'Anonymous' info used to set speed traps
Navigation device maker TomTom has apologized for supplying driving data collected from customers to police to use in catching speeding motorists.
The data, including historical speed, has been sold to local and regional governments in the Netherlands to help police set speed traps, Dutch newspaper AD reported here, with a Google translation here. As more smartphones offer GPS navigation service, TomTom has been forced to compensate for declining profit by increasing sales in other areas, including the selling of traffic data.
On Wednesday, Europe's biggest satnav device maker apologized, saying it sold the data believing it would improve traffic safety and reduce bottlenecks, The Associated Press reported.
Puppet Masters
The last time we heard a squeak from him was on June 3 this year.
The world's most notorious terrorist outsmarted America by releasing a menacing message as Air Force One touched down on Saudi Arabian soil at the start of Barack Obama's first and much vaunted Middle East tour.
Even before the new President alighted at Riyadh airport to shake hands with Prince Abdullah, Bin Laden's words were being aired on TV, radio and the internet across every continent.
It was yet another propaganda coup for the 52-year-old Al Qaeda leader. In the audiotape delivered to the Arab news network Al Jazeera, Bin Laden said that America and her Western allies were sowing seeds of hatred in the Muslim world and deserved dire consequences.
It was the kind of rant we have heard from him before, and the response from British and U.S. intelligence services was equally predictable.
They insisted that the details on the tape, of the President's visit and other contemporary events, proved that the mastermind of 9/11, America's worst ever terrorist atrocity, was still alive - and that the hunt for him must go on.
The world's most notorious terrorist outsmarted America by releasing a menacing message as Air Force One touched down on Saudi Arabian soil at the start of Barack Obama's first and much vaunted Middle East tour.
Even before the new President alighted at Riyadh airport to shake hands with Prince Abdullah, Bin Laden's words were being aired on TV, radio and the internet across every continent.
© EPA
Genuine picture: Osama Bin Laden in October 2001
Genuine picture: Osama Bin Laden in October 2001
It was yet another propaganda coup for the 52-year-old Al Qaeda leader. In the audiotape delivered to the Arab news network Al Jazeera, Bin Laden said that America and her Western allies were sowing seeds of hatred in the Muslim world and deserved dire consequences.
It was the kind of rant we have heard from him before, and the response from British and U.S. intelligence services was equally predictable.
They insisted that the details on the tape, of the President's visit and other contemporary events, proved that the mastermind of 9/11, America's worst ever terrorist atrocity, was still alive - and that the hunt for him must go on.
The next time the CIA comes up with another Osama bin Laden videotape, you might want to compare their images of the alleged al-Qaeda leader to the photograph I've provided here.If he looks any healthier than that, then you're probably looking at an imposter.
Osama bin Laden at death's door.Yeah, Osama has definitely seen better days. But give the guy a break, huh? You wouldn't look much better if you'd been dead for nine years.
Oh, by the way, in case you've just joined us? Osama bin Laden is dead.
He died in the Tora Bora Mountains of Afghanistan on December 13, 2001. He was buried in an unmarked grave within 24 hours of his death. Case closed.
But don't just take my word for it. Top terror experts, intelligence analysts, academics, government officials, and even major political figures around the globe tend to agree that, "All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama Bin Laden."
Osama bin Laden at death's door.
Oh, by the way, in case you've just joined us? Osama bin Laden is dead.
He died in the Tora Bora Mountains of Afghanistan on December 13, 2001. He was buried in an unmarked grave within 24 hours of his death. Case closed.
But don't just take my word for it. Top terror experts, intelligence analysts, academics, government officials, and even major political figures around the globe tend to agree that, "All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama Bin Laden."
Earlier, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, citing a senior Pakistani intelligence official, reported that members of Pakistan's intelligence service - the ISI - were on site in Abbotabad, Pakistan, during the operation that killed bin Laden. The official said he did not know who fired the shot that actually killed Bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden -- the longtime leader of al Qaeda -- was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
U.S. officials have taken custody of bin Laden's body, Obama said. No Americans were harmed in the operation, he added.
More than two months since former president Hosni Mubarak was forced from office after 30 years in power, local political figures and analysts warn of "counterrevolutionary elements" still working behind the scenes to thwart Egypt's ongoing transition to democracy.
These elements have consistently worked to reverse the gains made by the Jan. 25 Revolution by sowing fear, chaos and fitna (discord) between different segments of society," Essam al-Arian, spokesman for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement, told IPS.
In the first days of the 18-day uprising, the embattled Mubarak regime used its expansive state media machine to spread false news reports of murder and mayhem in hopes of terrorising the public and discrediting the revolution. It went so far at one point as to release convicted criminals from prison.
© REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A protester holds up his palm during a protest for labour rights on Labour Day or May Day, in Cairo May 1, 2011. The palm reads, "social justice".
A protester holds up his palm during a protest for labour rights on Labour Day or May Day, in Cairo May 1, 2011. The palm reads, "social justice".
In the first days of the 18-day uprising, the embattled Mubarak regime used its expansive state media machine to spread false news reports of murder and mayhem in hopes of terrorising the public and discrediting the revolution. It went so far at one point as to release convicted criminals from prison.
In an interview given to David Frost in November 2007, Benazir Bhutto states that Osama bin Laden was killed by Omar Sheikh.
Washington - Al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden is dead and the United States has his body, a person familiar with the developments says.
President Barack Obama is expected to make that announcement from the White House late Sunday night.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak ahead of the president.
One year and one week after BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers and spilling an estimated five million barrels - or 206 million gallons - of crude oil spewed into the Gulf over the course of the next three months, BP reported its net profit rose 17 percent in the first quarter. The UK oil company said its profits rose to $7.12 billion, up from $6.08 billion a year earlier.
Ain't that a piece of wonderful news?
Stripping out one-time charges and other variables, BP's net profit came in at $5.37 billion. Given higher oil and gas prices, BP also said its total revenue for the first quarter rose more than 18 percent to $88.31 billion - that's up from a mere $74.42 billion. Impressive, considering production fell by 11 percent. The company also took an additional $400 million pre-tax charge related to the Macondo well spill.
On this day it's all about asset sales and share swaps and exploration deals and dividend suspensions and production. On this day, our business news giants choose to forget about the 11 fallen workers, they forget about the 206 million gallons spilled into the Gulf, they forget about the dead dolphins washing ashore with oil covering their bodies.
© Darko Bandic / Associated Press
In this photo made on a government organized tour, government officials and members of the media gather at the site of a NATO missile strike that killed Gadhafi’s youngest son and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, April 30, 2011.
In this photo made on a government organized tour, government officials and members of the media gather at the site of a NATO missile strike that killed Gadhafi’s youngest son and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, April 30, 2011.
The strike, which came hours after Gadhafi called for a cease-fire and negotiations in what rebels called a publicity stunt, marked an escalation of international efforts to prevent the Libyan regime from regaining momentum.
Rebels honked horns and chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" while speeding through the western city of Misrata, which Gadhafi's forces have besieged and subjected to random shelling for two months, killing hundreds. Fireworks were set off in front of the central Hikma hospital, causing a brief panic that the light would draw fire from Gadhafi's forces.
The attack struck the house of Gadhafi's youngest son, Seif al-Arab, when the Libyan leader and his wife were inside. White House spokesman Shin Inouye declined to comment on the developments in Libya, referring questions to NATO.
The alliance acknowledged that it had struck a "command and control building in the Bab al-Azizya neighborhood" Saturday evening, but it could not confirm the death of Gadhafi's son and insisted all its targets are military in nature and linked to Gadhafi's systematic attacks on the population.
© The Associated Press / Chris Schneider
This July 26, 2010 file photo shows Senior Deputy Jerry Anttila fingerprinting an unidentified suspect during the booking process at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, Colo. Some Democratic California lawmakers want to let the state consider opting out of a federal government program to check arrestees' immigration status.
This July 26, 2010 file photo shows Senior Deputy Jerry Anttila fingerprinting an unidentified suspect during the booking process at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, Colo. Some Democratic California lawmakers want to let the state consider opting out of a federal government program to check arrestees' immigration status.
California accounts for more than a third of the deportations under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, and some local officials are saying they were misled by the federal government about the program's extent.
Illinois lawmakers are also considering a measure to let communities retreat from the program. Washington state has deferred to local governments on whether they want to join the so-called "Secure Communities" program, which links up the FBI's criminal database and the Department of Homeland Security's records so that every time someone is arrested their immigration status is automatically, electronically checked.
The tug-of-war over the ICE program highlights the tension between states and the federal government in the absence of a legislative fix on immigration. In the last four years, states have passed a flurry of bills and resolutions on issues ranging from employer verification to access to driver's licenses, most notably Arizona's tough local immigration enforcement law.
Immigrant advocates have lambasted ICE's fingerprint sharing program for sweeping up crime victims and witnesses who are arrested during an investigation in addition to those accused of committing a crime. About 29 per cent of the 102,000 immigrants deported under the program since it began in 2008 have no criminal conviction, according to federal government statistics.
Comment: Who is Omar Sheikh?