The US government is expected to relax control over how the internet is run when it signs an accord with net regulator Icann on Wednesday.

The "affirmation of commitments" will reportedly give Icann autonomy to run its own affairs for the first time.

Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann - drawing criticism from other countries.

Earlier this year, the EU called on the US to relinquish its control and Icann to become "universally accountable".

"The US government is the only body to have had formal oversight of Icann's policies and activities since its inception in 1998," it said.

"The Commission believes that Icann should become universally accountable, not just to one government but to the global internet community.

"This is particularly relevant given that the next billion of internet users will mainly come from the developing world."

The current agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) and the US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration is due to expire on Thursday.

'Formal relationship'

Icann is a not-for-profit private sector corporation - set up by the US government - which oversees critical parts of the internet, such as the top-level domain (TLD) name system. Top level domains include .com and .uk.

The body recently voted to relax the strict rules on TLDs, meaning companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names. Icann also agreed to introduce domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts.

The regulator has not yet released details of the new agreement with the US.

However, a report - described as "accurate" by people familiar with Icann - in the Economist magazine says the new deal does not have a fixed term.

It identifies a number of groups, including representatives of foreign governments, which will conduct regular reviews of Icann's work.

The panels would specifically focus on competition among generic domain names, how domain-name registrants' data are handled, network security and transparency, and accountability and the public interest - the only panel on which the US will reportedly retain a permanent seat.

A formal announcement about the deal is expected on Wednesday.

However, it is unlikely that the new agreement will sever the links between the US government and Icann entirely.

Rod Beckstrom, president and chief of the organisation, said in a letter to Congress last week that it would seek to maintain a "long term, formal relationship with the United States Government".

The body also has a separate agreement with the US - to run the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) - that expires in 2011.

The IANA oversees the net's addressing system.

An 18-year-old construction worker braved rampaging floods in the Philippines to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl and her mother who were being swept away on a styrofoam box.



Family members and people who Muelmar Magallanes saved have hailed the young man a hero, as his body lay in a coffin at a makeshift evacuation centre near their destroyed Manila riverside village.
Residents east of Manila go to all lengths to escape neck-deep flood waters.

Philippines residents go to all lengths to escape neck-deep flood waters. Photo: Reuters

"I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar," said Menchie Penalosa, the mother of the six-month-old girl whom he carried to safety before being swept away himself. "He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice."

Mr Magallanes was at home on Saturday with his family when tropical storm Ketsana unleashed the heaviest rains in more than 40 years on the Philippine capital and surrounding areas.

At first the family, long used to heavy rains, paid little attention to the storm.

But Mr Magallanes and his father quickly decided to evacuate the family once they realised the river 800 metres away had burst its banks.

With the help of an older brother, Mr Magallanes tied a string around his waist and attached it one-by-one to his three younger siblings, whom he took to higher ground. Then he came back for his parents.

But Mr Magallanes, a strong swimmer, decided to go back for neighbours trapped on rooftops.

He ended up making many trips, and eventually saved more than 30 people from drowning, witnesses and survivors said.

Tired and shivering, Mr Magallanes was back on higher ground with his family when he heard Ms Penalosa screaming as she and her baby were being swept away on the polystyrene box they were using in an attempt to cross the swift currents.

He dived back in after the mother and daughter, who were already a few metres away and bobbing precariously among the debris floating on the brown water.

"I didn't know that the current was so strong. In an instant, I was under water. We were going to die," said Ms Penalosa, her eyes welling with tears and voice choking with emotion.

"Then this man came from nowhere and grabbed us. He took us to where the other neighbours were, and then he was gone," Ms Penalosa said.

Ms Penalosa and other witnesses said an exhausted Mr Magallanes was simply washed away amid the torrent of water.

Neighbours found his body on Sunday, along with 28 others who perished amid Manila's epic flooding. The official death toll stands at 100 with 32 missing.

Standing next to his coffin, Mr Magallanes' parents paid tribute to their son.

"He always had a good heart," said his father, Samuel.

"We had already been saved. But he decided to go back one last time for the girl."

His mother, Maria Luz, wept as she described her son as incredibly brave.

"He saved so many people, but ended up not being able to save himself."

Everybody Beyonce had some real good music videos! congrats taylor but beyonce had some great music videos yall.

A father trying to teach his 13-year-old son how to drive was killed in The Bronx last night when the youngster accidentally mowed him down, police said.
--
The kid got behind the wheel as his dad stood beside the open door, and threw the SUV into reverse, law-enforcement sources said.

The door pinned Cedeno against a tree.
--
Cedeno was pronounced dead at the scene.

TAMPA, Fla. - An autopsy report shows that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed TV pitchman Billy Mays in June, officials announced Friday.

The Hillsborough County medical examiner's office previously determined that the bearded, boisterous TV spokesman had a heart attack in his sleep. His wife found him unresponsive in bed in their Tampa condo June 28.

Mays was a pop-culture fixture with his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean.

While heart disease was the primary cause of death, a report released Friday by the medical examiner listed cocaine as a "contributory cause of death."

Drug taken days before death
The medical examiner "concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release.

The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of the drug when he died. Hillsborough County spokeswoman Lori Hudson said nothing in the toxicology report indicated the frequency of Mays' cocaine use.

Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause thickening of the left wall of the ventricle and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the release said.

The toxicology tests also showed therapeutic amounts of painkillers hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol, as well as anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam. Mays had suffered hip problems and was scheduled for hip-replacement surgery the day after he was found dead.

Mays reached wide audience
The McKees Rocks, Pa., native developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other "As Seen on TV" gadgets on Atlantic City's boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

He got his start on TV on the Home Shopping Network and then branched out into commercials and infomercials. He developed such a strong following that he became the subject of a reality TV series, Discovery Channel's "Pitchmen.

Firing one of the first shots in the net neutrality war, AT&T has blocked 4chan’s /b/ image board. AT&T subscribers are unable to connect to /b/ and /r9k/ (both of which are hosted on img.4chan.org). However, subscribers can get on any of the so-called «worksafe» boards that 4chan.org offers.

The problem seems to be present only for wired connections only (AT&T Mobility customers are not affected). The problem is not caused by an DNS-error, as traceroutes indicates that AT&T is dropping img.4chan.org requests in the AT&T network.

Slashdot, Digg & Reddit are now running stories that are rapidly being upvoted about the topic.
http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comment...to_img4chanorg/

As citizens of a free internet, what do we think about this kind of censorship?

UPDATED 1: Confirmation comes from several Reddit users that the website has indeed been blocked in a number of areas in the US and that it is not a technical issue.

UPDATED 2: A mere 5 hours after the problems were first reported on Reddit, sources on /b/ say that members of Anonymous has already started planning retaliation towards AT&T – amongst other things posting personal information about AT&T executives. One might quietly wonder if the AT&T megacorp. knows what’s it up against – with 4chan often being referred to as “The Internet Hate Machine”.

UPDATED 3: It turns out 15.5% of all US internet users use AT&T DSL, so this is quite a big problem. It will severly affect 4chan, both in regards of traffic and advertising volumes.

UPDATED 4: moot, the founder of 4chan, officially acknowledges the ban – calling for disconcerned users to «call or write customer support and corporate immediately»: http://status.4chan.org … Somehow, I get a feeling they’re gonna do a lot more than that, moot.

UPDATED 5: From rumors on /b/, it seems 4chan’s first retaliatory strike will be towards Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T. The Consumerist has more. There are also murmurs about the AT&T block being put into place because of supposed mass DDoS-attacks to and from img.4chan.org, but so far there has been no official, verifiable response from AT&T.

UPDATED 6: 4chan’s current gameplan evolving over at Encyclopedia Dramatica (Great stuff!). Also, from reports gathered on Reddit, it seems this block allegedly is because of massive DDoS-attacks against img.4chan.org. The reports doesn’t say anything about why AT&T would block 15.5% of all US internet users from using a specific website without any warning, though.

UPDATED 7: This article is now no. 1 on Digg.com – and has received more than 120.000 visitors in less than 10 hours. For now, I guess 4chan and Anon is showing AT&T its strength in pure numbers. Help spread the word, we need to raise awareness of this issue and Net neutrality.

UPDATED 8: According to CentralGadget, 4chan is now UNBLOCKED by AT&T. AT&T says they were «following the practices of their policy department», but that they have restored network-wide access to all areas of 4chan. Shitstorm averted? Also, according to CentralGadget, 4chan is currently down «due to a large DDOS attack, affecting most of 4chan’s servers.» This appears unrelated to the AT&T blockade, but may have been triggered by the high-profile attention that 4chan has received during the past 24 hours.

Finally, we’re starting to see him sweat.

President Barack Obama made his personal icy cool the trademark of his campaign, the tenor of his White House and the hallmark of an early run of successes at home and abroad. But as the glamour wears off and a long, frustrating summer wears on, he is being forced to improvise — stooping to respond to political foes and adjusting his tactics and demeanor for the trench warfare of a legislative agenda.

The root of the change is one that faces every president: Economic and international realities that resist political charm. Iran and North Korea have shown no interest in the president’s outstretched hand. The economy has delivered a double-whammy, with rising unemployment stirring voters’ concerns while sluggish growth deprives the government of tax revenues Obama would like to spend on new programs.
Health care reform, which once appeared flush with momentum from earlier congressional victories, is now on a slog through no less than five committees, which include Democrats who either aren’t sold on Obama’s expansive vision or can’t figure out how to convince voters to pay for it.

“This is when it gets harder,” the president told supporters June 30.

And so it has.

In turn, Obama has adjusted, deviating from the playbook on every front.

The cool president has turned hot on the stump, stripping to shirtsleeves to lambaste doubters in New Jersey Thursday. He departed from his prepared remarks last week to accept a Republican challenge to take personal ownership of the economy: “That’s fine. Give it to me,” he said.

Even Obama's scripted speeches are deliberately more forceful, aggressive and direct in taking on critics, aides say. Friday remarks at the White House had a trash-talk edge – count me out and you’ll be sorry.

Obama’s political operation has dispensed with its post-inauguration cocktails for Republicans – or more often, ignoring them outright — in favor of the old politics of engage, attack and cajole. Obama’s even engaging in a little Democrat-on-Democrat politics, as his ex-campaign arm is beaming TV ads into the home states of moderate fence-sitters on health care.

The tightly programmed White House also is champing at the bit, kicking off what officials say will be a relentless three-week push on health care, starting with the hastily scheduled Friday address. But its first event might have backfired a bit. Its main consequence was proving that the magnetism of Obama’s personal appearances has worn off, as it drew little media attention and a dismissive tweet from the key Senate Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa: “Waste of time.”

The sum has been a new sense of uncertainty and strain, and a growing murmur among Democrats in Washington nervous about the White House’s tactics, and a rising tide of concern in the states as local Democratic parties eye midterm elections that are traditionally a challenge for a new president.
“That honeymoon period is over, “ said Chris Redfern, the chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. “Now they’re having to push back, and push back hard.”

White House officials and allies brush off any notion that this new sense of unease is meaningful. The only true test, they say, will be results. Obama still might win major health care reform legislation this year that could be the most important new government program in decades. He has a fighting chance to pass regulations on greenhouse gases, in the form of a “cap and trade” mechanism, through the Senate. And Obama continues to press hard, if with no clear progress, for a breakthrough in the Middle East.

“It’s the third quarter, he’s down by a point, and he’s got his best player on the bench – what really is going to be important is the fall,” said James Carville, the veteran Democratic observer.

“If he gets what’s perceived to be some kind of a major health care thing, gets the climate bill through, if the economy recovers, then we’ll all say he had a hell of a summer. Conversely, if the thing falls apart, we’ll say that by July the 19th we could tell the thing was going bad.”

White House Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer dismissed the suggestion that Obama should be expected to succeed effortlessly – or that he’s on a path toward failure on any of these varied fronts.

“Obama and his team have been down this road dozens of times and been declared dead many times and always succeeded,” he said. “No one gets rich betting against Barack Obama.”

The most visible aspect of the White House’s new feistiness is an increasing willingness to engage Republican legislators whose criticisms Obama earlier had been happier to overlook. Relentless criticism of the stimulus package from a House Republican leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, drew a furious barrage from the Democratic National Committee and a visit from no smaller figure than the Vice President of the United States. Rank and file Republicans who criticize the stimulus have also suddenly found themselves under a concerted DNC assault that asks if they’d prefer the federal funding left their districts out. And criticism from Sen Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) drew letters from no fewer than four Cabinet secretaries to his state’s governor, asking if she would prefer they withheld stimulus money.

That pushback has been urged, and welcomed, by state leaders like Redfern and Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer.

“The DNC has been and we were quickly able to rebut and demonstrate all the money that is being spent in their respective districts,” said Brewer of two GOP congressmen attacking the stimulus. “They’ve backed off.”

Still, many Democrats say the Republican attacks on spending are taking their toll.

"The rhetoric is so empty, but it is fairly consistent and I think it’s had an impact on those in middle," said Ohio's Redfern.

But when the White House pushback focused not on Republicans but Democrats on health-care – in the form of Organizing for America ads running in the home states of moderate senators -- some in the party called foul, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

The vote last month in the House on the American Clean Energy Security Act showed a willingness to get White House hands dirty in a different way.

Wrangling votes for the “cap and trade” legislation in the House, Obama backed off a campaign promise to auction off all “allowances” – permits to release a set amount of greenhouse gases. Instead of selling them to raise money for other environmental initiatives, the White House allowed congressional Democratic leaders to trade them for votes, assigning allowances to the refinery-heavy district of, for instance, Texas Rep. Gene Green in exchange for his support.

The battle over health care, the centerpiece of the President’s summer, has also hardened into a fairly conventional Washington fight, a new president’s sweeping agenda colliding with congressional caution. Obscure Washington figures like Congressional Budget Office chief Doug Elmendorf and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have shown the ability to pose a real threat to the White House juggernaut. And some of the White House’s close allies have grown jittery about what they say is a strategy to spend the three weeks leading up to the Senate’s August recess – the insecure deadline for health care votes in both houses – with a series of events aimed at building public pressure on Congress.

“They’re great at campaigns, but legislative battles are different,” said a senior Democrat close to the White House. “It’s not about persuading 51 percent of the American people – it’s about seven senators.”

In another mark of Obama's constant adjustments, his latest remarks didn't mention the August deadline.

White House allies acknowledge the new strains, but say the hard work will pay off.

“A lot of the hard stuff he’s doing now will pay dividends,” said John Del Cecato, a former Obama campaign aide.

Meanwhile, admiration of Obama’s personal qualities has been tempered, even among sympathetic observers, with anxiety for where his agenda will stand at summer’s end.

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart noted recently that Obama told a Pakistani interviewer that he is an accomplished chef of Pakistani cuisines and reads the great Urdu poets.

“Mr. President,” Stewart said, “while I am impressed with your Renaissance Man-level of knowledge in a plethora of subjects, may I humbly say: That’s great. Just fix the economy!”

CODY, Wyoming - Wielding his chain saw as a weapon, a former U.S. Marine says he fought off a starving mountain lion that attacked him while he was camping with his wife and two toddlers in northwestern Wyoming.

Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine, said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest when he saw the lion staring at him from some bushes.

Britton revved his 18-inch chain saw and tried to back away. But the 100-pound lion followed.

As the animal pounced, Britton raised his saw and met it head-on — a collision he said felt like a grown man running right into him.

"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Britton later discovered he'd inflicted a gash on the lion's shoulder. He said he was surprised the damage wasn't worse.

"You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in. I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick," he said.

The wounded animal retreated, leaving Britton with a only small puncture wound on his forearm.

The attack occurred Sunday evening. Wildlife agents shot and killed the lion Monday after it attacked a dog brought in to track the animal.

Authorities say the lion was in poor physical condition and appeared to be starving. The lion was 4 to 5 years old.

Mountain lions are considered reclusive by nature and officials said the circumstances of the attack were highly unusual. Wyoming officials have documented only eight cases of mountain lions acting aggressively toward humans over the last decade.

WASHINGTON – NASA could put a man on the moon but didn't have the sense to keep the original video of the live TV transmission.

In an embarrassing acknowledgment, the space agency said Thursday that it must have erased the Apollo 11 moon footage years ago so that it could reuse the videotape.

But now Hollywood is coming to the rescue.

The studio wizards who restored "Casablanca" are digitally sharpening and cleaning up the ghostly, grainy footage of the moon landing, making it even better than what TV viewers saw on July 20, 1969. They are doing it by working from four copies that NASA scrounged from around the world.

"There's nothing being created; there's nothing being manufactured," said NASA senior engineer Dick Nafzger, who is in charge of the project. "You can now see the detail that's coming out."

The first batch of restored footage was released just in time for the 40th anniversary of the "one giant leap for mankind," and some of the details seem new because of their sharpness. Originally, astronaut Neil Armstrong's face visor was too fuzzy to be seen clearly. The upgraded video of Earth's first moonwalker shows the visor and a reflection in it.

The $230,000 refurbishing effort is only three weeks into a monthslong project, and only 40 percent of the work has been done. But it does show improvements in four snippets: Armstrong walking down the ladder; Buzz Aldrin following him; the two astronauts reading a plaque they left on the moon; and the planting of the flag on the lunar surface.

Nafzger said a huge search that began three years ago for the old moon tapes led to the "inescapable conclusion" that 45 tapes of Apollo 11 video were erased and reused. His report on that will come out in a few weeks.

The original videos beamed to Earth were stored on giant reels of tape that each contained 15 minutes of video, along with other data from the moon. In the 1970s and '80s, NASA had a shortage of the tapes, so it erased about 200,000 of them and reused them.

How did NASA end up looking like a bumbling husband taping over his wedding video with the Super Bowl?

Nafzger, who was in charge of the live TV recordings back in the Apollo years, said they were mostly thought of as data tapes. It wasn't his job to preserve history, he said, just to make sure the footage worked. In retrospect, he said he wished NASA hadn't reused the tapes.

Outside historians were aghast.

"It's surprising to me that NASA didn't have the common sense to save perhaps the most important historical footage of the 20th century," said Rice University historian and author Douglas Brinkley. He noted that NASA saved all sorts of data and artifacts from Apollo 11, and it is "mind-boggling that the tapes just disappeared."

The remastered copies may look good, but "when dealing with historical film footage, you always want the original to study," Brinkley said.

Smithsonian Institution space curator Roger Launius, a former NASA chief historian, said the loss of the original video "doesn't surprise me that much."

"It was a mistake, no doubt about that," Launius said. "This is a problem inside the entire federal government. ... They don't think that preservation is all that important."

Launius said federal warehouses where historical artifacts are saved are "kind of like the last scene of `Raiders of the Lost Ark.' It just goes away in this place with other big boxes."

The company that restored all the Indiana Jones movies, including "Raiders," is the one bailing out NASA.

Lowry Digital of Burbank, Calif., noted that "Casablanca" had a pixel count 10 times higher than the moon video, meaning the Apollo 11 footage was fuzzier than that vintage movie and more of a challenge in one sense.

Of all the video the company has dealt with, "this is by far and away the lowest quality," said Lowry president Mike Inchalik.

Nafzger praised Lowry for restoring "crispness" to the Apollo video. Historian Launius wasn't as blown away.

"It's certainly a little better than the original," Launius said. "It's not a lot better."

The Apollo 11 video remains in black and white. Inchalik said he would never consider colorizing it, as has been done to black-and-white classic films. And the moon is mostly gray anyway.

The restoration used four video sources: CBS News originals; kinescopes from the National Archives; a video from Australia that received the transmission of the original moon video; and camera shots of a TV monitor.

Both Nafzger and Inchalik acknowledged that digitally remastering the video could further encourage conspiracy theorists who believe NASA faked the entire moon landing on a Hollywood set. But they said they enhanced the video as conservatively as possible.

Besides, Inchalik said that if there had been a conspiracy to fake a moon landing, NASA surely would have created higher-quality film.

Back in 1969, nearly 40 percent of the picture quality was lost converting from one video format used on the moon — called slow scan — to something that could be played on TVs on Earth, Nafzger said.

NASA did not lose other Apollo missions' videos because they weren't stored on the type of tape that needed to be reused, Nafzger said.

As part of the moon landing's 40th anniversary, the space agency has been trotting out archival material. NASA has a Web site with audio from private conversations in the lunar module and command capsule. The agency is also webcasting radio from Apollo 11 as if the mission were taking place today.

The video restoration project did not involve improving the sound. Inchalik said he listened to Armstrong's famous first words from the surface of the moon, trying to hear if he said "one small step for man" or "one small step for A man," but couldn't tell.

Through a letter read at a news conference Thursday, Armstrong had the last word about the video from the moon: "I was just amazed that there was any picture at all."

RIGA (Reuters) – Ready to give your soul for a loan in these difficult economic times? In Latvia, where the crisis has raged more than in the rest of the European Union, you can.

Such a deal is being offered by the Kontora loan company, whose public face is Viktor Mirosiichenko, 34.

Clients have to sign a contract, with the words "Agreement" in bold letters at the top. The client agrees to the collateral, "that is, my immortal soul."

Mirosiichenko said his company would not employ debt collectors to get its money back if people refused to repay, and promised no physical violence. Signatories only have to give their first name and do not show any documents.

"If they don't give it back, what can you do? They won't have a soul, that's all," he told Reuters in a basement office, with one desk, a computer and three chairs.

Wearing sunglasses, a black suit and a white shirt with the words "Kontora" (office) emblazoned on it, he reaches into his pocket and lays out a sheaf of notes on the table to show that the business is serious and not a joke.

Latvia has been the EU nation worst hit by economic crisis.

Unemployment is soaring and banks have sharply reduced their lending, meaning that small companies offering easy loans in small amounts have become more popular.

Mirosiichenko said his company was basically trusting people to repay the small amounts they borrowed, which has so far been up to 250 lats ($500) for between 1 and 90 days at a hefty interest rate.

He said about 200 people had taken out loans over the two months the business was in operation.

(Reporting by Patrick Lannin; Editing by Steve Addison)

MICHAEL Jackson has died after suffering what is believed to have been a cardiac arrest in Los Angeles.

The singer, 50, was pronounced dead soon after he arrived at an LA hospital.

The LA Coroner has confirmed his death.

Lieutenant Fred Corral told CNN Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26pm (7.26am) local time after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest, but not a heart attack.

"I can tell you at this time that we were notified by West Los Angeles Police Department detectives that Mr Jackson was transported ... to the hospital, and upon admitting, he was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at approximately 2:26 this afternoon," Corral told CNN.

Corral said an autopsy would "most likely" be carried out tomorrow but would not speculate on the exact cause of death.

"Everything is still ongoing. We will be responding to the hospital to move Mr Jackson to our facility where he will be examined to determine the cause of death," Corral said.

"At that point, as I said, there's no further medical history until we get and review the medical records."

Jackson, who had been preparing for his comeback tour, was rushed to the UCLA Medical Centre shortly before 12.30pm local time.

Special Section: Michael Jackson dead at 50

Paramedics received a 911 call directing them to the Bel Air home, off Sunset Boulevard, which Jackson rented for $100,000 a month.

Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda told US media Jackson was not breathing when they arrived. Mr Ruda said they received him at about 12.21pm.

When they arrived, they performed CPR and rushed Jackson to the medical centre, about a six-minute drive away.

Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he was told by brother Randy Jackson that Michael Jackson had collapsed at his home in west Los Angeles.

Family members were told of the situation and were either at the hospital or en route, Oxman said.

His sister La Toya was seen rushing to the medical centre in tears.

The Los Angeles Times and CBS reported that Jackson arrived in a deep coma and was pronounced dead soon afterwards.

His dad Joe Jackson was shocked and confused after learning his son had been hospitalised.

Gallery: Michael Jackson and his very Wacko life that turned tragic

Join The Daily Telegraph's tribute blog to Michael Jackson:

"His mother is on her way to the hospital now," Joe Jackson said.

Police officers cordoned off the road outside Jackson's Bel Air home yesterday as fans swamped the UCLA Medical Centre.

Michael is survived by three children _ Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.

The seventh of nine children, Jackson was born in Indiana before moving to LA with his family where he became the star of the Jackson 5.

Watch the unfolding scene live at the hospital where Michael Jackson died

The artist behind the biggest-selling album of all time, Thriller, Jackson was attempting a comeback after years of headlines about his child molestation charges (he was acquitted) to his plastic surgery and his habit of wearing face masks.

He had been scheduled to perform 50 sell-out concerts at London's 02 arena from next week to March 2010.

Jackson started in the music business at the age of 11 as a member of the Jackson 5 with his brothers.

The group had a number of hits on Motown in the 1970s.

Five of his solo albums are some of the top-selling albums of all time: "Off the Wall," 1982's "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "HISstory."

He was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and had 13 Grammy awards and 13 number one singles.

He has sold over 750 million albums worldwide.

His total earnings have been estimated at $500 million dollars. His music videos on MTV, such as "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" were some of the most influential early music videos, and his sound influenced numerous hip hop and R&B artists.

He was tried and acquitted of sexual abuse allegations in 2005.

He married nurse Deborah Jeanne Rowe in Sydney, with whom he fathered a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr, also known as Prince, and a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson.

After they divorced in 1999, he retained full custody of the children.

In the early 1990s, he was briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley.

He lived at Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara from 1988 to 2005.

It was sold to Colony Capital, although he still owns a stake in the property.

To celebrate his 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a compilation album, "King of Pop," in various countries, but it was not released in the US.

The Los Angeles Times reported Jackson's condition had died after going into a deep coma.

In recent months, Jackson had been trying to revive his flagging career which crashed after he faced child-sex charges - allegations he eventually beat in court.

As the first step in this comeback, the singer had been due to play 50 sell-out shows at London's O2 Arena starting in July.

But the King of Pop had already postponed the first few nights' shows amid claims he was suffering health problems.

The Daily Mail in London reported organisers AEG Live said this was in order to make sure everything for the "massive and technically complex show" was running smoothly.

But critics say ongoing concerns about Jackson's health were the real reason behind the gigs having to be postponed.

Earlier this year, Jackson was seen emerging from a doctors three times in one week amid rumours that he was battling skin cancer.

The claims were denied by his representatives.

Jackson has not been on tour for more than a decade, but the concerts at the O2 were seen as his final comeback before finally retiring from music.

In later years, Jackson - whose personal life and sexual preferences remained somewhat mysterious - was plagued by child-sex allegations.

He was accused of molesting an American boy Jordan Chandler after befriending his father early in the 1990s and reportedly settled for $US30million for the allegations to go away and avoid possible charges.

But in 2003, Jackson faced new child-sex allegations that he abused a teenage boy he had also befriended during sleepovers. The singer ended up facing seven sex charges in court but was acquitted.

The paedophile image, however, did enormous damage to his career and Jackson became a virtual recluse, with his behaviour increasingly weird and reports that his financial position was becoming dire due to bad investments, skyrocketing legal bills and a public turned against him.

Following up from last Friday's entry about Iran's Presidential Election, Tehran and other cities have seen the largest street protests and rioting since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Supporters of reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, upset at their announced loss and suspicions of voter fraud, took to the streets both peacefully and, in some cases, violently to vent their frustrations. Iranian security forces and hardline volunteer militia members responded with force and arrests, attempting to stamp out the protests - meanwhile, thousands of Iranians who were happy with the election outcome staged their own victory demonstrations. Mousavi himself has been encouraging peaceful demonstrations, and called for calm at a large demonstration today (held in defiance of an official ban), as Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has just called for an official inquiry into accusations of election irregularities.

The online store that offers third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch has more than 35,000 applications available in 77 countries.

A 13-year-old downloaded the billionth application from the Apple App Store, becoming the grand-prize winner in the company's app countdown contest, the Apple said Friday.

Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Conn., will receive a $10,000 iTunes gift card, an iPod Touch, a Time Capsule backup system for the Mac, and a MacBook Pro. The billionth app was Bump Technologies' "Bump," which enables iPhones to share contact information from users' address books by bringing the devices close together.

The App Store, launched nine months ago, reached the billion-app milestone Thursday, according to Apple. The online store that offers third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch has more than 35,000 applications available in 77 countries.

Mobile applications have been available for download for years from the Web, but the popularity of the App Store has changed the market. All of Apple's major rivals are expected to eventually have their own over-the-air way to distribute mobile programs.

However, competitors have their own twists. Google says its Android Market will be more open, Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM)'s App World is more enterprise-friendly, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)'s Ovi Store will integrate social networking and location, and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Windows Marketplace for Mobile will allow users to be billed through their carriers.

Apple is hoping the App Store will become even more popular with the release this summer of version 3.0 of the iPhone operating system. The update provides more than 1,000 new application programming interfaces that enable developers to build software with in-app purchases, peer-to-peer connections, push notifications, and more.

Chicago (IL) - Researchers at the Cyber Secure Institute estimate that the nefarious Conficker worm has racked up a staggering $9.1 billion bill.

The Institute also warned against "downplaying" the worm's significance.

"Because there was no major Conficker-created problems on April 1st when hijacked computers went online and began communicating with controller domains, numerous commentators are now downplaying the significance of the Conficker problem. This conclusion is wildly off base and patently flawed," explained Rob Housman, executive director of the Cyber Secure Institute. "In short, just because the other guy in a fight doesn't pull the trigger when he's got the gun to your head, doesn't mean you won the fight. It is important to look at the totality of the Conficker problem. Whether or not Conficker ultimately turns out to be a sales tool for bogus Ukrainian security software or something much more destructive, the simple fact is that the Conficker worm has infected vast numbers of computers around the world."

According to Housman, any analysis of the Conficker worm's impact should factor in "wasted time, resources, and energies of the cyber-community, governments, companies and individuals."

In addition, Housman noted that while Conficker has yet to play out a doomsday scenario, there was a "strong possibility" that future worms would be much less benign. As such, the executive director recommended deploying secure technologies, including the Integrity Global Security operating platform and the Tenix Interactive Link Device. Both have reportedly been certified by the National Information Assurance Partnership and NSA against sophisticated cyber threats.

As TG Daily previously reported , Conficker, like many other worms, is a blended threat relying on many different attack methods - ranging from password-guessing and brute force techniques to infection via flash drives in effort to replicate and then spread over a network.

The most recent versions of the code were responsible for the infection of many networks through peer-to-peer communication. The worm had protective measures which enabled it to duck detection and removal through the disabling of Windows Automatic Updates and Windows Security Center. The virus also blocked access to the web sites of numerous security vendors -- rendering many anti-virus programs which had an effective removal protocol ineffective.

Conficker is expected to stop functioning on May 3, 2009.

ShamWow Guy In Slap, Chop Bust

TV pitchman battered hooker in South Beach hotel room brawl

MARCH 27--Meet Vince Shlomi. He's probably better known to you as the ShamWow Guy, the ubiquitous television pitchman who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers. Shlomi, 44, was arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room. According to an arrest affidavit, Shlomi met Sasha Harris, 26, at a Miami Beach nightclub on February 7 and subsequently retired with her to his $750 room at the lavish Setai hotel. Shlomi told cops he paid Harris about $1000 in cash after she "propositioned him for straight sex." Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly "bit his tongue and would not let go." Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue. The affidavit, a copy of which you'll find here, notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face (she is pictured here in mug shots snapped following busts in 2008 and 2005). After freeing his tongue, a bleeding Shlomi ran to the Setai lobby, where security summoned cops. Harris refused to cooperate with officers, who recovered $930 from her purse. "Both parties had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from their persons," police reported. In a brief telephone interview, Harris declined to answer TSG questions about her run-in with Shlomi, though she did say she is considering a lawsuit against the pitchman. Asked if she worked as a hooker, Harris declined comment. As seen in the below mug shot, Shlomi was also injured during the fracas and, court records show, was treated at Mount Sinai Medical Center. While Shlomi and Harris were both arrested for felony aggravated battery, prosecutors this month declined to file formal charges against the combatants. Police records list Shlomi's occupation as "Marketing," but make no mention of his affiliation with the ShamWow or the Slap Chop, both of which sell for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling). (6 pages)

Today we’re excited to release the final build of Internet Explorer 8 in 25 languages. IE8 makes what real people do on the web every day faster, easier, and safer. Anyone running Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server can get 32- and 64-bit versions now from http://www.microsoft.com/ie8. (Windows 7 users will receive an updated IE8 as part of the next Windows 7 milestone.)

We’ve blogged a lot here about what’s in IE8. Stepping back from individual features, Internet Explorer is focused on how real people use the Web. We designed the product experience based on real-world data from tens of millions of user sessions. We worked closely with developers and standards groups to deliver a far better platform for the people who build the web. We cooperated closely with the security community to address the real threats that users face on the web, and keep users in control of their browsing and information. The resulting product takes a “batteries included,” just works out of the box approach to delivering the next browser for how hundreds of millions of people really use the web. We think it will surprise people who haven’t looked closely at IE in a while. Perhaps it’s time to re-think conventional wisdom about IE.

Recently, a meteor landed (or atleast we think) in Denmark, where i live.
Sadly, i didn't see it, but as i saw it in the news, it lighted the whole sky.
I think this is major....
Discuss.

Daniel Petric, the Ohio teen who shot and killed his mother over a dispute involving Halo 3, was convicted today of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and other charges related to the heinous crime.

As reported previously, Petric had purchased a copy of Halo 3 following his parents' Mark and Susan had forbid him to do so. After having the game confiscated, Daniel broke into his father's lock box, which held the game and a 9mm handgun, entered the living room of his house, asked his parents to close their eyes, and shot both of them in the head, killing his mother and wounding his father.

Petric's lawyers argued that video game addiction had driven the teen to the crime, but Common Pleas Judge James Burge found otherwise. Petric now faces up a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Once again my condolences go out to the Petric family for this horrible tragedy, though I sincerely hope Daniel doesn't see the outside of a prison for quite a long line.

Widescreen And HD?

Two weeks ago, YouTube switched its default screen settings to widescreen with the 16:9 aspect ratio replacing the 4:3 ratio that had been the norm since the site launched. And now the reason for that move may have become more clear.

YouTube has been trying to move away from being full of user-generated content in order to tempt more professional broadcasters to allow their content to be aired on the site. Now, those broadcasters have the option of broadcasting in HD.

Higher Quality To High Definition

For a while now, YouTube has offered a ‘Higher Quality’ option under most videos, which once clicked, loads the video in a higher quality format with slower streaming an obvious result.

Now, that option has been replaced with a ‘Watch in HD’ option. The improvement over normal quality is very noticeable, as can be seen by the two screenshots below from the new Ghostbusters trailer.





Costs Or Profit

Initially, this move will actually cost YouTube more, due to the higher bandwidth costs associated with the switch to HD. And high definition on its own doesn’t add any new profit opportunities.

But, HD is likely to make YouTube a much more attractive place for professional content creators to broadcast their videos on, and professional content is what Google wants to see more of on YouTube in the future.
Future-Proofed

Switching to the HD version of a video does cause some problems however - streaming is slower, and the video jumps on all but the highest speed Broadband connections. So, good for the future, but a little taxing on most people’s current connection speeds.

YouTube has had a reputation for offering sub-standard SD video up to this point, with short grainy clips of people’s animals doing funny things the normal content. But with HD video clips now playing natively at 720p, that reputation could be about to change.
Conclusions

Other video sharing sites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion have offered HD for a while, but they haven’t got quite the levels of traffic YouTube has. Which makes YouTube’s switch to high definition very important.

This is just the latest move in Google’s effort to make YouTube a place for professional content such as full length movies and television episodes which can be advertised heavily on. And at least this one stops the eye strain.

Moving to defuse news that the text messages of Skype users in China, and those who exchange messages with them, are being monitored for communication deemed subversive by Chinese authorities, Skype president Josh Silverman on Thursday defended his company's actions using the same rationale thatGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have used in the past: We have to obey Chinese law to operate in China.

"It is common knowledge that censorship does exist in China and that the Chinese government has been monitoring communications in and out of the country for many years," said Silverman in a blog post. "This, in fact, is true for all forms of communication such as e-mails, fixed and mobile phone calls, and instant messaging between people within China and between China and other countries. TOM [Online], like every other communications service provider operating in China, has an obligation to be compliant if they are to be able to operate in China at all."

TOM Online is a Chinese communications service that partnered with eBay (NSDQ: EBAY), Skype's owner, to distribute Skype in China.

According to a report released on Wednesday by Citizen Lab, an Internet research group that's part of the University of Toronto in Canada, the text messages of TOM-Skype users, and those that communicate thus with them, are regularly monitored for politically sensitive keywords.

Sensitive words include references to the Chinese Communist Party, the Falun Gong, Taiwan independence, Tibet, and the ongoing tainted milk scandal in China.

When such words are found, the messages and information about them are logged. But this stored data is stored insecurely; it is, or at least it was until recently, publicly accessible.

Nart Villeneuve, CTO of Psiphon and the author of the Citizen Lab report, was able to access the Web servers where this surveillance data was stored. He suggests in his report that TOM's servers have been compromised in the past and have been used to host pirated movies and peer-to-peer torrents.

"The log files obtained during the course of the investigation reveal information such as the IP addresses, usernames (and landline phone numbers) used to place or receive TOM-Skype calls, as well as the full content of filtered messages and the time and date of each message," the report states. "The collected data affects all TOM-Skype users and also captures the personal information of any Skype users that interacted with registered TOM-Skype users. This represents a severe security and privacy breach. It also raises troubling questions regarding how these practices are related to the Government of China's censorship and surveillance policies."

Silverman, in vague terms, said Skye is engaged with TOM regarding its security and business practices. "We are currently addressing the wider issue of the uploading and storage of certain messages with TOM," he said in his blog post.

And he points out that issues in the Citizen Lab report "refer only to communications in which one or more parties are using TOM software to conduct instant messaging. It does not affect communications where all parties are using standard Skype software. Skype-to-Skype communications are, and always have been, completely secure and private."

It's hard to take comfort in such reassurances, however. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security report, issued in June, stated that "Foreign governments routinely target the computers and other electronic devices and media carried by U.S. corporate and government personnel traveling abroad to gather economic, military, and political information." It also said that "travelers should assume that all communications are monitored."

Apple has asked the court hearing its suit against Psystar to toss out Psystar's counterclaim that Apple is in fact a monopoly, arguing that Psystar's own arguments acknowledge that fact.

The motion to dismiss, filed on Sept. 30, argues that Apple can not be considered a monopoly, based in part upon ads that Psystar and others have run characterizing the Apple Macintosh line as just one product in a sea of PCs.

If this is true, Apple argued, then the company should not be compelled to assist its competition by allowing what are essentially Apple clones to be sold.

In August, Psystar charged Apple with restraint of trade, unfair competition and other violations of antitrust law in a 54-page complaint filed in the Northern California Division of the United States District Court. Apple originally filed suit in July after Psystar began selling its "Open Computer," which many considered to be an Apple clone.

In its counterclaim, Apple said that Psystar had undermined its own claim by citing Apple's campaign as evidence. "Purchasers have concluded Apple's Mac is better than Windows-based PCs," Apple said. "And, yes, as Psystar asserts, some Windows-based PCs are less expensive for that reason. But, that is the very essence of competition involving quality and price!"

"In direct contradiction to Psystar's claimed Mac-only market, Psystar admits that 'a seemingly infinite list of manufacturers may be found in the computer hardware system marketplace,'" Apple added.

Apple asked the court for the charges to be dismissed based upon those arguments. Any more, Apple argued, and the company would be forced to prop up a competitor.

"[T]he ultimate goal of Psystar's Counterclaims is an order from this Court compelling Apple to help competitors, like Psystar, by forcing Apple to license its proprietary software to those competitors for use on their own computer hardware," Apple argued. "Psystar's effort is contrary to law and must rejected. Neither the federal nor the state antitrust laws require competitors to stop competing with, and instead to start helping, each other."

The notice to dismiss will be filed on Nov. 6 "or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard," Apple said.

The fourth generation Nano was launched at a US press conference by Apple chief Steve Jobs, who announced new shuffle and library features.

He also listed the Nano's environmental credentials, including arsenic-free glass and a mercury and PVC-free body that is "highly recyclable".

The Nanos are expected to sell in the UK for £109 ($191) for the 8GB version.

The 16GB version will retail at £149.

Speaking live in San Francisco, Mr Jobs unveiled Apple's new Genius function which allows users to create automatic playlists from the iPod's library with the click of a button.

He said the function worked by taking one song and creating a playlist based on the user's song library and could also suggest other tracks the user might want to buy.

Mr Jobs said the new Nano also had a "shake to shuffle" mode, which sends the gadget to shuffle mode with the flick of a wrist allowing you to go backwards and forwards on your playlist.

'Lots of fun'

The Apple chief executive officer said the company had sold more than 160 million iPods since its introduction seven years ago.

An updated iPod Touch - the closest cousin to the iPhone - was also announced at the event.

It is thinner than previous models and has integrated volume controls and a built-in speaker for "casual listening" and will also include the Genius function.

New software for the iPhone - which will be available free to all users - would "fix a lot of bugs" including dropped calls and connection problems reported by customers.

Mr Jobs said: "We're really, really excited about all these products. We think people are going to have a lot of fun."

Rocks the house?

The Apple announcement was much touted on the blogosphere for days leading up to the launch with plenty of speculation about what would be unveiled.

Gizmodo's Jesus Dias was not disappointed and said "iPod touch second generation rocks our socks off."

However Craig Grannell of Cult of Mac said "Fairly modest expectations were barely met and all we got were skinny things we already knew about anyway."

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told the BBC that this line up of new products did not deliver the way the company has in the past.

"I don't like to sound like I am putting products down. I like new pieces of hardware and I didn't think it was the biggest one of all time for Apple.

"But then we don't present like we do at our Mac World Expo. Some of our introductions are weaker than others and we didn't really expect an awful lot from today."

Wall Street's reaction was also fairly lacklustre with Apple's share price actually falling more than 7 points during the course of the event from $159.64 (£90) to $152.12 (£86).

Some analysts however were more than happy with Apple's product launch. "These are evolutionary products with some revolutionary new features," Michael Gartenburg, vice president of Jupiter Media told the BBC.

"Apple has done it again. They have reinvented the line in a way to capture mainstream consumers' hearts and minds and doing at a price point that is extremely affordable."

The LHC will generate huge amounts of data, with nearly 150 million sensors picking up information from millions of particle collisions every second at the centre of each of the four main detectors.

This will produce around half a gigabyte of data every second, or around 15 petabytes (15 million GB) every year, equivalent to filling a standard 100GB hard drive every four minutes.

To cope, a specialist LHC Computing Grid (LCG) has been built.

The number crunching starts at the detector. Each of the four main experiments has an attached "counting room" which is used to sort through the raw data and store anything of interest.

Batches of data are then sent to the Cern computing centre where they are backed-up on tape. A processor farm begins the huge task of crunching the data to create an event summary, also backed up on to tape.

From Switzerland, the data is pumped out across the net to 11 so-called "tier one" centres such as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, each directly connected to Cern through dedicated cables.

Each centre reprocesses the raw data, creates another back up and then pumps it out to 150 "tier two" centres, mainly universities located around the globe.

From here, the information will be available to around 7,000 physicists who will perform the final simulations and detailed analysis.

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

This is just the beginning -- Google Chrome is far from done. We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we're committed to continuing on their path. We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better.

So check in again tomorrow to try Google Chrome for yourself. We'll post an update here as soon as it's ready.

Iraqi police remove a suicide vest from an Iraqi girl in Baquba in this handout photo from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008. A teenage Iraqi girl wearing a vest packed with explosives turned herself in rather than go through with a suicide bombing in a violence-torn city north of Baghdad, police and the U.S. military said. REUTERS/Iraqi Police/Handout (IRAQ)

Cyber-criminals have attacked key government and consumer websites, allowing them to steal the personal details of anyone browsing the sites, The Times has learnt.

Eastern European hackers are suspected of placing the Asprox virus on more than a thousand British websites, including those run by the NHS and a local council, in the past two weeks.

Experts described the Asprox virus as an alarming departure from commonplace viruses, which tend to be spread through rogue e-mails and unregulated websites.

Unlike other viruses, Asprox sits undetected on mainstream sites, with any visitor at risk of being infected. The virus automatically installs itself on a visitor's computer, allowing a hacker to access financial information.

It is not known how many people are affected by the virus, but security experts estimate that it has spread to at least two million computers worldwide.

Detective Constable Bob Burls, of the Metropolitan Police computer crime unit, said that there had been a sudden rise in infection rates. “The virus got into the job pages of a local council’s internet page,” he said. “It’s a new thing that people who visit mainstream websites are clobbered.”

Such incidents have only come to light after people have found money removed from their bank accounts or other personal data frauds.

“We’ve dealt with two major websites in as many weeks,” he said.

Ben Taylor, an engineer from South London, had £560 fraudulently taken from his bank account this month. After reporting the theft he installed an anti-virus system, which identified “SQL malware” embedded on his computer — technology associated with Asprox. “I only use the internet a few times a week and didn’t look at anything dodgy,” he said. “It’s scary to think that a criminal was controlling my computer. I’ve got rid of it now.”

Last week, Asprox infected a website managed by the Norfolk NHS, used by thousands of people a day. Hackney Council’s website was one of 12 local council websites also compromised, meaning that anyone logging on to pay a parking ticket or council tax was at risk over a three day period.

And visitors to Nigella Lawson’s website last week were in danger of picking up something less palatable than a recipe for goose-fat potatoes. A spokesman for Ms Lawson said that the virus, which was installed on the website last Monday, was dealt with “instantly” and that nobody was infected.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technical officer of Finjan, an online security company who exposed the rapid growth of Asprox around the world, said: “This is very serious threat.

“Five years ago when your computer got infected by a virus, you noticed immediately that your PC was broken. These days, you don’t notice anything. This is exactly what the hacker wants. It gives him complete control over the infected machine.”

Once installed on a personal computer, the Asprox virus allows a hacker to steal files, e-mails and passwords. It can also be used to infect other computers and even make attacks against companies and foreign governments.

Any computer without up-to-date anti-virus software is vulnerable. But only around half of current anti-virus programmes can detect Asprox, Mr Ben-Itzhak said.

In the US, the virus has successfully penetrated mainstream sites belonging to Sony’s Playstation, the city of San Francisco and Snapple.

A spokeswoman for Apacs, the payments organisation, said: “There is a responsibility on website owners to ensure that they have sufficient security software installed so that criminals are not able to easily compromise their sites.

“This combined with users not downloading any pop-ups, or falling into any other traps such as those, does considerably reduce the chance of a criminal being able to infect their PC with malware.”

The breach comes as losses through online fraud, partly caused by hackers stealing personal data through virus, increased by 37 percent with losses on cards issued in Britain amounting to £144 million compared with £100 million in 2000.

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My advise (Dekusvamp):
Follow the manual:

Asprox manual removal:

Kill processes:
aspimgr.exe


Delete registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesaspimgr
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftsft


Delete files:
aspimgr.exe, _check32.bat, ws386.ini


Misc:
Asprox uses TCP ports 80 and 82.

Exact file location:
ws386.ini - C:WINDOWS or C:WINNT
aspimgr.exe - C:WINDOWSSystem32 or C:WINNTSystem32
_check32.bat - C:Documents and Settings[Current User]Local SettingsTemp

Comment:
If you ever visit symantecs site, don't follow their description.
They say that "It uses your computer as a proxy", they just forgot to say that it steals all information, spreads, and it uses your computer to hack other people. Grats symantec. I would believe symantec made the virus.

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
August 13, 2008, 11:40 AM

The leading US electronics retailer will begin selling the hit phone on September 7 in 970 stores, including all the stores where Apple has launched its "mini-store" pilot program.

Best Buy said it would sell iPhones through its Best Buy Mobile shops that it has begun to open across a little over a dozen cities nationwide. Those smaller versions of the bigger retailer focus primarily on mobile phone sales.

Such a deal makes sense considering that Apple has had a closer relationship with Best Buy than with any other US retailer in recent months. The retailer resumed its sales of Apple branded products in December 2006. Later, in May 2007, the companies reached a deal to build a "store-within-a-store" for Mac products and their accessories. So far, the concept has been successful for, and Apple has said it will continue to work with the retailer to open more of these "mini-stores" during the year.

Offering the iPhone could also help Best Buy get a leg up on its competitors during the upcoming holiday season. With the device expected to be one of the hot items, it could have the effect of coercing consumers to make other holiday purchases there.

Best Buy may have also have had some help from its partnership with Britain's Carphone Warehouse. That company is working with Best Buy in its mobile department, while Best Buy is assisting Carphone in its European ventures.

Carphone Warehouse is the selected retail partner for Apple's iPhone within the UK.

Activating the phone would be no different than what Apple currently does through its own stores and AT&T. Customers would need to sign a contract and have their phones activated in-store in order to qualify for the subsidized $199 price.

It doesn't appear that the addition of the iPhone will mean any additional staffing to handle the iPhone specifically, as Best Buy did in some stores for Macs. However, the new mobile store concept includes employees who have specifically been trained for mobile sales, and would likely receive considerable training to deal with the iPhone as well.

Best Buy believes this new focus on mobile has been a key driver in its growth of wireless sales, which had previously been handled by general employees who had only had minimal training in that department.