21. april 2003

Iranian blogger arrested The well-known Iranian blogger and journalist Sina Motallebi was recently arrested for "threatening national security." 11:57:44 AM    comment []

Ninety per cent of workers will give password for pen Nine out of ten office workers quizzed in an unofficial survey were willing to give the password to their work PCs away for a cheap pen. One interviewee said, "I am the CEO, I will not give you my password it could compromise my company's information". A good start, but then the company boss blew it. He later said that his password was his daughter's name. What is your daughters name the interviewer cheekily asked. He replied without thinking: "Tasmin". If you think the greatest danger to computer security is yet undiscovered holes in Windows XP, think again! 9:06:54 AM    comment []

Bad taste is universal I listened to BBC World radio tonight, and they read a letter from a young listener in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. He wrote that his favourite band was Westlife, and that he liked football, and was a big fan of Manchester United's David Beckham. That was when I switched to another channel. 7:51:18 AM    comment []

First Iraqi post-war newspaper is red The US-led coalition has brouught freedom of speech to Iraq, and the first newspaper to reach the streets was "People's Path", an eight-page publiction from the long-banned Iraqi communist party. The Baghdad citizens who picked up the free newspaper could for the first time read harsh criticism of the former regime, and praise of the Kurdish rebels in the north. 5:46:49 AM    comment []

Who are you and what have you done to the real George Bush? Bush says he has seen "positive signs" that Syria is "getting the message." After weeks of harsh words from Rumsfeld, Powell and Bush himself, this is an interesting development. On the question of North Korea, Bush seems very upbeat about negotiations to solve the conflict. 3:40:13 AM    comment []

Saddam's son-in-law surrenders Jamal Mustafa Sultan al-Tikriti, who is number 40 in the US deck of Iraqi crooks, has surrendered to an Iraqi opposition group, and will be handed over to US forces shortly. He has returned from Syria, an indication that US pressure on the country has had some success. Al-Tikriti has the dubious honour of being the only man to survive being married to a daughter of Saddam Hussein. The ex-dictator is not exactly the dream father-in-law. 1:48:25 AM    comment []

Tired star Madonna's American Life album is about to arrive in the record shops, but it's difficult to remember a time when the queen of pop received worse reviews. 1:05:58 AM    comment []

Bush believes in negotiations with North Korea US President George Bush expressed optimism about being able to defuse the North Korean nuclear standoff through negotiations. A joint effort by South Korea, Japan, China and the US, he said, "working together, have a good chance of convincing North Korea to abandon her ambitions to develop a nuclear arsenal." Apparently, the English-language translation of North Korea's statement about reprocessing spent fuel rods had been inaccurate; the original said the country was onm the verge of doing this, not that it had already started. Earlier, the talks were in doubt, but now it seems the Bush administration is set to give the talks its best shot. 12:43:31 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2003; 02:59:26.