World News, Far Right, Ukraine and Russia, Turkey, Israel and Palestine, Middle East, Brazil 2014; US Politics, NJ Pensions, Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform; Racism, Religion; Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online

World News

• South Korea offers $500,000 reward for tips about missing billionaire Sewol ferry owner Yoo Byung-eun
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Satellite data released after long wait
• France's UMP 'ordered €10m fake invoices' to hide Sarkozy campaign spending

Far Right

• Far-right National Front stuns French elite with EU 'earthquake'
• Greece's Golden Dawn to enter EU Parliament for first time—"Exit polls give the party, which denies it subscribes to neo-Nazi ideology, around a 10 per cent of the Greek vote."
• Farage: UKIP has 'momentum' and is targeting more victories

Ukraine and Russian

• Putin Demands Apology After Prince Charles Compares Him To Hitler—Here's that apology (satire).
• Vladimir Putin Has Been Outplayed by Barack Obama
• Petro Poroshenko claims Ukraine presidency—And he'll push for EU integration.
• More than 50 rebels killed as new Ukraine leader unleashes assault
• ISS crew hug, take selfie to say 'No' to politics and Ukraine tension in space

Turkey

• In Turkey's Mine Disaster, Erdogan Turns Tragedy Into Farce
• Image of PM's aide kicking protester stokes anger over Turkey mine fire
• Soma mine inspected, approved by executive's brother-in-law
• 'Someday There Will Be a Massacre'
• Thousands protest at Erdogan German rally

Israel and Palestine

• Pope Francis calls Israeli-Palestinian stalemate unacceptable—"Pope also chose to arrive in West Bank from Jordan rather than via Israel in a symbolic nod towards Palestinian statehood."
• Gaza's Hamas government says ready to step aside
• Israeli authorities 'try to evict dead people' from Arab village
• Israel troops raid Palestinian newspaper offices
• Video footage indicates killed Palestinian youths posed no threat—"Evidence from CCTV above office shows alleged fatal shootings of Nadeem Nawara and Mohammad Salameh by Israeli forces."
• Turkey orders arrests over Gaza flotilla raid—"Court asks Interpol to issue arrest warrants for Israeli military chiefs over deadly 2010 raid on Gaza-bound aid ship."

Middle East

• Iran releases Pharrell Williams fans detained for singing hit song Happy
• Visiting Qatar this summer? Don't wear shorts. WaPo
• Egyptian presidential election extended to third day
• U.S. doctor killed in Pakistan in front of family

Brazil 2014

• A Brazilian Street Artist Has Created the World Cup's First Viral Image
• Soccer Great Pelé Expresses Concern, Disappointment At Brazil's World Cup Preparations
• Brazil anti-World Cup protesters clash with police
• Rio official: Water pollution targets won't be met—"Brazil will not make good on its commitment to clean up Rio de Janeiro's sewage-filled Guanabara Bay by the 2016 Olympic Games, state environmental officials acknowledged in a letter obtained Saturday by The Associated Press."
• Flipside: Here's Our Favorite World Cup Spot: Nike's "Winner Stays."

US Politics

• How Republicans became the "stupid" party: Turning right, refusing to recognize facts and change—"We once had two centrist liberal parties. Here's the story of how the GOP fringes took over the mainstream." Salon
• Jeb Bush's humiliating plea: I swear I'm smart Salon
• Republicans Bet That Latinos Are Idiots—"House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently published an orotund statement predicated on a lie, betting that Hispanic Americans are incapable of distinguishing between fact and fiction."
• Cliven Bundy Abandons The Republican Party
• GOP hopes renewed probes into Benghazi, IRS will fire up conservatives and not annoy centrists
• Young Republicans Split With The GOP On Gay Marriage, Marijuana

NJ Pensions

• We name the political donors whose firms got $14bn of pension cash from New Jersey
• Chris Christie can't afford to pay public teacher pensions… but still hands education megacorp $82m in subsidies
• Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA

Vote Machinations

• GOPer Suggested Voting Should Be Limited To Property Owners
• Arkansas Voters Complain About Quizzing By Poll Workers Checking IDs
• Voting problems across south could spell trouble for November
• PA: Corbett says he will not appeal voter ID law decision
• FBI agent who focused on political corruption in NC to join state elections agency
• Can Georgia Democrats Make the State Turn Blue Ahead of Schedule?
• Flipside: Massachusetts governor signs early voting bill

Campaign Finance Deform

• RNC files lawsuit to raise unlimited cash
• Someone Just Spent $1.5 Million on a GOP Senate Candidate. We'll Probably Never Know Who.
• David Koch, Donald Trump Lead Wealthy Donors Past Now-Dead Campaign Finance Limit
• Judge Who Halted Walker Dark Money Criminal Probe Attended Koch-Backed Junkets

Racism

• Man accused of slur sues Red Lobster, Franklin waitress
• Miss. Judge Allegedly Struck, Yelled Slur At Mentally Disabled Black Man
• Houston man accused of beating daughter who picked black teen for dance
• Racism on the rise in Britain

Religion

• How American Evangelicals Infected Uganda
• Malaysian Muslim groups call for jihad on Cadbury after pork traces found in chocolate
• Sudanese woman sentenced to death for her Christianity gives birth in prison

Surveillance and Privacy

• John Kerry's Latest Snowden Comments Are Moronic, Offensive, and Dangerous—"No one, fugitive whistleblower or otherwise, should heed Kerry's call to 'trust in the American justice system.'"
• Germany drops NSA prosecution due to lack of evidence—"Data protection officials are bewildered by the German federal prosecutor's decision not to start a criminal investigation into the alleged mass surveillance of German citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)."
• How the US institutionalized surveillance—"Washington's global intelligence network began with the humble file card."
• Brokers use 'billions' of data points to profile Americans—"Are you a financially strapped working mother who smokes? A Jewish retiree with a fondness for Caribbean cruises? Or a Spanish-speaking professional with allergies, a dog and a collection of Elvis memorabilia?" WaPo
• Attempts to stay anonymous on the web will only put the NSA on your trail—"The sobering story of Janet Vertesi's attempts to conceal her pregnancy from the forces of online marketers shows just how Kafkaesque the internet has become."
• Do Personal Computers Come With NSA Surveillance Devices Built-In As Standard?
• China demands halt to 'unscrupulous' US cyber-spying—"Chinese report says US has breached international laws, infringed human rights and put global cyber-security at risk."

Your Rights Online

• Snowden, Greenwald, Appelbaum, WikiLeaks 'blacklisted' from Stockholm Internet Forum
• Calls for Turkey to remove Internet restrictions
• Thailand: Facebook 'blocked'

Geology; Prehistoric, Man; Middle East, Egypt, Orient, Europe, British Isles; Breaking History

Geology

• Crystal is 'oldest scrap of Earth crust'—"A tiny 4.4-billion-year-old crystal has been confirmed as the oldest fragment of Earth's crust."
• Boffins identify ancient Earth asteroid strike that dwarfed dinosaur killer—"Massive space rock impact may have set the continents sliding."
• Fragments of ancient continent buried under Indian Ocean

Prehistoric

• Mysteriously Intact T. Rex Tissue Finally Explained
• New find hits Cambrian fossil jackpot—again.—"Near site of famous Burgess Shale fossils, more turn up."
• Ice Age fossils discovered in L.A. subway construction
• Feathered dinosaur death site is an "animal Pompeii"—"Exquisitely preserved fossils come from a catastrophic event."
• Scientists Discover New Dinosaur Species Dubbed 'Chicken From Hell'
• The Hidden Dinosaur of Ta Prohm Temple
• Giant virus resurrected from 30,000-year-old ice—"Largest virus yet discovered hints at viral diversity trapped in permafrost."
• 700,000-Year-Old Horse Found in Yukon Permafrost Yields Oldest DNA Ever Decoded

Man

• 7,000-year-old male, blue eyes, dark skin, likes hunting
• Our Neanderthal heritage—"The scientist who sequenced the Neanderthal genome describes his quest to find what makes us human." Salon
• DNA 'switches' separate Neanderthals from modern humans: study
• Earliest footprints outside Africa discovered in Norfolk
• From study of 12,600-year-old DNA from Montana, clues to early colonization of the Americas
• Ancient Qiang people had vertically grown teeth and longer skeleton

Middle East

• A 4000-year-old tablet from ancient Mesopotamia contains the specifications for an ark pre-dating the story of Noah
• 'Priceless' bronze statue of Greek god Apollo found in Gaza Strip
• Pharaonic seal found in ancient coffin in Israel

Egypt

• 4,600-Year-Old Step Pyramid Uncovered in Egypt—"The pyramid, which predates the Great Pyramid of Giza, is one of seven for which its function remains a mystery."
• Tomb of ancient Egypt's beer maker to gods of the dead discovered
• Student deciphers 1,800-year-old letter from Egyptian soldier
• Two more colossal pharaoh statues unveiled in Egypt

Orient

• 15 Chinese Artifacts That Will Change How You Look at China
• Oldest signs of Japanese using tools uncovered in Okinawa—"Archaeologists have unearthed shell tools around 20,000 years old that could help clear up mysteries surrounding the ancestors of modern Japanese people...."
• Philippines' Oldest Artworks in Danger of Disappearing

Europe

• Ancient Gladiator School Discovered in Austria
• Archaeologists' findings may prove Rome a century older than thought—"As Italian capital approaches 2,767th birthday, excavation reveals wall built long before official founding year of 753BC."
• Archaeologists find 2,600-year-old Celtic Princess buried in Germany
• Swedish divers unearth a 'Stone Age Atlantis': 11,000-year-old ancient settlement discovered under the Baltic Sea

British Isles

• British experts say they have found London's lost Black Death graves
• 4,500 year-old path discovered near Galway Bay used by Celts
• Storms uncover 7,500-year-old 'drowned forest' on Ireland's west coast
• 10,000-year-old settlement found in Cork

Breaking History

• 2 former Boy Scout leaders plead guilty to toppling ancient Utah rock formation, avoid jail
• Student Breaks 19th Century Greco-Roman Statue While Taking a Selfie
• Graffiti defaces prehistoric rock art in Libya

War on Terror, Middle East, Drones; Police State, Bad Cops; Snowden, Surveillance and Privacy, Press Freedom and Transparency

War on Terror

• Federal judge rules that TSA, FBI can detain and arrest you for carrying Arabic flashcards
• Case against League of Legends player who reportedly made 'terrorist' threat to move forward
• Obama calls on Congress to do more on Guantanamo Bay

Middle East

• Why Are We in Afghanistan?
• Three NATO personnel killed in Kabul suicide car bomb
• Lebanon bombing kills 5, including ex-minister
• Yasser Arafat died of natural causes - Russian report
• American abducted by al-Qaeda makes video plea
• Turkish corruption scandal: prosecutor accuses police of obstructing case—"Prosecutor Muammer Akkas said he has been removed from case and suspect allowed to flee and tamper with evidence."
• Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood declared 'terrorist group'

Drones

• U.N. experts urge U.S., Yemen to explain erroneous drone strikes
• US drone strike kills three in northwest Pakistan—On Christmas eve.
• President Obama's new normal: the drone strikes continue—Heading towards Iraq.

Police State

• The End of Freedom in America?
• The Criminalization of Everyday Life
• Salinas police chief defends armored vehicle replacement
• Video surveillance of downtown Houston to expand—"Officials say data is not kept to determine if the cameras are driving down crime."
• Federal court strikes down LA hotel search law—"A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a city law it said wrongly allows police to inspect hotel and motel guest records without a warrant."

Bad Cops

• The worst police misconduct of 2013
• Police misconduct hidden from public by secrecy law, weak oversight
• 18 Los Angeles sheriff's officials indicted, accused of abuse, obstruction
• Joe Arpaio Loses: New Times Co-Founders Win $3.75 Million Settlement for 2007 False Arrests
• Man with no arms wants apology from cop

Snowden

• Internet founder hails Snowden—"Edward Snowden did the world a favour by revealing the scale of surveillance by governments, according to" Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
• Bletchley Park accused of airbrushing Edward Snowden from history—"NSA whistleblower omitted from new exhibition on cyber security as museum says it does not want to be seen to back his actions."
• Glenn Greenwald: I Defend Snowden Like MSNBC Defends Obama '24 Hours A Day'

Surveillance and Privacy

• Internet privacy as important as human rights, says UN's Navi Pillay—"Navi Pillay compares uproar over mass surveillance to response that helped defeat apartheid during Today programme."
• Stanford Researcher Proves NSA Can Probably Identify Individuals From Phone Records
• Obama's NSA Phone Spying Reforms Might Make Things Worse
• Nine Gifts the NSA Will Hate
• NSA Intercepted Children’s Letters To Santa—Naughty.

Press Freedom and Transparency

• Thomas Peele: On issue of press freedom, President Barack Obama is the worst president
• Editorial: Obama's broken promises on press
• Judge smacks Obama secrecy in unique FOIA case—"In a Freedom of Information Act victory, a federal judge has slapped the Obama administration for its secretive ways and ordered officials to turn over a bland-sounding foreign policy document."

War on Terror, Press Freedom and Free Speech, Surveillance States, TSA and Watchlists; Islamists; Middle East; Ukraine; China; World News; US Politics, Dark Money, Racism

War on Terror

• After 9/11, CIA Secretly Turned Some Gitmo Prisoners Into Double Agents
• Two terror suspects sue Poland over 'CIA torture'
• British major threw laptop with sensitive Iraq photos from ferry
• Speaking against the NDAA
• The Government's Secret Plan to Shut Off Cellphones and the Internet, Explained

Press Freedom and Free Speech

• How Surveillance-State Insiders Try to Discredit NSA Critics—"Journalists opposed to the surveillance state are accused of sensationalism and withholding context. But unlike our critics, we're eager for the whole truth to out."
• Britain targets Guardian newspaper over intelligence leaks related to Edward Snowden WaPo
• Guardian editor defends publication of Snowden files—"Rusbridger also told lawmakers that the Guardian had published only 1 percent of the 58,000 files it had received from Snowden." WaPo
• Guardian Australia fiercely defends its reporting on spy agencies—"Attacks on the publication of stories based on NSA documents threaten to shut down debate on the issues that matter."
• War On Democracy: Spain And Japan Move To Criminalize Protests
• Japan: The new Uzbekistan of press freedom in Asia—And protests against secrecy law is an 'act of terrorism.'
• Justices to look at claims over Bush-era protest—"The lawsuit claims the two agents violated anti-Bush protesters' free-speech rights by having police move them farther away from where the president was eating dinner than some pro-Bush demonstrators."

Surveillance States

• United Nations counterterrorism official launches investigation into NSA surveillance
• French Lawmakers Propose Warrantless Access to Live User Data From ISPs and Hosting Sites
• Australian spy agency offered to share data about ordinary citizens
• Timor-Leste spy case: 'witness held, and lawyer's office raided by ASIO'—"A first-hand witness to alleged Australian spying against Timor-Leste in 2004 has been detained and searched at his Canberra home, according to a prominent human rights lawyer and academic, Frank Brennan."
• How politics, spying, and censorship shape the Web

TSA and Watchlists

• Trial Opens in Case Challenging Scholar's Placement on TSA Watchlist—"Is Rahinah Ibrahim a Malaysian jihadist, or the victim of misguided bureaucrats who erroneously placed the 48-year-old woman on a U.S. terror watchlist, preventing the scholar and mother of four from re-entering the United States?"
• Who Is Watching the Watch Lists?—"[T]he federal government's main terrorist watch list has grown to at least 700,000 people, with little scrutiny over how the determinations are made or the impact on those marked with the terrorist label." NYT
• Abolish the TSA

Islamists

• Tunisia protesters torch ruling party office
• Moscow police arrest 'armed Islamists' in raids
• Britain to tackle 'Islamist extremism' after soldier's murder

Middle East

• UN implicates Bashar al-Assad in Syria war crimes
• Hezbollah: Commander 'assassinated' outside Beirut home
• Yasser Arafat 'was not poisoned' - leaked French report
• Pakistani party "outs" suspected CIA station chief in fury at drone strike
• Identity and Exile—"Al Jazeera's Matthew Cassel examines why so many American Jews defend Israeli policies regardless of the issue or cost."

Ukraine

• Ukraine PM Mykola Azarov warns of coup in making
• Ukraine protests grow as president responds
• Ukraine's crisis is getting so serious that protesters used a bulldozer against police WaPo
• Ukraine unrest: Nato condemns crackdown on protesters
• Transparency International slams Ukraine as ‘most corrupt in Europe’

China

• U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives in China amid tense airspace dispute
• People's Bank of China hints at retreat on dollar purchases—"Reserves build-up no longer in China's favour, central bank deputy governor says, amid talk that the yuan's trading band could be widened."
• China punishes 20,000 officials for being too bureaucratic
• China Claims Victory in Scrubbing Internet Clean—"The Chinese government has declared victory in cleaning up what it considers rumors, negativity and unruliness from online discourse, while critics say the moves have suppressed criticism of the government and ruling Communist Party."
• China is Cheating the World Student Rankings System—"Enough is enough: Beijing must supply national data to assessors and not simply the results of a small minority of elite students."

World News

• Tensions ease in Thailand as police remove barriers
• North Korea powerbroker 'dismissed'
• Tibetan immolations: Desperation as world looks away

US Politics

• Most Americans think US should 'mind its own business' abroad, survey finds
• In God we trust, maybe, but not each other—"You can take our word for it. Americans don't trust each other anymore." WaPo
• Tom Corbett Went From Establishment Republican to Tea Party Ally. Bad Move.
• John Nichols: Rep. Trey Radel won't be joining the half a million Americans jailed for drug offenses
• Gov. Walker Urges Parents to Skip Toys and Send the Christmas Money to Him

Dark Money

• Judge hits 'dark money' group with $260,000 fine for failing to disclose campaign spending
• Corporate 'Dark Money' To Get Free Pass After SEC Drops Disclosure Proposal
• Sierra Club On Dark Money Changes: Don't Toss Whole Bushel Over Few Bad Apples

Racism

• Racism is over? According to the RNC's twitter it is
• Scott Walker Fires Campaign Staffer For Offensive Tweets About Hispanics
• Black female professor reprimanded for pointing out existence of structural racism to white male students

Gender in Politics, Sexism; Abortion and Birth Control, Sexcrime; Middle East; Girls; India, Rape Culture; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Gender in Politics

• Rick Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger
• GOP Super PAC's idea for fun and fundraising: 'Slap Hillary' game
• Why you shouldn't underestimate Elizabeth Warren
• Why Wendy Davis should run for governor of Texas—Hope to see more of her.
• Erick Erickson calls Wendy Davis an "abortion Barbie"—"The conservative commentator just may have something to do with his party's 'woman problem.'"
• Clear Channel pulls ads for women's health clinic, calls them "indecent" Salon
• Filner: I Never Received Sex Harassment Training, So City May Be Liable—Hooters even blackballed this guy who finally resigned.

Sexism

• Sexed up and smart: Women debate Marissa Mayer's Vogue photo
• Hobbs CEO: 'Women prefer a male boss because female leaders lack personality'
• I understood gender discrimination once I added "Mr." to my resume and landed a job

Abortion and Birth Control

• Fetal pain is a lie: How phony science took over the abortion debate—"New laws banning abortion after 20 weeks are based on pseudoscience -- and real research proves it conclusively." Salon
• Federal judge blocks new Wisconsin abortion law
• Judge blocks new Oklahoma law that restricts women's access to morning-after pill
• Susan B. Anthony List Petitions Supreme Court for Right to Lie in Political Ads—"The anti-choice group wants the Supreme Court to strike an Ohio law that prevents lying in political ads, claiming it's a violation of their political speech rights."
• Undercover footage reveals more crazy "crisis pregnancy center" lies—""'If you have an abortion, you will see that child's soul again in the future,' said one counselor." Salon

Sexcrime

• Virginia governor GOP candidate Ken Cuccinelli launches website that pushes for reinstatement of state's anti-sodomy law
• Ken Cuccinelli's Sodomy Obsession
• O'Donnell Talks A Lot About Sodomy And Oral/Anal Sex And… You Know What? Just Watch

Middle East

• Iran's President Nominates Female Vice President
• Pakistan ex-leader Musharraf charged over Bhutto murder
• Afghanistan: MP Fariba Ahmadi Kakar abducted in Ghazni

Girls

• 'Some girls have been married 60 times by the time they turn 18'
• Girls escape forced marriage by concealing spoons in clothing to set off metal detectors at the airport
• Indonesian city to require female schoolgirls to pass virginity test—"The virginity test, a response to the high rate of 'adultery' and 'prostitution' among female students, is slated to start next year."
• Judge calls victim, 13, a 'sexual predator': Outcry as 41-year-old man walks free after admitting sex with girl—The judge has been kicked off similar cases.
• Rescued children shouldn't be in handcuffs—"Treating a child as an offender breeds mistrust in a legal system that ought to protect him or her, and traffickers and pimps exploit this, threatening their victims with arrest and criminal records if they try to seek help."

India

• 11-year-old set on fire for resisting rape dies in Kolkata
• Indian youth killed after stopping attempted rape of sisters
• India rape: Police hunt attacker of 7-year-old
• Female photographer, 23, gang raped in Mumbai
• India sexual harassment: American student shares horrific experiences—"American college student Michaela Cross says she was relentlessly sexually harassed while studying in India. Her story reverberated online."
• Asaram Bapu booked for sexual abuse—Same guy who said that "the Delhi gangrape victim could have saved herself by addressing her violators as brothers and asking for mercy."
• Meet India's Red Brigade: The teens fighting back against rape

Rape Culture

• Twitter Apologizes To Victims Of Online Abuse, Updates Its Policy For Reporting Rape Threats
• Mark Millar on The Use of Rape in His Comics: "I Don't Think It Really Matters"
• Rape Victim Sues State Of Massachusetts To Prevent Rapist Request for Visitation with Child
• Virginia city's rape policy was 'Assume the victim is lying' until last week—Tricky balance considering that there are those who have lied.
• USC Mislabels Sexual Assault To Keep Crime Numbers Low, Clery Complaint Says

NSA Spying

• Snowden: UK government now leaking documents about itself—"The NSA whistleblower says: 'I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent.'" The paper attributed to Snowden a leak regarding the UK's secret Middle East internet surveillance base.
• Daniel Ellsberg: NSA leaker Snowden made the right call
• Obama: No Allegations NSA Is Trying to 'Listen in On People's Email'
• Obama's "outside experts" surveillance review panel has deep ties to gov't
• Saying Boo To A Ghost: It's No Secret Why Congress Fears Crossing The NSA
• NSA promises transparency by launching new Tumblr blog
• Lavabit founder: 'My own tax dollars are being used to spy on me'—"Since shuttering his email service, which was used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, Ladar Levison has been stuck in a Kafkaesque legal battle – and that's about all he can say."
• NSA domestic spying: Mathematicians should speak out

Surveillance and Privacy

• The Real, Terrifying Reason Why British Authorities Detained David Miranda—"The scariest explanation of all? That the NSA and GCHQ are just showing they don't want to be messed with."
• German government denies Windows 'back door' claims
• NZ police affidavits show use of PRISM for surveillance

Protests, Turkey, Brazil; China, Middle East; Journalism, Surveillance and Privacy

Protests

• Canada: Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime—"Maximum 10-year prison term for conviction of new offence."
• Ethiopia opposition threatens protests—"An Ethiopian opposition party called on Thursday for the government to scrap an anti-terrorism law it says is used to stifle dissent, threatening a repeat of protests that brought thousands onto the streets of Addis Ababa early this month."
• After One Week Protest Continues; What's Happening in Bulgaria?

Turkey

• Turkey: A Weekend of Police Abuse
• Turkey unrest: violent clashes in Istanbul as Erdogan holds rally
• Turkey threatens to deploy army to end unrest
• Hundreds of Turks emulate 'Standing Man' in protest
• Turkey: Arrest of Lawyers, Journalists and Doctors Shows Erdogan's True Colours

Brazil

• Brazil protests over World Cup costs spread nationwide
• Brazilian protesters take a break as more security hits the streets
• Pelé tells Brazilians to 'forget' protests sweeping the country FT
• Broken promises and corruption fuel Brazil protests
• Over one million march in Brazil as protests spread

China

• China's economy is freezing up. How freaked out should we be?
• Man Details Risks in Exposing China's Forced Labor—"A Beijing resident and adherent of the banned Falun Gong movement said he slipped letters into product packages apparently meant for the West." NYT
• Argentina caught a Chinese ship trying to steal 180 tonnes of its squid
• Riot after Chinese teachers try to stop pupils cheating—"What should have been a hushed scene of 800 Chinese students diligently sitting their university entrance exams erupted into siege warfare after invigilators tried to stop them from cheating." Quote of the day: "We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do not let us cheat."
• Chinese netizens decry tourist treatment of dying dolphin

Middle East

• Iran election: Hassan Rouhani in his own words—"What I truly wish is for moderation to return to the country. This is my only wish. Extremism pains me greatly. We have suffered many blows as a result of extremism."
• Jewish Israeli man near Western Wall killed by guard
• Palestinian children tortured, used as shields by Israel: U.N.
• Egypt's Coptic Christians say they are 'no longer safe'
• Israeli PM criticized for installing bed on plane

Journalism

• WikiLeaks: Michael Hastings Said FBI Was Tracking Him Hours Before His Death
• The Strange Case of Barrett Brown—"Amid the outrage over the NSA's spying program, the jailing of journalist Barrett Brown points to a deeper and very troubling problem."
• US seizure of journalist records called 'chilling'

Surveillance and Privacy

• NSA Whistleblower: NSA Spying On – and Blackmailing – Top Government Officials and Military Officers
• The FISA court is acting like a legislature, and that’s a problem
• Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant—"Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures governing NSA's surveillance of Americans' communication."
• Web's Reach Binds N.S.A. and Silicon Valley Leaders—"Technology experts and former intelligence officials say the rise of data mining, both as an industry and as a crucial intelligence tool, has created a complex reality." One where Skype already has a backdoor built in, even before the company was bought by Microsoft. NYT
• A tale of two presidents: The one we voted for – and Obama—"Recent leaks reveal a frightening reality: In fighting terrorism, we have resorted to engaging in terrorism." Salon

Guantánamo, War on Terror, Security Theater, Benghazi, Palestine and Israel, Drones

Guantánamo

• Close Guantánamo Prison NYT
• Retired generals urge Obama to keep Gitmo promise Salon
• GAO: Guantanamo can now be closed safely

War on Terror

• Lindsey Graham Wants the Government to Be Able to Lock You Up Forever Without a Trial
• TSA chief will be a 'no show' at congressional hearing
• Congressman's Restaurant Refused To Serve Muslim Couple

Security Theater

• Greenwald: AP's dangerous Iran hoax demands an accounting and explanation--"Evidence proves that the graph trumpeted by AP as evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons program is an obvious sham."
• Homeland Security Has Spent $430 Million on Radios Its Employees Don’t Know How to Use
• Airport Security Is Killing Us

Benghazi

• US envoy Susan Rice admits Benghazi attack error
• CNN Poll: Americans rate W.H. response to Benghazi attack and Petraeus resignation--"[A] majority of the public doesn't believe the Obama administration intentionally tried to mislead Americans on the September attack that left the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans dead."
• Republican obsession with Benghazi makes no sense--Sure it does. They're trying to throw as much shit on the wall to see which sticks.
• Report: Benghazi 'Talking Points' Watered Down By CIA, Not White House
• Jon Stewart exposes blatant hypocrisy of McCain and Graham

Palestine and Israel

• Palestinians win upgraded UN status by wide margin
• EU summons Israeli ambassador over settlement expansion concerns
• Jon Stewart Disses Media Obsessed With Winners, Losers In Gaza Conflict

Drones

• The Reaper Presidency: Obama's 300th drone strike in Pakistan
• San Diego Refuses To Answer FOIA Requests About Drones Because 'There Is Very Little Public Benefit'
• Robocod: Homeland Security adds underwater drones to their arsenal with robots based on fish
• California Eyeing Drone Surveillance
• TMZ's Possible Drone Deployment--Next on TMZ: Celebrities buy anti-aircraft ordnances.

Middle East; Law and Disorder, Identity Crisis, War on Drugs, Legalization and Decriminalization, Jail Tales, Recording, Suits, Road Rage, Good Cops

Middle East

• Israeli soldiers open fire in 'buffer zone'--Leading up to the first Palestinian death since Wednesday's ceasefire.
• Egypt's President Mursi assumes sweeping powers--Declares himself answerable to no one.
• Libyan Leader Opposes Foreign Aid to Syrian Rebels

Law and Disorder

• Ohio Bar Association Pressured Judge To Keep Quiet About Justice For Sale
• How California's Three-Strikes Law Struck Out
• Matt Gurney: A victory for self-defence, but only a partial one
• Why British police don't have guns
• 'Guru' swindler of French aristocrats gets 8 years
• Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket--"Piedmont city officials have fired a police officer who wrote a public urination citation to the mother of a 3-year-old who dropped his pants in the family's front yard."
• Blast from the past: Death case defendant sues for lack of lawyers

Identity Crisis

• Hacker steals entire nation's identity--"A Greek hacker stole the personal data of about 9,000,000 Greek residents, which is approximately the same as the population of Greece itself."
• Thomas Quick: the Swedish serial killer who never was--"It reads like a real-life Scandinavian crime novel. In the 1990s, Thomas Quick confessed to more than 30 murders, making him Sweden's most notorious serial killer. Then, he changed his name and revealed his confessions were all faked."
• Google search reveals true identity of suspect in Navy charity scam
• Man loses job over mistaken identity
• Tunni Rai: A life without identity

War on Drugs

• The Fight Over Medical Marijuana--"While Jerry Sandusky got a 30-year minimum sentence for raping young boys, Mr. Williams is looking at a mandatory minimum of more than 80 years for marijuana . . ." NYT
• Time to end the war on drugs
• B.C. marijuana activist wins $25 million
• Afghan addicts help run daring new restaurant in Kabul
• Blast from the Past: Super Soldiers? Military Drug is Rage Among Students, Young Professionals

Legalization and Decriminalization

• The Feds Should Quietly Allow Colorado and Washington to Experiment with Marijuana Legalization
• The Secret Ingredients for Marijuana Legalization: Moms and Hispanics
• Former cop: Time for Obama to lead on marijuana legalization
• Legalized marijuana: Is Iowa next?
• Marijuana legalization or decriminalization backed by most Canadians: poll
• How marijuana legalization will affect Mexico's cartels, in charts
• Mexico lawmaker introduces bill to legalize marijuana

Jail Tales

• Nation's First Privately Owned State Prison Riddled With Violations Of State Law
• Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me. Then I Went Inside America's Prisons.
• Death row inmates choose comfort food for their last meals

Recording

• Glasses equipped with camera create transparency for SLCPD
• Jury says journalist arrested while videotaping police is not guilty
• LAPD officer used Taser on handcuffed woman--"Elements of the officer's version of events are contradicted by video footage."

Suits

• Paralysed woman's £6m damages claim against pool owner dismissed--"The defendant was not required to adopt a paternalistic approach to his visitors, all of whom were adults, all of whom were making choices about their behaviour that night."
• Woman breaks nose on Apple store, sues for $1M
• Tennessee Fraternity Denies Buttchugging Charge in Press Conference That Really Happened

Road Rage

• KFC ram-raided after staff refuse to serve bargain bucket meal
• TrainingPeaks founder's video nabs driver
• Stop coddling people who behave badly

Good Cops

• Canada
• Denmark
• Los Angeles, CA
• Bethlemem, PA
• Amarillo, TX

When in Rome, Dead Sea, Books, Death of Jesus, Lost and Found, History, Nazis, Stranger than...

When in Rome

• Hoard of Roman coins found near Roman Baths in Bath
• $800-million ancient Rome theme park planned - in Rome
• Greek experts find Roman wrecks nearly a mile deep--"Two Roman-era shipwrecks have been found in deep water off a western Greek island, challenging the conventional theory that ancient shipmasters stuck to coastal routes rather than risking the open sea...."

Dead Sea

• Cores reveal when Dead Sea 'died'
• Suppression of Dead Sea Scrolls, anti-hacker mentality have more in common than you think
• Q&A: 'James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls'--The other two parts are available.

Books

• "The Aleppo Codex": The bizarre history of a precious book Salon
• Oxford University and the Vatican Library to digitize 1.5 million pages of ancient texts and images and make them freely available online
• Jordan battles to regain 'priceless' Christian relics--These seventy metal books... labeled most important find in Christian history are very likely to be fake.

Death of Jesus

• Quake reveals day of Jesus' crucifixion, researchers believe
• Pope: Jews not to blame for Jesus' death
• Jesus was mortal, never crucified, analysis of controversial gospel claims
• John Adams tests his own faith tackling the Crucifixion of Jesus--"'The Gospel According to the Other Mary' is told from Mary Magdalene's viewpoint. The composer wondered if his spiritual powers were strong enough for the work."
• Turin Shroud produced after Jesus' crucifixion, says historian

Lost and Found

• King airbrushed out of coronation portrait
• A Long Lost Leonardo
• Traces of lost da Vinci painting found hidden behind wall after 500 years, researchers claim

History

• Lost civilizations
• Ecuador seeks answer to riddle of Inca emperor's tomb
• Huge Ancient Civilization's Collapse Explained
• American Indians originated in one region of Siberia
• Spain claims top spot for world's oldest cave art--"Archaeologists say red disk that is more than 40,000 years old could have been painted by Neanderthals."

Nazis

• The 'Iranian Schindler' who saved Jews from the Nazis
• Leaked documents show 9,000 Nazi war criminals fled to South America after World War 2
• Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals
• Nazi looted poster art must be returned to Peter Sachs
• Art experts discuss recovering art looted by Nazis

Stranger than...

• 7 Myths Mythbusters Proved That We Still Can't Believe Are True
• 33 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True, What Every Person Should Know...
• 6 Ridiculous History Myths (You Probably Think Are True)

Not-So Happy Mother's Day, Breastfeeding, Marriages, Middle East, Girl Power

Not-So Happy Mother's Day

• London nurse crushed to death in South African stampede as she tried to register her son for a university place
• 'Fake' Mother Snatches Baby From Hospital
• Georgia Mom Convicted of Vehicular Homicide For Crossing Street With Kids

Breastfeeding

• Time's breast-feeding cover mom talks
• Chicago Woman Arrested for Breastfeeding in Public
• LACMA Security Guard Unleashes Sh*tstorm by Asking Breastfeeding Mom to Cover Up

Marriages

• Girl of five forced into marriage in the UK
• The Bridenapping Epidemic of Kyrgyzstan--"An alarming number of girls in the country are kidnapped and forced into marriages, where they have little choice but to consent."
• Tortured Afghan teen on attackers: 'The same should be done to them'--"The Afghan teen was married off at 13. She said her husband, a member of the Afghan Army, raped her. Enraged because she didn't immediately get pregnant, her in-laws locked her in a basement for months, torturing her with hot pokers and ripping out her nails. Ultimately, she said, they wanted to force her into prostitution as punishment for failing her obligation as a woman."
• Suicide of Moroccan girl reportedly wed to rapist spurs outrage
• Egyptian teen throws herself off a balcony to avoid forced marriage
• Indian teenager annuls her child 'marriage'
• Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabian Mufti, Says Girls Ready For Marriage At 10 Years Old

Middle East

• Egypt unrest: Court clears 'virginity test' doctor
• Saudi Arabia: Husband condemned to reading rights books for hitting his wife--"A Saudi national found guilty of hitting his wife has been sentenced to reading two books that explain relations between spouses in Islam. He will later sit for a test on what he learned from the books."
• Saudi king dismisses conservative adviser after recent remarks against reforms for women

Girl Power

• Afghan woman joins patriarchy from under a turban
• She, the decision maker--"In a significant decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week ruled that the right to abort a pregnancy in a marriage rests with the wife and not husband."
• Sex and Sharia: Muslim women punished for failed marriages
• Spain's high-class escorts are refusing to have sex with the nation's bankers – until they open up credit lines to cash-strapped families and firms
• Zimbabwe 'sperm hunters' picking up male travellers--Eek.

War on Terror, Israel/Iran, Torture, Homefront, Bales, Military Industrial Complex, TSA

War on Terror

• CNN Runs Segment On 'Terrifying New Reason' To Be Worried About Iran
• Nuclear watchdog chief accused of pro-western bias over Iran
• Shell Scrambles to Pay Huge Bill for Iran Oil: Sources
• Iran to increase cash handouts--"Monthly payments to citizens to be boosted by more than 50 per cent as inflation soars and currency depreciates."
• The case for bombing Iran is quickly collapsing

Israel <3 Iran

• Some Israelis reach out to Iran amid fears of war
• Iranians respond to Israeli Facebook initiative: Israel, we love you too
• 'Israel Loves Iran' Campaign Gains Force--Can't we all just get along?

Torture

• Judge Refuses to Sanction CIA for Destroying Torture Tapes--Where's the accoutability?
• UN Torture Chief: Bradley Manning Treatment Was Cruel, Inhuman
• DOJ Wants American Contractor's Torture Suit Against Rumsfeld Dismissed

Homefront

• Iraqi Woman Severely Beaten in Calif. Home Dies
• Poll: New Yorkers Approve Of NYPD's Treatment Of Muslims
• Americans Are Getting Tired Of Trumped Up Terrorism Charges Against Their Innocent Neighbors
• Friedman: A Festival of Lies--"Tribalism, oil, and Islamic fundamentalism are a bad mix that leaves Americans sick and tired of the Middle East — both when they get in it and when they try to stay out of it." NYT
• Five Ways US National Security Policies Will Erode Civil Liberties in 2012--"Brace yourself: Drone killings of US citizens will continue, more government whistleblowers will be brought to trial, and Washington will become even more secretive."
• Congress OKs 30,000 flying drones spying on Americans across U.S. cities
• Tom the Dancing Bug: Hello! You've been targeted for a U.S. drone assassination!

Bales

• Army Tried to Delete Bales From Web After Arrest
• Defense official: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales to face 17 murder counts in Afghanistan massacre
• Greenwald: Discussing the motives of the Afghan shooter Salon

Military Industrial Complex

• Jack Cafferty: Military-industrial complex has this country by the throat
• The United Bases of America - An overview of the extent of U.S. bases around the world
• Pentagon: Trillion-Dollar Jet on Brink of Budgetary Disaster

TSA

• Father's outrage as TSA subjects his wheelchair-bound three-year-old son to humiliating search... on his way to Disney
• Sanford, Fla. airport wants to opt out of TSA
• TSA Precheck: $100 application fee to skip the song and dance
• TSA body scanners’ apparent flaw raises airport security concern
• Ctrl+Alt+Del: Fly the friendly stars

International Women's Day, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Middle East, Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, To Know A Veil, Violence

International Women's Day

• Laurie Penny: That's enough politeness – women need to rise up in anger--"The men who run the world have become too used to not being afraid. Let's make them afraid."
• 'Mademoiselle' Exits Official France--"In a memo addressed to state administrators across France, Prime Minister François Fillon ordered the honorific — akin to 'damsel' and the equivalent of 'miss' — banished from official forms and registries." NYT
• E.U. Considers Quotas for Women in Boardrooms NYT

Saudi Arabia

• Saudi women no longer need male OK to vote or seek office
• Crisis looms for private schools in Saudi Arabia as 9,000 teachers quit--"A senior official at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that many private schools fear losing more teachers in the near future following the recent decision of the Ministry of Education to hire 40,000 women teachers for government schools."
• Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be 'end of virginity'--"Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will tempt them into sex, promote pornography and create more homosexuals, according to some conservative Muslim scholars."
• Saudi women push challenge to driving ban--"No laws prohibit women from driving, but conservative religious edicts have banned it and officials comply with those."
• Saudis and Female Olympians--"The controversy ahead of the summer Olympics in London is starting early as criticism grows over Saudi Arabia's decision not to take a female team to the games."
• Women only to work in Saudi Arabia lingerie shops
• Blast from the Past: Saudi court rejects divorce plea from EIGHT-year-old girl married to 58-year-old man

Afghanistan

• Afghan woman is killed 'for giving birth to a girl'--"A woman in north-eastern Afghanistan has been arrested for allegedly strangling her daughter-in-law for giving birth to a third daughter."
• Afghan women trapped in tribal court system
• Afghan concern over 'guidelines for women'

Middle East

• Women Expose Secret Genital Cutting Rite
• Egypt bans military's forced virginity tests
• In a Baghdad E.R., Women's Psychological Wounds Go Untreated NYT

Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

• Extremist Jews prevent women from voting in Israel
• In Jerusalem, women are voiceless at a decidedly womanly event--"The controversial exclusion of women from various settings in Israel because of pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders reached a new level this week with a major conference on gynecological advances that is permitting only males to address the audience."
• Israel police: A dozen extremist Jews attack woman hanging posters near Jerusalem
• Lechery, Immodesty and the Talmud: Ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Modesty Fight NYT
• The Growing Influence of the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel--"Veiled women, radical rabbis and gender segregation: Israel is facing a rise in the influence of ultra-Orthodox Jews."

To Know A Veil

• Canada: Face veils banned for citizenship oaths
• French businessman 'to pay all burqa fines'
• Australian Muslim women must show faces for identity checks under new law
• Cairo's 'hijab-free' zones trigger cries of hypocrisy--"In Cairo, the latest controversy centres on several high-end bars and restaurants that have recently declared themselves 'hijab-free zones,' refusing veiled women entry."
• Fireman Sam creator David Jones held over veil remark--It was claimed to be 'offensive'.

Violence

• 'Strict Muslim' raped four women at knifepoint to 'punish them for being on the streets at night'
• Shafia family found guilty of first degree murder in Canadian honour killing--A fatwa has been issued against honour killings, domestic violence, hatred of women.
• Sterilized by North Carolina, she felt raped once more--"Elaine Riddick was only 14 when the state decided that she was not capable of mothering children and quietly cauterized her fallopian tubes. The $50,000 now offered to her only makes her angrier." Emphasis mine.