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Posts Tagged ‘United States’

Feds to Supreme Court: Allow Warrantless GPS Monitoring

April 22, 2011 Comments off

wired.com

The Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.

The Justice Department, saying “a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements (.pdf) from one place to another,” is demanding the justices undo a lower court decision that reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month without a court warrant.

The petition, if accepted by the justices, arguably would make it the biggest Fourth Amendment case in a decade — one weighing the collision of Read more…

Categories: GOVERNMENT, United States Tags: , , , , , , , ,

iPhone iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go

April 21, 2011 Comments off

guardian

Apple’s iPhone saves every detail of your movements to a file on the device. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Security researchers have discovered that Apple‘s iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner’s computer when the two are synchronised.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone’s recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner’s movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year’s worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple’s iOS 4 update to the phone’s operating system, released in June 2010.

“Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or Read more…

Categories: Technology Tags: , , , , , , ,

Cops Use Mobile Scanner To Steal Cellphone Data From Innocent Americans

April 20, 2011 1 comment

infowars.com

Americans are living in a predatory police state, then this story completely eviscerates it. Michigan state police have been using a handheld mobile forensics device to steal information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations.

Read more…

Categories: Michigan, Technology Tags: , , , , , , , ,

New record: 26 million Americans now have diabetes

April 19, 2011 Comments off

naturalnews

(NaturalNews) More Americans than ever now have type 2 diabetes, according to statistics recently released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Twenty-six million Americans now have the disease, which is ten percent more than in 2008. And a shocking 79 million others have pre-diabetes, a condition marked by higher-than-normal blood sugar levels that indicate pending insulin-production failure.

“These distressing numbers show how important it is to prevent type 2 diabetes and to help those who have diabetes,” said Ann Albright, director of the diabetes translation division at CDC, in a statement. “We know that a structured lifestyle program that includes losing weight and increasing physical activity can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.”

What is perhaps even more concerning than the sharp rise in diabetes cases is the even larger increase in pre-diabetes cases. According to data, the pre-diabetes rate jumped by nearly 40 percent since 2008. So if the entire pre-diabetic population eventually becomes diabetic, nearly one third of the entire U.S. population will eventually have diabetes.

Currently, 8.3 percent of all Americans, and 11.3 percent of people over the age of 20, now have diabetes. Twenty-seven percent of those that have it, or roughly seven million people, are not even aware of their condition. Based on trends, diabetes rates are only expected to continue to rise in the years to come.

In addition to physical lifestyle changes, there are many medicinal superfoods like almonds, green leafy vegetables, and camu camu, that can help to prevent and treat diabetes when incorporated as part of a healthy diet. Avoiding processed foods like soda that are rich in highly-refined sweeteners will also help to keep blood sugar levels low and prevent the destruction of the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin.

Categories: America Tags: , ,

Pakistan urges end to US strikes

April 19, 2011 Comments off

presstv

Pakistan has called on the US to stop non-UN-sanctioned drone strikes in the country’s northern tribal belt as differences between Islamabad and Washington escalate.

The row between the US and its Asian ally over the scale of the unauthorized CIA drone operations in Pakistan’s North Waziristan were exposed last week.

Pakistan has repeatedly criticized the attacks which it condemns for violating the country’s sovereignty.

Washington, on the other hand, defends the strikes as necessary to fight the militants it claims to have holed up.

But Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Washington should share better intelligence so Islamabad can take action against militants itself.

For several months, Pakistani diplomats and military officials have complained that they were being kept in the dark by the US administration’s non-UN-sanctioned military campaigns.

Politicians on both sides are disappointed with the results of investment of billions of dollars in the US military and civilian assistance since 2001 with Washington admitting in a recent report to Congress that the results of the spending fell short of expectations.

More than 1,180 people were killed by over 120 CIA drone strikes in 2010 alone, reports say.

The strikes have further fueled the anti-US sentiment already on the rise in the region.

Categories: Pakistan, United States Tags: , ,

Stocks Sink on U.S. Credit Outlook as Euro Falls on Debt Crises

April 19, 2011 Comments off

businessweek

U.S. stocks sank the most in a month, oil slid and gold rose to a record after Standard & Poor’s cut the American credit outlook to negative and concern about Europe’s debt crisis worsened. Greek two-year bond yields surged to 20 percent for the first time since at least 1998.

The S&P 500 tumbled 1.6 percent to 1,298.09 at 1:13 p.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 1.7 percent. Ten- year Treasury yields lost three basis points to 3.38 percent as concern about Europe’s finances overshadowed S&P’s move. The euro lost 1.4 percent to $1.4227, while Portuguese debt- insurance costs rose to a record. The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities slid 1.3 percent as oil and cocoa tumbled.

S&P assigned a one-in-three chance it will lower the U.S. rating in the next two years, saying the credit crisis and recession that began in 2008 worsened a deterioration in public finances. Budget differences among Democrats and Republicans remain wide and it may take until after the 2012 elections to get a proposal that addresses the concern, S&P said.

“This is another indication of the need for the U.S. to better control its fiscal destiny, both for its sake and that of the global economy,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s biggest manager of bond funds. “Absent credible medium-term fiscal reform, every segment of U.S. society would be faced with higher borrowing costs, a weaker dollar and a less bright outlook for employment, investment and growth.”

Broad Decline

Commodity, industrial and technology companies had the biggest Read more…

Categories: Economy, Euro, United States Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Historic Tornado Outbreak: 3 Days, 241 Tornadoes, 14 States

April 17, 2011 Comments off

accuweather

This image, courtesy of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in San Diego, Calif., shows tornado reports April 14-16, 2011 as of 12:00 p.m. EDT Sunday April 17, 2011..

From Thursday, April 14, 2011 to Saturday, April, 16, 2011, devastating tornadoes rampaged across communities of the southern United States. Cities and towns from Oklahoma to North Carolina were assaulted by the deadly twisters.

The tornado outbreak led to a total of 241 tornado reports in 14 states over the three-day period. This will likely rank this tornado outbreak among the largest in Read more…

Categories: Odd Weather, United States Tags: , , , , , , ,

How Our Government is Tracking and Databasing Your Every Move

April 17, 2011 Comments off

conspiracywatch

Big Brother is Watching

The war on terror and cybersecurity are excuses that have spurred huge investments into the surveillance industry, which has become a war on “liberty and privacy.”

The Obama administration has moved forward with a Bush regime program to screen state computer traffic on private-sector networks, including those connecting people to the Internet, The Washington Post revealed July 3.

That project, code-name “Einstein,” is related to the much-larger, Read more…

Categories: Big Brother, GOVERNMENT, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gas prices surge toward $4, threaten economic recovery

April 16, 2011 3 comments

lakelandtimes

Click Map to enlarge

Gas prices continued to gallop toward $4 a gallon early this week, both in the area and across the state, as prices in Minocqua and Rhinelander hit $3.99 on Tuesday, even as prices for crude oil eased, at least temporarily.

Across the nation, according to GasBuddy.com on Wednesday morning, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $3.79; in Wisconsin, the average was $3.87. Four states, including Illinois, have seen prices already surpass $4.

Crude oil prices moved downward Tuesday from $113 a barrel – the highest price since September 2008 – to $106, a Read more…

Categories: Oil, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BRICS demand global monetary shake-up, greater influence

April 14, 2011 Comments off

yahoo.com

(L-R) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, China's President Hu Jintao, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma attend a joint news conference at the BRICS Leaders Meeting in Sanya, Hainan province April 14, 2011. The development banks of the five BRICS nations agreed in principle on Thursday to establish mutual credit lines denominated in their local currencies, not in dollars. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool

SANYA, China (Reuters) – The BRICS group of emerging-market powers kept up the pressure on Thursday for a revamped global monetary system that relies less on the dollar and for a louder voice in international financial institutions.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also called for stronger regulation of commodity derivatives to dampen excessive volatility in food and energy prices, which they said posed new risks for the recovery of the world economy.

Meeting on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, they said the recent financial crisis had exposed the inadequacies of the current monetary order, which has the dollar as its linchpin.

What was needed, they said in a statement, was “a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty” — thinly veiled criticism of what the BRICS see as Washington’s neglect of its global monetary responsibilities.

The BRICS are worried that America’s large trade and budget deficits will eventually debase the dollar. They also begrudge the financial and political privileges that come with being the leading reserve currency.

“The world economy is undergoing profound and complex changes,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said. “The era demands that the BRICS countries strengthen dialogue and cooperation.”

In another dig at the dollar, the development banks of the five BRICS nations agreed to establish mutual credit lines denominated in their local currencies, not the U.S. currency.

The head of China Development Bank (CDB), Chen Yuan, said he was prepared to lend up to 10 billion yuan to fellow BRICS, and his Russian counterpart said he was looking to borrow the yuan equivalent of at least $500 million via CDB.

“We think this will undoubtedly broaden the opportunities for Russian companies to diversify their loans,” Vladimir Dmitriev, the chairman of VEB, Read more…

Categories: Brazil, BRIC, China, India, Russia, South Africa Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,