News Updates from CLG
19 February 2015
19 February 2015
http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
Previous edition: Egypt bombs Islamic State targets in
Libya, which Google relegated to the sp*m
bin.
Obama Signs Executive Order Encouraging Companies to Share Cyber
Security Information With U.S. Government |
13 Feb 2015 | President Barack Obama asked for more collaboration and the open
sharing of information between private-sector companies and the U.S. government
at the White House Cybersecurity Summit at Stanford today. While pushing for
that collaboration, he admitted it would be a challenge to both keep up with
cyber threats and protect American's right to privacy at the same time. To
encourage the sharing of information between the government and private industry
in case of cybersecurity threats, Obama signed an Executive Order at the end of his speech.
One of those provisions encourages information sharing and analysis
organizations (ISAOs), which would serve as points of contact for information
sharing between the government and the private sector.
News outlet to release more secrets of US National Security Agency
obtained from cybersecurity firm in Mexico --Latest NSA were discovered by non-US cybersecurity firm
operating in Mexico - sources | 16 Feb 2015 | A yet-to-be identified
news outlet is preparing to release top secrets of the US National Security
Agency (NSA), adding to the woes of the intelligence wing which is still
suffering from the massive leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Washington
Free Beacon citing
intelligence officials has reported that the NSA is preparing for further
massive data leaks, which are expected to be published by a news outlet in the
near future. The agency is taking steps to minimise the possible damage the
leaks will cause, the report on 13 February said.
Find Out If U.K. Spied On You Illegally Via NSA's Prism,
Upstream | 16 Feb 2015 | Following a
landmark legal ruling earlier this month
that, prior to December 2014, the U.K.'s spy agency GCHQ acted illegally by
receiving data from the NSA's surveillance dragnets, privacy advocacy
organization Privacy International has set up an online form where
people can submit a request to be informed whether they were spied on in the
past. This only applies to retrospective snooping by the British -- which is
what the court in question, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), deemed GCHQ
to have improperly engaged in. And it also only applies specifically to the
NSA's Prism
surveillance program, where it collects data direct from U.S. Internet
companies, and to Upstream, where it taps directly into Internet cables to gather data --
and where the data from those programs was passed on to the
British.
Poland to Pay $262,000 to Inmates Held, Tortured at Secret C.I.A.
Prison | 18 Feb 2015 | Poland will abide by
a European court ruling that ordered it to pay a total of 262,000 in reparations
to two former inmates of a "black site" prison run by the C.I.A., the minister
of foreign affairs said on Wednesday. The European Court of Human Rights
ruled in
July that Poland had violated the rights of the two terrorism suspects by
handing them over to the C.I.A. in 2002 at a secret facility, which is now
closed, in northeast Poland. While there, the court said, the men suffered
"torture and inhuman or degrading treatment."
Barack Obama on extremism: 'terrorists are targeting young people
through Twitter' | 19 Feb 2015 | The US
president called on Muslims around the world to fight the misconception that
groups like the Islamic State speak for them. In his most direct remarks yet
about any link between Islam and violent extremist attacks, Barack Obama said on
Wednesday that "we will ultimately prevail" against militant
threats.
Moderate Syrian rebels aka future ISIS fighters 'to be given power to
call in US air strikes' | 17 Feb 2015 | The
US and Turkey have reached a tentative deal to train and equip moderate Syrian
'rebels,' according to officials from both countries, amid reports that
commanders will be given authority to call in air strikes. The Pentagon has
previously said it was planning to send more than 400 troops, including special
forces, to work with opposition forces at sites outside Syria. At the same time
The Wall Street Journal reported
that some rebels will be equipped with pick-up trucks modified with mounted
machine guns as well as radios for calling in US airstrikes...
Afghan civilian deaths hit record high | 18 Feb 2015 | Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians
in Afghanistan, the UN said in a report on Wednesday, with more civilians killed
in 2014 than since the agency began compiling figures in 2009. The report
documented 3,699 civilian deaths in 2014, the highest death toll since the UN
began keeping systematic record in 2009. Another 6,849 people were injured,
bringing the number of civilian casualties to 10,548, a 22% jump from last
year.
Woman arrested at Heathrow
on suspicion of terrorism offences | 18 Feb
2015 | A 25-year-old woman has been arrested at Heathrow on suspicion of
Syria-related terrorism offences. The woman, from Sparkbrook, Birmingham, was
detained at the airport after arriving on a flight from Turkey at around 9pm,
West Midlands police said. Her arrest by officers from West Midlands
counter-terrorism unit was pre-planned and intelligence-led.
UMass Amherst Reverses Controversial Ban on Iranian Students in
Engineering, Sciences | 18 Feb 2015 | The
University of Massachusetts Amherst has overturned a controversial ban that
would have prohibited all incoming Iranian students from participating in
certain graduate engineering and natural sciences programs. The reversal comes
just days after the school announced the ban to comply with a 2012 federal law
-- part of sanctions against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
The 2012 law denies visas for Iranian students in the U.S. if they want to work
in the energy sector, nuclear science, nuclear engineering or related field in
Iran.
Islamic School in West Warwick defaced with racial
insults | 15 Feb 2015 | A day after holding
a vigil for three Muslim students killed in North Carolina, the Islamic School
of Rhode Island was vandalized. Some time Saturday night racial slurs were
spray-painted over the entrance of the school that serves students in
pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, school officials said. Orange paint
covered the school's doors with the words, "Now this is a hate crime" and
"pigs," among other expletives referencing the prophet Muhammad.
Radioactive water worse at
Fukushima | 17 Feb 2015 | A team of
international experts expressed concern Tuesday about increasing amounts of
radiation-contaminated water at a crippled Japanese nuclear plant. About 350
tons of toxic [radioactive] water are generated daily in the process of cooling
three [nuclear] reactors at the Fukushima plant that suffered meltdowns during
the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. "The need to remove highly radioactive spent
fuel, including damaged fuel and fuel debris, from the reactors that suffered
meltdowns poses a huge long-term challenge," Juan Carlos Lentijo, head of the
15-member International Atomic Energy Agency team, said at the end of its 9-day
mission.
Magnitude 6.9 earthquake recorded off Honshu in northern Japan; minor
tsunamis hit coast | 17 Feb 2015 | Minor
tsunamis have hit the coast of northern Japan after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake
struck off the coast, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the Japanese
Meteorological Agency (JMA) say. A wave of 10 centimetres was monitored on the
shore of Miyako, eastern Iwate, at 8:47am (local time) after the agency warned a
tsunami of up to one metre was forecast to hit the region. Minutes later a
20-centimetre tsunami hit Kuji town, north of 90 kilometres north of
Miyako.
Explosion at Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, California, injures
four | 18 Feb 2015 | An explosion and fire
ripped through a gasoline processing unit at an Exxon Mobil refinery in
Torrance, California, near Los Angeles on Wednesday, slightly injuring four
workers and shattering windows of surrounding buildings, authorities said.
Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blast, which occurred
shortly before 9 a.m. PST (12 p.m. ET), but there was no evidence of foul play,
according to Torrance Fire Captain Steve Deuel. Deuel said a small ground fire
following the explosion was quickly extinguished.
CSX train hauling North Dakota oil derails, cars ablaze in West
Virginia | 16 Feb 2015 | A CSX Corp train
hauling North Dakota crude derailed in West Virginia on Monday, setting a number
of cars ablaze, destroying a house and forcing the evacuation of two towns in
the second significant oil-train incident in three days. One or two of the cars
plunged into the Kanawha River, said Robert Jelacic of the West Virginia
Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. CSX said the train was
hauling 109 cars from North Dakota to the coastal town of Yorktown, Virginia,
where midstream firm Plains All American Pipelines runs an oil depot.
[STILL no oil-train safety regulations. Thanks,
Obama!]
Superbug linked to 2 deaths at UCLA hospital; 179 potentially
exposed | 18 Feb 2015 | Nearly 180 patients
at UCLA's Ronald Reagan [*puke*] Medical Center may have been exposed to
potentially deadly bacteria from contaminated medical scopes, and two deaths
have already been linked to the outbreak. The Times has learned that the two
people who died are among seven patients that UCLA found were infected by the
drug-resistant superbug known as CRE -- a number that may grow as more patients
get tested. The outbreak is the latest in a string of similar incidents across
the country that has top health officials scrambling for a
solution.
Obama chooses Clancy to be
Secret Service director | 18 Feb 2015 |
President Barack Obama has chosen Joseph Clancy as the new head of the U.S.
Secret Service, the White House said on Wednesday, after a series of high
profile security lapses led to a shake-up in the troubled agency's leadership.
Clancy, who personally helped guard the lives of three U.S. presidents, has been
head of the agency on an interim basis for the past four months. Director Julia
Pierson stepped down in October after an embarrassing Sept. 19 White House
breach in which a man carrying a knife jumped the fence and ran into the
executive mansion.
Mega barf alert! Jeb Bush backs brother's NSA
surveillance program 'to keep us safe' | 18
Feb 2015 | Former Florida governor Jeb Bush delivered a full-throated defense of
government surveillance programs on Wednesday, expressing a resounding faith in
techniques pioneered by his brother, George W Bush, and staking out a position
in sharp contrast with other prospective 2016 presidential candidates. Dragnet
metadata collection by the NSA and similar programs were necessary to keeping US
citizens safe from foreign terror threats, Bush said - unprompted - during
remarks
laying out his foreign policy vision as a prospective 2016 presidential
candidate. Long before the Edward Snowden revelations, the administration of Jeb
Bush's brother used warrantless wiretapping to sweep up communications by US citizens without legal cover. That
program and others, including the NSA's phone metadata collection program, were
made legal in retrospect by a series
of Bush-era laws and legal opinions.
Rand Paul Pushes Kentucky Rule Change to Pursue Presidency and
Senate | 16 Feb 2015 | Rand Paul is
actively looking for ways to run for both president and re-election to the U.S.
Senate, something standard in many states, but not legal in his home state of
Kentucky. However, the state GOP has some serious concerns about his desired
scenario. Paul wrote a letter last week to the state party hoping to convince
its members to create a presidential caucus, over a primary in 2016, the
Lexington Herald-Leader first reported
and the Kentucky GOP state party chairman confirmed to ABC News. Paul's letter
argued it would make Kentucky more relevant in the primary process, but it also
deals with the prohibition on candidates appearing on the same ballot
twice.
Protesters against fast-tracking Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal
to hold rallies outside US Rep. Richard Neal's Springfield and Pittsfield
offices | 12 Feb 2015 | It's been almost 10
months since protesters opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP,
rallied outside Congressman Richard Neal's Springfield office to voice concerns
about the free trade deal that's been under negotiation for about a decade. Demonstrators are
again expected to descend on the Democratic congressman's office next week, when
they'll ask him to publicly declare opposition to any fast-track legislation for
TPP. Such legislation would implement the free trade [corpora-terrorists'] pact
with minimal debate and no amendments, with the entire process taking no more
than three months before the agreement is up and running.
U.S. delays Obama's immigration steps after judge's
rebuke | 17 Feb 2015 | President Barack
Obama's administration on Tuesday delayed implementing his unilateral steps to
shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation after a judge blocked the
actions at the urging of 26 states accusing Obama of exceeding his powers. In a
setback to the president, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, a
city along the Texas border with Mexico, issued a temporary court order on
Monday stopping Obama's executive actions that bypassed a gridlocked
Congress.
Obama Immigration Policy Halted by Federal Judge in
Texas | 17 Feb 2015 | A federal judge in
Texas has ordered a halt, at least temporarily, to President Obama's executive
actions on immigration, siding with Texas and 25 other states that filed a
lawsuit opposing the initiatives. In an order filed on Monday, the judge, Andrew
S. Hanen of Federal District Court in Brownsville, prohibited the Obama
administration from carrying out programs the president announced in November
that would offer protection from deportation and work permits to as many as five
million undocumented immigrants. The first of those programs was scheduled to
start receiving applications on Wednesday.
Arizona State University police officer resigns after caught on video
slamming professor to the ground for jaywalking | 17 Feb 2015 | An Arizona State University police officer quit
after a video of him slamming a professor to
the ground for jaywalking went viral and drew
national attention. Officer Stewart Ferrin, 25, resigned Monday after an
internal investigation found he was wrong to use so much force against ASU
English professor Ersula Ore in May, according to the Arizona Republic. Although the university initially stood behind
Ferrin, ASU notified him of its intent to fire him after the investigation
concluded in January, records show.
Bear's Harrisville Twp. owners get a 30-day
extension | 13 Feb 2015 | Debbie and Jeff
Gillium have been guaranteed 30 more days to keep Archie the bear on their
property in Harrisville Township. Their attorney, John Oberholtzer, said he and
the Ohio Department of Agriculture have agreed to postpone a hearing over the
bear after the state issued a letter to the Gilliums granting them 30 more days
to figure out what to do with Archie. The state [of sociopaths] has threatened
to remove the bear.
'Absolute Mess': Quarter-Million Lose Power as Ice Coats
Southeast | 17 Feb 2015 | A band of snow
and ice sliced across the South on Monday from Oklahoma to the Carolinas,
cutting off power for almost a quarter of a million customers and threatening to
paralyze major cities on its way to the Northeast. For once, Boston wasn't the
center of the winter weather. Instead, New England-like snow fell on parts of
Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia: 17 inches near Coleman, Kentucky; 15
inches in Logan, West Virginia; 14½ inches near Oceana, West Virginia; and 12
inches in Dickenson County, Virginia.
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