country:australia

  • Latest Australian refugee disaster worsened by slow response

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/refu-a31.shtml

    By Mark Church
    31 August 2012

    Another boat carrying refugees to Australia has sunk after sailing from Indonesia. Reports indicate that only 54 people have survived, after being stranded in the water for almost 24 hours before help arrived. The boat was reported to have had 150 passengers from Afghanistan.

    An unidentified passenger twice contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Rescue Coordination Centre early Wednesday morning, at 4.20 a.m. and 5.05 a.m. AEST, reporting the vessel was in distress. AMSA said the boat was eight nautical miles south-west of Java. Later, it amended that report to correctly estimate that the vessel would have drifted to a location about 50 nautical miles west of Java.

    #migrations #réfugiés #australie #sauvetage-en-mer #naugrage

  • Watch This: A Gigantic Stick Insect Pries Itself Out of a Tiny Egg | 80beats | Discover Magazine
    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/08/27/watch-this-a-gigantic-stick-insect-pries-itself-out-of-a-tin

    http://vimeo.com/14413689

    This video is a slow burn, but it’s mesmerizing. This stick insect, painstakingly extruding itself from its egg, is an individual from one of the most endangered insect species on Earth. Given how long it takes for this one to get free, you can get a sense of how devastating it was when rodents were introduced to its home island, Lord Howe Island in Australia. A insect this preoccupied with hatching can’t outrun a hungry rat.

  • Australie : l’asile off-shore redevient d’actualité

    via Jean-Pierre Allaux du Gisti que je relaye ici bien volontiers

    Consulter les liens suivants pour les précisions :

    UN agencies concerned about Australia refugee plan
    http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/un-agencies-concerned-about-australia-refugee-plan

    Australia must meet its regional responsibilities for refugees
    http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/n/media/12 20814_ExpertPanel.pdf

    L’Australie se résigne à rouvrir des camps pour ses immigrés clandestins
    http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/international/artic cle/2012/08/16/australie-reouverture-des-camps-pour-les-immig gres-clandestins_1746513_3210.html

    Nauru told prepare for first 150 detainees
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nauru-told-prepare-for-first-150-detainees/story-fn59niix-12 226452128765

    Manus Island detention camp derelict and overgrown
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/manus-island-detention-camp-derelict-and-overgro own/story-fn9hm1gu-1226452698128

    Boatpeople rush to avoid Nauru and PNG
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/boatpeople-rush-to-avoid-nauru-and-png/story-fn n9hm1gu-1226452574989

    MIGRATION : Reaction to Australian policy reforms
    http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96104/MIGRATION-Reaction-to-Australian-policy-reforms

    re-opening detention camps for migrants in Nauru and Papua New Guinea
    http://www.workpermit.com/news/2012-08-14/australia-to-open-immigration-camp-on-nauru

    #migrations #asile #australie #déterritorialisation #camps-enfermement

  • Chine Infrastructure Industrie Economie

    Mass protests force Chinese authorities to scrap industrial project

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/chin-j11.shtml

    By John Chan
    11 July 2012

    The Chinese government last week promised to abandon the construction of a $1.6 billion industrial plant in Sichuan province’s Shifang city following mass protests.

    Hongda Chemical, a subsidiary of the privately-owned Chinese resources conglomerate, Hongda Group, planned to refine copper ore from Tibet and Australia. The project consisted of a molybdenum processor with an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes and a 400,000-tonnes-a-year copper cathode production line.

    Like many industrial projects in China, the plant had been approved with little consideration for the wellbeing of the local population or the impact on the environment. Fears that the plant’s emissions would destroy limited local water supplies or cause cancers made it a focal point of anger against the government.

  • Rabbi Dan Avital and Rebbitzin Naomi Avital of Chabad of the Australian Capital Territory – Canberra, Australia Hereby Asked to Admit or Deny Matters Relating to US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich

    1. Admit that Rabbi Dan and Naomi Avital moved to Canberra in the beginning of 2009, and established a branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Canberra .

    2. Admit that Jeffrey Bleich is an American lawyer from California who is the United States Ambassador to Australia.

    3. Admit that Jeffrey Bleich is a Yid.

    4. Admit that around 2007-2008 Jeffrey Bleich founded and Co-Chaired “Obama for America”‘s National Finance Committee.

    Please continue @:

    http://lesliebrodie.posterous.com/rabbi-dan-avital-and-rebbitzin-naomi-avital-o

  • BREAKING NEWS: Big Red Flag Raised Over United States Ambassador to Australia “Bundler” Jeffrey Bleich Amid Revelations Bleich Founding Member and Co-Chair of Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee in 2007-2008

    A big red flag has been raised over Jeffrey Bleich, TLR has learned.

    Sources with knowledge of the inquiry, speaking on condition of anonymity, maintain an unusually somber YR reluctantly raised a big red-flag over Bleich due to the overall circumstances surrounding the sub-rosa transfer of whopping $780,000.00 from the California Bar Foundation to CaliforniaALL during a time period Bleich was serving as a founding member and co-chair of Obama’s national finance committee.

    The sources declined to provide specific details.

    According to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis, Bleich bundled at least $500,000 for Obama’s presidential run. (Bundlers are people who ask friends, associates, and well, anyone who’s willing to give, and then deliver the checks to a candidate in one big “bundle.”)

    Bleich has worked as a lawyer for nearly 15 years in the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson and served as a member of both the Board of Governors and the California Bar Foundation’s board during the period of the sub rosa transfer of $780,000.

    Bleich is a friend of President Obama, and presently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia.

    As matters presently stand, prima facie evidence creates the appearance of a sophisticated financial scheme executed in 2008 involving Democratic party operatives James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster, Jeffrey Bleich , Assistant Attorney General Derek Anthony West (aka Tony West), Judy Johnson, Chris Young, as well as others to misuse the $780,000 originating from the California Bar Foundation by improperly transferring money from California Bar Foundation to Barack Obama’s coffers.

    According to the sources, in 2007-2008:

    –James Brosnahan, the self proclaimed “mastermind behind the Democratic Party” (and former prosecutor of Caspar Weinberger), while associated with Morrison & Foerster executed from behind the scenes a scheme known as CaliforniaALL, which collected “hush-hush” sub rosa funds totaling approximately $780,000 from the Foundation of the State Bar of California.

    –Chris Young, while associated with Morrison & Foerster, served as Barack Obama’s Northern California Deputy Finance Director.

    –Tony West, while associated with Morrison & Foerster, served as Barack Obama’s California Co-Chair of the California Finance Committee.

    –Susan MacCormac, while associated with Morrison & Foerster, legally created the entity known as CaliforniaALL and served as its legal counsel.

    –Annette Carnegie, while associated with Morrison & Foerster, served as a board member of the California Bar Foundation during the period of the sub rosa transfer of the above-referenced $780,000.

    –Jeffrey Bleich, while associated with Munger Tolles & Olsen, served as a member of both the Board of Governors and the California Bar Foundation’s board during the period of the sub rosa transfer of $780,000. Bleich is a friend of President Obama who presently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia.

    During Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, Bleich was a founding member and co-chair of Obama’s national finance committee, co-chair of Obama’s higher education advisory board, and California co-chair. He donated to Hillary Rodham Clinton and raised funds for her to retire her campaign’s debt after the Democratic primary . (from Wikipedia)

    Verizon Communications (which heavily contributed to CaliforniaALL) is a client of Munger Tules & Olson, where Bleich serves as partner.

    The California Bar Foundation is maintained and controlled by the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California — which is largely comprised of California Democratic Party operatives such as “Shakedown Artist” Gwen Moore of Shrimpscam ; Jeannine English — the wife of controversial gambling attorney and Democratic Party operative Howard Dickstein ; “Gay Godfather” Dennis Manger; Democratic Party operative Joseph Lawrence Dunn (aka Joe Dunn) of Voice of OC ; Nancy Fineman, a partner at the firm of Democratic party operative Joe Cotchett; and Jon Streeter, President of the California State Bar Board of Governors and a partner at the firm of Democratic Party operative John Keker, former prosecutor of Oliver North.

    The State Bar of California has been involved in numerous financial scandals, the most notable of which involved the prolonged embezzlement of close to $900,000 by employee Sherri Pearl (who many believed was in cahoots with Executive Director Judy Johnson) , as well as the scandal involving Geoffrey Brown (former CPUC Commissioner) and Judy Johnson, as a result of which close to $30 million in fines and settlements the CPUC imposed on utility companies was funneled to the California Consumer Protection Foundation (“CCPF”), an entity for which Judy Johnson secretly served as its president. From there, CCPF funneled most of the money to ACORN-like entities in South Los Angeles — Gwen Moore’s territory — and to an entity associated with Michael Shames in San Diego which is presently under grand jury investigation.

  • Jeff Bleich (Friend of Barack Obama – U.S. Ambassador To Australia – California Bar Foundation Board Member – Munger Tolles & Olsen Partner) Asked Comment on Prime Facie Showing of Conspiracy to Embezzle $780,000 from Cal Bar Foundation Involving Himself, DOJ’s Tony West, Keker & Van Nest’s Chris Young, MoFo’s James Brosnahan to Embezzle $780,000 from Cal Bar Foundation, vis-a-vis Sham Non-Profit Entity CaliforniaALL, to Election Campaign of Barack Obama.

    Please see story @:

    http://lesliebrodie.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/jeff-bleich-friend-of-barack-obama-u-s-ambassador-to-austral

  • Lanny Breuer — USDOJ’s Assistant Attorney General — Alleged Lack of Integrity Source of Even Greater Concern Amid Newest Revelations Involving Munger Tolles & Olson’s Jeff Bleich — Friend of Barack Obama and US Ambassador to Australia

    Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson – presently the U.S. ambassador to Australia and a close friend of U.S. President Barack Obama — is under renewed scrutiny in connection with recent revelations dealing with DOJ’s Tony West, MoFo’s James Brosnahan, and KVN’s Chris Young.

    Mr. Bleich served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors, as well as board member of the California Bar Foundation.

    Verizon Communications (which heavily contributed to CaliforniaALL) is a client of Munger Tules & Olson, where Bleich serves as partner.

    Please continue @:
    http://lesliebrodie.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/lanny-breuer-usdojs-assistant-attorney-general-alleged-lack-

  • Munger Tolles & Olson’s Jeffrey Bleich (AKA Jeff Bleich) — Friend of Barack Obama, US Ambassador to Australia, 2008 California Bar Foundation Board Member, Attorney for Verizon Wireless — Under Renewed Scrutiny Amid New Revelations

    Jeffrey Bleich of Munger Tolles & Olson – presently the U.S. ambassador to Australia and a close friend of U.S. President Barack Obama — is under renewed scrutiny in connection with recent revelations dealing with DOJ’s Tony West, MoFo’s James Brosnahan, and KVN’s Chris Young.

    Mr. Bleich served as member of the State Bar of California Board of Governors, as well as board member of the California Bar Foundation.

    Verizon Communications (which heavily contributed to CaliforniaALL) is a client of Munger Tules & Olson, where Bleich serves as partner.

    According to sources seeking anonymity, the very recent sudden and abrupt departure of associate Christopher J. Young (AKA Chris Young) from San Francisco-based Keker & Van Nest is viewed with intense interest in seeking to further solve the mystery surrounding a sub-Rosa “hush-hush” transfer of $780,000 from the California Bar Foundation to now defunct non-profit entity CaliforniaALL.

    According to the sources, Chris Young (who in 2008 served as Barack Obama’s Northern California Deputy Finance Director ) prior employment with Morrison & Foerster at around 2008 is a very important piece of the puzzle, indeed, as in 2008 Susan Mac Cormac of Morrison & Foerster created the entity known as CaliforniaALL; Annette Carnegie of Morrison & Foerster served as California Bar Foundation board member which had transferred the funds to CaliforniaALL, sub-rosa ; Derek Anthony West (AKA Tony West) of Morrison & Foerster served as Barack Obama’s Co-Chair, California Finance Committee; and lurking in the background was James Brosnahan of Morrison & Foerster — a self-described mastermind behind the Democratic Party.

    Per the sources, in addition to the above, other suspicious and unsettling circumstances surrounding CaliforniaALL may cause one to entertain thoughts quartet Brosnahan/West/Young/Carnegie were instrumental in causing money to be moved from Cal Bar Foundation to Barack Obama’s election campaign, vis-a-vis CaliforniaALL, unlawfully.

    Please continue @:
    http://lesliebrodie.posterous.com/munger-tolles-olsons-jeffrey-bleich-aka-jeff

  • Canada rises to 4th in world peace rankings - World - CBC News
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/06/12/world-peace-index.html

    Canada has come in fourth on an annual ranking of world peacefulness, trailing only Iceland, Denmark and New Zealand.

    The 2012 Global Peace Index released Tuesday — the sixth produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an Australia-U.S. think-tank, with data from the Economist Intelligence Unit — saw Canada move up three spots from the 2011 list

    The 2012 index ranks 158 nations using 23 indicators which gauge ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. The 2011 list included 153 countries

  • Robert Bryce : Renewable Energy Can’t Run the Cloud - WSJ
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577420251668850864.html

    Data centers now consume about 1.3% of all global electricity. That amount of energy, about 277 terawatt-hours per year, exceeds the electricity use of dozens of countries, including Australia and Mexico.
    And that quantity of energy will continue to grow. (...)

    The mismatch between the power demands of Big Data and the renewable-energy darlings of the moment are obvious. U.S. data centers are now consuming about 86 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, or about 43 times as much electricity as is produced by all the solar-energy projects in America.

    #green #technologie #énergie #datacenters via @renaud

  • Syrian Revolution News Round-up -Day 442: Tuesday, 28 May 2012
    Regime Intensifies Operations Across the Country Amid Further Diplomatic Isolation

    General strike in the city of Hama

    Top Stories

    US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Bulgaria and Nederland issued Syrian ambassadors and diplomats expulsion notices.
    Syrian Honorary Consul General in California, USA decided to step down from his post in reaction to the Houleh Massacre
    Regime forces killed at least 72 today including 13 executed detainees.

    Top Videos

    Houleh, Homs: Families escaped the massacre tell their shocking stories, P2, P3
    Homs: The Syrian regime ignores international backlash and continues to bombard the city, P2, P3
    Aleppo Suburbs: The regime’s air force bombards the towns and villages resulting in several deaths including children, P2, P3
    Jeser Village, Deir Azzour: More than 15 unidentified bodies of handcuffed men appear to be field-executed Assad’s forces

    Summary of Events
    Regime forces killed at least 72 people today; 24 fell in the province of Homs due to the intensified shelling of the cities of Rastan, Homs, and Houleh, and 15 in Deir Azzour as the regime executed 13 detainees. The regime has intensified its operations after top regime security officials were assassinated, including Asef Shawkat and Dawod Rajha, and amid rumours of the assassination of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

    The regime’s military operations intensified unrestricted by the presence of UN observers, as it shelled the villages of Batbo and Jina and the town of Atareb in the province of Aleppo with helicopters, opened heavy fire in the town of Dael and the village of Adwan in the province of Daraa, as well as the town of Kafarzeita and the neighbourhoods of Taawuniya, Andulus, Bab Qabli, and Erbin in the city of Hama.

    In the capital, regime forces opened heavy fire at demonstrations that broke out in the middle of the capital in Khaled Bin Walid area, shelled the suburbs of Douma, Yabroud, Hteita Turkman, and Deir Asafir, and raided the suburbs of Bait Saham and Sayeda Zainab amid heavy fire.

    Clashes between regime forces and revolutionaries increased as the regime intensified its operations in the province of Idlib. Clashes also took place in the village of Maghara, while defections took place in the city of Idlib and the village of Heish.

    In response to the Houleh massacre, US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Bulgaria and Nederland issued Syrian ambassadors and diplomats expulsion notices. While British Airlines announced it has suspended all flights from and to Syria. Syria’s Honorary Consul General in California, Dr. Hazem Chehabi, announced he has resigned his post a few days ago in response to the Houleh massacre committed by the regime on May 25th.

  • HamaEcho
    FSA in Jabal al-Zawiya, #Idlib capture a T-72 tank and Shilka anti-aircraft weapon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut2Jcfc5-ho&feature=g-all-u

    #Syria

    RedRazan:
    Bassel Shehada among his friends in Homs now https://t.co/a6LOrop5 #Syria I can’t believe I am not there with you.”

    HamaEcho BMP armored vehicle defects in #Hama countryside
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCjypQTu8zg&feature=youtu.be

    #Syria

    markito0171
    After #France & #Australia now Belgium called for military intervention in #Syria

    MahirZeynalov
    Turkey asks Syria’s top diplomat in Ankara to leave the country in 72 hours, joining other countries to isolate Assad. #farcicalstrategies

    fsa_hq_syria
    The Free Syrian Army destroyed Al-Assad’s armored vehicles in Al-Atarib ...:
    http://youtu.be/WMD9gD4Fmwk


    Al-Assad’s killing machines destroyed by the Free Syrian Army in Al-Atar...:
    http://youtu.be/7GV3jDVyEzQ

  • SYRIA’S top diplomat in Australia, Jawdat Ali, was today expelled by the Gillard Government in protest about the massacre of an estimated 100 people in his country, many of them children.
    Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr said the Syrian Charge D’Affairs has 72 hours to leave the country.
    Senator Carr said Australia condemned the atrocities perpetrated against civilians in the village of Haoula.
    Mr Ali was summoned to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra today and told he was being expelled.
    On Monday, Mr Ali was told Australia expected the Syrian Government to cease military operations and abide by the ceasefire brokered by special Envoy Kofi Annan.
    “This massacre of civilians in Haoula is a hideous and brutal crime,” Senator Carr said.
    The United Nations has condemned Syria for the slaughter.
    Australia, the European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Syria. Australia has put travel and financial restrictions on 106 individuals and 28 entities and imposed an arms embargo.

  • Australian billionaire to build Titanic II
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/04/201243084229253178.html

    A billionaire in Australia has announced plans to build an “unsinkable” version of the Titanic, 100 years after the original ship sank after hitting an iceberg.

    The Titanic II, announced on Monday, is expected to retrace the steps of its predecessor with a maiden voyage from England to North America in late 2016.

    “It is going to be designed so it won’t sink”, Clive Palmer, a mining and tourism tycoon told reporters.

    “It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

    Pas con. Un peu comme les centrales nucléaires qui ne peuvent pas avoir d’accident, les avions qui ne s’écrasent pas, et les tankers qui ne peuvent pas laisser échapper de pétrole. Moi j’y crois.

  • How the #West de-democratised the #Middle_East

    Rather than promote democracy in the Middle East, the West has a long history of doing the exact opposite.
    Melbourne, Australia - With the momentous convulsion in the Middle East sparked by Mohamed Bouazizi’s martyrdom in January 2011, it is time to ask what happened to the question which for long dominated Western discourse on the Middle East: Is Islam compatible with democracy? The predominant answer for many years was “no”. Among others, Elie Kedourie, MS Lipset, and Huntington advocated such a position. Bernard Lewis, “the most influential postwar historian of Islam and the Middle East”, who offered “the intellectual ammunition for the Iraq War”, was most vociferous in upholding this position. Their main argument was that, unlike Christianity, Islam was unique in not differentiating religion from the state and hence democracy was impossible in Muslim polities. Against this doxa, I make three arguments.

    First, the position that Islam is incompatible with democracy was false from the beginning, because it served imperial ambitions of the West and violated Muslims’ self-perception that, not only is Islam compatible with democracy, it was one of the engines of democratic empowerment.

    Second, I argue that the West’s discourse of democratisation of the Middle East is dubious because it hides how the West actually de-democratised the Middle East. My contention is that, from the 1940s onwards, democratic experiments were well in place and the West subverted them to advance its own interests. I offer three examples of de-democratisation: The reportedly CIA-engineered coup against the elected government of Syria in 1949, the coup orchestrated by the US and UK against the democratic Iran in 1953 and subversion of Bahrain’s democracy in the 1970s. I also touch on the West’s recent de-democratisation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Third, I explain that the Middle East was de-democratised because the West rarely saw it as a collection of people with dynamic, rich social-cultural textures. The Western power elites viewed the Middle East as no more than a region of multiple resources and strategic interests; hence their aim was to keep it “stable” and “manageable”. To Ernest Bevin, foreign secretary (1945-51) of imperial Britain, without “its oil and other potential resources” there was “no hope of our being able to achieve the standard of life at which we [are] aiming in Great Britain”.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201232710543250236.html

    #democracy

  • Spiders Flee Australian Flood - In Focus - The Atlantic
    http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/03/spiders-flee-australian-flood/100265

    Earlier this month, eastern Australia endured days of torrential rains that flooded large parts of New South Wales, causing an estimated $530 million in damage to homes, bridges, and farms. Covering the flood near the town of Wagga Wagga, Reuters photographer Daniel Munoz came across a large area draped in spider silk. Thousands of spiders were fleeing the rising waters, many of them trailing behind massive amounts of dragline silk. The webs tangled over weeds, trees, fences, and fields, creating a surreal and eerie landscape crawling with arachnids. Residents reportedly complained of being unable to walk in certain areas without swarms of little spiders crawling up their legs, seeking higher ground.

    #it_has_begun

  • European Exodus Reverses Well-Worn Migration Patterns - WSJ.com
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550304577137174048327642.html

    Economic distress is driving tens of thousands of skilled professionals from Europe, and many are being lured to thriving former European colonies in Latin America and Africa, reversing well-worn migration patterns. Asia and Australia, as well as the U.S. and Canada, are absorbing others leaving the troubled euro zone.

    At the same time, an influx of Third World immigrants whose labor helped fuel Europe’s growth over the past decade is subsiding. Hundreds of thousands of them, including some white-collar professionals, have been returning home.

    #migration

  • Study Ranks Countries on Nuclear Security - NYTimes.com
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/science/study-ranks-countries-on-nuclear-security.html?ref=world

    The 32 nations with materials that can fuel atom bombs are typically mum on security, which looks to the public like a closed world of barbed wire and armed guards. Behind the scenes, atomic insiders have long told horror stories of risky practices and security flaws that might let the crucial ingredients for nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands.

    Now, for the first time publicly, experts have surveyed the precautions each country has in place and ranked the nations from best to worst. The study is full of surprises and potential embarrassments: for instance, Australia takes first place in nuclear security and Japan comes in at No. 23, behind nations like Kazakhstan and South Africa.

    #nucléaire #sécurité

  • Orwell Was An Optimist: Happy New Year - Falkvinge on Infopolicy
    http://falkvinge.net/2012/01/03/orwell-was-an-optimist-happy-new-year

    When Orwell painted his dystopic future (which is out of copyright in Australia), perhaps this paragraph summarizes the dystopian society most of all:

    The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard.

    ...

    In the book 1984, the government is able to watch three things. What we say out loud, who we meet in our homes, and what we do in our own home. They are only able to observe this as it happens; if they missed it, you are safe, but there was no way to tell if they missed it.

    Today, we have arrived at a point where the Western “free” governments can monitor:

    What you say at home, and more importantly, what you think of
    What news articles you read, for how long, and in what order
    Your dating preferences
    Your future travel plans..

  • Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis | World news | The Guardian
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/21/europe-migrants-crisis-irish-portuguese

    A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.

    Tens of thousands of Portuguese, Greek and Irish people have left their homelands this year, many heading for the southern hemisphere. Anecdotal evidence points to the same happening in Spain and Italy.

    [...]

    This year, 2,500 Greek citizens have moved to Australia and another 40,000 have “expressed interest” in moving south. Ireland’s central statistics office has projected that 50,000 people will have left the republic by the end of the year, many for Australia and the US.

    Portugal’s foreign ministry reports that at least 10,000 people have left for oil-rich Angola. On 31 October, there were 97,616 Portuguese people registered in the consulates in Luanda and Benguela, almost double the number in 2005.

    The Portuguese are also heading to other former colonies, such as Mozambique and Brazil. According to Brazilian government figures, the number of foreigners legally living in Brazil rose to 1.47 million in June, up more than 50% from 961,877 last December. Not all are Europeans, but the number of Portuguese alone has jumped from 276,000 in 2010 to nearly 330,000.

    For departing Greeks the top destinations over the years, according to the World Bank, have been Germany, Australia, Canada, Albania, Turkey, UK, Cyprus, Israel and Belgium. Skilled Greeks are particularly likely to leave: as an example of what can happen, 4,886 physicians emigrated in the year 2000 (the last year for which the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook cites data for departing doctors), meaning the country lost 9.4% of its doctors in that single year. The World Bank gives the number of immigrants living in Greece as about 1.13 million in 2010, around 10% of the population. Most have come, over the years, from poorer countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia, it is likely that the majority of new arrivals lack the skills to replace the emigrants.

    #migrations #Europe

  • EU Council Quietly Adopts ACTA, By Hiding It In An Agriculture And Fisheries Meeting | Techdirt
    http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111219/02385917123/eu-council-quietly-adopts-acta-hiding-it-agriculture-fisheries-meeting.sht

    from its penultimate position on the agenda it was clearly not really regarded as very important, and was just waved through. Here’s how the official press release (pdf) reported it:
    The Council adopted a decision authorising the signing of an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (#ACTA) with Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

    ah l’#europe ! et le déni de #démocratie

  • #IE to Start Automatic Upgrades across Windows XP, #Windows Vista, and Windows 7
    http://windowsteamblog.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2011/12/15/ie-to-start-automatic-upgrades-across-windows-xp-windows-vista-and-

    Today we are sharing our plan to automatically upgrade Windows customers to the latest version of Internet Explorer available for their PC. This is an important step in helping to move the Web forward. We will start in January for customers in Australia and Brazil who have turned on automatic updating via Windows Update.

    À noter que seul IE8 est disponible pour XP.

  • Is Our Universe a Big Schrödinger’s Cat—Where It’s Alive Is Where We Live? | The Crux | Discover Magazine
    http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2011/12/01/is-our-universe-a-big-schrodingers-cat-where-its-alive-is-wh

    Recently, astrophysicist John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues published new findings that indicate that the fine structure constant may not be a constant after all—it may vary through space or time. Through observations of galaxies that lie 12 billion light-years roughly to the north with those at the same distance lying to the south, the team discovered variations in the fine structure constant amounting to about 1 part in 100,000. It is not clear whether quantum effects would drastically change when a fundamental constant such as the fine structure constant varies by such minute amounts. But if they do, and the change in the constant is significant, it could mean that there are universes—or distant parts of our own universe—where matter as we know it, and hence life, could not exist.

  • Human danger in animal drugs - The West Australian
    http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/11562913/human-danger-in-animal-drugs

    A British food safety expert says Australia needs to prepare for the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in animals which is affecting meat and poultry.

    Professor John Threlfall from London’s Health Protection Agency said more countries were getting food that made people sick and less able to fight infections.

    #santé #drug-resistance #alimentation