As the Olympics near, converns over the effects of pollution in China’s capital are growing. Air pollution has been on the agenda for some time, with the authoritarian government resorting to drastic measures and mobilising armies of farmers to seed clouds, and planning emergency factory closures at a moment’s notice. But the New York Times [...]

In an oh-so-unexpected turn of events, Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe was today announced as the landslide winner in the country’s presidential elections. Despite it being a somewhat hollow victory due to intimidation, killings, and the opponent being forced to pull out resulting in an uncontested election, the BBC reports that he was rapidly sworn in [...]

Reuters reports on the Israeli Transport Minister’s recent comment that an attack on Iran looks “unavoidable”. Shaul Mofaz made the claim to an Israeli newspaper on Friday, saying that UN sanctions were not enough. While Iran isn’t exactly a master of tact - and, indeed, may or may not be trying to build a bomb [...]

By Balakov on Flickr - original here. I love this pic, though I had a hard time choosing which one to post as the whole Classics in Lego set is class

“The upshot is that if Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, or so on received a wiretap order for text or voice flowing through their IM networks, they could (and would) be able to comply because the services are centralized … [Skype couldn't] Which means that it’s the most privacy-protective mainstream method of communicating through voice or instant [...]

The Guardian reports on the Treasury Select Committee’s recommendation that, after 2011, census data should come from government databases rather than manual form-filling. While on the face of it it may seem a sensible, time-saving proposal, this raises many questions - both about technical and feasibility aspects, and surrounding civil liberties and data protection. Regardless [...]

“Barack Obama has chosen a high-profile team to help select his running mate, after declaring himself the Democratic nominee for US president … Although she has yet to concede, Mrs Clinton has said she would be ‘open’ to the idea of being Mr Obama’s vice-presidential running-mate.”
Great news (although not entirely unexpected) that Obama has enough [...]

The BBC reports that more than 100 countries (thankfully, Britain included) have agreed to ban current designs of cluster bombs. These weapons are dangerous not only at time of use but also for many years afterward, as unexploded bomblets essentially become landmines littering the ground. However, while the number of signatories is positive news it’s [...]

“The environmental movement has never been short on noble goals … But today, one ecological problem outweighs all others: global warming … Just one problem. Winning the war on global warming requires slaughtering some of environmentalism’s sacred cows.”
Wired has a great bunch of articles looking at the sacrifices environmentalists may need to accept in order [...]

“Targets also miss the point of what the public want. The Home Office judges each police force by how many crimes it detects and clears up. The public want something different. They do not want crimes happening in the first place. They believe, like Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the Metropolitan police, that ‘the [...]