A ”cyber cold war” is developing as international web espionage and cyber attacks become the biggest threats to internet security, according to a report. Computer security firm McAfee says governments and government-allied groups are engaging in increasingly sophisticated cyber spying, with many attacks originating from China. About 120 countries could be developing the capacity for such activities.
The risks of food riots and malnutrition will surge in the next two years as the global supply of grain comes under more pressure than at any time in 50 years, according to one of the world’s leading agricultural researchers. Recent pasta protests in Italy, tortilla rallies in Mexico and onion demonstrations in India are just the start of the social instability to come, writes Jonathan Watts.
I was in ecstasy on my first visit to Ghana last April — I was on the same flight as military strongman turned ex-President Jerry Rawlings. Ten years out of power, he still cuts a dashing figure. Now a comfortably ensconced senior statesman, for me, like so many around the world, he represented a recent incarnation of the spirit of pan-African self-determination, writes Kojo Parris.
A vaccine against HIV infection is one of the holy grails of research — and is proving almost as elusive. Late 2007 saw clinical trials of the world’s most advanced HIV vaccine, by pharmaceutical company Merck, brought to a premature end. Not only did the candidate vaccine fail to protect people against HIV, it might have increased their risk of infection.
A perceived lack of credibility is the biggest challenge facing the SABC, says Kanyisiwe Mkonza, the newly appointed chairperson of the public broadcaster’s board, and she plans to tackle it head on. The past few years have been very difficult for the SABC, she says. She wants to take stock and get to the root of the problems.
As an avid football fan, the pope’s right-hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, knows better than most that in the end it is the result that counts. No one, though, expected Pope Benedict XVI’s new secretary of state to be quite so goal-minded as to bring Âperformance-related pay to the Vatican. But he did.
A cluster of far-right groups allied under the name Stop the Islamisation of Europe holds rallies in London, Copenhagen and Marseilles to demand an end to what they call ”the overt and covert expansion of Islam in Europe”. Although the events attract only a handful of protesters, their message resonates widely.
The days of a guaranteed pain-free visit to the dentist may not be far off, thanks to a petite Japanese woman in a pink sweater called Simroid. With a limited vocabulary and a strange complexion, the 160cm-tall humanoid robot is happy to feel your pain. Simroid, who will be used at medical schools, releases a clearly audible ”ouch!” whenever a trainee dentist touches a nerve.
Ghana’s two largest political parties have vowed to battle it out for the December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections. Ghana News Agency reported that the ruling New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Party (NDC) had promised a ”tough showdown” for the vote in the country’s eastern region.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was in Nairobi in a bid to mediate between newly-elected President Mwai Kibaki and defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga on Thursday, said at a media conference that Odinga had accepted his mediation. Sources close to the mediation also told the Mail & Guardian that Odinga had dropped his demand that Kibaki resign before the two sit down to talk peace.