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Queen confirms government's web surveillance plans
The government will go ahead with its controversial web surveillance plans , according the Queen's speech in Parliament on 9 May The Queen said: "My government intends to bring forward measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data." This refers to the Communications Capabilities Development Programme , a friendly title given to scary plans to order ISPs and phone networks to store data relating to their customers' communications and allow intelligence agencies to monitor them in real time if they are suspected of being involved in crime or terrorism. These new powers would be introduced under the Communications Data Bill.
Le physicien Adlène Hicheur , qui travaillait au Cern près de Genève, a été condamné vendredi 4 mai à 5 ans de prison, dont un avec sursis, par le tribunal correctionnel de Paris qui le reconnait coupable d’avoir préparé un attentat terroriste en France via des conversations sur internet avec un responsable supposé d’Aqmi, l’organisation djihadiste basée en Algérie. En détention provisoire depuis son arrestation en octobre 2009 à son domicile familial à Vienne (Isère), le physicien français âgé de 35 ans n’a pas nié ces échanges de mail mais dénonce une enquête «malhonnête» et des «inexactitudes». Il s’estime jugé sur des opinions et non sur des actes.
Le physicien Adlène Hicheur condamné à 5 ans de prison pour terrorisme - Fondamental
Why French Parents Are Superior by Pamela Druckerman - WSJ.com
Emmanuel Fradin for The Wall Street Journal. Pamela Druckerman's new book "Bringing Up Bebe," catalogs her observations about why French children seem so much better behaved than their American counterparts. When my daughter was 18 months old, my husband and I decided to take her on a little summer holiday. We picked a coastal town that's a few hours by train from Paris, where we were living (I'm American, he's British), and booked a hotel room with a crib. Bean, as we call her, was our only child at this point, so forgive us for thinking: How hard could it be?
Nature is one of the oldest and most respected scientific journals around. It's been around since 1869 and is said to be the world's most cited journal. What makes Nature unusual these days is that it's a general science journal.
For shame! Nature shills for traditional Chinese medicine : Respectful Insolence
'Chemical nonsense': Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton's attack on climate science | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Lord Christopher Monckton's claims have been shown to be 'profoundly wrong' by leading scientists. Photograph: Murdo Macleod A coalition of leading climate scientists yesterday filed a 48-page document to the US Congress refuting an attack on climate science made earlier this year by the Ukip deputy leader, Lord Christopher Monckton. The detailed rebuttal addresses nine key scientific claims made by Monckton, a prominent climate sceptic, to a house select committee hearing in May . It includes the responses of 21 climate scientists who variously conclude that Monckton's assertions are "very misleading", "profoundly wrong", "simply false", "chemical nonsense", and "cannot be supported by climate physics".
Joyce Carol Vincent: how could this young woman lie dead and undiscovered for almost three years? | Film | The Observer
When the film-maker Carol Morley read that the skeleton of a young woman had been found in a London bedsit, she knew she had to find out more… On 25 January 2006, officials from a north London housing association repossessing a bedsit in Wood Green owing to rent arrears made a grim discovery. Lying on the sofa was the skeleton of a 38-year-old woman who had been dead for almost three years.Thousands Sterilized, North Carolina Weighs Restitution - NYTimes.com
The reports begin when he was barely a teenager, fighting at school and masturbating openly. A social worker wrote that he and his parents were of “rather low mentality.” Mr. Holt was sent to a state home for people with mental and emotional problems. In 1968, when he was ready to get out and start life as an adult, the Eugenics Board of North Carolina ruled that he should first have a vasectomy.
Benetton Unhate Campaign: World Leaders 'Kiss' In New Clothing Adverts
These images and more are all part of a new advertising campaign by clothing brand Benetton , who in an attempt to spark sales conversation have released six highly controversial images of world leaders engaging in some very close diplomatic discussions. The 'Unhate' campaign, produced by Fabrica in cooperation with 72andSunny NL, is intended to promote a new way of looking at hatred, the brand says. "It means not hating," Alessandro Benetton , deputy chairman of Benetton Group SpA, told the Wall Street Journal. "In a moment of darkness, with the financial crisis, what's going on in North African countries, in Athens, this is an attitude we can all embrace that can have positive energy."
Revealed: the full picture of sentences handed down to rioters | UK news | The Guardian
Young inmate in a prison cell at Portland young offenders institution. A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said there were enough places for those being sent to prison. Photograph: Paul Doyle/Alamy
An Open Letter to David Cameron’s Parents « Nathaniel Tapley
As a young man, he was in a gang that regularly smashed up private property . We know that you were absent parents who left your child to be brought up by a school rather than taking responsibility for his behaviour yourselves. The fact that he became a delinquent with no sense of respect for the property of others can only reflect that fact that you are terrible, lazy human beings who failed even in teaching your children the difference between right and wrong. I can only assume that his contempt for the small business owners of Oxford is indicative of his wider values. Even worse, your neglect led him to fall in with a bad crowd. He became best friends with a young man who set fire to buildings for fun.As the cacophony of politicians and commentators replaces that of the police sirens, look out for the particularly shrill voice of those who condemn as evil anyone with an alternative explanation for the looting than theirs. For an example, take the Daily Mail headline for Tuesday, which reads “To blame the cuts is immoral and cynical. This is criminality pure and simple”
When explaining becomes a sin « Mind Hacks
In parliament today, prime minister David Cameron said authorities and the industry were looking at "whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality". Well, at least he did post it as a question of right and wrong. It would be wrong, sir.
A social media crackdown is the wrong response to riots | Jeff Jarvis | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
T he work of a Harvard history professor has bolstered the case of a group of elderly Kenyans who are seeking reparations from the British government for rape, castration, beatings, and other abuses that they say were part of systematic colonial-era efforts to suppress Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising. The case passed a critical milestone in July when a British judge allowed it to move forward despite government arguments that, if the abuses happened, the current government isn’t liable for colonial transgressions. The Kenyans are former detainees in British prison camps set up during the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion, which set the stage for Kenyan independence in 1963. The plaintiffs allege that their abuse came at the hands of British jailers in what was a systematic and government-sanctioned campaign to break the rebellion.
Strong evidence | Harvard Gazette
Big Brother Watch representatives have frequently been derided as kooky technophobes with an effete obsession with personal privacy when putting forward our critique of the surveillance state. The lines deployed against us are so tired as to have become tedious. “ If it saves one life or solves one crime “, people say, “ it’ll all be worth it. “ “ If you’ve got nothing to hide “, champions of CCTV claim, “ you’ve got nothing to fear. “ If people had listened to our arguments more clearly they’d have noticed that our arguments about personal privacy, while important, have always been caged in the context of encouraging effective crime-fighting.
The surveillance state has failed | Big Brother Watch
The still smouldering Carpetright store in Tottenham has quickly become iconic of the rioting seen since Saturday. Photograph: Ray Tang/Rex Features It's usual practice when someone is killed that their personal details are not made public until the next of kin has been informed.