Submitted by Robert Parry via The Strategic Culture Foundation, Whenever The New York Times or some other mainstream news outlet holds itself out as a paragon of professional journalism – by wagging a finger at some pro-Trump “fake news” or some Internet “conspiracy theory” – I cringe at the self-delusion and hypocrisy. No one hates fake news and fact-free conspiracy theories more than I do, but the […]
A new study presents an unorthodox approach to protect the privacy of genomic data, showing how optimal trade-offs between privacy risk and scientific utility can be struck as genomic data are released for research. The framework can be used to suppress just enough genomic data to persuade would-be snoops that their best privacy attacks will be unprofitable. (via WSJ)
By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam | BEIRUT BEIRUT Islamic State is fighting hard to reinforce its presence in Syria as it loses ground in Iraq, deploying fighters to seize full control of a government-held city in the east while at the same time battling enemies on three other fronts. It underlines the residual strength of Islamic State even after its loss of a cluster of cities […]
At the end of Trump’s speech to a room filled with 400 employees of the CIA, Trump said, rather cryptically, that maybe he’d build them a bigger room ‘by someone who knows how to build and we won’t have columns, do you understand that?’ Here is the full speech. For those of you who are fucking retards and haven’t the slightest clue what that could mean, I suggest you […]
Screw you. That was the direct message to the media from President Trump and his spokesman Saturday, using both CIA headquarters and the White House briefing room to underscore that there’s a new and combative sheriff in town. They accused the press of “deliberately false” reporting and intentionally trying to undermine him by lowballing the crowd at his inauguration. Even to some politically conservative observers, it appeared […]
By Michael Georgy | MOSUL MOSUL Residents of east Mosul held up their children and took selfies with Iraqi counter-terrorism commander Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi after his men cleared Islamic State fighters from their neighbourhoods. But his tour on Saturday of homes once occupied by the militants was a reminder of the dangers ahead as security forces prepare to expand their offensive against the Sunni militants into […]
TRIPOLI A car bomb exploded late on Saturday close to the recently re-opened Italian embassy in the Libyan capital, a security official said. It was not clear who was responsible for the blast. Two charred bodies were recovered from the car, according to a statement on a social media page run by a local branch of the Red Crescent, but the identity of the occupants was unknown. […]
By Ola Lanre | RANN, Nigeria RANN, Nigeria Around 15 Boko Haram fighters were killed when the jihadists attacked a town in northeastern Nigeria, two days after the air force accidentally killed dozens of people there, local and military officials said. On Tuesday, the air force said it had bombed Rann in Borno state, epicentre of Boko Haram’s seven-year-long attempt to create an Islamic caliphate in the […]
Beware the delusions of an aggravated man. Of all the fantasies perpetrated in Donald Trump’s joyless rant of an inaugural speech, none was more preposterous than the self-casting of the man in the golden elevator as Defender of the People. The president’s crusade for Joe and Jane Sixpack will commence with an immense tax cut for the rich and, should Family Sixpack have any pre-existing health problems […]
Europe’s most prominent rightwing politicians came together in a rare show of unity in the German city of Koblenz, predicting that the same forces unleashed by US President Donald Trump would sweep them to power throughout western Europe in an insurrectionary “patriotic spring”. Speaking just hours after Mr Trump was inaugurated in Washington, party leaders said Europe was about to experience the same kind of political earthquake […]
A powerful bomb blast on Saturday in a busy market of a remote Pakistani region near the Afghan border killed at least 21 people and injuring more than 40 others. The bomb was placed in a box of vegetables in a market at Parachinar city and exploded during the early morning rush hour. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan Talibaan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [LeJ], a […]
CAIRO Eight people were killed on Saturday after a shell landed on a house in southern Rafah, in the north of Sinai, eye witnesses and medical sources said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and witnesses and medical sources said the source of the shell was unknown. Rafah is on the border with Gaza. Egyptian forces have been fighting an Islamist insurgency in […]
By Noel Randewich | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is only hours old, but already a small parade of S&P 500 companies’ chiefs have voiced optimism that his promised tax cuts, stimulus spending and deregulation will boost corporate profits. In the days ahead of Friday’s inauguration, senior executives from Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and other major U.S. corporations said the […]
Apple has filed a $1bn lawsuit against Qualcomm accusing the chipmaker of abusing a monopoly position, after the US and South Korean regulators argued it exploited its market dominance at the expense of handset makers. Shares in Qualcomm fell 2.4 per cent to $62.88 just before the markets closed on Friday when the lawsuit was published. This is the first direct challenge by one of Qualcomm’s major […]
By Gulsen Solaker and Tuvan Gumrukcu | ANKARA ANKARA The Turkish parliament has backed a plan to strengthen the powers of the presidency, paving the way for a referendum on the issue in spring which, if passed, could allow President Tayyip Erdogan to stay in office until 2029. Erdogan says the reform will provide stability in the European Union candidate country at a time of turmoil and […]
YANGON Myanmar rebuffed Malaysia on Saturday for organising a meeting of Muslim governments to put pressure on Myanamar over the plight of Rohingya Muslims following a military crackdown that sent at least 66,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh. Hosting a meeting of representatives from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on Myanmar to stop attacking, and discriminating against the Rohingya minority. […]
By Steve Holland and Emily Stephenson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Donald Trump took power as the 45th president of the United States on Friday and pledged to end what he called an “American carnage” of rusted factories and crime in an inaugural address that was a populist and nationalist rallying cry. Striking a defiant tone, Trump said American workers have been devastated by the outsourcing of jobs abroad. […]
As the nation’s capital prepared to celebrate the inauguration of the nation’s 45th President, Senators confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominees for Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Retired Generals James (“Mad Dog”) Mattis and John F. Kelly were approved by votes of 98-1 and 88-11, respectively. Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican, did not vote for either candidate. […]
President Trump’s brief inaugural speech was a declaration of war against the entirety of the American Ruling Establishment. All of it. As Paul Craig Roberts details, Trump made it abundantly clear that Americans’ enemies are right here at home: globalists, neoliberal economists, neoconservatives and other unilateralists accustomed to imposing the US on the world and involving us in endless and expensive wars, politicians who serve the Ruling […]
BEIRUT: Daesh is fighting hard to reinforce its presence in Syria as it loses ground in Iraq, deploying fighters to seize full control of a government-held city in the east while at the same time battling enemies on three other fronts.It underlines the residual strength of Daesh even after its loss of a cluster of cities in Iraq and half of Mosul, and points up the challenges […]
Apple on Friday filed a suit against Qualcomm, accusing the chipmaker of withholding contractual payments it owed in retaliation for Apple’s cooperation with South Korean regulatory investigators. The suit also charges Qualcomm “attempting to extort” the Cupertino company into obstructing the investigation. From the suit, filed in federal district court in the Southern District of California: Among Apple’s damages are nearly $1 billion that Qualcomm owes to […]
By Diane Bartz and Stephen Nellis Apple Inc filed a $1 billion lawsuit against supplier Qualcomm Inc on Friday, days after the U.S. government accused the chip maker of resorting to anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly over key semiconductors in mobile phones. Qualcomm is a major supplier to both Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for “modem” chips that connect phones to wireless networks. The two […]
In strange and confusing times, with disenchantment at successive governments aggravated by feelings of insecurity after terrorist attacks, looming elections threaten to produce a socially-divisive outcome France may come to regret. One essential question faces French voters: should they embrace the extraordinary political turmoil that has swept the West and elect Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration Front National, a party many see as racist, as […]
WASHINGTON — As the clock wound down on Barack Obama’s presidency, an Air Force B-52 bomber carried out a punishing airstrike against a training camp of Al Qaeda in Syria, the Pentagon said Friday. The attack, which took place west of Aleppo, killed more than 100 fighters, according to the Pentagon. Armed drones were also involved in the operation, which took place Thursday evening local time. It […]
