Thursday, February 13

Day: October 17, 2016

UK security agencies unlawfully collected data for 17 years
ENGLISH, United Kingdom

UK security agencies unlawfully collected data for 17 years

    British security agencies have secretly and unlawfully collected massive volumes of confidential personal data, including financial information, on citizens for more than a decade, top judges have ruled. The investigatory powers tribunal, which is the only court that hears complaints against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, said the security services operated secret regimes to collect vast amounts of personal communications data, tracking individual phone and web use and large datasets of confidential personal information, without adequate safeguards or supervision for more than 10 years. The ruling said the regime governing the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) – the who, where, when and what of personal phone and web communications – failed to comply with article 8 protecti...
Austria to tear down Hitler birth house
ENGLISH, Europe

Austria to tear down Hitler birth house

    The house in Austria where Adolf Hitler was born is to be torn down to stop it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine, authorities said today after years of bitter legal wrangling. "The Hitler house will be torn down. The foundations can remain but a new building will be erected. It will be used by either a charity or the local authorities," Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka told Austrian newspaper Die Presse. He said the decision was based on the recommendations of an expert committee tasked with deciding what to do with the controversial building in the quaint northern town of Braunau am Inn. The huge yellow house has been empty since 2011 when the government became embroiled in a dispute with owner and local resident Gerlinde Pommer. For more than a century, her family has ow...
Russia Today’s UK bank accounts frozen
ENGLISH, Europe

Russia Today’s UK bank accounts frozen

    The UK bank accounts of Russian TV broadcaster Russia Today have been shut down, its editor-in-chief has said, in a move that appears to have been sanctioned by the UK government. In a tweet in Russian Margarita Simonyan said that “all the accounts” had been frozen in the UK. She said the decision was final, adding sarcastically: “Long live freedom of speech!” Нам закрыли счета в Британии. Все счета. 'Решение пересмотру не подлежит'. Да здравствует свобода слова! — Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) October 17, 2016"> It was unclear whether the British government was responsible. The foreign office referred inquiries to the Treasury. The move – if confirmed – casts into doubt the ability of the Kremlin-backed news channel to carry on broadcasting. The US and Britain said ...
At least one dead in explosion at German BASF chemical plant
ENGLISH, Europe

At least one dead in explosion at German BASF chemical plant

    At least one person died and six people were injured on Monday by an explosion and subsequent fire at chemicals maker BASF's biggest production site in Germany, the company said at a news conference. In addition, six people are still missing, the Ludwigshafen site's chief, Uwe Liebelt, told journalists. The explosion occurred on a supply line connecting a harbour and a tank depot on the site at around 1130 local time (0930 GMT), BASF said, adding it could not yet say what caused the explosion. Smoke rises from the Chemical plant of the BASF site in Ludwigshafen, western Germany on October 17, 2016. A fire that broke out following the blast sent up plumes of smoke, prompting BASF, the world's biggest chemicals company, and the city of Ludwigshafen to urge residents in the s...
EU for talks on new Election Commission
ENGLISH, Europe

EU for talks on new Election Commission

    European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Pierre Mayaudon has said the EU-Bangladesh joint commission will discuss the formation of a new Election Commission in Bangladesh this December in Brussels. The EU envoy came up with the remark during talks with diplomatic correspondents at a Dhaka hotel this afternoon. The Sub-Committee on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights of the joint commission is scheduled to hold its meeting in Brussels on December 20. The current Election Commission will expire in February next year. The government is in a process to constitute a new commission through appointment of a new chief election commissioner and a set of election commissioners. In reply to a question, the EU ambassador and head of delegation of European Union to Bangladesh said th...