A sensitive Environment Canada document was found wet on an Ottawa street by someone who gave it to the CBC today.
The 131-page document was found on Castlefrank Road in Kanata, Ontario in a rain-stained, tire-marked brown envelope by a passerby.
The document which had the stamp Protected B on every page detailed various security vulnerabilities of the NEMISIS database which is used by officers to track and prosecute environmental law-breakers. If someone were able to shut the system down, or hack inside and delete or corrupt the information, it could affect the prosecution of the lawbreakers.
The database was unveiled in 1999 as the National Enforcement Management Information System and Intelligence System. However, on the document, it referred to the database as National Enforcement and Emergency Management Information System and Intelligence System, adding the words “and Emergency” to the name.
Protection B documents are the second lowest grade of classified government documents. Environment Canada spokesperson Julie Hahn said they apply to letters of complaint, criticism or injury, research or scientific notes and findings that don`t have any conclusion, and Treasury Board letters, agendas and minutes that don`t deal with subjects of national interest.
Environment Minister John Baird has asked government officials how such documents that are supposed to be stored in “approved security cabinets” wound up on the street.
“I’m told two things: that it’s neither classified nor secret and that it’s stuff that could be available under access to information,” Baird said.
Environment Canada spokeswoman Sujata Raisinghani told CBC News the department will look into the incident.
“We take document security seriously,” she said, but refused to give any more details about how the papers came to be on a road.
Paul Dewar, an OttawaNew DemocratMP, said the combined security lapses raise serious questions about the government’s ability to secure sensitive documents.
Dewar says that bureaucrats of the Conservative government have complained to him about document security to the point that they can`t share the information with their own colleagues. However, when a government document has been found on the streets, the government then says it wasn’t particularly sensitive.
“This government is so consumed with control of information and secrecy yet they don’t seem to be able to get the fundamentals right,” Dewar said.
The incident is a reminiscent of two other incidents.
In March, a bundle of blueprints for a new headquarters for the military’s counterterrorism unit were found stuffed in the trash on a downtown street.
In May, Maxime Bernier was forced to resign as Foreign Affairs minister after it became known that he left sensitive documents at the apartment of his then-girlfriend Julie Couillard who had ties to the Hells Angels biker gang.
The California Department of Justice on Wednesday released the warrant and affidavit of a criminal investigation of the Wells Fargo bank. The State of California served the warrant on October 5 to search the San Francisco headquarters of Wells Fargo for felonious activities related to identity theft.
The warrant said property to be seized at the bank’s San Francisco headquarters was related to the unauthorized creation of accounts by Wells Fargo employees including the names of individuals for the accounts; account information and fees; the names of employees and their managers who created accounts without the consent of the Wells Fargo customers in question; and all communications including emails referencing the unauthorised accounts.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s criminal probe is part of an increasing list of officials nationwide questioning the business practices of Wells Fargo such as California State Treasurer John Chiang who announced a one-year suspension of State investment with the bank on September 28; Illinois State Treasurer Mike Frerichs followed suit with a year-long ban on October 3; and Democratic United States Senators Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who wrote to the U.S. Security Exchanges Commission (SEC) suggesting investigation on September 29.
If you have placed an online sports bet before you will probably know that most bookmakers offer new customers a free bet. This will typically vary between 20 and 100 (or an equivalent in your currency) depending upon which bookie you are looking at. There are so many bookmakers on the market these days that there are literally thousands in free bets to be taken advantage of.
The only problem with these ‘free bets’ that betting companies advertise is that you have to risk your own money first to qualify for them. You might lose your own money, and then lose with the free bet and at the end of the day – who wants to lose?!! This is where the handy little Odds Matching tool comes in.
Odds matcher will find bets for you in a split-second that can be placed on a football team winning and not winning. You back the team to win with a particular bookie and then use a betting exchange (such as Betfair) to bet that they won’t win. This way every outcome of the football match is covered and thanks to the software, no matter what happens you will get your entire stake back.
As a result of you placing a bet with the bookie (they don’t know that you have manipulated them!) you will receive another one to the same value as the first. With this free say 25 bet, you could go on to place a small accumulator and win hundreds! This process can be repeated with every bookmaker on the market, enabling you to receive hundreds in free bets!
Odds matching – how to do it
1. Type Odds matcher into Google and it will find sites that offer the service. Click on the site that looks the most appealing to you.
2. Once you are on the Odds matcher site, click on the drop down menu and choose the bookie you want the free bet with.
3. Odds Matcher will produce a list of bets you can choose to place a wager on. Those nearest to the top will provide you with the closest match in odds. When the match is 100%, this means that no matter what the outcome of a football match, you will always receive 100% of your stake back.
4. Once you have chosen the bet, click on the “Go” button under “calculate my risk free bet”.
5. The software will now tell you how much you have to back the team with at the bookie’s site, and how much you need to lay the team with at the exchange.
6. Simply follow the instructions in the box that has been generated and you will be entitled to a free bet with no chance of losing whatsoever.
So there you go – check out the software and have a goat matching odds It really is simple to do and if you use it to sign up to all the available bookies, you will have made yourself hundreds in free bets and who know how much you might win with them!
At 15:35 UTC this afternoon (23:35 local time), the Chinese Long March 3C (CZ-3C) carrier rocket lifted off on its maiden flight, from launch pad 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It placed the Tianlian-1 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Tianlian-1, also known as Tian Lian 1 and TL-1, a spacecraft tracking and data relay communications satellite, similar in function to the American Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), will be used to track and communicate with manned Shenzhou spacecraft in low Earth orbit. It will be able to cover around half of the spacecraft’s trajectory, compared to the 12 percent which can be covered by China’s fleet of tracking ships and ground stations. The next Shenzhou mission, Shenzhou 7, is currently scheduled for launch in October. Tianlian-1 is based on the DFH-3 satellite bus.
This is the 19th orbital launch of 2008, and the first this year to be conducted by the People’s Republic of China. It is currently believed that China intend to conduct one more launch before the end of April, however due to secrecy surrounding China’s space programme, it is difficult to be certain of this.
The Long March 3C is a new version of the Long March 3 rocket, which serves as an intermediate between the Long March 3A, and the Long March 3B. It is 55 metres tall, and can place a 3,700 kilogram payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The Cutty Sark, one of the most famous historic sailing ships in the world, was seriously damaged by fire in the early hours of Monday morning, May 21, 2007. The 19th century ship, which is in dry dock in Greenwich, London, England, set a speed record during its working days, and has been a popular tourist attraction for many years.
The fire brigade was first called to the blaze on the tea clipper at 4:45 a.m. BST and reported that the flames had been extinguished by 7:00 a.m., but firefighters were still on the scene damping down at 8.30 a.m. The blaze was so intense that eight fire engines and 40 firefighters were sent to put out the fire. No injuries have been reported.
Cutty Sark Trust chief executive Richard Doughty said he was told the blaze was being treated as suspicious. “We’re losing history,” he lamented. “It’s unbelievable.” He went on: “When you lose the original fabric, you lose the touch of the craftsmen; you lose history itself. What is special about Cutty Sark is the timber, the iron frames, that went to the South China Sea. To think that is threatened in any way is unbelievable. It is an unimaginable shock.”
However, Doughty also confirmed that half of the ship’s planking, and all of the masts and rigging had been removed for renovations prior to the fire. The iron framework of the hull has been twisted and buckled.
The Chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, Chris Levitt, speaking later at the scene, said: “We had removed 50% of the planking, so 50% of the planking wasn’t on site and that’s safe and secure, and from where I stand there is not a huge amount of damage to the planking that was left on. There are pockets of charred planking and some have gone, but it doesn’t look as bad as first envisaged.”
Cutty Sark Trust curatorial consultant, Dr Eric Kentley was optimistic that the Ship is not completely devastated and can be saved. Speaking about the Cutty Sark, he said: “We will put her back together – but it’s going to take much much longer and a lot more money than we originally thought.”
The historic ship, one of London’s best known tourist attractions, has been in dry-dock in Greenwich since 1954. It is currently undergoing a £25 million renovation scheduled to last until 2009. It was feared that gas canisters used in the reconstruction work might explode in the blaze but the London Fire Brigade later confirmed that none were present, although concerns about the risk of explosion had caused some delay in tackling the fire. It is a Grade I listed monument and is on the Buildings At Risk Register in the UK.
Police believe the fire on board the ship may have begun in suspicious circumstances. They are studying CCTV footage which showed some movement around the ship in the early hours of the morning. They are appealing for witnesses who might have seen anyone near the ship or a silver car that was reported driving away from the scene.
The Cutty Sark was built in 1869 by Scott & Linton, Dumbarton in Scotland and completed by Dennys. It is the world’s last surviving tea clipper. Because the clippers were build of wood, but with a framework made of iron, they marked the transition from wood to iron. The windjammers that emerged some 30 years later were build completely of iron or steel.
The clippers were used in long-distance races between China and England, with large profits for the first ship back with the first tea of the year. The Cutty Sark sailed in the China trade between 1870 and 1877/78. She sailed in the Australian wool trade between 1883 and 1895, during which period she achieved the record breaking voyage under wind power between Australia and England via Cape Horn of 72 days in 1885.
A new, refurbished cafeteria at the Romanian Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest has opened for the use of parliamentarians. The new cafeteria, which has mahogany furniture and leather draped armchairs, was officially opened yesterday, and is situated at the entrance to the Senate headquarters in the Palace of the Parliament.
Members of Parliament said they were not satisfied with the former cafeteria in the Palace, saying that it didn’t have proper tables and chairs to sit on. Many parliamentarians expressed their satisfaction at the opening of the refurbished dining venue, saying that they can now drink a cup of coffee “in a civilised manner” before sessions.
Bucharest’s Palace of the Parliament (Palatul Parlamentului in Romanian) is the largest building in Europe and the third largest building in the world, with an area of approximately 350,000 m². It contains both houses of the Romanian Parliament (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate), as well as the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC). It is also frequently used as a function centre.
People who do not have physical limitations often take simple daily tasks for granted. Those who are physically compromised may find tasks like turning a doorknob, switching on a lamp or light switch, and getting over raised thresholds a difficult or nearly impossible task. Today, there are many modifications you can make to your home right now to prepare for a future in which you may find these tasks difficult. Making handicap home modifications does not mean dumbing-down your home and causing it to look less beautiful. On the contrary, these changes can bring a new life to your home and make it more convenient now and in the future.
Turning round doorknobs can be difficult and uncomfortable for people with a limited grasp. The solution to your problem is a lever door handle rather than a knob. All that must be done to open the door is to push the lever downward. This is one of the most convenient and useful handicap home modifications you can make now to make opening doors with full arms much easier as well. Obviously, everyone can benefit from doorknob modifications, not just the elderly and disabled.
The issue of limited grasp comes into play again in regards to turning on lamps and small light switches. Arthritis can reduce small motor movement in the hands of the elderly. The solution is to make handicap home modifications to your lamps by converting them to touch lamps and installing modern light switches that are easier for everyone to activate. Touch lamps operate based on contact with the skin. Touch a metal portion of the lamp with any part of your hand and it will turn on. This is an inexpensive solution to a challenging problem for those with limited finger dexterity.
Overcoming thresholds in the home with a wheelchair is a common problem for Boca Raton real estate agents . Doors have a slight bump at the base of exterior doors to help with the issue of water getting inside. Unfortunately, this bump creates a barrier for those in a wheelchair. You can have this area replaced with a flat plate, but then you must remember to weatherproof the bottom of the door. Friendly workers at hardware stores can help you with this task. These minor handicap home modifications and many more can help create a level of convenience and comfort in your home, both today and in the future when you really need it.
This article is brought to you by Elliot Koolik for Koolik Group Realty. Koolik Group Realty is a family-owned residential real estate company which specializes in the buying and selling of luxury real estate in Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton, FL.Author: Elliot Koolik
According to multiple reports, India recorded its 14 millionth case of COVID-19 and new infections of over 200 thousand on Thursday, causing multiple hospitals running on full capacity.
The 200739 new infections is twice what was seen during its last peak in September, rising after the superspreading events such as political rallies in local and state elections and religious events, official complacency and highly infectious new variants of the virus. According to Reuters, the government blamed wilful disregard of social distancing measures and face mask mandates. A Railway Protection Force officer told The Telegraph (Kolkata) “[t]he number of unmasked passengers was much more last month. The renewed surge in Covid numbers has triggered some caution but many are still without masks.”
According to CNBC, India overtook Brazil as the second-most infected country on April 12, though still behind the United States. The new strain has forced hospitals into drastic measures, including two or three patients sharing a bed at Lok Nayak Hospital and converting over a dozen hotels and banquet halls in New Delhi into COVID-19 treatment centres. The states Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat among others have reported a shortage of oxygen; India Today reported on the Ahmedabad Medical Association pleading the state government for oxygen, writing to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani “[i]f such conditions persist, the death toll will rise, violence against doctors will increase and doctors will be forced to shut down their hospitals due to lack of oxygen supply”.
Nationally, the government has shifted its focus from vaccine exporting to domestic production, entering 114 million jabs in peoples’ arms — the third-most, behind the US and China — and three million on Wednesday after recently approving for emergency use its third vaccine: Russia-developed Sputnik V. The government maintains there is not an oxygen shortage and that the primary issue with distributing inoculations to states is over-planning, not a supply shortage.
New Delhi announced stay-at-home orders and shuttered restaurants, malls, gyms and spas, with an exception for movie theatres at limited times and at limited capacity. Mumbai went further Wednesday, closing most industries, businesses and public places and restricting movement of people amidst a surge of labourers to the city. In addition to many cities and towns, the epicentral city of Maharashtra imposed a curfew, with only essential services open between 8pm and 7am. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 exams have been cancelled, and Class 12 exams postponed.
There has also been 1038 new deaths, adding to the total death count of over 173 thousand and putting a strain on local cremation centres and burial grounds. It remains fourth in its death count after the US, Brazil and Mexico.
The iPhone only made its appearance as a prototype and there have been controversies aroused.
The dispute has come up between the manufacturer of the iPhone (which was presented on Wednesday for the first time) — Apple Inc. — and a leader in network and communication systems, based in San Jose — Cisco. The company claims to possess the trademark for iPhone, and moreover, that it sells devices under the same brand through one of its divisions.
This became the reason for Cisco to file a lawsuit against Apple Inc. so that the latter would stop selling the device.
Cisco states that it has received the trademark in 2000, when the company overtook Infogear Technology Corp., which took place in 1996.
The Vice President and general counsel of the company, Mark Chandler, explained that there was no doubt about the excitement of the new device from Apple, but they should not use a trademark, which belongs to Cisco.
The iPhone developed by Cisco is a device which allows users to make phone calls over the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).
