”The privacy you’re concerned about is largely an illusion. All you have to give up is your illusions, not any of your privacy.” That wasn’t Vodacom boss Alan Knott-Craig comforting his customers about the new kit he will shortly be installing on his network to help government snoops listen in on cellphone calls. It was Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, explaining why concerns about civil liberties should be no obstacle to his proposal that all Americans be required to carry ID cards.
Acts of violence have killed nearly 2 500 people and forced more than 85 000 to flee their homes in Iraq, the United Nations assistance mission in Iraq said on Tuesday in a March-April report on the human rights situation. The fatality count was comprised of death certificates issued by the Baghdad morgue, the report said.
Monday marked the 58th anniversary of the founding of Israel — and the expulsion of Palestinians from their land. With millions still living under occupation or in exile, what Palestinians call their ‘nakba’ — their catastrophe — remains at the heart of their national identity, argues Karma Nabulsi
A by-election in the Harare township of Budiriro will offer the clearest barometer yet of the electoral support that the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions command. That is if voters are not confused by the bizarre phenomenon that the MDC logo will appear twice on the ballot paper.
A former boss of one of the travel agencies implicated in the parliamentary travel voucher scam spent an hour-and-a-half behind bars on Monday for his lack of co-operation in a liquidation inquiry. David Phokeng, an ex-director of the now-liquidated Bathong Travel, was detained in the holding cells of the Bellville Magistrate’s Court at the request of the attorney acting for the liquidators, Bernhard Kurz.
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The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will on Tuesday serve notice for secondary strikes in support of the wage demands of security guards, union leaders said. ”We will be serving notice tomorrow [Tuesday] for secondary strikes from other sectors of Satawu,” the union’s security industry spokesperson, Jackson Simon, said on Monday.
A severe earthquake estimated to measure 6,7 on the Richter scale on Monday struck in the north-eastern Pacific coastal area of Russia, the Hong Kong observatory said. The quake struck at 7.21pm Hong Kong time and its epicentre was located some 870km east of the Siberian city of Magadan, the observatory said.
Coastguards escorted to land hundreds of migrants floating at sea off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Monday, causing an emergency at its overwhelmed transit centre, the Ansa news agency reported. Coastguards intercepted three vessels, carrying some 400 suspected illegal immigrants, to the Italian island south of Sicily early on Monday.
As many as 10 Atlantic hurricanes could form in coming months, and up to four of them could hit the United States, experts said on Monday, urging residents to prepare for potentially devastating storms. ”The outlook calls for a very active 2006 season,” the National Weather Service said in a report released on Monday.