Identity theft fears prompt biometric thumbs up
Britons are more relaxed about undergoing fingerprint or iris scans to verify their identity than their European neighbours, a survey of public attitudes has claimed. As many as 75% of UK citizens would be willing to submit to biometric checks when dealing with banks or the government, according to the study by Unisys, the technology company. Mounting concern about ID theft is, it appears, smoothing the way for popular acceptance of the technology. The survey suggests that civil liberty concerns about the security of public databases and the way they accumulate information on individuals are not widely shared. According to the survey, 75% of UK residents would be willing to allow banks, government agencies and other organisations to take their fingerprints to verify their identity. In France, 59% were willing to comply with a similar request. For Germany the figure was 62% and in Italy it was 63%. Meanwhile, the security of computers has slipped down the list of national concerns. Only 35% of UK residents said they were extremely or very concerned with the security of online transactions, by viruses or by unsolicited email. What most concerns...............
Extending the frontiers of artificial intelligence
The world of artificial cognitive systems and machine learning is moving at a fast pace and is becoming a major international research challenge. New techniques are being developed in this field that will transform many aspects of our day-to-day lives and work. The SIMBAD project, backed by the EU with EUR 1.6 million in financing, is now looking at some of the ways that this research may be put to use. SIMBAD aims to fully develop the new technology that is emerging within the pattern recognition and machine learning fields, and is researching the use of 'similarity information' rather than its previous feature-based approach, says the project's scientific coordinator, Professor Marcello Pelillo. Society is increasingly developing complex machines such as robots to carry out many of our everyday needs, he says. Artificial cognitive systems (ACSs) are now becoming a top international research priority and in accordance with this priority the European Commission has made this area one of the seven key research areas that Europe must develop in order to become one of the world leaders in next generation information and communication technologies (ICT). Fruitful research into this area will lead to the development of many tools that will have a great social and economic impact on the EU, he goes on to say. Vehicle control, control of communication networks, medical diagnostics, and human-machine interaction are just a few of the areas that will benefit. There will also be many economic benefits that will boost European competitiveness...............
Panel Warns Biological or Nuclear Attack Likely Soon
The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists. "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released on Dec. 3. The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combating the spread of nuclear and biological weapons. The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs...............
Has universal ageing mechanism been found?
An overworked protein that causes yeast to age when it neglects one of its functions may trigger ageing in mice too. If the same effect is found in people, it may suggest new ways to halt or reverse age-related disease. As we get older, genes can start to be expressed in the wrong body tissues - a process that is thought to contribute to diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's. But while sunlight or chemicals are known to cause limited DNA damage, how more widespread changes in gene expression come about has been unclear. To investigate, David Sinclair and colleagues at Harvard Medical School turned to yeast cells. These produce a dual-function protein called Sir2 that, while being involved in DNA repair, also helps keep certain genes switched off. As yeast cells age, the protein can't do both jobs and neglects its role as a gene suppressor...............
Genetic code cards
World-renowned researcher Dr. Louis Kunkel believes Americans will one day have their genetic code on cards they can carry to doctors and pharmacists. "They're coming very soon," said the professor of Pediatrics and of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. "The only thing that's holding it back is the ability to entirely sequence your DNA and mine. The technique to do that is really expensive." Kunkel received worldwide attention for his ground-breaking work on Duchenne muscular dystrophy. His newest research focuses on Americans surviving past 100, each of whom appears to have the same gene on chromosome 4 at a much greater rate than the general population. He hopes to use genetic cards with that group on a smaller scale. A genetic card could make it possible for physicians to prescribe the drugs that work best with a particular person's genes, but some fear such cards could lead to a kind of Brave New World, a reference to the "negative utopia" in the book by Aldous Huxley in which parents...............
Robotics expert builds android twin to study the soul
A Japanese inventor's latest creation is a robot double of himself. Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro tells CNN's Tokyo correspondent Kyung Lah that he sees his creation, dubbed the Geminoid, partly as an opportunity to have a presence when not actually present, essentially being in two places at once, and also as a chance to study human behavior along with furthering his knowledge of androids. "At first you may feel strange about the android," Ishiguro told Reuters. "However, once you are drawn into a conversation, you will forget every difference and feel totally comfortable to speak with it and look it in the eyes." The Geminoid, controlled remotely by Ishiguro with mouth sensors and a microphone, has over 50 sensors and motors concealed beneath its skin, with compressed air pumped through its body to simulate breathing. Ishiguro, professor of robotics at Osaka University and director of its Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, unveiled an earlier model, known as Repliee Q1Expo, in 2005. "Repliee Q1Expo is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies," noted BBC News. Having come about during a partnership with Tokyo robotics and entertainment firm Kokoro, it was modeled after a Japanese newscaster. "I have developed many robots before," Ishiguro said, "but I soon realized the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence...............
Al-Qaida Calls On Americans To Embrace Islam
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader appeared in a new video posted recently calling on Americans to embrace Islam to overcome the financial meltdown, which he said was a consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks and militant strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ayman al-Zawahri, whose 80-minute recording touched on a number of subjects, also lashed out at Afghanistan's government and said any U.S. gains in Iraq will be temporary. Zawahri's new recording came in the form of a question-and-answer session with an off-camera interviewer. Appearing in a white turban and robe, Zawahri discussed the roots of the U.S. economic crisis. He said it was a repercussion of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, and that the crisis would continue "as long as the foolish American policy of wading in Muslim blood continues." "The American economy was afflicted by a downturn and loss of investor confidence in the market following the events of Sept. 11," he said. "The modern economy has been destroyed by the strikes of the mujahedeen (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and usury," he said, using the Arabic term for holy warriors. Under Islamic Sharia law, usury, like drinking alcohol, is among the grand sins. Zawahri then called on the American people to "embrace Islam...............
Terrorism has truly become war, and we need to rethink how we fight it
The terror attack in Mumbai should serve as a sign to decision-makers and strategic analysts in recognizing that the accepted approach to terrorism has become anachronistic and mistaken. The world largely deals with terror attacks as sporadic, sensationalistic, and singular events. The tragedy and pain involved in these events elicits a response of anger, fury, and sadness, but the terror attacks are not viewed as undercutting the authority and power of the state in which the terror attack takes place. During the period in which Palestinian terror focused on airline attacks, a leader of one of the Palestinian terror organizations was asked in an interview, "What advantage does your organization gain from a shocking incident that results in the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians?" His answer was, "I receive attention. In the two minutes in which the entire world is giving me their attention, I can send a message about the injustice being done to me." Since this time, terrorism has gone through a series of changes. For a long period, terrorists attempted to harm the public, bringing attention to the message that they were trying to promote. The Vietnam War changed the terrorist organizations' conception, and brought to the forefront the notion that a terrorist army is not meant only to "sting" the enemy, but that in the end, it has the ability to be victorious...............
Terrorists could strike Britain by infecting country with bird flu
A commission led by Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, identified 27 countries where terror organisations could become a threat to the UK. The report by the Institute of Public Policy Research warns that one of the biggest emerging threats comes from terrorists turning to biological warfare. The assessment comes from the IPPR's Commission on National Security for the 21st century which is chaired by Lord Ashdown and Lord Robertson, the former Secretary General of NATO, and includes Lord Guthrie, the former Chief of the Defence Staff and Sir David Omand, the former security and intelligence coordinator in the Cabinet Office. It says the danger from pandemic diseases such as SARS and Avian Flu is growing and that existing arrangements to respond to serious incidents are inadequate which means "a serious disease outbreak or bio-terrorism incident in the next 18 months could tip the global economy from serious recession into a global depression." The commission warns that the ingredients for sarin gas and mustard gas are easily available, that radioactive materials are in wide use in hospitals and industry and that there are insufficient checks on who is buying biological agents. "This in turn could allow a terrorist...............
Cloning Tech Racing Forward
By having exploited the earth’s resources in unbridled manner, for our needs (and greed), we have placed the numbers and very existence of several other life forms in jeopardy. We have aggrandized more land, used up more water, exploited more plants and animals, and produced more waste (much of which will not go away). This has upset nature’s fragile equilibrium. One direct result of this is the endangerment of some life forms. A few examples are the Amazon rain forest, the panda, the great apes, cheetah, Asiatic lion and even the common Indian vulture. Some such as the dodo bird and the great American bison have been lost forever. Fortunately, realization of the folly has dawned on us, even if late in the day. And several groups and international agencies are putting together contingency plans using new ideas of resurrection. Advances in biology in the last decades have come into use in this welcome move. How does one repopulate an endangered species? By making more of them using the biological steps involved in reproduction. The method of in vitro fertilization (making test tube babies) is one such. Indeed, it has become so standard by now that it is hard to believe that it was only thirty years ago that Drs. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards helped produce Louise Brown, the first test tube human baby. With animals, we have gone one step...............
Spy moths controlled by chemicals
Insects could one day fly undercover missions for the US military, under the control of chemical-releasing microfluidic implants, US researchers say. Scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca used microfluidics to manipulate metabolism in moths, dictating when and for how long they could flap their wings. Combined with established electrical stimulation techniques which influence flapping and flight direction, the method could eventually enable scientists to gain complete control over insect flight and, perhaps, create spy bugs. The team, led by David Erickson, are the first to implant microfluidic chips into insects. The chips, each one as big as a moth's head, are filled with chemicals intended to paralyse the insects for short periods - so whilst older electrical techniques can be used to control wing motion, this new chemical method could work like an on-off switch for the insect. One of the most effective chemicals is the neurostransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a component of spider venom. A chip is implanted into the thorax - the "belly" - of the insect just before it transforms into an adult moth. When the moth matures two days later, the team filled the chip with chemicals, to 15 per cent of the insect's body weight. Applying an electric potential triggers release of the chemical into the moth's body - and rapid immobilisation. GABA can immobilise an insect within a minute and prevent it from flying for two hours...............
Russia seeks new missiles due to U.S. shield plans
Russia's military said recently it had intensified efforts to develop new ballistic missiles in response to U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Europe and Russia's navy test fired a new generation rocket. The decision by the United States to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic has angered Moscow, which says Russia's national security will be compromised by the U.S. anti-missile system. Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, was quoted by Interfax as saying that Russia had bolstered its efforts to develop new missiles. "At the present time, work has been intensified to create the research and technical foundation for new missile systems, which will be needed after 2020," Solovtsov said. A few hours later, the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea, a navy spokesman said. The missile...............
China says impact of global crisis deepening
China's top economic planner warned Thursday that the impact of the global financial crisis is worsening and said rising job losses could fuel instability. Beijing announced its biggest interest rate cut in 11 years recently to boost consumer and company spending, reflecting its growing urgency about reviving growth as it launches a multibillion-dollar stimulus package. "This crisis is spreading all over the world and its impact on China's economy is deepening," Zhang Ping, chairman of the Cabinet's National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference. He said economic indicators for November were showing an "even faster decline," though he gave no details. China's economic growth is expected to fall to about 9 percent this year, down from last year's 11.9 percent. That would be the fastest of any major economy, but Chinese leaders worry about possible unrest as unemployment rises, especially in export industries where factories are shutting down as global demand plummets. "Excessive production halts and closing of enterprises will cause massive unemployment, which...............
British government's identity card plan begins
The British government began its identity card program for foreign nationals Tuesday Nov 25 — six years after heated debate over whether the costly plan is an effective tool against terrorism, identity theft and welfare fraud. The last time Britain had ID cards was at the end of World War II. The program will start with roughly 50,000 foreign students and spouses of permanent residents who will receive cards if they qualify for visa extensions. Other foreign nationals living and working in Britain will not be immediately affected, but they will eventually need cards as the program is expanded. Officials have not provided details about the national plan, although airport workers are expected to need cards next year out of security concerns. Government officials say the cards, expected to be used by about 90 percent of Britain's foreign nationals within seven years, should provide a tamperproof way to determine a person's true identity and whether they are eligible to work in Britain. They say they will be more accurate...............
Feds Warn Of Terror Plot Against NYC Subways
Federal authorities are warning police of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway and train systems during the holiday season, prompting local officials to beef up security at stations. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system. A person briefed on the matter, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence-gathering work, said the threat may also be directed at the passenger rail lines running through New York, such as Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, which are particularly busy with Thanksgiving holiday travelers. A U.S. counterterror official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to do so publicly, said senior government officials have been briefed because the FBI very recently received credible information about possible attacks over the holiday season, and authorities are particularly concerned about this long holiday weekend. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko confirmed only that his agency and the Homeland Security Department issued a bulletin...............
Sci-Fi Ray Gun Debuts in Iraq
I tremble to type this, but here goes: The ray gun has finally become a reality. At least that’s what the Economist reports. It says a “directed-energy weapon” named Zeus (presumably because of his fondness for hurling lightning bolts) has been deployed in the back of a Humvee in Iraq. It’s being tested by soldiers who are using its laser beam to detonate roadside bombs from a safe distance of 300 meters. This is astonishing news, at least to those of us who have been following the ray gun’s history since it was popularized by H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds.” From the ray guns of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon to the phasers and blasters of “Star Trek” and “Star Wars,” the weaponry of the future was conspicuously bullet-free. Among futurists purporting to be writing non-fiction, ray-gun technology always seemed to be just around the corner without ever arriving. Yet now, if the Zeus prototype works in Iraq, a dozen more will introduced within a year, according to the Economist, and bigger versions of the ray gun are in development. There’s the Laser Area Defence System (LADS — for once, a good military acronym) for blowing up incoming shells and rockets with laser beams. Boeing is working on a similar weapon...............
21st century plague discovered by scientists
A new disease that is passed from rats to humans via fleas, much like the Black Death, has been discovered by scientists. The bacteria can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in humans. Research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the bacteria. Since the early 1990s, more than 20 species of Bartonella bacteria have been discovered. They are considered to be emerging pathogens, because they can cause serious illness in humans worldwide from heart disease to infection of the spleen and nervous system. "A new species called Bartonella rochalimae was recently discovered in a patient with an enlarged spleen who had travelled to South America," said Professor Chao-Chin Chang from the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. "This event raised concern that it could be a newly emerged pathogens. Therefore, we decided to investigate further to understand if rodents living close to human environment could carry this bacteria." Scientists have found that rodents carry several pathogenic species of Bartonella, such as B. elizabethae, which can cause endocarditis and B. grahamii, which was found to cause neuroretinitis...............
Ready for Armageddon, Church Retails to the Masses
They're still ready for Armageddon at the Church Universal and Triumphant, a religious sect that for almost two decades has kept a bomb shelter stocked for 750 people deep in a forest near Yellowstone National Park. Church leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet has been silenced by advanced Alzheimer's disease. And her followers say they've given up the assault rifles and armored vehicles they amassed in the late 1980s _ part of a post-nuclear war "re-emergence" plan that brought national notoriety and a federal investigation. Scrambling to stay current as it reaches its 50th anniversary, the church has transformed itself into a New Age publishing enterprise and spiritual university. But still in the background is its "insurance" against the end _ the shelter buried beneath a hillside on the sect's 7,500 acre Royal Teton...............
US rolls out 'Vicinity RFID' to check IDs in moving vehicles
RFID technology that allows the remote identification of travellers in moving vehicles is being rolled out at US land border crossings this month. Crossing points with Canada at Blaine, and with Mexico at Nogales, came online last week, with Buffalo, Detroit and San Ysidro to follow, and a total of 39 planned. The system uses the US PASSport (People, Access Security Service) card, which is intended to operate within the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) for US citizens entering the US via land and sea ports. Using "Vicinity RFID" it can read the cards from a healthy skimming distance of 20-30 feet, but according to the Department of Homeland Security this isn't a problem. The RFID chip on the card doesn't contain any personal information, only a unique identification number, and skimmers wouldn't have access to the data the number matches up with. The system is intended to work like this. As a vehicle approaches the border post, the numbers of the cards inside it are read, and pictures and data on the holders are called up from a database. Then, presumably, the immigration officers check the faces of the passengers to make sure they match..............
Will U.S. push Israel to concede biblical heartland?
The Palestinian Authority has asked the U.S. to impose sanctions on Israel if the Jewish state continues building any new housing structures in the strategic and historic West Bank. The source, who works from PA President Mahmoud Abbas' office, said the threat of sanctions would be part a series of Israeli-Palestinian understandings to be guaranteed by the U.S. that both sides are trying to reach before January. The understandings, the source said, would result in an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of the West Bank, an area rich in biblical history and significance. Last week, informed Israeli and Palestinian sources said that despite media reports painting a dismal picture of negotiation prospects, Israel and the PA are still quietly working to conclude a major agreement before President Bush leaves office at the end of the year. Aside from a major West Bank withdrawal, the agreement would also grant the PA permission to open official institutions in Jerusalem but would postpone talks on the future status of the capital city until new Israeli and U.S. governments are installed next year. A top source said the PA requested that as part of the understandings, the U.S. would threaten sanctions for any new Jewish construction in the West Bank...............
U.S. tracking multiple signs of Iran-North Korea missile ties
U.S. intelligence agencies have numerous indications of close cooperation between Iran and North Korea on developing ballistic missiles, the director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said last week. Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering told reporters that a recent Iranian missile test was one sign of Teheran-Pyongyang missile cooperation. “I don’t know that this particular flight [test] would be a validation in and of itself,” Obering said of the Iranian missile test. “But I will tell you that we have many other...............
Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring
Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips — part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease. Local health workers and AIDS activists called the plan "abhorrent." "People with AIDS aren't animals; we have to respect their rights," said Tahi Ganyang Butarbutar, a prominent Papuan activist. But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of "sexually aggressive" patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine. The technical and practical details still need to be hammered out, but if the proposed legislation gets a majority vote as expected, it will be enacted next month, he and others said. Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution. But Papua, the country's easternmost and poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is...............
UFOs, aliens and ghosts are believed in more than God
While 54 per cent of people believe in God, 58 per cent believe in the supernatural. Researchers found women were more likely to believe in the supernatural than men, and were more likely to visit a medium. Nearly a quarter of the 3,000 questioned by researchers claimed they had an encounter with the paranormal. Some 37 per cent said aliens and ghosts were the basis of their belief system. The study, to mark the DVD release of X Files: I Want to Believe, conflicts with another report that showed 68.5 per cent of the general UK population described themselves as believers . Files released in October revealed cases of passenger jets nearly colliding with UFOs and reports of alien abduction which have been logged by the Ministry of Defence. The 19 files, disclosed by the National Archives which date from 1986 to 1992, show the extensive records of strange sightings by members of the public and unexplained radar images from air traffic...............
US intelligence says - The Future is nuclear war and famine
The use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely by 2025, US intelligence warned in a report on global trends that forecasts a tense, unstable world shadowed by war. "The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report. "Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios, and the uneven impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions." Called Global Trends 2025 - a Transformed World, the 121-page report was produced by the National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community. Officials said it was being briefed to the incoming administration of president-elect Barack Obama. A year in the making, the report does not take into account the recent global financial crisis. "In one sense, a bad sense, the pace of change that we are looking at in 2025 occurred more rapidly than we had anticipated," said Thomas Fingar, deputy director of National Intelligence. One overarching conclusion of the report is that "the unipolar world is over, (or) certainly will be by 2025," Mr Fingar said. But with the "rise of the rest," managing crises and avoiding conflicts will be more difficult, particularly with an antiquated post-World War II international system. "The potential for conflict will be different then and in some ways greater than it has been for a very long...............
