p2pnet World Headlines: Dec 15, 2009
Dark-skinned Jesus upsets Italy’s anti-immigration party Reuters
A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy’s anti-immigration Northern League party. The nativity’s appearance coincides with the League’s controversial operation “White Christmas,” a two-month sweep ending on Christmas Day to ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan. The Christmas scene — featuring a dark-skinned baby Jesus dressed in a red shirt and lying in a manger — was the idea of Mario Giulio Schinaia, the chief Public Prosecutor in Verona. “History teaches us that baby Jesus and his parents were very probably dark-skinned,” Schinaia told Reuters. “This nativity belongs to a universal Christmas tradition that brings together the whole of Christianity in celebration.”
Opera eyes likely victory in Microsoft browser war Times Online
European regulators are this week expected to force Microsoft to publicise rival browsers within its Windows operating system, The Norwegian web browser company Opera is on Tuesday expected to mark a major victory in its battle with Microsoft. European Union antitrust regulators are likely to accept Microsoft’s amended plan to make it easier for consumers to choose rival browsers, including Opera, for use on the US software company’s Windows operating system, which is installed on 90 per cent of the world’s personal computers. Opera, which has around 2 per cent share of the browser market, filed an antitrust complaint two years ago accusing Microsoft of abusing its dominant position by tying its browser Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system., The Norwegian company is fighting bigger rivals including Microsoft, Google and Apple for market share. According to analysts Net Applications, Internet Explorer has about 64 per cent of the market, while Mozilla’s Firefox has 25 per cent. The remaining browsers each have 4 per cent or less.
Cuba detains U.S. government contractor Washington Post
The Cuban government has arrested an American citizen working on contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was distributing cellphones and laptop computers to Cuban activists, State Department officials and congressional sources said Saturday. The contractor, who has not been identified, works for Bethesda-based Development Alternatives. The company said in a statement that it was awarded a government contract last year to help USAID “support the rule of law and human rights, political competition and consensus building” in Cuba. Consular officers with the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, the capital, are seeking access to the contractor, who was arrested Dec. 5. The charges have not been made public. Under Cuban law, however, a Cuban citizen or a foreign visitor can be arrested for nearly anything under the claim of “dangerousness.”
Court to review employer access to worker messages Associated Press
The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide how much privacy workers have when they send text messages from on their employers’ accounts. The justices intervened in a case from Ontario, Calif., where three police officers and another employee complained that the department improperly snooped on their electronic exchanges, including many that were said to be sexually explicit. While the case involves government workers, the decision could have broader privacy implications. Many employers tell workers there is no guarantee of privacy in anything sent over their company- or government-provided computers, cell phones or pagers.
Microsoft fined for using ‘money power’ Economic Times
Delhi High Court has asked Microsoft Corporation to shell out Rs 800,000 ($16,000) for choosing to fight four copyright violation cases in the Indian capital even though they originated in other cities. The order came after the court found that the alleged violations occurred in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Mumbai. Not only did the court note that Microsoft had offices in these cities, but it also said the company was using “money power” to “harass” the defendants, who would have to travel to Delhi to fight the cases. Another reason why Microsoft was found to have chosen the capital to fight the cases was that the Delhi High Court has the jurisdiction to order compensation of up to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million).
France to Digitize Its Own Literary Works New York Times
President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged nearly $1.1 billion on Monday toward the computer scanning of French literary works, audiovisual archives and historical documents, an announcement that underscored his government’s desire to maintain control over France’s cultural heritage in an era of digitization. The French National Library announced in August that it was engaged in discussions with Google over the digitization of its collections, part of a global effort by Google to digitize the world’s literary works. This provoked an uproar among French officials and the publishing community here, and the discussions were suspended. “We won’t let ourselves be stripped of our heritage to the benefit of a big company, no matter how friendly, big or American it is,” Mr. Sarkozy said last week, apparently in a reference to Google. The money pledged Monday will finance a public-private partnership that will digitize the nation’s cultural works, Mr. Sarkozy said. Yet that partnership might well involve Google. ['Might'? heh]
EU warms to Oracle’s $7 billion purchase of Sun Reuters
EU regulators signaled they could clear Oracle Corp’s $7 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc, after the U.S. software company promised measures to ease competition concerns. The European Union’s executive European Commission said it was optimistic a “satisfactory outcome” was possible. It had previously objected to the deal, citing possible competition constraints on Sun’s MySQL database after the takeover.
Cherrypal Launches World’s First $99 Laptop PRNewswire
Cherrypal, the company that brought the world’s “greenest” desktop computer to market last year, announced today that it has officially launched the first $99 laptop computer: the Cherrypal Africa. With a screen size of just 7 inches, the Africa is a mini netbook computer that enables anyone to browse the Internet at an affordable price. “At Cherrypal, we’re extremely conscious of the so-called ‘digital divide’,” said Max Seybold, the company’s founder. “We’re constantly looking for ways to bridge that gap, and the Cherrypal Africa is a huge step in the right direction. Plus, everyone who has tried it has absolutely loved it!” Named after Cherrypal’s recent community building initiative in Ghana, the Africa packs quite a punch for its size and price point. The computer runs on a 400 MHz processor and features 256 GB RAM, 2 GB flash memory and can run either Linux or Windows CE operating systems.
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December, 2009
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