The cyber-war on cyber-terror now has innocent bystanders, apparently. In a hunt for LulzSec, the hacking group claiming responsibility for the compromise of huge amounts of Sony user accounts and for briefly taking the CIA website offline, the FBI raided DigitalOne’s data – finding nothing, but causing a bunch of unrelated websites to go offline.
A Tunisian court found former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife guilty of theft and the illegal possession of large quantities of money and jewelry. He sentenced them to 35 years in jail, which is great and all, except Ben Ali and his wife are in Saudi Arabia, making extradition a little unlikely.
Professional Barack Obama impersonator Reggie Brown was invited by the Republican Party to speak at their Leadership Conference in New Orleans over the weekend. Classy birth certificate references and borderline racist jokes ensued, until he was pulled off the stage by a conference official. Come, observe democracy at its high point.
And they’d been doing so well with the ‘not evil’ thing. Apple’s new patent is for software that would sense when people are trying to film concerts or events with their iPhone, then automatically disable the camera. It’d be nice to see a concert without a thousand iPhones blocking the way, but Big Brother much?
Hot damn but I love the future. Iceland is drawing up a new constitution, in the wake of the country’s commercial banks collapsing. Which is news, but not news-news; the interesting part is how the former vikings are going about the process – they’re crowdsourcing the draft online, with links to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube accounts.
There was a fair amount of coverage about the apparent arrest of “Amina Arraf”, the pseudonym of openly gay Syrian blogger behind ‘Gay Girl In Damascus,’ which did a lot for getting word out about human rights issues in Syria. Except it turns out that Amina was invented by 40-year-old Tom McMaster, from Georgia.
In yet another move to convince us that Scandinavian politics makes sense: the government of Norway is inexplicably offering to ‘train’ foreign diplomats in the ways of black metal. As in, the musical genre. Specifically, ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’, which you would know by now if you were a foreign diplomat in Norway.
I know this isn’t the worst thing to happen to French civil liberties by a long shot, but still; the interpretation of a law prohibiting ‘commercial advertising’ – which, in effect, will mean that newsreaders may no longer mention Facebook or Twitter, unless the story is about Facebook or Twitter – makes total social media sense. Total.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy has released a report stating that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed. Like Dame Judi Dench and Sting, the 19-member panel – which includes Sir Richard Branson, Kofi Annan and former leaders of Brazil and Mexico – is urging for the decriminalization of drugs. The USA is not amused.
Google announced on Tuesday that they’d been they target of a phishing scam originating in Jinan, China, aimed at the accounts of Chinese activists and senior officials in the U.S. Victims were sent fake emails with links to a fake Gmail site, which harvested the usernames and passwords of anyone trying to log in.
Multiple news sources reported today that a senior Egyptian general has come forward to confirm that forced “virginity checks” had been performed on women arrested during demonstrations. This had previously been denied by military authorities, but general Amr Imam has not only confirmed but defended the practice as a protective measure for the women’s own good.
What with IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn jailed on sex assault charges, there’s speculation about who’ll be replacing him. Calls from non-European countries to instate a non-European head have become increasingly vocal, especially after French Strauss-Kahn’s shenanigans – so it’s interesting that The Economist looked to Trevor Manuel, among others, as a potential succcessor.
In an incredibly patriotic move, Donald Trump yesterday announced that he no longer plans to run for the American presidency. Instead he will rather selflessly become part of the 12th season of The Apprentice once again because “it is for charity and for a great cause.” See the video statement inside. I love the applauding when he announces his decision not to run anymore. Awkward.
This is a little like me not being allowed to have posters up in my bedroom, but less serious: the ANC has lodged a complaint with the Electoral Commission after Cape Town city workers were found removing COSATU posters campaigning for Tony Ehrenreich. Because they want their posters back, apparently.
Since 9/11, flying has sucked. For all of the wrong reasons, flight security has become paranoid and despotic, and nowhere worse than the USA – where TSA agents have manhandled infants and the infirm in ‘the war on terror.’ So it’s nice to see that the Texas House of Representatives just banned TSA searches without probable cause.
Around 65 military recruits and 15 civilians were killed in the twin bombing of the military training centre in Shabqadar, Charsadda – the first attack in Pakistan since the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death. The Pakistani Taliban claims to have carried out the attack to avenge bin Laden’s killing.
Brazil’s Supreme Court last night ruled unanimously that civil unions between same-sex couples were to be allowed – which is a big deal, what with Brazil being home to the world’s largest Roman Catholic population and all. The vote stopped short, however, of legalizing gay marriage.
In what’s been the most radical political shift in about a century, Canadians yesterday voted the Conservative Party into a 100-seat majority – meaning first time in history, the New Democratic Party will form the Official Opposition. Former Prime Minister Harper’s government was forced into an election after a no-confidence vote in parliament.
British filmmaker and photojournalist, Tim Hetherington, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated documentary on the Afghanistan War, Restrepo, was killed yesterday in Misrata, Libya, following the firing of an RPG at a group of journalists. He was 41 years old. Three other journalists were injured in the attack.
A prominent US politician, Marilyn Davenport, is in trouble for sending out an email with a photo of chimpanzee parents and their infant. Barack Obama’s face is superimposed on the chimpanzee infant, and the caption reads: “Now you know why no birth certificate.” Her response to the whole matter, however, is even spicier.
Which puts us behind Iran. The Global Peace Index, put together by the Institute for Economics & Peace, is apparently made up of a couple of factors – including levels of democracy and transparency, education and national wellbeing. Top three are New Zealand, Iceland and Japan, with Iraq coming in last (149th place).
Following a military assault on his residence in Abidjan, Ivory Coast politician Laurent Gbagbo has surrendered and been placed under UN guard, thus ceding power to his UN-recognised successor, Alassane Ouattara; this after Gbagbo’s refusal to accept defeat in November’s presidential poll.
Government has decided that we need a new nickname for our national soccer team. The affectionate monicker Bafana Bafana was a nice idea at the time, says Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, but now we need ‘lions that will roar’.
Fidel Castro has popped up in public to remind us that he isn’t dead yet, and to let us know that he isn’t in charge of the Cuban Communist Party. And hasn’t been since 2006, when he let his brother take over. Fidel didn’t realize that it might be cool to let people know that it was permanent.
Donald Trump running for the American presidency might sound like a bad idea to some – just like his haircut. Say what you will about his political ambitions, but I actually think Trump embodies the American ideal, which is perfectly encapsulated in this reminiscence of how he screwed one Muammar Gaddafi over in a property deal.
Politicians cheat on occasion, and I don’t just mean at cards. Sometimes they sleep with people that they’re not married to. Sometimes politicians condemn their peers for adultery, only to be caught in the very same act some time later.
Anonymous, the online sort-of-anarchic sort-of-activist group, forced Aaron Barr, head of HBGary Federal, the massive American tech security company, to resign. Which is sort of a huge deal in the way that Charlie Sheen isn’t. Even though I love everything that Charlie Sheen touches.
It’s sort of hard to be on the internet right now without hearing about protests from whichever North African/Middle Eastern country is falling under the ‘freedom’ bandwagon, but this Google Maps/Twitter mashup contextualizes the online protest movement nicely – and in real time.
Here is a tip for becoming a successful politician: When you write newspaper columns criticising your own political party, they will be upset and invite you to a disciplinary. Logging onto Facebook and calling them “dickheads” will only make the situation worse.
It’s Thursday. Look at this video. It’s partially a rant on nanny-state politics, so you can watch it and act like you’re smart and politically engaged, and it also has footage of ladies in lingerie playing American football, which is relevant to the debate at hand, but also good for its own sake. SFW