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SARS-type virus passed from human to human for first time
A SARS-like virus may have been passed between humans for the first time, health experts believe.
One person is thought to have contracted the new coronavirus from a relative and is being treated in an isolation room at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and is said to be in a stable condition.
Previously experts believed the infection may have come from contact with animals. If the virus can spread between people it poses a much more serious threat.
This is the third case of the respiratory illness identified in the UK and the 11th in the world. The first two UK patients had been Read more…
The Future of Identity
A new report has been published by the UK Government that looks at the Future of Identity over the next ten years.
Sponsored by the Home Office and published by Sir John Beddington, the Head of the Government Office for Science, the Foresight Future Identities (2013) report shows that ‘identity’ is not a simple notion. People can have many different overlapping identities which are fundamental to their individuality.
The report identifies three overlapping types of identities, which are broadly distinguished as social, biographical and biometric, which it defines as:
- Social identities are generated through roles and relationships between people, and the wider social and cultural context. These include identities which are socially mediated, such as family relationships, friendships, membership of communities, and Read more…
Mysterious Fireballs Light up Night Sky across UK (VIDEO)
Hundreds of people across the UK witnessed bright objects shooting across the night sky on 21 September.
Sightings of huge fireballs, thought to be a meteor shower, were reported in northern England, central Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Witnesses described seeing a bright fireball shooting across the sky with a large bright tail.
Many people took to Twitter to post photos, videos and comments on the sightings.
The UK Met Office tweeted, “Hi all, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite”, while some speculated that it could be space junk burning up in the atmosphere.
The Kielder Observatory in Northumberland also reported sighting huge fireballs streaking from east to west at 9:41pm. It reported nearly 100 bright fragments shooting across the sky.
“Many many fragments maybe in Read more…
Big Brother or peeping tom? UK installs CCTV in school bathrooms, changing rooms
AFP Photo / Jacques Demarthon
Over 200 UK state schools have installed cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms to monitor students, a recent surveillance survey reported. British parents will likely be shocked by the study’s findings.
The survey is based on a freedom of information request conducted by Big Brother Watch, an anti-surveillance activist group. The group said they were shaken by the results, which was much higher and more extensive than expected.
The report “will come as a shock to many parents”, Nick Pickles, Director of Big Brother Watch said. “Schools need to come clean about why they are using these cameras and what is happening to the footage”.
– 47,806 cameras used in 2,107 schools
– 207 schools have 825 cameras in changing rooms and bathrooms
– 90% of schools use CCTV cameras
– 54 UK schools have 1 camera or more per 15 pupils
– 106,710 CCTV cameras estimated in high schools and academies in England, Scotland and Wales
A total of 825 cameras were installed in Read more…
UK nightclub uses biometrics to control entry
The Underground, a nightclub in Dundee, Scotland, recently installed biometric fingerprint scanners for first time visitors to prove they are of age to enter. For subsequent visits, customers of the nightclub are identified by scanning their fingerprint.
The club is run by G1 Group PLC, who introduced the Scannet ID Scan system after a successful trial period in its Glasgow club. Scannet ID Scan is used to verify that identification presented is real.
Fingerprints gathered, together with photo-based profiles, are stored in computers in the club. Having this technology makes it easier for the management to identify troublemakers, and scan foreign passports and driving licenses before allow entry to the club.
A spokeswoman from G1 Group said : “The system recognizes most international passports and driving licenses, meaning we can Read more…
Space nuclear bomb attack on Britain ‘quite likely’
MPs warn that cities could become very difficult to live in if we are attacked with an EMP weapon
The warning follows the publication of a report by the Defence Select Committee which urges the government to take seriously the threat to infrastructure such as the national grid, GPS satellites and communication networks from EMPs and naturally occurring solar flares. The electromagnetic radiation from such events can Read more…
Study: High Food Prices Driving Unrest
abc.net.au
The researchers point to two main factors driving the increase in food prices
The waves of social unrest and political instability seen recently around the world have coincided with large peaks in global food prices, US researchers have found.
They warn that unless something is done urgently to address rising food prices, it could trigger more widespread trouble in the near future.
Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam, president of the New England Complex Systems Institute, and colleagues, correlated the dates of riots around the world with data from the United Nations that plots changes in the price of food.
They found evidence that episodes of social unrest in North Africa and the Middle East coincided closely with peaks in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index.
Reporting their findings on the pre-press website arXiv.org the researchers say that although the riots reflect many factors such as the long-standing political failings of governments, high food prices provide a tipping point.
“There are indeed many factors that can contribute to unrest,” Bar-Yam explains. “What we see, however, is that these conditions can Read more…
Facial recognition in use after riots
LONDON (AP) — Facial recognition technology being considered for London’s 2012 Games is getting a workout in the wake of Britain’s riots, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday, with officers feeding photographs of suspects through Scotland Yard’s newly updated face-matching program.
The official said that the Metropolitan Police’s sophisticated software was being used to help find those suspected of being involved in the worst unrest the force has faced in a generation, although he cautioned that police had a host of other strategies at their disposal.
“A lot of tools are being used to hunt down these criminals, and that’s just one of them,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation. “The issue is that you have to have a good picture of a suspect and it is only useful if you have something to match it against. In other words, the Read more…
London riots: water cannons to be used on ‘sick society’
David Cameron said that the cannon, previously only used in Ulster, would be available at 24 hours’ notice to deal with the “despicable violence” being seen in cities. Police had already been authorised to use baton rounds, he said. In a sign that other, more draconian, measures will now be at their disposal, he added: “We will do whatever is necessary. Nothing is off the table.”
In his strongest comments yet on the perpetrators of the violence, Mr Cameron said: “There are pockets of our society that are not only broken, but Read more…
London Riots: Government Prepares Troops – Martial Law Imminent. – 9th August 2011
LONDON, United Kingdon – Martial law seems imminent as 16,000 police officers, nearly twice the police officers in Haiti, will take to the streets in the captial city of London to hopefully prevent a fourth night of manifestations, rioting and looting.
UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to restore order, meeting with Parliament on Thursday in response to what he describes as “sickening scenes”. Metropolitcan Police, which has already drafted in support from 30 other forces, says it will consider using plastic bullets. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said use of the ammunition – never before Read more…
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