NYMHM: Cuba's green thumb; data snooping and its discontents; here comes the flood

Wed Dec 5 17:44:08 PST 2007

=============================================================================
 NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED * December 5, 2007 * Vol. 6, No. 49

 Important but overlooked news from around the world.
 NYMHM is a free service of Newsdesk.org.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 - Online this week: http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004489.html
 - RSS: http://newsdesk.org/news/atom.xml
 - Donations: http://artsandmedia.net/contribute/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUOTED: 

   "I was expecting the site to tell me that I couldn't do that. 
   I'm just curious about these things so I tried it, and boom, 
   there was somebody else's name and somebody else's data."

   -- Canadian Jamie Laning changed one letter on a passport renewal
   Web site URL, and got surprising results (see "Privacy," below).  

CONTENTS:

   *Top Stories*
     Whither Cuba's green thumb? 
     Dollar's drop a drag for Americans abroad
     The plagues of Uganda 

   *Privacy*
     Data snooping and its discontents

   *Environment*
     Here comes the flood 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 TOP STORIES
.............................................................................

 > Whither Cuba's Green Thumb? 

   Floods, storms, drought and heat, plus an array of economic
   concerns, are taking their toll on Cuban agriculture. 

   Inter Press Service reports that 75 percent of Cuban land used 
   for crops and grazing has fallen into disuse, even as produce
   prices increase and the variety of crops available diminishes. 

   Raul Castro, who heads the Communist government there, said
   earlier this year that ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004490.html

 > Dollar's Drop a Drag for Americans Abroad

   The good fortune of the Euro -- not to mention the Czech
   Crown -- makes for dismal tidings for American expatriates
   and their European colleagues paid in dollars. 

   According to The Prague Post, employees of American firms and
   institutions in the Czech Republic have taken the equivalent
   of a 15 percent salary cut as a result of ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004491.html

 > The Plagues of Uganda

   Concurrent outbreaks of several diseases in Uganda have 
   health officials there on the defensive, reports The Monitor
   in Kampala.  

   Even as the country struggles to contain an ebola outbreak, 
   new cases of meningitis, cholera, bubonic plague and yellow 
   fever are turning up in different parts of the country. 
   Suspected cases of hepatitis have ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004492.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 PRIVACY
.............................................................................

 > Data Snooping and its Discontents

   The limits of data privacy are being tested in Western 
   democracies, as governments and corporations push for greater 
   access with sometimes unexpected results. 

   British authorities demanded that a group of about 30 animal 
   rights activists hand over the keys to encrypted files stored 
   on computers that had been seized by police. 

   The demand is the first of its kind under a recently enacted 
   measure of the nation's controversial Regulation of 
   Investigatory Powers Act, reports BBC News. 

   The provision of the law that deals with decryption was written 
   to combat pedophiles and terrorists, although many critics ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004493.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ENVIRONMENT
.............................................................................

 > Here Comes the Flood

   Heavy weather the world over is raising concerns about the 
   potential of a flood-prone future, and what that means for
   vulnerable populations. 

   In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, 24-foot waves closed shipping
   channels, and 13 inches of rain in one 30-hour period shut down
   commerce, damaged streets and highways, and brought down trees
   and power lines, reports Bloomberg.com.  

   Five days of continuous rain have had a catastrophic effect in
   Algeria, causing a house and a bridge to collapse as rivers 
   burst their banks and floodwaters surged through suburban 
   Algiers. At least eleven lives were lost, reports Agence
   France-Presse.  

   Meanwhile, a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation
   and Development found that 40 million people ...

   GET THE WHOLE STORY: 

   http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004494.html

=============================================================================
Editors: Josh Wilson, Will Crain
.............................................................................

SUPPORT PUBLIC-SERVICE MEDIA

Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed are commercial-free, and
available at no charge. We welcome your tax-deductible contributions:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=695

.............................................................................

MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

Subscribe, unsubscribe, etc: 
http://lists.artsandmedia.net/mailman/listinfo/nymhm/

.............................................................................

News You Might Have Missed and Newsdesk.org are free services of
Independent Arts & Media: http://artsandmedia.net/

.............................................................................

E-mail list powered by Group D Communications:
http://www.groupd.com/

.............................................................................

DISCLAIMER: All external links are provided as informational resources
only, consistent with the nonprofit, public-interest mission of
Independent Arts & Media. Independent Arts & Media does not exercise
any editorial control over the information you may find at these
locations and does not have a copyright on any of the content located
at these sites.
=============================================================================