Woman, 66, freezes to death on Toronto driveway after her cries for help ignored

TORONTO - A 66-year-old woman, who was found without vital signs on a Toronto driveway in the bitter cold, died after no one answered her cries for help, police said Monday.

Police called it a "tragic death" that might have had a different outcome, if only someone had called them.

A newspaper delivery woman found the woman at about 5:30 a.m. Monday on Kennaley Cres. in the Brimley Road and McNicoll Avenue area, just a block away from her home, police said.

It's believed the woman, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had wandered away from her home in -20 degree temperatures around 2 a.m., police said.

Sgt. David Dube said some neighbours heard the woman crying out in distress in the driveway, but no one called 911 or came to her aid.

"I can tell you around 2 a.m., through our investigation, there's a couple of neighbours in the area who did hear a scream," said Dube.

"We do not suspect foul play. We believe she was distraught and was perhaps looking for help," he said.

"I think one of them actually saw this person in a bit of distress but didn't know what was going on but did not call us," added Dube.

The veteran officer, who's been on the force for 24 years, said he was "somewhat surprised" no one called police, noting it is a good community. He urged people to call police immediately if they hear someone screaming for help.

"If you're going to be a community member I think we have an obligation to look after one another and do the right thing," said Dube.

"I think if someone would have called the police right away there could have been a different outcome," he added.

Police say the woman's husband had last seen his wife about 2 a.m. When he woke up and she wasn't there, he called police and a search was launched about 4:45 a.m., Dube said.

When she was found, the woman wasn't wearing her coat or glasses and she had no pulse.

"Our officers tried CPR. Due to her condition, the hypothermia, the chest compressions were difficult," said Dube.

Police said finger marks could be seen on a vehicle in the driveway where the woman had likely tried to pull herself up off of the ground.

There were also scratch marks on the screen door to the home and Dube said he suspects the woman may have tried to get inside.

The woman was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead at 7:05 a.m.

Toronto has been under an extreme cold weather alert since Saturday.

The city sends out the alerts when the temperature drops below -15 C, with or without the windchill.

All I can think of is this is pretty much typical of the society we now live in no one wants to get involved. Its really very sad and to those people that don't want to get involved I put this to you, think what if this was your grandmother,mother,sister a family member that died this way would you want to have gotten involved then or have at least the hope that some stranger would help them?

Coroner Rules Jackson's Death Homicide

Well it looks like Michael Jacksons Death is going to be ruled a Homicide acording to an AP source sometime soon. I wonder how the family is going to respond and who will be charged.

LOS ANGELES – A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that the Los Angeles County coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide.

The finding makes it more likely criminal charges will be filed against the doctor who was with the pop star when he died.

The official says the coroner determined a fatal combination of drugs was given to Jackson hours before he died in his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released.

Forensic tests found the powerful anesthetic propofol in Jackson's system along with two sedatives, the official says.

Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, is the target of a manslaughter probe headed by Los Angeles police.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

HOUSTON (AP) — A search warrant affidavit says Michael Jackson had lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol in his system when he died.

The document unsealed Monday allowed officials to raid the Houston offices and storage facility of Dr. Conrad Murray last month.

It says Murray told a Los Angeles police officer he administered several drugs to Jackson the day he died, including 25 milligrams of the sedative, which he gave intravenously.

The affidavit says Murray never ordered, purchased or received any of the propofol but that the doctor found about eight bottles of it in Jackson's home along with numerous other vials and pills.

Jackson Cardiologist Not A Suspect

More news on Jacksons Death and the Doctor who was present at the time.

LOS ANGELES – The cardiologist who was with Michael Jackson when he collapsed is "in no way a suspect" in the pop singer's death, a spokeswoman for the doctor said Saturday after a three-hour interview with detectives.

Dr. Conrad Murray "helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies," spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik said in a statement. "Investigators say the doctor is in no way a suspect and remains a witness to this tragedy."

Police confirmed that they interviewed Murray, adding that he was cooperative and "provided information which will aid the investigation."

The statement said Murray rode in the ambulance and stayed at the hospital for hours, "comforting and consoling the Jackson family." It also said he has been in Los Angeles since Jackson's death, and plans to stay here until his cooperation is no longer needed.

Murray was with Jackson when the singer stopped breathing Thursday, and reportedly performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

News of the meeting came a few hours after the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the pop star's family is seeking a second autopsy of the pop icon because of unanswered questions about how he died.

"It's abnormal," he said from Chicago a day after visiting the Jackson family. "We don't know what happened. Was he injected and with what? All reasonable doubt should be addressed."

People close to Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about the superstar's use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed their autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken prescription medication.

Medical officials also said there was no indication of trauma or foul play. An official cause of death could take weeks.

The coroner's office released the body to Jackson's family Friday night. There was no immediate word on whether the second autopsy was being performed right away. Jesse Jackson described the family as grief-stricken.

"They're hurt because they lost a son. But the wound is now being kept open by the mystery and unanswered questions of the cause of death," he said.

One of Jackson's longtime lawyers was chosen to represent the family's legal interests, a person close to the situation said Saturday. Katherine Jackson, the singer's mother, selected L. Londell McMillan, who has represented Jackson in several cases, said the person, who requested anonymity because the matter is private.

Two days after Jackson died at a Los Angeles hospital, sisters Janet and La Toya arrived at the mansion Jackson had been renting. They left without addressing reporters.

Moving vans also showed up at the Jackson home, leaving about an hour later. There was no indication what they might have taken away.

The Jackson family issued a statement Saturday expressing its grief over the death and thanking his supporters.

"In one of the darkest moments of our lives we find it hard to find the words appropriate to this sudden tragedy we all had to encounter," said the statement made through People magazine. "We miss Michael endlessly."

The Jackson family did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

There was also no word from the family on funeral plans. Many of Jackson's relatives have gathered at the family's Encino compound, caring there for Jackson's three children.

A person close to the family told the AP they feel upset and angry about a lack of information about those who were around the pop superstar in his final days. The person requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation.

Jackson had been rehearsing for 50 London concerts aimed at restoring his crown as the King of Pop. He died Thursday at age 50 after what his family said appeared to be cardiac arrest.

Police towed Murray's car from Jackson's home hours after Jackson died and said later it could contain medication or other evidence. Coroner's officials also said Jackson was taking prescription medication but declined to elaborate.

Murray lives in Las Vegas but apparently left his practice and moved in with Jackson about two weeks ago. No one answered the door Saturday at his Las Vegas home, which property records show Murray bought five years ago for $1.1 million.

The promoter of the series of London concerts that Jackson was to begin next month has said Jackson personally insisted Murray be on the payroll.

Also Saturday, spiritual teacher Dr. Deepak Chopra said he had been concerned since 2005 that Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.

Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the singer was staying with him following his trial on sex abuse allegations. Chopra said he refused. He also said the nanny of Jackson's children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson's drug use over the next four years.

He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson's homes in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Whenever the subject came up, Jackson would avoid his calls, Chopra said.

Michael Jackson 911 Tape Released and Other Coverage

Some more news coverage of Michael Jackson's death the 911 call is interesting in that they say a doctor was present.

Pirate Bay Retrial Plea Rejected

It's kinda interesting that a Judge did not reveal some of the groups he belongs too that would seem like a conflict of interest to most lay people. What do you think does something stink about this and do you think they should have a new trial?

A Swedish court has thrown out a request for a retrial by the four men behind The Pirate Bay website.

The four were found guilty of promoting copyright infringement in April and face jail sentences and hefty claims for damages.

The Pirate Bay's lawyers called for a retrial when it emerged that one of the judges in the case belonged to several copyright protection groups.

The Swedish court said the judge's affiliations did not bias the case.

The Svea Court of Appeal said Judge Tomas Norstrom should have declared that he was a member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Swedish Copyright Association before the case went to trial.

"The fact that he failed to shed light on this does not however mean that there was any wrongdoing during the proceedings that would require a retrial," said the court in a statement.

"This was not a case of bias," concluded the court.

No appeal is allowed against the judgement.

The Pirate Bay is well-known for hosting lists of websites where people can get pirated copies of movies, music, software and TV shows.

The Pirate Bay defended itself saying that it did not infringe copyright because none of the pirated material is stored on its servers.

The court found them guilty because, it said, they continued to operate the service even when they knew users were being pointed to pirated material.

The four men behind The Pirate Bay, Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde, were sentenced to one year in jail and told to pay damages of 30m Swedish kronor (£2.3m, 2.7m euros) to entertainment companies such as Warner Bros and Sony Music Entertainment.

In response to the ruling Peter Sunde said The Pirate Bay would now file charges against Sweden for violating the human rights of the defendants.

Micheal Jackson Dead At 50

"I don't know how I'm going to do 50 shows. I'm not a big eater - I need to put some weight on"

Numerous sources other than TMZ.com are now reporting Micheal Jackson has died at the age of 50. He collapsed at his home at 3:19 Pacific time, first responders are reporting he did not have a pulse and CPR was administered. It took ten minutes to reach an hospital in LA. There are some reports that Doctors pronounced Micheal Jackson dead after being in a coma for a short span of time. At the time of writing this, the story is still developing and I'm sure more will be known over the next few hours and days.

Dalai Lama says Chinese-ruled Tibet 'hell on earth'

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has accused China of bringing "hell on earth" to his homeland. The 73-year-old monk also called for meaningful autonomy for Tibetans in his speech last Tuesday marking the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China.

Make a Difference for Tibet II

tahoejimbo420 said...
It will not do any good, the wealthiest communist capitalistic government in the world (and loans the US billions of dollars, who opened up trade relations in the 70's under Nixon) doesn't care.
Tibet, and Tienanmen Square and other atrocities should show that US quickly forgets, and had adopted torture as accepible.
Until there is a huge change in OUR government it will remain the status quo.


Thank You for your comment. I do think some things can work though.

We may be lacking leadership from the Democratic country's, but I'm talking about company's who advertise and sponsor the Olympic games. If a large number of people make it clear to those company's that they will make it a point to not buy their products, that affects those company's directly and hurts their reputation and bottom line. Company's respond to that and might with the right amount of pressure from the public pull their adds.

The last thing you want as a company is a Tainted product that will be associated with Human rights abuses.

Make a Difference for Tibet

I have been thinking a lot about human rights recently and the situation between Tibet and China. The main focus of my thinking is how can a person at the grassroots level show their displeasure of the human rights abuses and unlawful occupation of Tibet.

Given the Summer Olympics will be in China, I thought the best way for people to get a point across in a peaceful manner would be for everyone to check out who the sponsors and advertisers are in their home country's, the television stations, Websites, Print Media and write them, phone them or E-mail them telling them in no uncertain terms that you will boycott their products, in other words hit them in their pocketbooks if they don't pull their adds.

Let me know what you think would work or your ideas and pass this on if you think it's worthwhile. Also Please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts you have about this issue in the comments section.

Strange News Strange Days

I thought it might be nice to add a new feature. As offten as I can I thought it might be interesting to show some strange news stories. Let me know what you think and if you would enjoy this.

Michael Moore What Do Think ?

What do you think, is Micheal Moore being Investigated because of his stance on the Bush Administration and his critical films about it?

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ?

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ? Well if the allegation's are true, they may have come from groups that the Untied States have on their terrorism list. I guess we will just have to wait for the trial, if there is one, to get all the facts. In The meantime what are your thoughts? My opinion is if the allegation's are true, this could be very damaging to the company, after all do you want to buy bananas from a company that deals with terrorists? I know I don't.

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.

Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
___
On the Net:
Chiquita: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/terrorism_bananas/22266840/SIG=10q1588e6/*http://www.chiquita.com/

E-Bay Article Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation

Don't let the title keep you from reading this article, but as titles go for company directors it is a bit weird when put into context of the story. I thought fellow Bloggers would be interested in it though ,as it talks about some idea's of where E-Bay maybe going in the future. The Talk as well of Third party APIs and Social Commerce is really interesting, just think of social Commerce as The six degrees of separation idea for sales and E-Commerce. I could see this having other uses as well depending on how creative a person can get. I hope you enjoy it. You can link to the full story below.

Video: eBay’s Chief Disruption Officer: UI to eBay’s “commerce operating system” could be left to others by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Meet Max Mancini. Although he's not a newcomer to the eBay family, he does have a new title at the commerce giant: Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation. It's the first time I've ever heard of such a title (although why not just make it CDO: Chief Disruption Officer?) and a couple of weeks ago, Mancini [...]

McAfee, Symantec and vested interests

I found this to be an interesting article, as I do find it strange they want to hide the kernel so to speak and I'm really not sure why this guy supports that. It's my opinion that having something open makes it more secure, because more people get a chance to attack it and find ways to fix it.

Is it just me or does anyone see the irony in that Microsoft has had years of lax security that helped create the industry's that help protect those breaches, now late into the game Microsoft comes out with it's Onecare product line. So you have a company that is selling something that is flawed, and now are selling you the product to fix those flaws, anyone see a conflict of interest there?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/carroll/?p=1611&tag=nl.e622

McAfee, Symantec and vested interests Posted by John Carroll @ 9:25 am
Digg This!

Vested interests often force governments to continue with policies that are counter-productive, if not downright negative. Examples aren't hard to find. Even if congress had the will to confront the vested interests that protect all the various deductions in the US tax code and create something that is clean and simple, truckloads of lobbying dollars would be spent by tax preparation companies to block the changes. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are strongly supported by the private companies that build and maintain many of America's prisons, even as those laws swell America's prison population to levels not typically found in nominally "free" nations. Likewise, the DEA and companies that support them can be expected to fight against any attempts to stop America's futile war on drugs, a war that sends Bolivian leaders into the arms of Hugo Chavez, funds both sides in Colombia's civil war (think Al Capone times 1 million) and provides a steady stream of cash to Afghani insurgents through sale of poppies - the raw material used in heroin.

Though Symantec and McAfee lobbying the EC on behalf of their ability to hook the Windows kernel doesn't wreak as much havoc as these other vested interests, as an instance of business interests using government to warp policy in selfish directions, it falls into the same category. This smells of companies trying to preserve the flaws in a product upon which they have built their businesses. Really, does anyone in these forums WANT third parties to have access to the Windows kernel? The fact that no one does is why McAfee/Symantec aren't trying to defend the inherent value of such access and opt instead for the "futility" argument. The core of the argument is that PatchGuard won't work and that hackers will find workarounds that McAfee will have to ride in and fix for Microsoft. Essentially, there's no point in Microsoft trying to protect the kernel because they will never make it bulletproof, anyway. Following that reasoning to its logical conclusion, Microsoft shouldn't bother to alter its software development processes so as to emphasize secure coding techniques, given that perfection is impossible, and from a business standpoint, deprives Symantec and McAfee of the opportunity to protect consumers from the consequences of those flaws. As noted, I'm not seeing many in ZDNet Talkbacks rushing to defend McAfee and Symantec in their quest, probably because they DON'T WANT Symantec and McAfee to have that kind of access.

If McAfee and Symantec want to do something useful, they should build products that help to to enforce the kernel protections represented by PatchGuard. What they should NOT be doing is trying to prevent Microsoft from locking down the kernel in the first place. People really should read this blog post by Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's Security Technology unit, as it clarifies considerably the situation as it pertains to kernel hooking past, present and future. http://www.stepto.com/default/log/displaylog1.aspx?ID=258

Some useful excerpts…

Regarding Microsoft's past encouragement of kernel hooks: Wrong. For the implementation of the 32 bit kernel of Windows, there existed undocumented and unsupported system hooks into the kernel. Their use was frowned upon, even inside Microsoft. It's simply not a safe practice to utilize these interfaces into the kernel. Regarding the termination of support for kernel hooks being something that is "new:" Wrong.

Kernel Patch Protection was implemented almost 2 years ago in Windows XP x64 edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 edition. Regarding supposed "insecurity" resulting from a ban on kernel hooks: What security vendors are misrepresenting, is that only through unrestricted access to modify the kernel at the highest level of privilege can they protect you.Of course, the referenced blog predates Microsoft's decision to enable in some as of yet undetermined fashion a means by which to enable kernel hooking "in a secure fashion."

On that note, consider the perils of such an approach as explained at the end of Mr. Toulouse's blog. First, you grant one, pretty soon you have to grant thousands. That's how many people are out there using these undocumented, unsupported interfaces into the kernel.

Second, the more exceptions you grant, the more you dilute the protection. Attackers will simply morph their attacks to try and mimic the "safelist" to get an exception – this may be as simple as malicious software “bundling” third party software in order to disable the protection.

Third, because the OS was still designed to be run with the unmodified kernel, you still have the problem of code running at highest possible privilege crashing the system or causing performance problems.

Fourth, by granting an exception list you introduce a huge performance problem into the kernel, as you force it to check a safelist with every single operation.

Fifth, how would the logistics for adding and removing exceptions work? Would it only be done in software updates? Service Packs? Would someone sue because we weren't fast enough implementing them into a safelist?

That last issue is particularly worrisome for Microsoft, and constitutes the problem with selectively allowing people to have access to the kernel. If McAfee and Symantec get access, you can expect most security companies to want comparable access, and once that happens, the question becomes: how big do you have to be to have access? Pandora's box, truly.

Like prison construction companies encouraging policies that lock up as many people as possible (let's not call them prisoners; let's call them "customers"), McAfee and Symantec are trying to encourage an architecture that "needs" the fixes of a McAfee and Symantec. In so doing, they show how self-interest and government controls over software design collide to create "solutions" that have little to do with benefitting consumers.

Big Brother 1984 Double Plus Good

I don't know about you, but I find this a bit scary, it seems like in response to our fears we see enemies everywhere, is it just me or does it feel like Big Brother maybe just maybe might be making a comeback, and folks it's not 1984.

OTTAWA - Federal government departments are profiling some access requesters, a veteran Ottawa researcher charged Monday.

Testifying before a parliamentary committee, Ken Rubin revealed that he learned recently he has been the subject of just such a profile.

Documents Rubin obtained from the Canadian Border Services Agency revealed a memo prepared in January 2004 for then-public safety minister Anne McLellan outlining an access request that Rubin had filed for information concerning the department's Advance Passenger Information project. In the memo, which the department told Rubin was never transmitted all the way to the minister, the department outlines details of telephone calls officials had with Rubin, other access requests he had filed and the fact that he had volunteered to help Maher Arar and his wife get information about their case.

At the time, Arar was still under suspicion by the government of being a terrorist and was on a watch list along with his wife and children.
The memo was released to Rubin earlier this month under the Access to Information Act after he filed a complaint.
''This is unacceptable,'' Rubin told the committee. ''Matching up my background data and work and separate access requests should not be used to create a profile and discuss my access usage or that of other requesters. I do not consider this kind of data being prepared and shared internally or going, or potentially going, to a minister, a positive part of, or within the spirit of the Access to Information Act.''

New Democrat MP Pat Martin said he was shocked to learn that a government department had prepared a profile of an access requester.
''I think it is an absolute bombshell that they are not only asking the identity, which I think undermines the integrity of the whole system, but they are asking about confidential personal information.''

Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Rubin's testimony about being profiled corresponds with some of the testimony that the committee has already heard about the way the privacy of some access requesters has been treated in the past.
''This would be, I guess, the third concrete instance that we know about. There seems to be sufficient evidence to conclude that this practice of furnishing names to political staff has happened in the past. Just how widespread or how frequent, we just don't know.''

The comment came as the committee wrapped up another day of hearings into reports that the government appears to have broken the privacy law by disclosing the name of Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill during a telephone conference call in which public servants from several departments discussed which reporters were working on stories related to security and to pandemic preparedness.

The information was then sent to several officials in the prime minister's office who had not participated in the call, including communications director Sandra Buckler. None of those officials reported a possible violation of the privacy act.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is investigating.
Kenney could not say Monday whether the government has reviewed the minutes of the weekly security conference call to ascertain whether there were other instances of the names of access requesters being discussed.

Act Of War ?

Well, this is becoming very interesting and maybe not in a really good way. This brings about a few questions, is this just rhetoric? Or are they serious and do they mean to go to war?

I Don't know the answers, yet I do know the world just become much more unstable and dangerous, and this is more dangerous than the old cold war days at least then the people who had control, it could be argued were somewhat rational.


N. Korea: Sanctions are war declaration By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer




North Korea said Tuesday it considered U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the country for its nuclear test "a declaration of war," as Japan and South Korea reported the communist nation might be preparing a second explosion.

The North broke two days of silence about the U.N. resolution adopted after its Oct. 9 nuclear test with a statement on the official state news agency, as China warned Pyongyang against stoking tensions.

"The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war" against the North, the statement said. North Korea is known officially as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The chief U.S. nuclear envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said the North's response was "not very helpful."

"I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what the international community feels about its actions," Hill said in Seoul after a meeting with his South Korean and Russian counterparts.

Hill said he could not confirm South Korean and Japanese reports that the North may be preparing another nuclear explosion, but said a second test would force the international community "to respond very clearly."

North Korea "is under the impression that once they make more nuclear tests that somehow we will respect them more," Hill told reporters after a meeting with U.S. and Russian counterparts. "The fact of the matter is that nuclear tests make us respect them less."

In its statement, North Korea said it would not be intimidated.

The communist nation "had remained unfazed in any storm and stress in the past when it had no nuclear weapons," the statement said. "It is quite nonsensical to expect the DPRK to yield to the pressure and threat of someone at this time when it has become a nuclear weapons state."

Chun Yung-woo, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, dismissed the statement as "the usual rhetoric that they have been using at the time of the adoption of the Security Council resolution."

China has long been one of North Korea's few allies, but relations have frayed in recent months by Pyongyang's missile tests and the nuclear explosion last week.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao warned Pyongyang against aggravating tensions, saying the North should help resolve the situation "through dialogue and consultation instead of taking any actions that may further escalate or worsen the situation."

The United States pressed on with a round of diplomacy in Asia aimed at finding consensus on how to implement U.N. sanctions on the North. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to go to Japan on Wednesday before traveling to South Korea and China.

Hill stressed that the international community should make the North pay a "high price" for its "reckless behavior."

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said his government had "information" about another possible blast, and a senior South Korean official said there were signs that the North could be preparing a second test — but emphasized that it was unlikely to happen immediately.

"We have yet to confirm any imminent signs of a second nuclear test," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

China, whose support for the measures is key to whether they will have any effect on neighboring North Korea, has begun examining trucks at the North Korean border to comply with new U.N. sanctions endorsed over the weekend.

South Korea has said it would implement the U.N. sanctions, but also has been cautious about allowing sanctions to shake regional stability. Seoul has also indicated that it has no intention of halting key economic projects with the North, despite concerns that they may help fund the North's nuclear and missile programs.

"Sanctions against North Korea should be done in a way that draws North Korea to the dialogue table," South Korean Prime Minister Han Myung-sook said Tuesday, according to Yonhap news agency. "There should never be a way that causes armed clashes."

In Washington, U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte's office said Monday that air samples gathered last week contain radioactive materials that confirm that North Korea conducted an underground nuclear explosion.

In a short statement posted on its Web site, Negroponte's office also confirmed that the size of the explosion was less than 1 kiloton, a comparatively small nuclear detonation. Each kiloton is equal to the force produced by 1,000 tons of TNT.

It was the first official confirmation from the United States that a nuclear detonation took place, as Pyongyang has claimed.

___

Associated Press writers Bo-Mi Lim and William Foreman in Seoul, Audra Ang in Beijing and Kana Inagaki in Tokyo contributed to this report.

All I can say is it's about time, in some ways I still think it's not enough.

I would like to see sex offenders and those who commit violent crimes put away for a long time, with no chances to come back out into society so they can hurt more people, and their friends and family's.

That have to deal with the aftermath, that these criminals create in their wake.


Ottawa to introduce dangerous offender bill


The federal government is expected to introduce on Tuesday a bill that would make it easier to have criminals designated as dangerous offenders.

The proposed legislation would call for tougher sentences and stricter conditions on repeat offenders — those convicted of a third sexual or violent offence.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the proposed legislation last week in Toronto, saying: "We will work to ensure that those who are truly dangerous will be put in jail for an indefinite period of time."

The onus would be put on offenders instead of the Crown to prove they should not be declared dangerous offenders. Failing to do so means they would be designated as dangerous and be given an indeterminate jail sentence, with no eligibility for parole for seven years.

Currently, the Crown must show at a hearing why an individual should be declared a dangerous offender.

Under the proposed legislation, the person would not be given the benefit of the doubt and would have to prove why the designation should not apply.

It would also increase the maximum duration of peace bonds from 12 to 24 months, allowing additional restrictions and conditions to be placed on released criminals.



At the news conference announcing the proposed legislation, Harper said: "By putting criminals on a tighter leash after release, we hope to better facilitate their reintegration into the community."

Merged Worlds

I found this interesting, it seems our worlds are merging more everyday, from our cyberspace persona to our real world ones, it gives a somewhat newer meaning of Freuds and Jung's ideas of Innerlife.

By Eric Auchard and Kenneth Li

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reuters Group Plc is opening a news bureau in the simulation game Second Life this week, joining a race by corporate name brands to take part in the hottest virtual world on the Internet.

Starting on Wednesday, Reuters plans to begin publishing text, photo and video news from the outside world for Second Life members and news of Second Life for real world readers who visit a Reuters news site at: http://secondlife.reuters.com/

Created by Linden Lab in San Francisco, Second Life is the closest thing to a parallel universe existing on the Internet. Akin to the original city-building game SimCity, Second Life is a virtual, three-dimensional world where users create and dress up characters, buy property and interact with other players.

http://secondlife.com/

Zero Day

Here is an article about even more security flaws in XP. I really don't understand how Microsoft can come out with operating systems that are so prone to problems like this.

Microsoft releases 6 patches for flaws

October 12, 2006 - 12:16PM

Microsoft has released six patches to fix software flaws that carry its highest threat rating, including three for defects that attackers were already trying to exploit.
The company said all six of the critical flaws could allow an attacker to obtain some access to other people's computers.

The software maker also released four other patches to fix vulnerabilities that the company deemed less severe.
Customers can download all the patches for free on Microsoft's security website and also can sign up to have them automatically delivered to their computers. The automatic update system went down for several hours on Tuesday, but the problem was later resolved.
Microsoft said last month that it knew attackers were already trying to take advantage of defects in its Windows operating system, Microsoft Word software and PowerPoint presentation program.

Christopher Budd, a program manager with the Microsoft Security Resource Centre, said that the company had seen limited attacks exploiting the flaws, but were nevertheless recommending that users apply those and other patches immediately.
Such vulnerabilities are rare. In most cases, security experts quietly provide Microsoft evidence of a security flaw, allowing the company to fix the problem in secret and release a patch before attackers can take advantage of it.
But recently, the company has been hit with a number of so-called "zero-day" attacks, in which flaws are targeted before Microsoft is aware of them or can release patches.
Such attacks have prompted some security researchers to release their own interim fixes. Microsoft also has occasionally taken the unusual step of releasing patches outside of its normal monthly fix schedule, so users can be safeguarded more quickly.

Budd said Microsoft isn't seeing any specific pattern to the burst of zero-day attacks. But he said the company is seeing more focus on attackers trying to infiltrate computers through applications - such as Word or PowerPoint - rather than the Windows operating system.
Microsoft software is a constant target of internet attackers, in part because the company's products are so widely used.
Microsoft has yet to release a patch for one other publicly known flaw - one affecting the Internet Explorer browser that is part of its Windows operating system. Budd said the company was seeing very few attacks as a result of the flaw.

AP

North Korea Nuclear Test Successful

Last May in my other Blog I posted a story about North Korea's Missile tests, now it looks like they have gone Nuclear. It is really hard to predict what will happen next, Yet I don't think it will be good.

This test will put a lot of pressure on North America and Europe to do something, as Japan and other countries can not have this go unchecked, Yet the politics of the region is intertwined. With China having issues with their claim to Taiwan, Japan having military restrictions from The Second World War, and the United States and NATO committed as an Allie to protect them because of post world war two treaty's.

In addition The Korean War never really ended, there was just an armistice that was signed no peace treaty was signed technically North and South Korea are still in a state of war even though very little has happened since the armistice. All in all, this makes for even more Interesting Times.

North Korea says nuclear test successful


By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer

North Korea said Monday it had performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, setting off an underground blast in defiance of international warnings and intense diplomatic activity aimed at heading off such a move.

The North Korean statement said there was no radioactive leakage from the test site.An official at South Korea's seismic monitoring center confirmed a magnitude-3.6 tremor felt at the time North Korea said it conducted the test was not a natural occurrence. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition his name not be used, because he was not authorized to talk about the sensitive information to the media.


Australia also said there was seismic confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test.However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that information still needs to be collected and analyzed to determine whether North Korea truly conducted its first nuclear test.Japan's top government spokesman said if confirmed, the North Korean test would post a serious threat to the stability in the region and a provocation.

China, the North's closest ally, said Beijing "resolutely opposes" the North Korean nuclear test and hopes Pyongyang will return to disarmament talks.U.S. and South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.South Korea's Defense Ministry said the alert level of the military had been raised in response to the claimed nuclear test.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to discuss the reported North Korean test on Monday, and the United States and Japan are likely to press for a resolution imposing additional sanctions on Pyongyang.


A resolution adopted in July after a series of North Korean missile launches imposed limited sanctions on North Korea and demanded that the reclusive communist nation suspend its ballistic missile program — a demand the North immediately rejected.The resolution bans all U.N. member states from selling material or technology for missiles or weapons of mass destruction to North Korea — and it bans all countries from receiving missiles, banned weapons or technology from Pyongyang.

The North said last week it would conduct a test, sparking regional concern and frantic diplomatic efforts aimed at dissuading Pyongyang from such a move. North Korea has long claimed to have nuclear weapons, but had never before performed a known test to prove its arsenal.The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the underground test was performed successfully."It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the ... people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability," the KCNA statement said."It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it."


South Korean intelligence officials said the seismic wave had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. It said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city on the northeast coast, citing defense officials.North Korean scientists "successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions," the KCNA report said, adding this was "a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great prosperous powerful socialist nation."


The U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected no seismic activity in North Korea, although it was not clear whether a blast would be strong enough for its sensors.On Sunday night, U.S. government officials said a wide range of agencies were looking into the report of the nuclear test, which officials were taking seriously.South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has convened a meeting of security advisers over the issue, Yonhap reported, and intelligence over the test has been exchanged between concerned countries.


Kyodo News agency reported that the Japanese government has set up a taskforce in response to reports of the test.The North has refused for a year to attend international talks aimed at persuading it to disarm. The country pulled out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003 after U.S. officials accused it of a secret nuclear program, allegedly violating an earlier nuclear pact between Washington and Pyongyang.Speculation over a possible North Korean test arose earlier this year after U.S. and Japanese reports cited suspicious activity at a suspected underground test site.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061009/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear