'Anonymous cyber-attack' at Interpol's webbside

A masked Anonymous hacker. Photograph: Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images

Interpol's website appears to have been the victim of a cyber-attack after the international police agency announced the arrests of 25 suspected members of the hacking activist group Anonymous in Europe and South America.

Bernd Rossbach, Interpol's acting executive director of police services, said: "This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved."

Cyber-attacks by hackers linked to Anonymous have become a fairly regular occurance.

• Do you think this is a serious matter or are they concerning and wasting too much money?
• Is it serious enough to go to prison or what should governments do about this increasing problem?

THE MAN WHO SHOT HIS DAUGHTER’S LAPTOP

‘FACEBOOK PARENTING: FOR THE TROUBLED TEEN’

THE MAN WHO SHOT HIS DAUGHTER’S LAPTOP

The shocking video which was posted in youtube and on facebook by

a father of a 15 year-old girl, has awakened many curiosities and different points of view towards the general situation of the parenting role.

As you have seen, this man’s concern for what her daughter mentions is clearly logical and disturbing - being born in a different time, where technological items where being introduced, and seeing how your offspring posts openly to her facebook wall different lies about her daily routine at home - basically compering her with a type of ‘personal slave’ - must be hard and heart-breaking, also seeing how the need of social sharing is nowadays huge and essential for many adolescents, and it's increasing minute by minute.

Is this reaction over the the top or is it the simple application of traditional education?

For more information about the post, you can visit the whole article:

Are we Facebook or is Facebook a part of us?

More than half of the people who have a Facebook profile (53%), would rather lose one of their senses, (eg. smell) rather than having to give up surfing this social network.

This was revealed by a study by McCann Worldgroup company of 7,000, users aged between 16 and 22, including in this survey countries like Spain, Britain, United States, Mexico, Brazil, India and China. The report's conclusion is clear and unanimous: most of these Internet users would feel isolated without the technology.

According to the director of the specialized agency who's responsible for carrying out this research, Laura Simpson, afirms that technology is "the world's great unifier, the glue that compacts generations and gives them energy and motivation ". Youngsters perceive that Web links are "infinite knowledge, friends and entertainment opportunities," she adds.

For that reason, analysts are not surprised that connection is more important for the kids than "experiences." Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and others cause that almost one in two participants in this study (47%) want the others to remember them for their contacts. This global survey is presented to today's youth as a "strategic generation", which manages different identities, evaluates the functionality of the relationship he has digitally and dispose of those not interested.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Would you give up your senses in order not to have your Facebook account deleted?

Comment below!

Luis Gasca

Bag It, Michael!

I am sure you all know the best basketball player of all times, Michael Jordan. After winning for

three seasons consecutively the NBA ring, he decided it was time to retire from the courts. As

a result he decided he wanted to play in the best baseball league to commemorate the death

of his father. He made some very rigorous training in order to get to be a good baseball player.

But besides all his effort there were lots of people who criticized him because they did not find

fair that he could get the chance to play in the Chicago White Sox when there were lots of men

training so hard to become a professional baseball players. Others supported him and went to

see every match he played; he achieved to double the audience in the stadium.

Finally, although he never gave up, he left the baseball court.

Do you think that there are some professional sports players that do not know when it’s time

to retire? Was it an error of Jordan to start playing a sport he wasn’t good at? Do you think

that this players are afraid of losing their world wide known identities and so they do not

retire?

Comment below!

Marina Segura

BASKETBALL ADDICT

Have you ever been addicted to a sport? Have you ever liked one so much that your whole life turns around it? Well, young Maggie Meier has. The American girl suffered a brain inflammation and unfortunately fell into a coma. She remained in this state of paralysis nearly 3 months, while being moved every 3 o 4 days in order to keep her muscles as stronger as possible. Her family improvised a basketball hoop, knowing her favourite hobby, and their surprise was when she until she started throwing and scoring fouls shots while being in coma. The doctor supervising her state said that this acts were a result of her passion for basketball, as she has adopted this movements as a basic instinct.

It is amazing how she had the instinct of throwing a ball before speaking or even walking just because she really enjoyed this sport, don’t you think so?

Comment below!

Ana Las Hayas

At last 1,524,000€

After being during 29 programs in Pasapalabra, César Garrido has finally managed to give an answer to each definition of the 25 letters in the alphabet. Surprisingly, he has won the biggest prize ever given in Telecinco, which is the amazing amount of 1,524,000€. The record there was before is almost half of this one, which was 85,200€, from the 23rd of February in 2011.

César is a journalist in a digital newspaper called “cuencahoy.info” and also a teacher. He expressed his intentions of spending some of the money in a journey somewhere around the world. In 2003, he also participated in the well-known television program “Saber y Ganar”, where he won 30,000€ after 56 programs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPLL44m4o6U&feature=related

Is this fake, or do they really know all of the words?

If it is, how can they train for this?

Is there effort and practice behind such a privileged mind or is it only good luck?

A bittersweet truth

Chocolate, what a treat.

But who is actually behind this godly food?

These two short videos will give you a taste of what their respective reports are about and the harsh conditions children are subjected to, so that individuals such as ourselves can enjoy a few moments of delight.

CNN's David Mackenzie travelled into the heart of Ivory Coast, Africa, to understand exactly where our chocolate comes from.

Another documentary on chocolate child labour was made by BBC called: "Chocolate, a bitter truth", also set in Ivory Coast, the world's largest supplier of cocoa.

What can we do to stop chocolate child slavery? Will chocolate ever taste the same again? Has the sweet reality suddenly turned bitter?

HIV DISCRIMINATION

Nowadays there are approximately between 120.000 and 150.000 people which are diagnosed HIV-positive. From this number of people, it is estimated that a 25% is, at this point, unemployed.

After the year 2000, the percentage of unemployment in HIV-positive people decreased until a 15% in 2007. From that point till today, the average has increased possibly due to the economic crisis.

People tested HIV-positive suffer discrimination in their daily lives, more specifically in their jobs. It has been studied that a 30% of workers would feel uncomfortable working with a person who is suffering from aids.

It is believed that these high percentages are due to a lack of information. People often believe that a person which is diagnosed aids has a lower capacity of work than a completely sane person. This is totally untrue, as nowadays there are an 80% of HIV-positives that are fully integrated in their work and are capable of doing their work as well as a sane person. This is the reason why we have to fight against this discrimination, in order to decrease the percentages of unemployment in these patients.

What do you think about the percentages of unemployment in HIV-positive people? What is your opinion about this type of discrimination? Can you think of any idea to decrease the discrimination these people suffer from in their jobs?

Ana Las Hayas

Canada not so perfect?

Who ever thought that Canada had such a dark part? I certainly didn’t. I thought Canada was completely perfect, that it didn’t have a dark part, but when you start to search the secrets of a country you find out bone-chilling information such as this:

http://www.tv3.cat/30minuts/reportatges/1832/Comerc-toxic

How spooky is that? How can a country have things that are totally unethical? They found out that it is harmful and toxic and that it increases the chances of getting breathing diseases so they forbid people to build their houses within the country, but then they see they can obtain benefits from it, so they export it to developing countries. How can that be permitted?

Are you us surprised as me? Do you think it is ethical? Aren’t you scared about what else they could be hiding from us?

The XXI century Death

When Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey player scores a goal,  a world famous icons dies. Four of his goals preceded the death of: Osama Bin Laden, Steve Jobs, Muammar Gaddafi, and last weekend, Whitney Houston.

The young Arsenal midfielder, who has played 27 games this season, has become famous for every time he scores a goal, on the following three days someone dies. 

It all began on May 1, 2011 when Ramsey scored against Manchester United. The day after Osama bin Laden was executed by the U.S. Army.

However, the October 2, 2011 Ramsey scored its first goal of the season 2011/2012 against Tottenham, and three days later, Steve Jobs dies. 

But two weeks later began to be of concern because themidfielder returned to score against Olympique Marseille in the Champions League on 19 October. The next day Muammar Gaddafi died.

But the 'curse' was completed last weekend, as Ramsey scored on Saturday against Sunderland in the Premier League and only a few hours later was found dead the American singer Whitney Houston.

The eyes are fixed on the English player and everyone is waiting to see what happens when he scores another of his mysterious goals. Fortunately, Ramsey is not a goalscorer as Messi Cristiano or Ronaldo.

The open league

Do you think that is acceptable to have to pay for see your football team?

Since 1997 La sexta, TV3 and Telecinco have television rights for have the permission to retransmit one match of football every weekend. The year 2014 the contract between the Liga BBVA and the channels publics will finish. Nowadays there's come a channel like Canal + o Gol TV that wants all the matches included the match that is assigned for the public.

Do you think is fair? Do you think that all the matches have to be public o private?

Do we really appreciate talent?

In 2007 a well-known musician wanted to organize a social experiment in order to find out about human perception, likes and priorities.

Joshua Bell went to a metro station in Washington DC and started playing the violin in the early rush hour of 8 o’clock a.m. The violinist performed six classical Bach pieces for 45 minutes and almost 1,100 people passed by, but just a few of them stopped for a couple of seconds. This small percentage was thanks to several kids who really appreciated the melody although they were interrupted by their parents.

Moreover, after the experiment, he just collected s34 dollars. This number becomes much more surprising when you know that the violin he was using costs 3,5 million dollars and that two days before he did his performance in the metro, Joshua Bell had sold out in a theatre in Boston were each seat cost an average of 100$.

After this test would you say human beings perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context or is it that we just like something due to social pressure?

Nicole Pattje

DO WE REALLY LOVE OUR PETS?

Every year thousands of dogs and cats are abandoned, many of them die in the streets, run over by cars or due to hunger or diseases. Those who manage to survive end up living in horrible conditions, without a shelter or in dog pounds. These places are crowded, even if some of the animals are adopted more and more keep on arriving.

All this is related to the undesired litters, born by accident, and a good solution could be to spay or neuter our pets.

Countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom are very used to these practices and think of them as something usefull, but here in Spain many people still think that it is cruel and heartless.

Do you think it is a good solution? Or is it inhuman? What other options would you propose to prevent abandonment?

Sorry, your suffering is not newsworthy

It looks as if we are happy to hear stories of people in Africa killing each other or dying from 'natural causes' such as famine, but that we don't want to know about any suffering, illness and death that we cause ourselves.

The video is from Amnesty International and there's also a short TV news report (from a channel not usually seen in Europe).

It seems that Shell has been extacting oil in Nigeria for years... at extreme environmental and human cost: entire ecosystems emptied of life; fishermen reluctantly turning to mopping up spilt crude oil; and Shell even paying armed men to allegedly 'silence' any voice of protest.

The thing is - when is the last time you heard about any of this?

• Last year Shell faced a compensation settlement of 100 million dollars.
• This year a UN report stated that it will cost up to 1 billion US dollars to clean up.

Why don't we hear anything? Who carefully choses what we information we consume? And what does our news say about our society's values and priorities?

They are right, it is not by chance, we're better.

In France they say that it has to be more than luck that explains why we win. Well, they are right.
Dear French people, try explaining away the following:

Europe Champions and MVP of the tournament Fernando Navarro. Rafa Nadal more than 10 Grand Slams of this 10 GS, 6 have been the Roland Garros. Pau Gasol two rings NBA and world champions with Spain. FC Barcelona best team in the world for the last four years with players like Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol or Gerard Piqué. Jorge Lorenzo, Nico Terol and Marc Marquez won in the same year the three categories( 125º, 250º and 500º).Two time world champions of Fomula 1, Fernando Alonso. Davis Cup with great players like Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer or Tommy Robredo. Spain has won too Le Tour de France, Alberto Contador, Miguel Induran, Oscar Pereiro and much more. Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Alonso, Gerard Piqué, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, 6 of the 11 best players of the world. I could be like this all day with other sports like golf, handball, candle, swimming, athletics, and so on!

French… !C’est la vie!

Which doll is the nice one?

This video was done for a campaign called “Racism in Mexico”. An investigation was carried out with Mexican boys and girls of about seven years old, in which they were asked a series of questions which they had to answer choosing either the light skinned doll or the dark skinned doll. It’s the same experiment done and designed by Kenneth and Mammie Clark in the 30s.

This video shows part of the results, and the boys and girls that appear reflect the answers given by the majority of children that were questioned.

Do you think this is an effective experiment in order to see the degree of racism in society?

And why do you think these children are answering like this? Do you think they are really aware of what they are saying? Is it fair on the children to be interrogated in such way?

Better late than never?

Recently, the US government has decided to indemnify those who were victims of eugenics over the 20^th century at last.

Eugenics was the result of the application of the Darwinist theory on natural selection to society and human beings. It was very supported by important personalities in the early 20^th century, between which we can find Alexander Graham Bell and Winston Churchill. This caused many followers of these ideas, which caused many people to be forced by the government to be sterilized. Approximately 60,000 people from 30 states were submitted to these treatments, but these ideas were rejected when they were related with the Nazi ideology in World War II.

Now the government wants to indemnify the people who suffered from these treatments and were sterilized. This has caused a very interesting debate, as the plan is to pay each victim 50,000 dollars, but the real question is, how much does a baby and a life cost? These people have been deprived from their freedom to have children, and it won’t be easy to set a price to make it up which satisfies everyone.

http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/gaceta-trotamundos/cuando-eeuu-intent%C3%B3-eliminar-la-gen%C3%A9tica-los-pobres-153402454.html

Football or Terrorism?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfb4Xs-ggyU&feature=relat

Yesterday, a football tragedy occurred as Riot supporters killed a total number of 74 people. After invading the football pitch, Riots supporters attacked the other team supporters without letting them escape as the stadium doors were locked.

• How can these be happening nowadays?
• Should politics be allowed to influence a football match?