Israel’s prime minister is vigorously asserting his country’s right to defend itself against an Iranian nuclear threat. Benjamin Netanyahu’s tough talk suggests he would attack Iranian nuclear facilities if he thinks Israel needs to do that. (March 5) Subscribe to the Associated Press: bit.ly Download AP Mobile: www.ap.org Associated Press on Facebook: apne.ws Associated Press on Twitter: apne.ws Associated Press on Google+: bit.ly
Continue reading …Financier faces up to 20 years in prison after jury finds him guilty of conspiracy and 12 other charges including obstruction Allen Stanford, the Texan financier, knight of Antigua, Washington power player and billionaire benefactor of English cricket, has been found guilty of orchestrating a $7bn Ponzi scheme. After a six-week trial in Houston, Texas, a jury found him guilty of conspiracy and 12 other criminal charges including obstruction. He was acquitted of one wire fraud charge. Stanford, who turns 62 on 24 March, faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced. The jury of eight men and four women had appeared to be deadlocked on Monday and had to be given instructions by the judge, David Hittner. Outside, family members had gathered to offer their support. “I’m hoping for the best,” Stanford’s 84-year-old father, James, told the Houston Chronicle as he waited for the verdict. “We support him 100%. In fact, 150%.” During the trial prosecutors argued that Stanford used his clients’ money to fuel his “lavish lifestyle and his loser companies” in a massive Ponzi scheme that spanned two decades. Stanford, they argued, conned investors into buying certificates of deposit, or CDs, from his bank on the Caribbean island nation of Antigua, telling them they were a safe investment. Instead the bank was “his own personal ATM”, the prosecutor William Stellmach said. By 2008 Stanford’s bank owed depositors more than $7bn that it did not have and Stanford had blown huge chunks of that cash on luxury yachts, private jets and cricket sponsorship. In damning testimony James Davis, Stanford Financial Group’s former chief financial officer, told jurors his boss was “the chief faker” – a man who threatened to fire anyone who questioned the $2bn prosecutors say he pocketed from his Antiguan bank. The picture that emerged during Davis’s testimony was one of a long spending spree to disaster. By the end of December 2008 Stanford International Bank had only $88m in cash, but claimed to hold $1bn in assets. As worried investors pulled out their cash, Davis told the court Stanford tried to use his beloved Antigua to bail him out. He cooked the books and 1,500 undeveloped acres Stanford had bought on the island for $64m were set to be valued at $3.2bn, Davis told the court. Stanford’s attorneys argued that the bank would be solvent today if the US government had not shut it down in February 2009. They did not put the businessman on the witness stand, although Stanford had reportedly wanted to testify. Allen Stanford United States Antigua & Barbuda Financial sector Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Hacker – real name Hector Xavier Monsegur – helped US authorities bring charges against five others The world’s most notorious computer hacker has been working as an informer for the FBI for at least the last six months, it emerged on Tuesday, providing information that has helped contribute to the charging of five others, including two Britons, for computer hacking offences. Hector Xavier Monsegur, an unemployed 28-year-old Puerto Rican living in New York, was unmasked as “Sabu”, the leader of the LulzSec hacking group that has been behind a wave of cyber raids against American corporations including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, the intelligence consultancy Stratfor, British and American law enforcement bodies, and the Irish political party Fine Gael. It was revealed that he had been charged with 12 criminal counts of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking and other crimes last summer, crimes which carry a maximum sentence of 124 years and six months in prison. According to indictments filed in a Manhattan federal court, he secretly pleaded guilty on 15 August last year. Despite that, Sabu carried on with his aggressive online persona as the LulzSec “leader”, with the father of two going so far as to deny online – the day after his secret guilty plea – that he had “snitched” on his friends. His online “hacker” activity continued until very recently, with a tweet sent by him in the last 24 hours saying: “The feds at this moment are scouring our lives without warrants. Without judges approval. This needs to change. Asap.” In a US court document, the FBI’s informant – there described as CW – “acting under the direction of the FBI” helped facilitate the publication of what was thought to be an embarrassing leak of conference call between the FBI and the UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency in February. Officers from both sides of the Atlantic were heard discussing the progress of various hacking investigations in the call. A second document shows that Monsegur – styled this time as CW-1 – provided an FBI-owned computer to facilitate the release of 5m emails taken from US security consultancy Stratfor and which are now being published by WikiLeaks. That suggests the FBI may have had an inside track on discussions between Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, and Anonymous, another hacking group, about the leaking of thousands of confidential emails and documents. The indictments mark the most significant strike by law enforcement officials against the amateur hacker groups that have sprung out of Anonymous. These groups, which include LulzSec, have cost businesses millions of pounds and exposed the credit card details and passwords of nearly 1 million people. An FBI official told Fox News, which broke the story: “This is devastating to the organisation … we’re chopping off the head of LulzSec.” But Graham Cluley, a consultant with the security company Sophos, warned news of the arrests, and of Monsegur’s betrayal, could trigger a wave of fresh attacks by furious hackers. “There are plenty of Anonymous sympathisers out there who will continue to steal information and pass it to Anonymous and WikiLeaks. LulzSec were more sophisticated than most, knew more about computer hacking. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others out there with those skills too.” The five charged by US authorities on Tuesday – two in the UK, two in Ireland and one in Chicago – amounted to a sweep of names who are alleged to have carried out all of the most public hacking attacks in the past year. One of the people named in the indictment, Jake Davis, already faces a number of charges in the UK relating to alleged hacking by LulzSec. Davis, of Lerwick, Shetland, was on Tuesday charged in the US with two counts of computer hacking conspiracy. Ryan Ackroyd – a 23-year-old from Doncaster who is said to have used the names “kayla”, “lol” and “lolspoon” – was also charged on two counts of alleged computer hacking conspiracy. A statement from the US Attorney’s office in New York said that Ackroyd was being interviewed on Tuesday by the Metropolitan police. Each count of computer hacking conspiracy carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. Scotland Yard is also running parallel inquiries. One inquiry involves Ryan Ackroyd, Jake Davis, and two other people including a 17-year-old boy in connection with their alleged activities within LulzSec. Ackroyd was still being questioned on Tuesday night, and the 17 year old boy was charged with two computer conspiracy offences. It is understood that it is unlikely anyone would be extradited before the UK trials had concluded. LulzSec was a hacker “crew” of about 10 people whose infamous run began with an attack in May 2011 on the Fox.com site, and then on the US X-Factor competition for which they released passwords and profiles of 73,000 contestants. It quickly escalated to an attack against Sony Pictures, followed by a security company and a number of online games companies. But their downfall came after they hacked into InfraGard, a non-profit organisation affiliated with the FBI, and then attacked the websites of the CIA, the US Congress and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency. LulzSec’s existing members began to worry about government retribution. Although they hacked into the News International systems on 18 July, changing the front page of The Sun’s website, the police and other hackers were on their tail. One called The Jester – believed to be a former member of the US military – who normally attacks jihadist websites, suggested on 24 June that Sabu was an IT consultant based in New York. The two Irish individuals charged are Darren Martyn, 25, of Galway, Ireland, on two charges of computer hacking conspiracy, Donncha O’Cearrbhail, 19, of Birr, Ireland, on one charge of computer hacking conspiracy and one charge of unlawfully intercepted wire communication, which carries a sentence of up to five years. O’Cearrbhail was arrested by Irish police on Tuesday. The fifth person charged is Jeremy Hammond, 27, of Chicago, US, who was arrested and charged on Monday for alleged offences relating to the December 2011 hacking of global intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting. He is charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, one count of computer hacking, and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. LulzSec Hacking Anonymous FBI United States Internet Charles Arthur Dan Sabbagh Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A 15-month-old Indiana girl who clung to life for two days after being swept up by a tornado that killed her parents and two siblings was buried along with her family Monday. (March 5) Subscribe to the Associated Press: bit.ly Download AP Mobile: www.ap.org Associated Press on Facebook: apne.ws Associated Press on Twitter: apne.ws Associated Press on Google+: bit.ly
Continue reading …In the minutes prior to President Obama's Tuesday press conference, Meet the Press host David Gregory could barely contain his glee as he proclaimed those in the White House, “feel pretty good about how this Republican race is going for the President's reelection prospects, and there's nothing like being the president when the other guys are off fighting.” Gregory added that Obama, “can stand up and say, 'I'm actually dealing with the big issues,' and sort of frame the debate when everybody will be watching.” Correspondent Savannah Guthrie similarly chimed in: “…it has been corrosive on the Republican Party as a brand to go through this difficult nominating process….Anytime the president is appearing presidential, doing the work of the presidency, they like that contrast with what's happening in the Republican primary.” Guthrie's declaration was prompted by Nightly News anchor Brian Williams observing: “…poll numbers yesterday showed there's been some damage to the GOP brand, as everyone suspected. It has caused, you know, some erosion in how people feel about the Republican Party during this long, drawn-out campaign.” Following the press conference, Williams remarked: “…this was the advantage of not being engaged in this exhausting GOP campaign, the incumbent gets to sit back and take it in.”
Continue reading …Over a decade after leaving Bain Capital, the private equity firm he helped start, Mitt Romney continues to receive millions of dollars from the company, thanks to a retirement deal he negotiated, the New York Times reported Monday. The paper also notes that much of this income likely is taxed at a much lower rate
Continue reading …The oil industry spends millions each year to shape its image and shift the public debate in its favor. But amid growing concern over climate change — and over the industry’s clout in Washington — it can sometimes find itself losing control of its message pretty quickly. That’s what happened earlier this month, when the
Continue reading …A giant 40-foot whale shark found by fishermen in the Arabian Sea was brought into a harbor in Karachi, Pakistan using several cranes. The 40-foot whale shark is reportedly unconscious for about 10 days and was sold for a tidy sum of $18,750. It is just 1 feet short from the largest confirmed whale shark 40-foot whale shark found from Arabian Sea is a post from: Daily World Buzz
Continue reading …BROWNSVILLE, Texas—Pamela Taylor’s living room has a Santa-hat-wearing stuffed dog atop a red doily on her coffee table, poinsettias near the couch, and, in the center of the room, an angel-topped Christmas tree with a few wrapped presents underneath. Outside, the Christmas spirit is less visible, amid repeated warnings to KEEP OUT—though a “Merry Christmas!”
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