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Anonymous Threat to Vladimir Putin

Posted on 07 May 2012 by dana

MOSCOW – The computer activist group, Anonymous, said Friday it plans to attack sites on the Internet of the Russian government to support opposition protests before the law and President Vladimir Putin.

In an Internet video that has been widespread, the Russian division of the group said it would close the main YouTube page of the Government on Sunday, when protesters plan to hold a march of a million people in central Moscow.

That would be followed by another attack against Prime Minister page on Monday, the day when Putin assumed the presidency, according to the message, which includes instructions on how the Internet can join.

Putin easily won the presidential elections in March for a term of six years, despite a wave of protests started after a parliamentary election in December, that the opposition considers tainted by fraud on a massive scale in favor of the ruling party.

The mass demonstrations in Moscow and other Russian cities did not stop the return of Putin to the presidency, but stripped the former head of the KGB’s aura of invincibility that has characterized his 12 years in power. First, as president and later as Prime Minister .

“On May 6 there will be mass demonstrations against the illegitimate elections. We will support this protest closing pages of the government lying,” Anonymous said in a message on YouTube.

“If you did not choose these authorities and you are against a president that elected himself to be crowned for the third time, join us,” the group added.

The video indicated that Anonymous launched attacks against government page, Government.ru at 09:00 hours from Mexico City on May 6 and against the prime minister’s Web, Premier.gov.ru on May 7 at 04: 00.

Anonymous agreed this year to e-mails from pro-Kremlin youth organization, in what they said was a response to the growing number of attacks by pro-government groups against independent media and opposition bloggers.

Both sides are turning to increasingly accessible technology that can be used for computer attacks, and to find more people willing and able to conduct virtual attacks, according to a recent report by British human rights group OpenDemocracy.

Moscow has called for a binding global treaty at UN to prosecute cyber crime on the Net.

Western countries have been reluctant, but the well-known attacks by hackers like Anonymous groups and LulzSec, pages that have affected U.S. government and Britain, have highlighted the vulnerabilities on the Internet.

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The Luxurious Home of Alan Garcia

Posted on 02 March 2012 by dana

 

LIMA, Peru -President Alan Garcia, after separating from Pilar Nores , rented a residence on Summit Street, Las Casuarinas for not less than $4,500 per month.

The splendid house is reported to be about 2,500 square meters, with an aerial view and sits on a solid block of stone. ”They say the house has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a walk in closet the size of a department Mivivienda,” added the journalist César Hildebrandt.

They also said that president has homes in Paris and Bogota, apart from the beach house in Chacarilla. After separating from Garcia, Pilar Nores would have stayed with the latter, detailed weekly. In addition, Garcia also owns a BMW that costs $160,000.

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Governors of State Do Not Want Producers to Vote on Royalties

Posted on 28 February 2012 by dana

 

BRAZIL – Governors and representatives of more than 15 states began a movement to vote on the bill by collecting royalties from oil. This has been approved by the senate, which benefits the non-producing states. They also want to modify the calculation of the base salary of teachers and advocate renegotiation of the debts of the states with the Union.

The governors decided to make a movement of pressure and met with the presidents of the Chamber, Marco Maia (PT-SP), and the Senate, José Sarney (PMDB-AP). At the meeting, Marco Maia said that governors should mobilize their benches and a window can vote in the second half of March. But there are states such as Rio and Espirito Santo who refused to vote. The governors of these states were not present at the meeting.

The project is awaiting the assessment of members, authored by Senator Vital do Rego (PMDB-PB) and approved by the senate. This can cause loss of $48.8 billion by 2020 in Rio de Janeiro.

Earlier, the governors gathered at the house of the governor of Maranhão, Roseana Sarney (PMDB), and outlined a plan of action to press for a vote of royalties and other points. These were only attended by the governors interested in the royalty rate. In this first meeting, without the presence of Maia and Sarney, governors rose tone and charges made for greater involvement by the federal government.

Senator Marcelo Crivella (PRB-RJ) attended the meeting and heard in the senate to vote on the request of the royalties. “What Rio will lose is not true. They want the board to approve that excrescence”, Crivella said.. They had six priority issues: debt renegotiation, not voting the PEC 300, establishing a mandatory national floor for firefighters and police officers, approval of the project royalties, project commerce on the Internet, and change in the law and the Fund State Participation (FPE).

The governors advocate change in the calculation of the base salary of teachers. The Ministry of Education announced on Monday the new national floor of $1,451 for 40 hours, which means an adjustment of 22.22% compared to 2011. The value is retroactive to January 1.

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Deficit Ended 2011 with Deviation of 2.5 Points on PSOE Forecast

Posted on 27 February 2012 by dana

 

All the government closed 2011 with a deficit of 91.344 million. The Minister of Finance and Public Administration,Cristobal Montoro, announced that the GDP is 8.51%, compared to the 6% forecast.

At a press conference, Montoro has reported that the deficit recorded last year for the state is 5.10% of GDP (against 4.8% expected), the regions, 2.94% (compared with 1, 3% predicted) and local authorities, the 0.38% (compared to 0.30% predicted). Meanwhile, Social Security ended the year with a deficit of 995 million euros, 0.09% of GDP, while the target predicted a surplus of 0.4% of GDP.

In his view, this diversion of Social Security is “disturbing” because it is speaking of “the public pension system” and emphasized that we have to clean it up more. Montoro has indicated that these data, confirm the imbalance of public accounts that has been 2.51 percentage points higher than the fiscal consolidation target of 6% last year, committed by the Spanish Government to the European Commission. Montoro has refused to blame the deficit diversion to the regions and said it has been a lack of central government “derogation” from the financing system. “We should not blame anyone.  We are all autonomous communities”, he stressed.

In this regard, Montoro reiterated that there is a need to devise a system, to see how public services are financed independently by the administration that manages them. Montoro also stressed the importance of budgetary stability law to control the institutions and avoid a deficit and breach of targets. 

 

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Indonesians speak out against the Islamic Defenders Front

Posted on 16 February 2012 by dana

 

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, is often held up as good example of how democracy can get along with moderate Islam.

But the freedom that has given the country its reputation, has also allowed the vigilante group, the Islamic Defenders Front, to raid bars and nightclubs over the last decade.

The group’s violent tactics have bothered many citizens since its founding in 1998.  The Indonesians have rarely taken a public stand against the group.

In more recent times, the FPI has expanded to target religious minorities. The group has forced the closure of churches in West Java and was allegedly at the center of a brutal mob attack on a minority Islamic sect,  that ended in the fatal beating of three of its members in February 2011.

The shift in tactics and increased focus on religious minorities has spurred a smattering of citizens to finally speak their mind. Last Tuesday, activists and celebrities rallied in central Jakarta, shouting “Indonesia is more peaceful without the FPI”.

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What Interests Has Russia in Cyprus?

Posted on 06 February 2012 by admin

Cyprus became home to thousands of Russians, but Putin regime may have greater interest in the small nation, The Guardian comment.

Last month, a mysterious Russian transport ship sought refuge during a storm, in the Cypriot port of Limassol. On board of MS Chariot were hidden four containers loaded with 60 tons of ammunition for AK-47 machine guns and rocket launchers. Load came from Rosoboronexport, the state company holding a monopoly on Russia’s arms exports. The buyer was none other than the Syrian government.

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