This week on Monday in new York announced the winners of the most prestigious awards in journalism – the Pulitzer prize. The Washington Post and The Guardian has received awards for publishing Edward Snowden’s revelations about spying.
Awards in the category “For service to the society” has received at once two Newspapers – the American The Washington Post and The Guardian. About it reports ITAR-TASS. They last summer, the first published revelatory articles about abuses of American intelligence on the basis of documents obtained from former national security Agency employee Edward Snowden.
In the category “Operational report” the award was received by the newspaper reporters of The Boston Globe, covering the attack, which occurred at the finish line of the Boston marathon in April last year. The newspaper the New York Times received two awards in the categories “Operational picture” and “Photo essay”. The award was given in 14 journalism, as well as 7 feature categories.
History
Recall that the most honorable in the United States award for journalistic work was established by the famous newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer. By will on specially left a $2 million Fund was established in his name. 1917 the prize is awarded annually in two dozen categories in journalism, literature, music and theatre. Cash prize is $10 million Exception is there is no cash award For “service to society”: its winner receives a gold medal.
Russian mass media representatives received the Pulitzer prize twice, and both times the winner was the chief of photo Department of the Moscow Bureau of the Agency Accotiated Press Alexander Zemlianichenko. In 1992 he won the award for coverage of the August coup, and in 1997 for a photo of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert during his campaign.
In the spring of 2013 the former employee of the national security Agency, USA Edward Snowden gave the publications The Guardian and The Washington Post thousands of secret documents of American intelligence. The materials contained evidence that the NSA is constantly spying on Internet users both in the US and around the world.
Later, the scandal has moved from the social to the political plane, when it was published a new batch of documents showing surveillance of special services for the leaders of the dozen countries in the world, including the US friendly. The published information has forced Washington to start large-scale revision of the policy in the area of national security.
Snowden after the publication of the first materials during the month was in the Moscow airport “Sheremetyevo”, as US authorities declared him wanted, revoked his documents. Later Russia granted him asylum for one year. At home he was charged with divulging secret information and is threatened by punishment in the form of long-term imprisonment.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has repeatedly affirmed that he considers Snowden a traitor and is not going to forgive him because he caused serious damage to the interests of national security.
Most of the data collected by the NSA is stored in the data center, occupying a huge territory around Bluffdale, Utah. It can hold around 12 exabytes of data. Exabytes is the equivalent of 1 billion gigabytes. The NSA has some specific but effective ways to spy on US citizens and foreign “terrorists”.
Call recording: the NSA can intercept almost all of the phone calls that are carefully sorted and stored for months.
Phone clones: communication devices can be swapped out for an absolutely identical model, but with the already integrated device for wiretapping conversations and data collection.
Shell shops: diplomats during G-20 summit held in 2009 in London and were unaware that most nearby to the venue of the summit cafe with Wi-Fi have been processed and all data was transferred to special services.
Chips for tracking: the NSA has several sophisticated technological means to monitor the objects, regardless of the fact, moves the objective around town or travels by plane. An example is a sensor embedded in the SIM card of the phone and is constantly sending location data to servers at the NSA.
Special delivery: if the object of surveillance buying any digital equipment in the network, the NSA can intercept a courier carrying, say, a laptop, and the client get “processed” device.
X-ray scanner: this may seem fantastic, but the technology exists. The radar emits light waves that can detect what is shown on the screen or typed on the computer keyboard.
Credit cards: intelligence agencies have long been infiltrated in the network, Visa and other major banking systems to collect data about transactions.
Satellites: hackers, the NSA has infiltrated the systems of control of the German satellite communications, serving the drilling stations and the diplomatic corps.
Spies in games: come down to the fact that the NSA agents infiltrated in the community, popular game universes of World of Warcraft and Second Life, where to seek out traces of the criminal elements and recruit informants. It is known that security officers can be found in the Microsoft network Xbox Live.
Tower intercepting cell signal: the station simulating a cell tower, intercept geolocation data read from the GPS sensor of the phone. Agents can also intercept calls from mobile phones using receiver the size of a shoebox.
Subs: NSA can connect directly to a telecommunications fiber-optic cables running on the seabed using a modified nuclear submarine.
Secret selfie: a favorite habit of many users of smartphones to film themselves on camera gadget only at the hand of American intelligence. Virus implementierung in iPhone, allows you to activate the camera and microphone, transforming the smartphone into a listening device. Malware for gadgets on Windows allows the security forces to gain complete control over the camera.
Stones spy: the transmitters are built inside the rocks and other inconspicuous objects.
Maria Zakharova called the main version of murder of journalists in the Central African Republic
The capital requirements for the largest U.S. banks, sources of funding which can be at risk during the crisis, probably, will be tightened. This was stated by the Chairman of the Federal reserve system Janet Yellen.
In a study prepared by the Basel Committee on banking supervision, “to some extent supported the view that there is potential for tighter capital requirements and liquidity of banks compared to the standards adopted earlier,” said Yellen at the conference on financial markets.
According to her, the tightening of the reserve requirements and liquidity of banks, can provide economic benefits.
Under the new rules of the Basel Committee from 2019, systemically important Bank will not lend the other to the amount of funds not exceeding 15% of the capital of the lender.
According to Yellen, the fed officials “are actively considering additional measures that could eliminate these or other risks possible risks in the markets short-term Bank financing”.
“Some measures, such as requirements to increase reserves or the amount of highly liquid assets will probably be subject to only the largest and most complex financial organizations”, – she added.
We will remind, last week the regulators set the ratio of own and borrowed funds of the Bank at 5%, which is less than the required level of banks ‘ reserves to cover bad loans.
International rules require a capital adequacy ratio of large banks at 3%. Thus, we can conclude that the new rule US with the necessary figure of 5% toughens requirements for banks. A year ago the regulators have considered increasing the ratio of own and borrowed funds of the Bank to 6%.
