World News
If you’re reading this article, chances are good you have a page on Facebook, too. More than 150 million Americans already use the site, and the number grows daily because Facebook makes it so easy to keep up with friends, family, and colleagues, discover great content, connect to causes, share photos, drum up business, and learn about fun events.
To deliver this service, Facebook and other social networks collect enormous amounts of highly sensitive information—and distribute it more quickly and widely than traditional consumer data-gathering firms ever could. That’s great when it helps you find old classmates or see ads for things you actually want to buy. But how much information is really being collected about you? How is it being used? And could it fall into the wrong hands?
To find out, we queried Facebook and interviewed some two dozen others, including security experts, privacy lawyers, app developers, and victims of security and privacy abuse. We dug into private, academic, and government research, as well as Facebook’s labyrinthian policies and controls. And we surveyed 2,002 online households, including 1,340 that are active on Facebook, for our annual State of the Net report. We then projected those data to estimate national totals.
The picture that emerges has bright spots but also many causes for concern, including the following:
Some people are sharing too much. Our projections suggest that 4.8 million people have used Facebook to say where they planned to go on a certain day (a potential tip-off for burglars) and that 4.7 million “liked” a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments (details an insurer might use against you).
Read the full article here
Source: ConsumerReports.org
One of the most important meteor strikes in a generation has brought treasure-hunters flocking to a small town in northern California for the second time in 150 years.
The great gold rush began in the Coloma Valley in 1848, and now a meteor rush is underway as stardust fragments sell for 20 times the price of gold. The meteorite is thought to have been the size of a minivan as it hit the earth’s atmosphere and broke up, scattering rare rocks across the California countryside. It is a very rare type of meteor containing water and the building blocks of life, so collectors are paying as much as $1,000 (£600) a gram for prime specimens.
The locals have been searching fields, hillsides and even their own back gardens to cash in on the gift from above.
The BBC’s Alastair Leithead joined the hunt for rare rocks in Coloma.
View Video
Source: BBC News
Russia says it is prepared to use “destructive force pre-emptively” if the US goes ahead with controversial plans for a missile defence system based in Central Europe.
The warning came after the Russian defence minister said talks on missile defence were nearing a dead end.
Moscow fears that missile interceptors would be a threat to Russia’s security. But the US and Nato say they are intended to protect against attacks from Iran or North Korea.
“A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” chief of the Russian defence staff Gen Nikolai Makarov said.
Two days of talks opened on Thursday in Moscow between Russia, the US and Nato. Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the talks were “close to a dead end”, but Nato said it remained hopeful of reaching a deal. Nato Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow told the BBC that Russia’s fears of a European missile defence shield were “based on some flawed assumptions” and did not weaken Russia’s nuclear deterrent.
Gen Makarov also said that if the European shield was built, Russia would respond by putting more powerful warheads on its own ballistic missiles.
Russia and the US have been at odds over the issue of missile defence since 2000, ever since the idea was first put forward by then-President George W Bush.
President Barack Obama, who succeeded Mr Bush in the White House in 2008, scrapped plans for a network of bases spread across Poland and the Czech Republic with the capacity to intercept long-range missiles. But in 2010, it signed an agreement with Poland to use an old airstrip at Redzikowo, near the Baltic coast, as a missile defence base.
For its part, Russia has put into commission a radar system in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad which is capable of monitoring missile launches from Europe and the North Atlantic.
Source: BBC News
Unknown assailants have killed at least 11 people protesting against Egypt’s ruling generals near the defence ministry in Cairo, officials say. The attackers set on them at dawn using rocks, clubs, firebombs and firing shotguns. The protesters retaliated, beating some of the assailants.
Soldiers and police have now stopped the clashes, but the intervention came nearly six hours after they began.
Two leading presidential candidates have suspended campaigning in protest. Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist, and Mohammed Mursi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), criticised the authorities’ response.
In addition, the FJP and the Salafist Nour party, which together control 70% of the seats in parliament, decided to boycott a meeting with the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf).
Many of the protesters who were attacked outside the defence ministry building, in the capital’s Abbasiya district, on Wednesday morning were supporters of a Salafist preacher barred from standing in the election.
Hazem Abu Ismail was disqualified because his mother had dual Egyptian-US nationality, violating rules laid out in a constitutional declaration approved after an uprising forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Mr Abu Ismail complained that he was the victim of a “plot” by the military authorities, but the election commission found no evidence.
Some reports said the unidentified attackers were local people, angry at the disruption caused by the sit-in, which began on Saturday. But many Egyptians will suspect that, at the very least, the government turned a blind eye, reports the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo.
The use of plain-clothes thugs is a well-worn tactic by the authorities, he adds.
Soldiers and police deployed in the area initially did not intervene to stop the clashes, nor did they when one person was killed in a similar attack early on Sunday.
The health ministry said more than 150 people were injured on Wednesday and that many were receiving treatment at a nearby field clinic. Some had gunshot wounds and others had been attacked with knives, according to medical sources.
The Nobel laureate and former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, criticised the ruling generals on Twitter.
“Massacre in front of [the ministry of defence],” he wrote. “SCAF & government unable to protect civilians or in cahoots with thugs. Egypt going down the drain.”
Opposition to the Scaf has built up steadily since it assumed Mr Mubarak’s presidential powers in February 2011.
The council has been accused of stifling dissent by killing protesters, detaining critics and undermining the youth and civil society groups which led the uprising.
The generals have promised to hand over power to a civilian administration by the end of June, after a presidential election that they say will be free and fair.
The election’s first round is scheduled for 23 and 24 May, with a run-off vote for the top two candidates expected on 16 and 17 June.
The race seems to have narrowed to a contest between Mr Aboul Fotouh, Mr Mursi, and the former head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa
Source: BBC News
Labour activists have been holding marches and rallies in Europe and around the world to mark May Day, at a time of austerity and social unrest.
Politics coloured events in France – one of the eurozone’s dominant states – which elects a new president on Sunday.
In Greece, which elects a new parliament the same day, a march through Athens passed off peacefully.
Thousands are expected to attend rallies in Spain and Portugal, both struggling with debt burdens.
Workers in Asian states marched for better working conditions and the Occupy movement is planning events in North America.
International Workers’ Day, as the 1 May holiday is known officially, is meant to be a celebration of working people worldwide. A recognised national holiday in most of the developed world, it is also celebrated unofficially in some countries.
In France, far-right leader Marine Le Pen refused to back either candidate in the country’s presidential election run-off on Sunday, when she addressed supporters in Paris. Ms Le Pen, who came third in the first round last month, said National Front voters should vote with their conscience but added that both President Nicolas Sarkozy and his challenger, the Socialists’ Francois Hollande, would surrender power to Europe.
Attacking Mr Sarkozy’s five years in power and the ruling UMP party, she said she would “vote blank”. The National Front holds an annual march in Paris on 1 May to celebrate French heroine Joan of Arc. Mr Sarkozy, a conservative, is to hold his own rally in Paris this year with the theme of “real work”, while trade unions hold their traditional May Day march to the Bastille. Both Mr Sarkozy and Mr Hollande have been wooing the six million people who voted for Ms Le Pen in the first round.
In a speech in the town of Nevers, Mr Hollande voiced solidarity with trade unionists, saying: “When you have been a worker, when you have been a trade unionist, you know that inflation is a gnawing evil.”
Read the full story on BBC News
Clive Palmer, one of Australia’s richest men, has commissioned a Chinese state-owned company to build a 21st Century version of the Titanic. The mining billionaire told Australian media that construction would start at the end of next year. It would be ready to set sail in 2016. The plan, he added, was for the vessel to be as similar as possible to the original Titanic in design and specifications, but with modern technology.
Mr Palmer told Australian media that he had signed a memorandum of understanding with CSC Jinling Shipyard to construct the ship.
“It will be every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic but of course it will have state-of-the-art 21st Century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems,” he said in a statement.
The announcement comes just weeks after the centenary of the sinking of the ill-fated Titanic. The vessel, the largest luxury ship in its time, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It went down on 15 April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 people dead.
“Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it,” Mr Palmer said in response to questions from reporters on whether the Titanic replica would sink.
The new vessel is scheduled to sail from London to New York in late 2016, if all goes as planned.
“It is going to be designed so it won’t sink,” he added. ”But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen.”
The cost of the construction is not known, a spokesman for Mr Palmer told Australian media. The mining magnate from Queensland, who has strong business relations with China, has expanded into tourism. He owns a luxury resort on the Sunshine Coast and has plans to build a fleet of luxury liners.
His plan to build the Titanic replica was announced on the same day that he revealed plans, in a separate news conference, to contest the next federal election in Queensland. He told reporters that he has expressed interest in standing for Queensland’s Liberal National Party (LNP), part of the conservative opposition at federal level, in the Brisbane seat of Lilley – currently held by Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan.
Source: BBC News
Several European leaders have cancelled visits to Ukraine amid growing concern over alleged mistreatment of the jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.
Both EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding will boycott the Euro 2012 tournament in Ukraine.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel may do so too. A spokesman said any such visit would depend on Ms Tymoshenko’s fate.
Five European presidents are avoiding a summit next month in Yalta, Ukraine.
A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said the presidents of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia would not attend the Yalta summit of Central and East European leaders on 11-12 May.
“We’re announcing it beforehand, so that nobody makes any sensation out of it. There is no reason for seeing a [diplomatic] protest behind it,” spokesman Oleg Voloshin said.
Read the full story on BBC News
Fast-food giant KFC has been ordered to pay $8.3m (£5.1m) to the family of an Australian girl left severely brain damaged after being poisoned by a chicken meal.
Monika Samaan fell ill with salmonella poisoning after eating a “Twister” wrap at a KFC restaurant near Sydney in 2005.The poisoning left her wheelchair-bound and unable to speak.
KFC said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision and would appeal.
A judge of the Supreme Court of the state of New South Wales awarded the A$8m damages after ruling last week that KFC had breached its duty of care to the girl.
The family’s lawyer, George Vlahakis, said they were relieved by the decision.
“Monika’s severe brain damage and severe disability has already exhausted the very limited resources of the family,” he said.
“Monika is now a big girl and they are finding it increasingly difficult to lift her and to look after her basic needs as well as look after Monika’s younger siblings.
“The compensation ordered is very much needed. KFC have to date been determined that Monika does not receive a cent.”
KFC, which is owned by Yum! Brands, expressed surprise at the judge’s ruling, insisting the evidence did not show it caused Monika’s disability. It has indicated it will appeal.
“We feel deeply for Monika and the Samaan family. However, we also have a responsibility to defend KFC’s reputation as a provider of safe, high-quality food,” a company manager said.
The court was told that Monika was in a coma for six months after she, her parents and brother fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea after sharing the wrap, the AAP news agency reports. The other family members all recovered.
The family’s lawyer told the court that at busy times, the restaurant would reuse chicken that had been dropped on the floor.
Source: BBC News
Up to 70 people have been killed in an attack on a house in Hama, according to Syrian activists.They said several houses in the Masha at-Tayyar district in southern Hama were destroyed by a big explosion.
State media said 16 people died in the blast in a house used as a bomb factory by “armed terrorist groups”. The violence comes despite a UN-brokered ceasefire – part of a peace plan proposed by the joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Scud attack?
Following the blast in Hama, activists posted video on the internet showing a scene of devastation, with bodies being pulled from the rubble. One report said 13 children and 15 women were among the dead.
They said the blast was caused by government shelling or even a Scud missile attack.
The opposition Syrian National Council has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting “so that it can issue a resolution to protect civilians”. It says nearly 100 people have been killed in Hama in recent days.
The level of devastation seen would have been difficult to achieve by conventional shelling, the BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut says.
State television showed pictures of injured children in hospital and says that a group using the house to make bombs detonated them accidentally.
Read the full story on BBC News
Hong Kong hospitals will limit maternity services to most pregnant women from mainland China from next year, under new proposals from its incoming chief executive.
Mainland women will be prevented from giving birth in Hong Kong unless they have a Hong Kong husband. While the proposal would only apply to public hospitals, private hospitals have also agreed to follow suit.
Increasing “birth tourism” from the mainland has caused tensions. Soaring numbers of mainland women have sought to give birth in Hong Kong to ensure that their child receives Hong Kong citizenship. Almost half of all babies born in Hong Kong in 2010 were the children of mainland couples, according to government figures.
The “zero quota” proposals were made by Chief Executive-elect CY Leung, who takes office on 1 July.
Under the proposals, pregnant women from mainland China will not be eligible for obstetrics services from next year, unless their husband is from Hong Kong.
Furthermore, children born to mainland parents will not be guaranteed residency unless one of their parents is a Hong Kong resident.
The new proposals are likely to be popular in Hong Kong, whose residents have said that “birth tourism” from mainland China has strained resources and put lives at risk.
Ethnic Chinese babies born in Hong Kong currently automatically receive the right to live and work there, as well as the right to carry a Hong Kong passport, which makes international travel easier.
Some mainlanders also choose to give birth in Hong Kong to skirt the one-child policy, which can result in heavy fines for violators. Mr Leung, who was elected with the weakest mandate of any chief executive to date, has been trying to rally political support with populist policies, says the BBC’s Hong Kong correspondent Juliana Liu.
The Hong Kong government has already imposed quotas on the number of mainland mothers allowed to give birth in local hospitals, but residents say the quotas do not go far enough. Alan Lau, head of Hong Kong’s Private Hospitals Association, told the BBC that its members felt they had no choice but to comply with Mr Leung’s wishes. He confirmed that the hospitals would stop taking bookings from mainland mothers from 2013.
Many private hospital chiefs had initially opposed the proposals, citing financial and ethical issues.
Hong Kong has seen a surge in anti-China sentiment in recent months, due to resentment over “birth tourism” and claims that tourists from mainland China get preferential treatment.
Source: BBC News
