Today's World News is a site for the people to know what is exactly going on in the news and the world today. Being there is so much hype and propaganda going on these days. This site will add several links so the viewer can research and see the actual news for themselves. Lord knows main stream won't do that for us. Check the links for yourselves. If you find more. By all means. Please share them so they can be added here.
Image via WikipediaIf you think this is only about Playstation you are sadly mistaken. Anyone that has actually read my articles on RFID and the Tech behind Internet hacking and so, will know how this impacts the entire internet world we live in today. This just goes to show how easy it is to get your information. If you don't want your info out there for the world to grab. Don't put it online anywhere. Including your Cell phones, All pictures, Texts, anything you write on a website is there for the world to see. Not just your friends. Fact is. Security is a very false word when it comes to the internet and phone towers and satellites. Will people read this and understand? Probably not. http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/04/29/play.station.credit.card/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
People whose credit cards are linked to Sony's PlayStation Network may have been compromised, report says.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Sony PlayStation hacker or hackers may have stolen users' credit card data
New York Times blog: Security researchers see evidence of such theft
Sony says it's not clear credit card numbers were stolen, urges precaution
The PlayStation Network has been down since April 20
(CNN) -- In addition to usernames, e-mail addresses and passwords, the hacker or hackers who cracked into Sony's PlayStation network also may have nabbed credit card numbers.
Sony says there's no reason to believe credit card numbers of the network's 77 million users have been stolen, but security researchers tell the New York Times' Bits Blog otherwise.
"Sony is saying the credit cards were encrypted, but we are hearing that the hackers made it into the main database, which would have given them access to everything, including credit card numbers," Mathew Solnik, a security consultant with iSEC Partners, told the Times' Nick Bilton.
Bilton quotes three security researchers who say they've seen talk about the stolen credit card numbers in dark corners of the Internet.
They say as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers may have been stolen as part of the attack. One researcher says the hackers appear to be trying to sell some of the credit card information for more than $100,000.
CNN has not independently verified these claims.
The Sony PlayStation Network -- which lets users play games with friends in remote locations, purchase games over the Internet and stream movies -- has been down since April 20 following a major infiltration of its security system.
Some PlayStation Network users link their credit cards to the online service so they can quickly purchase games and make other transactions.
Sony says personal data has been stolen, since the database that includes that information was not encrypted. But the company has maintained it has no reason to believe the hackers have access to PlayStation users' credit card numbers, which it says were stored in an encrypted database.
Still, Sony has encouraged people to take precautions:
"While all credit card information stored in our systems is encrypted and there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility," the company said in a blog post on Thursday. "If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained."
Some PlayStation users have been changing their credit card numbers as a precaution.
E-mail addresses and passwords also are valuable to cyber criminals.
DARAA, Syria (KABC) -- The State Department is advising American citizens to leave Syria as soon as they can.
It's also ordering personnel at the U.S. embassy in the capital city of Damascus to leave the country.
The precautions are being ordered after a brutal crackdown on anti-government forces.
On Monday, at least 11 people were killed in Daraa, the city at the center of the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Meantime, hundreds of people have reportedly been detained across Syria. Human rights activists say many of the arrests occurred in Damascus.
A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 400 people across Syria, with 120 dead over the weekend, rights groups said.
Bashar Assad has launched all-out war on his people. Tanks firing artillery, APCs, infantry units, commandoes and snipers were deployed for the first time at daybreak Monday, April 25 in cities across Syria for the most brutal assault on any Arab anti-government protest in the four-month uprising.
In the first few hours, hundreds are estimated to have been massacred (over and above the 350 shot dead in the last three days) and thousands injured. Denied medical attention, they are left in the streets to die. debkafile's military sources report that protest centers in cities with populations of 2-3 million have been stormed by Syrian troops backed by tanks firing automatic 120-mm guns at random, commandoes dropped by helicopter and snipers.
The military offensive to break the back of the uprising (which debkafile Saturday, April 23 first disclosed Assad had decided to launch) is led by his younger brother Maher Assad at the head of the Republican Guard and the 4th Division which is made up mostly of the Assad's Alawite clan. Its first target Sunday night was the southern town of Deraa where the protest movement began and the Mediterranean coastal town of Jableh.
Monday, Syria shut its land borders to Jordan to conceal the scale of the carnage inflicted on the border town of Deraa from outside eyes. Foreign correspondents have been banned from the country since the uprising began.
Monday, indiscriminate fire was also reported in Duma, a dissident suburb of the capital Damascus. By Monday afternoon, thousands of soldiers had spread out across the North, South and Center of the country, apparently preparing to storm the large cities and protest centers of Hama, Homs, Latakiya and the Kurdish north.
While times may have changed, Bashar is his father's son. In 1982, President Hafez Assad turned his artillery on a district of Hama and slaughtered 25-30,000 civilians to smash a Muslim Brotherhood revolt. The operation was commanded by Rifat Assad, Bashar's uncle, today an opposition leader in exile.
The incumbent president's killing fields extend not to one but to a score of Syrian cities with unimaginable consequences.
And yet no Western power is rushing to help the pro-democracy protesters of Syria who are dying in their hundreds day by day. And the verbal condemnations coming from Washington and European capitals are soon buried under layers of inaction.
Isaiah 17
Proclamation Against Syria and Israel
1 The burden against Damascus.
“ Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap. 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken;[a]
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. 3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the LORD of hosts. 4 “ In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of Jacob will wane,
And the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
UN fails to agree on Syria condemnation
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201142723514236533.html
The UN Security Council has failed to agree on a statement condemning Syria's deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Envoys attending a special open meeting on Syria in New York on Wednesday said Russia, China and Lebanon opposed the wording of a draft statement distributed by European nations.
France called for "strong measures" if Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, rejects appeals to end violence which has killed hundreds.
The US said Assad must "change course now and heed the calls of his own people" for change.
"A real threat to regional security could come from outside interference. Such approaches lead to a never ending circle of violence" Alexander Pankin, Russian deputy UN envoy
Russia, after blocking a Security Council statement condemning the violence, however insisted that the Syrian crackdown did not amount to a threat to international peace and security, grounds that would justify international action.
"A real threat to regional security could come from outside interference," Alexander Pankin, the Russian deputy UN ambassador, told the council.
"Such approaches lead to a never ending circle of violence" and could set off civil war.
Bashar Ja'afari, the Syrian ambassador to the UN, welcomed the Security Council's inaction, saying his government was carrying out an investigation into the violence and that there was no need for a UN commission.
Al Jazeera's Kristin Saloomey, reporting from the UN headquarters, said any hope for Security Council action is "dead" for the moment.
"The council was not able to agree on even the most basic form of the statement calling for calm and calling for an investigation."
She said Russia offered the strongest opposition to the move, saying they were concerned about violence in Syria, but on both sides.
"In the end there were isolated statements of concern from various countries, but no unified action by the council."
China and India called for political dialogue and peaceful resolution of the crisis, with no mention of condemnation.
Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese envoy, said his country shared a special relationship with Syria, and that "the hearts and minds" of the Lebanese people are with the Syrians, and are supporting Assad's lifting of the state of emergency and reforms. Global criticism
The Syrian violence has sparked global criticism in recent days.
France, Britain, Germany and Portugal circulated a draft media statement on Monday calling for the 15-member Security Council to condemn the violence
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Survivors and rescuers combed through destroyed towns and neighborhoods on Thursday, looking for belongings and victims after dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South overnight. The death toll continued to climb in Alabama, and at least 280 people in six states perished in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years.
Deadliest days
Nearly 300 people were killed in six states on April 27-28 in one of the deadliest series of tornadoes to hit the United States in recent decades. Here is a look at the deadliest tornado days in U.S. history: March 18, 1925: 747 people killed after tornadoes hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. March 21, 1932: 332 killed, most of them in Alabama, following a wave of tornadoes across the Southeast. May 17, 1840: 317 died, nearly all of them in the city of Natchez, Miss., after tornadoes hit Louisiana and Mississippi. April 3, 1974: 310 killed in what is known as the "Super Outbreak" when 148 tornadoes rampaged across 13 states over a 24-hour period. May 27, 1896: 305 died when tornadoes hit Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Source: NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory
People in hard-hit Alabama surveyed flattened, debris-strewn neighborhoods and told of pulling bodies from rubble after the storms passed.
"We have neighborhoods that have been basically removed from the map," Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said after surveying his city.
The death toll seems out of a bygone era — before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count.
"These were the most intense super-cell thunderstorms that I think anybody who was out there forecasting has ever seen," said meteorologist Greg Carbin at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
"If you experienced a direct hit from one of these, you'd have to be in a reinforced room, storm shelter or underground" to survive, Carbin said.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Survivors and rescuers combed through destroyed towns and neighborhoods on Thursday, looking for belongings and victims after dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South overnight. The death toll continued to climb in Alabama, and at least 280 people in six states perished in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years.
Deadliest days
Nearly 300 people were killed in six states on April 27-28 in one of the deadliest series of tornadoes to hit the United States in recent decades. Here is a look at the deadliest tornado days in U.S. history: March 18, 1925: 747 people killed after tornadoes hit Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. March 21, 1932: 332 killed, most of them in Alabama, following a wave of tornadoes across the Southeast. May 17, 1840: 317 died, nearly all of them in the city of Natchez, Miss., after tornadoes hit Louisiana and Mississippi. April 3, 1974: 310 killed in what is known as the "Super Outbreak" when 148 tornadoes rampaged across 13 states over a 24-hour period. May 27, 1896: 305 died when tornadoes hit Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. Source: NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory
People in hard-hit Alabama surveyed flattened, debris-strewn neighborhoods and told of pulling bodies from rubble after the storms passed.
"We have neighborhoods that have been basically removed from the map," Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said after surveying his city.
The death toll seems out of a bygone era — before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count.
"These were the most intense super-cell thunderstorms that I think anybody who was out there forecasting has ever seen," said meteorologist Greg Carbin at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
"If you experienced a direct hit from one of these, you'd have to be in a reinforced room, storm shelter or underground" to survive, Carbin said.
Storms ravage South: A state-by-state look at the impact
The fierce storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York
Here's a state-by-state glance at the impact: Alabama
At least 194 have died people across the state, which suffered "massive destruction of property," Gov. Robert Bentley said.
As of 10 a.m. ET Thursday, Alabama Power said 348,467 residents were without power, although the governor estimates that up to a million residents could be without power statewide.
2,000 national guard troops have been and were helping to search devastated areas for the missing.
President Barack Obama — who will travel to Alabama on Friday — has spoken with Bentley and approved his request for emergency federal assistance.
Some of the worst devastation occurred in Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, killing at least 36 people including some students. Video taken at the university showed a massive funnel cloud flinging huge pieces of debris through the air.
66 of 137 tornado reports the NWS Storm Prediction Center received on Wednesday came from Alabama.
A Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear power plant in Alabama that lost power after the storms will be down for days and possibly weeks, but the agency said backup power systems worked as designed to prevent a partial meltdown like the disaster in Japan.
Mississippi
At least 33 have been confirmed dead, and 120 injured, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
According to reports, Gov. Haley Barbour says he will ask President Barack Obama for federal relief.
Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency in 13 counties, and additionally, says he will seek a federal declaration of emergency.
Tennessee
According to NBC News, 33 people have died due to the storms.
Bill McCollum, chief operating officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority, tells the Knoxville News Sentinel that more than 300,000 customers were without power.
Virginia
Eight deaths were initially reported but that was later lowered to five.
President Obama is opting not to visit the tornado-ravaged areas of the South, choosing instead to embark today on a three day tour out West where he will try to boost his political standing by talking up his approach to the deficit and raise millions for himself and fellow Democrats.
The tornadoes, part of a storm that rampaged though six states Saturday, resulted in one of the worst disasters of any kind in the United States since the Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scores were left injured or homeless while 45 people were killed – about four times as many as died in the Gulf oil rig explosion and the subsequent oil spill last year. In North Carolina alone, there were nearly two-dozen storm-related deaths Saturday, with 130 homes destroyed and an estimated 700 more damaged.
Obama presents the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the Air Force Academy football team in the Rose Garden Monday. He made no mention of the tornadoes.
photo by Keith Koffler
Not only is Obama staying away from the region, he has said almost nothing publicly about the tragedy beyond an interview with a North Carolina TV station and a very brief mention at a White House prayer breakfast. The president has failed to make the kind of national, attention-getting public statement presidents offer during crises to comfort victims by expressing the condolences of the nation and to seek charitable aid.
Sunday, he went golfing. On Monday, he did sign a disaster declaration for North Carolina, which will free up federal assistance to the state.
Vice President Biden has also failed to show up. He’s cooling his heels today at home in Wilmington, Delaware. The disaster did not even merit a visit from Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar who – without any apparent irony – was in Boston Tuesday announcing a new wind energy project.
Meanwhile, the South is bracing for more, as forecasters say severe storms and tornadoes could hit the region again today.
Obama’s failure to publicly attend to the fallout from the tornadoes comes on the one-year anniversary of the rig explosion that caused the Gulf oil spill. Obama was roundly criticized then for failing to respond sufficiently to the crisis.
The president’s silence and absence during the current crisis is particularly odd given his political stakes in North Carolina, which barely went for Obama over McCain in 2008. Obama is so desperate to hold the state that he’s chosen to hold the 2012 Democratic convention there, in Charlotte.
Image via Wikipediahttp://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/28/birthers.side.show/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
One day after President Obama released his long-form birth certificate -- to end what he called a distraction of "sideshows" and "carnival barkers" -- some still question his eligibility to serve in the White House.
To be sure, some "birthers" have said that doubts about the president's birthplace are now over. But others are moving on to new conspiracy theories.
Now they're asking: Where are the president's college records, transcripts and financial statements? Where are his passport records? Why isn't information about his law license, or his parents' marriage and divorce, being made public? Was he adopted by his stepfather in Indonesia, negating his "natural-born citizen" status?
And, perhaps most unusually, some are now saying that the birth certificate still does not confirm that the president is eligible to serve in the White House. See the president's birth certificate
"The key thing is not whether or not he was even born in Hawaii, but is he a natural-born citizen according to constitutional standards," Ciavolino told CNN.
"The concept of a natural-born citizen, as laid out in the Constitution, has not been well-defined by the courts at all," he said. Ciavolino questions if the president having an African father and American mother allows him to be president.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution vaguely says that only "natural-born" citizens can become president. But some legal experts say Obama, under accepted legal understanding of the clause, is absolutely a natural-born citizen. Read more about presidential eligibility
President Obama said yesterday that he released his long form birth certificate because he didn’t want the issue to obscure high minded debate. Of course, White House Dossier and its intelligent readers all know that this is cannot possibly be the case.
So I gathered a team of my best reporters and ordered them to find out the real reasons why Obama released the certificate. After exhaustive interviews with sources in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in Hawaii, they reported back the top ten true reasons Obama put the certificate out.
They are as follows:
1. Needed it to try out for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team.
2. Kenya was preparing to open an “Obama Birthplace” tourist attraction.
3. Thought it might prove he is the Messiah.
4. It was actually Biden who requested it.
5. Even Michelle was starting to wonder.
6. It’s required for selection to the Hawaii Hall of Fame.
Read more here. http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/04/28/top-ten-reasons-obama-released-birth-certificate/
In 2003, Susie Castillo was selected as the most beautiful woman in the United States when she won the Miss USA competition. This week, the beauty queen recounts an alleged ugly encounter at a Dallas TSA security checkpoint. According to her, she was given a pat-down that she equated with being “molested.”
In a blog post dated Monday, April 24, Castillo recounts what happened to her at DFW airport last week after opting out of going through one of the TSA’s new x-ray scanners:
Anyway, after “opting out,” I proceeded to follow a very nice older female TSA employee to the “pat down” area. It was an inconvenience, but I thought, “No biggie. I just went through this at LAX for the first time and it wasn’t too bad, so let’s just get it over with.”
Well, this pat down was completely different. It was MUCH MORE invasive than my first one at LAX, just a week before. To say that I felt invaded is an understatement. What bothered me most was when she ran the back of her hands down my behind, felt around my breasts, and even came in contact with my vagina! Honestly, I was in shock, especially since the woman at LAX never actually touched me there. The TSA employee at DFW touched private area 4 times, going up both legs from behind and from the front, each time touching me there. Was I at my gynecologist’s office? No! This was crazy!
Trump described President Obama as a “very strange president” for not releasing his birth certificate promptly, as well as other personal records still being withheld.
He also lambasted the president for his foreign and economic policies that have made him a “laughingstock.”
During his interview via phone from New Hampshire, Trump again reiterated comments made earlier in the day that he was “proud and honored” that he was able to accomplish “what nobody else could” — convince President Barack Obama to finally release his long-form birth certificate.
Story continues below.
Donald Trump takes credit for the White House release of President Barack Obamas birth certificate. I can get things done, Trump says in a Newsmax.TV interview. He ca not and I can. Trump derides Obama as a very strange president and a laughingstock.
The hit TV star and real estate mogul — who is considering a run for president in 2012 — also derided the president for allowing OPEC’s “ripping off” of America, and charged that the administration’s moratorium on oil drilling is a “total disaster.”
For weeks Trump has been calling on Obama to put the issue of his birthplace to rest by simply presenting his full birth certificate. The issue has haunted Obama since his 2008 presidential campaign.
The White House finally obliged on Wednesday morning, with Obama apparently alluding to Trump when he complained during a press conference about “side shows and carnival barkers.”
Trump told Newsmax.TV: “I’m very proud of the fact that I was able to do something that nobody else could. I’m really honored by it.
“Whether it was Clinton or all of the other people running against him, for whatever reason, he wasn’t doing it, and I was able to get him to release.
“I don’t know why he didn’t do it. Nobody understands why he didn’t do this years ago. He went through hell over it.
“Obviously they’re examining the certificate very carefully.
The more I hear from this man, the more I like him. Hitting the real issues that our Country faces. He is right, He got Obama to finally release the Birth Certificate, and now on to the bigger issues we face. Gas and Oil prices. Other countries like China, and Saudi Arabia. Taking advantage of Obama's extremely weak leadership among his Global issues that is literally impossible to do with Nations that would like none other than to see America's ultimate failure. Check out Trump in his press interview here.
I have to say, I'm impressed.
As you listen to Obama, it still amazes me how he keeps telling everyone we are a democracy? We are not a Democracy, We are a Republic. How is it possible that we have a President that does not understand this. Remember the Pledge of Allegiance?
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Image via WikipediaAll I have to say here is IT'S ABOUT TIME. What took so long to do this? Now I guess the next question still remains. As Trump was saying. Is it even Legitimate? It really makes you wonder though what took so long and why spend so much energy, time and Money to not release it?
Let's hope it's legit. Even so. It took a billionaire to get involved to get results?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110427/ts_yblog_theticket/white-house-releases-obama-birth-certificate
The White House on Wednesday morning released the president's long form birth certificate (pdf) in an attempt to put "birther" questions to rest.
"The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn't good for the country. It may have been good politics and good T.V., but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a statement.
The president had released his certificate of live birth in 2008, but many "birthers" said the absence of a long form birth certificate prompted questions about Obama's birthplace of Hawaii. In recent weeks potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has brought birther questions into the forefront of the media.
"At a time of great consequence for this country--when we should be debating how we win the future, reduce our deficit, deal with high gas prices, and bring stability to the Middle East, Washington, DC, was once again distracted by a fake issue," Pfeiffer said. "The President's hope is that with this step, we can move on to debating the bigger issues that matter to the American people and the future of the country."
Obama admitted at a White House press conference following the document's release Wednesday morning that he's been both amused and puzzled by the degree to which his place of birth has become an issue.
The president echoed Pfeiffer's statements saying that Americans and their representatives need to come together to solve issues such as how to "invest in our future" while tackling the federal deficit and federal debt:
But we're not going to be able to do it if we are distracted. We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.
Though the president didn't mention Trump by name, Obama noted that when he announced his deficit plan this month, his birth certificate, not our country's economic future, dominated the news that week.
Trump on Wednesday took full credit for the release.
http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/trump-obama-birth-certificate/2011/04/25/id/394050?s=al
Billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump says he recently was told that President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is missing. While declining to reveal Monday to CNN’s Anderson Cooper how he received the information, Trump said Obama’s lack of a birth certificate would be a shame, since he would like to take the president on “one-on-one.”
“Well, I've been told very recently, Anderson, that the birth certificate is missing,” Trump said in an interview for “Anderson Cooper 360,” to be aired Monday night. “I’ve been told that it’s not there and it doesn’t exist — and if that’s the case it’s a big problem. I’ve just heard that two days ago from someone — I don’t want to say who.
“I’ve been told it’s not there — it’s missing — and I feel badly about that, because I’d love for him to produce his birth certificate so that he can fight one-on-one,” he continued. “If you look at what he’s doing as president with the fuel prices, you can do a great fight one-on-one, you don't need this issue.
“It’s hard to believe he doesn’t produce his birth certificate if he has one; it would be so easy to do.”
Graham’s sin? The son of the Rev. Billy Graham questioned on ABC’s “This Week” why the president has refused to produce and show a copy of what Graham described as his birth certificate.
Obama, Graham said, "has some issues to deal with" when it comes to his birth certificate.
"It's unfortunate that a religious leader would use Easter Sunday to make preposterous" statements, White House press secretary Jay Carney responded Monday, according to The Hill.
In 2008 during Obama's campaign for president, he released a document known as a “Certification of Live Birth.” The document, which is not considered a birth certificate, indicated Obama was born in Hawaii.
But Obama has stubbornly refused to release his full Birth Certificate, detailing such information as the actual location in Hawaii he was born, the time of birth, and the attending physician.
The younger Graham has irked the Obama White House before — the Pentagon revoked his invitation to a prayer ceremony last year after it was revealed he called Islam an "evil" religion in 2001, The Hill noted. He also claimed last year that Obama was born a Muslim.