Police declined to name the suspect, but relatives and neighbors identified him as 43-year-old Rick Smith from Roodhouse, Illinois.”The guy broke into the house. I couldn’t tell you about the guy, never met him, never seen him, never talked to him. He apparently broke into the home of my wife’s mother and shot everybody inside. I’m at a loss right now,” relative Brad Teeter told the Chicago Tribune.The suspect exchanged shots with police after his white Chevy Lumina was pulled over, according to state police. He was wounded and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Authorities said they recovered several weapons from his possession.State police refused to comment on a possible motive. However, a neighbor said that Smith had been going through a custody battle with the mother of his 4-year-old daughter. The mother was related to some of the victims, but was not harmed in the incident.”I know there was a lot of friction with [the mother's] family,” a neighbor said.A five-year-old boy and a one-year-old boy were fatally shot, along with three adults.A 6-year-old child was also shot during the incident, and is currently in serious condition at a Springfield, Illinois hospital.The murders happened inside a single-story public housing complex, and prompted many nearby schools to go on lockdown.Manchester, a town of around 300 people, is located 85 miles north of St. Louis. … Read More
Prolific BitTorrent Uploader Faces Jail Time in Sweden
Having been in founded way back in 2004, Swebits was one of the longest established torrent sites in Sweden, if not the world. With its predominantly Swedish userbase, the site maintained a membership of between 35-40,000.
At the end of February 2011 the site announced its shock closure. The official line was that the site had suffered a DDoS attack and hardware disaster from which it could not recover, but behind the scenes something more sinister was afoot.
Around a week before the site’s closure an investigation carried out by anti-piracy outfit Antipiratbyran reached a climax when authorities arrested man at his home in Sweden. The 25-year-old was reportedly a moderator on Swebits and between April 2008 and November 2011 had shared huge quantities of content with the site’s users.
According to reports at the time the man uploaded as many as 1,000 movies and TV shows after obtaining the video from so-called ‘topsites’ affiliated with the lively warez scene.
“Previously, we have focused us on The Scene, but now we have directed our focus to individual BitTorrent users,” said Henrik Ponten of Antipiratbyran.
Traditionally ‘Scene’ members have proven harder to catch, but apparently the capture of this individual came about much more easily. Friction between the man and members of The Scene led to his identity being made public online, but prosecutor Henrik Rassmusson has since revealed that the uploader’s static IP address was easily traced back to an ISP.
This relaxed attitude to security has now lead to the man becoming the most prolific BitTorrent uploader ever to be arrested and charged, anywhere in the world. That’s despite prosecutors downgrading their original estimates by 50% to ‘just’ 500 movies and TV shows in the charges just announced.
“It is the largest legal case in which an individual has uploaded movies. There is a precedent, but it is only about 60 films,” says Rassmusson.
There’s no doubt that there have been more prolific uploaders in the BitTorrent scene, but most continue their activities without repercussion. That seems unlikely to be the case here.
“My understanding is that the damages can be expected to be very large for this type of activity, in terms of volume of uploaded material,” Rasmusson adds.
“I think it’s about prison level, and I will likely push for a prison sentence.”
Source: Prolific BitTorrent Uploader Faces Jail Time in Sweden
The Russian view of European security
Only concerted efforts by all states can guarantee a certain level of security from different threats and challenges to all countries of the world, including Europe. Despite some successful steps aimed at strengthening the principles of equal and indivisible security for the entire Euro-Atlantic area there still remains unjustified and artificially preserved mistrust and friction. This is especially true in the case of ballistic missile defense.NATO is working to enhance its missile interception capabilities by 2018-2020. Potentially this can devalue the nuclear deterrence capabilities of Russia. This does not mean that Russia wants by any means to retain the possibility of a nuclear strike. However, in the strategic balance it is the potentials and not the intentions that matter. We should demonstrate a responsible attitude to the legacy of the mutual nuclear deterrence that we inherited from the time of the Cold war. The sense of invincibility and total nuclear supremacy by any country may in future lead to irresponsible decisions that would put the whole of mankind in danger. While governments come and go, strategic interests and strategic potentials persist. Russia cannot make its national interests hostage to the political situation in any other country, especially if it is a country with which we are tied into the relationship of strategic stability. The unpredictable situation is further exacerbated by the systemic financial crisis in the West, which increases the likelihood of unwanted scenarios, such as the coming to power of populists and dangerous adventurists who would seek solving domestic problems through increased international tension. Russia calls for guarantees that the BMD system being deployed by the USA is not targeted against the Russian nuclear deterrent. We believe that such guarantees should be written into a legally binding document and they should be based on objective military and technical criteria which would prove that the anti-missile capabilities correspond to their stated objective, which is responding to limited missile threats emanating from outside of Europe.Russia indeed is concerned over the possibility of a new nuclear and missile arms race. However, the level of such a threat today is not high enough to justify the NATO recipe for its elimination. While we respect the right of the NATO states to defend their territory, we find it hard to understand why our partners refuse to take on legal obligations guaranteeing the security of the Russian Federation.At the same time, Russia is open for further dialogue and ready to carry out long-term practical cooperation with our partners. Apart from BMD there is a lot of issues we can discuss, such as common security threats in the Euro-Atlantic, collaboration between Russia and NATO, prospects for cooperation with the CSTO, development of new arms control mechanisms, the role of the OSCE. With this aim in mind on 23-24 May 2013 the Russian Ministry of Defense is holding a large-scale international conference on the military and political aspects of European security. We firmly believe that encouraging the search for new solutions with the participation of the world expert community can re-energize the process of our cooperation in the sphere of security. … Read More
‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Will Dr. Alana Cahill Sell Seattle Grace? Constance Zimmer Talks Guest Spot
Seattle Grace has been riddled with anxiety and friction since Dr. Alana Cahill arrived. The consultant — played by “Grey’s Anatomy” guest star Constance Zimmer — has been working on trimming the fat in order to get the hospital running efficiently.
Last week, Dr. Cahill closed down the ER, but it looks like that’s just the tip of the iceberg. At the end of the most recent episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” she dropped quite the bomb: Seattle Grace is up for sale in the wake of the plane crash survivors’ settlement, which leaves the hospital responsible for $15 million per survivor.
Zimmer took the time to chat with HuffPost TV via phone about what’s ahead for her whip-cracking character on “Grey’s Anatomy” and much more. Below, find out if Dr. Cahill will be involved in one of Shonda Rhimes’ signature romantic entanglements, Zimmer’s reaction to her line in “House of Cards” that has the internet all atwitter and whether or not the woman best known as Dana Gordon will pop in the “Entourage” movie, which is happening for real this time.
Hungary bars foreigners from buying farmland
Hungary has amended its constitution to bar foreigners from buying farmland, a move the government called “historic,” but one that could cause friction with the European Union. Foreigners are already blocked from buying farmland under a temporary measure that formed part of…
