NYMHM: Cuba's green thumb; data snooping and its discontents; Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 17:44:08 -0800 ============================================================================= 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 ... 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