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"LONDON - New regulations that took effect Wednesday require skilled foreign workers who extend their stay in Britain to obtain identity cards containing biometric data, including finger prints and photographs. The UK Border Agency rules are part of the extended rollout of a 2008 program that will require all foreign workers who plan to stay in Britain six months or longer to obtain an ID card by April 2011. The rules apply only to workers from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland. British officials say the ID cards for foreign workers will help combat illegal workers and illegal immigration and allow cardholders to establish their identity and immigration status, making it easier for them to access various benefits they are entitled to. The cards, in conjunction with workers' passports, can also be used to facilitate entry into Britain after trips abroad, officials said. Skilled workers are defined as those with a job sponsor who can establish their skills and earnings potential on a point-based system that also takes into account their English language ability."

"(1/4/10) FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - A new state law attempting to meet the requirements of the Federal Real ID Act instituted by Congress in 2005, now requires Floridians either getting a new license or renewing an expiring license to provide additional documentation to prove their identity before their new license can be issued. Even if a person uses the on-line renewal system or does so by mail, every renewing driver will have to bring at least four items to a local DHSMV/Driver's License office, proving their identity, address and Social Security Number. The DHSMV has set up a convenient website to help customers gather the necessary documents by creating a personalized list of items to bring with them to a driver's license office. Effective January 1, 2010, drivers are required to provide one of the following to establish their identity: a certified, state-issued birth certificate, a valid passport, a counselor report of birth abroad, a certificate of naturalization, or a certificate of citizenship. Expired or expiring driver's licenses/ID cards will not be accepted to prove one's identity. To prove their Social Security Number, they must provide one of the following items: a Social Security Card, a W-2 Form from their employer, a recent pay check, or a Form 1099. Additionally, drivers will have to show two documents to establish their home address, including (but not limited to): a recent mortgage bill or statement, a Florida voter registration card, Florida vehicle registration, a utility hook-up bill no more than 60 days old, a W-2 or 1099 form, recent bank statements,or even a current homeowner's insurance statement or bill. For those minors or dependents who do not have any of these items in their own name, a parent or guardian residing at the same address must accompany the driver and provide proof of their residence. For homeless persons, a letter from a homeless shelter or half-way house is only one of the documents allowed. Mail received from s

"The national identity card is linked to people's national insurance number, the government hasconfirmed. Home secretary Alan Johnson said NI numbers are one of several data items that are part of the national ID card database but not the passport database. Johnson was responding to a written question from shadow home secretary Chris Grayling. More than 2,400 had applied voluntarily for a card, he said. Johnson said the information in the UK passport database is "very similar" to that held on the National Identity Register. In addition to NI numbers the register also held fingerprint biometrics, which will be required for passport issue "in due course", he said. Johnson said the NI numbers help identity verification checks for identity cards, and in time, passports. The government admitted in 2007 that it had lost nine million NI numbers, some of which were suspected of being used fraudulently."

"*To announce tenure limit of bank MDs, minimum disclosure requirements soon To strengthen credit control and forestall the recurrence of non-performing loans in banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that very soon those without the national identity card may not be able to access bank loans. It added that in a few weeks time it will release a new minimum disclosure requirement for banks and tenure limit for managing directors and chief executive officers. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CBN governor made the declaration at the launch and public forum of CRC Credit Bureau Limited. Experts have hailed the move, saying it has always been easy for people to forge any other identity card, noting that it will be difficult to forge the national identity card. Sanusi said "the CBN will liaison with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) with a view to enhancing the National Identity Card project", and that "whenever the National Identity scheme takes off we will ensure that no new credit is extended to anybody unless the person has a national identity card". Sanusi at the forum warned existing managing directors of banks to start thinking of an exit and succession plan before the imposition of the tenure limit. "

"PositiveID (PSID) is to begin a study of its Health Link implantable microchip in diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients. The study -like everything else associated with the company formerly known as VeriChip - is bound to be controversial. The Health Link chip is implanted under a patient's skin. It can be scanned to access the patient's online medical records. The company's critics fear the chip will one day become mandatory, leading to a complete loss of medical privacy, or that Americans will be unable to receive healthcare unless they get chipped. BNET has noted that PositiveID also owns a credit monitoring and identity-theft prevention company, Steel Vault, and that it envisions its chips being linked to Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and employers. PositiveID linked credit monitoring and the Health Link chip in its most recent 10-Q. While PositiveID's press release gives few specifics, it indicates that the study will have something to do with the Health Link chip and customers of HealthScreenDirect, a company that offers screening for diabetes and high cholesterol. Its says the study will be: … a prospective, randomized, comparative clinical study that will seek to address improving disease management through the use of appropriate, concise, and up-to-date patient health information available to both practitioners caring for diabetic, hypertensive and obese patients and the patients themselves through the utilization of PositiveID's personal health record (Health Link) and an electronic medical records system. PositiveID CEO Scott R. Silverman said in the statement that the study will also advance the company's in-development glucose-sensing chip. Silverman is doubtless hoping that patients with the chip - and with their health records online - will have better outcomes in terms of managing their diabetes than those doing it the old-fashioned way. The unanswered question is why health record access - or even a microchip

"Magnitude 6.9 Date-Time * Sunday, April 04, 2010 at 22:40:39 UTC * Sunday, April 04, 2010 at 03:40:39 PM at epicenter * Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 32.093°N, 115.249°W Depth 32.3 km (20.1 miles) Region BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO Distances * 26 km (16 miles) SSW (211°) from Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico * 61 km (38 miles) SW (227°) from San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, Mexico * 64 km (40 miles) SW (225°) from San Luis, AZ * 173 km (108 miles) ESE (106°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 5.8 km (3.6 miles); depth +/- 21.1 km (13.1 miles) Parameters Nph=014, Dmin=76 km, Rmss=0.2 sec, Gp=292°, M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=1 Source * California Integrated Seismic Net: * USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR Event ID ci14607652"

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will propose one of the largest tax cuts since Ronald Reagan in a new economic blueprint he plans to announce next week. Trump will reiterate his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, Heritage Foundation chief economist Stephen Moore told Bloomberg Television. The nominee's plan also expects to lower the cost of this tax cut in terms of lost tax revenue by about two-thirds, to $3 trillion, Moore said, though he did not specify a timeline for this to occur. "If you're a working-class American, there's no question that an agenda that cuts taxes, that gets rids of regulations, redoes some of these trade deals in ways that are pro-America, is going to help," he told Bloomberg. Trump plans to unveil his plan for "revitalizing the American economy" in a speech Monday at the Detroit Economic Club.

"Steve Perry, executive vice president of Visa Europe, has a different take on the folding stuff packed in our wallets that most of us take for granted. "Cash is expensive," he says. "We need to be using it less." Expensive? Vintage wines, maybe. Designer clothes, yes. Modern art, almost certainly. But cash? "Why do you think supermarkets introduced cashback?" Perry asks rhetorically. He has me stumped there. I tell him I always thought of it as a service for overdrawn students to drive a few more sales through the tills. "No," he responds politely. "It's because they want cash out of the system so there is less to manage. Processing a transaction on a card can be cheaper than handling cash." Perry is a leading cheerleader for the cashless society. It's hardly a surprising role, but its an argument he is finding increasingly easy to make. Last month, for example, the Payments Council announced to anguished outrage that in 2018 the cheque would be dead. "There are many more efficient ways of making payments than by paper in the 21st century, and the time is ripe for the economy as a whole to reap the benefits of its replacement," Paul Smee, chief executive of the Payments Council, said. Perry extends the same argument to cash. Notes and coins are never going to be fully replaced, he accepts. Currency has, after all, been around in some form or another since 3,000BC. But now that we're in the electronic age, payments could do with a little catching up, he reckons. Visa has recently published an extensive report on the cost of cash to society. Citing numerous independent papers by consultants and national governments, the payments company constructs a compelling case. "

"We were told in 1995 and earlier of the Mark of the New World Order. Were we listening? Watch all 6 videos and find out where we are now, including HealthCare. "

"WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in collaboration with major implantable pacemaker and ICD manufacturers, demonstrated the effects of emissions from radio frequency identification (RFID) readers on common implantable cardiac devices. According to research published in the January edition of the HeartRhythm Journal, the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society, the observed effects may cause increasing complications as RFID use expands in the medical device field. Read full text of study » The study, which looked at the electromagnetic interference susceptibility of 15 pacemakers and 15 ICDs caused by exposure to 13 RFID readers, concluded that low frequency RFID readers may pose the greatest risk to pacemakers and ICDs. While modern pacemakers and ICDs use filters to minimize susceptibility to higher-frequency signals, there is limited filtering of low frequency signals due to the design constraints of both pacemakers and ICDs."

"The present national identity card system is outdated, and does not create interconnectivity and has many security issues. Therefore, the Government is planning to introduce an electronic smart card system to replace it from this year, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said. "This new smart card system will create connectivity," the Defence Secretary said at the Tech Colloquium Conference on the theme 'The Role of IT in Nation Building' in Colombo on Monday. He said with the introduction of the new smart card system it could be used as an identity card as well as a multi-purpose card for other purposes. This will enable to prevent any security problems like duplication. This will be an advantage for security concerns to do their investigation and surveillance activities without any hazard, he said. Rajapaksa said developed countries use more advanced surveillance systems than Sri Lanka by using new technology and without using physical presence such as Police and Army personnel. Therefore, this can create some inconvenience to the public to a larger extent, he said. The Defence Secretary said developed countries used advanced security and surveillance systems than Sri Lanka without heavy police and military presence. Therefore electronic surveillance systems are linked to control rooms and these control rooms could dispatch security and military personnel to the relevant position. He said they are now in the process of introducing ICT and new technology for surveillance systems like in developed countries. ICT could also bring an economic revival after defeating three decades of ethnic crisis and achieving true victory, he said. "However, Sri Lanka is still not being developed to that level as we are heavily depending on physical systems, which inconvenience the public. The use of high and advanced technology and IT have brought a lot of achievements during the recent past and it almost did a revolutionary change in the war theater to suppress t

"A new report by retired longtime intelligence officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who served as chief of the CIA's Weapons of Mass Destruction Department, accuses the U.S. government of seriously misreading al-Qaida's operational objectives. "Al-Qaida's reasoning," according to Mowatt-Larssen's new report from Harvard's Kennedy School, "runs counter to analytic convention that equates the ease of acquisition of chemical, biological or radiological weapons with an increasing likelihood of terrorist use - i.e., a terrorist attack employing crude weapons is therefore more likely than an attack using a nuclear or large scale biological weapon." "In fact, it is the opposite" of that conventional wisdom, according to the analysis, entitled "Al-Qaida Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat: Hype or Reality." Al-Qaida's motivations suggest "the greatest threat is posed by the most effective and simple means of mass destruction, whether these means consist of nuclear, biological, or other forms of asymmetric weapons." That makes all the scarier the scolding that came this week from the congressionally authorized Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation. That panel gave the Obama administration an F grade for its performance in preparing the U.S. homeland for a terrorist attack that utilized biological warfare. Mowatt-Larssen was stationed in Moscow and other critical venues in the course of his long career gathering intelligence. The details he provides of al-Qaida's scheming in this report are nothing short of chilling. "Considering the potential that such weapons hold in fulfilling al-Qaida's aspirations," it says, "their WMD procurement efforts have been managed at the most senior levels, under rules of strict compartmentalization from lower levels of the organization, and with central control over possible targets and timing of prospective attacks.""

"When staff members at a Wellesley, Mass., school went to the nurse last Friday, they expected to be injected with a vaccine for theH1N1 flu. What they received instead was a shot of insulin resulting in a bout with low blood sugar. Share Seasonal shots may "prime" the immune system to react to the H1N1 virus. While the staffers seem to be suffering no long-term damage from mistakenly receiving the insulin injections, investigations are ongoing to determine what caused the medical error. Indications thus far have been that a school nurse was responsible. The nurse has been temporarily relieved of duty. While ABC News contacted people at the departments of health for the town of Wellesley and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the Wellesley School District, it remains unclear how the flu vaccine, which is distributed in pre-filled syringes, was mistaken for insulin, which is drawn from a vial because each dose needs to be calibrated when it is given. Such errors have happened before. This past fall, a number of people in the neighboring town of Needham received a seasonal flu vaccine in place of the H1N1 vaccines they were supposed to receive. And in 2007, a teacher in the nearby town of Attleboro also received an injection of insulin instead of the intended flu shot. "

"Three steps to take to protect your account data from getting into the wrong hands Whether by choice or necessity, American consumers are increasingly relying on debit rather than credit cards. Debit card spending has risen steadily, growing from 47.7 percent of purchases made with plastic in 2003 to 58.9 percent in 2008 and it is expected to surpass 67 percent by 2013, according to the Nilson Report, a newsletter that tracks the consumer payment industry. When you use a debit card, the money is immediately taken from your checking account. While using debit guarantees that you pay as you go, these cards have downsides, including a growing appeal to thieves. "As economic conditions have worsened, there's been a noticeable increase in all types of card fraud," says Avivah Litan, an analyst specializing in fraud detection and prevention at Gartner Research in Stamford, Conn. "But ATM and debit-card fraud is the top area of concern we're hearing about from banks all over the world." More from ConsumerReports.org: * Pros and Cons of Debit Cards * Credit Card Perks * Post-Recession Investing Unlike credit-card thieves, who usually charge merchandise and then resell it to come up with money, people who create counterfeit ATM or debit cards by stealing your PIN and other account data can simply pull cold cash from your bank account. Using a technique known as skimming, they set up equipment that captures magnetic stripe and keypad information when you input your PIN at ATM machines, gas pumps, restaurants, or retailers. Here's how you can protect yourself: Don't Type in Your Pin at the Pump Be especially vigilant at gas stations, Litan says. "Gas pumps are notorious for skimming because they're produced by only a couple of different manufacturers, and if someone gets the key to one from a disgruntled employee, they can insert a skimming device inside the pump where it can't be seen," she says. She recommends using a credit card rather than a debit card whe

"In an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai published on Sunday, a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that "if Syria supplies Hezbollah with surface-to-air missiles (SA-2), war will break out and Tel Aviv will directly strike Damascus." In addition, the official said Syria trained Hezbollah members in Damascus on how to use the SA-2 missiles. Israel has previously warned the country not to supply Hezbollah with the missiles, according to the US source. "Any possible military attack by Hezbollah against Israel will be met by a 'harmful war' on Lebanon. Israel made a mistake in 2006 by not striking Syria during the war with Lebanon, and any new attack from Hezbollah against it will not spare Damascus from a strike," he added. Israel's top priority, the official said, is preventing Syria from supplying Hezbollah with the SA-2 missiles. "During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Damascus told Tel Aviv it wanted peace and was not going to side with Hezbollah," the official alleged. Following the war, however, the United Nations and international intelligence community have been monitoring attempts to smuggle weapons from Syria to Hezbollah, he added. The official also compared South Lebanon after the 2006 war to the situation in the Golan Heights in Syria, which he said has enjoyed a calm climate after a cease-fire agreement was signed between Israel and late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 1974. He said Hezbollah's desire to liberate the Shebaa farms, which is occupied by Israel, does not justify military attacks against the entity. "Launching war with Tel Aviv is not an excuse for Hezbollah." The official said he does not think a war will break out anytime soon, "unless Syria crosses the line." End item/ 129"

"WASHINGTON - The U.S. health care system is in serious need of changes, but the Democratic plan to overhaul it is badly flawed and should be repealed and replaced, the Senate Republican leader says. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Saturday in the GOP radio and video address that "nobody is satisfied with the health care system as it is." Costs are out of control and "people are being squeezed out of the market," he said. But he said the health care bill signed by President Barack Obama this week doesn't solve those problems and undermines what is best about health care in this country - a wide variety of medical options and innovations. The main health care law and a companion "fix-it" measure aim to crack down on insurance industry abuses and to reduce federal deficits by an estimated $143 billion over a decade. Most Americans would be required to buy insurance for the first time or face penalties. McConnell was emphasizing a new GOP political approach opposing Democrats' health care measures that proposes "repealing and replacing" the bill rather than just repealing the new health care law. Republicans say they can push for parts of the health care overhaul without adopting elements they don't like, such as tax increases. "We can do better," he said. "We can expand access to people with pre-existing conditions. We can keep people from being kicked off their plans. We can lower costs and premiums. We can do all of these things without undermining the things we do best and without raising taxes that kill jobs in a bad economy." Republicans want to appeal to tea party supporters and other conservatives upset at the size and scope of the legislation, while acknowledging that many people, including moderate Republicans and independents, want to see changes in American health care. Obama said this week that he welcomes a political fight with Republicans over efforts to repeal the bill. Repeal is highly unlikely because Repu