s surveillance revisions omit limits on warrantless email searches

"In pledging to make changes that could curtail the federal government’s ability to spy on Americans, President Barack Obama failed to address calls by lawmakers and experts to overhaul a law that allows the National Security Agency to search vast databases of individual Americans’ emails without court warrants. Instead, Obama called on Congress to change the USA Patriot Act, which increased the government’s ability to gather intelligence after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the secret court that oversees NSA surveillance programs. Obama said he still backed the surveillance programs but was trying to strike a balance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama’s surveillance revisions omit limits on warrantless email searches

Congress Is Nervous About This Whole Bitcoin Thing

"A Senate committee sent a letter to DHS asking what the agency is doing to crack down on the illicit use of Bitcoins. Similar letters were sent to a host of other three-letter agencies including the DOJ and the SEC. “The speed at which payments can be sent globally and the potentially profitable investments that can be made trading virtual currency have made them attractive to entrepreneurs and investors alike,' write Senators Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) in the letter. 'However, their near anonymous and decentralized nature has also attracted criminals who value few things more than being allowed to operate in the shadows.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCongress Is Nervous About This Whole Bitcoin Thing

Gold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals

"The third increase in import taxes on gold this year by India, the world’s biggest user, is set to boost smuggling ahead of the festival and wedding seasons as official imports halt on central bank curbs, a trade group said. Poor Indian laborers working in the Middle East are acting as couriers for organized gangs in return for a ticket home and a few thousand rupees, according to Rishi Yadav, assistant commissioner at the Mumbai customs department’s Air Intelligence Unit. The gangs seek to benefit by selling that smuggled bullion to traders and mom-and-pop jewelry stores, who benefit from cheaper supplies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGold Smuggling to Climb in India on Tax Increase, Festivals