News Briefs 06-07-2009

To all you mathematicians out there: What are the odds that it was 'just a coincidence' that both the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks occurred on the same days, and in the same ways and places, as the simulated terrorist-attack response drills that were taking place?

• Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the UK government staged the 7/7 bombings, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry. More.
• After a three-year freedom of information battle by the Press Association, this CCTV video footage of three of those accused of the 7/7 London bombings was released on May 1.
• Extracts from The Terrorist Hunters, the banned book of former UK anti-terror chief, Andy Hayman: One, two, three, and four. If anyone knows of any more extracts, please post links to them in the comments.
• The James Bond character Goldfinger may have been based on a German spymaster who plotted to blow up gold reserves at the Bank of England.
• MI6 chief's cover blown -- by his wife, who posted personal details on Facebook.
• UK terror-law boss backs McKinnon's fight against extradition.
• Why is the US so eager to lock up Gary McKinnon, the Asperger's Syndrome hacker?
• Join the campaign to prevent Gary McKinnon's extradition to the US. Loads of interesting comments here, too.
• The Atlantic's newest submarine cable is so advanced, it could carry the content of the entire internet, in both directions, even if the other eight lines failed simultaneously.
• Almost 2,000 years ago, a half-mad member of a strict Jewish sect, Saul of Tarsus, ruthlessly stoned to death 'blasphemous' followers of 'The Way'. Then, suddenly, he had an 'apocalypse' - literally, a revelation - which changed the course of world history. His own fate was one of history's greatest mysteries -- until yesterday. A. N. Wilson's Paul: The Mind of the Apostle is available at Amazon US & UK.
• The earliest surviving Christian Bible, the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, is now online.
• The Third Man Factor: How those in dire peril have felt a sudden presence at their side, inspiring them to survive -- a widespread phenomenon experienced by mountaineers, polar explorers, divers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, astronauts, and even 9/11 survivors.
• 'The Eagle has landed': A space geek remembers the Moon shot.
• The Apollo hoax theories: 9/11 and Kennedy aside, no event in world history has generated quite so many conspiracy theories than the Apollo moon landings. But do they stand up? Here are the best reasons why it couldn’t have happened, and the rebuttals. Of course, you may disagree.
• Armstrong enigma: Moon pioneer could make $1m in a day - why doesn't he?
• NASA's cheaper back-up plan to get to the moon - again.
• Drinking five cups of coffee a day may reverse the memory problems of Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say. Figured that out years ago, but it takes two pots a day for me, and the resulting insomnia is hell.
• Ground-breaking laser treatment reverses the effects of macular degeneration - the leading cause of blindness in over 60s in the western world.
• Back cures, a brave scientist, and an epic legal battle focusing on the right to free criticism.
• Spider builds life-sized decoys of itself, to distract predators.
• Three new dinosaurs found in Oz.
• Tibetan monks and nuns urged to turn their minds towards science.
• William Gibson's seminal novel Neuromancer turns 25. What did it get right about the future, and what did it get wrong?
• July crop circles, so far: A sunspot, or something to do with male fertility, perhaps? A hummingbird, apparently inspired by the Nazca hummingbird. A ropey kite-like thingy? A Mayan motif. Less spectacularly, a simple face, and a face with glasses, perhaps?
• Ant mega-colony takes over the world. While Greg welcomes our insect overlords, I have my doubts about them...
• Bugs! They may be tiny, but they're marching across the US in their billions, killing vast swathes of woodland -- 10 per cent of all US forests in the past 10 years.
• Logging the Bohemian Grove? Members of the secretive Bohemian Club - 2,500 of America’s richest, most conservative men, including Henry Kissinger, George H. W. Bush, and a passel of Bechtels, Basses, and Rockefellers - are known to urinate freely against the ancient redwoods that cover their 2,700-acre property. Have they been chopping down the trees as well?
• What really goes on inside the secluded Bohemian Grove?
• The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are safe, but a lot of lesser historical items are missing from the National Archives.
• Krugman wants to know the secrets of the Wall Street Journal. Brad DeLong says he overheard this explanation.
• The Great American Bubble Machine: Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression. The most recent - cases in point.

Thanks, Greg. And a big thanks to RPJ for fixxoring a couple of links today, while I was dead to the world.

Quote of the Day:

Why has Andy Hayman's book been banned? Well I'm damned if I know. Your correspondent has actually read the book (and it's not half bad). I also know what the passage is that is causing all the fuss, and frankly I'm utterly puzzled. Under the terms of an injunction that no-one is allowed to see I'm not allowed to tell you what the passage is or why it's so controversial. Clear as mud eh? Maybe they should redact a few pages and put it on sale anyway, that seems the usual course of action for the authorities in this age of transparency.

Its being said in some circles that the AG and the CPS only got to see the book a few days ago. Well, again, I'm aware that the book was circulated to a range of agencies a couple of months ago and some of them came back with requests for changes which were, by and large, accepted. The CPS didn't respond until this week.
...
The book they tried to ban -- still on sale. Don rings in from, well he didn't say where. He's just bought The Terrorist Hunters (Andy Hayman's book that's apparently banned from sale) in his local Sainsbury's. Only £9.99 he says. He's enjoying reading it but he's struggling to understand exactly what bit he's not supposed to read. Unfortunately we couldn't tell him. State secret. Need to know. Further happenings in the High Court next Thursday.

Sean O'Neill, Crime Editor of The Times, in his blog posts of 2 July and 3 July, 2009.