Drone strikes in Pakistan: Leaked official document records 330 drone strikes in Pakistan →

The Bureau is today publishing a leaked official document that records details of over 300 drone strikes, including their locations and an assessment of how many people died in each incident.

The document is the fullest official record of drone strikes in Pakistan to have yet been published. It provides rare insight into what the government understands about the campaign.

It also provides details about exactly when and where strikes took place, often including the names of homeowners...

Rebels in Syria Claim Control of Resources →

Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country’s war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say.

"...American officials say." It'd be nice to see actual people quoted.

Nevertheless, eminently plausible that some anti-Assad irregulars are trying to exploit what's now in their territory, though there are always logistical (and social) problems they need to solve.

Is China About To Plunge Into Financial Crisis? →

The most reliable indicator of financial crisis is the pace of growth in debt (not the size, but the pace). Over the last five years, debt levels in China have increased by 71 percentage points. Looking back over the past 50 years, there are about 33 cases of countries with similar debt run-ups—22 of them plunged into a credit crisis, and all suffered a major economic slowdown.

Net neutrality petition gets a million signatures →

The advocacy group Free Press, along with a broad coalition of organizations, has delivered the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a petition with a million signatures asking to restore the federal protections for net neutrality that were struck down in court two weeks ago.

Net neutrality is a huge boon for commerce. But ISPs don't want to just be dumb pipes, so they fight it, in a bid to extract as many rents as possible. Let's hope the FCC has the guts to properly address the common carrier issue this time around.

Huge swath of GCHQ mass surveillance is illegal, says top lawyer →

In a 32-page opinion, the leading public law barrister Jemima Stratford QC raises a series of concerns about the legality and proportionality of GCHQ's work, and the lack of safeguards for protecting privacy.

It makes clear the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa), the British law used to sanction much of GCHQ's activity, has been left behind by advances in technology...