Taiwan's plans to halve the price of local rice wine have angered fellow World Trade Organization members, who say this creates unfair competition to imported whisky and cognac. Insisting the spirit is used only for cooking and therefore exempt from high taxes, Taipei hopes that feeding Western dignitaries dishes like sesame chicken will convince them to drop their complaints. - Jens Kastner (Sep 3, '10)
The US's standing in Central Asia has taken a big hit after Kyrgyzstan's interim President Roza Otunbayeva, under pressure from nationalists, shut the door on its idea for a European-led security mission to keep peace between Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities. Talks this week underscore that US policy can be salvaged only with sincere Russian help. But Moscow is brooding. - M K Bhadrakumar (Sep 3, '10)
Ten years ago, while the Taliban were filling their coffers with taxes from the world's largest smuggling ring, a reincarnation of the Queen of Sheba was playing her part in a sprawling west Afghan underground network of women refusing to be locked indoors. Today, the Afghan-Pakistan border is still porous, and the Taliban seem to believe they may even get their Talibanistan back. - Pepe Escobar (Sep 3, '10) This is the conclusion of a three-part report.
In Donald P Gregg, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, North Korea has found an unlikely advocate for its claim of innocence in the sinking of the South's corvette the Cheonan. Gregg goes further in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, blaming Washington and Seoul for driving Kim Jong-il into the arms of China. - Donald Kirk (Sep 3, '10)
It is estimated it will take 3,000 years to clear Laos of all the explosive remnants left behind from United States bombers over 30 years ago. More than 20,000 people have died from unexploded ordnance since conflict ended. Now, new questions are being asked about whether the US government should pay much more for the damage it has caused. - Melody Kemp (Sep 3, '10)
Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979 by Thomas Hegghammer An engaging study of the rise of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, this book traces the movement’s evolution from a Pan-Islamic volunteer force in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to a fermentation period in Saudi Arabia and finally its emergence as a global jihadi network. It also shows how Saudi leaders have successfully used softer techniques to undermine al-Qaeda's mass appeal. - Brian M Downing (Sep 3, '10)
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is to seek the backing of institutional investors in the United States for his hostile takeover bid for Norilsk Nickel. Echoing in the background is Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's recent warning on how company profits should not be disbursed, and his approval of shareholders when they "are not greedy, not mean, not argumentative". - John Helmer
The International Monetary Fund is to give Pakistan US$450 million in immediate emergency funding while the World Bank has topped up its aid to the flood-stricken country to $1 billion. Yet to be decided by the IMF is if and when it will release more than $1 billion in loans agreed to in 2008. - Syed Fazl-e-Haider
Asia's stock markets put on a positive showing over the past week, with Australia and its near 4% gain leading the way and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index staging a recovery. But muddle and outside forces, rather than confidence, were the driving forces. R M Cutler runs his eye over the ups and downs in the week's markets.
The stay of execution granted Research in Motion before it has to give the Indian government access to BlackBerry encrypted data services does not mean a retreat by New Delhi, which now has Google and Skype in its sights. Martin J Young surveys the week's developments in computing, science, gaming and gizmos.
That cheaper goods and services are bad for us is the only conclusion we can draw from US Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke's concern that price inflation isn't running fast enough - in utter violation of the Fed's purpose in life: expressly to prevent inflation in prices.
I wrote this tool some months ago while developing on the xPresso publishing system (NO), and has done some rewriting this week to implement further functionality.
The Codificator now provides: - automatic code wrapping in DC board format - conversion of regular HTML-formatted text to DC board formatted text - link extraction from HTML to DC board format - auto fetch of webpages, with on-select conversion of content to DC board format.
It won't boil your coffee or knit you a warm sweater for the winter, but it may help you to be more efficient when you're online discussing politics.
AnoBBS is a opensource 3DES-encrypted Bulletin Board where users encrypt their messages before submit with a common known phrase, using javascript. The server does not know the key, so this is end-to-end encryption where the key is never submitted. The technology used is Ajax and PHP, the forum files are stored as XML. Below is a list of the basic functionality: - user authentication - topic list and topic view - three userlevels; admin, moderator and user - post threads - post and edit replies - print or save threads - edit, delete and lock threads (mod) - edit forumdata and users (admin) - save BBS (admin) - delete BBS (admin)
The BBS is very simple to install and even simpler to use. It requires only a standard php distro on the server and a javascript enable browser to function.
AnoChat is an opensource 3DES-encrypted chat where users encrypt their messages before submit with a common known phrase, using javascript. The server does not know the key, so this is end-to-end encryption where the key is never submitted. The technology used is JX, similar to Ajax. The chat is very simple to install and even simpler to use. It requires only a standard php distro on the server and a javascript enabled browser to function.
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
