Amnesty Condemns U.S. for War on Terror TortureThe United States has failed to guard against torture and inhuman behavior since launching its "war on terror" after Sept. 11, 2001, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report just days before the U.S. election.

Vancouver Sun:RCMP are looking into explosive comments made by Vancouver Muslim cleric

RCMP and Vancouver police are investigating explosive comments made by a Vancouver Muslim cleric who has preached the virtues of "offensive jihad" and called Jews "the brothers of monkeys and swine."

Police authorities said an "active" joint RCMP-Vancouver Police investigation has been underway for "some time."

But Vancouver police Const. Anne Drennan said there are no immediate concerns about the mosque.

"We have no reason to believe at this point that there's any potential for violence. The fact that we are all aware -- both the city police and the RCMP -- is a positive thing should anything occur. But at this point, there is nothing to indicate a likelihood of violence breaking out."

News | canada.com network: "Muslim leader espouses jihad"
Vancouver mosque attended regularly by a local man reported killed in Chechnya has preached the virtues of jihad and called Jews "the brothers of monkeys and swine."

In a lecture posted on the mosque's website, Sheik Younus Kathrada tells an audience all real Muslims want to be martyred. "It is inconceivable that a true believer will not desire martyrdom," Kathrada says.

"When we hear of our fellow Muslims in Palestine and what they're going through to try and defend that great land for us, the Muslims, that individual should wish that he was there."

Wired News: WanderPod Brings Wi-Fi Anywhere: "WanderPort sent a small crew to Mojave to unveil the WanderPod, a rolling Wi-Fi hot spot consisting of a small trailer tricked out with a diesel generator, an antenna, juiced-up access-point hardware and a satellite dish that serves as a broadband data link. The target market: anyone who needs to get on the net from remote locations or places where infrastructure has been knocked out.
What Stacey has in mind is a place like Florida, in the wake of its recent series of hurricanes, or even Sudan, where the United Nations and aid groups are responding to the refugee crisis in Darfur. In other words, places well beyond conventional net access."

Boston.com / News / Washington / With Weapons
Reaction Wednesday to the final report from the Iraq Survey Group, which found no evidence Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991:

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The eyes that cannot see beyond Jabaliya and SamarraAt first glance the violence in Jabaliya in Palestine and in the Iraqi town of Samarra appear to be unconnected. The Israeli army's incursion into northern Gaza looks like just another deadeningly familiar episode in the unending conflict between Palestinians and Jews.

The US-led weekend assault on insurgents in mainly Sunni Samarra seems to be broadly typical of the continuing turmoil in Iraq.

But peer beneath the headlines and it is clear that these ostensibly separate events are far from routine, and are closely linked in many ways, directly and indirectly.

Menlu akan Klarifikasi Kasus Farida Abdullah Menteri Luar Negeri Hassan Wirajudha akan melakukan klarifikasi atas kasus yang terjadi di New York, Amerika Serikat, yang melibatkan 41 warga dan diplomat Indonesia.

"Saya membaca berita hari ini, tentu kami akan mencoba mengecek kebenaran dan klarifikasi atas informasi itu," kata Menlu di Istana Merdeka, Senin, usai mendampingi Presiden Megawati Soekarnoputri menemui beberapa Dubes negara sahabat.

Pengakuan Farida Gegerkan Masyarakat Indonesia di New YorkFarida Abdullah, perempuan tamatan SD, menggegerkan masyarakat Indonesia di New York, Amerika Serikat, karena pengakuannya di hadapan Notary Public bahwa ia telah melakukan skandal seks dengan 41 orang warga dan diplomat Indonesia.

"Dia berasal dari Lombok dan bahasa Indonesianya juga lemah. Anehnya, ia pintar mencatat nama-nama yang pernah berhubungan dengannya," kata M. Syamsi Ali, tokoh masyarakat Indonesia di New York, Senin.

KBRI Watch Minta Deplu Tangani Kasus Skandal Seks di New YorKBRI Watch yang berkedudukan di Washington, DC meminta klarifikasi kepada Pemerintah Indonesia via Departemen Luar Negeri mengenai kasus skandal seksual yang melibatkan seorang WNI bernama Farida Abdullah dengan setidaknya 41 warga, jemaat gereja dan diplomat Indonesia di kota New York, Amerika Serikat.

Indonesia Ranking Ke-4 Dunia Kejahatan Berbasis TIPadang, 16 September 2004 17:34Indonesia merupakan negara paling rawan keempat di dunia dalam kejahatan berbasis teknologi informasi (TI), meliputi manipulasi serta pencurian data kartu kredit dan rahasia dagang, pencucian uang, perdagangan narkotika dan senjata ilegal, pembajakan piranti lunak, pornografi, perjudian online dan teroris."Indonesia terus mengalami hambatan untuk masuk dalam sistem pembayaran oneline melalui payment gateway dan e-commerce global, karena belum memiliki undang-undang yang melindungi para pihak dalam penyelenggaraan e-commerce," kata Asdep Urusan Perundangan Telematika Kementerian Kominfo Yappi Manfe, SH, di Padang, Kamis.Ia berbicara di hadapan peserta acara sosialisasi RUU Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik (ITE), Kebijakan dan Strategi Pengembangan E-Goverment yang digelar Kementerian Kominfo, bekerja sama dengan Pemprov Sumbar.Yappi mencontohkan, ketika WNI menggunakan kartu kredit ketika berumroh sering ditolak dan diminta untuk membayar tunai.Menurut dia, hal itu terjadi karena kini Indonesia tidak lagi dipercaya apalagi setelah menyandang predikat rangking empat dunia untuk kejahatan berbasis TI."Parahnya, negara-negara Uni Eropa mengeluarkan directive yang mengharuskan mitra dagangnya memiliki peraturan yang melindungi transfer data dan informasi, sebagai privasi dalam perdagangan secara elektronik," katanya.Lebih jauh ia mengatakan, kejahatan berbasis TI sulit dibuktikan bahkan hakim-pun sulit menerima informasi eletronik sebagai alat bukti, misalnya ketika mantan presiden BJ Habibie memberikan kesaksian atas kasus `bullogate` lewat teknologi informasi, atau penyidik mengemukakan bukti yang diperoleh melalui informasi elektronik.Untuk itu RUU ITE ini, kata Yappi, mendesak disosialisaikan agar masyarakat mengetahui materi cakupan pengaturan serta hak-hak dan kewajibannya dalam melakukan berbagai kegiatan dengan memanfaatkan informasi terkait pengelolaan dan pemanfaatan informasi serta berbagai transaksi yang menggunakan elektronik.Sebab, perkembangan TI yang sangat pesat telah mengubah kehidupan manusia dalam berbagai bidang dan melahirkan perbuatan hukum baru yang perlu diatur dalam UU sekaligus mencegah dampak negatifnya.Sementara itu, negara-negara maju yang telah menerbitkan UU ITE (cyberlaw) di Asia adalah Singapura, Hongkong, Malaysia, Filipina, India, Korea Selatan dan Jepang.Ia menjelaskan, RUU ITE Indonesia terdiri atas 13 Bab dan 48 Pasal. Bagian dari bab-bab itu antara lain memuat nama domain, HKI dan perlindungan hak pribadi serta transaksi elektronik.Bab lain memuat peran pemerintah dan masyarakat, penyelesaian sengketa, penyidikan, penuntutan dan pemeriksaan di sidang pengadilan serta ketentuan pidana.

Vitamins only take you closer to death : HindustanTimes.com: "If you thought that popping vitamin pills would make you stronger, think again.
Researchers led by Dr Goran Bjelakovic of the University of Nis in Serbia-Montenegro have revealed that these pills only take you closer to death.
Published in The Lancet, the study reveals that the careless intake of Vitamin supplements enhances cancer risks and increases the overall risk of death, rather than saving lives.
The researchers studied 170,000 patients suffering from cancers of the gullet, stomach and intestine, bowel, pancreas and liver and found that consumption of supplements of beta-carotene, Vitamins A, C and E, and selenium, alone or in combination had no protective effect on them.
In fact the risk of death was found to be 30 percent higher in people taking beta-carotene and vitamin A than for those not taking the combination.
'Our results for the detrimental effect of antioxidant supplements on mortality were unexpected,' the researchers write.
However researchers have cautioned that the findings are preliminary, and the negative effects of vitamins might be due to people taking vitamin doses above the medically recommended levels."