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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8455712.stm
Internet search company Google says it may end operations in China over alleged breaches of the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.
It said it had found a "sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China".
It did not specifically accuse China's government but said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese site's results, as the government requires.
Google said the decision might mean it has to shut the site, set up in 2006.
Phishing scam
Shortly after the news was announced, shares in Google fell by 1.9% to $579 (£358) in after-hours trading in New York.
In a blog post announcing its decision, Google's David Drummond said: "A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists."
The company said its investigation into the attack found two Gmail accounts appeared to have been accessed.
If, as seems likely, the government refuses to allow it to operate an uncensored service, then Google will pull out
Rory Cellan Jones, BBC technology correspondent
However, activity was limited to account information such as the date the account was created and subject line, rather than e-mail content, it said.
It was also discovered the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe-based Gmail users, who are "advocates of human rights in China", appeared to have been "routinely accessed by third parties".
It said these accounts had not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but "most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on users' computers".
At least 20 other large companies from a wide range of businesses were similarly targeted, it added.
In the coming weeks, Google said it would hold talks with the Chinese government to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law.
The decision, it said, had been "incredibly hard" and driven by company executives in the US, not employees in China.
BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones said the attacks, coupled with further attempts to limit free speech, had led Google to reconsider its position.
"If, as seems likely, the government refuses to allow it to operate an uncensored service, then Google will pull out.
"That will leave other overseas web companies operating in China with difficult decisions to make," he added.
Google first launched in China four years ago after agreeing to censor some search results.
The move led to accusations it had betrayed its company motto - "don't do evil" but Google argued it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.
Last summer, Google was at loggerheads with China after it was accused of breaking the law by spreading pornography.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wet computing in development mimics the brain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8452196.stm
By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Artist's impression of 'wet' computing cells (G Jones)
A promising push toward a novel, biologically-inspired "chemical computer" has begun as part of an international collaboration.
The "wet computer" incorporates several recently discovered properties of chemical systems that can be hijacked to engineer computing power.
The team's approach mimics some of the actions of neurons in the brain.
The 1.8m-euro (£1.6m) project will run for three years, funded by an EU emerging technologies programme.
The programme has identified biologically-inspired computing as particularly important, having recently funded several such projects.
What distinguishes the current project is that it will make use of stable "cells" featuring a coating that forms spontaneously, similar to the walls of our own cells, and uses chemistry to accomplish the signal processing similar to that of our own neurons.
The goal is not to make a better computer than conventional ones, said project collaborator Klaus-Peter Zauner of the University of Southampton, but rather to be able to compute in new environments.
If one day we want to construct computers of similar power and complexity to the human brain, my bet would be on some form of chemical or molecular computing
Frantisek Stepanek, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague
"The type of wet information technology we are working towards will not find its near-term application in running business software," Dr Zauner told BBC News.
"But it will open up application domains where current IT does not offer any solutions - controlling molecular robots, fine-grained control of chemical assembly, and intelligent drugs that process the chemical signals of the human body and act according to the local biochemical state of the cell."
Lipids and liquids
The group's approach hinges on two critical ideas.
First, individual "cells" are surrounded by a wall made up of so-called lipids that spontaneously encapsulate the liquid innards of the cell.
Recent work has shown that when two such lipid layers encounter each other as the cells come into contact, a protein can form a passage between them, allowing chemical signalling molecules to pass.
Second, the cells' interiors will play host to what is known as a Belousov-Zhabotinsky or B-Z chemical reaction. Simply put, reactions of this type can be initiated by changing the concentration of the element bromine by a certain threshold amount.
The reactions are unusual for a number of reasons.
But for the computing application, what is important is that after the arrival of a chemical signal to start it, the cell enters a "refractory period" during which further chemical signals do not influence the reaction.
That keeps a signal from propagating unchecked through any connected cells.
Such self-contained systems that react under their own chemical power to a stimulus above a threshold have an analogue in nature: neurons.
Neuron (SPL)
Each neuron in our brains can be viewed as a chemical computer
"Every neuron is like a molecular computer; ours is a very crude abstraction of what neurons do," said Dr Zauner.
"But the essence of neurons is the capability to get 'excited'; it can re-form an input signal and has its own energy supply so it can fire out a new signal."
This propagation of a chemical signal - along with the "refractory period" that keeps it contained within a given cell - means the cells can form networks that function like the brain.
'Real chance'
Frantisek Stepanek, a chemical computing researcher at the Institute of Chemical Technology Prague in the Czech Republic, said the pairing of the two ideas was promising.
"If one day we want to construct computers of similar power and complexity to the human brain, my bet would be on some form of chemical or molecular computing," he told BBC News.
"I think this project stands a real chance of bringing chemical computing from the concept stage to a practical demonstration of a functional prototype."
For its part, the team is already hard at work proving the idea will work.
"Officially the project doesn't start until the first of February," said Dr Zauner, "but we were so curious about it we already sent some lipids to our collaborators in Poland - they've already shown the lipid layers are stable."
By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Artist's impression of 'wet' computing cells (G Jones)
A promising push toward a novel, biologically-inspired "chemical computer" has begun as part of an international collaboration.
The "wet computer" incorporates several recently discovered properties of chemical systems that can be hijacked to engineer computing power.
The team's approach mimics some of the actions of neurons in the brain.
The 1.8m-euro (£1.6m) project will run for three years, funded by an EU emerging technologies programme.
The programme has identified biologically-inspired computing as particularly important, having recently funded several such projects.
What distinguishes the current project is that it will make use of stable "cells" featuring a coating that forms spontaneously, similar to the walls of our own cells, and uses chemistry to accomplish the signal processing similar to that of our own neurons.
The goal is not to make a better computer than conventional ones, said project collaborator Klaus-Peter Zauner of the University of Southampton, but rather to be able to compute in new environments.
If one day we want to construct computers of similar power and complexity to the human brain, my bet would be on some form of chemical or molecular computing
Frantisek Stepanek, Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague
"The type of wet information technology we are working towards will not find its near-term application in running business software," Dr Zauner told BBC News.
"But it will open up application domains where current IT does not offer any solutions - controlling molecular robots, fine-grained control of chemical assembly, and intelligent drugs that process the chemical signals of the human body and act according to the local biochemical state of the cell."
Lipids and liquids
The group's approach hinges on two critical ideas.
First, individual "cells" are surrounded by a wall made up of so-called lipids that spontaneously encapsulate the liquid innards of the cell.
Recent work has shown that when two such lipid layers encounter each other as the cells come into contact, a protein can form a passage between them, allowing chemical signalling molecules to pass.
Second, the cells' interiors will play host to what is known as a Belousov-Zhabotinsky or B-Z chemical reaction. Simply put, reactions of this type can be initiated by changing the concentration of the element bromine by a certain threshold amount.
The reactions are unusual for a number of reasons.
But for the computing application, what is important is that after the arrival of a chemical signal to start it, the cell enters a "refractory period" during which further chemical signals do not influence the reaction.
That keeps a signal from propagating unchecked through any connected cells.
Such self-contained systems that react under their own chemical power to a stimulus above a threshold have an analogue in nature: neurons.
Neuron (SPL)
Each neuron in our brains can be viewed as a chemical computer
"Every neuron is like a molecular computer; ours is a very crude abstraction of what neurons do," said Dr Zauner.
"But the essence of neurons is the capability to get 'excited'; it can re-form an input signal and has its own energy supply so it can fire out a new signal."
This propagation of a chemical signal - along with the "refractory period" that keeps it contained within a given cell - means the cells can form networks that function like the brain.
'Real chance'
Frantisek Stepanek, a chemical computing researcher at the Institute of Chemical Technology Prague in the Czech Republic, said the pairing of the two ideas was promising.
"If one day we want to construct computers of similar power and complexity to the human brain, my bet would be on some form of chemical or molecular computing," he told BBC News.
"I think this project stands a real chance of bringing chemical computing from the concept stage to a practical demonstration of a functional prototype."
For its part, the team is already hard at work proving the idea will work.
"Officially the project doesn't start until the first of February," said Dr Zauner, "but we were so curious about it we already sent some lipids to our collaborators in Poland - they've already shown the lipid layers are stable."
Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN096521320100109
UPDATE 1-Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year
Sat Jan 9, 2010 2:05pm EST
Related News
CARACAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelans rushed to the shops on Saturday, fearful of price rises after a currency devaluation that will let President Hugo Chavez boost government spending ahead of an election but feeds opposition charges of economic mismanagement.
In a bid to jump-start the recession-hit economy of South America's top oil exporter, Chavez on Friday announced a dual system for the fixed rate bolivar.
It devalues the currency to 4.3 and 2.6 against the dollar, from a rate of 2.15 per dollar in place since 2005, giving the better rate for basic goods in an attempt to limit the impact of the measure on consumer prices.
The opposition seized on fears that prices for imported goods will double as shoppers formed lines of more than a hundred people outside some stores in the capital Caracas.
"It was a Black Friday, tinted red," said sales executive Diana Sevillana in reference to the crimson color of Chavez's socialist party. She stood in a line of 30 people outside an electrical goods store in a middle class neighborhood.
The socialist Chavez believes the state should have a weighty role in managing the economy. During his 11 years in office he has nationalized most heavy industry, and business and finance are tightly regulated.
The devaluation is politically risky but means every dollar of oil revenue puts more bolivars in government coffers. That allows Chavez to lavish cash on social projects and fund salary increases ahead of parliamentary elections in September.
Opponents were quick to criticize the socialist, who a year ago promised the global financial crisis would not touch "a hair" of Venezuela's economy. He announced the devaluation on Friday night during an important baseball game.
"By establishing the exchange rate at 4.3 bolivars per dollar, the quality of life for Venezuelans is automatically devalued since we now have half the money we had before," said Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, a Chavez opponent.
BLACKOUTS, WATER SHORTAGES
Opposition parties, emboldened by public dissatisfaction at frequent blackouts and water shortages and a 2.9 percent economic contraction in 2009, hope to strip Chavez of his legislative majority in September.
The devaluation is embarrassing for Chavez, who resisted calls from economists and many government allies to make the move last year when oil prices were at their lowest and elections a long way off.
"Venezuela's decision to devalue the Bolivar culminates an event that the market has been anticipating for a long time," said Walter Molano, an analyst at BCP Securities. "It helps alleviate the country's fiscal woes and puts it on a sounder macroeconomic footing."
The measure is a relief for state oil company PDVSA, which has struggled to pay service providers and meet requirements to fund social projects since crude prices dropped sharply last year. It also makes Venezuelan businesses more competitive.
Holders of Venezuela's foreign debt are also pleased, since the devaluation improves government finances and lessens the need to issue more bonds.
However, Chavez risks taking a blow to his popularity ratings, which are about 50 percent, as prices for many products inevitably will rise in the country of 28 million people, which relies on imports for much of its consumption.
Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said the devaluation will add 3 percent to 5 percent to inflation, already the highest in the Americas at 25 percent last year.
"The popularity of the government is obviously going to be sharply and negatively affected," said economist Pedro Palma. "The inflationary impact of the measure diminishes the real income of people. People can consume less."
The new two-tiered exchange system offers the 2.6/dollar rate for goods deemed essential including food, medicine and industrial machinery. Other products, including cars and telephones, will be imported at the higher 4.3 rate.
Last month, BMO Capital Markets cut ratings on Colgate-Palmolive Co (CL.N), Avon Products Inc (AVP.N) and Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB.N) to "market perform" saying a possible devaluation in Venezuela could hurt the U.S. consumer goods makers' profits.
Economist Pavel Gomez of the IESA economic school said the new system will increase opportunities for graft in a country that already is corruption-ridden.
"Multiple exchange schemes are incentives for corruption, more so if they are applied in the Venezuela way," he said. "Those who have good contacts can buy at 2.6 and sell at 4.3."
Chavez, whose popularity usually rises in correlation with public spending, also said on Friday that the Central Bank had transferred $7 billion of foreign reserves to a development fund used to finance investment projects.
(Additional reporting by Hugh Bronstein in Bogota, editing by Vicki Allen)
UPDATE 1-Devaluation ups stakes in Venezuela election year
Sat Jan 9, 2010 2:05pm EST
Related News
CARACAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Venezuelans rushed to the shops on Saturday, fearful of price rises after a currency devaluation that will let President Hugo Chavez boost government spending ahead of an election but feeds opposition charges of economic mismanagement.
In a bid to jump-start the recession-hit economy of South America's top oil exporter, Chavez on Friday announced a dual system for the fixed rate bolivar.
It devalues the currency to 4.3 and 2.6 against the dollar, from a rate of 2.15 per dollar in place since 2005, giving the better rate for basic goods in an attempt to limit the impact of the measure on consumer prices.
The opposition seized on fears that prices for imported goods will double as shoppers formed lines of more than a hundred people outside some stores in the capital Caracas.
"It was a Black Friday, tinted red," said sales executive Diana Sevillana in reference to the crimson color of Chavez's socialist party. She stood in a line of 30 people outside an electrical goods store in a middle class neighborhood.
The socialist Chavez believes the state should have a weighty role in managing the economy. During his 11 years in office he has nationalized most heavy industry, and business and finance are tightly regulated.
The devaluation is politically risky but means every dollar of oil revenue puts more bolivars in government coffers. That allows Chavez to lavish cash on social projects and fund salary increases ahead of parliamentary elections in September.
Opponents were quick to criticize the socialist, who a year ago promised the global financial crisis would not touch "a hair" of Venezuela's economy. He announced the devaluation on Friday night during an important baseball game.
"By establishing the exchange rate at 4.3 bolivars per dollar, the quality of life for Venezuelans is automatically devalued since we now have half the money we had before," said Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, a Chavez opponent.
BLACKOUTS, WATER SHORTAGES
Opposition parties, emboldened by public dissatisfaction at frequent blackouts and water shortages and a 2.9 percent economic contraction in 2009, hope to strip Chavez of his legislative majority in September.
The devaluation is embarrassing for Chavez, who resisted calls from economists and many government allies to make the move last year when oil prices were at their lowest and elections a long way off.
"Venezuela's decision to devalue the Bolivar culminates an event that the market has been anticipating for a long time," said Walter Molano, an analyst at BCP Securities. "It helps alleviate the country's fiscal woes and puts it on a sounder macroeconomic footing."
The measure is a relief for state oil company PDVSA, which has struggled to pay service providers and meet requirements to fund social projects since crude prices dropped sharply last year. It also makes Venezuelan businesses more competitive.
Holders of Venezuela's foreign debt are also pleased, since the devaluation improves government finances and lessens the need to issue more bonds.
However, Chavez risks taking a blow to his popularity ratings, which are about 50 percent, as prices for many products inevitably will rise in the country of 28 million people, which relies on imports for much of its consumption.
Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said the devaluation will add 3 percent to 5 percent to inflation, already the highest in the Americas at 25 percent last year.
"The popularity of the government is obviously going to be sharply and negatively affected," said economist Pedro Palma. "The inflationary impact of the measure diminishes the real income of people. People can consume less."
The new two-tiered exchange system offers the 2.6/dollar rate for goods deemed essential including food, medicine and industrial machinery. Other products, including cars and telephones, will be imported at the higher 4.3 rate.
Last month, BMO Capital Markets cut ratings on Colgate-Palmolive Co (CL.N), Avon Products Inc (AVP.N) and Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB.N) to "market perform" saying a possible devaluation in Venezuela could hurt the U.S. consumer goods makers' profits.
Economist Pavel Gomez of the IESA economic school said the new system will increase opportunities for graft in a country that already is corruption-ridden.
"Multiple exchange schemes are incentives for corruption, more so if they are applied in the Venezuela way," he said. "Those who have good contacts can buy at 2.6 and sell at 4.3."
Chavez, whose popularity usually rises in correlation with public spending, also said on Friday that the Central Bank had transferred $7 billion of foreign reserves to a development fund used to finance investment projects.
(Additional reporting by Hugh Bronstein in Bogota, editing by Vicki Allen)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
'Bodies' exhibition accused of putting executed Chinese prisoners on show Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies-Revealed-exhibition-accused-putting-executed-Chinese-prisoners-show.html
By Christopher Leake
Last updated at 11:20 AM on 10th January 2010
The bodies of executed Chinese prisoners are being used in a ghoulish exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses, it was claimed last night.
Human rights activist Dr David Nicholl is demanding the Human Tissue Authority – which granted a licence for the Bodies Revealed show in Birmingham – should shut it down because it is a ‘crime scene’.
The controversial event is organised by US-based Premier Exhibitions, which insists all the cadavers came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science.
But Dr Nicholl, a consultant at Birmingham City Hospital, says he is convinced the body parts – preserved in polymer – come from executed Chinese prisoners or victims of torture.
He accused the organisers of taking ‘blood money’ by charging a £14 entrance fee for the show.
Dr Nicholl said: ‘We are asking a simple question – “Can you guarantee the bodies are not those of people executed in China?”.
'If the organisers are unable to answer this, then we think the authorities should be looking to close this exhibition.’
Last night, the British Liver Trust, a charity that fights liver disease, withdrew its previous support for the exhibition.
Chief executive Dr Alison Rogers said the organisers had not been able to give her an ‘unequivocal’ guarantee that the bodies had not been victims of execution or torture.
The Mail on Sunday has established that Premier Exhibitions provided the Human Tissue Authority with an affidavit, written in Chinese, which showed the bodies were from China.
One of the bodies from the Bodies Revealed exhibition in Birmingham
Premier has been mired in controversy since paying more than £15million for human remains from northern China in the mid-Nineties.
The Chinese suppliers had previously been accused of using the bodies of executed prisoners for commercial purposes.
The Human Tissue Authority said in line with its Code of Practice the exhibitors had to provide assurances that the bodies on display were donated for that purpose.
A spokesman said: ‘Our standards must be met while the bodies are in the UK. For example, the tissue must be treated with respect.’
A statement from the exhibitors said its suppliers had confirmed all of the bodies and organ specimens in Bodies Revealed came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science and are ‘deceased from natural causes’.
They said examinations of the specimens found no evidence of physical abuse.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies-Revealed-exhibition-accused-putting-executed-Chinese-prisoners-show.html#ixzz0cDqfRKua
By Christopher Leake
Last updated at 11:20 AM on 10th January 2010
The bodies of executed Chinese prisoners are being used in a ghoulish exhibition of ‘plastinated’ corpses, it was claimed last night.
Human rights activist Dr David Nicholl is demanding the Human Tissue Authority – which granted a licence for the Bodies Revealed show in Birmingham – should shut it down because it is a ‘crime scene’.
The controversial event is organised by US-based Premier Exhibitions, which insists all the cadavers came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science.
But Dr Nicholl, a consultant at Birmingham City Hospital, says he is convinced the body parts – preserved in polymer – come from executed Chinese prisoners or victims of torture.
He accused the organisers of taking ‘blood money’ by charging a £14 entrance fee for the show.
Dr Nicholl said: ‘We are asking a simple question – “Can you guarantee the bodies are not those of people executed in China?”.
'If the organisers are unable to answer this, then we think the authorities should be looking to close this exhibition.’
Last night, the British Liver Trust, a charity that fights liver disease, withdrew its previous support for the exhibition.
Chief executive Dr Alison Rogers said the organisers had not been able to give her an ‘unequivocal’ guarantee that the bodies had not been victims of execution or torture.
The Mail on Sunday has established that Premier Exhibitions provided the Human Tissue Authority with an affidavit, written in Chinese, which showed the bodies were from China.
One of the bodies from the Bodies Revealed exhibition in Birmingham
Premier has been mired in controversy since paying more than £15million for human remains from northern China in the mid-Nineties.
The Chinese suppliers had previously been accused of using the bodies of executed prisoners for commercial purposes.
The Human Tissue Authority said in line with its Code of Practice the exhibitors had to provide assurances that the bodies on display were donated for that purpose.
A spokesman said: ‘Our standards must be met while the bodies are in the UK. For example, the tissue must be treated with respect.’
A statement from the exhibitors said its suppliers had confirmed all of the bodies and organ specimens in Bodies Revealed came from individuals who chose to donate their bodies to medical science and are ‘deceased from natural causes’.
They said examinations of the specimens found no evidence of physical abuse.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1241931/Bodies-Revealed-exhibition-accused-putting-executed-Chinese-prisoners-show.html#ixzz0cDqfRKua
Friday, January 8, 2010
Taiwan firm: China got Iran part with nuke uses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8889728
* AP foreign, Friday January 8 2010
DEBBY WU
Associated Press Writer= TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese company agreed to a request from a firm in China to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran, the firm's head said Friday. Such transactions violate U.N. sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern nation.
The admission by Steven Lin of Hsinchu-based Heli-Ocean Technology Co. Ltd. comes amid an international effort led by the United States to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. While Lin said he didn't know whether the parts — a vital component in the production of weapons-grade uranium — were eventually used by Iran militarily, he did acknowledge that they have nuclear applications.
U.N. sanctions to prevent Iran from expanding its uranium enrichment program have led it to the black market to obtain sophisticated nuclear-related equipment. Aided by these illegal purchases, the program has grown to the stage where thousands of centrifuges are churning out enriched material, which can be used both for fuel or as the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran insists that it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, but its attempts to evade probes by the International Atomic Energy Agency and its refusal to stop enrichment are increasing suspicions it actually seeks weapons capabilities.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Lin said he received an Internet order from a Chinese firm in January or February 2008 to obtain an unspecified number of pressure transducers, which convert pressure into analog electrical signals.
While pressure transducers have many commercial uses, they furnish the precise measurements needed in the production of weapons-grade uranium.
Nuclear proliferation expert David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security told the AP that Iran tried hard to procure the transducers in Europe and Canada, but was thwarted by a concerted international effort.
However, he said, the existence of the Taiwanese-Chinese connection shows that Iran still has the ability to get what it needs by tapping alternative sources.
"This equipment is likely for its gas centrifuge program," he said.
Lin did not identify the Chinese company that placed the transducer order, except to say that it was involved in the manufacture of pipeline for the oil industry.
He said that he obtained the transducers from a Swiss company, which he declined to name.
Lin said that when he contacted the Swiss firm he had no idea where the transducers were heading.
"It was only at the last minute that the Chinese told me to send them to Iran," he said.
Lin arranged for their direct transportation from Taiwan to the Middle East, he said, rather than sending them to the Chinese company first.
Lin said that he didn't know what happened to the transducers after they arrived in Iran, though he acknowledged that they have an important role in the nuclear industry.
"I know that the (peaceful) nuclear research units in Taiwan use these things," he said. "The equipment has multiple uses from semiconductors to solar energy to nuclear work."
A Taiwanese government official told the AP on Friday that an official probe of the Taiwanese-Iranian transducer connection confirmed that 108 of the transducers had been sent from Taiwan to Iran at a Chinese request, but that the equipment was not precise enough to be placed on the island's export control list.
The official, who was in charge of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Beside being prohibited by the U.N. from pressure transducer purchases, Iran is also banned from buying them on the open market by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an international body established to limit nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials that can be used in building atomic weapons.
Asked about the circuitous route of the transducer transaction — from China to Taiwan to Switzerland, then back to Taiwan and finally to Iran — the Taiwanese official said that such deals were common in international trade.
"It is fairly common to do business through third parties," he said. He did not elaborate.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons secretly under the guise of a civilian atomic energy program, but Tehran insists its efforts are aimed only at generating electricity.
Washington has been pressing both China and Russia to agree to stepped up sanctions to pressure Iran into stopping its alleged nuclear program, but so far without result.
Over the past several years China has been accused of directly aiding the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons development on a number of occasions. Washington has enacted sanctions against several Chinese companies. China has denied involvement in Iran's nuclear programs.
At the same time, Beijing has courted close relations with Iran, with Chinese state companies purchasing Iranian oil and investing in Iran's energy industry.
* AP foreign, Friday January 8 2010
DEBBY WU
Associated Press Writer= TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese company agreed to a request from a firm in China to procure sensitive components with nuclear uses, then shipped them to Iran, the firm's head said Friday. Such transactions violate U.N. sanctions imposed on the Middle Eastern nation.
The admission by Steven Lin of Hsinchu-based Heli-Ocean Technology Co. Ltd. comes amid an international effort led by the United States to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. While Lin said he didn't know whether the parts — a vital component in the production of weapons-grade uranium — were eventually used by Iran militarily, he did acknowledge that they have nuclear applications.
U.N. sanctions to prevent Iran from expanding its uranium enrichment program have led it to the black market to obtain sophisticated nuclear-related equipment. Aided by these illegal purchases, the program has grown to the stage where thousands of centrifuges are churning out enriched material, which can be used both for fuel or as the fissile core of nuclear warheads.
Iran insists that it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, but its attempts to evade probes by the International Atomic Energy Agency and its refusal to stop enrichment are increasing suspicions it actually seeks weapons capabilities.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Lin said he received an Internet order from a Chinese firm in January or February 2008 to obtain an unspecified number of pressure transducers, which convert pressure into analog electrical signals.
While pressure transducers have many commercial uses, they furnish the precise measurements needed in the production of weapons-grade uranium.
Nuclear proliferation expert David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security told the AP that Iran tried hard to procure the transducers in Europe and Canada, but was thwarted by a concerted international effort.
However, he said, the existence of the Taiwanese-Chinese connection shows that Iran still has the ability to get what it needs by tapping alternative sources.
"This equipment is likely for its gas centrifuge program," he said.
Lin did not identify the Chinese company that placed the transducer order, except to say that it was involved in the manufacture of pipeline for the oil industry.
He said that he obtained the transducers from a Swiss company, which he declined to name.
Lin said that when he contacted the Swiss firm he had no idea where the transducers were heading.
"It was only at the last minute that the Chinese told me to send them to Iran," he said.
Lin arranged for their direct transportation from Taiwan to the Middle East, he said, rather than sending them to the Chinese company first.
Lin said that he didn't know what happened to the transducers after they arrived in Iran, though he acknowledged that they have an important role in the nuclear industry.
"I know that the (peaceful) nuclear research units in Taiwan use these things," he said. "The equipment has multiple uses from semiconductors to solar energy to nuclear work."
A Taiwanese government official told the AP on Friday that an official probe of the Taiwanese-Iranian transducer connection confirmed that 108 of the transducers had been sent from Taiwan to Iran at a Chinese request, but that the equipment was not precise enough to be placed on the island's export control list.
The official, who was in charge of the probe, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Beside being prohibited by the U.N. from pressure transducer purchases, Iran is also banned from buying them on the open market by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an international body established to limit nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials that can be used in building atomic weapons.
Asked about the circuitous route of the transducer transaction — from China to Taiwan to Switzerland, then back to Taiwan and finally to Iran — the Taiwanese official said that such deals were common in international trade.
"It is fairly common to do business through third parties," he said. He did not elaborate.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons secretly under the guise of a civilian atomic energy program, but Tehran insists its efforts are aimed only at generating electricity.
Washington has been pressing both China and Russia to agree to stepped up sanctions to pressure Iran into stopping its alleged nuclear program, but so far without result.
Over the past several years China has been accused of directly aiding the alleged Iranian nuclear weapons development on a number of occasions. Washington has enacted sanctions against several Chinese companies. China has denied involvement in Iran's nuclear programs.
At the same time, Beijing has courted close relations with Iran, with Chinese state companies purchasing Iranian oil and investing in Iran's energy industry.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8441813.stm
By Tim Whewell
BBC News, Uganda
A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.
One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.
Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.
The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.
In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners.
The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice.
He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth.
"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits… They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.
Asked how often clients brought blood and body parts, the witch-doctor said they came "on average three times a week - with all that the spirits demand from them."
We saw a beaker of blood and what appeared to be a large, raw liver in the shrine before it was destroyed, although it was not possible to determine whether they were human remains.
Extortion
The witch-doctor denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to his clients.
He told us he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (£160 or $260) for a consultation, but that most of that money was handed over to his "boss" in a nationwide network of witch-doctors.
Mutilated three-year old with his parents
Three-year-old Mukisa had his genitals cut off by a witch-doctor
In pictures: Children in danger
Head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said he knew of the boss referred to - involved in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.
"The senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things," he told us.
Mr Binoga said police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007.
"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced. We cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice," he said.
But child protection campaigners believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to police.
Activism
Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990.
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity
To punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity
Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed.
"The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said.
When he returned to Uganda he says he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, aged 10.
"I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone. Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine."
Asked if he was afraid he might now be prosecuted as a result of confessing to killing 70 people, he said:
"I have been to all the churches… and they know me as a warrior in the drive to end witchcraft that involves human sacrifice, so I think that alone should indemnify me and have me exonerated."
Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo believes that "to punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past."
Child protection activists in organisations such as FAPAD (Facilitation for Peace and Development) and ANPPCAN (African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect) have highlighted recent cases of ritual killing and called for new legislation to regulate so-called "traditional healers".
Witness testimony
In some cases against alleged witch-doctors due to come to trial later this year, police will use the testimony of children who managed to survive abduction.
One such witness is a three-year-old boy called Mukisa, who was left for dead after his penis was hacked off by an assailant.
He survived thanks to quick work by surgeons, and later told police he had been mutilated by a neighbour who is known to keep a shrine.
Mukisa's mother told us: "Every time I look at him, I ask myself how his future is going to be - a man without a penis - and how the rest of the community will look at him, with private parts that can neither be attributed to a man or a woman. Every time I recall the normal birth that I had and the way Mukisa is now, it is like the end of the world."
By Tim Whewell
BBC News, Uganda
A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.
One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.
Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.
The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.
In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners.
The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice.
He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth.
"They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits… They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.
Asked how often clients brought blood and body parts, the witch-doctor said they came "on average three times a week - with all that the spirits demand from them."
We saw a beaker of blood and what appeared to be a large, raw liver in the shrine before it was destroyed, although it was not possible to determine whether they were human remains.
Extortion
The witch-doctor denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to his clients.
He told us he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (£160 or $260) for a consultation, but that most of that money was handed over to his "boss" in a nationwide network of witch-doctors.
Mutilated three-year old with his parents
Three-year-old Mukisa had his genitals cut off by a witch-doctor
In pictures: Children in danger
Head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said he knew of the boss referred to - involved in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.
"The senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things," he told us.
Mr Binoga said police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007.
"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced. We cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice," he said.
But child protection campaigners believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to police.
Activism
Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990.
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity
To punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past
James Nsaba Buturo, Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity
Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed.
"The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said.
When he returned to Uganda he says he was told by those who had initiated him to kill his own son, aged 10.
"I deceived my wife and made sure that everyone else had gone away and I was with my child alone. Once he was placed down on the ground, I used a big knife and brought it down like a guillotine."
Asked if he was afraid he might now be prosecuted as a result of confessing to killing 70 people, he said:
"I have been to all the churches… and they know me as a warrior in the drive to end witchcraft that involves human sacrifice, so I think that alone should indemnify me and have me exonerated."
Uganda's Minister of Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo believes that "to punish retrospectively would cause a problem... if we can persuade Ugandans to change, that is much better than going back into the past."
Child protection activists in organisations such as FAPAD (Facilitation for Peace and Development) and ANPPCAN (African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect) have highlighted recent cases of ritual killing and called for new legislation to regulate so-called "traditional healers".
Witness testimony
In some cases against alleged witch-doctors due to come to trial later this year, police will use the testimony of children who managed to survive abduction.
One such witness is a three-year-old boy called Mukisa, who was left for dead after his penis was hacked off by an assailant.
He survived thanks to quick work by surgeons, and later told police he had been mutilated by a neighbour who is known to keep a shrine.
Mukisa's mother told us: "Every time I look at him, I ask myself how his future is going to be - a man without a penis - and how the rest of the community will look at him, with private parts that can neither be attributed to a man or a woman. Every time I recall the normal birth that I had and the way Mukisa is now, it is like the end of the world."
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