2015년 2월 4일 수요일

Australian politics

Australian politics                                                                                   
Wednesday 04 Feb 2015
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The prime minister says he knows, trusts and respects his colleagues and he is focused on getting on with government. Follow the day’s developments live 
PM urges colleagues not to recreate Labor’s leadership chaos as defence minister Kevin Andrews criticises backbenchers for ‘self-defeating’ behaviour 
Outgoing Australian Press Council chair Julian Disney says selective leaking has ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of the press, but is ignored as a threat 
Climate policy cost Turnbull the Liberal leadership but it need not be a hurdle to winning it back, thanks to Tony Abbott’s Direct Action scheme 
Comment is free                                                                                                                                   More »
Upset with the state of Australian politics? Think twice before simply reaching for a political party membership form 
Video                                                                                                                                                      More »
The prime minister says he is determined to bring back 'the certainty and stability that people crave' as he continues to face speculation about his leadership 




Morning Mail: Tony Abbott, TransAsia plane crash, FoxNews and Isis, Peter Greste home

Guardian Australia's Morning Mail                                                     
Thursday 5 February 2014
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Liberal leadership                                                                                                                                                         


 Tony Abbott in Sydney on Tuesday. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP 
Tony Abbott says he knows, trusts and respects his colleagues and he is confident he will be PM next week. But what will happen today? Don't miss a second of it – follow all the day’s developments in our politics live blog.
While Liberal MPs weigh up the pros and cons between Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop, Lenore Taylor writes how Tony Abbott’s Direct Action scheme actually works in Turnbull's favour.
When asked whether Abbott will still be PM next week, John Howard’s former chief of staff Arthur Sinodinos replied, "Ask me next week".
Valentine's Day came early for Liberal MP Craig Kelly and Tony Abbott, after the backbencher penned a Facebook love letter to the PM, and First Dog's embargoed obituary of "the thoroughly humiliating and extremely satisfying demise of Tony Abbott" has gone viral after it was prematurely leaked.
See how events unfolded in yesterday's politics live blog, and don't forget to follow today's events live.
Australian news and politics                                                                                                                                       

An Indonesian court has rejected a last-ditch application for a review of the case for Bali Nine pairAndrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
 
Despite the disqualification of a bankrupt candidate, and a likely legal challenge that could trigger a byelection, votes will continue to be counted in a seat that could decide the outcome of the Queensland election. 
Around the world                                                                                                                                                           

 Screen grabs taken from video shows the TransAsia ATR 72-600 turboprop plane approaching and clipping an elevated motorway before crashing into the Keelung river outside Taiwan’s capital Taipei. Photograph: Tvbs Taiwan/AFP/Getty Images  
plane crash in Taiwan yesterday has left at least 23 people dead, after the regional TransAsia flight with 58 people on board came down in the Keelung river after clipping a taxi and a bridge.
 
toddler was pulled alive from the wreckage, and the plane was later hoisted from the river.
 
Fox News has been slammed for embedding the extremely graphic video of a Jordanian pilot's execution, unedited, on their website. "They are literally – literally – working for al-Qaida,” a terror expert said. “They might as well start sending them royalty checks.”  King Abdullah has vowed 'relentless' war against Isis, as Jordanian's turn their minds to revenge over the murder of Lt Muadh al-Kasabeh.

"There is nothing heroic about watching Isis's high-definition murder porn," writes Suzanne Moore, andwatching them makes you complicit in their terrorism, adds Nesrine Malik.
 
Egypt has jailed 230 activists for life over clashes with police during the 2011 uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down.
 
Responding to mounting concern from sceptics over the publication of Harper Lee's second novel this year, the 88-year-old's agent has said the author of To Kill a Mockingbird is "increasingly excited at the prospect of [her second] novel finally seeing the light of day.




One last thing                                                                                                                                                                 

 ‘We knew we had a great movie’ … Cary Elwes and Robin Wright in The Princess Bride. Photograph: 20thC Fox/Everett/Rex
"I know what the epitaph on my tombstone will be," says Cary Elwes of his most famous role in the 1987 movie The Princess Bride. "And that's great!"
Have an excellent day – and if you spot something I've missed, let me know on Twitter @earleyedition.




Net neutrality wins: the FCC will propose strong Title II regulation

YOU NEED TO READ THIS NOW

Feb 04, 2015

Net neutrality wins: the FCC will propose strong Title II regulation

Today, in a statement given to Wired, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed his plan to reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Telcommunications Act. It's a striking victory for net neutrality advocates who have been fighting for years to solidify internet protections using Title II authority — and it's the first time the FCC has shown enough backbone to draw a line in the sand against companies like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, who are sure to fight viciously in courts to reverse this action.
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Can mobile banking revolutionize the lives of the poor?

In the village of Sori along the banks of Kenya’s Lake Victoria, fishing has long been the lynchpin of the local economy. Jobs here are largely divided by gender: men catch the fish, and the women process the meat, take it to market, and handle finances.

We won the internet back

This is going to be short since I'm on a train — headed to DC, of all places — but today's momentous net neutrality news deserves a moment to state the obvious: we won. I asked my friend Julie Samuels from Engine Advocacy for a comment, and all she said was "this is fucking awesome."

The Galaxy S6 will bring change to the entire mobile industry

For all the criticism that Samsung has received for copying Apple over the years, it’s the times when the Korean company has copied itself that have proven most frustrating. Last year’s Galaxy S5 was a bigger version of the prior S4, which was a bigger version of the S III, which wasn’t all that great a smartphone to begin with. This sorry record of repetition caught up with Samsung in 2014 as better and cheaper alternatives undermined the Galaxy line’s dominance of both Android and smartphones in general. Stung by the unfamiliar sight of sales shrinking rather than growing, Samsung promised fundamental change to its smartphone range and the upcoming Galaxy S6 will be the truest embodiment of that reformation.

MORE FROM THE VERGE

John Oliver talks net neutrality, salmon cannons, and the future of Last Week Tonight

John Oliver is sitting at the end of a comically large table at HBO’s New York offices. Flanking him on each side are maybe a dozen journalists and HBO representatives, which in total don’t quite fill half of the chairs.

Verizon's making most data plans cheaper, but killing two fantastic deals

Verizon has announced that as of tomorrow, it's cutting pricing on several of its More Everything data plans. In short, for all data tiers below 10GB, the carrier is bringing costs down by $10. 1GB of data, which runs $40 today, will be $30 starting tomorrow; 2GB will be $40, 3GB will be $50, 4GB will be $60, 6GB — a brand new option — will be $70, and 8GB will be $85 (only a $5 discount compared against the current plan).
► VIDEO

Dashcams capture dramatic footage of Taiwanese plane crash

Taiwanese drivers have captured the moment TransAsia flight GE235 crashed into a river near the country's capital city of Taipei today. The footage shows the plane, a turboprop ATR-72, rolling sharply to the left as it descends over a road. TransAsia Airways has confirmed that the plane carried 58 people — five crew and 53 passengers — and that at least 13 people died in the crash.

Google reveals Android 5.1 update for Android One smartphones

Google's website for Android One, the platform designed to bring a cohesive Android experience to developing markets, today revealed the existence of Android 5.1, a new version of the smartphone platform. Prior to this, the latest version of Android available was 5.0.2 for Nexus smartphones and tablets.

Ross Ulbricht found guilty of Silk Road conspiracy charges

Today in a federal courthouse in Manhattan, Ross Ulbricht has been found guilty of charges stemming from his role in the founding and operation of the Silk Road. After nearly four hours of deliberation, the jury found Ulbricht guilty on all seven counts, including charges of narcotics conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.




US oil production is still going through the roof

Business Insider
 
Chart Of The Day
US oil production is still going through the roof 

US oil production is still surging.

The boom in US shale oil production is one single factors that's been most responsible for the collapse of oil prices since mid-2014.

And via Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute, oil production in January was at the highest monthly level since October 1973 – 41 years ago. This surge comes even as data from Baker Hughes shows that rig counts continue to decline.

Perry tweeted this updated chart of US oil production based on data from the Energy Information Administration.

And oil production is just through the roof. 

Read »
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The Switch: The head of the FCC just proposed the strongest net neutrality rules ever

The Washington Post
The Switch
Today's technology and tech policy news  •  Wed., Feb. 4, 2015
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The head of the FCC just proposed the strongest net neutrality rules ever
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission just said he's proposing the "strongest open Internet protections" the Web has ever seen.In a Wired op-ed, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced he wants to regulate Internet providers with the most aggressive tool at his disposal: Title II of the Communications Act. In addition to covering fixed broadband providers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the draft rules would cover wireless providers such as T-Mobile and Sprint. The rules would also make speeding up or slowing down Web traffic — a tactic known as prioritization — illegal. And it would ban the blocking of Web traffic outright.  Read full article »
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Remember Netflix’s deal with Comcast? The FCC’s proposal on net neutrality could overturn agreements like those.
Even as we mull over the broader implications of the FCC's new net neutrality proposal, let's highlight a slice of it to get an idea of what this could mean for companies such as Netflix.A key part of the Federal Communications Commission's draft rules would cover the Internet backbone -- also known as the middle-mile Internet — a crucial part of the Web that's responsible for ferrying data to your Internet provider, which then turns around and serves that data to you. Without the middle mile, you couldn't get Netflix videos because basically there would be no way for Netflix to get those videos to your Internet provider.  Read full article »
As Elon Musk tries for another incredible rocket landing, a glimpse of the future
The last time Elon Musk tried to pull off an incredible landing from space, the rocket crashed and exploded in an awesome fireball. Now he’s going for it again.If SpaceX, his startup space company, can land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean Sunday evening, it will mark a huge step toward developing rockets that perform like airplanes--fly, land and fly again—instead of crashing and burning up after one use.  Read full article »
The Washington Post. The all-new app is now on the Fire tablet. http://washingtonpost.com/fireapp
Innovations: How Doonesbury helped make Pandora a success
Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren was speaking at 1776 Tuesday night when he was asked about the hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch in which Bruno Mars plays a Pandora intern. Westergren described the sketch as a relief, as the music service feared it would be roasted. Everyone at the company loved it, but the sketch didn’t make a significant impact on the company’s growth, according to Westergren. The only time that happened was with two newspaper comic strips in 2007. Here’s Westergren’s explanation:  Read full article »
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