Sunday 28 October 2012

American news


More than a Dozen Nuclear Plants Near Hurricane Sandy’s Path Brace for Impact
North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut



28 October, 2012


Bloomberg reports:
Because of the size of [Hurricane Sandy], we could see an impact to coastal and inland plants,” Neil Sheehan, a spokesman based in Philadelphia for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said by phone today. “We will station inspectors at the sites if we know they could be directly impacted.”
The NRC met earlier today to discuss the necessary precautions to take for the storm, Sheehan said. Plants must begin to shut if wind speeds exceed certain limits, he said.
As of 2 p.m. New York time, Sandy had winds of 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was about 430 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, moving north at 7 mph.
The current Hurricane Center track calls for the system to come ashore just south of Delaware Bay on Oct. 30.

South Carolina hit with huge data breach
South Carolina says a massive security breach exposed millions of Social Security numbers as well thousands of valid credit card numbers of state residents.


UPI,
27 October, 2012

The state Department of Revenue acknowledged the massive electronic security breach Friday, reporting a computer intrusion that led to 3.6 million Social Security numbers being stolen in a state with a population of approximately 4.7 million.

The department learned of the intrusion on October 10, although it has not said how, and alerted federal and state law enforcement, CNET reported.

USA Today suggested the hacker may have contacted the state demanding a ransom

"We are taking immediate steps to protect the taxpayers of South Carolina, including providing one year of credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected," Gov. Nikki Haley said in a statement....




Seattle police plan to deploy spy drones


RT,
27 October, 2012

The rainy skies of Seattle are likely to soon be a whole lot drearier. The FAA has approved the local police department to start using surveillance drones for law enforcement, but protesters are making it clear that they're willing to put up a fight.

The Seattle Police Department displayed a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on Thursday that they intend on using soon to monitor criminal activity across the city, but opponents of drone use came out in droves to protest the proposed plans.

The SPD is one of only law enforcement agencies given the go-ahead by the Federal Administration Agency to show officers the ins-and-outs of UAVs, and the department hopes that soon they will be able to save lives and make the city more secure by actually deploying drones across town.

So far the department has already outlined an operations manual that they hope they’ll have a chance to adhere to soon, describing in detail how they hope to install an unmanned aerial system across the city to help photograph crime scenes, conduct search and rescue missions, monitor traffic accidents and even aid with natural disaster responses. Putting an extra set of police eyes — remote-controlled ones, at that — has put a fair share of Seattle residents ill at ease, though.



Obama Cancels Campaign Events As Hurricane Sandy Looms


27 October, 2012

As Hurricane Sandy approaches the East Coast, President Obama is shuffling his schedule as he attempts to simultaneously manage the storm's impact and campaign for a second term. The White House put out the following statement to reporters on Saturday night:...


Mitt Romney is also juggling his calendar. He announced that he would cancel two events in Virginia on Sunday, choosing instead to campaign in the key battleground state of Ohio.


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