World News

US plunges in World Press Freedom index after NSA leaks, attacks on whistleblowers
Press freedom in the United States has suffered "€œone of the most significant declines"€ in the last year after sacrificing information to national security, with the NSA surveillance scandal topping the list of wrongdoing. That’s according to The World Press Freedom Index for 2014 from Reporters Without Borders (RWB), which put the US in 46th place out of 180 countries, a 13-place drop fr [...]
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Record number of Americans renounce citizenship thanks to tightening tax laws
A record number of Americans renounced their citizenship or green cards in 2013, according to new data that may draw a complicated picture for US tax assessors who impose financial obligations on citizens living outside the country. [...]
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Hackers sue Merkel and entire German government over NSA spying
Europe'€™s largest association of hackers has filed a criminal complaint against the German government for aiding foreign spying by NSA and GCHQ, and violating the right to citizens'€™ privacy, basing their case on leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden. [...]
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Destitute Chilean Farmer Defeats Monsanto in Landmark Legal Victory
A landless Chilean farmer has won a landmark lawsuit against Monsanto and thus exposed the dangers posed by the transnational corporation to the whole country. José Pizarro Montoya, a 38-year-old landless farmer from Melipilla (Santiago, Chile), and ex GMO producer (season 2009-2010) is the first and perhaps the only Latin American who has won a [&] [...]
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Attention fliers: Canada’€™s electronic spy agency is following you – new Snowden leaks
Documents released by US whistleblower Edward Snowden show the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) used airport Wi-Fi to track passengers from around the world. Travelers passing through a major Canadian airport were potentially caught up in a vast electronic surveillance net, which allowed the nation’s electronic spy agency to track the wireless devices of thousands of airline p [...]
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€‹Badges for vigilantes: Mexico gives anti-drug militias official status
Mexico is signing up vigilantes in the fight against drug cartels in the western state of Michoacan as an official rural defense group. But not all of the militias are eager to be "€œinstitutionalized"€ by the government. Michoacan will initially register 400-600 militia members in the coming days, AFP reported, citing the state’s federal commissioner for security, Alfredo Castillo. [...]
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“Useless” TSA scanners provided endless fodder for employees, former agent alleges
The Transportation Security Agency was aware that, before they were even introduced, the full-body scanners used at airport security checkpoints were flawed, according to a former TSA agent who alleges employees regularly peered and laughed at travelers. [...]
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Appalling truth of Leningrad siege: 95yo Russian writer gives powerful speech at Bundestag
The speech by a 95-year-old witness of the Nazis' WWII Siege of Leningrad, Russian writer Daniil Granin, stirred German MPs to the core. Some, in tears, said it had made them ponder the need to reassess the entire history of the war. [...]
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German Television Does Its First Full Length Interview With Edward Snowden
This video is hosted on LiveLeak and may not play on mobile devices.  It is worth seeking out a computer to watch it.   [...]
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What An Amazing Dam. Wait…What’€™s That? Are Those…? No Way!
This is just an ordinary dam in a National Park in Northern Italy. But wait, there is something hidden within the picture. Can you see it? Well how about now? No? Then keep scrolling down. Wait.. are those... Just Amazing! [...]
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“Our views are far apart”€™: German chancellor slams US, UK over spying
Countries spying on their allies sow distrust that could result in less, rather than more security, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned. She particularly referred to the surveillance and spying activities by the US and the UK. [...]
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UK: Local government cuts hitting poorest areas hardest, figures show
Cuts average 25.3% in 10 most deprived areas of England, and 2.54% in 10 least deprived areas. The most deprived communities in the country are bearing the brunt of government cuts while more affluent areas are escaping relatively unscathed, according to an analysis of official figures. [...]
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GCHQ chief to step down by year’€™s end following Snowden leaks
The head of GCHQ, Britain's electronic intelligence agency, will step down by year’s end, the Foreign Office said. Officials denied his departure was linked to public outrage over mass surveillance revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. [...]
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Top lawyer to MPs: GCHQ mass surveillance largely illegal
A substantial part of the GCHQ's dragnet snooping program is most likely illegal and was approved by government ministers despite breaching human rights and surveillance laws, a legal analysis requested by British MPs has found, The Guardian reports. [...]
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Obama’s Abuse of Power
The President and his Administration continue to disregard the Constitution. Senator Ted Cruz is one of the few politicians in Washington D.C. you can actually believe wants to restore the rule of law and limited government by reining in an absolutely out-of-control political cabal led by President Barack Obama. [...]
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Steve Jobs, Google CEO plotted “€˜gentlemen’s agreement”€™ to keep wages down
Two of the most powerful people in the technology world secretly and perhaps illegally coordinated business strategies in which they agreed not to poach each other’s employees, thereby keeping salaries low, according to emails unveiled in federal court. [...]
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Unbebiebable! MSNBC cuts Congresswoman during NSA LIVE to report… Justin Bieber
A US government privacy board dubs the NSA'€™s phone calls hoarding illegal and calls to shut... wait, it'€™s Justin Bieber. And so the Congresswoman being interviewed was dumped mid-sentence to report the "breaking news"€ of Bieber's DUI arrest. [...]
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NSA is after industrial spying -€“ Snowden to German TV
The NSA agency is not preoccupied solely with national security, but also spies on foreign industrial entities in US business interests, former American intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, has revealed in an interview to German TV. [...]
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Veteran Gay Conservative Activist Leaves GOP—Calls Party “Hopelessly Out of Touch”
Jimmy LaSalvia denounces Republican "culture of intolerance." Gay political activist and longtime Republican, Jimmy LaSalvia, did not merely leave the GOP last week. He loudly denounced his former party for its "culture of intolerance" and predicted it will never "win another Presidential election." [...]
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Independent panel denounces “€˜chilling”€™ NSA program as illegal, demands end
An independent review board has labeled NSA hoarding of phone data "€˜illegal"€™, adding that while it poses a serious threat to civil liberties, it was unable to find a "€œsingle instance"€ of a threat to the US where the program made any difference. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) released an acerbic report stating that the statute upon which the NSA program was [...]
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Man who tried to arrest Tony Blair awarded more than £2000
Despite failing to arrest Tony Blair for "€˜crimes against peace"€™ last Friday, the London barman who attempted the citizen's arrest has been rewarded with a quarter of the bounty for keeping the issue of double standards alive in the media. [...]
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Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government’s Ever Sent
"€œDear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance." That's a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime's police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian [...]
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