Public Intelligence

This guidance is to provide direction to any police force or other law enforcement authority regarding the retention and use of biometric material for national security purposes through the making or renewing of a national security determination.

These guidelines set out the approach that prosecutors should take when making decisions in relation to cases where it is alleged that criminal offences have been committed by the sending of a communication via social media. The guidelines are designed to give clear advice to prosecutors who have been asked either for a charging decision or for early advice to the police, as well as in reviewing those cases which have been charged by the police. Adherence to these guidelines will ensure that there is a consistency of approach across the CPS.

On 2 December 2010 the Swedish Prosecution Authority (“the Prosecutor”), who is the respondent to this appeal, issued a European Arrest Warrant (“EAW”) signed by Marianne Ny, a prosecutor, requesting the arrest and surrender of Mr Assange, the appellant. Mr Assange was, at the time, in England, as he still is. The offences of which he is accused and in respect of which his surrender is sought are alleged to have been committed in Stockholm against two women in August 2010. They include “sexual molestation” and, in one case, rape. At the extradition hearing before the Senior District Judge, and subsequently on appeal to the Divisional Court, he unsuccessfully challenged the validity of the EAW on a number of grounds. This appeal relates to only one of these. Section 2(2) in Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) requires an EAW to be issued by a “judicial authority”. Mr Assange contends that the Prosecutor does not fall within the meaning of that phrase and that, accordingly, the EAW is invalid. This point of law is of general importance, for in the case of quite a number of Member States EAWs are issued by public prosecutors. Its resolution does not turn on the facts of Mr Assange’s case. I shall, accordingly, say no more about them at this stage, although I shall revert briefly to them towards the end of this judgment.

The objective of this Memorandum of Understanding is to establish a framework to encourage, develop and facilitate bilateral cooperative activity in science and technology that contributes to the National Security and Counter-Terrorism activities of both Signatories.

HSBC Holdings Plc said on Monday it will likely face criminal or civil charges from an expanding investigation into its ties to allegedly illegal money transactions, including some tied to Iran. The disclosure in a regulatory filing shows the increasingly serious nature of inquiries into the London-based bank’s business. HSBC already is the subject of multiple U.S. law-enforcement probes for ties to illegal money transactions. Monday’s filing was the first time the bank disclosed that Iranian transactions are under scrutiny and that it could face a criminal charge.

The source said that the theft happened at around 5pm, when the station was packed with cross-Channel travellers. When the Dassault executive returned to a self-service ticket machine after helping his colleague “his briefcase had disappeared”, said the source. “His attention had been purposefully diverted. It was not a random theft. We have to determine whether the thieves were targeting confidential documents on the drone project or other valuables in the briefcase.” The person who hassled the woman disappeared almost immediately, and has not been seen since. He is described as being in his 30s. Whoever took the briefcase was not seen at all.

Coalitions, which are created for limited purposes and for a set time, do not afford military planners the same political resolve and commonality of aim as alliances. Thus, planners must closely study the political goals of each participant as a precursor to detailed planning. Political considerations weigh more heavily with coalitions than with alliance operations. Coalition military operations are not new. The American, British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand (ABCA) nations have participated together in several coalition operations during the twentieth century. Since human nature has not changed, conflicts over territory, religion, politics, and economics, such as those that prompted previous military operations, will continue to be widespread. The precise role of armies in these operations will vary according to each political and military situation.

SFCB has come to play an increasingly important role in each of our armies over the last decade and will undoubtedly feature in operations spanning the spectrum of conflict in the future. Its affect on organization, training, equipping and doctrine has been felt to a greater or lesser extent by each of us and will help define recent conflicts and their effects. However, SFCB cannot be done in isolation. What must be borne in the military planner‘s mind from the outset is that SFCB is a part of the wider SSR campaign and as a consequence must be part of a comprehensive approach. Furthermore, if coalition partners are present, an extra layer of complexity is present and must be planned for. Failure to take these two aspects into account runs the risk of failure at worst or a fragmented HNSF as a result, at best. This handbook aims to assist the military planner in their approach to SFCB. It is aimed at both commanders and staff officers, primarily on brigade and divisional staffs, although it also has utility for those charged with training, mentoring and advising HNSF forces at the tactical level.

Internet service providers should clamp down on websites used by violent extremists, both Islamists and increasingly the far right, British lawmakers said in a report Monday. The Internet is a more significant vehicle for promoting radicalism than prisons, universities or places of worship, and is involved in almost all cases of extremism, parliament’s home affairs committee said. Law enforcement agencies can already order illegal material to be removed from the Internet, but “service providers themselves should be more active in monitoring the material they host,” the report said. The MPs recommended that the government work with Internet service providers (ISPs) to develop a code of practice on removing extremist material, but acknowledged international co-operation would also be needed.

The technology, developed by a former Royal Marine commando, temporarily impairs the vision of anyone who looks towards the source. It has impressed a division of the Home Office which is testing a new range of devices because of the growing number of violent situations facing the police. The developer, British-based Photonic Security Systems, hopes to offer the device to shipping companies to deter pirates. Similar devices have been used by ISAF troops in Afghanistan to protect convoys from insurgents. The laser, resembling a rifle and known as an SMU 100, can dazzle and incapacitate targets up to 500m away with a wall of light up to three metres squared. It costs £25,000 and has an infrared scope to spot looters in poor visibility.

A bulletin to local businesses from the City of London Police warning of possible extremist/terrorist threats arising from the Occupy London protests.

As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible. Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.

Under its various legal rights and powers, the Mayor, Commonality and Citizens of the City of London (“the City of London Corporation”) requires you to remove all tents and other structures from the protest camp at St Pauls Churchyard, London EC4 (in the area shown in red and green on the attached plan) forthwith. If any tents and other structures remain after 6pm on Thursday 17th November 2011, proceedings for possession and injunctions will be issued in the high Court of Justice without further notice. Any attempt to establish another protest camp consisting of tents and other structures elsewhere in the City of London Corporation’s area will be likely to be the subject of immediate further proceedings without further notice.

Decision by the Queen’s Bench Division of the UK High Court of Justice in the matter of Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority issued November 2, 2011.

The extent to which FTSE 100 companies use tax havens for their operations is revealed in a database of their subsidiaries compiled for the first time by the development charity ActionAid. The 100 largest groups registered on the London Stock Exchange have more than 34,000 subsidiaries and joint ventures between them. A quarter of these, over 8,000, are located in jurisdictions that offer low tax rates or require limited disclosure to other tax authorities. UK companies are required by law to report a list of their subsidiary companies together with their country of registration to Companies House. However, many of the FTSE 100 have failed to do so in the past. Disclosure of the full list by all 100 groups is the result of a formal complaint made by ActionAid to Companies House and a subsequent investigation by the business secretary, Vince Cable.

Documents concerning CIA rendition of terrorism suspects, with the help of the UK, recovered from the offices of Libyan intelligence and published by Human Rights Watch.

A reportedly “Top Secret” document that was obtained and published by the Guardian. It details rules and procedures allowing members of British intelligence, specifically MI5 and MI6 to obtain information from detainees that have been subject to torture in other jurisdictions. The memo notes that obtaining such information may be in violation of both UK and international law.

The leadership of Al Qa’ida is now weaker than at any time since 9/11. It has played no role in recent political change in North Africa and the Middle East. Its ideology has been widely discredited and it has failed in all its objectives. Continued international pressure can further reduce its capability. But Al Qa’ida continues to pose a threat to our own security; and groups affiliated to Al Qa’ida – notably in Yemen and Somalia – have emerged over the past two years to be a substantial threat in their own right.

Letter from the personal secretary of UK Communities Secretary Eric Pickles originally leaked to the Observer. It states that part of the current government’s “welfare reform” policies, namely an “overall benefits cap”, in the UK will make 40,000 more families homeless if it is instated, disproportionately affecting those families and creating greater costs for taxpayers.

The genteel lanes of David Cameron’s Oxfordshire constituency are usually a world away from the muddy chaos of Glastonbury, but the two collided following the death of a 56-year-old businessman in a festival toilet. Friends and political colleagues of Christopher Shale, the chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association (Woca), expressed disbelief and grief as they came to terms with his sudden death – apparently from a heart attack midway through the festival programme. Shale had become such a close political ally of the prime minister’s that Cameron described him as “a big rock in my life”.

Two banks in Britain are being investigated for lax money-laundering controls and others are likely to be handling the proceeds of corruption and other financial crime, the financial regulator said on Wednesday. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said it had referred two banks to its enforcement division for “serious weaknesses” in how they managed “high-risk” customers, including those whose public status made them vulnerable to corruption. “We are considering whether further regulatory action is required in relation to other banks, and further cases may be referred for enforcement,” the FSA added as it published a review of how banks manage money-laundering risks.

An alert has been sounded over the past three years that more than 1,100 schoolchildren and young adults are at risk of being drawn into violent extremism. Setting out the Government’s new strategy for combating radicalisation, the Home Secretary Theresa May promised a drive against the spread of hardline ideologies in universities, prisons and community groups as well as fresh measures to control their dissemination online. Under the revised “Prevent” strategy, organisations applying for public funds will have to prove they espouse “mainstream British values” before they receive taxpayers’ money. About 1,120 people had been referred to a Home Office programme launched in 2007 under which teachers and community leaders are encouraged to identify potential terrorists. Nearly 300 of those referred to police were aged under 16 – 55 were 11 or younger.

It often strikes a man to inquire what is the chief good in life; to one the thought comes that it is a happy marriage, to another great wealth, and as each seizes on his idea, for that he more or less works for the rest of his existence. To myself thinking over the same question the wish came to render myself useful to my country. I then asked myself how could I and after reviewing the various methods I have felt that at the present day we are actually limiting our children and perhaps bringing into the world half the human beings we might owing to the lack of country for them to inhabit that if we had retained America there would at this moment be millions more of English living. I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives. I contend that every acre added to our territory means in the future birth to some more of the English race who otherwise would not be brought into existence. Added to this the absorption of the greater portion of the world under our rule simply means the end of all wars, at this moment had we not lost America I believe we could have stopped the Russian-Turkish war by merely refusing money and supplies. Having these ideas what scheme could we think of to forward this object. I look into history and I read the story of the Jesuits I see what they were able to do in a bad cause and I might say under bad leaders.