Tag: Region Americas

Some observers who have long watched and carefully documented US government involvement in major social media platforms as well as Wikipedia itself have commented, “the CIA Is running Wikipedia, Wow, what a shocker. Sanger asserted during Greenwald’s show, “We do have evidence that, as early as 2008, that CIA and FBI computers were used to edit Wikipedia,” before posing: “Do you think that they stopped doing that back then?” Getty Images Sanger explained that the intelligence agencies “pay off the…

As information started to leak out from the… everywhere about NSO Group’s secondhand contribution to surveillance abuses all over the world, the world (except for the worst of NSO’s customers) began taking action. Even the government that facilitated many of NSO’s sales to human rights violators decided it might be time to toss a few restrictions on the Israel-based malware merchant founded by former Israeli intelligence officers. The same thing happened in the United States. NSO was joined by lesser…

After three decades, Florida investigators say they have found the man allegedly responsible for kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old girl as she was walking home from school—before leaving her body in a nearby orange grove. Jeffrey Norman Crum, 61, was indicted on several charges, including first-degree murder, in connection with the February 1993 death of Jennifer Odom, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. Crum is already serving two life sentences in connection to a similar cold case a few…

Intellexa (AKA Intellexa Anonymi Etaireia), an alliance of digital intelligence firms in Greece run by an ex-Israeli intel officer, and Cytrox AD (AKA Sytrox), which produces their Predator spyware, added to U.S. ‘entity list’ which already includes Israel’s NSO and Candiru. Late last year, Citizen Lab uncovered the hacking of an Egyptian dissident’s phone. The affected device was host to two forms of malware, one created by NSO Group and the other by Cytrox. According to the Citizen Lab investigation, these infections were…

A former intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower told Congress Wednesday that top government officials have hidden a top-secret program to find and study alien UFOs — and that he fears for his life for choosing to speak out. “I’ve suffered retaliation for my decision, but I am hopeful that my actions will ultimately lead to a positive outcome of increased transparency,” Air Force Maj. David Grusch told the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. Grusch claimed that a highly secret program exists to retrieve and…

A Russian fighter jet fired flares and struck another U.S. drone over Syrian airspace on Wednesday, the White House said, in a continued string of harassing maneuvers that have ratcheted up tensions between the global powers. It’s the sixth reported incident this month, and the second in the past 24 hours, in which the United States has said Russian warplanes have flown dangerously close to American manned and unmanned aircraft, putting crews and the planes at risk and raising questions as to…

Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to put Sam Bankman-Fried in jail ahead of his trial, which is scheduled to start in October. As he considers their request, the judge has imposed a broad, temporary gag order in the case. There were audible gasps in the courtroom on Wednesday when prosecutors told the judge they were seeking Bankman-Fried’s detention. His defense attorney, Mark S. Cohen, said he was only notified of the ask “one minute before court.” Bankman-Fried has been…

A T-38C Talon training jet crashed in eastern Mississippi last November after a bird collided with its windshield — shattering the canopy, breaking its engines and prompting the lone pilot to eject, an Air Force investigation has concluded. The pilot, an instructor with the 49th Fighter Training Squadron at Mississippi’s Columbus Air Force Base, sustained minor injuries but safely escaped the hobbled aircraft. The jet, valued at $8.5 million, was destroyed. It was an “unavoidable” incident that the experienced airman…

A Texas A&M University professor was suspended, investigated and ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing for allegedly criticizing Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a lecture about the opioid crisis. The probe has free speech advocates concerned about political influence over academia in Texas. Joy Alonzo, a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy, nearly lost her job for a remark she made while delivering a lecture at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston in March, the Texas Tribune reported….

The judge in the Hunter Biden case said Wednesday she is not ready to accept the plea deal struck between the president’s son and the Justice Department, and asked both parties to submit additional briefs and return to the court on a future date. Judge Maryellen Noreika demanded that the lawyers from both sides make clear that the deal does not convey broad immunity offered to Biden from prosecution on his business dealings. As a result, Hunter Biden pleaded not…

It’s so hot in Florida right now that the ocean temperature in one area just crossed into the triple digits. On Monday, a water temperature sensor in Manatee Bay near Everglades National Park recorded a temperature of 101.1 degrees, according to a park spokesperson. The startling data matched high water temperatures observed elsewhere in the Florida Bay recently, and the scorching conditions could pose a major risk to coral and other marine life, experts warn. “High temperatures over long periods…

Department of State says diplomats will discuss humanitarian issues and ‘critical interests’ with Afghan group officials. Washington, DC – United States diplomats will meet with Taliban representatives in Qatar this week, the US Department of State has announced, in what will be rare, direct talks between Washington and the ruling Afghan group. The Department of State said on Wednesday that Thomas West and Rina Amiri will hold meetings on Afghanistan in Astana, Kazakhstan, with representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic,…

A former CIA clandestine services officer accused of putting an aspiring operative through a sordid “training” program centered on servicing him sexually is now nowhere to be found, the alleged victim’s lawyers say. Adding additional intrigue to the search for ex-spy Shaun Wiggins, the upstate New York data analytics firm he co-founded has apparently vanished. The attorneys representing Wiggins’ accuser hired a skip tracer in hopes of tracking him down. Still, Wiggins remains frustratingly out of reach, making it all…

The heaviest rain to hit the Atlantic Canadian province of Nova Scotia in more than 50 years triggered floods causing “unimaginable” damage, and four people are missing, including two children, officials said Saturday. The storm, which started Friday, dumped more than 25 cm (10 inches) on some parts of the province in just 24 hours — an amount that usually lands in three months. The resulting floods washed away roads, weakened bridges and swamped buildings. “We have a scary, significant…

The French-Italian owner of the Ray-Ban and Oakley eyewear brands was sued for allegedly scheming with competitors to inflate prices by as much as 1,000%. Paris-based EssilorLuxottica SA, the world’s largest eyewear company, is the “instigator and primary enforcer” of the price-fixing scheme in the US market, forming illegal agreements with Frames for America Inc. and For Eyes Optical Co., among others, according to the consumer antitrust complaint filed Friday in San Francisco federal court as a proposed class action….

Greta Thunberg was photographed at the European Parliament in Strasbourg last Wednesday smiling broadly while flipping a double-bird – apparently to the opponents of heavily contested new EU environmental legislation known as the “Nature Restoration Law”.  According to the German news site Merkur.de, it was a “winner’s gesture” – if not the most sporting one – because at its Wednesday session, the parliament approved the legislation, with some amendments, by the notably slim margin of 336-300. A prior motion to…