$500,000 diamond ring stolen in Australia
Sydney: A diamond ring worth half-a-million dollars was stolen from an auction site in Australia, media reported on Sunday.
The pink argyle and white diamond ring, valued at 577,000 Australian dollars ($500,000), was stolen from a display counter at Theodore Bruce Auctions on Ralph Street in New South Wales, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
It’s estimated around 100 people walked through the auction centre during that time.
An attendant at the auction site found that the ring was missing and immediately contacted police.
The case is under investigation. (IANS)
US filmmakers allowed to use drones for shooting
New York: The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted approval to six photo and video production companies to use drones for shooting.
“The FAA has granted regulatory exemptions to six aerial photo and video production companies, the first step to allowing the film and television industry the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System,” US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx was quoted as saying in media reports.
The UASs to be used in the proposed operations do not need an FAA issued certificate of airworthiness based on a finding that they do not pose a threat to national airspace users or national security, Foxx added.
“Today’s announcement is a significant milestone in broadening commercial UAS use while ensuring we maintain our world-class safety record in all forms of flight,” Foxx emphasised.
The firms asked the agency to grant exemptions from regulations that address general flight rules, pilot certificate requirements, manuals, maintenance and equipment mandates.
To receive the exemptions, the firms had to show their UAS operations would not adversely affect safety, or would provide at least an equal level of safety to the rules from which they seek the exemptions.
The companies that were successful in applying for the exemptions had to agree to obtain pilot certificates for drone operators.
Companies such as Amazon and Google have had their drone projects – aimed at making drone delivery services available to online shoppers – put on hold while they wait for official FAA regulations, Live Science reported. (IANS)
Inventor of World Wide Web warns of threat to internet
London: The British inventor of the World Wide Web warned that the freedom of the internet is under threat by governments and corporations interested in controlling the web.
Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist who invented the web 25 years ago, called for a bill of rights that would guarantee the independence of the internet and ensure users’ privacy.
“If a company can control your access to the internet, if they can control which websites they go to, then they have tremendous control over your life,” Berners-Lee said yesterday at the London “Web We Want” festival on the future of the internet.
“If a Government can block you going to, for example, the opposition’s political pages, then they can give you a blinkered view of reality to keep themselves in power.”
“Suddenly the power to abuse the open internet has become so tempting both for government and big companies.” Berners-Lee, 59, is director of the World Wide Web Consortium, a body which develops guidelines for the development of the internet.
He called for an internet version of the “Magna Carta”, the 13th century English charter credited with guaranteeing basic rights and freedoms. (PTI)
British minister resigns over explicit photos report
London: A British minister announced his unexpected resignation today after a newspaper reported he had sent an explicit photo of himself online, in the latest setback to David Cameron’s Conservative-led government.
“I have decided to resign as minister for civil society having been notified of a story to be published in a Sunday newspaper,” said Brooks Newmark, a Conservative member of parliament since 2005, who is married and has five children.
“I would like to appeal for the privacy of my family to be respected at this time. I remain a loyal supporter of this government as its long-term economic plan continues to deliver for the British people,” Newmark said. (PTI)
The Sunday Mirror reported that Newmark exchanged a series of sexually explicit photos online with a freelance reporter who was posing as a young female activist. In a private conversation on a social networking site, Newmark “sent a graphic picture exposing himself while wearing a pair of paisley pyjamas,” the tabloid newspaper reported. The then-minister also invited the reporter to meet with him during the Conservative party conference, which begins tomorrow, when the party will set out its case for re-election in May 2015. It was the second blow to the prime minister on the eve of the conference, following the defection of a Conservative lawmaker to euro sceptic party UKIP earlier today. Cameron’s office said in a statement that the prime minister had accepted Newmark’s resignation, and that Conservative lawmaker Rob Wilson would take over as minister for civil society. (AFP) SRY 09280147
Concerns over privacy and freedom on the internet have increased in the wake of the revelation of mass government monitoring of online activity following leaks by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. A ruling by the European Union to allow individuals to ask search engines such as Google to remove links to information about them, called the “right to be forgotten”, has also raised concerns over the potential for censorship. “There have been lots of times that it has been abused, so now the Magna Carta is about saying…I want a web where I’m not spied on, where there’s no censorship,” Berners-Lee said. The scientist added that in order to be a “neutral medium”, the internet had to reflect all of humanity, including “some ghastly stuff”. “Now some things are of course just illegal, child pornography, fraud, telling someone how to rob a bank, that’s illegal before the web and it’s illegal after the web,” Berners-Lee added. (AFP) ABD 09280529