{!hitembed ID=”hitembed_1″ width=”350″ height=”197″ align=”right” !}
Greetings!
International Developments
? “A string of nearly a dozen apparently coordinated bombs . . . in cities across Iraq killed at least 32 and wounded dozens”.
? Syria top item at the G8 meetings. US President Obama and Russian President Putin appeared ‘tense’ after their two-hour meeting.
? “Russia . . . will not permit no-fly zones . . . over Syria”.
? “Pew Poll: 70 Percent [of US adults] Oppose Providing Arms To Syrian Rebels.”
? Boris Johnson, London mayor: “Don’t arm the Syria maniacs.”
? Outgoing Iranian President “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad summoned to criminal court.”
? Turkey’s “Public Workers’ Unions . . . and . . . Progressive Trade Unions . . . are demanding an end to ‘police violence'” and called for a one-day strike. Update: “Turkish government says it may use army to end protests.”
International Finance
? “Greek court suspends ERT [state] broadcaster closure.”
? “The IOR [Institute for Religious Works, or Vatican Bank for short] is currently seeking recognition from the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering committee . . . that it is fully compliant with international standards on combating money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing”, which it hasn’t been for some time.
? “Plans for an ambitious transatlantic trade deal have been launched by the European Union and the United States.”
? “Chevron . . . has a new tool to dismantle a $19 billion judgment it faces in Ecuador”. Ecuador accuses Chevon’s predecessor, Texaco, of oil contamination in Lago Agrio. Chevron blames Ecuador’s Petroecuador.
Money Matters USA
? “[O]wners of 7-Eleven franchises in New York and Virginia created a ‘modern day plantation system’ in which undocumented workers were furnished with stolen identities and forced to work 100 hours a week for a fraction of their wages”.
Surveillance Planet
? Turkey, South Africa and Russia are po’d about UK spying during the 2009 G20 summit in London.
? 40% of Britons polled said whistleblower Edward Snowden is a hero; 45% said he “should be reprimanded”.
? A “trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers” say “Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed.” Video.
? James Clapper’s office said that it “is incorrect” to say that “a single analyst can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization”, as Edward Snowden claimed. Update: Snowden addressed that issue earlier today.
? Emptywheel digs in on CNET’s reporting that NSA “has acknowledged . . . that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls”, and on James Clapper’s assertion that “NSA doesn’t wittingly ‘collect’ data” on millions of us.
? While the government snoops on us, some in the government “have used alternative [secret] e-mail accounts . . . to conduct federal business” so we can’t know what they’re doing.
? How Uncle Sugar dispenses goodies to contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton. Much $ data, including the amount returned in the form of “lobbying” the Congress which bestowed so much.
? “Apple Inc., said it received 4,000 to 5,000 requests for customer data from U.S. officials during the six months ending in May”.
? “‘Quit Google, Facebook’ suggests tech expert as surveillance scandal deepens.”
