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New method of displaying time patented

Saturday, October 14, 2006

An American inventor has patented a pair of new time formats with a footprint less than 50% of that of conventional four-digit time. The more unusual of the two new formats, called “TWELV”, dispenses with numerals altogether. In place of clock hands or digits, the new clock uses color to convey the hour and a moon image to convey the minute, which moon slowly grows throughout the course of an hour from a narrow crescent to a full-fledged circle.

The second and more approachable of the new formats retains numerical digits to indicate the minute but uses colors to convey the hour.

Early critics question whether the aesthetic benefits of the moon-clock will be sufficient to encourage users to learn the color-based time-telling system. However, the size advantages of the new system may make it particularly suitable for mobile applications, particularly cell phones, wearable computers, and head-mounted displays.

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On the campaign trail in the USA, July 2016

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The following is the third edition of a monthly series chronicling the U.S. 2016 presidential election. It features original material compiled throughout the previous month after an overview of the month’s biggest stories.

In this month’s edition on the campaign trail: two individuals previously interviewed by Wikinews announce their candidacies for the Reform Party presidential nomination; a former Republican Congressman comments on the Republican National Convention; and Wikinews interviews an historic Democratic National Convention speaker.

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Red Hat to move focus away from CentOS in favour of Stream; CentOS team discuss implications with Wikinews

Monday, December 14, 2020

On Tuesday, US-based software company Red Hat announced their plans to shift their focus away from CentOS in favour of CentOS Stream.

In the blog post Chris Wright, the Chief Technological Officer of Red Hat said Red Hat had informed the CentOS governing board that Red Hat was “shifting our investment fully from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream”. At least five of the nine CentOS Governing Board listed on the project are Red Hat employees.

Started in 2004, CentOS has been a free-of-cost free/libre open source software which provided binary-code compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) — Red Hat’s GNU General Public Licensed paid operating system. CentOS was absorbed into Red Hat in 2014, with Red Hat gaining the trademark rights of “CentOS”.

Red Hat also sponsors the Fedora operating system. Red Hat even gives the software engineering interns laptops with Fedora on it. Till now, software development took place on Fedora, which was later adopted in RHEL, which the Red Hat maintained and provided support for, for those customers who had RHEL subscription. CentOS would then follow RHEL to provide the same features free of cost, but without the support.

Stream was announced in September 2019, just two months after Red Hat was acquired by IBM. CentOS Stream’s development cycle had new features added to it before the features became a part of RHEL. Stream receives more frequent updates, however, it does not follow RHEL’s release cycle.

With CentOS Stream, developments from the community and the Red Hat emplyees would take place beforehand on both Fedora, and Stream as a rolling release, before those features are absorbed into RHEL. CentOS followed the release cycle of RHEL and therefore it was a stable distribution. Features available in CentOS were tried and tested by Fedora, and then RHEL maintainers. Stream, on the other hand, has features added to it before those features become a part of RHEL. That implies Stream would be ahead of RHEL’s development, containing new features which are not yet tried and tested by RHEL developers, and not be binary code-compatible with RHEL.

Writing “The future of CentOS Linux is CentOS Stream”, Wright further wrote in the announcement, CentOS Stream “provides a platform for rapid innovation at the community level but with a stable enough base to understand production dynamics.” Wright also said, “CentOS Stream isn’t a replacement for CentOS Linux; rather, it’s a natural, inevitable next step intended to fulfill the project’s goal of furthering enterprise Linux innovation.”

Since the announcement was made, many people expressed their anger on Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Reddit and CentOS project’s mailing list. CentOS 8’s End of Life (EOL) has been moved up from May 2029 to December 31, 2021, while CentOS 7 is expected to receive maintenance updates through June 2024, outliving CentOS 8.

Gregory Kurtzer, who had started the CentOS project, announced a new operating system, Rocky Linux. Rocky Linux describes itself as “a community enterprise Operating System designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Enterprise Linux”. The project said “Rocky Linux aims to function as a downstream build as CentOS had done previously, building releases after they have been added to the upstream vendor, not before.” The project maintainers have not decided a date for when the operating system will be released.

Kurtzer explained the reason to call the OS as Rocky Linux: “Thinking back to early CentOS days… My cofounder was Rocky McGaugh. He is no longer with us, so as a H/T [hat tip] to him, who never got to see the success that CentOS came to be, I introduce to you…Rocky Linux”.

Wikinews reached out to the members of the CentOS project, Pablo Greco and Rich Bowen, to discuss this move, its implications as well as the future of CentOS. Greco is a maintainer of armhfp (32-bit processors) and is a part of the CentOS’ quality assurance team. Bowen — who unlike Greco, works for Red Hat — is the community manager of the CentOS project.

 This story has updates See Gregory Kurtzer discusses plans for Rocky Linux with Wikinews as Red Hat announces moving focus away from CentOS, December 18, 2020 
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More than 100,000 protest against workplace reforms across Australia

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Across Australia more than 100,000 people have rallied to protest against the federal government’s controversial Workchoices workplace reforms. According to estimates by police, the largest rally was held in Melbourne where more than 80,000 people were thought to be in attendance. The earlier protest in Sydney attracted some 30,000 protesters.

Smaller protests were held in other cities throughout the country.

At most rallies, members of the opposition and union leaders addressed the crowd, criticising the Howard government’s changes. Under the Workchoices system, centralised wage fixing was abolished and meal breaks, holidays and working hours became negotiable. Businesses with less than 100 employees were also given increased powers to dismiss workers. Unions and the opposition claim that the system will reduce worker’s rights and wages.

Australian federal opposition leader, Kim Beazley attended the Melbourne rally where he addressed the crowd. He said those who attended the rallies were patriots who were standing up to defend the Australian lifestyle. “This is a battle for ordinary Australian life,” he said

“This is a battle for Australian families. It’s also a battle for basic dignity in the workplace.

“You are the people that made this nation what it is.

“You are the builders of this nation. You are the true Australian patriots.”

Mr Beazley again promised that a government under his leadership would abolish the reforms.

“When we get into office in 18 months time, we will rip up these laws,” he said.

“Then we are going to put in place laws based on true Australian values.”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), which represents a large number of employers in Australia said the total number of protesters across Australia was less than 150, 000 and labelled the protests as a day of “inaction”, despite unions calling for a “day of action”.

Peter Hendy, chief executive of the ACCI said the turnout figure is less than 10 per cent of the membership of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, which encouraged workers to participate in a “national day of action” to “protect rights at work”

Mr Hendy said only 2 percent of Australian workers participated in the protests.

South Australia Unions secretary, Janet Giles said the protests showed the dislike ordinary workers have for the laws.

“What today’s demonstrated is that the momentum of this campaign is not waning, that union members, workers, community members are out today again to say we’re still determined to campaign against these laws,” she said.

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Italian police find 24 children living in Rome’s sewers

Monday, April 6, 2009

98 people, including 24 children, were found Saturday by Italian police in the sewer system of Rome.

The Afghan youths were reported to be between the ages of 10 and 15. According to the newspaper La Repubblica, the children had stowed away on trailer trucks traveling from Turkey and Greece. They had spent nights sleeping in a standing position in filthy sewer pipes after removing the manhole covers and some of them were found in a sickly condition.

There had been reports to the police of children under the Ostiense train station, a common place for the homeless to seek shelter on cold nights.

The children, who do not speak Italian, are under the care of Rome’s Social Services. Efforts are being made by interpreters to identify the children who traveled without parental care.

Save the Children said that Afghan minors in Rome have increased to 264 in 2007 from 32 in 2004.

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Iran to conduct missile defense exercise

Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Iranian government has announced that the nation will be participating in a missile defense test which could take place as early as tomorrow.

According to the IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, the test is an annual exercise aimed to “maintain and develop” defense capabilities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The exercise is named ‘Great Prophet 4’ and will involve shooting a variety of live missiles at targets. Reports say the drill will be conducted in several unknown locations and will last for several days. The exercise also falls on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

The announcement comes just hours after the Iranian government stated that the nation was building a second nuclear power facility. The announcement was made in a September 21 letter from the Iranian government to the United Nations Security Council that a second nuclear plant was being constructed in the city of Qom.

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Investigation wanted into the murders of Iraqi academics

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Majid Majhoul Hawi al-Moussawi said his family “locked the door and left for Syria, the only country that would have us. We are grateful, but there is no work. There is nothing for us here.” He took his family out of Baghdad after his daughter Hanan, 16, was kidnapped.

Professionals in Iraq say they face a deteriorating situation. Young physicians are looking for other countries to train in and even the patients are leaving, no longer confident in the care they can get in Iraq.

Dr. Omar Kubasi supported the claims that a systematic campaign to destroy Iraqi academia is occurring, stating, “I think it’s part of the plan for the country’s destruction. The situation in the last six months has gotten so bad, we couldn’t continue.”

Learn more about list of killed, threatened or kidnapped Iraqi academics on Wikipedia.

Amer Hassan Fayed, assistant dean of political science at Baghdad University said; “It’s creating a brain drain, we could end up with a society without knowledge. How can such a society make progress?”

Hundreds of Iraqi academics have been assassinated since the U.S.-led coalition invasion in March 2003, and there have been no charges brought against any suspects in the murders.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MEP for Southeast England, is calling for a United Nations investigation into the killings which, she said, is forcing thousands of Iraqi educators to flee for their lives.

“Iraq is undergoing a major brain drain, and can ill afford to lose academics and teachers to a continuing wave of violence. Iraq’s education system, once one of the best in the region, has been decimated: some 84 percent of the country’s higher education institutions have been burned, looted or destroyed, according to the United Nations University. These assassinations, which appear to be countrywide, non-partisan and non-sectarian, must be investigated by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions — and those responsible brought to justice. Iraq needs security and stability, but it is clear that the continued U.S. and (British) occupation is contributing to the problem, not the solution,” Lucas said.

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Israeli PM Ariel Sharon briefly opens eyes

Monday, January 16, 2006

Israeli media is reporting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes for the first time since he suffered a major stroke on January 4, 2006.

However, hospital officials said the reports were generated by the Sharon family’s “impression of eyelid movement, whose medical significance is unclear.”

“He was listening to a tape of his grandson and you could see tears in his eyes for a matter of seconds before he closed them again,” a doctor treating Sharon told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

Army Radio, citing unidentified close associates of Sharon, say the Prime Minister could “recognize people around him.”

However, hospital officials state that it is “too early to tell whether the development represented a significant improvement or was just a temporary reflex.”

Sharon had undergone a tracheotomy on Sunday to help with his breathing and to help prevent infection from his respirator tube.

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Police report drug haul seizure worth up to £30 million in Brownhills, England

Monday, December 2, 2013

Police in the West Midlands in England today said nearly 200 kilograms worth of drugs with value possibly as great as £30 million (about US$49 million or €36 million) has been seized from a unit in the town of Brownhills. In what an officer described as “one of the largest [seizures] in the force’s 39 year history”, West Midlands Police reported recovering six big cellophane-wrapped cardboard boxes containing cannabis, cocaine, and MDMA (“ecstasy”) in a police raid operation on the Maybrook Industrial Estate in the town on Wednesday.

The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated

The seized boxes, which had been loaded onto five freight pallets, contained 120 one-kilogram bags of cannabis, 50 one-kilogram bags of MDMA, and five one-kilogram bricks of cocaine. In a press release, West Midlands Police described what happened after officers found the drugs as they were being unloaded in the operation. “When officers opened the boxes they discovered a deep layer of protective foam chips beneath which the drugs were carefully layered”, the force said. “All the drugs were wrapped in thick plastic bags taped closed with the cannabis vacuum packed to prevent its distinctive pungent aroma from drawing unwanted attention.” Police moved the drugs via forklift truck to a flatbed lorry to remove them.

Detective Sergeant Carl Russell of West Midlands Police’s Force CID said the seizure was the largest he had ever made in the 24 years he has been in West Midlands Police and one of the biggest seizures the force has made since its formation in 1974. “The impact this seizure will have on drug dealing in the region and the UK as a whole cannot be underestimated”, he said. “The drugs had almost certainly been packed to order ready for shipping within Britain but possibly even further afield. Our operation will have a national effect and we are working closely with a range of law enforcement agencies to identify those involved in this crime at whatever level.”

Expert testing on the drugs is ongoing. Estimates described as “conservative” suggest the value of the drugs amounts to £10 million (about US$16.4 million or €12 million), although they could be worth as much as £30 million, subject to purity tests, police said.

Police arrested three men at the unit on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug. The men, a 50-year-old from Brownhills, a 51-year-old from the Norton area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and one aged 53 from Brownhills, have been released on bail as police investigations to “hunt those responsible” continue. West Midlands Police told Wikinews no person has yet been charged in connection with the seizure. Supplying a controlled drug is an imprisonable offence in England, although length of jail sentences vary according to the class and quantity of drugs and the significance of offenders’ roles in committing the crime.

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Ransomware attack hits over 200 US companies, forces Swedish grocery chain to close

Monday, July 5, 2021

On Friday, a ransomware attack which initially targeted software company Kaseya spread to over 200 companies in the US through Kaseya’s network management software. Huntress Labs, a cybersecurity company, alleged the attack was carried out by REvil, a Russia-based ransomware group. Kaseya told its customers to stop using its services when it learned of the attack.

According to NBC News, the ransomware first spread to about 40 of Kaseya’s customers, which are mainly companies that manage Internet services for their customers, some of which manage them for thousands of companies. John Hammond, a security researcher at Huntress Labs, said that “It’s reasonable to think this could potentially be impacting thousands of small businesses”. Kaseya notified its customers of the attack on Friday afternoon and warned them to stop using its services immediately.

Business Insider reported REvil is a Russian-based organization which provides ransomware-as-a-service. BleepingComputer reported receiving a sample of the ransomware used in REvil’s attacks and says that they demand USD five million for the ransomed files to be decrypted, though it is unknown if every victim received a demand for that same amount. Fabian Wosar, Chief Technical Offier (CTO) at the Emsisoft security firm, said affected customers had received demands for USD 44,999.

Swedish grocery chain Coop was also affected by the attack, and had to close all 800 of its stores because its checkout tills could not process payments due to the ransomware. Speaking to Swedish Television, Therese Knapp, a Coop spokesperson, said “We have been troubleshooting and restoring all night, but have communicated that we will need to keep the stores closed today”. Swedish company Visma Esscom, which manages servers for businesses, was using Kaseya software, according to Reuters. Railway services in Sweden were also disrupted.

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden directed intelligence agencies to investigate who was behind the attack. He said that “we’re not certain” who is behind the attack, adding “[t]he initial thinking was it was not the Russian government but we’re not sure yet”. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency stated that it is “taking action to understand and address the recent supply-chain ransomware attack”.

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