From the Trenches World Report

Huffington Post – by Alexis Kleinman

More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports.

The “ethical hackers” at security firm Trustwave’s SpiderLabs blog discovered the trove of login credentials, email credentials and passwords on Tuesday.

Security experts told BBC that a criminal gang may be behind the security breach. The stolen information can be used to extract people’s personal information from the websites, which can then be sold, according to BBC.   Continue reading “2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online”

RT News

A majority of Americans believe their country is weaker on the global scene than it was a decade ago, according to a Pew poll. The 53 percent figure is the highest since the polling agency started asking the question in 1974.

It was also the first time in almost 40 years that more than half of Americans have viewed their nation’s global standing in such a pessimistic way. Back in 2004 the figure was a mere 20 percent.   Continue reading “US global power at 40-year low, Americans say”

RT News

One day after he spoke with leaders in embattled neighbor Japan, Vice President Joe Biden met with officials in China on Wednesday amid an escalating argument between Asian nations that has attracted the attention of the United States.

A meeting between Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping scheduled for only 45 minutes this week turned into a two hour ordeal and ended with the US senator-turned-second-in-command offering brief remarks but answering no questions before a press scrum in Beijing.   Continue reading “Biden gets sharp rebuke in China”

RT News

The European Commission has slapped record fines of 1.7 billion euro on eight major banks for manipulating lending rates that play a key role in the global economy. The penalties will add to already escalating costs for leading global lenders.

The EU fines marks the latest to be levied on banks and financial institutions for making profits or masking their problems by fraudulently rigging the rates that reflect the cost of lending money to each other.   Continue reading “EU fines 8 major banks record 1.7bn euro for rigging rates”

Fox News

BEIRUT –  Gunmen shot dead a senior Hezbollah commander outside his home Wednesday in southern Beirut, an attack that the Iranian-backed group quickly blamed on arch-enemy Israel. Israeli officials denied any involvement.

Hezbollah ceremoniously announced the death of Hassan al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party’s leadership.   Continue reading “Hezbollah commander killed outside home; Israel denies involvement”

DNA Disinfo – by Murray Weiss

NEW YORK CITY — The bill taxpayers will have to pay to protect Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly when he leaves office next month just got bigger.

The NYPD’s Intelligence Division — with Kelly’s input — is recommending that Kelly take with him a 10-officer complement of taxpayer-funded bodyguards, up from the six-officer detail the commissioner had wanted last month.   Continue reading “Ray Kelly to Get 10-Officer Detail When He Leaves, Costing Taxpayers $1.5M”

Washington Times – by Stephen Dinan

House Speaker John A. Boehner announced Tuesday that he has hired a longtime advocate of legalizing illegal immigrants to be an adviser, signaling that the Republican is still intent on trying to pass an immigration bill during this congressional session.

Immigrant rights advocates cheered the move as a sign of Mr. Boehner’s dedication to action. Those who want a crackdown on illegal immigration said the top Republican in the House has moved closer to embracing amnesty by hiring Rebecca Tallent, a former staffer for Sen. John McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe.   Continue reading “Hola: Boehner prepares to push amnesty bill through House”

NJ.com

TOMS RIVER — Police in all 33 towns in Ocean County early next year will begin carrying an antidote that can revive people who overdose on heroin.

Narcan can be used with any drug with opioids and gives emergency responders time to revive victims.   Continue reading “Police in Ocean County to start carrying heroin antidote”

What if they use this information to disqualify all returning vets from owning a weapon? They could DQ a vet without even seeing them. They could do a blanket DQ for all vets that took this drug, which is everyone who deployed to Iraq/Afaghanistan.

I took this drug in both Desert Storm and in Iraq 2003-2004. In my second trip to Iraq we took it every Monday. We called it Manic Monday for obvious reasons.   Continue reading “The Truth about Larium”

MassPrivateI

The federal government’s (DHS/TSA) main terrorist watch list has grown to at least 700,000 people, with little scrutiny over how the determinations are made or the impact on those marked with the terrorist label.

“If you’ve done the paperwork correctly, then you can effectively enter someone onto the watch list,” said Anya Bernstein, an associate professor at the SUNY Buffalo Law School and author of “The Hidden Costs of Terrorist Watch Lists,” published by the Buffalo Law Review in May. “There’s no indication that agencies undertake any kind of regular retrospective review to assess how good they are at predicting the conduct they’re targeting.”   Continue reading “Over 850,000 people on terror watch list and it’s growing”

MassPrivateI

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is being sued over its refusal to publicly disclose a $2 million non-prosecution agreement prosecutors reached with a Houston-based tree services company that employed undocumented workers.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas issued a news release in May 2012 revealing the deal between prosecutors and ABC Professional Tree Services Inc. The company agreed to forfeit $2 million in revenue that flowed from the use of undocumented workers between 2006 and 2011, DOJ officials said.   Continue reading “Non-prosecution agreements a mockery of our justice system”

NBC News – by Alexander Smith

A truck carrying “extremely dangerous” radioactive material has been stolen in Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

The vehicle was transporting the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 from a hospital where it was being used for radiotherapy, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.   Continue reading “Truck carrying ‘extremely dangerous’ radioactive material stolen in Mexico”

RT News

United States Vice President Joe Biden said during a tour of Asia on Tuesday that the US is “deeply concerned” about recent efforts by China to re-draw airspace surrounding a series of islands between Taiwan and Japan.

The airspace in that area has traditionally been controlled by Japan, but claimed by the Chinese as well. Late last month China proclaimed a portion of that area in the East China Sea as within their own air defense zone, prompting international tensions to tighten between all those involved in the Pacific Rim.   Continue reading “US pledges to side with Japan in conflict with China”

RT News

A Florida police officer who was protesting US President Obama’s newly implemented healthcare law has been arrested because he refused to take off a Guy Fawkes mask he was wearing at a demonstration.

Ericson Harrell, 39, was wearing a mask, a black cape, and holding an inverted American flag when police approached him in Plantation, Florida. Harrell told officers he was “protesting Obamacare” but the police report notes “he refused each time” when he “was asked several times to remove his mask and produce some form of identification or tell us his name” and taken into custody.   Continue reading “Florida cop arrested for refusing to remove Guy Fawkes mask in Obamacare protest”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who is marking four years in prison in Cuba has written a letter to President Barack Obama asking the president to get personally involved in securing his release.

Alan Gross was arrested four years ago Tuesday while working covertly in the Communist-run country to set up Internet access for the island’s small Jewish community, access that bypassed local restrictions. At the time, he was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. government’s U.S. Agency for International Development, which works to promote democracy on the island.   Continue reading “US man marks 4 years in Cuban prison, writes Obama”