by Glenn Chapman
Sun Aug 6, 9:54 AM ET
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - High-tech passports touted as advances in national security can be spied on remotely and their identifying radio signals cloned, computers hackers were shown at a conference.  
Radio frequency identification technology, referred to as RFID, used in cash cards and passports, can be copied, blocked or imitated, said Melanie Rieback, a privacy researcher at Vrije University in the Netherlands.
Rieback demonstrated a device she and colleagues at Vrije built to hijack the RFID signals that manufacturers have touted as unreadable by anything other than proprietary scanners.
"I spend most of my time making the RFID industry's life miserable," the doctorate student told AFP. "I am not anti-RFID. It has the potential to make people's lives easier, but it needs to be used responsibly."
Rieback and university compatriots expected to have a reliable portable version of their device, RFID Guardian, finished in six months and "had no plans to immediately mass-produce these things."
A cheer rose from the legion of hackers in the conference room when Rieback announced that the schematics and the computer codes for the device would be made public.
"The industry and government needs ...   more »

By Charles Krauthammer      
America's green light for Israel is an act of clear self-interest. America wants, America needs, a decisive Hezbollah defeat
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Israel's war with Hezbollah is a war to secure its northern border, to defeat a terrorist militia bent on Israel's destruction, to restore Israeli deterrence in the age of the missile. But even more is at stake. Israel's leaders do not seem to understand how ruinous a military failure in Lebanon would be to its relationship with America, Israel's most vital lifeline.
For decades there has been a debate in the United States over Israel's strategic value. At critical moments in the past, Israel has indeed shown its value. In 1970 Israeli military moves against Syria saved King Hussein and the moderate pro-American Hashemite monarchy of Jordan. In 1982 American-made Israeli fighters engaged the Syrian air force, shooting down 86 MiGs in one week without a single loss, revealing a shocking Soviet technological backwardness that dealt a major blow to Soviet prestige abroad and self-confidence among its elites at home (including Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachev).
But that was decades ago. The question, as always, is: What have you done for me lately? There is fierce ...   more »

Monday , August 07, 2006 
The FBI alerted state and local authorities Monday to be on the lookout for 11 Egyptian exchange students who arrived in the U.S. last month but never showed up for class.
The men, who range in age from 18 to 22, were scheduled to attend a month-long program in U.S. history and culture, plus English language instruction, at Montana State University along with six other students. The group flew from Cairo and arrived in the U.S. on July 29. All entered the U.S. legally, but officials said the no-shows violated the terms of their visas and that the government would likely send them home once they turn up.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko emphasized that there was no indication that the men were involved in any illicit activity.
• Get more coverage at the Homeland Security Center.
"At this point, all they have done is not show up for a scheduled academic program," Kolko said. "There is no threat associated with these men."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not disclose the names of the 11, but revealed that they were students registered at Mansoura University in Mansoura, Egypt.
Cases like these are actually quite ...   more »

By: israelinsider staff and partners    
Published: August 7, 2006    
DEBKAfile cites military sources claiming that Hezbollah's rocket offensive is being orchestrated from a rear command located in the Syrian town of Anjar, just over the border from the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani.
The command center is reportedly manned by Iranian and Hezbollah officers, who take their orders from Syrian military intelligence in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached, headed by a general from one of Syria?s surface missile brigades.
To keep the rockets firing without interruption, the joint Hizballah-Syrian-Iranian command uses smuggling rings to bring supplies into Lebanon using mules and donkeys on mountain paths on the frontier. Debka quotes an Israeli officer as saying "We can go on bombing Lebanon for many weeks, but that will not stop the rockets." 
Original Source
 

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News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict'
Yaakov Lappin  
Reuters has withdrawn a second photograph and admitted that the image was doctored, following the emergence of new suspicions against images provided by the news organization. On Sunday, Reuters admitted that one of its photographers, Adnan Hajj, used software to distort an image of smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut in order to create the effect of more smoke and damage.  
The latest image to face doubts is a photograph of an Israeli F-16 fighter jet over the skies of Lebanon, seen in the image firing off "missiles during an air strike on Nabatiyeh," according to the image's accompanying text provided by Reuters.   
The owner of the My Pet Jawa web log noted that the warplane in the picture is actually firing defensive flares aimed at dealing with anti-aircraft missiles.
Caught Red Handed   
Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.'    
In addition, the Jawa blog says the flares have been replicated by Reuters, giving the ...   more »

 BEIRUT, Lebanon
The Syrian foreign minister declared on Sunday that the U.S.-French cease-fire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war" and he warned his armed forces were under orders to respond immediately if Israel attacks.
"If Israel attacks Syria by any mean, on the ground, by air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said after emerging from a meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Orignal Source