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Fight club: Russian spies seek EU recruits

Russian intelligence services are using martial arts clubs to recruit potential troublemakers in Germany and other EU countries, security experts have warned.

The number of clubs is higher than previously reported and the “sleeper cells” could stage violent provocations ahead of the upcoming German elections, they said.

[...] The martial arts clubs, which teach an offensive style called “systema”, all have “direct or indirect” links to the GRU military intelligence or FSB domestic intelligence services in Russia, according to Dmitrij Chmelnizki, a scholar of Russian espionage who lives in Berlin.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to give Wikimedia a chance to legally challenge the NSA’s mass surveillance as being unconstitutional. The government has previously argued that the NSA’s Upstream warrantless spying is authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. [...]

The ruling yesterday reversed a lower court’s ruling which found Wikimedia, which publishes the internet behemoth Wikipedia, couldn’t prove the NSA’s “Upstream” surveillance program was secretly monitoring its communications, vacuuming the communications right off the internet backbones – even with leaked Snowden documents showing Wikipedia as an NSA target.

[...] due to the sheer size of Wikimedia, the judges found that the NSA probably had seized at least some of their communications.

—Computerworld (hyperlinks in original)

“Wikimedia has plausibly alleged that its communications travel all of the roads that a communication can take, and that the NSA seizes all of the communications along at least one of those roads,” U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz wrote. “Thus, at least at this stage of the litigation, Wikimedia has standing to sue for a violation of the Fourth Amendment. And, because Wikimedia has self-censored its speech and sometimes forgone electronic communications in response to Upstream surveillance, it also has standing to sue for a violation of the First Amendment.”

—Courthouse News Service

further reading:
Wikipedia article on Upstream
Wikipedia article on Albert Diaz

additional coverage:

• Just Security (opinion)
• New York Times
• Just Security
• EFF press release (EFF is one of the plaintiffs)
• Ars Technica
• The Hill
• Associated Press via The Telegraph (Macon, Georgia, USA)

previous stories:
US Spies Still Won't Tell Congress the Number of Americans Caught in Dragnet
Judge Tosses Wikimedia’s Anti-NSA Lawsuit Because Wikipedia It Isn’t Big Enough
Wikipedia's Lawsuit Against NSA Internet Vacuum has First Day in Court
Deeper Dive into EFF's Motion on Backbone Surveillance

[...] As the time for the interview neared, Gianforte came into the room. We exchanged pleasantries and made small talk about restaurants and Bozeman.

During that conversation, another man — who we now know is Ben Jacobs of The Guardian — walked into the room with a voice recorder, put it up to Gianforte's face and began asking if he had a response to the newly released Congressional Budget Office report on the American Health Care Act. Gianforte told him he would get to him later. Jacobs persisted with his question. Gianforte told him to talk to his press guy, Shane Scanlon.

At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter.

—Fox News (archive link)

26 May 06:12 GMT update:

"When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it. That's the Montana way," Gianforte said. "Last night, I made a mistake, and I took an action that I can't take back, and I'm not proud of what happened. I should not have responded in the way that I did, and for that I am sorry."

"I should not have treated that reporter that way. And, for that, I'm sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs," Gianforte said [...]

—Business Insider

additional coverage:

• The Guardian (see Youtube link for audio)
• NPR
• USA Today
• CNN
• The Virginian-Pilot

related stories:
FCC Guards Eject Reporter
Reporter Arrested for "Yelling Questions" at HHS Secretary Tom Price

It's Polyamorous Polysaturation — Unconventional Relationships Abound On TV

Listened to a bit of it on the radio, found the text version.

Statement on coverage of Seth Rich murder investigation

Published May 23, 2017 Fox News
On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.

We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted.

Huawei Matebook 2017 Launch Live Blog: Starts 2pm CEST (8am ET)

Huawei Launching Two New Clamshell Laptops: The MateBook X and the MateBook D

Huawei Launches the MateBook E 2-in-1: The Next Generation (compare to Surface Pro 5)

Or at the extreme end, would you only buy Purism? Or this thing?

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39993739

The Church of England's investment success has pushed it into the top ranks of the world's best performing funds of its type last year.

The fund made a 17.1% on its 2016 investments, more than double the 8.2% it made in 2016, according to the Church Commissioners annual report.

[...] "While this is only around 15% of the Church's overall income - most funding comes from the extraordinary generosity of parishioners - we are delighted to be able to play our part."

The Church's ethical investment policy dictates that all investments should be compatible with Christian values and "recommends against investment" in companies which make more than 3% of their income from pornography, 10% from military products and services, or 25% from other industries such as gambling, alcohol and high interest rate lenders.

However, in 2013 it emerged that the Church had invested indirectly in payday loan firm Wonga. It was a particular embarrassment for the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, who had pledged to try to put Wonga out of business by helping credit unions compete with it.

Thousands of 'Second Life' Bunnies Are Going to Starve to Death This Saturday

Any bunny who is Everlasting will continue to function, as he or she does now: without cost.
Any bunny who is not Everlasting will be unable to eat and will hibernate within 72 hours.

"Hibernate" is a very kind word for it, considering that these bunnies are unlikely to ever be revived. In essence, every mortal rabbit in Second Life is going to starve to death on Saturday morning.

Cloud Computing wins Preakness Stakes, dashing Always Dreaming's chances for Triple Crown

Fox's WTTG-TV interviewed a "former DC homicide detective and Fox News contributor" about the murder of Democratic National Committee staff member Seth Rich. According to the story, the former detective-contributor said that Mr. Rich had exchanged e-mails with Wikileaks. The story was echoed by Breitbart News and the Washington Times. Rich's family and the interviewee cast doubt upon it. WTTG-TV posted "an important clarification" (archived copy) about the recantation. Breitbart News, Infowars and the Washington Times (not to be confused with the Seattle Times) had carried the story as originally presented. World Net Daily, under the headline "News media blackout over Seth Rich revelations," had observed that

The story that many conservative media considered a “bombshell” Tuesday didn’t even register as a blip on the screens of CNN, ABC and CBS.

Right Wing Watch made a similar observation:

In recent days a report from Washington D.C.’s Fox affiliate on the death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich has dominated the conservative media world, including Fox News, Breitbart, InfoWars, and the Drudge Report, while most other outlets are covering the ever-increasing number of White House scandals.

From an archived copy of the story:

A federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report -- generated within 96 hours after DNC staffer Seth Rich's murder -- detailing the contents Rich's computer said he made contact with WikiLeaks through Gavin MacFadyen, a now-deceased American investigative reporter, documentary filmmaker, and director of WikiLeaks who was living in London at the time.

        "My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks."
        - Rod Wheeler, former DC homicide investigator

"I have seen and read the emails between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks," the federal investigator told Fox News, confirming the MacFadyen connection. He said the emails are in possession of the FBI, while the stalled case is in the hands of the Washington Police Department.

The revelation is consistent with the findings of Rod Wheeler, a former DC homicide detective and Fox News contributor and whose private investigation firm was hired by a third party on behalf of Rich's family to probe the case.

—Fox News (archive link)

A report on Monday evening claimed to find links between slain DNC staffer Seth Rich and WikiLeaks. But Rich's family told BuzzFeed News, "[W]e see no facts, we have seen no evidence, we have been approached with no emails."

—BuzzFeed News

[...] Wheeler told CNN he had no evidence to suggest Rich had contacted Wikileaks before his death.

Wheeler instead said he only learned about the possible existence of such evidence through the reporter he spoke to for the FoxNews.com story.

—CNN Money

[...] Wheeler himself admitted he had "never seen the emails directly." Furthermore, his claims of "evidence" were based on the fact that an unnamed federal investigator had told him he saw the emails between Seth and WikiLeaks but that when he went to the police with concerns, he had been "shut down" and the investigation was being impeded by "a high-ranking official at the DNC."

—Haaretz

additional coverage:

• Media Matters for America
• Infowars
• Heavy
• Washington Times (earlier story)
• Breitbart News
• Breitbart News
• Breitbart News
• Washington Times
• The Guardian
• Mic
• Newsweek
• The Independent
• 1011 News
• The Week

previous story:
WikiLeaks Announces $20k Bounty For Murderer(s) of DNC Staffer