NYPD SUED AFTER REFUSING TO REVEAL ITS STINGRAY SURVEILLANCE BUDGET

In February, the NYCLU obtained documents showing that the infamously opaque police department had deployed Stingrays over 1,000 times since 2008 without having any written policy whatsoever governing their use. Like other departments, the NYPD doesn’t get a search warrant to use the devices, relying instead on “pen register” orders that don’t require cops to show probable cause of a crime.

But not included was information on the cost and type of Stingrays, the brand name for a class of device called cell-site simulators, which emulate cellphone towers to track nearby phones but can also be configured to record call logs and intercept text messages en-masse. Earlier this week, another FOIA request from the NYCLU revealed that police in Rochester, New York spent more than $200,000 on a Stingray device that it uses to track suspected gang members.

http://www.infowars.com/nypd-sued-after-refusing-to-reveal-its-stingray-surveillance-budget/

NEW LIBYAN GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER MORE MINISTRIES

Mohammad al-Amari, a minister of state in the Government of National Accord, signed documents passing control of the key foreign ministry complex in the north of the capital to the new government, an AFP journalist said.

The GNA also Monday took the ministries of planning and religious endowment.

Over the past week, the transport, social affairs, environment, and youth and sports ministries have likewise been transferred to the new government.

http://www.infowars.com/new-libyan-government-takes-over-more-ministries/

 

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVEALS CONTROVERSIAL GUN TRAFFICKING STING DOCUMENTS

The Justice Department had previously withheld thousands of pages of documents from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the scandal. Consequently the House held then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in 2012. In 2016, President Barack Obama invoked executive privilege to shield the documents.

On January 16, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, for the District of Columbia, ruled the Obama administration cannot use executive privilege to prevent Congress from accessing information on Operation Fast and Furious.

“The committee has a duty to understand and shine light on what was happening inside Department of Justice during the time of this irresponsible operation. Yet DOJ has obstructed our investigative work for years,” said Jason Chaffetz, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman.

http://www.infowars.com/justice-department-reveals-controversial-gun-trafficking-sting-documents/

Panama Papers: Massive Tax Haven Document Leak Exposes Corruption and Crime on Global Scale

A massive leak of millions of documents has revealed that heads of state, criminals and celebrities conduct and sometimes conceal their business activities in tax havens. The leak exposes holdings in shadowy companies that are owned by 11 past and present heads of state, and reveals how partners of Russian President Vladimir Putin clandestinely transferred no less than $2 billion through banks and companies registered in tax shelters.

The source of the leaked documents is a very powerful yet not very well-known law firm called Mossack Fonseca. This firm has branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and more than 35 other locations around the world, among them Israel. The documents reveal many Israeli connections and disclose that business people with Israeli citizenship as well as Israeli banks and companies have used the law firm to register companies in tax havens around the world.

http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.712456

 

 

LARGEST LEAK EVER: WHISTLEBLOWER REVEALS GLOBAL ELITE CRIME NETWORK

These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.

In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.

The data provides rare insights into a world that can only exist in the shadows. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung decided to analyze the data in cooperation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). ICIJ had already coordinated the research for past projects that SZ was also involved in, among them Offshore Leaks, Lux Leaks, and Swiss Leaks. Panama Papers is the biggest-ever international cooperation of its kind. In the past 12 months, around 400 journalists from more than 100 media organizations in over 80 countries have taken part in researching the documents. These have included teams from the Guardian and the BBC in England, Le Monde in France, and La Nación in Argentina. In Germany, SZ journalists have cooperated with their colleagues from two public broadcasters, NDR and WDR. Journalists from the Swiss Sonntagszeitung and the Austrian weekly Falter have also worked on the project, as have their colleagues at ORF, Austria’s national public broadcaster. The international team initially met in Washington, Munich, Lillehammer and London to map out the research approach.

http://www.infowars.com/largest-leak-ever-whistleblower-reveals-global-elite-crime-network/

ALTERCATION BETWEEN POLICE AND “MIDDLE EASTERN-LOOKING” MEN ON EVE OF BRUSSELS ATTACK

The BBC’s anchor in London asked the journalist for further details and he responded that the altercation he saw involved a Belgian police officer examining the identity documents of what the journalist called “Middle Eastern looking” men.

The Belgian journalist said it seemed to him that the Middle Eastern-looking men outside the Maelbeek station were upset that the police officer was checking their documents.

It is common knowledge in Europe among law enforcement and the mainstream media that the term “Middle Eastern looking” or “Mediterranean looking” is to be used when Israelis are the subject of a negative incident or news story.

The female BBC anchor, who appeared quite aware of where the Belgian journalist was going with his report, quickly interjected, “we are not implying that the incident you witnessed the night before at the Metro station had anything to do with today’s bombing.”

http://www.infowars.com/altercation-between-police-and-middle-eastern-looking-men-on-eve-of-brussels-attack/

Documents confirm rendition flight used Copenhagen Airport for mission to capture Edward Snowden

The online media source Denfri.dk reports that, after gaining access to documents from the Justice Ministry, it has confirmed that in June 2013 Copenhagen Airport was used to hold an American rendition plane that was sent to capture Edward Snowden from Moscow Airport and return him to the USA.

Snowden, who shot into the international limelight after making extensive revelations about the USA’s intelligence activities at home and abroad, was confined to the airport in Russia before he was offered asylum in the country.

http://cphpost.dk/news/documents-confirm-rendition-flight-used-copenhagen-airport-for-mission-to-capture-edward-snowden.html

 

Snowden Documents Reveal AT&T’s “Extreme Willingness to Help” NSA Domestic Spy Program

Documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have exposed how extensively the NSA relied on telecommunications giant AT&T for its vast spying operations. Records described by The New York Times and ProPublica laud AT&T’s “extreme willingness to help” the NSA’s spying efforts. According to the piece, the company supplied access to billions of emails flowing across its domestic networks and technical aid in carrying out a secret order allowing the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the headquarters of the United Nations — an AT&T customer. In 2013, the NSA’s top-secret budget for its partnership with AT&T was reportedly more than twice that of the next largest such program.

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/8/18/snowden_documents_reveal_at_ts_extreme

SNOWDEN DOCUMENTS REVEAL AT&T’S “EXTREME WILLINGNESS TO HELP” NSA DOMESTIC SPY PROGRAM

 AMY GOODMAN: Documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have exposed how extensively the NSA relied on telecommunications giant AT&T for its vast spying operations. Records described by The New York Times and ProPublica laud AT&T’s “extreme willingness to help” the NSA’s spying efforts. According to the piece, the company supplied access to billions of emails flowing across its domestic networks and technical aid in carrying out a secret order allowing the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the headquarters of the United Nations—an AT&T customer. In 2013, the NSA’s top-secret budget for its partnership with AT&T was reportedly more than twice that of the next largest program.

http://www.infowars.com/snowden-documents-reveal-atts-extreme-willingness-to-help-nsa-domestic-spy-program/

FEDERAL LAWSUIT COULD REVEAL CONTENTS OF 28 PAGES OMITTED FROM 9/11 REPORT THAT ALLEGEDLY IMPLICATE SAUDI GOVERNMENT

A congressional intelligence report contains 28 censored pages reportedly linking Saudi officials to two of the Saudi hijackers.

The Obama administration refuses to publish the pages, despite requests from Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

http://www.infowars.com/federal-lawsuit-could-reveal-contents-of-28-pages-omitted-from-911-report-that-allegedly-implicate-saudi-government/