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A British teenager suspected of being a mastermind behind a notorious international computer hacking group has been arrested in a swoop by the FBI and Scotland Yard.
Ryan Cleary, 19, is believed to have been a 'major player' with LulzSec, a hacking group linked with attempts to breach organisations including the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency, the U.S. Senate and the CIA.
The arrest came amid claims on the website Pastebin that LulzSec allegedly had a copy of Britain's entire census database and was planning to publish it online, but this has been denied by the Office of National Statistics and by LulzSec via Twitter.
Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic have been trying to trace the hacking group, which also claimed credit for security breaches at games firms Nintendo and Sony, for several weeks.
Cleary was arrested in a 'pre-planned intelligence-led operation' in Wickford, Essex, the Metropolitan Police said.
And last week Google unveiled a new feature allowing users to conduct Internet searches searches on their personal computers simply with the sound of their voice and without touching a keyboard.
Google voice search has been available for some time on mobile devices, but now everyone will have the option of searching via voice command from a regular laptop or desktop.
The only thing needed is a microphone (either plugged in or internal will do) and Google Chrome.
David Cameron says it 'simply isn't acceptable' for mothers to be left to bring up children on their own
Fathers who abandon their families should be "stigmatised" by society in the same way as drink-drivers, David Cameron has said.
The prime…
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--David Cameron says it 'simply isn't acceptable' for mothers to be left to bring up children on their own
Fathers who abandon their families should be "stigmatised" by society in the same way as drink-drivers, David Cameron has said.
The prime…
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--Festival organisers say they are making a huge effort to reduce their environmental impact, but could they do more?
Can a music festival ever really be "green", as some of them seem to be claiming? What's so green about tens of thousands of people…
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--It can be hard to break out of a vicious cycle of negativity - but here are some tips
When you're feeling down and stuck in a negative cycle of thoughts, feelings and actions, an important first step is to go out and do something new.
Cutting…
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--David Nutt's terminology for mental illness wrongly implies that 'brain' and 'mind' mean the same thing
I have always taken the conventional view that Professor David Nutt, the scientist sacked from the government's advisory council on the misuse of…
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--Talking about 'brains' when we mean minds just adds a specious impression of profundity to platitudes
Here is a thought experiment. Suppose someone on Comment is free were to change their mind as a result of another poster's argument – I know, I…
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--The leader's statement shocked some in the west, but reminds us of Buddhism's commitment to social as well as individual good
The Dalai Lama has a refreshing tendency to confound western caricatures. As a cuddly old monk, he could comfort fans by…
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--The nuclear industry can offer no guarantee against a repeat of Japan's disaster
Julian Glover says of the Fukushima crisis: "This accident may prove nothing but could signify everything: the illogical fear that the nuclear genie can never be…
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--Thanks to dysfunctional regulation of genetic engineering and misguided biofuels policy, the world's poorest are going hungry
Food prices worldwide were up by a whopping 25% in 2010, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, and…
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But you know what they say to do with lemons? Make lemonade.
The Obama team is in a fix. The Palestinian Authority, having lost faith in both Israel and the U.S., is pushing for the United Nations to recognize an independent Palestinian state, within the 1967 lines in the West Bank and Gaza. Once that is in hand, the Palestinian Authority could then start a global push to pressure Israel into withdrawing its settlers and security forces, or face sanctions and delegitimization. Israel is obviously opposed to this move. The U.S. has no desire to support such a one-sided resolution, which would alienate Israel and American Jews. But it also has no desire to veto such a resolution, which would only complicate America’s standing in the Arab-Muslim world.
As an alternative, the U.S. is trying to get the parties to resume peace talks on a comprehensive agreement based on terms laid out by the president in mid-May — two states for two peoples, with the 1967 lines as the starting point, and then whatever land swaps Israelis and Palestinians mutually agree to beyond that. But if the parties won’t accept this — and for now they are resisting — then we’re headed for a real train wreck at the U.N. in September.
How about a different approach?
If the Palestinians want to take this whole problem back to where it started — the U.N. — I say let’s do it. But let’s think much bigger and with more imagination.
On Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N. passed General Assembly Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine into two homes for two peoples — described as “Independent Arab and Jewish States.” This is important. That is exactly how Resolution 181 described the desired outcome of partition: an “Arab” state next to a “Jewish” state.
So why don’t we just update Resolution 181 and take it through the more prestigious Security Council? It could be a simple new U.N. resolution: “This body reaffirms that the area of historic Palestine should be divided into two homes for two peoples — a Palestinian Arab state and a Jewish state. The dividing line should be based on the 1967 borders — with mutually agreed border adjustments and security arrangements for both sides. This body recognizes the Palestinian state as a member of the General Assembly and urges both sides to enter into negotiations to resolve all the other outstanding issues.” Very simple.
Each side would get something vital provided it gives the other what it wants. The Palestinians would gain recognition of statehood and U.N. membership, within provisional boundaries, with Israel and America voting in favor. And the Israelis would get formal U.N. recognition as a Jewish state — with the Palestinians and Arabs voting in favor.
Moreover, the Palestinians would get negotiations based on the 1967 borders and Israel would get a U.N.-U.S. assurance that the final border would be shaped in negotiations between the parties, with land swaps, so theoretically the 5 percent of the West Bank where 80 percent of the settlers live could be traded for parts of pre-1967 Israel.
Both sides would have the framework for resuming negotiations they can live with. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel told the U.S. Congress that he was prepared for a two-state solution and painful compromises, but wants Israel accepted as a Jewish state with defensible borders. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has insisted that the 1967 border be the basis for any negotiations, and he wants to negotiate with Israel as a sovereign equal.
Meanwhile, the U.S., rather than being isolated in a corner with Israel, can get credit for restarting talks — without remaining stuck on the settlements issue.
“September can be a confrontational zero-sum moment with potentially disastrous consequences or a transformative breakthrough, if it is done right,” argues Gidi Grinstein, the president of the Reut Institute, one of Israel’s top strategy groups. “Israelis and Palestinians are playing chicken. The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank doesn’t really want this U.N. resolution, which could unleash populist forces that might overwhelm them. The Israelis know that going all-out to block the Palestinians at the U.N., without any counterproposal, could have enormously damaging consequences in a Middle East already in turmoil. A deal that recognizes the Palestinian state in terms that address Israel’s concerns could not only help both sides walk back from the abyss but also pin down a historic two-state solution in 2011.”
In fact, the numbers are incredible...
According to the World Gold Council, China has only 1.6% of their reserves in gold. Meanwhile, 70% of Germany's reserves are in gold. In the U.S. 74% of our reserves are in gold.
That's amazing isn't it?With all the gold buying China has been doing, they still have just 1.6% of their reserves in gold.
Also, take a quick look at this March 2011 chart from the World Gold Council. It shows how, over all, the U.S. government has more than 7-times the gold reserves as the Chinese government.
The point is, China is looking to move up in the ranks... and fast.
Here’s a great paradox of our time: Half of the adults in America now rely on prayer for healing – a remarkable one-third jump from the 1990s. Yet the federal government recently decided not to study prayer as an alternative to medicine – as it had done for years.
Why this sudden disconnect between Washington and half the adult population? Must a spiritual exercise so useful and so common be labeled, as one researcher put it, “parochial” and “unconventional”?
Prayer is certainly central to everyday life in the United States. A large majority of people believe in God, according to polls. And again this year, the US president proclaimed a “national day of prayerâ€
“We’re seeing a wide variety of prayer use among people with good income and access to medical care,” says Dr. Amy Wachholtz, a psychiatrist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
She and a fellow researcher released a study last month that is the first to look at trends in the use of prayer for health concerns. They saw a substantial increase from 13.7 percent of adults in 1999 to 49 percent only eight years later.
Chocolate a guilty pleasure, ally for good health
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Eighteenth-century French gastronomist Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of one of the most celebrated treatises on food, “Physiology of Taste,” used to say that if a man had over-indulged, had worked excessively or his spirit was tired, he just had to “drink a cup of good perfumed chocolate and wondrous things would happen to him.”
Perhaps Brillat-Savarin was exaggerating, but there is no doubt about the immense attractiveness of chocolate, the world's favorite sweet. We owe it to the Toltecs of South America, and the Europeans who were able to improve on it by adding milk and sugar, producing such a delicacy that most chocolate lovers say it is addictive.
“No one has been able to prove that chocolate is addictive, but it possesses high concentrations of several bio-active substances with stimulant effects and it has a fusion point that is very close to body temperature, so it melts in the mouth with a unique and very pleasing silky texture”, Monica Katz, head of the Nutrition department at Favaloro University in Argentina, told dpa.
Chocolate is composed of phenylethylamine, a psychoactive drug similar to amphetamines that is commonly known as the “love drug” (its production in the brain can be unleashed by a mere exchange of glances, brushing by or squeezing hands); caffeine, a stimulant; theobromine, that has a relaxing, diuretic and bronchodilator effect; serotonin, that improves the mood, and dopamine, that generates a sensation of pleasure.
“Thanks to all these substances, it is a strong natural stimulant with many rewards. Basically, we eat chocolates or sweets because they are comfort foods that reduce stress and anxiety”, Katz added.
No surprise then that many people turn to a small dose of happiness. A 20-gram bar can palliate sad moments or, in the case of women, help with the unpleasant effects of pre-menstrual syndrome.
Even before the Mayan and Aztec conquest, the Toltec people used cocoa to treat pain and inflammation. Later the Mayas used it for both ritual purposes and as a food, considering it a powerful energizer.
Chocolate also contains phosphorous, which helps in bone formation; magnesium, which has a role in the immune system; potassium, which helps maintain the balance of water in the organism; not to mention iron, calcium, vitamin E, B complex vitamins (thiamine and riboflavin) and tannins.
As if that were not enough, a number of scientific studies have indicated that chocolate can be a good ally in reducing hypertension.
In her new book "Unnatural Selection," Science writer Mara Hvistendahl examines how the trend toward choosing boys over girls through sex-selective abortions has spread through the developing world, particularly in Asia. Coining the term "Generation XY," Hvistendahl provides the grim results of sex selection: while the natural sex ratio at birth is 105 boys born for every 100 girls, in India the figure has risen to 112 boys and in China, 121. The Chinese city of Lianyungang actually recorded 163 boys per 100 girls in 2007.
Related: The World May Reach 10.1 Billion People by 2100
The shortage of women is already giving rise to deep societal problems. New markets have been created for women in Asia, including wedding agencies that arrange marriages between South Korean men and women often from poorer nearby countries like Vietnam, that now account for 11% of all marriages in South Korea. There is also a growing practice of child marriage in China, where wealthier families buy young girls to secure wives for their sons early. And with so many surplus men (e.g., up to a fifth of men will be single in northwestern India by 2020), she suggests that the excess testosterone could lead to raised levels of crime and violence.
But what distinguishes Hvistendahl's book from other similar reports is that, as the Guardian notes in a profile today, she "lays the blame squarely on western governments and businesses that have exported technology and pro-abortion practices without considering the consequences," unlike other accounts, that solely basing sex selection on cultural practices.
Amniocentesis and ultrasound scans have had largely positive applications in the west, where they have been used to detect fetal abnormalities. But exported to Asia and eastern Europe they have been intricately linked to an explosion of sex selection and a mushrooming of female abortions. Hvistendahl claims western governments actively promoted abortion and sex selection in the developing world, encouraging the liberalization of abortion laws and subsidizing sales of ultrasounds as a form of population control.
"It took millions of dollars in funding from US organizations for sex determination and abortion to catch on in the developing world," she writes.
Moreover, she also blames the UNFPA, the UN's main population agency, for refusing to own up to its role in funding sex-selection.
In 1979 China signed a $50m four-year deal with a UN body designed to help it control its spiralling population through family planning. It was the largest foreign aid package Beijing had accepted in almost 20 years. But the funds became entwined in China's one-child policy that was just taking hold, and instead of sponsoring an education drive for small families, the money was used to pay for posters in Chinese villages proclaiming "You can abort it! But you cannot give birth to it."
"The effects of the major UN agency tasked with population advocacy distancing itself from the issue of sex selective abortion are immense," she writes, noting that the agency's foot-dragging has discouraged other global funds from engaging with the crisis.
On the other hand, Richard Dawkins at BoingBoing takes on Hvistendahl's thesis, arguing that Western science and governments are not culpable for making sex selection possible and prevalent -- and the fault remains in cultural practices. He notes that in the past, cultures with a lower value for women "might have fostered selective infanticide of newborn girls." Now "scientific culture makes it possible to know the sex of a fetus, say by amniocentesis or ultrasound scanning." To that he asks, "Why do we blame science for offering a method to do bad things?"
He argues further that "sex selection, in societies that value sexual equality, could have beneficial effects on curbing overpopulation," in that it "could help provide parents with exactly the family balance they want." The factors that brought about the XY generation may better "be blamed on the cultural and religious practices that despise and discriminate against women in the first place."
