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Friday, January 23, 2009

Wikinews has learned that the internet group known only as “Anonymous” has hacked the website of the No Cussing Club (NCC), nocussing.com, for at least two days in a row. On day one, the group hacked into the website, replacing the content with links to images of alleged e-mail conversations. The e-mails appear to be from the founder’s e-mail account, accusing organization members of forgery and using the site for their own personal financial gains. The website was also replaced with Anonymous’s logo and a message. On January 22, they again attacked the website, by means of a Distributed Denial-of-service attack (DDoS), bringing it offline periodically throughout the day. Anonymous attacked the Scientology website in 2008 with a DDoS attack, taking it off-line for at least two days.

“It has come to our attention that the creators of the no cussing club, McKay and Brent Hatch have done so at great personal gain. Their material promotes the organization as the brainchild of their 14-year-old son, when actually the material is written by his parents, who also manage his profitable career while using his speaking events to plug their own material,” said Anonymous on the hacked website. On Encyclopedia Dramatica, a satire Wiki, they claim further responsibility for the hack and exposition saying they managed to break into McKay and Brent Hatch’s email accounts. “[the accounts got] haxx0rd and via this astonishing development passwords were got and a certain website got its shit ruined.”

According to the NCC’s website, it has 20,000 members worldwide, was founded in 2007 by McKay Hatch, a 14-year-old boy, and aims at discouraging swearing in public places such as schools. In 2008, McKay even succeeded in making cussing illegal in his hometown of South Pasadena, California and has appeared on various talk shows such as that of Doctor Phil. However, according to e-mails leaked to Wikinews, allegedly written by the boy’s father Brent, a motivational speaker also owning Dawson Publishing, the parents are allegedly using the site and their son’s material for their own personal financial gain. Anonymous also claims that the parents have forged some of their son’s writings and claim it to be his.

The e-mails allege that Brent along with his publishing company, the name which “nocussing.com” is also registered under, were trying to set up assemblies in the No Cussing Club’s name at schools across the United States for US$1,500.00 per show and would then pocket the money, doing the same for postcards they created for churches and schools.

“McKay spoke last night to a group of 40 people, and at the end of his presentation, there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd. I know this is going to work because the message is so important. Thanks for all you do and I hope we can work together for a long time, and of course make money in the process,” said Brent in an alleged e-mail conversation on November 25, 2008. Earlier in August 2008, Brent spoke about hoping to reach a “goal” of “2.5 million dollars” by selling thousands of postcards to “schools and churches”.

On January 19, 2009, ABC News.com reported that McKay claimed Anonymous was sending him and his family hate e-mail and death threats, nearly 50,000 per day, “almost all of them filled with obscenities” and spam. On the NCC’s website, McKay calls himself the “most cyberbullied kid on the planet” because of Anonymous’s attacks.

“A lot of people were saying I was taking away their freedom of speech,” said McKay to ABC News on January 16. “All I was trying to do was raise awareness.” He says he formed the club because his schoolmates were sick of hearing people swear in public. Wikinews contacted the NCC to confirm or deny the reports, but would only say that “the FBI is [working] on it [the case]” including “our attorney and we will press charges” against those who are responsible for the crimes.

Anonymous is known to prank and hack websites and e-mail accounts. In September 2008, the group hacked into BillOreilly.com, the official website of Fox News Channel commentator Bill O’Reilly, exposing personal information of the site’s users in a document posted on the internet.

The NCC is located in South Pasadena. According to the California Penal Code §502 part C of the computer hacking laws, depending on the offense if caught, punishments could be a “fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment”.

On October 20, 2008, Dmitriy Guzner, aged 18 from New Jersey, admitted to the charges related to carrying out the DDoS attack on Scientology’s website. He was subsequently charged with computer hacking crimes and faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

June in the United States 2008 presidential election rolled by as a month with many similarities to the 2004 election. The Clintons were sent to the sidelines again, old faces took new roles and some took the same. An issue was raised that once again could drive conservatives to the Republicans and attacks on a candidate’s military record was prominent in the press. But what changed the election forever was the death of Tim Russert who helped to cover everything that happened and shape America’s perception of the candidates on the trail.

Republicans

• The presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain exchanged barbs with Senator John Kerry over the history of conflict in Iraq. Kerry stated that McCain “doesn’t understand Iraq, or the Middle East, or the war on terrorism.” This was a change of heart for Kerry who as the Democratic nominee in 2004 considered McCain as a running mate. Retired General Wesley Clark said McCain’s military record lacked command experience, and endorsed Obama. In 2004, Clark was among those who questioned Kerry’s military record.
• Many in the media likened the Supreme Court ruling that granted Habeas corpus rights to detainees in the Guantánamo Bay detention center to the influx of marriage licenses granted by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004 as a rallying point for conservatives. Pundits stated that the future of the Supreme Court could be an important issue on the minds of voters that could drive the religious right to McCain.
• John McCain released a new platform that called for more offshore drilling of oil off the coasts of Florida and California. The plan hoped to increase supply of oil to reduce the price of gasoline for the American consumer and encourage energy independence. The plan was widely heralded by conservatives some of whom have called for drilling in ANWR despite McCain’s opposition. Obama responded to the plan by stating that McCain’s solution would only help in the long run.

Democrats

• The final three presidential primaries were held. Hillary Clinton won in Puerto Rico and South Dakota but Barack Obama won in Montana. Obama secured the Democratic nomination following the primaries when a stream of superdelegates came out to support Obama. Hillary conceded the race a few days later and named herself as the best choice to be Obama’s running mate.
• As the nomination was secured for Obama the media speculated about a spirited discussion on the Senate floor between Obama and Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Lieberman was the Democratic Vice presidential nominee in 2000 but left the party in 2006 after a senatorial primary defeat. He has endorsed John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.
• Obama was also in the media when two of his campaign volunteers refused to allow two women wearing headscarves to sit in the front row of an Obama campaign event. The move was characterized in the media as an attempt to prevent the candidate from being associated with Muslims in light of false rumors circulating that Obama is secretly a Muslim.
• The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan announced that former Senators Sam Nunn and John Edwards’ names were forwarded by the caucus to a team on the Obama campaign dealing with selecting a vice-presidential nominee.

Third parties

• Independent candidate Ralph Nader proclaimed in an interview that despite no coverage of his campaign, he was at 6% in Associated Press opinion polls against John McCain and Barack Obama. He actually stood at 3% in the most recent Associated Press poll. The campaign acknowledged the mistake and clarified that it was instead a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll that placed Nader at 6%.
• With the green party national convention slated for July 10-14, Cynthia McKinney leads all candidates with 291.5 delegate votes of the 419 needed to secure the nomination. Despite not being a candidate for the Green Party nomination, Ralph Nader is in second place with 137 and Kent Mesplay is in third with 28.5 delegates.
• Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr and Ralph Nader each received some media attention by appearing on Sunday morning talk shows at the end of June. Barr appeared on Fox News Sunday where he defended his run against criticism that he could hurt John McCain in the general election and stated that his campaign would hit full gear after the Fourth of July holiday.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006Petrol prices across the UK rose to an average of 91.1p per litre (U.S. $6.02 per U.S. gallon) of premium unleaded on Tuesday, which is the highest they have been for five months. Prices have been rising ever since December 2005, when they reached a trough in the current cycle of 87.6p a litre ($5.79/gal.), and have gained about 1.5p a litre (2.6 cents) in the last 10 days.

Across the UK, petrol prices ranged from 86.9p to 100.9p ($5.74 to $6.67) for unleaded and 89.9p to 105.9p ($5.94 to $7.00) for diesel.

These figures coincide with the results of a motorists survey from AA Personal Loans, which showed that most drivers are ignorant of petrol prices. Just 14% of those surveyed were able to correctly give the current price of petrol. Out of 1700 people surveyed, the lowest estimate was 69p a litre ($4.56/gal.) and the highest was £3 a litre ($19.83/gal.).

Saturday, April 2, 2005

Despite controversy ignited by the White House nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to head the World Bank (WB), the 24-member board of directors voted unanimously on Thursday to accept his confirmation. A whirlwind tour by Wolfowitz, who traveled to many capital cities of the bank’s major shareholders and met with voting board members, quieted misgivings over his succession to the incumbent president John Wolfensohn.

Widespread criticism of the Wolfowitz role in the US build-up to war in Iraq heightened levels of security concerns within the bank as they anticipate his arrival. The WB, from the executive level down to memos circulated among departments, express concern for it becoming the target of terrorist attack. The level of seriousness being taken by WB led it to set up cost estimates for improving security.

Wolfowitz will assume leadership in June this year. Despite a belief by some that he acts unilaterally and lacks development experience, a European Commission spokeswoman, speaking for Commissioner Olli Rehn, told a news conference that[Rehn] “was satisfied with everything he heard from Mr Wolfowitz concerning free trade and also on poverty reduction and development policy.”

The Associated Press quotes the Belgian Development Aid minister saying, “There are no objections of EU countries.”

The public display of support belies dissention underneath. Reuters reportedly received a confidential email that provided details of a comment line on an internal website for the WB staff who use it from their far flung locations. The feelings about the Wolfowitz nomination received 1,300 responses, mostly about the bank’s reputation and effectiveness under the new leadership.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Former German national coach Jürgen Klinsmann has been signed as the new Bayern Munich coach for the 2008/2009 Bundesliga season. This will mark Klinsmann’s first managerial position at club level, succeeding current coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Over the past few months Klinsmann was being considered for various coach positions after reforming the German national team and finishing 3rd at the 2006 Football World Cup as coach of the German national team. Previously there had been reports that he was looking at Newcastle, Chelsea, Tottenham and there also was a possibility for him to be Steve McClaren’s successor as the national coach for the English football team.

Klinsmann will be returning to the club where he played from 1995 till 1997 and won a UEFA Cup, a German league championship and a League Cup. Klinsmann’s contract will start on July 1, 2008.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Five police officers were injured as they attempted to quell a demonstration over plans to build a large garbage tip on the edge of an Italian town, officials confirmed on Saturday. Two police officers and three carabinieri suffered minor injures during the protest, which lasted several hours. Residents of Terzigno, a municipality in the Province of Naples, hurled stones and fireworks at the police, who responded by attempting to disperse the demonstrators using teargas and baton charges. Protesters are campaigning against the opening of a new waste dump near the town, and the incident on Saturday is the latest in a series of demonstrations in which campaigners are preventing access to the existing garbage tip.

The blockade means waste disposal workers are unable to collect refuse, and it has been reported that 2,000 tones of rubbish has already piled up on the streets of Naples. Protesters set the garbage alight on Friday evening, Rosa Russo Iervolino, the mayor of Naples confirmed. Some protesters burned Italian flags and set cars on fire. “The bad smell bothers us, but it is the lesser evil,” one protester, a grammar school teacher, said. “The most important thing is that we are dying here, there is leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma, there are the most terrible diseases around.” Two parents added that their children were suffering from respiratory problems and paediatricians had advised them to move away from the area. “They have ruined our lives, the lives of our children who are growing up in a world of rubbish, they are destroying our lives day by day,” said one.

In 2007, Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi pledged to create a solution to Italy’s ever-growing problem with litter. However, a European commisioner has warned the Italian government that they may face legal action from the European Union (EU), who may be able to fine them for failing to improve waste management in Naples. “I am worried by what has been happening in Campania in recent days,” said Janez Poto?nik, the European Commissioner for the Environment. He added that the EU were considering sending a team to the area to assess whether laws protecting human health and the enviroment were being breached. “Today’s situation leads us to believe that measures taken by Italian authorities since 2007 are insufficient,” he said. “What has been happening in the last days shows that the Italian authorities have not yet done what is needed.” Mr. Poto?nik added that he felt that the region still had no waste management and that the only incinerator “is not functioning properly and at full capacity.”

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Neverland Valley Ranch, owned by Michael Jackson, is to be sold at auction on March 19, 2008, unless Jackson pays over US$24 million.

Financial Title Company, the trustee of his Santa Barbara County, California, home and amusement park, has foreclosed on the property. They notified Jackson of the foreclosure and sale on Monday. Jackson had only just recently paid an overdue property tax bill of $600,000.

The court filing, addressed to Jackson, says, “You are in default of a deed of trust … Unless you take action to protect your property it may be sold at a public sale.” Fox News published the filing.

The foreclosure includes the ranch and all possessions on the property, inside or out.

The foreclosure auction will take place in front of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Barbara. Jackson has until then to pay $24,525,906.61 he owes the title company.

In 2006, Jackson refinanced previous loans that had been bought up by Fortress Investment Group. The $300-million loan was secured with the aid of Sony Music Entertainment. However, the Neverland property was not part of that deal.

Jackson has not lived at Neverland since June 30, 2005, when he moved to Bahrain after a rape charge and subsequent acquittal.