Monthly Archives: January 2020

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Yesterday, the US’s Obama administration said it has ordered an investigation into the appropriateness of military hardware being sold to and deployed by police forces in the United States. This investigation comes after the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9.

A spokesman for the administration said Obama “has directed a review of federal programs and funding that enable state and local law enforcement to purchase military equipment”. The review is to consider issues around training and federal oversight.

Obama said on Monday: “There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don’t want those lines blurred[…] That would be contrary to our traditions.”

Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, announced earlier last week the US Department of Homeland Security’s Financial and Contracting Oversight Subcommittee will have a hearing in September on demilitarization of police forces. McCaskill said of the events in Ferguson: “We need to demilitarize this situation — this kind of response by the police has become the problem instead of the solution”.

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, wrote an op-ed for Time arguing militarization of the police needed to be ended: “There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response. The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.”

Paul continued: “Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies — where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.”

Paul also argued race played a part in the provision of justice in the United States: “Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. Our prisons are full of black and brown men and women who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent mistakes in their youth.”

Friday, October 17, 2008

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is preparing a series of loans to both Hungary and Ukraine as financial problems are hitting the two countries. Hungary has already received a €5 billion credit line from the European Central Bank (ECB). Ukraine is seeking a loan of up to US$14 billion.

The credit line to Hungary will be used to cover banks’ shortage of euros. Hungary has a severe debt problem with them posting an account deficit of €5.3 billion or 4.9% of GDP this year. As a result of this, Hungary is unable to find suitable credit to store up its supply of euros.

“We are in close dialogue with the Hungarian authorities and the EU to discuss further responses to the current challenges, including possible technical and financial support by the IMF”, said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF. “I have informed the authorities that the IMF stands ready to assist their efforts. We will provide technical assistance as needed and, in the context of a supportive policy setting, are ready to undertake [decisions] on possible financial assistance, responding rapidly.”

Ukraine’s Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk met with an IMF team on Thursday. In a statement, Pynzenyk said “the parties discussed a situation of influence the world financial crisis had on the economy of Ukraine.” It is not yet known how much the IMF is expected to lend to Ukraine but it is expected to be between $3 billion to $14 billion. It is also not known what type of conditions might be placed on the loan.

In addition to financial uncertainty, Ukraine is suffering from political turmoil with the current President, Viktor Yushchenko, calling a snap parliamentary election for December. The Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, has made moves to stop the election. Ukraine’s yearly trade deficit has increased by almost $7 billion since last year.

The credit line by the European Central Bank is the first time publicly that it has extended help to countries other than the 15 that make up the Eurozone.

According to Reuters, Hungary might be able to start the process of joining the euro quicker then expected. Currently, Hungary is on track to join the euro in 2011 or 2012, but if sped up, it is possible it could join as early as 2010. This might protect Hungary from further financial problems.

Monday, January 7, 2019

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday he can and may declare a national state of emergency, which he said would allow him to act without approval from Congress and allocate funding for the construction of a wall along the country’s border with Mexico. The US government is currently partially shut down because the president and Congress could not agree on a national budget. The President insists that the budget include funding for the wall, which was one of his campaign promises, but Congress has not passed his proposed budget.

Trump said on Friday “I can do it [call a national emergency] if I want. I may do it.” Trump also said that he would prefer to agree a solution with the opposition. He also said, “I never threaten anybody.” He also claimed that the wall was a crucial part of America’s border security. The Vice President, Mike Pence, said on Friday the United States is “in the midst of a crisis on our southern border.” Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, said on Friday “We are committed to keeping our border safe. We can do that best when government is open. We made that clear to the president.”

The Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, said on Friday “We made a plea to the president once again: don’t hold hundreds of thousands of federal workers hostage” and “So we told the president we needed the government open. He resisted.”

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin and incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee Represenative Adam Schiff both yesterday questioned the President’s power to do as he proposed. Schiff called it “a non-starter”. Durbin said “I can just tell you, I don’t know what he’s basing this on, but he’s faced so many lawsuits when he ignores the law and ignores tradition and precedent and just goes forward without any concern”.

President Trump claims he would be okay if the impasse over the shutdown went on for “years.” This lockdown started on December 22, last year. Some museums, the National Zoo, and immigration courts have shut, with some people working in still-open services without pay. The Internal Revenue Service website advises citizens to continue paying their federal taxes. Some services are still open, including medical services Medicare and Medicaid. Federal courts are relying on non-government sources, like court fees, for funding.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

According to judicial spokesman Edwin Escobar, Alvaro Colom, president of Guatemala, and Sandra Torres, the first lady, have applied for a divorce. It is said that the couple, who have been married for eight years, have done so so that Torres can apply for presidency.

The couple applied for divorce on March 11, Escobar said. He says the couple have given mutual consent and did not reveal the names of their lawyers.

Presidential spokesman Giusseppe Calvinisti has denied having any information about the planned divorce.

Before Escobar made the announcement, opposition leader Roxanna Baldetti had warned that the couple were planning to split to let Torres run for the presidency. Many political observers believe the couple filed their request so that Torres can stand to succeed her husband when his term ends in September, as the Guatemalan constitution does not allow close relatives of the president to do so.

Comments on the divorce have ranged from ‘unthinkable’ to ‘a fraud’, the latter description by Patriotic Party candidate Otto Perez. According to Perez, the divorce will not let the Torres run for presidency. “The law does not state a time frame of when a person ceases to be a relative of the President.”

The Constitutional Court in Guatemala, the highest legal authority that determines the legitimacy of a presidential candidate, is to be taken over by new members in April. Legal experts doubt the impartiality of the new judges. They noticed ‘ominous signs of political pressures’ that would cause them to defend partisan interests rather than uphold justice.

Saturday, September 3, 2005

Blizzard Entertainment has won a federal ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals against the programmers of bnetd, a software package that emulates Blizzard’s Battle.net service. The court reaffirmed the original judgement, given in October, that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and click-through EULA‘s prohibited the reverse engineering of Blizzard’s software in order to improve their playability. This was the first real test of the DMCA’s applicability.

Bnetd, released under the GNU General Public License, was created to enable users to play multiplayer games, bypassing Blizzard’s freely accessible Battle.net servers, which have sometimes been unreliable or slow for gamers. The software also disabled the CD-Key check which is present in Battle.net to prevent users of pirated copies from being able to connect to Blizzard’s servers. Offers by bnetd developers to incorporate Blizzard’s CD-Check system were declined.

The CD-Check system itself has faced controversy, with some users complaining it borders on breaching privacy in the same way as adware and other malevolent software. This is not confined to Blizzard: controversy occurred when Sony Online Entertainment‘s EverQuest had a similar system which was later disabled due to complaints. Other games designed for network play are also known to have similar systems in place, the most prominent perhaps being Valve Software‘s Steam system developed for Half-Life 2.

Blizzard has produced many popular titles such as Starcraft, World of Warcraft and the Diablo series.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

A complex series of events, including a five month-old computer error, was responsible for the battery failure that led to the loss of NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor last year, an internal review board says. Findings from a preliminary report released on Friday say that while NASA controllers followed procedures while operating the craft, the procedures did not cover the types of errors that occurred.

According to NASA, on November 2, 2006, the Global Surveyor was ordered to perform a routine adjustment of its solar panels. However, the Global Surveyor reoriented to an angle that exposed one of its two batteries to direct sunlight. The battery overheated, which led to the depletion of both batteries. An incorrect setting in antenna orientation prevented Global Surveyor from relaying its status to NASA controllers. Its preprogrammed systems did not take into account the need to maintain a thermally safe orientation.

That was the last communication that NASA controllers had with the spacecraft.

The Global Surveyor was the first US mission to Mars in twenty years, For ten years, the craft returned detailed information to NASA scientists providing new insights, including evidence that appeared to show the presence of water on Mars and identification of deposits of water-related minerals, which led to selection of a Mars rover landing site.

“The loss of the spacecraft was the result of a series of events linked to a computer error made five months before the likely battery failure,” said Dolly Perkins, board chairperson and deputy director-technical of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The board concluded that NASA controllers had followed procedures, but that the procedures did not adequately cover the type of errors that occurred. In its final report, the board will offer recommendations applicable to future missions.

“We are making an end-to-end review of all our missions to be sure that we apply the lessons learned from Mars Global Surveyor to all our ongoing missions,” said Fuk Li, Mars Exploration Program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Global Surveyor was the longest operating spacecraft at Mars and had lasted four times longer than expected.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

New South Wales Premier, Morris Iemma quit politics on Friday after a disagreement with the governing Australian Labor Party’s dominant “Centre Unity” faction about his proposed cabinet reshuffle. The reshuffle was prompted by the resignation of Deputy Premier John Watkins and the sackings of Treasurer Michael Costa and Health Minister Reba Meagher.

The political fallout follows the botched attempt to privatise the state’s electricity industry.

The right of the Labor party was presented with a list of colleagues who the Premier wanted in and out of his reshuffled cabinet. MPs were frustrated that Joe Tripodi was not on the our list. MPs rejected Iemma’s list and demanded the chance to vote upon it. Mr Iemma then told the faction that unless they accepted his cabinet he would resign. Caucus called Iemma’s bluff and said Iemma had lost support of the party.

The party then looked to the left-wing faction of the party and Nathan Rees was appointed unanimously and unopposed, Carmel Tebbutt was appointed as the state’s deputy premier.

It is the first time in 117 years that a Premier has lost support of his own party and the first time in NSW Labor history that the party has been led by a member from the left.

Speaking to the media, Mr Iemma said he could not lead a cabinet that was not of his own choosing.

“I took what I believed to be a package of renewal, reform and refreshment, for the party, the Cabinet. That was not accepted, so I tendered my resignation.

“I wasn’t going to serve as the head of a Cabinet that was being foisted on me and I wanted change and that was not going to be possible, so I tendered my resignation.”

Following his appointment, Nathan Rees told reporters that he had been elected as Premier of NSW. “Morris Iemma resigned as premier today, I nominated for the vacancy and I was elected unanimously by the full Labor caucus,” Rees said.

“We start work today for the people of New South Wales, we start work this afternoon to deliver services to the people of New South Wales”.

Rees and Tebbutt were sworn in by Governor Marie Bashir on Friday afternoon.