Hospitals and primary care trusts alerted to security breach, but no patient’s medical records accessed during incident The NHS has been warned to beware of computer hackers after it was targeted by the same group that conducted cyber assaults on Sony and Nintendo. Hospital trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) across England have been alerted to the security breach by Connecting for Health, the Department of Health’s IT branch, after one PCT was hacked. The perpetrators were self-styled international “pirate-ninja” hackers LulzSec, who describe themselves as “the world’s leaders in high-quality entertainment at your expense”. They gained attention recently when they penetrated the security of entertainment corporations. No patient’s medical records were accessed during the incident, the department stressed. It described it as “a local issue” and “quite a low-level” lapse in IT security which only affected part of the website of an unnamed NHS organisation – one of England’s 150 or so PCTs. “This is a local issue affecting a very small number of website administrators. No patient information has been compromised. No national NHS information systems have been affected. The Department has issued guidance about how to protect and secure all information assets,” a departmental spokeswoman said. “We are confident that there was no damage done and no harm done in terms of patient information or anything else.” The breach was uncovered by the magazine Health Service Journal. LulzSecclaimed to have obtained the passwords “months ago”. Earlier this month, LulzSec hacked in to the website of Sony Pictures Entertainment and exposed information from 37,000 users, including names, passwords, birthdates and email addresses. It also hacked into a webserver belonging to Nintendo in the US. The group claims it contacted the NHS on Wednesday to alert them to its breach of IT security. A version of LulzSec’s message with details of the passwords blanked out, and posted on Twitter, said that it said: “Greetings… we’re a somewhat known band of pirate-ninjas that go by LulzSec. Some time ago, we were traversing the internet for signs of enemy fleets. While you aren’t considered an enemy – your work is of course brilliant – we did stumble upon several of your admin passwords. We mean you no harm and only want to help you fix your tech issues.” In other tweets it added that “we never planned to exploit those passwords. We sit on admin passwords for many things” and that they “Blacked out some important areas until they fix the problem.” NHS Health Hacking Data and computer security Data protection Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Diane Sawyer has snagged the first interview with Jaycee Dugard, the AP reports. The kidnapping victim, whose captors were recently sentenced , is expected to talk about her ordeal, her family reunion, and her upcoming memoir. A Stolen Life will be released July 12, and though ABC News did not give…
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Foreign secretary says ‘elected presidents are for countries, and the EU is not a country and never will be’ Foreign secretary William Hague has dismissed Tony Blair’s vision for an elected head of the European Union by insisting that member states have more pressing priorities than further “constitutional tinkering”. Hague made clear his view after Blair argued that a directly elected president of Europe, representing almost 400m people from 27 countries, would give the EU clear leadership and enormous authority. In an interview with the Times, Blair set out the agenda that he thought a directly elected EU president should pursue, although he conceded there was “no chance” of such a post being created “at the present time”. Asked about the former prime minister’s call for further European integration and the creation of an elected president, Hague suggested that Blair may have been thinking of the role for himself. “I can’t think who he had in mind,” Hague joked. Speaking at a Lancaster House press conference following talks with his South African counterpart, Hague added: “Elected presidents are for countries. The EU is not a country and it’s not going to become a country, in my view, now or ever in the future. It is a group of countries working together. “So the appropriate solution is not an elected president for a group of countries, it’s for those countries each to promote economic growth in their countries, to bring their deficits under control. They are the immediate priorities for Europe, rather than further constitutional tinkering or change.” Blair, speaking to the Times to mark the publication of the his autobiography, A Journey, in paperback, warned that Europe should be ready to unify to avoid losing out to the economic and military power of China and other booming economies, such as Brazil and India. “We won’t have the weight and influence a country like Britain needs unless we’re part of that European power as well,” Blair said. “Europe has got a fantastic opportunity, but only if it’s prepared to reform and change radically in the way it works.” He said the process of holding an election would give Europeans a greater affinity with the EU and would also change citizens’ beliefs that unity was only about sustaining peace in Europe. Blair said: “For Europe, the crucial thing is to understand that the only way you will get support today is not on the basis of a sort of postwar view that the EU is necessary for peace. For my children’s generation, that is just a bizarre argument. “They don’t see that as a real threat, that European nations will go to war with each other. But they can understand that in a world in which China is going to become the dominant power of the 21st century, it is sensible for Europe to combine together, to use its collective weight in order to achieve influence. And the rationale for Europe today, therefore, is about power, not peace.” He set out five areas in which the EU should become closer: tax policy and “the social model”; completion of the single market; and in forging a common energy policy; a common defence policy; and a common immigration and organised crime policy. Tony Blair William Hague European Union Europe Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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IAEA vote rules against Syria for failure to co-operate with inquiry into suspected nuclear project at Dair Alzour site The UN’s nuclear watchdog has referred Syria to the security council for failure to co-operate with an enquiry into its suspected covert nuclear weapons programme. The decision, by a 17-6 vote at the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), increases Syria’s isolation. It reflects a formal judgment that it is not in compliance with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) after an IAEA report found that a site known as Dair Alzour, bombed by Israel in 2007, was “very likely a nuclear reactor” for producing plutonium, which Syria should have declared. However, the security council referral is unlikely to lead to sanctions in the near future. The council is not required to act, and both Russia and China have signalled that they would oppose punitive measures. Both powers voted against Syria’s referral, which had been proposed by the US and 12 allies at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna. Russia described the resolution as “untimely and not objective”, and complained that its suggestions for changes to its resolution had been ignored. The Russian ambassador to the IAEA, Grigory Berdennikov, said that there may have been some Syrian wrongdoing, but that Dair Alzour no longer posed a threat to international security. China agreed that the matter could be dealt with within the IAEA. The resolution against Syria passed by a majority of 17 to six, with 11 abstentions and one absentee. The political split on the board will be a troubling for a UN body which has generally sought consensus. Syria has insisted that the building in Dair Alzour was a non-nuclear military installation. But an initial IAEA inspection of the site in June 2008, nine months after it was bombed by Israeli warplanes, found traces of uranium and graphite. The IAEA report presented to the board this week said that Syria did not provide an adequate explanation for their presence, nor did the government in Damascus give permission for further inspections. Satellite photographs of the site showed extensive efforts to destroy evidence, removing wrecked equipment and burying the ruins of the building in soil. The inspectors judged that the Dair Alzour building closely resembled a type of gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor used by the North Koreans to produce plutonium for their nuclear weapons. Syria United Nations Nuclear weapons Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) Russia China Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
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US singles out Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Poland as big Nato countries that are not doing their share Britain, France and the other six countries engaged in the Libya bombing campaign will struggle to keep up the intensive attacks on Colonel Gaddafi without other countries joining in, the Nato alliance has been told. “Those who are bearing the brunt of the strike burden are increasingly pressed,” said Robert Gates, the US defence secretary. “I think they’ll be able to sustain it. But the question is just how much more painful it becomes, if other countries that have the capabilities don’t step up.” With the Nato-commanded air strikes on Libya to be prolonged by 90 days from the end of this month, only eight of its 28 member states are involved in the campaign, which has reached a peak in tempo and intensity this week. France and Britain are doing most of the attacks, while Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Canada are also heavily involved. The Americans are supplying the intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance air capacity as well as most of the air-to-air refuelling. At a closed meeting of Nato defence ministers on Wednesday, Gates singled out the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey for refusing to take part in the attacks on ground targets. He also voiced his exasperation with Germany and Poland who have refused to commit to any aspects of the Libyan operations. “To the degree that specific countries were named, it was because they’re the big countries that have actual military capacity,” Gates added. Liam Fox, the UK secretary of defence, amplified the criticism. “We will await their responses to what were uncompromising and crystal-clear messages,” he said. “We need to show Colonel Gaddafi that not only is there no lack of resolve, but also that there is no lack of capacity.” Nato planners are worried that the pace of the bombing campaign is taking its toll on the limited number of air crews involved. According to sources, James Stavridis, the US admiral and Nato supreme commander, told the meeting: “Sustainment is the key factor. We need to broaden the burden of resources among more nations.” Nato members have decided to extend the bombing campaign by three months from 27 June, raising questions about longer-term military capacity. “It’s in the next 90 days, that’s when there’s going to be problems,” said an official. Germany, which was strongly opposed to intervention in Libya and abstained in the UN security council vote authorising the air strikes, brushed aside the Anglo-American criticism. Thomas de Maiziere, the German defence minister, said Berlin had decided not to get involved. “That’s the way it will stay.” But he added that if the UN were to mandate an international force in a post-Gaddafi Libya, he would “constructively examine” the potential for dispatching German troops. Gates, who was an early sceptic about the Libya campaign and disagreed with President Barack Obama’s decision to intervene, stressed Washington’s determination. “There will be more assets. The United States is committed to this. We’re in this thing with our allies to the finish.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Muammar Gaddafi Nato US military Foreign policy Liam Fox Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk
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MP for North West Leicestershire, 46, released on bail after arrest on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 29-year-old woman Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting of a 29-year-old woman. The 46-year-old newly-elected MP was arrested at an address in central London in the early hours of Thursday. It is understood the woman was an employee on the parliamentary estate, but not in Bridgen’s office. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: “A 46-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault against a 29-year-old woman at an address in SW1 in the early hours of Thursday 9 June. The man has been bailed to return on a date in mid-July.” Bridgen – who is regarded as being on the right of the Conservative party – won the North West Leicestershire seat with a 12% swing from Labour at the 2010 election. A key marginal, it had been held by Labour since 1997. In 2010 there was also a sizeable Liberal Democrat vote. Bridgen has been a low-profile MP since he won the seat in May. He is a member of the regulatory reform committee and holds no other official posts in parliament. His most high-profile intervention came on Tuesday when he defended the Conservatives’ NHS reforms, saying: ‘If we fail to go through with these reforms, we are caving in to Stalinist protectionist elements.” On Tuesday he joined Twitter , where news of his arrest emerged. On his parliamentary website he lists business and enterprise, civil liberties, law and order and the armed forces as his interests. Bridgen is a married father of two. He trained as a Royal Marines officer before returning to his family’s successful agricultural business, which sells pre-washed vegetables. He is currently the non-executive chairman of his own company, AB Produce plc. He was previously the east Midlands chairman of the Institute of Directors, and served on the East Midlands Regional Assembly as a business representative. A spokesman for the Conservative party said: “This is a matter for the police.” Conservatives Crime Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …How do you soothe an angry shark? You can rock him to near-submission with heavy metal. That’s what one Australian charter boat operator has discovered after witnessing sharks blissfully rubbing their snouts against caged underwater speakers belting out the sounds. “I guess the visual people expect is that of a…
Continue reading …The 13-year cicadas are out in Missouri but an ice cream parlor’s attempt to turn the bugs into a seasonal treat has been thwarted. Health officials descended on Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream after its first batch of cicada ice cream sold out and told them not to make any more,…
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A bumper crop of cabaret acts will take to the stage this year in the largest Edinburgh festival fringe ever announced The comedians, actors and street performers who dominate the Edinburgh fringe have a brash new competitor: cabaret shows featuring feminist burlesque, ukeleles, acrobats and mind-reading psychics. As the world’s largest arts festival gets even bigger – even though the number of venues is reduced – the fringe has opted to give cabaret its own space in the programme for the first time. The 65 cabaret events will feature a damsel slaying “inner dragons”, a rabbit-hating magician, nostalgic celebrations of jazz, swing and Judy Garland, a DJ playing “disco bingo” and somewhat saucier revues, many of which will carry an adults-only warning. But they will be competing for audiences with attractions such as a John Malkovich-directed celebration of playwright Harold Pinter (featuring Julian Sands), and the Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, who will appear at the Traverse theatre . There will also be shows by Diana Quick and Art Malik , and established comedians Sarah Millican , Al Murray , Mark Thomas and Phill Jupitus .The British Council has funded new shows from Brazil and South Korea, while the “international sex symbol” Paul Daniels will present a show with the lovely Debbie McGee. The actor and director Steven Berkoff, meanwhile, directs an acclaimed reinterpretation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus , with an ensemble cast. The fringe has again broken its own record for the number of shows, with a near 4% increase in the overall number of shows to hit 2,542, with more than 21,000 performers expected to perform more than 41,000 shows, including more than 930 comedy shows and 760 theatre productions. Audiences will, for the first time, be able to buy tickets using smartphone apps from early August. Kath Mainland, the fringe’s chief executive, said she was delighted with the scale of this year’s event. A recent economic impact report found the fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, was worth £141m to Edinburgh and the Scottish economy. “The fringe, over its 65-year history, has matured into an enormous, enormously important, world-class festival and arts market,” she said. The rise in cabaret “mirrors the fact that cabaret across the world is something of an art form in itself, is good and high quality, and not just a second cousin. We’ve been wanting to give cabaret its own space on the fringe for a number of years.” Despite the record number of shows, up from 2088 in 2008, there is growing criticism of the shrinking number of venues in Edinburgh and the increasing concentration of events around the Royal Mile and several sprawling sites south of the Old Town, dominated by the large venues. Tommy Sheppard, owner of the Stand Comedy club, said that the Fringe Society (the event’s governing body) and the city council needed to find more venues in other neighbourhoods. “The concentration of venues in one small part of the city is bad for the city and it’s also bad for visitors, because they get squeezed into one small [area] and don’t leave it.” Pip Utton, deputy chair of the Fringe Society, said these large sites at Bristo Square, George Square and the Royal Mile added to the intensity of the event, and that many venues in other areas were only a few hundred metres walk away. “I can understand the misgivings [but] it’s difficult to avoid the intensity; it’s just the nature of the beast. That energy is driven quite often by the performers and the visitors,” he said. • Tickets for the Edinburgh festival fringe 2011 go on sale on Friday 10 June at edfringe.com . Edinburgh festival Comedy Circus Burlesque Theatre Festivals Edinburgh Edinburgh Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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A bumper crop of cabaret acts will take to the stage this year in the largest Edinburgh festival fringe ever announced The comedians, actors and street performers who dominate the Edinburgh fringe have a brash new competitor: cabaret shows featuring feminist burlesque, ukeleles, acrobats and mind-reading psychics. As the world’s largest arts festival gets even bigger – even though the number of venues is reduced – the fringe has opted to give cabaret its own space in the programme for the first time. The 65 cabaret events will feature a damsel slaying “inner dragons”, a rabbit-hating magician, nostalgic celebrations of jazz, swing and Judy Garland, a DJ playing “disco bingo” and somewhat saucier revues, many of which will carry an adults-only warning. But they will be competing for audiences with attractions such as a John Malkovich-directed celebration of playwright Harold Pinter (featuring Julian Sands), and the Soft Cell singer Marc Almond, who will appear at the Traverse theatre . There will also be shows by Diana Quick and Art Malik , and established comedians Sarah Millican , Al Murray , Mark Thomas and Phill Jupitus .The British Council has funded new shows from Brazil and South Korea, while the “international sex symbol” Paul Daniels will present a show with the lovely Debbie McGee. The actor and director Steven Berkoff, meanwhile, directs an acclaimed reinterpretation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus , with an ensemble cast. The fringe has again broken its own record for the number of shows, with a near 4% increase in the overall number of shows to hit 2,542, with more than 21,000 performers expected to perform more than 41,000 shows, including more than 930 comedy shows and 760 theatre productions. Audiences will, for the first time, be able to buy tickets using smartphone apps from early August. Kath Mainland, the fringe’s chief executive, said she was delighted with the scale of this year’s event. A recent economic impact report found the fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, was worth £141m to Edinburgh and the Scottish economy. “The fringe, over its 65-year history, has matured into an enormous, enormously important, world-class festival and arts market,” she said. The rise in cabaret “mirrors the fact that cabaret across the world is something of an art form in itself, is good and high quality, and not just a second cousin. We’ve been wanting to give cabaret its own space on the fringe for a number of years.” Despite the record number of shows, up from 2088 in 2008, there is growing criticism of the shrinking number of venues in Edinburgh and the increasing concentration of events around the Royal Mile and several sprawling sites south of the Old Town, dominated by the large venues. Tommy Sheppard, owner of the Stand Comedy club, said that the Fringe Society (the event’s governing body) and the city council needed to find more venues in other neighbourhoods. “The concentration of venues in one small part of the city is bad for the city and it’s also bad for visitors, because they get squeezed into one small [area] and don’t leave it.” Pip Utton, deputy chair of the Fringe Society, said these large sites at Bristo Square, George Square and the Royal Mile added to the intensity of the event, and that many venues in other areas were only a few hundred metres walk away. “I can understand the misgivings [but] it’s difficult to avoid the intensity; it’s just the nature of the beast. That energy is driven quite often by the performers and the visitors,” he said. • Tickets for the Edinburgh festival fringe 2011 go on sale on Friday 10 June at edfringe.com . Edinburgh festival Comedy Circus Burlesque Theatre Festivals Edinburgh Edinburgh Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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