NightBlogger

THE internet communications and websites of anti-war campaigners, environmentalists, animal rights activists and other protest groups are being secretly monitored by state and federal agencies. A Melbourne private intelligence firm specialising in “open-source intelligence” has been engaged by Victoria Police, the Australian Federal Police and the federal Attorney-General’s Department to monitor and report on the protest movements’ use of the internet. The monitoring, which has been secretly conducted for at least five years, includes exploring websites, online chat rooms, social networking sites, email lists and bulletin boards to gather information on planned demonstrations and other activities. Many of those monitored have not broken any laws, but it is believed information about their participation in online activities is conveyed to government agencies that also deal with terrorism. More

WEST Australian Police have asked the state government to give them the power to take a DNA sample from anyone who is arrested, even for minor offences such as trespass. Police can now take samples only from people charged with or suspected of committing a serious offence that carries a minimum jail sentence of 12 months. The West Australian newspaper said it was understood police had made the request for greater powers in their recent submission to the State Government’s statutory review of the Criminal Investigation (Identifying People) Act 2002, which regulates the DNA database, the collection of samples and the time and conditions under which profiles are kept. Police Minister John Kobelke has backed the move, saying it would help make police even more effective. More

AL Jazeera—Thousands of people have rioted in Wengan county in southwest China’s Guizhou province, accusing the police of a cover-up after the death of a local girl. More than 10,000 people ransacked and torched government office buildings on Saturday, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said. The riots began after officials said that the 16-year-old committed suicide by jumping into a river. However, many locals have suggested that she was raped and murdered. She was believed to have last been seen nine days ago with three men, two of them relatives of high-ranking government officials. The violence escalated after the girl’s uncle, who had protested against the conclusion of the police investigation, was reportedly beaten to death on Saturday. More

These protests have been going on for months. Activists have staged daily protests against the decision to resume US beef imports. It’s plainly clear the South Korean population doesn’t want beef imported from the US, yet SKorean officials are under pressure from powerful US corporate interests. Well, it won’t work.

Al Jazeera—Hundreds of of South Koreans protesting against the resumption of US beef imports have been injured in clashes with riot police. Police fired water cannon and used batons in an attempt to disperse the protesters, some of which were carrying steel pipes and throwing stones, in the capital Seoul. About 15,000 people had gathered for a rally on Saturday night demanding that the government withdraw its decision to lift a ban of American beef. But the protest turned violent when some people used ropes to try and move police buses that were used as barricades to prevent them from marching on the president’s Blue House office. More
Also See:
40,000 march against US beef in South Korea

COLUMBIA, S.C. - When Rock Hill school officials tell commencement crowds to hold their applause until the end, they mean it — police arrested seven people after they were accused of loud cheering during the ceremonies.

Six people at Fort Mill High School’s graduation were charged Saturday and a seventh at the graduation for York Comprehensive High School was charged Friday with disorderly conduct, authorities said. Police said the seven yelled after students’ names were called.

“I just thought they were going to escort me out,” Jonathan Orr told The Herald of Rock Hill, about 70 miles north of Columbia. “I had no idea they were going to put handcuffs on me and take me to jail.” More

AFP.COM
Nearly 230 people were arrested early on Sunday as thousands of hardcore South Korean protesters rallying against moves to resume US beef imports fought running battles with police. Riot police carrying shields used water canon and scuffled with angry demonstrators as they broke up an attempt to march on the presidential office overnight, detaining 228. The clashes followed mass protests late on Saturday when some 20,000 people joined a candlelit vigil against the government’s decision to import US beef again after an initial ban in 2003 over mad cow fears. More

Protest in S. Korea over president Lee Myung-Bak’s deal with U.S. to import Specified Risk Material (SRM) from old cattles, which are known to pose significant risk of vCJD (mad cow disease) to humans.

Mainichi Daily News
Police have confiscated CD-ROMs containing personal information on about 10 million people from a man under arrest for posing as another person, investigators said. The CD-ROMs also contained information on large income earners, and police are trying to determine the source of the information and question the man on why he had the CD-ROMs.

Hiroshi Hosaka, 33, the owner of an insurance agency from Tokyo’s Katsushika-ku, was arrested on charges of theft after obtaining motorbikes by using a falsified health insurance card. He had earlier been indicted for a separate theft case. The Metropolitan Police Department’s special investigation unit has found that Hosaka was in possession of about 10 CD-ROMs containing the names, addresses and other personal information on a total of about 10 million people. The CD-ROMs also contain more than 100 lists of individuals, including a list of high-income earners, police said. More

Photo marcn
“Secret Service halts weapons inspections for an hour before Obama rally in Dallas begins. Dallas, where handguns are plentiful, murder capital of the country. Dallas, where JFK, to whom Obama has been compared, was assassinated. Texas is home turf of Bush, who, of course, controls Secret Service directly and without examination.” –Lawrence E. Joseph

JACK DOUGLAS Jr.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
DALLAS — Security details at Barack Obama’s rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department’s homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order — apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service — was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena’s vacant seats before Obama came on.

“Sure,” said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a “friendly crowd.”

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

Doors opened to the public at 10 a.m., and for the first hour security officers scanned each person who came in and checked their belongings in a process that kept movement of the long lines at a crawl. Then, about 11 a.m., an order came down to allow the people in without being checked.

Several Dallas police officers said it worried them that the arena was packed with people who got in without even a cursory inspection.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because, they said, the order was made by federal officials who were in charge of security at the event.

“How can you not be concerned in this day and age,” said one policeman.

The official police position is that the story has no foundation, yet two retired detectives, a professor, and the families of the victims believe that 40 deaths, dating back to 1997, spanning 11 states, are linked to not one, but a group of serial killers. Wow!

“Could a national gang of killers that leaves smiley-face calling cards be getting away with murdering dozens of male college students by making all the deaths look like accidents? That’s what two retired New York police detectives think, after spending their own money to link as many as 40 drowning deaths of otherwise healthy young men, many of them athletes.”
Read more
Alos see: Second congressman asks FBI to investigate ‘Smiley-Face’ killers case