Facebook, Twitter and Google have been caught snooping on messages sent across their networks, new research claims, prompting campaigners to express concerns over privacy.

The findings emerged from an experiment conducted following revelations by US security contractor Edward Snowden about government snooping on internet accounts.

Cyber-security company High-Tech Bridge set out to test the confidentiality of 50 of the biggest internet companies by using their systems to send a unique web address in private messages.

Experts at its Geneva HQ then waited to see which companies clicked on the website.
During the ten-day operation, six of the 50 companies tested were found to have opened the link.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2407949/Test-reveals-Facebook-Twitter-Google-snoop-emails-Study-net-giants-spurs-new-privacy-concerns.html

Source: Redding Record Searchlight

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 this afternoon to pursue seceding from California.

More than 100 people packed the supervisors' chambers late this morning for a discussion on whether the county should issue a declaration that it wants to secede from the state. Nearly all those in attendance appeared to be for the move.

Among those in attendance was Erin Ryan, field representative for Rep. Doug LaMalfa. She said that she and other LaMalfa staff members supported the effort to secede, but she did not know LaMalfa's thoughts on it.

Board Chair Ed Valenzuela was the sole vote against the declaration today. He said he was elected to solve problems within the system.

Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/2013/sep/03/live-tweets-siskiyou-county-supervisors-discuss-se/

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Siskiyou County would also invite other neighboring counties in California and southern Oregon to join in the effort to create a new state.

The $6.4-billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to the public overnight with little fanfare. And it didn't take long for the public for fill up the new span during the morning commute. (Sept 3)

I got to drive it today, the new bridge is pretty awesome.

A little under two years ago, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, urged British businessmen to begin “packing their suitcases” and to fly to Libya to share in the reconstruction of the country and exploit an anticipated boom in natural resources.

Yet now Libya has almost entirely stopped producing oil as the government loses control of much of the country to militia fighters.

Mutinying security men have taken over oil ports on the Mediterranean and are seeking to sell crude oil on the black market. Ali Zeidan, Libya’s Prime Minister, has threatened to “bomb from the air and the sea” any oil tanker trying to pick up the illicit oil from the oil terminal guards, who are mostly former rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and have been on strike over low pay and alleged government corruption since July.

As world attention focused on the coup in Egypt and the poison gas attack in Syria over the past two months, Libya has plunged unnoticed into its worst political and economic crisis since the defeat of Gaddafi two years ago. Government authority is disintegrating in all parts of the country putting in doubt claims by American, British and French politicians that Nato’s military action in Libya in 2011 was an outstanding example of a successful foreign military intervention which should be repeated in Syria.

In an escalating crisis little regarded hitherto outside the oil markets, output of Libya’s prized high-quality crude oil has plunged from 1.4 million barrels a day earlier this year to just 160,000 barrels a day now. Despite threats to use military force to retake the oil ports, the government in Tripoli has been unable to move effectively against striking guards and mutinous military units that are linked to secessionist forces in the east of the country.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/special-report-we-all-thought-libya-had-moved-on--it-has-but-into-lawlessness-and-ruin-8797041.html

But some U.S. lawmakers worry a strike against Syria could trigger a broader conflict.

They are using that argument as another reason to avert more than $500 billion in military spending cuts facing the Pentagon over the next decade under the process known as "sequestration," on top of $487 billion in cuts that were already planned.

"We cannot keep asking the military to perform mission after mission with sequestration and military cuts hanging over their heads," Republican Buck McKeon, chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, told CNN on Monday.

Top military leaders have repeatedly warned lawmakers that further cuts will jeopardize the U.S. military's readiness to respond to crises like the one now playing out over Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons against its own citizens.

Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute consultants' group, said the administration's proposed limited strike on Syria could buoy shares in major weapons makers such as missile maker Raytheon Co and Lockheed Martin, which builds the Aegis combat system used on Navy ships.

Weapons makers are looking to foreign military sales and commercial markets to offset the downturn in U.S. military spending, but a new overseas conflict could increase demand for expendable items such as Raytheon's Tomahawk missiles.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/02/syria-crisis-usa-budget-idUSL2N0GY12P20130902?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologySector&rpc=43

A DEVONPORT-BASED warship killed three whales after mistaking them for enemy submarines during the Falklands War it has been revealed.

Two were killed by torpedoes fired from the anti-submarine frigate HMS Brilliant, and the third was attacked by one of the ship’s helicopters

The previously undisclosed incidents are taken from the diaries of the ship’s crew, which have been published online by hmsbrilliant.com, a website commemorating the Type 22’s role in the 1982 war.

Brilliant’s job was to help defend HMS Invincible, one of two British aircraft carriers deployed in the South Atlantic, against Argentine submarine and missile attack.

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-warship-torpedoed-whales-mistaken/story-19737150-detail/story.html

The Tawergha Massacre.

When we waged our last humanitarian war - "Operation Unified Protector", we unleashed racist militias that massacred 30,000 Libyans, descendants of black-skinned slaves.

Tawergha was famous for its palm trees which at one point were considered the true wealth in the city. The city also produced significant amount of date fruits, including the Bersiel date, which is used as a component in ropes and other commodities. In pre-colonial times, the work on the plantation was done by tens of thousands of black-skinned slaves, making Tawerga the only town in coastal Libya with a black majority. In the colonial period, these people were nominally emancipated from slavery, but their economic status remained very low. In the Gaddafi period they were treated a lot better, receiving full education and development. Many of its inhabitants achieved high positions in the army and civil service.

British journalist Andrew Gilligan visited Tawergha in September 2011 and found it virtually emptied of its inhabitants, who numbered around 30,000 before the war. He reported that the Misrata Brigade, a semi-autonomous unit of the anti-Gaddafi National Liberation Army, had engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in response to the alleged town's support of Gaddafi during the siege on their city. Many slogans he saw painted in and around Tawergha, as well as the accounts of anti-Gaddafi fighters and commanders whom he quoted, made reference to the dark pigmentation of many Tawergha citizens, with one sign referring to the Misrata Brigade as "the brigade for purging slaves and black skin". His report, published by The Sunday Telegraph on 11 September, quoted Ibrahim al-Halbous a brigade commander as saying, "Tawergha no longer exists, only Misrata" and another as asserting that the town's former residents will only return "over our dead bodies". In February 2012, Amnesty reported that Tawerga was empty and guarded against any returnees, with Misrata militiamen systematically destroying and burning down homes and infrastructure to avoid the return of Tawergha inhabitants. Militias from Misrata continue to hunt down and terrorize the displaced inhabitants of Tawergha across Libya. Hundreds have been illegally arrested and tortured by militiamen in Misrata. In May 2012, the UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry published a report about the violations conducted by Misratan militias against Tawerghans across Libya including killings, arbitrarily arrests and torture, calling it a war crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawergha

Empty village raises concerns about fate of black Libyans

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/09/13/123999/empty-village-raises-concerns.html#.UiTgBxZBq7c#storylink=cpy

The (Wall Street) Journal is the only major U.S. media outlet that’s reported on the plight of Tawergha.

United Nations says ‘no comment’ on ethnic cleansing of Black Libyans

The White House has yet to issue a single statement condemning this ethnic cleansing of Black people. Hillary Clinton’s Department of State remains mute. The leaders of organizations that profess to protect the rights of Black people, such as the NAACP’s Ben Jealous and the National Urban League’s Marc Morial, have yet to make statements. Surely, someone must read The Wall Street Journal.

This is the second article detailing the specific campaign to wipe out Black Libyans that The Journal has reported on; the first article was on June 21, 2011.

Other major corporate media, such as The New York Times, CNN and BBC, all of which to varying degrees surrendered pretense at “objectivity” and openly supported the NATO bombardments, are now in a bind. They have yet to report major stories on the ethnic cleansing in Misrata and Tawergha. Rather than concede that the side they supported in the civil war is carrying out war crimes, they would rather suppress the story.

http://sfbayview.com/2011/libya-tawergha-city-of-blacks-depopulated-%e2%80%93-rep-jesse-jackson-calls-for-investigation-of-%e2%80%98crimes-against-humanity%e2%80%99/


NATO air support for the assault on Tawergha

The NATO bombing in support of the attack is recorded in the NATO press releases from the time:

10 August: In the vicinity of Tawurgha: 3 Command and Control Nodes, 2 Military Storage Facilities.
12 August: In the vicinity of Misratha: 1 Military Facility, 1 Ammo Storage Facility.
13 August: In the vicinity of Misratah: 4 Anti-Aircraft Guns.
13 August: In the vicinity of Tawurgah: 2 Military Vehicles, 1 Anti-Aircraft Guns.

The actual assault was from 10-13 August so we can see NATO played an important role in the ethnic cleansing of this town, an ethnic cleansing of which they had been forewarned and in which they decided, nonetheless, to participate.

Reports indicate the rebels were ordered by NATO to paint their vehicles red and yellow just prior to the assault.

The ethnic cleansing of Tawargha

It is highly likely many black refugees from Misrata fled to the town of Tawergha. Many of them and the original residents may have moved on prior to the actual assault, especially as the Misrata brigades were firing Grad rockets at the town. It also seems likely some of the fighters may have escaped to Sabha, Sirte or Bani Walid, where they are currently making a last stand, sure in the knowledge that they are unlikely to survive capture.

However, a report by David Enders, reporting from an empty Tawergha, indicates ethnic cleansing occurred after the rebels took full control

http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/26/libya-ethnic-cleansing-tawargha-genocide/

Three founders of Femen said Saturday they had left Ukraine in fear for their lives after police discovered weapons in their Kiev offices that the feminist group says were planted.

Alexandra Shevchenko, Anna Hutsol and Yana Zhdanova "have fled Ukraine fearing for their lives and for their liberty" and would "continue their activities in Europe", said a statement on the group's website.

The three women decided to leave after Ukrainian police called them in for questioning on Friday, the statement said.

The group, known for its topless political protests, is facing a criminal investigation after police said they confiscated a TT handgun and a grenade from its offices in central Kiev on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/femen-founders-leave-ukraine-fearing-lives-172000650.html

http://femen.org/en/news/id/542#post-content

US lawmakers expressed worries Sunday that a lack of American action on Syria could send a signal to Israel and Iran that Washington would not be steadfast in thwarting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Speaking to Channel 2 News, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said US President Barack Obama’s decision to put off military action until after Congressional approval had rattled Israel’s belief in the US commitment to protecting the Jewish state from the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran.

“It has discouraged our allies and I am most worried about the effect it will have on Israel and on Iran,” McCain said. “The Iranians are nearly euphoric, as is Bashar Assad, and our Israeli friends are very worried about the steadfastness and commitment of the United States concerning the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran.”

McCain also dismissed threats by Syria that it would strike at Israel in revenge for a US attack.

“Every time the US has acted decisively there is no retaliation against the retaliations, so I am not worried about the retaliations,” he said.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/mccain-says-israel-shaken-by-us-dallying/