Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has signed a multimillion pound contract with a Saudi Arabian oil company to broker secret deals on the firm’s behalf with Chinese state officials, it has emerged.
Tony Blair Associates, an umbrella company owned by the former Labour leader, now a Middle East envoy, agreed in November 2010 to organize deals between oil company PetroSaudi and elite Chinese officials, a leaked contract seen by The Sunday Times suggests.
A decision by UK charity Save the Children to give Tony Blair its annual Global Legacy Award has unleashed a torrent of criticism highlighting the former PM’s role in Britain’s 2003 Iraq war and his controversial business dealings in the Middle East.
Für die Öffentlichkeit wie Schulklasse des Unterrichtsfachs Wirtschaft und Recht bleibt nach dem Prozess sicher viel Gesprächsstoff – von der Zuverlässigkeit von Zeugenaussagen, über die Fremdenfeindlichkeit, die Lage der Flüchtlinge und Opfer rechter Gewalt, bis hin zu dem moralischen Dilemma einer zivilcouragierten Straftat und der Frage des Verbots der NPD.
Bei den Beitrittverhandlungen verlangt die EU Serbien immer mehr ab: nicht nur, dass die Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo akzeptiert werden muss, nun soll das Land auch dazu gezwungen werden, die EU-Sanktionen gegen Russland mitzutragen. Das machte der österreichische EU-Erweiterungskommissar Johannes Hahn (ÖVP) bei seinem Antrittsbesuch in Belgrad klar.
Als „planlos“ bezeichnet die ÖVP Niederösterreich die Absicht des Verteidigungsministeriums, die Kaserne in Horn zu schliessen. Die Radetzky-Kaserne steht wie (zunächst) 12 weitere Standorte im gesamten Bundesgebiet auf einer Liste, die im Zuge eines sogenannten „Reformpaketes“ präsentiert wurde. Freilich soll das Heer nur in seiner bestehenden Form kaputtgespart werden, um es zu einer Einsatzarmee für Kampfeinsätze umzufunktionieren.
PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues.
The issue on our agenda is unquestionably an urgent one. We will talk about countering extremism.
Pursuant to one of my instructions, a corresponding Strategy has been drafted and presented today for your consideration.
I do not believe there is any need to prove how dangerous the very nature of extremism is and how destructive its ideology is – the ideology of intolerance, hatred and animosity. In all its manifestations, extremism is aggressive in nature, seditious and often violent and linked to terrorism.
It infringes on the rights and freedoms of citizens, often even endangering their very lives; it is a threat to national security, capable of cardinally unbalancing the political, economic and social systems. Such types of extremism as nationalism, religious intolerance and political extremism are especially dangerous for society and for the state. Every crime of this type (usually resonant and heinous in itself) can provoke mass violations of public order.
I would like to add that in the modern world extremism is often used as a geopolitical instrument to rearrange spheres of influence. We see the tragic consequences of the wave of so-called ‘colour revolutions’, the turmoil in the countries that have undergone the irresponsible experiments of covert and sometimes blatant interference in their lives. We take this as a lesson and a warning, and we must do everything necessary to ensure this never happens in Russia.
British artist James Bridle is fascinated by surveillance technology. Once, he photographed more than 200 CCTV cameras on the walk between his London flat and the tube. This past year, he installed a white surveillance balloon above an abandoned East London parking lot. So it made sense that when Bridle was asked to host an online artist’s residency, he planned a 12-mile stroll around London’s central district to take stock of all the cameras that analyze car license plates.
The largest players in the region are two multinational technology companies with offices in Israel: Verint Israel and NICE Systems. Privacy International uncovered that these companies have supplied monitoring centres to Kazakhstan’s KNB and Uzbekistan’s SNB, two security agencies widely implicated in human rights abuses. The monitoring centres allow agencies unchecked access to citizens‘ telephone calls and internet activity on a mass, indiscriminate scale.
The investigation also found that Verint attempted to facilitate Uzbek authorities’ interception of encrypted SSL traffic using fake certificates, based on technology provided by US-based company Netronome, which is owned by Blue Coat. Should Verint have been successful, it would have enabled Uzbek authorities unprecedented access to private communications, and undermined the web‘s most secure form of communication.
Die in Russland betriebene Website nutze die schwachen Sicherheitsvorkehrungen von tausenden Kameras; die Standardeinstellungen für viele System seien Online zugänglich, sagte Simon Rice von der Datenschutzbehörde ICO.
The danger of using weak passwords has been exposed again this month after a new website was launched that allows people to watch live footage from some of the insecure cameras across the world. The website, which is based in Russia, accesses the information by using the default login credentials, which are freely available online, for thousands of cameras.
(28. Februar) • 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone
• Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk
• Yahoo: ‚A whole new level of violation of our users‘ privacy‘
• Material included large quantity of sexually explicit images
(27. Februar 2014) The surveillance effort operated by Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, was code-named Optic Nerve. Images from Yahoo webcam chats were captured in bulk through the agency’s fiber-optic cable taps and saved to a GCHQ database.
It is unclear how much of the data was shared with American officials at the National Security Agency, though the British ran queries of the data using a search tool provided by the N.S.A. called XKeyscore, according to a report on Thursday by The Guardian.
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If you suspect that your work or activities put you at risk of targeted surveillance you may wish to use Detekt to scan your computer for traces of known spyware.
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(3. April 2012) A few years ago, Narus boasted that it is “known for its ability to capture and collect data from the largest networks around the world.” The company says its equipment is capable of “providing unparalleled monitoring and intercept capabilities to service providers and government organizations around the world” and that “Anything that comes through [an Internet protocol network], we can record. We can reconstruct all of their e-mails, along with attachments, see what Web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their [Voice over Internet Protocol] calls.”
Like Narus, Verint was founded by in Israel by Israelis, including Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, a former Israeli intelligence officer.
(28. Oktober) U.S. officials told delegates from European and Arab countries at a meeting in Kuwait that this should complement parallel campaigns against the armed group on the battlefield and in the world of finance.
(29. Januar 2014) Cybertech 2014, the prime minister said, is also a way to build an international coalition of countries that will work together to defend “the great blessings” of Internet connectivity, and enable Israel to further develop its periphery, especially in the south.
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Gibts auch: Stromausfall im Bundestag. Zumindest in einem Teil, Unter den Linden 50 hat noch Strom, Paul-Löbe-Haus nicht mehr.
NATO has launched its largest ever multinational cyber defense exercise code-named „Cyber Coalition 2014,“ according a statement issued by the alliance said Tuesday.
The three-day training event will test the western military alliance‘s ability to defend its networks from the various challenges that exist when operating in the contested cyber domain.
Just before 5AM, video journalist Nik meets Alex, a homeless man at a railway mission in Berlin and joins him for a short journey through the night. After eight years of living on the street, Alex has changed. He is no longer the man he used to be, spending each day confused and lost, hardly able to remember anything. His wandering nights have left him without sleep for three days.
Corruption and violence threaten to destabilise country after mass murder of students and scandal over presidential home
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„Der Cyberraum wird häufig als der fünfte Bereich für militärische Aktivitäten beschrieben, der für die Umsetzung der Gemeinsamen Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik (GSVP) der Europäischen Union (EU) gleichermaßen wichtig ist wie die Bereiche Land, See, Luft und Weltraum.“
Die 25- jährige Schwedin Emilott Lantz hat sich einer Prozedur unterzogen, die man bisher vor allem von Haustieren kannte: Die Mitarbeiterin einer IT- Firma hat sich einen RFID- Chip in die Hand implantieren lassen, der als Schlüsselersatz dient und ihre Büroschlüssel überflüssig macht.
Parents of the 43 missing students take part in a protest in Guadalajara City on Nov. 18.
Police officers in Florida surprised students, teachers and parents Thursday with an active shooter drill. And by “active shooter drill,” we mean that a Winter Haven middle school went into lockdown as two armed police officers burst into classrooms, guns drawn, leaving the unsuspecting children terrified — and their parents furious.
Mario Trujillo, over at The Hill, has highlighted how the incoming House Intelligence Committee boss, Devin Nunes, doesn‘t believe any surveillance reform is necessary, based largely on an opinion piece he wrote back in July entitled „don‘t shackle the NSA now.“
The article is the typical FUD from surveillance state supporters, talking about terror threats and ISIS up front to keep you scared, followed by insults directed at Ed Snowden, and finishing off with a „we need this information to keep us safe“ conclusion.
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Back in May 2013, we wrote about worrying attempts to create a harmonized system for controlling the sale of seeds in Africa that would increase the power of large suppliers such as Monsanto, at the expense of small farmers. A long and interesting article in Intellectual Property Watch indicates that those efforts are intensifying:
Dass nun ausgerechnet Ackermann die Bank aus der Krise und womöglich zurück an die Börse führen soll, klingt nach Ironie des Schicksals. Schließlich rühren die Probleme der zyprischen Banken vor allem aus dem Schuldenschnitt Griechenlands im Jahr 2012 – den Ackermann als damaliger Präsident des Weltbankenverbands federführend mitverhandelt hat.
„There‘s nothing new,“ Lombardi told Thursday‘s Corriere della Sera ahead of the November 28-30 trip. „There is no specific reason for concern.
OPEC is unlikely to cut its output target by a meaningful amount at its next meeting, but even if it does, actual production may not fall at all, analysts of of the British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics believe.
Die rot-rot-grüne Koalition in Thüringen erkennt in der Präambel ihres Koalitionsvertrags die DDR als Unrechtsstaat an. Das erklärten die Spitzen von SPD, Grünen und Linken bei der Vorstellung der Vereinbarung. Damit hat sich die Linke in Thüringen gegen die Position prominenter Parteimitglieder wie Gregor Gysi durchgesetzt, der die Bezeichnung des SED-Staats als Unrechtsstaat scharf zurückgewiesen hatte.
The outlawed Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Brotherhood, condemned the arrest and said Bishr had served seven years in jail from 1999-2002 and from 2006-2010.
Ashkelon Mayor Itamar Shimoni announced on Facebook that he was stopping „until further notice“ the work of Arab laborers building bomb shelters in nursery schools in the city of 113,000, which is close to the Gaza Strip.
He also said guards would be posted at about 40 pre-schools near construction sites where Arabs work.
Egypt‘s decision to shut its border with the Gaza Strip has stranded thousands of Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border while around a thousand people in Gaza are desperate to get out for medical treatment in Egypt, officials in Gaza say.
MK Motti Yogev (Jewish Home), who pushed for the unit to be set up, applauded the initiative “I have called for deeper cooperation and involvement of the security system and IDF in the defense of Jerusalem for the past six months.”
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(18. November)
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The Palestinians never learn. They want to kill Jews at prayer. They celebrate the slaughter. Anti-Semitic incitement from their leaders never relents. For them, the only good Jew is a dead Jew.
(5. November) The rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and other extreme elements in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, make the risks just as clear. Israel cannot afford to gamble with its security. There are no second chances in the volatile Middle East.
That is why, for its security, Israel cannot withdraw from more territory and cannot allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
Jerusalem’s municipal planning committee authorised 50 new housing units in Har Homa and 28 in Ramot, a municipal spokeswoman said.
Israel describes those two urban settlements as Jerusalem neighbourhoods.
World Bulletin reported that Israeli forces on Monday razed the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib in Negev Desert for the 78th time on the pretext that it had been built illegally, eyewitness said. Local resident told Andalou agency that “Dozens of Israeli forces backed by five bulldozers stormed the village at dawn today and began demolishing homes and other structures, the soldiers were heavily armed. They drove us out under the rain before they demolished our homes for 78th time in four years.” The village was demolished for the first time in July 2010, before being rebuilt with metal and wood.
(16. November)
“The Spanish parliament’s declaration only pushes away further the chances of reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, because it encourages the Palestinians to take extreme positions,” the Foreign Ministry said.
And the “Zionist answer” to the downward cycle of senseless violence in which Jerusalem finds itself: house demolitions, mass arrests, revoking the “residency” of native-born Jerusalemites, closing Palestinian neighborhoods with concrete blocks, arming Israeli Jewish vigilantes and cheap shots at the last person who believes in a two-state solution, Abu Mazen. Everything, that is, except an end to occupation and a just political solution. This is what happens when a powerful country forgoes any effort to address the grievances of a people under its control and descends into raw oppression.