Group items tagged

" Published: 7:00AM GMT 03 Jan 2010 The year is 2050, and a diplomatic dispute between China and Britain risks escalating into all-out war. But rather than launching a barrage of ballistic missiles and jet fighters to destroy key British targets, Beijing has a far simpler plan for defeating its enemy. It simply turns off the lights. At the flick of a switch elite teams of Chinese hackers attached to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launch a hi-tech assault on Britain's computer systems, with devastating consequences. Within minutes the country's power stations, water companies, air traffic control, government and financial systems are totally shut down. Related Articles * 'Dad believed he was a July 7 bomber' * Lord Adonis: no need to cut travel to save the planet, says Transport Secretary * The Korean crisis is China's chance to show the world it has changed * Is Britain no longer special to America? * We must treat China as a friend and ally in this financial crisis * New Zealand hockey coach banished to stands for match officials' 'pants' decision Britain's attempt to respond by launching nuclear-armed Trident missiles at China has to be abandoned, as the computer systems that control the weapons system are no longer functioning. At a time when relations between China and Britain are supposed to be improving, the prospect of Beijing launching a cyber attack against Britain and its allies might seem to be the stuff of fantasy. After all, it is only two years since Gordon Brown made a highly successful visit to Beijing where the two countries agreed to increase trade by 50 per cent by this year, and to cooperate on a range of issues, such as global warming. As one of the world's leading economic powers, China's role on the world stage has transformed dramatically over the past decade, with the huge wealth that Beijing has accumulated from its impressive economic growth playing a key role in sup

"MONTPELIER, Vt. - Snow falling like New Year's confetti joined forces with a chill that dipped deep to the South on Monday to close schools, delay commuters, threaten fruit farmers and shut down at least one nuclear power plant. A weekend snowstorm dumped an all-time record of more than 33 inches on Burlington, the largest city in Vermont. That broke a single-storm record of nearly 30 inches set in 1969. "It just dropped a tremendous amount of snow," said Steve Goodkind, public works director for the city of Burlington, which had a dozen plows and nine sidewalk snow removers out Monday. "It looks like mid-January, after we'd have a bunch of smaller storms." Most Vermonters took it in stride. Others took it too far: Vermont State Police cited a man after stopping him pulling a sled - with a rider in it - behind his car on Interstate 89 on Sunday. The driver was cited for driving with a suspended license. In upstate New York, it was a similar scene. So-called "lake effect snow" blanketed parts of the state with more than 3 feet. Fulton, in Oswego County, had received 42 inches since last Friday night, while Williamson, which is on Lake Ontario east of Rochester, got nearly 27 inches, according to the National Weather Service."

""The Europe as you know it from visiting, from your parents or friends is on the verge of collapsing," Geert Wilders said in a speech in the United States last year. The leader of the Netherlands' populist Party for Freedom added: "We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe's destiny and might send the Continent in what Ronald Reagan called 'a thousand years of darkness.' " And not just Europe, but America as well. Been to Europe lately? Thought it was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet. The passage of the Lisbon Treaty, hailed by President Obama, nailed the coffin shut on national sovereignty in Europe. The people of Europe fought it, but were overwhelmed by their political elites and the lack of American leadership in this age of our rather Marxist, collectivist U.S. president. Come Jan. 1, 2010, a disastrous and suicidal pact called the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Europe/Mediterranean) goes into effect with little fanfare or examination. It boggles the mind that such a consequential and seismic cultural shift could be mandated and put into play without so much as a murmur from the mainstream media. Why should Americans care about this? Americans have to care because this global gobbledygook is coming to our shores, thanks to our globalist president. The European human rights group called Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) has been working tirelessly to expose the mass Muslim immigration plan of the Euro-Med Partnership."

"A 19-year-old man was fatally shot in the face and two men were arrested on drug charges after fleeing police in separate incidents that occurred near the route for Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, according to Baltimore police. About 2:30 p.m., after the parade had finished but with roads still shut down, an off-duty officer near the 600 block of W. Hoffman St. said he heard gunshots. Officers found a man inside an apartment in the 1000 block of Pennsylvania Ave., about two blocks from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his face and chest. He was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was listed in critical condition, police said. The man, identified as Darius Goines of the 600 block of Murphy Lane, was pronounced dead at about 8:30 p.m. last night, according to Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman. A motive is not known, though court records show Goines was on probation for a drug distribution conviction in April 2009. Authorities were looking for a silver Toyota with a driver wearing a ski mask. He was last seen heading east on Preston Street. Earlier, about 1 p.m., two men were sitting in a vehicle on Lombard Street just west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard when a traffic officer approached. Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said the driver "got spooked" and put the car in reverse. Moses said the driver sped east on Lombard, then turned onto the 800 block of West Baltimore St., all while in reverse, and struck a parked University of Maryland police car. The occupants ran but were caught and arrested, Moses said. He said about two ounces of marijuana was found in the vehicle. Antonio Wilkens, 31, and Corey Wilkens, 30, both of the 5900 block of Fenwick Ave., were charged, Moses said."

"BEIJING - In China's first official response to Google's threat to leave the country, the government Thursday said foreign Internet companies are welcome but must obey the law and gave no hint of a possible compromise over Web censorship. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, without mentioning Google by name, said Beijing prohibits e-mail hacking, another issue cited by the company. She was responding to questions about Google at a regular ministry briefing. "China's Internet is open," Jiang said. "China welcomes international Internet enterprises to conduct business in China according to law." Google Inc. said Tuesday it would stop censoring search results in China and might shut down its China-based Google.cn site, citing attempts to break into accounts on its Gmail service used by human rights activists."

"President Obama came to a Fairfax County elementary school Tuesday morning to announce that he will seek a $1.35 billion expansion of his signature Race to the Top initiative for improving public education, including provisions that will allow individual school systems to compete for the coveted federal grants. "We're going to raise the bar for all our students and take bigger steps toward closing the achievement gap," Obama said, speaking to a group of sixth graders at Graham Road Elementary, a Falls Church school where a heavy concentration of students from immigrant and low-income families achieves high standardized test scores. Race to the Top was launched last year to raise student performance by offering $4.35 billion to states and the District in exchange for adopting elements of the president's reform program. Those include more challenging academic standards; better testing to measure what students know; rigorous evaluation systems for teachers and principals; plans for turning around failing schools; and cutting edge data systems to track progress. "

Reform Program?