5:00AM Sunday June 29, 2008By Nicola Shepheard
Smog hanging over the Auckland skyline
A town-known for its pristine mountain vistas is the most polluted in New Zealand - and its picturesque setting is partly to blame.
Alexandra, in Central Otago, tops a list of pollution hotspots supplied to the Herald on Sunday by the Ministry for the Environment.
The top five spots are all in the South Island, with Rotorua the North Island's worst offender at number six, followed by Tokoroa and Hastings at nine and 10.
The rankings are based on the number of times a year recorded pollution levels exceeded the national standard over the past three years.
Officials focused on key pollutant PM10 - essentially fine particles in the air. Alexandra exceeded the standard level 46 times in one year but Christchurch recorded the highest single concentration - 172 micrograms per cubic metre of air, more than three times the standard.
About 1000 New Zealanders die prematurely each year from air pollution, with a similar number of hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses....
Smog hanging over the Auckland skyline
A town-known for its pristine mountain vistas is the most polluted in New Zealand - and its picturesque setting is partly to blame.
Alexandra, in Central Otago, tops a list of pollution hotspots supplied to the Herald on Sunday by the Ministry for the Environment.
The top five spots are all in the South Island, with Rotorua the North Island's worst offender at number six, followed by Tokoroa and Hastings at nine and 10.
The rankings are based on the number of times a year recorded pollution levels exceeded the national standard over the past three years.
Officials focused on key pollutant PM10 - essentially fine particles in the air. Alexandra exceeded the standard level 46 times in one year but Christchurch recorded the highest single concentration - 172 micrograms per cubic metre of air, more than three times the standard.
About 1000 New Zealanders die prematurely each year from air pollution, with a similar number of hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiac illnesses....
The New Zealand Herald
American lives become increasingly worth less
5:00AM Saturday July 12, 2008
It is not just the US dollar that is losing value. A government agency has decided that an American life is not worth what it used to be.
The "value of a statistical life" is US$6.9 million ($9 million), the US Environmental Protection Agency said in May - a drop of almost $1 million from just five years ago.
The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years.
Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.
When drawing up regulations, government agencies put a value on human life, then weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter restrictions on pollution.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10521092
Obama addresses 200,000 in Berlin
BERLIN - Barack Obama stood before more than 200,000 people in Berlin overnight and summoned Europeans and Americans to work together to bring the war in Iraq to an end, defeat terrorism and "dry up the well of extremism that supports it".
Obama said America and Europe must stand together in telling Iran to "abandon its nuclear ambitions" and insisted that "we must renew our resolve" to defeat the Taleban in Afghanistan.
Speaking in the Tiergarten, a park not far from where the Berlin Wall once stood, the presumptive Democratic nominee urged Americans, Berliners, and people of the world to work together for a better world.
"A new generation - our generation - must make our mark on history," he said.
Police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said the speech drew more than 200,000 people. No incidents were reported.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523409
CIA was told interrogations 'safe'
12:07PM Friday July 25, 2008
Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Photo / AP
WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will not cause "prolonged mental harm."
That heavily censored memo, released Thursday, approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.
The Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales that defined torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523487
Former military leader sentenced to life in prison
11:59AM Friday July 25, 2008
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, who was commander of the Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship. Photo / AP
BUENOS AIRES - A court sentenced one of Argentina's most feared former military leaders to life in prison on Thursday for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four leftist activists.
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 81, was commander of the Third Army Corps in Cordoba for five years during Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship and controlled one of the regime's most notorious torture centers.
Hours before the sentencing, an unrepentant Menendez read a statement in front of live television cameras saying the regime's repression had been justified in the face of a leftist militant threat.
"We had to take appropriate measures," he said.
Menendez, who was already under house arrest for previous "dirty war" convictions," will be transferred to a prison following Thursday's conviction and sentencing.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523485
Net-savvy before age 6
5:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
Children in one in five Australian households are surfing the net before their 6th birthday and 30 per cent of young people are never supervised online, says a report on internet use.
The Sensis e-Business Report interviewed 1500 people and 1800 small and medium businesses in May. It found children in 71 per cent of households with under-18s were using the internet, with most beginning between the ages of 6 and 10.
But in 18 per cent of households, internet use began when children were 5 years or younger. Two-thirds of parents reported supervising their children online and 67 per cent said computers were kept in a communal area.
Of those not providing supervision, half said they never had, and 42 per cent had stopped when their children were between 11 and 15.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523390
Drunken Wall St gets a dry Bush assessment
5:00AM Friday July 25, 2008
By Leonard Doyle
Photo / AP
Drying out is a subject on which President George W. Bush has personal insights. And when he used the metaphor of a drunk sobering up after a bender to describe America's economic travails, people sat up and listened.
"Wall Street got drunk," Bush told a private gathering in Texas as he sought to explain why the world's biggest and most complex economy was teetering on the brink of recession.
When speaking in public, the President, a Harvard MBA, usually prefers euphemisms to refer to the millions of people who are hurting and losing their homes. "Challenges in the housing and financial markets", is a favourite one. But speaking to a closed-door Republican fundraiser in Houston last week his explanation was much blunter.
"There's no question about it," Bush said. "Wall Street got drunk, that's one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras. It got drunk and now it's got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523395
'Number 16 Bus Shelter', 'Violence' among kids registered names
6:44PM Thursday July 24, 2008
Your Views
Should parents be able to name their children anything they like?
New Zealand children have been given names such as Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges(twins).
But other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials.
The revelations came during written findings by Family Court Judge Murfitt, who ordered a girl be put in court guardianship so her name - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii - could be changed.
The girl's lawyer told the judge she was so embarrassed by her name she refused to reveal it to friends.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10523288
Looking good without the chemicals
5:00AM Monday July 21, 2008
By Brooke Donovan and Alice Neville
The natural beauty industry is booming worldwide and New Zealand, with its clean green image, is perfectly poised to capitalise.
But is natural beauty really a green proposition, or merely a marketing tool?
The answer can be found in an alarming statistic. It is thought that women ingest as much as 2kg of chemicals a year from the cosmetics and skincare they use - and there are no rules or regulations governing their ingredients.
Attention has particularly been drawn to the use of parabens as perservatives in beauty products, which some studies have linked to cancer, and phthalates, the industrial chemicals used in many cosmetic products and linked to birth defects.
As concern grows about the use of chemicals in beauty products, the natural beauty industry is becoming mainstream.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10522545
Days numbered for plastic bags in LA
7:15AM Thursday July 24, 2008
The city of Los Angeles - the second-largest city in the US with four million inhabitants - has announced it will ban all plastic bags from stores as of July 1, 2010, following similar anti-pollution regulations already enforced in San Francisco.
After that date, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biodegradable material from the store for US25c.
The goal is to rid the city of around 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags that are distributed each year and end up polluting waste dumps. In 2007 San Francisco, 600km north of LA, became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores. Both city regulations are intended to pressure state politicians who are considering a bill to eliminate plastic bags across the state by 2012.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10523201
NZ 'ally' and close friend of US - Rice
4:56PM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Edward Gay and NZPA
Condoleezza Rice shakes hands with Winston Peters this morning. Photo / NZPA
Related nzherald links:
The United States Secretary of State has described New Zealand as an "ally" and a close friend.
Prime Minister Helen Clark held discussions with Condoleezza Rice at Government House in Auckland this afternoon.
They discussed the political situation in Zimbabwe and the conflict in Afghanistan.
Helen Clark said the increase in the price of fuel and food was also discussed.
Dr Rice said it had been a full agenda.
"I want to agree and underscore the points that you have made about the state of relations between New Zealand and the United States. I believe that they are in very good shape," Dr Rice said
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523625
Thousands without power, roads closed as storm batters NI (+photos)
7:00PM Saturday July 26, 2008
By James Ihaka and NZPA
A powerful storm cut a swathe across the North Island today, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes, trapping skiers and making driving hazardous.
Weather forecasters predicted gale force winds would continue across much of the North Island in the next 20 hours as the storm, tipped to be one of the worst in 10 years, moved over the country.
Northland was hit hard first, with wind gusts of up to 130km/h bringing down trees and power lines as the storm made landfall.
Thousands of homes were without power in the region, and when the storm moved down the country it took out power to 53,000 homes in Rodney, Waitakere and the North Shore.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523616
US should end ban on war games says ex-envoy
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Audrey Young
It is time the United States relaxed its blanket ban on exercises with New Zealand defence forces, former Defence Secretary and ambassador to the United States Denis McLean said last night.
He was speaking hours before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to touch down in Auckland.
Dr Rice's visit is another milestone in the relationship between New Zealand and the United States, which has been rapidly improving since the US reviewed relations in 2006.
After a powhiri at Government House, Dr Rice will hold talks with Foreign Minister Winston Peters, then with Prime Minister Helen Clark before being hosted at a reception and a dinner.
Trade issues, including the elusive free trade agreement with the United States, are expected to be high on New Zealand's agenda.
But security issues in the Pacific and New Zealand's military co-operation in Afghanistan and to Operation Enduring Freedom in the Gulf are also likely to figure high.
Mr McLean said it was clear that New Zealand was "pulling itsweight".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523612
We're living beyond our means
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Brooke Donovan
As the economy boomed and the good times rolled, spending money was easy and credit was there for the taking.
But financial advisers are dismayed at the number of New Zealanders who have been living beyond their means, forgetting the basics of money management and now paying the price.
Even the well-off have proved to be vulnerable as finance companies - the latest Hanover Finance - hit the skids, potentially taking large chunks of investors' cash with them.
And the younger you are, the more you're likely to struggle with the new need for frugality.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523591
Petrol cut again but diesel price lags
5:00AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Mathew Dearnaley
Motorists have gained their third petrol price cut in eight days, but the Automobile Association believes there is room for a bigger drop for diesel users.
The oil companies yesterday cut both petrol and diesel prices by 4c a litre, earning praise from AA spokesman Mark Stockdale for acting promptly to pass on cost reductions.
But he saw no reason why, after a period in which petrol dropped by 12c a litre, diesel was just 8c cheaper than on Thursday last week.
Mr Stockdale said industry data obtained by the AA indicated that oil companies were making a big enough margin on diesel for them to have cut that fuel by 4c on Monday, a day when they dropped petrol prices only.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10523595
The Sarajevo legacy
8:10AM Saturday July 26, 2008
By Peter Popham
LONDON - The jubilation of the people of Sarajevo at the capture of Radovan Karadzic, the man they blame for the bloody siege which pinned their city down for 44 months and cost 10,000 lives, has slowly evaporated during an en extraordinary week of revelations.
What was left yesterday was a coming to terms with the bitter fact that much of what Mr Karadzic stood for has already come to pass.
"I didn't feel much jubilation," admitted Senad Slatina, a political analyst in the city.
"Some of the young people say it's a good thing but for me it's so overdue that it's almost irrelevant. Karadzic is no longer on the scene, but his ideas and his life work are almost on the verge of becoming reality."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523619
Police kick, shove as 30,000 throng for Olympics tickets
8:41AM Saturday July 26, 2008
BEIJING - A crowd of 30,000 people, baking in the heat and waiting for up to two days, swarmed a ticketing centre Friday as the final batch of Olympic tickets went on sale. Police shoved and kicked them and used metal barricades to prevent a stampede.
The August 8-24 Beijing Games are the first Olympics expected to be sold out, and some fans spent the night on thin bamboo mats and newspapers for a chance to buy the 250,000 tickets that went on sale in different parts of the city.
At the main ticket office not far from the national stadium known as the Bird's Nest, tempers flared as sticky bodies pressed against each other in the surging crowd before sales began at 9am. Police yanked more than half a dozen unruly fans from the crowd, kicking one who fell as he was being led away and dragging another by his hair.
"It was very dangerous. I was afraid," said Wang Zhenqiang, who waited 28 hours with Ji Liqiang, a fellow businessman from eastern Shandong province, to buy tickets to the diving competition.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523621
Greek fires forces evacuation of 2000
10:27AM Saturday July 26, 2008
ATHENS, Greece - More than 2000 tourists were evacuated from hotels in the island of Rhodes as forest fires raged for a fourth day, the Fire Service and municipal officials said.
Authorities said the measure was taken as a precaution and affected hotels in the Asklipios area, near the southeast coast of the island. Rhodes is popular with British and other European vacationers.
"Three hotels were evacuated as a precaution, mainly because smoke from the fire had created an unpleasant atmosphere," said Haralambos Kokkinos, the South Aegean regional governor.
"The evacuation was orderly and there were no problems. The tourists were taken to the nearby coast and will remain there until the smoke clears. Conditions have already improved and it's likely that the tourists will return to their hotels by nightfall."
The fire has destroyed thousands of hectares of dense pine forest, helped by strong winds, and came within a few meters of village homes in the centre of the island, Fire Service officials said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523629
Seven synchronised bombs in India
8:40AM Saturday July 26, 2008
BANGALORE, India - Seven synchronized small bombs shook India's high-tech hub overnight, killing two people and wounding at least five others, officials said.
Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidri said the seven blasts went off within several minutes of each other at different spots across the city. One woman was killed in an explosion at a bus stop in the city's Madiwala neighbourhood, he said.
Another person died later of his injuries, federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.
Bidri said each of the small bombs contained the amount of explosives equal to "one or two grenades" and appeared to have been set off by timers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523620
Gunman shoots three at college in Phoenix
1:28PM Friday July 25, 2008
PHOENIX - Officials say three people have been shot at a community college in Phoenix.
Fire department division chief Mark Faulkner says a 25-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman wounded at South Mountain Community College are in critical condition, and a 17-year-old boy is in stable condition.
Faulkner says the three were taken by firefighters to a county hospital.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. No information on the shooter was immediately available.
Officials reached at the college did not immediately have any information on the shootings.
- AP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523503
Crew with missile launch codes fell asleep
10:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - Three ballistic missile crew members in fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the US Air Force said Thursday.
The probe found that the missile launch codes were not compromised, but the incident comes on the heels of a series of missteps by the Air Force that had already put the service under intense scrutiny.
"This was just a procedural violation that we investigated," said Air Force Col. Dewey Ford, a spokesman at Patterson Air Force Base in Colorado. "We determined that there was no compromise."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523447
Lesbian mothers lose IVF lawsuit
7:15AM Friday July 25, 2008
The lesbian mothers of IVF twin girls have lost a legal bid to sue their doctor for the cost of raising one of the toddlers.
The women, whose names are suppressed, sued Canberra obstetrician Dr Robert Armellin for more than A$400,000 ($520,000) for implanting two embryos instead of the requested one.
The ACT Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favour of Armellin, and ordered the couple to pay his legal costs. The women, who earn more than A$100,000 between them, sought A$398,000 to cover the costs of raising one of the girls, including fees for a private Steiner school.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10523393
Motorsport: Supercars embrace green movement
5:00AM Monday July 21, 2008
V8 Supercars will run on environmentally-friendly ethanol next year, and the 2009 championship will be shortened by a month.
V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane confirmed cars in the championship would use 85 per cent ethanol-blended petrol from next year, hoping to take the lead in promoting the greener fuel's benefits to Australian motorists.
* The length of next year's championship will be shortened to 38 weeks from 42, with all 14 rounds and the Australian Grand Prix exhibition event shoehorned into a calendar with less breaks and more action.
* A final decision on whether a Sydney street race around the Olympic precinct will happen in 2009 is expected this week.
* V8 bosses are considering a night race.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10522578
Sydney Morning Herald
Small gas power plants to make the city self-sufficient
July 26, 2008
DOZENS of miniature gas-fired power plants sprinkled around the inner city and the CBD are at the heart of plans to make Sydney almost self-sufficient in energy over the next two decades.
The scheme, radical by Australian standards but routine in the context of European developments, took shape this week when an energy expert, Allan Jones, visited to pass on lessons learnt from similar projects in Britain.
"Sydney does have huge potential for sustainability," said Mr Jones, chief development officer at London's Climate Change Agency. "My impression is that Australia has held itself back from this sort of technology over the last 10 years, maybe because it has built up a reliance on coal."
The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, wants gas trigeneration plants through the city, including sites at Circular Quay, Darling Harbour and the Hungry Mile.
In gas trigeneration, small gas turbines use their own heat as an energy source to power surrounding buildings. A single plant in a basement can power a skyscraper and feed electricity back into the grid, with less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of coal-fired electricity.
The City of Sydney has provided the concept via its "Sustainable Sydney 2030" plan.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/small-gas-power-plants-to-make-the-city-selfsufficient/2008/07/25/1216492732917.html
Breakthrough hopes in WTO talks
Several emerging nations threatened to torpedo a deal as world trade powers strode towards a new global pact today.
There were real hopes of a breakthrough after seven years of deadlock.
Key negotiators said most of the 35 key trading nations meeting in Geneva have bridged their differences, sparking a mood of optimism unseen for years in World Trade Organisation gatherings.
"I think the situation looks strong. I think we can be very hopeful now," said European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson as he left talks late today.
"What is emerging is a deal that is not perfect, not beautiful, but is good for the global economy and good for development."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/breakthrough-hopes-in-wto-talks/2008/07/26/1216492779202.html
Teen buried under hot asphalt
July 26, 2008 - 9:13AM
A 15-year-old working on a Canadian construction site just north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, has died after being buried in hot asphalt.
Wallace Drysdale, fire chief for the Stony Mountain area, said today the department received a call about an accident and found the teenager under the asphalt with only his hair visible.
Drysdale believes the load of asphalt may have been prematurely dumped from a truck onto the boy. He says it took crews and bystanders 14 minutes to uncover the boy.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and workplace health and safety officials are investigating.
AP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/teen-buried-under-hot-asphalt/2008/07/26/1216492778059.html
Italy puts soldiers on streets to fight crime
Nick Pisa in Rome
July 26, 2008
SOLDIERS will patrol Italian cities from next month under a controversial new law-and-order drive by Silvio Berlusconi's Government.
The soldiers, to be drawn from ranks who have served abroad, will patrol alongside regular state police and the carabinieri (paramilitary police).
They will be able to stop, search and identify suspects but will have no powers of arrest.
Mr Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, was returned to power two months ago after campaigning on a strong law-and-order manifesto. He assured worried Italians that he would deal with rising crime rates, which many blame on illegal immigrants.
The troops will patrol Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Bologna, Turin, Palermo, Bari and Venice from 6pm to 2am.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/italy-puts-soldiers-on-streets-to-fight-crime/2008/07/25/1216492734180.html
Hackers get hold of critical internet flaw
July 25, 2008 - 10:14AM
Internet security researchers warned that hackers have caught on to a "critical" flaw that lets them control traffic on the internet.
An elite squad of computer industry engineers that labored in secret to solve the problem released a software "patch" two weeks ago and sought to keep details of the vulnerability hidden for at least a month to give people time to protect computers from attacks.
"We are in a lot of trouble," said IOActive security specialist Dan Kaminsky, who stumbled upon the Domain Name System (DNS) vulnerability about six months ago and reached out to industry giants to collaborate on a solution.
"This attack is very good. This attack is being weaponised out in the field. Everyone needs to patch, please. This is a big deal."
DNS is used by every computer that links to the internet and works similar to a telephone system routing calls to proper numbers, in this case the online numerical addresses of websites.
The vulnerability allows "cache poisoning" attacks that tinker with data stored in computer memory caches that relay internet traffic to destinations.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/security/hackers-get-hold-of-critical-internet-flaw/2008/07/25/1216492691922.html
Egyptian Facebook protesters jailed
July 25, 2008 - 10:25AM
Police have arrested 26 internet activists in the port of Alexandria, and 14 of them were jailed for more than two weeks for "threatening national security," a security official said today.
Around 30 young Egyptians who belong to the so-called "6 April" group on social networking site Facebook, a group which earlier this year called for a day of protests at rising prices, gathered in Alexandria on Wednesday.
"We were heading for Sidi Beshr beach but a policeman prevented us getting there because we had a large kite painted with the Egyptian flag and we were wearing T-shirts with 'April 6 Movement' on," said Mohammed Abdel Aziz.
He said that in the evening the group was walking along the seafront singing nationalist songs when police arrived and arrested 14 of them, he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/egyptian-facebook-protesters-jailed/2008/07/25/1216492692657.html
Facebook: soon to be even more in your face
July 24, 2008 - 3:09PM
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, delivers a keynote address at the company's annual conference in San Francisco.
The founder of Facebook has told of his plans to make deeper inroads into the web, even while apologising for past excesses.
Mark Zuckerberg, 24, told an audience of 1000 industry executives, software makers, media - and his mother and father - at Facebook's annual conference of how the company's features will run on affiliated sites outside its own.
"Facebook Connect" will transform the social network from a private site where activity occurs entirely within a "walled garden" to a Web-wide phenomenon where software makers, with user permission, can tap member data for use on their sites.
"Facebook Connect is our version of Facebook for the rest of the web," Zuckerberg told the second annual F8 conference.
Facebook, begun in 2004 as a socializing site for students at Harvard University, has seen its growth zoom to 90 million members from 24 million a little over a year ago, overtaking rival MySpace to become the world's largest social network.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/facebook-even-more-in-your-face/2008/07/24/1216492618444.html
Scrabulous makers sued by Hasbro
July 25, 2008 - 10:12AM
T-R-O-U-B-L-E could loom for a Scrabble knockoff that has become one of the most popular activities on Facebook.
Hasbro, the company that owns the word game's North American rights, sued the creators of the Scrabulous program on Thursday, less than two weeks after the release of an authorised version of Scrabble for Facebook.
Hasbro said in its lawsuit that Scrabulous violates its copyright and trademarks. Separately, Hasbro asked Facebook to block the game.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/scrabulous-makers-sued/2008/07/25/1216492691802.html
Google launches Wikipedia clone
July 24, 2008 - 1:25PM
Google is taking the wraps off an internet encyclopedia designed to give people a chance to show off - and profit from - their expertise on any topic.
The service, dubbed "knol" in reference to a unit of knowledge, had been limited to an invitation-only audience of contributors and readers for the past seven months.
Now anyone with a Google login will be able to submit an article and, if they choose, have ads displayed through the Internet search leader's marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share any revenue generated from the ads, which are supposed to be related to the topic covered in the knol.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/google-launches-wikipedia-clone/2008/07/24/1216492611201.html
Travel world cashes in on iPhone mania
Kay O'Sullivan
July 26, 2008
Smart Traveller
Apple of their eye
The world of travel is tripping over itself to cash in on iPhone mania.
British Airways is claiming a first with an application that allows owners of the new 3G model to download BA's timetable, obtain real-time information about arrivals and departures, and book flights.
Meanwhile, Lonely Planet is trumpeting the fact it has released 10 audio phrasebooks for the iPhone and iPod Touch. More are expected to come online and each download contains more than 600 spoken and phonetically written phrases covering a wide range of needs (where can I find the pub?) and emergencies (where can I find the pub?) for travellers.
It's a natural fit. A recent Lonely Planet survey of 18,000 travellers found that 80 per cent always use their phone when travelling and 56 per cent won't leave home without their iPod.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/travel-world-cashes-in-on-iphone-mania/2008/07/23/1216492515085.html
Group threatens Olympic terror
A Uighur Islamic separatist group has taken credit for a deadly bus bombing in Shanghai in May and warned of new attacks in China during the Olympics, a group monitoring threats by extremists on the internet said today.
In a video statement, Commander Seyfullah of the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed credit for several attacks.
They include the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing which killed three; another Shanghai attack; an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractor; a bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on July 17; and bombings of three buses in Yunnan province on July 21.
Three people were killed by the explosion on the crowded bus in Shanghai on May 5, police and witnesses said.
The morning traffic rush hour attack in northwest Shanghai also left 12 people injured.
At the time, authorities attributed the blast to flammable materials carried by a passenger.
But Seyfullah said the blast was the work of his group and warned of more explosions to come.
"Through this blessed jihad in Yunnan this time, the Turkestan Islamic Party warns China one more time,'' Seyfullah says in the video dated July 23, according to a transcript from the Washington-based Intel Centre.
"Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics. We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely, using the tactics that have never been employed.''.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/beijing2008/group-threatens-olympic-terror/2008/07/26/1216492786185.html
AFP accused of secrecy over Haneef
July 26, 2008 - 2:53PM
The case against Mohamed Haneef collapsed for lack of evidence.
Photo: Namas Bhojani
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has been accused of denying Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef a lawyer and the chance to protest his innocence before a magistrate when he was arrested last year.
The Indian doctor's legal team, Maurice Blackburn lawyers, also say the AFP could have broken the law by failing to provide five records of interviews taken with him to his lawyers.
Partner Rod Hodgson said the transcripts were released to him about two weeks ago with a letter from AFP chief Counsel James Watson bringing the total number of transcripts to seven from the presumed two.
Dr Haneef was arrested at Brisbane International Airport as he boarded a plane for Bangalore on July 2, 2007, after police linked his mobile phone SIM card to botched terror attacks in Britain.
The Gold Coast-based doctor was returning to India to visit his wife and newborn baby girl, who was ill.
He was held for 12 days before he was charged with supporting a terrorist organisation.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/afp-accused-of-secrecy-over-haneef/2008/07/26/1216492781306.html
Iran planning mass execution
July 26, 2008 - 4:28PM
Iran is planning a mass execution of 30 people convicted of murder and drug trafficking, a press report said today.
"Thirty people convicted of murder, drug trafficking, illegal relationships... will be executed on Sunday at dawn," the Aftab newspaper quoted Tehran's prosecutor office as saying.
It would the largest mass execution in the Islamic republic in recent years.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty, but Tehran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process.
Iran has hanged at least 126 people so far this year, according to an AFP count.
Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people during the year.
Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/iran-planning-mass-execution/2008/07/26/1216492795418.html
Roped together family plunge to deaths
July 25, 2008 - 11:17AM
A Dutch woman watched her husband and three children fall to their deaths today while climbing near Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, Italian rescuers said.
The 56-year-old man, who was roped to his son and two daughters, plunged 500 metres down a slope of rock, ice and snow as their mother watched from below, said Oscar Tajola, head of the mountain rescue corps in the nearby town of Courmayeur.
"We had to take her to hospital because she was in shock," Tajola said by telephone. "We think one of them slipped and pulled the others down."
The woman, 50, was later released from hospital and identified the bodies of her husband and her children, aged 17 to 23, police in the ski-resort town said.
The family was climbing 3,800-metre Mont Dolent, which is part of the Mont Blanc massif. The 4,810-metre Mont Blanc straddles Italy and France and attracts hundreds of climbers a year. Dozens of them die on the massif each year.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/roped-together-family-fall-to-deaths/2008/07/25/1216492696502.html
Retailers told: pass on full petrol price fall
Jonathan Dart
July 26, 2008
PETROL should be almost four cents cheaper this weekend but motorists are still being ripped off, the federal petrol commissioner has warned.
Regional oil prices have fallen by almost 12 per cent since they exceeded $US150 a barrel a fortnight ago.
Average prices at the terminal gate, where retailers pay for petrol, have dropped by 11.1 cents a litre since July 14 in Sydney, but consumers only saw an average drop of 3.7 cents.
There has been little joy for the petrol commissioner, Patrick Walker, since he was appointed to his role on February 16. The average price of unleaded petrol in Sydney has risen by 24 per cent in that time, settling at about 161 cents a litre yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/petrol-savings-not-passed-on/2008/07/25/1216492732896.html
X marks the dud
2008-07-23 21:52:16
Mulder and Scully make sad return, kung fu is king & marriage kills you.(04:18)
http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=39846
A long dark knight of Batman
2008-07-15 13:52:50
Batman's deep Dark Knight is bigger, and longer than even an Olympic Salute.(04:00)
http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=39846
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