Australian prosecutors drop terror charge against doctor

AP
Published: 27 July 2007

Australia's chief prosecutor today dropped a terror charge against an Indian doctor accused of supporting last month's failed bomb attacks on London and Glasgow. continue...

"...and there's three guys and a chick after me."

"...and there's three guys and a chick after me."

Girl: So you're saying there might be a chance?
Guy: Yeah...if her husband leaves her, I'm next in line.

--Lafayette St. at Cooper Square

Losing Mythic Authority

Losing Mythic Authority

by Michael Vlahos

04.25.2007

MOST NOW acknowledge that America has failed in its war. Some see that failure limited to Iraq, while others describe a larger strategic liability. Thus the question is in part: How big is America’s failure? But more significantly, what are the consequences? continue...

Thomas Sutcliffe: Do you really care if a Rolex is fake?

Thomas Sutcliffe
Published: 24 July 2007

One of the most satisfying design objects I've ever encountered was a 1930's loo-roll holder in a Broadcasting House toilet. It used a ratchet mechanism to lock itself in place - the release spring being concealed behind the roll of paper itself. When the paper was finished you had to tear the cardboard tube apart, unlatch the mechanism and slide on a new roll which effectively became its own lock. And the beauty of the thing was that the ratio between the pilferability of the toilet roll and the ease with which it could be pilfered was perfectly inverted. It was hardest to steal when it was most valuable, relatively easy to steal when it was worthless. continue...

Mary Dejevsky: Home ownership is a fixation we need to get over

There has to be a rental sector, and part of that sector needs to be subsidised
Published: 24 July 2007

Scan planning applications for new housing in London and you will find a curious preoccupation with the number 14. Why 14? Because 14 is the maximum number of units a developer can build without having to make any "affordable". The result is that, in desirable areas, small is beautiful. The premium that can be charged for such flats makes it worthwhile to build fewer but better. Another result, of course, is less "affordable" housing. continue...

Channel 4 expands with Emap music TV deal

By Nic Fildes
Published: 24 July 2007

Channel 4 has continued to expand beyond its terrestrial channels after snapping up a stake in Box TV, Emap's music television division that includes stations Kerrang! and The Hits.

The £28m deal to buy a 50 per cent stake in Box TV from Emap follows the broadcaster's successful bid to win the rights to enter the radio market. Earlier this month, Channel 4 won the rights to compete head-to-head with the BBC in the digital radio market and will launch a number of channels over the next year. continue...

Exploiting the iPhone

• Full disclosure at BlackHat: Dr. Charlie Miller will be presenting the details of the exploit at BlackHat in Las Vegas on August 2 at 4:45.
• Preliminary technical paper: A preliminary version of the paper describing the attack is available. The full version with details of the vulnerability and exploit will be available in the evening on August 2nd.
• New York Times article: A story in the New York Times about this work is available here.
• continue...

Apple's iPhone is vulnerable to hackers, say experts

By David Usborne in New York
Published: 24 July 2007

A computer security firm in the United States has said it has exposed a hole in the technology driving Apple's popular new iPhone that could allow hackers to take "complete control" of the device, stealing information ranging from emails and text messages to telephone numbers. continue...

The 'King, Kaiser, Tsar' who were cousins

It was Queen Victoria's grandsons – Georgie, Nicky, and Willy – who marched the world to World War I.  - By Randy Dotinga

King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War
By Catrine Clay
Walker & Co.
416 pp., $26.95

There was Georgie, dutiful and perhaps a little bit dim. Nicky, loving but weak. And Willy, jealous, cruel, and insecure. Bound by family ties, dominated by bossy relatives, and crippled by personal weaknesses, these three royal cousins ineptly reigned as Europe fell into the abyss of the Great War.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn't it? Ah, but there's plenty of life in these long-dead royals and their colorful clans, as British author Catrine Clay proves in her witty, revealing, and perceptive new history.

The scandals, quarrels, and rivalries of these ruling families "were played out in public, on the dangerous stage of international politics," writes Clay in King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led  continue...

A Trap for Fools

July 23, 2007
A Trap for Fools
by Uri Avnery
In a classical American Western, the difference is as glaring as the midday sun in Colorado: there are Good Guys and Bad Guys. The good ones are the settlers, who are making the prairie bloom. The bad ones are the Indians, who are bloodthirsty savages. The ultimate hero is the cowboy, tough, humane, with a big revolver or two, ready to defend himself at all times. continue...

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Fancy that - Blair's still leading a charmed life

If you need further proof that Labour sleaze is now odour-free, come to Ealing
Published: 23 July 2007

I was quite prepared to do the decent thing and back off. We had reached the end of the road on the cash-for-peerages investigations, and we sceptics had to accept the adjudication.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article2793051.ece

Johann Hari: The pro-war left's disastrous misjudgment

The Iraq invasion was motivated not by Enlightenment values but by a desire to control Middle East oil
Published: 23 July 2007

The pro-invasion left was always a small battallion, comprised almost entirely of journalists and intellectuals who believed that toppling the Taliban and Saddam Hussein was a good idea - even if the only President available to lead the charge was George Bush. Yet almost since the first statue of Saddam was smashed to the ground, it has been losing troops - to the anti-war side, or to a sullen AWOL silence, or to despair. continue...

Mehdi Hasan: The big transfer of the season in TV news

Mehdi Hasan has just landed his biggest job. James Macintyre talks to a journalist who is challenging the status quo.

Published: 23 July 2007

Hidden behind the current spate of headlines about a television world in crisis, a quiet transfer has been underway that could in future prove to be the television industry's equivalent of Wayne Rooney's move from Everton to Manchester United. continue...

Turkish PM threatens to invade northern Iraq

By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil, Iraq
Published: 21 July 2007

Turkey's Prime Minister has threatened an invasion of northern Iraq if, after the Turkish election on Sunday, talks fail with Iraq and the US on curbing the activities of Turkish Kurd guerrillas. continue...

Calls mount for Australia to free Indian doctor

By Kathy Marks in Sydney
Published: 23 July 2007

The Australian government is facing mounting calls to explain its treatment of an Indian-born Muslim doctor detained in the wake of the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. continue...

Attacks on Muslims increase in Strathclyde after airport attack

By Cahal Milmo
Published: 23 July 2007

Racist crime has increased by almost a third in parts of Scotland since the alleged terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, with incidents including a suspected fire bombing of a mosque and verbal assaults on Asians. continue...

Identities 'at risk on network websites'

By Nicky Burridge
Published: 23 July 2007

People who use internet networking sites could be at risk of becoming victims of identity theft, a credit information group warned yesterday. continue...