Beware, bargain hunter: Groupon is looking over your shoulder. The daily deals site announced yesterday that it will collect and share more information about its users, in a move sure to attract the attention of federal regulators and privacy advocates. Also announced in the privacy policy changes: Groupon will market…
Continue reading …
Around 70 people are still to sign, said the local authority that has been embroiled in bitter dispute A council embroiled in a bitter dispute over pay and conditions, which has sparked a series of strikes, has said that virtually all of its staff had signed new terms. Conservative-controlled Southampton City Council said it was pleased to announce that more than 98% of its employees have agreed to new pay, terms and conditions which came into effect on Monday. “Meanwhile the council is actively seeking new talks with trade unions in an attempt to end industrial action. Trade unions have indicated that they would be prepared to negotiate and we are confident that by working together we can end this dispute, get the best deal for staff and get back to work providing excellent services for our residents. “The council will do all it can to collect as many bins in the city as possible this week, with up to 10 trucks collecting rounds,” the authority said in a statement. Hundreds of council staff have taken industrial action in the past six weeks, including refuse collectors and social workers. Port health officers joined the industrial action today, while Unison and Unite are planning a protest in the city on Wednesday to co-incide with a meeting of the full council. Unison today accused the council of forcing workers to accept a pay cut, while telling the government it expected to put more than £4 million into its reserves. General secretary Dave Prentis said: “The council has painted a bleak picture to employees, at the same time as giving the government figures showing they expect the reserves to rocket. “Pay cuts and job losses will pile misery on to thousands of council workers and their families, at a time of rising inflation. It is clear that these punitive measures are just not necessary. “We are calling for the council to publish the 2010/11 financial report immediately and put a stop to these savage cuts.” Unite claimed the council had drawn up plans to sack a quarter of its 4,300-strong workforce over the next three years. The union said it had seen a “devastating” report setting out the authority’s budget and spending priorities until 2015, including setting aside £5 million a year from 2012 to 2014 for redundancies. Local government Public sector cuts Public sector pay guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A struggling actor stuck waiting tables managed to make an appearance at the Ed Sullivan Theater—and was arrested for his trouble. Police say James Whittemore, 22, kicked through a glass door at the home of the Late Show with David Letterman yesterday morning, after a night of drinking, and…
Continue reading …Nine people are dead with more than 90 still missing after an overpacked cruise ship sank on the Volga River in Russia. The Bulgaria was carrying between 185 and 196 people—far more than the 120 it was licensed to hold, the AP reports. The cause of the sinking remains…
Continue reading …
Killing of Osama bin Laden and other encouraging world events make Mumbai-style attack less likely, say officials A judgment by MI5 and the police that a Mumbai-style attack in the UK is now less likely led to a reduction on Monday of the terrorist threat from “severe” to “substantial”, Whitehall sources have told the Guardian. Other factors that led to the decision include the arrest of terrorist suspects in December in Cardiff, Stoke and London, a view that al-Qaida’s leadership is “struggling” after the death of Osama bin Laden, and the killing by Somali government forces of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed , the al-Qaida leader who masterminded the attacks on US embassies in east Africa in 1998. The decision was taken by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (Jtac), comprising officials from MI6, MI5 and the police. It acts independently of ministers. The threat level was increased to severe in January 2010 after the failed attempt by the so-called “underpants” bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to bring down a Detroit-bound passenger aircraft. Last year MI5 was pursuing leads about a possible Mumbai-style attack in the UK. That threat has now dissipated, officials believe. The threat level from Northern Ireland-related terrorism remains at severe in Northern Ireland and substantial in Great Britain. The change in the official threat assessment – first made public in 2006 – means that an attack in Britain is no longer classified as “highly likely” but is instead regarded as “a strong possibility”. Theresa May, the home secretary, said: “The change in the threat level to substantial does not mean the overall threat has gone away – there remains a real and serious threat against the United Kingdom.” The threat assessment by Jtac is based on the latest intelligence, including capability, intent and timescale. The threat level was last at critical in June 2007, following an attack at Glasgow airport and failed car bombings in central London. The change came as Home Office lawyers appealed to the high court to uphold a control order imposed on a terror suspect known as “CD” which bans him from travelling to London. The security services have identified CD as a father of two with joint Nigerian-British nationality who is the leading figure in a “close group of Islamic extremists based in north London”. They claim he trained alongside the 7 July bombers in 2004 and underwent further training in Syria, for three years where he began planning an attack in the UK. The high court is being asked to quash the use of the control order’s “relocation” powers, which ban him from travelling to London. The Home Office justified the continued use of these “internal exile” restrictions on the grounds that he and his associates intend to carry out an attack on targets “most likely in London”. The relocation power has been dropped from the government’s replacement for control orders now before parliament. CD denies the allegations against him. His lawyers say the security assessments are flawed and there is insufficient evidence to justify the control order. They say the distress being caused to him and his family is “disproportionate”. Corinna Ferguson, legal officer for Liberty, said that clear allegations that someone had been training for terrorism, attempting to procure arms and meeting with co-conspirators to plan atrocities should lead to their being charged and tried. “Shuffling him between addresses around the country provides neither certainty for his family nor safety to the public,” she said. UK security and terrorism 7 July London attacks London MI5 Police India Mumbai terror attacks al-Qaida MI6 Global terrorism Terrorism policy Richard Norton-Taylor Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Not only has the US economy been “stuck in a rut,” but now a “destructive passivity has overtaken our discourse,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . The common wisdom today is that there is nothing the government can do in the short run to help the economy, so…
Continue reading …A Riverside County politician is so sick of the “left wing” state “ripping off” his wealthy constituents that he wants “South California” to become the nation’s 51st state. Local Republican Supervisor Jeff Stone envisions a new state of 13 counties to escape the “ungovernable” financial catastrophe threatening to destroy California….
Continue reading …
Senior source inside hacker collective seeks to embarrass Metropolitan police and judges with ‘explosive’ revelations Figures at the top of hackers’ collective Anonymous are threatening to attack the Metropolitan police’s computer systems and those controlled by the UK judicial system, warning that Tuesday will be “the biggest day in Anonymous’s history”. The collective is understood to be seeking to express anger over News International’s phone hacking and at the threatened extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A Twitter feed purporting to belong to Sabu, a senior figure within the group and the founder of the spin-off group LulzSec, which hacked a site linked to the CIA and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, promised two releases of information would be launched within a day. “Everyone brace,” he tweeted . “This will be literally explosive.” A follow-up message read: “ATTN Intelligence community: Your contractors have failed you. Tomorrow is the beginning.” The account, @anonymouSabu, has not been verified as belonging to Sabu – but it has over 7,700 followers and has been referenced by the “official” Anonymous @anon_central account on Twitter. Sources close to the collective were unusually close-lipped about the targets of tomorrow’s hack, but talk within chat channels has suggested several top-level members of Anonymous are eager to launch attacks based around Julian Assange’s appeal hearing against extradition, which begins on Tuesday. Others are also believed to have proposed targeting the Met in retaliation for alleged payments to police officers by News of the World reporters, and the general response to the phone hacking scandal. Other speculation centres around material claimed to have been obtained last week from contractors relating to security and secrecy of “former world leaders”, or plans to target a senior leaders’ retreat at Bohemian Grove, California. As is typical in the chaotic and occasionally paranoid Anonymous community, other sources close to the collective are warning some prominent members are probably engaging in “disinformation campaigns” ahead of any action. Communication problems around the planned releases were compounded as the main chat channel used by Anonymous was offline for much of Monday, leaving even those close to senior members of the collective unable to verify rumours ahead of the release. Rumours on Friday suggested that one Anonymous member had broken into the News International servers and taken copies of some internal emails which were being offered for sale or even ransom. However this could not be confirmed, and the Guardian has not seen any evidence that the claimed email stash is legitimate, although News International’s site is understood to have been “probed” by members of Anonymous at the end of last week. Last Wednesday, two days after the Dowler revelations, a listing of emails of NoW staff appeared on Pastebin , a favourite site for posting the results – or beginnings – of attacks against all sorts of sites by Anonymous and other hacker groups. One source told the Guardian that News International’s server had been probed for up to 30 minutes at a time last week by hackers using “proxy chaining” – a method of logging in via a number of remote computers – to disguise their identity. “Everyone thinks Interpol will get involved at some point,” the source said. The hackers’ anger at the company was ignited by the revelation last week that a private detective acting for NoW had listened into voicemails on the phone of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, which may have interfered with the police investigation to find her. Anonymous has previously attacked PayPal and Visa over their refusal, following orders from the US government, to process donations for WikiLeaks. It has also carried out online attacks against the Church of Scientology over what is seen as suppression of information. Hacking Anonymous Police Phone hacking Julian Assange WikiLeaks James Ball Charles Arthur guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The FBI believes the murder of a missing high school student is linked to a child pornography operation, sources have told ABC News . Investigators are seeking Facebook conversations and emails between North Carolina 16-year-old Phylicia Barnes , and four Baltimore men, according to court documents. Investigators have “reason to believe” the…
Continue reading …
Youngsters aged 8-12 are killed when truck bringing them home from a soccer tournament overturns into canal A cargo truck packed with schoolchildren returning home from a football tournament crashed into a canal in south-east Bangladesh, killing at least 42 people. About 60 children aged from eight to 12 were on board. The death toll may rise as more bodies are feared to be trapped inside the sunken vehicle. Rescuers recovered 42 bodies from the wreckage in Chittagong district, 136 miles (216km) south-east of the capital, Dhaka. It was not clear if the driver was among the dead. Troops joined the rescue teams, and doctors from nearby towns were deployed to help treat the survivors. “According to several witnesses the boys were singing and dancing on board the truck,” said a police spokesman. “The truck skidded off the muddy road and turned [over] as it plunged into the canal.” Angry residents vandalised some vehicles nearby, complaining that the rescuers were late to reach the scene. In Bangladesh it is common practice to hire cargo trucks to carry large groups during festivals or celebrations. Bangladesh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …