Philippine police and the FBI have arrested four people over a hacking operation that targeted customers of U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T to funnel money to a Saudi-based terrorist group.
Those arrested on Wednesday in Manila were paid by the same group the Federal Bureau of Investigation accuses of having funded the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the Philippines' Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said.
The hacking activity resulted in almost $2 million in losses incurred by AT&T, the CIDG said in a statement.
Police in the Philippines said money from the scams was diverted to accounts of a Saudi-based group that was not identified. India blames Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for carrying out the attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer said hackers targeted customers of AT&T, not the carrier itself. She declined to give details, saying the agency does not discuss investigations.
Hackers broke into the phone systems of some AT&T customers and made calls to expensive international premium-rate services, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Such scams are relatively common, often involving bogus premium-service phone lines set up across Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
Fraudsters make calls to the numbers from hacked business phone systems or mobile phones then collect their cash and move on before the activity is identified. Telecommunications carriers often end up footing the bill for the charges.
Jan Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for AT&T, said it wrote off some fraudulent charges that appeared on customer bills. She declined to elaborate or comment on the $2 million figure.
Earlier this week, AT&T said it was investigating an attempt to access customer information but did not believe any accounts had been breached.
The CIDG said the FBI sought the help of its Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division (ATCCD) in March after it found the Saudi-based group had targeted AT&T using the hackers.
Among the four people arrested was Paul Michael Kwan, 29, who ATCCD chief Police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa said had been arrested in 2007 after the FBI began an international crackdown on groups suspected of financing militant activities.
Sosa said the Filipinos were being paid by a group originally run by Muhammad Zamir, a Pakistani arrested in Italy in 2007. He said Zamir was a member of Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant network with links to al Qaeda.
"Zamir's group, later tagged by the FBI to be the financial source of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, on November 26, 2008, is also the same group that paid Kwan's group of hackers in Manila," Sosa said in the statement.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Meat grown in a lab v a farm = would you like to know before you bite that burger?
Yesterday, a ballot initiative that would require the labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) foods sold in California was submitted to the Attorney General’s office. The initiative has the support from a coalition of consumer groups and organic food companies – this coalition is expected to grow as the campaign unfolds in the coming months.
The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act is an initiative intended to be on the California ballot in November 2012, pending securing enough signatures to qualify it for the ballot. The Act would simply require that food sold in
retail outlets be labeled if it is genetically engineered, or if it contains genetically
engineered ingredients.
“Genetic engineering adds completely new elements into our food. Because the FDA has failed to require labeling of GMO food, this initiative closes a critical loophole in food labeling law. It will allow Californians to choose what they buy and eat and will allow health professionals to track any potential adverse health impacts of these foods.” said Andy Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “Genetically engineering food can cause unintended consequences and because there have been no long term studies, we are unsure of how GMOs may affect our health.”
Center for Food Safety (CFS) believes that consumers have a right to know what’s in the food we eat and feed our children, including whether food is genetically engineered. We all should be able to make informed choices, and have the ability to choose whether to buy genetically engineered food or not.
Stay tuned to CFS’s websites for more information on this issue in the coming weeks!
The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act is an initiative intended to be on the California ballot in November 2012, pending securing enough signatures to qualify it for the ballot. The Act would simply require that food sold in
retail outlets be labeled if it is genetically engineered, or if it contains genetically
engineered ingredients.
“Genetic engineering adds completely new elements into our food. Because the FDA has failed to require labeling of GMO food, this initiative closes a critical loophole in food labeling law. It will allow Californians to choose what they buy and eat and will allow health professionals to track any potential adverse health impacts of these foods.” said Andy Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “Genetically engineering food can cause unintended consequences and because there have been no long term studies, we are unsure of how GMOs may affect our health.”
Center for Food Safety (CFS) believes that consumers have a right to know what’s in the food we eat and feed our children, including whether food is genetically engineered. We all should be able to make informed choices, and have the ability to choose whether to buy genetically engineered food or not.
Stay tuned to CFS’s websites for more information on this issue in the coming weeks!
Renewable Energy Investment Surpasses Fossil Fuels for 1st Time!!!
Renewable energy is surpassing fossil fuels for the first time in new power-plant investments, shaking off setbacks from the financial crisis and an impasse at the United Nations global warming talks.
Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.
"The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable," United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary Achim Steiner said in an interview. "You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis."
The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate.
The renewables boom, spurred by about $66 billion of subsidies last year, intensified competition between wind- turbine and solar-panel manufacturers, gutting margins from the biggest producers led by Vestas Wind Systems A/S and First Solar Inc. The 95-member WilderHill New Energy Index of renewable- energy stocks has tumbled 40 percent this year, steeper than the 14 percent drop in the MSCI World Index.
Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.
"The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable," United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary Achim Steiner said in an interview. "You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis."
The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate.
The renewables boom, spurred by about $66 billion of subsidies last year, intensified competition between wind- turbine and solar-panel manufacturers, gutting margins from the biggest producers led by Vestas Wind Systems A/S and First Solar Inc. The 95-member WilderHill New Energy Index of renewable- energy stocks has tumbled 40 percent this year, steeper than the 14 percent drop in the MSCI World Index.
Occupy Wall Street Vision Statement & potential Demands
We Envision:
[1] a truly free, democratic, and just society;
[2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus;
[3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making;
[4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others;
[5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments;
[6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few;
[7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings;
[8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible;
[9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
10 Things We Want
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)
10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
[1] a truly free, democratic, and just society;
[2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus;
[3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making;
[4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others;
[5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments;
[6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few;
[7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings;
[8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible;
[9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
10 Things We Want
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)
10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Germany: Water Canons on protesters.
Scuffles broke out between anti-nuclear protesters and German police early on Saturday (November 26) in the northern town of Metzingen. This is some 30 kilometres away from where a shipment of highly radioactive nuclear waste was expected to arrive at a storage depot later over weekend.
Police used water cannons on a smaller group of protesters which had distanced itself from a nearby "camp" of some 700 to 800 activists, many of whom shouted at police to "go away."
A heavily protected train carrying 150 tonnes of reprocessed nuclear waste was en route to the Gorleben storage site in Germany's Lower Saxony state. The train left Areva's nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Normandy, France on Wednesday (November 23) after scuffles there between police and hundreds of protesters who tried to foil the transport by occupying train tracks near the town of Valognes.
The train was the last of 12 shipments of treated German nuclear waste sent in recent years from France to Gorleben.
Police used water cannons on a smaller group of protesters which had distanced itself from a nearby "camp" of some 700 to 800 activists, many of whom shouted at police to "go away."
A heavily protected train carrying 150 tonnes of reprocessed nuclear waste was en route to the Gorleben storage site in Germany's Lower Saxony state. The train left Areva's nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Normandy, France on Wednesday (November 23) after scuffles there between police and hundreds of protesters who tried to foil the transport by occupying train tracks near the town of Valognes.
The train was the last of 12 shipments of treated German nuclear waste sent in recent years from France to Gorleben.
MF Global, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and video tapes...
Six months ago the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said MF Global Holdings Ltd. and its units “maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2011.” A lot of people who relied on that opinion lost a ton of money.
MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31. This week the trustee for the liquidation of its U.S. brokerage unit said as much as $1.2 billion of customer money is missing, maybe more. Those deposits should have been kept segregated from the company’s funds. By all indications, they weren’t.
What’s the point of having auditors do reports like this? And are they worth the cost? It’s getting harder to answer those questions in a way the accounting profession would favor.
When an auditor certifies that a client’s internal controls are effective, that’s supposed to mean the company can do basic functions like maintain accurate financial records, detect unauthorized transactions and keep track of its receipts and expenditures. We know MF couldn’t do these things during the final days before its bankruptcy filing, when former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was still its chief executive officer.
“Their books are a disaster,” Scott O’Malia, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview two weeks ago. The newspaper also quoted Thomas Peterffy, CEO of Interactive Brokers Group Inc., saying: “I always knew the records were in shambles, but I didn’t know to what extent.” Interactive Brokers backed out of a potential deal to buy MF last month after finding discrepancies in its financial reports.
If Pricewaterhouse can’t spot control weaknesses at a relatively small shop like MF, which had $41 billion of assets, it’s a bit much to expect that the firm would catch anything materially amiss at Goldman, which has $949 billion of assets, or at a serial acquirer such as JPMorgan, with $2.3 trillion of assets.
MF Global filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31. This week the trustee for the liquidation of its U.S. brokerage unit said as much as $1.2 billion of customer money is missing, maybe more. Those deposits should have been kept segregated from the company’s funds. By all indications, they weren’t.
What’s the point of having auditors do reports like this? And are they worth the cost? It’s getting harder to answer those questions in a way the accounting profession would favor.
When an auditor certifies that a client’s internal controls are effective, that’s supposed to mean the company can do basic functions like maintain accurate financial records, detect unauthorized transactions and keep track of its receipts and expenditures. We know MF couldn’t do these things during the final days before its bankruptcy filing, when former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was still its chief executive officer.
“Their books are a disaster,” Scott O’Malia, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview two weeks ago. The newspaper also quoted Thomas Peterffy, CEO of Interactive Brokers Group Inc., saying: “I always knew the records were in shambles, but I didn’t know to what extent.” Interactive Brokers backed out of a potential deal to buy MF last month after finding discrepancies in its financial reports.
If Pricewaterhouse can’t spot control weaknesses at a relatively small shop like MF, which had $41 billion of assets, it’s a bit much to expect that the firm would catch anything materially amiss at Goldman, which has $949 billion of assets, or at a serial acquirer such as JPMorgan, with $2.3 trillion of assets.
Romney "Right to Work" = 1% right to pay you less; with no benefits
The average worker in a right-to-work state is paid $30,167 a year, or about $5,333 a year less than workers in other states without right-to-work legislation that favors the employer at the expense of the employee, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Labor leaders failed to win legislation making it easier to organize a union after Democratic allies triumphed in the 2008 elections. Next year’s voting may spawn instead a law letting workers opt out of unions.
Republicans in Congress are pursuing so-called right-to- work legislation barring agreements between unions and employers that make union membership and payment of dues a job requirement, Bloomberg Government reports.
“There is a very strong likelihood that a Republican Congress and a Republican White House would pass a national right-to-work law,” Gary Chaison, a labor-law professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “It should be expected from a Republican Congress that, in terms of national jobs growth, sees unions as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
Labor leaders failed to win legislation making it easier to organize a union after Democratic allies triumphed in the 2008 elections. Next year’s voting may spawn instead a law letting workers opt out of unions.
Republicans in Congress are pursuing so-called right-to- work legislation barring agreements between unions and employers that make union membership and payment of dues a job requirement, Bloomberg Government reports.
“There is a very strong likelihood that a Republican Congress and a Republican White House would pass a national right-to-work law,” Gary Chaison, a labor-law professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “It should be expected from a Republican Congress that, in terms of national jobs growth, sees unions as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Citizens United v. FEC = is not the American Way!!! Demand Social Justice Now...
The movement to amend the U.S. Constitution to get corporate money out of elections is picking up some serious steam.
On November 9, thousands of Americans attended one of more than 200 house parties nationwide -- organized by PFAW, Public Citizen, Move To Amend and other allies, and joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders -- to mobilize and plan for a day of action on the upcoming January 21st second anniversary of Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited corporate spending in our elections.
It's high time YOU got on board!
SEVEN bills proposing a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision have been introduced in the current Congress -- FOUR just this month, including one introduced last Friday by Rep. Ted Deutch to expressly exclude for-profit corporations from the rights given to natural persons by the Constitution, prohibit corporate spending in all elections, and affirm the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations and to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures.
Here's just a glimpse of the growing national movement!
• In Colorado, the Jamestown Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment establishing that only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights and that the First Amendment does not protect unlimited political spending as free speech. And voters in Boulder City passed a ballot measure calling for an amendment to the US Constitution that would state that corporations are not people and reject the legal status of money as free speech.
• In California, the city councils of Fort Bragg and Richmond passed resolutions this year supporting an amendment to ban “corporate personhood.”
• Missoula, Montana voters approved a local ballot referendum urging Congress to propose a constitutional amendment that clearly states that corporations are not people and do not have the same rights as citizens by a three to one margin.
• Residents of Monroe, Maine passed a Local Self-Governance Ordinance stating that "no corporation doing business within the Town of Monroe shall be recognized as a ‘natural person’ under the United States or Maine Constitutions or laws of the United States or Maine."
And many more resolutions have been introduced in state and local legislative bodies across the country.
Generations of Americans have come together to force much-needed change by amending the U.S. Constitution to expand democracy and protect fundamental rights. With the voice of the voter being increasingly drowned out by unlimited corporate spending in elections, the need has arisen again. Now, it's our generation's turn.
Please speak out now.
Thank you for standing up against corporate power run amok and for Government By the People -- the American Way.
On November 9, thousands of Americans attended one of more than 200 house parties nationwide -- organized by PFAW, Public Citizen, Move To Amend and other allies, and joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders -- to mobilize and plan for a day of action on the upcoming January 21st second anniversary of Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited corporate spending in our elections.
It's high time YOU got on board!
SEVEN bills proposing a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision have been introduced in the current Congress -- FOUR just this month, including one introduced last Friday by Rep. Ted Deutch to expressly exclude for-profit corporations from the rights given to natural persons by the Constitution, prohibit corporate spending in all elections, and affirm the authority of Congress and the States to regulate corporations and to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures.
Here's just a glimpse of the growing national movement!
• In Colorado, the Jamestown Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment establishing that only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights and that the First Amendment does not protect unlimited political spending as free speech. And voters in Boulder City passed a ballot measure calling for an amendment to the US Constitution that would state that corporations are not people and reject the legal status of money as free speech.
• In California, the city councils of Fort Bragg and Richmond passed resolutions this year supporting an amendment to ban “corporate personhood.”
• Missoula, Montana voters approved a local ballot referendum urging Congress to propose a constitutional amendment that clearly states that corporations are not people and do not have the same rights as citizens by a three to one margin.
• Residents of Monroe, Maine passed a Local Self-Governance Ordinance stating that "no corporation doing business within the Town of Monroe shall be recognized as a ‘natural person’ under the United States or Maine Constitutions or laws of the United States or Maine."
And many more resolutions have been introduced in state and local legislative bodies across the country.
Generations of Americans have come together to force much-needed change by amending the U.S. Constitution to expand democracy and protect fundamental rights. With the voice of the voter being increasingly drowned out by unlimited corporate spending in elections, the need has arisen again. Now, it's our generation's turn.
Please speak out now.
Thank you for standing up against corporate power run amok and for Government By the People -- the American Way.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Too little; too late; not to mention no real change
SANA, Yemen — After more than three decades of autocratic rule, President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed an agreement on Wednesday that immediately transferred power to his vice president, bowing to unrelenting street protests and raising hopes for an end to a political crisis that brought this impoverished nation to the brink of collapse.
If the agreement holds up, it will make Mr. Saleh the fourth Arab leader to be forced from power this year by popular uprisings that have shaken the Middle East and North Africa.
If the agreement holds up, it will make Mr. Saleh the fourth Arab leader to be forced from power this year by popular uprisings that have shaken the Middle East and North Africa.
Hundreds of men and women chanted “Hamad must fall” during the demonstrations.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Security forces in Bahrain used excessive force, including torture and the extraction of forced confessions, against detainees who were arrested in a sweeping crackdown early this year during protests that deeply polarized the country, according to a report by an independent commission that investigated the uprising and its aftermath.
The report, released on Wednesday, presented a devastating portrait of what it called disproportionate and indiscriminate force often used by the security forces to repress protests in February and March that were organized primarily by the Shiite Muslim majority in Bahrain, a tiny Persian Gulf state that is a prominent American ally.
“A number of detainees were tortured,” M. Cherif Bassiouni, an international law expert who led the inquiry, said at a news conference in Manama, the capital, as King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa listened. Mr. Bassiouni added that the dimensions of the torture “proved there was a deliberate practice by some.”
The report by the panel, known as the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, also said there was no clear evidence that Iran had incited the unrest, as senior Bahraini officials have contended.
In Washington, the Obama administration welcomed the report, but said the onus was now on Bahrain’s government to hold accountable those responsible for abuses and to undertake reforms to make sure they do not occur again.
The commission found that Bahrain’s security services and Interior Ministry “followed a systematic practice of physical and psychological mistreatment, which amounted in many cases to torture, with respect to a large number of detainees.”
In the report, the panel called the government’s use of force and firearms excessive and, “on many occasions, unnecessary, disproportionate and indiscriminate.” It cited instances in which masked men broke into the homes of dissidents between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., “terrorizing” inhabitants.
The inquiry determined that 35 people died during the protests, including five security personnel. Five detainees were tortured to death while in custody, the panel concluded, and other detainees endured electric shocks and were beaten with rubber hoses and wires. Hundreds of people were also injured.
A total of 2,929 people were arrested during the protests, the report said, and at least 700 remain in prison. The commission urged a review of the sentences handed down to protesters.
The commission concluded that Iran did not play a role in the uprising.
“The report did not say the truth,” said Ali al-Aswad, a member of the Al-Wefaq party, the biggest legal opposition group, and a former lawmaker. “It did not say who was responsible for killing protesters and firing people from their jobs and universities and causing people to lose their homes. It failed to point the finger at senior officials.”
The opposition has insisted that the repression was in fact systematic, part of what it calls institutional discrimination against the Shiite majority. Although the report stopped short of naming names — as the opposition had demanded — it did say that the abuse of detainees originated at the highest levels of Bahrain’s security institutions.
“The very fact that a systematic pattern of behavior existed indicates that this is how these security forces were trained and how they were expected to act,” the report said. “This could not have happened without the knowledge of higher echelons of the command structure” of the Interior Ministry and National Security Agency.
In a grim reminder of the divisions that still beset Bahrain, the police clashed with protesters on Wednesday in at least two Shiite villages hours before the report was released. Activists said at least two people were killed in the violence. Residents and activists also said the security forces used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Hundreds of men and women chanted “Hamad must fall” during the demonstrations, the residents and activists said.
The report, released on Wednesday, presented a devastating portrait of what it called disproportionate and indiscriminate force often used by the security forces to repress protests in February and March that were organized primarily by the Shiite Muslim majority in Bahrain, a tiny Persian Gulf state that is a prominent American ally.
“A number of detainees were tortured,” M. Cherif Bassiouni, an international law expert who led the inquiry, said at a news conference in Manama, the capital, as King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa listened. Mr. Bassiouni added that the dimensions of the torture “proved there was a deliberate practice by some.”
The report by the panel, known as the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, also said there was no clear evidence that Iran had incited the unrest, as senior Bahraini officials have contended.
In Washington, the Obama administration welcomed the report, but said the onus was now on Bahrain’s government to hold accountable those responsible for abuses and to undertake reforms to make sure they do not occur again.
The commission found that Bahrain’s security services and Interior Ministry “followed a systematic practice of physical and psychological mistreatment, which amounted in many cases to torture, with respect to a large number of detainees.”
In the report, the panel called the government’s use of force and firearms excessive and, “on many occasions, unnecessary, disproportionate and indiscriminate.” It cited instances in which masked men broke into the homes of dissidents between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., “terrorizing” inhabitants.
The inquiry determined that 35 people died during the protests, including five security personnel. Five detainees were tortured to death while in custody, the panel concluded, and other detainees endured electric shocks and were beaten with rubber hoses and wires. Hundreds of people were also injured.
A total of 2,929 people were arrested during the protests, the report said, and at least 700 remain in prison. The commission urged a review of the sentences handed down to protesters.
The commission concluded that Iran did not play a role in the uprising.
“The report did not say the truth,” said Ali al-Aswad, a member of the Al-Wefaq party, the biggest legal opposition group, and a former lawmaker. “It did not say who was responsible for killing protesters and firing people from their jobs and universities and causing people to lose their homes. It failed to point the finger at senior officials.”
The opposition has insisted that the repression was in fact systematic, part of what it calls institutional discrimination against the Shiite majority. Although the report stopped short of naming names — as the opposition had demanded — it did say that the abuse of detainees originated at the highest levels of Bahrain’s security institutions.
“The very fact that a systematic pattern of behavior existed indicates that this is how these security forces were trained and how they were expected to act,” the report said. “This could not have happened without the knowledge of higher echelons of the command structure” of the Interior Ministry and National Security Agency.
In a grim reminder of the divisions that still beset Bahrain, the police clashed with protesters on Wednesday in at least two Shiite villages hours before the report was released. Activists said at least two people were killed in the violence. Residents and activists also said the security forces used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Hundreds of men and women chanted “Hamad must fall” during the demonstrations, the residents and activists said.
dICTATORS FOR DEMOCRACY = GET REAL!!!
KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait media report that authorities have issued nearly 50 arrest warrants in connection with a protest mob that stormed parliament earlier this month.
The Kuwait Times reports Thursday that defense lawyers expect even more arrests linked to the Nov. 16 storming by dozens of protesters, angered by allegations of high-level corruption against government officials.
Kuwait's ruler has ordered tighter security measures across the oil-rich state.
The parliament melee came as opposition lawmakers called for the prime minister to be questioned over accusations that officials transferred state funds to bank accounts outside the country. The motion failed, but another attempt is expected next week.
The Kuwait Times reports Thursday that defense lawyers expect even more arrests linked to the Nov. 16 storming by dozens of protesters, angered by allegations of high-level corruption against government officials.
Kuwait's ruler has ordered tighter security measures across the oil-rich state.
The parliament melee came as opposition lawmakers called for the prime minister to be questioned over accusations that officials transferred state funds to bank accounts outside the country. The motion failed, but another attempt is expected next week.
You stress test a plane well before takeoff, BUT we stress test banks when they may be in a nose dive....
The Federal Reserve sought to bolster confidence in the U.S. banking system as concerns over the European sovereign-debt crisis roil financial markets and pose risks to the economic expansion.
The Fed yesterday told the 31 largest U.S. banks to test their loan portfolios against a deep recession to ensure they have enough capital to withstand losses. Banks with large trading operations will also test against a European market shock. The most severe scenarios outlined by the Fed include an unemployment rate of as much as 13 percent, an 8 percent drop in gross domestic product and a 52 percent plunge in stocks from the third quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2012.
“This is a daunting test,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington regulatory research firm whose clients include the largest banks. “The Fed’s credibility as a tough guy can’t be challenged based on this.”
The tests, which the Fed said don’t represent its outlook for the economy, aim at making banks’ capital adequacy more transparent by demonstrating whether they can handle a deeper downturn and financial market shock. The Fed helped clear away uncertainty surrounding banks in May 2009, when it published stress tests showing that 10 U.S. firms needed to raise a total of $75 billion, giving investors more clarity.
The Fed yesterday told the 31 largest U.S. banks to test their loan portfolios against a deep recession to ensure they have enough capital to withstand losses. Banks with large trading operations will also test against a European market shock. The most severe scenarios outlined by the Fed include an unemployment rate of as much as 13 percent, an 8 percent drop in gross domestic product and a 52 percent plunge in stocks from the third quarter of 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2012.
“This is a daunting test,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington regulatory research firm whose clients include the largest banks. “The Fed’s credibility as a tough guy can’t be challenged based on this.”
The tests, which the Fed said don’t represent its outlook for the economy, aim at making banks’ capital adequacy more transparent by demonstrating whether they can handle a deeper downturn and financial market shock. The Fed helped clear away uncertainty surrounding banks in May 2009, when it published stress tests showing that 10 U.S. firms needed to raise a total of $75 billion, giving investors more clarity.
The old war about to become the new war....but at least its cold
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the military to prepare to “destroy” the command capability of the planned U.S. missile-defense system in Europe.
Russia may also station strike missiles on its southern and western flanks, including Iskander rockets in the Kaliningrad exclave between Poland and Lithuania, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, Medvedev said on state television today.
“I have ordered the armed forces to develop measures to ensure, if necessary, that we can destroy the command and control systems” of the U.S. shield,’’ Medvedev said. “These measures are appropriate, effective and low-cost.”
Russia has warned the U.S.-led plan may provoke a new arms race and upset a strategic balance in the region by threatening its nuclear deterrent capability. The U.S. is ignoring Russia’s concerns about positioning parts of the shield in eastern Europe and “accelerating” its development, Medvedev said.
Spain became the fourth European nation agreeing to participate directly in the missile defense program, intended to protect against attacks from adversaries such as Iran. President Barack Obama pursued plans for the Europe-wide system in 2009, and the administration has also obtained agreements with Poland, Romania and Turkey to host elements of the shield.
Medvedev today renewed a threat to quit a strategic arms- reduction treaty with the U.S. that took effect in 2011 if the two sides can’t reach an agreement on missile defense. The U.S. has refused Russia’s request for legally binding guarantees that it won’t be targeted by the proposed missile shield.
Russia may also station strike missiles on its southern and western flanks, including Iskander rockets in the Kaliningrad exclave between Poland and Lithuania, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, Medvedev said on state television today.
“I have ordered the armed forces to develop measures to ensure, if necessary, that we can destroy the command and control systems” of the U.S. shield,’’ Medvedev said. “These measures are appropriate, effective and low-cost.”
Russia has warned the U.S.-led plan may provoke a new arms race and upset a strategic balance in the region by threatening its nuclear deterrent capability. The U.S. is ignoring Russia’s concerns about positioning parts of the shield in eastern Europe and “accelerating” its development, Medvedev said.
Spain became the fourth European nation agreeing to participate directly in the missile defense program, intended to protect against attacks from adversaries such as Iran. President Barack Obama pursued plans for the Europe-wide system in 2009, and the administration has also obtained agreements with Poland, Romania and Turkey to host elements of the shield.
Medvedev today renewed a threat to quit a strategic arms- reduction treaty with the U.S. that took effect in 2011 if the two sides can’t reach an agreement on missile defense. The U.S. has refused Russia’s request for legally binding guarantees that it won’t be targeted by the proposed missile shield.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Next step to a solution: Iranian Oil off the world market for 90 days...
The U.S. expanded measures aimed at thwarting Iran’s nuclear program, targeting its central bank and oil industry with sanctions intended to cut the regime off from international financial transactions.
Yesterday’s actions, matched by similar steps from the U.K. and Canada, are in response to a Nov. 8 United Nations atomic agency report concluding that previous sanctions have not stopped Iran from clandestine nuclear-bomb work.
The Obama administration for the first time yesterday declared that the entire Iranian financial sector, including its central bank, is involved in money laundering. It invoked the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act to target direct and indirect financing of Iran.
Any institution or company that engages in transactions with Iran’s banking system is “at risk of supporting Iran’s illicit activities: its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a press conference in Washington. “Financial institutions around the world should think hard about the risks of doing business with Iran.”
The new U.S. sanctions also target companies that provide goods or services to Iran’s oil and gas industries. Existing U.S. laws have forced most international oil companies out of Iran and the new measures aim to stop it from obtaining technology and money from smaller foreign companies.
Yesterday’s actions, matched by similar steps from the U.K. and Canada, are in response to a Nov. 8 United Nations atomic agency report concluding that previous sanctions have not stopped Iran from clandestine nuclear-bomb work.
The Obama administration for the first time yesterday declared that the entire Iranian financial sector, including its central bank, is involved in money laundering. It invoked the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act to target direct and indirect financing of Iran.
Any institution or company that engages in transactions with Iran’s banking system is “at risk of supporting Iran’s illicit activities: its pursuit of nuclear weapons, its support for terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said in a press conference in Washington. “Financial institutions around the world should think hard about the risks of doing business with Iran.”
The new U.S. sanctions also target companies that provide goods or services to Iran’s oil and gas industries. Existing U.S. laws have forced most international oil companies out of Iran and the new measures aim to stop it from obtaining technology and money from smaller foreign companies.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Jobs for Americans; Social Justice Now!!!
Mike McCarry, a 59-year-old veteran who juggles two jobs to make ends meet.
Mike talks about the veterans portion of President Obama's jobs plan -- the piece that Congress passed earlier this month thanks in part to your work, and that the President signed into law today.
But the fight for American jobs continues, and many in Congress -- including almost every single Republican -- still refuse to do the right thing for teachers, cops, firefighters, and middle-class families like they did for our vets.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/share/vets-jobs-video?source=20111121_jk_full&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=20111121_jk_full
It can be easy to get discouraged when members of Congress put party before people and block legislation that would help American families.
But you didn't let up in the fight for our veterans' future. The bill that went to the President's desk for his signature today -- which provides tax credits for small businesses that hire unemployed veterans -- is proof that Congress can still come together and act when Americans demand it.
Here's what's next: After Thanksgiving, the Senate will vote on extending President Obama's payroll tax cut, which puts $1,500 in the pockets of the typical middle-class family.
It's the provision that Mitt Romney called a "little band-aid." But $1,500 wouldn't be a band-aid for me or Mike McCarry -- and probably not for you either.
Our job right now is to make sure Congress does the right thing again.
Mike talks about the veterans portion of President Obama's jobs plan -- the piece that Congress passed earlier this month thanks in part to your work, and that the President signed into law today.
But the fight for American jobs continues, and many in Congress -- including almost every single Republican -- still refuse to do the right thing for teachers, cops, firefighters, and middle-class families like they did for our vets.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/share/vets-jobs-video?source=20111121_jk_full&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=20111121_jk_full
It can be easy to get discouraged when members of Congress put party before people and block legislation that would help American families.
But you didn't let up in the fight for our veterans' future. The bill that went to the President's desk for his signature today -- which provides tax credits for small businesses that hire unemployed veterans -- is proof that Congress can still come together and act when Americans demand it.
Here's what's next: After Thanksgiving, the Senate will vote on extending President Obama's payroll tax cut, which puts $1,500 in the pockets of the typical middle-class family.
It's the provision that Mitt Romney called a "little band-aid." But $1,500 wouldn't be a band-aid for me or Mike McCarry -- and probably not for you either.
Our job right now is to make sure Congress does the right thing again.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Military crackdown in Cairo; is Mohamed ElBaradei the way forward?
Egypt’s interim military rulers battled a reinvigorated protest movement calling for its ouster Sunday, as thousands of demonstrators forced troops to retreat from Tahrir Square for a second night in a row.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
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