News Stories

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by sa547

My country's rep voted Yes, partly because the local government is negotiating with the MILF in the formation of the Mindanao Bangsamoro.



Except for Israel, do they have any explanation for saying "no"?

For the US, the Israeli lobby and the Evangelical who thinks the World will rapture soon.

The others, probably expecting a big handout form either the US or Israel.

Canada, no idea.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

For the US, the isarelie lobby and the Evangelical who thinks the World will rapture soon.

The others, probably expecting a big handout for either the US or Israel.

Canada, no idea.

The Canadians aren't happy that moose meat is kosher but not halal?

[Netto Azure]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

The Canadians aren't happy that moose meat is kosher but not halal?

Because the current party in Power in Canada is the Conservative party who does listen to the current Israeli government and agree with their position. (Which in my opinion is just kicking the can around)

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

Has the world gone chicken or what? As someone wrote earlier and listed 4 key elements to consider, Palestine should be in no position to deserve the right of being a recognized state. IMHO, Hamas can go "F" themselves after how they destroyed everything Arafat built in the late 1990s.

I really wouldn't paint a wide brush claiming that Palestinians as a whole are acting as a terror group. It's a political faction of 2 competing groups that are committing acts of terror. To me we should be bolstering the side that renounces the use of terror and go from there. We do have to remember that the 2 factions did get in a mini civil-war in 2006-2007 in Gaza IIRC.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a hell of a lot more complicated than the simple black and white perspectives people seem to think about it nowadays.

[Ithekro]

Fatah is the one Israel is willing to deal with to some extent. Hamas...no...not in the least bit.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Netto Azure

Because the current party in Power in Canada is the Conservative party who does listen to the current Israeli government and agree with their position. (Which in my opinion is just kicking the can around)

That's pretty much it. The Conservative are even more pro-Israel than the US, if such thing is posible.

[GenjiChan]

I don't find this silly nor odd so I post this here..

NYPD officer photographed giving boots to barefoot homeless man melts icy hearts online

Cheers for the Christmas Spirit

[TinyRedLeaf]

Judge urges new independent regulator for UK press

London (Nov 30, Fri): The British press should be regulated by an independent group supported by law and with the power to fine, a judge recommended yesterday in a long-awaited report sparked by a phone-hacking scandal at Mr Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

Lord Justice Brian Leveson said he was not recommending that Parliament set up a press regulator, but that the industry should create its own, which would be backed by legislation to make sure it meets certain standards of independence and effectiveness.

The statutory "underpinning" for a new independent system of press regulation underlines his withering criticism of the industry's own proposal for a new body as "not going nearly far enough" to demonstrate independence from publishers.

He also harshly criticised the behaviour of many journalists and editors, "wholly rejecting" the suggestion that these are "aberrations that do not reflect the culture, practices or ethics of the press as a whole".

He said parts of the press acted as if its own code simply did not exist and "wreaked havoc" on the lives of innocent people. Ordinary members of the public, caught up in tragic events, had their experiences "made much much worse by press behaviour that, at times, can only be called outrageous".

He added: "There has been a recklessness in prioritising sensational stories, almost irrespective of the harm that the stories may cause and the rights of those who would be affected, like the Dowlers, the McCanns and Abigail Witchalls."

Prime Minister David Cameron, who asked the judge to prepare the report, told Parliament after its release that he agrees with Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations for a new, strong and independent press regulator.

But Mr Cameron said he is not convinced that legislation is needed to underpin the new body, and he has serious concerns about taking that approach.

CNN, BBC

• Leveson report key points
• Leveson report executive summary

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by sa547

Except for Israel, do they have any explanation for saying "no"?

The issue i keep hearing discussed is whether this will enable the Palestinians to bring a "war crimes" complaint against Israel and its practices in Gaza and the West Bank before the International Criminal Court.

Many in the United States, especially our military, hate the whole notion of the ICC.

[The Court's] critics contend the court could subject U.S. troops and officials to the jurisdiction of a politically motivated prosecutor, who would use the court's jurisdiction over an American service member or public official to make a political point against the United States.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may...l-icc-20110526

I'm not saying I agree with these views; most of the strenuous civilian opposition to the Court comes from unreconstructed neo-cons like John Bolton. Still ratifying the ICC treaty isn't high on the Obama Administration's agenda these days either, and any attempts to do so would be filibustered by the Senate Republicans.

As for the Susan Rice nonsense, Rachel Maddow is hardly alone in having the view that most of this relentless persecution is an attempt to pressure the President into naming my Senator, John Kerry, as Secretary of State. Scott Brown would almost certainly run again, and this time there are few obvious Democrats to run against him. I could see Governor Deval Patrick deciding to run. He has only two more years left in his second term and this might be the best opportunity for him to move up the ladder. He also has an existing state-wide campaign apparatus. Congresswoman Nikki Tsongas might be a possibility; her late husband was also a Massachusetts senator until he died from cancer. Other than name recognition, though, she has had little exposure outside her district north of Boston.

Otherwise we might be seeing a "parachute" candidate. When Brown ran in the special election after Ted Kennedy died, there was a lot of talk about bringing in Caroline Kennedy to run for her uncle's seat. Barney Frank would probably win if he ran, but I take him at his word that he is looking forward to retirement. That's too bad because a debate between Frank and Brown would be great political theater (Barney would mop the floor with Brown).

McCain may also have some personal grudge against Rice. She was a fairly vocal critic of his during the 2008 election, when Rice was Obama's chief foreign policy advisor. Lindsey Graham wants to succeed the outgoing Joe Lieberman as McCain's best buddy. As for Kelly Ayotte, the fact that I live in the next-door state and have heard nothing about her work as Senator says a lot. She got elected in the 2010 Republican surge having burnished her right-wing credentials when, as NH Attorney General, she argued the state's appeal of an abortion ruling before the US Supreme Court.

[SeijiSensei]

Japan’s Space Agency Says Rocket Information Was Stolen by Computer Virus

The agency said it was unclear if the virus was a cyberattack. Japanese defense companies, however, have been recent targets of similar information-stealing viruses, some previously traced back to China.

I take it this mealy-mouthed statement was designed for diplomatic reasons. Why else would a piece of malware be shipping these documents offsite? I don't see any mention of the destination IP address, either, though obviously this could be hidden by proxies.

Japan seems remarkably clueless about computer security at times for such an advanced nation. Look at this recent story where an anime technical director was arrested for allegedly sending "massacre threats" that were actually being sent through his malware-infected computer which had been joined to a botnet.

Police had arrested anime technical director Masaki Kitamura (Gundam 00) in August for sending massacre threats, but released him one month later after they determined that the malware likely enabled someone else to send the threats from Kitamura's computer. Other individuals held on similar charges were also released, and the government publicly apologized for arresting them.

A month? Was the guy jailed for the whole time?

This wasn't even all that sophisticated; he installed a piece of malware that arrived via email or perhaps off a BBS or website. Don't Japanese IT directors know how to install virus scanning software on their mail servers? Believe me, that was the first thing I did when I started providing mail services for clients. More recently I've installed software on one of my client's firewalls that scans every inbound object from the web to protect against crap like this.

Users are entirely untrustworthy when it comes to computer security. You have to nab this stuff at the doorstep before it can get in.

[ogon_bat]

The japanese lack malice (or drive, take your pick) to extensively use malware but seem to forget that the internet is a global network. The real question is if really was the chinese stoling misile secrets or the iranian making it look like it was the chinese, or the israeli making it look like it was the iranian making it look like it was the chinese ...

[Vexx]

Koreans have a similar problem ... for a while I refused to use Korean games because they were all using ActiveX launchers that had enough security holes to drive cruise missiles through. Fine in an INTRAnet, completely insane to use in an INTERnet.

A large part of the problem is that the decision makers in Japan are almost always "over 60" and most are latent Luddites in many ways. Fax machines are still required for many functions. Bank ATMs are inside the lobby (which close at 5 or 6). Most places use cash, even for thousands of dollars in purchases. Whereas smartphones are pervasive, using them for business is still iffy (few/none have business apps). Records are still paper file cabinets more often than not.

Its like those odd science fiction stories where a few technologies are super-sophisticated but everything else is stuck in the 19th Century.

[ogon_bat]

UK Government Mandates the Teaching of Evolution As Scientific Fact

Failing to teach evolution by natural selection in science lessons could lead to new free schools losing their funding under government changes.

I wish certain communist nazi jew black and white president would learn from this example

[Ithekro]

That would most certainly get him a call for impeachment. Well, more calls for it at least.

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

For the US, the Israeli lobby and the Evangelical who thinks the World will rapture soon.

The others, probably expecting a big handout form either the US or Israel.

Canada, no idea.

In related news:


US slams Israel's decision to expand settlements

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2...id=msnhp&pos=2

The White House and the State Department said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

"We reiterate our longstanding opposition to settlements and East Jerusalem construction and announcements," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated this position, adding: "We're going to be evenhanded in our concern about any actions that are provocative, any actions that make it harder to get these two parties back to the table."

Israel plans to build thousands of new homes for its settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said earlier, defying a U.N. vote that implicitly recognized Palestinian statehood there.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative government had authorized the construction of 3,000 housing units and ordered "preliminary zoning and planning work for thousands" more.

Palestinians had a major symbolic victory when the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognize them, but the U.S. argued the new status could set back Palestinians in the path to peace. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

"We believe these actions are counterproductive and make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve of a two state solution," Vietor said. "Direct negotiations remain our goal and we encourage all parties to take steps to make that easier to achieve."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Friday to try to plot a path forward.

Clinton is seeing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. She is also talking to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, a key mediator.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says only "face-to-face" Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can lead to progress on a two-state solution.

Israeli media, including Haaretz newspaper, said the government sought to emphasize its rejection of Thursday's upgrade by the U.N. General Assembly of the Palestinians to "non-member observer state" from "entity."

Israel and the United States had opposed the resolution, which shored up the Palestinians' claim on all of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, saying territorial sovereignty should be addressed in direct peace talks with the Jewish state.

Those negotiations have been stalled for two years, however, given Palestinian anger at continued Israeli settlement expansion. The Israelis insist they would keep West Bank settlement blocs under any final accord as well as all of Jerusalem as their capital.

That status for the holy city has never been accepted abroad, where most powers consider the settlements illegal for taking in land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

The 193-nation General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the world body to issue what he said was its long overdue "birth certificate."

The State Department called Thursday's vote "unfortunate" and "counterproductive," and said it doesn't take the Palestinians any closer to a state.

Spokesman Earnest rejected talk of cutting U.S. aid to the Palestinians.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by ogon_bat

UK Government Mandates the Teaching of Evolution As Scientific Fact

Failing to teach evolution by natural selection in science lessons could lead to new free schools losing their funding under government changes.

I wish certain communist nazi jew black and white president would learn from this example

I wish thahe would go a step farther, school than would teach creationism as fact would loose not their public funding but their accreditation as school recognised by the state. Conservative and religious school probably don't relie that much on public funding but more on private one.

[RRW]

In a speech and remarkably candid Q&A session on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reflected on the broad trends that will transform U.S. foreign policy while addressing today's most pressing issues, including the Syrian crisis (Clinton pledged to "do more" to help the Syrian opposition without specifying the specific measures Washington will take) and the successful Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations (Clinton condemned the "unfortunate and counterproductive resolution" and called for direct peace negotiations between the parties).

Here are some of the highlights from Clinton's remarks, which came during a "Transformational Trends 2013" forum sponsored by the Foreign Policy Group and the State Department's Policy Planning Staff.

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...ons_fp_address

[ganbaru]

Fatal shooting over music compared to Martin case
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
Another incident because of that ''stand your ground'' laws. Of course the real question is more how much incident happen because of that law thanwe never hear about.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Koreans have a similar problem ... for a while I refused to use Korean games because they were all using ActiveX launchers that had enough security holes to drive cruise missiles through. Fine in an INTRAnet, completely insane to use in an INTERnet.

A large part of the problem is that the decision makers in Japan are almost always "over 60" and most are latent Luddites in many ways. Fax machines are still required for many functions. Bank ATMs are inside the lobby (which close at 5 or 6). Most places use cash, even for thousands of dollars in purchases. Whereas smartphones are pervasive, using them for business is still iffy (few/none have business apps). Records are still paper file cabinets more often than not.

Its like those odd science fiction stories where a few technologies are super-sophisticated but everything else is stuck in the 19th Century.

Maybe the old system is working too well for them due to the work ethic of the Japanese people, resulting in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality?

There are few businesses here who still use the ancient POS-systems with completely open access issues (3 DIGIT passwords that are open to simple guessing and brute-force), and they are usually government or government related. I don't think Japan is the only one having issues with moving forward into the future.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Another incident because of that ''stand your ground'' laws.

Um, no.

This is a blatant case of someone trying to use the stand your ground law after the fact to cover his ass. There was no standing of anyone's ground in this case, it's just plain old murder.

I'd love to see him trying to go with stand-your-ground in court, his case would get eviscerated in a second. He might as well try to plead insanity, might have a better chance that way.

[Vexx]

Exactly (unless the "stand your ground" law in that state is a grammatical piece of shit ... I've gotten very cynical about politicians with degrees in literature/english/history/whatever who don't seem to be able to compose clear law language).

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by kyp275

Um, no.

This is a blatant case of someone trying to use the stand your ground law after the fact to cover his ass. There was no standing of anyone's ground in this case, it's just plain old murder.

I'd love to see him trying to go with stand-your-ground in court, his case would get eviscerated in a second. He might as well try to plead insanity, might have a better chance that way.

One could say the same thing for the Martin case as well and yet it didn't stop the accused to claim the ''stand your ground'' defence.