I confess that for the most part I found the Murdoch testimony before Parliament today to be predictable, frustrating, and boring. So boring, in fact, that I dozed off just before the Great Murdoch Pie Face moment. However, there actually were some revelations. One of the more interesting one is the one John Dean discusses with Keith Olbermann in the video above. In the course of testimony, it came out that Glenn Mulcaire’s legal bills are being paid for by News Corp. Mulcaire is the “private investigator” who hacked into murder victim Milly Dowler. Telegraph : Mr Murdoch said: “I asked the question myself and I was very surprised to find the company had made certain contributions to legal settlements. “I don’t have all of the details around each of those – not legal settlements sorry, legal fees – I was surprised, I was very surprised to find out that had occurred. “They were done, as I understand it, in accordance with legal counsel and their strong advice.” Asked who signed the cheques, Rupert Murdoch said “it could have been” Les Hinton, head of News International at the time, or, alternatively, the chief legal officer. It was put to the Murdochs that their company had been paying legal fees for Mulcaire, a “convicted felon” – a charge James Murdoch admitted. He said: “I do know certain legal fees were paid for Mr Mulcaire by the company and I was as surprised and shocked to learn that as you are.” But he denied the fees were paid to buy Mulcaire’s “cooperation and silence”, saying: “When the allegations came out I said: ‘Are we doing this? Is this what the company’s doing?’ “The strong (legal) advice was that from time to time it’s important and customary even to pay co-defendants’ legal fees.” Other things I learned: James Murdoch is the one to watch out for. Rupert Murdoch is his old, crotchety, middle-finger-in-your-face-as-always guy, but James is one smooth operator. Always ready with a concerned look, contrite words, and a very long-winded answer, he restated what everyone else said, which was basically to say nothing. This exchange is a perfect example. Yes, we paid his legal fees because someone else told us to, but also yes, we’re all about being hands-on with the company and oh, by the way, did I forget to say I’m sorry? Rebekah Brooks handled her testimony in a similar fashion, but was treated far more harshly by the panel questioning her. Not that she doesn’t deserve harsh treatment. She does. But compared to the kid-glove treatment of the Murdoch duo, she was raked a bit harder. Bottom line? Much like Congressional hearings here in the US, these were largely for show and not substance. The real hearings to watch will be the ones where criminal charges are brought, which I believe will happen at some point.
Continue reading …I confess that for the most part I found the Murdoch testimony before Parliament today to be predictable, frustrating, and boring. So boring, in fact, that I dozed off just before the Great Murdoch Pie Face moment. However, there actually were some revelations. One of the more interesting one is the one John Dean discusses with Keith Olbermann in the video above. In the course of testimony, it came out that Glenn Mulcaire’s legal bills are being paid for by News Corp. Mulcaire is the “private investigator” who hacked into murder victim Milly Dowler. Telegraph : Mr Murdoch said: “I asked the question myself and I was very surprised to find the company had made certain contributions to legal settlements. “I don’t have all of the details around each of those – not legal settlements sorry, legal fees – I was surprised, I was very surprised to find out that had occurred. “They were done, as I understand it, in accordance with legal counsel and their strong advice.” Asked who signed the cheques, Rupert Murdoch said “it could have been” Les Hinton, head of News International at the time, or, alternatively, the chief legal officer. It was put to the Murdochs that their company had been paying legal fees for Mulcaire, a “convicted felon” – a charge James Murdoch admitted. He said: “I do know certain legal fees were paid for Mr Mulcaire by the company and I was as surprised and shocked to learn that as you are.” But he denied the fees were paid to buy Mulcaire’s “cooperation and silence”, saying: “When the allegations came out I said: ‘Are we doing this? Is this what the company’s doing?’ “The strong (legal) advice was that from time to time it’s important and customary even to pay co-defendants’ legal fees.” Other things I learned: James Murdoch is the one to watch out for. Rupert Murdoch is his old, crotchety, middle-finger-in-your-face-as-always guy, but James is one smooth operator. Always ready with a concerned look, contrite words, and a very long-winded answer, he restated what everyone else said, which was basically to say nothing. This exchange is a perfect example. Yes, we paid his legal fees because someone else told us to, but also yes, we’re all about being hands-on with the company and oh, by the way, did I forget to say I’m sorry? Rebekah Brooks handled her testimony in a similar fashion, but was treated far more harshly by the panel questioning her. Not that she doesn’t deserve harsh treatment. She does. But compared to the kid-glove treatment of the Murdoch duo, she was raked a bit harder. Bottom line? Much like Congressional hearings here in the US, these were largely for show and not substance. The real hearings to watch will be the ones where criminal charges are brought, which I believe will happen at some point.
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Suspected members of collective allegedly behind attacks on Fox News and Visa websites arrested Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a series of raids on homes across America and made at least 14 arrests of people suspected of being linked to the secretive hacking activist group Anonymous. Arrests and raids took place in Florida, California, and New Jersey and were aimed at targets suspected to be members of the hacking collective which has hit the headlines in recent months for a series of high-profile attacks. Computers and other equipment were also seized at several addresses in New York as local agents there executed search warrants in New York city and Long Island, but made no arrests. “These search warrants are being executed in connection with an ongoing FBI investigation,” a New York FBI spokesman said. More arrests may follow in days to come, legal sources said. The American action follows other raids aimed at members of Anonymous that have taken place in others parts of the world, including Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. More than 30 people thought to be linked to the group were arrested. Anonymous hit the mainstream media headlines in December when it rallied to the support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Asange. It has an agenda of sympathy for freedom of information and attacked the websites of companies like Visa, MasterCard and PayPal in protest at those firms severing ties to WikiLeaks and making it difficult for Assange to raise money from supporters. Since then hacking has become a hot topic in the US and there have been other cyber-attacks by Anonymous members or supporters on targets such as the CIA and Fox News and the Arizona Department of Corrections. The latter was targeted out of anger at Arizona’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants. Often, after successful attacks, people claiming to be part of the group will post messages on the social messaging service Twitter boasting of the attacks or providing proof that they hit their targets. Hacking comes in various forms, but a common method used by Anonymous has been a “distributed denial of service” attack where members create a computer network that bombards a website with requests for information and eventually overwhelms it with traffic. Such an attack is illegal. Another hacking collective, called LulzSec, has also been the target of law enforcement ire in America. Last month, FBI agents raided an address in Iowa and questioned a woman about possible links to the group. LulzSec hit the headlines on Monday when it hacked the website of the Sun newspaper. It later claimed to have obtained password information for the email accounts of senior News International executives including former chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who is at the centre of the phone-hacking storm surrounding the company. United States FBI CIA New York Hacking WikiLeaks LulzSec Fox News Fox Julian Assange Paul Harris guardian.co.uk
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Washington claims men were intelligence agents while Kashmiri lobby group allegedly ‘channelled funding’ Relations between Washington and Islamabad deteriorated further when the US justice department charged two men alleged to have been in the pay of the Pakistan intelligence service. One was involved with the Kashmiri American Council, through which it is alleged that Pakistan channelled millions of dollars to influence members of the US Congress. The US said there are also Kashmiri centres in London and Brussels that the FBI alleged are run by elements of the Pakistani government. FBI special agent Sarah Webb Linden, in an affidavit unsealed on Tuesday, named the one in London as the Justice Foundation/Kashmir Centre run by Nazir Ahmad Shawl. The FBI arrested the executive director of the Kashmiri American Council, Ghulam-Nabi Fai, aged 62, at his home in Fairfax, Virginia, later. The other, Zaheer Ahmad, 63, is believed to be in Pakistan. Both are US citizens and face a prison sentence of five years if convicted. Relations between the US and Pakistani intelligence have been increasingly strained this year after the arrest of a CIA operative, Raymond Davis, in Pakistan and the revelation that Osama bin Laden had been in hiding near Islamabad. A senior US senator, Dianne Feinstein, chair of the intelligence committee, this week described the relationship as in crisis. The US has also engaged in covert funding in Pakistan to achieve its goals. Last week the Guardian revealed how the CIA funded an extensive fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was living, in order to obtain DNA samples from inside his house. Fai’s arrest may come to be seen as a tit-for-tat reprisal for the victimisation of several Pakistanis who participated in that vaccination programme. The arrests come as the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is on a visit to India. The two men are accused of having conspired to act as agents of a foreign government without that interest being declared and falsifying, concealing and covering up the fact. Lisa Monaco, assistant attorney general for national security, said the two were accused of breaking the law that required the US and the American public to know the underlying source of information and identity of those attempting to influence US policy and laws. The US attorney for Virginia, Neil MacBride, added: “Mr Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.” The affidavit alleges that the centre was run by elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan’s military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). Kashmiri activists reacted with dismay and shock to news of Fai’s arrest, describing him as an eloquent advocate for the Kashmiri cause. Several said they believed he had become a victim of deteriorating relations between Washington and Islamabad in the wake of the US raid that killed Bin Laden on 2 May. “I think his arrest is just about settling scores with Pakistan,” said Tariq Naqash, a journalist in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-held Kashmir. “It implies that relations are deteriorating.” Farooq Rehmani, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Freedom League, said Fai came from Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir but had been living in the US for at least 30 years. “I know him personally. He comes from Kashmir and he has been campaigning for our cause,” he said. According to the affidavit, a confidential witness told investigators the money was transferred to Fai through Ahmad, an American living in Pakistan. The FBI interviewed Fai in March 2007 when he allegedly stated he had never met anyone who identified themselves as being with the ISI. The affidavit alleged that four Pakistani government handlers have directed Fai’s US activities and that Fai has been in touch with them more than 4,000 times since June 2008. United States Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) FBI US Congress Ewen MacAskill Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Washington claims men were intelligence agents while Kashmiri lobby group allegedly ‘channelled funding’ Relations between Washington and Islamabad deteriorated further when the US justice department charged two men alleged to have been in the pay of the Pakistan intelligence service. One was involved with the Kashmiri American Council, through which it is alleged that Pakistan channelled millions of dollars to influence members of the US Congress. The US said there are also Kashmiri centres in London and Brussels that the FBI alleged are run by elements of the Pakistani government. FBI special agent Sarah Webb Linden, in an affidavit unsealed on Tuesday, named the one in London as the Justice Foundation/Kashmir Centre run by Nazir Ahmad Shawl. The FBI arrested the executive director of the Kashmiri American Council, Ghulam-Nabi Fai, aged 62, at his home in Fairfax, Virginia, later. The other, Zaheer Ahmad, 63, is believed to be in Pakistan. Both are US citizens and face a prison sentence of five years if convicted. Relations between the US and Pakistani intelligence have been increasingly strained this year after the arrest of a CIA operative, Raymond Davis, in Pakistan and the revelation that Osama bin Laden had been in hiding near Islamabad. A senior US senator, Dianne Feinstein, chair of the intelligence committee, this week described the relationship as in crisis. The US has also engaged in covert funding in Pakistan to achieve its goals. Last week the Guardian revealed how the CIA funded an extensive fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was living, in order to obtain DNA samples from inside his house. Fai’s arrest may come to be seen as a tit-for-tat reprisal for the victimisation of several Pakistanis who participated in that vaccination programme. The arrests come as the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is on a visit to India. The two men are accused of having conspired to act as agents of a foreign government without that interest being declared and falsifying, concealing and covering up the fact. Lisa Monaco, assistant attorney general for national security, said the two were accused of breaking the law that required the US and the American public to know the underlying source of information and identity of those attempting to influence US policy and laws. The US attorney for Virginia, Neil MacBride, added: “Mr Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose – to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the US government’s position on Kashmir.” The affidavit alleges that the centre was run by elements of the Pakistani government, including Pakistan’s military intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). Kashmiri activists reacted with dismay and shock to news of Fai’s arrest, describing him as an eloquent advocate for the Kashmiri cause. Several said they believed he had become a victim of deteriorating relations between Washington and Islamabad in the wake of the US raid that killed Bin Laden on 2 May. “I think his arrest is just about settling scores with Pakistan,” said Tariq Naqash, a journalist in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-held Kashmir. “It implies that relations are deteriorating.” Farooq Rehmani, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Freedom League, said Fai came from Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir but had been living in the US for at least 30 years. “I know him personally. He comes from Kashmir and he has been campaigning for our cause,” he said. According to the affidavit, a confidential witness told investigators the money was transferred to Fai through Ahmad, an American living in Pakistan. The FBI interviewed Fai in March 2007 when he allegedly stated he had never met anyone who identified themselves as being with the ISI. The affidavit alleged that four Pakistani government handlers have directed Fai’s US activities and that Fai has been in touch with them more than 4,000 times since June 2008. United States Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) FBI US Congress Ewen MacAskill Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New Oil Spill In Montana Wasn’t Reported By Drilling Company. Are We Surprised?
July 19, 2011 No CommentUh oh! I guess somebody’s going to get a stern letter , and they’ll have to promise not to do it again: HELENA, Mont. — A newly discovered oil spill in northwestern Montana went unreported for a month before a neighboring landowner complained to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, federal regulators said Monday. FX Drilling Co. never reported the spill, estimated to be between 420 and 840 gallons, to the tribe or to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA spokesman Joe Vranka said. The amount spilled at the FX Drilling Co. oil field in a remote corner of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation appears to be much less than the estimated 42,000 gallons that emptied into the Yellowstone River earlier this month. But the northwestern Montana spill comes at a time when all pipeline and oil operations in the state are under scrutiny as a result of the larger Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline break. The company discovered the break in the flow line between two oil wells on June 12 and shut down the line, Vranka said. Company officials may have believed the spill didn’t go beyond the oil field , he said, when oil had actually flowed down a ravine nearly a mile to the Cut Bank Creek, which connects with the Marias River. A neighboring landowner notified the Blackfeet tribe last Tuesday, and the tribe in turn notified the EPA. Officials from the federal agency made the first contact with FX Drilling by calling the company, Vranka said. The company had 24 hours to report a spill once it reached the waterway, Vranka said. The federal agency is looking into possible penalties against the independent oil and gas producer.
Continue reading …New Oil Spill In Montana Wasn’t Reported By Drilling Company. Are We Surprised?
July 19, 2011 No CommentUh oh! I guess somebody’s going to get a stern letter , and they’ll have to promise not to do it again: HELENA, Mont. — A newly discovered oil spill in northwestern Montana went unreported for a month before a neighboring landowner complained to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe, federal regulators said Monday. FX Drilling Co. never reported the spill, estimated to be between 420 and 840 gallons, to the tribe or to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA spokesman Joe Vranka said. The amount spilled at the FX Drilling Co. oil field in a remote corner of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation appears to be much less than the estimated 42,000 gallons that emptied into the Yellowstone River earlier this month. But the northwestern Montana spill comes at a time when all pipeline and oil operations in the state are under scrutiny as a result of the larger Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline break. The company discovered the break in the flow line between two oil wells on June 12 and shut down the line, Vranka said. Company officials may have believed the spill didn’t go beyond the oil field , he said, when oil had actually flowed down a ravine nearly a mile to the Cut Bank Creek, which connects with the Marias River. A neighboring landowner notified the Blackfeet tribe last Tuesday, and the tribe in turn notified the EPA. Officials from the federal agency made the first contact with FX Drilling by calling the company, Vranka said. The company had 24 hours to report a spill once it reached the waterway, Vranka said. The federal agency is looking into possible penalties against the independent oil and gas producer.
Continue reading …Republican Joe Walsh Taunts ‘Bully’ Chris Matthews: Obama ‘Sends a Tingle Up Your Leg’
July 19, 2011 No Comment
Republican Congressman Joe Walsh didn't put up with Chris Matthews' “bullying” on Tuesday, mocking the liberal MSNBC anchor for his effusive praise of Barack Obama. Over the host's frequent interruptions, the Illinois Representative taunted, ” Hey, Chris, your President, who sends a tingle up your leg -” Walsh appeared to discuss the debt ceiling debate and what Republicans are willing to cut. The Congressman jokingly referred to Matthews' famous 2008 remark that an Obama speech created a ” thrill going up my leg .” A seemingly chagrined Matthews dismissed, “Okay. Here we go. This is where I thought we'd end up.” The anchor resorted to arguing semantics, reminding, “And first of all, tingles is your word.” [Video and MP3 audio here .] Walsh continued to fight back, bombarding, “He doesn't send a thrill up my leg, Chris, all right? And he has not been serious about this debt crisis, and why don't you jump on that?” Later, Walsh slammed Matthews for his propensity to interrupt guests, declaring, “You know what you do? You bully guests. Answer me a question: Did the President ignore the debt situation in his State of the Union address?” The Hardball host quickly talked over Walsh and went to break. Matthews may argue about the difference between “tingle” and “thrill,” but it's not the only such remark he's made. On July 27, 2004 , during the Democratic National Convention, the journalist alerted viewers that then-Senator Obama had created a “chill” in “my legs.” A partial transcript of the July 19 Hardball exchanges follow: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Your bill doesn't specify cuts. It calls in ten years for reduction in government spending to 19.9 percent of the economy. Are you happy with that number that would reduce it to, basically, $3 trillion from $3.75? It really doesn't change that much. But, my point to you is do you really think you're going to get two-thirds vote in the House for a balanced budget amendment? Two-thirds vote? JOE WALSH (R-Ill) : Hey, Chris, the fiscal situation now, this President- MATTHEWS: Will you get- You said you're going to get a two thirds vote? WALSH: Yes! Yes. It's so severe
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Lord Macdonald tells committee it took him ‘three to five minutes’ to decide NoW emails had to be passed to police “Blindingly obvious” evidence of corrupt payments to police officers was found by the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, when he inspected News of the World emails, the home affairs select committee was told. Explaining how he had been called in by solicitors acting for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation board, Lord Macdonald said that when he inspected the messages it took him between “three to five minutes” to decide that the material had to be passed to police. “The material I saw was so blindingly obvious that trying to argue that it should not be given to the police would have been a hard task. It was evidence of serious criminal offences.” He first showed it to the News Corp board in June this year. “There was no dissent,” he recalled. “They were stunned. They were shocked. I said it was my unequivocal advice that it should be handed to the police. They accepted that.” That board meeting, the former DPP said, was chaired by Rupert Murdoch. Lord Macdonald shortly afterwards gave the material to Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick at the Metropolitan police. The nine or 10 emails passed over led to the launch of Operation Elveden, the police investigation into corrupt payments to officers for information. Lord Macdonald, who had been in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service when the phone-hacking prosecution of the NoW’s royal correspondent took place, said he had only been alerted to the case due to the convention that the DPP is always notified of crimes involving the royal family. Members of the committee were highly critical of the CPS’s narrow definition of what constituted phone hacking, claiming that it was at odds with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Mark Reckless, the Conservative MP for Rochester, said that the original police investigation was hindered by the advice from the CPS that phone hacking was only an offence if messages had been intercepted before they were listened to by the intended recipient. However, Reckless said, a clause in the RIPA makes it an offence to hack in to messages even if they have already been heard. Keir Starmer, the current DPP, said that the police had been told that “the RIPA legislation was untested”. Listening to messages before they had been heard by the intended recipient was illegal, the police were told, but the question of whether intercepting them afterwards constituted a crime was “untested”, he said. Mark Lewis, the solicitor who has followed the scandal since its start, said he was the first person to lose his job over the affair when the firm in which he was a partner said it no longer wished him to pursue other victims’ claims. Lewis also told MPs that he had been threatened by lawyers acting for John Yates, the former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, because of comments he had made about phone
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Lord Macdonald tells committee it took him ‘three to five minutes’ to decide NoW emails had to be passed to police “Blindingly obvious” evidence of corrupt payments to police officers was found by the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, when he inspected News of the World emails, the home affairs select committee was told. Explaining how he had been called in by solicitors acting for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation board, Lord Macdonald said that when he inspected the messages it took him between “three to five minutes” to decide that the material had to be passed to police. “The material I saw was so blindingly obvious that trying to argue that it should not be given to the police would have been a hard task. It was evidence of serious criminal offences.” He first showed it to the News Corp board in June this year. “There was no dissent,” he recalled. “They were stunned. They were shocked. I said it was my unequivocal advice that it should be handed to the police. They accepted that.” That board meeting, the former DPP said, was chaired by Rupert Murdoch. Lord Macdonald shortly afterwards gave the material to Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick at the Metropolitan police. The nine or 10 emails passed over led to the launch of Operation Elveden, the police investigation into corrupt payments to officers for information. Lord Macdonald, who had been in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service when the phone-hacking prosecution of the NoW’s royal correspondent took place, said he had only been alerted to the case due to the convention that the DPP is always notified of crimes involving the royal family. Members of the committee were highly critical of the CPS’s narrow definition of what constituted phone hacking, claiming that it was at odds with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Mark Reckless, the Conservative MP for Rochester, said that the original police investigation was hindered by the advice from the CPS that phone hacking was only an offence if messages had been intercepted before they were listened to by the intended recipient. However, Reckless said, a clause in the RIPA makes it an offence to hack in to messages even if they have already been heard. Keir Starmer, the current DPP, said that the police had been told that “the RIPA legislation was untested”. Listening to messages before they had been heard by the intended recipient was illegal, the police were told, but the question of whether intercepting them afterwards constituted a crime was “untested”, he said. Mark Lewis, the solicitor who has followed the scandal since its start, said he was the first person to lose his job over the affair when the firm in which he was a partner said it no longer wished him to pursue other victims’ claims. Lewis also told MPs that he had been threatened by lawyers acting for John Yates, the former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, because of comments he had made about phone
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