14 Heroes & 14 Villains

Source: Blog | Access

Heroes

1. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
2. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, introduced and was a crucial advocate for the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015.
3. Malkia Amal Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice and co-founder of the Media Action Grassroots Network, Malkia Amal Cyril’s work
4. MPs David Davis and Tom Watson
5. Maricarmen Sequera is the director of TEDIC, a Paraguayan digital rights organization
6. Journalists Scahill and Begley revealed that American and British spies hacked into the internal computer network of the world’s largest producer of SIM cards and stole vast quantities of encryption keys
7. As director of the digital liberties organization Bolo Bhi, Farieha Aziz has been at the forefront of the campaign to modify the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015, currently under consideration in Pakistan.
8. Netzpolitik released confidential documents to the public exposing Germany’s plans to launch bulk surveillance programs
9. a District Court struck down an 11-year-old gag order imposed by the FBI on Nicholas Merrill, the owner of Calyx, an internet service provider.
10. Kakao (formerly Daum Kakao), owns a South Korean internet company with a popular messaging service
11. The U.N. Human Rights Council
12. Moxie Marlinspike (& team), founder of Open Whisper Systems, an open source software group that freely offers the programs Signal, TextSecure, and Redphone
13. Kate Westmoreland is a cybercrime and human rights expert with Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society. Her January paper, Foreign Law Enforcement Access to User Data: A Survival Guide and Call for Action,
14. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO has vocally resisted government demands to weaken the company’s data security practices

Villains

1. Hacking Team, covertly sold advanced communications surveillance services and resources to multiple governments and entities with poor records on human rights.
2. Prime Minister Manuel Valls, pushed through dangerous new legislation that lacks clarity and precision, and authorizes French intelligence services to exercise broad surveillance powers without prior judicial approval or oversight.
3. Pablo Romero Quezada is the former director of Ecuador’s intelligence agency, the Secretaría Nacional de Inteligencia (SENAIN)
4. Attorney General Githu Muigai fought to preserve Kenya’s Security Laws despite a High Court judgment overturning the legislation.
5. Canadian MP Steven Blaney was the sponsor of Bill C-51
6. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron

7. Anthony Batts, former Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department in the U.S. Acting under a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI that was signed by a previous commissioner, the Baltimore Police Department used the “Stingray” surveillance device 4,300 times

8. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued before India’s Supreme Court that privacy is not a fundamental right
9. Spanish Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez jailed seven people without specifying the individualized charges or facts attributed to each suspect, forcing the defendants to make statements without knowing what they were accused of.
10. Telefonica
11. Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha approved legislation to create a National Cybersecurity Committee
12. Washington Post Editorial Board suggested that the U.S. Congress could compel Apple and Google to use their “wizardry” to create a “Secure Golden Key” for the government to access otherwise secure user data
13. Gerhard Schindler is president of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND)
14. U.S. Senator Richard Burr, As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Burr has been a driving force behind the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) legislation

19 Themes from Journal of International Affairs

1. Fall/Winter 2015 – Breaking Point: Protests and Revolutions in the 21st Century
2. Spring/Summer 2014 – Global Food Security
3. Fall/Winter 2013 – The Gender Issue: Beyond Exclusion
4. Spring/Summer 2013 – The Rise of Latin America
5. Fall/Winter 2012 – Transnational Organized Crime
6. Spring/Summer 2012 – The Future of the City
7. Fall/Winter 2011 – Inside the Authoritarian State
8. Spring/Summer 2011 – Sino-Indian Relations
9. Fall/Winter 2010 – Innovating for Development
10. Spring/Summer 2010 – Rethinking Russia
11. Fall/Winter 2009 – Pakistan and Afghanistan: Domestic Pressures and Regional Threats
12. Spring/Summer 2009 – Africa in the 21st Century
13. Fall/Winter 2008 – Global Finance
14. Spring/Summer 2008 – Water: A Global Challenge
15. Fall/Winter 2007 – Religion & Statecraft
16. Spring/Summer 2007 – Iran
17. Fall/Winter 2006 – Historical Reconciliation
18. Spring/Summer 2006 – The Globalization of Disaster
19. Fall/Winter 2005 – The Politics of the Sea: Regulating Stateless Space

List of Countries that require their Leader to belong to a certain Religion

Source: In 30 countries, heads of state must belong to a certain religion | Pew Research Center

1. Christian

• Andorra
• Lebanon

2. Muslim

1. Afghanistan
2. Algeria
3. Brunei
4. Iran
5. Jordan
6. Malaysia
7. Maldives
8. Mauritania
9. Morocco
10. Oman
11. Pakistan
12. Qatar
13. Saudi Arabia
14. Somalia
15. Syria
16. Tunisia
17. Yemen

3. Buddhist

• Bhutan
• Thailand

4. Pancasila

• Indonesia

Top 20 global leaders with the longest names

Source & Thanks: World Political Heads and Foreign Premiers | News | The Guardian

State	Head of state	Name count
Madagascar	Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana	44
Bhutan	Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck	27
Argentina	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	27
Kuwait	Sabah AlAhmad AlJaber AlSabah	26
Guinea Bissau	Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo	26
Equatorial Guinea	Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo	26
Turkmenistan	Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow	24
United Arab Emirates	Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan	23
Andorra	Joan Enric Vives Sicília	22
Indonesia	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	22

State	Head of government	Name count
Qatar	Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani	34
Samoa	Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi	31
Kuwait	Jaber AlMubarak AlHamad AlSabah	28
United Arab Emirates	Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum	26
Iceland	Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson	26
Mauritania	Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf	25
Djibouti	Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed	23
Swaziland	Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini	23
Tonga	Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō	23
Chad	Kalzeubet Pahimi Deubet	21
Vanuatu	Moana Carcasses Kalosil	21

Person of the Year: Top Choices from the Time.com Poll Results

Thanks: Time

1. Kim Jong Un
2. Undocumented Immigrants
3. Mohamed Morsi
4. Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein
5. Gabby Douglas
6. Ai Weiwei
7. Malala Yousafzai
8. Sheldon Adelson
9. Bashar Assad
10. E.L. James
11. The Mars Rover
12. Psy
13. Felix Baumgartner
14. The Higgs Boson Particle
15. Pussy Riot
16. Sandra Fluke
17. John Roberts
18. Mo Farah
19. Marissa Mayer
20. Tim Cook
21. Mario Draghi
22. Xi Jinping
23. Bo Xilai

Tamil Nadu: 2012 Year In Review: Top 10 News

1. As an NRI desi: Indian Foreigners vs Europe Locals

2. Crime and Punishment: People taking law in their own hands vs Turning blind eye to Law abusing Common Man

3. Influential Celebrity: Chinamyee, Karthi Chidambaram were in Social Media vs Karunanidhi enters Twitter and FB

4. Anti-Growth Lobbyists: Power cuts for citizens vs Koodankulam Nuclear Energy

5. Eternal Conservatives: Love Marriages vs Inter-caste Protection

6. Nature vs Man made: Cyclone Nilam and Thane vs Tamil Nadu Express Fire

7. Forces beyond us: God-men Nithyananda vs Foreign hand ISI in Tamil Nadu

8. Repeatability vs Consistency: Sivakasi Fire Accidents vs. Sri Lanka arresting TN Fishermen

9. Dengue Returns vs Former telecom Minister A Raja Returns

10. Ka series: Highly Expected and stayed in limelight but never came out – Kadal, Kochaidaiyaan, Kalaam, Kaveri

Top Searches from Yahoo! News: 2012 – Year in Review

Thanks: 2012 Year in Review — Yahoo! News

#1 Elections

#2 iPhone 5

#3 Kim Kardashian

#4 Kate Upton

#5 Kate Middleton

#6 Whitney Houston

#7 Olympics

#8 Political Polls

#9 Lindsay Lohan

#10 Jennifer Lopez

The World’s Best Countries in Science

 

Source: The World’s Best Countries in Science: Scientific American

A: RESEARCH PAPERS: Score, on a 100-point scale, based on science papers in top journals (Digital Science, 2011)
B: PATENTS ISSUED: Number of patents (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2011)
C: EXPENDITURE: Gross domestic expenditure on research and development (2009*)
D: HIGHER EDUCATION: Number of science and engineering doctoral degrees awarded (2009*)

	RESEARCH PAPERS	PATENTS ISSUED	EXPENDITURE	HIGHER EDUCATION
	1. U.S.	1. U.S.	1. U.S.	1. U.S.
	2. Germany	2. Japan	2. China	2. Germany
	3. China	3. South Korea	3. Japan	3. U.K.
	4. Japan	4. Germany	4. Germany	4. Japan
	5. U.K.	5. Taiwan	5. France	5. France
	6. France	6. Canada	6. U.K.	6. Italy
	7. Canada	7. France	7. Russian Fed.	7. Brazil
	8. South Korea	8. U.K.	8. Italy	8. Canada
	9. Italy	9. China	9. Canada	9. Spain
	10. Spain	10. Italy	10. Spain	10. Australia
	11. Switzerland	11. Australia	11. Australia	11. Sweden
	12. Australia	12. Israel	12. Sweden	12. Switzerland
	13. Netherlands	13. Netherlands	13. Netherlands	13. Poland
	14. India	14. Switzerland	14. Switzerland	14. Netherlands
	15. Taiwan	15. Sweden	15. Austria	15. Turkey
	16. Israel	16. India	16. Turkey	16. Portugal
	17. Singapore	17. Finland	17. Israel	17. Czech Reublic
	18. Sweden	18. Belgium	18. Belgium	18. Austria
	19. Belgium	19. Austria	19. Finland	19. Belgium
	20. Denmark	20. Denmark	20. Denmark	20. Mexico
	21. Austria	21. Singapore	21. Mexico	21. Finland
	22. Russian Fed.	22. Hong Kong	22. Poland	22. Israel
	23. Hong Kong	23. Spain	23. South Africa	23. Slovakia
	24. Brazil	24. Norway	24. Norway	24. Denmark
	25. Finland	25. Ireland	25. Portugal	25. Greece

9 Foreign Terrorist Organizations that should NOT be there in the USA Terrorism Watch

Source: When is a terrorist no longer a terrorist? | FP Passport

• The Abu Nidal Organization — a PLO splinter group — was a major terrorist organization in the 1980s and 1990s, but has barely been heard from since Abu Nidal’s death in 2002.

 

• Aum Shinriyko, the Japanese cult that carried out the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, hasn’t carried out any attacks since.

 

• ETA — the decades-old Basque nationalist group, is thought to have fewer than 100 active members since hundreds were arrested by French and Spanich police, and hasn’t carried out a major attack since 2009.

 

• The Continuity Irish Republican Army may have fewer than 50 members, and these days spends more time on political infighting than planning attacks.

 

• Gama’a al-Islamiyya  was once Egypt’s largest terrorist group and it’s former spiritual leader, “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdul Rahman is in jail in the U.S. for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center attack, but the group has largely renounced violence since the early 2000s and now has its own political party with seats in the Egyptian parliament.

 

• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were decimated by a Sri Lankan army offensive in 2009 and despite reports of regrouping abroad, the Tigers haven’t been able to mount any major operations since.

 

• The Morrocan Islamic Combatant Group was one of the organizations implicated in the 2004 Madrid train bombings but hasn’t been heard from since.

 

• Revolutionary Organization 17 November,  a leftist Greek militant group that targed U.S. and NATO targets in the 1980s and ’90s, hasn’t carried out any attacks since 2002.

 

• United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia — a right-wing paramilitary anti-FARC group — was mostly demobilized in 2010 and the elements of it that remain are more of a drug trafficking organization than a terrorist militia.

Paralympic Medal Standings | London 2012

Rank by Gold	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	People’s Republic of China	95	71	65	231
2	Russian Federation	36	38	28	102
3	Great Britain	34	43	43	120
4	Ukraine	32	24	28	84
5	Australia	32	23	30	85
6	United States of America	31	29	38	98
7	Brazil	21	14	8	43
8	Germany	18	26	22	66
9	Poland	14	13	9	36
10	Netherlands	10	10	19	39
11	Islamic Republic of Iran	10	7	7	24
12	Republic of Korea	9	9	9	27
13	Italy	9	8	11	28
14	Tunisia	9	5	5	19
15	Cuba	9	5	3	17
16	France	8	19	18	45
17	Spain	8	18	16	42
18	South Africa	8	12	9	29
19	Ireland	8	3	5	16
20	Canada	7	15	9	31
21	New Zealand	6	7	4	17
22	Nigeria	6	5	2	13
23	Mexico	6	4	11	21
24	Japan	5	5	6	16
25	Belarus	5	2	3	10
26	Algeria	4	6	9	19
27	Azerbaijan	4	5	3	12
28	Egypt	4	4	7	15
29	Sweden	4	4	4	12
30	Austria	4	3	6	13
31	Thailand	4	2	2	8
32	Finland	4	1	1	6
33	Switzerland	3	6	4	13
34	Hong Kong, China	3	3	6	12
35	Norway	3	2	3	8
36	Belgium	3	1	3	7
37	Morocco	3	0	3	6
38	Hungary	2	6	6	14
39	Serbia	2	3	0	5
40	Kenya	2	2	2	6
41	Slovakia	2	1	3	6
42	Czech Republic	1	6	4	11
43	Turkey	1	5	4	10
44	Greece	1	3	8	12
45	Israel	1	2	5	8
46	United Arab Emirates	1	1	1	3
47	Latvia	1	1	0	2
47	Namibia	1	1	0	2
47	Romania	1	1	0	2
50	Denmark	1	0	4	5
51	Angola	1	0	1	2