Routine journeys carried out by millions of British motorists can be monitored by authorities in the United States and other enforcement agencies across the world under anti-terrorism rules introduced discreetly by Jacqui Smith.
The discovery that images of cars captured on road-side cameras, and “personal data” derived from them, including number plates, can be sent overseas, has angered MPs and civil liberties groups concerned by the increasing use of “Big Brother” surveillance tactics.
– The Telegraph
The UN secretary general issued a gloomy warning yesterday that the deepening global food crisis, in which rapidly rising prices have triggered riots and threatened hunger in dozens of countries, could have grave implications for international security, economic growth and social progress.
Ban Ki-moon told a trade and development conference in Accra, Ghana, that the surge in prices of basic foodstuffs like cereals since last year could cancel out progress made towards meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goal of halving world poverty by 2015.
– The Guardian
A major weakness in the way businesses conduct their affairs online is that employers often fail to train their workers adequately in the use of computers and how to safely access the internet.
Professor Jim Norton, e-commerce and e-government adviser to the Institute of Directors, which represents 54,000 firms, says white-collar employees need to be educated in how to access computers and the internet. Such training can be bought in from private providers, colleges or universities and firms can seek advice from local chambers of commerce, Business Link and Get Safe Online. Training is best provided in short frequent bursts.
– The Times
The head of the most powerful Shia militia in Iraq has threatened all-out war in a final ultimatum unless Iraqi and US forces halt operations against his fighters.
The prospect of a showdown with the al-Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who launched two uprisings against US forces in 2004, comes as fears mount of a renewed campaign of bloodletting by Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.
An upsurge in violence on these two, key fronts could unravel a raft of security gains made by the US military over the past year, at a time when more than 20,000 US troops are withdrawing from the country.
– The Times
