Last Updated- Feb 1, 2009 22:53 - - 0 Comments

Phelps acknowledges photo of him smoking a bong

The picture of Michael Phelps smoking bong

Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged “regrettable” behavior and “bad judgment” after a photo in a British newspaper Sunday showed him inhaling from a marijuana pipe.

In a statement released to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games did not dispute the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World.

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment,” Phelps said in the statement released by one of his agents. “I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”

News of the World said the picture was taken during a November house party while Phelps was visiting the University of South Carolina. During that trip, he attended one of the school’s football games and received a big ovation when he was introduced to the crowd.

While the newspaper did not specifically allege that Phelps was smoking pot, it did say the pipe is generally used for that purpose and anonymously quoted a partygoer who said the Olympic champion was “out of control from the moment he got there.”

“He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do,” a witness said of the swimming superstar, according to the News of the World report.

“He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits.”

The party occurred nearly three months after the Olympics while Phelps was taking a long break from training, and his actions should have no impact on the eight golds he won at Beijing. He has never tested positive for banned substances. The case is unlikely to fall under any doping rules.

Phelps’ main sanctions most likely will be financial — perhaps doled out by embarrassed sponsors who might be reconsidering their dealings with the swimmer.

The U.S. Olympic Committee said it was “disappointed in the behavior recently exhibited by Michael Phelps,” who was selected the group’s sportsman of the year. He also was honored as AP male athlete of the year, and his feat in Beijing — breaking Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record for most gold medals in an Olympics — was chosen as the top story of 2008.

“Michael is a role model, and he is well aware of the responsibilities and accountability that come with setting a positive example for others, particularly young people,” the USOC said in a statement. “In this instance, regrettably, he failed to fulfill those responsibilities.”

USA Swimming said its Olympic champions are “looked up to by people of all ages, especially young athletes who have their own aspirations and dreams.”

“That said,” the governing body added, “we realize that none among us is perfect. We hope that Michael can learn from this incident and move forward in a positive way.”

Phelps was part of a group of elite athletes who agreed to take part in a pilot testing program designed to increase the accuracy of doping tests. His spot in the program could be at risk, said Travis Tygart, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

“For one of the Olympics’ biggest heroes it’s disappointing, and we’ll evaluate whether he remains in that program,” Tygart said. “But some good education comes from this because he’s going to suffer some penalties.”

Marijuana is viewed differently from performance-enhancing drugs, according to David Howman, executive director of the World Anti-Doping Agency. An athlete is subject to WADA sanctions only for a positive test that occurs during competition periods.

“We don’t have any jurisdiction,” Howman said. “It’s not banned out of competition. It’s only if you test positive in competition.”

Phelps returned to the pool a couple of weeks ago to begin preparations for this summer’s world championships in Rome. He plans to take part in his first post-Olympics meet in early March, a Grand Prix event in Austin, Texas.

Phelps was in Tampa, Fla., during Super Bowl week to make promotional appearances on behalf of a sponsor. But he left the city before Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, abandoning his original plan to be at Raymond James Stadium.

This isn’t the first embarrassing episode for Phelps after an Olympic triumph. In 2004, a few months after winning six gold and two bronze medals in Athens, the swimmer was arrested on a drunken driving charge at age 19. He pleaded guilty and apologized for the mistake.

In his book “No Limits: The Will to Succeed,” Phelps recounted how his first phone call was to his agent, and not his mother or coach Bob Bowman, because he knew they would yell at him.

Later, he called Bowman, who was supportive but told him, “Michael, just because you want to blow off some steam doesn’t mean you can be an idiot.”

Debbie Phelps, his mother, cried at the news.

“That hurt worse, maybe, than anything,” Phelps wrote. “I had never seen my mother that upset.”

Bowman did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages Sunday.

Olympic teammate Dara Torres said Phelps has become such a prominent figure that everything he does is news.

However, she said: “This in no way shape or form diminishes anything he’s done.”

“It’s sort of a double-edged sword,” Torres told the AP on Sunday. “When you’re recognizable, you’re looked up to as a role model. He is recognizable and everything you do gets looked at and picked apart. I guess that’s the price of winning 14 Olympic medals.”

Jason Lezak, whose remarkable anchor leg of the 400-meter freestyle relay helped Phelps stay on course to break Mark Spitz’s record in Beijing, said he was “saddened” to hear of the report.

“While I don’t condone his conduct, I am a teammate and fan,” Lezak said in a text message to the AP on Saturday night. “Unlike many fair-weather people, I am sticking by him. If my wife and I can help him in any way, we will. I believe he will grow from this and be better person, role model and teammate.”

Source: AP

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Ghanaian man charged for boxer’s death in the UK

John Nii Abbey - killed on way to see new baby

A Ghanaian man has been charged with the murder of amateur boxer John Nii Abbey, who was stabbed in front of his three-year-old daughter.

The 22-year-old man, Charles William Acquaah who lives in Croydon, south London is expected to make an appearance in court Monday, February 2, 2009.

John Nii Abbey was stabbed on his way to see his wife who has given birth in a hospital, and he died from a stab wound to his heart. The fatal stab followed an argument he had with the suspect who is said to be a friend.

Charles reported himself to the police after the incident and was detained.

Sunday February 1, 2009, police arrested two other men aged 36 and 39 years respectively in connection with the murder.

Meanwhile, police have continued an appeal for other witnesses to the stabbing to come forward. The incident reportedly happened on a busy stretch of London Road opposite Lidl supermarket.

According to reports reaching ghanabusinessnews.com indicate that a post-mortem report on Nii Abbey say he died from a single stab wound to the heart.

26-year-old Nii Abbey, who is known among his friends as King Abbey was a member of Ghana’s Black Bombers. He fought in the Featherweight division and he was a member of the Black Bombers team that represented Ghana at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.

At the age of 19, Abbey won a gold medal in the boxing championships of the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa in Lomé, Togo.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

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What Ghana must do as a global food crunch looms

A new report by Chatham House, a highly respected independent organisation in the UK has concluded that more needs to be done if the global food crises, which became severe last year were to be avoided this year and beyond. The report, which is titled The Feeding of the Nine Billion: Global Food Security for the 21st Century, was released on January 26, 2009.

The report assesses the outlook of global food supply in a long term context of expanding population, increasing affluence, climate change concerns and growing resource scarcity, and urges policy makers to start planning now for a future “food crunch”.

After experiencing high food and energy prices over a sustained period of almost 18
months, the global economy experienced a reprieve, when food prices reduced in the third quarter of 2008 with energy prices also falling.

But the reprieve did not last long. Corporate failures, mostly fuelled by banking and mortgage market anomalies have returned the global economy to an uncertain state. What is worrying is that the scale of the current economic downturn is so severe that most industrialised economies are experiencing recessionary pressures.

Figures released by the UK government agencies and the U.S. economic managers for example, show unemployment at record high with most households experiencing severe threat of bankruptcy.

This is certainty not the best of times for economic planners. The findings of the report would certainly cause mere panic, but the recommendations should give relief. Already, as the bailout plan by the industrialised countries has failed to cause financial markets to bounce back in earnest, many analysts have become tetchy. The future looks bleak, and the anticipated “food crunch” will only add to the misery of governments and individuals. Therefore, the best way forward- is for countries to start planning how to avert massive global hunger in the future.

Alex Evans, the author of the report admonishes that: “The 20th century Green Revolution made incredible advances in improving crop yields. Now, we need a 21st century Green Revolution to repeat that success. Although enough food is produced today to feed everyone, nearly a billion people are undernourished – about the same number are overweight”.

According to him, “Food supply will have to grew by 50 per cent by 2030 to meet projected demand but climate change, water scarcity and competition for land will make it much harder to achieve this demanding target. A return to high oil prices will also increase food prices, as more crops are converted into bio-fuels”.

Improving agriculture

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economies of most developing countries like Ghana. The sector contributes significantly to national growth through employment and income. It is estimated that agriculture’s contribution to GDP is 35 per cent in Ghana, with more than 60 per cent of the population employed in the sector, either directly or indirectly.

Yet, the sector has not been given the much needed attention and boost. Even though successive governments have tried to improve the sector, sadly, after more than 50 years of political independence, Ghana’s agricultural sector still largely operates at the subsistence level.

At this level of operation, the farmer produces just enough for his or her family, with just a little left for sale. This farming method is not only rudimentary, but also unsustainable. It is unsustainable because the shifting cultivation method of farming actually degrades the environment and does not promote efficient land use and land management policies. For the farmers that have entered into commercial farming, they are frustrated by the big challenges of credit, loans and storage facilities.

According to the report, investing more in agriculture, with a focus on small farmers; improving importer countries’ security of supply through changes to trade rules; and a new “International Energy’ Agency For Food” to manage a global system of food reserves would help protect against future price spikes.

Sam Bickersteth, Head of Programme Policy at Oxfam the international non-government organisation adds that: “This report should act as a wake-up call for all those who believe that the food’ crisis of the last two years is over. World leaders have a window of opportunity to act to prevent a further escalation of the crisis. They must produce coordinated action now and reverse decades of under-investment in agriculture to prevent millions more people falling into hunger.”

Indeed, a co-ordinated action is what Ghana needs most. Mechanised farming, through sustainable farming practices would help a great deal in reversing the adverse effects of rising food prices.

Last year for instance, the government had to introduce subsidies on some food items in order to forestall rising food prices. The absorption of the subsidy by the government created a huge deficit for the economy, at frightening levels. This deficit, according to policy analysts is unsustainable.

Therefore, for the government to be able to deal with the problems head-on there is the need for more practical and innovative solutions, and that is why making agriculture an improved pillar of the national economy should not only be by lip-service, but should be backed by deeds too.

Already, the high cost of Ghana’s rice imports is a source of worry to stakeholders in the rice sub-sector of the agricultural sector. At a recent annual general meeting, the stakeholders were unequivocal in their claim that there was the need for the government to really do something to arrest the situation. It is estimated that the country spends more than US$500 million on rice imports alone.

According to the stakeholders, the lack of irrigation facilities, high interest rate on contracted loans from the banks and lack of milling facilities have all impinged negatively on their operations. It is estimated that local rice farmers produce only 30 per cent of the country’s requirement, with the remaining 70 per cent imported.

The problem with rice production is only a small part of the growing problems in the agricultural sector. Even some food crops like garlic are imported, and for a country that is hard pressed for foreign exchange, this is pretty sad.

Therefore, for Ghana to preserve foreign exchange and properly manage the economy in order to deal with the anticipated food crises, the agricultural sector must be properly developed, with government supporting the sector through loans and grants.

Credit: Bernard Otabil

Source: GB

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Murdered Ghanaian man’s widow laments loss of husband

Emma Abbey - grieves for her husband

Emma Abbey’s husband John, 26, was on his way to visit her in hospital when he was killed. Their three-year-old daughter, who was by his side and witnessed her father’s murder, was left to be looked after by witnesses as he was taken to the same hospital as his wife.

He died without seeing his newborn baby. Last night a family friend said: “Emma is torn apart by grief. She is only young and has had the man she loves ripped away from her at just the time she needs him most.

“One day she will have to tell their child what happened to daddy on the day of its birth. It does not bear thinking about.”

Yesterday it was revealed the man arrested on suspicion of murdering Mr Abbey used to be his best friend.

They came from the same part of Ghana in West Africa and used to share a flat in Croydon, South London.

Detectives were last night granted an extension to quiz the suspect, 22, as the three-year-old’s mum tearfully tried to explain to her what had happened to her father.

Ex-boxer Mr Abbey had been on his way to the Mayday Hospital in Croydon when he was knifed through the heart at the bus stop outside a supermarket on London Road in West Croydon.

He has two other children from another relationship in East London and one more child in Ghana.

His daughter yesterday had an emotional reunion with her mum. A hospital source said: “Mother and baby are healthy but their family has been broken in half.

“The mum and dad were not married but they had been living together for several years.

“Their little girl is still very shocked by seeing her dad die in front of her. She was terrified and just said ‘Dad’, ‘Mum’ and ‘Mayday’ when a security guard from the employment tribunal centre nearby took her inside so she didn’t have to see her dad being resuscitated.

“She didn’t speak for ages. It was hard to even get her to say her name. As you can imagine, the mum is going out of her mind.”

She has been moved into a private room and has been in contact with counsellors and a police family liaison officer.

The mum has been asked to help contact Mr Abbey’s family in Africa.

Mr Abbey had boxed at lightweight level for Ghana in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester under the name King Abbey.

Detectives are still looking for two black youths aged between 15 and 20 who were at the bus stop when Mr Abbey was murdered and may have been involved in a scuffle. They appealed for them to come forward.
Source: Mirror, UK

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Obama brings new style to White House

Barack Obama

Americans have been getting used to the sight of a new president in the Oval Office.

The euphoria of Barack Obama’s inauguration has given way to much less exciting business of governing. Mr Obama has not only brought new policies to the White House but also a very different style.

It has been nearly two weeks and as Mr Obama promised, change has indeed come to Washington.

Not the big ticket policy shifts the Democrat had been pledging; fixing the economy, ending the war in Iraq and closing Guantanamo Bay which will take some time.

No, the change has been much more symbolic and cosmetic. Starting in the Oval Office.

Mr Obama has created something of a sensation for daring to take his suit jacket off as he goes about the business of ruling the free world.

Under his predecessor’s reign a coat and tie was mandatory for anyone wanting to enter the president’s inner sanctum.

One of Mr Obama’s advisers says there a logical explanation for this perceived drop in sartorial standards.

The new President apparently hates the cold and he has turned the Oval Office heating up full blast. “He’s from Hawaii”, exclaimed the adviser, “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

There has also been a warming of relations between the White House and Congress.

Former president George Bush avoided Capitol Hill like the plague. If he wanted to speak to congressmen and senators, well they could damn well come to him.

Last week Mr Obama surprised many political veterans by happily taking the short drive down Pennsylvania Avenue to personally put his case to congressional Republicans for the proposed economic stimulus package.

If the new President looked at home as he strolled the corridors of Congress, well, he did spend four years there as a senator.

There is also the sight of two young children roaming the corridors of the White House. The people of Washington have been following the lives of Sasha and Malia Obama just as they would a soap opera.

The girl’s have added to the human touch of the new President. He may busy fighting recessions and wars but Mr Obama and wife Michelle dropped in at their daughter’s school the other day for a parent-teacher conference.

And like all parents trying to adjust to Washington life, Mr Obama has been confronted by the peculiar rules that require local schools to shut once the slightest sprinkling of snow settles on the nation’s capital.

For somebody from snow-bound Chicago this has been a bit hard to bear.

“My children’s school was cancelled today because of what? Some ice?” said Mr Obama.

“As my children have pointed out, in Chicago school is never cancelled. In fact my seven-year-old pointed out that you go outside for recess, you wouldn’t even stay indoors!”

“So, it’s, I don’t know; we’re going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness to this town.

“I’m saying when it comes to the weather folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.”

This is one challenge that might just prove a bit too tough for the new chief resident.

Source: ABC

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Ghana wins African Youth Championship

Andre Dede Ayew

The Black Satellites of Ghana have won the African Youth Championship in Rwanda after beating Cameroon 2-0.
The impressive Sattelites led by Captain Dede Ayew and striker Rasnford Osei outplayed, and outshined the Cameroonians.
The two-goal hero, of the Finals Ransford Osei wins the Golden Boot of the championship with seven goals.
By this feat, Ghana becomes African champions for the third time.

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African leaders discuss Gaddafi’s plan for unity

Muammar Gaddafi

African leaders set aside the first day of an annual summit on Sunday to discuss Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s long-standing pet project to establish a United States of Africa.

Delegates said that although some countries are wary of the idea, and a 2007 summit in Ghana devoted to it ended with no deal because of opposition, delegates felt obliged to debate the plan because of the huge funds that the Libyan leader has poured into parts of Africa.

Gaddafi, one of the continent’s longest-serving leaders, has for years pressed for a federal pan-regional government, arguing that it is essential to meet the challenges of globalisation, fight poverty and resolve conflicts without Western interference.

Some leaders, including Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade, are keen on the idea.

Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, said the first day of the February 1-3 summit would focus on Gaddafi’s proposal.

“I remain optimistic that yes, it will be a reality,” he told reporters ahead of the meeting. “The question we are discussing is not whether it will be a reality, but when, and how.”

Commission chairman Jean Ping said recently views on the speed of integration varied from nine to 35 years, but the continent needed to speak with a united voice to be heard in international negotiations on trade and other issues including climate change.

All 53 AU member states agree in principle with the goal of continental integration. But some — led by economic powerhouse South Africa — say it must be a gradual process.

“Gaddafi has given a lot of money to these leaders over the years,” said one east African delegate who asked not to be named.

“Vast Challenges”

“It is important to him, so they will discuss it. But the challenges of making it work, obviously, are vast.”

The official theme of this week’s summit at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa is boosting infrastructure, which experts say is essential if Africa is to weather the global financial crisis.

But conflict and crisis in Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are expected, as usual at AU summits, to overshadow the official agenda.

Delegates have been given some breathing space by positive developments in recent days in two of the most intractable problems: Somalia’s two decades of violence and Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist leader, is attending the talks after he was sworn in as Somalia’s new president at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti.

He is attending the summit in the very country whose powerful army ousted him as leader of a sharia courts movement that briefly ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia in 2006. Ethiopia’s troops withdrew from Somalia last month, clearing the way for new moves to end the conflict.

On Friday, Zimbabwe’s opposition agreed to form a government with veteran President Robert Mugabe , ending deadlock that had deepened a political and economic meltdown. Mugabe is attending the summit but made no comment to reporters when he arrived.

AU officials say the exclusion from the summit of Mauritania and Guinea, which both suffered military coups in recent months, proved the continent had moved on from its chequered past, when leaders seldom criticised or even commented on violence and tyrannical rule.

The latest trouble has been in Madagascar, where a firebrand opposition leader said on Saturday he had taken charge. The Indian Ocean island’s president denied it.

Late on Saturday, AU Commission chairman Ping told Reuters the rules of the pan-African body on coups were clear and that any attempt to seize power illegitimately would be rejected.

Source: Reuters

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Christian Gyan makes roundabout turn from Rotterdam to the Racecourse

Christian Gyan

He has a UEFA Cup winner’s medal, won a Dutch Championship title and is good pals with Chelsea superstar Michael Essien.

But Christian Gyan is facing perhaps his biggest footballing challenge yet – helping Wrexham back into the Football League.

The Ghanaian defender arrived in North Wales this week and immediately found himself in the less-than-glamorous position of sitting on the bench for the Dragons’ 3-3 draw with Northwich Victoria.

Hard to think that the 30-year-old defender spent nine seasons at Dutch giants Feyenoord playing alongside the likes of Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie and Salomon Kalou.

In 2002 he earned one of the biggest prizes in the European game when Feyenoord beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the Uefa Cup final.

Gyan admits it was the greatest night of his career, but dismisses suggestions things have gone off the boil for him now as he faces up to life in the non-leagues.

“I do not see things that way,” said Gyan, who arrived at the Racecourse from Finnish side TPS Turku.

“I am very excited to be with Wrexham and my first aim is to try to get into the first team here.

“I do need to improve my fitness as soon as possible.

“I was at home for three months before I came here in the close season in Finland, so I have a lot of work to do.

“I have suffered from injuries, too. I have had a knee operation and do need to rebuild things.

“This is a fresh start for me. Of course I look back at the Uefa Cup final and it is a great memory. I feel proud because it is something not many players get to do in their career.

“But I have a new job to do at Wrexham. I am here until the end of the season and I want to help this club as much as possible.”

In almost a decade in Rotterdam, Gyan managed a perhaps modest 93 appearances for Feyenoord, but became a firm favourite with the locals.

A number of tribute sites to him have sprung up on the internet, a situation Gyan explains away in simple terms.

“I was lucky, the supporters loved me,” he added.

“I think it was because they knew what I was trying to do when I was in the side.

“Feyenoord is a great club and I got to play and train with some great players. My memories are nothing but good.”

If his club days hit the heights, Gyan’s international career with Ghana does contain one major disappointment.

Despite featuring in the qualifiers he missed out on the trip to the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006 due to a groin injury – though on the positive side it was while earning his 23 international caps he became firm friends with Ghanaian compatriot Essien.

“Michael is a good friend of mine and, of course, a great player,” said Gyan.

“I was very proud to play for my country, but to miss out on the World Cup with an injury – well, you could say that was a low time for me.”

Gyan’s road to Wrexham is not as unlikely as it sounds. While in Finland, John Allen, a coach at Turku who hails from Wales, spotted his talents and recommended him to Dragons’ boss Dean Saunders.

The full-back, who can also operate in midfield, is now training with his new team-mates and looking to force his way into the Wrexham side as they push for promotion.

Gyan said he was impressed by what he had witnessed at the Racecourse so far, but admitted he was not too familiar with Saunders’ record as manager.

“Of course I knew of Dean Saunders as a good player at Liverpool, but I did not know he was a manager,” said Gyan.

“Everything is very positive at the club and everyone is working very hard to try to get out of this league.

“There is a good atmosphere and a lot of good players and there is a big hope we can move upwards.”

But Gyan is not just relying on the power of football to see the Dragons through.

A committed Christian, he has also called upon a higher power to help in Wrexham’s quest.

He added: “God has helped me throughout my career and is very important to all areas of my life.

“I am praying already that Wrexham can have their dreams come true this season.”

Source: Wales on Sunday

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World Economic Forum warns of increase in cyber crimes

The threat of cybercrime is rising sharply, experts have warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

They called for a new system to tackle well-organised gangs of cybercriminals.

Online theft costs $1 trillion a year, the number of attacks is rising sharply and too many people do not know how to protect themselves, they said.

The internet was vulnerable, they said, but as it was now part of society’s central nervous system, attacks could threaten whole economies.

The past year had seen “more vulnerabilities, more cybercrime, more malicious software than ever before”, more than had been seen in the past five years combined, one of the experts reported.

But does that really put “the internet at risk?”, was the topic of session at the annual Davos meeting.

On the panel discussing the issue were Mozilla chairwoman Mitchell Baker (makers of the Firefox browser), McAfee chief executive Dave Dewalt, Harvard law professor and leading internet expert Jonathan Zittrain, Andre Kudelski of Kudelski group, which provides digital security solutions, and Tom Ilube, the boss of Garlik, a firm working on online web identity protection.

They were also joined by Microsoft’s chief research officer, Craig Mundie.

To encourage frank debate, Davos rules do not allow the attribution of comments to individual panellists

Threat #1: Crime

The experts on the panel outlined a wide range of threats facing the internet.

There was traditional cybercrime: committing fraud or theft by stealing somebody’s identity, their credit card details and other data, or tricking them into paying for services or goods that do not exist.

The majority of these crimes, one participant said, were not being committed by a youngster sitting in a basement at their computer.

Rather, they were executed by very large and very well-organised criminal gangs.

One panellist described the case of a lawyer who had realised that he could make more money though cybercrime.

He went on to assemble a gang of about 300 people with specialised roles – computer experts, lawyers, people harvesting the data etc.

Such criminals use viruses to take control of computers, combine thousands of them into so-called “botnets” that are used for concerted cyber attacks.

In the United States, a “virtual” group had managed to hijack and redirect the details of 25 million credit card transactions to Ukraine. The group used the data to buy a large number of goods, which were then sold on eBay.

This suggested organisation on a huge scale.

“This is not vandalism anymore, but organised criminality,” a panellist said, while another added that “this is it is not about technology, but our economy”.

Threat #2: the system

A much larger problem, though, are flaws in the set-up of the web itself.

It is organised around the principle of trust, which can have unexpected knock-on effects.

Nearly a year ago, Pakistan tried to ban a YouTube video that it deemed to be offensive to Islam.

The country’s internet service providers (ISPs) were ordered to stop all YouTube traffic within Pakistan.

However, one ISP inadvertently managed to make YouTube inaccessible from anywhere in the world.

But in cyberspace, nobody is responsible for dealing with such incidents.

It fell to a loose group of volunteers to analyse the problem and distribute a patch globally within 90 minutes.

“Fortunately there was no Star Trek convention and they were all around,” a panellist joked.

Threat #3: cyber warfare

Design flaws are one thing, cyber warfare is another.

Two years ago, a political dispute between Russia and Estonia escalated when the small Baltic country came under a sustained denial-of-service attack which disabled the country’s banking industry and its utilities like the electricity network.

This was repeated last year, when Georgia’s web infrastructure was brought down on its knees during its conflict with Russia.

“2008 was the year when cyber warfare began.. it showed that you can bring down a country within minutes,” one panellist said.

“It was like cyber riot, Russia started it and then many hackers jumped on the bandwagon,” said another.

This threat was now getting even greater because of the “multiplication of web-enabled devices” – from cars to fridges, from environmental sensors to digital television networks.

The panel discussed methods that terrorists could use to attack or undermine the whole internet, and posed the question whether the web would be able to survive such an assault.

The real problem, concluded one of the experts, was not the individual loss.

It was the systemic risk, where fraud and attacks undermine either trust in or the functionality of the system, to the point where it becomes unusable.

What solution?

“The problems are daunting, and it’s getting worse,” said one of the experts. “Do we need a true disaster to bring people together?,” asked another.

One panellist noted that unlike the real world – where we know whether a certain neighbourhood is safe or not – cyberspace was still too new for most of us to make such judgements. This uncertainty created fear.

And as “the internet is a global network, it doesn’t obey traditional boundaries, and traditional ways of policing don’t work,” one expert said.

Comparing virus-infected computers to people carrying highly infectious diseases like Sars, he proposed the creation of a World Health Organisation for the internet.

“If you have a highly communicable disease, you don’t have any civil liberties at that point. We quarantine people.”

“We can identify the machines that have been co-opted, that provide the energy to botnets, but right now we have no way to sequester them.”

But several panellists worried about the heavy hand of government. The internet’s strength was its open nature. Centralising it would be a huge threat to innovation, evolution and growth of the web.

“The amount of control required [to exclude all risk] is quite totalitarian,” one of them warned.

Instead they suggested to foster the civic spirit of the web, similar to the open source software movement and the team that had sorted the YouTube problem.

“Would a formalised internet police following protocols have been able to find the [internet service provider] in Pakistan as quickly and deployed a fix that quickly?” one of them asked.

Source: BBC

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Ghanaian stabbed before daughter in UK – Two more arrested

Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the stabbing to death of a Ghanaian man in London in front of his three-year-old daugther, the Guardian newspaper has reported.

The newspaper quoting detectives at Scotland Yard who are investigating the murder say the two arrests were made Sunday morning February 1, 2009. A 36-year-old man was detained in a pre-planned operation and was in custody at a south London police station. No details were made available on the second arrest.

26-year-old John Nii Kacsu Abbey died from his wounds which he sustained from a single stab to the heart at a bus stop in Croydon, south London Thursday evening.

Nii Abbey, a boxer known among his friends as King was on his way to a nearby hospital, the Mayday hospital with his daughter to see his wife who has given birth to a baby boy when the fatal incident happened.

On the day of the fatal attack, detectives arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of murder after he turned himself in at a south London police station. They have been given until tonight to hold him.

The newspaper quoting officers said Abbey got involved in an argument with a second man, believed to be a former colleague, before the fatal blow was struck. His daughter watched as paramedics tried to save her father’s life. Abbey was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, who is leading the investigation, told the newspaper that circumstances had left him and other officers shocked. He said the tragedy must “prick people’s consciences” and encourage them to come forward with information.

“It is a double tragedy for the three-year-old, his wife and the son he will never see,” Lyons told the newspaper.

Nii Abbey’s boxing exploits

26-year-old John Nii Kacsu Abbey fought as a Featherweight amateur boxer. He fought under the name King Abbey, and he has won various medals fighting for Ghana. He was a member of the Black Bombers that represented Ghana at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.

At the age of 19, Abbey won a gold medal in the boxing championships of the Supreme Council of Sports in Africa in Lomé, Togo.

Reports say the 22-year-old man who has been arrested in connection with the murder is believed was embroiled in a long-running feud with the boxer.

Meanwhile, child psychologists are helping care for Abbey’s three-year-old daughter who watched paramedics attempt to save her father after he was stabbed once in the heart. The 26-year-old was pronounced dead at the Mayday University Hospital, Croydon, at 7.08pm last Thursday, where hours earlier his baby son had been born. The boxer was on his way to see his newborn for the first time after picking up his daughter from day care.

Newspaper reports quoted witnesses who recalled how they heard shouting as a row erupted shortly before the Ghanaian man was stabbed.

“There was a man on the ground and ambulancemen were giving him heart massage,” said shopkeeper Hassan Palavor.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi