World News

RAW Story | Hackers operating under the title of “Anonymous” claim to have leaked internal emails and other electronic documents from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics website.  The files were uploaded onto the file-sharing website The Pirate Bay on Monday. The authenticity of the documents has not been confirmed.

Torrent Freak | The court-ordered ISP blockade of The Pirate Bay immediately backfired earlier this month when it massively raised awareness and caused the site to receive millions of extra visitors. Now, and as a direct result of the Pirate Bay ban, the website of the UK Pirate Party is benefiting hugely too. In just over three weeks it has jumped more than 100,000 places in the UK rankings and any moment now will become the 1,500th most-visited website in the country.

Geek O System | The High Court recently ruled that U.K. ISPs must block torrent site The Pirate Bay. Though this sets a dangerous precedent, a large amount of torrenters probably responded, “Well that sucks, but it ain’t no thing,” as most torrenters probably realize that there are many popular torrent site alternatives, and various ways to get around an ISP block on The Pirate Bay if the alternatives aren’t up to par. The Pirate Bay recently responded to the High Court ruling and suggested a few ways around the blockage.

Reuters | Nearly 15 percent of people worldwide believe the world will end during their lifetime and 10 percent think the Mayan calendar could signify it will happen in 2012, according to a new poll.  The end of the Mayan calendar, which spans about 5,125 years, on December 21, 2012 has sparked interpretations and suggestions that it marks the end of the world.

The Guardian | Military snipers are to be deployed in helicopters during the London Olympics and if required will shoot pilots of low-flying aircraft that might be involved in terrorist attacks, it emerged on Monday.  A team of seven snipers is being given "comprehensive on-the-ground and in-the-air training" as part of the all encompassing security operation being undertaken by the police and the army.

Associated Press | One World Trade Center, the giant monolith being built to replace the twin towers destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, will lay claim to the title of New York City's tallest skyscraper on Monday. Workers will erect steel columns that will make its unfinished skeleton a little over 1,250 feet high, just enough to peak over the roof of the observation deck on the Empire State Building.

BBC | A young woman has had her child "marriage" legally annulled in northern Rajasthan state, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in India.  Laxmi Sargara, 18, wed Rakesh when she was just one and he was three.  She grew up with her own family, only finding out she was married when her in-laws came to claim her this month.

NewWorldOrderReport.com and the Troubleshooter Network | At the exact same time the Penn State scandal was breaking, Sullivan was arrested.  How many people put it together that almost immediately following that arrest, the city of Denver put a new Police Chief in charge and the state experienced a massive sweep of arrests involving meth for sex, internet luring and sex abuse with minors?  From a CU track star to a youth hockey coach, a famed Sheriff, other sheriffs and even many figures in high society all started to go down in Colorado for the same things.  Is there a connection between all of this?  Perhaps the fact that they frequented the same locations, the same networks and were apart of the same "scene."  Peter Boyles has been breaking the "Players and Sugar" story on his radio show as well at the exact same time.  He and I both agree that there are many connections between what he broke and what I broke.  Now that time has passed and now that Colorado has given the justice system its chance to look into this, it is time to detail more of this story...

Huffington Post | Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

Gregory H. Stanton, formerly of the US State Department and the founder of Genocide Watch, lists denial as the final stage of a genocide development: "Denial is the eighth stage that always follows a genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims."

International Middle East Moniter | The officer was among a number of policemen who arrested a Palestinian youth, identified as Hazem Abu Ad-Dab’aat, 23, before he fired the fatal round. Ad-Dab’aat is from Ath-Thoury neighborhood, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

New World Order Report | 420, 4:20, or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) refers to the consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture. Observances based on the number include the time (4:20 pm) as well as the date (April 20)

International Middle East Media Center | Earlier this month, resident Mohammad Al-Joulani, also in Al-Ashqariyya, received a court ruling ordering him to leave his home, and informing him that the property will be demolished by April 22. Israel claims that the home was illegally constructed.

IPS News | An increasingly large chorus of nations - ravaged by trafficking and violence - say it's now time to re-think international drug policy. As the corrupting power of cartels grows across Mexico and Central America, and as the body count rises, legalisation needs to be seriously discussed as an alternative to militarisation, regional leaders say.

Mondoweiss | This Sunday, I was planning to fly to Tel Aviv with up to 1,500 other participants in Welcome to Palestine 2012, a peaceful initiative of travel and solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank. We had an invitation from over 25 civil society groups across the West Bank. We had the blessing of the mayor of Bethlehem. Our plans consisted of such terroristic activities as laying the cornerstone of a kindergarten, repairing damaged wells, and planting olive trees.

Reuters | The 36-year-old expects harsh opposition, threats of violence and pressure against her family as her campaign gets underway to replace Hamid Karzai, who must step down that year after serving the constitutional limit of two consecutive terms.

Let me start by saying that life is full of expectations and disappointments... Agreements and misunderstandings... Schedules and chaos... Projections and creations... Reality and fantasy... But more than anything, life is full of busy people all trying to get somewhere but most are stuck traveling directions they don't understand... Until its too late.  You are about to fall down a rabbit hole and if you live in Colorado, you may never look at our beautiful state the same way if you continue reading this article...

Jonathan Elinoff | Spending weeks of my life working undercover and having participated in multiple multi-jurisdictional investigations involving the ATF, FBI and others, hearing the news about the sentence was a relief.  I spent time tracking down people who didn't want to be found and alleged victims of sex abuse who were addicted to serious drugs, most of which were diabetics with HIV.  I still think it is ironic that the former Sheriff of Arapahoe County is going to be doing time in the jail named after him for his decorated career in law enforcement...

Cracked | Everyone knew that one big kid in school who was constantly playing "pranks" that simply involved physically hurting other people ("You just punched me in the kidneys!" "Ha! Gotcha!"). Well, those kids grow up, and often go their entire lives without ever discovering the difference between a "practical joke" and "randomly harming other people just because." Fortunately for them, an entire industry has emerged to help them raise their game.

Washington Times | Tunisia's governing Islamist party has said it will not support making sharia, or Islamic law, the main source of legislation in a new constitution and will maintain the secular nature of the state.  Ennahda's stance on an issue that has increasingly polarised the country since its January 2011 revolution was criticised by hardline Islamists who wanted full-blown sharia, but welcomed by secular parties. ...

RAW Story | “Society does not want to accept that people consume [drugs],” he told RCN Radio in Colombia. “You cannot turn away from reality. We cannot accept that theory. [American politicians] may prefer not to talk about it. We cannot accept it.. We cannot be condemned to live in war because Americans do not want to talk about it. No one speaks in favor of the war on drugs.”

Pirate Party | It is typical of the whole process behind ACTA that it is activists who have had to break the news about the latest stage of this controversial treaty. The European Commission has apparently accused us of being anti-democratic. But we are the ones asking citizens to be interested in politics and contact their MEPs.

Core of Corruption Website: We are still waiting for the legal permission to release the film.  It is ready to go, however, under the current structure of the film, liability concerns were brought to our attention by legal experts.  It was supposed to be today the film was leaked online, however, we need a greenlight.  I might send out an email tomorrow explaining a release of the sequel for Friday, March 30th.  Running into unexpected issues on this project has been an issue since day one.  This needs to get out ASAP, but we want to make sure it is done right.  People would be surprised to see the stuff that goes into making these documentaries.  I think this has more to do with the use of actual names that were said in the film.

The Diplomat | This week, Reporters Without Borders issued its annual list of “Enemies of the Internet” – i.e., countries that impose the most restrictions, blocks, and filtering on free access to the Internet.  The absolute worst offenders are hardly surprising – highly authoritarian states like China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan.

Spiegel | The Pirate Party, which made international headlines after its success in state parlimentary elections in Berlin last year, stands to make gains in two other German states this spring. The party's pledge to foster transparency and participation is resonating with voters who are fed up with local corruption. 

In a recent trip across the Sudanese border into rebel-held territory in Sudan's Nuba Mountains, George Clooney witnessed rocket attacks and the effects of aerial bombardment by the Sudanese regime against the Nuban people. This trip diary was written and directed by George Clooney in the field with the Enough Project.

BGR | Hacker group “Anonymous Operations” has confirmed that the custom Linux-based operating system released under its name earlier this week is not a platform it developed. “The Anon OS is fake,” the group posted on Twitter Wednesday evening.

BBC | A man banned from being alone with his daughter has been told restrictions on his access to her have been lifted.  Nigel Robinson, 43, from Hull, called police after finding pornographic images on his laptop after trying to download music in November.

Honduras Weekly | President Porfirio Lobo yesterday invited Colombian President Juan Manuel Ssntos and Mexican Felipe Calderón of Mexico to a meeting of the presidents of Central American Integration System (SICA) on March 24 in Guatemala. The gathering will focus on a recent proposal by Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina to legalize drugs.

RTE News | "Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your for-profit organisation spreads around the world," the hackers said in a statement.

The Guardian | The new law on face coverings follows a case in which a woman's jail sentence was overturned because of doubts about her identity.  Muslim women in the Australian state of New South Wales will be required to show their faces when they have documents witnessed under new identity check laws.

NPR | Paul Conroy, who was injured during the shelling of the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, said that what he saw in the city was a "massacre beyond measure."  "It's not a war, it's a massacre," he said. "An indiscriminate massacre of men, women and children."  It wasn't clear where Conroy, who works for The Sunday Times, was at the time of the interview, but appears that he was talking to Sky News from a hospital bed.

The Intel Hub | Washington’s very much involved. Bahrain’s the home of America’s Fifth Fleet. Millions of dollars in aid’s provided. So are weapons, including armored vehicles, bunker buster missiles, wire-guided ones, and more. A Pentagon statement said:

The Atlantic Wire | In easy irony news of the day, an Australian woman was in court on Thursday facing charges of "unknowingly" stealing more than $30,000 from Nigerian scam artists. The Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports that Sarah Jane Cochrane-Ramsey allegedly provided her bank account to Nigerian scam artists so they could use it to funnel payments they received through their account on a popular car sales website.

Daily Mail | British archaeologists have struck gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba unearthed her fabled treasures.  According to the Bible, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopa and Yemen, travelled to King Solomon in Jerusalem, bringing 120 talents (four-and-half tons) of gold.

Sudan Tribune | (WASHINGTON) – The United States (US) President Barrack Obama’s 2013 budget proposal, released on Monday incorporated the possibility of relieving Sudan’s entire debt owed to it if certain conditions are met.

CBS | Doctors Without Borders goes where others don't. And that often gets its staff in trouble.  The doctors and medics of the group, also known by their French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres, go to centers of conflict where most other medical teams do not. And that means they are often in danger.  On December 29, two staff members were killed in Somalia.

BBC | Iran has halted oil sales to British and French companies, the nation's oil ministry has said.  A spokesman was reported as saying on the ministry's website that Iran would "sell our oil to new customers".  European Union member states had earlier agreed to stop importing Iranian crude from 1 July.

The Guardian | The German president, Christian Wulff, has resigned after being caught up in a corruption scandal involving a dubious loan, an apparent attempt to block a report in a German tabloid and a string of apparently undeclared freebies.

CNN | Italian authorities on Friday arrested eight people in possession of an estimated $6 trillion in counterfeit U.S. Treasury bonds, according to Italian paramilitary police and an Italian news agency.  The discovery of the fake bonds -- made to look as if they were printed by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1934 -- came about as part of an investigation into a local mafia association.

The Telegraph | Jean-Marie Loret, who died in 1985 aged 67, never met his father, but went on to fight Nazi forces during the Second World War.  His extraordinary story has now been backed up by a range of compelling evidence, both in France and in Germany, which is published in the latest edition of Paris's Le Point magazine.

Wikileaks | WikiLeaks denounced UNESCO for banning WikiLeaks from tomorrow’s international conference about WikiLeaks. The large two-day conference, which has 37 speakers listed, is to be held UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. US organizers have stacked the conference with WikiLeaks opponents and blocked all speakers from WikiLeaks, stating that the decision to censor WikiLeaks representation was an exercise in ’freedom of expression... our right to give voice to speakers of our choice’.

France 24, International News | While the Greek parliament voted to approve the country’s sixth round of austerity measures last night, outraged protesters rampaged in the streets. Our Observer tells us that the use of violence is now no longer limited to anarchists and hooligans, ordinary protestors are also turning to violence as their exasperation reaches new heights.

Reuters | The Greek parliament approved a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, as buildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country.

The Independent | A video released in the name of the computer hacking group “Anonymous” yesterday promised a “crusade” against Israel’s “reign of terror”, the latest threat to prolong what has already become an outbreak of cyber-warfare between the country’s supporters and opponents.

The Guardian | Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet of the Islamic worship.  Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities.

Israel National News | Two suicide car bombers attacked a police headquarters and a military security branch on Friday in the northern city of Aleppo, killing 28 people and injuring 235 others. Among the victims were military personnel, civilians and children, according to the government news service.

CBC | Iran will soon unveil "big new" nuclear achievements, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed while reiterating Tehran's readiness to revive talks with the West over the country's controversial nuclear program.

Your Jewish News | American musician Cat Power has joined a list of artists, including Elvis Costello and the Pixies, who have canceled scheduled shows in Israel due to its conflict with the Palestinians.

The Daily Beast | It’s a safe bet that Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, spokesman of Saudi Arabia’s religious police, isn’t a fan of Cole Porter. “The lure of you” is precisely why Nabet announced yesterday that the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice will cover any women’s eyes that are deemed “tempting.” “The men of the committee will interfere to force women to cover their eyes, especially the tempting ones” he said. “[We] have the right to do so.”