"Amazon Web Services has worked with companies such as Netflix, Instagram, and Pinterest. But the cloud computing service may sign with a different kind of client: the Central Intelligence Agency. Federal Computer Weekly reports that Amazon has entered a 10-year, $600 million contract with the CIA. FCW says it learned from anonymous sources that Amazon will build a cloud-computing contract for the agency." Continue reading →
"Despite the pervasiveness of law enforcement surveillance of digital communication, the FBI still has a difficult time monitoring Gmail, Google Voice, and Dropbox in real time. But that may change soon, because the bureau says it has made gaining more powers to wiretap all forms of Internet conversation and cloud storage a 'top priority' this year. FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann said that the FBI wants the power to mandate real-time surveillance of everything from Dropbox and online games ('the chat feature in Scrabble') to Gmail and Google Voice. 'Those communications are being used for criminal conversations,' he said." Continue reading →
"Law enforcement officials pushed back hundreds of people who were crowding around a large pile of merchandise outside an Augusta grocery store Tuesday afternoon. But the goods sitting in the parking lot of the Laney Supermarket didn't make into anyone's hands. Instead, the food people hoped to take home was tossed into the trash. SunTrust Bank in Atlanta owns the property and they're sending the merchandise to the landfill after evicting the Chois, the owners of the grocery store." Continue reading →
"A former Bella Vista police officer who served jail time after shooting a suspect to death was sworn in as a police chief Monday night. A district court ruled that Brackney was to blame for the shooting death of James Ahern following a high-speed pursuit in January 2010. His negligent homicide conviction was a misdemeanor, so Brackney was spared prison time. 'I told the guys the day I left I would be back, and I told them it may take me a while because it was going to be a long fight,' Brackney told 5NEWS on Tuesday. 'But I’m back.'" Continue reading →
"George W. Bush is costing taxpayers $1.3 million a year, the most of any ex-President, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Meanwhile, taxpayers are forking over nearly $3.7 million total to pay for the four remaining presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, George W. and Bill Clinton. That figure includes their $200,000 annual pension, compensation and benefits for a small staff, and funds for travel, office space, and postage. But it doesn't include the additional money spent on Secret Service protection, which is not made public, CNN wrote." Continue reading →
"Medical claims costs — the biggest driver of health insurance premiums — will jump an average 32% for Americans' individual policies under the Affordable Care Act health care law, according to a study out Tuesday by the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts. While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report prepared by the Society of Actuaries concluded that the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said." Continue reading →
"Russia's recent large-scale crackdown against organizations designated as 'foreign agents' has now been extended to German political foundations. Russian state prosecutors have launched investigations of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), a political think tank aligned with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union party, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), the think tank of the center-left Social Democratic Party, according to German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung." Continue reading →
"Big depositors- many of them Russian — face losses of up to 40 percent as the result of a so-called 'bail-in' to back 10 billion euros in EU financial aid to stabilize the Cypriot banking system. 'It's worth trying, it's not going to be easy, its not going to be a one-off, 24-hour court case, but the nature of the action itself sounds like expropriation,' said Andrey Goltsblat, at law firm Goltsblat BLP. There could be a basis to sue either Cyprus or individual banks, say lawyers who have been contacted by current and prospective clients seeking redress. 'People are just frustrated and ... are trying to find a way to get their money off Cyprus,' said Goltsblat." Continue reading →
"A former adviser to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) says a rising cadre of officers has slipped the leash and picked up attitudes all too like the Japan's firebrand officers in the 1930s, when they defied orders from Tokyo. He said these young bloods are on a 'collision course' with the US-dominated global system. As `black swans' go, an outright war between the two great powers of Asia would surely be dramatic, and it could not easily be contained since America is bound by treaties to defend Japan if it is attacked. This includes an attack on the Senkaku islands. One shudders to think what would happen if China and the US itself came to blows in any form." Continue reading →
"'A debt ratio of 245pc of GDP is not really safe, and it is not happening because we are investing,' said Takehiko Nakao, Japan's 'Mr Yen' or vice finance minister in charge of the exchange rate. Mr Nakao said the scope for further fiscal stimulus is running out and the country must restore public finances to a sustainable path by the middle of the decade. The comments touch on an acutely sensitive topic. A number of global hedge funds and banks have begun "shorting" Japan's debt, the world's biggest at $23 trillion. They are mostly taking positions through the credit default swap (CDS) market, betting that Japan will be the next big crisis theme." Continue reading →