p2pnet World Headlines: March 25, 2011
Art challenges Tunisian revolutionaries Al Jazeera
A crowd has gathered to ponder the black-and-white photographs which have been pasted across the face of building that was, until recent, the local offices of the former president’s much-loathed party. “I have no idea what these photos mean. Do you know?” Meddeb Nejeb, a high school teacher, asks Al Jazeera. He might be yet to grasp the meaning of the photographs, but Nejeb wants to know more. For the artists behind what is one of the most ambitious contemporary street art projects to vibrate the Arab world, the artwork is about replacing the once all-pervasive presidential photography with mosaics of ordinary, anonymous Tunisians who rose up against their government. The group are using street art to kick-start conversations and to challenge their compatriots to see the familiar in a new, post-revolutionary, light.
Yemen’s Saleh offers handover to ‘safe hands’ Agence France-Presse
President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged to hand over power but only to “safe hands,” in a defiant speech to massed supporters Friday, after talks with a top defector failed to defuse Yemen’s crisis. “We will stand firm with you … steadfast in the face of all challenges,” Saleh, wearing a suit and sunglasses and confidently waving his right hand, told vast crowds in the Yemeni capital. “We don’t need power. We need to hand it over to safe hands, and not to corrupt and hateful hands … You are the ones who will be handed power,” he said, triggering massive applause. Saleh, whose concessions and offers to stand down early have been snubbed by the opposition, renewed his invitation for youths at the forefront of the protests to join a dialogue. “I am ready to talk to you and to form a political party for the youths,” said the strongman who has ruled Yemen for more than 30 years.
Court Seals Unclassified Docs in Drake “Leak” Case Secrecy News
Prosecutors in the case of the former National Security Agency official Thomas A. Drake, who is suspected of leaking classified information to a reporter, last week asked the court to block public access to two letters that were introduced as exhibits by the defense earlier this month. Late Friday, the court agreed to seal the two exhibits. But they remain publicly accessible anyway. The exhibits (pdf) describe the classification status of several NSA records that were found in the home of Mr. Drake, explaining why in each case the prosecution considers the records classified. The defense disputes their classification and denies that Mr. Drake ever retained any classified records at his home.
Advertisers in Europe May Face Limits in Use of Keywords New York Times
An adviser to the highest European Union court recommended Thursday that some restrictions be placed on the rights of advertisers to use the names of rivals as keywords to generate sponsored links on Internet search engines. If the court goes along with the opinion, the decision could make some advertisers more cautious in their purchase of the search ads on Google, one of the fastest-growing areas of marketing in recent years, analysts said. “With this opinion, Google’s customers may well reconsider how extensively they want to use a competitor’s mark as an AdWord,” said Kirsten Gilbert, a partner at Marks & Clerk Solicitors in London, referring to Google’s search advertising program.
Martin Sheen Tells Roche Accutane Jury That Actor Marshall Was Future Star Bloomberg News
Martin Sheen described the “extraordinary” talent of fellow actor James Marshall in a trial claiming Roche Holding AG (ROG)’s Accutane acne drug caused Marshall’s inflammatory bowel disease. Sheen testified by video from California to jurors weighing claims by Marshall, 44, who played Louden Downey, a U.S. Marine in the 1992 movie “A Few Good Men.” Sheen, a star of the movie “Apocalypse Now” and the NBC drama “The West Wing,” said Marshall showed great promise before emergency surgery in 1995 to have his colon removed. “He was projected as a pretty serious movie star,” Sheen, 70, told jurors yesterday in state court in Atlantic City, New Jersey. “He had a very unique talent that permitted him to go to that place where all artists try to go, that extremely personal place.” Marshall seeks at least $11 million in damages from Roche, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs. The Basel, Switzerland-based company pulled its brand-name version of Accutane off the market in 2009 after juries awarded millions of dollars in damages to former users over bowel-disease claims.
Policemen cleared of assaulting whistleblower The Local
Two police officers have been cleared of assault in a case that attracted widespread attention after a blogger used techniques worthy of a Stieg Larsson novel to restore photographs and video footage that the officers had forced him to delete. Stockholm District Court dismissed the charges against the officers on Friday, clearing them of any wrongdoing after they ordered the blogger, Jesper Nilsson, to delete photos taken at the Hornstull metro station after he spotted the men roughing up two youths travelling without a valid ticket. According to the indictment, the officers had threatened to report him on harassment and drugs charges if he did not remove the pictures from his mobile phone. He agreed to erase the images. Nilsson’s version of events seemed “more logical and credible” than that of the policemen, said the court, but added there was no proof of coercion since the recording had stopped at that point. The officers also pressed Nilsson up against a wall and snatched his mobile phone from him.
MPs should be able to use Twitter in Commons, committee says Guardian
MPs should be able to use Twitter in the Commons with ‘decorum’, a committee has recommended MPs should be able to use Twitter in the Commons with ‘decorum’, a committee has recommended. Smartphones and iPads should be allowed into the chamber of the House of Commons, a committee report proposing to overthrow the ban on Twitter in parliament has said. The procedures committee has ruled that MPs should be allowed to use such electronic devices during parliamentary debates provided they are on silent and “used in a way that does not impair decorum”. The new rules would also allow them to refer to electronic devices rather than paper notes when making speeches.
Google gets Gaga’d BBC
It was nerd central at the Googleplex as the search engine’s headquarters twinkled with the star power of Lady Gaga, who stopped by while she was in the Bay Area for part of her tour. Of late it has been Facebook and Twitter that have been viewed as the hip and happening places to visit in Silicon Valley. But while those two companies can brag about Katie Perry and Snoop Dogg, Google has shown it can still pull in the big names with undoubtedly the biggest get in showbiz.
March, 2011
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. Subscribe to p2pnet.net | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/feed
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
March 25th, 2011 at 8:21 pm
“A large crowd assembled at Toronto’s upscale Yorkdale Mall to welcome the iPad 2 as it made its official Canadian debut at the Apple Store there on Friday. By 3:30 p.m. the line had reached approximately 150 people–some of whom had lined up overnight in the face of sub-zero temperatures–with more hopefuls continuing to arrive in anticipation of the 5 p.m. launch.”
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/223403/fans_line_up_to_welcome_the_ipad_2_in_toronto.html
There’s an Apple sucker born every minute.