A WEBSITE run by Britain's Royal Navy has been suspended after a computer hacker infiltrated its database, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.
The hacker, who goes by the name TinKode, claimed in a blogpost to have breached security on the site Friday at 11:55pm. The hacker, who is believed to be Romanian, posted user names and data from the website on the internet, The Portsmouth News reported.
The infiltration came after the government identified cyber attacks as among the top threats facing the UK and pledged £500 million ($807 million) to be spent on online defences.
A navy spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was a compromise of the Royal Navy public-relations internet website over the weekend. There has been no malicious damage; but as a precaution, the Royal Navy website has been temporarily suspended.
"Security teams are investigating. Access to this website did not give the hacker access to any classified information."
Visitors to website were greeted by the message: "Unfortunately the Royal Navy website is currently undergoing essential maintenance. Please visit again soon."
The hacker was believed to be the same person who disclosed a high-risk weakness in YouTube in July.
[Emirates 24/7] Britain's long-term unemployed could be forced to carry out compulsory manual work or risk losing their welfare benefits under plans being put forward by the government, newspapers reported on Sunday.
The US-style scheme would see the long-term jobless ordered to take up four-week placements in order to get them used to having a full-time job.
The idea is part of major reforms, due to be unveiled this week, to make cuts to Britain's huge welfare bill, reduce dependency on benefits and weed out those earning money but not declaring it, papers said.
"What we are talking about here is people who have not been used to working having both the opportunity and perhaps a bit more of a push as well, to experience the workplace from time to time," Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC TV.
"The vast majority of people in Britain will think that is the right thing to do."
Shortly after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took power in May, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith unveiled plans to simplify the complex web of benefits available to reduce errors and inefficiencies.
Duncan Smith said the system had become regressive and was not giving people the right incentive to work as many were financially better off unemployed.
Under his plans separate benefits for items such as housing, income support or incapacity will be replaced by a "universal credit" system whereby individual households would get a single welfare payment to ensure those in work would be better off.
The Observer newspaper said that in return, long-term unemployed would be told to take up work placements of at least 30 hours a week for a four-week period.
If they refuse or fail to complete the programme, their jobseekers' allowance, worth 64.30 pounds a week for those over over 25, could be stopped for at least three months.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/08/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The usual suspects have their knickers in a twist over this:
"Officials have confirmed that the white paper will include plans for some claimants to spend at least 30 hours a week for four weeks engaged in a 'work activity' placement, such as picking up litter or gardening. Claimants who refuse to do such work could lose benefit for at least three months.
In an interview with the BBC, Williams said that he had 'a lot of worries about this aspect of the plan. 'I don't immediately think it's fair,' he said. 'People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are I think driven further into a downward spiral of uncertainty, even despair, when the pressure is on in that way. Quite often it can make people start feeling vulnerable even more vulnerable as time goes on and that's the kind of unfairness that I feel.'"
God forbid that the jobless should ever feel any sense of vulnerability! That might make them feel more inclined to do some work. The horror. Better to let them continue in their invulnerable jobless purgatory.
#7
In the US, because we are awash in food, there should be a wide open "workfare" program for any citizen in exchange for food. Think of it as inexpensive day labor for labor intensive but otherwise minor stuff.
Any adult who shows up and works for, say, four hours, gets a days food for them, their spouse, and each of their children, on a debit food stamp card. If they work eight hours, they get two days worth of food.
Importantly, for this program to be a smashing success it should be utterly simple. If they have ID, and they work, they get a debit card, no other questions asked.
A big problem with a lot of these programs is that they demand, on top of demand, from legitimate recipients, to the point where any value of the program is negated.
The bureaucrats want to keep intrusive records, and combine it with other programs, and add mandatory classes, and sign-ins on the other side of town, and counseling, conduct surveys, etc., ad nauseum. It wastes a huge amount of money and is just make work for bureaucrats. It hinders, not helps.
Parasites won't do any work, so wouldn't be interested in a program like this, wanting free stuff instead. But for the frustrated unemployed, this would be something for them to do to keep occupied, while trying to get real work.
There might even be the opportunity that if they show up for eight hour shifts every day for some weeks, they can start being paid minimum wage to *manage* the other workers.
#10
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
November 7, 2010: China keeps hammering away at the U.S. over recent sales of $6 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan. While Chinese diplomacy and threats delayed the sales a few years, the deal eventually went through. China is still trying to stop it, and calls the sale a major obstacle to good relations between the U.S. and China. The eventual absorption of Taiwan is a bigger deal in China than it is in the United States, which annoys the Chinese, who see themselves simply being brushed aside by an imperious United States. At least that's how it's played in the Chinese government controlled press.
Meanwhile, the free press in Japan is playing the nationalist card as well, and the Chinese don't like that. But China has caused the problem by prompting and allowing popular (nationalist) demonstrations against Japan. Now the Japanese are angry, and the media in Japan has picked up on that. The Chinese leadership is upset with this development. That's because the Japanese military is smaller, but much more professional and effective, than their Chinese counterparts. Plus, if this hate race keeps going, it could lead to Japan building nuclear weapons. This prospect frequently comes up in the Japanese media, and Japanese politicians freely admit to how possible this would be. All this puts Obama's humiliation of the Indians into a bigger sphere. India is a huge potential ally against radical islam and China and insulting a future ally is not in our best interests. Unfortunately, Bambi and his ilk don't think about anything except their own personal interests.
#1
adding India to the UN Security Council would fulfill W's vision of engagement with India, and in my mind be a great thing. The Paks would seethe, but fuck them. They've been half-willing partners, prolly killing more US men and women than Iran via their ISI support of the Taliban
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/08/2010 19:58 Comments ||
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#2
I wonder who suggested it to him? This is one thing I agree with him on.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/08/2010 20:05 Comments ||
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With one in every eight workers unemployed and empty state coffers, California is borrowing billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the state owes $8.6 billion already, and will have to come up with a $362-million payment to Washington by the end of next September. Moonbeam will pay for that with all the savings from renewable energy.
The continued borrowing means federal unemployment insurance taxes are going to increase, upping the annual payroll costs $21 a year per worker.
California tops the list of 32 states that have borrowed a total of $41 billion to pay claims. The bigger and bluer the better. They're counting on the Feds forgiving the total amount 'loaned' to the states. All the states are counting on that.
#3
Once the Chinese collect enough bonds, we give them California in exchange. It's not like the Californistas are concerned about one party rule and heavy handed bureaucracies.
#8
Seems like a reasonable plan to me. However, I'd like some recompense for all the sub-quality Chinese crap that doesn't work that gets imported to the U.S. Maybe they only get San Francisco and L.A.
[Emirates 24/7] German police clashed on Sunday with anti-nuclear muscle trying to disrupt a shipment of nuclear waste heading to a storage dump, using truncheons and tear gas to clear a blocked rail line.
A police front man said some 250 muscle had tried to damage the track near the waste dump to halt a train carrying the waste. When police tried to stop them, the muscle responded with tear gas and flare guns.
"The situation is not yet under control," said another police front man.
Riot police used truncheons, tear gas and water cannon to stop the violent muscle, who were part of a larger group of about 4,000 protesters near the town of Leitstade trying to halt the train. A police vehicle was set on fire, police said.
About a dozen protesters were maimed, demonstrators were quoted as saying by local media reports. Police could not confirm any injuries.
The waste shipment has become a tense political issue this year due to anger over Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to extend the lifespan of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants despite overwhelming public opposition.
The waste originated in Germany and was reprocessed at the French nuclear group Areva's processing plant at La Hague for storage in a site in the northern German town of Gorleben.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/08/2010 00:00 ||
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If they didn't have those plants I doubt there would be any affordable electricity in Germany.
#2
A sudden dumping of green-glowing material from the trucks would likely clear these morons from the area. Nevermind that nuke waste wouldn't glow under normal light - they're dealing with liberal brains and stupidity
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/08/2010 20:04 Comments ||
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#3
Blue glowing material would be more appropriate, Frank G. When I was working at Oak Ridge the saying was, "Don't let the Blue Glow out". That's why all the floors were cleaned with Mop and Glow.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/08/2010 20:08 Comments ||
Top||
#4
heh - I wassa thinkrn of "Repo Man" effects
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/08/2010 20:53 Comments ||
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#5
Punxsutawney, Germany.
Rites of passage for some native tribes
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/08/2010 20:59 Comments ||
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Duplicate but we love the snark ... Fun in New Delhi as Obama's traveling circus sends in the clown NEW DELHI -- Tensions between the White House press corps and Indian security boiled over on the third day of President Obama's visit, prompting press secretary Robert Gibbs to threaten to pull President Obama out of his bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Okay, where to start? First off, where in the Constitution does the freakin' White House Press Secretary get authority to tell the President what to do?
Eight members of the press corps were about to be taken into a room at the Hyderabad House where Obama was meeting with Singh, when Indian officials tried to cut the agreed-upon number to five. And why wasn't this all clarified in advance by the State Department advance team? That's why they call it the advance team--'cause it works out all the geeky protocol issues in advance.
Administration officials, including Katie Lillie of White House advance, lobbied their Indian counterparts to accept the eight, according to print pool reporter Scott Wilson of The Washington Post. When Indian officials refused to back down, Gibbs intervened, announcing on the steps of the Hyderabad House, the main venue at the Indian equivalent of Camp David, that he would pull Obama out of his bilateral meeting with Singh unless "the White House 8" were allowed inside. Why isn't Obama doing the talking here? This is the WH press corps, some of his staunchest supporters--why isn't he sticking up for them himself?
At one point, according to Wilson's pool report, Gibbs had his foot lodged in the door to the meeting as Indian security officials pushed hard to shut it. In an angry shouting match, Gibbs asked the officials if they were going to break his foot as he repeated his threat to pull Obama.... And finally, don't you think that your #1 P.R. guy should be smart enough to realize how bad it looks when Administration officials interrupt a state visit to throw a temper tantrum right in front of the press, including the host country's press? "Do you know who I am?!"
Posted by: Mike ||
11/08/2010 12:31 ||
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...makes his boss look bad
Why should he lose out on the fun? Everyone's doing it!! (including his boss)
...that he would pull Obama out of his bilateral meeting with Singh
Well now we know whose got his hand up the puppet don't we? Now the question is who has the hand up Gibbs?
To paraphrase Michelle "I've never been so ashamed to be an American".
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
11/08/2010 13:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Remember the scene in Brazil (?) when the local security tried to keep GWB's Secret Security guy from accompanying him, and when he (W) noticed he walked over to the scrum, grabbed him and pulled him out. Walked off smiling and shooting his cuffs.
Compare and contrast.
#4
Grunter,
IIRC it was Chile. The Chileans did not get the whole 9/12 mentality thing and did not understand why the Secret Service should be concerned about suicide bombers.
(BTW there is a significant Arab immigrant colony in Chile)
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/08/2010 14:04 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Chileans did not get the whole 9/12 mentality thing, along with many other people.
#3
Mixed feelings on this: UAVS can do more with less, especially since there is no need for man-support systems, and the G-limit for turns and other manuvers would be limited by structural considerations rather than what a human can stand as well as all the other garbage needed to support him/her. (Really don't want to read an article in the future that says the Lawn Dart was the last manned aircraft retired from the USN).
OTOH; my company has a long term contract working on a lot of JSF partznpieces, if that were to go away, there would be a huge hole in production (read workforce)
OTOOH; as a taxpayer, saving $$ is always a good thing.
#4
As a former Air Force navigator and electronic warfare officer, I have no great appreciation of or love for pilots, but UAVs lack the crucial element of judgement. The most sophisticated armed UAV in the world, the MQ-9 Reaper still requires a pilot. If the communication link with the Ground Control Station is lost, the system goes "lost link" and returns to base. The AI in even an advanced UCAS is no substitute for human judgement. The real problem faced by by the USAF, USN, and USMC fighters is a lack of worthy opponents.
#6
I've gotten the vague impression that the majority of the problems with the F-35 are caused by the vtol variant, which is the most complex one, and supposed to enter service first, and that cutting it away would greatly simplify the program.
Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have come the closest ever to re-enacting the beginning of the Universe a millionth of a second after the Big Bang.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
November 7, 2010: China keeps hammering away at the U.S. over recent sales of $6 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan. While Chinese diplomacy and threats delayed the sales a few years, the deal eventually went through. China is still trying to stop it, and calls the sale a major obstacle to good relations between the U.S. and China. The eventual absorption of Taiwan is a bigger deal in China than it is in the United States, which annoys the Chinese, who see themselves simply being brushed aside by an imperious United States. At least that's how it's played in the Chinese government controlled press.
NEW DELHI -- Tensions between the White House press corps and Indian security boiled over on the third day of President Obama's visit, prompting press secretary Robert Gibbs to threaten to pull President Obama out of his bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
