[mafarrico]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 47335.html

Sites close after arrest of Irishman accused of being 'largest facilitator of child porn on the planet'

Parts of the internet’s dark side suffer as man is jailed in Dublin, pending US extradition hearing

Kevin Rawlinson   Monday 05 August 2013




Large sections of a secretive layer of the internet, often used to criminal ends, have been taken down after the arrest of a 28-year-old Irishman accused of being behind the world’s biggest stashes of images of child sexual abuse by US authorities.

All sites hosted by Freedom Hosting, one of the biggest service providers on the Dark Net, which operates beneath the internet known to most users and maintains the anonymity of people involved, simultaneously disappeared on Sunday. Two days previously, Eric Eoin Marques, who many think to be Freedom Hosting’s boss, was put behind bars pending an extradition hearing later this week. US authorities accuse him of enabling images of child sex abuse to be displayed. If convicted, he faces 30 years in prison.

He was described as “the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet” by an FBI agent during his appearance in Ireland’s High Court last Friday.

Reports yesterday indicated that the US authorities, who have been hunting the head of Freedom Hosting for a year, may have used a software vulnerability to begin circulating malware on its system – which may have led them to Mr Marques and helped bring down the sites.

It is claimed that Mr Marques operated servers hosting many of the world’s most notorious websites. He has no previous convictions and has never come to the attention of the authorities before, the court heard.

While the apparently obscure Dubliner may not seem to fit the bill of an international crime figure, Martin Bryant of technology website the Next Web said that the nature of the internet makes it easier for people to engage in all sort of activities without arousing attention. “The thing with the internet is that it empowers people who might normally be very unassuming members of society to do things like this,” he said.

While the position of Mr Marques, who reportedly comes from a middle class Irish-Brazilian family, as the head of the Freedom Hosting company is unconfirmed, the timings of his arrest and its apparent shutdown are close.

The most well-known hidden  services on the Tor network are perhaps the Silk Road, a black marketplace on which illegal goods are often advertised; and the TorMail service, a secure email service. The latter was part of last week’s takedown.

Mr Marques faces four charges in America. He appeared before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan in the Dublin High Court, who denied him bail pending a further appearance on Thursday.

Mr Marques, who has both Irish and US citizenship, was arrested on a Maryland warrant which contains charges of distributing and promoting child pornography on the internet.

Abuse images put on commercial sites, charity says

Commercial websites are being hijacked by hackers who then upload images of children being sexually abused, a leading online safety charity has warned. The Internet Watch Foundation cited the example of a furniture store’s website which was hacked, effectively making the images available to any customers browsing its site. The Google-funded charity said it had receive more than 200 reports in a six-week period recently. An IWF technical researcher, Sarah Smith, said: “It shows how someone, not looking for child sexual abuse images, can stumble across it.”

Kevin Rawlinson

[HSMW]

[Lusitano89]

Advogado quer levar assassinos de Jesus Cristo a tribunal


O advogado Dola Indidis, do Quénia, pretende apresentar uma queixa no Tribunal Internacional de Justiça (TIJ), em Haia (Holanda), contra a condenação e a sentença de morte de Jesus Cristo.

«É meu dever defender a dignidade de Jesus e portanto pretendo ir à TIJ buscar justiça para um homem de Nazaré. O julgamento selectivo e malicioso violou os seus direitos humanos através de uma má conduta judicial, abuso de poder e preconceito», afirmou Indidis, que tentou levar o caso à Alta Instância da Justiça do Quénia, em 2007, que se negou a analisar o caso do advogado.

De referir que Indidis, na sua página do Facebook, pede doações para apoio à sua causa. O advogado acusa o imperador romano Tibério, Pôncio Pilatos, juiz que condenou Jesus, e professores de direito da época, mas também pretende mover acções judicias contra os governos de Itália e Israel, que, segundo o próprio, herdaram as leis do Império Romano.

Lusa

[mafarrico]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ecord.html

Britain to sell Typhoon jets to Bahrain, despite human rights record

Britain is in talks to sell 12 Typhoon fighter jets to Bahrain, despite the Gulf state’s controversial human rights record.




By Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent
3:27PM BST 09 Aug 2013


The proposed deal with the Gulf monarchy rocked by protests in 2011 is thought to be worth more than £1 billion and is part of a concerted effort by Gulf countries to strengthen military ties with Britain.

The highly political deal was one of the main agenda items in a Downing Street meeting between David Cameron and King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, earlier this week.

Bahrain’s government faced condemnation and accusations of brutality for its repression of protests led by the island’s Shia majority in early 2011, but still considers Britain one of its closest international allies.

Amnesty International claimed the arms negotiations showed human rights worries were once again playing second fiddle to British business deals.

Bahraini sources said negotiations centred on a plan to buy a squadron of 12 of the fighter jets which are also used by the RAF.



Downing Street confirmed talks were in their “early stages” and the Government’s international trade department said Bahrain “would be a valuable addition to the Typhoon family”.

Sources cautioned there could still be lengthy negotiations over what training and support would be needed for the jets, as Bahrain tries to overhaul and update its air force.

The Gulf has become a focus of sales of the Eurofighter Typhoons which are made by British arms firm BAE Systems, with European airspace groups EADS and Finmeccanica of Italy.

BAE signed a £4.5 billion deal with Saudi Arabia in 2007 to supply 72 Typhoon jets to Riyadh, though the contract has faced obstacles over the cost.

Oman, a Gulf state which like Bahrain has close links to Britain, ordered 12 of the jets last year.

BAE also hopes to sell 60 of the jets to the United Arab Emirates, where it is facing competition from the Rafale jet made by France's Dassault Aviation.

Bahrain sees its biggest threat from Iran, but Michael Stephens, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar, said there was little military need for the Typhoons to replace Bahrain’s ageing F-16 fighters.

Bahrain’s airspace is well-defended by fighters from neighbouring Saudi Arabia and from the US Fifth Fleet based on the island.

He said: “There’s no way the Saudis would allow the Iranians into Bahraini air space without taking action. Likewise any incursion would incur the wrath of the American air defences.”

Tim Hancock, Amnesty International’s UK campaigns director said: “Bahrain’s human rights situation is appalling and it’s worrying that the UK appears to be taking a ‘business as usual’ approach to selling the country high-tech weaponry.

“The key question is, has the government done proper risk-assessment here and can it be sure that Eurofighters won’t end up being used in the commission of human rights abuses.

“Britain’s record on arms to the Gulf is already extremely chequered and it’s worrying that once again human rights seem to be playing second fiddle to commercial considerations.”

A spokesman for UK Trade and Investment, said: “We are in discussions on a potential sale of Typhoon with the Bahraini air force.

“These discussions are still at a very early stage but we welcome the Bahraini interest. Bahrain would be a valuable addition to the Typhoon family.

“All of our defence exports are consistent with stringent internationally recognised criteria."

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/a ... -rancadore

Mafia fugitive 'spread terror' in Sicily, court hears
Domenico Rancadore denied bail on grounds he has evaded capture for 20 years by living in UK under a false name

Press Association The Guardian, Saturday 10 August 2013   



Domenico Rancadore was convicted of mafia links in Italy in his absence after he had come to live in the UK in 1993. Photograph: Elizabeth Cook/PA




A fugitive mafia boss caught hiding in suburbia was a leader of a murderous gang that "spread terror in Sicily", a court heard on Friday.

Domenico Rancadore, 64, was denied bail at Westminster magistrates court on the grounds that he has evaded capture since coming to the UK 20 years ago by living under a false name.

He is wanted in Italy to serve a seven-year jail term for his role as "a man of honour" in the Cosa Nostra, collecting bribes from builders in Trabia near Palermo.

Prosecutor Benjamin Seifert said: "The information says that Mr Rancadore was one of the heads of an armed criminal organisation known as Cosa Nostra which is said to be one of the most powerful Mafia organisations in Italy, made up of thousands of members spreading terror in Sicily by imposing its rules and controlling the area and systematically murdering anybody who did not comply with the will of the members of the organisation."

Concerns were raised on Friday over the validity of the warrant for the former teacher's arrest, but today a new warrant was issued and Rancadore was rearrested in the cells.

His travel agent wife Anne Skinner stood at the back of the court with their daughter Daniela, holding her arm throughout the hearing this afternoon.

Daniela blew a kiss to her father as he was taken down to the cells after being He remanded in custody until 22 August, when he will appear again at the same court.

District Judge Quentin Purdy told him: "It seems to be very clear on the information before me that you have actively evaded apprehension for a significant period of time."

He was convicted of mafia links in Italy in his absence after he had come to live in the UK with his family in 1993.

Italian prosecutors claim he received about £3,500 in bribe money, and Seifert said he had "ensured strict compliance with the rules of the organisation".

He was found guilty of being part of the gang between December 1987 and April 1995.

Defending, Euan Macmillan told the court that Rancadore has a heart condition and had a stent fitted last year.

When he was arrested on Wednesday at his £300,000 semi-detached home in Manor Waye, Uxbridge, police said he had tried to flee through the back gate, only to come face to face with a waiting detective constable.

Today Mr Macmillan claimed he had only gone outside after the officer had kicked in the back gate, and it was "fanciful" to think he would have been able to make his escape over the garden fence.

He said: "There was very little likelihood that Mr Rancadore would have been able to climb over a five-and-a-half foot fence. He's a 64-year-old man with a heart condition."

Despite offering a surety of £10,000 and the assurance that he would be placed under "constant scrutiny" by police if released, Rancadore's application for bail was denied.

The court heard that he was acquitted of previous Mmafia charges in 1993 after spending months in custody and more than two years under house arrest.

Yesterday sShocked friends on the outskirts of the capital described the mafia bigwig as "one of the best neighbours you could ever have".

Joan Hills, 76, who lives in the same modest suburban street, said she knew him as Marc Skinner and his family had lived in the road for several years.

"I know him very well and he's one of the best neighbours you could ever have," she said.

"They have been here for years. I've seen the children grow up with my children.

"I don't know the ins and outs of this, but they are the nicest people that you could wish to meet."

His semidetached home has a CCTV camera overlooking the courtyard at the front, which is surrounded by tall hedges.

Tennis coach Terry Stidder, 53, who lives two doors down from Rancadore, said the family moved in about 13 years ago, and Rancadore argued with a neighbour after insisting on planting the hedges.

"When he came in, he planted the bushes. He had a big row with a neighbour. He was saying 'Sorry, but I've got to have this.'"

Stidder said Rancadore drove a Mercedes and a Jaguar, and was well-dressed.

[mafarrico]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 54608.html

'Jungle Men' found hiding from horrors of the Vietnam War four decades after their family were wiped out by mine explosion
A father and son are found in the jungle after more than four decades

ROB WILLIAMS  Friday 09 August 2013




A father and son who fled their Vietnam village during the war with the United States 40 years ago have reportedly been discovered living in a tree house deep in the jungle.

Ho Van Thanh left his village along with his baby son Ho Van Lang in 1971 after a mine blast killed his wife and two of his children.

According to reports Thanh made a den in the trees and survived by growing corn and foraging for fruit and vegetables, it is claimed that he and his son have not had contact with anyone since they moved out of their village.

Vietnamese authorities were alerted to the existence of the pair when locals searching for firewood spotted them in the forest in Quang Ngai province's Tay Tra district.

The father, now aged 82, and the son aged 41, were found by a search team who spent five hours combing the dense forest.

Ho Van Thanh was too weak to walk when the search team located them. He had to be carried from the forest on a stretcher. The father was able to speak a few words of the region's language but the son was unable to communicate at all.

The pair have since been checked by doctors and a decision is now being made on how the father and son should be integrated back into society. Inside the home of the father and son, which was five metres in the air, the pair kept arrows for hunting and knives for killing animals.

According to reports there were also a number of objects that served as poignant mementos of their previous life. The father had kept the trousers he wore as a soldier along with the small red coat his son had been wearing when they left society.

A local newspaper report claimed that the pair wore loin clothes made of bark and used homemade tools to chop down trees for firewood.

Authorities have confirmed that the pair once lived an ordinary life within the commune and that they probably fled after the shock of the mine explosion wiping out the rest of their family.



Ho Van Lang (second-right), who is about 41-years-old and his 81-year-old father Ho Van Thanh


An image of 82-year-old Ho Van Thanh (left) being taken care of by a local doctor


Vietnames Ho Van Thanh lies in a bed at a health center in Quang Ngai, Vietnam


Local people examine the implements made by a Vietnamese father and his son

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[Lusitano89]

Portugal visto pelos olhos de uma investigadora Australiana


Os portugueses falam bem inglês, percebem o espanhol, têm Sol e bom vinho, tratam bem das suas cidades mas subestimam as potencialidades do país. Estas são algumas das conclusões de Erin B Taylor, uma investigadora australiana do Instituto de Ciências Sociais, que publicou recentemente um artigo sobre Portugal num site dedicado à antropologia.
 
No seu texto, publicado recentemente no site Popanth, Erin Taylor, que vive em Portugal há mais de um ano, faz uma análise pessoal e divertida do povo português e de alguns hábitos nacionais.
 
A investigadora afirma, por exemplo, que os portugueses "vivem em casas pequenas mas adoram cães grandes", ao contrário da Austrália onde, mesmo com casas grandes, as pessoas preferem cães pequenos. Erin especula que isto talvez aconteça porque os portugueses levam mais vezes os seus animais de estimação a passear na rua.

Erin salienta, no artigo, que embora os portugueses estejam constantemente a avisar que falar português não é o mesmo que falar espanhol, é possível falar com um português em espanhol. "Parece que os espanhóis não têm esta capacidade", avisa a investigadora, "os portugueses conseguem compreendê-los (aos espanhóis) mas eles não percebem os portugueses".
 
Modestos e tímidos

Num outro parágrafo, a investigadora garante que a maior parte dos portugueses fala inglês melhor do que parece. "Não se admire se descobrir, ao fim de umas semanas, que o senhor do café fala um inglês perfeito, mesmo que peça desculpa por não falar a sua língua", diz Erin. Um fenómeno que a investigadora atribui ao facto dos portugueses serem "modestos e tímidos".
 
Sobre o vestuário, a autora do artigo considera que os portugueses gostam de roupa elegante mas "pouco ostensiva", pelo que "os homens normalmente vestem calças com polos e as mulheres saias com tops casuais mas bonitos".

Erin defende ainda que todo o país se revela extremamente cuidado com "calçadas de pedra", "bonitos azulejos que indicam os nomes das ruas", e modernos passeios nas zonas ribeirinhas. Comparando com outros países, a investigadora diz que os portugueses são "incrivelmente dedicados" às suas cidades.
 
Erin elogia ainda a qualidade dos vinhos e da rede de transportes públicos, "bem desenhada e esteticamente agradável", o sol que persiste ao longo do Verão e o facto das pessoas serem "educadas e prestáveis".

Apesar de tudo isto, diz a investigadora, os portugueses tendem a "subestimar o seu país. "Dizem que estão sempre em crise, que a burocracia é um pesadelo e que é tudo muito caro", afirma Erin.

Isso faz com que, conclui a australiana, "muitos portugueses queiram fugir para outro país, enquanto todos os outros parecem querer vir para cá".

Boas Notícias

[Lusitano89]

Roménia transforma em museu o quartel onde foi executado Ceausescu


O antigo quartel militar de Targoviste, onde foram fuzilados o ditador romeno Nicolae Ceausescu e a mulher, Elena, em 1989, vai transformar-se num museu, a partir de 1 de setembro.

"Os interiores do edifício foram repintados com as mesmas cores que tinham em 1989, trouxeram-se móveis da época e já lá estão as camas onde o casal Ceausescu dormia antes da sua execução", disse Ovidiu Carstina, diretor do complexo museológico daquela cidade, situado a cerca de 80 quilómetros a norte da capital, Bucareste.

"Arranjámos a casa onde se realizou o julgamento e a cela onde os Ceausescu passaram a última noite", prosseguiu Carstina, citado pela agência de notícias EFE.

Os visitantes poderão também contemplar a parede que ainda conserva os buracos das balas que mataram o ditador e a mulher, e cujo fuzilamento, no dia de Natal de 1989, foi transmitido pela televisão.

A abertura do museu deve-se aos numerosos pedidos recebidos de grupos de turistas estrangeiros que desejam visitar o local, e a entrada rondará os sete lei (1,5 euros).

Durante uma manifestação contra o regime comunista, a 22 de dezembro de 1989, os Ceausescu fugiram a bordo de um helicóptero para a cidade de Targoviste, onde foram presos, num controlo de estrada, julgados e condenados por um tribunal militar no dia 25 e executados logo de seguida.

Lusa

[mafarrico]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/a ... que-attack

French air force officer accused of planning to attack mosque
Sergeant remanded in custody accused of planning to attack Lyon mosque as worshippers celebrated end of Ramadan

Kim Willsher in Paris  theguardian.com, Monday 12 August 2013 12.18 BST

   
French air force jets: the 23-year-old sergeant was detained by police at an air base at Mont Verdun near Lyon last Wednesday. Photograph: Michael Ein/AP



A French air force officer said to hold extreme rightwing views has been accused of planning to attack a mosque as worshippers celebrated the end of Ramadan.

The 23-year-old sergeant, who has not been named, was detained by police at an airbase at Mont Verdun near Lyon last Wednesday and remanded in custody.

After four days of questioning by the intelligence services, he appeared before a court in Paris at the weekend and was put under formal investigation for being in "possession of ammunition linked to a terrorist enterprise" against a place of worship.

The man was also accused of "damaging a religious place in a terrorist act" after he reportedly admitted throwing an incendiary device at a mosque at Libourne, near Bordeaux, last August. Nobody was injured in the incident and damage to the mosque was described as minimal.

According to a police source, the suspect admitted he was planning to fire shots at the Minguettes mosque at Vénissieux, a suburb of Lyon, last Thursday (8 August) at the end of the Muslim holy month.

Investigators told French journalists the man was "a lone figure and psychologically fragile … and going through a difficult period after romantic difficulties". His family alerted the authorities after finding documents suggesting he had links with "terrorist" organisations and had "views close to the extreme right".

Le Parisien reported that the sergeant had also made several attempts to contact Maxime Brunerie, a far-right activist who tried to attack the then president Jacques Chirac during the traditional Bastille day celebrations in 2002.

Relatives of the airman said he had been affected by the suicide of the rightwing historian Dominique Venner, who shot himself in front of the altar in Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on 21 May.

In a statement, the French interior minister, Manuel Valls, praised the intelligence services for detaining the sergeant and preventing the attack. "The interior minister reiterates his resolute determination to combat all violence inspired by extremist ideology," it said.

At the weekend Valls also "severely condemned" a series of attacks on a Muslim prayer hall in the Gironde, south-west France, after petrol was poured through the letterbox and set alight, and the building covered in swastikas. The minister described the incidents as "intolerable".

On Monday, Kamel Kabtane, the rector of the Lyon mosque, which only opened in May, said the airman's alleged plot showed that "a climate of Islamophobia reigns in France today and cannot hide its face".

"Islam is more and more stigmatised," he told journalists. Kabtane called for a gathering in front of the mosque later on Monday "to show our concern and our solidarity and to show that Muslims need to be protected".

According to the Islamophobia Observatory, threats and attacks of an Islamophobic nature rose by 35% during the first six months of 2013, compared with the same period last year.

A report published in July recorded 108 attacks – including the use of violence, fire and damage – compared with 80 reported in the first half of 2012. The number of threats and insults rose from 63 in 2012 to 84 this year.

"And these do not include threats that went unreported, which means the figures do not reflect the reality," said Abdallah Zekri, the observatory president.

The French government is considering legislation to ban headscarves and other religious symbols in universities and higher education establishments. A similar ban already covers state schools.

[PereiraMarques]

   
French air force jets: the 23-year-old sergeant was detained by police at an air base at Mont Verdun near Lyon last Wednesday. Photograph: Michael Ein/AP

Descobra o erro nesta imagem  

[Cabeça de Martelo]

[HSMW]

Os Super Entendard são da Marinha francesa e não da Força Aérea.  

[PereiraMarques]

Exacto. E mesmo para quem não sabe reconhecer os modelos de aviões basta ler o "Marine" (Marinha) na fuselagem.

[mafarrico]

obrigado pela observação. qualquer imprecisão que encontrem nas noticias ou fotos , não hesitem em chamar a atenção.

a falar é que a gente se entende