] As US Secretary of State Colin Powell readied for a
] three-nation jaunt through Asia this weekend, ending with
] the inauguration Tuesday of new South Korean president
] Roh Myun-hoon, North Korea sent a fighter jet for a
] two-minute romp into South Korean airspace.
]
] The incursion above the Yellow Sea, rebuffed by South
] Korean jets, is unusual. Generally, it is North Korean
] naval vessels that penetrate the tip of the Yellow Sea in
] tests of will with the South.
]
] The MiG-19 jet probe, coming just days after the North
] threatened to pull out of the armistice that has governed
] the two Koreas for 50 years, is regarded here as yet
] another in an escalating set of provocations designed to
] push the US into one-on-one talks.

North Korea intensifies bid for US attention

From Thrynn:
] A protest we can all agree on.

Ahh.. I'm glad you meme'd this. I saw this flash by on the news earlier this month when it happened. At the time, I made a mental node to find the AP pic they showed, and meme it.. Clearly, that mental note got lost.

AP Photo - 700 Nude Women Make 'No War' Sign on Hillside

] The documents were among intelligence files that the city
] released as a result of an unrelated lawsuit in which the
] police are accused of violating the constitutional rights
] of protesters.
]
] The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city last
] March after learning that the Denver Police Department
] had compiled surveillance files on at least 3,200 people
] and 208 groups. The organization said the police didn't
] just target known or suspected criminals, but also
] singled out peaceful activists.
]
] The documents released Wednesday indicate that officers
] watched people ranging from anti-war protesters to
] members of militia groups and motorcycle gangs.

CNN.com - Police kept files on 'Trench Coat Mafia' group after Columbine - Feb. 20, 2003

] The pan-Arab satellite TV pioneer MBC is due to launch an
] all-news channel from Dubai to compete directly with
] Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV in the battle for Arab viewers.

Multiple news sources are always a good thing. :) Now I just hope they also include an english-language version (or at least some other language that I can get at via Babelfish) in their planning!

Al-Jazeera Competitor Launches

From Boing Boing (http://www.boingboing.net/):

Zed sez: "An Indian-born Canadian citizen was flying home from India to Toronto, and transferring at O'Hare. INS decided her passport was funny-looking, destroyed it, denied her access to the Canadian consul, and deported her to India via Kuwait with her papers in such disorder she might not have been able to get into India if Kuwaiti and Indian authorities hadn't been so co-operative."

Permanent link to Boing Boing post: (http://boingboing.net/2003_02_01_archive.html#90351481)

US INS destroys Canadian woman's passport, sends her to India

] The Bush Administration is planning a secret meeting to
] discuss the construction of a new generation of nuclear
] weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and
] neutron bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological
] agents, a leaked Pentagon document reveals.]
] A meeting of military officials and nuclear scientists at
] the Omaha headquarters of the United States Strategic
] Command in August would also decide whether to restart
] nuclear testing and how to convince the public new
] weapons are necessary.

Secret Pentagon plan for new nuclear arsenal

So, here is an official U.S. Government site that explains terrorist attack preparedness using the format of airline saftey instruction cards. "Duck and Cover..."

Ready.gov - Be Informed - Chemical threat - Visual Guide

] Clear Channel Communications, the radio and concert
] conglomerate so many people love to hate, has a new
] batch of disgruntled critics to deal with. But this
] time it's not the musicians who claim that the
] entertainment giant plays hardball and locks acts off
] the airwaves, or the broadcast rivals who allege the
] company leverages its unmatched size to drive competitors
] out of business, or even the former employees who insist
] the company's rampant cost-cutting style has gutted
] American radio.

] Nope -- now the heat is coming from other media company
] executives and Beltway lobbyists. They are dismayed
] that Clear Channel is doing what many might have thought
] impossible. In an era when Republicans control the
] government and big business generally gets what it
] wants, Clear Channel is making deregulation look bad.

Salon.com Technology | Clear Channel's big, stinking deregulation mess

Spin once asked a simple question on the cover of the magazine: "Is J Mascis God?" Well, if kickass guitar playing is a prereq for being God, J Mascis may very well fit the bill.

I saw J rock it out last night at Maxwell's in Hoboken, and my ears still hurt. Its that good kinda hurt though..

FreakScene.net :: Official Home of J Mascis the Fog

More news from the front lines of the War on Technology.

] Recording companies have asked the Federal Court to allow
] their computer experts to scan all computers at the
] University of Melbourne for sound files and email
] accounts, so they can gather evidence of claimed
] widespread breaches of copyright.

Continuing their attacks on the schools...

] The University of Melbourne, which is opposing the
] recording companies' application for preservation and
] access, said it had cautioned two students about
] inappropriate material the MP3 sound files and had
] disabled the links to record from their personal web
] pages. It said there was no indication that any copying
] has been undertaken.

And the schools are fighting..

] One of the student's web pages had a list of his top
] 15 songs, with the following invitation: "These are
] my favourites and here are the links to my MP3 file."

Great.. Not much reading between the lines you have to do here to see why I'm so worried about this stuff..

] Justice Brian Tamberlin asked: "Where did he get them from?"
] Mr Bannon: "I don't know."
] "Where are they stored?" asked the judge.
] "That's another thing we don't know," was the reply.

Someday, I can picture myself having a similar dialog.

] Mr Bannon argued the companies should have access to
] email accounts, as evidence of an email with an MP3
] attachment would prove that copying and transmission
] had occurred. He said one of the students had 500 MP3
] files.

Great.. They will want to see our email. Love that. One more reason I'm glad I'm always pressing folks to use PGP.

Recording firms ask to scan university computers - smh.com.au