Friday, December 31, 2010

Julian Assange Threatens To Name Arab Leaders With CIA Ties



Julian Assange has set the ultimate dead man's switch: Arrest or kill him and thousands of files will be automatically released, including documents that out CIA-backed Arabs.
The Wikileaks leader had previously claimed to have files on auto-release. That he had info on CIA ties was first-mentioned in an interview yesterday with Al-Jazeera.
This is exactly the type of information that lead people to condemn Wikileaks as dangerous. If released it would certainly endanger many American operatives and cause a massive political disruption.


DOHA: Top officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency, says Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.
“These officials are spies for the US in their countries,” Assange told Al Jazeera Arabic channel in an interview yesterday.
The interviewer, Ahmed Mansour, said at the start of the interview which was a continuation of last week’s interface, that Assange had even shown him the files that contained the names of some top Arab officials with alleged links with the CIA.
Assange or Mansour, however, didn’t disclose the names of these officials. The WikiLeaks founder said he feared he could be killed but added that there were 2,000 websites that were ready to publish the remaining files that are in possession of WikiLeaks after “he has been done away with”.
“If I am killed or detained for a long time, there are 2,000 websites ready to publish the remaining files. We have protected these websites through very safe passwords,” said Assange.
Currently, his whistle-blowing website is exposing files in a ‘responsible’ manner, he claimed. “But if I am forced we could go to the extreme and expose each and every file that we have access to,” thundered the WikiLeaks founder. “We must protect our sources at whatever cost. This is our sincere concern.”
Some Arab countries even have torture houses where Washington regularly sends ‘suspects’ for ‘interrogation and torture’, he said.
WikiLeaks is receiving sensitive files from Afghanistan, Kenya, Russia and China, among other countries. For nine years the US and Nato forces have failed to silence people in Afghanistan because the people there are loyal and truthful. The US marines fighting in Afghanistan are not happy being there and don’t really know why they are there and fighting for what, said Assange.The US is trying to use latest technology to disrupt his website but in vain.
“Washington is also projecting me as a terrorist and wants to convince the world that I am another Osama bin Laden,” he said. According to Assange, he will be put on a trial for his various expose in a special court in London from January 11, 2011 and this court deals with terror-related cases.
“If the UK (where I am based right now) decides to hand me over to Sweden for alleged cases of sexual abuse, they (Stockholm) would hand me over to the US,” he said. Assange said he feared that the US might slap laws declaring him as a spy who had been acting against Washington. The Pentagon has set up a ‘war room’ manned by 120 officials and their job is just to disrupt and destroy WikiLeaks, he said.
“We have more files dealing with defense issues of Central Europe, but I or my staff didn’t have the time to go through all of them.” What is being published by the five media partners of WikiLeaks are publishing only those details which they think are interesting for their readers. There are some Arab officials who are ‘stealing’ oil of their countries.
“We need these media partners to focus more on this issue,” Assange said in this extensive, interesting and last version of his interface with Doha-based Aljazeera. US embassies around the world are very anxious about Israel, Iran, Labour unions, arms dealings (mainly selling of American arms), and spying through high-tech devices.


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U.S. Army Soldiers Engage Insurgents In Korengal Valley

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Facebook was the top search term in 2010 for second straight year

Social network search term tops list for fifth straight year;

Facebook top-visited Website for first year


 New York, N.Y., Dec. 29, 2010 - Experian® Hitwise®, a part of Experian Marketing Services, has analyzed the top 1000 search terms for 20101 and Facebook was the top-searched term overall. This is the second year that the social networking website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 2.11 percent of all searches.1 Four variations of the term "facebook" were among the top 10 terms and accounted for 3.48 percent of searches overall

 

 The term "facebook login" moved up from the 9th spot in 2009 to the second spot in 2010. YouTube was the third most-searched term in 2010, followed by craigslist, myspace and facebook.com. Analysis of the search terms revealed that social networking-related terms dominated the results, accounting for 4.18 percent of the top 50 searches.

When combined, common search terms - e.g., facebook and facebook.com - for Facebook accounted for 3.48 percent of all searches in the US among the top 50 terms, which represents a 207 percent increase versus 2009. YouTube terms accounted for 1.12 percent, representing a 106 percent increase versus 2009. Aol search terms accounted for 0.34 percent of searches in 2010, but grew 22 percent versus 2009. Google terms accounted for 0.63 percent, and Craigslist terms accounted for 0.62 percent.
New terms that entered into the top 50 search terms for 2010 included - netflix, verizon wireless, espn, chase, pogo, tagged, wells fargo, yellow pages, poptropica, games and hulu.
Top-visited Websites in 2010
Facebook was the top-visited Website for the first time and accounted for 8.93 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010. Google.com ranked second with 7.19 percent of visits, followed by Yahoo! Mail (3.52 percent), Yahoo! (3.30 percent) and YouTube (2.65 percent).
The combination of Google properties accounted for 9.85 percent of all U.S. visits. Facebook properties accounted for 8.93 percent, and Yahoo! properties accounted for 8.12 percent. The top 10 Websites accounted for 33 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010, an increase of 12 percent versus 2009.
Other top searches from various categories include:

Personality - top 5 people searches
1. Kim Kardashian
2. Oprah
3. Rush Limbaugh
4. Miley Cyrus
5. Glenn Beck

Movie Titles - top 5 searches from within Movies category:
1. Star Wars
2. Paranormal Activity 2
3. Avatar
4. Transformers 3
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow
Music - top 5 searched for artists/bands:          
1. Lady Gaga
2. Justin Beiber
3. Eminem
4. Taylor Swift
5. Michael Jackson
Branded Destinations top 5 search terms:
1. Disney World
2. Disneyland
3. Six Flags
4. Universal Studios Orlando
5. Great Wolf Lodg
Top TV show searches from Television category
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. American Idol
3. Young and the Restless
The top generic search term was "hulu" within Television category
Sports - the top searched for athlete was Tiger Woods and the top sports team was the Dallas Cowboys from within the Sports category.
News and Media - the top searched for person was Bret Michaels followed by Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock within the News and Media category in 2010.
Real Estate - the search terms "houses for rent" and "homes for rent", combined topped the combined searches for "houses for sale" and "homes for sale" in 2010 within the Real Estate category.
  • Realtor.com was the top search term overall for Real Estate category.
Employment - Indeed accounted for 2.47 percent of all searches in the US among the top 50 terms for the Employment category in 2010 when combining common search terms - e.g., indeed and indeed.com.
If you are interested in more data or for your local market please contact us.
About Experian Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service. Experian Hitwise gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Websites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.
Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), http://www.experianplc.com,www.hitwise.com. operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at
For up-to-date analysis of online trends, please visit:
Hitwise Research Blog
| Hitwise Data Center
About Experian Marketing Services
Experian Marketing Services delivers best-in-breed data, analytics and platforms into multiple regions around the globe. It is focused on helping marketers more effectively target and engage their best customers through email, digital advertising, customer data management, customer and competitive insight, data enrichment and list rental, modeling and analytics, and strategic consulting. Through these capabilities, Experian Marketing Services enables organizations to encourage brand advocacy, create measurable return on investment and significantly improve the lifetime value of their customers.
About Experian
Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 90 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2010, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.
Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.








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What Has America Become


"What Has America Become" was the title of a letter to the editior written by Ken Huber of Tawas City, Michigan.   It contains a series of comparisons and contrasts which causes one to think about the double-standards and conditions under which we now live here in America. 


 
A reprint of the article has been circulating online (see photo with this article) finding its way to Fort Worth and possibly all over the nation.  It was originally printed in the Iosco County News Herald on June 9, 2010, published in the Opinion column.  Please read, post your thoughts, and as always feel free to subscribe for future articles and/or
share with others.
What has America become?

Editor,
Has America become the land of special interest and home of the double standard?
Lets see: if we lie to the Congress, it's a felony and if the Congress lies to us its just politics; if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, its their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it is wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of communist and socialist threats by renaming them progressive; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.
You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it is wrong to use an animal.
We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.
And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.
What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?
- Ken Huber
Tawas City

CLICK HERE


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Pope published in the Vatican decree against money laundering 

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday before the Vatican. 

About three months after the start of investigations into parts of the leadership of the Vatican Bank (IOR), Pope Benedict XVI. Motu proprio on Thursday announced a so-called, inter alia provides for the establishment of a new financial authority of the Vatican.

The decree also valid for the Vatican law against money laundering and terrorist financing was announced. Consequently, money laundering is punishable with 12 years in prison. 15 years in prison are provided for offenses related to terrorism and subversive activities. Fraud cases at the expense of the Vatican and abuse of familiar information is expected to be up to six years in prison




By the Pope introduced legislation also provides for penalties for market distortion, human trafficking, black marketing, environmental protection and illegal waste trade. The law applies not only to the Vatican State, but also for all the institutions of the Holy See, if they have to do with financial transactions. The law should be to enable the Vatican, on the "White List" of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to set. States are ranked on the list with sharp controls against illegal financial transactions.

Of compliance with the Act is monitored by a new Vatican authority, "authority for financial information" (AIF), the creation of Benedict XVI. simultaneously possessed. Explicitly welcomed the Pope In his letter, the efforts of the international community in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Benedict XVI. also pointed out that he, the new law in performance of the monetary agreement between the Vatican and the European Union of 17 December 2009 lays down.


reacted with the package of measures Pope on allegations against the Vatican bank IOR (Istituto delle Opere Tues religion ") for money laundering. Three months ago, the Roman prosecutor investigations of IOR Chef Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and another bank manager, and launched a € 23 million IOR Account with an Italian bank seized. Gotti Tedeschi and the manager are in financial transactions, the names have concealed the true authority and in violation of a law against money laundering, said the allegation. The Vatican subsequently secured his cooperation with the Italian authorities.


As "Vatican Bank" known IOR managed funds Catholic orders and associations. In addition, the Institute acts as a savings bank and an investment bank for the investment business of the Curia. It is not obliged to publish its accounts. It is estimated that its investment volume amounts to € 5 billion. The Supervisory Board and the management of the IOR contact now composed of professional bank managers, Catholic lay people in general. Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for example, belongs to Opus Dei.

 





 
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Queen Becomes Great-Gran For First Time 


Autumn Phillips, the wife of the Queen's grandson, Peter Phillips, has given birth to a baby girl.

And at 84, she becomes the first British great-grand monarch since the reign of Queen Victoria more than 100 years ago.
Autumn Phillips, the wife of the Queen's eldest grandson Peter, gave birth to her daughter yesterday.
The baby girl - who is yet to be named - is now 12th in line to the throne, pushing newly engaged Zara Phillips into 13th place.
The new parents announced in July they were expecting their first child.
A statement from Buckingham Palace read: "The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, Captain Mark Phillips and Autumn's family have been informed and are delighted with the news."
Peter and Autumn Phillips have been living in Hong Kong since they were married at Windsor Castle in 2008.
Mr Phillips, Princess Anne's eldest child, heads up the sports sponsorship division in the region for Royal Bank of Scotland.
But the couple returned to the UK well before Autumn Phillips' due date. Both attended the Queen's pre-Christmas family lunch at Buckingham Palace.
The new line to the throne is as follows:
1. Prince Prince Charles
2. Prince William
3. Prince Harry
4. Prince Andrew
5. Princess Beatrice
6. Princess Eugenie
7. Prince Edward
8. James, Viscount Severn, Prince Edward's son
9. The Lady Louise Windsor, Prince Edward's daughter
10. Princess Anne
11. Peter Phillips
12. Name To Be Announced
13. Zara Phillips






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Bankers fail to censor thesis exposing loophole in bank card security

The thesis describes a flaw in chip-and-pin technology that allows criminals to use stolen bank cards. Photograph: Alex Segre/Alamy

 

University refuses to remove from its website a student's thesis revealing flaw in chip-and-pin security system of bank cards
A powerful bankers' association has failed in its attempt to censor a student thesis after complaining that it revealed a loophole in bank card security.
The UK Cards Association, which represents major UK banks and building societies, asked Cambridge University to remove the thesis from its website, but the request was met with a blunt refusal.
In a letter to university authorities, UKCA chair Melanie Johnson – a former Labour MP who was economic secretary to the Treasury in Tony Blair's government – demanded that the masters thesis be "removed from public access immediately".
The thesis by computer security student Omar Choudary, entitled "The smart card detective: a handheld EMV interceptor", described a flaw in the chip-and-pin (personal identification number) security system that allows criminals to make fraudulent transactions with a stolen bank card using any pin they care to choose.
"It is the publication of this level of detail which we believe breaches the boundary of responsible disclosure. Essentially, it places in the public domain a blueprint for building a device which purports to exploit a loophole in the security of chip and PIN," the letter states.
But in a reply to the UKCA, Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at the university's Computer Laboratory, refused to take down the thesis and said the loopholes had already been disclosed to bankers.
"You seem to think we might censor a student's thesis, which is lawful and already in the public domain, simply because a powerful interest finds it inconvenient. This shows a deep misconception of what universities are and how we work. Cambridge is the University of Erasmus, of Newton and of Darwin; censoring writings that offend the powerful is offensive to our deepest values," Anderson wrote.
Anderson and his colleagues discovered the loophole in chip-and-pin security in October 2009 and told the banks about the flaw later that year. They revealed the loophole publicly on the BBC's Newsnight programme in February 2010.
In view of the UKCA's letter, Anderson has authorised Choudary's thesis to be published as a Computer Laboratory technical report.
"This will make it easier for people to find and cite, and will ensure that its presence on our website is permanent," his reply to the UKCA states.
"It is outrageous that the banking industry should try to censor a student's thesis even though it was lawful and already in the public domain," Anderson told the Guardian.
"It was particularly surprising for its chair, Melanie Johnson, to make this request; as a former MP she must be aware of the Human Rights Act, and as a former Cambridge graduate student she should have a better understanding of this university's culture.
"Her intervention was completely counterproductive for the banks who employ her: Omar's thesis will now be read by thousands of people who would otherwise not have heard of it," he said.

 

 

 

 

 

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