Saturday 22 June 2013

British spy agency taps cables, shares with U.S. NSA - Guardian

Britain's spy agency GCHQ has tapped fibre-optic cables that carry international phone and internet traffic and is sharing vast quantities of personal information with the U.S. National Security Agency, the Guardian newspaper said on Friday.

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Friday 21 June 2013

China’s big challenge is social, not financial

China may be a long way from its “Minsky moment”. Rising leverage has prompted many to predict the kind of financial meltdown theorised by economist Hyman Minsky. But China’s closed, state-controlled system is well placed to postpone such market panics. The bigger challenge is managing social tensions arising from slowing growth.

Different kind of clubbing back then

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Club Street was named for Chinese clan groups and businessmen’s clubs

Spyware claims emerge in row over Chinese dissident at NYU

When Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States in May last year he was given a fellowship at New York University, use of a Greenwich Village apartment, and a pile of gifts from supporters, including smartphones and an iPad.

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Not act of nature but man-made: NEA chief

The haze triggered by fires raging across Sumatra is not an act of nature, but man-made, National Environment Agency (NEA) chief executive Andrew Tan said yesterday.

Thursday 20 June 2013

Palestinian children tortured, used as shields by Israel - UN

A United Nations human rights body accused Israeli forces on Thursday of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.

Palestinian children in the Gaza and the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, are routinely denied registration of their birth and access to health care, decent schools and clean water, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said.

"Palestinian children arrested by (Israeli) military and police are systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture, are interrogated in Hebrew, a language they did not understand, and sign confessions in Hebrew in order to be released," it said in a report.

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Wednesday 19 June 2013

Officials to get tough on polluters as public anger rises over environmental scandals

Legal interpretation spells out tougher action against polluters in move seen as addressing seething public anger over environmental disasters

Friends fear right-wing connections will hit Chen Guangcheng’s credibility


Friends fear Chen Guangcheng’s credibility will suffer because he has become too politicised

Edward Snowden speaks out on webchat

Edward Snowden uses a webchat to excoriate the Obama administration and Dick Cheney and declare that his message will not be silenced

Snowden vows more disclosures about US surveillance

Defiant and apparently unbowed by threats of prosecution, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden vowed Monday to release more secrets about U.S. intelligence surveillance systems that he described as “nakedly, aggressively criminal.”

Huawei, ZTE see vindication amid US cyber-spying scandal

No Chinese telecoms equipment makers named as co-operating with US surveillance system

New Leak Indicates U.S. and Britain Eavesdropped at ‘09 World Conferences

A new set of classified documents disclosed Sunday suggested that Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has provided a trove of documents to The Guardian newspaper, had obtained a wider range of materials about government surveillance than had been known, including one document revealing how American and British intelligence agencies had eavesdropped on world leaders at conferences in London in 2009.

America’s prying eyes have been focused on China ‘for years’

State media denounce a long-running US campaign of hacking and espionage

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Britain’s spying claims outrage Russia, Turkey and South Africa

Allegations that GCHQ spied on foreign delegates embarrassing for UK as it hosts G8 summit

Guardian: NSA leaker Snowden live chats in hiding

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, is defending his disclosure of top-secret U.S. spying programs in an online chat Monday with The Guardian and attacking U.S. officials for calling him a traitor.

Monday 17 June 2013

GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits

Exclusive: phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009

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Sunday 16 June 2013

France condemns attack on Chinese wine students

France's interior minister has condemned as racist an assault on six Chinese students by drunken locals in the Bordeaux wine-producing region that left one seriously injured.

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Chinese tourists carving out a bad reputation abroad

Child’s graffiti on an Egyptian temple has sparked debate about bad behaviour and the need for mainlanders to spruce up their image

China must investigate links between White House and businesses

The mainland government should launch an immediate investigation into connections between US companies and the White House, a cyber security expert in Shanghai says.

Chinese army newspaper hits out at US Internet surveillance programme

China’s official army newspaper on Sunday branded the United States Internet surveillance programme exposed by former spy Edward Snowden as “frightening”, and accused the US of being a “habitual offender” when it comes to network monitoring.

Hong Kongers 'don't want Snowden extradited to US'

Half of Hong Kongers believe the city's government should not extradite former US spy Edward Snowden, according to a poll published on Sunday a day after hundreds protested in his support.

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Six Chinese students in France attacked in violent ‘xenophobic’ act

One victim suspected to be ‘daughter of retired Chinese political figure’, says French newspaper

Hong Kong rally backs Snowden, denounces allegations of U.S. spying

A few hundred rights advocates and political activists marched through Hong Kong on Saturday to demand protection for Edward Snowden, who leaked revelations of U.S. electronic surveillance and is now believed to be holed up in the former British colony.

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Six Chinese students in France attacked in 'xenophobic' act

Six Chinese oenology students were attacked in the early hours of Saturday in France's wine-producing southwest region of Bordeaux, the interior ministry said, describing the violence as an act of xenophobia.