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May 18, 2012
17:24
Alain De Botton to explore the consolations of pornography
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Alain de Botton has addressed love, happiness and religion. Now he wants to investigate pornography in the belief it can be turned into a moral and noble industry.
Related Stories
- Non-white births now a majority in US
- Now dieting in pregnancy is good for you

17:24
Facebook IPO: social network makes stock market debut – live blog
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Facebook launched on the Nasdaq exchange in New York
• 80 million shares sold in first 30 seconds of trading
• But share price almost falls below $38 offer value
• Launch delayed amid confusion at Nasdaq
• Follow our Facebook shareholder wealth tracker here
1.22pm ET/6.22pm BST: Guardian tech editor Charles Arthur looks at what's next for Facebook:
What to expect now? Don't be surprised if the next big thing is a Facebook phone – running its own software and developed from top to bottom to involve you in the site all the time.
Zuckerberg's team has been advised to do this directly, because it needs to reach the "next billion" internet users, and they are mainly going to be using mobile phones, not desktop or laptop computers. Selling its own phone would mean it could make itself the background hum of many peoples' lives everywhere – and show adverts and collect data on its own terms.
Read Charles' full analysis here.
1.16pm ET/6.16pm BST: Dominic Rushe checks in on the Internet gaming company Zynga, and what the poor performance of its stock today could mean for Facebook:
Facebook's shares have recovered after dropping worryingly close to their $38 offer price. But over at Zynga there are still problems.
As we mentioned earlier, it looks likely that Facebook's battalion of bankers moved to make sure FB didn't drop below $38. Zynga had no such luck and was down more than 13% at one point. It's now down nearly 6%.
Zynga is basically a way to trade Facebook, since nearly all of its business comes from the social network. So is this what FB's share fall would look like if the bankers hadn't piled in? Just sayin'.
1.09pm ET/6.09pm BST: Till death do us part – or your company doth go public. Will the Facebook IPO cause a spike in shareholder divorces as new millionaires are created and relationships become more liquid, as it were? The Financial Times has a morbidly droll (and paywall-protected) report:
"When Google went public, there was a wave of divorces. When Cisco went public there was a wave of divorces," says Steve Cone, a divorce attorney based in Palo Alto, near the social network's Menlo Park headquarters. "I expect a similar wave shortly after Facebook goes public."
12.55pm ET/5.55pm BST: Facebook staffers have flocked to the social network to bask in the post-IPO glow, the Guardian's Josh Halliday reports.
Lindsey Cochran, who works in marketing at Facebook, writes: "I vividly remember signing up for facebook in the upstairs quad of 508 Thurston ... in April of 2004. I can't believe I am now going to be a part of such a historic moment. Feeling incredibly lucky!"
Gabe Hernandez, another staffer, says: "While I won't be in any of the Facebook offices to celebrate today, I am wearing my hoodie in solidarity. Thanks everyone for making my job far from the last place I ever want to be. Now stay focused and keep hacking!"
Meanwhile, Zuck has returned to his Facebook to note: "This is a pretty awesome hack."
12.39pm ET/5.39pm BST: If you don't own Facebook shares yet, are you currently missing an historic opportunity to get in on the ground level of a company that's about to break all previous records for stock growth?
Warren Buffett apparently doesn't think so. Here's what the Oracle of Omaha has to say about IPOs in general:
It's almost a mathematical impossibility to imagine that, out of the thousands of things for sale on a given day, the most attractively priced is the one being sold by a knowledgeable seller (company insiders) to a less-knowledgeable buyer (investors).
12.34pm ET/5.34pm BST: Have underwriters stepped in to hold Facebook shares above $38?
Business Insider gets a look at the order book, sent in by Twitter user @Bourbon_Meyer.
"It strongly appears that there's a huge perma-bid at $38 on Facebook," Joe Weisenthal writes. "Check out the big mass of yellow on the left column... all those bids at $38."
12.18pm ET/5.18pm BST: Facebook stock has been out of the gate for 50 minutes. After opening at just above $42 the stock dropped to the break-even level of $38. But instead of continuing to fall, the stock staged a resolute recovery:
So what happened? Here's Dominic Rushe:
Facebook's shares came dangerously close to falling below $38, the offer price, and have now rallied. This chart shows what happened. The speculation is that the underwriters have piled in and supported the price that we are chasing now. If it's true, they can't support the price forever and you can expect FB's shares to fall next week.
But – and it's a big but – there have clearly been problems with the IPO at Nasdaq, orders for shares were backed up and may have caused these weird price movements.
There are however signs that investors are underwhelmed. Zynga shares were suspended after they crashed this morning – not a good sign as the game firm is largely dependent on Facebook for its business.
12.03pm ET/5.03pm BST: One stock that really doesn't like what it's seeing in the Facebook IPO: Zynga, the Internet gaming company.
Zynga, which depends on Facebook for a platform for its games, had an underwhelming IPO of its own in December, when it fell 5 percent in its first day of trading.
So far today Zynga is down 13 percent.
UPDATE 12.07pm ET: Trading in Zynga shares has now been halted.
11.56am ET/4.56pm BST: A look back at the hot tech IPO of 20 years ago:
Celebrating Facebook IPO today while reflecting on AOL IPO 20 years ago. Valuation was $70 million. Most thought Internet was a fad. #wrong
— Steve Case (@SteveCase) May 18, 2012
11.50am ET/4.50pm BST: As the Facebook share price settles back to $38, The Guardian's Nils Pratley contributes his analysis of the pricing dynamics. If the stock goes too high, insiders who sold in advance of the IPO may resent the investment bank. A share price of around $41 would satisfy most everyone, Pratley writes:
A 10% pop should satisfy the IPO advisers. When you start getting to 20%-plus, the insiders who are selling feel short-changed and accuse the investment bank advisers of misjudging demand. 10% is ok - it meets the "leave something on the table for the next person" rule.
11.36am ET/4.36pm BST: How will Facebook shares perform in the first day of trading? Tell us what you think.
For extra credit, let us know in the comments what you think the high price and the low price of the day will be.
11.34am ET/4.34pm BST: How big is trader interest in Facebook? 82 million shares were traded in the first 30 seconds, according to Nasdaq.
The stock price is bumping along at the $40-$41 level. You can follow the stock price here.
11.30am ET/4.30pm BST: And they're off. Facebook is now on sale – and the first shares cross at $42.05, a good deal higher than the $38/share rollout price.
For the time being, at least, the company has 100 billion reasons to cheer.
11.30am ET/4.30 pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg and colleagues ringing the opening bell for Nasdaq at 9.30am ET.
Looks anticlimactic now.
11.27am ET/4.27pm BST: IPO delayed indefinitely by glitch in market: This isn't the headline Facebook was looking for this morning.
Wow, Nasdaq found the only way possible to upstage the Facebook IPO.
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) May 18, 2012
11.23am ET/4.23pm BST: Nasdaq has announced that there has been a delay in the start of Facebook trading. We're reaching out to sources at Nasdaq to find out more about the holdup.
The latest delay is the third or fourth of the morning. Nasdaq itself puts out time call information. Meaning the market itself is failing to predict when the market will go to work.
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that traders are having problems changing or canceling their orders ahead of the Facebook IPO.
Will Zuckerberg have to change his status again?
11.02am ET/4.02pm BST: Reuters is reporting that the opening of trading has been pushed back a bit:
RT @ProducerMatthew: Reuters: Facebook IPO extended by additional 5 minutes, to trade at 11:05 AM ET - NASDAQ
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) May 18, 2012
10.46am ET/3.46pm BST: Facebook as a growing concern. Whatever happens with the stock price today, the immense market draw of the company is plain to see in a chart tracking users, from about 300 million in March 2009 to 900 million today (blue is all Internet users worldwide; brown/gray is FB users):
10.42am ET/ 3.42pm BST: T-minus three minutes and counting: Nasdaq has just announced that trading in Facebook shares will begin at 10.45am ET.
10.37am ET/3.37pm BST: A major status update for the Facebook cofounder: as Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell to open the Nasdaq exchange, his account automatically spread the news.
Zuckerberg tagged fellow executives Chris Cox, vice president of product; the chief finance officer David Ebersman; the vice president of finance Cipora Herman; and his trusted No 2, Sheryl Sandberg.
10.21am ET/3.21pm BST: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin came in for a drubbing last week when it was revealed that he had disclaimed US citizenship in favor of residence in Singapore, which does not have a capital gains tax. Saverin responded to the criticism by saying that his move was not a tax dodge; he simply prefers Singapore.
Last night Saverin set the controversy aside to offer his former colleagues a hearty congratulations on his personal Facebook page. He misspelled his co-founder's name – but it's the thought that counts?
On the eve of the Facebook public float, 8-plus years in the making, I as co-founder wanted to look back and cherish Facebook's early beginning. Congrats to everyone involved in the project from day one till today, and I especially wanted to congratulate Mark Zukerberg [sic] on keeping tremendous stead-fast focus, however hard that was, on making the world a more open and connected place.
10.10am ET/3.10pm BST: Facebook is summoning great spectacle in its rollout this morning – but will the stock price hold up? When the excitement dies, will the company warrant its $104 billion valuation, and the $38 share price?
One main place investors locate value in Facebook is its potential power as an advertiser. With 900 million users and counting – and a potentially vast market in China still waiting to be tapped – Facebook has an unparalleled capacity to put ads in front of eyes.
But earlier this week, US auto manufacturer GM decided that those ads weren't worth it, ending its Facebook campaign. The company had been spending $10 million a year to advertise on the site, but none of the reports measuring those ads' profitability came back positive. The Economist spoke with Chris Perry, marketing chief for GM's brand Chevrolet, who confirmed that "a routine marketing review concluded that the site delivered 'insufficient' results.
Companies still believe that Facebook is an indispensable tool for spreading buzz about new products, however:
That viewpoint was echoed by the senior media buyer at a major Detroit ad agency, who asked not to be identified by name because he is not authorised to discuss strategy with the press. Based on clicks-throughs alone, he says, Facebook "doesn't pay off." His agency's approach is to use the service as part of broader social media campaigns.
9.40am: One take on the big offering.
Wocka! Wocka! twitter.com/dmataconis/sta…
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) May 18, 2012
9.39am: The scene at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park in the run-up to the IPO. The company is valued at $104 billion as shares go on sale to the public.
9.36am ET/2.36pm BST: The Guardian's Dominic Rushe has been talking to David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect – the only book written so far with Facebook's cooperation – and a man who has spent many many hours with Mark Zuckerberg.
"His impact on the world will be as least as big as Bill Gates and probably already has been," Kirkpatrick tells Rushe. "Like Gates I'm positive he is going to end up being one of the world's great philanthropists. I believe he has a very strong social conscience."
He says this will be a big day for Zuckerberg but that while the Facebook boss may party later, he'll try to keep things as normal as possible once he has rung the bell.
Then the real work begins...
"I spoke to Peter Thiel [Silicon Valley investment legend and one of Facebook's early backers] and he said Facebook had this peculiar quality, it will either completely dominate or it will completely go away. I don't think it's going away anytime soon though."
Fitzpatrick predicts that Zuckerberg could soon be the world's richest man.
9.30am ET/2.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg has just rung the bell opening the Nasdaq market. He did so from a stage at the company's Menlo Park HQ. Then he hugged COO Sheryl Sandberg. The stage is full of other FB execs, with a sea of employees all around. A boom camera is capturing the action in the cheering, waving crowd. Looks like Bonnaroo. "A Woodstock event," someone on CNBC just called it.
9.28am ET/2.28pm BST: Hackathon Update. It turns out there was one Facebook face who declined to participate in last night's ritual of camamaderie and computer fun. Zuckerberg apparently called it a night early in the evening, Josh Halliday reports. He went home to his girlfriend Cilla and their Hungarian sheepdog, Beast.
When you're the boss you get to do that.
9.23am ET/2.23pm BST: CNBC, which is tracking the Facebook IPO, is reporting on the overnight "hackathon" at the company's Menlo Park, California, campus. In the run-up to today's big splash, employees spent the night at their place of work writing computer code, over-caffeinating and giving their eyes a little extra practice staring at computer screens. The event reflects the company's youthful, creative, spontaneous, creative culture.
Employees ordered Chinese food and there was talk of them making a run to In-n-Out Burger, CNBC reports. How does the news change your bet on what Facebook stock will do today? Let us know in the comments.
9.13am ET/2.13pm BST: The delayed debut of Facebook stock this morning affords us time for a walk down memory lane... back to 2004, when FB chief Mark Zuckerberg was still just a cocky college student bragging about his hacking exploits in instant messages to friends.
Those messages are now a matter of public record. The Guardian's Josh Halliday writes:
Zuckerberg appears to confirm in one message that he secretly hacked into the website of the Harvard University newspaper, the Crimson, by guessing the emails and passwords of two people in the college database.
"So I want to read what they said about me before the article came out and after I complained," he told a friend. "So I'm just like trying the email/passwords of everyone who put that they're in the Crimson. I wonder if the school tracks stuff like that."
In another message, Zuckerberg boasts about deactivating college students' accounts on the internal Harvard social network, ConnectU. "I got bored so I started deactivating accounts on ConnectU haha," the future cyber-grandee writes.
8.52am ET/1.52pm BST: Trading action on Facebook shares is not likely to commence until 10:30am ET at the earliest, as bankers work through the mechanics of the offer, market sources said.
8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.
We'll be live blogging the day's events here in New York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).
Not since Google's initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It's Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.
At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman's were 10 times that.
But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that's more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn't got started in China. Nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people "liked" or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.
Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined "friend" and "like". Now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.
8.30am ET/1.30pm BST: Mark Zuckerberg will ring the bell for the opening of the Nasdaq stock market at 9.30am as he kicks off a share sale that will value the company at $104bn.
We'll be live blogging the day's events here in New York, and you can see how the fortunes of Zuckerberg and the social network crew rise (or fall).
Not since Google's initial public offering (IPO) has a share sale been as closely watched. It's Super Bowl for social media: every commentator in the land has an opinion on whether the firm is really worth that sort of cash, and is lining up to share it.
At $104bn, Facebook is being valued at more than the combined value of Nike and Goldman Sachs. Last year Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn. Goldman's were 10 times that.
But this is a company with massive potential. Facebook will have more than a billion people logging in to its service this year – that's more than three times the populations of the US – and it hasn't got started in China. Nearly 400 million people log on six days a week. In the first three months of this year those people "liked" or commented on Facebook items 3.2bn times a day.
Google added a verb to the lexicon; Facebook redefined "friend" and "like". Now Zuckerberg has to find a way to make his social network live up to its massive promise.
Tom McCarthyDominic Rushe
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

17:21
DealBook: Facebook Shares Open Trading With Modest Gains
» ‎ NYT > Technology

After a gain of more than 10 percent at the start, the stock drifted back to the offering price, then rose again. DealBook’s live blog is tracking reactions to the I.P.O. throughout the day.

17:01
Juror fined £450 after smoking cannabis joint on break from rape trial
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Shezad Hussain admits contempt of court after juror on another case spotted him smoking at bus stop during lunch hour
A juror on a rape trial who smoked a cannabis joint in his lunch hour was today fined £450 after admitting contempt of court.
Shezad Hussain, 26, smoked the drug at a bus stop just yards from the entrance to Bolton crown court, Greater Manchester.
But he was spotted by a juror on another case who alerted police. Hussain at first denied but then admitted the offence, blaming stress following a violent attack on his family-owned corner shop by "gangsters".
The father of one from Bolton had been one of 12 jurors on a week-long case of a man accused of raping a child.
Hussain was dismissed from the jury on Monday, charged with contempt of court and told to speak to a solicitor.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

16:53
Unpopular kings give sour taste to Queen's Jubilee lunch at Windsor
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
It was supposed to be a celebration filled with regal splendour which would herald the beginning of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations.
Related Stories

16:50
Facebook shares spike on debut
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Facebook shares are trading flat at $38 on their stock market debut, having initially jumped to $42 within minutes of trade beginning.

16:45
Graham Mitchell tells of Portugal extradition relief
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A father who was facing trial for a crime he thought he was acquitted of 17 years ago said today he had been through hell but was relieved that Portuguese authorities had dropped their extradition request.
Related Stories
16:42
Murder inquiry launched after human remains found in Liverpool
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Police investigating the discovery of a woman's remains found near to a railway line have launched a murder inquiry.
Related Stories
16:38
Hopes fading for missing Weymouth fishermen
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Hopes were fading today for three popular fishermen missing since yesterday morning as coastguards found an object on the sea bed.
Related Stories
16:23
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba refutes 'outstanding actor' allegations ahead of Champions League final
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed

Didier Drogba today denied he was an "actor" after seemingly being branded one by Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes.

16:23
British citizen arrested in Thailand on suspicion of smuggling babies' corpses
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Bodies of six babies were found in suitcase in Bangkok hotel room, Thai police say
A British citizen has been arrested in Bangkok on suspicion of smuggling human infant corpses for use in black magic rituals after the bodies of six babies were found in a suitcase in a hotel room, Thai police have said.
Chow Hok Kuen, 28, a British citizen born in Hong Kong of Taiwanese parents, was arrested in Bangkok's Chinatown and was being held for possession of human remains, according to reports.
The bodies belonged to babies aged between two and seven months, Wiwat Kumchumnan, sub-division chief of the police's children and women protection unit, told Reuters, though other reports suggested they were aborted human foetuses rather than dead full-term babies. Photographs obtained by Reuters appeared to show corpses too small to have survived to term.
Some of the remains had been covered in gold leaf, said police, apparently for use in black magic rituals.
Chow was staying at a hotel in Khao San Road, Bangkok's backpacker area, but the bodies were found in a separate hotel, after police received a tipoff that infant corpses were being offered to wealthy clients through a website advertising black magic services.
The authorities said the remains were bought from a Taiwanese national for 200,000 baht (£4,000) and could have been sold for six times that amount in Taiwan, where it is thought they were to be smuggled.
Black magic rituals are still practised in Thailand, where street-side fortune tellers offer ceremonies to reverse bad luck.
Kuen faces one year in prison and a 2,000-baht fine if he is found guilty.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the man's arrest, but would not confirm his name or any details of the allegations against him.
"We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Bangkok on 18 May," said a spokeswoman. "We stand ready to provide consular assistance."
- Thailand
- Asia Pacific
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

16:22
Labour MP's wife sent dead bird in the post
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A Labour MP's wife has spoken of her shock after being sent a dead bird in the post.
Related Stories
16:09
Facebook stock jumps in public debut
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Facebook is updating its status to "public company" as its stock jumps in its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
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16:03
Greece to dissolve parliament for new election
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Greece's day-old Parliament held its last session today to allow for new elections next month that are being cast as a decision on whether to keep the country in the 17-nation eurozone — even if that means accepting a deeply unpopular austerity programme.
Related Stories

15:59
'Inexact chip' allows errors to increase efficiency - massively
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

After fifty years of attempting to create accurate calculations, chip makers should be embracing the odd mistake in order to create more powerful and efficient processors.

That is the view of a group of researchers at the Rice University in the USA, claiming that an “inexact” chip can actually get a boost by allowing for the odd error.

In fact, the team claims that speed and energy consumption of inexact chips mean fifteen times more efficiency than current chips.

They were able to achieve this massive boost by getting rid of some parts that would usually make up a circuit, as well as cutting the power use for hardware to make calculations.

This means errors. But, through clever management of the probability of errors and limiting which calculations produce them, the chip designers were able to create massive performance boosts, with only a marginal drop in accuracy.

Of course, many computers rely totally on complete accuracy, but the errors manifest themselves in ways that might not make much difference in certain applications.

For example, in processing an image the chips could provide a lower quality picture, with the grey matter lodged between our two ears processing into a workable image.

As ARM has shown over the past few years, efficiency is the name of the game, and the chip designs could well see plenty of applications in low powered devices.

At the very least, in a world where computers are fast approaching human levels of intelligence, it is nice to know that there is room for the odd idiot too.

15:37
Three fishermen feared drowned off Dorset coast
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Wooden boat disappeared while potting for whelks in choppy seas off Portland Bill in the Channel
Three fishermen are missing, feared drowned, after their boat vanished without trace in the Channel.
The 50-year-old wooden vessel, the Purbeck Isle, disappeared in choppy seas off Portland Bill, Dorset.
A major air and sea search was launched involving three navy ships and the coastguard helicopter, but they could find no trace of the boat or of any wreckage.
The three men have been named locally as 37-year-old skipper David McFarland, and crewmen Jack Craig, 22 and Robert Prowse, 23. Prowse's mother, Maxine Prowse, said: "I'm just listening to the news now and waiting. He's a hard-working lad. He has a lot of friends."
Coastguards are examining a sonar image of an object on the sea bed 55 metres (180ft) down, taken by a survey ship. A spokesman, Fred Caygill, said: "What we have is an image from 55 metres down, but it can't be clearly identified. We had a survey ship in the area with a sonar and it scanned the seabed. It did give us an image from about 10 miles south of Portland Bill, but it is impossible to decipher."
According to locals the crew had been potting for whelks. Ron Brown, a local skipper, highlighted the dangers, saying: "If you are pulling in pots and one gets stuck it can pull the boat down and then if a wave hits you and everyone is on deck there might not be time to raise the alarm."
Dave Pitman, another skipper, said: "They were working with whelking pots as I understand it. They were moving the gear from one place to another, which is a normal operation. We just all hope they are safe."
Andy Alcock, the secretary of the Weymouth and Portland Fishermen and Licensed Boatmen Association, said: "There was a life raft on board and there is a chance the men are in that and have been blown up and down the Channel and are awaiting rescue."
The alarm was raised late on Thursday afternoon when the 11-metre (36ft) boat failed to return to port in Weymouth. By that time there had been no word from the fisherman for nine hours since they left the harbour at 8.30am.
Coastguards repeatedly tried to contact the crew by radio but were met with silence. Two British naval vessels including the type 42 destroyer HMS York and a US navy supply vessel joined the search. A coastguard helicopter searched the Purbeck Isle's regular fishing grounds, up to 10 miles off Portland.
Caygill said on Friday: "The boat went out yesterday morning and was seen leaving the harbour at 8.30am. We received a call at 5.40pm from a fisherman who was concerned about the Purbeck Isle. We commenced a major air and sea search for the Purbeck Isle but with no specific location we went over its usual fishing grounds.
"We are in touch with the men's families and the police. We obviously live in hope of finding the men and we will continue with this search and keep going for the best part of today."
- Water transport
Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

15:25
Government agrees £30 million extra to resolve VAT concerns
» ‎ Latest News

The Church of England has welcomed the agreement with the Government over the future funding of alterations and repairs to its 12,500 listed buildings, which will provide £30 million a year extra money.

15:22
Samsung cracks graphene transistor conundrum
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Samsung is throwing its considerable weight behind graphene production, claiming a breakthrough that should overcome problems with using the material in transistors and open the doors to future development in electronics.

Various firms have been throwing money at developing graphene for future applications in replacement of silicon, with big hitters such as IBM and Intel achieving considerable headway.

Now Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology research arm has claimed that it has overcome one of the most fundamental problems with using graphene in a circuit - its ability to switch from one state to another like a semiconductor.

In the past, even Intel and IBM have written off graphene being used in a CPU, in its current state at least, due to the difficulting in getting the material to switch. But Samsung believes it has found a way to overcome this with a new transistor structure.

While graphene has many extraordinary properties that would make it very useful in electronics, such as extremely high electron mobility, the inability to switch between a ‘0’ and ‘1’ state makes it difficult to use in semiconductor applications.

Samsung points out that [revious attempts have been made to turn semi-metallic graphene into a semiconductor, but this has resulted in a decrease in electron mobility.

The team at Samsung’s research arm believe that by re-engineering the basic operating principles of digital switches, they have found a way to get graphene to switch between states without losing its coveted properties.

Samsung says that it has developed a ‘Schottky barrier’ control device named a ‘Barristor’ which can stop current in the graphene by lifting the barrier to a cut off point.

The firm claims to have also expanded the research into basic circuit components such as logic gates and logic circuits.

Samsung owns nine patents relating to the Barristor, which will go into the pile marked ‘graphene patents’ that it has been amassing.

According to the Intellectual Property Office, Samsung was leading last year in the number of patents for the ‘wonder material’.

This covers a range of applications and Samsung, like various other tech firms, has been eyeing the more imminent use of graphene in flexible touchscreens - with smartphones and tablets likely to be among the first ways that consumers see graphene implemented in their devices.

According to chip industry sooth-sayers Future Horizons, it could be a few years before we start to see processors using graphene in mainstream applications, and it appears that its apparent destiny to replacing silicon, in some quarters anyway, is far from assured.

However, if Samsung is keen on staying at the forefront of future chip development it will be interesting to see how other powerhouses respond.

15:12
Greek euro exit could throw UK 'into long-term recession'
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chair of Office for Budget Responsibility says results would be deflation, soaring unemployment and rise in state debt
Greece leaving the euro could plunge Britain into a recession that would cause lasting damage to the economy, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, has said.
It could be as bad as the recession caused by the credit crunch and there would be a possibility that "you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started", he said.
Chote – who as head of the independent OBR is Britain's economic forecaster-in-chief – delivered his warning in a wideranging interview with the Guardian, in which he also said there was no evidence to show that cutting the 50p top rate of tax would promote growth, that current spending on public sector pensions was sustainable and that the rules preventing the OBR from costing opposition policies should eventually be lifted.
The OBR predicted that the economy would grow by just 0.8% in 2012 when it published its last forecast, at the time of the budget, but Chote said that if the eurozone crisis resulted in Greece leaving the euro, the outcome could be very much worse.
"The concern is that you end up with an outcome in the eurozone that creates the same sort of structural difficulties in the financial system and in the economy that we saw in the past recession, and that that has consequences both for hitting economic activity in the economy, but also its underlying potential," he said.
"And it's the latter which has particular difficulties for the fiscal position, because it means not just that the economy weakens and then strengthens again – ie, it goes into a hole and comes out – but that you go down and you never quite get back up to where you started."
Chote said there were so many uncertainties around what might happen with Greece and the eurozone that trying to produce firm predictions was not "particularly helpful". But the OBR has tried to quantify the impact of a disorderly sovereign debt restructuring in the eurozone on Britain and the figures make grim reading.
Britain would be plunged into recession for two years, according to the OBR analysis, published in its most recent economic and fiscal outlook report. There would also be deflation, and by 2013-14 unemployment would reach almost 11%, with debt subsequently reaching more than 90% of GDP.
Chote admitted these projections were of limited value because the eurozone crisis could develop in so many different ways.
"For example, one issue would be do difficulties in the eurozone make it cheaper or more expensive for the UK government to borrow," he said. "If it makes investors more nervous about risk in general, it might make it more expensive. If they see the UK as more of a safe haven, it might make it less expensive."
Although the chancellor, George Osborne, has presented his controversial decision to cut the top rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 from 50p to 45p as one of the government measures that will promote growth, Chote cast doubt on this claim.
Osborne said in his budget speech that cutting the 50p rate would improve Britain's competitiveness. But Chote said the OBR's analysis was that there was no evidence to show that the measure would have a positive effect of that kind.
"We didn't feel that there was a strong enough evidence base to say our long-term or medium-term view of the economy is now more optimistic than it was beforehand as a result of that measure," he said.
He also challenged another government nostrum by saying the OBR did not accept government claims that public sector pensions as currently paid were unsustainable.
Although the public finances as a whole would come under pressure in years to come, the current public sector pension regime was "not where the problem is coming from", he said. That was because OBR figures show spending on public sector pensions – even without reform – falling as a proportion of GDP.
Chote also said that eventually it would be a good idea for the OBR to be allowed to cost opposition policies. Currently the OBR is not allowed to do this, but the government is committed to reviewing the operation of the OBR in 2015 and Chote said this would be a good point to change the rules.
He also suggested that the current arrangements, which will allow Osborne to go into the election saying his plans have been approved by the OBR while the shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, would not be able to make the same claim, were potentially unfair.
Andrew Sparrow
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

14:31
zmiku: An automation daemon
» ‎ Snell-Pym

A few years ago, I wrote my own service monitoring system for my servers and networks; I did this because Nagios, the common choice, was just too complicated for my tastes and didn't cleanly fit my needs. And so, The Eye of Horus was born, and has been monitoring my servers ever since. I open-sourced it, but I've not [...]

14:23
Europe fears keep markets on edge
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Concerns that Europe's debt crisis could drag down parts of the continent's banking system hit most global markets today though social network Facebook's imminent flotation buoyed sentiment on Wall Street.
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14:01
Abu Qatada could be freed by end of the month
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Jordanian terror suspect Abu Qatada could be freed on bail by the end of the month.
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13:57
Abu Qatada applies to be freed on bail
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Islamist cleric could be released on stringent conditions while courts take months to settle issue of deportation
The radical Islamist cleric, Abu Qatada, who faces deportation to Jordan as a national security threat, is to apply to be freed on bail at the end of the month.
The Judicial Communications Office said that the date for Qatada's bail hearing had been set for 28 May at the special immigration appeals commission in London.
Qatada, whom a Spanish judge once described as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe, was briefly freed in February on the most draconian bail conditions ever imposed, including a 22-hour curfew.
But he was re-arrested and returned to a maximum security prison in April when the home secretary, Theresa May, ordered a new attempt to send him back to Jordan. The attempt was made hours before Qatada's lawyers lodged an appeal to the Strasbourg human rights court, which then blocked his removal.
The pre-emptive move by the home secretary prompted a Westminster row with claims that she had got the date wrong over when the deadline for appeals against his removal had expired.
However the European court of human rights rejected that appeal last week clearing the way for a renewed attempt to send him back to Jordan. The home secretary, who has secured assurances from Jordan that he will not face a trial based on evidence obtained by torture, has acknowledged that it will now be up to the British courts to settle matter – a process likely to take months rather than weeks.
There is a possibility that Qatada, who has already spent more than six years in detention in Britain as an international terror suspect, could be freed once again on draconian bail conditions if there is no immediate prospect of his removal.
Alan Travis
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
13:56
Lady Warsi: some Pakistani men think white girls are fair game
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Tory party co-chairman adds voice to row over Rochdale grooming case, saying she believes race played role in crime
The Conservative party co-chairman has hit out at the small minority of Pakistani men who see white girls as "fair game".
In comments that follow the Rochdale grooming case, Lady Warsi said she believed race was a factor in the crime. She urged Muslim leaders to address the issue and ensure that men who regard white women as "third-class citizens" were isolated by their communities.
Nine Muslim men, mainly of Pakistani origin, were found guilty last week of plying girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex. After the trial, Greater Manchester police sought to play down suggestions of any racial element to the case, as did Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee.
But Warsi, who is Muslim, told the London Evening Standard newspaper: "There is a small minority of Pakistani men who believe that white girls are fair game. And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.
"This small minority who see women as second-class citizens, and white women probably as third-class citizens, are to be spoken out against."
Britain's most senior Muslim politician said she had decided to speak out after her father, who moved to the UK from Punjab, told her she should be "out there condemning [the crime] as loudly as you could".
"In mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them," Warsi said. "Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say: 'This is wrong, this will not be tolerated'."
She urged the authorities to have the confidence to tackle allegations involving minorities. "Cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law," Warsi added.
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13:50
Liberal Democrat News 18th May 2012
» ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

£10m to boost literacy – Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced on Monday that there will be up to £10m additional support for Pupil Premium children who leave primary school without Level 4 literacy – the expected level.

In a keynote speech to teachers and school leaders, he said that the Education Endowment Foundation will be awarding the money to pilot projects to help disadvantaged pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school. The money will be targeted at struggling Year 7s from deprived homes.

“How can a child start secondary school unable to read with confidence?” declared Nick. “That is a basic building block of a good education and no child should begin the race so far behind the starting line. We need to do everything we can to help these children through this transition to get them up to speed.
“That is a responsibility the government takes extremely seriously. And I can confirm that the Education Endowment Foundation will shortly be inviting groups of local schools, in the areas that suffer most with this problem, to bid for extra funds for struggling Year 7s from deprived homes to help them get their reading and writing up to scratch. Extra ‘catch up cash’, if you like.
“We envisage that schools will want to use it for small catch up classes, or one-to-one tuition, or vouchers for literacy tuition that parents can spend. We will run a proper evaluation, sharing what works with all schools not just those areas taking part in these pilots. It’s likely this kind of targeted support is the best way to crack this problem – next year we’ll know.
“Of course, we hope as few pupils as possible need it, thanks to the Pupil Premium. And I know primary and secondary schools up and down the country are determined to make this work.
“Some are using the money for breakfast clubs; homework clubs; or to provide one-to-one-tuition. Some are funding counselling services, so troubled kids are in the right place, emotionally, to learn. Some are using it for educational visits to places like museums: the sort of experiences middle class children take for granted but poorer child might rarely enjoy.”

Nick also announced that he wants to “strike a deal between the Coalition government and our schools and teachers. Teachers who help these children unlock the doors that otherwise hold them back ... they are the key to an open and fair society ... the key to the opportunity Britain I am determined we build.”

The best teachers will be offered incentives to work in schools that have large numbers of disadvantaged pupils. The government will ask the School Teachers Review Body to look at giving other schools the same flexibility Academies currently have to use pay to hold on to the best teachers.

Also, from next year, there will be Pupil Premium Awards for the 50 schools that do the best to boost the performance of their poorest pupils and narrow the gap – with cash prizes of up to £10,000 for the best of the best.

13:36
Ryan Giggs settles phone hacking claim
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Footballer Ryan Giggs has settled his phone-hacking damages claim against News Group Newspapers.
Related Stories
13:34
Malawi's new president to repeal ban on gay sex
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed

Malawi's new president says she will repeal the country's ban on homosexual acts.
13:32
Rockets kill 2 Nato troops and 3 Afghan civilians
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Rockets crashed into a US base and a house Friday in a remote area of northeast Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, killing two Nato service members and three civilians, officials said.
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13:29
Abu Qatada could be bailed by end of the month
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Jordanian terror suspect Abu Qatada could be freed on bail by the end of the month.
Related Stories

13:08
VIDEO: Technology and texting tips for MPs
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

MPs have had their fingers burned by texting and technology, and may have regretted the odd text or tweet.

13:00
If You Had To Choose 3 Social Networking Buttons
» ‎ Talance Friendly Web Tools Blog

Anyone who’s choosing a cupcake flavor, in the market for a new bathroom tap or deciding which social networking buttons to use on their site knows the burden of too much choice. We poor humans melt down when it comes to laundry lists. It’s the analysis paralysis that comes from too many possibilities.

Instead of overwhelming your blog or website visitors with every single stinking social networking icon available–and zero clicks–pick three. Here’s how you might mix and match for your audience.
Standard Vanilla Audience
Twitter, Facebook, Google+


Corporate/Business Audience
LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+


Image-Heavy Content
Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter


Consumer-Focused Product
StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Facebook



Try them out. If you’re not getting clicks on one button, drop it. Try another in its place or leave it out altogether

© Talance for Talance Blog, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: icons, social networking, web design

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13:00
Europe rocked by Spanish financial crisis as Moody's downgrades 16 banks including Santander
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
The flames of the eurozone crisis leapt higher yesterday, as fears spread about the state of the Continent's most vulnerable banks.
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12:54
Leveson inquiry: Hunt adviser and lobbyist to give evidence
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Former special adviser Adam Smith and lobbyist Frédéric Michel to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry next week
The two men at the centre of the row over Jeremy Hunt's handling of the News Corporation/BSkyB deal – his former special adviser Adam Smith and lobbyist Frédéric Michel – are to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry next week.
Lord Justice Leveson will also be hearing evidence next week from former Labour cabinet ministers Tessa Jowell, Alan Johnson, Lord Mandelson, Lord Reid and Lord Smith, broadcasters Andrew Marr and Jeremy Paxman, and phone-hacking campaigner Tom Watson MP.
Adam Smith and Michel will appear on Thursday. Adam Smith resigned as culture secretary Hunt's special adviser last month, after 163 pages of emails written by Michel when he was News Corp's head of European public affairs in 2010 and 2011 were released by the company to the Leveson inquiry.
Those emails, written over several months, appeared to show that Hunt's office was passing information about the minister's BSkyB bid approval process to the company during 2010 and 2011. Michel repeatedly described information he had obtained to his boss, James Murdoch, as emerging from Hunt himself.
The culture secretary denied there was an inappropriate relationship between himself and News Corp. Adam Smith resigned when it emerged that the bulk of Michel's contact was with him rather than Hunt directly.
Hunt said that the volume and tone of the Adam Smith/Michel communication could not be justified, but insisted that he oversaw the Sky bid correctly in a quasi-judicial manner. The culture secretary is also expected to appear at the inquiry.
In February Michel was promoted to News Corp's senior vice-president of government affairs and public policy for Europe, based on Brussels.
James Murdoch described Michel as the firm's "PO box" for correspondence between government ministers and the Murdoch empire during his Leveson inquiry evidence in April.
"On various levels, he was the liaison with policymakers," Murdoch said, describing Michel as a diligent employee. News Corp insiders saw him as a "James Murdoch acolyte".
Former Labour culture secretary Jowell, the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, received £200,000 from News International after settling her civil claim for breach of privacy over News of the World phone hacking. Of this, £100,000 was paid to a charity of Jowell's choice.
Jowell will be giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday, along with Mandelson, who is likely to be asked about his dealings with journalists, editors and executives from News International and other national newspaper publishers during his time as Labour's director of communications in the 1980s, and from 1997 as a cabinet minister.
Lord Smith, another former culture secretary, will be appearing on Tuesday along with Johnson, the former education, health and home secretary, and Watson, the Labour MP who has doggedly pursued Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation over the scandal.
BBC presenters Marr and Paxman are up on Wednesday, along with Reid, the former Labour defence and home secretary, and Stephen Dorrell MP, who oversaw media policy as heritage secretary in John Major's Conservative government in the mid 1990s.
Also appearing on Thursday with Michel and Smith will be Lord Brooke, another former Tory heritage secretary in the early 1990s.
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Jason Deans
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12:48
'Art...? Sorry, but I just can't see it' - Hayward Gallery to show exhibition of invisible work
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
It is fair to say that a good proportion of the British public fail to see the appeal of modern art.
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12:34
Juror fined £450 after smoking cannabis on rape trial lunch break
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A juror on a rape trial who smoked a cannabis joint in his lunch hour was today fined £450 after admitting contempt of court.
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12:23
Vladimir Putin gives top government job to tank factory worker
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Russian president Vladimir Putin today gave a senior government post to a tank factory worker who had offered to come to Moscow with fellow laborers to disperse opposition protests.
Related Stories

12:20
Twitter backs web privacy effort
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Micro-blogging service Twitter will support an initiative that lets people browse the web without being monitored.

12:03
Frederick Wilfred: London Photographs 1957-62
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed

A selection of previously unseen images of London taken by unsung photographic talent Frederick Wilfred go on display at the Museum of London next month.
11:58
Skippers in £1 million confiscation orders
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
More than £1 million has been confiscated from four skippers involved in landing undeclared fish in a scam described as an "episode of shame" for the industry.
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11:56
Frog found in supermarket asparagus
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A couple had a surprise when they found a tree frog nestling in some asparagus tips they bought in a supermarket.
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11:55
Children's memorial theft condemned
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A bishop has condemned the theft of a memorial to two children killed by an IRA bomb as "senseless vandalism".
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11:48
Quantum computer can be built by paradox
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

An Aussie scientist has worked out that the best way to build a quantum computer is to use an off-the-shelf paradox.

According to Phys.org, for years, engineers trying to build a quantum computers have said it is impossible because of all the noise, presumably made by all those cats which are neither dead nor alive.

Dr André Carvalho, from the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology and the Research School of Physics and Engineering wondered if the fact that the noise made it impossible to work, then, in quantum terms it should be the very thing that makes it work. QED.

He wrote that to correct errors in a quantum computer noise levels need to be really low. This is tricky at the atomic levels which are extremely sensitive to noise.

However, his answer was to add even more noise to the system and keep a close eye on it and intervene.

Carvalho said it was all down to monkeys rather than cats. If you let a monkey type randomly on a typewriter, eventually a Shakespearean play could come out. But if the monkey types the right character in a particular position, you protect that position, so that any others typing there will not affect the desired character.

He said by choosing smart ways to detect the random events, it can drive the system to implement any desired computation in the system in a finite time.

Such technology development is important. Dr Carvalho said if a quantum computer existed now, we could solve problems that are exceptionally difficult on current computers, such as cracking codes underlying internet transactions.

And removing the dependence on quantum cats to more reliable - and genetically familiar - monkeys.
11:33
Tenenbaum appeals to the Supremes in Big Content case
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Noel Tenenbaum is appealing to the Supreme Court after Big Content scored $675,000 in damages from him during a long running file sharing case.

Judge Nancy Gertner thought that the damages were unconstitutionally excessive and reduced the award to $67,500.

But the appeals court in the case reinstated the original $675,000 on procedural grounds.

Judge Gertner apparently should not have used the constitutional question, but have used some legal device called a remittitur which would allow the RIAA to have the case happen with a new jury. There have been three trials in the similar Jammie Thomas case.

Tenenbaum challenged the appeals court on all of this, but was rejected. But now Tenenbaum has filed to raise the issue with the Supreme Court.

His legal team is arguing that the statutory damages for non-commercial use is clearly a major Constitutional issue.

Techdirt points out that by the UD courts forcing it through the remittitur process they are pressuring people like Tenenbaum to settle, rather than ever allowing it to be judged on constitutionality.

This helps copyright trolls to shake people down, without ever allowing them to challenge the constitutionality of massive statutory damages.
11:26
Nokia heaping piles of cash onto Espoo's biggest bonfire
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The cocaine nose-jobs of Wall Street are worried that Nokia is burning through its cash faster than an under-the-weather Italian in a shoe shop in the Via Corsa.

Analysts are asking serious questions about the struggling Finnish phone maker's ability to stabilise its finances. According to Reuters, the cost of Nokia's debt appears to be following the same model as Greece.

The company could even be at risk of defaulting on its debt and having to issue its own currency if it fails to slow the burning of its cash.

Nokia has eroded its cash pile by €2.1 billion ($2.7 billion) which means it will have no money in a couple of years, unless it wins the lottery.It could burn through almost €2 billion more in just three quarters.

Societe General credit analyst Juliano Torii warned that Nokia will have some difficulty paying its shorter-term 2014 bond.

In 2007, the company had €10 billion in cash on hand and has two bond issues outstanding, €1.25 billion euros of 5.5 percent bonds maturing in 2014 and €500 million of 6.75 percent notes due in 2019.

The bonds are rated as junk by Fitch and Standard & Poor's.

A Nokia spokesperson admitted that improving its cash flow was an important goal.

At the same time its flagship Lumia, while receiving positive reviews, hasn't demonstrated it can really compete against Android or the iPhone.

11:09
Silicon trick for next-gen memory
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Researchers reveal details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip.

11:06
Zuckerberg wins on triumph of hope over reality
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

From today, social networking site Facebook will be the most valuable US technology IPO in the last decade.

After only eight years Mark Zuckerberg will be one of the world's richest men, worth nearly $20 billion. Facebook will be worth $100 billion.

While no doubt Facebook's long term employees are currently working out ways to get a holiday somewhere nice, there are some alarming things about the company which cannot go away.

The IPO's success is not exactly based on sound business sense. Wall Street has warned that there is no way Facebook is worth what it claims. For it to be worth the sort of cash Facebook claims it will have to make some serious cash in the future.

The company made $1 billion in profit last year, which is not bad, but saying it is worth a hundred times that figure is pretty hopeful. It woud take 100 years to make the profit which the company says it is worth.

In addition, Facebook's ad business is much less developed, and companies are already starting to notice that it is less effective than Google.

Part of the problem is that people don't use Facebook to shop. They want to talk to their friends and show off pictures of their cats.

Facebook's main treasure-trove is its personal data - which is a dream for advertisers. But so far it has not been able to use that information effectively. Owning one of the biggest databases of personal information in the whole world should translate into way more cash.

Another key problem for shareholders is that Zuckerberg is an enterprising upstart who acts unilaterally based on his gut. While this can work well for a start-up, Zuckerberg's habit of billion dollar purchases of companies - like Instragram - without even talking to his board will go down like a bucket of cold sick with shareholders.

Bill Gates managed to reinvent himself into a fairly shrewd manager. Steve Jobs, who was the patron saint of autocratic tosspots, got away with it by coming up with products that people wanted. So far, Zuckerberg has come up with the timeline.

Although it will be a great day for Zuckerberg, Facebook could become the biggest internet bubble to burst as the global recession bites.

10:44
Anonymous attacks Indian websites
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Hacker group Anonymous has carried out a series of attacks against government and political websites in India.
10:35
VIDEO: Electric unicycles and other tech news
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Honda Motors unveils a new auto-balancing unicycle that can be controlled hands free - and other technology news stories.
10:17
VIDEO: 'Is Facebook worth $100 billion?'
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

As Facebook floats itself on the stock exchange, technology experts attending the Future Everything conference in Manchester give their views on the company's worth.

10:00
This week's top stories [18 May 2012]
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Our top articles ranked by reader popularity

9:53
Syria: 'Heroes of Aleppo university' protests - live updates
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• Protests across Syria in tribute to Aleppo students
• Ban Ki-moon says al-Qaida responsible for Damascus bombs
• Abul Foutouh in the lead among Egypt's expat voters

• Read the latest summary
5.07pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Syria
• Friday protests have been taking place in Syria under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. Today's demonstrations in Aleppo itself were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. However, Robert Mood, head of the UN monitoring mission, says it is impossible to say who was to blame for the attack (see 3.41pm). Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18) The influential Washington Institute thinktank has also joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria (see 4.25pm).
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
Bahrain
• In Britain, the Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by inviting King Hamad of Bahrain to today's jubilee lunch at Windsor Castle (see 2.16pm).
• Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (see 2.17pm).
Egypt
• First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
4.47pm: Syria: Today's protests in Aleppo were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists.
Up to now, Aleppo has generally been loyal to the Assad regime though anti-regime sentiment increased following a raid on student dormitories last month which left four dead, the Associated Press reports.
The May 3 raid at Aleppo University was an unusually violent incident for the northern city, a major economic hub, where business ties and the presence of significant populations of sectarian minorities have kept residents largely on the side of the regime or at least unwilling to join the opposition.
On Thursday, some 15,000 students demonstrated outside the gates of Aleppo University in the presence of UN observers, before security forces broke up the protest.
Even bigger numbers took to the streets Friday. Aleppo-based activist Mohammad Saeed said it was the largest demonstration there since the start of the uprising. He said more than 10,000 people protested in the Salaheddine and al-Shaar districts alone and thousands protested in other areas of the city.
"The number of protesters is increasing every day and today saw the biggest protests," said Saeed, adding that several people were wounded when government forces tear gas and live ammunition to try and disperse the rally.
The head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the protest showed "it's a real uprising happening in Aleppo these days".
Thousands of people across the country also staged anti-government rallies in solidarity with Aleppo.
4.25pm: Syria: The Washington Institute (an influential US thinktank widely regarded as pro-Israel) has joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria.
It suggests that "someone may be trying to scapegoat the jihadis" for the May 9 bombings in Damascus, adding: "The Assad regime is the obvious suspect, but no evidence as yet supports their culpability." It continues:
Contrary to accounts in many media outlets that Syria's secular state is naturally at odds with Sunni extremist groups, Bashar al-Assad has actually built long-lasting, though indirect, relationships with such groups over the last decade ...
Thus far, terrorist attacks have accounted for only a minuscule portion of the tactics used in the rebellion, although the May 9 attacks would indicate that terrorist attacks in Syria are on the rise in terms of number and scale.
Yet the inconsistencies and discrepancies of the May 12 video [claiming responsibility on YouTube for the Damascus bombings] raises the real possibility that the Assad regime could be manipulating the attack to its domestic and international advantage.
Claims of responsibility for future attacks should be evaluated in light of where a video or claim is released (jihadi forums or YouTube), who produces it, and the consistency of the facts it contains.
3.50pm: Bahrain/Britain: Following his royal lunch of poached egg, spring lamb and strawberries, King Hamad is not expected to linger in Britain. Meanwhile, activists are concerned about the impending visit of his son, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who is head of Bahrain's Olympic committee.
An online petition to have him excluded from the London Olympics has attracted more than 7,500 signatures during the last couple of days.
3.41pm: Syria: UN officials have been busy downplaying secretary Ban Ki-moon remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attack in Damascus.
Earlier, the head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood, said it was impossible to say who was to blame for the attack. Now Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi has urged caution about apportioning blame for the incident, but raised concerns about a "third element" in Syria that is neither opposition nor the government.
Here's a transcript of his briefing to journalists on the issue:
Question: Based on what evidence has secretary-general Ban Ki-moon declared that the bomb attacks in Syria have been carried out by al-Qaida?

Ahmad Fawzi: That is a very important question and I would refer you to the spokesman for the secretary-General. I am aware, and the joint special envoy is aware, of what the secretary-general has said, and I quote from the transcript: "I believe that there must be al-Qaida behind it." So Ban has said that he believes that there must be al-Qaida behind it. The joint special envoy has also said that there is a third element that appeared on the ground in Syria, which is worrying. We have not yet been able to ascertain who this element belongs to – who it is – and we are in the process of doing so. But any further questions on the statement by the secretary-general should be directed to the spokesman for the secretary-general.

Question: Just a follow-up on that. You are talking about a third element. So could you please elaborate on that third element? And I believe that if the Secretary-General is making such statements, he is certainly also relying on elements, documents and evidence that you provide him because you are taking care of that region?

Fawzi: When we speak about third actors on the ground, we mean there are the hallmarks of activities and incidents and explosions that appear to come from sources other than opposition or government sources. This has yet to be verified. We have to be very, very careful. As you know, the twin suicide bombs in Damascus that had horrifying casualties were claimed first by a jihadist group. The same jihadist group denied that that claim was authentic a few days later, denied that the video that was posted on the internet was authentic, called it a fake. So we have to be very, very careful who we apportion responsibility to.
3.18pm: Syria: The activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria, claims 20 people have been killed so far today in Syria.
Its tally includes nine deaths in Homs, and the killing of an eight-year-old boy in Hama. Graphic images of the boy's body have been circulating by activists.
Activist claim he was killed when the Tareeq Halab neighbourhood of the city was shelled.
These accounts cannot be independently verified.
3.00pm: Britain/Bahrain: Activist Ala'a Ashehabi tweets the scene at the Bahrain embassy during a protest against King Hamad's invitation to Windsor.
Protestors outside Bahraini embassy now shouting "Down with Hamad" as Hamad dines in Windsor #Bahrain twitter.com/alaashehabi/st…
— Dr Ala'a Shehabi (@alaashehabi) May 18, 2012
2.57pm: Bahrain/Britain: Here's the latest on the royal lunch at Windsor Castle, via the Press Association:
Members of the British royal family attending the lunch included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
The King of Bahrain was joined by his wife Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa and at the reception held before lunch she was seen talking to Beatrice and Eugenie.
The event had the atmosphere of a family gathering despite the opulent surroundings with everyone chatting at loud levels as they caught up.
The Royal Family circulated around the chamber mingling with their foreign guests and at one point Harry was engrossed in conversation with the Saudi Ambassador while his brother William and wife Kate chatted to King of Jordan Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania.
The Duchess wore a pale pink fitted dress by Emilia Wickstead.
Edward joked when he found the African rulers, Swaziland's King Mswati III and King Letsie III of Lesotho and their spouses, standing together, saying "safety in numbers?"
The Queen was hosting 98 guests for lunch in the Castle's magnificent St George' Hall.
They sat at round tables seating up to 12, with each group having at least a sovereign, their spouse, a member of Britain's royal family and a member of the royal household.
On the menu was a starter of poached egg with English asparagus.
The main course was noisettes of new season Windsor lamb with artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, spring cabbage, braised potatoes, wild mushrooms, and a tomato and basil salad.
For dessert there were Kent strawberries and vanilla charlotte, fruit and cheese.
2.53pm: Syria: More frustration with the UN monitors...
"Dear UN observers, 15 martyrs fell since your last visit to Qusair, please don't visit us again" #Homs #Syria twitter.com/HamaEcho/statu…
— Free Syrian (@HamaEcho) May 18, 2012
2.41pm: Egypt: No matter who wins the election, Egypt's next president will face a host of economic issues. Jane Kinninmont, of Chatham House, the London-based thinktank, has been looking at the candidates' policies:
Overall, campaign rhetoric suggests public spending is likely to rise in the next year. It can be assumed that any new government will be wary of cutting public spending on salaries and consumer subsidies, and there is clear pressure to increase public spending on healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Of the candidates, Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist and doctor, aims to increase healthcare spending to 15% of the state budget, and education spending to 25%, by 2016; Amr Moussa has set the same targets with a vaguer timescale; while Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander with links to the military establishment, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, a leftist with a Nasserist background, both favour a health insurance scheme for all Egyptians.
Housing is another key issue: Aboul Fotouh, Moussa and Shafiq have promised programmes to redevelop Egypt's sprawling slums, while Mursi and Sabbahi both pledged new subsidised housing for the poor (and in Mursi's case, for newlyweds).
Raising revenue will be harder. All the front runners agree about the need for a more progressive tax system. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has highlighted the need to expand the tax base by legalising and licensing the many businesses that operate informally – but this is likely to be a long-term process, requiring reform of the labyrinthine Egyptian bureaucracy.
Several candidates have mentioned the need to cut energy subsidies to industry, which may be a relatively easy win.
2.22pm: Syria: After quoting Shakespeare last week, the Kafranabel banner maker has devised some original verse for this week's message from the Idlib town.
Banners in this style have been raised every Friday since last summer.
There is now even Facebook group called "the banners from Kafranbel".
2.17pm: Bahrain/Iran: Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
A protest march in Tehran followed midday prayers led by cleric Kazem Sedighi who said a Saudi-Bahraini pact would be an "ominous conspiracy" aimed at the "annexation" of Bahrain by Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reports.
"Bahrain and regional nations, as well as the Muslim world and the Iranian nation will never accept the conspiracy," Sedighi said.
State television said similar rallies took place in other cities and towns in Iran, with thousands participating.
Many nationalist and hard-line conservatives in Iran consider Bahrain, which gained independence from Britain in 1971, as a rightful part of the Persian country as it was before it fell under Britain during colonial times.
Until 1971 and under the Western-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran kept two empty seats in its parliament for supposed representatives from "Bahrain province".
2.16pm: Bahrain/Britain: The Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by dining with King Hamad of Bahrain at Windsor Castle, the Press Association reports.
The head of state and her family sat down to lunch with the Middle East ruler and other controversial foreign royals as they celebrated her diamond jubilee.
Guests from controversial regimes include Swaziland's King Mswati III, the former prime minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Sabah, who stepped down over a corruption row, and Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain.
When King Hamad arrived at the castle he was personally greeted by the Queen, who smiled as she shook his hand and the pair laughed as they shared a joke, the Press Association says.
It quotes Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic:
The Queen cannot hide behind protocol and precedent, this is a crisis of her own making.
The British people strongly support the struggle for democracy in the Middle East and around the world - this is a catastrophic error of judgment that has already prompted a fierce backlash.
The Queen owes a personal apology to all those fighting for freedom in those countries and to the families of those who have died doing so.
The Queen's decision to personally invite these tyrants to lunch sends an appalling message to the world, and seriously damages Britain's reputation. Thanks to the Queen's misjudgement, her jubilee will forever be associated with some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Demonstrations are planned this evening outside Buckingham Palace when the foreign guests attend a dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, but the King of Bahrain will reportedly not be attending that event.
2.05pm: Syria: Syria: The head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood [pictured] has played down Ban Ki-moon's assertion that al-Qaida was responsible for last week's bombing in Damascus.
Mood was asked about Ban's comments during a press conference with journalists in Damascus. He said: "This is the kind of violence that is obviously impossible at this stage to decide where it came from, by whom. But there is a worrying incident, a worrying trend related to this incident."
So perhaps Ban's comments should not be taken that seriously (in the same appearance he also mistook Hama for "Hamas", as Inner City Press Notes).
Kofi Annan's office has emailed a full transcript of Mood's remarks. The Norwegian said the mission would be moving to full implementation phase now that almost all the monitors from 60 countries had arrived.

He also insisted that the violence had reduced since the arrival of the monitors, but that it was impossible to eradicate without dialogue between the two sides.
Mood said we was concerned about an increase in violence in the last few days.
We are seeing in the areas where we are deployed that we have both a calming effect on the ground and we are seeing that we have a good dialogue and the dialogue is expanding both with the authorities and the opposition elements. I think it is too early to say that it is a trend that we can be conclusive about. But I share the worries of everyone who is concerned that we are seeing more violence in the last days than we did in the previous days.
Mood also revealed that bullet holes were found in damaged UN vehicles recovered after Tuesday's shooting incident in Khan Sheikhoun. He gave this carefully-worded account of what happened:
In Khan Sheikhoun, we had an incident with four UN vehicles that came into the village. There was an explosion in front of or close to the first vehicle. Two of the vehicles were not able to drive. Six observers spent the night in the village and the day after, they found good coordination and cooperation both from local authorities and from the opposition inside the village. We sent a patrol and picked up both the two vehicles and the observers.
This is also a situation in which it is very easy to speculate. The fact we know is that I spoke with my observers by telephone in the evening, during the night, and in the morning. They told us: we feel safe, we want to stay overnight, we want to be picked up in the morning because as light was falling and there were still explosions and fighting in the area, they felt it more unsafe to try to organise a departure from the village.
This is what we know. We also know that we have bullet holes in one of the vehicles, and we know that the explosion damaged the first vehicle. That kind of violence is a kind of violence that we need no more because that is not only challenging, targeting the UNMOs on the ground, it is targeting the efforts of the international community.
So I would ask anyone that, out of whatever motives, would conduct something like that, to rethink, because we, the international community, we are there on the ground to facilitate a reduction in violence and terrible incidents for the Syrian people. We are only 300 observers, so we are not trying to solve all the problems of Syria. The other stakeholders need to be genuine in their commitment and demonstrate that by action.
1.40pm: Syria: A couple of new videos said to show protests in Syria today:
The clip above is from Marea, with a surfeit of revolution flags
... and a long one from Aleppo
1.23pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Egypt
• First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
Syria
• Friday protests are under way in Syria, under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. The presence of UN monitors prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces.
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week.
• Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18).
• Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria.
Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's inclusion in the guest list for the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle today, has provoked widespread criticism.
1.02pm: Egypt: More presidential election results are coming in from expatriate communities around the world. Similar results from inside Egypt next week would lead to a run-off, since no candidate seems close to winning 50%.
Ahram Online has figures from the UAE, Austria, France, Sudan, Yemen and Washington (with results from other US voting centres still to come).
The results from the UAE, where more than 21,000 voted, show a similar pattern to those from the UK (see 11.30am), with Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, followed by Hamdeen Sabahi, Amr Moussa, Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq (in that order).
Sabahi came top in France, while Morsi was top in Sudan and Yemen (based on a comparatively small number of votes).
12.35pm: Syria: A UN monitor has expressed his frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube.
The citizen journalist ignored the request.
The monitor, who spoke with a Yemeni accent according to our colleague Mona Mahmood, said: "We are here to watch the two sides and file a report."
Asked repeatedly whether he had seen army checkpoints the monitor said:
Listen man. We are not here to give press statements. Please let us do our job properly, with honesty and impartiality.
Whatever I see I will report. Please let us do our job and don't waste our time.
There is no reason to film me or to put it on YouTube. All these are useless.
At the start of the clip the monitor was challenged to take pictures of the destruction of Dera'a. Gesturing at the scene, a resident said: "Wherever you go you will find destruction. My family has fled to Jordan. This is the house of my cousin this is the house of my sister. No one can stay here."
The encounter appears to reflect a growing frustration from the UN at activists filming their work.
The Guardian asked Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi to confirm video which appeared to show a UN monitor crawling to safety in Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday. He said: "We don't comment on videos posted on the internet."
12.01pm: Syria: Videos of post-Friday prayer protests are beginning to emerge. Despite reports of a fresh bombardment in Rastan today, protesters took to the streets to chant in support of students in Aleppo.
Protests have also been filmed in Idlib, and Abu Kamal in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
11.52am: Britain: From the official guest list, these are the Middle Eastern royals who will be dining with the Queen today:
HM The King of Bahrain
HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain)
HM The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
HM Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
HH Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait
HRH Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco
HH The Emir of The State of Qatar
HH Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned (Qatar)
HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia
HH The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
11.30am: Egypt: The Egyptian embassy in London has confirmed that Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh won the most votes among Egyptians in the UK.
He secured 1,300 of the 4,286 votes casts in the UK presidential election, a spokeswoman told the Guardian. The leftist Hamdeen Sabahi came second with 962, followed by former foreign minster Amr Moussa who secured 907. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi came a distant fourth with 354 votes.
The turnout was 60% the spokeswoman said. Votes for the minor candidates are not yet available.
11.13am: Libya: UN human rights experts say they will visit Libya next week to examine the use of mercenaries to fight the uprising that eventually brought down the Gaddafi regime, AP reports.
Faiza Patel, head of the UN Human Rights Council panel, says it also aims to collect "direct and first-hand information" on private companies offering military aid, consultants and security to Gaddafi's regime.
Patel and another expert said Friday they will spend four days in Libya at the invitation of the government, which claims to have evidence linking Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, to the supervision and planning of the recruitment of mercenaries in the civil war that ended the regime.
10.48am: Syria: The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists.
One clip showed smoke billowing from behind a minaret, another purported to show the town's skyline during an attack.
There are unconfirmed reports that four people were killed.
10.18am: Syria: The Guardian's Martin Chulov has just returned from north west Syria and is tweeting snippets of what he saw and heard.
Back from 5 days around Idlib. Insurgency raging. Rebels scornful of regime's AQ narrative. Defectors streaming in, but not weapons. #Syria
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
'If u find me a man from al-qa'ida i'll buy u lunch,' an FSA Leader near Idlib told me. 'All lies. The regime's the terrorists'. #Syria
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
All defected officers i spoke to in #Syria had 1st hand accounts of regime plots that were blamed on AQ.
— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) May 18, 2012
The Guardian is planning to publish Martin's dispatch in the next few days.
9.58am: Bahrain: A journalist who criticised Bahrain's proposed union with Saudi Arabia was seized from his home near Manama on Wednesday and his current whereabouts are unknown, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says.
Ahmed Radhi, a freelance who contributes to local news websites and has an Arabic blog called Silahi Qalami ("My weapon is my pen"), was reportedly arrested by security forces at 4am after they broke down his door.
Although there is no information about any charges against him, Radhi was arrested in the wake of comments he made in radio interviews on Monday and Tuesday criticising the proposed union with Saudi Arabia, his family members told the London-based Bahrain Press Association.
He later posted notes about the interviews on Facebook in Arabic (here and here) and also
tweeted about them.
9.52am: Syria: Robert Mood (pictured) the head of the UN's monitoring team, appears to have given a gloomy assessment about the effectiveness of the mission.
He told a press conference that no amount of observers in Syria can achieve a permanent end to the violence without dialogue, according to AP.
There are currently 257 monitors deployed in Syria. A further 43 monitors will be deployed by the end of the month.
9.40am: Egypt: Preliminary expat results are beginning to emerge pointing to wins for the moderate Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh.
The former member of the Muslim Brotherhood has come out top among Egyptian in the UK, according to random sampling and exit polls seen by Omar Ashour, visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.
#EgyPresElex results in UK: #Aboulfotouh wins w/1300 votes, hamdin 962, #Moussa 907, #Morsi 354 @SultanAlQassemi @monaeltahawy @seldeeb
— Omar Ashour (@DrOmarAshour) May 18, 2012
Abul Foutouh also appears to be winning among expats in the US, according to activist Mostafa Hussein.
Prelim. elections results from Washington DC according to @ymzada: AF 882, AM 644, HS 641, AS 404, Others 497. Out of 3068 valid votes.
— Mostafa Hussein (@moftasa) May 18, 2012
More significantly perhaps Abul Foutoh looks set to get the backing of Hazem Abu Ismail, a leading Salafist who was excluded from the presidential race, according to the Egypt Independent.
9.31am: Syria: A UN panel of experts which investigates sanctions-busting has accused North Korea of providing weapons-related supplies to Syria, Reuters reports.
One of the cases involving illicit arms trade with Syria was reported to the council's sanctions committee last month.
"In April 2012, France reported to the committee that it had inspected and seized in November 2010 an illicit shipment of arms-related materiel originating from the DPRK and destined for Syria," the report [from the investigators] said.
The shipment, which was on board the ship M/V San Francisco Bridge, was said to be containing "copper bars and plates."
"However, France's inspection of the cargo revealed that it contained brass discs and copper rods used to manufacture artillery munitions (pellets and rods for crimping cartridges and driving bands) and aluminum alloy tubes usable for making rockets," the panel said.
Another case involved a 2007 shipment of propellant usable for SCUD missiles and other items that could be used for ballistic missiles. The panel had referred to it in last year's report but added details about a Syria connection and confirmed that it had been transported via China.
"This shipment originated in the DPRK [North Korea], was trans-shipped in Dalian (China), and Port Kelang (Malaysia), and transited through other ports," the report said. "It was en route to Latakia, Syria."
Although both shipments were made before the Syrian government launched its assault on opposition demonstrators in March 2011, diplomats said they were worrying because it showed the kinds of items Damascus had been trying to add to its arsenal – and the aid it received from North Korea and China.
The panel also reported recently on illegal arms shipments from Iran to Syria.
9.14am: Syria: Video has emerged of protesters at Aleppo university taking shelter in a graffiti-daubed UN monitoring vehicle, as the security forces beat fellow protesters outside.
The footage is unverified but would be difficult to fake.
The state news agency Sana acknowledged that the UN monitors visited Aleppo but made no mention of what took place.
It did say an investigation has been ordered into Tuesday's events in Khan Sheikhoun when UN monitors were fired at after a protest at a funeral.
9.07am: Syria: The state news agency Sana has leapt on Ban Ki-moon's remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attacks in Damascus.
It says the al-Nusra Front, a shady group with links to al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the attack. It doesn't point out that it later denied claiming responsibility.
8.47am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Even before yesterday's clashes in Aleppo, protesters across the country were planning to pay a Friday tribute to students in Syria's second city. Yesterday scenes at the university, which were live streamed over the internet and occurred under the gaze of UN monitors, are likely to give added impetuous to today's demonstrations.
Syria
• The slogan for Friday's protests is "heroes of Aleppo University," in solidarity with students who demonstrated despite brutal repression against the university, Now Lebanon reports. Yesterday students called for the arming of the Free Syrian Army, it said citing an activist.
• The presence of UN monitors, prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces, the New York Times reports. The protest and the mayhem, conveyed by students who streamed live video to the Internet, was the first big demonstration at Aleppo University since security forces raided and emptied the dormitories two weeks ago in a crackdown that left at least four students dead.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he believed al-Qaida was responsible for two suicide car bombs that killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. "A few days ago there was a huge, serious, massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al Qaida behind it. This has created again very serious problems," Ban told a youth event in New York without elaborating.
Scroll forward to 41 minutes to hear Ban discussing the crisis in Syria.
• The head of Syria's main opposition council has offered to resign "as soon as a replacement is found" after a network of activists threatened to leave the group warning it had drifted away from the spirit of the country's revolution. Burhan Ghalioun said he did not wish to be a divisive figure and was ready to step down, just days after he was re-elected to a third, three-month term.
• Yesterday we featured a video of protesters and UN monitors coming under firing in Khan Sheikhoun, but we failed to spot that it appeared to show a UN monitoring crawling to safety. The New York Times's Lede blog noticed the crucial detail and a subsequent video appearing to show the same monitor being dragged to safety.
• Residents in Areeha, 50km southwest of Aleppo have an ambivalent attitude to UN monitors, according to activist Shakeeb Al-Jabri writing on the opposition website Ayyam.
After each UN visit, Assad's army opened fire on the residents, a move that was seen as regime punishment for receiving the monitors. The short, and largely useless, visits enraged Areeha's residents. "We hated them for this," Ahmad, a local activist said, "They came, did nothing of use to us, they didn't even talk to us, but we still got punished."
However, the activists admit that the mere presence of monitors in Idlib, the main city 15 km away, has helped reduce the regime's assaults ...
The activists have mixed feelings about the monitors' potential. "Every time they visit we get punished," Jalal said "things have improved a bit, but not enough." Ahmad is more optimistic, "They made promises," he said, "we need to give them time to deliver."
• Syria's ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria. The letter, addressed to Ban Ki Moon, the UN General-Secretary, lists Hassan Blidi and Walid Hassan among ten foreigners killed in Syria's 15-month conflict, the Times reports.
Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's invitation to the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle, has provoked widespread criticism because of Bahrain's brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests. The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago." Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused eight countries whose leaders may be on the guest list of human rights abuses. He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee. "She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."
• There are three main camps in Bahraini politics - the government, the opposition, and the loyalist opposition - and they are all becoming more entrenched, according to a research paper published in Foreign Policy magazine. It concludes:
To avoid that conflagration, everyone must work toward ameliorating the distrust, street, and sectarian dynamics that threaten to rip the very fabric of Bahraini society apart. Unfortunately, potential spoilers abound within each camp, especially among the hardline factions who view the crisis with vastly different lenses and even personally benefit from the continuation of the crisis. It is unclear whether these factions can be convinced to play a productive role on the path to reconciliation. What is clear, however, is that if current trends continue, it is only a matter of time before Bahrain suffers a major escalation.
Egypt
• A week before the polls open for the presidential elections, the results from expatriates ballots are due to be announced. The Egyptian embassy in London said the counting is likely to start Friday morning with results announced by end of the day, Ahram reports.
Matthew WeaverBrian Whitaker
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9:43
Eurozone crisis live: Greek and Spanish fears hit markets again
» ‎ The Guardian World News
• FTSE 100 at new low for 2012
• Asian shares fall sharply
• Wolfgang Schäuble sees 12-24 months of turmoil
• Spain hit by banks downgrade...
• ... and rise in bad bank debts
10.15am: EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has confirmed that the European Commission and the European Central Bank are working on an emergency scenario in case Greece should leave the euro zone.
While we'd rather assumed that contingency work was underway, I'm not aware of an official stating it before (shout out if you know better).
De Gucht made the comments in an interview with Belgian newspaper De Standaard, arguing that a 'domino effect' from a Greek exit could be contained:
Both within the European Central Bank and the European Commission, services that are working on emergency scenarios in case Greece doesn't make it.
De Gucht declined to give details, and added that he still expects Greece to remain in the euro.
9.49am: In the financial markets, the FTSE 100 remains sharply lower, down 53 points at 5285, at its lowest point since 30 November.
This moves the UK blue-chip index deeper into 'corrrection' territory, from its recent high of 5965 in mid-March.
The German DAX and French CAC markets are also still in the red, both down around 0.6%.
But surprisingly, the Spanish stock market is actually up. Led by Bankia, whose shares have surged by 28% this morning. Quite a turnaround, following yesterday's rumours of a bank run. Other financial stocks are also now up, despite Moody's volley of downgrades last night.
That follows a report that Goldman Sachs has been hired to value Bankia – which could prelude a break-up.
UPDATE: A couple of City types have also mentioned a rumour that Spain might impose a ban on short selling (selling stocks which you don't actually own). Nothing official though.
9.35am: The crisis in the Spanish banking sector comes nearly four years after Santander was playing a 'white knight' role during the UK's own banking crisis.
Our banking expert Jill Treanor comments:

Interesting times for Santander UK. This was the bank that the Labour government turned to during the 2008 crisis to take on Bradford & Bingley savers. It also bought Alliance and Leicester just before the crash.
Now, unrelated to last nigh's downgrade, its attempts at a stock market flotation - earmarked for two years ago - are now pushed back until at least next year. Even so, it still has a strong rating and has not been downgraded as much as the overall group.
9.13am: The proportion of bad debts sitting on the books of Spanish banks has risen to its highest level since August 1994.
Bank of Spain data showed that the bad loans rate across the Spanish banking sector rose to 8.37% in March. The number of loans falling into arrears increased by €1.6bn to €148bn.
That underlines the thinking behind Moodys' downgrades last night – Spain's banking sector is stuffed full of loans that turned sour once the property market crashed.
Those bad debts could grow significantly if the Spanish economy deteriorates, making it even harder for the Madrid government to recapitalise its banks and put them on a sound footing. As Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy points out:
Spanish bank restructuring is a moving target: the deeper the downturn, the bigger the scope for a further deterioration in asset quality.
8.55am: France's new prime minister had stern words for European leaders this morning for their failure to help Greece through the financial crisis.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, a former German teacher, added his voice to the chorus calling for a new growth agenda. Ayrault urged Brussels to put spare structural funds to work to help the Greek economy return to growth:
We waited too long before helping Greece. This has been going on for two years now and only gets worse....
Tough talk, but not exactly unfair.
8.36am: German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Friday that the market turmoil surrounding the euro zone crisis could last another two years.
Speaking on France's Europe 1 radio after Asian markets had tumbled, Schäuble said:
Regarding the crisis of confidence in the euro ... in 12 to 24 months we will see a calming of the financial markets
And that, it seems, is Schäuble being optimistic. He also appeared to warn Greek voters not to trust parties who promise to renegotiate Greece's financial progamme.

It's up to Greek politicians to explain the reality to their people and not make false promises.
We want Greece to stay in the euro but meet its commitments and that's a decision that's up to the Greeks.
8.27am: Santander UK, which was downgraded one notch by Moody's last, is stressing this morning that the downgrade won't affect its business.
A spokesman said:
The change to Moody's credit rating of Santander UK plc has no impact on our businesses in the UK or our plans for future growth. Santander UK plc is an autonomous subsidiary of the Santander Group, with more than 90% of its total assets held in the UK and a Eurozone sovereign exposure of less than 1% of assets.
Santander UK is a key player in the British financial sector, having acquired Alliance & Leicester, Abbey National and Bradford and
Bingley. It now has a higher credit rating than its parent company, following Banco Santander's three-notch drubbing.
8.10am: European stock markets have fallen at the start of trading, with Spain's IBEX showing the steepest losses.
The IBEX shed 128 points, or 2%, at the start of trading, hitting a new nine-year low of 6409 points. That follows Moody's downgrading much of the Spanish banking sector last night (see 7.49am)
In London, the FTSE 100 is down 50 points at 5289, a new low for the year. Just four shares have risen, while mining companies and banks are leading the fallers. Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays are all down at least 2.5%.
It's a similar tale across Europe, with the Italian FTSE MIB down 1.5% and the French and German markets dropping around 1%.
There's a really downbeat mood in the City this morning. As Clive Duckitt, director at Fyshe Horton Finney, commented:
There seems little respite from the gloomy news that has engulfed equity markets in recent weeks.
7.56am: Risk aversion has driven the US dollar up this morning, as traders look to put their money somewhere safe.
This has pushed the euro down to a new four-month low of $1.2649 against the US dollar.
It has also pushed the oil price to its lowest level of the year, with a barrel of Brent crude dropping $1 to $106.40. That might actually bring some relief to the global economy, as high fuel and energy prices have been blamed for pushing up inflation.
7.49am: Moody's decision to downgrade much of Spain's banking sector last night has put country's financial problems under even more scrutiny.
Some downgrades had been anticipated, but the scale of the move is still quite dramatic – with 16 banks downgraded in total and some, including the giant Santander, by three notches.
Moody's blamed the weak Spanish economy (currently in recession), and the Madrid government's reduced ability to support troubled lenders, given its own problems.
Amidst the ongoing euro area debt crisis, the Spanish government's rising budget deficit and the renewed recession, sovereign creditworthiness has declined.
Spain's banking sector was also reeling from reports, officially denied, that worried customers were pulling deposits out of Bankia.
As analysts at Investec comment, "It's not going to go down in history as a great day for Spanish banks."
7.38am: Asian markets were hit hard overnight by fears over the health of the Spanish banking sector, and the looming threat of a eurozone break-up.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell by 2.99% at 8611.31, its lowest level since January. The index has now fallen for seven weeks in a row -- its worst performance since 2001. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is down -2.69%.
Ben Kwong, Hong Kong-based chief operating officer at KGI Asia, called it straight:
It's really bad....
Fears of a Greek exit from the euro zone and the negative consequences from that are prevailing.
Australian stocks were also hit overnight, particulaly banks and miners (with National Australia Bank falling 4.23%, and Rio Tinto down 5%). Warnings that China's economic growth might be lower than expected this year also hit sentiment.
Chris Weston, institutional trader at IG, was also in bleak mood, predicting a "dark and tiresome open" in European markets.
The world is bereft of good news
7.35am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone financial crisis.
Not that there's much 'good' about this morning. The escalating crisis having sparked heavy losses in Asian stock markets overnight, and another sell-off expected in Europe today.
There are two factors behind the sell-off: Fitch downgrading Greece yesterday evening on concerns that it might soon leave the eurozone and default, and Moody's decision to downgrade 16 Spanish banks.
Those two developments capture the essence of the crisis today – Greece pushed to the brink of euro exit by austerity, a long recession and an huge debt mountain, and Spain battling to avoid the same fate. We'll be watching both countries today.
World leaders are gathering in the US for the G8 summit, facing the growing threat of a global downturn. Barack Obama is expected to demand that Europe bows to pressure at home and abroad with new policies to boost growth.
Graeme Wearden
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9:39
Chen Guangcheng's brother describes beating by officials
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Chen Guangfu says Chinese authorities tried to make him reveal how his sibling escaped from house arrest
The brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has told reporters how he was chained to a chair and beaten for three days to make him reveal how his sibling escaped from house arrest in the Shandong countryside.
Chen Guangfu described his ordeal in an interview with a Hong Kong magazine as his son, Chen Kegui stood accused of attempted murder for fighting back against a similar beating.
A team of independent lawyers who have offered to represent the defendant were dismissed by the authorities and told not to speak about the case.
Chen Guangfu told a reporter from iSunAffairs.com that local officials came to his home after his brother fled late last month from his home village of Dongshigu to the US embassy in Beijing.
"They put me on a chair, bound my feet with iron chains and locked my hands with handcuffs behind my back," he said, according to a transcript of the interview released to the BBC.
"They pulled my hands upwards forcefully. Then they slapped me in the face," he said.
"They first asked me if I knew what this was about. I said 'I don't know', So they beat me and slapped my face. Only on one side, not the other. And they trampled my feet."
He tried not to implicate others by initially claiming all the responsibility for the escape. But he said the interrogators seemed to know who had been involved so it was ultimately impossible to resist.
His wife, Ren Zongju, also described how officials attacked her son.
"They started fighting inside the house. So many people were beating him. His face was bleeding, and his legs. His trousers were ripped," she was quoted as saying. "He said to me 'Mum, I need to get out immediately'. We had 1,000 yuan... So I picked it up and gave it to my son."
The report is difficult to confirm. Journalists have been turned away from Dongshigu and neighbouring villages. But it fits with Chen Guangcheng's telephone statement to a US congressional hearing earlier this week in which he reported a "pattern of abuse" against his relatives.
The blind activist is now in a Beijing hospital, where he is being treated for colitis and injuries sustained during his escape. Under a deal between the US and Chinese governments, he expects to be given permission to study in New York. US authorities say visas for Chen and his family have been prepared. The Chinese side has told him that passports and travel permission will be ready in 15 days.
"I am not worrying. For sure I can get my visa within two weeks," Chen told the Guardian on Friday. "My worry now is for my family. The local police have confessed that they beat [my nephew] Chen Kegui so his fight back is just self-defence."
It is unclear which family members will be allowed to travel to the US with the activist. Although his wife and two children are certain to go, an official said there were also discussions about whether his mother might join them.
Chen's mother is now 78, and suffers from arthritis and coronary heart disease. According to Chen, local officials previously prevented her from getting medical treatment and followed her when she went out to buy food. But now, she is free to walk around in the village and chat to neighbours.
The activist says he is in daily phone contact with her, but that she does not want to go to New York because she is concerned about those that would be left behind. "She is worried about my extended family, especially her grandson, my nephew Chen Kegui," he said.
A senior lawyer defending the activist described to the Guardian last week how he lost his hearing in a beating by a senior state security official after he tried to visit Chen Guangcheng in hospital.
Jonathan Watts
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9:27
Building the Next Facebook a Tough Task in Europe
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Unlike in the United States, where promising Internet startups can expect venture capitalists to come calling early, entrepreneurs in Europe face a shortage of financing.

9:06
Human rights groups criticise Queen's historic lunch of monarchs
» ‎ The Guardian World News
King of Bahrain, accused of brutally suppressing pro-democracy protests, among those included on controversial guest list
The king of Bahrain, whose regime has been accused of brutally suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations, has been revealed as one of the guests at a historic lunch of sovereign monarchs hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle on Friday.
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appeared on a guest list released early on Friday ahead of the unprecedented gathering to celebrate the diamond jubilee.
Other guests include Swaziland's King Mswati III, as well as Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Aal Jaber Aal-Sabah of Kuwait and Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Aal Saud of Saudi Arabia.
One definite no-show will be Queen Sofía of Spain, ordered by her government to turn down the invitation in response to a planned trip next month by the Earl of Wessex to Gibraltar, the UK overseas territory Spain wants returned to its sovereignty.
Human rights demonstrators are expected to stage a protest outside Bahrain's embassy in London later on Friday over the inclusion of the country's ruler.
The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago."
The Foreign Office said it had advised on "logistics", adding that the invitations would have been issued by the Queen in a private capacity.
It said that "all world sovereigns" were invited to the event, which was "organised by the royal household, with assistance and co-ordination by the FCO". The UK was a "long-standing friend and ally" of Bahrain, and the "strong relationship" allowed "full and frank discussion" on issues of concern, including human rights.
The UK government supported reforms already under way, the Foreign Office said, and wants to help promote that reform, including moves to bring to account individuals responsible for human rights abuse. The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was critical of the inclusion of eight of the monarchs on the Queen's guest list. He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee.
"She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."
He added: "All eight royal families preside over a variety of human rights abuses, such as detention without trial, torture, the denial of free speech, restrictions on press freedom, discrimination against women, oppression of minority faiths, homophobic persecution, ill-treatment of guest workers and the violent suppression of peaceful protests."
The Queen is rolling out the full red-carpet treatment, inviting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as well as Prince Harry and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to the lunch. Prince Charles is hosting his own dinner for foreign royals at Buckingham Palace on Friday night, although without the king of Bahrain.
The Swazi exiles group Swazi Vigil picketed the Savoy hotel in London, where Mswati, who has 13 wives and has been accused of human rights abuses, was said to be installed on Wednesday along with a 30-strong entourage.
Highlighting the impoverished kingdom's high HIV/Aids infection rates, they waved placards reading: "Let them eat cow dung", a reference to Swazi citizens being reduced to eating dung to fill their stomachs in order to take the HIV medication provided by non-governmental organisations.
Thobile Gwebu, the protest's co-ordinator, said they had chosen the Savoy rather than Windsor for their protest because they did not want to spoil the Queen's jubilee celebrations.
But, she added, they had written to the Queen politely asking if she could perhaps "have a word" with the Sherborne-educated absolute monarch.
Recent reports by Amnesty International highlighted a wave of repression in Saudi Arabia as the authorities crack down on protesters and reformist, while Human Rights Watch has criticised the Kuwaiti authorities for the suspension of a daily paper and the conviction of its editor for alleged incitement.
European royals attending include King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene.
Caroline Davies
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8:55
Metal thieves target Warrington bomb memorial
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Colin Parry, whose son Tim was killed by the IRA in 1993, dismayed at theft of plaque
Suspected metal thieves have stolen a plaque commemorating two children killed in an IRA bomb attack in Warrington, Cheshire, a crime described by the father of one of the victims as "hard to understand".
Colin Parry, who became a campaigner for peace after his 12-year-old son, Tim, was killed in the 1993 attack, said he had learned on Thursday afternoon that the plaque, part of a memorial in the town centre called the River of Life, had been removed. "It's a great shock to be told someone has taken it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It's hard to imagine why anyone would stoop so low as to do this."
The small plaque, which would have minimal scrap value, commemorates Tim Parry and three-year-old Johnathan Ball, who were killed when two bombs placed in litter bins exploded within a minute on 20 March 1993 on a street crowded with shoppers. Another 54 people were injured. Attached to a wall in Bridge Street, where the explosions happened, it depicts the River Mersey and explains the design of the wider memorial. It had been in place since 1996.
Cheshire police said it was stolen between 20 April and 5 May. PC Graham Davies said: "We do not know exactly when the plaque was taken but would appeal to anyone who has any information in relation to the theft to come forward. This plaque forms part of a memorial and is of great significance to the town. It is upsetting for people to see that the plaque has been taken.
"We would urge anyone who knows the identity of the thief, or the whereabouts of the plaque, to contact us immediately. We would also appeal to anyone who may have been offered the plaque for sale to get in touch."
Parry said the crime was "hard to understand". He added: "Anyone with a conscience and any sense of decency … would find something less emotionally damaging to take."
One of the bombs exploded outside a branch of Boots and the other outside a McDonald's. Johnathan died at the scene, while Tim died five days later.
- IRA
- UK security and terrorism
Peter Walker
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8:53
A Start-Up Is Gold for Facebook’s New Millionaires
» ‎ NYT > Technology

At Facebook, ground zero for the nouveau tech riche in Silicon Valley, peer pressure dictates that consumption be kept on the down low.

8:40
Police hunt metal thieves who stole memorial plaque of two children killed in 1993 Warrington IRA bomb
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A police hunt is under way after a memorial to two children killed by an IRA bomb was stolen from a town centre by suspected metal thieves.
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8:39
Anonymous hater hit Pirate Bay
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

A former member of Anonymous, who now hates the outfit and helps the feds, has claimed responsibility for an attack which downed the Pirate Bay and Wikileaks.

The "traitor", who goes by the name AnonNyre, has claimed responsibility for the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that kept the site offline for days.

In a Pastebin message, AnonNyre explains that he attacked The Pirate Bay because he was against Anonymous and does not support it any more. Apparently he also helps the FBI grass up Anonymous members.

He said that Pirate Bay was a press release website for Anonymous and so he thought by taking it down he would make life impossible for Anonymous.

" Get on your knees, Anonymous. I am a one-man army. I am not a hacker. I am a security killer," he said.

Nyre doesn't explain how he pulled off the feat, but the smart money is that he used a botnet of a respectable size.

Nyre might not be behind the Wikileaks attack which was also under a DDoS attack, and for much longer.
8:36
More than 100,000 PCs to lose internet connection
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

US police are predicting that more than 100,000 PCs will lose their internet connection when the FBI pulls the plug on servers that control DNSchanger,

On July 9, the FBI will disable rogue DNS servers it seized late last year and believes that by then there will be 100,000 left in the botnet.

That figure is large but is only a third of the 350,000 to 400,000 internet users believed to still have the DNSChanger malware on either their modems or Windows computers.

It is also a fraction of the four million users who were infected at the height of the Estonian scam.

Six Estonians have been arrested and are currently subject to extradition procedures to face charges in the United States.

The FBI gained interim control of the rogue DNS servers, but expect to shut them down on July 9, after a four month court ordered extension of the program expires.

Paul Vixie of the Internet Systems Consortium told AusCERT 2012 attendees that internet service providers would have to rush new modems to those who think they might still have the malware.

He said that the scammers scripted the web interface and changed the DNS settings in the CPE of the modem and it is difficult to get these re-programmed, he told SC Magazine .
8:34
Monmouth becomes Wikipedia town
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Monmouth, which is famous for being the the place where King Henry V was born, is to become the world's first "Wikipedia town."

Based on our experience, a Wikipedia town would be run by a bunch of self appointed experts, with fake degrees, who make people they don't like disappear.

However being a Wikipedia town does not mean that there will be an Everywhere Girl exclusion zone, and the mayor will deny ever going out with local newspaper editors, or beefing up their CVs.

From Saturday, they will be able to use smartphones to scan barcodes at points of interest in Monmouth. The phone will bring up a Wikipedia page about the landmark on their phones, in whatever language they are set to.

More than 1,000 different bar codes, plaques and stickers now adorn its schools, museums, historical sites and pubs.

It has taken six months to develop all the material. "Monmouthpedia" has been helped along by the local council's installation of town-wide free Wi-Fi.

Local residents and businesses have created and edited articles about Monmouth that are linked to the barcodes, while other volunteers have been translating them.

Stevie Benton, Wikimedia UK's communications organiser, said in a statement that more than 450 new articles about Monmouth have been added to Wikipedia and nearly 150 existing articles have been improved in the past six months.

In addition to being the birthplace of Henry V, the town also boasts a 13th-century bridge which is unique in that it has not fallen down.

Local businesses such as bakeries have also got involved, placing bar codes in their windows linked to articles about the history of baking. Local pubs have pages highlighting the history of their establishments and breweries.

8:30
A-ha! Steve Coogan confirms Alan Partridge will return in pair of new shows
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Alan Partridge is to give fans a glimpse into his native Norfolk after comic Steve Coogan signed a new deal to bring the character back to TV.
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8:30
Apple in trouble over advertising. Again
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

Apple is in trouble over its advertising for the second time in a couple of months.

For those who came in late, the only real reason for buying the iPhone 4S was to get your paws on the Siri voice activated search assistant. Other than that there was little point upgrading from the similar iPhone 4.

But it appears that there are those who were not that impressed with Siri when it arrived. Apple is being dragged into a court to explain why its adverts show Siri to be a little better than it really is.

According to BGR, Apple's TV ads show Siri as a fast-acting feature that intelligently offers help or information in responds to a wide range of and commands.

The company has been sued by New Yorker Frank Fazio, who alleges that Apple's Siri commercials are misleading and deceptive.

He points out that Apple's TV advertisements show people using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs or how to tie a tie.

But this functionality is contrary to the actual operating results and performance of Siri, he moaned.

Does Apple listen to its users' and promise to make Siri work better? Er, no. Apple's recommendation to Fazio is if you don't like the perfection we make buy a different phone.

Apple said that he did not make use of Apple's 30 day return policy and buy a different phone. By the way the iPhone 4S launch was its most successful iPhone launch ever so no one could be that unhappy really.

Apple said that taking a personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California's consumer protection statutes is not exactly cricket.

The complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.

While Apple might have a point that customers tend to sue it in a bid to make money, it is glossing over something more important.

This is the second time that Jobs' Mob has been called to task for misleading advertising. Apple had to change its adverts for the iPad in Australia and Europe when people complained that it was not capable of 4G as Jobs' Mob claimed.

Apple has always made it clear that Siri is beta software, but that has not stopped it making it the central advertising gimmick for sales of the phone.

It would seem that the world is starting to get a little annoyed at Apple writing cheques for its products that its technology can't cash.
8:27
HP takes the axe to eight percent of its employees
» ‎ Tech Eye - Latest technology headlines

The maker of jolly expensive printer ink, HP, is firing an army of workers in a bid to pull its nadgers out of the fire.

About 30,000 employees are to be handed their pink slips and P45s. HP will not be able to escort them from the building because the persons responsible will also be given their marching orders.

According to the FT, the job cuts are a record for the technology giant but it is having trouble with its bottom line at the moment.

HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman planned the cuts - eight per cent of HP's total head count, which stood at 349,600 at the end of October.

There could be some more cuts to come, as deep throats in the organisation claim that the exact number wasn't yet final. One person said that a formal announcement could come when the company reports quarterly results next week.

Wholesale decimation of staff is becoming a trend in the tech industry lately. HP already laid off a lot of people under Mark Hurd (pictured). Hurd later laid himself off, only to resurface at Oracle.

HP has long had a policy of shifting staff jobs offshore to cheaper parts of Eastern Europe. Wide scale redundancies on this scale could harm these economies which are also having a tough time lately.

8:12
Officer 'advised' over tweets about attacked pensioner suspects
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A police officer who sent a "wholly inappropriate" message on Twitter after helping to arrest two suspects in the Emma Winnall assault inquiry has been spoken to about his conduct.
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8:04
Six charged in London over trafficking Indian woman
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Six people, including a butcher and an optician, have been charged in connection with trafficking an Indian woman, Scotland Yard said today.
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8:00
David Cameron to meet new French President François Hollande for first time at G8 summit
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
David Cameron will hold his first face-to-face talks with Francois Hollande today as they join world leaders in the US for a G8 summit set to be dominated by the eurozone crisis.
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7:56
Documents show Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart and George Zimmerman suffered broken nose
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Trayvon Martin was shot through the heart at close range and George Zimmerman had a broken nose, bruises and cuts on the back of his head, new documents show.
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7:49
34 dead as bus plunges off bridge into river in Vietnam
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A crowded overnight bus plunged off a bridge into a river in central Vietnam, killing 34 passengers and injuring 21 others in one of the country's deadliest road accidents.
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- Swimming challenge: All at sea and out on a limb – but he doesn't mind
- Special Report: Helmand deaths prompt security rethink
7:43
Two arrested after car hits house in Nottinghamshire
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Two men have been arrested after a car which sped away from a police patrol smashed into a house.
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7:24
Parenting lessons: this is not the nanny state, says David Cameron
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Prime minister launches Can Parent initiative to offer guidance and says he will push for childcare tax breaks
Parenting classes should be taken as seriously as driving lessons, David Cameron will declare as he announces measures to help the "nation-builders" raising Britain's next generation.
The prime minister, whose Can Parent initiative is allowing parents to fund classes through £100 vouchers handed out at Boots in some areas, said his plans represented the "sensible state" rather than the nanny state. The parenting classes in 10 two-hour sessions will offer advice on nutrition, behaviour and development.
Cameron made it clear on Thursday that he would like to introduce tax breaks for childcare. He reportedly told a Manchester businesswoman after making a speech in the city that he was "hugely attracted to the idea of making childcare tax allowable".
The prime minister will launch a strong defence of parenting classes. "It's ludicrous that we should expect people to train for hours to drive a car or use a computer but, when it comes to looking after a baby, we tell people to just get on with it," he will say.
Cameron, whose late son Ivan was severely paralysed, admits he would have appreciated guidance: "I would have loved more guidance when my children were babies. We've all been there when it's the middle of the night, your child won't stop crying and you don't know what to do
"Parents are nation-builders. It's through love and sheer hard work that we raise the next generation with the right values. That's why this government is doing everything possible to support parents. This is not the nanny state – it's the sensible state.
"To those who say that government should forget about parenting and families and focus on the big, gritty issues, I'd say these are the big, gritty issues. Families don't just shape us as individuals, they make a stronger society. That's why supporting families is right at the top of our agenda – and I'm going to make sure it stays that way."
Parenting classes will take place as pilot schemes, backed by a new website, in Middlesbrough, Camden in north London and in High Peak, Derbyshire. A relationship support service will be piloted in York, Leeds, north Essex and in some London boroughs from July for all expectant parents and those with children up to the age of two.
The idea, drawn up by the prime minister's departing policy guru Steve Hilton, is one response to the riots of last summer.
Frank Field, Labour's former welfare minister, previously proposed parenting classes in a report for Cameron in December 2010. Field said they should be routinely offered to new parents. They "should be seen as something normal to do, rather than remedial, or something only for low income families".
Field wrote: "Poor parenting exists across the income distribution, but tends to have less of an impact on better-off children where other factors provide greater protection against poor outcomes."
He said that children's centres and home visitors should encourage parents to attend classes "as a matter of course". Health visitors should offer "to sign them up as a matter of routine, initially targeting this on those most likely to benefit".
Nicholas Watt
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7:19
VIDEO: Facebook shares due to go on sale
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

One of the biggest floatations ever seen on world stock markets will take place today when shares in the social networking site Facebook go on sale.

7:16
Russian defense plant worker convicted over passing on missile secrets
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A court says it has convicted a Russian defense company worker of passing missile secrets to foreign intelligence.

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7:13
FTSE 100 down as eurozone woe sees agencies cut ratings
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Britain's top share index plunged through support levels today as the dire situation in the euro zone kept the bears in control on the market, Spanish banks were downgraded en masse by Moody's overnight, and Fitch cut its debt rating for Greece.
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7:13
Hewlett-Packard to Cut About 30,000 Jobs
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The tech giant will refocus on product development and sales, executives say, and operations in China will most likely be spared.

7:01
Search for missing Weymouth fishing boat continues
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A major search operation was continuing today for a missing fishing boat and its three-man crew after it failed to return from a trip off the Dorset coast.
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6:55
Maker of Angry Birds Shows Way for European Start-Ups
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Rovio, based in Finland, has said it plans a public offering next year that could value the company at $9 billion, not Facebook money but huge for Europe.

6:37
Search for fishing boat missing off Dorset coast
» ‎ The Guardian World News

Three-man crew aboard fishing boat the Purbeck Isle have not been seen since leaving port on Thursday morning
A major search operation is under way for a missing fishing boat and its three-man crew after it failed to return from a trip off the Dorset coast.
RNLI lifeboats, coastguard helicopters and a Royal Navy warship are involved in the hunt for the vessel, which was reported missing at around 6pm on Thursday.
The Weymouth-based fishing boat, the Purbeck Isle, has not been seen since leaving port on Thursday morning and cannot be contacted, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.
Cindy Rodaway, watch manager at Portland coastguard, said: "The coastguard helicopter commenced a search from the air of known fishing grounds of this vessel as soon as we were alerted.
"We have also searched utilising the skills of the lifeboat crew and the crews of the Navy warships and the electronic search aids at their disposal."
Weymouth all-weather lifeboat, the Ernest and Mabel, launched at 7.15pm on Thursday and is still searching, along with the Lyme Regis in-shore lifeboat, the Spirit of Loch Fyne, which set out just after 11pm.
Additional shoreline searches of the coast to the west of Weymouth are also being carried out.
The search is being assisted by HMS York, a Type 42 destroyer, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Ruler, and US navy supply vessel 2nd Lt John P Bobo.

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6:24
David Cameron says parenting classes are not 'nanny state'
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Free parenting classes are not a "nanny state" policy, David Cameron insisted as he unveiled a number of initiatives aimed at helping families.
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6:22
£3.7bn owed in child maintenance by absent parents
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Absent parents owe £3.7bn in child maintenance but the agency in charge of securing payments only believes it can collect £1bn of that, a committee said today.
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6:21
Alan Partridge to return in pair of new shows
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Alan Partridge is to give fans a glimpse into his native Norfolk after comic Steve Coogan signed a new deal to bring the character back to TV.
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6:18
Facebook set to make market splash with $100 billion floatation
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Facebook shares are being offered to the public for 38 US dollars (£24) in one of the biggest ever US stock flotations.
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6:18
Facebook set to make market splash with $100bn floatation
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Facebook shares are being offered to the public for 38 US dollars (£24) in one of the biggest ever US stock flotations.
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6:12
IRA death children's memorial plaque stolen by metal thieves
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A police hunt is under way after a memorial to two children killed by an IRA bomb was stolen from a town centre by suspected metal thieves.
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6:09
Two bailed over attack on 93-year-old Emma Winnall
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
A man and woman arrested in connection with an attack on a 93-year-old pensioner who was severely beaten in her own home have been released on bail.
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6:07
Dawn French and Jason Donovan search for the new Jesus Christ Superstar
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Dawn French and Jason Donovan have been signed up as judges for Andrew Lloyd Webber's search for the lead in his musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
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6:04
Petrol prices fall
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Hard-pressed motorists have enjoyed a respite from record-high fuel prices in recent days, according to AA figures.
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6:02
Monmouth to become UK's first 'Wikipedia town'
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is set to launch a new project aimed at covering every aspect of life in one Welsh town.
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6:00
David Cameron to meet François Hollande for first time at G8 summit
» ‎ The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
David Cameron will hold his first face-to-face talks with Francois Hollande today as they join world leaders in the US for a G8 summit set to be dominated by the eurozone crisis.
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5:37
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Will Meet at Citi Field to Discuss Internet Dangers
» ‎ NYT > Technology

More than 40,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews will pack Citi Field to hear about the dangers of the Internet and how to use it in a religiously responsible way.
3:47
DealBook: Spotify Deal Would Value Company at $4 Billion
» ‎ NYT > Technology

Spotify, the online music service, is expected to raise $220 million for a value of $4 billion in the latest sky-high Internet company valuation.
2:15
DealBook: Long Odds on a Big Facebook Payday
» ‎ NYT > Technology

If history offers any lesson, average investors may find they face steep odds if they hope to make big money in a much-hyped stock like Facebook.

2:07
Japan launches S Korea satellite
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

Japan completes its first successful commercial launch of a foreign-made satellite early on Friday, marking its entry into the launch business.

1:07
Facebook share price set at $38
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Social network's landmark flotation has investors clamouring to buy, but some analysts issue warnings about IPO
Facebook has set the final price of shares in its landmark initial public offering at $38 (£24), the top of the price range it gave this week, as investors clamoured to buy into the social network. The move values the company at around $104bn.
Facebook had raised the price range to $34-$38 a share from $28-$35 earlier this week. The company's shares will begin trading alongside Amazon, Apple and other tech giants on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday in what will be the biggest technology flotation ever.
The $18.4bn share sale will be America's second biggest, behind Visa's $19.65bn sale in 2008. Founder Mark Zuckerberg, who owns 28.1% of Facebook shares, will instantly be propelled into the top tier of the super-rich.
The consultancy Wealth-X estimates his net pre-IPO fortune at $18.95bn. When, and if, Facebook's shares take off on Friday, some are predicting a massive first-day rise, known as a "pop", that would make Zuckerberg richer than Larry Page or Sergey Brin, the Google founders whose wealth soared after their own IPO.
The Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities, the first firm to rate Facebook after it announced plans to sell shares, has set a 12-month price target of $44.
Facebook increased the size of its iniitial IPO this week by 25%, or about 100m shares, to meet investor demand. Some of its largest shareholders and early investors seized the moment to raise the number of shares they are selling, adding a potential $3.8bn to the value of the sale.
While Zuckerberg said he would be maintaining his holding, the hedge fund Tiger Global, run by 36-year-old New Yorker Chase Coleman, increased its sell-off from 3m to 23m shares. DST Group, which represents Russian investors such as Yuri Milner, is now planning to offload a quarter of its holding.
Goldman Sachs announced that it would sell 29m shares, more than double its previous plans to sell 13m. Peter Thiel, a legendary Silicon Valley investor who was one of the firm's first big backers, is now planning to sell 17m shares, up from 8m.
Zuckerberg will ring the Nasdaq stock exchange's opening bell in New York remotely from the company's headquarters, a 23-hectare complex in Menlo Park, California. The company's shares will then start trading with the stock symbol FB.
The hype surrounding the launch has drawn scepticism from some analysts. Sam Hamadeh, founder of the analysis firm PrivCo, has argued that Facebook is worth a fraction of the estimates. In a note to potential investors, he valued Facebook at just $24-$25 a share.
General Motors announced this week that it was pulling its advertisements off the social network, claiming that they were not working. GM is one of the world's largest advertisers and spent $1.83bn on ads in the US alone last year.
The car firm spent just $10m on Facebook, a tiny fraction of the tech company's $3.7bn revenues. But the move was a PR blow for a company that intends to make most of its cash from advertisers.
Nate Elliott, an analyst with the interactive marketing firm Forrester, wrote on his blog: "We wish we could predict this IPO would serve as a new beginning for Facebook's marketing offering, and that a new focus on becoming a grown-up business would inspire the company to put even half the energy into serving advertisers that it does into serving users.
"But we doubt Zuckerberg's going to wake up any day soon having acquired a taste for advertising, or even a proper understanding of it. And so every day more smart marketers are going to wake up and look for other places to dedicate their social resources."
Dominic Rushe
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

1:06
Facebook's first female engineer
» ‎ BBC News - Technology

How the social network’s first female engineer beat old-fashioned views in Silicon Valley

0:55
DealBook: Facebook Raises $16 Billion in I.P.O.
» ‎ NYT > Technology

The initial public offering, priced at $38 a share, values Facebook at $104 billion, putting the social networking company on par with McDonald's, Citigroup and Amazon.com.

0:52
Barack Obama tells EU: boost growth now or face a global crisis
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Germany to be urged to ease austerity during G8 talks as fears of global recession grow
Barack Obama is to put pressure on Germany to ease the pain of austerity with policies to boost growth, as he uses two days of talks with the G8 industrial nations to warn Europe that it needs to act swiftly to spare the world economy from a second deep recession in four years.
Prior to the G8 summit at Camp David this weekend, a warning from the ratings agency Fitch that Greece's days in the single currency could be numbered heightened fears in Washington that the worsening crisis in the eurozone poses a threat to America's fragile recovery and President Obama's re-election chances.
Obama will welcome the new French president, François Hollande, as a potential ally in his push for Europe to follow the US in giving a higher priority to expansionary policies, and as a counterweight to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Obama can expect support from David Cameron, who told Merkel and Hollande on Thursday that eurozone leaders must embark on a series of urgent steps to prop up the single currency if a major implosion across the continent is to be avoided.
In a video conference with fellow EU leaders, the prime minister warned of a "remorseless logic" which dictates that struggling members of a single currency are supported by stronger members.
"The prime minister emphasised the importance of Greece and the eurozone taking decisive action to ensure financial stability and prevent contagion," a Downing Street spokesperson said. The video conference included Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, and Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council.
Investors again turned to safe havens, fearing political chaos and economic collapse in Greece having knock-on effects for the global economy. Spain was the main focus of concern, amid reports – denied by the economy minister – of a run on Bankia, the country's fourth-biggest bank. Fitch waited for European markets to close before downgrading Greece's credit rating from B- to CCC.
"The downgrade of Greece's sovereign ratings reflects the heightened risk that Greece may not be able to sustain its membership of economic and monetary union (EMU) ... In the event that the new general elections scheduled for 17 June fail to produce a government with a mandate to continue with the EU-IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme of fiscal austerity and structural reform, an exit of Greece from EMU would be probable," Fitch said.
Leaders of the west's most powerful economies have been meeting for informal talks every year since the oil shock of 1973 brought an end to the postwar boom, and while Obama is not expecting any major decision to emerge from Camp David, it will be a chance for the Americans to vent their frustration that Europe has failed to find a lasting solution to its debt crisis, which is now in its third year.
In Greece, there were hopes that the deposit outflows from banks had reduced. But Stuart Gulliver, chief executive of Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, said: "We're in a worse place than we were a week ago. It remains a very difficult thing to call. I think the second [Greek] election in June will be a referendum on whether to stay in the euro. A month is a very long way away. We are now seeing price action that is consistent with capitulation."
Gulliver said if Greece left the eurozone, a firewall would need to be erected around Spain. If there was a run on banks in Greece, it might not be possible to wait for the elections on 17 June. He said his biggest worry "is absolutely how the eurozone plays out – whether Greece stays in, whether firewalls are high enough to protect Spain and, frankly, whether markets take things into their own hands before 17 June".
Alistair Darling, Labour's chancellor at the time of the Lehman Brothers collapse, said: "From my own experience, these things can blow up in a matter of hours. The slow bleeding of Greek banks should worry everyone. Europe for the last two years has been running round like headless chickens. It's no wonder people now think things will go wrong."
Larry ElliottJill TreanorNicholas WattEwen MacAskill
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
0:22
Iran's persecution of gay community revealed
» ‎ The Guardian World News
Lifestyles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people exposes them to horrific punishment, study finds
The lifestyles of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Iran are comprehensively and systematically denied by the Islamic regime, which exposes them to horrific punishment, bullying and risk of suicide, a study has found.
The first detailed report on Iran's LGBT community has found that its members live under social and state repression, with some being persecuted, forced into exile or even sentenced to death.
The study was conducted by Small Media, a non-profit group based in London. Researchers led by Bronwen Robertson, director of operations, gathered first-hand testimonies from hundreds of LGBT Iranians using face to face interviews or through a secret online forum.
"The bastions of the Islamic Republic of Iran fully realise that an established (albeit secretive) LGBT community exists beneath the folds of fundamentalism in [the country]," says the report. "[But] figuratively speaking, the Iranian government is doing its utmost to sweep the community under a densely woven Persian rug."
In a speech at Columbia University in New York in 2007, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like you do in your country … In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have!"
Yet homosexuality is punishable by death, according to fatwas issued by almost all Iranian clerics. Until recently, lavat (sodomy for men) was a capital offence for all individuals involved in consensual sexual intercourse. But under amendments to the penal code, the person who played an "active role" will be flogged 100 times if the sex was consensual and he was not married, while the one who played a "passive role" can still be put to death regardless of his marriage status.
Punishment for mosahegheh (lesbianism) is 100 lashes for all individuals involved but it can lead to the death penalty if the act is repeated four times.
Among the testimonies gathered by Robertson and her team was that of a 27-year-old gay man from Qazvin in the north-west of Iran. He said: "It's very hard to live as a homosexual in this country. Is it me or is it the culture, society, history or all of them? Loneliness is killing me."
Another said: "If I said I saw myself as being part of this society, I'd be telling the biggest lie of my life. I don't see myself as part of this society at all."
In September last year, three men from the south-western city of Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan province, were reported to have been executed after being found guilty of charges related to homosexuality. This week, there were unconfirmed reports of four men, identified as Saadat Arefi, Vahid Akbari, Javid Akbari and Houshmand Akbari, from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, being sentenced to death for sodomy.
Transsexuality was legalised in Iran in 1987. Yet the report warns that, despite state support for sex-change operations, "the social stigma attached to transsexualism is unwavering and transphobic abuse remains prevalent". It goes on: "Still very much ostracised, transsexual Iranians do not enjoy a privileged status in society."
LGBT Iranians have also fallen victim to the confusion within the Iranian society in regards to differences between being a homosexual and transsexual.
Parents have forced their homosexual children to have sex-change operations, local psychologists and psychiatrists who still deem homosexuality as a mental illness have prescribed cures.
This also exists within the regime with officials often confusing consensual intercourse with rape.
In cases when an execution involving sodomy charges is reported, it's difficult to find out whether the convicts were engaged in consensual sex or whether it's been a rape issue.
One of the contradictions surrounding LGBT life in Iran, is that homosexuals are granted military exemption on the basis that they are mentally ill which will prevent them from doing official work.
The report acknowledges that decriminalisation of homosexuality would not necessarily mean an end to LGBT discrimination. "LGBT issues are particularly taboo and are seldom discussed in Iran's public sphere," it said. "Even if Iran decriminalised homosexuality, it could take decades for it to become socially acceptable in the Islamic Republic of Iran."
As the result, many LGBT members in the country feel excluded from the society. "If I said I saw myself as being part of this society, I'd be telling the biggest lie of my life," said a 26-year-old Iranian gay man. "I don't see myself as part of this society at all. That's because of my homosexuality and the Iranian people's mentality about homosexuality ... I usually refer to Iran as 'your country' instead of 'my country' or 'our country'."
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "[The Iranian LGBT community] show that, despite state repression and the frequent compromises they are forced to make to protect themselves, many Iranian LGBTs manage to get on with their lives and to forge a sense of community and solidarity."
Testimonials from Iran's LGBT community
I am a human being, but I was created with an imperfection. I'm someone that nobody wants to be friends with, someone that even her own family doesn't like … I've been unemployed for 2 years. Nobody will employ me because of the way that I am … I long to become a woman, get married, have a family and find a good job … I like to be surrounded by people, but people always reject me. It's as if I'm from another planet and they don't want to be seen with me. Male to female transsexual, 26 years old, from Lorestan
In my life I've trusted very few people, especially when it comes to my sexual identity, and those whom I've trusted have generally been homosexual too … In order to trust people, I need transparency and honesty more than I need time. Trusting people in the virtual world is much harder, because in the virtual world people can add an extra mask to those they already have and it's hard to figure out exactly who someone is and what their intentions are. Gay male, 22 years old, from Babol
I'd like to leave Iran; I'm getting pretty sick of people … Maybe I'd go to London or Irvine. I'd like to be a basketball coach, but to be a DJ would be my ideal job … in general I haven't had many problems but I often feel like I don't belong to society. Lesbian, 34 years old, Tehran
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
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0:00
Results of House of Bishops’ election for CNC
» ‎ Church of England News

The Bishop of Gloucester and the Bishop of Carlisle have been voted onto the Crown Nominations Commission, CNC, the body that will nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury. This result of the vote by the House of Bishops completes the make-up of the 16 member voting body of the CNC.
0:00
“Send your Holy Spirit to light up our lives” – Torch Relay prayers released
» ‎ Church of England News

Two new prayers, released today at www.olympics.churchofengland.org, are to ‘accompany’ the Torch Relay on its tour of England. They will be used by many of the CofE’s 16,000 churches publicly as the Torch makes its 70-day tour of the nation, travelling within an hour of 95 per cent of people in the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

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