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Monday, March 30, 2009

Canadian think tanks SecDev Group and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto have released findings from a 10 month investigation exposing an internet spy network based mostly in China which has hacked into computers and networks owned by government and private organizations in 103 countries.

Allegations that the Chinese government was infiltrating computers set up by the Tibetan exile community prompted the initial investigation. Following up on the leads, investigators found at least 1,295 computers belonging to a range of governments and private organizations world wide were affected, including the Tibetan exiles’ centres in Brussels, India, London, and New York.

The spy network, dubbed ‘GhostNet’, appears to have focused on Foreign Affairs ministries, embassies, and international organizations including breaking into at least one computer at NATO. 30% of the machines infected were considered high-value targets according to the report published Sunday in Information Warfare Monitor. The report details the malware used in the attacks, pointing out that it provides extensive control of the infected computer to the outside source, even to monitoring microphones or cameras attached to the machine.

Wenqi Gao, spokesman at the Chinese consulate in New York City told the New York Times that allegations of Chinese governmental involvement were “old stories” and “nonsense.”

Another report released on Sunday from Cambridge University alleges the Chinese government or a group working closely with it initiated the attacks on the Tibetan organizations. In that attack, control of an e-mail server was also achieved, giving the attackers access to all messages sent by the Dalai Lama’s supporters.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Independent U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader had harsh words for the Democrats who engineered yesterday’s passage of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, a bailout of the U.S. financial system. At a campaign stop in Waterbury, Connecticut on Saturday, Nader said that Democrats passed up a chance to enact re-regulation of the financial system and instead gave Wall Street everything it wanted.

According to Nader, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), and other Democrats considered but rejected measures such as a tax on transactions of derivatives (a “speculation tax”) because of their financial ties to Wall Street and its lobbyists. He said that Representative Chris Murphy (D-CT), who represents Waterbury, had “become a toady” of Nancy Pelosi. He drew enthusiastic applause by calling Murphy “a dynamic fraud”, and referred to Senator Joe Lieberman as “the Hermaphrodite of American Politics”. For Murphy and Representative Chris Shays (R-CT), Nader said, supporting the bailout despite the opposition of constituents was a “profile in betrayal”. Because there were no public hearings where taxpayers and experts could weigh in on the bailout, Nader characterized it as a return to “taxation without representation“—under “King George IV” 225 years after the 13 colonies were taxed under King George III.

Asked about causes of the financial crisis, Nader pointed to the deregulation of the financial sector with the 1999 Glass-Steagall Act and further deregulation in 2000, as well as the rise of overly complex financial derivatives. He outlined a four-part reform plan:

1. Re-regulation of financial markets
2. Increasing shareholder control of corporations
3. Taxpayer equity as part of any bailout, as in the 1979 bailout of Chrysler Corporation
4. Making speculators pay by enacting a 0.1% tax on derivatives transactions (which Nader said will amount to over $500 trillion this year)

Regarding the equity warrants included in the passed bailout, Nader relayed word from an unnamed source that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had told Wall Street executives “don’t worry, it’s not enforceable”.

Nader told reporters that he had abandoned the Green Party because “Greens are not disciplined, and they’re not mature”, and also lack the fund-raising capabilities to break into mainstream political discussions. “They bicker and bicker,” he said, pushing out their best people. However, he endorsed several local Green Party candidates, including Chris Murphy’s opponent Harold Burbank.

The virtual media blackout for third party campaigns by national newspapers and networks has been a source of continual frustration for the Nader campaign, as well as the campaigns of Libertarian Bob Barr and Green Cynthia McKinney and the post-campaign activities of Republican Ron Paul. According to Nader, reporters tell him that editors of national media are “very bigoted against third party and independent candidacies”. Even journalists for taxpayer-supported media, such as National Public Radio‘s Terry Gross and the Public Broadcasting Service‘s Jim Lehrer, have shut him out during this campaign. Debates, he lamented, are controlled by corporate interests through the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Nader spoke to a supportive crowd of about 60 people and his campaign raised over $2000 at the event, their third visit to Waterbury. The event took place in the former building of a closed-down bank.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

At least fifteen people have been killed as the result of a landslide which occurred in Indonesia on Tuesday. According to BBC News Online, at least sixteen were killed. It is thought that up to seventy people were killed as a result of the landslide, which occurred in a village near to the city of Bandung.

At one point, villagers attempted to dig out surviving victims from the rocks and mud by using their bare hands, as rescue efforts were suspended temporarily due to heavy rain, before recommencing after lifting equipment arrived. At least sixteen dead bodies have been recovered by Wednesday. Roughly five hundred people are contributing to the search and rescue.

Priyadi Kardono, spokesperson for the Disaster Management Agency, stated: “We’ve found fifteen bodies so far and estimate that there are up to 70 people still missing.” He also commented that fifteen other people had been injured, of which two have been hospitalised.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The following is the third edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: two individuals previously interviewed by Wikinews announce their candidacies for the Reform Party presidential nomination; a former Republican Congressman comments on the Republican National Convention; and Wikinews interviews an historic Democratic National Convention speaker.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Police in Oak Bay, British Columbia, a suburb of the provincial capital Victoria, report that five bodies were found in a home after having been summoned there on a 911 emergency call.

The 911 call came in at approximately 3 a.m. local time, but police were not able to enter the home until 9 a.m. as they believed “there was a barricaded suspect in the home and information possibly that there may be a firearm associated [with] the home.” Police later revealed that no gunshots were involved in the crime.

Five bodies have been discovered: a six-year-old child and four adults. Saanich Police stated that one of the dead may have been responsible for the deaths. “At this stage we’re not looking for anyone outside the home,” said Sgt. John Price, Saanich Police. In a press release Tuesday, Saanich Police stated they believe that the crime “was not a random attack and that the suspect and the victims were known to each other.”

Rose Stanton, Regional Coroner for the Vancouver Island area, indicated that other crime scene investigators, including blood spatter experts, had been summoned. Stanton also said that the bodies would not be removed from the house until sometime on Wednesday. Commenting on the question of why blood spatter experts have been called in, Stanton told reporters, “Use your imagination…it’s bad, for 30 years of doing this, it’s bad.”

There was some indication that an accelerant was found at the crime scene. “There may have been an attempt to set fire to the residence,” said Regional Coroner Stanton. “There was some flammable material involved.”

Neighbours in Oak Bay say that the family that lived in the home consisted of a couple in their thirties, two young children, and a mother-in-law who recently arrived from Korea.