http://www.smh.com.au/world/quebec-students-send-police-a-message-20120525-1z9s7...

Quebec students send police a message
May 25, 2012 - 5:19PM




Demonstrators protest against student tuition hikes in downtown Montreal. Photo: REUTERS

Protests that began in opposition to tuition fees in Canada have exploded into a political crisis with the mass arrest of hundreds of demonstrators amid a backlash against draconian emergency laws.
More than 500 people were arrested in a demonstration in Montreal on Wednesday night as protesters defied a controversial new law - Bill 78 - that places restrictions on the right to demonstrate. In Quebec City, police arrested 176 people under the provisions of the new law.
Organisers of the demonstration reproduced on Facebook a map they sent police in response to requests about the route of their march. It leaves little to the imagination about what the demonstrators think of the police.




A reproduction from Facebook of a map sent to Quebec police after they requested a detailed route of a protest march from students opposed to a hike in tuition fees and the controversial new Bill 78, which controls the right to protest in the Canadian province.

Demonstrators have been gathering in Montreal for just over 100 days to oppose tuition increases by the Quebec provincial government. On Tuesday, around 100 people were arrested after 150,000 people took the streets, according to some estimates.
But what began as a protest against university fee increases has expanded to a wider movement to oppose Bill 78, which was rushed through by legislators in Quebec in response to the demonstrations. The bill imposes severe restrictions on protests, making it illegal for protesters to gather without having given police eight hours' notice and securing a permit.
On Wednesday night, police in Montreal used "kettling" techniques - officers surrounding groups of protesters and not allowing them in or out of the resulting circle - before conducting a mass arrest.




Montreal police march during a protest against student tuition hikes on the 100th day of Quebec's student strikes this week. Photo: REUTERS

Using the provisions provided in Bill 78, police immediately declared Wednesday's protest illegal, but allowed it to continue for around four hours before surrounding protesters and making arrests.
The Montreal Gazette reported that 518 people were arrested, the largest number detained in a single night so far. Montreal police constable Daniel Fortier said rocks were thrown at police, the newspaper added. Fortier said most of those arrested would face municipal bylaw infractions for being at an illegal assembly.
Protesters have vowed to continue the nightly protests that began on February 14 when Quebec's provincial government announced it would introduce tuition fee increases over a five-year period. The Quebec government's department of education, leisure and sport says fees would go up by $325 a year for five years, a total increase of $1,625.




A couple watches as thousands of demonstrators march against student tuition hikes in downtown Montreal. Photo: REUTERS

The protests have resulted in a backlash against the Quebec Prime Minister, Jean Charest, who has refused to back down over the tuition fee increase, and the new law.
In response to the protests, the provincial government rushed through emergency legislation May 18. The bill suspends the current academic term and provides for when and how classes are to resume. Controversially, Bill 78 also imposes severe restrictions on when and where people are allowed to protest.
The law requires demonstrators to give police a precise itinerary and eight hours' notice before being allowed to protest in groups of over 50 people.
Some legal experts argue that the bill contravenes Canada's charter of rights and freedoms. Montreal constitutional lawyer Julius Grey told the Vancouver Sun that Bill 78 was "flagrantly unconstitutional". Opposition has come from the Quebec Bar Association and the Quebec human rights commission.
In an appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the US on Saturday night, the Grammy award-winning band Arcade Fire wore sympbolic red squares of cloth on their chests during their performance, in support of the protests.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304840904577427274197715062.html?m...

Pope's Butler Is Arrested



Reuters

Pope Benedict XVI's butler was arrested in connection with an investigation into leaks of confidential documents, some alleging cronyism and corruption in Vatican contracts, a senior Vatican official said.

The scandal, known as "Vatileaks," involves the leaking of a string of documents to Italian media in January and February, including personal letters to the pope.

Some of the documents involved allegations of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism in the awarding of contracts for work in the Vatican and internal disagreement on the management of the Vatican bank.

The president of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was ousted by its board on Thursday.

Vatican spokesmen said earlier on Friday that a person in possession of confidential documents had been arrested but that they could not disclose his position or identity until they were given permission from Vatican investigators.

The Vatican source confirmed reports by Italian media that the person arrested was the butler.

"It's all very sad," another senior Vatican source said, commenting on an episode that is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Vatican.

The pope's butler serves in the apartments of the Apostolic Palace, serving at the papal tables, handing rosaries to visiting dignitaries and riding in the first seat of the popemobile at papal audiences.

As an intimate member of the papal household, he is privy to the goings on in the most reserved and private rooms in the Vatican.

Italian media said investigators had found documents in his apartment.

The pope, who has been shocked and saddened by the leaks, ordered several investigations, including one headed by Vatican police and another by a commission of cardinals.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on May 26^th, 2012 at 6:13pm:


I cant help but imagine the butler stealing all the golden leafed bibles with thier top secret heavenly secrets in them.

SOB

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/05/27/vatican-in-chaos-after-popes-butler-arre...

Vatican in chaos after Pope’s butler arrested for leaks, bank president ousted



VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s investigation into the source of leaked documents has yielded its first target with the arrest of the Pope’s butler, but the investigation is continuing into a scandal that has embarrassed the Holy See by revealing evidence of internal power struggles, intrigue and corruption in the highest levels of the Catholic Church governance.

The detention of butler Paolo Gabriele, one of the few members of the papal household, capped one of the most convulsive weeks in recent Vatican history and threw the Holy See into chaos as it enters a critical phase in its efforts to show the world it’s serious about complying with international norms on financial transparency.

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The tumult began with the publication last weekend of a book of leaked Vatican documents including correspondence, notes and memos to the Pope and his private secretary. It peaked with the inglorious ouster on Thursday of the president of the Vatican bank. And it concluded with confirmation Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI’s own butler was the alleged mole feeding documents to Italian journalists in an apparent bid to discredit the pontiff’s No. 2.

‘If you wrote this in fiction you wouldn’t believe it’
“If you wrote this in fiction you wouldn’t believe it,” said Carl Anderson, a member of the board of the Vatican bank which contributed to the whirlwind with its no-confidence vote in its president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. “No editor would let you put it in a novel.”

The bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, issued a scathing denunciation of Gotti Tedeschi in a memorandum obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. In it the bank, or IOR by its Italian initials, explained its reasons for ousting Gotti Tedeschi: he routinely missed board meetings, failed to do his job, failed to defend the bank, polarized its personnel and displayed “progressively erratic personal behaviour.”

Gotti Tedeschi was also accused by the board of leaking documents himself: The IOR memorandum said he “failed to provide any formal explanation for the dissemination of documents last known” to be in his possession.

In an interview with the AP, Anderson said the latter accusation was independent of the broader “Vatileaks” scandal that has rocked the Vatican for months. But he stressed: “It is not an insignificant issue.”

Gotti Tedeschi hasn’t commented publicly about his ouster or the reasons behind it, saying he has too much admiration for the Pope to do so. He also hasn’t been arrested, avoiding the fate that befell Gabriele.

The 46-year-old father of three has been in Vatican detention since Wednesday after Vatican investigators discovered Holy See documents in his apartment. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Gabriele had met with his lawyers and that the investigation was taking its course through the Vatican’s judicial system.

Gabriele, the Pope’s personal butler since 2006, has often been seen by Benedict’s side in public, riding in the front seat of the Pope’s open-air jeep during Wednesday general audiences or shielding the pontiff from the rain. In private, he is a member of the small papal household that also includes the pontiff’s private secretaries and four consecrated women who care for the papal apartment.

‘Everyone knows him in the Vatican, and there’s certainly surprise and pain’
Lombardi said Gabriele’s detention marked a sad development for all Vatican staff. “Everyone knows him in the Vatican, and there’s certainly surprise and pain, and great affection for his beloved family,” the spokesman said.

The “Vatileaks” scandal has seriously embarrassed the Vatican at a time when it is trying to show the world financial community that it has turned a page and shed its reputation as a scandal plagued tax haven.

Vatican documents leaked to the media in recent months have undermined that effort, alleging corruption in Vatican finance as well as internal bickering over the Holy See’s efforts to comply with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

The Vatican in July will learn if it has complied with the financial transparency criteria of a Council of Europe committee, Moneyval — a key step in its efforts to get on the so-called “white list” of countries that share financial information to fight tax evasion.

Anderson acknowleged that the events of the last week certainly haven’t cast the Holy See in the best light. And he said the bank’s board appreciated that the ouster of its president just weeks before the expected Moneyval decision could give the committee pause.

“The board considered that concern and decided that all things considered it was best to take the action at this time,” Anderson said. “These steps were taken to increase the IOR’s position vis-a-vis Moneyval.”

The Vatileaks scandal began in January when Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi broadcast letters from the former No. 2 Vatican administrator to the Pope in which he begged not to be transferred for having exposed alleged corruption that cost the Holy See millions of euros in higher contract prices. The prelate, Monsignor Carlo Maria Vigano, is now the Vatican’s U.S. ambassador.

Nuzzi, author of “Vatican SpA,” a 2009 volume laying out shady dealings of the Vatican bank based on leaked documents, last weekend published “His Holiness,” which presented a trove of other documents including personal correspondence to the Pope and his secretary — many of them painting Benedict’s No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a negative light.

Nuzzi has said he was offered the documents by multiple Vatican sources and insisted he didn’t pay a cent C to any of them.

Gabriele was in Vatican custody and unavailable for comment. No known motive has come to light as to why Gabriele, if he is found to be the key mole, might have passed on the documents. Nuzzi declined to comment Saturday on whether Gabriele was among his sources.

Bertone, 77, has been blamed for a series of gaffes and management problems that have plagued Benedict’s papacy and, according to the leaked documents, generated a not inconsiderable amount of ill will directed at him from other Vatican officials.

“For some time and in various parts of the church, criticism even by the faithful has been growing about the lack of co-ordination and confusion that reign at its centre,” Cardinal Paolo Sardi, the former No. 2 official in the Vatican secretariat of state, wrote to the Pope in 2009, according to the letter cited in “His Holiness.”

Anderson, who heads the Knights of Columbus, a major U.S. lay Catholic organization, said he was certain the Holy See would weather the storm and that the Vatican bank, at least, could move forward under a new leader with solid banking credentials as well as a desire to show off the bank’s transparency.

“I hope this will be the beginning of a new chapter for the IOR and part of that chapter will be restoring the public image of the IOR,” he told AP. “I think we have a good story to tell.”

The Associated Press

==============

Anderson, who heads the Knights of Columbus, a major U.S. lay Catholic organization,

___________

Knights of Columbus are freemasons as the fact

announces

blessings

http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/big-us-law-firm-files-for-bankrupt...

Big US law firm files for bankruptcy

IN one of the largest law firm failures in US history, embattled New York firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP has filed for bankruptcy, a move that will be followed by liquidation.
The debt-laden firm filed the papers in federal court in Manhattan on Monday night.
It says it will keep about 90 employees to assist in the wind-down. It expects most of the process to be completed in the next few months.
In the meantime, it says it will operate on a budget and timetable to be determined by the court.
The Wall Street Journal says the Manhattan district attorney's office had launched a criminal investigation into activities at the firm. Regulators have sued to take over its pension plans, which they say are underfunded by $US80 million ($81.46 million).

http://www.infowars.com/uk-republicans-brace-for-biggest-anti-monarchy-protests/



UK Republicans brace for biggest anti-monarchy protests

Press TV
June 1, 2012
Republicans from across Britain are preparing for a historic protest against the monarchy, organised by campaign group Republic, at the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on Sunday June 3.
Protesters will assemble near City Hall for what Republic has described as the “biggest republican protest in living memory.”
Speakers including Independent columnist Joan Smith, human rights campaign Peter Tatchell, historian Ted Vallance and writer Owen Jones will address the crowd from 1:30pm.
The “loud, bold and provocative” demonstration will be in full view of the royal barge as the Queen and other royals disembark to watch the pageant pass through Tower Bridge.
Protest organisers have been buoyed by a recent ICM poll which found the number of people believing Britain would be worse off without the royal family has dropped sharply from 63 percent to 51 percent in jubilee year. This weakening of the monarchy’s popularity has coincided with a surge of support for Republic, which has seen its supporter base grow by more than 100 percent in the last eighteen months, to over 21,000.
Earlier this month Republic published a new pamphlet – 60 Inglorious Years – which argues that the Queen’s reign has been characterised by “personal enrichment, feeble leadership, and an obstinate refusal to allow real scrutiny of her role”.
“Our loud, bold and provocative protest is a major step forward for the republican movement and an opportunity to kick-start a real debate about the future of the monarchy. The royals spend most of their lives shielded from criticism – this protest will give them a rare glimpse of the strength of republican sentiment in Britain today”, said Republic’s chief executive Graham Smith.

“The hereditary system is offensive to all the democratic values this country has fought for in the past. The jubilee represents a celebration of everything we, as republicans, oppose – it is our right and duty to challenge it and promote the alternative.”
“The heightened Palace PR campaign of the last eighteen months has already backfired – people are sick and tired of being told they must celebrate 60 years of one very privileged, very remote and very uninspiring head of state. The idea that the monarchy’s future is any safer as a result of the jubilee is completely laughable.”

He's just snotty because they hacked one of his precious drones.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304821304577440703810436564.html?m...

U.S. Team and Israel Developed Iran Worm

By SIOBHAN GORMAN

WASHINGTON—The U.S. is pursuing a wide-ranging, high-tech campaign against Iran's nuclear program that includes the cybersabotage project known as Stuxnet, which was developed by the Central Intelligence Agency in conjunction with Idaho National Laboratory, the Israeli government, and other U.S. agencies, according to people familiar with the efforts.

The covert CIA effort also includes persistent drone surveillance and cyberspying on Iranian scientists, they said.

The U.S. strategy to use technologically advanced measures against Iran illustrates how the Internet and other remote-access capabilities are facilitating spy operations deep inside denied territories.

"It's part of a larger campaign," said a former U.S. official familiar with the efforts. "It's a preferable alternative to airstrikes."

U.S. officials and their allies accuse Iran of operating an illicit nuclear enrichment program to develop atomic weapons, a charge Iran denies.

Through the administrations of President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, the U.S. has pursued a cyber campaign, code-named "Olympic Games," to attack the Iranian program, former officials said.

The existence of Stuxnet and the presumption of U.S. and Israeli involvement have been widely reported, even though U.S. officials have never confirmed the government's role. The code name and scope of the project and other details of the effort were reported on Friday by the New York Times in an adaptation from a coming book.

The first stage of the effort involved inserting so-called beacons into the computers running the control systems used in Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, former officials said. Beaconing is a technique U.S. cyberwar operators often use to electronically map and monitor computer systems they infiltrate, the officials said.

“The U.S. high-tech campaign against Iran includes the Stuxnet worm and cyberspying.”
Then, the National Security Agency teamed up with Israeli counterparts to develop the attack code that would become known as Stuxnet, former officials said. It was introduced into the Iranian facility via a flash drive. The Stuxtnet worm was discovered by researchers in 2010 after it was inadvertently released on the Internet and turned up in computer systems in several countries, including Iran, current and former officials said.

A key element of Olympic Games which hasn't been previously disclosed was a partnership between the CIA's Information Operations Center and the Idaho National Laboratory.

Idaho National Lab has a cadre of researchers who investigate vulnerabilities in computerized control systems that run critical infrastructure. Researchers there probed the specific control system used for the Iranian enrichment program, a former U.S. official said.

"They found out how you could make them destroy themselves," the former official said.

The CIA declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on behalf of Idaho National Lab, which is run by the Department of Energy but has joint programs with a number of government agencies.

Iranians have accused the U.S. and Israel of being behind the cyberattacks. The country's mission to the United Nations didn't return a call seeking comment.

Officials are looking to see whether the revelations about covert U.S. efforts to spy on and sabotage Iran's nuclear program will create new hurdles for upcoming negotiations this month on Iran's nuclear program.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment on U.S. efforts to counter Iran's nuclear program, but said that the focus of international talks was Iran's flouting of international requirements.

"The reason the world is united is because Iran has failed to meet its clear obligations with regard to its nuclear program," he said. Until Iran complies with nonproliferation obligations, he added, "they will continue to be isolated, and nothing can change that except for concrete steps by the Iranians."