U.S. Runs Surveillance Operations Based on Secret Interpretations of Patriot Act
May 26th, 2011Via: Wired:
You may think you understand how the Patriot Act allows the government to spy on its citizens. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) says it’s worse than you’ve heard.
Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. But Wyden says that what Congress will renew is a mere fig leaf for a far broader legal interpretation of the Patriot Act that the government keeps to itself — entirely in secret. Worse, there are hints that the government uses this secret interpretation to gather what one Patriot-watcher calls a “dragnet” for massive amounts of information on private citizens; the government portrays its data-collection efforts much differently.
“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden tells Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”
What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation.
“It is fair to say that the business-records provision is a part of the Patriot Act that I am extremely interested in reforming,” Wyden says. “I know a fair amount about how it’s interpreted, and I am going to keep pushing, as I have, to get more information about how the Patriot Act is being interpreted declassified. I think the public has a right to public debate about it.”
…
“I’m talking about instances where the government is relying on secret interpretations of what the law says without telling the public what those interpretations are,” Wyden says, “and the reliance on secret interpretations of the law is growing.”
Serbia Arrests Ratko Mladic
May 26th, 2011Via: CBS News:
The Serbian government confirmed Thursday that Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most wanted war crimes fugitive, had been arrested.
A man who identified himself as Milorad Komadic when he was arrested Thursday is the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander.
The director of communications for the government of President Boris Tadic confirmed to CBS News’ Natasha Popovic in Belgrade that the man arrested was Mladic.
About an hour later, Tadic appeared on national television to confirm the arrest to the wider world.
“On behalf of the Republic of Serbia we announce that Ratko Mladic has been arrested,” Tadic told reporters. He said the arrest was made by the Serbian Security Intelligence Agency.
Mladic will be extradited to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, he said. He did not specify when, but said “an extradition process is under way.”
Angry Parents in Japan Confront Government Over Radiation Levels
May 26th, 2011Via: New York Times:
The accusations flew on Wednesday at the local school board meeting, packed with parents worried and angry about radiation levels in this city at the heart of Japan’s nuclear crisis.
“Do you really care about our children’s health?” one parent shouted. “Why have you acted so late?” said another. Among other concerns: isn’t radiation still raining down on Fukushima? Shouldn’t the entire school building be decontaminated? The entire city? Can we trust you?
“We are doing all we can,” pleaded Tomio Watanabe, a senior official of Fukushima’s education board.
A huge outcry is erupting in Fukushima over what parents say is a blatant government failure to protect their children from dangerous levels of radiation. The issue has prompted unusually direct confrontations in this conflict-averse society, and has quickly become a focal point for anger over Japan’s handling of the accident at the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, ravaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
At issue are updated government guidelines that allow schoolchildren to be exposed to radiation doses that are more than 20 times the previously permissible levels. That dose is equal to the international standard for adult nuclear power plant workers.
China: Yangtze River Drought Crisis Forces Government to Release Five Billion Cubic Meters of Water from Three Gorges Reservoir
May 26th, 2011Via: Guardian:
The Yangtze – Asia’s biggest river – is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, forcing an unprecedented release of water from the Three Gorges reservoir. The drought is damaging crops, threatening wildlife and raising doubts about the viability of China’s massive water diversion ambitions.
Between now and 10 June the dam will release 5bn cubic metres of water – equivalent to the volume of Lake Windermere in Britain every day – as engineers sacrifice hydroelectric generation for irrigation, drinking supplies and ecosystem support.
The drastic measure comes amid warnings of power shortages and highlights the severity of the dry spell in the Yangtze delta, which supports 400 million people and 40% of China’s economic activity.
From January to April, the worst hit province of Hubei has had 40% less rainfall than the average over the same period since 1961. Shanghai, Jiangsu and Hunan are also severely affected.
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LAPD Chevy Caprice PPV
May 26th, 2011Via: AOL Autos:
Taking a ride in a police squad car is typically an unenviable experience, but not today. Bradley teams up with our friends at the LAPD to check the tech on the all new Chevrolet Caprice PPV (Police Patrol Vehicle). From an infrared night vision camera to an automated license plate scanner, this Caprice cop car puts Robocop’s ’86 Taurus LX to shame.
Research Credit: getdusted
Food Inflation to Quicken; Nestle, McDonald’s, WholeFoods Lift Prices
May 26th, 2011Via: Bloomberg:
U.S. food-price inflation may top the government’s forecast as higher crop, meat, dairy and energy costs lead companies including Nestle SA, McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFMI) to boost prices.
Retail-food prices will jump more than the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s estimate of 3 percent to 4 percent this year, said Chad E. Hart, an economist at Iowa State University in Ames. Companies will pass along more of their higher costs through year-end, said Bill Lapp, a former ConAgra Foods Inc. chief economist.
Groceries and restaurant meals rose 2.4 percent in the four months through April, the most to start a year since 1990, government data show. During the period, rice, wheat and milk futures touched the highest levels since 2008, and retail beef reached a record. Yesterday, J.M. Smucker Co. announced an 11 percent price increase for Folgers coffee, the best-selling U.S. brand, after the cost of beans almost doubled in a year.
“It’s going to be a tough year” for U.S. shoppers, said Lapp, who is president of Advanced Economic Solutions, an agriculture consultant in Omaha, Nebraska. “You’re looking at an economy where a lot of consumers are under some serious pressure from food and fuel costs.”
Amazon Rainforest Activist, and His Wife, Shot Dead
May 26th, 2011Via: Guardian:
Six months after predicting his own murder, a leading rainforest defender has reportedly been gunned down in the Brazilian Amazon. José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo, are said to have been killed in an ambush near their home in Nova Ipixuna, in Pará state, about 37 miles from Marabá.
According to a local newspaper, Diário do Pará, the couple had not had police protection despite getting frequent death threats because of their battle against illegal loggers and ranchers.
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In a speech at a TEDx event in Manaus, in November, Da Silva spoke of his fears that loggers would try to silence him. “I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment … because I denounce the loggers and charcoal producers, and that is why they think I cannot exist. [People] ask me, ‘are you afraid?’ Yes, I’m a human being, of course I am afraid. But my fear does not silence me. As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest.”
Demand for Personal Geiger Counters Soars in Japan
May 26th, 2011Via: Reuters:
With a nuclear plant just 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo still leaking radiation, demand for personal Geiger counters has skyrocketed in the Japanese capital and manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand.
Engineers are battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan’s coastline.
With many people unsure of who to trust for their information, some are buying Geiger counters to check for themselves.
In Akihabara, Tokyo’s electronics mecca, many stores have sold out and are unable to keep up with demand for the devices.
“Nobody even looked at or even knew the name (of the Geiger counter), but ever since the earthquake struck people have become very interested,” said Makoto Ogasawara, sales manager at electronics store Akibaoo.
“We are selling 100 times more.”
While progress is slowly being made to bring the disaster under control, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) confirmed on Tuesday that the fuel rods at three reactors at the plant had melted down. Radioactive traces exceeding national safety standards have been found in various foods grown in areas around the plant as well as in tap water in places as far away as Tokyo, keeping residents on edge.
Texas Legislature, Federal Government Clash Over Airport Pat-Down Bill; Texas Backs Down After Feds Threaten to Ground Flights
May 26th, 2011Via: NPR:
Texas lawmakers and federal agents came to a dramatic showdown last night, over a bill that would have prohibited Transportation Security Administration agents from conducting intrusive pat-downs. The Department of Justice circulated a letter that told the politicians if they went through with HB 1937, the TSA would cancel flights out of Texas.
Texas State Rep. David Simpson, who wrote the bill, put the ultimatum in more vibrant terms in a press release he issued today:
Either Texas backs off and continues to let government employees fondle innocent women, children and men as a condition of travel, or the TSA will cancel Texas flights. The Federal Government showed its willingness to bully the State of Texas if attempts to protect passengers from being forced to give up constitutional rights are not dropped.
