Brazil romped to a 3-0 win over Spain in the Confederations Cup final

Brazil have won the Confederations Cup after thrashing World and European champions Spain 3-0 in a one-sided final at a raucous Maracana Stadium.Fred scored twice and Neymar once for the rampant hosts while the stunned Spaniards endured a miserable night, missing a penalty and finishing with 10 men.
The final got off to an incredible start when Brazil took the lead after just 95 seconds, Fred alertly lashing the ball into the net from close range as he lay on the ground, a cross to the back post having bounced off Neymar.
Brazil began the game at a ferocious pace and should have doubled their lead a few minutes later but Oscar shot wide after a lovely flick from Fred.
Paulinho then drew a decent save from Iker Casillas with a clever lob and the Brazilian players thought Alvaro Arbeloa was lucky to escape with just a booking after he pulled back Neymar.
Spain had an early penalty shout waved away and threatened again when Julio Cesar kept out a low shot from Andres Iniesta, Fernando Torres heading the subsequent corner over the bar.
But the Spaniards were looking unusually vulnerable at the back and Fred should have added to his tally, only to be denied by Casillas after latching onto a good pass from Neymar.

Luiz saves the day

David Luiz then saved the day for Brazil at the other end, sliding into the goalmouth to brilliantly clear a Pedro shot which seemed certain to find the corner of the net.
And Brazil made the most of their escape, doubling
the lead just before the break when Oscar patiently waited for Neymar to get onside and then released him with a neat pass, which Neymar brilliantly smashed into the roof of the net.
The jubilant Brazilian fans were loving the action and were sent into raptures again just two minutes after the interval when Neymar dummied Hulk's pass and Fred steered the ball into the corner of the net, Casillas only able to get a hand to the shot.
Jesus Navas came off the bench for Spain and quickly won a penalty when he was tripped by Marcelo but Sergio Ramos's spot-kick was just wide of the left-hand post.
The entertainment was unrelenting in a hectic contest as both sides continued to attack and Casillas had to charge out of his goal to foil Hulk, before Marcelo shot into the side netting.
Calamity for Spain never seemed far away and they were down to 10 men with just over 20 minutes left when Neymar ghosted past Gerard Pique, who brought his man down and was red-carded for his trouble, the referee deciding he was the last line of defence.
The proud Spaniards kept fighting and came close to a consolation goal in the final 10 minutes but Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar capped a perfect night for the hosts by pulling off a pair of superb saves to deny Pedro and David Villa.

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Satellites To Boost Internet In 180 Countries

Satellites To Boost Internet In 180 Countries

"Under-connected" countries will get faster, more affordable internet access after cheap satellites are shot into space

Billions of people who struggle with slow internet access are to get quicker connections when a dozen new satellites are shot into space.

The first four satellites will be carried into orbit by the Russian Soyuz rocket, as part of a project to offer affordable, high-speed access to people in around 180 "under-connected" countries.
The launch has been delayed by at least 24 hours due to adverse weather.
Users will lock on to the satellites in the same way they might with GPS handsets.
Internet pioneer Greg Wyler, who launched the scheme after finding it difficult to get online during a trip to Russia in 2007, said: "Access to the internet backbone is still severely limited in emerging markets, whether landlocked in Africa or isolated by water in the Pacific Islands.
"Only when emerging markets achieve affordable and ubiquitous access to the rest of the world will we observe locally-generated content, widespread e-learning, telemedicine and many more enablers to social and economic growth."
The project is dubbed O3b after the "other three billion" people in the world with restricted internet access.
A constellation of small satellites will hover above the equator, covering a vast area that includes the entire African continent, the Middle East, southeast Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and most of Latin America.
Existing geostationary satellites provide similar services but their cost is prohibitive for many people.
Orbiting at around 36,000km (22,000 miles) above Earth, they take around half a second to bounce signals back to the planet.
The cheaper, lighter O3b satellites will be closer to Earth and communicate four times faster.
Another four orbiters will be launched within weeks, with the final four set to arrive in space next year.
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Facebook To Remove Adverts From Adult Pages

Facebook To Remove Adverts From Adult Pages

The social networking site takes action after some companies' campaigns are shown alongside sexual or violent content.

Facebook will stop advertisements appearing on pages containing sexual or violent content after a number of companies suspended their campaigns.

Marks and Spencer and BSkyB, the parent company of Sky News, were among those to pull their adverts from the social networking site because of concerns about placement.
It led Facebook to announce a tightening of its review process, preventing promotions from appearing on pages and groups which contain offensive content.
"Our goal is to both preserve the freedoms of sharing on Facebook but also protect people and brands from certain types of content," a spokesman said in a blog post.
"We know that marketers work hard to promote their brands and we take their objectives seriously.
"While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognise we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial pages and groups."
In the first three months of the year, 85% of Facebook's revenue came from advertising - up 43% on the same quarter in 2012.
Advertisers paid a total of $1.25bn (£820m) to promote their products and services to the website's reported 665 million daily active users.
The company is paid around 3% more per advert than it was 12 months ago.
Facebook said its advertising review process will be manual at first but an automated system is expected to launch within weeks.
The spokesman added: "Like any digital platform, we're not going to be perfect but we will be much better.
"We'll continue to work aggressively on this issue with advertisers.
"We're confident the immediate steps we're taking will result in a significantly improved approach to preventing these instances from occurring, and we're committed to making this process work for everyone who uses Facebook."

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North And South Korea Hit By Cyber Attacks

North And South Korea Hit By Cyber Attack

Investigations have concluded that the damaging attacks originated in the North, which has yet to make any comment

Official websites in South and North Korea have been hit by apparently coordinated attacks on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.

The affected websites included those belonging to the South's presidential Blue House and a number of the North's state-run media groups.
Seoul raised its five-stage national cyber alert from level one to two in the morning and then to three after the scope of the attack became clear.
Park Jae-Moon, director of the Science Ministry's IT Strategy Bureau, said 11 media outlets, four government agencies and a political party had been shut down.
"It's like an endless fight between spears and shields," the director told reporters, adding that it was too early to say who was responsible.
Some sites were operating normally again in a matter of hours, while some remained offline well into the evening.
The hacking coincided with the 63rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25, 1950.
Investigations into past large-scale cyber assaults on South Korean media groups and financial institutions have concluded that they originated in North Korea.
A number of posts left on the hacked South Korean sites claimed to be the work of the global "hacktivist" group Anonymous and included messages
praising North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
Anonymous denied any involvement on its official Twitter account, but said it had succeeded in hacking a number of North Korean media websites on Tuesday.
These included the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and the ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.
Both sites were briefly inaccessible on Tuesday morning but appeared to be running normally a few hours later.
There was no immediate statement from the North, either confirming or denying the attack.
South Korea has sought to beef up its cyber defences since an attack on March 20 attack completely shut down the networks of e TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN, and brought financial services to a halt.
An official investigation determined North Korea's military intelligence agency was responsible, with a joint team of civilian and government experts tracing the origin to six personal computers used in North Korea.                
The attack coincided with heightened military tensions on the Korean peninsula, following Pyongyang's nuclear test in February.
North Korea was also blamed for cyber attacks in 2009 and 2011 that targeted South Korean financial entities and government agencies.


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UDSM student shot by robbers

UDSM student shot by robbers

A fourth year University of Dar es Salaam Bachelor of Law student is in critical condition after he was shot in the stomach by suspected bandits on Thursday night while studying for examinations with colleagues at Yombo hall at the Hill. Alex Robert Alex Robert was rushed to the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) for treatment where reports last evening said he was successfully operated on but was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The Kinondoni Regional Police Commander (RPC) Camillius Wambura confirmed the incident, but said no one had been arrested so far. He said police had launched a manhunt in collaboration with university authorities. Robert was studying with two studentsLunula Masalu and Kiran Kitojo of the same course and year when the suspects stormed the hall. "One suspect entered from the back door and the other at the front door, the one from the front door had a pistol. He ordered them to lie down," explained one of the fourth year students of the same course, Stanslaus Kalokola. Kalokola said as the students obeyed, the other suspect collected their three laptops, three cell phones and three wallets. He said Robert was shot at after he begged the attackers to give him back his examination card, which was inside his wallet. "Because we are in the examination session, Robert wanted his card back ," he said, noting that Robert was taken to the university hospital and later was transferred to MNH for further treatment. After the shot, Kalokola said, the suspects disappeared through the front door and the other two students shouted near hostel six and seven for help. Dean of Students School of Law at the university, Bonaventure Rutinwa called upon students to be vigilant and urged authorities to take action. By SWAUM MUSTAPHER, Tanzania Daily News

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Facebook Bug Exposes Six Million Contacts

Facebook Bug Exposes Six Million Contacts

Facebook says it is "embarrassed" after a system bug accidentally gives out contact information for millions of its users.

Six million Facebook users have had their contact information inadvertently exposed because of a bug in the site.

The social media giant admitted that each piece of information - such as an email address or phone number - had been given out "once or twice" and said it was "upset and embarrassed" by the mistake.
Facebook said the bug was connected to a technical mix-up between its Download Your Information (DYI) tool, which lets users get an archive of their timeline activity, and the feature which recommends who to add as a friend.
People using the tool were also unexpectedly getting extra contact information for friends of friends, or extra contact information for their existing Facebook friends.
The site tried to reassure users in a blog post and said there was no evidence yet that the bug had been maliciously exploited.
"For almost all of the email addresses or telephone numbers impacted, each individual email address or telephone number was only included in a download once or twice," said the blog.
"This means, in almost all cases, an email address or telephone number was only exposed to one person.
"Additionally, no other types of personal or financial information were included and only people on Facebook - not developers or advertisers - have access to the DYI tool."
The problem has now been fixed but the company said it had already notified privacy regulators in the US, Canada and Europe, and was in the process of notifying affected users.

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China Builds World's Fastest Supercomputer

 

China Builds World's Fastest Supercomputer

China has built the world's fastest supercomputer, which is almost twice the speed of the previous record-holder from the US.

The Tianhe-2 has been developed by the National University of Defense Technology in central China's Changsha city and is capable of 33,860 trillion calculations per second.
The news that China's computing capabilities have overtaken those of the US was revealed in the semi-annual TOP500 listing of the world's fastest supercomputers released on Monday.
It underlines the country's rise as a science and technology powerhouse.
The Tianhe-2, which means Milky Way-2, knocks the US Energy Department's Titan machine off the number one spot.
Titan achieved 17.59 petaflops per second - equivalent to 17,590 trillion calculations a second.
By comparison, the human brain is believed to be capable of 10-20 petaflops per second - around half of that of Tianhe-2.
Supercomputers are used for complex work such as modelling weather systems, simulating nuclear explosions and designing airliners.
It is the second time a Chinese computer has been named the world's fastest.
In November 2010, the Tianhe-2's predecessor, Tianhe-1A, had that honour before Japan's K computer overtook it a few months later in the TOP500 list, a ranking curated by three computer scientists at universities in the US and Germany.
The Tianhe-2 is an indication of how China is using rapid......
economic growth to pay for sharp increases in research spending, to allow it to join the United States, Europe and Japan in the global technology elite.
 TOP500 editor Jack Dongarra, who toured the Tianhe-2 facility in May, said in a news release: "Most of the features of the system were developed in China, and they are only using Intel for the main computer part.
"That is, the interconnect, operating system, front-end processors and software are mainly Chinese."
China - the inventor of the abacus - has a proud history of inventing techniques for calculation and tabulation.
Experts say that although Tianhe-2 can perform more calculations per second than the brain, it is still not as powerful.
Human brains have far superior parallel processing, which allows them to operate multiple networks of neurons at the same time, whereas computers have to make calculations one at a time.

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Flying Bikes: Firms Create Airborne Prototype

Flying Bikes: Firms Create Airborne Prototype

Thanks to this new invention, ET will no longer be needed to help the average cyclist take to the skies.

Dodging buses and cars in the morning rush hour could be a thing of the past for the hard-done-by cyclist - thanks to a new invention by a group of bike boffins.

Three companies in the Czech Republic have teamed up to make a prototype of an electric bicycle that is capable of flying.
The amazing machine is controlled remotely while in development but its designers hope to have it capable of carrying people soon.
They also hope battery technology will advance enough to improve the five-minute flights it is capable of performing and make the invention marketable.
"Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every 10 years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to used for sports, tourism or similar things," said Milan Duchek, the technical director of Duratec Bicycles.
Looking like a heavy mountain bike, it has two propellers in the front, other two in the back and one on each side. Its six engines are powered by batteries.


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Facebook And Microsoft Reveal Spying Requests

Facebook And Microsoft Reveal Spying Requests

Details of tens of thousands of queries by US officials emerge after the firms strike a deal with security authorities.

Facebook and Microsoft have revealed that US government agencies made tens of thousands of requests for user data in the second half of last year.

The firms were able to release the information after reaching a deal about disclosures with US national security authorities.
The companies are fighting a public backlash after former CIA technical assistant Edward Snowden claimed they were among nine internet firms that turned over user data to America's secret National Security Agency surveillance programme, code-named Prism.
Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo have all denied the allegations that the NSA can directly access their servers.
Facebook's Ted Ullyot said the social networking site received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests from various "government entities" in the last six months of 2012, involving 18,000 to 19,000 of its users' accounts.
The requests covered issues ranging from missing children to terrorist threats, he added.
Microsoft said that for the same period it received between 6,000 and 7,000 "criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders" affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from local, state and federal governmental agencies.
In a rare alliance, Facebook, Microsoft and Google are
publicly pressuring the Obama administration to loosen its legal gag on government surveillance orders, including confidential requests made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Mr Ullyot said: "We're continuing to push for even more transparency, so that our users around the world can understand how infrequently we are asked to provide user data on national security grounds."
The US launched a criminal investigation after Mr Snowden blew the lid on the NSA's vast electronic surveillance operation.
On Friday, US Attorney General Eric Holder said he was confident Mr Snowden would be prosecuted for "extremely damaging" leaks.
The 29-year-old, who remains in hiding in Hong Kong, has vowed to fight any bid to extradite him

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United 'want £8.5m for Nani'

United 'want £8.5m for Nani'

Galatasaray have failed in a bid for Nani because Manchester United want £8.5million for the winger, according to the Turkish club
The Portugal international has never really fulfilled his potential at Old Trafford and new boss David Moyes is thought to be ready to sell this summer.
Galatasaray are among the clubs who are interested in signing Nani, who has just one year left on his contract, but claim they cannot meet United's valuation.
The Turkish club's chairman, Unal Aysal, said: "We offered €7million (£6m) for him. But they didn't accept. We can't give more than this.
"We are not going to follow Nani anymore. We can't give more than €7m for him.
"They want €10million (£8.5million). Because of this he is not on our transfer list anymore."

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Is this the best free Microsoft Office alternative?

For over a year now I've championed Kingsoft Office Free 2012 as one of the top Microsoft Office alternatives for Windows, and with good reason: It's one of the best-looking clones out there, with superb file-compatibility to boot.
Yesterday, Kingsoft unveiled Office Free 2013 (Windows). (Please see below before you install it.) I'll go out on a limb and say it's now the single best free replacement for Microsoft Office, for a couple of very good reasons.

Choose between two Office 2010-style skins or a more old-fashioned interface.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, Kingsoft Office includes three modules: Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. Needless to say, these aim to take the place of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. For the most part they do an impressive job -- starting with how they look.
Office Free 2012 borrowed heavily from the old Microsoft Office 2003 interface you see in most other clones: LibreOffice, OpenOffice, and so on. Kingsoft actually did offer a more Office 2007/2010-like "Ribbon" interface, but to get it you had to spring for Kingsoft Office Standard or Professional.
In Office Free 2013, you can choose between "2013 Elegant Black" and "2013 Water Blue," both of which do a fine Ribbon impression. It's not an exact replica, but it comes close -- to the point where I'd call this the most attractive Microsoft Office clone ever. (Interestingly, you can easily switch to "Classic Style" if you do prefer the more old-fashioned menu-style interface.)
Kingsoft's product also does something that has somehow still managed to elude Microsoft after all these years: tabbed documents. Instead of having to switch windows every time you want to switch between multiple open documents, you just switch tabs. Another very cool amenity: a paragraph-adjustment tool that lets you modify indent and line-spacing just by dragging handles.

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Nasa Finds Evidence Of Drinkable Water On Mars

Nasa Finds Evidence Of Drinkable Water On Mars

Scientists describe the research as "some of the most important" of the decade-long Opportunity rover mission. Nasa scientists say their Opportunity rover has made new discoveries about early water on Mars which may have been drinkable.

The unmanned solar-powered vehicle, described as "arthritic" as it nears 10 years since its launch, has just analysed what may be its oldest rock ever, known as Esperance 6.
It contains evidence that potentially life-supporting water once flowed in abundance, leaving clay minerals behind.
"This is powerful evidence that water interacted with this rock and changed its chemistry, changed its mineralogy in a dramatic way," said principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University.
He described the research as "some of the most important" of the decade-long mission because it showcases a very different chemistry than most of the previous discoveries about water on Mars, which is now quite dry.
Scientists believe that a lot of water once flowed through the rocks through some sort of fracture, leaving an unusually high concentration of clay.
The analysis reveals traces of a what may have been a drinkable type of water that dates to the first billion years of Martian history.
The clay rocks were forming under a more neutral pH, before conditions became more harsh and water more acidic, Dr Squyres said.
The rover's rock abrasion tool, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and microscopic imager provided the details to scientists, who can learn about the planet's history without bringing its rocks to Earth.
Opportunity and its twin
rover Spirit launched in 2003 and landed in January 2004 for what was initially meant to be a three-month exploration.
Both discovered evidence of wet environments on ancient Mars.
"What Opportunity has mostly discovered evidence for was sulphuric acid," Dr Squyres told reporters, outlining the major difference detected in the Esperance rock's formation.
"This is water you could drink," he said.
The oldest rocks, like Esperance, have a neutral pH, signaling that early Martian water was "probably much more favourable in its chemistry, in its pH, in its level of acidity for things like prebiotic chemistry, the kind of chemistry that could lead to the origin of life".
Dr Squyres said that analysis of Esperance took seven tries over many weeks as the rover endured a dust storm, a lumpy terrain and a period when Mars went behind the Sun and out of contact with Earth.
Now, Opportunity is slowly making its way, at about 50 metres a day, towards an area a mile away known as Solander Point that contains 10 times as many geological layers for study as the area where Esperance was found. It hopes to arrive by August

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China Has 'Proof' Of Cyber Attacks From US

China Has 'Proof' Of Cyber Attacks From US

Days before presidential meetings between the countries, Chinese security chief says he has proof of targeted hacking from the US.

China has "mountains of data" that prove the targeted hacking of Chinese computers has come from the US, the country's top Internet security official has said.

But Huang Chengqing, the Director of the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Centre of China (CNCERT), added that accusing the White House would be counterproductive to solving the problem.

His comments give an indication of China's approach to the highly sensitive topic of cyber security which will top the agenda when American President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in California later this week.

The attitude is at logger heads with that coming from Washington officials, who said Obama will tell his Chinese counterpart that he considers Beijiing responsible for any online attacks launched from its soil.

Huang was unhappy with what he sees as a policy by the US to use the media to raise cyber attack concerns rather than to communicate directly with Chinese officials.

Reported in the state-controlled China Daily newspaper, the security chief said: "They advocated cases that they never let us know about.

"Some cases can be addressed if they had talked to us, why not let us know? It is not a constructive train of thought to solve problems."

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Nelson Mandela ‘serious’ in hospital

Nelson Mandela ‘serious’ in hospital

Former President Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital in South Africa with a lung infection. Nelson Mandela A presidential spokesman said he is in a "serious but stable condition", although he was able to breathe on his own – a "positive sign". Mr Mandela, 94, has been ill for some days but deteriorated overnight and was transferred to a hospital in Pretoria. He led the fight against apartheid and is regarded as the father of democratic South Africa. He has recently suffered a series of health problems and this is his fifth visit to hospital in two years. In April he was released from hospital after a 10-day stay caused by pneumonia. His illness was described on Saturday as a recurrence of a lung infection, which has troubled him repeatedly. Mr Mandela was taken to hospital, from his home in a suburb of Johannesburg, at about 01:30 local time (23:30 GMT Friday). Mac Maharaj, South Africa's presidential spokesman, told the BBC he was receiving expert medical care. Doctors were doing everything possible to make him comfortable and better, he added. "What I am told by doctors is that he is breathing on his own and I think that is a positive sign," he said. Mr Mandela's wife Graca Machel had been at his bedside since
the early hours of the morning, Sapa news agency quoted the presidential spokesman as saying. She cancelled a scheduled appearance at a meeting in London. "Naturally the immediate members of the family have access to him and it's always good for the patient that he has been accompanied by one or other of them, and that has happened," Mr Maharaj told the BBC. 'Symbol of hope' "President Jacob Zuma, on behalf of government and the nation, wishes Madiba a speedy recovery and requests the media and the public to respect the privacy of Madiba and his family," Mr Maharaj said in a statement, using the clan name by which Mr Mandela is often known. On the streets of Pretoria, people expressed their affection for their former president and their concern. Mamoshomo Tswai, a trader, said: "As long as Tata [father] is still alive then poor people like me, people who are down down, single mothers like me, we still have hope. South Africa is nothing without him." But another informal trader in Pretoria, who did not want give their name, said: "We must just accept that he is old. We love him, we all do, but we must start to accept that he is a very old man." Keith Khoza, a spokesman for the governing ANC, said Mr Mandela continued to be "a symbol of hope, to be a symbol of reconciliation" for South Africa. "We are certainly concerned about his health and we called on South Africans to pray for him and his family. "Even if you have an elderly person in the family who is sick and you expect something – once it happens the shock is still there." Damaged lungs Mr Mandela served as president from 1994 to 1999. He was previously imprisoned for 27 years, and is believed to have suffered damaged lungs while working in a prison quarry. He contracted tuberculosis in the 1980s while being held in jail on the windswept Robben Island. He retired from public life in 2004 and has been rarely seen in public since. There was a row in April when South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) – Mr Mandela's party – filmed a visit to see him and broadcast the pictures of him with President Zuma and other party figures. Critics called it an invasion of his privacy. Mr Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 jointly with former President FW de Klerk for ending apartheid and bringing democracy to South Africa. BBC

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Kagame Cup: Govt to decide on Yanga, Simba participation

Kagame Cup: Govt to decide on Yanga, Simba participation

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) president Leodegar Tenga has said the participation of Young Africans and Simba in the Kagame Cup rests in the hands of the government. Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Leodegar Tenga The annual Council for East and Central African Football Federation (CECAFA) club championship is set for June 18 to July 2 in North Darfur and South Gordofan, Sudan. Both clubs have insisted that they will not honour the competition without the blessing of the government which has warned that security conditions are critical in Darfur Region. Tenga told reporters in Dar es Salaam that TFF has already held consultations with the government which is assessing the security situation in Darfur. "We've given the government all the necessary details on the tournament, including teams' accommodation, security assurance, internal transport, etc and the government is now assessing the situation before making a decision," he said. "Security matters are outside CECAFA's power. So if the government discovers that there is insecurity in Darfur we will not allow our teams to go, but if it's satisfied that security is good it will let them," he added. "CECAFA's duty is to organise competitions and get assurance
of security from the host nations." "If we're guaranteed security, competitions will take place, but individual member- states have the right to question security arrangements because it is the duty of the respective governments to take care of the lives of their citizens." Tenga said CECAFA convened an emergency meeting on the sidelines of the FIFA Congress in Port Louis, Mauritius and was briefed on the preparations of the Kagame Cup by the Sudan Football Association. He added that member-states endorsed the report after they were guaranteed security. Meanwhile, Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye has warned that the body will take stern measures against clubs that have decided to withdraw from the 2013 Kagame Cup. This follows the announcement that Kenya Premier League Champions Tusker FC have pulled out of the competition. "Our rules are very clear. A team that pulls out of any of our events after confirming is liable to face disciplinary action," he told Goal.com. "The executive committee will decide on the best action to take before the competition kicks off."

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Chinese hackers have accessed designs of nearly 70 US weapons systems

Chinese hackers have accessed designs of nearly 70 US weapons systems, including those for Patriot missiles and Black Hawk helicopters.
The revelations made in a Defense Science Board report give details of 37 breached programmes, including the F-35 Lightning II.
Britain is buying 48 of the new Anglo-American fighter-bombers, which are being tested by Royal Navy engineers in the US.
It also includes the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon - a land-based missile defence system that was recently deployed to Guam to help counter the North Korean threat.
Other programmes include the F-22 Raptor fighter jet and the hybrid MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane.The report also listed another 29 broader defence technology projects that have been compromised, including drone video systems and high-tech avionics.
While officials have been warning about the problem with Chinese cyber attacks for years, the breadth of the list underscores how routine they have become.
The disclosure heightens fears that the knowledge could be exploited by China in a conflict and blunt America's growing military presence in the Asia Pacific region.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: "It introduces uncertainty on how well the weapons may work, and it means we may have to redo weapons systems.
China's global hacking headquarters in Shanghai
"If they know how it works precisely, they will be able to evade it and figure out how to better beat our systems."
President Barack Obama has come under intense pressure to crack down on China’s cyber espionage, and is expected to discuss the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting next week.
In November 2011, a report by US intelligence agencies accused China of systematically stealing American high-tech data for its own national economic gain.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, in its latest report on China’s military power, said publicly for the first time that Beijing’s military was likely to be behind computer-based attacks targeting federal agencies.
"In 2012, numerous computer systems around the world, including those owned by the US government, continued to be targeted for intrusions, some of which appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military," said the report, which was released earlier this month.
Cyber security experts have urged the government to use sanctions or other punishments against China for the breaches.
The benefits of cyber espionage are high and the costs are low, said Shawn Henry, former cyber director at the FBI.
"There is no cost, there are no sanctions, no diplomatic actions, no financial disincentives," he said, adding that the US intellectual property losses are in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
He said the US needs to have a discussion with Chinese leaders about "what the red lines are and what the repercussions will be for crossing those red lines".
US leaders, including Mr Obama, however, have instead been using the bully pulpit to increase pressure on the Chinese to confront the problem.
Pentagon officials are playing down the report.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said: "We maintain full confidence in our weapons platforms.
"Suggestions that cyber intrusions have somehow led to the erosion of our capabilities or technological edge are incorrect."

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Killer Robots: UN Official Joins Call For Ban

Killer Robots: UN Official Joins Call For Ban

A UN official joins a campaign to ban robots able to attack and kill without human direction, even though they don't exist yet.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was launched in London last month

Robots that can attack and kill without human direction should be banned before they come into existence, according to a senior UN official.

Lethal autonomous robotics (LARs) have not yet been created but are described as "the next major revolution in military affairs".
The Terminator-style weapons systems could select, engage and kill targets without further human intervention once activated.
Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on summary executions, called for a global moratorium as he presented a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"While drones still have a 'human in the loop' who takes the decision to use lethal force, LARs have on-board computers that decide who should be targeted," he said.
"The possible introduction of LARs raises far-reaching concerns about the protection of life during war and peace."
Their introduction will mean "machines and not humans, will take the decision on who is alive or dies,” he said, making it easier for States to go to war.
"If deployed, LARs will take humans ‘out of the loop'," Mr Heyns warned.
"States find this technology attractive because human decision-making is often much slower than that of robots, and human thinking can be clouded by emotion.
"At the same time, humans may in some cases, unlike robots, be able
to act out of compassion or grace and can, based on their understanding of the bigger picture, know that a more lenient approach is called for in a specific situation," he added.

Unmanned drones are controlled from thousands of miles away. Picture: MoD

In a summary of his 22-page report, he said: "Their deployment may be unacceptable because no adequate system of legal accountability can be devised, and because robots should not have the power of life and death over human beings."
The possibility of LARs, he adds, highlights concerns to "the extent to which they can be programmed to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law and the standards protecting life under international human rights law".
He concludes: "The Special Rapporteur recommends that States establish national moratoria on aspects of LARs, and calls for the establishment of a high-level panel on LARs to articulate a policy for the international community on the issue."
Human Rights Watch is co-ordinating the Campaign To Stop Killer Robots, a new international coalition working to pre-emptively ban LARs.
HRW arms director Steve Goose said: "The UN report makes it abundantly clear that we need to put the brakes on fully autonomous weapons, or civilians will pay the price in the future.
"The US and every other country should endorse and carry out the UN call to stop any plans for killer robots in their tracks."
He adds: "It is possible to halt the slide toward full autonomy in weaponry before moral and legal boundaries are crossed, but only if we start to draw the line now."
Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic has published its own report, Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots, which outlines legal, ethical, policy, and other concerns with fully autonomous weapons.

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Dar, Tokyo sign lucrative power deal

Dar, Tokyo sign lucrative power deal

Tanzania and Japan's Sumitomo Corporation have sealed a 675bn/- deal that will see the latter constructing a 240 Megawatts power generating plant at Kinyerezi in Dar es Salaam. Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Servacius Likwelele and Senior Officer of the SUMITOMO Corporation of Japan exchange agreement documents whereby 240 megawatts of electricity will be provided at Kinyerezi in Dar es Salaam. The signing ceremony held at the organization's Headquarters in Tokyo Japan yesterday. Looking on is President Jakaya Kikwete (left) and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Kuniharu Nakamura. (Photo by Freddy Maro). A statement released in Dar es Salaam by the Directorate of Presidential Communications said the project would be undertaken under the Public Private Partnership (PPP). The signing ceremony was held yesterday in Tokyo and was witnessed by President Jakaya Kikwete who is currently visiting the Far East country. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Servacius Likwelile signed on behalf of the Tanzanian government, while the Sumitomo Chief Executive Officer Msayuki Hyodo did the same for the Japanese company. President Kikwete hailed the Japenese Company for showing its trust to invest in Tanzania's economy and helping save lives in Africa by investing in Arusha based A-Z factory, which produces mosquito nets, with 30 million of them having been distributed all over the country to date. Mr KiKwete also witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between Sumitomo Corporation and a local company, Quality Garage Limited, whose chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Yusuf Manji put pen to paper for his company, while Mr Takachiyo Tanaka signed for the Japanese company. Meanwhile, Masato Masato reports from Yokohama that Yokohama-based Inter-Continental Hotel, the venue of the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), is as busy as a beehive as delegates from over 40 African nations and international organisations register for the meeting that starts this morning. President Jakaya Kikwete arrived here on Wednesday evening, leading a high-powered Tanzanian delegation to the Japanese government co-hosted three-day conference. Tokyo is using the five-yearly event to cement its relationship with the resource endowed African continent. Reports here have
it that the Japanese government is likely to pledge billions of US dollars in aid to Africa for the next five years while corporate investments, Japan's public and private sectors look set to invest about 30 billion US dollars into Africa by 2018. Despite relatively long-standing connections, Japan's weight on Africa is gradually waning away in favour of China, which has acquired five times the trading volume and eight times the direct investment, thanks to its aggressiveness. At the forum, Japanese officials will stress the need for the world's third largest economy to boost trade and investment with Africa and transform their relationship from the traditional aid to business-led partnership. Japan is striving to fortify relations with Africa and plead for African countries' support to its bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Tokyo is convinced that support from African countries, which account for a quarter of the UN membership, is inevitable to succeed in its bid. President Kikwete, briefing the Tanzanian delegation here on Wednesday, declared Dar's support to Tokyo's bid to the prestigious and powerful seat. While Japan uses the conference as an opportunity to maintain its diplomatic
clout with Africa, Tanzania is positioning itself strategically to attract Japanese investors to Dar es Salaam. "We have to be very strategic in taping the optimal benefits out of this conference," President Kikwete said during the briefing, ordering that potential investors be identified for one-to-one discussions. According to Tanzanian Ambassador to Japan, Salome Sijaona, the relation between Tanzania and Japan has remained good and always growing, with Japanese investors developing keen interest on Tanzania. "Japanese, after long years of confining themselves within their country, are now going out…we are getting a lot of inquiries from Japanese companies about the investment opportunities in Tanzania," said Ms Sijaona. Africa and Tanzania in particular, remains a potential business partner with Japan – offering markets for Japanese products and supplying raw materials to Tokyo's manufacturers. African countries, most of which sit on huge reserves of minerals and oil as well as other natural resources, are also emerging as last frontier for financial investors. Source Tanzania Daily News

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Makerere to lead research on sleeping sickness

 

Makerere to lead research on sleeping sickness

Makerere University will lead a five-year research project aimed at eliminating sleeping sickness on the African continent. Makerere University During the launch of the project in Kampala on Thursday, the lead researcher, Dr. Enock Matovu, said the project will also cover the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea- Bissau, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi and Zambia. Matovu said they received $4m from Welcome Trust, a UK-based charity organisation. Sleeping sickness in human beings is caused by tsetse flies, which also cause nagana in animals.

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TCRA to finance projects run by two varsities

TCRA to finance projects run by two varsities

Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) will finance three projects to be
carried out by two universities after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). TCRA Director General, Prof John Mkoma The two higher learning institutions are the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), which will research on the use of Information and Technology to improve management of road safety and the University of Dodoma (UDOM) which will research on cyber realm and applying mobile technology for drugs verification. Speaking during the award of the research fund ceremony in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the TCRA Director General Prof John Nkoma, said the two universities were selected out of the 22 higher learning institutions which had submitted proposals. "UDOM will receive 200m/- per year for two projects while UDSM will receive 100m/- per year for one project," said Prof Nkoma. UDOM Vice-Chancellor, Prof Idris Kikula, thanked the TCRA for the support and he urged other local organs to emulate the authority. "We should change the
culture of depending on foreign donors…TCRA has shown the way and others should emulate it for our development," he said. He said local experts were conversant with challenges facing the country than foreign experts, saying the projects would facilitate to provide the country with best solutions on the problems. The Dean of College of the Informatics and Virtual Education at UDOM, Dr Leonard Msele, said the project would help to give a clear picture of the cyber crime. On his part, UDSM senior lecturer, Prof Nerey Mvungi, said 75 per cent of the road accidents were caused by reckless driving while the rest per cent is caused by human error, saying there was a need to introduce policy and stern measures to control road accidents. By LUDOVICK KAZOKA, Tanzania Daily News

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