In The News

Growing Divide in Saudi Arabia Between Rulers, Ruled

Karen Elliott House March 15, 2013
Saudi Arabia has a diverse arsenal for squashing dissent against the repressive regime, ranging from bribes and government jobs to harassment and long jail sentences. Two moderate activists received 10-year prison sentences for supporting a constitutional monarchy and human rights, reports author Karen Elliott House in an opinion essay for the Washington Post. The Arab Spring has spurred activism...

US Demands China Block Cyberattacks

Mark Landler, David E. Sanger March 13, 2013
A speech by the US national security adviser has emerged as the first public demand that China end the theft of data from US computer networks. China repeated its own denunciations of such attacks and denied that its military is involved in wholesale cybertheft from US corporations and government agencies, report Mark Landler and David Sanger for the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Chinese...

Police Defend Probe Into Singapore Death

Christine Spolar February 22, 2013
The death of an engineer working on gallium nitride research in Singapore has many complexities – considering he had expressed concerns that his work at Singapore’s Institute of Microelectronics may be compromising US security. Shane Todd was found hanged in his home after his last day of work at IME. “After Todd’s death, the family found an external computer hard drive in his Singapore apartment...

More Than 50 Countries Allegedly Involved in CIA Rendition and Torture

Nicolas Rochon February 20, 2013
A report from the Open Society Foundations has released a report that more than 50 nations, including the US, extra-judicially transferred suspected terrorists overseas for secret integration and torture. “Composed of information provided by various human rights organizations, the 214-page OSF report currently stands as the most comprehensive record of 136 individuals exposed to various methods...

In Egypt, The Kids Are Not All Right

David Ignatius February 19, 2013
Protests for representative government and human rights in Egypt have given way to thuggery and lawlessness, suggests David Ignatius in an opinion essay for the Washington Post. He compares “soccer thugs” roaming Egypt’s streets, defying authority, to the aggressive youth gangs in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. “They seem to disrespect their fathers’ generation for having...

Match-Fixing: Gambling Is Destroying Sport

Declan Hill February 8, 2013
Corruption enriches a few, but poisons organizations. Europol announced nearly 700 fixed football matches after an investigation of thousands of emails in 30 nations. More than 400 have been arrested. “Sports corruption goes back at least 2,800 years and some type of corruption will be with us for as long we continue to hold competitive sports,” notes journalist Declan Hill for BBC News. “It is...

Hackers in China Attacked the New York Times

Nicole Perlroth January 31, 2013
Hackers attacked the New York Times after the newspaper reported on an investigation suggesting that relatives of former Premier Wen Jiabao had accumulated a fortune of billions while he was in office, a report based on public US records. The hackers routed the attacks through US universities, sending malware to individuals, before entering the system and obtaining passwords. Computer security at...