Google revealed a sharp rise in requests from governments asking for political content to be removed from the web in its latest transparency report published on Thursday. ● From January to June the search giant received 3,846 government requests to remove content from its services – a 68% increase over the second half of 2012. “Over the past four years, one worrying trend has remained consistent: governments continue to ask us to remove political content. Judges have asked us to remove information that’s critical of them, police departments want us to take down videos or blogs that shine a light on their conduct, and local institutions like town councils don’t want people to be able to find information about their decision-making processes,” Susan Infantino, legal director, said in a blogpost. “These officials often cite defamation, privacy and even copyright laws in attempts to remove political speech from our services. In this particular reporting period, we received 93 requests to take down government criticism and removed content in response to less than one third of them. Four of the requests were submitted as copyright claims,” she said.

The World’s Long Festering Truth / Israel Is An Illegal Garrison State | Former President Jimmy Carter, author of a new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is interviewed from his home in Plains, Georgia. He responds to a caller who asks questions concerning pressure put on the US political system and the resulting support of Israel. ('Jimmy Carter the truth about Israel')

Top-secret archive document also reveals that Mandela was 'familiar with the problems of Jewry and of Israel' and that Israeli operatives tried to 'make him a Zionist.' ● Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader who died earlier this month, was trained in weaponry and sabotage by Mossad operatives in 1962, a few months before he was arrested in South Africa. During his training, Mandela expressed interest in the methods of the Haganah pre-state underground and was viewed by the Mossad as leaning toward communism. These revelations are from a document in the Israel State Archives labeled “Top Secret.” The existence of the document is revealed here for the first time. It also emerges that the Mossad operatives attempted to encourage Zionist sympathies in Mandela. Mandela, the father of the new South Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, led the struggle against apartheid in his country from the 1950s. He was arrested, tried and released a number of times before going underground in the early 1960s. In January 1962, he secretly and illegally fled South Africa and visited various African countries, including Ethiopia, Algeria, Egypt and Ghana. His goal was to meet with the leaders of African countries and garner financial and military support for the armed wing of the underground African National Congress.

Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and several other EU countries were named among “third party partners” in the NSA-led global signal intelligence program, a new leak submitted by journalist Glenn Greenwald to Danish TV reveals. ● According to the document, obtained by Swedish TV program ‘Mission: Investigate’, that has been probing Sweden's participation in global spying operations, nine European countries were added to the list of NSA accomplices. The "third party partners" to the Five Eyes nations has now grown to include nine states - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The newly-leaked document from Edward Snowden is the first written confirmation of Denmark's formal agreement with the NSA, the Copenhagen Post writes.

From the moment the government’s massive database of citizens’ call records was exposed this year, U.S. officials have clung to two main lines of defense: The secret surveillance program was constitutional and critical to keeping the nation safe. But six months into the controversy triggered by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the viability of those claims is no longer clear. NSA officials, who rarely miss a chance to cite Snowden’s status as a fugitive from the law, now stand accused of presiding over a program whose capabilities were deemed by the judge to be “Orwellian" and likely illegal. Snowden’s defenders, on the other hand, have new ammunition to argue that he is more whistleblower than traitor.

Edward Snowden News: Review: NSA snooping program should stay in place (CNN)
Marcy Wheeler: The NSA review panel didn't answer the real question: was any of this legal?

Raymond Ibrahim ■ One of the worst Christian massacres—complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches—recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi “rebels”; and the U.S. government and its “mainstream media” mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to minimize matters). The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament. Most of the region’s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria’s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it). In late October, the U.S-supported “opposition” invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation’s military. Among other atrocities, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians). The jihadis even made a graphic video (with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, “Allahu Akbar” (which John McCain equates to a Christian saying “thank God”). Another video, made after Sadad was liberated shows more graphic atrocities.

Former Yukos' owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky has left the prison today, according to his lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant. Ex-tycoon was pardoned by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. | Mikhail Khodorkovsky was freed from jail after spending more than 10 years in prison behind bars, said a spokesman for the ex-tycoon. "Yes, we confirm it," a spokesman for Khodorkovsky told AFP. Khodorkovsky's lead lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant also said that the defence had received confirmation from prison officials that the tycoon left his colony in the town of Segezha in northwestern Russia. Vadim Klyuvgant gave no details about the release. "He has left the (prison) colony. That's all I can say," said Klyuvgant.

BBC: Khodorkovsky on his way to Germany
Russia Today: Ex-oil tycoon Khodorkovsky leaves prison hours after Putin pardon

US government scientists have for the first time found direct evidence of toxic exposure in the Gulf of Mexico. ● US government scientists have for the first time connected the BP oil disaster to dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico, in a study finding direct evidence of toxic exposure. The study, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found lung disease, hormonal abnormalities and other health effects among dolphins in an area heavily oiled during the BP spill. The diseases found in the dolphins at Barataria Bay in Louisiana – though rare – were consistent with exposure to oil, the scientists said.