Since I’ve been busy last week, I’ve decided to make up for it by making this Weekly News a 2 in 1 edition.   So, yeah, PLENTY of words for ya.  I’ve also taken the liberty of compartmentalizing the different stories – they each have their own little sections now.

Also, the name “Weekly News” is somewhat lacking.  Why don’t you guys choose a new name?  I’ll decide on it next Saturday.

 

So, without further ado,

 

Science & Technology (Yes, this will always be first in my newsposts)

Spammers sought after botnet takedown

Apparently, less than five people managed to start a botnet (computers controlled by viruses working in tandem) that basically, sent 30,000,000,000 Viagra ads a day.  Wow.  Real constructive, guys….

I guess that taking over more than one million computers was a nice achievement, and that fake advertisements for pills might rake in some money and fame; but there’s GOT to be a better use for botnets.  Just ask China.  Seriously though, if we got more hackers like these to join hte forces of good, like The Cult of the Dead Cow, then great things could be done.

 

Security researchers discover “indestructible” botnet

….What did I just finish saying?  Apparently TDL is an attempt to create the “perfect” botnet (A.K.A SkyNet).  It’s expanded by using a virus put on porn sites and illegal file sharing sites.  So, yeah, it’s gonna look real embarrasing for you if you’re a victim of the thing.  Doubtless however, numerous governments and companies are gonna be taking an eye at what makes this thing tick.  It’s not indestructable (far from it), but it’s DAMN good.

LulzSecurity hacking group announces end to cyber attacks

Good bye and good riddance you damn crackers.  6 guys in their parent’s basements taking out numerous websites and the PSN Network “for the lulz”.  What is so fun about anarchy?  Sure, it seems cool to live without rules – then you realize there’s nothing left to stop the same shit from happening to you.  A lot of brats out there need to learn that.

Oh, wait – turns out they lied.  What a shocking surprise.

 

Hacker group Anonymous declares war on Orlando. Florida

And to contrast with the bullshit that is LulzSec, we have the good branch of Anonymous here to balance things out.  Apparently, it’s a crime to feed the homeless in Orlando now, and Anon has agreed with the 99% percent of the planet that thinks this is a ridiculous law.  They have taken down their travel website, and are encouraging everyone to boycott visits to the city.

See people?   This is what you hack for.

 

Spanish police website hit by Anonymous hackers

Apparently, Spanish websites have been hit in retaliation by Anonymous hackers over the arrests of three of their members. I just have this to say:  Screw Spain.  Never liked the government, especially after their treasure capades, and the arrest of those Anonymous members just pissed me off.  Seriously, they’re an inch away from being China (check the reports)

Also, kudos to government stupidity for thinking they can wreck Anon’s structure.  It’s like some grey goo – leave a bit behind, it’ll blossom again.

 

WikiLeaks says it’s suing Visa, Mastercard

Finally, the damn organization stand up on it’s own two feet.  Good thing it’s in the EU, ’cause there’s a waaay better chance of them winning their case there than over here in the states.  My question is, why weren’t the other companies involved in the lawsuit?  Something tells me these guys aren’t too confident they’ll win; and given the bias against them, I have to agree.  The only question is, can we overlook our zealotic patriotism in order to see truth?  Or are we going to just let one of the biggest whistleblowers of world governments and organizations collapse because a few people don’t like their diaries being broadcast over the internet?

 

Google challenges Facebook in social network battle

…. And once more, Google decides it hasn’t taken over enough of the bloggoweb.  It has decided to continue the Olympian Cycle of social site overcoming social site started by MySpace and Facebook.  Personally, I’m not hoping for much changes from the other sites, their upsides (however few), and their downsides (VERY MANY).  Plus, there’s that whole privacy issue.  Did I mention it’s blocked in China?

Oh, and if you scroll down to the bottom of the report, you’ll find this isn’t their first attempt.  Their last site, Google Buzz, was taken to court over privacy issues. It’s still there.

 

Google facing US antitrust probe

Whatever happened to “Don’t be Evil”?  Seriously! Nowadays, you can’t go a stone’s throw around Google business without stumbling into privacy issues.  Turns out, their search engines collect more data than we realise…..

I wonder if there’ll be another user search log scandal.  I wonder how many 927′s we’ll find?

 

Google faces ‘wire tapping’ cases over Street View

Jesus, now they’re really crossing the grey.  Numerous Google functions have already been banned in Germany (Where this WiFi uproar started), and now they’re doing federal rulings in San Fran.  Once wiretappings been confirmed *which will be verey hard when you’re up against a legion of lawyers), this becomes a FBI matter.  NSA might want tips from them, though.

Their defense excuse is classic, however.  “Their networks were unencrypted, anyone could have taken them” “It’s not our fault we grabbed their personal details”  Yeah, but just because someone leaves their pie on the windowsill, and it’s been untouched by thieves for the past 30 minutes doesn’t mean you can just swipe the thing! Just because someone’s diary is left in a public spot doesn’t mean you should open up and read it (and very likely tell the world about it’s contents)!  No, people’s private possessions shouldn’t have to have a lock on them at all times to keep the safe.

 

Amazon cuts ties with California affiliates

Thank you, Governer Moonbeam, for driving e-business away from our state.  Since his new e-tax, Amazon has stopped doing business with over ten thousand companies her in the Golden State, and more will probably follow.  Oh, wait, Overstock already did.  That just leaves eBay and the like.

Personally, I don’t ever see the idea of e-taxes ever working out.  I mean, could you tax a Craigslist deal?  A eBay bid?  No.  Come to thing of it, could the government even claim sovereignty over a digital frontier?

 

Hitchcockian crows gossip about mean humans

Yet another reason to be afraid of crows.  They can count, they can stack (and therefore, organise), they can use tools, and now they can communicate sophisticated information like which humans to take  a dump on.  The avian revolution ought to only be a few weeks away now.   Seriously, they’re like the Einsteins of birds.  Those little guys are smart.

 

Acoustic ‘cloaking device’ shields objects from sound

This would have been really useful if it had been discovered during hte Cold War.  Imagine the ensuing crisis that would follow.  Probably something out of a Tom Clancy novel, I imagine.  What’s even more scary is that apparently, anyone can make them.  That’s right, ANYONE.  They’re cheap, easy to make, and while somewhat high precision, probably still something an amateur could create.  *Goes off to garage*

 

International Space Station in debris scare

The ISS is dodging yet another piece of junk again.  I swear, this is happening so many times you can’t help but wonder why we let it get that f*cked up up there.  Surely, when we were launching those old one-time use rockets and satellites, we realised that that junk that didn’t burn up was going to stay put up there, right?  That these satellites wouldn’t last  forever, and had to have a contingency plan for when they needed to come down?  But no, apparently, we’ve left a million land mines up there, waiting for something to bump into them – and at the speeds everythings going up there, that crap will do a LOT of damage.  And NOW, we want to return to those wasteful, littering, one-timer rockets.

………Why?

 

World News:

United States

US space entrepeneur accused of aiding Iran

I’m a little confused on this issue.  Does Iran have a reason to use nukes?  Yes.  Is what this guy did a step in making nuclear missiles? yes.  What exactly, though, did this guy do that waws illegal? (2 in the morning, so forgive me for not understanding)

 

US extends drone strikes to Somalia

After retiring from firing practice in the Middle East, the drones are now seeing use in Somalia for……  God knows what, ’cause I sure as hell don’t.  We’ve already stretched our military over the entire middle east, I don’t see why we need to kick up another hornet’s nest. I say put the things in the hangars until further notice.  We don’t need another “war”  official or otherwise.

 

Los Alamos Fires

When I saw this in the news, I flipped.  As many of you know, Los Alamos is where they did all those nuclear experiments during the Cold War (they still do some work there nowadays too.  So, when I saw that a blaze was going their way, I was understandably scared.  When it got close enough o shut the place down, I was getting ready to call my relatives down there.  Luckily, it appears that we’re fending off the flames quite nicely after a week-long struggle against them.  Thank goodness.

Amanda Knox killed roommate Meredith, Guede tells court

News flash in Knox trial:  Amanda is guilty.  What a surprise.  Next item!

Casey Anthony won’t testify; defense rests

Two child killers on one newspost, both guilty as chocolate-covered sin.  Gotta love the US, right?  For me, when the defense in a case clamps up during a trial, it usually tells me one of two things.  One, the defense is guiltier than a Nazi in Auschwitz; or two, they know they’re so deep in the brown they better stop beforethey dig themselves deeper.  It can be both on numerous occasions.

Cory Elman can dream, but can he still play?

Guy joins college football.  Guy gets cancer and has to leave league.  Guy beats cancer and tries to return to league….. except he can’t.  He can no longer play for the team he had to leave due to medical reasons, and now he’s desperate for any chance to get back in the game.  I say we give it to him.

 

United Kingdom

Rise in abduction by parents to non-treaty countries

Child abductions by disgruntled ex-spouses have always been a problem, but now there’s a rise of it in the UK to non-child abduction treaty countries, mainly Pakistan, India, and Thailand.  Yeah, real ideal places to raise a kid.

Didn’t we discuss this stuff on DamnTikiWiki?  I think we did.

Mounting concerns over legal aid cuts

Apparently, Parliament can no longer afford state-sponsored legal aid on pretty much every kind of kawsuit thereis in England and Wales.  TB’s gonna have a field day with this.

What bugs me here, is that many people who relied on the legal aid system to help fund cases they normally couldn’t pursue due to financial problems are now left without any way to defend themselves in court form people who DO have the money to pay their lawyers without the system.  That’s messed up.

Revealed:  British government’s plan to play down Fukushima

I don’t understand why people aer surprised by this.  Nuclear energy’s a major industry in Europe, and many governments won;t let go of their clean energy source/cash cow that easily.

Quick question, guys.  When people are misinformed on a topic and actively want to spread hat misinformation, is propaganda an okay option in combating it?

Jellyfish clog U.K. nuclear power plant, force shutdown

Speaking of nuclear energy, rising jellyfish levels have led to the clogging of the wat3er filters of the cooling system at a nuclear power plant in Scotland.  The Al Gore in me blames global warming, and I haven’t entirely dismissed the possibility.  How did this happen and how could it have been prevented?

 

France

France nuclear power funding gets one billion euro boost

Oh, look everyone!  It’s everyone’s favorite nuclear state!  France has made no attempts to hide it’s love for nuclear energy, which is good – they have strong safety standards and plenty of employee benefits – but when you question the authority of the atom there…. well, good things don’t happen.

 

Italy

Italians find voice and punish Silvio Berlusconi

Finally – some backbone in Italy.  After 17 years of reign under the dictator-for-life’s rule, they finally undercut his plans in government; in this case, his blueprint for nuclear energy.  They managed to stop paying attention to the TV’s he has a statewide broadcasting monopoly on by using newer media, like social sites, emails, and blogs.  Even the Roman Catholic Church (which is so favored in Italy) has spoken out against Berlusconi’s rule of the polls.  Score one for the people.

 

Greece

Greek communists storm the Acropolis in bailout protest

Greece has been decidedly unhappy with their government for a while now.  After the youth riots, and the police standoffs, now it seems they might be turning to communism.  Considering the fact that their PM has proposed drafting a new government recently, this might give the people in Congress something to be twitchy about.  Personally, I think if people going to try communism again, they’ve got to do it right this time. Too many times before *cough*every time*cough*, when communism is tried, it ends up being a dictatorship.  With democracy, it still happens, but at least it’s easier for those of us in democratic governments to stop the corruption, or at least keep it to a minimum.  Plus, considering that if they doturn communist, then they’ll be the only communist country in the EU.

 

Egypt

US to ‘resume ties’ with Egypt’s Brotherhood

It’s nice to see our country put aside it’s islamaphobic tendencies for once, and put a step (and a hand) forward.  And apparently, the Muslim Brotherhood is more than willing to cooperate.  Hopefully we can see a safer Egypt after this.

I know some of you might not like it, but hey – it’s easier to shift foreign policy when your on friendly terms with the guys you want to change.

‘Second sabotage’ of Gaza-bound flotilla

Great – another boat on the Irish flotilla has been sabotaged.  3 guesses as to who did it.

I don’t understand why Israel needs to blockade the Gaza strip – even mroe so why other countries tolerate this.  I mean, yes, there is that whole “holy land thing, and most countries aren’t exactly eager to start off another crusade.  I do know that tensions are high between Israel and the Islamic states (Call be crazy, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to piss off people who completely surround you), and this will only fuel the fire.

What does Israel gain from this, though?

 

Saudi Arabia

Saudi’s to pull some troops out of Bahrain

Ok, this is one of the few things I was not aware of.  Apparently, with all the riots in Bahrain, the Saudis have seen fit to send troops to help quell the uprising of “leftists, liberals, and Islamists”  I fear we will not hear the end of this from our local Republicans.  Once the riots are over however, I don’t think they’ll be returning so soon.  Saudi Arabia has had their eyes on the place for yearss, and this is the perfect opportunity to take control.

Who wouldn’t want control over Bahrain, though?  It’s a small island kingdom, has lots of oil and pearls, and is a rapidly growing trade center in the Middle East.

 

Russia

Russian convicted of treason in sleeper agent case

More news in the big spy case everyone’s forgotten about: the guy in charge was convicted in absentia and stripped of his numerous ranks and titles. They guy himself is hiding somewhere in the States, so US Intelligence will definitely be on the lookout for him.

 

Pakistan

Pakistan ends US use of base for drone attacks

Upside: A country finally tells the US to f*ck off and stop drone assaults on their nation.

Downside:  Said country is Pakistan, which is already in hot water for their involvement with Al-Qaida and for harboring Osama bin Laden for the past ten years a block down from their Naval Academy.

Can anyone say “international incident”?

 

China

China manufacturing slows as Beijing reigns in growth

Hmmm…. I can’t tell if this is good or bad.  Let me explain.

As of recent, China’s economy has been BOOMING.  So much, in fact, that they’ve been cutting off economic ties to other nations, especially when it comes to rare earth exports.  Add in the fact that they’ve been building more megastructures than you could shake a stick at, and we’ve got trouble.

Them slowing their economic growth can be seen as helpful, since it’ll let the US and EU get a chance to catch up, and hopefully decrease China’s looming power in scale to the other competitors.

However, they might be doing this to avoid an economic bust for themselves due to their unstable and unsustainable level of rapid growth, which would probably be the tipping point for revolution there.  Both things would give the US and the rest of the world and advantage over China.

Most people talk about WWIII and how China will take a major part in it, if not an instigator of the event.  I don’t think so.  I think they’re going to attempt economic domination of the planet instead of military assaults (sort of like the trade option in Spore).

What this shows is something we already know: China is scary smart when it comes to maintaining power.

 

PM signs China deals but urges respect for human rights

Further proof of my aforementioned theory.  The British PM David Cameron signed a trade agreement between the two nations, while asking China to have more respect for human rights.  Have they never heard of “lying through your teeth”?  Sure, China may agree, but that certainly doesn’t mean they’ll do it.  Remember, these two nations have a very bitter history between them; so China (and possibly the UK) may not be entirely honest in this deal.  “But it’s okay!” the PM says.  Human rights talks aren’t off limits in the trade discussions, so that means they’re willing to change, right?  RIGHT?”

 

Hu warns Chinese Communist Party

The president of China warned about corruption (which is certainly rampant there) and how it, combined with the ‘incompetence’ of lower officials could cost the Communist Party their (totalitarian) rule.  He’s got a real Mussolini thing going, doesn’t he?  Plus the whole revamping a church for warship of the Party… strange, I have a real sense of deja vu going on here.  Don’t know why.

Drinking game:  Every time ‘corruption’ or ‘incompetence’ is mentioned, down a kimchi brine shot. Pretty soon the look of disgust on your face will match the disgust in your heart at the Communist Party of China.  You’re not alone.

 

Sudan

UN authorises peacekeepers for Abyei

No country likes a secessionist movement, and Sudan is the same.  After what looked to be a peaceful secession, Sudanese troops moved into Abyei and other town crucial to Sudan (something about oil and trade), scant months before the secession was officialised.  Yeah, real low.  Now withthe South Sudanese government made official, there’s open warfare over there, and peacekeeping troops from various nations and the UN have been called in to stop the disputes.  God forbid the US find a reason to get involved…. Who knows, maybe we’ll use the same excuse we did for Libya, and with those new drone bases in Somalia, we might have even mroe war on our hands.  Thanks, Obama!  Thanks a lot.

 

Libya

Muammar Gaddafi subject to arrest warrant

Funny how long this took – even stranger yet that most police organisations don’t even have the balls to issue these things until the people in question fall from power.  Whatever happened to justice, dudes!?  What, you wait until they threaten the world (or Europe)!?

 

Russia decries French arms drop to Libyan rebels

Apparently, France wants to take a cue from the US and blow up another international incident.  World, those guys don’t need any more guns than they already have.  What they need are food and supplies.  Also, who’s to say the rebels are purehearted?  Kony’s LRA springs to mind.

 

And in other news….

WoW made Free

Don’t worry folk, you won’t see less of me these upcoming weeks.  I’m a strong RuneScape fan at heart, and it’ll take more than bribery to diverge my faith.

 

NK Defector learns to live in free society

A touching story.  It’s nice to see something uplifting in the news for once.

 

GrapplingIgnorance:  Jesus Camp

 

This guy is pissed, and I have to agree.  Anyone seen the documentary?  Then you’ve seen the zealous fanaticism present that’s being drilled into kids against their wishes.  How dare they!

Noone should be oppressed by the will of others.  NOONE.

 

 

And that’s it for this edition of the Weekly News.  I’m gonna aim for Saturday posts from now on, so hopefully I can keep this up on a regular basis.  Also, can someone look into the code for the posts editors?  The text keep switching to bold every now and then when I’m typing.