BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- A new exchange-traded fund holding Europe's single currency gives investors a convenient way to hedge fluctuations in the U.S. dollar.

Rydex Investments launched the first currency ETF, Euro Currency Trust, on the New York Stock Exchange. The ETF is geared to rise when the euro strengthens against the dollar and to decline when the euro weakens.

CurrencyShares Euro Trust

Using a PS3, a senior security consultant has come up with a way to drastically increase the processing capability of cracking passwords.

Nick Breese, a senior security consultant at Auckland-based Security-assessment.com, has come up with a way to drastically increase the processing capability of cracking passwords, using a PS3.

By implementing common ciphers and hash functions using vector computing, Breese has pushed the current upper limit of 10--15 million cycles per second -- in Intel-based architecture -- up to 1.4 billion cycles per second.

Breese, who has been working on the project, called "Crackstation", for the past six months, used the Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console for his break-through research.

PlayStation 3 to Crack Passwords

2007 Report to Congress

The year-long study offers 42 recommendations for congressional action.

The book-length report cites Chinese progress in certain areas but describes many alarming trends, including a retreat by China from market-based economic principles, the growth of China’s information control regime, and the use by China of espionage to acquire military and industrial technologies.

US China Economic and Security Review Commission

Very good coverage on the actions of the UN Security Council. Watch Online.

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The world vowed "never again" after the genocide in Rwanda and the atrocities in Srebrenica, Bosnia. Then came Darfur. Over the past four years, at least 200,000 people have been killed, 2.5 million driven from their homes, and mass rapes have been used as a weapon in a brutal campaign - supported by the Sudanese government - against civilians in Darfur. In On Our Watch, FRONTLINE asks why the United Nations and its members once again failed to stop the slaughter.

Never Again. Then came Darfur.

Good video coverage of what is going on between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Watch it online.

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After the fall of the Taliban five years ago, some experts warned of a nightmare scenario in which the Taliban and Al Qaeda would escape from Afghanistan into neighboring Pakistan and set up new command centers far out of America's reach.

That nightmare scenario has now come true. The Taliban controls large parts of the lawless tribal areas along the border. In a video obtained by FRONTLINE, the Taliban demonstrate their brutal brand of justice. After executing 17 people, said to be thieves, in front of a crowd of hundreds, they hung the bodies on poles for three days. "We have killed these people and sent them to God," a Taliban gunman says to the camera. "God will bring them to justice."

Return of the Taliban

NEW YORK (AP) -- E-Trade Financial Corp. shares spiked 25 percent Friday on continued speculation the struggling online brokerage might negotiate a takeover by chief rivals TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. or Charles Schwab Corp.

There's no doubt the companies have been interested in exploring a potential deal for the past few years. And, recent comments made by Ameritrade Chief Executive Joe Moglia about his interest in buying at least part of E-Trade has sparked expectations that more serious talks might have evolved.

E-Trade shares spike 25% on takeover talk

Starred Review. Earlier this year, William Langewiesche's The Atomic Bazaar alerted readers to the blind eye the United States and other nations have turned toward Pakistan's efforts to build a nuclear bomb and to sell that technology to other nations, including the entire Axis of Evil. Levy and Scott-Clark (The Amber Room) work on a larger canvas, shaping their in-depth reporting into a compelling and more detailed narrative. They have not truly improved upon Langewiesche's portrait of A.Q. Khan, the metallurgist who became Pakistan's biggest and most valuable personality after smuggling atomic secrets out of the Netherlands. But they do substantially support the idea that the nuclear program influenced Pakistan's internal power struggles, and that American government officials led disinformation campaigns for 30 years in order to hang onto the nation as a dubious ally against first the Soviets and then al-Qaeda. The authors also hint at the possible involvement of Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby in an attempt to discredit an intelligence analyst who spoke frankly of the Pakistani threat during the first Bush administration. Building on a decade's worth of interviews, the husband-and-wife investigative term serve a stunning indictment of the nuclear crime of all our lifetimes, in which, the authors claim, the U.S. has been an active accessory. (Oct.)

Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons (Hardcover)

Listen to the NPR interview, it is very good.

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n a new book, two British investigative journalists dig into the story of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear network — and America's role not just in condoning its ally's nuclear ambitions, but aiding them.

Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark are senior correspondents for the Guardian newspaper; both previously worked for the Sunday Times of London.

Nuclear Deception in Pakistan?

American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.

By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.

According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.

The Americans had no idea China's fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.

Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced

While politicians and the U.S. Census Bureau may disagree on how many illegal aliens are living in the United States, the big credit reporting agencies have a pretty solid handle on the number and it is 17 million. That's 17 million adults of unproved nationality who have ongoing financial relationships with businesses or — believe it or not — governments. It's likely that there is some duplication in this total number, that is an illegal alien who is counted twice because he has, for example, a different relationship with his electric utility than he does with his phone company. But since the 17 million figure doesn't include children, the two are likely to wash out and 17 million is probably pretty darned close to the real number. But it isn't in any way close to the total number of U.S residents who have financial identities not tied to a Social Security number. That would be 37 million, meaning there are 20 million participants in the U.S. gray economy who aren't illegal, who are legitimate citizens. This means about 10 percent of U.S. residents are financially invisible, or think they are.
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Which brings me, as usual lately, to Google.

Google?

Stick with me, because this is good.

Getting to Know You: Think you have a secret life? Think again.