Victory for Daily Mail as Banker Nathaniel Rothschild loses libel action over Lord Mandelson meeting report

Richard White reports for the Mail Online:

Banker Nathaniel Rothschild lost his libel action today over being portrayed as a 'puppet-master' who brought together Lord Mandelson and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The 40-year-old heir to the Rothschild banking dynasty demanded 'very substantial' damages following the publication of a story in the Daily Mail which he said suggested that he had helped smooth a £500 million aluminium deal in 2005.

The article claimed that Mr Rothschild used Lord Mandelson - then European Commissioner for Trade - to impress Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire owner of Russia's biggest aluminium plant, during a visit to Siberia.

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Foreign Press Rents Tel Aviv Rooftops To Cover Iran War – OpEd

Richard Silverstein writes:

That’s what the foreign press corps appears to be doing now in Tel Aviv in preparation for an attack on Iran. They’re renting the right to put film crews and reporters on the city’s rooftops (Hebrew) during the upcoming war in order to cover the anticipated Iranian counterattack. That way they can get great photo ops and pictures of missiles wreaking havoc on the city. What a story! What a feast for the eyes! Other news organizations like CBS, Fox News, and NBC are sending their senior producers to Israel to scope out the place in case they have to send in the big boys–the news anchors and senior correspondents (especially since no one can report from Teheran!).

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Richard Gere Praises Self-Immolating Monks

Recently, there has been an uprising of protests by Tibetan monks over China’s occupation of Tibet and the exile of the Dalai Lama. The protests are not done with signs and chanting but with self-immolation or the act of burning oneself alive. Richard Gere has praised the actions of the Buddhists monks calling them “a pure act.”

Gere, a long-time Buddhist, says, “It all really comes down to motivation. I mean none of these self-immolators have harmed anybody else. It is totally a self-sacrifice for their people, for others. So on that level it’s a pure act. But I think it’s more important to look into the causes of why people would feel they need to do these kinds of things.”

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'To take it down, you have to take down the internet': New file-sharing technology is IMMUNE to government attacks

Government attempts to knock out file-sharing sites in the battle against music and film piracy could be doomed.

A new file-sharing software called Tribler cannot be knocked out by governments or anti-piracy organisations, its creators claim.

'The only way to take it down is to take the internet down,' says Dr Pouwelse of Delft University of Technology.

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The Global Teach-In April 25, 2012

The Global Teach-In will take place simultaneously in a number of cities, starting on April 25th, 2012 at 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time. This interactive and participatory event will include discussions by experts, grassroots activists and citizens at large concerned about developing solutions to policy problems and creating alternative institutions. The Teach-In will involve face-to-face deliberation, teleconferencing and an internet-based broadcasting network. Local teach-in groups already exist or are in formation. Participate by organizing a teach-in, joining a local group or listening to the broadcast.

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Occupy Berlin - Eviction of assembly - CastorTV Documentation 15 Oct 2011

United for a global change - There were protests in more than 1.000 cities worldwide on 15.October 2011. This is a documentation about the eviction of the peaceful assembly in front of the German parliament in Berlin. CastorTV broadcast the whole day to the internet via live-stream: http://www.castortv.de

Occupy London

Documentary about the Occupy London Movement.

Occupy Hip-Hop

Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies February 8

Greece's latest debt agreement. Here.

Dmitry Medvedev addressed an expanded meeting of the Federal Security Service board

... Last year FSB counter-intelligence revealed that the activity of foreign special services is not waning and they continue to pursue their aims. For obvious reasons, they are interested in our economic life, and domestic policy and a host of other spheres. The figures I am about to cite are not usually revealed but they demonstrate the achievements of the FSB. These are positive achievements.

In 2011, the activities of 41 employees of foreign intelligence services were stopped and 158 agents of foreign intelligence services were identified, including a number of Russian citizens.

Russia’s successful integration into the global economy and integration tendencies in the post-Soviet space also require improved methods of ensuring its economic security. New economic ties are being forged, there are new cooperation chains, as they are called, and technology transfer has expanded significantly. This is a good, positive process, and we will promote it in every way possible.

At the same time, the Federal Security Service must respond to cases of industrial espionage, which is common throughout the world, including against the interests of our country, and to counter attempts to oust Russian companies from international markets, which unfortunately happens fairy [sic] often. ...

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Self-love for peace

You can't make this up.

V for Vendetta masks: From a 1980s comic book to the Egyptian revolution

Ahram Online talks to the illustrator of the original ‘V for Vendetta’ comic book, David Lloyd, who designed the now iconic mask that has come to define global revolution.

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