May 26, 2016

US nuclear force 'still uses floppy disks'

From the BBC.

The US nuclear weapons force still uses a 1970s-era computer system and floppy disks, a government report has revealed.

The Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon was one of several departments where "legacy systems" urgently needed to be replaced.

The report said taxpayers spent $61bn (£41bn) a year on maintaining ageing technologies.

It said that was three times more than the investment on modern IT systems.

The report said that the Department of Defence systems that co-ordinated intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers and tanker support aircraft "runs on an IBM Series-1 Computer - a 1970s computing system - and uses eight-inch floppy disks".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36385839

May 25, 2016

Savchenko 'freed in prisoner swap'

Source: BBC

Ukraine's Nadiya Savchenko, hailed as hero at home and jailed for murder in Russia, freed in prisoner swap - reports

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36378173

May 23, 2016

Austria far-right 'narrowly loses poll, electing Van der Bellen president'

Source: BBC

Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has won Austria's presidential election, preventing Norbert Hofer from becoming the EU's first far-right head of state, the BBC has been told.

Mr Hofer led narrowly after Sunday's election but postal votes counted on Monday gave Mr Van der Bellen victory.

Mr Van der Bellen campaigned on a pro-EU platform, backed by the Green Party.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36362505

May 23, 2016

IS fanboys tweet support and give away their location.

From Buzzfeed. Terrorists aren't immune to stupidity.

As rumors spread that an ISIS-affiliated media group would be releasing a recording from the top leadership on Saturday, thousands of ISIS supporters, also known as fanboys, took to social media sites to try and create a buzz about the release.

Among the tweets and uploads to Telegram, a messaging app with many ISIS channels, were dozens of photographs showing the fanboys holding pieces of papers with messages scribbled on them in support of ISIS, from countries around the world, including Germany, France, and England.

Their photos were supposed to instill fear by showing that the group had supporters in major European cities. Instead, the photos were used to geolocate the fanboys, and give tips to local law enforcement officials on how to find them.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/a-bunch-of-isis-fanboys-just-posted-photos-accidentally-reve?utm_term=.exnVz2al9J#.elOBLOKRe3

Four Lions remains the most accurate depiction of Islamist terrorists.

May 22, 2016

China denies selling human flesh as tinned corned beef in Zambia in Africa

China's foreign ministry has denied reports that Chinese food companies are canning human flesh and selling it in Africa as corned beef.

The country's state-run Xinhua news agency said one tabloid newspaper in Zambia was falsely quoting an unnamed woman living in China.

She said Chinese firms were collecting dead human bodies, marinating them and packing them in tins.

Chinese spokesman Hong Lei said the reports were "irresponsible".

The Chinese Ambassador to Zambia, Yang Youming, said the reports were aimed at destroying the long-standing partnership between the two countries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36341367/china-denies-selling-human-flesh-as-tinned-corned-beef-in-zambia-in-africa

May 21, 2016

Labour attacks 'skyrocketing' rent rises

From the BBC.

Councils would be given the power to limit "skyrocketing" rent increases under new Labour proposals.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will pledge to help people who are "at the mercy of an unforgiving, unrestrained housing market".

Labour is holding a "state of the economy" conference in London over the weekend.

Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will say Labour will "always seek to distribute the rewards of growth more fairly".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36348550

This is more like it, a policy that actually helps ordinary people. It's not housing benefit that needs to be cut, it's excessive rent. Time to curb some landlord's greed instead of stigmatising the disabled.

May 19, 2016

Superbugs will 'kill every three seconds'

Source: BBC

Superbugs will kill someone every three seconds by 2050 unless the world acts now, a hugely influential report says.

The global review sets out a plan for preventing medicine "being cast back into the dark ages" that requires billions of dollars of investment.

It also calls for a revolution in the way antibiotics are used and a massive campaign to educate people.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36321394

May 18, 2016

Donald Trump could visit UK before US elections

The government is preparing for the possibility of presidential hopeful Donald Trump visiting the UK before the US elections, the BBC has learned.

Diplomats expect Mr Trump to come after his formal nomination as the Republican candidate in July.

Relations between the UK government and Mr Trump are not good, and the prime minister and Mr Trump have clashed.

No request or offer has been made but most presidential nominees travel to show off their diplomatic credentials.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron says Mr Trump's plan to ban Muslims from the US is stupid and wrong. The presumptive Republican nominee says he and the prime minister are not going to have a good relationship.


In December, Mr Cameron said: "I think his remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong and I think if he came to visit our country I think it'd unite us all against him."

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday, Mr Trump said: "It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows.

"I hope to have a good relationship with him, but it sounds like he's not willing to address the problem either."

But that is not stopping ministers and diplomats quietly preparing for Mr Trump to visit the UK in the coming months.

The mood in Whitehall is that the government must now prepare for the possibility that Mr Trump could be the next US president and efforts need to be made to repair relations with the millionaire property magnate.


In 2012, the then Republican nominee Mitt Romney visited the UK and caused some offence by suggesting Britain was not ready for the Olympic Games.

On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan invited Mr Trump to visit him and his family in London to learn about Islam.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "If I can educate the presumptive Republican presidential nominee about Islam, I'm happy to do so."

Government sources say they have been struggling for months to convince parts of Whitehall to take Mr Trump seriously. And they say it is possible his potential rival, Hillary Clinton, could face indictment over the alleged use of private email for government business.

One source described Mr Trump as a political tsunami sweeping up blue collar workers, while Mrs Clinton had not tried to do anything different.

So diplomats are now trying to build a relationship with Mr Trump's team and get ready for the moment they come to the UK.

A petition advocating a ban on Mr Trump coming to the UK after his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering US following the San Bernardino shootings in California in December attracted 574,000 signatures.

In a Commons debate, Labour MP Paul Flynn said barring him from the UK risked being seen as anti-American, but SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh said a ban would be justified on the grounds of "religious harmony".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36314026

He will not be welcome, hatred of Trump unites all politicians across the political divide. Even far right UKIP leader Nigel Farage thinks Trump has gone too far, although he has recently backtracked.

Donald Trump’s comments about Muslim immigration to the US are “a political mistake too far,” Ukip’s leader has said.

When asked about Mr Trump’s comments Nigel Farage told BBC News that the UK had a “huge problem” but said the Republican presidential nomination contender had “gone too far”.
“I think Mr Trump’s somewhat knee-jerk reaction to this, saying that all Muslims should be banned from coming into America was perhaps for him a political mistake too far,” he told the new channel.

“I think with this comment he’s gone too far, I would expect people to say this look – this is unreasonable, because what you would be doing is punishing a lot of very good people because of the actions of a few.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-says-donald-trumps-policy-of-banning-muslim-immigration-to-the-us-is-a-political-a6765431.html

May 17, 2016

Crimeans told to stop stealing sand from beaches

Officials in Crimea are warning people to stop stealing sand from tourist beaches, or else face a prison sentence.

The peninsula's beaches are being targeted by people who remove the sand for use as free building material, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports. At more remote beaches it's being taken away by the lorry-load, the paper says.

"Everyone we catch at this needs to be prosecuted," says Sergei Aksyonov, prime minister of Crimea's Russian-backed government. "When people are stealing sand in broad daylight, what exactly are we doing about it?" According to the Tass news agency, Mr Aksyonov wants to get Russia's FSB - the successor agency to the KGB - involved to help catch them.

Sand theft can hit local authorities finances hard. In February, a group of builders were charged with illegally removing more than 1bn roubles-worth ($15.4m; £10.6m) near Moscow.

But while Crimea's authorities might be fretting over the financial impact, the idea of bare beaches has tickled Russians on social media. One person commenting on the Ura.ru news site jokes that the beach is being washed away by an American warship making waves in the Black Sea, and another suggests officials should reinforce the sand by mixing it with concrete: "Try carrying it off then."

For Russian writer Lev Rubinstein, it brought to mind an old Soviet-era joke: "What happens if socialism comes to the Sahara? Nothing at first, but then the sand shortages will start."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-36314586

May 16, 2016

Donald Trump warning over UK relationship

Donald Trump has warned he may not have a "very good relationship" with UK Prime Minister David Cameron if he wins the US presidency.

Mr Cameron has called the Republican hopeful "stupid, divisive and wrong" over his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

Downing Street said Mr Cameron stood by his remarks but would work with whoever is elected US president.

Mr Trump is also involved in a spat with new London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The US presidential contender said he would not forgive Mr Khan for calling him "ignorant" - and challenged the Mayor to take part in an IQ test, an offer mocked by Mr Khan's team.
Last year, Mr Trump, who has beaten his rivals to become the presumptive Republican candidate, called for a temporary halt to all Muslims entering the US in the wake of the deadly terror attack in San Bernardino, California.

He said many Muslims nursed a "hatred" towards America and a ban should be in force "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on".

Responding to Mr Trump's comments at the time, Mr Cameron said: "I think his remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong and I think if he came to visit our country I think it'd unite us all against him."

Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain earlier on Monday, Mr Trump said: "It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows.

"I hope to have a good relationship with him, but it sounds like he's not willing to address the problem either."

Mr Trump said he was not anti-Muslim but "anti-terror", saying "we have a real problem and we have to discuss it", as he called on Muslims to work with the people and "turn people in" that they suspected of extremism.

"I have many Muslim friends," he said. "I was with one the other day, one of the most successful men, he's Muslim and he said, 'Donald you have done us such a favour, you have brought out a problem that nobody wants to talk about'."

'Special relationship'

David Cameron's official spokesman was asked about Mr Trump's suggestion that they might not have a good relationship following the Republican candidate's latest comments.

"The prime minister has made his views on Donald Trump's comments very clear. He disagrees with them and I haven't got anything further to add," said the spokesman.

"He continues to believe that preventing Muslims from entering the US is divisive, stupid and wrong."

The Number 10 spokesman said that Mr Cameron was "committed to maintaining the special relationship" whoever wins the presidential election.

"He has been clear that he will work with whoever is president of the United States," said the spokesman.

No proposal had been made for a phone call between the prime minister and Mr Trump, but the spokesman said Downing Street would be willing to consider it.

Mr Trump also criticised what he called the "very rude statements" made about him by Sadiq Khan, after Mr Trump suggested he would make an "exception" to the ban for the London mayor.

Mr Khan, the first directly-elected Muslim mayor of a major Western capital city, dismissed Mr Trump's offer and accused the US presidential hopeful of holding "ignorant" views of Islam which "could make both our countries less safe" by playing into the hands of extremists.

Responding, Mr Trump told ITV: "I am offended, he doesn't know me.

"I think they were very rude statements and, frankly, tell him I will remember those statements," he added.

Mr Trump also challenged Mr Khan to an IQ test.


But as the public spat between the two men continued, a spokesman for Mr Khan said US voters would reject Mr Trump's "ignorant, divisive and dangerous" views.

He said there were "no plans" to seek direct talks with Mr Trump and mocked his IQ challenge, saying: "Ignorance is not the same thing as lack of intelligence."

Mr Khan, who was elected Labour mayor of London last week, told BBC News his message for Mr Trump and his advisors was" your views on Islam are ignorant".

"We've shown in London that there's nothing incompatible with being a mainstream Muslim and Western liberal values, and we showed that comprehensively on 5 May," he added.

Mr Trump, who is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party after pushing out more than a dozen rival presidential candidates during the US primary season, reiterated that he backed the UK leaving the European Union.

In contrast to US President Barack Obama, who has warned that an EU exit would leave the UK at the "back of the queue" in trade talks, Mr Trump said he did not think it would harm the UK's trade position.

"It wouldn't make any difference to me whether they were in the EU or not," he said. "They certainly wouldn't be back of the queue, that I can tell you."

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson told ITV's Good Morning Britain that it "can't be good" if Mr Trump were to be elected as US president in November.

"I'd agree with that. I have huge and infinite faith in the American people that he won't be," she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36300005