News in Brief 28/02/11

Libya

Many countries have spoken out against Col Gaddafi's rule over Libya at an emergency UN Human Rights conference called yesterday, minutes from the meeting show US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, taking a firm stance against Gaddafi by out fight stating he 'must go'. After this conference the EU has imposed a travel ban around Libya for all of it's citizens. Gaddafi is still refusing to step down even as the battle is slowly going against him after defected military pilots made a crippling air assault on Gaddafi's eastern ammunition dumps. British military extraction efforts have been doubled after small arms fire entered the cockpit of a RAF C130 Hercules.

Technology

Google have accidentally wiped the inboxes of approximately 150,000 Gmail users. A spokesperson for Google said "This is affecting less than .08% of our Gmail user base, and we've already fixed the problem for some individuals". Google are now trying to restore the erased data and have stated that the messages were not 'permanantly deleted'

Religion

A British high court has ruled that some Orthodox Christian couples will not be allowed to foster children if they have homophobic views. Lord Justice Munby said that the ruling was necessary to protect people from being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

Bizarre

A German man who has been convicted of armed robbery has launched a compensation case against the German police asking for £200, 000 ($322,339). The unnamed man is claiming that his basic human rights were breached after being lead to a police car with his trousers around his ankles. I wonder if the 5 bank staff he threatened to kill at gun point feel the same?

- What are your opinions?

News in Brief 24/02/11

Libya
Britain is expected to have extracted all of it's citizens from Libya by this afternoon in it's final flight from the country's capital Tripoli. Over the last few days Britain has been extracting EU citizens from Libya using commercial airplanes and military aircraft such as the 'Hercules' gunship and the AC-130. Yesterday a Royal Navy battleship extracted over 200 people of European decent as well as citizens of New Zealand as their authorities deal with the current earthquake crisis.

New Zealand

The earth death toll now stands at 144 with 200 people still reported missing. The Prime Minister John Key has accepted that rescue workers are now looking for bodies in the wreckage and are longer expecting to find survivors, after meeting with the relatives of those reported missing the PM released a statement saying "I think its fair to say they fear the worst but there is still a glimmer of hope."

Bizarre

The London restaurant, Convent Garden has added a new product to it's menu, an ice cream made entirely from breast milk. The ice cream 'Baby Gaga' is churned from the breast milk of local resident, Victoria Hilet, who hopes that the new ice cream will encourage more women to breast feed. The man behind the new ice cream, Matt o'Conner has said "Some people will hear about it and go yuck - but actually it's pure organic, free-range and totally natural"

Technology

In an attempt to counteract the increasing levels of cyber-crime, the British government have set up a new website with the National Fraud Authority (NFA) for people to forward all their 'scam' emails to. The hope behind the new scheme is to give the NFA "unprecedented information about criminal activity", for more information visit the site Action Fraud.

-What are your opinions?

Government Approved Massacre

Image Courtesy of BBC

Scenes of violence and conflicts are increasing in scale as Col Gaddafi fights hard to maintain control of Libya's capital, Tripoli. What Gaddafi first thought would be a small revolt has grown into a small army as the number of protesters rise bolstered by large numbers of defecting soldiers.

The main conflicts are in the west of Tripoli as the east are still largely under the control of what have been referred to as 'Gaddafi's death squads'. Reports from within eastern Tripoli claim that these 'death squads'  are killing anybody caught on the streets, these reports including a group of civilians being gunned down whilst queuing at a local bakery. There have even been reports from city doctors stating the death squads opening fire within hospitals, bringing the death count up to a 300 confirmed dead with many more feared unconfirmed.

In response to these reports Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi went live on air to inform the Libyan public that everything was 'normal' and that airports, schools and hospitals were still open.

President Obama

President Obama who has up until now been reluctant to form a public opinion has said Gadaffi's actions were 'Outragus' and that his government must be held accountable for the actions, Obama finished his address by stating; "Change is taking place across the region, being driven by the people of the region - it is not the work of the United States or any other power but the aspirations of people seeking a better life". The US join many other countries and all of the EU in advising it's citizens to leave Libya immediately.

In the first public address in days, Gaddafi referred to the protesters as 'rats and cockroaches' and pledged that he would either crush the revolt or die a martyr.

-What are your opinions?

Violent Extremism: Speak Up

Today was the day of my organisations 'Speak Up' event at a local college, which is relevant because I live in the most cultural diverse city (Birmingham) in one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet (England). The event itself was six weeks of planning, but it went really well with presentations from a  man who spent three years undercover in the British National Party (BNP) and a former recruiter/brainwasher for Al-Quada; both of whom can not be named for fears of reprisal. We even had a few local artists play, expect the event video to be up and running at some point over the next few days.

On a side note continuing on from the Libya post, there have been reports of two top ranking Libyan pilots defecting to Malaysia after being told to use military aircrafts to bomb protesting civilians.

The Start of Civil War

Protesters before 'massacre'

Libya has become the most recent Arab country to suffer deaths due to protests, with protesters rallying against the country's 41-year old regime under their leader Col Gaddafi.

Officials with Gaddafi say they fear for civil war after last night marked the first large scale conflict between the protesters and supporters of the regime. The streets of Tripoli, Libya's capital city, were filled with civilian conflict into the earliest hours of this morning until Libyan authorities were ordered to use live ammunition to forcefully disperse crowds. After a confirmed 233 dead, the streets in Tripoli now only play host to patrolling authorities.

Col Gaddafi

Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was quick to release a lengthy speech after video footage of what has been described as a 'massacre' was released. In this speech Col Gaddafi stated that he would make some changes to his regime in order to quell protests but warned that he would not be steeping down and that he would 'fight to the last bullet' with protesters if it came to civil war, however Gaddafi did admit that the country's second largest city Benghazi was now under protester control.

Leaders of the US, UK and France have all firmly condemned Gaddafi's actions with senior military and political officials worldwide predicting much more violence, the UK is also the first country to schedule emergency flights out for all British citizens currently in Libya. Oil prices are now at an all time as a result of British Petroleum (BP) pulling all employees out of it's Libyan oil refineries.

- Can anything be done to prevent further violence? 

Jilted Generation

Short post today, check other post to find out why. Here is the video of my interview with the authors before the release of their book 'Jilted Generation' on the 2nd of February. In case your not aware Jilted Generation is a book that talks about how young people are being over looked in society and now face a massive debt left to us by previous generations. Had to manually upload because YouTube was being a dick.

If you are British and get a chance to download it then gove it a read, if you are not British and are aged between 12- 26 do you feel as though your opinions are being listened to?

Fighting a Losing Battle

Cybercrime is something that we are all aware of, latest figures researched by Norton suggest that 60% of those that use the Internet on a regular basis have been a victim to it at some point in their lives. I can't confirm the validity of that as Norton may be 'sugercoating' these figures in an attempt to sell software, but what I can be sure of is the independent report by intelligence officers at the National Counter-terrorism Centre which suggest cybercrime now costs corporations over $1trillion worldwide.

The most common forms of cybercrime are spam, hacking and copyright infringement, but this is just the public face of a crime that delves into terrorism, assisted suicide and child pornography. Many governments world wide have come up with various unsuccessful methods of tackling cybercrime, in an attempt to counteract the effects of cybercrime the British government, which is one of the hardest hit with a loss of $42b (£27b) annually have pledged to enforce the law in full to anybody involved in cybercrime from organised crime to 'spotty boys on their computers'.

- What more can be done to prevent cybercrime?   

*Note- Short post today as I've got to edit 4 hours of footage for work*

Past the Point of Caring?

Pope Juan Paul II once said "A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying", but is that still the case today? 

The Health Service Ombudsman, which deals with only the most serious cases regarding the NHS, has today published it’s in-depth review into cases of the mistreatment of the elderly in care.

This review found that many patients over the age of 65 ‘suffered unnecessary pain, neglect and distress’. Of the ten case reviewed the report found that half of the elderly patients were not given adequate food or drink and even showed cases of patients being refused toilet facilities and being left in soiled clothing for long periods at a time.

One case in particular found that a confused and frightened elderly woman was forcefully discharged after surgery without being given any instructions on how to get home and was even refused access to a phone to call her relatives by a senior NHS nurse.

Nigel Edwards

Many charities based around the elderly care nationwide expressed concern with the findings, Michelle Mitchell of Age UK said “The inhumane treatment of older people described in this report is sickening and should send shockwaves through the NHS and government.”

In response to this Nigel Edwards of the NHS Trust said that although the case were unacceptable, they were also very rare and stated “It is of course important to put these 10 examples in perspective. The NHS sees over a million people every 36 hours and the overwhelming majority say they receive good care”

- Do you know anybody mistreated in hospital?
- Is it fair to expect a few bad cases amongst millions in an underfunded NHS?
- What more can be done to prevent this from re-occurring?
- For those non-British followers, is this a problem in your country?

Love of Profit

Why do we celebrate Valentines day? Every year on February 14th I tell all those close to me the real story behind Valentines day only to be told that I am a 'misery-arse' and that I need to 'cheer up'. This year is my first year with a blog so with this post I aim spread my message of hostility all over the world.

The Original Valentines Day:
Although Saint Valentine was a real person who lived during the 2nd century, Valentines day is not actually named for him. Instead 'Valentine' is a pseudonym for all unknown Christian martyrs used by Pope Gelasius in 496 in implementing a day to remember the fallen Christian soldier, so in reality when you're asking somebody to 'be your valentine' you are actually asking them to give their lives for a noble Christian cause. This is still well known in the Catholic church which is why in 1969 Pope Paul VI, appalled with the commericailisation of this historic day, ordered  the removal of Valentines day from the Christian Calender.

How it all went Wrong:
As I mentioned Valentines day was never about love, so how did it become so? Well the first recorded incident of  a Valentines day day as we know it today was during the English Renaissance, where world renown poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote 'Parlement of Foules' which reads; "For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate".

Google's Valentine Logo

Valentines Day as We Know It:
Although Chaucer had wrote this poem, it was still only the upper class and social elite who were even aware of his work, so at what point did it become the Valentines day you and I celebrate? Well believe it all not Valentines day wasn't publicly known worldwide until the early 19th century. Valentines day only became  so popular after the boom of the UK's greeting card industry in the late 18th century and was created to fill gaps in profit between Christmas and Easter, a trend which quickly spread across Europe and to the US.

So there you have it, although the Romans first created Valentines day, it was an Englishmen who first made it about romance, and the British who made it about profit. Every year the profit form Valentines day trade increases with last year totaling £1.3 in the UK alone, with traditional cards going out of fashion in lieu of bigger more expensive gifts (mostly perfume or jewelry).

-Profiteering or innovation at it's best?
-Who is to blame? The companies or the suckers who are willing to pay?

A New Egypt

The scene on the streets of Egypt yesterday quickly changed from hostility to that of fireworks, flag waving and cheering as Hosni Mubarak stepped down after 30-years of presidency. All presidential powers will given to the Egyptian Military's high council until the new elections in September of this year.

Many have described yesterday as the 'Day of Glory' in which thousands of citizens took to Tahrir Square, not in anger but in jubilation. This freedom is a new feeling for many at Tahrir Square as many of those celebrating are under 30-years old so have never known what it is like not to live under emergency law under one President. One of those celebrating is local Egyptian journalist, Ibrahim Ahmed, who said "This will be a liberal, civilian country, like those in Europe. We want democracy, freedom of speech, no corruption and free and fair elections".

Outside of Egypt many foreign authorities have been congratulating the people of Egypt. In an attempt to gain the favour of the new ruling party, US President Barack Obama quickly released a statement saying "The United States will continue to be a friend and partner to Egypt. We stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary and asked for to pursue a credible transition to democracy". However many Egyptian  leaders may find this to be somewhat hypocritical as the US has been a long time ally of Mubarak by donating $1.5 billion a year to his regime, and even having former President George W. Bush stay for a week's vacation in one of Mubarak's villas.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also offered his congratulations but warned that the Egyptian people must be careful in electing their next president and offered his aid in implementing a fair election come September.

- What are your opinions?


*I realise that I'm a little bit behind on the situation but I haven't had chance to update because I've been busy working on my Purge Violent Extremism Campaign*

Purge Violent Extremism: Terrorism is a Choice

Terrorism is a Choice

The presence of violent extremism is a direct threat to any community, anywhere in the world. Parents in cities the world over are losing their children to violent extremism and can do nothing but watch as they enter a world full of hatred and terrorism.

For those few of you untouched by it, violent extremism is defined as the demonstration of unacceptable behavior with the aim of justifying, glorifying or provoking a terrorist act. The most common cases of violent extremism are those in which somebody in a position of authority uses the power entrusted in them to corrupt vulnerable young people by inciting racial hatred and murder. Their have been many cases of violent extremism occurring in the United Kingdom, a country defined by it's massive cultural diversity and tolerance.

Abu Hamza

One of the most popular cases was that of Abu Hamza, a Muslim cleric who once described Britain as "....a paradise, where you could do anything you wanted". On the 7th of February 2006, Abu Hamza was found guilty of 11 charges pertaining to violent extremism including 6 charges of soliciting murder in the name of religion. Hamza is currently serving out the remainder of his prison sentence in Belmarsh, the UK's highest security prison after successfully appealing against extradition to the US.

Violent extremism is often incorrectly labeled as an issue pertaining to Islam, however this is simply not the case as the conviction of Neil Martin confirmed. Mr. Martin was sentenced to 3-years in prison on the 6th Oct 2006 after launching a vicious Internet campaign inciting hatred for black people and those of African decent. For more information on violent extremism convictions follow this link to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Violent Extremism is a very real issue in our modern society, so to must be its prevention. In the wake of the epidemic of violent extremism gripping the streets of Britain, the British government formed an in-depth plan to counteract the problem.  The 'Preventing Violent Extremism: Winning Hearts and Minds' campaign aims to take the power away from those who wish to incite hatred, and give it to those most vulnerable.

The organisation I work for Social Breakfast [embedded video of me incase you wondered what I look/sound like] is based round improving the lives of young people who feel they are being overlooked by society, so this issue directly effects us. To better understand this problem we have set up a workshop event in a 'demographically vulnerable' area, the Speak-Up Event is taking place on the 22nd February so be sure to sign up and check it out.

- Have you or somebody you know ever been affected by the issue of Violent Extremism?
- What is the best form of solution to counteract the incitement of hatred?

The Evolution of Protest



Protesters Outside Parliament



Today marks the 16th day since the infamous 'Day of Anger' which marked the beginning of the protests and the anti-Mubarak demonstrators are still holding strong, but unlike only a week ago the protest is one of peace and not of hostility.

Hundreds of protesters now gather at the entrance to the Egyptian Parliament preventing any Government officials from entering, a spokesman for the group said that they would not move an inch until Mubarak conceded to an immediate resignation.  This peaceful protest is taking form all over the country with over 6,000 industry and dock workers going on strike, thus crippling the economy, until Mubarak steps down.

Abdul-Rahman Samir

Sources leaked form within Mubarak's office state that the president fears his opposition may attempt a coup d'etat if he could not resolve the situation, but Mubarak warned that anyone attempting to do so would be acted upon forcefully. In response to this comment Abdul-Rahman Samir, a spokesperson for Egypt's youth, said "...he [Mubarak] is threatening to impose martial law, which means everybody in the square will be smashed, but what would he do with the rest of 70 million Egyptians who will follow us afterward?"

With over 300 confirmed dead the main group of demonstrators have been willing to change their tactics. Unfortunately conflict is still present between opposing protesters outside of Tahrir Square,with a another confirmed fatality at New Valley Provice (300m south of Cairo) only this morning.

- With Mubarak determined to live out his presidency, will peaceful protest be enough?

[No News is Good News]

Haven't had chance to update on the Assange situation yet, as I've been at ante-natal classes with the soon to be mother of my son. Will update first thing in the morning when I get to work though, and because I'm running GMT all you American followers will probably be updated before you log off for the day.

Again, so that this post isn't a complete waste of time I'm going to direct you my other blog in case your not following, and to prove that this life isn't all doom an gloom here is a link to perhaps the prettiest blog going.


 "....you stay classy San Diago"

Welcome to the Show Trial

Banner outside court

Today is the first day in court for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the London trial will decide whether or not Assange can be extradited to Sweden for alleged rape charges. Assange is adamant that there not be a decision to extradite him as once in Sweden the US authorities will be able to relocate him on terrorism charges which could lead to 'interrogation' in Guantanamo Bay or even death by execution.

The trial is still very much in its early stages so I'm providing two articles that I wrote for work before I set up this blog so you can get a sense of what is going on. You can also check out the Brief History of Wikileaks I created last year.

December 5th 2010

For anybody who isn’t aware of the site, WikiLeaks is an anonymous user contributed database (wiki) based around the gathering and releasing of sensitive material being withheld from the public by senior officials. It has been around the news a lot recently with reports leaking out about how US officials really feel about Afghanistan. Although it is perhaps most famous for uploading a report stating Russia had already been chosen by FIFA, six days before it was announced publicly.

The founder Julian Assange states that the site has opened up the world to information they should already have access to and was meant to take power away from officials and give the power to the people, and that WIkiLeaks is journalism in its purist form. However many governments (including the US and UK) have branded him an ‘Anarchist’ saying all reports on the site were kept form the public for a reason, and that the means used to access this information (mostly hacking official accounts) is criminal therefore Julian Assange should be treated as one. [END]

December 18th 2010
After making his £240,000 bail through known acquaintances and anonymous funds Julian Assange was released on December 18, 2010 and will be due back in court on February 7th 2011. As part of his bail conditions Mr. Assange must wear an electronic tagging device at all times and remains within a set perimeter of a chosen location.

Since being released Assange has been residing as the guest of millionaire supporter Vaughan Smith in his Norfolk mansion. In an attempt to remove the bad image given to him by the US media, Assange released pictures of himself enjoying a traditional Christmas with all of his family and close friends. Assange states that the charges placed against him in Sweden were “politically based revenge tactics” and expects the charges to be dropped very shortly.



Julian Assange

However Assange does fear that he may be extradited to the US on espionage charges in which he could be sentenced for life under US law. This is made even more real in the wake of the US Republican Party releasing plans to investigate WikiLeaks as a terrorist organisation meaning Assange will be put on the US most wanted list which will allow him to be legally targeted by attacks from the US military. In response to this Julian Assange has reluctantly agreed to a lucrative $1.8m book deal. Assange has says he has been forced to do this as all of his WikiLeaks funds have gone towards legal fees and the money from his autobiography will go towards further funding for WikiLeaks. It is also hoped that in being able to provide his side of the story, Assange will be able to de-stigmatise himself in the massively biased, government controlled US media. [END]

I'll try to keep you updated on the trail whenever anything of importance comes up, but if you'd prefer to know every little detail of the trail you can follow the live twitter update here. You can also check out my other blog Critical Hit for more light hearted look at the world; life doesn't have to be all doom and gloom.  





This is England

British Riot Police

It would seem the Egypt's spirit of rebellion is fast spreading across the world with many protests beginning world-wide, including one of the largest protests in London since the start of the tuition fee debate.

The protest was formed in most part by nearly 2,000 members of the infamous anti-Islamic group, the English Defence League (EDL). This protest was then increased in scale with counter-demonstrators Unite Against Fascism (UAF) attending with a further 1,000 members.

The presence of  UAF was drowned out as nearly the entire duration of the rally was narrated with many anti-Islamic EDL chants such "No More Mosques" and "Get Muslims of our Streets". The leader of the EDL, Stephen Lennon, even made an appearance at the rally and told the press to make a point of the cultural diversity present in the EDL crowd, stating that contrary to popular belief the EDL have no racial issues only religious issues.  

EDL Leader Stephen Lennon

However, unlike Egypt, due to massive police presence the 9 hour long protest went down with relatively little incident with only 7 arrests and 19 injuries. As well as constant CCTV surveillance, the police were fully equipped in full riot gear with many on horse back, and were ordered to remain after the rally to put all protesters back onto their chosen transport to ensure dispersion, as is the norm in Britain. Due to the size of protest, authorities also made use of the state-of-the-art car registration recognition system on all roads into London to record the identities of all citizen entering and leaving London . Although effective this massive police presence cost over £800,000 ($1.2 Million).

The officer behind ensuring peace during the protest, Ch Supt Mike Colbourne was proud of the work carried out by his officers and released the following statement to the press; "The policing operation has been in the planning for weeks and the professionalism of the officers was borne out today. We were assisted by 27 forces and it's a great example of how forces can work together in difficult circumstances."

- Was such a large police force necessary for only 3,000 protesters?
- As a British resident myself, do any non-Britains feels as though the British authorities take to many liberties with the freedom of the British public?

Good night, sweet Prince.

I blog to you today not in joy but in remorse, as my loyal HDD of three years finally died on me.

Goodbye HDD, we hardly knew ye...

Split Civility

Pro-Mubarak Protesters

In the wake of current events it would appear that Egypt is not as unified as many people first thought. Yesterday marked the first conflicts between the anti-government demonstrators and the pro-government demonstrators, a conflict which lasted almost five hours in Tahrir Square.

The conflicts are reported to have began at around midday in Cairo (1000 GMT) where the two groups were said to be fighting with their fists, an array of blunt weapons an various missiles. However this only lasted for around three hours until the conflicts escalated to a violent gunfight between the two sides, which in turn lasted until the army officials vowed that they themselves would open fire upon the pro-government faction unless the situation was to calm down.

These conflicts eventually added to Egypt's death toll, which is past the 300 mark, as five more men were pronounced dead, all with gun shot wound related deaths. On top of these deaths were a further 836 reported injuries officially making it the most violent day since the rebellion began ten days ago.

Prime Minister Shafiq

The anti-government protests have since barricaded themselves in at Cairo where rumors of government involvement are spreading fast, as many protesters believe the pro-government faction has been privately funded by government authorities with the sole purpose of dissuading anti-government protesters. The newly appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Shafiq said that his cabinet had in no way encouraged the rebellion and released this statement to Egyptian television: "When investigations reveal who is behind this crime and who allowed it to happen, I promise they will be held accountable and will be punished for what they did"

Foreign presence is becoming more and more unwelcome on the streets of Egypt with many non-Egyptians fearing for their safety for the first time since protests began, this issue was quickly acted on by the US embassy in Egypt with it warning all American citizens to leave Egypt immediately. Press coverage, which up until now has been welcomed in Egypt has also came under hostility with BBC reporter, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes being handcuffed, blinded folded and interrogated by Egyptian authorities for over three hours.

In response to this, a furious David Cameron threatened with retaliation and released a statement saying "If it turns out that the regime in any way has sponsored or tolerated this violence, that is completely unacceptable".

- Has this gone past the point of a peaceful resolve?

The Sound of a Million Voices

Army Officer Part of Protest

Today is set to be the biggest day of protests yet in Egypt as demonstrators take to Tahrir Square in massive numbers to force Mubarak out of power. Organisers are referring to today's rally as the biggest rally in Egyptian history, calling for a least a million Egyptians to make a stand against the 30-year regime of President Mubarak.

In the wake of deaths totaling over 300, the Egyptian army has vowed not to use any display of force against protesters, with Egyptian army officials releasing this statement; "To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people... have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people.".

This Statement was welcomed with applause from the Egyptian public who have always maintained a massive amount of respect for the Country's powerful army. After this statement was released, the number of protesters nearly tripled in volume as many men felt it safe bringing their women and children out to make a stand against the regime, because of this the atmosphere has changed from one of violence to a carnival-like atmosphere with dancing and music.

Camping at Tahrir Square

However, the release of the Egyptian army statement came as a suprise to Mubarak who feels it will encourage higher numbers of protesters. In a last minute response to this Mubarak cancelled all rail, bus and train services into the Egyptian capital ahead of today's protests, a decision which was met with violence by the thousands of people waiting at Alexandria rail station, although many say they predicted the move and decided to travel up to the Egyptian capital yesterday and camp in Tahrir Square over night.

 In a final attempt to stay in power, Mubarak vowed that he would have "clear and definite policies to tackle unemployment, poverty, corruption and the cost of living".

-But, is it too little, too late?