Spanish bull rampage

Yesterday, in Spain, a raging bull jumped out of the arena at a Spanish bullring and ran around in the crowd. Once it had jumped out of the ring, the bull tried to make its way upwards. The spectators that were in its path hurridly got out of its way, and in this confusion, some spectators were injured. The spectators tried to enter the ring to escape from the bull. Eventually, after a while, the spectators restrained the bull and after a few minutes, the bull was brought under control and was killed.

In the confusion, approximately 40 people were injured but there were no casualties. Most of the injured were treated for cuts and bruises, said officials in the northern town of Tafalla. However, 9 of the injured were sent to a hospital and among them was a 10-year-old boy who apparently suffered multiple bruising when the bull fell on him, and a 24-year-old who was gored. 

Analysts say that bulls occasionally leap security fences at bullrings but they rarely make it into the crowd. This particular incident comes at a time amid intense debate in Spain over the centuries-old tradition of bullfighting in Spain. In a recent opinion poll, 60 per cent of Spaniards said they do not like the spectacle, which ends with the death of the bull from a well-placed sword.

I feel that bullfighting should be banned. This is because bullfighting is essentially making fun of a bull by making it run here and there in an arena. The bull will then be killed with a sword. Moreover, the matador in the arena with the bull has a very high chance of being either injured or killed by the bull whenever something goes wrong. 

This is evident in the incident that happened during April this year. One of Spain's top bullfighters was badly gored during a fight in Mexico. The extent of injury is shown when he needed to be immediately operated on at the scene due to a punctured vein and artery. He was bleeding so badly that officials appealed over loudspeakers for compatible donors to come forward from the crowd.

This shows even experienced bullfighters can get badly injured in a fight, so what are the chances of less experienced bullfighters being free of injury after every fight? So in conclusion, I feel that bullfighting should be banned for the benefit of both the bull and the matador.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8642637.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11022260

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/19/2987218.htm

First poll in Burma (Myanmar) in two decades

Burma Coat of Arms

Burma, or otherwise known as Myanmar, will be holding its first general elections on 7 November 2010. This was announced yesterday by ruling generals, ending months of speculation. The poll is the first since pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 1990. The military never allowed her party to take power, and it was disbanded. Ms Suu Kyi has been either in jail or under house arrest in the past 20 years, and has been barred from standing because of past criminal convictions, as are many other pro-democracy activists.

Critics of the elections say that it will be a sham, due to the poll laws which are in the favour of the authorities. The law states that those with criminal convictions and members of religious orders cannot take part, ruling out many activists and monks. A new consititution reserves 25% of the parliament for the military, and some of the parties that have registered for the polls are seen to be proxies of the military. 

One party not linked to the military has already complained to the Election Commission that its members are being intimidated. Ironically, the members of the Election Comission are handpicked by the Burmese military government.

I feel that this election is a complete sham as the current military government seems to have removed any loopholes that might be exploited by the opposition, thus reducing chances that any party that could gain an overall majority of the votes could register. Moreover, even if the
military's worst-case scenario happens, they would still be in control of 25% of the parliament. With the new constitution stating that any constitutional change would have to garner more than 75% approval of the parliament, it meant that the military would effectively still be in control of the parliament.

Despite this, there are still people that feel that this election, however flawed, could be the start of a process of much-needed change.

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10961366

Former Cuban President - Fidel Castro, warns of nuclear "holocaust"

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926) is a Cuban politician and former president. One of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Castro served as the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then as the President of the Council of State of Cuba and the president of Council of Ministers of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He currently serves as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, a position he has held since its inception in 1965.

Yesterday, he mustered enough strength to address the country's parliament, for the first time since his health crisis four years ago, to issue a dire warning of a nuclear holocaust. Castro said it would be up to US President Barack Obama to issue an order to carry out such a strike, but that, if he realised the consequences of this action, "he would not give it". He stressed that should nuclear war be unleashed, "the existing world order would not survive and would immediately collapse". 

I agree with Fidel Castro. This is because if we look at the past (1945, to be exact), when the US dropped the nuclear bombs onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, "within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day". This shows the devastating impact nuclear bombs has on the targeted country/city. Combined with the dense population the world now has, I am sure the casualities of the nuclear war will make the casualties of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki seem negligible. Moreover, it will be the innocent civilians that will suffer the most from the nuclear war. So, I feel that nuclear war should be avoided for the sake of mankind.

Sources:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1074095/1/.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro

Vulnerability in Apple's Operating System

Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPad tablet computer and iPod music player have been discovered to have two vulnerabilities, says security firms. The vulnerability could be exploited by remote attackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device. However, at present, experts say that the threat only exists on paper but Apple has to address this issue before it becomes a reality.

Apple said that the company was aware of the report and was investigating. One vulnerability is caused by a glitch triggered when a user views data in Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. As Apple's Mobile Safari automatically opens PDF files, a hacker could embed malicious codes into this files.

However, ironically, the only way to prevent Mobile Safari from automatically opening PDF files is by jailbreaking a phone and installing an application called PDF Loading Warner. That application asks for permission everytime the browser tries to open an PDF file. 

Now, it up to Apple to release a patch that would either prevent Jailbreak from working or close the highlighted security flaw. But, in retrospect, Apple has been slow to fix problems on their mobile browsers.

Personally, I feel that Apple, now, has to change the way it faces problems, and fix this current one as soon as possible. This is because once the threat becomes real, it will be even more difficult for Apple to prevent it, and the unknowing users might fall victim to the hackers.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10865288

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologynews/view/1073721/1/.html

Founder of WikiLeaks denies "blood on hands"

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has rejected U.S. claims that he has blood on his hands after releasing 90,000 leaked classified documents on the Afghan war. Julian Assange said that there were no evidence that any infomants had died as a result of the leaks. He then accused the Pentagon of trying to distract attention from the thousands of lives being lost in the war.

The White House has appealed to Wikileaks not to publish another 15,000 documents it is thought to hold, and the U.S. denied Mr Assange's assertion that he had asked the US government to help vet the documents to protect lives.

In an interview with the BBC, he directly addressed comments made by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who sharply criticised WikiLeaks. "One must consider why the Pentagon is focusing on the hypothetical blood that it says might be on our hands - although there is no evidence of that - compared to the 20,000 lives that have been lost in Afghanistan that are documented and exposed by our material."

Despite the appeal made by the White House to WikiLeaks, Mr Assange has pledged to continue the release of documents. 

I personally feel that Mr Assange should not continue to publish the documents as it will only continue to serve as a tool for the enemy. Publishing those documents only compromises the lives of the people involved. The damage done so far is irreparable, as "once a document published it is essentially impossible to censor,", according to WikiLeaks. So, instead of publishing the remaining documents, they should be either be deleted or remain unpublished.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10825183
http://thenextweb.com/files/2010/01/Wikileaks_3_1.jpg 
http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/WikiLeaks:About

Leaked documents on Wikileaks compromise infomants' and soldiers' lives

WikiLeaks is a "multi-jurisdictional public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public". Since July 2007, they have "worked across the globe to obtain, publish and defend such materials", and, also, "to fight in the legal and political spheres for the broader principles on which our work is based: the integrity of our common historical record and the rights of all peoples to create new history".

Recently, WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of secret documents about the Afghan War.  During a Pentagon press meeting on Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen could barely contain their anger on Thursday at WikiLeaks.

Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went so far as to say that the transparency activists “might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier” or an Afghan partner, with his voice elevating slightly.

They described WikiLeaks’s huge disclosure as having consequences on the battlefield and beyond. The leak exposed sources and methods for US intelligence agencies and allowed US adversaries to learn about military tactics and procedures, said Gates, clearly angry over the episode. Gates vowed the Pentagon will "aggressively investigate" and prosecute those behind the leak and had asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to help in the probe.

I feel that whoever leaked the documents to WikiLeaks was extremely irresponsible as it endangered the lives of soldiers, Afghan civilians and infomants. In the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has worked to ensure soldiers deployed on the front line had the latest intelligence, entrusting troops with sensitive information. Misusing this infomation is a severe breach of trust by the soldier, and is morally wrong.

Sources:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=wikileaks&id=1072357

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/top-military-officer-wikileaks-has-blood-on-its-hands/#more-28883
http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/WikiLeaks:About

HCI's gateway to be dismantled soon and re-erected in 2014

Due to the recent construction of the Tan Kah Kee station (Downtown Line), which sits in the HCI campus, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) have been in a discussion about the two iconic gateways HCI has. This is because extensive tunnelling right below the gateways and major construction works will be conducted, and this would cause a problem in keeping the gateways. However, after approximately a year of discussions, the LTA and HCI have a found a way not just to preserve HCI's pair of 31-year-old granite gateways, but to also keep them exactly where they stand now.

The 10m tall gateways will have to be dismantled for approximately 4 years and will be re-erected when the Tan Kah Kee MRT station is ready by the end of 2014. Re-installing the gateways will be done in two stages: The top part, the arch comprising the emerald-green tiles, will first be removed and then be mounted on temporary pillars about 20m from they will finally be. The metal gates below will also be dismantled. In late 2014, when the station is ready, these gates will be re-erected.

About 15,000 square metres of the school's campus will be affected by the building of the underground train tunnel. The LTA will bear the cost of reconstructing the gates, four basketball courts, replanting of trees and renting of alternative sports venues so the school's sports activites can carry on.

Being a HCI student myself, I feel that the dismantling and re-erecting of the gateways is to the benefit of the students in HCI as the gateways is part of the school's heritage. The gateways are also what many HCI students remember of the school so this would help the students remember HCI in the future.