Ex-MI5 boss raps ‘useless’ ID cards

[Captured Article from Reuter]
17 Nov, 7:22 AM _ Reuter

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A specimen copy of the new identity smart cards for asylum seekers

The Government is coming under pressure to rethink its plans for identity cards after a former security service boss warned they would not make Britain any safer from terrorists.

The ex-director general of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington said she did not believe her former agency is pressing for the introduction of ID cards, and she warned they would be “absolutely useless” unless they could be made unforgeable.

Her comments led to calls from opposition parties and civil liberties groups for the Government to abandon the scheme, which the Home Office estimates will cost ?5.8bn, while critics claim the bill could reach ?40bn.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said Dame Stella’s comments were “yet another nail in the coffin of the massive identity card folly”.

Speaking to the Association of Colleges annual conference in Birmingham, Dame Stella, who retired as head of MI5 in 1996, said: “ID cards have possibly some purpose. But I don’t think that anybody in the intelligence services, particularly in my former service, would be pressing for ID cards.

“My angle on ID cards is that they may be of some use but only if they can be made unforgeable – and all our other documentation is quite easy to forge.

“If we have ID cards at vast expense and people can go into a back room and forge them they are going to be absolutely useless.

“ID cards may be helpful in all kinds of things but I don’t think they are necessarily going to make us any safer.”

Dame Stella’s remarks came as ministers suffered a defeat in the House of Lords on their controversial ID card legislation.

Peers backed a Tory amendment to ensure that only those who reasonably required proof should be entitled to ask for verification of identity.

영국 디자인산업과 교육에 관한 통계기사

[영문 기사 “교육, 훈련(training), 그리고 기술(skill)은 디자인산업의 장래를 위한 생존조건”번역 전제]
‘디자인 비즈니스 리포트 : 디자인 산업 연구’ – 디자이너들은 건축가들이나 정보통신 엔지니어들과 같은 다른 분야의 전문인들에 비해 적은 직업관련 훈련을 받고있다.

현재 영국의 디자인산업은 작고

Timeline: French riots

[Captured Article in BBC Internet news]

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* The violence has spread far beyond the French capital

A chronology of key events:

25 October: Visiting the Paris suburb of Argenteuil to see how new measures against urban violence are working, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is pelted with stones and bottles. He says that crime-ridden neighbourhoods should be “cleaned with a power hose” and describes violent elements as “gangrene” and “rabble”.

27 October: Teenagers Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore are electrocuted after climbing into an electrical sub-station in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, in what locals say was an attempt to hide from police. The police deny this, but news of their deaths triggers riots in the area which is home to large African and Arab communities. Arsonists destroy 15 vehicles.

29 October: As unrest creeps across the Seine-Saint-Denis administrative region, a silent march to remember Zyed and Bouna is held in Clichy-sous-Bois by mourners in tee-shirts reading “dead for nothing”.

30 October: Mr Sarkozy pledges “zero tolerance” of rioting and sends police reinforcements to Clichy-sous-Bois. A junior minister in charge of equal opportunities, Azouz Begag, condemns the use of the word “rabble”. A tear gas grenade, like those used by riot police, explodes at a Clichy-sous-Bois mosque, provoking further anger.

1 November: Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin pledges a full investigation into the deaths of Zyed and Bouna at a meeting with their families. Rioting spreads out of Seine-Saint-Denis to three other regions in the Paris area.

2 November: Rioters ransack a police station at Aulnay-sous-Bois, police report coming under fire from at least two live bullets at La Courneuve and 177 vehicles are burnt.

3 November: Violence spreads beyond the Paris region to the eastern city of Dijon and parts of the south and west, with 400 vehicles burnt.

6 November: President Jacques Chirac promises to restore order after a meeting with his government. There follows the most dramatic night of rioting to date with nearly 1,500 vehicles burnt and nearly 400 arrests. Most attacks are now occurring far beyond the Paris area. Two policemen are seriously injured in clashes in town of Grigny, near Paris.

7 November: Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, dies of injuries he received in an assault on Friday in the town of Stains, Seine-Saint-Denis. French media suggest he is the first fatality of the riots.

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언제 결정했는지도 모르게 저작권, 즉 원형으로 둘러진 C마크는 의사에 상관없이 저작권 협약에 의해 국제법적으로 모든 개인의 창조물에 덥썩!! 부여되고 있습니다.

자유의사에 반하는 무조건적인 저작권 부여에 반대하여 만들어진 some right reserved, CC 더블 씨 마크에 대한 설명을 플래쉬 만화로 볼 수 있습니다.

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‘One Korea’ Feted in Osaka

[Captured Article]
The 2005 ‘Hana’ Festival attracts both Korean residents in Japan and thousands of Japanese.

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The festival banner, which reads “Hana” (One). ?2005 T. Mori

On the afternoon of Oct. 30, the “One Korea Festival 2005” entertained thousands of Japanese and Korean spectators at the “Sun Plaza” in Osakajo Park, Osaka.

This is a festival for Korean residents of Japan. The overall theme is the promotion of unification of Korea.

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Chong Gap Su ?2005 T. Mori

I first went to the organizers’ headquarters and interviewed chairman Chong Gap Su.

“This year is the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japanese imperialism. … Unification of Korea has already started, but it is a long process. But, it has already started,” Chong said.

“We will be brightening up the festival systematically in the future. I want young people to hold out hope for Asia and overcoming nationalism. A unity of citizens.”

I got the impression that Mr. Chong is the driving force behind the festival. I was moved deeply.

At 1 p.m. the “South Korea-Japan Friendship” committee took the stage for the opening ceremony. The South Korea-Japan friendship organization committee sponsored the event. Written on the curtain were two messages, “We are sorry for the longstanding hardships caused by Japan” and “We promise to work hard to create a splendid future.”

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Chairman Chong Gap Su and members of staff demonstrate the festival’s message of solidarity. ?2005 T. Mori

Committee member Lee Bu Yeon declared, “What we want to say to the Japanese people is ‘one.’ Our mother country should unite into one. We crave peace.”

He added, “The Korean peninsula is uniting into one. We think that it also wants the Japanese to help. We should not hold a grudge against the Japanese any longer. Lend power so that peace may visit us in the future. This is what the Japanese should do.”

Applause filled the hall.

Lee Chang Bok, who is chairman of the committee, poignantly added, “We crave for peace. Japan should recognize that Japan tried to destroy peace.”

When the opening ceremony ended, the committee treated Korean residents in Japan to lunch. Moreover, Japanese over the age of 65 were also invited. I thought that the essence of the event was made clear by the coming together of both Koreans and Japanese over a nice meal.

Afterwards, a concert started. First was Jung Tae Chun and Park Eun Ok. Their beautiful singing voices were melodious. Song Byeong Ho led the audience in song. When Yu Jin Park played Khachaturian’s “Sword dance” on the electric violin, performing a comical and exciting dance, he gripped the audience’s attention.

Finally, the MC announced the final act as a “legendary singer in South Korea.”

The hall was filled with excitement when Ahn Chi Hwan appeared on stage. He sang “If I Am” and “In Front of Wire Entanglements” to great appreciation from the audience. And when he sang “The People Are More Beautiful than Flowers,” some in the audience began to dance.

“Our School” was last song, which cast a reflective mood over the hall.

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The hall was filled with excitement when Ahn Chi Hwan appeared. ?2005 T. Mori

Korean children were also center stage at the event. “Palace Women Jangkeum,” a musical version of the popular Korean TV drama “Dae Jang Keum” was performed by students at KJ musical school.

After musical, Lim Ho, who is the actor who plays King Jungjong addressed the audience. The handsome actor’s mustache became him. He answered questions from some of the children who had performed in the musical.
Q: What is the most delicious dish that you ate in the drama?
Lim Ho: A dish with mixed bean paste and garlic.

Q: What is most difficult part of your performance?
Lim Ho: It is eating. It is considerably painful because I have to eat many times from morning. Though it looks delicious in the actual drama.

Q: Mr. Lim, you’re so good-looking. Please say, “Yum, that tastes good.” [The child’s line in the drama.]
Lim Ho: Yum, that tastes good. [The hall burst out in laughter.]
Next, the chairman took the opportunity to ask a question of Mr. Lim. “Which actor would you like to co-star with?” Lim replied Naoto Takenaka [a famous Japanese film actor].

The keyword of the One Korea Festival is “Hana. ” Korean residents in Japan shouted “Hana!” for South Korea, North Korea and Japan. The message is put across in their songs and dances, and it aims to bring the East Asian community closer together.

I sincerely wish for the unification of Korean peninsula. The festival prompted me to swear to do all I can to help in the unification of the Korean peninsula.

2005-11-02 05:06
?2005 OhmyNews

Is Korea’s Military Ignoring Recruits’ Health?

[Captured Article]Is Korea’s Military Ignoring Recruits’ Health?

Despite warning signs during his national service, a young man’s stomach cancer goes undiagnosed

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A 28-year-old South Korean, whose fight with stomach cancer prompted an unprecedented wave of sympathy and online fundraising, has died.

Roh Chung Guk, a former taekwondo major at Yongin University, who served full-term mandatory military service until June 24, 2005, died of stomach cancer in the early hours of Oct. 27.

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Roh Chung Guk

The poignancy of Roh’s story — the rapid progression from chronic ulcer to stomach cancer in just a few months — has sparked a lot of finger pointing between the military and his family about his death. Could it have been detected earlier, and who is responsible for any lapse?

His father has said that the family will not hold a funeral until the underlying reasons for his son’s death are settled with the Defense Ministry.

Yet at the same time, Roh’s story has prompted yet another of a rare online fundraising in South Korea, one of the world’s most wired country and where mililitary service is mandatory for healthy young males.

Since his story appeared on OhmyNews on Monday, readers have raised a total collection of 9.3 million won (US$9,000) for the Roh family. Donations varied from smaller amounts of several thousand won to 30,000 won. Five million won has been delivered to the family thus far.

One online reader, who uses the ID “catseye” wrote: “The military might regard Roh’s case as an individual one, but for a large majority of us Koreans it’s like a story about a brother. I don’t know how the military could have let its service member develop cancer. It’s just too unfair to dismiss it as a lot of one unfortunate individual.”

The news of his death is prompting a flood of online goodbyes from readers on major online portals as well as on OhmyNews.

In April 2005, Roh was diagnosed with a chronic ulcer at a South Korean military hospital in Gwangju. He was a soldier serving at the Army’s ammunition headquarters, with only two months left before returning home.

Back as a civilian, he went for a checkup at a private hospital and on July 7, the hospital said he was suffering from late-stage cancer of the stomach. Last week, his father, Roh Chun Seok, 62, was told by the doctor “prepare for your son’s funeral.”

Prior to his treatment at the Army’s Gwangju hospital, in March, he had knocked on the doors of his unit’s military doctor. Roh was turned away from an endoscopy procedure, because he had come on a full stomach, military officials have said.

Roh’s parents, whose father makes his living on daily labor, has petitioned the South Korean Defense Ministry, and other related military agencies. “My son developed cancer while serving in the Army, and did not receive proper medical treatment, therefore, the military officials should be held responsible.

But the Army has cautiously rebuffed any accountability. One official with the Army headquarters, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has told OhmyNews that while Roh’s case was regrettable, “It’s important to determine whether Roh’s cancer developed from stress of military service, or whether because of his genes.”

“If it’s the latter, the military cannot be held responsible,” the official said.

Mandatory military service for healthy, young South Korean males has been in the spotlight lately. Earlier this year, a young soldier, stressed from serving on the frontline unit along South Korea’s demilitarized zone facing North Korea, killed eight of his fellow soldiers in a shooting rampage.

Many parents are still petitioning to find out the truth of “mysterious” deaths of their sons who have died while in the mandatory military service.

Web sites of the presidential Blue House and the Ministry of Defense have been bombarded with letters appealing for help for Roh and his family, as well as those condemning what they viewed as nonchalance on the part of the military.

2005-10-27 15:53
?2005 OhmyNews