IMPORTANT WORLD NEWS19
GAO: TSA needs to test whole-body scanners rigorously
Published 1 February 2010
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) needs to make sure that the whole-body scanners the agency plans to deploy at U.S. airports undergo thorough operational and vulnerability testing; a failure to do such vetting has already resulted in a similar airport checkpoint security technology for explosives detection being withdrawn from service before being fully deployed, the GAO report noted
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report last week called on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure that the controversial whole-body imager technologies the agency is planning on deploying at airports around the United States first undergo thorough operational and vulnerability testing.
A failure to do such vetting has already resulted in a similar airport checkpoint security technology for explosives detection being withdrawn from service before being fully deployed, the GAO report noted.
Computerworld’s Jaikumar Vijayan writes that the reports says that in order to avoid the same thing from happening with whole body imagers, the TSA needs to test their effectiveness in day-to-day operations and to assess whether they are vulnerable to terrorist countermeasures.
The GAO report was prepared at the behest of the House Committee on Homeland Security in the aftermath of the failed 25 December bombing attempt of a U.S. airline. The report examines measures for strengthening airport security via the better use of terrorist watch list information and a more planned deployment of checkpoint security technologies.
The report noted that the TSA expects to deploy about 200 whole body imagers, or Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners, by the end of this year. By 2014, as many as 878 units are expected to be installed in airports around the United States.
AIT scanners are designed to detect non-metallic weapons and explosives concealed under a passenger’s clothing — such as the explosive PETN powder that the would-be Christmas Day bomber concealed in his underwear.
The scan creates a graphic image of an individual’s body under their clothes. Privacy advocates have criticized the plan to install such devices, saying they enable virtual strip searching of passengers at U.S. airports. Polls taken in the wake of the attempted bombing attempt, however, appear to show growing public support for the use of the technology.
AIT systems cost between $130,000 and $170,000 and are currently installed at twenty airports.
According to the GAO report, as of October 2009, the TSA had not yet conducted an assessment of the potential tactics that terrorists could employ to evade detection by AIT scanners.
As the attempted bombing on 25 December demonstrated, terrorists have various ways to conceal explosives on their bodies. What is unclear, though, is how effective ATI scanners will be in detecting such hidden explosives, the report said.
The TSA has stated that it has completed testing the AIT scanners as of the end of 2009, the GAO said. The issue of whether that testing was done in an operational environment still needs to be verified. “Completing these steps should better position TSA to ensure that its costly deployment of AIT machines will enhance passenger checkpoint security,” the report said.
 Sweden's second city plans road toll to cut traffic Stockholm (AFP) Jan 29, 2010 - Sweden's second city Gothenburg plans to introduce a road toll in 2013 similar to one adopted in Stockholm, the city council said following a vote late Thursday. "The issue will now be put to the government. A decision about a congestion charge will be taken by parliament this spring and the plan is for the congestion charge to be introduced in 2013," a statement said. The system, aimed at financing infrastructure investments, reducing greenhouse gases and cutting traffic in the city centre by around 15 percent, will include some 40 toll stations around the city. Gothenburg, located on Sweden's west coast, has some 506,000 inhabitants. The charge would be similar to the one levied in Stockholm in 2007, where motorists entering and leaving the city Monday to Friday pay between 10 and 20 kronor (1.50 and 3.00 dollars, 1.10 and 2.20 euros), depending on the time of day, with an upper limit of 60 kronor a day. A number of other cities have introduced similar toll schemes, including London, Rome and Singapore. |
New York (AFP) Jan 29, 2010
US electric carmaker Tesla Motors said on Friday that it plans an intial public offering of stock that could raise as much as 100 million dollars.
In a filing with the Securites and Exchange Commission and a statement, Tesla said the price range and exact number of shares had not been decided.
The Palo Alto, California-based automaker also did not set a date for the IPO.
Founded in 2003 by South African Elon Musk, a co-founder of online payments giant PayPal, Tesla specializes in environmentally friendly electric cars.
The Tesla Roadster, a high-performance sports car, costs more than 100,000 dollars and can go nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers) on a single charge.
In its SEC filing, Tesla said it had sold 937 Tesla Roadsters to customers in 18 countries as of December 31.
Tesla is also making a "Model S" five-passenger sedan powered by lithium-ion battery packs capable of between 160 and 300 miles (257 and 482 kilometers) per charge.
The Model S, expected in 2012, has an anticipated base price of around 50,000 dollars.
According to the documents filed with the SEC, Tesla has generated total revenue of 108.2 million dollars since it was founded and has accumulated a deficit of 236.4 million dollars as of September 30.
The company said it had a net loss of 31.5 million dollars for the nine months which ended September 30, 2009.
German luxury carmaker Daimler took a 10-percent stake in Tesla in May of last year and sold 40 percent of its stake in July to Aabar Investments group of the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, Tesla received a 465-million-dollar loan from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program to help it build the Model S.
According to US press reports, Tesla would be the first auto company to go public since Ford did so in 1956.
 The review described a world where US warships, planes and satellites will face unprecedented threats from a range of missiles, with Washington's global network of regional air bases, ports and command centers increasingly at risk. |
Washington (AFP) Feb 1, 2010
The Pentagon on Monday shifted its strategy to focus on the threat of Islamist militants and the spread of hi-tech missiles, warning that US military power faced new limits and constraints.
In a long-term strategy document, the Defense Department tossed out a doctrine entrenched for decades that the American military should be prepared to fight two wars at the same time against conventional armies.
Instead, the military must prepare for a range of threats in an "uncertain security landscape" where extremists or "non-state actors" are gaining access to missile technology and trying to secure weapons of mass destruction, the Quadrennial Defense Review said.
New weaponry, new tactics and new enemies had overtaken "the familiar contingencies that dominated US planning after the Cold War," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters.
"The department's leadership now recognizes that we must prepare for a much broader range of security challenges on the horizon," said Gates as he presented the strategy review and the 2011 defense budget.
The review described a world where US warships, planes and satellites will face unprecedented threats from a range of missiles, with Washington's global network of regional air bases, ports and command centers increasingly at risk.
As missiles and other weaponry become more accessible, "US forces deployed forward will no longer enjoy the relative sanctuary that they have had in conflicts since the end of the Cold War," the report said.
As a result, the US military would need to bolster defenses at key bases against possible attack and take other measures to counter the new "anti-access" threats, it said.
As examples, the review cited how Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah had acquired unmanned aircraft and portable air defense systems, while Iran had built up a ballistic missile arsenal and a fleet of small attack vessels to "swarm" US and allied navy ships.
The Pentagon, for the first time, identified global warming as a potential trigger of instability and urged the military to renew efforts to reduce its dependence on oil.
The review declared winning "today's wars" as the military's top priority, citing Afghanistan, Iraq and other unnamed countries where US forces could help to "dismantle terrorist networks."
The Pentagon called for more investment in aerial drones, special operations forces and helicopters, which have proved vital in the Afghan war and which all receive a funding boost in President Barack Obama's proposed defense budget.
Amid reports of US special forces working closely with Yemeni troops to target Al-Qaeda operatives, the review suggested a preference for helping other armies' take on militants rather than deploying large numbers of US forces.
"While the United States remains the most powerful actor, it must increasingly cooperate with key allies and partners to build and sustain peace and security," it said.
Gates said, "building the security capacity of partners has emerged as a key capability for this department."
That approach, "reduces the need for direct US military intervention, with all of its attendant political, financial and human costs," he said.
Both the strategy document and budget appeared heavily influenced by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, noting the stress placed on soldiers' families and urging a slower pace for deployments.
In keeping with the military's plans to set up a cyber command, the review identified cyberspace as a crucial new battlefield.
The department, which operates more than 15,000 computer networks across 4,000 military bases, faces daunting challenges but must train a cadre of experts and change how its staff views information technology, the review said.
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Solar Powered Backup System Provides Instant Electrical Power In
Any Outage Or Disaster. Even Better…
Backup Kit Produces An Endless Supply Of Electricity For Free!  |
Are You Ready For Unexpected Power Outages?
If you have ever wanted to have an emergency “backup” system that supplies continuous electrical power, this will be the most important message you will ever read.
Here is why.
There is a now a completely portable (and ultra-high efficient) solar power generator which produces up to 1800 watts of household electricity on demand when you need it most. News of this “solar backup generator” (it’s the first “off-the-grid” breakthrough in 50 years) is spreading like wildfire all across the country!
Why?
The answer is easy. You see, this solar generator is extremely powerful and yet very simple to use. It produces continuous electricity and runs with absolutely no noise whatsoever. It emits no fumes. But the best part about the solar generator is that it…
Generates Free Electricity!
The unit then stores the power for your use when you need it. We all face natural disasters, with hurricanes, tornadoes, snow and ice storms cutting off electrical power to millions of Americans each year.
Then there are man-made disasters and outages. Blackouts and rolling brownouts are becoming common in many parts of the United States as our politicians herd us off into third-world status. And never forget the possibility of a terrorist attack directed at a few of our nation’s power plants. Since the nation’s power grids are all “connected,” crippling one plant starts a cascading downward spiral of darkness.
Your neighbors will be clueless when it finally does happen, expecting the government to “do something” to get their precious cable TV back on. The truth is, we are extremely vulnerable to all kinds of meltdowns that can create temporary or even permanent electrical outages. That’s why if you are one of the few Americans that have eyes to see and ears to hear with respect to the hard times ahead. In fact, you can also expect rising electrical rates very soon, as promised by the new administration. That's why you need to…
Have A Backup System In Place!
The Solar generator kit consists of three main components which work together to create a very efficient home power plant. The massive “generator-backup”, the high efficiency solar panel, and the charge controller. In fact, when you compare a solar generator to a gas generator, the difference is pretty remarkable. Here’s why. First, gas generators make an incredible amount of racket… if you can even get them started. I say that because in this part of the country (Northern Illinois), the time of year we are likely to lose our electricity is in the winter, during an ice or snow storm.
Generally the wind breaks the power lines, which get covered with ice and snow. Typically, when you lose power here, you go to the garage, roll out the generator and start pulling the cord. You pull and pull some more, all because your generator has been sitting in the cold and the carburetor is playing hard to get. This is not a lot of fun in the dark.
Another reason to avoid gas generators is that you just can’t run one in your house. The fumes from a gas generator force you to run it outside and rely on a lot of cords coming through windows or doors to bring the power inside. Again, this is assuming you can get your gas generator started in the first place.
But the number one reason you don’t want to be caught in a time of crisis with a gas generator is…
Gas Stations Can’t Pump Gas Without Electricity!
Yes. It’s true. When the power goes out, you’re left with whatever gas you have on hand because the gas station pumps all run on electricity. A few gallons stored in a gas can means a little electricity for a little while, then it’s quickly back to black.
Look… I could go on and on about life without electricity and what nightmare gas generators can be. But here’s the bottom line. Solutions From Science is offering an amazing power generating system that can provide plenty of electrical power in the event of an outage or emergency. And the best part is that you can have the power safely in your house.
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It’s the perfect emergency backup for troubled
times at any location.
When the lights do go out at your house… you’ll be darn glad you didn’t hesitate. |
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And, Solutions From Science can put one of these “backup” Solar Generators in your hands very quickly and affordably so you’ll be prepared in any crisis that comes down the road.
A True Breakthrough In Home Power Generation!
Let me try to explain the features and benefits of our Solar Generator as simply as possible. If I could bring one over to your house and let you start plugging in appliances, you would immediately understand what all the fuss is about. But I can’t do that. Here are some of the reasons you’ll want a solar generator:
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1)Maximum power in minimum time. – I cannot emphasize this enough. The solar generator can be set up in just a few minutes. Then, all you have to do is start plugging things in. It will run both AC & DC appliances anywhere… anytime | |
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2)Back up power when you need it most - It’s called a “solar backup” because it’s designed to come to your rescue when power trouble starts and your lights go out. Run a small refrigerator (high efficient ones are best) to keep your food from going bad or even run a sump pump in the basement if you have to get rid of excess water. | |
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3)Portable Power - If the going ever gets too tough where you are and you decide to “get the heck out of dodge,” you simply throw it in the car and take off to a safer destination, knowing you have power wherever you go. | |
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4)Replaces gas generators - No noise, no fumes, no maintenance and most importantly… no fuel required. Simply roll it to whatever location needs the power and start plugging in appliances. It has a massive maintenance-free battery as well as an indestructible outer case. (It weighs about 65 pounds.) It’s a solid piece of equipment that will last a lifetime | |
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5)Generates permanent power - The unit provides 1800 watts of electricity at peak power. That’s enough to run many appliances in your house. The unit stores power and makes it available when you need it. The generator is recharged constantly by the sun allowing you to use the system and charging it at the same time. Many users choose to keep appliances plugged in permanently to reduce electrical costs and help pay for the unit | |
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6)Multiple uses - You can use your solar backup to run essential appliances when emergencies arise. You can recharge phones; run shortwave radios, televisions, lights, fire place or furnace fans, as well as computers and printers. Plus, if you need to work in the woods at the cabin or in a boat, you can use the solar backup to run power tools, trimmers, blowers and coffee makers. | |
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7)Plug and play means instant power - The emergency backup system comes ready to go. Just start plugging in your favorite household essentials... | |
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8)Life-Saving Power When you need it most - Great for powering aquariums, CPAP machines, small refrigerators/freezers, alarm clocks, security systems, whatever you need to live comfortably when the power goes out. | |
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9) Emergency Backup Power for Communications - Access the latest weather changes even when the rest of the neighborhood looses power. Powers AM/FM radios, televisions, shortwave radios, cell phones, computers, and other telecommunication devices. |
You’ll feel a whole lot safer knowing you have a solar generator when the unexpected occurs. It could be in a storm, riot or meltdown. Unlike most “sheep-like” Americans, when the power goes out, you’ll be ready. In fact, if you’re like most Solar Generator owners, you’ll even sleep a little better knowing you still have a very reliable source of electrical power.
How much is a “plug and play” Solar Generator? Well… One pastor friend of mine told me he couldn’t even put a price on his backup system. For him it was peace of mind.
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Loving Freedom
Means Getting Off The Grid! |
The retail price tag for this system is $2,097.00
But I’m not asking you to pay that much. Instead, I have negotiated a very special offer for our friends in the freedom movement:
| Here’s the Solar Generator Backup system we have put
together for our friends. The system
includes: |
| As Seen on: | |
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-- 1800 watt Solar
Backup Generator -- High efficiency –
quick charge 90 watt Solar Panel. -- Sunsaver Charge
controller. --
50 feet Solar Panel cable.
-- 90 day warranty, (Extended plan can be purchased.) 20 year warranty
on Solar Panel.
That’s $2097.00 worth of components (at retail) in this package. Anyone who wants to be prepared… can be, while we have inventory… your price is just $1597.00, plus only $95.00 shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.
The system is worth much more than that. But since we stumbled onto this amazing backup system, we’ve got to let everyone know about it. Especially folks who believe that life in this country is going to get much more difficult in the not too distant future. Folks who see the critical need for backup “power insurance.”
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In An Emergency, Getting The Lights Back On Is
Pretty High On Everyone's List.
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But… to get one you gotta hurry.
Here’s the deal. We have a small supply of these amazing systems in our warehouse and we’ve set a few aside for our friends who want to be independent and start to get off the grid. But with the financial meltdown on everyone’s mind, you should contact us at once to claim yours.
The absolute fastest way to order is clicking on the “Claim A
Solar Generator Now” button below and find out the best way to place your order.
You’ll be pleased to know that all “Solar Backup” sales are “bonded” by Buy
Safe, the nations only on-line bonded purchase program.
If you would
like to order by phone, you can call toll-free by dialing 877-327-0365. Tell
whoever answers that you want the “Solar backup generator” system rushed to you.
If you prefer to pay by check or money order (payable to Solutions From
Science), simply send your payment to:
Solutions From
Science
Dept. Solar Backup
815 W. Main
St.
P.O. Box 518
Thomson, IL
61285
877-327-0365
You really deserve to have one for $1597.00, which includes free shipping, if you pay by check or money order. Remember, your price is $500.00 off the retail price of $2097.00. I’m so convinced every reader needs a Solar Generator, that I’ve arranged for this special deal to get one to you at this dirt cheap price.
Just hurry, alright?
Sincerely,
Bill
Heid
P.S. One more thing. It’s very Important. I said there were a limited number available and I meant it. If I don’t hear from my friends in the patriot movement right away, I’ll be forced to let the general public have the units I set aside for you. I’m going to wait exactly one month before releasing any Solar Generators to outsiders. Please understand how urgent this is. Because of the meltdown, I believe my entire stock will vanish in just a few days. I have no guarantee of getting any more of these units when a crisis hits. Even now… they’re scarce. People are starting to become afraid and aware.
Call 877-327-0365 right now and get one of these remarkable Solar Powered Generators. It’s the perfect emergency backup for troubled times. When the lights do go out… you’ll be darn glad you didn’t hesitate.
Sound to good to be true?
Click the play button below to listen to this extremely important message
 |
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Feb 2, 2009
As tension mounts between Iran and Israel, both countries are planning to launch new space satellites to peer into each other's military domains as they prepare for possible conflict.
Israel, which has the most advanced defense industry in the region, is technologically years ahead of the Islamic Republic, but the Iranians are racing to narrow the gap.
And putting satellites into space is the best way of developing the rockets that will become intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Israel already has an arsenal of Jericho missiles buried in silos in the Judean Hills. Iran is working on matching that.
It will take a few years, but every step that takes Tehran closer to that objective, such as the satellite launches it plans, increases Israel's alarm.
Meantime, the United Arab Emirates, which lies across the Gulf from Iran, is nearing completion of a strategic space intelligence center that will ensure 24-hour surveillance of Iran and be able to identify missile launches.
The center, being built in Abu Dhabi with the help of France's 4C Controls, had been scheduled to become operational in mid-2009, but is still being fine-tuned.
It will process the imagery provided by Italy's COSMO-SkyMed system and the Ikonos satellite used by the emirate air force. Saudi Arabia is considering a similar system.
The emirates' project is a measure of the concern felt in the Gulf Arab states about Iran's growing technological advances -- and the arsenal of Shehab-3 intermediate-range missiles it is now believed to have operationally deployed.
Israel already has several surveillance satellites in orbit, but The Jerusalem Post reports that a new satellite, Ofek-8, is expected to be lofted into space soon "to beef up intelligence gathering in the face of Iran's pursuit of nuclear power."
Ofek-8, the latest in a series that began with the experimental Ofek-1 launched in September 1988, will be launched atop a three-stage Shavit rocket -- which uses the same the propulsion unit as the Jericho-2 -- and thrust into low orbit.
"This will significantly boost our intelligence-gathering capabilities," the Post quoted a senior defense official as saying.
The Ofek-8 will weigh about 720 pounds -- more than double that of Ofek-1 -- and will complete an orbit every 90 minutes.
"While the new satellite will not represent a significant technological breakthrough -- it will carry the same camera as the Ogek-7 -- it will provide the Israel Defense Forces with greater flexibility in utilizing its space assets," the Post noted.
In early 2008 Israeli also launched the TecSar spy satellite from India, extending its surveillance over Iran. Satellites launched from Israel have to travel westward, against the Earth's rotation, to eliminate the possibility of debris falling on Arab states.
While that demonstrates that Israel has the rocket power to deliver a nuclear payload well beyond the Middle East, it also limits satellite capabilities over Iran. Launches from India can go the other way.
Ofek and TecSar, which has radar technology that can produce real-time images in darkness and all weather, are built by Israel Aerospace Industries.
After Ofek-8, Israel plans to launch Opsat 3000 later in the decade. The word is it will be capable of unprecedented optical remote sensing with extremely high resolution.
Iran is expected to unveil three new satellites this month amid growing concerns it has accelerated its program to develop an ICBM through its expanding space program.
In January Iranian Communications Minister Reza Taghipour identified the satellites as Tolou (Sunrise), Ya Mahdi and Mesbah-2 (Lantern), but gave no launch dates.
Tolou was built by Sa Iran, also known as Iran Electronics Industries, which is affiliated with Iran's Defense Ministry.
Taghipour described Tolou as an "experimental satellite," but Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi called it a "reconnaissance satellite."
That suggested it would have military applications, although given Iran's supposed level of space technology its surveillance capabilities would be extremely limited and far inferior to Israel's.
Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in February 2009, marking an unexpectedly advanced level of expertise in multi-stage rocket development and in the crucial separation process in flight that caused some concern in Israel and the West.
 She didn't kill anyone but herself, but she was the world's first European female suicide bomber. |
Baghdad (UPI) Feb 2, 2009
A female suicide bomber killed 54 people, mainly pilgrims, in an al-Qaida attack on a Shiite shrine near Baghdad Monday.
Days earlier, U.S. officials warned that female kamikazes, possibly linked to al-Qaida in Yemen, may attempt to attack American cities.
The jihadist sisterhood of death is not new, but it seems to be getting deadlier.
The bloodbath in Iraq passed a chilling milestone on Nov. 9, 2005, when a Belgian woman who converted to Islam blew herself up in a suicide attack on a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad.
She didn't kill anyone but herself, but she was the world's first European female suicide bomber.
The woman was identified as Mureille Degauque, 38, a former bakery assistant from a middle-class family in Charleroi, in the industrial belt south of Brussels.
She converted to Islam after marrying a Belgian of Moroccan descent who became a militant. He took her to Iraq to fight the Americans.
Both appeared to have volunteered for suicide missions. A few days after Degauque blew herself up, U.S. authorities said her husband blew himself up in a commando assault on an al-Qaida hideout.
Terrorist organizations in Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Morocco, Chechnya, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have recruited scores of women for suicide bombing missions in recent years.
Some clearly volunteered for "martyrdom," while others may have been manipulated or duped.
The use of female terrorists such as the notorious "Black Widows" of war-torn Chechnya, mostly women seeking revenge against the Russians for the death of loved ones or mass rapes, is spreading.
According to U.S. analyst Mia Bloom, who conducted an analysis of suicide bombings across the globe, 34 percent of such attacks in 1985-2005 were carried out by women.
Degauque and her partner may have marked another milestone in the annals of modern terrorism -- the first husband-and-wife team to perish in action, even if they died separately.
The same day that Degauque blew herself up, an Iraqi couple took part in suicide attacks on three hotels in Amman by al-Qaida that killed 60 people and wounded hundreds.
Ali Hussein Sumari, 35, detonated his explosives in the ballroom of the SAS Radisson Hotel during a wedding reception.
His wife, Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, also 35, was supposed to blow herself up, too. But the trigger on her explosive belt failed and she was arrested.
On Sept. 28, 2005, in the northern Iraq town of Tal Afar, a woman, an unmarried student, disguised in traditional male robes and headdress, detonated an explosive belt packed with ball bearings in a crowd outside a police recruitment center, killing seven people and wounding 40.
She was the first known female suicide bomber in the insurgency that began in April 2003. Al-Qaida claimed her as its "blessed sister."
These women were all Muslim and fired by religious fervor. But nationalist groups have also used women suicide bombers.
The Tamil Tigers, who fought for the independence in Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka from 1987 until 2008, regularly sent women on such missions.
The most dramatic was the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Ideology has often been the motivation. One of the first suicide bombings was carried out in Lebanon against Israeli forces in April 1985 by a 19-year-old Christian woman, Loula Abboud, for the Lebanese Communist Party.
Hezbollah adopted the tactic with ferocious zeal, eventually forcing the Israelis to end a 22-year occupation of South Lebanon in 2000.
The growing use of women on suicide missions by Islamist groups is significant because it flies in the face of deeply held religious beliefs that Muslim women should not be warriors.
It's not clear whether the use of mujaheda, or female martyrs, will spread in jihadist conflicts, but these operations appear to be expanding geographically, as the recent U.S. warning of female suicide bombers indicates.
In August 2004 al-Khansa, the first Arabic-language Internet magazine aimed exclusively at women, was launched. In its first edition it called on Muslim women to volunteer for suicide attacks.
The magazine is named after a revered Arab poetess who was close to the Prophet Mohammed. Her four sons all perished as warriors carrying Islam to the four corners of the known world in the 8th century.
In one edition, it declared that "martyrdom for the sake of Allah" and gaining "the pleasure of Allah and His Paradise" should be the goal of Muslim women.
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed
2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be
bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S.
airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden
weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011,
according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million
proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought
this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since
immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total
of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,”
aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan
all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes
that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day
attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with
powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he
tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did
not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew
and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive
intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with
screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland
Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on
Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in
major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding
the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the
technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under
their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New
York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand
that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their
flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,”
Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its
2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for
suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080
from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to
international flights
Ahern signals support for airport body scanners
Published 3 February 2010
The Irish government will support the deployment of whole-body
scanner at Irish airports; Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern: “If additional
measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better
technology, then we should take them”; Ireland has also accepted the apology of
the Slovak government for an explosive-smuggling exercise which saw an unwitting
Slovak passenger smuggle explosives planted in his luggage by Slovak
intelligence through Irish security
Irish minister of justice Dermot Ahern said he would support the introduction
of body scanners at Irish airports. Ahen made the statement during a two-day
informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in the Spanish
city of Toledo.
The Irish Times’s Jane Walker reports
that at the meeting, Ahern also accepted a public apology from the Slovak
government to over an incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland
after Christmas unknowingly carried explosive material into the country as part
of an exercise by the Slovak intelligence services. Jan Skoda, the Slovak
ambassador to Spain and acting head of their delegation, apologized to Ahern for
the incident.
Ahern said he understood that communications difficulties compounded the
incident and that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” over how it was
possible to board an aircraft carrying explosive material.
The minister said that Ireland would play its role in dealing with the terror
threat. “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger
information or better technology, then we should take them. We need to
fast-track exchange of information which can play a very important role in
defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear
from increased exchange of information, particularly within the EU, or with
better scanning devices and technology,” he said.
“International co-operation and co-ordination of all our efforts,
particularly with the United States, is essential to meet the terrorists
head-on. The clear message we must send out to them is that they will not win
over the rule of democratic nations. We must, and will, stand together against
those who would kill indiscriminately to further their aims.”
Walker notes that Britain and France are leading calls for the introduction
of passenger name recognition — the exchange of passenger information and
profiling. Ahern said Ireland broadly supported the move.
More discussions on the controversial issue of whole-body scanners will be
held at the meeting of EU transport ministers in A Coruña next month. U.S. DHS
secretary Janet Napolitano joined the EU ministers for their talks yesterday and
signed an agreement on co-operation and exchange of information to combat
international terrorism in the air.
She briefed the ministers about the attempt to bomb a passenger flight bound
for the United States on Christmas Day. “Although the Amsterdam-Detroit flight
was an American plane, it was an international attack which did not only target
US citizens. One hundred of the passengers on that flight were nationals from 17
other countries. Al-Qaeda uses its best brains to find new forms of attack, and
we must use our best brains to find ways of combating them,”
she said.
U.K.: Yemen must upgrade airport security
Published 3 February 2010
The United Kingdom will continue its ban on direct flights from
Yemen to Britain because promised security measures at the Sanaa airport have
not yet been implemented; the announcement was made by Ivan Lewis, minister of
state in the U.K. foreign office, after meeting Yemen's president Ali Abdullah
Saleh earlier today
Sana'a International Airport // Source: tripadvisor.com.br
Yemen has yet to upgrade airport security to allow the lifting of a
suspension of direct flights to Britain from the impoverished Arab country, a
British official said yesterday.
Last month, Britain suspended direct flights of Yemeni state carrier Yemenia
on security grounds after the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound
airliner for which a Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility.
“We hope that we can identify very quickly the enhanced security measures that
will be necessary, that those measures can be put in place to cope with higher
levels of security,” said Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the foreign office,
after meeting Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Reuters reports that he
declined to say when direct flights might be resumed, saying only that Britain
was helping Yemen to improve airport security in the capital Sanaa. Yemen has
increased staff at its main airport but experts say providing security is a
challenge due to the lack of space at the small airport built in the 1970s.
As we reported yesterday (“Yemen Bolsters Airport Security – and Adheres to
Muslim Strictures,” 1
February 2010 HSNW), the Yemen Consulate in Washington, D.C.,
told HSNW that the Yemeni government and airport security
authorities have taken several steps to augment airport security procedures. In
the past, a visa could have been obtained upon arrival at any of the six Yemeni
airports that received international flights. This convenience to Islamic
militants has now been addressed by requiring that the visa must be obtained and
affixed to the passenger’s passport before being allowed entry into Yemen, or
departure from and Yemeni airport. Additionally, the visas can now only be
issued at Yemen embassies after consultation with security personnel.
HSNW was also informed that the Yemeni government is in the
process of implementing full body scanners at Yemeni airports. When asked how
these scanners would impact on Muslim sensibilities regarding privacy, the
Yemeni source replied that both men and women would be trained as scanner
technicians. If the traveler is a women, a female technician would be
responsible to examine the scanned image, and likewise for males. Muslim
sensibilities prohibit observation of the images or viewing of individuals in
the nude unless a corresponding family member is present
to supervise.
Cyber attacks alarm U.S. intelligence czar
WASHINGTON—Recent cyber attacks on Google were a "wake-up call" and neither
the U.S. government nor the private sector can fully protect the American cyber
infrastructure, Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said
Tuesday.
"Malicious cyber activity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with
extraordinary sophistication," Blair said in prepared testimony for a Senate
intelligence committee hearing.
The Chinese military's "aggressive cyber activities" pose challenges to
neighbors, Blair said.
Be a celeb for Facebook's Doppelganger Week
Last Updated: 3rd February 2010, 1:00pm
-
If you've noticed that many of your Facebook friends look a lot like
celebrities, it's not your eyes playing tricks on you: It's Doppelganger Week on
the social network site.
The trend has gone viral in the past few days, with more and more Facebook
users changing their profile pics to celebrities they've been told they
resemble.
The profile pic changes are often made with a status update: "It's
doppelganger week on Facebook; change your profile picture to someone famous
(actor, musician, athlete, etc.) you have been told you look like. After you
update your profile with your twin or switched at birth photo then cut/paste
this to your status."
While there is no tracking of the number of people participating, recent
media coverage on blogs and U.S. networks have visibly fuelled the fad.
"The basic premise is that everyone has been told at least once in their
lifetime that they resemble a celebrity,” says the Doppelganger Week fan page on
the site, which also provides help for those who might not know what celebrity
they resemble by directing users to face-recognition sites that help find their
celeb look-alike.
Family tree website MyHeritage has jumped on the bandwagon, creating a page
for Facebook users to upload photos of themselves and see a celebrity collage of
various famous people they might resemble.
In an interview posted on Facebook, psychologist Sam Gosling suggests the
trend corresponds with research on social networking sites that finds users'
identities on Facebook tend to closely resemble their real personalities.
“We found that judgments of people based on nothing but their Facebook
profiles correlate pretty strongly with our measure of what that person is
really like, and that measure consists of both how the profile owner sees him or
herself and how that profile owner's friends see the profile owner,” he said.
While there is some debate about exactly when Doppelganger Week begins and
ends, the common consensus is that it runs through the first week of February.
So if you haven't updated your picture to your celebrity twin, you still have
a chance.
Intel chief: Al-Qaida likely to attempt attack
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed
2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be
bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S.
airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden
weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011,
according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million
proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought
this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since
immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total
of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,”
aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan
all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes
that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day
attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with
powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he
tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did
not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew
and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive
intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with
screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland
Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on
Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in
major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding
the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the
technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under
their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New
York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand
that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their
flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,”
Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its
2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for
suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080
from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to
international flights
Ahern signals support for airport body scanners
Published 3 February 2010
The Irish government will support the deployment of whole-body
scanner at Irish airports; Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern: “If additional
measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better
technology, then we should take them”; Ireland has also accepted the apology of
the Slovak government for an explosive-smuggling exercise which saw an unwitting
Slovak passenger smuggle explosives planted in his luggage by Slovak
intelligence through Irish security
Irish minister of justice Dermot Ahern said he would support the introduction
of body scanners at Irish airports. Ahen made the statement during a two-day
informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in the Spanish
city of Toledo.
The Irish Times’s Jane Walker reports
that at the meeting, Ahern also accepted a public apology from the Slovak
government to over an incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland
after Christmas unknowingly carried explosive material into the country as part
of an exercise by the Slovak intelligence services. Jan Skoda, the Slovak
ambassador to Spain and acting head of their delegation, apologized to Ahern for
the incident.
Ahern said he understood that communications difficulties compounded the
incident and that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” over how it was
possible to board an aircraft carrying explosive material.
The minister said that Ireland would play its role in dealing with the terror
threat. “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger
information or better technology, then we should take them. We need to
fast-track exchange of information which can play a very important role in
defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear
from increased exchange of information, particularly within the EU, or with
better scanning devices and technology,” he said.
“International co-operation and co-ordination of all our efforts,
particularly with the United States, is essential to meet the terrorists
head-on. The clear message we must send out to them is that they will not win
over the rule of democratic nations. We must, and will, stand together against
those who would kill indiscriminately to further their aims.”
Walker notes that Britain and France are leading calls for the introduction
of passenger name recognition — the exchange of passenger information and
profiling. Ahern said Ireland broadly supported the move.
More discussions on the controversial issue of whole-body scanners will be
held at the meeting of EU transport ministers in A Coruña next month. U.S. DHS
secretary Janet Napolitano joined the EU ministers for their talks yesterday and
signed an agreement on co-operation and exchange of information to combat
international terrorism in the air.
She briefed the ministers about the attempt to bomb a passenger flight bound
for the United States on Christmas Day. “Although the Amsterdam-Detroit flight
was an American plane, it was an international attack which did not only target
US citizens. One hundred of the passengers on that flight were nationals from 17
other countries. Al-Qaeda uses its best brains to find new forms of attack, and
we must use our best brains to find ways of combating them,”
she said.
U.K.: Yemen must upgrade airport security
Published 3 February 2010
The United Kingdom will continue its ban on direct flights from
Yemen to Britain because promised security measures at the Sanaa airport have
not yet been implemented; the announcement was made by Ivan Lewis, minister of
state in the U.K. foreign office, after meeting Yemen's president Ali Abdullah
Saleh earlier today
Sana'a International Airport // Source: tripadvisor.com.br
Yemen has yet to upgrade airport security to allow the lifting of a
suspension of direct flights to Britain from the impoverished Arab country, a
British official said yesterday.
Last month, Britain suspended direct flights of Yemeni state carrier Yemenia
on security grounds after the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound
airliner for which a Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility.
“We hope that we can identify very quickly the enhanced security measures that
will be necessary, that those measures can be put in place to cope with higher
levels of security,” said Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the foreign office,
after meeting Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Reuters reports that he
declined to say when direct flights might be resumed, saying only that Britain
was helping Yemen to improve airport security in the capital Sanaa. Yemen has
increased staff at its main airport but experts say providing security is a
challenge due to the lack of space at the small airport built in the 1970s.
As we reported yesterday (“Yemen Bolsters Airport Security – and Adheres to
Muslim Strictures,” 1
February 2010 HSNW), the Yemen Consulate in Washington, D.C.,
told HSNW that the Yemeni government and airport security
authorities have taken several steps to augment airport security procedures. In
the past, a visa could have been obtained upon arrival at any of the six Yemeni
airports that received international flights. This convenience to Islamic
militants has now been addressed by requiring that the visa must be obtained and
affixed to the passenger’s passport before being allowed entry into Yemen, or
departure from and Yemeni airport. Additionally, the visas can now only be
issued at Yemen embassies after consultation with security personnel.
HSNW was also informed that the Yemeni government is in the
process of implementing full body scanners at Yemeni airports. When asked how
these scanners would impact on Muslim sensibilities regarding privacy, the
Yemeni source replied that both men and women would be trained as scanner
technicians. If the traveler is a women, a female technician would be
responsible to examine the scanned image, and likewise for males. Muslim
sensibilities prohibit observation of the images or viewing of individuals in
the nude unless a corresponding family member is present
to supervise.
Cyber attacks alarm U.S. intelligence czar
WASHINGTON—Recent cyber attacks on Google were a "wake-up call" and neither
the U.S. government nor the private sector can fully protect the American cyber
infrastructure, Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said
Tuesday.
"Malicious cyber activity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with
extraordinary sophistication," Blair said in prepared testimony for a Senate
intelligence committee hearing.
The Chinese military's "aggressive cyber activities" pose challenges to
neighbors, Blair said.
Be a celeb for Facebook's Doppelganger Week
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed
2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be
bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S.
airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden
weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011,
according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million
proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought
this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since
immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total
of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,”
aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan
all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes
that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day
attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with
powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he
tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did
not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew
and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive
intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with
screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland
Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on
Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in
major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding
the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the
technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under
their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New
York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand
that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their
flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,”
Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its
2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for
suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080
from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to
international flights
Ahern signals support for airport body scanners
Published 3 February 2010
The Irish government will support the deployment of whole-body
scanner at Irish airports; Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern: “If additional
measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better
technology, then we should take them”; Ireland has also accepted the apology of
the Slovak government for an explosive-smuggling exercise which saw an unwitting
Slovak passenger smuggle explosives planted in his luggage by Slovak
intelligence through Irish security
Irish minister of justice Dermot Ahern said he would support the introduction
of body scanners at Irish airports. Ahen made the statement during a two-day
informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in the Spanish
city of Toledo.
The Irish Times’s Jane Walker reports
that at the meeting, Ahern also accepted a public apology from the Slovak
government to over an incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland
after Christmas unknowingly carried explosive material into the country as part
of an exercise by the Slovak intelligence services. Jan Skoda, the Slovak
ambassador to Spain and acting head of their delegation, apologized to Ahern for
the incident.
Ahern said he understood that communications difficulties compounded the
incident and that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” over how it was
possible to board an aircraft carrying explosive material.
The minister said that Ireland would play its role in dealing with the terror
threat. “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger
information or better technology, then we should take them. We need to
fast-track exchange of information which can play a very important role in
defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear
from increased exchange of information, particularly within the EU, or with
better scanning devices and technology,” he said.
“International co-operation and co-ordination of all our efforts,
particularly with the United States, is essential to meet the terrorists
head-on. The clear message we must send out to them is that they will not win
over the rule of democratic nations. We must, and will, stand together against
those who would kill indiscriminately to further their aims.”
Walker notes that Britain and France are leading calls for the introduction
of passenger name recognition — the exchange of passenger information and
profiling. Ahern said Ireland broadly supported the move.
More discussions on the controversial issue of whole-body scanners will be
held at the meeting of EU transport ministers in A Coruña next month. U.S. DHS
secretary Janet Napolitano joined the EU ministers for their talks yesterday and
signed an agreement on co-operation and exchange of information to combat
international terrorism in the air.
She briefed the ministers about the attempt to bomb a passenger flight bound
for the United States on Christmas Day. “Although the Amsterdam-Detroit flight
was an American plane, it was an international attack which did not only target
US citizens. One hundred of the passengers on that flight were nationals from 17
other countries. Al-Qaeda uses its best brains to find new forms of attack, and
we must use our best brains to find ways of combating them,”
she said.
U.K.: Yemen must upgrade airport security
Published 3 February 2010
The United Kingdom will continue its ban on direct flights from
Yemen to Britain because promised security measures at the Sanaa airport have
not yet been implemented; the announcement was made by Ivan Lewis, minister of
state in the U.K. foreign office, after meeting Yemen's president Ali Abdullah
Saleh earlier today
Sana'a International Airport // Source: tripadvisor.com.br
Yemen has yet to upgrade airport security to allow the lifting of a
suspension of direct flights to Britain from the impoverished Arab country, a
British official said yesterday.
Last month, Britain suspended direct flights of Yemeni state carrier Yemenia
on security grounds after the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound
airliner for which a Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility.
“We hope that we can identify very quickly the enhanced security measures that
will be necessary, that those measures can be put in place to cope with higher
levels of security,” said Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the foreign office,
after meeting Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Reuters reports that he
declined to say when direct flights might be resumed, saying only that Britain
was helping Yemen to improve airport security in the capital Sanaa. Yemen has
increased staff at its main airport but experts say providing security is a
challenge due to the lack of space at the small airport built in the 1970s.
As we reported yesterday (“Yemen Bolsters Airport Security – and Adheres to
Muslim Strictures,” 1
February 2010 HSNW), the Yemen Consulate in Washington, D.C.,
told HSNW that the Yemeni government and airport security
authorities have taken several steps to augment airport security procedures. In
the past, a visa could have been obtained upon arrival at any of the six Yemeni
airports that received international flights. This convenience to Islamic
militants has now been addressed by requiring that the visa must be obtained and
affixed to the passenger’s passport before being allowed entry into Yemen, or
departure from and Yemeni airport. Additionally, the visas can now only be
issued at Yemen embassies after consultation with security personnel.
HSNW was also informed that the Yemeni government is in the
process of implementing full body scanners at Yemeni airports. When asked how
these scanners would impact on Muslim sensibilities regarding privacy, the
Yemeni source replied that both men and women would be trained as scanner
technicians. If the traveler is a women, a female technician would be
responsible to examine the scanned image, and likewise for males. Muslim
sensibilities prohibit observation of the images or viewing of individuals in
the nude unless a corresponding family member is present
to supervise.
Cyber attacks alarm U.S. intelligence czar
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed
2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be
bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S.
airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden
weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011,
according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million
proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought
this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since
immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total
of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,”
aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan
all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes
that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day
attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with
powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he
tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did
not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew
and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive
intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with
screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland
Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on
Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in
major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding
the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the
technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under
their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New
York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand
that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their
flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,”
Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its
2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for
suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080
from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to
international flights
Ahern signals support for airport body scanners
Published 3 February 2010
The Irish government will support the deployment of whole-body
scanner at Irish airports; Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern: “If additional
measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better
technology, then we should take them”; Ireland has also accepted the apology of
the Slovak government for an explosive-smuggling exercise which saw an unwitting
Slovak passenger smuggle explosives planted in his luggage by Slovak
intelligence through Irish security
Irish minister of justice Dermot Ahern said he would support the introduction
of body scanners at Irish airports. Ahen made the statement during a two-day
informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in the Spanish
city of Toledo.
The Irish Times’s Jane Walker reports
that at the meeting, Ahern also accepted a public apology from the Slovak
government to over an incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland
after Christmas unknowingly carried explosive material into the country as part
of an exercise by the Slovak intelligence services. Jan Skoda, the Slovak
ambassador to Spain and acting head of their delegation, apologized to Ahern for
the incident.
Ahern said he understood that communications difficulties compounded the
incident and that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” over how it was
possible to board an aircraft carrying explosive material.
The minister said that Ireland would play its role in dealing with the terror
threat. “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger
information or better technology, then we should take them. We need to
fast-track exchange of information which can play a very important role in
defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear
from increased exchange of information, particularly within the EU, or with
better scanning devices and technology,” he said.
“International co-operation and co-ordination of all our efforts,
particularly with the United States, is essential to meet the terrorists
head-on. The clear message we must send out to them is that they will not win
over the rule of democratic nations. We must, and will, stand together against
those who would kill indiscriminately to further their aims.”
Walker notes that Britain and France are leading calls for the introduction
of passenger name recognition — the exchange of passenger information and
profiling. Ahern said Ireland broadly supported the move.
More discussions on the controversial issue of whole-body scanners will be
held at the meeting of EU transport ministers in A Coruña next month. U.S. DHS
secretary Janet Napolitano joined the EU ministers for their talks yesterday and
signed an agreement on co-operation and exchange of information to combat
international terrorism in the air.
She briefed the ministers about the attempt to bomb a passenger flight bound
for the United States on Christmas Day. “Although the Amsterdam-Detroit flight
was an American plane, it was an international attack which did not only target
US citizens. One hundred of the passengers on that flight were nationals from 17
other countries. Al-Qaeda uses its best brains to find new forms of attack, and
we must use our best brains to find ways of combating them,”
she said.
U.K.: Yemen must upgrade airport security
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed
2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be
bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S.
airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden
weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011,
according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million
proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought
this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since
immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total
of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,”
aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan
all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes
that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day
attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with
powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he
tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did
not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew
and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive
intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with
screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland
Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on
Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in
major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding
the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the
technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under
their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New
York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand
that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their
flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,”
Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its
2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for
suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080
from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to
international flights
Ahern signals support for airport body scanners
950 whole-body scanners in U.S. airports by end of 2011
Published 3 February 2010
The administration has allocated $215 million in the proposed 2011 budget to buy 500 whole-body scanners; they will be added to the 450 to be bought this year; currently there are 40 body scanners operating in 19 U.S. airports
Airport body scanner in use // Source: topnews.in
Whole-body scanners that look under airline passengers’ clothing for hidden weapons could be in nearly half the U.S. airport checkpoints by late 2011, according to an Obama administration plan announced Monday. The $215 million proposal to acquire 500 scanners next year, combined with the 450 to be bought this year, marks the largest addition of airport-security equipment since immediately after the 9/11 attacks. There are only 40 body scanners in a total of 19 airports now.
“It’s a move in the right direction,” aviation-security consultant Douglas Laird said. “We need to scan all passengers.”
USA Today’s Thomas Frank writes that the push for more scanners accelerated after the failed Christmas Day attempt to bomb an airliner near Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam after walking through a metal detector with powder explosives hidden in his underwear, authorities say. Police allege he tried to trigger an explosion by igniting the powder, which caught fire but did not cause any serious damage before Abdulmutallab was subdued by the crew and passengers.
Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg called the scanners “a deeply invasive intrusion” that would inconvenience millions of innocent travelers with screening that takes longer than metal detectors. “We’ll have another Homeland Security Department program for the war on terror used almost exclusively on Americans,” said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Laird said the administration should emphasize installing body scanners in major European airports “because that’s where the threats come out of.”
European countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are adding the scanners. Countries such as Germany and Italy are considering the technology, which creates black-and-white images of passengers under their clothing.
Senior House Appropriations Committee member Representative Nita Lowey (D-New York), welcomes the plan for 500 new scanners. “The American people understand that this threat is real, and if we can provide equipment that will make their flights safer and prevent another attack, they will be supportive,” Lowey said.
Among the other aviation-security upgrades the administration proposed in its 2011 budget:
- Increasing the number of airport officers who patrol terminals looking for suspicious passengers to 3,350 from 3,000
- Increasing the number of bomb-sniffing dogs used at airports to 1,080 from 805
- Adding an unspecified number of air marshals to international flights
Published 3 February 2010
The Irish government will support the deployment of whole-body scanner at Irish airports; Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern: “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better technology, then we should take them”; Ireland has also accepted the apology of the Slovak government for an explosive-smuggling exercise which saw an unwitting Slovak passenger smuggle explosives planted in his luggage by Slovak intelligence through Irish security
Irish minister of justice Dermot Ahern said he would support the introduction of body scanners at Irish airports. Ahen made the statement during a two-day informal meeting of European justice and home affairs ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo.
The Irish Times’s Jane Walker reports that at the meeting, Ahern also accepted a public apology from the Slovak government to over an incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland after Christmas unknowingly carried explosive material into the country as part of an exercise by the Slovak intelligence services. Jan Skoda, the Slovak ambassador to Spain and acting head of their delegation, apologized to Ahern for the incident.
Ahern said he understood that communications difficulties compounded the incident and that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” over how it was possible to board an aircraft carrying explosive material.
The minister said that Ireland would play its role in dealing with the terror threat. “If additional measures are required either in exchange of passenger information or better technology, then we should take them. We need to fast-track exchange of information which can play a very important role in defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from increased exchange of information, particularly within the EU, or with better scanning devices and technology,” he said.
“International co-operation and co-ordination of all our efforts, particularly with the United States, is essential to meet the terrorists head-on. The clear message we must send out to them is that they will not win over the rule of democratic nations. We must, and will, stand together against those who would kill indiscriminately to further their aims.”
Walker notes that Britain and France are leading calls for the introduction of passenger name recognition — the exchange of passenger information and profiling. Ahern said Ireland broadly supported the move.
More discussions on the controversial issue of whole-body scanners will be held at the meeting of EU transport ministers in A Coruña next month. U.S. DHS secretary Janet Napolitano joined the EU ministers for their talks yesterday and signed an agreement on co-operation and exchange of information to combat international terrorism in the air.
She briefed the ministers about the attempt to bomb a passenger flight bound for the United States on Christmas Day. “Although the Amsterdam-Detroit flight was an American plane, it was an international attack which did not only target US citizens. One hundred of the passengers on that flight were nationals from 17 other countries. Al-Qaeda uses its best brains to find new forms of attack, and we must use our best brains to find ways of combating them,” she said.
Published 3 February 2010
The United Kingdom will continue its ban on direct flights from Yemen to Britain because promised security measures at the Sanaa airport have not yet been implemented; the announcement was made by Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the U.K. foreign office, after meeting Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier today
Sana'a International Airport // Source: tripadvisor.com.br
Yemen has yet to upgrade airport security to allow the lifting of a suspension of direct flights to Britain from the impoverished Arab country, a British official said yesterday.
Last month, Britain suspended direct flights of Yemeni state carrier Yemenia on security grounds after the failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound airliner for which a Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility. “We hope that we can identify very quickly the enhanced security measures that will be necessary, that those measures can be put in place to cope with higher levels of security,” said Ivan Lewis, minister of state in the foreign office, after meeting Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Reuters reports that he declined to say when direct flights might be resumed, saying only that Britain was helping Yemen to improve airport security in the capital Sanaa. Yemen has increased staff at its main airport but experts say providing security is a challenge due to the lack of space at the small airport built in the 1970s.
As we reported yesterday (“Yemen Bolsters Airport Security – and Adheres to Muslim Strictures,” 1 February 2010 HSNW), the Yemen Consulate in Washington, D.C., told HSNW that the Yemeni government and airport security authorities have taken several steps to augment airport security procedures. In the past, a visa could have been obtained upon arrival at any of the six Yemeni airports that received international flights. This convenience to Islamic militants has now been addressed by requiring that the visa must be obtained and affixed to the passenger’s passport before being allowed entry into Yemen, or departure from and Yemeni airport. Additionally, the visas can now only be issued at Yemen embassies after consultation with security personnel.
HSNW was also informed that the Yemeni government is in the process of implementing full body scanners at Yemeni airports. When asked how these scanners would impact on Muslim sensibilities regarding privacy, the Yemeni source replied that both men and women would be trained as scanner technicians. If the traveler is a women, a female technician would be responsible to examine the scanned image, and likewise for males. Muslim sensibilities prohibit observation of the images or viewing of individuals in the nude unless a corresponding family member is present to supervise.
WASHINGTON—Recent cyber attacks on Google were a "wake-up call" and neither the U.S. government nor the private sector can fully protect the American cyber infrastructure, Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said Tuesday.
"Malicious cyber activity is occurring on an unprecedented scale with extraordinary sophistication," Blair said in prepared testimony for a Senate intelligence committee hearing.
The Chinese military's "aggressive cyber activities" pose challenges to neighbors, Blair said.
Last Updated: 3rd February 2010, 1:00pm
If you've noticed that many of your Facebook friends look a lot like celebrities, it's not your eyes playing tricks on you: It's Doppelganger Week on the social network site.
The trend has gone viral in the past few days, with more and more Facebook users changing their profile pics to celebrities they've been told they resemble.
The profile pic changes are often made with a status update: "It's doppelganger week on Facebook; change your profile picture to someone famous (actor, musician, athlete, etc.) you have been told you look like. After you update your profile with your twin or switched at birth photo then cut/paste this to your status."
While there is no tracking of the number of people participating, recent media coverage on blogs and U.S. networks have visibly fuelled the fad.
"The basic premise is that everyone has been told at least once in their lifetime that they resemble a celebrity,” says the Doppelganger Week fan page on the site, which also provides help for those who might not know what celebrity they resemble by directing users to face-recognition sites that help find their celeb look-alike.
Family tree website MyHeritage has jumped on the bandwagon, creating a page for Facebook users to upload photos of themselves and see a celebrity collage of various famous people they might resemble.
In an interview posted on Facebook, psychologist Sam Gosling suggests the trend corresponds with research on social networking sites that finds users' identities on Facebook tend to closely resemble their real personalities.
“We found that judgments of people based on nothing but their Facebook profiles correlate pretty strongly with our measure of what that person is really like, and that measure consists of both how the profile owner sees him or herself and how that profile owner's friends see the profile owner,” he said.
While there is some debate about exactly when Doppelganger Week begins and ends, the common consensus is that it runs through the first week of February.
So if you haven't updated your picture to your celebrity twin, you still have a chance.
Last Updated: 2nd February 2010, 5:57pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday.
The terrorist organization is deploying operatives to the United States to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including “clean” recruits with a negligible trail of terrorist contacts, CIA Director Leon Panetta said. Al-Qaida is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
The annual assessment of the nation’s terror threats provided no startling new terror trends, but amplified growing concerns since the Christmas Day airline attack in Detroit that militants are growing harder to detect and moving more quickly in their plots.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al-Qaida is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Several senators tangled over whether suspected terrorists should be tried in civilian or military court. At the same time, a group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced legislation that would force the Obama administration to backtrack on its plans to try Sept. 11 defendants in federal court in New York and use military tribunals instead.
As al-Qaida presses new terror plots, it is increasingly relying on new recruits with minimal training and simple devices to carry out attacks, Panetta said as part of the terror assessment to Congress.
Panetta also warned of the danger of extremists acting alone: “It’s the lone-wolf strategy that I think we have to pay attention to as the main threat to this country,” he said.
The hearing comes just over a month since a failed attempt to bring down an airliner in Detroit, allegedly by a Nigerian suspect. And the assessment comes only a few months after U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hassan is accused of single-handedly attacking his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13.
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said with changes made since the Dec. 25 attack, U.S. intelligence would he able to identify and stop someone like the Detroit bomber before he got on the plane. But he warned a more careful and skilled would-be terrorist might not be detected.
FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the FBI’s handling of the Detroit attempted bombing attack, disputing assertions that agents short-circuited more intelligence insights from the Nigerian suspect by quickly providing him with his Miranda rights to remain silent.
Mueller said that in “case after case,” terrorists have provided actionable intelligence even after they were given their rights and charged with crimes. Mueller said they know such cooperation can result in shorter sentences or other consideration from the government.
Hundreds of terror suspects have already been convicted in civilian federal courts, including convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., offered a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the government from using Justice Department funds to prosecute suspects charged in the Sept. 11 attack in civilian courts.
The move comes on the heels of the Obama administration’s decision to rethink whether it would try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in a New York City courtroom.
The proposed law would cover people who legally could be prosecuted by a military commission, applying to terror suspects who are not U.S. citizens. By Tuesday evening, the bill had support from 18 senators, mostly Republicans.
During the terror assesment hearing, Blair also warned of the growing cyberthreat, saying computer-related attacks have become dynamic and malicious.
Obama has promised to make cybersecurity a priority in his administration, but the president’s new budget asks for a decrease in funds for the Homeland Security Department’s cybersecurity division.
The government’s first quadrennial homeland security review states high consequence and large-scale cyberattacks could massively disable or hurt international financial, commercial and physical infrastructure.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press, said these types of cyberattacks could cripple the movement of people and goods around the world and bring vital social and economic programs to a halt.
Scots use UAV for rugby surveillance ant other events security or business or as a toy
Published 4 February 2010
Scotland’s national rugby team is not very good; Scottish
Hydro, which normally uses its Cyberhawk UAVs to inspect pylons and wind
turbines, wanted to help, so it has lent the Scottish team a Cyberhawk drone;
the drone hovers over the practices of England’s rugby team and takes pictures
and videos; the Scots believe that this surveillance may help them win the Six
Nations Rugby Tournament
Overhead view of a rugby scrum // Source: computacenter.com
While the English use
their UAVs covertly to spy on their own citizens, the Scots have leveraged
the technology for a much greater social good: helping them beat the daylights out of their neighbors to the south on the
rugby pitch.
Popular Science’s Stuart Fox writes
that in preparation for the RBS Six Nations Rugby Tournament, the Scottish
national rugby team has been using Cyberhawk unmanned helicopters to monitor
their English practices, and deliver bird’s-eye-view footage of each scrum. The
UAVs are on loan from team sponsor Scottish Hydro, which normally uses the UAVs
to inspect pylons and wind turbines.
They players have taken to calling the UAVs “Flying Scotsmen,” after Ian
Smith, who is tied with Tony Stanger for the team record of most tries (24) in
international play.
Armed with UAV technology, Scotland may actually have a chance of winning the
Six Nations, despite entering the tournament ranked below every other team
except Italy.
U.S., Canada link up on Olympic security
Scots use UAV for rugby surveillance ant other events security or business or as a toy
Published 4 February 2010
Scotland’s national rugby team is not very good; Scottish Hydro, which normally uses its Cyberhawk UAVs to inspect pylons and wind turbines, wanted to help, so it has lent the Scottish team a Cyberhawk drone; the drone hovers over the practices of England’s rugby team and takes pictures and videos; the Scots believe that this surveillance may help them win the Six Nations Rugby Tournament
Overhead view of a rugby scrum // Source: computacenter.com
While the English use their UAVs covertly to spy on their own citizens, the Scots have leveraged the technology for a much greater social good: helping them beat the daylights out of their neighbors to the south on the rugby pitch.
Popular Science’s Stuart Fox writes that in preparation for the RBS Six Nations Rugby Tournament, the Scottish national rugby team has been using Cyberhawk unmanned helicopters to monitor their English practices, and deliver bird’s-eye-view footage of each scrum. The UAVs are on loan from team sponsor Scottish Hydro, which normally uses the UAVs to inspect pylons and wind turbines.
They players have taken to calling the UAVs “Flying Scotsmen,” after Ian Smith, who is tied with Tony Stanger for the team record of most tries (24) in international play.
Armed with UAV technology, Scotland may actually have a chance of winning the Six Nations, despite entering the tournament ranked below every other team except Italy.
Published 4 February 2010
The United States and Canada have established a pilot project to enhance security in the waters of Puget Sound and off the Pacific Coast, in which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the U.S. Coast Guard will cross-train, share resources and utilize each others' vessels
The United States and Canada said Wednesday they are moving to beef up seaborne cross-border security operations ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. UPI reports that DHS secretary Janet Napolitano and Canadian minister of public safety Vic Toews said in Washington they have established a pilot project to enhance security in the waters of Puget Sound and off the Pacific Coast, in which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the U.S. Coast Guard will cross-train, share resources and utilize each others’ vessels.
“This announcement supports our efforts to ensure a safe and secure 2010 Olympic Winter Games. During the Olympics, Canadian and U.S. law enforcement will work together to combat criminal activity in our shared waterways,” Toews added.
Polish priest installs fingerprint reader to check for mass
attendance
Published 1 February 2010
A Polish priest installs a biometric fingerprint reader at his
church to monitor schoolchildren’s attendance at mass; the pupils will mark
their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years, and if they
attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an
exam prior to their confirmation
A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for
schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance
at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday. The pupils will
mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if
they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass
an exam prior to their confirmation, the paper said.
Reuters reports
that the pupils in the southern town of Gryfow Slaski told the daily they liked
the idea and also the priest, Grzegorz Sowa, who invented it. “This is
comfortable. We don’t have to stand in a line to get the priest’s signature
(confirming our presence at the mass) in our confirmation notebooks,” said one
pupil, who gave her name as Karolina.
Poland is perhaps the most devoutly Roman Catholic country in Europe today
and churches are regularly packed on Sundays.
How much is that armored Armani? Bogota taylor specialize in
bulletproof fashion wear
Polish priest installs fingerprint reader to check for mass attendance
Published 1 February 2010
A Polish priest installs a biometric fingerprint reader at his church to monitor schoolchildren’s attendance at mass; the pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years, and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation
A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday. The pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation, the paper said.
Reuters reports that the pupils in the southern town of Gryfow Slaski told the daily they liked the idea and also the priest, Grzegorz Sowa, who invented it. “This is comfortable. We don’t have to stand in a line to get the priest’s signature (confirming our presence at the mass) in our confirmation notebooks,” said one pupil, who gave her name as Karolina.
Poland is perhaps the most devoutly Roman Catholic country in Europe today and churches are regularly packed on Sundays.
Published 5 February 2010
Talk about a fashion statement. The latest hot thing in Colombia: bulletproof fashion wear; Bogota tailor counts many South American leading politicians – and their wives – among his clients; the tailor, Miguel Caballero, says that he sees a receptive U.S. constituency for his ware: “the hip-hop people maybe will be a big market"; if you want to apply for a job with Caballero, be warned: after a garment is finished, a company employee puts it on and the company owner shoots the employee; if the employee survives, the garment is sold to the celebrity who placed the order for it
This Miguel Caballero polo shirt will stop shots from an Uzi submachine gun // Source: markstechnologynews.com
In Bogota, Colombia, Miguel Caballero has found a fashion niche that may make him the choice tailor to VIPs around the world: bulletproof fashion wear, reports VBS.TV’s correspondent Ryan Duffy:
Miguel explained his business model to me, and it was hard to dispute the logic. The world’s an increasingly dangerous place for political leaders and citizens alike. Miguel is simply combining the need for safety with the natural desire to look good.
And judging by his success, I’m not the only one who gets it. There were rumors that President Obama wore some of Miguel’s goods during his inauguration. Plus, look at the automobile industry. Not long ago, Hummers were the province of soldiers in combat. Today, they’re a staple of suburban strip malls. How long until Miguel’s pieces follow suit?
Matthew Harwood writes that Caballero’s clients include some of the continent’s biggest and most controversial leaders: Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Peruvian president Alan Garcia, and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Bogota’s most unique tailor believes certain demographics in the United States will also clamor for his guerilla practicality and fashionista trendiness.
“You can find many targets in USA,” he said. “For example, the hip-hop people maybe will be a big market.”
To ensure quality control, Caballero does something that may make prospective employees think twice about submitting their application. “I shoot all of my employees, and I have received two times the test,” Caballero told VBS.TV.
Harwood notes that Duffy earns some journalism credibility and respect by undergoing the test himself. “We’re going to take it for a test ride,” he said. “Miguel, shoot me.”
You can watch Duffy’s dispatch…and shooting, here.
Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, centre, listens to an explanation during a visit
an exhibition of Iran's laser science in Tehran on Sunday. (Hamid Foroutan/ISNA/AP) Iran's president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad ordered his country's atomic energy agency on Sunday to begin the
production of higher-enriched uranium.
The order from Ahmadinejad, announced during a live broadcast on state television, would raise Iran's uranium enrichment level from 3.5 per cent to 20 per cent.
Iran says it needs to refine its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to a higher purity to operate a medical research reactor in Tehran.
The United States fears Iran's nuclear program could be used to produce an atomic bomb but Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.
While the 20 per cent threshold is substantially below the 90 per cent-plus needed to make fissile warhead material, any move by Iran to enrich to 20 per cent is raising concerns because it would bring Iran substantially closer to weapons capability.
Ahmadinejad's latest pronouncement on the long-running dispute coincided with a call by U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates for the international community to rally together to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear program.
"If the international community will stand together and bring pressure to bear on the Iranian government, I believe there is still time for pressure and sanctions to work," Gates said in Rome, where he met Sunday with Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa.
The Iranian president said he decided to ramp up production because Western governments have balked at his proposal for a fuel exchange to keep the medical reactor operating.
Western powers see the potential swap as a means to ensure Tehran does not further enrich its uranium to make weapons, but Gates said he did not believe an agreement was close.
Iran and the West have been discussing a plan under which Iran would export its low-enriched uranium stocks for enrichment abroad.
The plan, which comes from the International Atomic Energy Agency, was first drawn up in early October at a meeting in Geneva between Iran and the six world powers. It was refined later that month in Vienna talks among Iran, the U.S., Russia and France.
 The AVTAS UAV simulation toolset plays an important role in facilitating cooperative UAV research among partnering organizations. |
Wright-Patterson AFB OH (AFNS) Feb 09, 2010
Thanks to Air Force Research Laboratory design and development expertise, an important new collaborative simulation capability--one facilitating coopera-tive unmanned air vehicle research--has emerged. The pursuit of a shared simulation capability for independent teams generated the AVTAS (Aerospace Vehicles Technology Assessment and Simulation) UAV toolset.
The new technology levels the playing field for collaborating teams of researchers, who previously contended with simulation capability variances that disrupted or otherwise degraded their common research efforts. In addition to removing disparity, the AVTAS UAV toolset provides a common framework for each team's design implementation and test, while protecting the team's proprietary information.
Using this innovative simulation resource, a research collaborative composed of six separate contractor teams was able to collectively develop, refine, and demonstrate UAV cooperative control algorithms.
The capacity for groups of UAVs to work together is critical to a number of AFRL endeavors, one of which is the Cooperative Operations in Urban Terrain project, also known as COUNTER. Projects such as this often require multiple, and potentially diverse, UAVs to work together, maneuvering in relation to each other, sharing data and performing varied tasks.
Although researchers have made significant progress towards cooperative control as a practical reality, the ability for UAVs to work together does not yet exist at a robust level of fidelity. AFRL is therefore working with partners throughout government, industry, and academia to mature the technology.
While simulations offer a practical, low-cost way to examine the flight dynamics and complex interactions occurring between UAVs, developers have traditionally employed different simulation toolsets to develop, evaluate, and refine their research efforts. Consequently, the lack of a common simulation tool has hindered or prevented information sharing, making the overall task much more difficult.
The development of the AVTAS UAV toolset benefits AFRL and contracting partners alike. Contractor teams are now able to focus research dollars on the development of cooperative control technologies rather than on simulation tools.
This has allowed these research partners to focus their primary efforts on the technology at hand rather than the means for testing the technology. Also, by having a single simulation toolset, contractor partners are able to more rapidly develop and test control algorithms.
 Applied NanoFemto Technologies has completed AFRL Small Business Innovation Research Phase I and started Phase II of an effort to produce a full-scale sensor for integration into small unmanned aerial system platforms. The SBIR-produced infrared focal plane array imager incorporates spectral tunability and polarimetric sensing technology to improve target detection in cluttered environments. |
Wright-Patterson AFB OH (AFNS) Feb 09, 2010
Having completed Phase I of a Small Business Innovation Research effort ultimately pursuing a full-scale sensor capability available for ready integration into small unmanned aerial systems sensor suites, Applied NanoFemto Technologies has begun SBIR Phase II work on the heretofore highly successful endeavor.
Funded by AFRL's Nanotechnology Strategic Technology Team, the company's Phase I results comprised development and demonstration of an infrared focal plane array imager that provides both spectral tunability and polarimetric sensing. Highly desirable in infrared imaging systems, spectral tunability enables scene viewing in different wavelengths, the distinct characteristics of which make it easier to detect targets in cluttered environments.
The incorporation of polarimetric sensing further enhances this detection capability, given that man-made objects tend to exhibit high degrees of polarization in their signatures.
Combining these two technologies on a single chip cuts size, weight, and power requirements in half and significantly reduces production costs as well.
Phase I saw both project development and demonstration goals met independently via a small-scale quantum dot FPA coupled to a wire grid polarizer. Meanwhile, the newly initiated Phase II effort seeks to build a fourfold-larger-scale FPA camera with multispectral tuning and polarimetric sensing combined in a hybridized sensor.
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