Bernard Madoff, who admitted in 2009 to running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, told media outlets this week that the government-appointed trustee for his firm’s investors is refusing to act on evidence showing the complicity of major banks in his activities.
“Although I have offered the bankruptcy trustee the information that I possessed that would demonstrate in detail the complicit b

Hollywood is at it again. Its latest ploy to take over the Web? Use its influence at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to weave Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into HTML5 — in other words, into the very fabric of the Web. Millions of Internet users came together to defeat SOPA/PIPA, but now Big Media moguls are going through non-governmental channels to try to sneak digital restrictions i

Octopuses had hundreds of suckers, each with its own ganglion with thousands of neurons. Those "mini-brains" were interconnected, making for a widely distributed nervous system, which was why a severed octopus arm may crawl on its own and even pick up food.

Similarly, when an octopus changed skin colour, the command may come from the skin.

Gene sequences that were simila

The announcement of plans in Chicago, Illinois to shut down 61 elementary and middle schools marks a new stage in the assault on public education and the social counterrevolution in America.

It is the largest single school closure announcement in US history. In the latest phase of school shutdowns, some 13 percent of primary schools in the nation’s third-largest district will be closed, affect

What is modern propaganda? For many, it is the lies of a totalitarian state. In the 1970s, I met Leni Riefenstahl and asked her about her epic films that glorified the Nazis. Using revolutionary camera and lighting techniques, she produced a documentary form that mesmerized Germans; her 'Triumph of the Will' cast Hitler's spell.

She told me that the "messages" of her films were dependent not o

In August 1976, a few months after the dictatorship had begun its systematic campaign of exterminating its opponents, a group of priests sent a letter to the Argentine Episcopal Conference, demanding a public pronunciation on what many knew was happening but few dared talk about. The reply of the bishops can be summed up in these words: “We are convinced there is a tempus loquendi and a tempus ta

Guantanamo remains open. The Pentagon’s Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) plans expanding it. It requested $49 million for new prison facilities. They’re for “special” detainees.

Other renovations will be made. Congress ordered Guantanamo kept open indefinitely. Pentagon officials requested an estimated $195.7 million overall. Expect overruns to increase costs substantially.

SOUTHCOM commander Ge

The report says the Defence Force is poorly equipped to deal with the range of emerging threats - especially the potential need to deal with two major crises at once.

During the 2009 Victoria bushfires, Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi the military deployed massive assets, including ships, aircraft, trucks and heavy-lift vehicles: 1500 troops were involved in the Queensland flood alone.

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I have never been a huge fan of Cameron. The über-modernisation. The disregard for the views of Tory MPs and grassroot members. The incompetent 2010 general election campaign. The rush to coalition, including a badly-negotiated deal on AV. The decision to backload spending cuts and frontload tax rises. The lack of a proper growth strategy. This last week has taken me to a new place, however. The

Since 1991 the Russian arts have been the slowest of the country’s institutions to democratize, liberalize, privatize or reform. The reason for that is that the arts, ballet in particular, were more democratically patronized and administered before Yeltsin, more dictatorial after. The oligarchs of the Russian performing arts have grown rich by the conventional oligarchic methods – Mstislav Rostro

America’s concentration on the ‘war on terrorism’ has distorted the mission and scope of its Intelligence Community, according to a secret report commissioned by the White House. The classified report was compiled by the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which counsels Barack Obama on intelligence matters. It cautions the President that the intelligence output of organizations such as the

"We simply cannot tolerate any challenge now, or in the future. No nation should underestimate the firmness of our resolve," said Shinzo Abe, the hawkish premier bent on national revival.

After talking to Japanese officials in Tokyo over the last few days, I have the strong impression not only that they are ready to fight, but also that they expect to win, and furthermore that confli

This is so bloody brilliant it just has to be shared. Australia’s unique comedy team The Chaser takes 90 seconds to make a mockery of politicians who obsess about public debt and don’t even consider private debt. Hey, can someone do this in the USA … and the UK … and Europe … and Japan?
I don’t think The Chaser would sue if you did: imitation is after all the sincerest form of flattery. Follow t

In the Coquimbo Region, an ongoing drought has caused rural exodus and conflicts between landowners, with some being accused of destroying channels in order to secure more water for themselves.

According to government officials, more than 29,500 acres of agricultural land are dropping in productivity. Local dams are only filled to 4 percent of their capacity. Since the beginning of the water

Cyprus 2013 is worse than the KreditAnstalt and Argentina 2001 crises because it has an element of confiscation and two broken promises that were absent in the latter….