Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies are intruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but they remain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressional hearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detainees and other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who a... (more)
Surveillance cameras are sprouting up in more and more places, forming an ever more powerful tool for solving crimes after they happen. But what about using them to prevent or stop criminal and terrorist acts? This requires that someone, or something, watch these rapidly multiplying video feeds 24-7.
And that’s the problem. Paying people to adequately monitor dozens, or even hundreds, of surveillance cameras can be highly expensive. Plus, humans te... (more)
It should come as no surprise that cellphone calls may be tapped by law enforcement. But authorities also can use cellphones to eavesdrop on suspects, even when the devices are off.
The FBI converted the Nextel cellphones of two alleged New York mobsters into "roving bugs," microphones that relayed conversations when the phones seemed to be inactive, according to recent court documents.
Authorities won't reveal how they did this. But a countersur... (more)
* Key figures as inquiry spreads
* Interpol joins the hunt for murderer
Key witnesses in the Alexander Litvinenko investigation are missing, with their families claiming that they fear for their lives.
The sudden disappearance of a number of leading figures linked to the affair will make it even harder for British detectives, whose inquiry has now spread across five countries.
Interpol joined the hunt for the murderer yesterday, saying that it ... (more)
On the TV news, I heard Joseph Lieberman described as a "moderate" again. I’ve heard this description used for such politicians as John McCain, Diane Feinstein and anyone else who favors an active government on practically all issues, rather than on the narrower range of issues on which extreme leftists or rightists tend to favor state power.
It is typical to hear denunciations of the so-called extreme right and left in ... (more)
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government approved new technology that will automatically scan shoes and boots for bombs, and promises that travelers will soon be spared the trouble of scurrying through security in their socks. But the new machines will be available only to travelers who pay to join a special program, at least at first.
The shoe-scanner approval will give a crucial boost to the Registered Traveler program, which is designed to provide faster airport security screening, vi... (more)
The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships.
In a staff opinion issued yesterday, the consumer protection agency weighed in for the first time on the practice. Though no accurate figures exist on how much money advertisers spend on such marketing, it is quickly becoming a preferred method for reaching consumers who are skeptical ... (more)
Gen. Augusto Pinochet's death on Dec. 10 means the Bush Family can breathe a little bit easier, knowing that criminal proceedings against Chile's notorious dictator can no longer implicate his longtime friend and protector, former President George H.W. Bush.
Although Chilean investigations against other defendants may continue, the cases against Pinochet end with his death of a heart attack at the age of 91. Pinochet's death from natural causes also marks a... (more)
Iran and US signed an agreement in 1978 which allowed Tehran to seek nuclear technology in order to meet its future energy demands but no one now talks about the agreement, said a political science professor on Tuesday. Addressing an international conference of world geologists in this ancient city, central Iran, Professor of Political Geography and Geopolitics Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh said it was the US that encouraged Iran to develop nuclear energy.
The Christmas season is a time to remember the unfortunate. Among the most unfortunate people are those who have been wrongly convicted and imprisoned.
The United States has a large number of wrongfully convicted. There are many reasons for this. One is that the US has the largest percentage of its citizens imprisoned of all countries in the world, including China. One of every 32 US adults is behind bars, on probation or ... (more)
Players and creators of video games could face imprisonment for acts of virtual violence under draft legislation being drawn up by two of Germany's state governments.
Politicians in Bavaria and Lower Saxony have proposed a new offence that will punish "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters" inside games. Early drafts suggest that infringers should face fines or up to 12 months' jail for promoting or enacting in-game violence.
Novelist Jack Engelhard, minus a firm grip on reality, absurdly lambastes former president Jimmy Carter as the author of a modern day version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Engelhard is whirled into a tizzy by Carter’s Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid published recently by Simon & Schuster, not exactly the publishing wing of Hamas.
JERUSALEM, Dec. 11 -- Gunmen in Gaza City opened fire Monday on the car of a senior Palestinian intelligence official, killing his three children, ages 6 to 9, as they were being dropped off at school.
The intelligence officer, Baha Balousha, was not in the car during the morning attack. He is closely identified with the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and participated in a crackdown in the 1990s against members of the rival Hamas movement in Gaza. ... (more)
Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.
The Campaign to Defend the Constitution and the Christian Alliance for Progress, two online political groups, plan to demand today that Wal-Mart dump Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a PC game inspired by a series of Christian novels that... (more)
Earlier this week, TV cable channel Showtime began the second season of Sleeper Cell: American Terror. The clip, from the show's season opener, begins wi... (more)
Shell is being forced by the Russian government to hand over its controlling stake in the world's biggest liquefied gas project, provoking fresh fears about the Kremlin's willingness to use the country's growing strength in natural resources as a political weapon.
After months of relentless pressure from Moscow, the Anglo-Dutch company has to cut its stake in the $20bn Sakhalin-2 scheme in the far east of Russia in favour of the state-owned energy group Gazprom.
THE Australian Defence Force has banned soldiers from writing online journals and has deleted blogs from troops serving in Iraq.
Critics say the soldiers are being denied the very freedoms they are fighting for. The blogs were destroyed in September, hours after pictures of Australian soldiers playing with guns surfaced on the internet in the days before the inquiry into Private Jake Kovco's death in Baghdad.
Australia's leading defence think-tank, a civil libertar... (more)
Dec. 10, 2006 — It's supposed to say sweet things to little girls like, "You're a wonderful friend," but push its button the wrong way and the Little Mermaid Shimmering Lights Ariel doll may say something else — "You're a slut," according to a California mother whose allegation came to light in a newspaper report.
The doll's manufacturer, Mattel, doesn't believe it's possible, and a company spokeswoman said the complaint by Stephanie Herrera of San Jose, Calif. —... (more)
