- How difficult should it be to give away $5 million? The
New York Yankees are doing it to at least half a dozen players on their roster
who aren’t earning their paychecks, but the Mo Ibrahim Foundation has failed once again to find an eligible
candidate for $5 million prize
that recognizes democratically elected African leaders who excel in office and leave
when they are supposed to. Created by Mo Ibrahim, a British mobile phone
magnate who was born in Sudan, the award us the biggest cash prize available to
former leaders of African countries. It has been awarded three times in its
six-year history: former Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires won last year,
Festus Mogae of Botswana won in 2008 and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique claimed
the cash in 2007. This year, the prize committee said it reviewed several
former leaders but decided that none met the award criteria. Any African leader
who left office in the last three years was eligible for the prize, which is a
somewhat sarcastic nod to the trend of rulers iron-fistedly remaining in office
for decades and refusing to leave even when their time is up. Despite not being
able to give away $5 million, Ibrahim insisted he was not disappointed that no
winner emerged. "Not at
all. This is a prize for exceptional leadership, and we don't need to go
through the motions to just find anybody," he said. "We have a
wonderful prize committee which comprises some wonderful men and women, and
they set really high standards." One could argue that Ibrahim knew when he
created the award that he would rarely have to part with any of his cash and
that he is using the award as a means for a passive-aggressive criticism of the
continent’s political leaders. "We wanted to bring the issues of
governance and leadership to the center of the table, for the issues to be
discussed by African society and African leadership," Ibrahim said.
"Bad stories make news. That brings an unintended bias in the media
coverage, and that is not helpful for the casual listener." Nor is the
average African political leader’s governance for his or her own people………
- What sets mixed martial arts, especially the Ultimate
Fighting Championships, apart from boxing is that UFC president Dana White puts
the fights together than fans want to see. Unlike the perpetually delayed Manny
Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight that has tormented boxing fans for years,
UFC gives its fans a great pay-per-view every month and if there are two
fighters who are obvious challengers for one another, they either fight or they
find a new employer. That should mean that middleweight champion Anderson
Silva saying after his TKO win on Saturday night over Stephan Bonnar that he no
longer will compete at light heavyweight won't preclude him from an eventual
bout with 205-pound titleholder Jon Jones. Moving up to fight Jones would put
Silva, arguably the best fighter in the world, in a tough position. He would
probably still be favored to win, but deciding not to take the fight shouldn’t
cost him any respect. Just don’t tell Dana White that a potential mega-fight like
that won't happen because he refuses to believe it. "There are so many
options for (Silva) right now," White said. "He never ceases to
amaze. But he's at this point in his career where there are super fights for
him. I think the Jon Jones fight is a big fight. I know my man says 'no, no, no' to Jon Jones, but the amount of money
that will be offered for that fight, he will say 'yes, yes, yes.'" White suggested he would like to see the Silva-Jones
fight at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. "I'll be negotiating with Anderson,"
White said. "He has a contract for two more fights and he said he wants to
fight for five more years. I'd love to sign him to 55 more years." White’s
confidence flies in the face of what Silva has made a point of saying three
times in the past two weeks: that he will not move up to fight Jones. His
reasons have included not wanting to get in the way of teammates who could be
in position to fight Jones and not wanting to deprive competitors in his own
weight class from getting title shots. "All athletes in the division will
get their opportunity to fight for the title," Silva said. "I don't
have any intention of fighting with him. I'm in a comfortable position and I am
no longer a child.” Sounds like White is going to have to up his offer………
- Flame on, computer geniuses at digital security company Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky Lab has a track record
of discovering some of the most sophisticated spying software unearthed to date
and Flame is its biggest find – or it was, until this weekend. The original Flame
virus swept in data from perhaps 5,000 computers, largely in Iran and Sudan,
but Kaspersy researched announced this weekend that they have found a related
program, dubbed "miniFlame," which can carry out more precise attacks
on targets in the Middle East. So far, the company has only found 50 machines
infected by miniFlame, but they are 50 "high-value" machines, according to research
published on Monday. Flame was blamed by Iranian authorities for causing data
loss on computers in the country's main oil export terminal and Oil Ministry,
but don’t be stunned if Mahmoud Ahamdinea-kook and his sycophants find a way to
blame miniFlame for wreaking havoc as well. "Flame acts as a long sword
for broad swipes while miniFlame acts as a scalpel for a focused surgical
dissection," said Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher at Moscow-based
Kaspersky Lab. Distribution of miniFlame has been attributed to Flame another
recently discovered spyware program, Gauss, which was most prevalent in Lebanon
and designed to track financial transactions. Details about miniFlame's victims
is still leaking out, although they do appear to be more geographically
dispersed than those of Flame and Gauss.
Infections
have been identified mostly in Lebanon and Iran, but also in the Palestinian Territories, Iran,
Kuwait and Qatar. Kaspersky and U.S. security software company Symantec Corp
have been researching miniFlame and linked some of the code in Flame to an
early version of Stuxnet. Flame functions by having its control software
remotely direct a number of smaller programs. It is especially efficient in hijacking
Microsoft Corp's Windows Update feature, which is critical for keeping the
operating system current as new security problems come to light. Yes, there is
spying software able to outsmart Microsoft, amazingly enough. Flame sports a
back door that allows for remote control, data theft and the ability to take
screen shots and its capabilities sound at least a little bit badass, in
computer terms anyhow. "MiniFlame is installed in order to conduct more
in-depth surveillance and cyber-espionage," Kaspersky security expert
Alexander Gostev said. With six known versions of miniFlame floating around the
globe, no one is quite sure how much of a threat any one of them poses………
- California may soon become a kinder, gentler place to
repeat felons. The same state that set the standard for the rest of the nation
with longer
sentences for habitual criminals with its three-strikes law a decade ago could
reverse its stance next month. Voters will head to the polls – the 25 percent
or so who bother to vote anyhow – and decide on a ballot measure that would let
some nonviolent offenders out of jail faster. With crime in the Golden State
down and prison costs up, the measure is expected to have a good chance of
passing and some legal analysts point to the measure as a sign of shifting
views nationally on crime and punishment. A liberal billionaire is behind the
campaign to pass the measure, but some religious conservatives and other groups
typically known for being tough on crime have also rallied behind it. Other
states have embraced measures to provide more lenient sentencing to nonviolent
offenders and Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and New York have all
rolled back mandatory sentencing laws. Studies have shown success in cutting
recidivism rates among states adopting such approaches to justice. California’s
measure isn't a radical departure from its current stance, but Proposition 36
is a signal that beliefs on such issues are changing. Billionaire businessman George
Soros has donated $1 million to the campaign to pass Proposition 36, but conservative
leader Grover Norquist also supports it, as do the Los Angeles Chamber of
Commerce, the NAACP and district attorneys of San Francisco, Los Angeles County
and Santa Clara County. Proposition 36 would let some criminals who have been
in jail twice (two strikes) avoid a 25-years-to-life sentence for a third crime
if it is judged to be nonviolent and non-serious. Passage would be noteworthy,
but passing a seemingly doomed measure to repeal the death penalty would be
even more of a story………
- When is settling down with Angelina Jolie and your
children considered a downgrade in life? Apparently when you’ve lived the life
that former small-time drug kingpin Brad Pitt lived, that’s when. Pitt, who is
currently promoting
a new film he executive produced called “The House I Live In,” has never
had a reputation as being an uptight, straight-laced dude who never drinks or
parties, but most people probably did not know Pitt’s close ties to the drug
world during the early days of his career. Speaking at the film’s premiere in
Los Angeles, he admitted that when he was younger, he was no stranger to have a
good time with certain illegal substances. "My drug days are long since
passed but it's certainly true that I could probably land in any city in any
state and get you whatever you wanted. I could find anything you were looking
for. Give me 24 hours or so,” Pitt said. While it is slightly disappointing
that it would have taken him 24 hours to find mescaline, black tar heroin,
quality Ecstasy, an 8-ball of pure coke or the best reefer in town, this is
probably before he became the world-famous movie star he is today, so cut the
guy some slack. After talking about how easily he could once obtain illegal
narcotics, Pitt then fired off a shot at the so-called war on drugs, a term
coined by President Richard Nixon in 1972. "We still support this charade
called the drug war," he added, "We have spent a trillion dollars.
It's lasted for over 40 years. A lot of people have lost their lives for it.
And yet we still talk about it like it's this success,” Pitt fumed without
explaining what he would do differently. As for the movie itself, it was directed
by Eugene Jarecki and examines how the war on drugs has progressed 1972 and how
drugs affect the day-to-day lives of Americans today………
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