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Windows Vista security flaw discovered

From CNN.com

NEW YORK (AP) -- Windows Vista, the new computer operating system that Microsoft Corp. is touting as its most secure ever, contains a programming flaw that might let hackers gain full control of vulnerable computers.Microsoft and independent security researchers, however, tried to play down the risk from the flaw, which was posted on a Russian site recently and is apparently the first affecting the new Vista system released to larger businesses in late November.The software company said it was investigating the threat but found so far that a hacker must already have access to the vulnerable computer in order to execute an attack.That could occur if someone is actually sitting in front of the PC or otherwise gets the computer's owner to install rogue software, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security research company F-Secure Corp."The bottom line is you couldn't use a vulnerability like this to write a worm or hack a Vista system remotely," Hypponen said Tuesday. "It only has historical significance in that it's the first reported vulnerability that also affects Vista. It's a nonevent in other ways."Attackers with low-level access privileges on a vulnerable machine could theoretically use the flaw to bump up their status, ultimately gaining systemwide control, Hypponen said.The flaw affects older Windows systems, too, and Hypponen said vulnerabilities like these are quite common and can be fixed with a software patch, which Microsoft releases on the second Tuesday of each month except for the most serious threats. The flaw remains a proof of concept, with no one known to have actually launched an attack with it, Hypponen said.

Ancient ice shelf breaks free from Canadian Arctic

From CNN.com

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada's Arctic, scientists said.The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada's remote north. Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake. (Watch the satellite images that clued in ice watchers)Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled to the newly formed ice island and could not believe what he saw."This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead," Vincent said Thursday.In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice, he said.The collapse was so powerful that earthquake monitors 250 kilometers (155 miles) away picked up tremors from it.The Ayles Ice Shelf, roughly 66 square kilometers (41 square miles) in area, was one of six major ice shelves remaining in Canada's Arctic.Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in Canada in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.

Man Arrested In $25 Million Pot Bust

From Click2 Houston

HOUSTON -- A man was arrested when deputies found 15,000 pounds of marijuana, worth $25 million, in a northwest Harris County warehouse, officials told KPRC Local 2 Thursday.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit received a tip that Louis Mendez, 29, was in possession of a controlled substance while he was driving a semi-tractor trailer.

At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, a deputy spotted Mendez leaving the warehouse and driving his big rig without headlights, according to authorities.
The deputy pulled over Mendez and found cocaine and marijuana, officials said.

A search of the warehouse led to the discovery of 502 bails of marijuana weighing approximately 15,000 pounds.

A vehicle and an AR15 assault rifle was were also confiscated from the warehouse.It was one of the largest drug busts in Harris County history."I've been in narcotics since '93 and I've never seen a load of marijuana as big as this," said Lt. J.D. Glesmann of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said they believe the marijuana came from Mexico. The big rig came from the Valley.Mendez was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

New Orleans police indicted in bridge shootings

From CNN.com

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- A deadly gunfight on a bridge in the anarchy-filled days following Hurricane Katrina became a symbol of the city's loss of control. Now, more than a year later, seven police officers face charges in the shootings.A grand jury indicted the officers on murder or attempted murder charges Thursday in the September 4, 2005, deaths of two men and wounding of four other people on the Danziger Bridge. One of the victims was a mentally retarded man, Ronald Madison, who had been shot seven times -- five times in the back, according to the coroner. (Watch as Madison's brother talks about the night of the shooting )"We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification like rabid dogs," District Attorney Eddie Jordan said.Police tell a different story, and defense attorneys say their clients are innocent. Police Superintendent Warren Riley called Jordan's comment was "highly prejudicial and highly undignified.""They heard only one side of the story," attorney Franz Zibilich, who represents one of the officers, said of the grand jury.According to police, the officers went to the bridge that day believing they were answering a call of two fellow officers down. One officer fired at Madison only after Madison turned toward them and reached into his waistband, they say.

Fords body lies in state

From CNN.com
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation honored Gerald R. Ford in funeral ceremonies Saturday that recalled the touchstones of his life, from combat in the Pacific to a career he cherished in Congress to a presidency he did not seek. He was remembered as the man called to heal the country from the trauma of Watergate.Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon, so divisive at the time that it probably cost him the 1976 election, was dealt with squarely in his funeral services by his old chief of staff, Vice President Dick Cheney."It was this man, Gerald R. Ford, who led our republic safely though a crisis that could have turned to catastrophe," said Cheney, speaking in the Capitol Rotunda, where Ford's body rested. "Gerald Ford was almost alone in understanding that there can be no healing without pardon." (Watch Cheney remember Ford the man and Ford the president )Hundreds of ordinary Americans lined up for a chance to view the closed, flag-draped casket of the 38th president late into the night and through the weekend. From teenagers in sweatshirts to mothers pushing infants in strollers, they flowed into the night in two steady streams along velvet ropes encircling the casket, pausing only for the periodic changing of the military guard standing watch. (Watch as the casket is placed in the Capitol Rotunda )The Washington portion of Ford's state funeral opened with a procession that took his casket from Maryland to Virginia and then over the Memorial Bridge -- dressed in flags and funeral bunting -- to the World War II memorial, past the White House without pausing and on to the U.S. Capitol for the first service and a lying in state that continues until Tuesday morning.

AMD Pledges To Demostrate 'True' Quad-Core By Year's End

YahooNews
By Kristen Kenedy
Server Pipeline Thu Jul 20, 8:23 PM ET

The battle for quad-core market position has already begun for processor rivals Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.

On a second quarter earnings conference call Thursday, AMD executives said the company's planned quad-core processor—based on what executives characterized as a new microarchitecture—will be demonstrated before the end of the year.

"We have a new microarchitecture under development and the first substantiation of that will be the quad-core to be launched in mid 2007," said Dirk Meyer, AMD's president and chief operating officer.

At an analyst day last month, AMD talked about its plans for the new architecture, which includes L3 cache, 32-bit instruction fetch, dual 128-bit SSE data flow, and dual 128-bit loads per cycle.

AMD has stressed that its quad-core design will be a "true quad-core," meaning it will contain four separate cores on a die.