A low-key protest by online activists has started outside the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-28979524 A larger demonstration by the We Are Anonymous group is expected over the weekend although there is a large police presence at the Cheltenham site. Protesters are supporting a legal challenge by civil liberty groups against the alleged use […]

Google has built and tested autonomous aerial vehicles, which it believes could be used for goods deliveries. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28964260 The project is being developed at Google X, the company’s clandestine tech research arm, which is also responsible for its self-driving car. Project Wing has been running for two years, but was a secret until now. The […]

A video gamer’s office near Denver, US, was dramatically raided by armed police – and the incident was broadcast live online. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28970473 Jordan Mathewson, known as Kootra online, was playing popular title Counter-Strike when several officers entered the room and arrested him. According to ABC News, he was later released without charge. Officers said they […]

Ukraine’s prime minister has said he will ask parliament to put the country on a path towards Nato membership. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28978699 Arseny Yatsenyuk said the government was sending a bill to MPs urging that Ukraine’s non-bloc status be cancelled. The remarks come as Nato holds an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine. The […]

The United States has delivered the first shipment of weapons to Lebanon to help bolster its military as it faces a growing threat from Islamic militants amid the fallout from neighboring Syria’s civil war. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/08/29/world/middleeast/ap-ml-lebanon-us.html?ref=world The weapons were displayed at the Beirut military air base on Friday after arriving earlier this week. The shipment included […]

American intelligence and law enforcement agencies have identified nearly a dozen Americans who have traveled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the militant group that the Obama administration says poses the greatest threat to the United States since Al Qaeda before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/world/middleeast/us-identifies-citizens-joining-rebels-in-syria.html?ref=world&_r=0 As ISIS […]

A super-intelligent robotic “brain” that can learn new skills by browsing millions of web pages has been developed by US researchers.  http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28936436 Robo Brain is designed to acquire a vast range of skills and knowledge from publicly available information sources such as YouTube. The information it learns can then be accessed by robots around the […]

A system that allows the exterior of aircraft to “feel” damage or injury in a way similar to human skin is in development by BAE Systems. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28881748 The British defence contractor said the technology, which works by covering the entire body of a plane with tens of thousands of micro-sensors, is able to detect problems […]

At least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, a report has found. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-28939089 Children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated, it said. The report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council, revealed there had been three […]

Islamic State militants are the most dangerous threat America has faced in years, top US officials have warned. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28891325 Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said US strikes had weakened IS in Iraq, but the group could be expected to regroup. America’s top general Martin Dempsey said IS fighters could not be defeated without attacking its base […]

Over the years Chung Eun-yong — who died on Aug. 1 at 91 at his home in Daejeon, South Korea — amassed evidence that American troops had systematically killed more than 100, and possibly as many as 400, civilian refugees early in the Korean War near a railroad bridge outside the South Korean village of No […]

The fatal police shooting of the unarmed black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, is prompting calls for more officers to wear so-called body cameras, simple, lapel-mounted gadgets that capture video footage of law enforcement’s interactions with the public.  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ferguson-fallout-call-police-body-cams Proponents say the devices add a new level of accountability to police work. “This is a technology […]

St Louis police have released video and audio recordings of the shooting on Tuesday of Kajieme Powell, a 25-year-old man described as “behaving erratically” and carrying a knife when officers arrived on the scene.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/police-release-video-of-kajieme-powell-shooting-in-st-louis/print One video, taken by a witness with a phone camera, shows officers opening fire repeatedly within 15 seconds of arriving […]

Islamic extremist fighters forced a freelance reporter, James Foley, to read propaganda celebrating their cause, and then beheaded him in a Middle Eastern desert. Another American journalist is next, they warned. In Iran, Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post, was snatched by men waving an arrest warrant in late July. He has not […]

Russia’s consumer watchdog has announced unscheduled checks on McDonald’s restaurants across Russia as part of a probe into food standards. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28877082 The move comes after watchdog Rospotrebnadzor temporarily shut four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow. The actions come amid rising tensions and sanctions between Russia and the West over the crisis in the Ukraine. The regulator […]

The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) had such a furtive existence that many senior officers knew nothing about it. An undercover unit, it infiltrated hundreds of groups across the political spectrum over 40 years.  http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/24/special-demonstration-squad-undercover-unit-analysis The SDS recruited very informally – a tap on the shoulder or a discreet word in a corridor. Recruits would vanish […]

On Tuesday, Mikki Kendall was in her Chicago home, watching live streams on her laptop as protesters and the police played out a 10th straight day of confrontation in the streets of Ferguson, Mo. On Wednesday, she was on the road, headed 300 miles to offer demonstrators her services as a former Army medic. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/us/what-started-as-a-local-protest-in-missouri-grows-into-a-center-of-national-activism.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes […]

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria posted a video on Tuesday that it said showed the beheading of James Foley, an American journalist who was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago, according to a transcript released by the SITE Intelligence Group. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/world/middleeast/isis-james-foley-syria-execution.html?ref=world The authenticity of the video, which was also posted on YouTube, […]

After St. Louis county police officers in full battle gear trained sniper rifles on peaceful protesters in the suburb of Ferguson last week, and then proceeded to douse the streets in tear gas and round up journalists, a Russia analyst named Mark Adomanis observed that images of a crackdown on dissent in the United States […]