The pharmaceutical industry won a victory Wednesday, defeating efforts by EU regulators to encourage more trade in lower- priced medicines
The Bush administration had to empty its secret prisons and transfer terror suspects to the military-run detention centre at Guantánamo this month in part because CIA interrogators had refused to carry out further interrogations and run the secret facilities, according to former CIA officials and people close to the program
A new report from the Housing and Urban Development Inspector General found that HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson instructed staff to award HUD contracts to President Bush’s political allies and withhold them from his political opponents — via digg
Former President Bill Clinton has announced the creation of a $1 Billion investment fund devoted to renewable energy. This will be an investment fund as opposed to charity, and Clinton has said that; The Green Fund would focus on reducing dependence on fossil fuels, creating jobs, lessening pollution and helping to reduce global warming, all while making a profit
. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn will be managing the fund
All Scotland’s electricity needs could be met from renewable energy sources by 2050 under a bold vision for a greener future unveiled yesterday by Nicol Stephen, the deputy first minister. In an hugely ambitious pledge, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats vowed to go further than the Executive’s existing commitment to meet 40 per cent of the country’s electricity requirements through renewable sources by 2020
The access panel door on a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine — the door that protects the memory card that stores the votes, and is the main barrier to the injection of a virus — can be opened with a standard key that is widely available on the Internet
In his latest newsletter, security author Bruce Schneier delivered a scathing critique of politicians and the media for promoting fear and ultimately doing exactly what the terrorists want. Citing several cases of false alarms, Schneier writes: Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat… Our job is to think critically and rationally, and to ignore the cacophony of other interests trying to use terrorism to advance political careers or increase a television show’s viewership
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched a new campaign in an effort to shed light on the US government’s electronic surveillance programmes
Jimmy Wales has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive Wikipedia entries. He challenges other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing. Wikipedia has been banned from China since last October. Whereas Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo went into the country accepting some restrictions on their online content, Wales believes it must be all or nothing for Wikipedia. We occupy a position in the culture that I wish Google would take up, which is that we stand for the freedom for information
— via Slashdot
An incredibly diverse coalition of high-powered public interest groups, industry associations, and corporations have signed an open letter to the US Patent and Trademark Office rejecting the Broadcast Treaty, a US-led UN initiative that could do untold harm to artists, tech and telecoms companies, scholars, and people with disabilities
New Zealand’s lead state sector agency yesterday responded to criticism of its new digital rights management guidelines, saying the policy does not alter its support for open source software in government agencies
A humiliated Tony Blair was forced to announce yesterday that he will stand down as Prime Minister within a year as he launched a desperate attempt to cling to power
France issued an implicit criticism of US foreign policy on Thursday, rejecting talk of a war on terror
Bush said that 14 of the most notorious terrorism suspects had been transferred to the Guant?°namo Bay detention center to face eventual trial
The state of California is embarking on a ground-breaking effort to curb global warming, following an agreement between Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state’s movie star Republican Governor, and the Democrat-dominated state legislature, to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020
The iPod manufacturer at the heart of a recent sweat shop
allegation has been ordered by the Chinese government to allow workers to set up a union. This is not necessarily a wonderful thing for the workers, as the unions have a nasty habit of allying themselves with the managers
Ryanair today threatened to sue the government for compensation unless airport security measures are returned to normal within seven days. Michael O’Leary, the outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, described the new restrictions as farcical Keystone Cops security measures that don’t add anything except to block up airports
, as he issued the ultimatum
The warrantless Internet and telephone surveillance program authorised by the Bush administration violates the US Constitution and must cease immediately. The landmark decision makes US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s once-secret program. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed suit against the government, claiming the program ran roughshod
over the constitutional rights of millions of Americans and ran afoul of federal wiretapping law
A federal judge ordered tobacco companies Thursday to admit they lied about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes and to warn consumers in advertisements and packaging that tobacco is addictive. US District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the industry conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and now must pay to help smokers kick the habit
The Swedish Pirate Party has launched a commercial, high-capacity darknet, on an unprecedented scale and bandwidth. This service lets anybody send and receive files anonymously without being tracked or traced. There are many legitimate reasons to want to be completely anonymous on the Internet,
says Rickard Falkvinge, chairman of the Pirate Party. If the government can check everything each citizen does, nobody can keep the government in check
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