Secret US military computers 'cyber attacked' in 2008 25 August 2010Last updated at 17:26 William Lynn, shown here with David Cameron last month, is a former defence company executive A 2008 cyber attack launched from an infected flash drive in the Middle East penetrated secret US military computers, a Pentagon official says. The attack by a foreign spy service was the "most significant breach" ever of US military networks, Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn said. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Mr Lynn described it as a "digital beachhead" to steal military secrets. He urged the US to speed up its cyber defence system procurement procedure. Mr Lynn, the number two official in the Pentagon, wrote that the previously undisclosed 2008 attack began when an infected flash drive was inserted into a US military laptop at a base. The computer code then spread stealthily through US military computer networks and readied itself to transfer military data to enemy hands, he wrote. Time lag
Climate Change: Bangkok preliminary meeting signals trouble ahead Since the Copenhagen Climate summit we’ve known there is something very wrong with the U.N. political framework for climate change. Early morning compromise decisions by exhausted negotiators have become the rule at Climate Change meetings. It happened again at the preparatory talks in Bangkok last week. Delegates have consumed three and a half days just to agree on an agenda containing the headings of the Cancun Agreements, and a couple of “additional matters”. Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, said that discussions have been about the scope of the work ahead as well as the expected outcome in Durban. To me this is as much of an agenda as one can get. The head of the U.S. delegation, Jonathan Pershing, described the meeting as “an arduous process with promising results”. What’s so wrong with this process? Global conditions were very favorable in Copenhagen. If a meaningful agreement depends on domestic political support, then it becomes a bottom-up approach.
mo funciona o sistema politico ingles No party has been able to secure an outright majority in the House of Commons and, after four days of frantic negotiations between the parties, the shape of the next government is still not clear. The situation is described as a hung parliament, with no single party having enough MPs - 326 - to win parliamentary votes without the support of members of other parties. Sinn Fein's five MPs are not included in these coalition scenarios as they traditionally do not take up their seats. Technically, however, 326 remains the figure needed for an overall majority. The seat of Thirsk and Malton is also not included as the election there was delayed due to a candidate's death. The Conservatives won the most seats - 306 - and votes, but the largest party does not automatically have the right to try to form an administration. In 1974 Conservative Edward Heath stayed in power for four days after the election trying to put together a coalition, even though Labour had more seats.
Rich nations 'give up' on new climate treaty until 2020 | Environment Governments of the world's richest countries have given up on forging a new treaty on climate change to take effect this decade, with potentially disastrous consequences for the environment through global warming. Ahead of critical talks starting next week, most of the world's leading economies now privately admit that no new global climate agreement will be reached before 2016 at the earliest, and that even if it were negotiated by then, they would stipulate it could not come into force until 2020. The eight-year delay is the worst contemplated by world governments during 20 years of tortuous negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions, and comes despite intensifying warnings from scientists and economists about the rapidly increasing dangers of putting off prompt action. After the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009 ended amid scenes of chaos, governments pledged to try to sign a new treaty in 2012.
MI6 worker found at London flat 'had been dead weeks' 25 August 2010Last updated at 21:47 Gareth Williams' body was discovered in a holdall in the flat in Pimlico An MI6 worker whose body was found in a holdall in the bath at his central London flat may have been murdered two weeks ago, police believe. Gareth Williams, 30, was found dead in the top-floor flat in Alderney Street, Pimlico, on Monday afternoon. Officers broke in after work colleagues said Mr Williams, from Anglesey, had not been seen for at least 10 days. Police said post mortem tests have been inconclusive. The Metropolitan Police have classified the death as "suspicious and unexplained". A spokesman said: "A post-mortem examination at Westminster Mortuary was unable to provide a cause of death and further tests will take place." Officers entering the flat discovered a mobile phone and several mobile phone SIM cards laid out at the flat. 'Very talented' He said it was not known what job he was doing there and that his death was not necessarily connected to it. 'Never seen him'
China's Coal Use and Estimated CO2 Emissions Fell in 2014 | Barbara Finamore's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC [Backyard in Datong with coal/Peter Van den Bossche] Good news! China's coal consumption fell by 2.9 percent in 2014, the first drop in 14 years, according to official Chinese energy statistics released yesterday. [Glenn Peters/Responding to Climate Change] Here are three reasons why China is acting on climate change and air pollution: National War on Pollution: Much of the drop in China's coal consumption can be attributed to efforts to tackle the country's staggering air pollution. It is still too early to predict just how quickly China will phase out coal, though a number of analysts believe that China's coal use is very likely to peak before 2020. [Backyard in Datong with coal/Peter Van den Bossche] Good news! [Glenn Peters/Responding to Climate Change] Here are three reasons why China is acting on climate change and air pollution: National War on Pollution: Much of the drop in China's coal consumption can be attributed to efforts to tackle the country's staggering air pollution.
Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD? 23 August 2010Last updated at 19:49 By Mike Thomson BBC News Nearly 60 years ago, a French town was hit by a sudden outbreak of hallucinations, which left five people dead and many seriously ill. For years it was blamed on bread contaminated with a psychedelic fungus - but that theory is now being challenged. Leon says he would prefer to die than endure the 1951 events again On 16 August 1951, postman Leon Armunier was doing his rounds in the southern French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit when he was suddenly overwhelmed by nausea and wild hallucinations. "It was terrible. Leon, now 87, fell off his bike and was taken to the hospital in Avignon. He was put in a straitjacket but he shared a room with three teenagers who had been chained to their beds to keep them under control. "Some of my friends tried to get out of the window. "I'd prefer to die rather than go through that again." Over the coming days, dozens of other people in the town fell prey to similar symptoms. Biological warfare F.
Paris 2015: How can we compare the climate pledges so far? - ECIU As the UN climate talks continue this week in Bonn, so far 10 countries or groups have submitted their emission pledges to the UN. This already includes several major emitters: the US accounts for 15% of global emissions and the EU for about 11%. Adding up the total, pledges submitted so far account for about a third of global emissions. Later this year, the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) and others will be calculating how much these pledges add up to, and whether they put the world on track to stay below the ‘safe’ threshold of 2oC of global warming. The climate pledges submitted to the UN have a range of different conditions attached, and different baselines, making them hard to compare: and here are some of the reasons why. Different methods and baselines The pledges are known in UN-speak as INDCs, which stands for intended nationally determined contributions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, virtually all countries with targets used the base year of 1990, making pledges easier to compare.
Wikileaks encryption use offers 'legal challenge' 19 August 2010Last updated at 13:58 By Chris Vallance BBC News Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange responds to a BBC question about why it provides encrypted files for download. (Video: Frontline Club) A novel use of encryption by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks could "challenge the legal system for years to come," according to an influential observer of the hacking community. Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600 The Hacker Quarterly magazine, made his comments in reference to an encrypted file recently posted on the site. Some suspect the file - as yet unopened - contains further sensitive material. It has been reposted around the web and is available for anyone to download. "If you release it in encrypted form, nobody really knows if you've released it or not - or even what the material is," Mr Goldstein told BBC News. 'Uncrackable file' The site came under criticism after it released the first tranche for endangering the lives of informants or others named in the documents. “Start Quote
Iraq inquiry: Ex-MI5 boss says war raised terror threat 20 July 2010Last updated at 23:44 Baroness Manningham-Buller said the Iraq war "undoubtedly increased" the level of terrorist threat. The invasion of Iraq "substantially" increased the terrorist threat to the UK, the former head of MI5 has said. Giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry, Baroness Manningham-Buller said the action had radicalised "a few among a generation". As a result, she said she was not "surprised" that UK nationals were involved in the 7/7 bombings in London. She said she believed the intelligence on Iraq's threat was not "substantial enough" to justify the action. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote We assess that Saddam is only likely to order terrorist attacks if he perceives that the survival of his regime is threatened” End QuoteBaroness Manningham-BullerDocument to Home Office in 2002 Describing the intelligence on Iraq's weapons threat as "fragmentary", she said: "If you are going to go to war, you need to have a pretty high threshold to decide on that." Analysis