CLG: Fisa court grants extension of licence for bulk collection of US phone records

News Updates from CLG
26 Jun 2014 - Part 2

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Previous edition: White House requests $500 million to aid Syrian 'rebels' - Part 1 (Google subscribers: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.)

Fisa court grants extension of licence for bulk collection of US phone records --Reauthorisation is fifth since the Guardian revealed existence of Section 215 telephony metadata program in June last year --Court approves request in secret 20 Jun 2014 US intelligence agencies have made a fifth attempt to extend their bulk collection of American telephone records - more than a year after the controversial practice was first revealed by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Despite repeated calls from Congress and President Obama for the mass gathering of private US phone records to be banned, a court has approved the request in secret, allowing the NSA to continue collecting metadata until 12 September 2014. In a joint statement released late on Friday afternoon, the justice department and director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said it was necessary to continue seeking such legal extensions because the Congressional reform process supported by Obama was not yet complete.

Judge upholds order demanding release of CIA torture accounts --US government loses attempt to keep accounts of torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri secret 25 Jun 2014 A military judge has rejected the US government's attempts to keep accounts of the CIA's torture of a prisoner secret, setting up a fateful choice for the Obama administration in staunching the fallout from its predecessor's brutal interrogations. In a currently-sealed 24 June ruling at Guantánamo Bay - described to the Guardian - Judge James Pohl upheld his April order demanding the government produce details of the detentions and interrogations of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri during his years in CIA custody. Among those details are the locations of the "black site" secret prisons in which Nashiri was held until his September 2006 transfer to Guantánamo; the names and communications of CIA personnel there; training and other procedures for guards and interrogators; and discussions of the application of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques".

Sheffield reporter threatened with arrest under anti-terrorism laws 24 Jun 2014 A reporter was threatened with arrest under anti-terrorism laws and forced to erase potentially important video evidence after filming a protest in Sheffield. The editor of the Sheffield Star has demanded an explanation as to why his reporter, Alex Evans, was warned off filming a protest against cuts to free travel provision for pensioners and disabled people by British transport police officers on Monday. Evans claims he was ordered to erase footage he'd recorded on his phone because he did not have permission to film on private property [!?!] inside Sheffield station. When he initially resisted the request and continued to film, he says he was told he could be arrested under terror laws.

Supreme Court limits police searches of cellphones 25 Jun 2014 Cellphones and smartphones generally cannot be searched by police without a warrant during arrests, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday in a major victory for privacy rights. Ruling on two cases from California and Massachusetts, the justices acknowledged both a right to privacy and a need to investigate crimes. The judges said police still can examine "the physical aspects of a phone to ensure that it will not be used as a weapon." But once secured, they said, "data on the phone can endanger no one" and the arrested person will not be able to "delete incriminating data."

More U.S. forces arrive in Baghdad, two-star general leads effort 26 Jun 2014 Another 50 U.S. special operations forces have arrived in Baghdad under the newly appointed command of a two-star general as the U.S. military steadily ramps up an advisory 'mission' aimed at helping Iraq battle back Sunni militants [to protect oil refineries], the Pentagon said on Thursday. The Pentagon said the first of two planned Joint Operations Centers in Iraq had also become activated, bolstering its ability to oversee U.S. teams and gather information about the situation on the ground, including about Iraq's security forces.

74% of Germans oppose permanent NATO bases in Poland and Baltics 25 Jun 2014 Nearly three-quarters of Germans oppose having permanent NATO military bases in Poland and the Baltic states as a buffer against Russia, a new poll reveals. The opinion reflects a growing trend within Europe opposing further NATO eastern expansion...

MH370: Plane was in controlled flight after contact was lost, officials suspect 24 Jun 2014 Investigators have concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which veered off course and disappeared on March 8, was probably not seriously damaged in the air and remained in controlled flight for hours after contact with it was lost, until it ran out of fuel over the southern Indian Ocean. Their conclusion, reached in the past few weeks, helped prompt the decision to move the focus of the search hundreds of miles to the southwest...Angus Houston [retired head of the Australian military who is coordinating the search] and Martin Dolan [chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau] declined to discuss any details about the Malaysian radar readings, nor would they speculate about why the missing plane would have been in controlled flight across the Indian Ocean.

First Swine Flu Case Diagnosed Among Undocumented Children at Texas Military Base --2,000 vaccines to be shipped to Lackland Air Force Base 24 Jun 2014 A young undocumented child from Central America was diagnosed with swine flu Friday after crossing the Texas-Mexico border, necessitating 2,000 vaccines be shipped to Lackland Air Force Base to treat [sic] people who may have been exposed, U.S. authorities confirmed to TheBlaze. The child was diagnosed after being transported from a border holding facility to the base, where he showed signs of illness and had to be hospitalized. It's the first known case of the H1N1 virus to be diagnosed among the recent surge of unaccompanied immigrant children to arrive at the base, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said.

FDA cites GSK flu vaccine plant for allowing contamination by salmonella pathogens, other violations 24 Jun 3014 A GlaxoSmithKline Plc plant in Canada that makes the flu vaccine Flulaval has been cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to meet quality control standards. In a warning letter dated June 12 to GSK's flu vaccine manufacturing facility in Ste-Foy, Quebec, the FDA said the company failed to take appropriate steps to prevent microbiological contamination of products, among other violations...In 2011, 24 vaccine lots were rejected due to the excessive presence of endotoxins. These are found in the cell walls of Gram-negative pathogens such as salmonella.

Boehner plans to file suit against Obama over alleged abuse of executive power --Republicans complained about numerous unilateral changes to the implementation of ObamaCare. 25 Jun 2014 House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday he plans to file suit against President Obama over his alleged abuse of executive power. Boehner had been weighing such a lawsuit in recent days, over concerns that Obama exceeded his constitutional authority with executive actions. The lawsuit has not yet been filed. But asked Wednesday whether he intended to proceed, Boehner said: "I am." [Gee, where was Boehner--or anyone--during the Bush regime, when the unelected dictator and his psychotic overlord, Dick Cheney, were sending anthrax via Fort Detrick to Democratic senators to force them to flip on the PATRIOT Act and vote for it (which they did, of course), were possibly involved in foul play in the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone for his Iraq war stance, setting up CIA black sites, waterboarding their 9/11 patsies, and committing war crimes on a daily basis? Just curious. --LRP]

Aereo ruled illegal by US supreme court as broadcasters win copyright battle --'Justices' accept argument of major broadcasters that Aereo's streaming TV service amounts to a violation of copyright law 25 Jun 2014 The Supreme Court ruled against internet TV service Aereo on Wednesday, handing a victory to major broadcasters who had argued the service violated their copyright and posed a fundamental threat to their businesses. The court rejected an earlier appeals court decision which had ruled the fledgling service did not breach broadcasters' copyright. The judges voted 6-3 against the earlier ruling.

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