Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan raises nuclear alert level


Japan raises nuclear alert level

Japan has raised the alert level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic incidents.
The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site is now two levels below Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned in Tokyo the battle to stabilise the plant was a race against time.


The crisis was prompted by last week's huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 16,000 people dead or missing.
The Japanese nuclear agency's decision to raise the alert level to five grades Fukushima's as an "accident with wider consequences".
It also places the situation there on a par with 1979's Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US.
Meanwhile, further heavy snowfall overnight all but ended hopes of rescuing anyone else from the rubble after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.
Millions of survivors have been left without water, electricity, fuel or enough food; hundreds of thousands more are homeless.
According to the latest figures, 6,405 people are dead and about 10,200 are missing.
On Friday, people across Japan observed a minute's silence at 1446 (0546 GMT), exactly one week after the disaster.
As the country paused to remember, relief workers toiling in the ruins bowed their heads, while elderly survivors in evacuation centres wept.

Q&A: Phone-hacking scandal at News of the World

As the Metropolitan Police launch a "robust" new investigation into phone hacking amid "significant new information", we unpick the long-running case which refuses to go away.                                               

Q&A: Phone-hacking scandal at News of the World

Actress Sienna Miller Sienna Miller's legal action is thought to have precipitated action by the CPS
As the Metropolitan Police launch a "robust" new investigation into phone hacking amid "significant new information", we unpick the long-running case which refuses to go away.
What is the row about?
The increasingly complex fallout of a 2006 court case which saw the News of the World's (NoW) royal editor and a private investigator jailed for hacking into the mobile phones of royal aides. A series of inquiries and legal cases is exploring just how widespread the practice was, with implications for the police, celebrities and politicians.
How did the NoW phone-hacking case first emerge?
The paper published a story about a knee injury to Prince William. The royal began to fear his aides' mobile phone voicemail messages were being intercepted. Complaints by three royal staff sparked a police inquiry.
What was the outcome?
In January 2007, royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for four months and six months respectively.
What's the relevance now?
As claims that phone hacking was widespread rumble on, more and more celebrities and public figures are launching civil legal actions against both the paper and the police.
The Mulcaire/Goodman case first revealed several public figures had been hacked. Two of them - Gordon Taylor and Max Clifford - brought private cases against the NoW and received reported settlements of £700,000 and £1m respectively. The cases were settled before key documents were revealed in court.
Why does all this matter?
It is against the law to intercept voicemail messages on mobile phones. If NoW executives acted illegally by ordering Mulcaire to hack the phones then they could face charges. The ongoing allegations also have the potential to damage the police, politicians and Rupert Murdoch's business interests.
How?
The Met has been accused of failing to inform many of Mulcaire's alleged victims when they recovered files from his home which referred to a long list of public figures. Four people are seeking a judicial review into the police handling of the case and the Met has launched a "robust" inquiry led by a specialist team.
PM David Cameron's judgement has been questioned after he appointed ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson as his director of communications. Mr Coulson resigned his post saying the media storm surrounding ongoing hacking claims had distracted him from doing his job properly. He denies any knowledge of hacking during his editorship.
The scandal also threatens News International, which owns the NoW. The drip-drip of new claims comes at a bad time for the group, which is lobbying to secure ownership of the 61% of satellite broadcaster BSkyB it does not already own. Mr Murdoch is reported to be enforcing a "zero-tolerance" attitude to those found guilty of hacking.
Who do we know was hacked?
Aside from members of the Royal Family's staff, the Goodman case revealed publicist Max Clifford, Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes, model Elle Macpherson and sports agent Sky Andrew had all been victims.
Who else is claiming they were victims?
Lawyers for actress Sienna Miller, actor and comedian Steve Coogan, and former Sky Sports presenter Andy Gray are suing the NoW for breach of privacy after the Met confirmed their clients' personal details were in the possession of Mulcaire following a raid on his house. In February 2011, a judge said Mulcaire would have to provide evidence in the cases brought by Mr Coogan and Mr Gray.

Google Checkout Makes Holiday Shopping Even Faster and Easier This Year

New Survey Says Forty Percent of Americans Expected to Shop Online From Work This Holiday Season
The Monday after Thanksgiving – Cyber Monday – is expected to draw another record crowd of online shoppers this year, as people log on after spending the holiday weekend fighting the crowds and browsing through stores.
According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down that perfect gift on Monday, November 27 (57% plan to shop during coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the workday).
Trying to squeeze online holiday shopping into already busy schedules, shoppers will be looking for even more speed and convenience this year. And while there are many online shopping options to make finding the right gift relatively easy, online shoppers still have to deal with hassles, such as entering billing, shipping, and contact information multiple times as they move from site to site. Google Checkout eliminates an average of 15 steps from the online checkout process, in many cases making checking out as simple as entering a single login. This can save a lot of time for online shoppers, who will visit an average of 5.5 websites for holiday gifts this season, according to the survey.
For the holidays, Google Checkout will also be offering users a variety of promotions for their holiday shopping. Through Tuesday, December 26, users will receive $10 off purchases of $30 or more, or $20 off purchases of $50 or more, depending on the merchant. And best of all, these promotions are reusable, no special registration is necessary, and there are none of the delays that come with rebates -- users will automatically see the credits applied as they make their purchases. For example, if users visit an average of five participating websites, they can redeem the promotion on each of those sites and save at least $50 on their holiday shopping.
Since the launch in June, thousands of merchants have added Google Checkout to their sites. So shoppers trying to cross things off their lists will be able to do so quickly and easily on a wide range of sites, including Buy.com, Starbucks Store, The Sports Authority, Ace Hardware, Timberland and many more.
"We understand that more and more holiday shoppers are looking to beat the crowds by heading online to cross items off their list," said Troy Brown, senior director of e-commerce at Timberland.com. "That's why we've partnered with Google Checkout to offer our customers another fast, easy, and secure checkout process to help them take advantage of our online holiday offers."
Shoppers will be able to find participating merchants and special promotions on a new Google Checkout holiday site (checkout.google.com/holiday) that will be launching on Cyber Monday. The site will provide information on the promotion and offer gift ideas in the most sought-after categories this year – which, according to the survey, include clothing, gift certificates, toys, electronics, DVDs, and music.
If you'd like to learn more about the survey results, the Google Checkout holiday site and promotions, or the ways that Checkout makes online shopping faster and more convenient, you can visit checkout.google.com/holiday on Cyber Monday, November 27.



Here is a list off the top 10 hacks of all time.
Early 1990s
Kevin Mitnick, often incorrectly called by many as god of hackers, broke into the computer systems of the world's top technology and telecommunications companies Nokia, Fujitsu, Motorola, and Sun Microsystems. He was arrested by the FBI in 1995, but later released on parole in 2000. He never termed his activity hacking, instead he called it social engineering.
November 2002
Englishman Gary McKinnon was arrested in November 2002 following an accusation that he hacked into more than 90 US military computer systems in the UK. He is currently undergoing trial in a British court for a "fast-track extradition" to the US where he is a wanted man. The next hearing in the case is slated for today.
1995
Russian computer geek Vladimir Levin effected what can easily be called The Italian Job online - he was the first person to hack into a bank to extract money. Early 1995, he hacked into Citibank and robbed $10 million. Interpol arrested him in the UK in 1995, after he had transferred money to his accounts in the US, Finland, Holland, Germany and Israel.
1990
When a Los Angeles area radio station announced a contest that awarded a Porsche 944S2 for the 102nd caller, Kevin Poulsen took control of the entire city's telephone network, ensured he is the 102nd caller, and took away the Porsche beauty. He was arrested later that year and sentenced to three years in prison. He is currently a senior editor at Wired News.
1983
Kevin Poulsen again. A little-known incident when Poulsen, then just a student, hacked into Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet was hacked into. Arpanet was a global network of computers, and Poulsen took advantage of a loophole in its architecture to gain temporary control of the US-wide network.
1996
US hacker Timothy Lloyd planted six lines of malicious software code in the computer network of Omega Engineering which was a prime supplier of components for NASA and the US Navy. The code allowed a "logic bomb" to explode that deleted software running Omega's manufacturing operations. Omega lost $10 million due to the attack.
1988
Twenty-three-year-old Cornell University graduate Robert Morris unleashed the first Internet worm on to the world. Morris released 99 lines of code to the internet as an experiment, but realised that his program infected machines as it went along. Computers crashed across the US and elsewhere. He was arrested and sentenced in 1990.
1999
The Melissa virus was the first of its kind to wreak damage on a global scale. Written by David Smith (then 30), Melissa spread to more than 300 companies across the world completely destroying their computer networks. Damages reported amounted to nearly $400 million. Smith was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
2000
MafiaBoy, whose real identity has been kept under wraps because he is a minor, hacked into some of the largest sites in the world, including eBay, Amazon and Yahoo between February 6 and Valentine's Day in 2000. He gained access to 75 computers in 52 networks, and ordered a Denial of Service attack on them. He was arrested in 2000.
1993
They called themselves Masters of Deception, targeting US phone systems. The group hacked into the National Security Agency, AT&T, and Bank of America. It created a system that let them bypass long-distance phone call systems, and gain access to the pbx of major carriers.

 
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