British aid worker Khalil Dale, who was kidnapped in Pakistan in January of this year has been found dead, the Foreign Office have confirmed.
His body was discovered in an orchard in Quetta with a note saying he had been killed by the Taliban, local police said.
Mr Dale who worked for the Red Cross‘ International Committee (ICRC), was kidnapped in Quetta, south-west Pakistan.
Responding to his murder Red Cross have described the health programme workers killing as “barbaric”.
It is understood the militants holding him had asked for a ransom which could not be paid. The Foreign Secretary has described his murder as “senseless and cruel”.
Mr Dale worked for the ICRC and the British Red Cross for many years, carrying out assignments in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. He had been abducted by unidentified armed men while on his way home from work in Quetta. It is now feared that most international aid agencies will move further foreign staff out of Quetta as they will now be concerned for their staff’s safety.
The ICRC commenting on the aid worker’s work that he was “a trusted and very experienced Red Cross staff member who significantly contributed to the humanitarian cause.”
Children’s Society says coalition’s universal credit, as currently envisaged, seems a step backward
More than 350,000 children will lose their free school meals under the government’s radical plans to reform welfare entitlement next year, an analysis by the Children’s Society has warned.
In a report entitled Fair and Square, the charity says the proposed universal credit system, which comes into force in October 2013, will stop paying for certain benefits if a household earns more than £7,500.
At present the welfare system compensates poor families with cash from the tax credit system.
The result is that 120,000 poorer families are likely lose free school meals, worth £367 a year, unless they dropped their earnings below the threshold of £7,500. This would mean parents having to cut the numbers of hours worked or take a pay cut to keep their benefits.
Source: The Guardian
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking in Geneva said that presently this is a critical point for Syria, and the world is watching with skepticism due to previous promises being broken by the government of Syria. He has said that Syria’s words on a ceasefire should be will be matched by their deeds, but that UN military action to get Syria would not be an option. Obviously Syria’s adherence to the ceasefire is therefore voluntary.
Many including the Arab-envoy Kofi Annan are concerned that Syria may not comply with all the points in the peace plan set down by the UN. Under these terms the six- point peace plan agreed to by Syria, all violence and fighting was to stop on today.
Mr Ban Ki-Moon said today: “Joint special envoy Kofi Annan and I and many world leaders have made it quite clear that any militarization or any military operation is not an option. It will only complicate and worsen the situation and thus arming opposition forces is not desirable.”
Today’s ceasefire followed Kofi Annan receiving a letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria informing him of the Syrian Governments decision “to cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory as of 6 a.m. Damascus time 12 April” but it also said it wanted to keep the right to respond to any attacks carried out by terrorist groups or civilians against “government forces or public and private property.”
Chile’s Congress passed an anti-discrimination law Wednesday following the killing of a gay man whose attackers beat him and carved swastikas into his body.
The House of Deputies approved the law in a close 58-56 vote, seven years after it was first proposed. The Senate passed the law in November. Some passages remain to be finalized in a commission of senators and House lawmakers.
President Sebastian Pinera had urged lawmakers to accelerate approval of the law after 24-year-old Daniel Zamudio died March 27. Zamudio’s death came more than three weeks after he was attacked, and his case set off a national debate about hate crimes in Chile.
Source : Huffington Post
The current news from the BBC Internet News service concerning Syria
Heavy artillery fire has been rocking Homs, as Syrian troops step up an assault on the restive city.
A BBC correspondent there describes almost constant blasts, in the fiercest attack in the 11-month uprising.
US President Barack Obama said it was important to resolve the conflict without outside military intervention.
Meanwhile, Russia and China defended their veto of a UN draft resolution criticising Syria – a move that angered opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.
Later the US State Department said it had closed its embassy in Damascus and pulled out all remaining staff because of security concerns.
Fantastic News! Jabbar Savalan the young activist from from Azerbaijan has been released and recieved a pardon for his detention. today. He is now at home with his family. This is fantastic news however, 16 prisoners of conscience remain in jail in Azerbaijan.
He originally was detainedby Azerbaijan authorities after he’d posted messages against the government rule in the country on Facebook he was charged with ‘drug offences’ and detained on 4 May 2011 for two and a half years in prison. Amnesty International considered Jabbar a prisoner of conscience and many activisits worldwide have been campaigning for his release. A call for his immediate release and the right of freedom of expression to be upheld in the country.
Initially on the 4th February 2011 Jabbar had posted calls for protests against the government. The next evening he was arrested on his way home from a meeting of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.
Project MKUltra was one of many experiments that the american secret service (CIA) and Department of Defence carried out between the 1950s and 1970s and was eventually declassified and exposed to the world by the Church Commission in 1975
Film’s such as “Jacob’s Ladder” starring Tim Robbins probably did a lot to bring the subject of the secret experiments that ‘volunteers’ from within US academic campuses and US defence staff – however many of the subjects had no idea as to the fact they being administered with hallucinogenic drugs and amphetamines in these experiments and some of these drugs such as BZ or 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate whose compound is shown here:
Is probably one of the most hallucinogenic and probably one of the most potent drugs ever produced.
Following the public launch of the Charter for the Recognition of Every Casualty of Armed Violence, the Every Casualty team has redeveloped www.everycasualty.org into a more dynamic, purposeful and accessible public platform.
There are some people who have the misguided impression that the internet is not regulated, want it either not regulated or self-regulated – actually it is and by many agencies.
So who are the agencies well there are the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) in the US that provides digital forensics; international agencies like CEOP monitoring the safety of children in Britain Scotland Yard has the Serious Organised Crime Agency computer department also Metropolitan Police Service – Specialist Crime Department , the Police Central e-crime unit within the Metropolitan Police, other well-known involve International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) a international business organisation and Interpol as the international Policing organisation itself.
Those that think it safe to search into a search engine hopefully realise that Google has stored every single search since it started – it says to improve its engine, but it stores the particular search IP tracing route, and search engines are obligated to provide any activity that a federal government and police organisations across the world require of them. Newsgroups are monitored which led very only onto to every US and now worldwide universities flagging known ‘.alt’ newsgroups that carried discussion or video and imagery that is suspicious. Those using anonymizing software or privately browsing are also not above the law as every agency has the power to trace those users and even file sharing and torrent searching is of course monitored by clients and law enforcement.
Viral services and viral videos are monitored of course – one famous example was of animal abuse, where users of YouTube who found a video of a dog being thrown off a bridge immediately reported the abuse within the video to YouTube who then not only removed the video but sent information to police authorities in Lithuania who used image recognition and enhancement software to not only trace the bridges location and through local investigation of residents were able to track the two individuals – both the person recording the footage and the animal abuser – no viral of this actual video is now to be found but a viral of their apology to angry people outside the court before their subsequent sentencing is in existence.
Famously the technology of organisation is the UK such as M.I.5 and GCHQ monitors every text, internet activity and telephone with special tracking software and keyword or sound analyser in milliseconds and plans to record a database have also been discussed. More recently the finding and subsequent sending of a specialist SEAL unit flown into Pakistan by new specialist stealth helicopter would never have occurred unless the CIA had been able to monitor through a database of thousands of Islamic extremist with al-Qaeda connections one telephone call out of millions its computers were tracking and observing that led to a particular runner of al-Qaeda into Pakistan leading then to spy plane and satellite activity in tracking down the of the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of people around the world are participating in Amnesty’s annual Global Write-a-thon, joining together to write letters that can save lives.
Now’s the time to finally put pen to paper.
We’ve got all the tools you need to get started in our Resources section, ready for you to download. All the Case pages are ready with sample letters to help you craft your messages.
Don’t forget to shine a light, literally — download our powerful paper lanterns to help illuminate your letter-writing event.
And you can watch videos about all the cases at your event — check out our Write for Rights video playlist on YouTube.
Even if you’re writing as an individual, you won’t be alone. Join the conversation with your fellow writers — live! We’ve set up a live blog on our Write for Rights homepage. Send in comments and pictures with your writing experiences — and you can even upload video messages straight from your webcam!
It all starts tomorrow. Write letters to amplify the voices governments are attempting to silence. Write letters demanding freedom. Write letters of solidarity.
Above is the amazing Amnesty International “Ink” animation – which carries the important message of just how powerful a person’s signature can be!
Brussels, 14 November 2011 -The European Commission has adopted today a proposal for an European Union legal framework on security scanners. This legislation allows airports and Member States that wish to use security scanners for the screening of passengers to do so under strict operational and technical conditions.
Member States have been trialling or testing security scanners1, since a terrorist attempted on 25 December 2009 to blow up a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives he had hidden in his underwear. Until now the use of security scanners has been done under a patchwork of different national operational procedures and standards and in a limited way. As a common EU-wide framework, the new legislation legally allows Member States and airports to replace current security systems with security scanners. It also ensures the uniform application of security rules at all airports and provides strict and mandatory safeguards to ensure compliance with fundamental rights and the protection of health.
Member States and airports do not have an obligation to deploy security scanners, but if they decide to use them, they will have to comply with the operational conditions and performance standards set at European level.
Source: Europa
Police can request a domain be blocked without a court order, if new proposals are adopted
Nominet, the registrar that handles .uk domains, is moving ahead with proposed rules (PDF) that could allow law enforcement agencies to request a domain be shut down without a court order.
The registrar launched the process in response to a request from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Currently Nominet’s rules don’t allow for domains to be shut down for criminal reasons, though in the past it has blocked domains at the request of law enforcement agencies on the pretext that they provided false contact details.
Limited application
Suspension of a domain will not require a court order but should be limited to circumstances where necessary “to prevent serious and immediate consumer harm”, according to Nominet.
The draft proposal would establish a process under which law enforcement agencies would request a domain be blocked in cases where “suspension is proportionate, necessary, and urgent”.
The policy would cover cases in which a site is involved in crimes covered under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, including fraud, prostitution, money laundering, blackmail and copyright infringement.
Source: eweekeurope
Source : Wikipedia
Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes written 1984) is a dystopian fiction written by George Orwell about a society ruled by an oligarchical dictatorship. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. Oceania is governed by a political system euphemistically called English Socialism (Ingsoc) that guarantees privileges to a small elite of party members. But they, too, are totally subordinated to the fascist state and its godlike leader Big Brother, by way of a philosophy that decries individuality and even reason as thoughtcrime and subjects the lives of the people of Oceania to a supposed collective greater good. The main protagonist Winston Smith is himself a party member who works for the Ministry of Truth, which is in charge of propaganda and historical revisionism. Winston’s job is to change passages in past newspaper articles in such a way as to make them congruent with current party doctrine. Due to a childhood trauma which involved the assasination of both his parents by the thought police, Winston hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother.
The Intellectual Property Office and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have joined forces to give prosecutors in England and Wales a new tool to help them tackle intellectual property (IP) crime.
IP crime is the counterfeiting of trade-marked goods such as clothes, pharmaceuticals, car parts and electrical goods and the piracy of copyrighted material such as CDs, DVDs, software and games.
More than 350 prosecutors from the CPS are being specially trained to build successful cases against counterfeiters and pirates.
The move is in line with the recently published Hargreaves review of intellectual property and growth and the Government’s IP crime strategy, which highlighted a need for a more integrated approach with partners to enforce IP rights.
Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox said:
“The initiative will give prosecutors the most up to date information so they can successfully deal with intellectual property criminals. These offences are not victimless crimes. They have a detrimental effect on consumers, businesses, the economy and growth. Consumers are likely to receive poor quality or even unsafe products that simply aren’t worth the price.
“There are huge events coming up in the UK such as the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. There will no doubt be people looking to sell counterfeit goods using trade marks associated with the games.”
Merchandise with an unauthorised London 2012 Olympic logo is already believed to be in the UK supply chain. Counterfeit cigarette lighters have been discovered at a car boot sale in the Coventry area and their source is being tracked down by Trading Standards.
Source:News :COI NDS.
Asia Bibi, a Christian sentenced to death in Pakistan
Asia Bibi, a wife and mother, used these words to defend her faith against mocking co-workers who tried to make her convert to Islam. She was later convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death.
In Pakistan, more than 150,000 Christians have signed a petition demanding justice for persecution victims, including Asia Bibi. Now you can join with The Voice of the Martyrs and our Pakistani brothers and sisters in a call for mercy. We hope to gather 1 million signatures on behalf of our sister Asia, who now sits in prison awaiting the Lahore High Court‘s ruling on her appeal.
Invite your friends to visit www.CallForMercy.com and add their names to the petition as well. VOM will deliver the petition, along with the list of signers, to the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC.
For more information and the petition on behalf of Asia Bibi visit: http://www.callformercy.com/
Brian Haw the Parliament Square Peace Protester who recently lost his makeshift dwelling on Parliament Square by order of Westminster Council died yesterday – his family have put out the following press release:
“Dear friends and supporters,
It is with deepest regret that I inform you that our father, Brian, passed away this morning.
As you know he was battling lung cancer, and was having treatment in Germany.
He left us in his sleep and in no pain, after a long, hard fight. “
Richard O'Dwyer a student faces extradition to US over copyright infringement
A 23-YEAR-OLD BRITISH COMPUTER STUDENT faces possible extradition to the US for linking to copyrighted content on his website.
The student, Richard O’Dwyer, was accused of copyright infringement after setting up the website TV Shack, which had links to thousands of films and TV shows, but did not directly host them.
The website was seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. O’Dywer was arrested on 23 May, taken to Wandsworth prison and then released on a £3,000 bail paid by his aunt.
Now he faces extradition to the US, where he could get up to five years in prison if found guilty of infringing copyrighted material, according to the Metro newspaper.
He has vowed to fight the extradition attempt and his mother has pleaded with the UK government to “bring some common sense” to the entire affair and deny the extradition demand, which she called disproportionate, unnecessary and deeply truamatic.
Information and up to the minute news surrounding Moscow’s Gay Pride celebration, that was prevoiusly banned by the city’s Mayor now currently taking place is available at the following live link (below) , the current siuation is that a number of Neo-Nazi’s are threatening to disrupt the event and Human rights & Gay activist Peter Tatchell has even been threatened by Neo-Nazi extremists while visiting the event. He is stating that the arrests of gay people at the event are in contravention of European court ruling and is calling for a revoking on Russia’s voting rights in the Council of Europe.
May 28 is a day that changed the human rights movement forever. Fifty years ago one person – Peter Benenson – outraged by injustices he read about in the paper, asked others to unite with him in common action.
He knew we could use our activism to achieve extraordinary things. He created Amnesty International.
Change did not happen overnight.
It took many conversations, many letters. Friends spoke to family members, the message spread, and one by one we secured the release of tens of thousands of people. People imprisoned for their beliefs or their way of life.
As activists lobbied governments, and researchers interviewed survivors, we demanded accountability for previously untouchable leaders. One by one each person who took action changed laws and changed lives.
50 years on, our work is not done – but we are more determined than ever to protect human rights. 50 years has shown that one by one we can. We have.
So today, we thank you for your work to defend human rights. Will you celebrate our birthday today?
In honor of 50 years of hard work and meaningful change, wish Amnesty a happy birthday today on Facebook, Twitter, and to your friends and family at home.
Source : Amnesty USA
Image via Wikipedia
In the Universal declaration of human rights there are two interesting articles and it seems to me that they are both equally as important as each other however they can also be in opposition to one another – creating a subtle dichotomy in terms of the law and its interpretation the first article is Article
Article 12 states : “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” -
Article 19 states, however;
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Ths the dilemma the case of super-injunctions versus electronic expression of speech, from the micro-blogging site Twitter.
One a footballer taking out a super-injunction against the media’s printing of his affair with an ex-big brother model. And only recently ago worldwide Governments, the US included calling for legal action against Julian Assange , of Wikileaks decision to publish it’s US intelligence telegrams among the intelligence files it’s already published. So a footballer paying for ‘privacy’ law and Governments demanding ‘privacy on sensitive ininformation against Wikileaks published articles.
In spite of this the users and site owners on the internet are making history by disregarding either law or honour and choose to ‘publish and be damned’
Today however, Twitter’s new European boss has made clear that Twitter will co-operate with any local legislation and where users have been found to have broken local laws in their country that they will contact not only the user to inform them that they may face prosecution but also assist the authorities by providing user information should it be required. Users of Twitter have now been warned not to break their countries laws.
He has suggested that users who break privacy injunctions by posting on the site could face the UK courts. Of those users who flouted any privacy laws he said that those that did “bad things” needed to defend themselves – however he also warned that the site would hand over user information to the authorities where they were “legally required”.
Currently lawyers and the courts are looking to establish the identity of those people responsible for naming the footballer who had taken out the super injunction. These people will probably when found be not as fortunate as MP John Hemming who repeated the Twitter gossip to make Parliament aware on Monday of Ryan Giggs as named on Twitter as the person who had used a super-injunction to hide his alleged affair under the guise of discrediting the law surrounding the use of super-injunction. Mr Hemmings MP using his right of Parliamentary privilege to legally do so. He previously named disgraced banker chief Fred Goodwin as having taken out a super-injunction to cover a similar extra-marital affair.
Twitter‘s Mr. Wang told BBC reporters at the e-G8 Forum today though that social networking platforms have a responsibility to not to defend the user “but to protect that user’s right to defend him or herself”.
Legal jurisdiction and the internet is the hot topic at the moment at the e-G8 forum with Eric Schmidt of Google and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook also speaking on the issue at the event. Many see that the US constitution allows for a clear cut answer – the freedom of speech over antiquated UK law , Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia likened the use of ‘privacy laws’ to secrecy and the Chinese government’s response to free speech “I do view it to being similar to the Chinese situation where they also cover up misdeeds of high ranking people,”
It is apparent that governments and popular celebrities preferring privacy and secrecy and the internet demanding open free speech will have to resolve this opposition to each other soon and unfortunately as the internet is global local jurisdiction and laws may now require a complete rethink.
Cicero.
