The man behind the discovery of the vicious Stuxnet malware that targeting the Iranian nuclear power system warns that we remain “asleep” at the switch when it comes to protecting ourselves against the growing danger from the cyberweapon. The computer establishment has “failed to identify and address the threat of…
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The people exercising the greatest influence over the UK’s reading habits – right now Christine Oliver
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Dylan Lawson – X Factor Auditions X factor auditions Austin Simmons – X Factor STylerML says: I liked a @ YouTube video http://t.co/RQ2BSCRK Dylan Lawson – X Factor Auditions
Continue reading …“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” wasn’t cold in its grave before Obama administration lawyers were in court opposing giving full severance pay to service members honorably discharged under the policy. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case on behalf of 142 people discharged under the policy since 2005, reports the…
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JayceeNews says: Jaycee Dugard files federal complaint for Garrido parole failures: Complaint comes after two denials fro… http://t.co/vDy7unDc # jaycee
Continue reading …In a twist that many soap opera writers would probably reject for being too unrealistic, a Brazilian hit man faked his victim’s death after falling in love with her. The man, hired by a housewife to kill a woman she believed was having an affair with her husband, confessed the…
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Coroner gives first spontaneous combustion verdict in 25-year career after man found dead in unexplained circumstances An Irish pensioner found burnt to death at his home died from spontaneous human combustion, an inquest has concluded. The West Galway coroner, Kieran McLoughlin, said there was no other adequate explanation for the death of 76-year-old Michael Faherty, also known as Micheal O Fatharta. He said it was the first time in his 25 years as a coroner that he had returned such a verdict. An Irish police crime scene investigator and a senior fire officer told the inquest in Galway that they could not explain how Faherty burned to death. Both said they had not come across such a set of circumstances before. The assistant chief fire officer, Gerry O’Malley, said fire officers were satisfied that an open fire in Faherty’s fireplace had not been the cause of the blaze. No trace of an accelerant was found at the scene, and there was no sign that anyone else had entered or left the house in Ballybane, Galway city. The inquest heard that asmoke alarm in the home of Faherty’s neighbour Tom Mannion had gone off at about 3am on 22 December last year. Mannion said he went outside and saw heavy smoke coming from Faherty’s house. He banged on the front door but got no response, and then banged on the door of another neighbour. Gardai and the fire brigade arrived quickly at the scene. Garda Gerard O’Callaghan said he went to the house after the fire had been extinguished and found Faherty lying on his back in a sitting room, with his head closest to the fireplace. The rest of the house had sustained only smoke damage. O’Callaghan told the coroner that the only damage was to Faherty’s remains, the floor underneath him and the ceiling above. . The inquest heard that fire officers had been unable to determine the cause or the origin of the fire. The state pathologist, Prof Grace Callagy, noted in her post-mortem findings that Faherty had Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, but concluded he had not died from heart failure. His body had been extensively burned and, because of the extensive damage to the organs, it was not possible to determine the cause of death. McLoughlin said: “This fire was thoroughly investigated and I’m left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation.” Ireland Europe Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Coroner gives first spontaneous combustion verdict in 25-year career after man found dead in unexplained circumstances An Irish pensioner found burnt to death at his home died from spontaneous human combustion, an inquest has concluded. The West Galway coroner, Kieran McLoughlin, said there was no other adequate explanation for the death of 76-year-old Michael Faherty, also known as Micheal O Fatharta. He said it was the first time in his 25 years as a coroner that he had returned such a verdict. An Irish police crime scene investigator and a senior fire officer told the inquest in Galway that they could not explain how Faherty burned to death. Both said they had not come across such a set of circumstances before. The assistant chief fire officer, Gerry O’Malley, said fire officers were satisfied that an open fire in Faherty’s fireplace had not been the cause of the blaze. No trace of an accelerant was found at the scene, and there was no sign that anyone else had entered or left the house in Ballybane, Galway city. The inquest heard that asmoke alarm in the home of Faherty’s neighbour Tom Mannion had gone off at about 3am on 22 December last year. Mannion said he went outside and saw heavy smoke coming from Faherty’s house. He banged on the front door but got no response, and then banged on the door of another neighbour. Gardai and the fire brigade arrived quickly at the scene. Garda Gerard O’Callaghan said he went to the house after the fire had been extinguished and found Faherty lying on his back in a sitting room, with his head closest to the fireplace. The rest of the house had sustained only smoke damage. O’Callaghan told the coroner that the only damage was to Faherty’s remains, the floor underneath him and the ceiling above. . The inquest heard that fire officers had been unable to determine the cause or the origin of the fire. The state pathologist, Prof Grace Callagy, noted in her post-mortem findings that Faherty had Type 2 diabetes and hypertension, but concluded he had not died from heart failure. His body had been extensively burned and, because of the extensive damage to the organs, it was not possible to determine the cause of death. McLoughlin said: “This fire was thoroughly investigated and I’m left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation.” Ireland Europe Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
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Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini describes Knox team’s criticism of Italy’s national police forensic service and its findings as slander The Italian prosecutor who put Amanda Knox in jail has accused her and her lawyers of using the same tactics as the Nazis and asked the court that will decide her appeal not to be swayed by a campaign designed to discredit Italian justice. In an emotional closing address on Friday, during which he also showed the jurors grisly crime scene footage of the dead British student, Meredith Kercher, the prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, described criticism by Knox’s defence of Italy’s national police forensic service and its findings as slander. But then, he added, slander had played an important role in the case. Knox, he said, had slandered the police and her employer, Patrick Lumumba. After she was arrested for Kercher’s murder four years ago, the American student claimed she was slapped by police during her interrogation and made a statement, which she later withdrew, naming the Congolese bar owner Lumumba as the murderer. “Slander, slander and some of it will stick,” declared Mignini. “It’s what the noted propaganda minister of the Nazis used to say in the 1930s.” Earlier, he told the court: “Our judicial system has been subjected to a systematic denigration by a well-organised operation of a journalistic and political nature.” Knox is appealing against a 26-year sentence. Her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, the son of an Italian doctor, is also challenging his 25-year sentence. Their convictions have been widely questioned in the US media. But, in court, the biggest setback for the prosecution came in June when two court-appointed Italian experts made scathing criticisms of the crucial forensic evidence used to convict the two alleged killers. Kercher was found stabbed to death four years ago at the age of 21 in the flat she shared with Knox while they were both studying at Perugia’s university for foreigners. A third man, Rudy Guede, a small-time drugs peddler from the Ivory Coast, has also been convicted of the murder, which the lower court decided arose from a four-way sex game resisted by Kercher. The national sensitivities that have always lurked below the surface of this tangled affair had also surfaced earlier when Giancarlo Costagliola, the associate chief prosecutor of Perugia, said he and his colleagues were victims of an “obsessive” media campaign helped by American ignorance of the Italian justice system. With Knox’s mother, father and stepfather sitting just a few feet away, he said the outcry over the alleged failings in the case against her “makes everyone feel like the parents of Amanda Knox”. Looking at the two judges and six jurors (technically lay judges), he went on: “We hope, in deciding, you will feel a little like Meredith Kercher’s parents.” The Leeds university student was, he said, someone who was “clever, serious and very tied to her family and whom these kids from rich families prevented from living”. Knox had entered the court for the start of the prosecution summing-up looking tense and serious, her face notably pallid. Amanda Knox United States Meredith Kercher Europe Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini describes Knox team’s criticism of Italy’s national police forensic service and its findings as slander The Italian prosecutor who put Amanda Knox in jail has accused her and her lawyers of using the same tactics as the Nazis and asked the court that will decide her appeal not to be swayed by a campaign designed to discredit Italian justice. In an emotional closing address on Friday, during which he also showed the jurors grisly crime scene footage of the dead British student, Meredith Kercher, the prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, described criticism by Knox’s defence of Italy’s national police forensic service and its findings as slander. But then, he added, slander had played an important role in the case. Knox, he said, had slandered the police and her employer, Patrick Lumumba. After she was arrested for Kercher’s murder four years ago, the American student claimed she was slapped by police during her interrogation and made a statement, which she later withdrew, naming the Congolese bar owner Lumumba as the murderer. “Slander, slander and some of it will stick,” declared Mignini. “It’s what the noted propaganda minister of the Nazis used to say in the 1930s.” Earlier, he told the court: “Our judicial system has been subjected to a systematic denigration by a well-organised operation of a journalistic and political nature.” Knox is appealing against a 26-year sentence. Her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, the son of an Italian doctor, is also challenging his 25-year sentence. Their convictions have been widely questioned in the US media. But, in court, the biggest setback for the prosecution came in June when two court-appointed Italian experts made scathing criticisms of the crucial forensic evidence used to convict the two alleged killers. Kercher was found stabbed to death four years ago at the age of 21 in the flat she shared with Knox while they were both studying at Perugia’s university for foreigners. A third man, Rudy Guede, a small-time drugs peddler from the Ivory Coast, has also been convicted of the murder, which the lower court decided arose from a four-way sex game resisted by Kercher. The national sensitivities that have always lurked below the surface of this tangled affair had also surfaced earlier when Giancarlo Costagliola, the associate chief prosecutor of Perugia, said he and his colleagues were victims of an “obsessive” media campaign helped by American ignorance of the Italian justice system. With Knox’s mother, father and stepfather sitting just a few feet away, he said the outcry over the alleged failings in the case against her “makes everyone feel like the parents of Amanda Knox”. Looking at the two judges and six jurors (technically lay judges), he went on: “We hope, in deciding, you will feel a little like Meredith Kercher’s parents.” The Leeds university student was, he said, someone who was “clever, serious and very tied to her family and whom these kids from rich families prevented from living”. Knox had entered the court for the start of the prosecution summing-up looking tense and serious, her face notably pallid. Amanda Knox United States Meredith Kercher Europe Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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