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Crackdown at a Syrian college: The Syrian government’s security forces launched a series of violent raids into dormitories at Damascus University, where strongman Bashar al-Assad gave a speech earlier this week. Opposition members and witnesses claim that the violence, which reportedly injured 21 and killed 3, was in response to the students at Damascus failing to participate in pro-regime rallies. Also not to be forgotten — 130 students arrested by security forces, now under the harrowing care of Bashar al-Assad’s government. source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

To prevent non-government organizations from falling victim to nefarious actions taken in the guise of anti-piracy enforcement, Microsoft will create a new unilateral software license for NGOs that will ensure they have free, legal copies of our products.
Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith • On the company’s response to a New York Times article alleging that Russian authorities were raiding political organizations under the guise of protecting Microsoft’s copyrights. “Ultimately, our goals are straightforward,” he writes. “We aim to reduce the piracy and counterfeiting of software, and we aim to do this in a manner that respects fundamental human rights.” While the nature of them dong piracy hunts is questionable in the first place, the response to this particular problem is one of the better ones we’ve seen. PR people, take note. This is how you handle a crisis. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

bad Russian police have been raiding various organizations such as NGOs and newspapers not faithful to the state.
worse They’ve been doing it under the guise of looking for unauthorized Microsoft software on their computers.
worser The computers often weren’t even looked at before or after they were confiscated. How sketchy is that? source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 reported al-Qaeda members were captured by Yemeni forces today
30 more were reported killed after a raid in the country last week; the U.S. is paying for this
30 more beyond that were killed in a raid Dec. 17; then the undie bomber stepped in source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

what A bunch of homes in Queens, NY, were raided today by the FBI. Nobody was arrested. Later in the day, a few Congress members were briefed.
why? Word is that authorities were trying to disrupt a Islamic terror cell after some weekend activity drew the attention of the government. That’s all we know. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 19:11