Friday, January 31, 2014

The inside story of Tor, the best anonymity software the government ever built...

Last year, Edward Snowden turned over to the Guardian, a British newspaper, some 58,000 classified U.S. government documents. Just a fraction of the files have been made public, but they outline the National Security Agency’s massive information-collection system. They’ve thrown light onto the methods of an arm of the government used to working in the shadows and started an intense debate over national security and personal liberty. One of the earliest and most explosive revelations was the existence of Prism, a top-secret program giving the NSA direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, and other U.S. Internet companies.

Snowden himself remains something of a mystery even as the U.S. government attempts to obtain his return from Russia, where he’s in hiding, and very possibly jail him for the rest of his life. As an infrastructure analyst for the NSA, he came to understand at a high level how information moves around the Internet. Snowden almost certainly relied on one very specific and powerful tool to cover his tracks. In photographs he’s often with his laptop, and on the cover of his computer, a sticker shows a purple and white onion: the “o” in the word “Tor.”

Tor, an acronym for “the onion router,” is software that provides the closest thing to anonymity on the Internet. Engineered by the Tor Project, a nonprofit group, and offered free of charge, Tor has been adopted by both agitators for liberty and criminals. It sends chat messages, Google (GOOG) searches, purchase orders, or e-mails on a winding path through multiple computers, concealing activities as the layers of an onion cover its core, encrypting the source at each step to hide where one is and where one wants to go. Some 5,000 computers around the world, volunteered by their owners, serve as potential hop points in the path, obscuring requests for a new page or chat. Tor Project calls these points relays. Full story...

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Leading Sri Lanka into the abyss...

Another diplomatic battle has erupted against the glorification of the lawless and authoritarian regime in Sri Lanka. We understand that this panoptic regime’s political existence depends on plundering, not only the wealth of the nation, but also the personnel liberties of the people from top to bottom. As Frederic Bastiat said, “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

It was three days ago, that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who had the fortune to become the country’s Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, (purely because his brother became the President) said that the US has no right to meditate to solve the problems in this country. He said that while continuing to deny that weapons were given to the government sponsored paramilitaries which recruited thousands of child soldiers during the Civil War.

Telling to the United States to avert its eyes from the problems in Sri Lanka is laughable and pathetic, but is still understandable. On the one hand, the US is a large global power, has a far worse reputation, and regularly makes articulated arguments to undermine the rights of other countries. They gloss over their own problems while engaging in hypocritical diplomacy. This has been the case, not only from the day they started waging wars all around the world, but even in more recent times, such as their intervention in Libya, without even the consent of their own congress, as well as engaging another similar kind of drama in Syria, showing that the US is more than willing to compromise its claimed ideals in order to secure their strategic interests. Full story...

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Attention fliers: Canada’s electronic spy agency is following you - new Snowden leaks...

Documents released by US whistleblower Edward Snowden show the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) used airport Wi-Fi to track passengers from around the world.

Travelers passing through a major Canadian airport were potentially caught up in a vast electronic surveillance net, which allowed the nation’s electronic spy agency to track the wireless devices of thousands of airline passengers - even for days after they had departed the terminal, a document obtained by CBC News revealed.

The document shows the spy agency was then able to track travelers for a week or more as the unwitting passengers, together with their wireless devices, visited other Wi-Fi "hot spots" in locations across Canada, and across the border at American airports.

The CBS report said any place that offered Wi-Fi internet access, including "airports, hotels, coffee shops and restaurants, libraries, ground transportation hubs" was vulnerable to the surveillance operation.

After reviewing details of the leaked information, one of Canada's leading authorities on internet security says the secret operation was almost certainly illegal.

"I can't see any circumstance in which this would not be unlawful, under current Canadian law, under our Charter, under CSEC's mandates," Professor Ronald Deibert, an internet security expert at the University of Toronto, told CBC News. Full story...

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Three German women die in 'online suicide pact'

The bodies of three women were found in a wood cabin at a beauty spot in western Germany on Wednesday afternoon. They are believed to have met on a social networking site before heading to a lake.

Police found the bodies in a log cabin at a campsite by Edersee, Hesse, and are treating the case as a suicide pact.

No evidence has been found of foul play and the women left three suicide notes.

Evidence suggests the women met and arranged the trip via a social networking site, according to a police statement. It is unclear whether they knew one another before that.

 One of the women, a 49-year-old from Frankfurt an der Oder, had rented the cabin for three people, for two nights, on Monday. Full story...

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We are from Lausanne...

Charges dropped against Ribéry, Benzema...

A Paris court on Thursday dropped the case against French footballers Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery, who had been accused of having sex with an underage prostitute.

The court also dropped the case against Ribery's brother-in-law, but handed down sentences ranging from three months suspended to one year plus an extra year suspended to five others accused of pimping.

The decision comes after a prosecutor in Paris had called for the case against French football stars Ribéry and Benzema to be dropped "pure and simple".

Jean-Julien Xavier-Rolai explained to the court in the French capital that it was impossible for the prosecution to prove that the two footballers knew that Zahia Dehar was under the age of 18 when they allegedly paid for sex with her.

Although the age of consent is 15 in France, paying for sex with anyone under 18 is a crime but Dehar, who later gained fame as a lingerie model and designer, had lied about her age. Full story...

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Why the rich are freaking out...

The co-founder of one the nation’s oldest venture capital firms fears a possible genocide against the wealthy. Residents of Manhattan’s tony Upper East Side say the progressive mayor didn’t plow their streets as a form of frosty revenge. And the co-founder of Home Depot recently warned the Pope to pipe down about economic inequality.

The nation’s wealthiest, denizens of the loftiest slice of the 1 percent, appear to be having a collective meltdown.

Economists, advisers to the wealthy and the wealthy themselves describe a deep-seated anxiety that the national — and even global — mood is turning against the super-rich in ways that ultimately could prove dangerous and hard to control.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats have pivoted to income inequality ahead of the midterm elections. Pope Francis has strongly warned against the dangers of wealth concentration. And all of this follows the rise of the Occupy movement in 2011 and a bout of bank-bashing populism in the tea party.

The collective result, according to one member of the 1 percent, is a fear that the rich are in deep, deep trouble. Maybe not today but soon.

“You have a bunch of people who see conspiracies everywhere and believe that this inequality issue will quickly turn into serious class warfare,” said this person, who asked not to be identified by name so as not to anger any wealthy friends. “They don’t believe inequality is bad and believe the only way to deal with it is to allow entrepreneurs to have even fewer shackles.”

And so the rich are lashing out. Full story...

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Ethnic ceansing of the Rohingya people: Genocide in Myanmar?

Few days back, I read about yet another vicious attack on Myanmar’s helpless and persecuted Rohingya minority. This time, the venue was Du Chee Ya Tan village in the Rakhine state, which lies pretty close to Bangladesh. Just in case you are thinking that the rioters shamelessly justified their misdeeds by claiming that the victims were illegal Bengalis trying to sneak into Myanmar — yeah, you’re right.

For the past many years, nothing new has happened in Myanmar. Each time, it is the same old story: angry Buddhist mobs attack the Rohingya masses (the latter being in minority). Thereafter, the carnage follows: kill, rape, loot, massacre, and so on. This time, news sources claim that members of the Rohingya community had dared to protest against the atrocities after certain local Rakhine officials had kidnapped, raped and killed eight Rohingya women last week. Needless to say, the protesters were rewarded with brutal acts of slaughter.

To make matters worse, each time there is an attack on the Rohingya community, the Burmese riot police and army are present in the vicinity of the area, but they choose to act as mute spectators.

Of course, the state media claims that nothing big happened, and there were hardly any noticeable instances of violence. United Nations has not described the Rohingya as “friendless” for no reason, after all. Full story...

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China's Sina Weibo is in danger of becoming boring - just how the authorities want it...

It's easy to be glib about social media. Page upon page of selfies, pleas for attention from celebrities, misogynist trolls and angels-on-pinhead arguments.

But as the Telegraph's research shows, the Chinese authorities take the web very seriously indeed.

Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, is a huge platform, with over 200 million users. And for a while, it functioned freely, or as freely as anything does in China. It was, of course, monitored, and thousands of people were employed to post pro-government opinions and stories on the network.

 But the old-style censorship didn't seem to be working as well as it should. Partly because it was just too obvious. In March 2012, rumours spread that the son of a Communist Party Official had been involved in a fatal crash while driving his Ferrari. As people discussed the story, they suddenly found that the word Ferrari had been blocked. For many, this made it clear that someone powerful had something to hide, and people openly wrote about their frustration with the system. Full story...

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Scarlett Johansson quits Oxfam role over SodaStream row...

Scarlett Johansson has ended her relationship with Oxfam after receiving criticism for her support of SodaStream, which has a factory in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

The actress's spokesman said the 29-year-old, who was an ambassador for the charity, has "a fundamental difference of opinion" with the humanitarian group which opposes all trade from Israeli settlements.

Oxfam says the settlements are illegal and deny Palestinian rights.

"Scarlett Johansson has respectfully decided to end her ambassador role with Oxfam after eight years," a statement from the actress said.

"She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. She is very proud of her accomplishments and fundraising efforts during her tenure with Oxfam."

 Oxfam said it accepted Johansson's resignation and that it is "grateful for her many contributions". Full story...

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Self-taught African teen became youngest person to be invited to M.I.T.

Slaughtered in their thousands, the British babies killed in the womb just for being girls...

From a terrace house near London's Olympic Stadium, a mother whispers her secret down the phone to me. She is speaking fast because she is afraid someone will come in before she has told me the shocking story of how she killed her unborn baby after an NHS hospital pregnancy scan revealed she was expecting a girl.

'I went to a private abortion clinic and lied that I could not cope with the baby because I was so young,' says 33-year-old Asha, a former bank clerk.

'I was panicking that I was going to have a girl because I knew my family wanted a boy. I was worried about her future growing up in my community that is still deeply hostile to girls. She would have to fight prejudice all her life, as I have done.'

Listening to her words, it is hard to believe they are being spoken by a British-born mother in the sophisticated capital of a modern, first-world country, where women have enjoyed the same voting rights as men since 1928.

Yet Asha, a Sikh whose parents came here from the Punjab, is telling me about a practice campaigners fear is worryingly common among some families living here originally from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It has been discovered that the selective abortion of female foetuses (often with the unwitting connivance of the NHS) has provoked significant shifts in the natural sex-ratio of these migrant communities in favour of boys. Up to 4,700 unborn girls are estimated to have been deliberately aborted, following an analysis of the 2011 national census figures which revealed that in some areas of Britain, the proportion of boys born compared to girls is much higher than the natural rate. Full story...

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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Abusing maids is Hong Kong's shame...

What happened in Hong Kong to Erwiana Sulistyaningsih would likely never happen to a Filipina domestic helper today. After decades of jousting with abusive employers and corrupt employment agencies, Filipinas have learned their rights and established protective agencies. Indonesians and the other ethnic groups that have followed Filipinas to Hong Kong are not there yet.

The 23-year-old Indonesian fled back to her country bruised and battered after enduring months of violent abuse at the hands of her employer. She had arrived fresh from her village in Central Java, obviously without having been informed of what she should expect from her local employer; nor did she seem aware of any organization that could help in times of distress.

This kind of treatment, an open secret among maids, merits calling the Erwiana case “Hong Kong’s Shame.”

The importation of Filipina women began in the late 1970s when Hong Kong residents felt the need to have servants in their households. This was easily accomplished because the Philippines is just a two-hour flight from the territory. Furthermore, employers found it convenient that the women understood and spoke English (thanks to the Americans who’d colonized their forebears).

Over the decades the trickle of Filipinas grew into a flood, so that by the mid-1990s the yearly South China Morning Post survey of foreign inhabitants in the city showed Filipino citizens topping the list at over 200,000. Full story...

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Sri Lanka: Christians protest after attacks by Buddhist extremists...

More than 2,000 Christians gathered in Colombo on Sunday to protest against a perceived lack of religious freedom in Sri Lanka, following recent attacks on Christian places of worship by Buddhist extremists.

Two churches and a Christian prayer centre were attacked on Jan. 12 by Buddhist mobs claiming they were illegal and aiming to take Buddhists away from their religion.

The prayer centre, belonging to the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Pitipana, near Colombo, was set alight on the same day as attacks on the Assemblies of God Church and Calvary Free Church in the southern coastal town of Hikkaduwa.

The fire was quelled in Pitipana before the centre was completely destroyed. Release International reported that a note was left outside the building, threatening further violence. Both churches in Hikkaduwa suffered extensive damage, with windows and furniture smashed and Bibles burned.

The Assemblies of God Church had been one of three churches attacked on Christmas Eve and had been warned on Jan. 11 of the threat of a new attack. Several policemen were stationed outside the church on Jan. 12, but they failed to prevent a mob of around 250 people breaking through the gates of the church, as captured by this video on Derana TV. Full story...

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Angela Merkel rebukes US and UK over spying...

"You're sending the wrong signal to billions of people living in undemocratic states"

Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a strong rebuke to the United States and Britain on Wednesday over sweeping surveillance and spying activities reported by fugitive IT contractor Edward Snowden.

In a major speech to parliament ahead of talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, Merkel said that Western powers sacrificing freedom in the quest for security were sending the wrong signal to "billions of people living in undemocratic states".

"Actions in which the ends justify the means, in which everything that is technically possible is done, violate trust, they sow distrust," she said. "The end result is not more security but less."

Merkel, whose own mobile phone was allegedly monitored by the US National Security Agency (NSA), is planning to travel to Washington in coming months for talks with President Barack Obama. Full story...

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12 reasons to avoid any kind of soya...

Soy has become a major source of toxicity for human beings, especially in the last three decades. Not only is more than 99% of soy genetically modified, but sources labeled organic or non-GMO are often exposed to the same problems as conventional soy. If you consume processed foods, soy is almost impossible to avoid. With the exception of wheat, there are few foods that are causing as many health problems as soy in the food supply. Here are 12 reasons to avoid any kind of soy.

1. Soy Reduces Assimilation of Minerals

Phytic acid is present in the bran or hulls of all seeds and when we compare the phytate of soy to many other types of beans and nuts, the percent mass is not that far off, but that’s not the problem. The problem is how much we are consuming. Most people stuck on the soy bandwagon are consuming far more phytate by the sheer volume through mass consumption of things like soy milk, tofu, cereals, and processed foods. It doesn’t even compare to the amount they would consume through seeds and nuts. The effect of phytic acid on iron absorption has been thoroughly studied. As evident in a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, as phytic acid increases, it has a diminishing impact on iron while inhibiting its absorption. This applies to almost every major mineral including zinc–one of the most important minerals for the human body. Two billion people may now have zinc deficiency. Phytates bind to zinc and thereby decrease its bioavailability. Phytic acid levels in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc.

2. Soy Causes Growth Problems and Even Cancer In Children

The phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. Consequently these high phytate diets have caused growth problems in children. Combined with the presence of both phytoestrogens and arsenic, soy-based formulas are a disease promoting ticking time bomb for infants. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal The Prostate, revealed that humans exposed to a combination of both toxicants were almost twice as likely to develop cancerous cells in their prostate. While it is established that both arsenic and estrogen can cause cancer, the research raises concerns about the dangers of chemicals in combination, and the efficacy of regulations that are established by testing one chemical at a time. True cancer of the prostate, carcinoma, is seldom seen in infants and children, but other forms of malignant tumors may develop and more cases are appearing in developed nations where the link appears to center around soy infant formula. While many claims have been made about the health benefits of these estrogen-like compounds, animal studies indicate that soy (both conventional and organic) contain powerful endocrine disruptors that alter growth patterns and cause sterility. Soy formula is also laden with toxic chemicals such as aluminum and manganese, which can cause both physical and mental health problems, learning disabilities, brain damage, and behavioral problems. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the highly concentrated phytoestrogens in soy formula weaken the immune systems of babies. Toxicologists estimate that an infant exclusively fed soy formula receives the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Full story...

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Buttloads of Pain: Ass injections gone wrong...

Katy Perry: Illuminati priestess conducts witchcraft ceremony in front of the entire world...

Did you see Katy Perry’s performance at the Grammys? It was essentially an Illuminati-themed occult ritual. Various media reports say that Perry “dressed up as a witch”, and her performance included a Knights Templar cross emblazoned across her chest, a beast with Moloch horns, dancers in dark robes with devil horns protruding from their heads, and pole dancing with a broom. At the end of the “ceremony”, Perry was “burned at the stake” as the song ended. All of this hardcore occult symbolism did not get into her performance by accident. The attention to detail that this performance exhibited shows that someone put a lot of thought and effort into it. So was Perry actually kidding when she said that she had “sold my soul to the devil” during a television interview a few years ago? The kind of stuff that Perry is doing now is not for amateurs. She is either working with someone who is deep into the occult or she is deep into it herself. And of course the elite absolutely love this stuff. Even if you don’t believe in “occult rituals” or “Illuminati symbolism”, it is important to remember that the elite do. In fact, many of them are completely obsessed with this stuff. And they are more than happy to promote any performer that embraces their world. That is why we see this stuff pop up in high profile public performances time after time after time.

But without a doubt, Kary Perry has taken things to an entirely new level. A YouTube video that contains footage of her entire performance is posted below. However, it should be noted that this is not appropriate for children to watch, so please use discretion…Full story...

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Infinite arrogance, infinite incompetence...

(...)

Nothing works, government-wise. Ponder health care, if you can stand it. One approach to keeping people alive and healthy is national health care, which many countries, such as France, have and it works. It’s because grown-ups run it. Or you can have private health care, which the US had and, though it was way overpriced and unwieldy, strangled by paperwork and corruption, more or less worked, sort of.So the gummint comes up with Obamacare, that doesn’t work at all. The feds can’t even write the freaking computer program. Yes, here in the world’s greatest technological power. We ought to contract the software to Guatemala, which couldn’t do it either but would cost less.

The War on Drugs, another disaster. A half century, billions of dollars, countless stupid laws, Mexico a war zone. Result? Every drug known to man, woman, or hermaphrodite is for sale at great prices in every high school in America. Another triumph of private enterprise over governmental regulartion. If Washington tried to provide free drugs, it couldn’t come close. No one would be able to get so much as an aspirin.

Race relations. Another charred ruin. Better than a half century into the Great Society, huge numbers of blacks live trapped in urban Bantustans, Newark, Detroit, Birmingham, Philadelphia, barely literate if at all, unemployed and unemployable, bastardy almost universal, utterly dependent on federal charity, without the slightest hope that any of this will change. If Washington had deliberately tried to make a greater mess, it couldn’t have.

Open borders. Another train wreck started, stage-managed, and supported by Washington. The merest glance at the outside world would show that mixing immiscible peoples regularly results in strife, division, decline and, often, civil war. Coming to a theater near you. Merry Christmas. Full story...

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Youngsters check their phones every ten minutes: One in 20 looks at their mobile every minute of the day...

With texting, Twitter and emails consuming so much of a young adult’s time, it’s no wonder the mobile phone is described as their ‘digital umbilical cord’.

Researchers say that people aged 18 to 24 are so addicted to their handsets that they check them every nine minutes and 50 seconds.

The average British man looks at his phone every 22 minutes and 30 seconds while the typical woman looks at hers every 26 minutes and 15 seconds.

And one in 20 in that age group checks their phone every single minute of their waking hours, researchers found.

Those aged 25 to 34 are only slightly less obsessed with their mobiles, looking every nine minutes and 55 seconds, according to a survey of 2,000 people. Full story...

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China's internet vigilantes and the 'human flesh search engine'

On Thursday 21 March 2013, the world changed for Yin Feng, a self-described "average guy" who worked as a part-time taxi driver in the western Chinese city of Urumqi.

Just after 14:00 his mobile phone began ringing off the hook. The callers all berated the bewildered Yin, screaming obscenities and accusing him of acting like an animal.

It took a while for Yin to uncover why the strangers phoning him were so upset.

"Finally, some sensible citizens told me a story about me they heard on the radio, or on the internet," he recalls.

Earlier that day, they told him, a driver in Urumqi had rolled down his window to spit on an elderly homeless person lying on the street. Witnesses recorded the first few digits of the spitter's licence plate. The information was quickly broadcast by a local radio station.

Thousands then banded together online to track down the perpetrator. Full story...

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Thousands protest against government in Sri Lanka...

Thousands of protesters from opposition parties, human rights groups, trade unions and media groups marched Tuesday in Sri Lanka's capital in a rare show of dissent against the government.

They held separate marches in Colombo, shouting slogans which accused authorities of corruption and mismanagement, and later came together for joint rally.

Tissa Attanayake, an opposition lawmaker, said law and order has broken down in the country and the government has politicized judicial institutions.

The demonstrators also protested attacks on journalists who have been critical of the government, holding banners that read "Stop Suppressing Media."

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella rejected the accusations, saying, "This is a democratic country and everyone has the right to demonstrate and protest."

 He said investigations of attacks on journalists were continuing. Full story...

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I go to Brussels to claim £200,000 in allowances, admits UKIP MEP who has done NOTHING in Parliament in the last year...

A UKIP MEP has admitted one of the only reasons he turns up in Brussels is to claim £200,000 in allowances.

Trevor Colman has not done anything in the European Parliament in the last year, and has only taken part in half of votes since 2009.

The South West MEP insisted he could not see the point in making speeches in the Parliament, and instead claimed the taxpayers’ money to fund an anti-EU website.

All MEPs receive a salary of £78,000 but must ‘clock in’ to the Parliament building in order to receive various allowances.

However, Mr Colman has only made speeches or asked questions just 19 times, well behind the average of the five other MEPs in the South West.

Asked whether allowances were a factor influencing his decision, Mr Colman: ‘I wouldn’t say getting the allowances is one of the main motivations, I’m trying to be fair about it, it is a factor, of course it is.’ Full story...

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The "Burmese bin Laden" swears he's a good guy...

The Buddhist monk many people hold responsible for the Myanmar riots that have killed hundreds of Muslims and displaced thousands more is sitting in front of me, calmly sipping a fruit shake. His name is Ashin Wirathu, and he’s telling VICE News that he is entirely dedicated to peaceful coexistence with the Muslim minority he has so often preached against. “I’m educating people not to launch counterattacks [against the Muslims],” he begins, “and preaching to them to live peacefully with people of different faiths.” He takes another sip of shake.

Wirathu has just finished a sermon at the sprawling Masoeyein monastery – home to more than 2,500 monks – he heads in Mandalay, the country's second-largest city. Hundreds of men clad in orange and maroon robes walk the grounds, their occasional chanting reverberating around the small, wood-paneled room that serves as Wirathu's office. Just outside the door, several monks gather to read a large collection of newspapers. Apparently, Ashin Wirathu understands the power of the press.

In fact, when I meet him in late August, he is already well-versed in dealing with the international media. Though supposedly a tough interview to get, nearly every journalist I know who has tried to speak to Wirathu has succeeded. A local fixer, hesitant to promise he could arrange an interview, was able to secure one for VICE News in a single day. As I leave Wirathu’s office and walk past the mass of monks reading the papers, another journalist makes her way inside.

 Though Wirathu often claims that his message is misrepresented in the press, he seems quite pleased both with the attention he has received from the international media, and with the fact that he has become a symbol for Buddhist chauvinism. He even makes frequent jokes about Hannah Beech, the journalist who wrote a June 2013 cover story for Time in which she called Wirathu the “face of Buddhist terror”. He later posted an admonishment that reads kind of like a love letter from a jilted lover. Full story...

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Big Pharma and corporate media team up for pro-vaccine propaganda ...

Every year, flu vaccine propaganda is ramped up by the pharmaceutical industry and its mouthpiece media, which then gives way to a second round (pun intended) of vaccine propaganda pushing toxic vaccinations for a variety of diseases, only then to be followed by the demonization of nutritional supplements. Around mid-January, rinse and repeat – (flu, childhood vaccine, and anti-supplement propaganda).

Thus, at the end of 2013, the American public was met with an onslaught of fear-mongering propaganda predicting flu pandemics and imminent death if vaccination was not immediately sought. We then saw the major propaganda assault regarding the safety and effectiveness of vitamins and minerals by the medical and pharmaceutical industries. Now, in early 2014, we are witnessing another propaganda assault against the “anti-vaccination” movement with claims of increased outbreaks and apocalyptic scenes of sickness.

The latest propaganda push comes not from the medical industry per se, however, but from an organization usually more focused on the spread of globalism, free trade, culture creation, and other domestic/international governmental policies, the Council on Foreign Relations.

Following a volley of cynical assaults on parents and other individuals who have investigated the science, process, and risks of vaccination (or experienced these side effects firsthand), the CFR has created an interactive map of what it has deemed outbreaks of preventable diseases resulting from the anti-vaccination movement. This map was immediately circulated throughout the corporate media, with suggestions not only that non-vaccinators are crazy and irresponsible but that they do not have the freedom to make the choice not to vaccinate. Full story...

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'Millions of French workers' close to burnout...

The French may have a reputation for working as much as they play, but that stereotype is countered by a growing body of evidence that suggests they are slogging away too far too hard.

About 3.2 million French workers, who put an excessive and even compulsive effort into their jobs, are on the verge of burning out, a new study says.

The study from Technologia, a French firm that looks at way to reduce risks to workers, found that farmers, at 23.5 percent, were most prone to excessive work, followed closely at 19.6 percent of business owners and managers.

The all-consuming nature of people’s jobs has left them feeling exhausted, emotionally empty and sometimes physically in pain, Technologia found.

“France’s appearance from the outside can be a bit simplified,” Technologia's head Jean-Claude Delgenes told The Local on Monday. “There is a lot of overtime. Most workers don’t adhere strictly to the 35-hour work week.” Full story...

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Monday, January 27, 2014

Butter is back: Margarine giant admits defeat in the battle of the spreads...

It spent decades in the nutritional wilderness, blamed for heart disease, high cholesterol, and making people fat. But butter is back – and if you don’t believe us, ask the consumer goods colossus Unilever.

Billion-pound brands such as Flora have been at the heart of the Anglo-Dutch giant since its inception nearly a century ago. But the appetite for margarine seems to be melting around the world, forcing Unilever to admit defeat in the war against butter.

Last autumn, the company added butter to one of its spreads for the first time. Last week, Unilever said the move was paying off: although margarine sales were still down during its fourth quarter, shoppers in Germany had “responded positively” to the new-taste, “butter-based” Rama.

And this from a company whose head of foods, Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique, said in 2010, “Some people say it’s bread and butter, but here we say ‘bread and margarine’.”

Where British chefs aren’t making their own butter, they are buying it direct from artisan butter makers such as Abernethy Butter, based in Co Down, Northern Ireland. Full story...

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Watch me eat - an online craze in South Korea...

9 ways that processed foods are slowly killing people...

Processed foods are bad.

They are the main reason why people all over the world are getting fat and sick.

How do we know?

Every time a population adopts a “Western” diet high in processed foods, they get sick.

It happens within a few years. Their genes don’t change, their food does.

The word “processed” often causes some confusion, so let me clarify what I mean.

Obviously, most foods we eat are processed in some way. Apples are cut from trees, ground beef has been ground in a machine and butter is cream that has been separated from the milk and churned.

But there is a difference between mechanical processing and chemical processing. Full story...

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Furious backlash forces HSBC to scrap large cash withdrawal limit...

Following the quiet update that HSBC had decided to withhold large cash withdrawals from some if its clients - demanding to know the purpose of the withdrawal before handing over the customers' money - it appears the anger among the over 60 thousand readers who found out about HSBC's implied capital shortfall just on this website, has forced HSBC's hands.

The bank issued a statement (below) this morning defending their actions - it's for your own good - but rescinding the decision - "following feedback, we are immediately updating guidance to our customer facing staff to reiterate that it is not mandatory for customers to provide documentary evidence for large cash withdrawals." After all the last thing the bank, which over the past few years has been implicated in aiding an abetting terrorists and laundering pretty much anything, wants is an implied capital shortfall to become an all too explicit one.

(...)

Indeed, as one HSBC customer exclaimed, "you shouldn't have to explain to your bank why you want that money. It's not theirs, it's yours." Full story...

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JPMorgan boss rewarded with 74% pay increase despite fraud...

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been rewarded with a 74% pay increase, despite criminal activities by the company he directed that resulted in $20 billion in penalties last year.

The $20 million compensation package for 2013 awarded by the board includes a $1.5 million base salary—unchanged from last year—and "$18.5 million worth of restricted stock that will vest over the next three years as his 2013 bonus," CNNMoney reports.

Dimon received $11.5 million in compensation for 2012, compared to $23 million in 2011, following the "London Whale" bets that cost the company over $6 billion.

In November, the bank inked a widely criticized $13 billion settlement deal with the Justice Department for misrepresenting the quality of mortgages in mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis. Full story...

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Ex-Marlboro man dies from smoking-related disease...

Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s, has died. He was 72.

Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as "Baretta" and "The Streets of San Francisco" when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include "Charlie's Angels," ''Dynasty" and "Baywatch." His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a Western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an "Entertainment Tonight" segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking. Susan said her husband was proud of the interview, even though he was smoking at the time and continued the habit until he was diagnosed with COPD.

"He knew the cigarettes had a hold on him," she said. "He knew, yet he still couldn't stop." Full story...

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NZ School ditches rules - bullying drops and kids pay more attention in class...

Ripping up the playground rulebook is having incredible effects on children at an Auckland school.

Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don't cause bedlam, the principal says.

The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing.

Principal Bruce McLachlan rid the school of playtime rules as part of a successful university experiment.

"We want kids to be safe and to look after them, but we end up wrapping them in cotton wool when in fact they should be able to fall over." Full story...

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Khat power: the latest war on drugs...

The global elite are sleeping inside a golden egg in the Swiss alps...

The newest venue at Davos—the Swiss ski resort where hundreds of heads of state and CEOs are spending the week to discuss business and the state of the global economy—is an architectural bauble with an unusually loud symbolism for the high-level conference: it's a giant fortress chalet in the shape of a golden egg.

Enveloped by 790 gold-colored undulating bands of steel and overlooking Lake Davos, the new Intercontinental Davos is an architectural stunner. "It's like a luxury space ship has landed in this tony town," John Newton of Conde Nast Traveler raved in November, a month ahead of its opening. Designed by the Munich-based firm Oikios and engineer Seele to reflect the feel of a chalet, the 216-room hotel features all the amenities found at Davos's other luxury hotels, but will be the first hotel in town with its own helipad.

It also comes surrounded by barbed wire, security cameras, and motion sensors: during the World Economic Forum, a spokesman told Bloomberg that the hotel will play host to 7 world leaders and dozens of CEOs. Rooms, which are fully booked and normally go for around $720 per night, are likely to command prices multiples higher during the WEF. In a video, a Bloomberg reporter asks the general manager how much the rooms are likely to be. He snaps back, "I can't tell you."

(...)

But the opulence and security at this year's Davos meeting looks especially conspicuous in light of the world's economic woes, highlighted specifically in a new report by Oxfam that details just how unequally distributed is the world's wealth. The richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of $110 trillion, as much as the poorest 3.5 billion of the world's population, according to the new report. Full story...

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Australia, the steroid-soaked neighbourhood bully of the Pacific...

So Nauru, the little island where Australia dumps people seeking asylum, has now forced out its magistrate and chief justice – gravely damaging the rule of law in the process.

The crisis provides a striking confirmation of Australia’s role in the region. It’s a steroid soaked neighbourhood bully drunk with power, casually coward punching the inhabitants of the Pacific.

The fanatical exclusion of refugees necessarily leads to an imitation of the regimes the persecuted are fleeing. If the Sri Lankan government scoffs at Tamil claims of oppression, so, too, does the Australian government – even as it detains Tamils in camps not so dissimilar from those they have fled.

At the same time, the anti-refugee obsession mandates closer Australian ties with authoritarian regimes. For example, to assist the Sri Lankan government in stopping Tamil boats, Tony Abbott offered military hardware to its military. He also undermined the international campaign against Sri Lankan human rights abuses by publicly announcing that, while his government deplores the use of torture, "we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen". Full story...

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Malaysian church attacked amid Allah dispute...

A Malaysian church was attacked with firebombs early Monday, police said, sparking concerns of escalating tensions amid a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims.

Penang state police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi said two men on a motorcycle threw Molotov cocktails into the compound of The Assumption Church. No one was injured.

The attack came after a banner was found hanging outside three Penang churches, including The Assumption, on Sunday. The banner read: "Allah is great, Jesus is the son of Allah." The churches have lodged complaints with police over the banner.

Abdul Rahim was quoted by the online edition of The Star newspaper as saying only one of the firebombs exploded as the other one fell on the grass.

Abdul Rahim couldn't be immediately reached to confirm his comments, but a Penang police officer, who declined to be named as he wasn't authorized to speak to the media, confirmed them. He did not give any further details. Phone calls to the church went unanswered.

The incident in Penang has sparked worries of more widespread religious violence such as in 2010, when more than a dozen churches and other places of worship came under arson attacks and vandalism because of the tussle over the use of Allah. Full story...

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