Der Beschluss ist jedoch noch nicht rechtskräftig, was die Fluchtgefahr von Hopp erhöht. Die langjährige Haftstrafe wird lediglich um 23 Tage verhängter Untersuchungshaft verkürzt.

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(13.8.2017)

America’s stability is increasingly an undercurrent in political discourse. Earlier this year, I began a conversation with Keith Mines about America’s turmoil. Mines has spent his career—in the U.S. Army Special Forces, the United Nations, and now the State Department—navigating civil wars in other countries, including Afghanistan, Colombia, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. He returned to Washington after sixteen years to find conditions that he had seen nurture conflict abroad now visible at home.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has disputed the Treaty of Lausanne, which set out the modern borders between Greece and Turkey, saying that Ankara will not accept “de facto situations” in the Aegean Sea.

(14.12.2016)

Nach der Strafprozessordnung ist es möglich, auf eine Strafverfolgung zu verzichten, wenn „die Durchführung des Verfahrens die Gefahr eines schweren Nachteils für die Bundesrepublik herbeiführen“ würde oder „wenn der Verfolgung sonstige überwiegende öffentliche Interessen“ entgegenstehen. Aber das müsste die Regierung dem Generalbundesanwalt mitteilten, und Berlin hat in dieses Verfahren nicht politisch eingegriffen.

Der Datenkonzern Palantir arbeitet zunehmend mit US-amerikanischen Polizei- und Stadtbehörden zusammen und hat über die Jahre auf immer mehr staatliche Aufzeichnungen Zugriff bekommen. Darunter fallen nicht nur Verdachtsmitteilungen der Polizei, sondern auch aufgezeichnete Notrufe und Gefängnisstatistiken. Ab 2011 konnte Palantir zudem Autokennzeichendatenbanken mit ausführlichen Informationen über Autobesitzer durchsuchen; Menschen also, die mit der Justiz keinen direkten Kontakt hatten. Auf der Grundlage von freigekämpften Dokumenten zeichnet nun eine ausführliche Recherche von Wired die Dienstleistungen des kommerziellen Überwachungsunternehmens nach.

The law would allow border security agencies to obtain Defense Department surveillance gear, with an eye on round-the-clock surveillance in some form and increased gathering of biometric information. More specifically, the bill asks for this:

„The Secretary shall create a system or upgrade an existing system (if a Department system already has capability and capacity for storage) to allow for storage of iris scans and voice prints of aliens that can be used by the Department, other Federal agencies, and State and local law enforcement for identification, remote authentication, and verification of aliens. The Secretary shall ensure, to the extent possible, that the system for storage of iris scans and voice prints is compatible with existing State and local law enforcement systems that are used for collection and storage of iris scans or voice prints for criminal aliens.“

This will be fed by the DHS‘s biometric entry-exit collection, meaning it won‘t just be foreign visitors adding to the pile of biometric data. The law calls for the program to be put in place at all high traffic ports of entry (including major airports) within two years. As we‘ve seen from previous pilot programs, there‘s no good way to ensure US persons aren‘t swept up in the biometric scanning.

There are not too many narco states in the world, and there isn’t one to be envied by others. A short list begins with Afghanistan, which produces 90 percent of the world’s opium. Followed by Burma (Myanmar), whose opium king used to control three-fourths of the world’s supply of heroin. Then Mexico; 7,000 have been killed since 2008, and the leader of the Sineloa cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has become, according to Forbes magazine, the 701st richest man in the world with $1 billion. Then Colombia, the world’s top producer of cocaine; then Peru, which follows Colombia in cocaine; then Bolivia, which follows Peru. Then the Bahamas, which acts as the cocaine transshipment point from Colombia to the US. Here, the narco king runs his business from jail.

Philippine police killed 32 people in dozens of anti-drug operations in a province north of the capital, Manila, in the single deadliest day of President Rodrigo Duterte‘s unrelenting war on drugs.

The internet may be an amazing communication tool, but it‘s also a handy way for governments to keep an eye on their citizens. Saudi Arabia uses the internet for multiple things — mainly monitoring dissent and controlling communication.

An expansive cybercrime law, coupled with longstanding statutes outlawing criticism of the official religion, have made it easy for the Saudi government to jail critics and cut off communications platforms. Bloggers have been imprisoned and encrypted services asked for technical details presumably in hopes of inserting the government into private conversations.

There‘s a huge gap between defending someone‘s right to speak and defending what they‘re saying. As some people need to be constantly reminded, free speech is not speech without consequences. Ignorant, nasty, brutish statements deserve the criticism they receive. What they shouldn‘t be met with is calls for the government to step in and tell everyone what sort of speech is permitted. Those protesting the statue‘s removal had every right to be heard, no matter how ridiculous their arguments and beliefs.

(Ironically, just last month, the ACLU was the target of a similar de-funding campaign by the anti-Islam, pro-Israel right for the group’s defense of Muslim-American activist Linda Sarsour; such is life as a principled civil liberties proponent).

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(11.5.2017) Öffentlich-rechtlicher Sender abgedreht. Premier mischt überall mit – auch auf dem Zeitungsmarkt sorgt er für Ärger.

(13.11.2016)

As leaked NSA software exploits have been redeployed to cause computer-based misery all over the world, the discussion about vulnerability disclosures has become louder. The argument for secrecy is based on the assumption that fighting an existential threat (terrorism, but likely also a variety of normal criminal behavior) outweighs concerns the general public might have about the security of their software/data/personal information. Plenty of recent real-world examples (hospital systems ransomed! etc.) do the arguing for those seeking expanded disclosure of vulnerabilities and exploits.

The Syrian army and its allies advanced in the central Syrian desert on Monday and could soon encircle an Islamic State pocket, part of a multi-pronged thrust into eastern areas held by the jihadist group.