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Australian Police Latest To Want Warrantless Access To Personal Financial Data

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In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), police are pushing for new powers that circumvent the checks and balances of the legal system, highlighting a worldwide trend in lazy policing that seeks to make police work easier while fundamentally removing essential oversight that keeps the justice system fair.

Under a police proposal currently before the government, the NSW Police Force would no longer require a judge’s sign-off to gain access to the bank statements of people they merely suspect of engaging in criminal conduct.

The proposal would eliminate the requirement for a magistrate or registrar of a court to sign off on a “notice to produce” before police can compel banking institutions to hand over documentation, such as a suspected criminal’s bank statements.

More worryingly, the latest attempt at making police jobs easier is being disingenuously claimed as a requirement of Australia’s new data retention laws.

The head of NSW Police’s Fraud and Cyber Crime Squad likened the proposal to the way telecommunications metadata is sought from telecom companies, which requires only the sign-off a senior officer before companies.

The statement is worrying, as if police begin to use bank data they way they abuse metadata, every citizen’s bank account information will end up in an easily searchable police database, which can be used any way police like.

In addition to be a shining example of lazy policing, where police simply want to remove legal safeguards to their activities the Australian case also demonstrates the slippery slope of warrantless access

Once warrantless access to personal data is used in one sphere, people in other areas begin pushing for warrantless access as well.

UK Government Caught Deleting Records Just Days Before New Freedom Of Information Act Took Effect

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Just weeks before the United Kingdom, under Prime Minister Tony Blair, adopted a Freedom of Information (FOI) act, the Prime Minister’s office conveniently adopted a policy of its own: Automatically deleting emails more than three months old.

In what government accountability campaigners have described as “not a coincidence,” the resulting system descended into a “dysfunctional” mess, according to those who worked uder it.

The system to bypass public accountability is still in place. Under the likely-illegal policy, workers can only retain email beyond three months if they specifically move it out of their inbox and into an official archive, usually accomplished by dragging it, or a copy, into local storage on the user’s computer.

Former special adviser to Nick Clegg Sean Kemp described how staffers now “delete their emails on an almost daily basis, others just try to avoid putting anything potentially interesting in an email in the first place.”

A special adviser told the Financial Times that the policy caused confusion, with senior officials reporting to IT staffers that their emails kept ‘disappearing,’ yet this was precisely the intent.

Staff were also unable to agree on the details of meetings which vanished due to automatic deletion. One former Downing Street official described the problem as “hugely frustrating.”

The director of the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information Maurice Frankel said that the fact the policy was instituted only a few days before the FOI Act came into law in January 2005 indicates that the timing “very strongly indicates that it was not a coincidence.”

Politicians hiding their dirty dealings from the public is nothing new, with President Obama’s administration doing the very same thing in March of this year, when it excluded the White House from FOIA regulations, outraging transparency campaigners.

Mr. Obama, who promised greater transparency for the President’s office yet ran the most secretive administration in the history of the United States, and his UK counterpart Tony Blair, view Freedom of Information requests as a “weapon” for journalists, according to sources.

It remains unclear as to just how, exactly, they would like to be accountable to their citizens, if at all.

Boeing Feels Tensions With Russia As State Carrier Cuts Plane Order

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Boeing Feels Tensions With Russia As State Carrier Cuts Plane Order

Russian national airline Aeroflot, in a politically charged move, announced on Thursday that it has cancelled its order for 22 Boeing 787 airliners. The message was delivered by the carrier’s deputy general director for strategy and alliances Giorgio Callegari.

“We have exercised our option to terminate the contract on the 787,” he said at the Paris International Air Show on Thursday.

The airline executive said the decision was based on analysis of “capacity at the Sheremetyevo airport” and the “sustainability of the fleet development – sustainability in terms of the right mix of widebodies and narrowbodies and network development.”

According to Callegari, Aeroflot is “confident that we can meet the original targets” set by the airline’s board “in terms of volumes of passengers, the size of the company and the performance of the company, by shaping our fleet and network in a more attractive way”.

Aeroflot is the largest airline in Russia and had 22 787s on order from the manufacturer. Callegari says Aeroflot did not incur a financial penalty from Boeing for the cancellation and the decision, he added, “was not a one-day process, but taken in due course and discussed with the relevant stakeholders and counterparts.”

Yet the move is the latest in a global tit-for-tat between an increasingly erratic Russia and western countries, who are growing impatient with dictator Vladimir Putin’s communist ambitions.

The country invaded Ukraine in early 2015, earning widespread condemnation from the international community and biting sanction that, along with low oil prices, have wreaked havoc on the Russian economy.

Russia has tried to further distance itself economically, in an ego-driven quest to one-up America. The cancellation of the aircraft order is clearly being used to achieve this goal, although the final outcome remains questionable given the 787 is the most efficient jet is in its class and using planes from rival Airbus will put the Russian flag carrier at a competitive disadvantage.

While there was no official confirmation that the order cancellation was politically motivated, it could also indicate financial pressure on the airline. Aeroflot has one of the worst safety records in the world, accounting for seven of the top 100 deadliest crashes in recent history. Its poor safety record combined with a struggling Russian economy could be another reason for pulling the order.

Deadly MERS Virus Reaches Thailand

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Thailand’s Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin officially confirmed its first case of MERS on Friday, as the highly contagious virus continued to spread further from the Middle East into eastern Asia.

The Health Minister said a man was diagnosed with MERS after he traveled to Thailand from a Middle Eastern country on June 15th.

He was in stable condition as of FRiday and was being treated in a private hospital in Bangkok.

The Thai case marks the 26th country with confirmed Middle East respiratory syndrome cases since the disease was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

The patient was a medical tourist who had traveled to Thailand to receive treatment for heart disease. It was not disclosed what country the man comes from or had recently visited.

The 10 Rich Teens and Where They are Now

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The 10 Rich Teens and Where They are Now

 

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There are people under the age of 18 that probably have more money than you’re going to see for quite some time, but that’s fine; it’s usually how it works for a lot of us. This list is going to look at 10 of the richest teens (as in under the age of 18) within America, as well as a few other places.

The World Just Isn’t Giving Peace a Chance

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The world is less peaceful today than it was in 2008 according to the annual Global Peace Index report produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The report, which measures the state of peace in 162 countries by using 23 indicators that measure the absence of violence or the fear of violence, shows that although worldwide peace levels were stable this year, the division between countries enjoying peace and those afflicted by conflict has increased.

Steve Killelea, founder and executive chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace said “2014 was marked by contradictory trends: on the one hand many countries in the OECD achieved historically high levels of peace, while on the other, strife-torn nations, especially in the Middle East, became more violent. This is a real concern as these conflicts become even more intractable they spread terrorism to other states”.

According to the report there have only been two improved indicators over the last eight years – United Nations peacekeeping funding has increased and the number of deaths from external conflicts had fallen to 410 from 1,982 to 410.

“The indicators that have deteriorated the most are the number of refugees and [internally displaced persons], and the number of deaths from internal conflict and the impact of terrorism,” reads the report showing “last year alone it is estimated that 20,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks up from an average of 2,000 a year only 10 years ago,”.

Other notable findings of the report were:

Since 2014, 81 countries have become more peaceful while 78 have become less peaceful.

The total economic impact of violence in 2014 reached $14 trillion – approximately 13 percent of the global gross domestic product.

Europe is the world’s most peaceful region, with 15 of the 20 most peaceful countries residing there.

Egypt, Cote D’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau were the countries with the best improvement in peace.

Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are the world’s least peaceful countries.
The countries where peace deteriorated the most were Libya, which now ranks 149th out of 162 countries, and Ukraine, 150th.

Due to an increase in civil unrest and terrorist activity, the Middle East and North Africa is now the world’s least peaceful region for the first time since 2007.

Globally the intensity of internal armed conflict has increased dramatically, with the number of people killed in conflicts rising over 3.5 times from 49,000 in 2010 to 180,000 in 2014.

Airlines Back Down From New Smaller Carry On Baggage Rules

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has admitted its latest attempt to squeeze more money out of passengers is too much and is backtracking from its plans to force passengers to bring significantly smaller carry on luggage inside the cabin.

IATA , which represents 250 of the world’s airlines, last week rolled out a new initiative labeled Cabin OK which limited cabin luggage to 21.5 inches by 13.5 inches by 7.5 inches, or 55 cm by 35 cm by 20 cm.

The reasoning behind the smaller allowance was that it would ensure all passengers on a plane with more than 120 seats could bring along their carry-on – given that overhead bins are jammed today and often those boarding last have nowhere to put their carry on luggage.

However, and even though some airlines including Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Emirates were on board with the proposals, IATA this week said the new policy would not be implemented.

“Our focus is on providing travellers with an option that would lead to a simplified and better experience,” said IATA’s senior vice-president Tom Windmuller, in a media release. “This is clearly an issue that is close to the heart of travellers. We need to get it right.”

IATA will now launch a “comprehensive reassessment” consulting with members program, other airlines and key stakeholders.

There was no mention by the IATA about the cause of jammed overhead luggage rack: Opportunistic fees for checking bags. Most carrier now charge $25 or more to check luggage, leading passengers to forego checking bags to save the significant extra cost.

The measures were intended to offset higher fuel prices, just like so-called ‘fuel surcharges’, but now that fuel prices have normalized the air carriers refuse to remove the fees. They also continue to charge ‘fuel surcharges’ in an effort to squeeze more profit from travelers.

Is Canadian Ban On Political Donations From Business and Unions A Way To Restore American Democracy?

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While debate endlessly continues in the USA over political donations from powerful corporations, across the border in Canada, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has vowed to wipe out political donations from businesses and unions entirely, in an effort to restore political accountability.

In interviews and speeches this week, Notley stuck very close to the script of policies that gave her and her New Democrats (NDP) party an unprecedented NDP victory in May’s Alberta elections, ending more than 43 years of Conservative rule in the province.

The NDP government’s flagship bill, entitled An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta, will seek to end all corporate and union donations to political parties. Ms. Notley also announced plans to form a special committee to carry out a larger review of the province’s elections laws.

“Our political system has been far, far too dependent on funds from a narrow range of donors with deep pockets. We will tilt the playing field back in Albertans’ favor.” said Ms. Notley.

The donation’s ban bill is expected to receive wide support in the legislature, except from the ousted PC party, who has been notoriously close to large donors. The heads of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the Alberta Federation of Labor support the bill.

The NDP will also introduce a bill which will seek to increase the province’s corporate tax rate from 10 to 12 per cent and end the province’s flat income tax – also now set at 10 per cent. Ms. Notley said the 14-year-old flat tax was a “brief and unfortunate experiment”.

“We are returning to a more typical Canadian tax system,” she said, adding that Albertans would still pay the lowest overall taxes in Canada.

The new Canadian model addresses the increasing issue of politicians representing exclusively big corporation and rich donors, while ignoring the vast majority of their constituents, which we’ve covered here, and raises the idea it could be used a template for substantive electoral reform.

New Study Finds Appendicitis May Not Require Surgery After All

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There’s encouraging news for those with a sore appendix and dreading the inevitable surgery that comes from the condition. A new study by Finnish researchers shows that antibiotics may remove the need of surgery for patients who have mild cases of of the condition.

Surgery (an appendectomy) to remove the appendix is the most common treatment for appendicitis in the USA. There are about 300,000 appendectomies performed annually in the U.S. About 200,000 of them are for uncomplicated cases.

According to a report published in the latest issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Finnish researchers studied more than 500 adults who had uncomplicated appendicitis – their appendixes had not ruptured and there were no signs of infection or other problems. Half had undergone an appendectomy, while the other 50 % received an IV of antibiotics followed by a course of antibiotic pills for a week.

Of the patients who took antibiotics, 73 % recovered from appendicitis and did not need surgery for at least a year afterward. The rest of the patients who had another case of appendicitis needing an appendectomy, showed no higher rate of complications than the patients who initially received surgery.

An editorial accompanying the study said “the time has come to consider abandoning routine appendectomy for patients with uncomplicated appendicitis.”

Dr. Paulina Salminen, a surgeon at the Turku University Hospital in Finland and lead author of the stud,y said the treatment of appendicitis with antibiotics “is quite a radical change in the line of thinking, because appendectomy has served patients well for over 100 years”.

The findings show that for patients with uncomplicated cases – about 80% of patients diagnosed with appendicitis – surgery may not be necessary. However, Salminen warned that if the appendix has ruptured, emergency surgery must be done because patients can develop deadly infections in the abdomen and antibiotics alone are not strong enough to treat them.

Because the study only looked at people between 18 and 60, it is not clear how effective antibiotic therapy would be in children, the group that accounts for most cases of appendicitis. Other researchers are planning to do a similar study in children, Salminen said.

Dr. Curtis Wray, associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center, said it was important to determine who the candidates for nonoperative therapy were. If antibiotic therapy does become a viable alternative to appendectomy, it would also probably lead to a big cost savings according to Wray.

Six Global Mega-Banks Under Investigation. Yet Again.

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It wouldn’t be a week without the world’s criminal banks coming under investigation illegal activity and this week didn’t disappoint as six of the world’s largest banks are under investigation for possible foreign-exchange market rigging, this time in South Korea.

The investigation has been launched by South Korea’s antitrust watchdog and involves Barclays, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.

According to The Seoul Economic Daily, the Korean investigation is looking into how alleged foreign currency price fixing of U.S. dollars and euros and derivatives markets, by the six lenders adversely affected South Korean businesses.

This investigation comes hot on the heels of the same six lenders being fined nearly $6 billion in total by US and British regulators for fixing foreign exchange markets and Libor interest rates, and the launch last May of an investigation by South Africa’s competition watchdog into foreign currency price fixing by Citigroup, Barclays, and other banks.

The latest investigation, again, raises the question: At what point are ‘global banks’ considered criminal organizations?

UPDATE: Charleston Shooter Identified & Arrested In North Carolina

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South Carolina police have identified the suspect in a church shooting that took place Wednesday night in Charleston as Dylann Storm Roof, 21. He is now charged with the killing of nine people in the attack.

A law enforcement source reported that Roof has been arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, nearly 250 miles, or about three and a half hours’ drive, away from Charleston, where the shooting took place. The arrest was reported shortly after 11am eastern time, and confirmed by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch at a later press conference.

Charleston police chief Greg Mullen reported that local police stopped Roof’s car after a citizen reported “suspicious activity.” Mullen reported that the suspect was “cooperative” with the arresting officer.

At around the time of the arrest a prayer vigil for the victims at a nearby church was disrupted by an anonymous bomb threat. The police cleared the area and searched for explosives, but failed to find any. They continue to investigate the incident.

Hong Kong Rejects Chinese Sponsored Electoral Reforms In Historic Vote Against Beijing Interference

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In a historic independent vote, Hong Kong’s legislature on Thursday rejected a China-vetted electoral reform package that had been roundly criticized by pro-democracy lawmakers and activists as flawed and undemocratic.

The move came as a firm rejection of China’s interference with the prosperous, free and distinctly un-Chinese principality of Hong Kong.

The vote came even as China sent hundreds of Beijing supporters to protest outside government buildings as city legislators voted.

Hong Kong was once a British territory but was handed over to the Chinese in 1997. Residents are notoriously proud of their Western culture and freedoms, which run sharply counter to China’s communist society.

Yesterday’s vote happened earlier than expected, with only 37 of the legislature’s 70 legislators present. 28 lawmakers voted against the plan and 8 voted in favor, while one did not cast their vote.

Moments before the ballot, a large number of lawmakers on both sides of the issue suddenly walked out of the chamber, highlighting how contentious China’s involvement with the smooth-running country is.

The no vote will at least temporarily appease some pro-democracy activists who had demanded a veto of what they call a “fake” democratic model for how Hong Kong chooses its next CEO in 2017.

“This veto has helped Hong Kong people send a clear message to Beijing…that we want a genuine choice, a real election,” said pan-democratic lawmaker Alan Leong.

“This is not the end of the democratic movement,” he said. “This is a new beginning.”

Yet there are still fears of fresh unrest on Hong Kong streets between pro-democracy activists and Beijing supporters. Weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2014 posed one of the most significant challenges for China’s ruling Communist Party in years.

The Hong Kong reform proposal was laid out by the central government in Beijing last August and supported by Hong Kong’s ruling pro-Beijing leadership. In a move to retain that influence in Asia’s financial hub, the plan would have allowed a democratic vote for the city’s next leader but only from a list of pre-screened, pro-Beijing candidates.

Opponents want a genuinely democratic election, which is what China promised in 1997 when it declared that universal suffrage would continue to be law when it took over the territory.

UPDATE: Police Release Photo Of Charleston Shooting Suspect

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Police have released the following photo of the suspected gunman in the Charleston shooting.

For more detailed coverage see our story here.

FBI Launches Campaign To Thwart ISIS Recruitment Inside America

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FBI officials disclosed on Thursday that the agency is in the midst of a broad campaign to disrupt terrorists inspired by ISIS, with multiple arrests expected before the July 4th holidays.

The campaign led to Saturday’s arrest in New York, where a college student thought al Qaeda was getting soft and was “making efforts to prepare an explosive device for detonation,” according to an FBI statement.

The FBI source reported that there are hundreds of investigations underway in all 50 states, with many involving suspected ISIS supporters.

The New York case saw Munther Omar Saleh being accused of being a “fervent supporter” of ISIS, offering to assist the group in translating its propaganda into English. Court records show he composed a tweet that said “I fear AQ could be getting too moderate.”

Saleh had been under FBI investigation since March, when a Port Authority police officer saw him walking suspiciously with a lantern on the George Washington Bridge..

The FBI said Saleh told an informant he was “in N.Y. and trying to do an Op.”

When he was arrested the FBI found instructions for a pressure cooker bomb on his computer, alongside images of New York City landmarks and tourist attractions, which the FBI called “potential targets for a terrorist attack.”

Colombian Rebels Blow Up Pipeline As Peace Talks Continue In Havana

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The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas blew up an oil pipeline on Thursday, leaving an estimated 16,000 people without water, according to officials.

The attack occurred near the municipality of Catatumbo, in northern Colombia.

The resulting spill has contaminated a river forcing the water supply to be cut, the local authorities said.

The FARC separatists have stepped up their attacks on infrastructure since they unilaterally suspended their ceasefire on May 22nd.

In another incident not directly related to the latest attack, four government military personnel were killed when they stepped on landmines in the southern region of Caqueta, which also injured four others.

The mines had been laid by FARC, the government said.

The left-wing group had been engaged in peace talks with government negotiators since November 2012, which looked to end more than 50 years of violence. While there has been agreement on several points and the negotiations continue to take place in the Cuban capital of Havana, attacks by the guerrillas have continued to occur since the lapse in the ceasefire.

A similar attack on an oil pipeline contaminated the Canaupi river in south-west Colombia on June 12th and the group ambushed and killed 11 soldiers in May.

President Juan Manuel Santos responded to the violence by ordering the resumption of bombing raids on rebel positions, though it remains unclear how effective such strikes have been given the dense jungle in which FARC operates.

Last week the rebels cut off power to almost half a million people in Caqueta, according to the military, by bringing down an electricity pylon.

Australian Human Trafficking Scandal Worsens As Spies Reported To Have Paid Smugglers Multiple Times

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Australian spies have reportedly been systematically paying people smugglers if they agree to turn back asylum seeker boats, according to new reports.

Both Labor and the Coalition governments are said to have approved the covert payments while in government but the Labor party made them on land in Indonesia to prevent boats leaving for Australia, according to new Australian press reports on Thursday.

Unlike the recent scandal involving 65 asylum seekers last month, the prior payments were made discreetly and only once the boats had returned to Indonesia. Spies then met the traffickers there and paid them for returning home.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard, playing word games, insists her government did not make payments to people smugglers at sea. Just what the difference is remains to be seen.

‘We didn’t have the same policy about turning boats around,’ Ms Gillard told the BBC, in a statement that could only be described as political hair splitting.

‘We didn’t operate the same policy that is under discussion.’

Ms Gillard told a BBC TV show that her government ‘absolutely’ engaged activities to disrupt people smuggling, but that she never authorized payments to people smugglers to sail back home, going back to a small difference in an otherwise objectionable policy that was, like that current Prime Minister Tony Abbott, not disclosed to the public or courts.

Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said of the latest revelations:

‘If there’s payments to be made to disrupt people smuggling syndicates that might also be something that you might imagine … also takes place,’ he told ABC radio on Thursday.

Mr Dreyfus said that the allegations of payments on open water “crosses the line” and may well be a crime under Australian law, if not Indonesian law.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said that the latest allegations of bribery on open water don’t “stack up” with either domestic or international law.

‘Lets be honest, they’ve paid people to turn around, that’s bribery, that’s trafficking,’ she said.

Prime Minister Abbott plays fast and loose with the law, a stance that led to the downfall of his previous government. He was re-elected to power after a hard-fought campaign, yet the new bribery scandal could lead to yet another election if the activities, which he was clearly party to, are found to be illegal.

Privacy Focused Search Engine DuckDuckGo Sees 600% Surge In Use Since Snowden Revelations

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Privacy oriented search engine DuckDuckGo has seen usage spike a whopping 600 percent since Edward Snowden alerted the world to the U.S. government’s illegal spying programs on its citizens, according to a statement by the company’s CEO.

The search engine offers users bare-bones, yet effective, search results without the personalization and tracking tools that rivals Google and Bing use. The company gets its results not from a massive army of bots scraping the web for new pages but from a clever sorting and filtering of results from Wikipedia, Yandex, Yahoo!, Bing and Yummly.

Chief executive officer Gabriel Weinberg said in an interview that it executes some three billion searches a year.

“We’ve grown 600 percent since the surveillance revelations two years ago,” Weinberg said.

“It’s really a myth that you need to track people to make money in search. People want transparency and they want control, and unfortunately they are usually getting neither today.”

Weinberg credits the uptick in usage both from overall awareness of privacy and Apple’s decision to add DuckDuckGo as an option for its Safari search users. Popular open source browser Firefox’s move in 2013 to add DuckDuckGo to its search options also helped the company gain market share.

DuckDuckGo started in 2008 and makes money from advertisers bidding placing ads against popular search terms. Its available at DuckDuckGo.com

Nine Dead In Charleston Massacre Police Are Calling A ‘Hate Crime’

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A white man walked into a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, opening fire during a Wednesday evening Bible study class, killing nine people, according to local authorities.

The shooting took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest AME church in the South. Police are investigating the massacre as a hate crime.

The suspect is described as being in his early 20s and 5 foot 9 in height. “He has on a very distinctive sweatshirt as well as the vehicle, with a very distinctive license plate,” Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen said.

“This is an all hands on deck effort with the community as well as law enforcement,” Mullen went on to say. “When people go out they should be vigilant, they should be aware of their surroundings. And if they see anything suspicious, they should call law enforcement.”

Authorities believe the suspect is still in the Charleston area.

“The only reason someone would walk into a church and shoot people that were praying is hate,” said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.

Eight members of the congregation died at the scene while a ninth perished at a local hospital, according to police. The church’s pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was one of those who perished.

While officials did not say how many people were at the Bible study during the incident they did say there had been survivors.

Authorities described the man as armed and dangerous and encouraged residents to report any sightings to police.

Despite Promises To Cut Back, World Upgrades Their Nuclear Weapons Supplies

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While the absolute number of nuclear warheads fell from 22,600 to 15,850 between 2010 and 2015, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual disarmament report, countries continue to upgrade and improve their nuclear weapons arsenals.

The institute pointed to “extensive and expensive long-term modernization programmes” in the world’s two largest nuclear powers, The United States and Russia, which account for 90 percent of the weapons.

“Despite renewed international interest in prioritizing nuclear disarmament, the modernization programs under way in the nuclear weapon-possessing states suggests that none of them will give up their nuclear arsenals in the foreseeable future,” SIPRI researcher Shannon Kile said.

The other three nuclear armed states legally recognized by the 1968 Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty – China (260 warheads), France (300 warheads) and Britain (215 warheads) – are “either developing or deploying new nuclear weapon systems or have announced their intention to do so” according to the researchers.

China was the lone state among the five global nuclear powers to have just a “modest” increase in the size of its arsenal.

India (90 to 100 warheads), Pakistan (100 to 120 warheads) and Israel (80 warheads), which do not have legally recognized nuclear programs, continue to increase their arsenals while Israel has tested long-range ballistic missiles.

North Korea is believed to be working on an arsenal of six to eight warheads but SIPRI said “technical progress” was difficult for the team to assess. Questions remain about the size of their nuclear devices, as weapons that are suitable for a missile must be small in size and weight, an added technical challenge.

Trustworthy information on each country’s nuclear program varied greatly between states, with the United States getting top marks for transparency in the report, and Russia and Israel divulging nothing officially.

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New Study Shows Bees Are Worth Hundreds Of Billions Of Dollars To Global Economy

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The humble honeybee is one of the hardest working, least appreciated and most valued insects in nature, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The study found that wild bee populations provide crop pollination services worth more than $3,250 per hectare per year, making their value to the global food system worth “in the billions, globally,” its authors wrote.

The researchers followed the activities of nearly 74,000 bees, representing more than 780 species, for over three years. That meant looking at 90 projects monitoring bee pollination at 1,394 sites round the world.

In interesting finding was that wild bees, as opposed to farmed honeybees, contribute $3,251 a hectare to crop production versus $2,913 a hectare for their farmed counterparts, a nearly 15% greater level of productivity.

Yet almost one in 10 of Europe’s wild bee species are threatened by extinction. The rise of pesticide chemicals is largely to blame, as we covered here earlier.

The study adds is one of a few new attempts to quantify the economic impact of “ecosystem services”, the natural processes we rely on to obtain food. The authors are looking to document the impact of damage to these services in order to discourage environmental plundering.

One of the most stunning conclusions from the study is that just 2% of wild bee species fertilize about 80% of crops. Lose one or two key species and the economic hit is tremendous.

“Rare and threatened species may play a less significant role economically than common species but this does not mean their protection is less important,” said study lead author David Kleijn, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands..

He added that a healthy diversity of bee species was essential to account for major fluctuations in worldwide bee populations.

“This study shows us that wild bees provide enormous economic benefits but reaffirms that the justification for protecting species cannot always be economic,” said University of Vermont co-author Taylor Ricketts.

“We still have to agree that protecting biodiversity is the right thing to do.”

According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, over 80% of flowering plant species are pollinated by insects, though some are pollinated by birds and bats.

Dramatic declines in bee colonies have led the EPA to ban pesticides linked to be colony deaths and cities like Oslo, Norway, to create ‘bee highways’ to help bees survive and thrive in urban areas.

China Will ‘Celebrate’ The Summer Solstice With Horrific Slaughter Of 10,000 Dogs

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While China continues its push to be a world superpower its domestic policies continue to be some of the most crude and backwards of any reasonably developed nation in the world.

One area where the Chinese are notably regressive is in their protection of animals. China, and fueled by its quack medicine industry, are the top consumers of endangered animal species like rhinos, elephants and sea turtles.

But the nation’s cruelty to animals doesn’t stop with just critically endangered species – even man’s best friend is treated with a level of cruelty rarely seen in the world.

The most stunning example of this horrific cruelty is the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, a supposed celebration of the summer solstice, which takes place in June. The ‘highlight’ of the festival is the slaughter of approximately 10,000 dogs, which are killed and eaten on the street.

The dogs are kept in terrible conditions, tortured, beaten, and forced to live in tiny, crowded, cages.

Many are then boiled, burned, or skinned alive before being served as food.

Dogs are not the only victims of this horrific celebration. Cats are considered a specialty and can be easily found at the kiosks.

This year activists are stepping up pressure on the barbaric festival and actively protesting, though by doing so they risk imprisonment by the harsh Chinese authorities.

Instead of vocal demonstrations that will land them in jail forever, the activists can be seen buying dogs from merchants in order to spare their lives, or marching on the streets with candles.

Yet global celebrities, not subject to harsh Chinese censors or repression, are speaking against this festival. Comedian Ricky Gervais and singers Richard Marx and Leona Lewis are using the hashtag “#StopYuLin2015” on Twitter in order to spread awareness.

An online petition has already gained over 850.000 signatures, demanding a stop to the killings.

In typical Chinese fashion, the local government has officially banned the festival, yet the slaughtering of cats and dogs remains legal in the area, and so the event goes on as usual.

We encourage our readers to retweet this article with the hashtag #StopYuLin2015 to help spread the word and stop this barbaric practice.

FIFA Scandal Noose Tightens As Third Largest Swiss Bank Launches Internal Probe

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As we’ve seen over the last eight years, global mega-banks rarely launch internal investigations on their own volition. Instead they come one step ahead of a legal inquiry into their criminal activities, whether that’s market manipulation, money laundering, violating sanctions, preying on vulnerable customers or perjury.

So when Swiss bank Julius Baer said on Wednesday it has opened an internal investigation in connection with the FIFA corruption scandal, this likely means the bank is squarely in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators investigating bribery, corruption and money laundering within soccer’s governing body.

Julius Baer, Switzerland’s third largest public bank, was one of a number of banks mentioned in the U.S. Department of Justice’s May charge sheet against FIFA officials.

“We have launched an internal investigation,” a spokesman for Julius Baer said. “We are fully cooperating with the authorities.”

The spokesman declined to say when the investigation began, or with which authorities it was cooperating with, but it is likely doing what banks normally do to avoid criminal prosecution – cooperate, say sorry, pay a fine and move along.

North Korea Looks For Sympathy Claiming Drought Hurting Farm Production

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North Korea is tugging at the heart, and purse, strings of the global community, saying it has been hit by its “worst drought in a century” and has suffered extensive damage to agriculture.

In a rare outreach to global media outlets, the official Korean Central News Agency said the drought has dried up 30 percent of its rice paddies, which need to be partially submerged in water during the early summer.

“Recently in our country, there has been a severe drought with sudden extremely high temperatures and nearly no rain,” Ri Yong Nam, a senior North Korean weather official, told the world media on Tuesday. “Now the drought is causing a water shortage and great damage to agriculture, and we foresee this drought will continue for a while.”

He said temperatures in May 9-12 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.

Both North and South Korea have had unusually dry weather this year.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said precipitation in North Korea was abnormally low in May but that it couldn’t confirm North Korea’s claim that it was experiencing its worst drought in a century.

In a concerted press blitz to get coverage of the supposed problem, North Korea even authorized the head of a farm work team to talk to international media. North Korea typically never allows such access and barely talks to the global press through official channels at all.

“This is the first drought damage in my 20 years of farming experience,” said Sin Jong Choi, head of a work team at North Korean farm. He went on to detail how seedlings dried out, forcing farmers to re-plow the fields and plant corn instead.

But the corn plants were “completely burned to death,” said Bae Tae Il, another member of the farm authorized to speak to reporters. “We are launching all-out efforts to overcome the drought damage.”

The unusual press blitz is likely a positioning move, designed to draw attention away from North Korea’s nuclear arms and missile programs, as well as its the squandering of the country’s resources by the ruling elite class.

This behavior has caused international aid donations to North Korea to fall in recent years, with the UN allocating just $111 million for North Korean operations this year, the lowest such level since 2009.

Denying the country food aid puts pressure on its rulers to divert resources away from expensive weapons systems. It also has economic consequences, as the great famine of 1990 loosened the regime’s control over the economy by damaging its public food distribution system and paving the way for private economic activity in the form of unofficial markets.

North Korean experts actually believe that while famine could happen again this year, the chances are remote given the regime learned from the last famine and has improved farming and related infrastructure. The country does not trumpet these advances for fear of losing access to foreign aid, which help it fund weapons programs.

Israel Launches Global Lawsuits Against Companies That Boycott It Over Genocide

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The world is waking up to Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people, with numerous recent events suggesting the genocide is becoming both well known and actively opposed by the international community.

The fact Israel killed over 500 Palestinian children last year alone, along with 1000 innocent civilians has led to boycotts by student unions and angry investors.

Yet rather than investigate the atrocities or stop them, a remote possibility given current Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly advocated for the extermination of the Palestinian people, Israel has instead decided it will sue anyone, anywhere, who won’t do business with its murderous regime.

On Wednesday, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced the country is preparing to file lawsuits against activists who call for blacklisting the Jewish state because of its war crimes and genocide activities.

The truly bizarre and desperate looking tactic came after a review by the international department of the Justice Ministry found that although boycott activists have appealed to many courts in Western countries for sanctions against Israel, they have never succeed in obtaining a ruling in their favor.

The Ministry believes that legal circumstances, particularly in the United States, where a powerful Jewish lobby enjoys significant political and legal influence, present the option of suing activists with civil and criminal lawsuits for damaging Israeli trade.

Shaked has already instructed that the number of positions in the international department be doubled so that it can push ahead with the lawsuits as soon as possible.

The legal campaign is part of a wider plan to combat the international outcry over Israel atrocities being put together by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.

“The boycott weapon is a double-edged sword. If you’re thinking of boycotting Israel, keep in mind that there are tens of millions of Israel supporters around the world — Jews and non-Jews — with considerable buying power and boycott power,” threatened Education Minister Naftali Bennett. “Whoever boycotts Israel will be boycotted. Whoever hits Israel, will be hit back. We will no longer remain silent.”

Israeli officials have been spurred into action after recent gains by supporters of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, known by the acronym BDS, which included comments by the director of major French communication Orange that he is keen to pull out of a partnership with Israel, and a vote by British students to support the boycott movement. The movement has led to many student groups, who are not affiliated with either Israel or Palestine, to take grassroots action to stop the human rights abuses in the Gaza strip.

The movement has even been stirred up inside the notoriously close-knit Israeli nation, as numerous current and former soldiers have recently gone on record outlining the murder of Palestinian children, women and unarmed males in a campaign of “indiscriminate killing”, according to a United Nations report.

Mainstream Media Partnering With Virginia Tech To Develop Drone News Coverage

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While drones have, thus far, mostly been a solution looking for a problem, mainstream media figures that they can use the flying quadcopters to take pictures of the news. Mega-outlet CNN has already announced plans to make drones part of news coverage but it isn’t the only one looking to leverage UAVs.

A group of 15 other news companies are partnering with Virginia Tech to run trials of their own. The university’s facility in Bealeton, Virginia is one of the few FAA approved test sites for such activities.

The group of media companies includes Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Getty Images, USA Today, NBC Universal, Univision and others. The group has worked with the National Press Photographers Association to create guidelines for the trials, though its unclear why such agreements would be needed.

“The research testing we are initiating will provide the news media coalition a safe and innovative way to gather and disseminate information and keep journalists out of harm’s way,” said Rose Mooney, the executive director of Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.

The testing begins today and will focus on the use of drones in both remote and urban locations.

Video capture is the leading market for drones, which aren’t capable of carrying heavy loads. Cameras and video recording equipment is now high quality and extremely light, making it the perfect payload for drones. The footage is already being used extensively in reality TV shows, where a cheap drone camera rig can capture shots previously only possible with expensive helicopters.

New Facebook App Immediately Banned In Europe Over Privacy Issues

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The world’s media gave Facebook’s latest app release on Monday the fluffiest of coverage but missed one key thing: Moments, the new photo sharing app, won’t be coming to Europe any time soon.

The creepy facial recognition software in Moments, which automatically scans the faces in any picture against Facebook’s massive database of users (and non-users!) violates EU privacy standards.

Since 2012 Facebook has disabled the privacy invading facial recognition software on its system in Europe to ensure compliance with EU privacy laws that ban the practice.

After the splashy U.S. launch of Moments, Facebook declined to comment about any planned deployment of the app inside the EU.

In classic word games, for which Facebook is known for, it promised that its Moments app would sync photos on an Android or iOS device in “a private way” to allow close friends to quickly share pictures of each other.

While Facebook is no doubt eager to convince EU regulators to soften their stance against Facebook’s use of facial recognition technology, the EU isn’t exactly impressed by the company, as it faces numerous probes from both the EU and individual member countries over its business practices.

Huge Flaw Leaves Virtually All Samsung Galaxy Phones Exposed To Hacking, Eavesdropping

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If you’re the owner of virtually any Samsung Galaxy device, chances are it has a security flaw that lets hackers install malware on it or eavesdrop on your calls.

The worst part is that there is nothing you can do it about it.

Chicago-based security firm NowSecure has published details on a bug in the Swift keyboard software which is pre-installed on over 600 million Samsung devices. The bugs allows a remote attacker to control a user’s network traffic to launch any software they want on a user’s phone.

The problem is that if your phone has the Swift keyboard software installed it’s impossible to uninstall it.

Swift runs with the highest permissions possible, meaning once a hacker has compromised it they can secretly install malware on a user’s device, access the phone’s camera, microphone and GPS, eavesdrop on calls and messages, steal photos and text messages. and change the way other apps behave.

In a shocking oversight, NowSecure notified Samsung of the vulnerability in December 2014, along with the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) and Google’s Android team. But it appears despite Samsung issuing a patch to network operators, who control the software on your phone, many didn’t install it.

The affected devices include the popular Samsung Galaxy S6, S5, S4 and S4 mini on all major U.S. carriers.

NowSecure says the only way to make yourself a little safer is to avoid unsecured Wi-Fi networks or use a different mobile device, which probably isn’t practical for more people.

Fortunately, while the vulnerability is severe, your chances of being infected are minimal because a user must be connected to a compromised network, where a hacker with the right tools is specifically targeting their device.

Yet while most civilians won’t be victim to such an attack, its likely that this exploit has already made its way into the arsenal of cyber weapons used by China, Russia and various other nations, which means our politicians, military leaders and corporate executives are at risk.

China Reads Statement, Continues Full Steam Ahead With Military Bases In Disputed Waters

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The Chinese foreign ministry released its latest belligerent statement indicating the country has nearly completed its illegal South China Sea island construction projects. Even as China signaled an end to its dredging activities, it continues to build military bases on the islands, a fact which it conveniently buried in the press release.

“Apart from satisfying the need of necessary military defense, the main purpose of China’s construction activities is to meet various civilian demands and better perform China’s international obligations,” the foreign ministry started with, before vaguely stating that “after the land reclamation, we will start the building of facilities to meet relevant functional requirements.”

As one of the “relevant functional requirements” is “satisfying the need of necessary military defense,” China will continue to construct precisely the type of facilities on the islands that have become the subject of intense international controversy.

The essence of China’s announcement is that it is simply shifting work on disputed South China Sea islands from creating land in the middle of the sea to constructing military facilities. In short, its pushing forward with a program that has deeply aggravated tensions with the U.S. and more importantly its Asian neighbors.

“This is a step toward halting land reclamation, which the U.S. has demanded, and at the same time, China can tell its people that it has accomplished what it wanted to do,” said Huang Jing, a Chinese foreign policy expert at the Singapore-based Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

“China unilaterally started the land reclamation and now China is unilaterally stopping it,” Mr. Huang said. “China is showing that—as a major power—it can control escalation, that it has the initiative, and that it can do what it sees fit for its interests.”

The Philippines’ Foreign Ministry as well as the foreign ministries of Vietnamese Malaysia declined to comment on the statement.

The timing of China’s statement comes on the final day for China to submit comments to an international arbitration tribunal that is weighing the Philippines’ territorial claims in the South China Sea.

China has made clear it wants nothing to do with the arbitration proceedings in The Hague, contending that The United Nations has no jurisdiction, and that it will not recognize the tribunal’s verdict.

The statements by China are typical of Chinese foreign policy – say one thing, do the other. The heavily censored country seems to lack awareness of just how closely scrutinized its actions are, as well as the response they will trigger from its neighbors, both economically and militarily.

In addition to stalling trade, the Chinese land grabs have led Vietnam, one of the strongest and most battle tested armies in the region, to purchase sophisticated U.S. weapons systems, which we covered here.

SEC Chief Found To Embody And Promote Wall Street-Regulator Revolving Door Policy

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A new report has severely eroded the already thin credibility of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its Chair Mary Jo White, finding the head of the securities regulator “both embodies and promotes the revolving door between government regulator and regulated industry that empowers Wall Street insiders at the expense of investors and society writ large.”

The damning findings are detailed in a new report by Rootstrikers, a nonprofit organization that advocates for campaign finance reform. The report, released Tuesday, criticizes White’s work as a corporate defense lawyer, her recusals from certain SEC enforcement cases and her continued policy of hiring aides who previously worked in the securities industry.

It goes on to criticize White for letting her longstanding ties to Wall Street skew her ability to police the finance industry. The report referenced the litany of complaints by left-leaning groups about her tenure.

The attack increases pressure on White, particularly from Democrats, who are demanding the SEC impose appropriate penalties on financial firms and at the same time finally complete rules that have languished for years.

White’s sharpest critics include Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who bluntly called her leadership “extremely disappointing.”

Responding to the straight-shooting Warren, White, in a typically tone-deaf statement, said that she is “very proud of the agency’s achievements under my leadership, including our record year in enforcement and the commission’s efforts in advancing more than 30 congressionally mandated rulemakings and other transformative policy initiatives to protect investors and strengthen our markets.”

“We wanted to put this report out and really lay out a strong case on why the Obama administration should have chosen better last time around,” said Kurt Walters, campaign manager for Rootstrikers, in reference to White’s selection. “We intend to encourage them to make the right choice this time.”

Rootstrikers began operation in 2011 and was founded by Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig. It has principally been active in pushing to reform the campaign finance system in the wake of Supreme Court decisions that have resulted in corporations and union controlling virtually every politician in the country. It has more recently taken an interest in issues related to financial regulation.

One of the major regulations that both Rootstrikers and investor advocates want passed by the SEC would force companies to publicly disclose their political spending.

White has, predictably, signaled the SEC won’t act on the measure.

Amazon Uses ‘We’re From The Internet So Laws Don’t Apply’ Strategy To Avoid Drone Regulation

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As time has passed since the founding of America the federal government increasingly regulates nearly all activity within the nation. While originally states were able to decide what is best for them, based on what local residents wanted, its now the feds calling the shots.

Or make that corporations.

Federal regulation makes it easy for corporations to get laws changed to their advantage. Lobby one group in D.C., get the entire country on board.

The latest shining example of this comes courtesy of internet retailer Amazon, which warned a House oversight committee that states and cities “must not be allowed” to regulate unmanned aircraft that get the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval.

If Amazon wants to fly a drone in your backyard and the FAA gives it permission to fly a drone, it can put it in your backyard, so the theory goes.

Amazon argues that there should be only one set of rules for airspace, purpose and qualifications of drone aircraft, such as those that would be used in its drone delivery service.

For Amazon, this makes sense. It would be very hard to run a nationwide drone delivery service if some states or cities have strict requirements or ban these services entirely.

Yet that’s precisely what states and cities ought to do. They already do it with airports, to ensure planes aren’t flying over residential houses at all hours of the day and that planes fly in an orderly pattern so as to avoid chaos in the skies.

Commercial airlines are subject to a variety of such restrictions as they fly people across the country, meaning there’s no reason why Amazon, the U.S. Postal Service or anyone else shouldn’t be subject to the same set of rules as well.

The push for the new rules comes, as nearly always, from a billionaire looking to make more billions. In this case Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who notoriously fought the idea of paying state sales tax because his company was from the internet, is looking to mass-invade the rights of American citizens by lobbying DC, all so he can make a buck.

Its a case study in what’s wrong with American democracy, not to mention the political process in Washington.

But don’t expect Amazon to go down without a long, drawn-out, tooth and nail fight. Jeff Bezos didn’t buy the influential Washington Post newspaper because he’s suddenly into journalism. He bought it to lobby, hard, for changes, such as establishing a single American rulebook for robotic shipments, that benefit him personally.

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