CAIRO - The pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera is calling out for help from Egyptian bloggers and others after authorities closed its Cairo office amid unprecedented anti-state protests.
A statement by the Qatar-based network urges Egyptians to send blog posts, eyewitness accounts and videos to expand coverage of the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
via cbsnews.com
And Reuters won’t let them use their’s.
The Guardian Falsely Incriminate Bradley Manning http://wlcentral.org/node/1138
How we know Bradley Manning is a UK citizenThis is an important blog post. Please distribute it widely.
My legal information is sourced from the UK Border Agency, specifically their caseworking instructions for all issues arising under The British Nationality Act of 1981. This piece of legislation has formed the basis of British nationality law since coming into force on 1 January 1983 and the caseworking instructions derived from it are the guidelines Border Agency employees refer to on a day-to-day basis when deciding who is entitled to British citizenship. This is an absolutely authoritative source.
Bradley Manning is a UK citizen by virtue of his mother’s nationality. He holds both US and UK citizenship.
Bradley Manning was born in the United States on 17 December 1987, the son of Brian and Susan Manning. As the son of an American father, born on US soil, Bradley Manning has held US citizenship since birth.
Bradley’s parents met in Wales and Susan Manning has been described as ‘Welsh’ or hailing from Wales repeatedly in the mainstream media, including outlets with self-proclaimed fact-checking operations.
Susan Manning is, beyond any reasonable doubt, a UK citizen. As far as we know she was born in the UK and is therefore not a “UK citizen by descent”. In law she is a UK citizen “otherwise than by descent”.
I would now like to refer you to Chapter 20 of the caseworking instructions for the Nationality Act of 1981. This is, remember, the working reference guide that British civil servants use every day to determine who qualifies for UK citizenship. Chapter 20 explains what rules govern the transmission of UK citizenship to children born abroad and is the crucial reference that resolves the issue of Bradley Manning’s citizenship status. We will take this step-by-step to avoid any possible confusion.
20.1.1 Every person who is a British citizen is so either “by descent” or “otherwise
than by descent”.20.1.2 The distinction between the two affects a British citizen’s ability to transmit
that citizenship to children born abroad. It does not affect any of the other
rights or duties that go with British citizenship.20.1.3 British citizens by descent cannot transmit their citizenship to children born
abroad except in the circumstances described in Chapter 4. British citizens
otherwise than by descent automatically transmit their citizenship to children
born abroad.20.1.4 As a general principle, people are British citizens otherwise than by descent
if they are British citizens:
• by birth, adoption, registration or naturalisation in the United Kingdom
or the Falkland Islands before 21 May 2002; or…My working assumption is that Susan Manning was born in the United Kingdom. Hence she is a British citizen otherwise than by descent (20.1.4) and “British citizens otherwise than by descent automatically transmit their citizenship to children born abroad.” (20.1.3)
20.1.5 People who are British citizens by birth or other means elsewhere are British
citizens by descent.A child born to a British citizen outside the UK or its overseas territories is a British citizen by descent. Bradley Manning is therefore a British citizen by descent. (20.1.5)
The issue of Bradley Manning’s dual citizenship has been the subject of some controversy and much disinformation but the situation is in fact straightforward: unless Bradley’s mother was born outside the UK, her son has also been a UK citizen automatically since birth. We will confirm that Susan Manning was born in this country as quickly as possible. At that point, I will seek to update the Bradley Manning wikipedia article, backed up with the proper evidence, and we will be able to put this issue to bed once and for all.
Big thanks to @danhind who was indispensable in putting this together.
Update
It has been brought to my attention that, under Section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, even the children of those who are British citizens “by descent” may be able to claim citizenship. The relevant clauses are published on the UK Border Agency website:
A child will have an entitlement to be registered under section 3(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 if:
they were born outside the United Kingdom; or
they were born after 21 May 2002 outside any of the British overseas territories; and
they were born to parents, one or both of whom are British citizens by descent; and
the parent who is British by descent was born to a parent (the child’s grandparent) who was a British citizen otherwise than by descent (or would have been but for their death); and
the parent who is British by descent lived in the United Kingdom at any time before the child’s birth for a continuous period of three years*; and
during the period they were living in the United Kingdom the parent was not absent for more than 270 days; and
the application is made before the child’s 18th birthday.The case is very nearly closed.
NEXT STOP: Why this matters
U.S. and British government officials have begun a global crackdown against pro-WikiLeaks “hacktivists” who briefly shut down Mastercard, Visa, Paypal and Amazon.com December 9. The loose group of hacktivists began a global cyber-attack called “Operation Payback” against the companies that earlier had caved-in to what was likely a U.S. federal government pressure campaign and similar electronic attack against the WikiLeaks website earlier in the year.
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, Pt. 1
January 30, 2011 5:00 PM
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, speaks to Steve Kroft about the U.S. attempt to indict him on criminal charges and the torrent of criticism aimed at him for publishing classified documents.
Julian Assange, The Man Behind WikiLeaks
via cbsnews.com
The interview is in two parts plus a behind-the-scenes video at that link.
Latest News
- Sunday evening: Internet still almost completely down. We have tinkered with trying to find more reliable modem pools, listened in on radio and tried to gather intel on the occupied networks. We have also given many reports to other media who want to catch up. Preparations for internet coming up are proceeding as scheduled.
- Saturday night: Internet still down in Egypt. Some hamradio transmissions have been received. Modem pools have reported incoming Egyptian calls and seem to work. Fortunately, Al Jazeera has broadcasted all day from the streets of Cairo. Preparing tunnels, proxies and cryptography for when internet comes back. Also, buffering up on streisand.me with proper mirrors.
- Friday morning: Internet in Egypt seems almost completely blacked out. Only a few corporate networks manage to get through. See the following reports: Renesys.com and Bgpmon.
via werebuild.eu
via youtube.com
Our sites: telecomix.org, werebuild,eu, streisand.me, chat.telecomix.org, cryptoanarchy.org.
You are free to request anything from us. We do our best.
We are from the internets.
We come in peace.
Let there be freedom for all people and computers.
Marcinho SavantOn Saturday 29th January 2011, @marcinhosavant said:
URGENT MESSAGE FROM ACTIVIST IN EGYPT. PLEASE REPOST IF YOU CAN! “To all the people of world”
Alicia Ali Marsden
To all the people of world
The people in Egypt are under governmental siege. Mubarak regime is banning Facebook, Twitter, and all other popular internet sites Now, the internet are completely blocked in Egypt. Tomorrow the government will block the 3 mobile phone network will be completely blocked.
And there is news that even the phone landlines will be cut tomorrow, to prevent any news agency from following what will happen.
Suez city is already under siege now. The government cut the water supply and electricity, people, including, children and elderly are suffering there now. The patients in hospitals cannot get urgent medical care. The injured protesters are lying in the streets and the riot police are preventing people from helping them. The families of the killed protesters cannot get the bodies of their sons to bury them. This picture is the same in north Saini (El-Sheikh zoyad city) and in western Egypt (Al-salom). The riot police is cracking down on protesters in Ismailia, Alexandria, Fayoum, Shbin Elkoum, and Cairo, the capital, in many neighborhoods across the city.
The government is preparing to crackdown on the protesters in all Egyptian cities. They are using tear gas bombs, rubber and plastic pullets, chemicals like dilutes mustard gas against protesters. Several protesters today have been killed when the armored vehicles of the riot police hit them. Officials in plain clothes carrying blades and knives used to intimidate protesters. Thugs deployed by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior are roaming the streets of Cairo, setting fire on car-wheels as means of black propaganda to demonize protesters and justify police beatings and state torture
All this has been taken place over the past three days during the peaceful demonstrations in Cairo and other cities. Now, with the suspicious silence of the local media and the lack of coverage from the international media, Mubarak and his gang are blocking all the channels that can tell the world about what is happening.
People who call for their freedom need your support and help. Will you give them a hand?
The activists are flooding the net (youtube and other sites) with thousands of pictures and videos showing the riot police firing on armless people. The police started to use ammunition against protesters. 15-year old girl has been injured and another 25 year old man has been shot in the mouth. While nothing of these has appeared in the media, there is more to happen tomorrow. Will you keep silent? Will you keep your mouth shut while seeing all these cruelty and inhumane actions?
We don’t ask for much, just broadcast what is happening
Written by: Mariam Hussien
31 minutes ago · Like
via twitlonger.com
KROFT: But you were screwing with the forces of nature. You have made some of the most powerful people in the world your enemies. You had to expect that they might retaliate.
ASSANGE: Oh, no. I fully expected they’ll retaliate. Well, they see it as highly embarrassing. I think what it’s really about is keeping the illusion of control. I’m not surprised about that. I am surprised at this sort of flagrant disregard for U.S. traditions. That is what I’m surprised about.
Egyptian Unrest News Round-Up:
Live Updates: NYT, CNN, BBC, Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera.
What You Need To Know:
- Egyptians take to the streets, squares in sixth straight day of anti-government protests (yesterday), defying curfew, which has now be imposed nationwide; State TV says Monday curfew to start at 3PM.
- Mubarak meets with military heads, new VP; Egyptian Air Force scrambles fighter jets over Cairo (video, Egyptian military factbox); Reuters: Police expected to return to streets on Monday; Al-Arabiya: Police re-deployment already happened.
- Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei urges Mubarak to leave, tells CNN he has been mandated to form national unity government, visits Tahrir Square after curfew and announces “what we have begun cannot go back.” (photo: reuters.)
- Hillary Clinton: “We want to see an orderly transition”; Obama calls world leaders, expresses support for “an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people”; Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa says he doesn’t think Mubarak is the quitting “type,” hopes to see multi-party system in Egypt.
Further Reading / Viewing:
- Egyptian authorities shut down Al Jazeera bureau office in Cairo, hourly audio reports, liveblogging continue; full list of Al Jazeera reporters tweeting from Egypt; watch arabic news channels online.
- Egypt closes Gaza Strip border; US Egyptian embassy arranging to evacuate Americans; Iraq offers to evacuate its citizens.
- Photos from yesterday’s protests, courtesy of The Arabist; Women of Egypt: Photos of Egyptian women protesting; protesters rally in support of Egypt outside UN building in NYC; Video Below: 8-year-old Saudi Arabian girl provides Mubarak with some sound advice (via):
[photo: @arabist.]
via thedailywh.at
When one thinks of radioactive material they think of mushroom clouds, radiation poisoning, the Cold War, and, most importantly, security. The kind of security someone sees in the movies, however, rarely is found in the real world. However, for modern nuclear facilities, you’d expect a certain level of expertise in securing those radioactive materials. Things like electrified fences, video cameras, patrolling guards, guns and death rays. Well, one can dream.
However, according to an email released by WikiLeaks (cable 10SANAA19), as part of the ongoing “Cablegate” operation, that’s not the kind of security one would find if they went to the main radioactive storage facility in Yemen. They’d find a broken security camera and, if they were especially unlucky, a lone security guard. Not exactly the kind of security one would want around category I and II iridium and cobalt-60. Especially considering Category I is enriched enough to make bombs. The kind of bombs that make mushroom clouds.
It’s highly unlikely that this is the only place that has horrible security of nuclear weapons grade radioactive materials. One gets the impression that if a terrorist really wanted to they would have no trouble getting their hands on radioactive material. All they’d have to do next is build a nuclear reactor (or bomb) in their garage since it’s not hard to find nuclear reactor schematics on the internet.
via crowdleaks.org
Cable: “Presidential succession in Egypt” http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2007/05/07CAIRO1417.html
WASHINGTON — It was Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first meeting as secretary of state with President Hosni Mubarak, in March 2009, and the Egyptians had an odd request: Mrs. Clinton should not thank Mr. Mubarak for releasing an opposition leader from prison because he was ill.
via nytimes.com
Click the link to read the whole article.
