Sunday 30th April 2006: -

• 'Fit CCTV in taxis' call - Taxi bosses have pledged to help firms fit closed circuit television in their cars to safeguard cabbies and customers. If follows the brutal killing of taxi driver Mahmood Ahmed, 36, who was stabbed to death and dumped in a lonely rural lane. "This terrible killing has just brought it home how vulnerable taxi drivers are. We feel that CCTV should be compulsory in cabs "We want to see safety levels increased dramatically and to do that we need CCTV and also the backing of Bradford Council which provides the licences.

• SOON YOU’LL BE ABLE TO LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE BANKING: Hitachi launches biometric ID to stop cashpoint fraud - REVOLUTIONARY biometric scanners that check veins in customers’ fingers are on their way to cash points in Europe. This week Japanese electronics giant Hitachi will announce a deal with a European banking group to trial the scanners, signalling that bionic finger indentification will be coming soon to a cash machine near you. The revolutionary system will not herald the end of personal identification numbers (PINs) but they will scan customers’ fingers as final proof of their identity, The Business has learned.

• Japan Working To Scan Passengers Face - In an experiment that will have some glamorizing over such a technological advancement in security and others feeling their civil liberties are being violated, Japan has gone ahead and approved a plan to implement Facial characteristic capturing Surveillance cameras in their Subway stations. Following a revamp in Japan’s anti-terrorism and anticrime policy, over the course of two to three weeks, a ticket station located in one of the terminals will be closed down and will be replaced by a newly designed biometric camera.

• ON THIS DAY 1973: Nixon takes rap for Watergate scandal - President Richard Nixon has taken full responsibility for the Watergate scandal but has denied any personal involvement. In a speech broadcast to the American people tonight he vowed to get to the bottom of the matter, saying: "There will be no whitewash at the Whitehouse." Earlier today he accepted the resignations of four of his closest aides, including Attorney General Richard G Kleindienst. Resignations were also accepted from chief White House advisers, H R Haldeman and John D Ehrlichman and counsel to the president, John W Dean III.

Saturday 29th April 2006: -

• Malaysia to set up DNA database - Solving crimes in Malaysia will soon enter the fast lanes as the government is planning to set up a national database to hold DNA of criminals, with a proposal to later cover all nationals. Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow said the database would be incorporated under the proposed DNA Identification Act, now in the final stages of drafting. "The database will enable police to identify criminals quickly and accurately," he told the New Straits Times.

• Macedonia denies 'CIA abduction' - Macedonia's interior minister has denied claims that US agents abducted a German man in his country and flew him to Afghanistan for interrogation. Ljubomir Mihajlovski told a visiting team of European members of parliament that the claim was "just speculation". The MEPs are following up a report - released on Wednesday - that the CIA used the EU to run hundreds of flights taking terror suspects for questioning. German citizen Khalid al-Masri is suing the CIA for alleged wrongful jailing.

• “A functioning police state needs no police.”: Three-year-old boy 'anti-social' - A three-year-old has been accused of anti-social behaviour for playing football with friends outside his home. Michelle Mann, 24, of Willow Park, Wythenshawe, Manchester, was told "playing ball games close to someone else's home" breached the tenancy. Willow Park Housing Trust landlords said in a letter that she could be evicted, if her son Ben continued.

Friday 28th April 2006: -

• New security camera has insect-like eye - Security cameras fitted with artificial compound eyes based on those of flies have been developed by scientists to improve surveillance. The synthetic eyes will enable CCTV cameras to give an unprecedented panoramic view of an area and detect movement with unprecedented speed, say researchers. According to a study published in the US journal Science today by Luke Lee and his team at the University of California, Berkeley, the eyes are likely to find their first use in surveillance cameras, but Professor Lee says that the lenses might also be used in mobile phones.

• ID Card database to be used as population register: Personal data to be shared without consent - The Government announced last week that data from the National Identity Register (NIR) will also be used as an adult population register for a range of novel data sharing functions. The Office of National Statistics had promoted a separate adult population register as part of the Citizen Information Project (CIP) for these functions, but the announcement states that the CIP project has been wound up and its functions incorporated into the wider use of NIR data. The announcement also changes many undertakings given to Parliament when it considered the ID Card legislation.

• Adding fluoride to water may pose health risks - Scary news travels fast. Within weeks after the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences released a study citing adverse health effects of fluoride in water supplies, the Hightstown Board of Health introduced a draft recommendation to the Borough Council supporting a ban on water fluoridation. Dylan Ross, an alternate Board of Health member, told the Hightstown council "there is a possibility we might be poisoning people." Hightstown adds 1 part per million (ppm) of fluoride to its public water supplies. Hightstown is not the only town in New Jersey that should be concerned. Other New Jersey towns fluoridate their drinking water and could be putting the public's health at risk.

• Powerful New Film Expertly Exposes Phony Drug War & Police State: A Scanner Darkly set to shake collective unconsciousness through viral popular culture shot in the arm - A new film set for release later this year chronicles how power interests exploit the drug war in order to create unthinking armies of drone servants and erect police state measures to prevent the people from ever glimpsing the dark truth behind a highly mechanized surveillance panopticon.

Thursday 27th April 2006: -

• ANGER AS SCOTLAND FACES BIG BROTHER I.D. CARDS - SCOTS could be issued with ID cards storing details of every aspect of their lives under plans being considered by the Scottish Executive. Hundreds of thousands of Scots have already been issued with the Citizens' National Entitlement Card - a microchipped card that carries the holder's name and photo. The cards are used to access free bus or coach travel, but there are plans to link them to a central database. This would give the Executive access to such details as people's travel movements, gym visits and reading habits. There are fears that the system could be expanded to include other information such as NHS records and benefits payments.

• New York Police Start Random Search at City's Public Schools - New York city police began random sweeps of public schools Wednesday as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's crackdown on school violence, but the main items seized during the first day of searches were dozens of cell phones. Cell phones have been banned from city schools for nearly 20 years, but now police plan on confiscating them along with other electronic devices from students during random searches. Officers using mobile metal detectors are planning to show up unannounced at schools around the city and scan the students.

• BBC mulls database of kids: Blue Peter's got your number - Still plotting ways to root out Blue Peter benefits cheats, puritanical BBC producers are chewing over plans for an intelligence database that petty officials can use to keep an eye on pesky kids. Producers of Blue Peter, the hit children's TV magazine show, have been considering options to prevent imposters from buying the privileges conferred to Blue Peter badge winners (such as free entry to tourist attractions), since discovering the badges were being sold on eBay. A BBC spokeswoman said the original idea, for a Blue Peter ID card to be given to badge winners, might not be easy to do in practice. A card might require participating tourist attractions to invest in scanners that could read the cards and distinguish between genuine Blue Peter badges and those from the other side of the tracks. Alternatives being considered include a card with a hologram, "or some sort of database they can check", she said.   (COMMENTARY: There goes another symbol of childhood innocence, corrupted by the New World Order agenda... Blue Peter is playing ball... what's next... how to snitch on your neighbours using only sticky-back plastic?  (Sorry to our non-UK based visitors, who are probably starching their heads right about now!  I'm just talking about how a popular kids TV show is selling us up the river by acclimatising the kids to carrying ID cards to prove that they are 'good little citizens'))

• Getting off the UK DNA database: ACPO explains how - The UK is something of a DNA record kleptocracy, with a national DNA database now well in excess of three million records, and with new sampling opportunities available to the police on remarkably easy terms. These days it's ever so easy to get onto the UK database, but how do you get off? What's that you say? You don't? Well, up to a point - but it's not strictly true to say that once you're on the database you absolutely can't get off again. It's just very, very hard and it's going to take you a long, long time. Fortunately, would-be escapees now have the benefit of some guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

• Judge creates own Da Vinci code - The judge who presided over the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case at London's High Court hid his own secret code in his written judgement. Seemingly random italicised letters were included in the 71-page judgement given by Mr Justice Peter Smith, which apparently spell out a message. Mr Justice Smith said he would confirm the code if someone broke it. "I can't discuss the judgement, but I don't see why a judgement should not be a matter of fun," he said.

• Sagem Défense Sécurité Provides Finnish Police With Biometric System - Sagem Défense Sécurité signed a contract on April 6 with the Finnish police to supply a new-generation AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). With this contract, which was open to international bids, the Finnish police renew its confidence in Sagem Défense Sécurité by replacing its current system with one that contains the latest technological advances. Apart from the standard AFIS police services (i.e. identifying criminals with latents, palmprints and fingerprints), the new system can also be used when issuing visas, passports and asylum ID.

• Secret CIA flights: the number soars - THE CIA has operated more than 1000 secret flights over European Union territory in the past five years, some to transfer terrorism suspects, an investigation by the European Parliament has found. The figure is significantly higher than previously thought. Sometimes the aircraft picked up suspects who had been kidnapped to take them to countries that use torture, the investigators said. The operation used the same US agents and the same aircraft over and over, investigators said, although they could not say how many flights involved the transport of suspects.

Wednesday 26th April 2006: -

• Experts rule out houses near pylons - Homes should not be built near overhead power lines because of possible links with childhood leukaemia, Government-appointed experts are expected to conclude. They are likely to recommend a change in planning guidelines so that new homes cannot be built either within 230ft of power lines or in a location that exposes inhabitants to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of a certain strength. A report by Dr Gerald Draper, of the Oxford childhood cancer research group, published two years ago, suggested that children under 15 living near high-voltage power cables may have double the risk of getting leukaemia. The seven-year study was commissioned by the Department of Health.

• Over 1000 illegal CIA flights in Europe, MEPs say - The CIA has conducted more than 1,000 undeclared flights over European territory since 2001, and governments knew it, a European Parliament interim report suggests. A temporary parliament committee investigating alleged CIA activities in Europe on Wednesday (26 April) presented its mid-term findings, backing up earlier allegations that the CIA had carried out clandestine operations in Europe in the context of "the war on terror." "The CIA has, on several occasions, clearly been responsible for kidnapping and illegally detaining alleged terrorists on the territory of member states, as well as for extraordinary renditions," Socialist MEP and the committee's rapporteur, Claudio Fava, told reporters in Brussels.

• Bank discriminates against disabled teen - BARCLAY'S Bank today admitted discriminating against an Ipswich teenager with Down's Syndrome after refusing her an account and branding her mentally incompetent. Wendy Rusher took her daughter Charlotte to Barclay's Princes Street branch to set up a joint account. However, the pair left empty-handed after they felt Charlotte was insulted and told she could not set up an account in her name. In a case labelled appalling by the Down's Syndrome Association, the bank has now apologised and offered to allow the 18-year-old an account. But, Mrs Rusher, of Felixstowe Road, said: “It's sad that discrimination like this is alive and well. They can shove their offer of an account now. It's not so much that they just wouldn't let her have an account, but more the attitude towards Charlotte. “Staff said the bank had policies and it would not be possible to open a joint account as my daughter was 'mentally incompetent'.

• Chicago to add 70 more surveillance cameras - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will be traveling to Israel this week as part of his trip to the Middle East. The mayor will look at security in the region hoping to find ways to better protect Chicago from a terrorist attack. Despite terrorist bombings in Jordan last year, in Israel last week, and in Egypt Monday, the mayor is not canceling or postponing his trip to one of the world's most dangerous areas. He is actually visiting Israel to learn about security from the experts, and he is going to Amman, Jordan, which is waging a constant battle of its own against terrorism.

• Texas Training Pamphlet: 'Nice Guys' Who Wear Levis & Travel With Children Likely Terrorists: Says people who use cellphones and e mail should be under suspicion - A Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Law Enforcement pamphlet gives the public characteristics to identify terrorists that include buying baby formula, beer, wearing Levi jeans, carrying identifying documents like a drivers license and traveling with women or children.

Tuesday 25th April 2006: -

• COKE VS PEPSI... THAT'S CHOICE!: Sugary drinks banned from school canteens (but the aspartame filled poison remains) - SUGAR-FILLED soft drinks will be banned from school canteens in Victoria next year. But Australia's first state-imposed veto on sales of fizzy drinks to children has drawn fire from doctors who want water to be the only drink sold in school canteens across the nation. Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky announced yesterday that schools would have the rest of this year to phase out high-kilojoule fizzy drinks and some sugar-added fruit drinks, but artificially sweetened soft drinks such as Coca-Cola Zero would be allowed. She said fatty foods and lollies were also likely to be restricted, but ruled out a similar blanket ban. Those foods may only be allowed in schools on certain days of the week, Ms Kosky said.

• Doubts, fears and the Australian ID card: Concerns about the privacy of individuals are as important as ever and ought not be compromised - Whenever the Federal Government discusses its plans for a "smartcard" - which would allow citizens to electronically access Medicare and other government services - speculation inevitably strays to the possibility that a compulsory national ID card will also be introduced. Is the "smartcard" a way of accustoming people to the notion of a national ID card? The smartcard would have a photo ID and a computer chip allowing bureaucrats to access personal information. It would not be compulsory, but most people over 18 would need one because it is the only way they would have access to government money including Medicare, Austudy, child-care benefits, pensions and pensioner concessions, the family tax benefit, unemployment benefit and maternity payments.

• World Bank accused of deception over malaria funding: Death toll prevention claims 'unfounded' - The World Bank, a leader in the global effort to control malaria, has been accused of deception and medical malpractice by a group of public health doctors for failing to carry out its funding promises and wrongly claiming its programmes have been successful at cutting the death toll from the disease. The serious charges are levelled by Amir Attaran, a professor at the Institute of Population Health and faculty of law of Ottawa University, and colleagues from around the world. Writing in an online publication for the Lancet medical journal, they say the World Bank is unfit to lead global efforts to control the disease, which kills around 1 million people a year - most of them small children.

• Vaccines at birth a possibility - A study has shown that vaccinating newborn babies might be possible. Currently, most immunisations are given to babies at two months of age because they are unable to mount an immune response to the majority of vaccines. But US scientists have found a way to stimulate an immune response in newborns, following the discovery of a type of molecule present at birth. The team, writing in the journal Blood, say infant mortality could be reduced if babies are vaccinated at birth.

• What's behind mysterious booms?: Phenomena produce theories, but no answers - Life can serve up a good mystery every once in a while. Weird things happen that defy explanation, that make us wonder how much we really know about the world. Something of the sort happened in San Diego County shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, and so far no one has come forward with an explanation. Whatever it was, it caused a woman's bed to shake in Lakeside. It created waves in a backyard pool in Carmel Valley. It set off car alarms in Kearny Mesa and rattled windows from Mission Beach to Poway to Vista. At various spots throughout the county, people reported a rumbling sound or a booming noise.

Monday 24th April 2006: -

• Tony Blair's authoritarian populism is indefensible and dangerous: The prime minister's pose as an honest bloke talking common sense masks a frightening disdain for basic freedoms - What a brilliant and charming politician Tony Blair is. When I heard that he planned to debate his stance on democratic freedoms, civil liberties and the war on terror with a journalist I thought he was making a strategic error. A prime minister who cannily refused to debate with other party leaders before the elections, for fear of diminishing his own pre-eminent status, was willing to engage with a writer on a equal basis. It seemed certain that not only would he lose the argument on what is becoming a central division in British politics, but he would reduce his stature in the process. I was wrong.

• Diplomat: US, UK used torture information – Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has told European Parliament that British and US intelligence services had used information related to the "war on terror" obtained from tortured suspects. "Under the UK-US intelligence sharing agreement the US and UK have taken a policy decision that they will get testimonies obtained under torture in third countries. I say that with regret and with certainty," the Brussels-based Dtt-Net.com news agency quoted Murray as telling European lawmakers on Thursday. The European Parliament is investigating allegations that the CIA used European airbases to transfer terror suspects to countries where they could be tortured. The Council of Europe has already concluded that the CIA flights took place with the tacit approval of EU governments.

• HOW MAJOR CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENT PLAN TO TRACK YOUR EVERY MOVE WITH RFID' - Imagine a world of no more privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database, and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought, of everything you have ever owned, of every item of clothing in your closet -- every pair of shoes. What's more, these items can even be tracked remotely. Once your every possession is recorded in a database and can be tracked, you can also be tracked and monitored remotely through the things you wear, carry and interact with every day.

• Cheadle Heath Primary School installs a Genie CCTV security camera package to help protect against unwanted incidents - The Cheadle Heath Primary School - part of Stockport Council - provides a quality education for children aged 3-11 and has excellent, modern facilities including an up to date networked computer suite complete with an interactive whiteboard. Other facilities include a Foundation Stage outdoor play area, well stocked library, central hall, large playground and spacious sports field. The DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and Genie CCTV six day/night camera package forms part of the school management system and are remote monitored during normal school times as well as out of hours. They have already proved very successful in reducing unwanted incidents at the school including congregating by local youths, potential vandalism* etc.  (COMMENTARY: *Note this security measure is not for the safety of the young children, it is to keep an eye on them in the traditional Orwellian fashion.)

• The battle for civil liberties: Government on offensive after criticism of 'authoritarian' laws - The Government has been forced on to the offensive over its record on civil liberties. Tony Blair attacked critics yesterday, dismissing the former law lord Lord Steyn as "out of touch" with modern Britain and saying that there would be no let-up in the hardline approach to crime suspects. Then last night the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, published a 14-page critique of an article by the Independent columnist Simon Carr which criticised the Government's record on civil liberties.

Sunday 23rd April 2006: -

• ORDER OUT OF CHAOS: War on terror boosts violence worldwide - Terror attacks and kidnappings worldwide exceeded 10,000 for the first time last year, propelled in part by a surge of violence in Iraq, according to government figures to be released soon. Officials cautioned against reading too much into the overall total. The government last year adopted a new definition of terror and changed its system of counting global attacks, devoting more energy to finding reports of violence against civilians. Yet the numbers are a striking reminder that violence around the globe has increased dramatically in the more than four years of the war on terror.

• U.S. Commando units to fight global terror - U.S. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld approved an ambitious program for the war on terror around the world, outside of Afghanistan and Iraq, via the use of commando units, which will immediately respond should the U.S. again come under a terrorist attack. The Washington Post reported that three programs have been approved by Rumsfeld in the last month, to significantly enlarge commando units for special missions in different areas in the world, a role traditionally reserved for the CIA and the State Department.

• Providers identify glitches in the UK state ID card plan: The Government wants to rush through its controversial scheme, but time is against it already, says Andrew Murray-Watson - It promises to be one of the most expensive and complicated procurement processes embarked upon by the government. In the next few weeks the Home Office will invite tenders for work on the flagship national identity card programme. It is set to cost billions of pounds, create the most comprehensive population database the world has seen, and is already being called Labour's "plastic poll tax".

• Tainted blood victims allege official cover-up: Letters reveal that senior civil servants destroyed crucial documents - Survivors of Britain's contaminated blood scandal last night accused the government of a cover-up after doubts emerged about the reasons for the destruction of hundreds of critical documents. Earlier this year victims were told that paperwork had been accidentally destroyed by an inexperienced civil servant. However, letters seen by The Observer reveal that only senior officers, who would have known that the 600 sensitive files should have been stored for at least 25 years, would have been in a position to retain or destroy them. The documents detailed meetings between the blood transfusion service, health boards, government officials and consultants during the Seventies and Eighties and contained critical information about what has become one of the worst disasters in the history of the NHS.

• Blair savages critics over threat to civil liberties - Tony Blair launches an unprecedented assault today on the legal and political establishment, accusing it of being 'out of touch' with the people - and pledges new moves to 'hassle, harry and hound' suspected criminals from Britain. In a passionate public exchange of emails with Observer columnist Henry Porter, the Prime Minister vigorously defends his stance on civil liberties and sketches out a new faultline in British politics over individual freedoms, crossing the traditional divide between right and left.

• Facing up to Gulf War's silent killer - SOME 250,000 of the returning allied forces from the first Gulf War in 1991 (15 per cent) went down with illness that they insist was related to their service in that war. Of these, 10,000 are already dead. Successive governments over the years have refused to recognise the existence of a single condition called Gulf War Syndrome and so the impasse continues. Veterans remain adamant that their illness is a direct result from their service in the Gulf, while officialdom maintains that the sheer breadth and range of symptoms and illness reported by the veterans rules out the possibility of any one single syndrome being responsible.

Saturday 22nd April 2006: -

• CHINA'S CONTROLLED COVERAGE - A lone protester shouted at China's President Hu Jintao as he spoke Thursday on the White House south lawn. The protesters disruption was seen all across the world except in one place: China. Two experts on Chinese affairs discuss the Chinese government's censorship of the media.

• AS IF THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST ISN'T EVIL ENOUGH!: Finns shocked by Eurovision band - Finland's controversial entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest - a heavy metal band called Lordi (The Lord) - has upset many Finns. The band members wear scary masks, which they refuse to take off, and the lead singer wields a chain-saw. Their song Hard Rock Hallelujah is a radical departure from the folk songs usually associated with Eurovision. Lordi, influenced by the American hard rock band Kiss and its lead singer Gene Simmons, has not escaped allegations of links with Satanism.

• Lib Dem donor is arrested in Spain on fraud claims: Financier is flown from his luxury villa to a Madrid cell to await extradition after a dispute with his bank - MICHAEL BROWN, the expatriate financier who funded the Liberal Democrats with a record £2.4 million gift, was in a Madrid prison cell last night awaiting extradition on 53 charges including fraud. The flamboyant businessman was arrested on a European warrant. Sources close to Mr Brown said it arose after a financial dispute over an investment made by the former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards. Police went to the political benefactor’s Majorcan villa hours before he was due to throw a spectacular 40th birthday party. After he is extradited Mr Brown will be questioned over alleged dishonesty, forgery, perjury, perverting the course of justice, false accounting and obtaining a passport by deception.

• Nepalese Police Keep Protesters from Royal Palace with Tear Gas - Nepalese police fired tear gas and dozens of people were injured, as thousands of pro-democracy protesters tried to approach the royal palace in the heart of Kathmandu. The demonstrations came as leaders of a coalition of political parties rejected King Gyanendra's offer of a partial return to democracy. Nepali police fired tear-gas Saturday to stop pro-democracy demonstrators from pushing through a security cordon near the royal palace.

• White House heckler charged - A woman who heckled Chinese President Hu Jintao on a visit to the White House has been charged with a criminal offence by a US court. Wang Wenyi, 47, could face up to six months in jail for "harassing, intimidating and threatening a foreign official". Wang is a member of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, and entered the White House grounds as a reporter for a pro-Falun Gong newspaper on Thursday 20 April. She then interrupted a welcome ceremony hosted by US President George Bush, calling on President Hu to "stop persecuting Falun Gong". Speaking after being charged, Wang said she was not guilty of any crime. "It is not a crime, but an act of civil disobedience," she said, describing her actions as "an individual act of conscience".

• DIRTY TRICKS AS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DIGS... ARTICLE TO BE TAKEN WITH A PINCH OF SALT: EX-WIFE: SHEEN IS SEX FIEND - BOND girl Denise Richards has accused ex-husband Charlie Sheen of being a violent druggie with a love of child porn. She makes the allegations in papers filed for a restraining order against the Platoon and Wall Street actor in Los Angeles yesterday. Richards, 35, claims he surfed sick porn sites featuring young girls as well as gay boys and emailed explicit pictures of himself to 30 women. She says he repeatedly threatened to kill her ??" and beat her up in front of their daughters Sam, two and eight-month-old Lola.   (COMMENTARY: This kind of 'Celebrity Scandal' is  just par for the course... Just wait he'll be an anti-Semite next!)

• England 'addicted to sex and TV': England is a nation of "overweight, alcopop-swilling, sex-and-celebrity obsessed television addicts", according to a travel guide - The latest edition of the Rough Guide to England also warns potential visitors that the hearts of many towns "consist of identikit retail zones". But it praises the nation of "animal loving, tea-drinking charity donors who thrive on irony and Radio 4".

Friday 21st April 2006: -

• Database State: The UK's Electronic Prison - Part One: The gathering and holding of information has permeated into every facet of life in Great Britain and no one batters an eyelid. It's time to reveal what's really going to happen in the UK - The UK has lapsed into a database surveillance state, an electronic prison where every aspect of the lives of its citizens is determined by the control and flow of personal information between companies and government departments. Simply in order to own a house, a car, a TV and pay tax we must provide information which is stored forever on electronic databases and very often sold to whomever provides the highest bid.

• Cherie urged to pay back £7,700 hairdresser bill - Cherie Blair was today urged to pay back £7,700 the party spent on her hairstyle during last year’s general election campaign. Ian Gibson, a Labour backbencher, said that he was "astonished" that much-needed election funds were used to settle the £275-a-day bill that the Prime Minister’s wife ran up before May’s poll. The party’s response to the revelations that the Prime Minister’s wife had billed it was unapologetic: A Labour spokesman said last night: "So what? Mrs Blair worked fantastically hard during the election and visited more than 50 constituencies during the campaign and we won the election."

Thursday 20th April 2006: -

• More involved in Oklahoma City bombing?: On 11th anniversary, Rita Cosby talks to Terry Nichols' son, Josh Nichols - Josh Nichols, son of Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols, sat down with Rita Cosby for an exclusive interview that airs tonight at 9 p.m. ET. The interview took place in a prison where Josh Nichols is awaiting sentencing for a crime unrelated to the bombing... COSBY: "Do you believe what your dad is ready to say about the Oklahoma City bombing could hurt the U.S. government?" NICHOLS: "I believe it could." COSBY: "And how so?" NICHOLS: "Because he knows what happened that day. He knows what happened in Oklahoma City." COSBY: "And how many others do you believe are involved?" NICHOLS: "I couldn't put a number on it, you know? It could be five, it could be 10, it could be more, but there has to be others involved."

• Yahoo blamed in China activist jailing - Yahoo Inc. helped Chinese police identify an Internet activist who was sentenced to four years in prison for his pro-democracy postings, according to a copy of the verdict obtained by a human rights group. Jiang Lijun, 39, was sentenced for subversive activities on Nov. 18, 2003. He was accused of being the leader of a group of political dissidents and of seeking to use violence to impose democracy, including a plan to disrupt a Communist Party Congress by phoning in a false bomb scare to police, according to the copy, obtained and translated into English by the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco human rights group.

Wednesday 19th April 2006: -

• Skype says text messages censored by China - The internet communications company Skype, which was bought by eBay in September 2005, has revealed that text messages sent to China are censored in compliance with state law. Skype and its partner in China, Tom Online, had been accused of censoring text messages that contained banned terms like 'Falun Gong' and 'Dalai Lama', according to the Financial Times. Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder and chief executive of Skype, addressed the issue with the Financial Times saying: 'Tom had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing. Those are the regulations.' China is one of Skype's biggest markets along with the US and Germany and Mr Zennstrom indicated that Skype had no option but to comply with the regulations of the host country.

• China 'selling prisoners' organs' - Top British transplant surgeons have accused China of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners every year to sell for transplants. In a statement, the British Transplantation Society condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights. The move comes less than a week after Chinese officials publicly denied the practice took place. In March, China said it would ban the sale of human organs from July.

• Elite gun cops get shoot to kill policy .. for wild animals - WHILE proceeding down the high street, the officer happened upon a large, angry rhinoceros outside Woolies...so he shot it dead. That's how a police report could look if a new booklet on dealing with rampaging wild animals is ever put to the test. And the pamphlet, sent to to the new FBI-style Serious Organised Crime Agency, reveals a fascinating insight into how jungle beasts behave.  Officers will be startled to learn that: MONKEYS have sharp teeth and can bite. WOUNDED lions and tigers (which also have sharp teeth AND claws) are pretty dangerous. BUT elephants and rhinos are worse because they are, er, bigger and heavier. The booklet tells where to shoot animals, with a handy set of illustrations - rhinos "in the heart", monkeys and lions "the head".

• Move to store 'ID card' details for children - A REGISTER of children's details similar to that to be kept under the government's controversial ID card scheme has been recommended by officials. The Citizen Information Project (CIP) said a child population register should also be set up. Under-16s had been exempt from the national identity register. CIP, based within the Office for National Statistics, also said the identity cards scheme should be used to share details such as people's names, addresses and dates of birth across the public sector. The report said details should be securely shared "on the basis that the scheme eventually becomes compulsory".

• HEARD ANY OTHER GOOD JOKES RECENTLY?: Mercury fillings found safe - Two long-awaited, government-funded studies found no evidence that dental fillings containing mercury can cause IQ-lowering brain damage or other neurological problems in children. Children with such fillings were no more likely than other youngsters to suffer such problems, the researchers found.

• Teens at the wheel, and on camera - Edgewood High School senior J.T. Roach knows the power of supervision when he's driving. Just the sight of a police car alongside a highway slows him down, he said, so the prospect of his parents examining video evidence of him behind the wheel will undoubtedly re- focus his attention. American Family Insurance hopes Roach's theory holds true. As part of a three-month pilot program, the insurance giant will offer to install dual- direction video cameras on the rearview mirrors of Edgewood High School students.

• Torture fears of computer hacker - A SELF-TAUGHT British "computer nerd" who brought a vital US naval base to its knees could be subjected to torture and detained indefinitely if a "vengeful" US government extradite him, a court heard. Computer expert Gary McKinnon, 40, of Whittington Road, Wood Green, remotely-controlled 97 US army, naval, airforce, NASA and defence department computers between autumn 2001 and March 2002. At his extradition hearing at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, his lawyer Edmund Lawson, said the US government's request to try him there was unjust.

• Poland marks 63rd anniversary of Ghetto anti-Nazi uprising in Warsaw - Government representatives and religious leaders of Poland's Jewish community on Tuesday paid tribute to Jewish heroes during the 63rd anniversary of the Ghetto uprising in Warsaw. Flanked by hundreds of local residents, they laid flowers and wreaths at the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then marched to the monument dedicated to the Ghetto Heroes to pay homage to those who took part in the fight-back against the Nazis.

• Waco and the Bipartisan Police State, by Anthony Gregory - Every year around this time, I find it worthwhile to reflect on the siege at Mt. Carmel, just outside of Waco, Texas, which began on February 28, 1993, when an ATF publicity stunt went awry, and ended 51 days later on April 19 with about 80 civilians killed. Waco is still important, because it illustrates the violent nature of the state, the fact that political power flows from the barrel of a gun, and the scary truth that the U.S. government is ultimately no different from all others in this respect. Many people, including many libertarians, would just as soon forget the debacle. But we must remember.

Tuesday 18th April 2006: -

• Exxon Chairman's $400 Million Parachute: Exxon Made Record Profits in 2005 - Soaring gas prices are squeezing most Americans at the pump, but at least one man isn't complaining. Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits. Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

• NEW BIOMETRIC FACE AND SIGNATURE SOFTWARE PREVENTS FRAUD, NEW BIOMETRIC FACE AND SIGNATURE SOFTWARE IS KEY TO PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT: National Identity Security Inc. Launches Suite of Data Authentication Products - Verifying an individual’s identity by matching facial images and signatures against archived biometric information is central to National Identity Security Inc.’s (NIS, www.naidse.com) new suite of software products. The suite includes the National Identity Personal Profile (NIPP Secure™), which authenticates and validates the individual, not the credit card or information used to identify the person. NIPP Secure guarantees a customer’s identity will never be stolen. The identity authentication system protects individuals and companies from identity theft, fraud and data corruption both online and at point-of-sale transactions.

Easter (Ishtar) Monday 17th April 2006: -

• Britain took part in mock Iran invasion: Pentagon planned for Tehran conflict with war game involving UK troops - British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran, despite repeated claims by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, that a military strike against Iran is inconceivable. The war game, codenamed Hotspur 2004, took place at the US base of Fort Belvoir in Virginia in July 2004. A Ministry of Defence spokesman played down its significance yesterday. "These paper-based exercises are designed to test officers to the limit in fictitious scenarios. We use invented countries and situations using real maps," he said.

• British ID cards advance relentlessly - The creation of compulsory ID cards moved a step forward in Britain after a crucial vote in the Commons. Many people assume that they aren’t worth worrying about as Brits already have photo IDs for a passport and driving licence. Expats living in Thailand have got used to showing local ID here as part of everyday life. But the new British ID card isn’t like any of those. It will be connected to a database called the NIR (National Identity Register) where all your personal details will be stored. This will include a unique number issued to you, and a whole deluge of personal and private facts about the individual - not just your physical features.

• Taser used to get woman to leave mayor's office: Shreveporter insisted on meeting with Hightower, who was said to be out until Monday - Yolanda Shamp was going to wait however long it took Thursday to meet with Shreveport Mayor Keith Hightower. Problem was the mayor wasn’t there, and his office was about to close for the day. Shamp still wanted an audience with Hightower. And she didn't leave her seat on the second floor of Government Plaza until an officer zapped her with a Taser.

• US firms suspected of bilking Iraq funds: Millions missing from program for rebuilding - American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds, but so far there is no way for Iraq's government to recoup the money, according to US investigators and civil attorneys tracking fraud claims against contractors. Courts in the United States are beginning to force contractors to repay reconstruction funds stolen from the American government. But legal roadblocks have prevented Iraq from recovering funds that were seized from the Iraqi government by the US-led coalition and then paid to contractors who failed to do the work. A US law that allows citizens to recover money from dishonest contractors protects only the US government, not foreign governments.

• NYPD flips on surveillance cameras to fight crime and terror - Along a gritty stretch of street in Brooklyn, police this month quietly launched an ambitious plan to combat street crime and terrorism. But instead of cops on the beat, wireless video cameras peer down from lamp posts about 10 metres above the sidewalk. They were the first instalment of a program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million US. Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of midtown with a surveillance "ring of steel" modelled after security measures in London's financial district. Officials of the New York Police Department - which considers itself at the forefront of counterterrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks - claim the money would be well-spent, especially since the revelations that al-Qaida members once cased the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions.

• School District Considers Drug-Sniffing Dogs - A school district is considering the use of drug-sniffing dogs to do random searches at its middle and high school campuses. The Lake Elsinore Unified School District board will decide whether it will spend $18,000 for drug and bomb-sniffing dogs. The money would pay for 45 random searches throughout the district’s four high schools and four middle schools. Trustees see the dogs as a possible deterrent, since marijuana was found on both the middle and high school campuses. "Personally, I'm tired of expelling kids for all that foolishness," said Trustee Sonja Wilson. Interquest Detection Canines would supply the dogs. The dogs will not be allowed to search students or employees, but will be able to sniff backpacks, student lockers, purses, jackets and other personal items.

Easter (Ishtar) Sunday 16th April 2006: -

• "BELIEVE WHAT WE (i.e. MY ILLUMINATI MASTERS) TELL YOU AS GOSPEL... LITERALLY!": Archbishop rejects mystery mania - Conspiracy theories or the discovery of ancient texts will not weaken the Gospel, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said in his Easter Sunday sermon. The Gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code foster a sense of mystery, but the Easter message lives in Christian experience, Dr Rowan Williams said. Many Christians are putting their lives at risk for their faith, he added. Meanwhile, Archbishop Of York Dr John Sentamu has baptised four adults in a pool outside a York church.   (FLASHBACK: Illuminati hierarchy tells Archbishop 'who's the boss' - 'Rowan Williams apologises to Freemasons')

• UK Theme park tags on to ID chip expansion - Alton Towers, one of the country's largest theme parks, is to start tagging visitors with tiny radio frequency identification computer chips that will allow a network of cameras to track their movements throughout the park. Visitors will be given an RFID-enabled wristband on entry to the Staffordshire amusement park. It will allow them to be identified and videoed by cameras as they go on rides and attractions. The technology will help with park security - allowing parents to locate lost children, for example - but its chief publicised purpose will be to create a unique personalised DVD of the visitors' day at the park, which can be purchased on leaving.

• POPE RAGE: Savage attack on the human race's greed, dishonesty, obsession with entertainment and loss of the family - POPE Benedict hit out yesterday at a "senseless cult of Satan" as he scorned the decadence of the modern world. In Rome's traditional Good Friday Way of the Cross service, the hardline pontiff spoke of the "filth around us" and condemned the spread of an "inane apologia of evil". Attacking modern science and defending the family, he added: "We seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family... "There's a move to reinvent mankind, to modify the very grammar of life as willed by God."

• Fears mount as police merger plans gain momentum - NORTH Yorkshire has gone out on a limb by supporting the creation of a regional police force amalgamating all four Yorkshire forces into one. The measure has been opposed by the West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Humberside forces but North Yorkshire Police Authority backed Home Secretary Charles Clarke's plan to merge all four current police services to form one large force. Barely had the decision been made than the West Yorkshire force announced it was closing its front desks to the public at 12 stations at towns such as Bingley, Otley and Shipley. The closures will add to fears that small outposts such as Ingleton, Settle and Grassington will be at risk once a new "super force" comes into effect. Even Skipton must be worried as the towns losing their police front desk are of similar size or bigger than Craven's capital.

• USA Officers On School Patrol May Carry Taser Guns - Police officers who patrol the halls in the Fort Worth Independent School District could soon be armed with Taser guns. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, school officials are worried about whether the devices are safe to use on children.

Saturday 15th April 2006: -

• Big Brother should watch and listen on school buses: We monitor what our children do on school buses in Chester County, and we should - Thanks to the video cameras that at least some local school districts have on their buses, misbehaving kids are less likely to misbehave. If something happens even with the cameras, as least we can look at the tape and find out if Billy really did punch Bobby. It’s time to take this idea a step further. It’s time for Chester County school districts to think about not only recording what students do on buses but also what they say. It’s time for school districts to think about unwrapping the sound buttons on their video cameras.

• Fingerprint Technology On Your Personal Computer - Imagine logging on to your computer with nothing more than a fingerprint. If you think it sounds like something out of a James Bond movie -- you're right. The technology does exist and is available to you but how well does it work? In James Bond movies, the bad guy has been seen keeping his secrets safe with a security system that includes a fingerprint scan. But Consumer Reports says this technology is no longer limited to 007.

• 14 war protesters arrested near Bush ranch: Group once again tests county ordinance against roadside camping - Taking turns climbing into small tents, 14 war protesters were arrested Friday near President Bush's ranch, once again challenging a county roadside camping ban. Eleven of them were among the 12 arrested in November in the same ditches where the makeshift antiwar campsite sprang up in August off the winding, two-lane road leading to the ranch.

• Whistleblower reveals extent of AT&T spying role: A former employee recounts how the telco has been reading in your email - Last week, new accounts describing in detail the role that telecommunications giant AT&T has played in providing the government with warrantless information gathered on average citizens. Former technician Mark Klein has come out in support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit, which is summed up by the EFF here: "The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now."