Secret documents revealed by Edward Snowden show Australia tried to monitor the mobile calls of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife. ● Australia's spy agencies have attempted to listen in on the personal phone calls of the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and have targeted the mobile phones of his wife, senior ministers and confidants, a top-secret document from whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals. The document, dated November 2009, names the president and nine of his inner circle as targets of the surveillance, including the vice-president, Boediono, who last week visited Australia. Other named targets include ministers from the time who are now possible candidates in next year's Indonesian presidential election, and the first lady, Kristiani Herawati, better known as Ani Yudhoyono. When a separate document from Snowden, a former contractor to the US's National Security Agency (NSA), showed Australia had spied on Indonesia and other countries from its embassies, the Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, reacted angrily and threatened to review co-operation on issues crucial to Australia such as people smuggling and terrorism. The revelation strained a bilateral relationship already under pressure over the Abbott government's policy to “turn back” boats of asylum seekers coming to Australia. The new leak, published jointly by Guardian Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, reveals the specific top-level targets and is likely to seriously escalate those tensions.

Israel and Saudi Arabia are working on contingency plans for a possible military strike on Iran, a Sunday Times report said.● The British newspaper reported the two countries are working on plans for a possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities if a a deal struck by the P5 plus1 countries in Geneva later this week fails to significantly curb Iran's nuclear program. Israel's intelligence agency Mossad is reportedly working with Saudi officials on the plans. "Once the Geneva agreement is signed, the military option will be back on the table. The Saudis are furious and are willing to give Israel all the help it needs," a diplomatic source told the newspaper. In the framework of cooperation between the two countries, Riyadh has given Jerusalem a green light to use its airspace in the event of a military strike on Iran, the newspaper said. Both countries are "alarmed" by Iran's nuclear ambitions, the report added.

Stephen Lendman: Anti-Iranian Israeli/Saudi Alliance ■ It's an axis of evil. They're strange bedfellows. They have no formal relations. It's believed Saudi Prince Bandar ibn Sultan visited Israel covertly. Doing so broke a decades long taboo. Both countries have common regional interests. They include toppling Syria's Assad. They want Iran's government replaced. Reports suggest both countries formed an anti-Iranian military alliance. On November 17, the London Sunday Times headlined "Two old foes unite against Tehran," saying: "Convinced that Iran is tricking the world over nuclear weapons, Israel and Saudi Arabia may work together to curb its ambitions." None exist. Both countries know it. At issue is eliminating a regional rival.

Stephen Lendman: US hostility toward Iran over ‘sovereignty’ (PressTV Audio) “The issue is really Iranian sovereignty, it’s not Iran’s nuclear program, but a pretext is needed to beat up on Iran, to vilify the government, to make claims that absolutely have no basis and fact,” Stephen Lendman told Press TV on Sunday. Iran is determined to pursue its inalienable nuclear rights during future negotiations with the six major world powers. However, senior Israeli officials have been storming the Capital Hill to feed false information to American lawmakers in an effort to discredit the White House’s nuclear proposal to Iran and cause the nuclear negotiations with Iran to fail. “It’s not Iran’s nuclear program. If Iran had no nuclear program, another pretext would be found to vilify the country and make outrageous claims. The issue is Iranian sovereignty,” Lendman reiterated.

Kenny's Sideshow: The JFK Assassination Still Matters ■ The mainstream totally controlled media is making an all out attack on the sensibilities of the American people during this 50th anniversary of the assassination. I have the feeling that they want this to be the end of the discussion, the climax and then the letdown. There's not much need in playing the 'what if?' game even if that's what has been on our minds for so long. We can't know if the steamroller would have crushed onward anyway and which 'events' of the last five decades would have or have not happened had JFK lived. History matters lest we repeat the same things over and over again as we so often have. But keeping the history in the back of our minds is useful only if it leads to solutions in our current situation. Our crisis is now and that's the way it has always been. There's no time like the present if we are to find a way to an honest and just future. I found this short article to very well sum it up... Why Does It Still Matter?

Abby Martin takes a look at a shocking statistic that puts opium production in Afghanistan at a record high, and puts into perspective the different corporate interests that could be keeping US forces in Afghanistan well beyond 2014.

The PM said he wanted a “fundamental change” in attitudes to money making and called for a culture “that values that typically British, entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit”. ● David Cameron has called for capitalism to be taught in schools. The Prime Minister said he wanted a “fundamental change” in attitudes to money making – with profits celebrated in the classroom. Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s banquet in the City, he called for a culture “that values that typically British, entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit”. He said the Tories would make sure business was “promoted in schools. Taught in colleges. Celebrated in communities”. Mr Cameron also signalled that austerity would drag on under the Tories. He said: “We need to do more with less. Permanently.”

WSWS: UK Prime Minister David Cameron proclaims austerity cuts to be “permanent”

Scott Rickard, a former American Intelligence Linguist, says Israel is also “involved” in spying operations carried out by the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. ● “The Israelis are very involved in any collection activity. A lot of the technologies that are being applied have been developed in the States as well as in Israel and Europe using Mossad agents,” Rickard told Press TV on Saturday. A recent report has suggested that the CIA is collecting financial transaction records from the likes of Western Union under the Patriot Act. This is the same law exploited by the NSA. Many in the US have criticized the measure as massive violation of the Fourth Amendment. Rickard said the revelation isn’t something new. He said the financial transactions have been collected for “well over 50 years”. US officials have now expanded the program to target “suspected terrorists,” he said. The Wall Street Journal reported that former US government officials familiar with the CIA program have said that the program “has been useful in discovering terrorist relationships and financial patterns”.

The NSA has asked Linus Torvalds to inject covert backdoors into the free and open operating system GNU/Linux. This was revealed in this week’s hearing on mass surveillance in the European Parliament. Chalk another one up of the United States NSA trying to make information technology less secure for everyone. The father of Linus Torvalds, Nils Torvalds, is a Member of the European Parliament for Finland. This week, Nils Torvalds took part in the European Parliament’s hearing on the ongoing mass surveillance, and brought a revelation: The United States security service NSA has contacted Linus Torvalds with a request to add backdoors into the free and open operating system GNU/Linux. The entire inquiry is available here on YouTube (uploaded by Hax).

Criminal Charges Filed against 3 Alleged Animal Abusers at Quanah Cattle Company! ● Nov. 15 Case Updates: COK applauds the Weld County Sheriff’s Office for filing criminal charges of cruelty to animals against three alleged animal abusers at Quanah Cattle Co., demonstrating that it’s taking our evidence of abuse very seriously. For the sake of these calves, as well as other farmed animals, we hope justice will swiftly be served. Quanah Cattle Co. has also announced that it has fired the three individuals who our undercover investigator caught on film mistreating these animals.

In 2013, a COK undercover investigator worked inside Quanah Cattle Co. (QCC), an animal agribusiness company in Kersey, Colorado that purchases newborn calves from surrounding dairy factories and temporarily confines them before shipping them out to be raised for their meat. Just days old, many of these calves – some of whom still have their umbilical cords hanging from their bodies – are too feeble or frightened to walk steadily. As our footage shows, in the process of being moved on and off trucks, these fragile animals are violently dragged by their legs, pulled by their ears, lifted by their tails, kicked, thrown, slammed, and flipped. Animal handling expert Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University decried the cruelty seen in our video, calling it “severe abuse” and “not acceptable” while further noting that “If this facility had been a slaughter plant, the USDA would have shut them down.” The cruelty to calves uncovered in this investigation was so shocking and violent that COK turned evidence over to local authorities, and we are now working with them on this case.

9News.com: Video shows livestock workers kicking, dragging newborn calves