News of Interest for 11/13/06

African nomads to be first people wiped out by climate change
"They are dubbed the 'climate canaries' - the people destined to become the first victims of world climate change. And as government ministers sit down in Nairobi at this weekend's UN Climate Conference, the people most likely to be wiped out by devastating global warming will be only a few hundred miles away from their deliberations."
Global growth in carbon emissions is 'out of control'
'The rate of increase of emissions suggests it may soon be impossible to avoid some of the worst-case scenarios, said Josep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project. "On our current path, we will find it extremely difficult to rein in carbon emissions enough to stabilise the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration at 450ppm, and even 550ppm will be a challenge," he said. "At some point in the near future, we will miss the boat in terms of achieving acceptable levels."'
Outrage at London sting by US spies
"Undercover American agents are staging secret 'sting' operations in Britain against criminal and terrorist suspects they want to extradite to the US."
Lockerbie trial was a CIA fix, US intelligence insider claims
"THE CIA manipulated the Lock erbie trial and lied about the strength of the prosecution case to get a result that was politically convenient for America, according to a former US State Department lawyer."
Attack of the Perv Trackers
"Just a few years ago, satellite tracking of convicts was a newfangled alternative to house arrest. Now, the number of American ex-offenders tracked through GPS-equipped ankle bracelets will likely triple to more than 30,000, thanks to the passage of a California ballot measure."
Euro Bills Succumbing to Crystal Meth?
'Investigators are looking into whether an impure batch of crystal methamphetamine is to be blamed for the mysteriously disintegrating euro notes. While some say no, authorities in Berlin are awaiting results "more profound."'
City Expands Cloud of Surveillance
"It will primarily transmit images from the new surveillance cameras installed in a number of neighborhoods in recent months. The live feeds will be broadcast via secure internet server to a police monitoring station at the Counter Narcotics Team headquarters. The cloud will also allow police officers to access the video feeds and the internet in their cars via laptop computers. City staff says the internet cloud should be in place in a couple of months."
DOD pushes wireless to the edge
"JTF-CS officials say wireless networks are the solution. Today only fixed military sites at the staff level can install wireless local-area networks. Tactical units on the front lines cannot set up wireless LANs quickly and securely. But now JTF-CS and Joint Forces Command say they hope to fill that need with a program called Wireless for the Warfighter (W4W). That program provides a wireless extension for computer and phone lines that can be set up in a crisis within minutes rather than hours."
Every cellphone a camera-phone soon, says Gartner
"Gartner says that, worldwide camera phones will account for 48 percent of total worldwide mobile phone sales in 2006 and 81 percent by 2010. "Worldwide sales of camera phones, which have almost tripled since 2004, will reach 460 million in 2006, an increase of 43 percent from 2005. This trend is set to continue, leading to sales of one billion camera phones by 2010.""
'Punishments for inactive unemployed'
"Finance minister Anders Borg wants unemployed people not actively seeking work to be docked a day's benefits. He intends to introduce the change "as soon as possible", Svenska Dagbladet reports."