Topic: POLITIK - on May 14, 2012 at 9:44:00 AM CEST
Sarkozy faces a slew of probes after immunity ends
Outgoing French leader Nicolas Sarkozy will face a slew of legal probes into corruption and campaign financing violations after he leaves office next week and loses his presidential immunity.
Sarkozy could face questioning as soon as mid-June as he will lose his immunity a month after his successor, Socialist Francois Hollande, is sworn in on May 15.
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Topic: POLICE REPORT - on May 14, 2012 at 9:42:00 AM CEST
BKA scheitert an Staatstrojaner-Entwicklung
Experten des Bundeskriminalamtes (BKA) scheitern bislang an der Entwicklung einer Software, mit der verschlüsselte E-Mails und Internet-Telefondienste wie Skype überwacht werden können. Ein solches Programm wird in der Regel als versteckter Anhang einer E-Mail auf den Rechner eines Verdächtigen geschmuggelt und deshalb auch Staatstrojaner genannt. Jahrelang benutzten die Behörden Software privater Hersteller, die mehr konnten, als erlaubt war. Als im vergangenen Herbst herauskam, dass ein bayerischer Fahnder Bildschirminhalte kopiert hatte, war vorerst Schluss mit dem Einsatz.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on May 13, 2012 at 10:56:00 PM CEST
Video: Bizarrely Realistic Japanese Robotic Buttocks Responds to Slaps
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Topic: MUSIK - on May 13, 2012 at 9:14:00 AM CEST
Legendary Bassist Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn Passes Away At Age 70
Donald “Duck” Dunn, who played on hundreds of rock and soul classics as the bassist for Booker T. and the MGs, and later as a session player, passed away Sunday morning at the age of 70. Steve Cropper, the MGs guitarist, broke the news on his Facebook page at approximately 12:30AM Eastern time.
“Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live,” Cropper, his lifelong friend, wrote. “Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club.”
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Topic: CARS - on May 12, 2012 at 9:27:00 AM CEST
Carrol Shelby, R.I.P
LEGENDARY ENTREPRENEUR CARROLL SHELBY PASSES AWAY LOS ANGELES - May 11, 2012 - Carroll Shelby International, Inc., (OTC: CSBI.PK) announced today that Carroll Hall Shelby, a man whose vision for performance transformed the automobile industry, has died at age 89. Mr. Shelby passed away yesterday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. The cause of death was not disclosed. Born on Jan. 11, 1923, Carroll Shelby was one of America’s greatest success stories. Championship-win-ning racecar driver, “flying sergeant” wartime pilot, philanthropist, entrepreneur, car manufacturer and racing team owner, he embodied the ingenuity, tenacity and grit to overcome any obstacle. He is perhaps the only person to have worked at a visible level with all three major American automobile manufactur-ers. Carroll Shelby founded Carroll Shelby International, a publicly held corporation involved in many indus-tries. His licensing arm has agreements with industry giants, such as Mattel, Sony, Ford Motor Company and Electronic Arts. His car company, Shelby American, has a thriving parts business as well as a line of muscle cars including the Shelby GT500 Super Snake, Shelby GT350 and Shelby GTS. The Las Vegas-based company also manufactures a limited number of the 1960s Shelby 289 “street,” 289 FIA, 427 S/C and Daytona Coupe Cobras.
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Topic: DRUGS - on May 12, 2012 at 9:25:00 AM CEST
Pro-Marijuana TV Advertisements Run In Colorado
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Topic: History - on May 12, 2012 at 9:23:00 AM CEST
Mayan prophecy: The world won’t end, as a newfound calendar goes on and on and on
The ancient Mayans were masters of time, keepers of good calendars.
And now we have one of their timekeepers’ workrooms to prove it.
In a striking find, archaeologists in Guatemala report the discovery of a small building whose walls display not only a stunningly preserved mural of a brightly adorned Mayan king, but also calendars that destroy any notion that the Mayans predicted the end of the world in 2012.
These deep-time calendars can be used to count thousands of years into the past and future, countering pop-culture and New Age ideas that Mayan calendars ended on Dec. 21, 2012, (or Dec. 23, depending on who’s counting), thereby predicting the end of the world.
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Topic: DRUGS - on May 9, 2012 at 11:47:00 AM CEST
Dutch "cannabis card" roll-out in disarray
A week after a contentious roll-out of a new Dutch law to stub out cannabis sales to foreigners, enforcement is in disarray.
Drug tourists are simply dodging the "cannabis card" law by heading elsewhere in the country for their fix, since the rule has entered into force in just three southern Dutch provinces so far.
"It takes time for everything to be put into place," Justice and Safety Ministry spokeswoman Charlotte Menten admitted to AFP on Tuesday.
Some police appear not to be trained to tackle the issue and several coffee shops have closed in protest.
The new law came into effect on May 1 and effectively transforms coffee shops into private clubs as it requires around 80 cannabis cafes in the south to sell only to signed-up members who live in the country.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on May 9, 2012 at 11:45:00 AM CEST
Virgin Media site goes titsup in Pirate Bay payback attack
Virgin Media's main website dropped off the interwebs on Tuesday with hackivist collective Anonymous claiming responsibility for the DDoS attacks in response to the company's recent cut-off of The Pirate Bay.
The telco said it had to down its "customer-facing" website for about an hour last night, after it was hit by Distributed Denial of Service attacks yesterday evening.
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Topic: War and Peace News - on May 9, 2012 at 10:17:00 AM CEST
Boy on a Bike Becomes Moscow’s Tiananmen Image
As a bloody skirmish between police and opposition activists in central Moscow was drawing to a close on Sunday a small boy on a tiny bicycle pedaled through the crowd and approached a line of hulking riot police.
He sat there for a moment, balancing on his training wheels, staring at the menacing troops who were decked out in blue camouflage uniforms and full riot gear, nightsticks at the ready.
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Topic: POLITIK - on May 9, 2012 at 10:14:00 AM CEST
China Expels Al Jazeera Channel
Al Jazeera, the satellite broadcasting network, was forced by the Chinese authorities to close its China news operations of its English-language channel on Monday, the first such action in almost 14 years and the strongest sign yet of fraying relations between the ruling Communist Party and the overseas journalists who cover it.
The network’s correspondent Melissa Chan was scheduled to leave Beijing by jet Monday night after the government refused normally routine requests to renew her press credentials or to allow another correspondent to replace her.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on May 9, 2012 at 9:17:00 AM CEST
German File Sharing & Copyright Debate - 'Just Shut Them Down, Man'
In a SPIEGEL interview, German pop star Jan Delay and Christopher Lauer, a Pirate Party member of the Berlin state parliament, debate the value of art in the digital age and whether music and movies should be made available for free download on the Internet.
Jan Delay is one of Germany's most successful pop musicians. Like many fellow artists, he feels threatened by the Pirate Party's call for the legalization of online music-sharing sites like Pirate Bay. Like many, Delay worries musicians will no longer be able to make a living if their work is given away for free on the Internet. Last week, the musician met with Pirate Party politician Christopher Lauer at SPIEGEL's headquarters in Hamburg to continue a debate sparked by musician and writer Sven Regener (the author of the novels "Element of Crime" and "Herr Lehmann") four weeks ago. Regener argues that the refusal to consider music a commodity for which one should pay is "preposterous."
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