Articles by The Guardian
We found 918 results.
NASA-Funded Study: Industrial Civilisation Headed For ‘Irreversible Collapse’?
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
17 Mar 2014
A new study sponsored by Nasa has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution. Noting that warnings of ‘collapse’ are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that “the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history.”
→ read full articleHas the NSA’s Mass Spying Made Life Easier for Digital Criminals?
Tom Brewster – The Guardian,
10 Mar 2014
In flooding the internet with malware, and by increasing wariness of data sharing, the NSA’s actions have had a negative impact on the fight against cybercrime. The US has done an enormous amount of damage. There is a basic level of trust that has been lost because the US was supposed to be a trusted keeper of everything, but it turned out they were subverting it with every chance they got.
→ read full articleDiets High in Meat, Eggs and Dairy Could Be as Harmful to Health as Smoking
Ian Sample – The Guardian,
10 Mar 2014
A diet rich in meat, eggs, milk and cheese could be as harmful to health as smoking, according to a controversial study into the impact of protein consumption on longevity.
→ read full articleNSA Robots Are ‘Collecting’ Your Data, Too, and They’re Getting Away With It
Bruce Schneier – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
Yahoo webcam users are the latest victims of agency eavesdropping – and whether it’s done by human or algorithm, it’s still eavesdropping.
→ read full articleUK – Optic Nerve: Millions of Yahoo Webcam Images Intercepted by GCHQ
Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
• 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone
• Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk
• Yahoo: ‘A whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy’
• Material included large quantity of sexually explicit images
Qatar’s Foreign Domestic Workers Subjected to Slave-Like Conditions
Rebecca Falconer – The Guardian,
3 Mar 2014
Foreign maids, cleaners and other domestic workers are being subjected to slave-like labour conditions in Qatar, with many complaining they have been deprived of passports, wages, days off, holidays and freedom to move jobs, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
→ read full articleAmnesty International Accuses Israeli Armed Forces of Possible War Crimes
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Mar 2014
Human rights group says soldiers have killed dozens of Palestinians with virtual impunity in West Bank.
→ read full articleTaking Your Brain for a Walk: The Secret to Delaying Dementia
Ian Sample – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Regular brisk walking three times a week increases the size of brain regions linked to planning and memory, a study has shown.
→ read full articleUS Support for Regime Change in Venezuela Is a Mistake
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
The US push to topple the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro once again pits Washington against South America. On Sunday [16 Feb 2014], the Mercosur governments (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela) released a statement and described “the recent violent acts” in Venezuela as “attempts to destabilize the democratic order”. They made it abundantly clear where they stood.
→ read full article(Português) Zizek: Há mais do que fúria na Bósnia
Slavoj Žižek – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
O que as explosões na Bósnia confirmam é que ninguém jamais conseguirá superar paixões étnicas impondo a elas uma agenda liberal: o que uniu os manifestantes foi uma mesma radical exigência de justiça. O passo seguinte e mais difícil será organizar os protestos num novo movimento social que ignore as divisões étnicas; e organizar novos protestos.
→ read full articleG8 New Alliance Condemned as New Wave of Colonialism in Africa
Claire Provost, Liz Ford and Mark Tran – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
A landmark G8 initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty has been damned as a new form of colonialism after African governments agreed to change seed, land and tax laws to favour private investors over small farmers. Ten countries made more than 200 policy commitments, including changes to laws and regulations after giant agribusinesses were granted unprecedented access to decision-makers over the past two years.
→ read full articleWriting the Snowden Files: ‘The Paragraph Began to Self-Delete’
Luke Harding – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Was it the NSA? GCHQ? A Russian hacker? Who was secretly reading his book on Snowden while he wrote it, wonders Luke Harding. Something odd happened. The paragraph I had just written began to self-delete. The cursor moved rapidly from the left, gobbling text. I watched my words vanish. When I tried to close my OpenOffice file the keyboard began flashing and bleeping.
→ read full articleAre the Robots about to Rise? Google’s New Director of Engineering Thinks So…
Carole Cadwalladr – The Guardian,
24 Feb 2014
Ray Kurzweil popularised the Teminator-like moment he called the ‘singularity’, when artificial intelligence overtakes human thinking. But now the man who hopes to be immortal is involved in the very same quest – on behalf of the tech behemoth.
→ read full articleUgandan Anti-Gay Law Is Huge Step Backwards, Says Barack Obama
Associated Press – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
President Barack Obama on Sunday [16 Feb 2014] warned Uganda over its plans to further criminalise homosexuality, saying it would “complicate our valued relationship”.
→ read full articleClimate Change Is Here Now and It Could Lead to Global Conflict
Nicholas Stern – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
Extreme weather events in the UK and overseas are part of a growing pattern that it would be very unwise for us, or our leaders, to ignore, writes the author of the influential 2006 report on the economics of climate change.
→ read full articleMale Sexual Orientation Influenced by Genes, Study Shows
Ian Sample, science correspondent – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
A study of gay men in the US has found fresh evidence that male sexual orientation is influenced by genes. Scientists tested the DNA of 400 gay men and found that genes on at least two chromosomes affected whether a man was gay or straight.
→ read full articleInternet Governance Too US-Centric, Says European Commission
Ian Traynor – The Guardian,
17 Feb 2014
The mass surveillance carried out by the NSA means that governance of the internet has to be made more international, the EU’s executive has declared. Setting out proposals, the EC called for a shift away from the California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).
→ read full articleUN Denounces Vatican over Child Abuse and Demands Immediate Action
Lizzy Davies and Henry McDonald – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
The Vatican has failed to acknowledge the huge scale of clerical sex abuse and has implemented policies that have led to “the continuation of the abuse and the impunity of the perpetrators”, a UN panel said on Wednesday [5 Feb 2014] in a scathing rebuke of the Holy See’s handling of the global scandal.
→ read full articleMicrosoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo Release US Surveillance Requests
Spencer Ackerman and Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday [3 Feb 2014].
→ read full articleIndustrial Band Skinny Puppy Demand $666,000 after Music Is Used in Guantánamo Torture
Sean Michaels – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody,” keyboardist Cevin Key recently told CTV News.
→ read full articlePakistan’s Future Is Tied to the Taliban
Tariq Ali – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
With the impending withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the time has come to talk – despite the horrific wave of bombings.
→ read full articleFake-Food Scandal Revealed as Tests Show Third of Products Mislabelled
Felicity Lawrence – The Guardian,
10 Feb 2014
Consumers are being sold drinks with banned flame-retardant additives, pork in beef, fake cheese, mozzarella that is less than half real cheese, ham on pizzas that is either poultry or “meat emulsion”, and frozen prawns that are 50% water laboratory tests show.
→ read full articleSkipping: Is There Anything Wrong with Taking the Food That Supermarkets Throw Away?
Emine Saner – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Three men will appear in court for allegedly ‘dumpster diving’ – taking food from a supermarket dustbin. But isn’t the crime the vast amount of food being put into skips in the first place?
→ read full articleDark Lands: The Grim Truth behind the ‘Scandinavian Miracle’
Michael Booth – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Television in Denmark is rubbish, Finnish men like a drink – and Sweden is not exactly a model of democracy. Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia?
→ read full articleScarlett Johansson Is Right – The Face of SodaStream Doesn’t Fit with Oxfam
Vijay Prashad – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
Thanks to the star’s involvement with the Israeli company, illegal settlement activity is under increased scrutiny. This debate is better than silence, or than celebrity airbrushing of deep-seated problems. I welcome it.
→ read full articleHow and When to Book a Cheap Flight
Isabel Choat – The Guardian,
3 Feb 2014
New research shows that the best time to book a summer flight is as late as five weeks before your holiday, contrary to travel industry experts who advise travellers book as early as possible.
→ read full articleUS Government Privacy Board Says NSA Bulk Collection of Phone Data Is Illegal
Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
23 Jan 2014 – The US government’s privacy board has sharply rebuked President Barack Obama over the NSA’s mass collection of phone data, saying the program defended by Obama last week was illegal and ought to be shut down.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Tells German TV That NSA Is Involved in Industrial Espionage
Reuters in Berlin – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
In a lengthy interview broadcast on the public broadcaster ARD TV on Sunday [26 Jan 2014], Snowden said the NSA did not limit its espionage to issues of national security and cited the German engineering firm Siemens as one target.
→ read full articleLiterary Project Honours Baghdad’s Devastated Bookselling District
Ellie Violet Bramley – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
Hundreds of writers and artists prepare tributes to Iraq’s historic books hub, Al-Mutanabbi Street, hit by car bomb in 2007. It’s said that when Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols in 1258, the river Tigris ran red one day with the blood of those killed, and black the next with the ink of their books.
→ read full articleLatin America Is Being Transformed by a Vision of Post-Human Rights
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
From Colombia to Argentina, an ethical politics driven by protest movements is shaking up the old economic order.
→ read full articleAre You Opposed to Fracking? Then You Might Just Be a Terrorist
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
Over the last year, a mass of shocking evidence has emerged on the close ties between Western government spy agencies and giant energy companies, and their mutual interests in criminalising anti-fracking activists.
→ read full articleUS Psychology Body Declines to Rebuke Member in Guantánamo Torture Case
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian,
27 Jan 2014
America’s professional association of psychologists has quietly declined to rebuke one of its members, a retired US army reserve officer, for his role in one of the most brutal interrogations known to have to taken place at Guantánamo Bay, the Guardian has learned.
→ read full articleThe Truth about Israel’s Secret Nuclear Arsenal
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
20 Jan 2014
Israel has been stealing nuclear secrets and covertly making bombs since the 1950s. And western governments, including Britain and the US, turn a blind eye. But how can we expect Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions if the Israelis won’t come clean?
→ read full articleObama’s NSA ‘Reforms’ Are Little More Than a PR Attempt to Mollify the Public
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
20 Jan 2014
Predictably, it is the same well-worn tactic in response to political scandal that shaped President Obama’s much-heralded Friday [17 Jan 2014] speech for “reforming” the National Security Agency in the wake of intense worldwide controversy. Bulk surveillance that caused such outrage will remain in place.
→ read full articleNSA Collects Millions of Text Messages Daily in ‘Untargeted’ Global Sweep
James Ball – The Guardian,
20 Jan 2014
The untargeted collection and storage of SMS messages – including their contacts – is revealed in a joint investigation between the Guardian and the UK’s Channel 4 News based on material provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
→ read full articleGout’s on the Rise – So How Can You Avoid It?
Sarah Boseley – The Guardian,
20 Jan 2014
This excruciatingly painful condition now affects 1.6 million people in the UK. Beer can bring it on, but so can wine and even some ‘healthy’ foods.
→ read full articleToday [11 Jan 2014] Marks the 12th Anniversary of America’s Guantánamo Prison Disgrace
Molly Crabapple – The Guardian,
13 Jan 2014
We must reject indefinite detention and offshore prisons. We must no longer use our fear of terror to inflict terror on the world. In case anyone needs a refresher, $4.7bn has been spent running Guantánamo. Nearly 800 men have been imprisoned, many losing over a decade of their lives. Nine have died.
→ read full article[Crise? Austerities?] Jaguar Land Rover Reports Record Sales for 2013
Press Association, The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jan 2014
Britain’s largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s biggest carmaker, Tata Motors, has reported record-breaking global sales for 2013. Together the British brands sold 425,006 vehicles in 2013 – up 19% on 2012 – setting new sales records in 38 international markets.
→ read full articleHarassment of Climate Scientists Needs to Stop
Richard Schiffman – The Guardian,
13 Jan 2014
When Michael Mann chose a career in science, he didn’t think that he would be denounced on billboards, grilled by hostile legislators on Capitol Hill and in the British House of Commons, have his emails hacked and stolen, receive letters laced with an anthrax-like white powder, and become the target of anonymous death threats.
→ read full articleJP Morgan Chase to Pay More Than $2bn in Penalties for Madoff Ties
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
13 Jan 2014
The settlements, announced Tuesday [7 Jan 2014], included a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that allows it to avoid criminal charges. No individual executives were accused of wrongdoing. Total fines in the past three years = $28.7bn
→ read full articleSnowden Affair: The Case for a Pardon
Editorial Board – The Guardian,
6 Jan 2014
We hope that calm heads within the present administration are working on a strategy to allow Mr Snowden to return to the US with dignity, and the president to use his executive powers to treat him humanely and in a manner that would be a shining example about the value of whistleblowers and of free speech itself.
→ read full articleNAFTA: 20 Years of Regret for Mexico
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
6 Jan 2014
Mexico’s growth has been weak since the ‘free trade’ deal was signed, and it missed out on the region’s poverty reduction. It was 20 years ago that the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico was implemented.
→ read full articleNSA ‘Hacking Unit’ Infiltrates Computers around the World – Report
Joanna Walters – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Details of how the division, known as Tailored Access Operations (TAO), steals data and inserts invisible “back door” spying devices into computer systems were published by the German magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday [29 Dec 2013]. • NSA: TAO a ‘unique national asset.’
→ read full articleI Worked on the US Drone Program. The Public Should Know What Really Goes On
Heather Linebaugh – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn’t).
→ read full articleThe People Who Challenged My Atheism Most Weren’t Priests, but Homeless Addicts and Prostitutes
Chris Arnade – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
I’ve been reminded that life is not as rational as Richard Dawkins sees it. Perhaps atheism is an intellectual luxury for the wealthy.
→ read full articleEnigma Codebreaker Alan Turing Receives Royal Pardon
Caroline Davies – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life after undergoing chemical castration following a conviction for homosexual activity, has been granted a posthumous royal pardon 59 years after his death.
→ read full articleInternet Privacy As Important As Human Rights, Says UN’s Navi Pillay
Haroon Siddique – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has compared the uproar in the international community caused by revelations of mass surveillance with the collective response that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa.
→ read full articleAlan Turing’s Pardon Is Wrong
Ally Fogg – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
To single out Turing is to say all the other persecuted gay men are not so deserving of justice because they were less exceptional.
→ read full articleWho Can Halt the Crisis in South Sudan?
Alex Vines – The Guardian,
30 Dec 2013
The world’s youngest state is heading towards civil war, but there’s little that outsiders can do.
→ read full articleBrazil Salutes Chico Mendes 25 Years after His Murder
Jan Rocha and Jonathan Watts – The Guardian,
23 Dec 2013
That Dec. 22 murder, far from killing off the forest conservation campaign, has boosted its profile throughout the country and across the world, influencing a generation of conservationists and policymakers. Mendes is now a symbol of the global environment movement.
→ read full articleMajor US Academic Body Backs Boycott of Israeli Educational Institutions
Harriet Sherwood – The Guardian,
23 Dec 2013
A prestigious US academic body has joined a growing movement to boycott Israel in protest at its treatment of Palestinians, in a move both welcomed and condemned in a bitterly divisive international arena.
→ read full articleACT Gay Marriage Law Is Ruled Invalid by High Court of Australia
Daniel Hurst – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
Judges rule same-sex marriage law could not sit concurrently with the federal Marriage Act and therefore ‘is of no effect’.
→ read full articleCanada to Claim North Pole as Its Own
Associated Press in Toronto – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
UN submission will seek to redefine Canada’s continental shelf to capture more Arctic oil and gas resources.
→ read full articleSpy Agencies in Covert Push to Infiltrate Virtual World of Online Gaming
James Ball – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
NSA and GCHQ collect gamers’ chats and deploy real-life agents into World of Warcraft and Second Life.
→ read full articleLloyds Banking Group Fined Record £28m in New Mis-Selling Scandal
Jill Treanor and Jennifer Rankin – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
Pressure on staff to get ‘a grand in your hand’ or face demotion led to bonus-induced selling frenzy, FCA says.
→ read full articleOpen Letter to Intelligence Employees after Snowden
Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Peter Kofod, Ray McGovern, Jesselyn Radack, Coleen Rowley – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
By Former Whistleblowers – Blowing the whistle on powerful factions is not a fun thing to do, but it is the last avenue for truth, balanced debate and democracy. There IS strength in numbers. Courage is contagious.
→ read full articleJP Morgan Facing $2bn Fine for Involvement in Madoff Ponzi Scheme
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the US, is facing another multi-billion dollar fine, this time deriving from its involvement with notorious Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernard Madoff.
→ read full articleIndian LGBT Activists Outraged as Supreme Court Reinstates Gay Sex Ban
Jason Burke – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
First there was surprise, then shock, then anger. By nightfall thousands across India had taken to the streets in spontaneous protests against an unexpected supreme court decision on Wednesday [11 Dec 2013] reversing a judgment that had decriminalised gay sex in the country.
→ read full articleHow Journals like Nature, Cell and Science Are Damaging Science
Randy Schekman, 2013 Medicine Nobel Laureate – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
The incentives offered by top journals distort science, just as big bonuses distort banking. I am a scientist. Mine is a professional world that achieves great things for humanity. But it is disfigured by inappropriate incentives. The prevailing structures of personal reputation and career advancement mean the biggest rewards often follow the flashiest work, not the best.
→ read full articleUruguay’s President José Mujica: No Palace, No Motorcade, No Frills
Jonathan Watts – The Guardian,
16 Dec 2013
The 78-year-old ‘world’s poorest president’ is a former member of the Tupamaros, notorious in the 1970s for bank robberies, kidnappings and distributing stolen food and money among the poor. He was shot by police six times and spent 14 years in a military prison, much of it in dungeon-like conditions.
→ read full articleApple, Google, Microsoft and More Demand Sweeping Changes to US Surveillance Laws
Dan Roberts and Jemima Kiss – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
AOL, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple and LinkedIn to call for reforms to restore the public’s trust in the internet.
→ read full articleMandela: Never Forget How the Free World’s Leaders Learned to Change Their Tune
Chris McGreal – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
Among those eulogising Mandela are people who once damned him as a terrorist and supported apartheid.
→ read full articleEdward Snowden Revelations Prompt UN Investigation into Surveillance
Nick Hopkins and Matthew Taylor – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
The UN’s senior counter-terrorism official is to launch an investigation into the surveillance powers of American and British intelligence agencies following Edward Snowden’s revelations that they are using secret programmes to store and analyse billions of emails, phone calls and text messages.
→ read full articleIt’s Outrageous to Accuse the Guardian of Aiding Terrorism by Publishing Snowden’s Revelations
Ben Emmerson – The Guardian,
9 Dec 2013
The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, is due to appear before the House of Commons on Tuesday [3 Dec 2013]. Unlike the directors of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, who gave evidence recently, Rusbridger will not be provided with a list of questions in advance.
→ read full articleWhy Is Sweden Closing Its Prisons?
Erwin James – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
Sweden’s prison population has dropped so dramatically that the country plans to close four of its prisons. What lessons can the UK learn?
→ read full articleIs Bitcoin about to Change the World?
Alex Hern – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
If you want to buy drugs or guns anonymously online, virtual currency Bitcoin is better than hard cash. Canny speculators have been hoarding it like digital gold. Now the world’s leading bankers are even talking about as a rival for real money. How does it work, where can you get it and is it the future?
→ read full articleCanada Let NSA Spy on G20 Summit, Says Report
Reuters in Ottawa - The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
Canada allowed the US National Security Agency to conduct widespread surveillance during the 2010 Group of 20 summit in Toronto, according to a media report that cited documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
→ read full article[Nobel Peace Laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi Is Turning a Blind Eye to Human Rights in the Name of Politics
Emanuel Stoakes – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
The Burmese politician’s visit to Australia will spark praise from politicians – an unhelpful distraction from the extremely serious abuses taking place against Muslims in her homeland.
→ read full articleRevealed: Australian Spy Agency Offered to Share Data about Ordinary Citizens
Ewen MacAskill, James Ball and Katharine Murphy – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
2 Dec 2013 – Australia’s surveillance agency offered to share information collected about ordinary Australian citizens with its major intelligence partners, according to a secret 2008 document leaked by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden. The document shows the partners discussing whether or not to share “medical, legal or religious information”.
→ read full articleUN Advances Surveillance Resolution Reaffirming ‘Human Right to Privacy’
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
The United Nations moved a step closer to calling for an end to excessive surveillance on Tuesday [26 Nov 2013] in a resolution co-sponsored by Brazil and Germany after leaked documents from Edward Snowden revealed that the agency had spied on their political leaders.
→ read full articleThe War on Democracy
Nafeez Ahmed – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
A stunning new report compiles extensive evidence showing how some of the world’s largest corporations have partnered with private intelligence firms and government intelligence agencies to spy on activist and nonprofit groups. Environmental activism is a prominent though not exclusive focus of these activities.
→ read full articleBritons Protest over Israel Plan to Remove 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins
Harriet Sherwood – The Guardian,
2 Dec 2013
29 Nov 2013 – More than 50 public figures in Britain, including high-profile artists, musicians and writers, have put their names to a letter opposing an Israeli plan to forcibly remove up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their historic desert land – an act condemned by critics as ethnic cleansing.
→ read full articlePrivate Firms Selling Mass Surveillance Systems around World, Documents Show
Nick Hopkins and Matthew Taylor – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
One Dubai-based firm offers DIY system similar to GCHQ’s Tempora programme, which taps fibre-optic cables. Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that “off the shelf” equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls, according to a cache of documents published on Monday [18 Nov 2013].
→ read full articleAldous Huxley: The Prophet of Our Brave New Digital Dystopia
John Naughton – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
We failed to notice that our runaway infatuation with the sleek toys produced by the likes of Apple and Samsung – allied to our apparently insatiable appetite for Facebook, Google and other companies that provide us with “free” services in exchange for the intimate details of our daily lives – might well turn out to be as powerful a narcotic as soma was for the inhabitants of Brave New World.
→ read full articleUS and UK Struck Secret Deal to Allow NSA to ‘Unmask’ Britons’ Personal Data
James Ball – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
• 2007 deal allows NSA to store previously restricted material
• UK citizens not suspected of wrongdoing caught up in dragnet
• Separate draft memo proposes US spying on ‘Five-Eyes’ allies
The Bloody Disaster of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan Is Laid Bare
Simon Jenkins – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
Bombs and militia violence make clear the folly of Britain’s wars – the removal of law and order from a nation is devastating.
→ read full article‘Syria Is Not a Revolution Any More – This Is Civil War’
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports from Turkey and Syria – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
Rivalry between rebels and Islamists has replaced the uprising’s lofty ideals, leaving veteran commanders despairing. The goals of the first war – freedom, Islam, social equality of some sort – were replaced by betrayal, defeat and anger towards rival militias, jihadis and foreign powers fighting in Syria.
→ read full articleThe Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty Is the Complete Opposite of ‘Free Trade’
Mark Weisbrot – The Guardian,
25 Nov 2013
The TPP would strip our constitutional rights, while offering no gains for the majority of Americans. It’s a win for corporations.
→ read full articleFBI Warns That Anonymous Has Hacked US Government Sites for a Year
The Guardian – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Nov 2013
The news comes a day after an Anonymous activist received a 10-year sentence for his role in releasing thousands of emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor. On Friday [15 Nov 2013] Jeremy Hammond told a Manhattan court he had been directed by an FBI informant to break into the official websites of several governments around the world.
→ read full articleQatar 2022 World Cup Workers ‘Treated Like Cattle’, Amnesty Report Finds
Owen Gibson – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
A damning Amnesty report has raised fresh fears about the exploitation of the migrant workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, amid a rising toll of death, disease and misery. The report – published a week after Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, met the country’s emir and declared Qatar was “on the right track” in dealing with workers’ rights.
→ read full articleThanks to WikiLeaks, We See Just How Bad TPP Trade Deal Is for Regular People
Dan Gillmor – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you’ll like it. It’s made for corporate intellectual property and profits.
→ read full articleSweden Closes Four Prisons as Number of Inmates Plummets
Richard Orange – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences.
→ read full articleWikiLeaks Publishes Secret Draft Chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership
Alex Hern and Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
18 Nov 2013
Treaty negotiated in secret between 12 nations ‘would trample over individual rights and free expression’, says Julian Assange. 13 Nov 2013 – WikiLeaks has released the draft text of a chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a multilateral free-trade treaty currently being negotiated in secret by 12 Pacific Rim nations.
→ read full articleTim Berners-Lee: Encryption Cracking by Spy Agencies ‘Appalling and Foolish’
Ed Pilkington – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who created the world wide web, has called for a “full and frank public debate” over internet surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ, warning that the system of checks and balances to oversee the agencies has failed. As the inventor of the Internet he is uniquely qualified to comment on the internet spying revealed by Edward Snowden.
→ read full articleRussell Brand: We Deserve More from Our Democratic System
Russell Brand – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
Following his appearance on Newsnight, the comedian explains why he believes there are alternatives to our current regime.
→ read full articleIn the Lucky Country of Australia Apartheid Is Alive and Kicking
John Pilger – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
The richest land on Earth writes Aboriginal people out of history and pushes them to the margins. Like South Africa 30 years ago.
→ read full articleTo Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement Is Not Anti-Semitic: [TMS Advisor Taken to Court]
Antony Loewenstein – The Guardian,
11 Nov 2013
To speak in favour of the BDS movement is not antisemitic – and yet The Australian newspaper has been quick to draw a parallel between the two. Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, an Israel-based organization, is currently taking [TMS Advisor and TRANSCEND Member] Prof. Jake Lynch, head of Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, to the Australian federal court.
→ read full articleGCHQ and European Spy Agencies Worked Together on Mass Surveillance
Julian Borger – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
The German, French, Spanish and Swedish intelligence services have all developed methods of mass surveillance of internet and phone traffic over the past five years in close partnership with Britain’s GCHQ eavesdropping agency.
→ read full articleOn Leaving the Guardian
Glenn Greenwald – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
As many of you know, I’m leaving the Guardian in order to work with Pierre Omidyar, Laura Poitras, Jeremy Scahill and soon-to-be-identified others on building a new media organization. We do not yet have an exact launch date for the new outlet, but rest assured: I’m not going to disappear for months or anything like that. The new site will be up and running reasonably soon.
→ read full articleDavid Cameron Makes Veiled Threat to Media over NSA and GCHQ Leaks
Nicholas Watt – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
David Cameron has called on the Guardian and other newspapers to show “social responsibility” in the reporting of the leaked NSA files to avoid high court injunctions or the use of D notices to prevent the publication of information that could damage national security.
→ read full articleMan Buys $27 of Bitcoin, Forgets about Them, Finds They’re Now Worth $886k
Samuel Gibbs – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Bought in 2009, currency’s rise in value saw small investment turn into enough to buy an apartment in a wealthy area of Oslo.
→ read full articleReports That NSA Taps into Google and Yahoo Data Hubs Infuriate Tech Giants
Dominic Rushe, Spencer Ackerman and James Ball – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Google and Yahoo, two of the world’s biggest tech companies, reacted angrily to a report on Wednesday [30 Oct 2013] that the National Security Agency has secretly intercepted the main communication links that carry their users’ data around the world.
→ read full articleHow Economic Growth Has Become Anti-Life
Vandana Shiva – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
An obsession with growth has eclipsed our concern for sustainability, justice and human dignity. But people are not disposable – the value of life lies outside economic development.
→ read full articleCIA Made Doctors Torture Suspected Terrorists after 9/11, Taskforce Finds
Sarah Boseley- The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Doctors and psychologists working for the US military violated the ethical codes of their profession under instruction from the defence department and the CIA to become involved in the torture and degrading treatment of suspected terrorists, an investigation has concluded.
→ read full articleReport Calls for Female Genital Mutilation to Be Treated as Child Abuse
Conal Urquhart – The Guardian,
4 Nov 2013
Coalition of health professionals recommends aggressive steps to eradicate the practice in the UK.
→ read full articleSpain Summons US Ambassador over Claim NSA Tracked 60m Calls a Month
Paul Hamilos – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
28 Oct 2013 – The Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has summoned the US ambassador to explain the latest revelations by Edward Snowden, which suggest the National Security Agency tracked more than 60m phone calls in Spain in the space of a month.
→ read full articleThe US Should Pay Its UNESCO Dues
Nigel Cameron – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
The US refuses to pay up because of Palestinian membership in Unesco. It’s a horribly misguided approach.
→ read full articleUS CEOs Break Pay Record as Top 10 Earners Take Home At Least $100m Each
Dominic Rushe – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
For the first time ever, the 10 highest-paid chief executives in the US received more than $100m in compensation last year, and two took home billion-dollar paychecks, according to a leading annual survey of executive pay.
→ read full articleGermany Summons US Ambassador Over Claim NSA Bugged Merkel’s Phone
Philip Oltermann – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
24 Oct 2013 – Allegations that US spying has reached highest level of government met with outrage and disappointment in Germany. Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has called the US ambassador to a personal meeting to discuss allegations that US secret services bugged Angela Merkel’s mobile phone.
→ read full articleIran Gives Russia Copy of US ScanEagle Drone as Proof of Mass Production
Saeed Kamali Dehghan – The Guardian,
28 Oct 2013
Iran has given Russia a copy of a US spy drone as proof that its elite forces have reverse-engineered and mass produced the American unmanned aerial vehicle they claim to have captured a year ago.
→ read full article