Activism

 The U.S. Justice Department unveiled proposed new rules on Friday for FBI investigations, changes a civil liberties group criticized for giving agents powers to investigate Americans without proper suspicion.

In its first major change in years, the Justice Department proposed a consolidated set of guidelines for domestic FBI operations, seeking to apply the same rules for criminal and terrorism cases, and for collecting foreign intelligence.

The guidelines were first adopted in the 1970s following disclosures that the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover had run a widespread domestic surveillance program that spied on civil rights activists and political opponents.

Officials said the new guidelines, which total 45 pages, were still being revised after consultations with Congress and civil liberties groups. The new rules are expected to take effect on October 1.

Justice Department and FBI officials told a news briefing the changes would allow agents in some terrorism cases to use informants, do physical surveillance and conduct interviews without identifying themselves or their true purpose.

They said such techniques currently could be used in ordinary criminal cases, but not for those involving national security, before an investigation has begun.

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern the rewritten rules had been drafted in a way to allow the FBI to begin surveillance without factual evidence to back it up. … [Read more]

 It is obvious to just about everyone – with the apparent exception of the government of Robert Mugabe, the president – that Zimbabwe's economy has passed "tipping point". 

Inflation escalated from 7,500 percent a year ago to 100,000 percent in January and 11.2 million per cent in June. Current estimates put the annual rate at around 30 million per cent for September.

But because no one is able to measure prices accurately, the precise figure is not known.

In the past two weeks alone the Zimbabwe dollar has collapsed from 300 to the US dollar to 15,000, on some occasions, losing half its value in a day. Last week, the rate collapsed from 7,500 to 15,000 to the dollar.

Production in agriculture, mining and manufacturing has more than halved since the political crisis started in 2000, and a recent industrial survey shows that manufacturing industry is operating at less than 20 per cent of capacity. 

The shops are empty. More and more people are resorting either to crude barter – a cabbage for an egg, or a few tomatoes for a loaf of bread – or to under-the-counter deals in foreign currency.

Foreign currency … [Read more]

BANGKOK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Thousands of royalist protesters stormed the compound of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, a TV station and several ministries on Tuesday in a coordinated bid to unseat his elected seven-month-old coalition government.

Samak urged the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to pack up and go home, accusing them of breaking the law after three months of hitherto peaceful demonstrations in central Bangkok.

"They want bloodshed in the country. They want the military to come out and stage a coup again," he told foreign journalists at army headquarters, where he held a weekly cabinet meeting after protesters blockaded his Government House offices.

"We don't count by days. We count by hours. We think by tomorrow it will be finished," he said.

He made no mention of any need to impose emergency rule, but national police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong said police would seek court approval on Wednesday to arrest the PAD leaders after they ignored an order to leave by 6 p.m. (1100 GMT). … [Read more]

The organization Students for a Free Tibet, which has been staging actions throughout the Beijing Olympics to bring the spotlight on the Tibetan freedom movement has given the latest update: … [Read more]