Spaniens Fußballvereine haben 752 Millionen Euro Steuerschulden. Der zuständige Staatssekretär überlegt, ob der Staat darauf verzichten sollte. Cardenal wollte den spanischen Fußballklubs Steuerschulden in Milliardenhöhe erlassen. "Der Ansatz ist, die Schulden restlos auszulöschen und Wege zu finden, dass solch hohe Verbindlichkeiten nicht wieder entstehen", sagte er der spanischen Zeitung Marca am Wochenende. Im spanischen Parlament sprachen die Vereinten Linken (IU) von einem "Skandal". Auf ihre Anfrage hin räumte die Regierung ein, dass die Profiklubs den Finanzämtern des Landes 752 Millionen Euro schulden. Knapp 150 Millionen Euro mehr als noch vor vier Jahren. Hinzu kommen viele weitere Millionen Euro, die die Vereine den Sozialversicherungen schulden. Von insgesamt 1,3 Milliarden Euro Verbindlichkeiten ist die Rede.

Why does it matter, if Invisible Children was funded by controversial donors? Two reasons - one, we can assume those donors thought IC aligned with their agenda - which is antagonistic to LGBT rights. Two, it fits an emerging pattern in which Invisible Children appears selectively concerned about crimes committed by Joseph Kony but indifferent to crimes, perhaps on a bigger scale, committed by their provisional partner, the government of Uganda - whose president shot his way into power using child soldiers, before Joseph Kony began using child soldiers. Like Kony, the government of Uganda was also indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005, for human rights abuses and looting in the DRC Congo. Like Kony, the Ugandan army preys upon civilians and is currently accused, by Western human rights groups, with raping and looting in the DRC Congo, where it is hunting for Kony. In the late 1990s, Uganda helped spark a conflict in DRC Congo that, by the middle of the next decade it is estimated, had killed up to 5.4 million civilians, more than any conflict since World War Two.

As Republican lawmakers have pushed ever more intrusive and expansive uterus-related legislation, some of their colleagues across the aisle have fired back with intentionally and equally ridiculous counterproposals. From mandatory rectal exams for guys seeking Viagra to prohibitions on sperm-stifling vasectomies, most of these male-only provisions have, unsurprisingly, flopped. But they've scored big as symbolic gestures, spotlighting the inherent sexism of laws that regulate only lady parts.

A former U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist has come forward with a startling tale of how a substance known as “pink slime” has been embedded in about 70 percent of ground beef sold in the U.S. — a topic ABC News investigated for a segment Wednesday night. “Pink slime” is largely made up of connective tissue that used to be reserved only for dog foods. It was not classified as “meat” because it was largely seen as unfit for human consumption. It also contains ammonia, which is used to kill off bacteria so people who eat it do not get sick.  But in the early 90s, former undersecretary of agriculture Joann Smith decided that it was meat, allowing it to enter the human food chain. When she left her post in 1993, she immediately took a job with Beef Products, Inc. on their board of directors.

Private companies could take responsibility for investigating crimes, patrolling neighbourhoods and even detaining suspects under a radical privatisation plan being put forward by two of the largest police forces in the country. West Midlands and Surrey have invited bids from G4S and other major security companies on behalf of all forces across England and Wales to take over the delivery of a wide range of services previously carried out by the police. The contract is the largest on police privatisation so far, with a potential value of £1.5bn over seven years, rising to a possible £3.5bn depending on how many other forces get involved.

According to the six-page indictment filed by Rosenstein, Ayre worked with Philip, Ferguson and Maloney to supervise an illegal gambling business from June 2005 to January 2012 in violation of Maryland law. The indictment focuses on the movement of funds from accounts outside the U.S., in Switzerland, England, Malta, and Canada, and the hiring of media resellers and advertisers to promote Internet gambling. “Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country,” Rosenstein said in a statement.

As the European Food Safety Authority celebrates its 10th anniversary, a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and Earth Open Source questions the independence of its advice. Conflicts on the menu: a decade of industry influence at the European Food Safety Authority highlights the agency’s reliance on industry data and industry-linked experts and calls for a complete overhaul of EFSA’s operations.

Aufgrund ihrer puren Masse haben die Babyboomer durch ihr bloßes Wollen, Wünschen und Empfinden die Märkte verändert. Ihre Skepsis gegenüber Ideologien war wohltuend, aber nur, solange man nicht bemerkte, dass dahinter die Abwesenheit von Ideen überhaupt stand. Ihr Fehler war zu glauben, dass Märkte auch schon Ideen sind. Ideen setzen sich nicht durch wie Starbucks-Kaffee oder Popkultur. Anders gesagt: Es war die Kauf-, nicht die Überzeugungskraft der Babyboomer, die das Antlitz der Gesellschaft veränderte. Sie musste für ihr Lebensgefühl, ihre Musik, ihre Mode, ihre Sprache nicht kämpfen - im Gegenteil: Es waren Antriebsaggregate für Märkte, die ganz schnell die ganze Gesellschaft erfassten. Die Autorität der Eltern und Lehrer der frühen Siebziger, die vielleicht Fetzenjeans verbieten wollen, weicht nichts so sehr auf, wie die Läden der globalen Modekette um die Ecke.

A new federal law, signed by the president on Tuesday, compels the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors — from selling real estate and dusting crops, to monitoring oil spills and wildlife, even shooting Hollywood films. Local police and emergency services will also be freer to send up their own drones. But while businesses, and drone manufacturers especially, are celebrating the opening of the skies to these unmanned aerial vehicles, the law raises new worries about how much detail the drones will capture about lives down below — and what will be done with that information. Safety concerns like midair collisions and property damage on the ground are also an issue.

Die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen, die Gema und andere kritisieren die "sogenannte Netzgemeinde" und fordern die Regierung auf, das Handelsabkommen Acta sofort zu unterzeichnen. Sie sprechen von "einer Generation, in der viele ohne jedes Unrechtsbewusstsein für 'digitalen Diebstahl' aus Schule und Elternhaus in die große Welt des Internets entlassen worden" seien und fordern die unverzügliche Unterzeichnung des umstrittenen Handelsabkommens Acta sowie eine zukunftsorientierte Reform des Urheberrechtes: Unter dem Dach der A stellen sich ARD, ZDF, der Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, die Gema, der Bundesverband Musikindustrie und andere gegen diejenigen, die vergangene Woche zu Zehntausenden gegen Acta auf die Straßen gegangen waren.

This project is investigating developments in neuroscience and their implications for society and public policy. Increasing understanding of the brain and associated advances in technologies to study it will enable improved treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and mental illnesses. These advances will also increase our insights into normal human behaviour and mental wellbeing, and give the possibility of other enhancement, manipulation, and even degradation of brain function. These developments are likely to provide significant benefits for society, and they will also raise major social and ethical issues due to wide ranging applications.  Brain research is likely to have implications for a diverse range of public policy areas such as health, education, law, and security. Progress in neuroscience raises questions about personality, identity, responsibility, and liberty. The Brain Waves project explores the potential and the limitations of neuroscience insights for policymaking, as well as the benefits and the risks posed by applications of neuroscience and neurotechnologies.

The Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against Twitter and its users in a bid to stop publication of messages alerting drivers to police speed traps and drunk-driving checkpoints. Brazil has asked for the “immediate suspension of all accounts that give information about the location of police radar,” the office of the Attorney General of the Union, said in a statement.

There are few areas of greater disappointment for liberal supporters of President Barack Obama than his policies on civil liberties. From the failure to close Guantanamo Bay and his ramped up drone war to the continued reliance on indefinite detention, military commissions for accused terrorists, and the recent National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that potentially allows for the killing of American citizens without due process, Obama's presidency, or so the argument goes, has been one broken promise after another. Yet, none of this seems to be having any effect on Obama's political standing -- even among Democrats. The results of a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll provide compelling evidence of how little a price Obama has paid for these policies. According to the poll, 70 percent of respondents support the president's decision to keep Guantanamo Bay open. Indeed, backing for Gitmo is actually higher today than it was in 2003. Among the president's political base, 53 percent who self-identify as liberal Democrats -- and 67 percent of moderate or conservative Democrats -- are also supportive.

Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet's birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you … I will not pray for you." Clerics in Saudi Arabia called for him to be charged with apostasy, a religious offence punishable by death. Reports suggest that the Malaysian authorities intend to return him to his native country.

Iran over its nuclear program have come and gone for years. In recent weeks such talk has intensified, though it's still anybody's guess as to whether Israel or the United States might openly carry out military action any time soon. But most experts agree on one thing: A covert war with Iran has already been raging for years. Details are often murky, but the conflict has been punctuated with brazen assassinations, exploding missile sites, crippling cyberattacks, and a litany of arrests and spying allegations on all sides. Below is a timeline of major developments in the war—or at least the ones that are publicly known.

Here's a crash course on the "democratic" machinations of the Arab League - rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud. Essentially, the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what's going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council - based in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France - enthusiastically supported it. It's telling that Syria's neighbor Lebanon did not. When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report ... surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line - which is that the "evil" Bashar al-Assad government is indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order. ... The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protesters. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.

Berichterstattung aus dem Georg von Rauch Haus Berlin in der Anfangszeit.

The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the private emails of staff doctors and scientists who alleged the agency was approving medical devices that posed a danger to patients, according to federal court documents. In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Washington, six current and former FDA employees also claim the agency sought to repress warnings about potential corruption in device reviews by retaliating against whistleblowers who passed information to Congress and the news media.

Warum duldet die friedliche japanische Gesellschaft die Yakuza? Man könne das mit ihrem Ehren-Kodex und ihrer früheren Rolle erklären, meint der Journalist Atsushi Mizoguchi. Yakuza-Mitglieder schwören, nicht zu vergewaltigen, nicht zu stehlen und keine Raubüberfälle zu verüben. Früher hätten sie der Polizei gelegentlich Tipps gegeben und ihr Kleinkriminelle ausgeliefert. In Nagoya schickte die Kokodai-Gumi Patrouillen auf die Straße. Das noble Bild der Yakuza ist allerdings ein Mythos. Dennoch glauben manche Leute noch, so Mizoguchi, im Falle einer Krise würde sich die Yakuza patriotisch verhalten. Als die Linke in den 1960er-Jahren gegen die Militärallianz mit den USA protestierte, prügelte die Yakuza Demonstranten in die Flucht. Nach dem Hanshin-Erdbeben 1995 zog die Yakuza die effektivste Hilfe auf. Auch nach dem Tsunami von 2011 schickte sie viele Lastwagen mit Nothilfe, deren Wert die Zeitschrift Sentaku auf 400.000 Euro schätzte. Danach bewarben sich ihre legalen Firmen aggressiv um Aufträge zur Müllbeseitigung. Außerdem, sagt Adelstein, ziehe die Polizei, wenn sie die Wahl habe zwischen organisiertem und und dem nicht-organisierten Verbrechen hat, das organisierte vor. Es lasse sich eher kontrollieren.  

Hachmeisters ungewöhnliches Langzeit-Portrait zeigt die SPD und ihr Führungsteam auf der Suche nach der sozial- demokratischen Seele. Der Film begibt sich auf eine facettenreiche Reise ins Innere der Partei, mit ihren Flügeln wie „Seeheimern“ und „Netzwerkern“, einem neuen „Leitbild“ für die Mitarbeiter im Willy-Brandt-Haus und den Versuchen, wieder neue Allianzen mit den Gewerkschaften zu schmieden.

Twitter announced on its blog Thursday that it has built for itself the ability to change what messages appear in your Twitter feed depending on what country you're in. The result is a selectively censored Twitter experience, based on the laws of the user's country. It comes nearly one year ago to the day since Twitter announced, "Our position on freedom of expression carries with it a mandate to protect our users' right to speak freely and preserve their ability to contest having their private information revealed." Twitter frames the move as an effort to comply with local laws, retain the ability to stay up in a given country and be as open and transparent as possible about the process.

Der am Ort des Geschehens im Innenhof eines Hauses der Berliner Krumme Straße verantwortliche Einsatzleiter, der Staatsschutzbeamte Helmut Starke, hatte als Kurras' Vorgesetzter erklärt, er habe den Schützen erst erheblich später gesehen. Nun zeigen Fotos den leitenden Beamten der Berliner Polizei wenige Meter von der Stelle entfernt, an der Kurras aus kurzer Distanz den Schuss abgefeuert hat. Den Aussagen Starkes widerspricht insbesondere ein weiteres Foto, das jetzt im SPIEGEL erstmals vollständig veröffentlicht wird: Es zeigt nicht nur Starke und den verwundet am Boden liegenden Ohnesorg, sondern in unmittelbarer Nähe auch den Todesschützen Kurras. Auf einem weiteren bislang unbekannten Bild ist die Situation der Schussabgabe zu sehen. Dabei stützt sich Kurras mit der linken Hand auf einen Kollegen der Polizei, während er mit der rechten Hand schießt. Der Name des Kollegen ist offenbar gezielt aus den Akten herausgehalten worden, er wurde nie vernommen. Ebenfalls nicht vernommen wurden drei Schutzpolizisten, die wahrscheinlich noch nach dem tödlichen Treffer auf den bereits am Boden liegenden Ohnesorg eingeprügelt hatten. Ihre Namen sind bis heute nicht ermittelt.  

Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that emerged from the Department of Homeland Security in November, Washington has written permission to collect and retain personal information from journalists, news anchors, reporters or anyone who uses “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.” ... According to RT, the website “Fast Company” reports that the NOC Monitoring Initiative has been in play since at least early-2010 and that the data is being shared with both private sector businesses and international third parties.

Im Oktober 2009 findet die Berliner Polizei in Friedrichshain “angebrannte Gegenstände” unter einem Auto, dadurch “entstand ein geringer Sachschaden am Pkw”. In Berlin brennen hunderte Autos pro Jahr, die Polizei ist blamiert. Im Jahr 2007 hatten sie 14 Verdächtige gefasst, von denen neun ein Handy dabei hatten. Deswegen geht die Polizei davon aus, dass auch diesmal die Täterin ein Handy einstecken hatte. Also möchten die Ermittler “sämtliche Verkehrsdaten” der 13 am Tatort zu empfangenden Funkzellen. Ein Gericht bewilligt den Antrag und die vier Betreiber der deutschen Mobilfunknetze geben die Daten heraus. Deutlich wird, dass ein recht großer Teil von Berlin-Friedrichshain betroffen ist. Alle Handys, die sich darin aufhielten, könnten also in den übermittelnden Daten auftauchen.