company:the associated press

Les métadonnées comptent : comment l’enregistrement des conversations téléphoniques et les lois obsolètes nuisent à la liberté de la presse et à la vie privée - Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/16/4336994/metadata-matters-how-phone-records-and-obsolete-laws-harm-privacy

Le gouvernement américain via son service fiscal a espionné les lignes téléphoniques des journalistes d’Associated Press. Sans avoir accès au contenu, l’administration fiscale a eu accès aux numéros, aux durées des appelles, au localisations (pas au contenu) : voir cet article du Monde pour les explications : http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2013/05/14/benghazi-irs-ap-les-affaires-qui-fragilisent-barack-obama_3200459_3222.html. Mais rappelle The Verge, il y a des catégories entières (...)

#vieprivee #surveillance #libertés

In AP surveillance case, the real scandal is what’s legal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/14/in-ap-surveillance-case-the-real-scandal-is-whats-legal

U.S. law allows the government to engage in this type of surveillance—on media organizations or anyone else—without meaningful judicial oversight.

The key here is a legal principle known as the “third party doctrine,” which says that users don’t have Fourth Amendment rights protecting information they voluntarily turn over to someone else. Courts have said that when you dial a phone number, you are voluntarily providing information to your phone company, which is then free to share it with the government.

Un amendement de la constitution US fait donc l’objet d’une sur-interprétation loufoque quand il s’agit de légaliser la corruption des représentants de la nation par des affairistes véreux (exemple du premier amendement dans l’affaire Citizens United versus Federal Election Commission), et d’une sous-interprétation non moins loufoque quand il s’agit de légaliser l’aliénation des citoyens.

Et il apparaît que les seules fuites garanties par le quatrième amendement sont celles dont le divulgateur est le gouvernement lui-même.

178 self-immolations in Tunisia reflect despair of jobless Mideast youth

►http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/178-self-immolations-in-tunisia-reflect-despair-of-jobless-mideast-youth-including-vendor/2013/05/11/1e430bc0-ba61-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_print.html

In Tunisia, about 230,000 university graduates are unemployed, making up one-third of the jobless, according to the National Institute of Statistics. The Union of Unemployed University Graduates puts the actual number of jobless graduates closer to 350,000, saying many have stopped looking for work.

The few jobs available are awarded through nepotism and political connections, according to union member Soheil Idoudi, 32, who has an engineering degree but never worked in his field. His four college-educated siblings survive on odd jobs.

The problem is especially acute because in the Middle East, a job is often the first building block of adult life, as Adel soon found. Without a job, a young man cannot get married. And without marriage, a couple cannot live together.

Government subpoenas, obtains wide set of AP phone records in investigation - 5/13/2013 3:20:06 PM | Newser
http://www.newser.com/article/da68kltg0/government-subpoenas-obtains-wide-set-of-ap-phone-records-in-investigation.h

(Noam Chomsky savait de quoi il parlait http://seenthis.net/messages/134551)

Des journalistes de l’Associated Press mis sur écoute par le gouvernement US.

The Justice Department has secretly obtained two months of telephone records of journalists for The Associated Press in what AP’s top executive says is an unprecedented intrusion into newsgathering.

Prosecutors took records showing incoming and outgoing calls for work and personal numbers for individual reporters, plus for general AP offices in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn. The government also seized those records for the main phone number for AP in the House of Representatives press gallery.

The Justice Department disclosed the seizure in a letter the AP received Friday. The letter did not state a reason, but prosecutors have previously said they are conducting a leaks investigation into how the AP learned about an al-Qaida bomb plot in Yemen before it was made public last year.

Prosecutors have sought records from reporters before, but the seizure of records from such a wide array of AP offices is unusual.

178 self-immolations in Tunisia reflect despair of jobless Mideast youth, including vendor - The Washington Post
►http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/178-self-immolations-in-tunisia-reflect-despair-of-jobless-mideast-youth-including-vendor/2013/05/11/1e430bc0-ba61-11e2-b568-6917f6ac6d9d_print.html

Adel is one of 178 people in Tunisia who have set themselves on fire since the self-immolation two years ago of another high school dropout-turned-street vendor launched the Arab Spring.

...

In Tunis, Issam briefly took over Adel’s stand, but has since returned to construction. He finds life unbearably lonely without his father and brother. He says getting married is out of the question as long as he has to support his mother and brothers.

He remembers how he and Adel talked after Bouazizi’s self-immolation.

They agreed it was “just inconceivable” that either of them would do such a thing.

Army says no to more tanks, but Congress insists - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/army-says-no-more-tanks-congress-insists-115422396.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army’s hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle.

Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams.

But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, “No thanks.”
It’s the inverse of the federal budget world these days, in which automatic spending cuts are leaving sought-after pet programs struggling or unpaid altogether. Republicans and Democrats for years have fought so bitterly that lawmaking in Washington ground to a near-halt.

Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there’s a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.

“If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way,” Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army’s chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week.

#lobbying #corruption_légale

La guerre en Irak, 10 ans après - Acrimed | Action Critique Médias
http://www.acrimed.org/article4054.html

Depuis le 15 avril 2013 et quatre jours durant, les attentats de Boston et la traque de leurs auteurs ont focalisé l’attention médiatique et phagocyté le reste de l’actualité… Dans le même temps, des attentats ou des combats décimaient des civils en Syrie ou en Irak, qui étaient à peine évoqués dans la presse écrite et ignorés par les radios et les télés. Cette asymétrie dans le traitement des victimes de violence armée démontre l’invraisemblable ethnocentrisme qui régit la production de l’information et paraît tout particulièrement évidente en ce qui concerne l’Irak. Le silence médiatique qui prévaut sur la guerre civile larvée qui sévit dans ce pays, où les affrontements interconfessionnels et les attentats causent la perte de centaines de civils est d’autant plus écrasant qu’il s’accompagne d’une absence totale de bilan d’une invasion prétendument libératrice, déclenchée il y a dix ans.

À l’occasion de ce triste anniversaire, le site américain d’observation des médias, FAIR [1], retrace les premiers jours de l’invasion en relevant toutes les prises de positions des journalistes et autres experts médiatiques ainsi que l’engagement des télévisions et radios américaines dans la propagande belliciste. Nous vous proposons cette traduction en français de l’article original [2]. (Acrimed)

Hagel ’surprised’ by Israeli charge of Syrian chemical weapons usage - Middle East - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/hagel-surprised-by-israeli-charge-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-usage-1.517528

U.S. Secretary of State says Israeli assessment of chemical weapons usage by Assad forces in Syria was not shared with him during meeting with counterpart Moshe Ya’alon.
By The Associated Press | Apr.25, 2013

« Rapatriement médical » quand des hôpitaux états-uniens affrètent des jets privés pour déporter des sans-papiers…

Deported While Unconscious : American Hospitals Quietly Deport Hundreds Of Undocumented Patients
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/deported-while-unconscious-hospitals-deport-undocumented-patients

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Days after they were badly hurt in a car accident, Jacinto Cruz and Jose Rodriguez-Saldana lay unconscious in an Iowa hospital while the American health care system weighed what to do with the two immigrants from Mexico.

The men had health insurance from jobs at one of the nation’s largest pork producers. But neither had legal permission to live in the U.S., nor was it clear whether their insurance would pay for the long-term rehabilitation they needed.

So Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines took matters into its own hands: After consulting with the patients’ families, it quietly loaded the two comatose men onto a private jet that flew them back to Mexico, effectively deporting them without consulting any court or federal agency.

When the men awoke, they were more than 1,800 miles away in a hospital in Veracruz, on the Mexican Gulf Coast.

Hundreds of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have taken similar journeys through a little-known removal system run not by the federal government trying to enforce laws but by hospitals seeking to curb high costs. A recent report compiled by immigrant advocacy groups made a rare attempt to determine how many people are sent home, concluding that at least 600 immigrants were removed over a five-year period, though there were likely many more.

Egypt’s Jewish community announces it elected a new leader

Haaretz Daily Newspaper

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/egypt-s-jewish-community-announces-it-elected-a-new-leader-1.515854

Egypt’s Jewish community announces it elected a new leader
The leader, Magda Haroun, 60, said she aimed to continue the work of her predecessor, Carmen Weinstein, who died Saturday at the age of 82.

Magda Haroun est la fille d’un avocat égyptien juif communiste, Chehata Haroun, décédé en 2001. C’était un vieil ami. Il avait toujours refusé de quitter l’Egypte son pays. Il avait voulu s’engager en 1967 pour défendre son pays contre l’agression israélienne. Sur sa tombe, on a lit ces quelques lignes qu’il avait rédigées : Chaque être humain a plusieurs identités. Je suis un être humain. Je suis égyptien lorsque les Egyptiens sont opprimés. Je suis noir lorsque les Noirs sont opprimés. Je suis juif lorsque les juifs sont opprimés et je suis palestinien lorsque les Palestiniens sont opprimés.

Syrian Spillover - By J. Dana Stuster | Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/04/syrian_spillover_map_civil_war

https://mts0.google.com/vt/lyrs=h@211000000&hl=en&src=app&x=38&y=25&z=6&s=Gal

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=213559362522542994464.0004d76e1ac6fd59f6d87&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Click the map above to enlarge and expand the flags, which highlight instances of a widening conflict.

L’information de capteur - O’Reilly Radar
http://radar.oreilly.com/2013/03/sensor-journalism-data-journalism.html

Alex Howard pour O’Reilly Radar revient, avec de nombreux exemples, sur le #journalisme de capteur. Ou comment les données provenant de capteurs deviennent une nouvelle matière première pour le journalisme et l’info.  Tags : internetactu internetactu2net fing #media journalisme #iot (...)

#internetdesobjets

La bataille pour Damas ? CBS News rassemble, à son tour, des informations qui tendent à démontrer que la grande offensive sur Damas (la sixième ?) est en vue. Si les financements qataris et saoudiens de fourniture d’armes à destination de l’opposition syrienne étaient largement médiatisés, en revanche l’implication des Etats Unis et d’autres Etats occidentaux était assez peu commentée. Ce n’est plus le cas puisqu’on dispose désormais d’un grand nombre de commentaires de presse sur les types d’armes exportées vers la Turquie et la Jordanie, sur le rôle de la CIA qui interviendrait pour s’assurer que ces armes finissent entre des mains « modérés et légitimes » (Kerry en marge d’une réunion de l’opposition tenue en Italie) et qu’elles rééquilibrent l’effort militaire fourni par l’Iran à Assad, enfin, sur l’abondance des matériels militaires qui arrivent en Syrie en préparation à une offensive finale sur Damas.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57576722/ap-master-plan-underway-to-help-syria-rebels-take-damascus-with-u.s.-approv

CBS/AP/ March 28, 2013, 5:26 AM
AP : "Master plan" underway to help Syria rebels take Damascus with U.S.-approved airlifts of heavy weapons

“Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday. A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts. Saudi Arabia and other regional powers have been arming Syria’s rebels for months, but the scale and coordination with the West — and the suggestion by the AP’s sources that the effort is linked to a plan for the rebels to try and seize Damascus — represents a potentially significant escalation in the civil war.”

#Syria #weapons_supplies #escalation #battle_for_Damascus #Croatian_arms #Qatar #Turkey #Jordan #chemical_weapons #Kerry

US Training Rebels in Jordan: Get the Story Straight
http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/US-Training-Rebels-in-Jordan-Get-the-Story-Straight.html

Al-Nusra doesn’t have its eye only on the Syrian prize (or the Iraqi prize): It’s eyeing the Jordanian monarchy and Lebanon as well. Right now, only Hezbollah is stopping it from gaining a stronger foothold in Lebanon.

Are we moving toward a dataless war ? | FP Passport
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/03/11/are_we_moving_toward_a_dataless_war

Drone Strike Data

Following increased scrutiny of drone warfare in Congress and a savvy investigation by the Air Force Times, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) conceded on Saturday that it was no longer providing specific data about drone strikes in Afghanistan in its monthly reports. It also removed drone strike data from previous monthly reports on its website. The reason? According to U.S. Central Command, those reports were “disproportionately focused” on drone strike data. ISAF emphasized that drones are predominantly used for surveillance and that “only about 3% of all RPA sorties over Afghanistan invol[ve] kinetic events,” which is another way of saying: We don’t like the way you’re interpreting our information, so we’re going to give you less information.

Insurgent Attacks

The number of insurgent attacks was one of the most widely cited statistics in the decade-long Afghan war, but it’s no longer provided to the public as of last week. The change in policy came about after the Associated Press forced ISAF to concede that it incorrectly cited a 7 percent drop in insurgent attacks in 2012. (In reality, the number of Taliban attacks had remained the same.) After that embarrassment, ISAF acknowledged that its reporting methods were flawed. Instead of fixing the problem, however, it decided to stop publishing the data altogether.

(...)

At the time, Wired’s Spencer Ackerman put the policy change in vivid context. “This means ISAF is denying you a major metric for assessing the durability and the lethality of the insurgency, as well as, by inference, its freedom of movement,” he said. “When U.S. officials in the future claim that they’re making progress, you will not be able to access the data underlying their claims.”

Freedom of Information Act Requests

Another method journalists rely on for obtaining military records about the war is by filing Freedom of Information Act requests. But getting the government to acquiesce to these requests has been increasingly difficult when they pertain to national security issues, an Associated Press investigation today indicates:

The U.S. government, led by the Pentagon and CIA, censored files that the public requested last year under the Freedom of Information Act more often than at any time since President Barack Obama took office, according to a new analysis by The Associated Press. The government frequently cited national security as the reason.

Although the administration answered more overall requests last year than ever before, it more often withheld information, citing national security provisions:

In a year of intense public interest over deadly U.S. drones, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, terror threats and more, the government cited national security to withhold information at least 5,223 times - a jump over 4,243 such cases in 2011 and 3,805 cases in Obama’s first year in office. The secretive CIA last year became even more secretive: Nearly 60 percent of 3,586 requests for files were withheld or censored for that reason last year, compared with 49 percent a year earlier.

Other federal agencies that invoked the national security exception included the Pentagon, Director of National Intelligence, NASA, Office of Management and Budget, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Communications Commission and the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

All things considered, if the White House aims to make this the “most transparent administration in history,” March has been a lackluster month for its national security apparatus.

’What Palestinians Said Was Israeli Aggression’: The Death of Omar al-Masharawi
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/03/12/what-palestinians-said-was-israeli-aggression-the-death-of-omar-al-masharawi

A new report from the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights (3/6/13) tallies the extent of the death and destruction from Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip last November. The fighting, which lasted about a week, killed over 174 Palestinians in Gaza, including 22 children and 13 women. Six Israelis were killed.

But the headlines generated by the report focused on one child in Gaza, 11-month-old Omar al-Masharawi, and the claim that he was not killed by Israelis, as was originally reported.
 
The UN report recounts plenty of incidents. Among them:
–On 19 November, a father, his 12-year-old daughter, and his 19-year-old son were allegedly killed by a drone missile while collecting spearmint in a farm adjacent to their house in Ahmad Yassin Street, north of Gaza City.
–On 20 November, two 16-year-old boys were killed, allegedly by a drone missile, while hunting birds in an open area located approximately 700 meters away from the fence, east of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Relatives of the victims reported that the IDF did not grant access to the ambulances to retrieve the bodies for at least five hours.
–On 18 November, an Israeli air strike without prior warning hit a three-story house belonging to the Al-Dalou family in Al-Nasser neighborhood, central Gaza City. The airstrike killed 12 people, five of whom were children and four were women.
–The IDF targeted residential buildings and properties during the last few days of the crisis, with some reports estimating that a total of 382 residences were destroyed or sustained severe damages due to Israeli attacks.
–During the crisis the IDF attacked several media offices and journalists in Gaza City. Such attacks killed two cameramen traveling in a car marked as a press vehicle, and injured at least eight journalists.

But the stories we are seeing now are about a death that might not be attributed to Israeli violence. “UN Ties Gaza Baby’s Death to Palestinians” was the headline of a New York Times piece (3/12/13).  An Associated Press report (3/11/13) is headlined “UN: Palestinian Militants Likely Killed Gaza Baby.” That piece referred to the  photo of Omar’s body being held his father, BBC cameraman Jihad al-Masharawi, as “an image that became a symbol of what Palestinians said was Israeli aggression.”

Of course what Palestinians “said was Israeli aggression” was actually Israeli aggression, as the death toll and the UN report would indicate. But the AP article is instructive;  of the report’s 18 paragraphs, 12 are about the dispute over Omar;...

Report: NYPD’s Surveillance of Muslims ’Harmful’ - WNYC
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2013/mar/11/new-report-outlines-impact-nypds-surveillance-muslims

“People feeling they can’t trust anybody in the mosque; that they can’t speak to their imam in confidence; that they don’t trust converts or people who express interest in their religion,” said Diala Shamas, one of the report authors.

The Associated Press reported in 2011 that the NYPD surveilled and infiltrated Muslim neighborhoods.

Afghanistan, February 2013: Anti-Taliban Militias
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/03/afghanistan-february-2013-anti-taliban-militias/100468

Recently, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai ordered U.S. forces to leave Wardak province, partly in response to U.S.-funded militias in the region accused of “torturing, harassing, and murdering” ordinary civilians. The U.S. has been training and funding tribal militias in Afghanistan for years, hoping to emulate the success of a similar strategy in Iraq.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/afghan030613/s_a01_0loghar8.jpg
Farzad Akbari, the 12-year-old son of anti-Taliban militia commander Farhad Akbari, in Afghanistan’s volatile Logar province, host to a large number of armed groups and Taliban crossing over from Pakistan. Farzad’s father is grooming him to take control of the militia should he be killed. “The danger (of the Taliban) is real and it’s important I understand how the world works,” says Farzad. (© Vikram Singh)

Instances of abuse are common and well documented.

Afghanistan: Rein in Abusive Militias and Afghan Local Police
►http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/12/afghanistan-rein-abusive-militias-and-afghan-local-police
#milices #enfants #photographie

Mursi orders police withdrawal from Port Said streets

Article intéressant et assez détaillé sur les violences à Port Saïd et ce qu’elles révèlent, notamment sur la gestion de cette crise par le gouvernement et le rôle de l’armée et de la police.
Plus de 420 blessés dont environ 60 par balles, 6 morts dont 3 policiers (dernier bilan - AFP).

Egypt’s al-Shorouk newspaper quoted a military source as saying that the interior ministry forces were no longer capable of ensuring security in the city and that the army was asked to intervene.

Al Arabiya TV broadcast footage Monday of army officers attending the funeral of a protester who was shot dead by unknown gunmen.

At times in the violence, frictions have arisen between the police that were battling protesters and army forces that tried to break up the fighting. Troops in between the two sides were overwhelmed by police tear gas, one army colonel was wounded by live fire, and troops even opened fire over the heads of police, bringing cheers from protesters.

Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the fighting, and troops stood by as protesters torched a government complex Monday that contains the city’s main police building, the Associated Press reported.
(...)
Unable to halt the violence, both the police and military Monday sought to deny any tensions between them. Meanwhile, there was no official comment from the presidency following one of the worst flare-ups of violence since January.

Unrest also spread in other parts of the country. In the capital, Cairo, protesters blocked the main thoroughfare along the Nile River, and police tried to clear them with volleys of tear gas. Other disgruntled young men set fire to two police cars in two different locations in Cairo, sending police fleeing the vehicles in the middle of traffic.
(...)
Hundreds of Port Said residents, followed by some in other provinces, took the symbolic step of going to public registrar offices to issue “power of delegation” documents asking the military to step in “manage” the country.
(...)
Such a clash between two powerful institutions “warns of the decay of the state,” he said. There were increasing signs from the generals of their displeasure with Mursi’s management of the country and lack of political openness, he said, raising the specter of military intervention, perhaps not to remove Mursi but to prevent a breakdown.

Mursi supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood have downplayed rising expressions of discontent. Mohammed el-Beltagi, a senior Brotherhood member, told reporters that Egyptians will never accept the military back in power.

Another senior Brotherhood member, Gamal Heshmat, told the legislature Monday that the media is portraying Port Said as if it is “on fire.”

On Monday, both the military and the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, sought to dispel any sign of friction between their forces. The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying “unknown elements” fired arbitrarily at the police and military with the aim of sowing sedition and causing escalation.

In a statement late Sunday, the military denied it fired at police. On Monday, the military spokesman Ali said that the fact that people on both sides were injured indicates that unknown elements were behind the gunfire.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/03/05/269736.html

Un autre article sur le sujet de Samuel Forey (correspondant au Caire et en Egypte), qui revient sur les causes de ces violences : http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2013/03/04/01003-20130304ARTFIG00453-port-said-au-bord-de-l-embrasement.php

Locust swarm of biblical proportions strikes Egypt, Israel before Passover

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/04/17185324-locust-swarm-of-biblical-proportions-strikes-egypt-israe

The timing of the insect invasion is eerie, because the Bible’s Book of Exodus tells of 10 plagues that hit Egypt before Moses and the Jews were allowed to leave for the Promised Land. A plague of locusts was the eighth on the list — but Pharaoh didn’t relent until the 10th plague, which killed off all of Egypt’s firstborn sons. Every year at Passover, Jews commemorate how they were spared.

This time, even the Israelis are worried that the locusts are out to get them. “They may not have ruined Pharaoh, but they could ruin us,” one farmer, Tzachi Rimon, told Israel’s Channel 10 TV.
Locust swarms have the potential to wipe out agricultural crops, and it’s been eight years since such a serious assault has hit Egypt’s Cairo region and Israel, said Keith Cressman, the senior locust forecasting officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters in Rome.

#plaiesdEgypte

Al-Qaida tipsheet on avoiding drones found in Mali - Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Al-Qaida-tipsheet-on-avoiding-drones-found-in-Mali-4297410.php#photo-4229840

While some of the tips are outdated or far-fetched, taken together, they suggest the Islamists in Mali are responding to the threat of drones with sound, common-sense advice that may help them to melt into the desert in between attacks, leaving barely a trace.

Carnival cruise ship passengers tell of ’horrible’ conditions after disembarking | World news | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/15/carnival-triumph-docks-alabama-ordeal

Encore un paquebot à la dérive, mais cette fois-ci plein de passagers et… d’autres choses…

Après un incendie en salle des machines, le bateau est resté 5 jours à la dérive, sans aucune source d’énergie dans le golfe du Mexique. Pas de ventilation, pas de sanitaires, 4200 personnes à bord (dont 1000 membres d’équipage) : un cocktail d’enfer !

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/2/15/1360921077367/Carnival-Triumph-is-towed-010.jpg
Carnival Triumph is towed towards the docks in Mobile, Alabama, Photograph : Sipa USA/Rex Features

As the ship was towed into port on Thursday, passengers transmitted details of the grisly conditions on board. Joy Dyer, in texts shared with the Guardian, said “floating waste is all over the place” and described the smell as “rank”. Passengers were forced to conduct bodily functions using showers, sinks and red bags, Dyer said. She was among a number of passengers who had taken to sleeping above deck to escape the stench of the rooms below – where “slick floors are usually human waste overflows”.

Les croisiéristes ne sont que modérément inquiets.

Stinking ship saga unlikely to pull cruise industry far off course | http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/16/mexico-carnival-industry-idUSL1N0BFD1Z20130216

“I don’t lose sleep over this,” said David Crooks, a Boston-based executive with World Travel Holdings, which owns huge travel cruise agencies including CruisesOnly, Cruise Inc and CheapCruises.com.

When asked about the possible impact on consumer demand after the problems of the Triumph drew media scrutiny, he said: “If the price is right, people will travel.”

Ce témoin est parfait : son discours, son nom, le nom de ses sociétés ;-)

Enfin, la maison mère de tout ça ne se fait pas non plus trop de souci.

Carnival, which operates 100 ships worldwide in a stable of brands that includes flagship Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America Lines, Britain’s Cunard Line and Italy’s Costa Cruises, declined to comment on the possible impact on bookings due to all the unsavory publicity it received over the Triumph.

De plus, d’après les conseillers juridiques, Carnival ne devrait pas craindre grand chose :

Insurance could cover everything from the cost of the sewage clean-up to compensation packages offered to passengers, Kornfeld said

(…)

“You know, shit happens. It’s not worth the trouble. Most people are going to say ’I had a really crappy vacation and I’m really upset, but I’m not hiring a lawyer to sue Carnival.’ The individual claims will be too small,” he said.

On appréciera les mots particulièrement choisis de Linda Kornfeld, juriste spécialisée dans la chasse aux indemnisations au profit des (sociétés) titulaires de contrats d’assurance.

Cyber, drone operators now eligible for ’Distinguished Warfare’ medal | Cutting Edge - CNET News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57569265-76/cyber-drone-operators-now-eligible-for-distinguished-warfare-medal

Cyber, drone operators now eligible for ’Distinguished Warfare’ medal

The first new medal out of the Defense Department since the 1944 creation of the Bronze Star recognizes the growing importance of cyberwarfare and drone strikes.

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Le dernier conflit à Gaza résumé en une photo.

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/content/swedish-photographer-paul-hansen-wins-premier-photo-contest-award

Toy-Size Helicopter #Drones Now On #Surveillance Duty In #Afghanistan | Singularity Hub
http://singularityhub.com/2013/02/11/toy-size-helicopter-drones-now-on-surveillance-duty-in-afghanistan

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the Black Hornet is a miniaturized version of its larger helicopter counterpart, rather than employing multirotors. This makes sense considering it basically a camera with propellers and so the design reflects the necessity to easily point the chopper’s nose in the correct point of view for the camera.

The US and other nations continue to ramp up the number of drones that are being used in the field. While the price tag for these little guys is jawdropping (breaks down to close to a couple hundred thousand dollars for each), the advantages of their size are clear. A flying camera that can be maneuvered through the air quickly and easily without being detected is a dream come true. Many of the other drones that are approximately this size are often used for swarm functionality to create communications networks, for instance.