The House baulked at a Senate plan to extend the USA Patriot Act by six months to give Congress and the retarded monkey boy more time to work out their differences, instead forcing the Senate and the administration to accept a one-month extension
The US National Security Agency has been caught spying on American citizens. According to numerous un-named sources, the retarded monkey boy signed a secret order authorising him to intercept phone calls and e-mails from US persons in communication with persons outside the US, and all without the slightest bit of judicial oversight. It’s not like this is anything new, it’s just that the targets have changed from those who can help line the pockets of the usual parade of rich, white morons, to those who show an interest in stopping that sort of corruption
Polar bears appear to be drowning when they attempt long sea crossings as a result of receding summer ice. New evidence from field researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund in Yakutia, on the northeast coast of Russia, has also shown the region’s first evidence of cannibalism among bears competing for food supplies. As the ice pack retreats north in the summer between June and October, the bears must travel between ice floes to continue hunting in areas such as the shallow water of the continental shelf off the Alaskan coast — one of the most food-rich areas in the Arctic. However, last summer the ice cap receded about 320km further north than the average of two decades ago, forcing the bears to undertake far longer voyages between floes
A remarkable humanitarian programme is under way in Havana, which aims to restore the sight of six million people through free eye surgery. Launched in July by the 79-year-old Cuban President, Fidel Castro, and Venezuela’s Socialist leader, President Hugo Chavez, Operation Miracle has brought daily planeloads of the poor from across Latin America and the Caribbean to Havana for surgery. Cuba provides the medical skills, Venezuela the petro-dollars
Google is ramping up its operations in Australia following its acquisition of a local mapping software startup, Where2, snapping up computer science graduates from university campuses to expand its Google Maps offering. The company would not comment on the recruitment drive, but AustralianIT understands Google is looking for 15 graduates to work in the Sydney headquarters of Google Maps, in addition to the 12 software engineers already working there
Australian Senators wants Australians’ internet connections to be automatically filtered by ISPs. Anyone who wants to view pornography or other adult material
(details not specified) must apply to their ISP to be given access to it. Another step towards becoming a nanny state — via Slashdot
Gay couples are now allowed to legally marry, tying the knot with what is officially known as a civil partnership, and among the first to do so will be veteran rock star Elton John’s civil and long-time love David Furnish
In the dense central forests of Borneo, a conservation group has found what appears to be a new species of mammal. WWF caught two images of the animal, which is bigger than a domestic cat, dark red, and has a long muscular tail — via digg
Junk-food vending machines would be banned in Victorian schools under State Government plans to tackle childhood obesity. This comes as health groups continue to pressure the Government into banning fatty foods at school canteens
The recording industry is trying to hijack the EU’s data retention directive, which is being brought in to fight terrorism, to try and get their copyright battles fought for them. The EU may be making copyright infringement a criminal offence, and the Creative Media Business Alliance is lobbying hard to stop the European laws on data retention being restricted to cover terrorism and organised crime. In essence, they want to be able to get police to search through newly extended records from ISPs to look for evidence of illegal filesharing. In the words of the executive director of the Open Rights Group, the music industry’s attempt to hijack this legislation is a travesty and a gross affront to civil liberties and human rights
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is to host the world’s largest WLAN. The wireless mesh network will cover the entire country. Within a year more than 90 per cent of the population will be able to go online and make telephone calls via the WLAN from their home
The case for identity cards has been branded bogus
after an ex-MI5 chief said they might not help fight terror. Dame Stella Rimington has said most documents could be forged and this would render ID cards useless
. The Conservatives said her comments showed the cards could be counter-productive. The Lib Dems said plans should be abandoned — via Boing Boing
The United States will start regular bomber aircraft training in northern Australia in the new year. At the annual ministerial talks between the US and Australia it was announced that the strategic bomber training program would involve B-52 and B-1 bombers and the B-2 stealth aircraft
The Earth just got one step closer to true global broadband through satellite based communications. With the launch of the Zenit-3SL rocket the Inmarsat-4 F2 satellite brings 3G high speed mobile technology to North America. Their onboard technology is designed to allow people to set up virtual offices anywhere around the world via high-speed broadband connections and new 3G phone technology
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered his first parliamentary defeat during his eight years in power as MPs voted down a core aspect of his anti-terrorist legislation
The crew of a luxury cruise ship used a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam while being attacked by a gang of pirates off Somalia. The Seabourn Spirit had a Long Range Acoustic Device installed as a part of its defence systems
A number of mobile phones and SIM cards were seized during a surprise search at Bang Kwang prison in Nonthaburi province. The search was part of the prison’s attempts to prevent inmates from running illicit drug operations from behind prison walls. We have found a mobile phone hidden in food, in pork leg stew. SIM cards were found inside a dried squid. One was found stuffed inside a dead toad which was thrown over the prison wall
— via Boing Boing
Excavations at a hill site above the town of Visoko, just north of Sarajevo, have been going on for several months and initial analyses have confirmed the original claim that this is Europe’s first pyramid and a monumental building, similar in dimensions to the Egyptian pyramids
— via Unjournaled
Dresden’s rebuilt Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, was consecrated on Sunday sixty years after it was destroyed by Allied bombs in World War Two. The painstakingly restored baroque church and its spectacular dome, originally built in 1743, is a symbol both of the wartime suffering of German civilians and of reconciliation between former enemies. The service of consecration was the culmination of an 11-year, 180 million euro (A$290 million) project that saw the church reborn after lying in ruins for almost half a century
A Hong Kong computer user was Monday convicted of copyright infringement in what is believed to be the world’s first piracy case involving the use of BitTorrent software
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