Category: News

Russia Uses Microsoft to Suppress Dissent One of the authorities’ new tactics for quelling dissent in Russia is confiscating computers under the pretext of searching for pirated Microsoft software. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/world/europe/12raids.html authorities are receiving key assistance from an unexpected partner: Microsoft itself. In politically tinged inquiries across Russia, lawyers retained by Microsoft have staunchly backed…

Oil company owner’s aggressive memos from late 1970s Letters of Note presents the Tiger Oil Memos. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to save them. From the offices of the now-defunct but at one time Houston-based Tiger Oil Company come a total… via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/05/oil-company-owners-a.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29 “Do not speak to me when you see me.…

Surprise! Feds stored thousands of checkpoint body scan images after all US agencies have long defended the use of body scanning devices at airports with the promise that all images will be discarded as soon as security staff have viewed them. Last summer, the TSA claim… via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/04/surprise-feds-stored.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

Sarkozy describes France’s ‘blindness’ to genocide in Rwanda Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022504961.html?wprss=rss_world France made serious errors in judgment over the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and wants to ensure that all those responsible for the slaughter are caught and punished, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.

A family and a conscience, destroyed by North Korea’s cruelty Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022103690.html?wprss=rss_world “I am fool.” That self-assessment comes from Oh Kil-nam, a South Korean economist who moved to North Korea a quarter-century ago, dragging along his unhappy wife and two teenage daughters. He then defected to the West, leaving his family stranded in a country…

Missteps, errors and miscommunication doomed Blackwater case Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021004029.html?wprss=rss_world The questions come as the Justice Department last month launched its appeal of a scathing opinion by the well-respected judge, who ruled that the conduct of Kohl and other prosecutors was so egregious that it “requires dismissal of the indictment against all the defendants.” The guards…

Afghanistan’s Karzai asks Taliban to lay down arms Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013102702.html?wprss=rss_world Afghanistan’s president appealed to Taliban fighters Sunday to lay down their weapons and accept Afghan laws, as the government and its international allies push a program to entice militants away from the insurgency.

Killing of cleric prompts outrage in Kabul and apology from coalition forces Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012801505.html?wprss=rss_world “After they shot him, they didn’t stop, they just kept driving,” said Baryalai, a 45-year-old day laborer who was at the scene. At least eight bullet holes were visible in the passenger side of Yunis’ vehicle. His neighbors said they counted…