While Google Chromebooks up to this point have tended to be ARM-based along with some using low-power Atom x86 SoCs, it appears Imagination Technologies is working towards some MIPS design wins for these Internet-focused devices. Imagination has been working on MIPS improvements within Coreboot as a ChromeOS partner.
Today, March 23, Linus Torvalds had the pleasure of announcing the fifth Release Candidate (RC) version of Linux kernel 4.0, one of the most highly anticipated Linux technologies of 2015. Therefore, we’re announcing that Linux kernel 4.0 RC5 is now available for download and testing (see download link at the end of the article).
A patch published on Sunday for the new AMDKFD HSA kernel driver adds support for using more than one graphics card/driver.
AMD issued two job postings this past week for hiring more open-source Linux graphics driver developers.
The 2015 X.Org Elections are finally getting started tomorrow after being delayed and running close on time for responding to SPI's resolution. Just in time for the elections to start, the revised foundation by-laws have been published that shift the focus of what the X.Org Foundation is about.
For those thinking about potentially running a Linux system with a combination of SSD and HDD so that the solid-state drive would be able to act as a performance cache for commonly used data, BCache and LVM-cache/dmcache are two of the commonly used solutions.
For those interested in LVM Cache or BCache, Fedora developer Vratislav Podzimek has written a lengthy blog post comparing these two hybrid caching solutions for Linux -- including setup procedures and steps for Fedora users.
YUMI can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.
GNU Parallel 20150322 ('Hellwig') has been released.
Linux has a well-deserved reputation for being incredibly secure in comparison to operating systems like Windows and OS X.
Following Friday's release of Wine 1.7.39, Wine-Staging 1.7.39 was released this Sunday with hundreds of extra patches on top of Wine.
Because let’s face it: Anagram games are not new. They’ve been around for centuries. Ordinarily there’s a pen and paper involved, and you might sit down with a newspaper and work some of them out. I’ve even seen pocket-sized paperback books of anagram games in supermarket checkout lines, so it’s nothing innovative to come up with a computer program that does the same.
While Steam celebrates the 2K 10th anniversary publisher sale this weekend, GOG.com launched the Weekend Promo Spring Breakers discounts for a number of games, several of which are available for Linux as well. Included here are all three chapters of the Eschalon role-playing series and Unrest Special Edition, an RPG launched in 2014.
While in the process of benchmarking BioShock Infinite on Linux with AMD and NVIDIA hardware given the Linux release of the title this week, I also took this opportunity to run a 22-way graphics card comparison of Metro Last Light Redux and Metro 2033 Redux on the latest AMD and NVIDIA graphics drivers atop Ubuntu 15.04. Here's those results.
I've tested out a bit of No More Probes, and I found it to be a nicely designed strategy game that mixes in survival and a little bit of tower defence too.
I absolutely love the visual style of it, and the gameplay seems to be pretty decent too even this early on!
Version 1.5 of the open-source, cross-platform Red Eclipse first person shooter was released this weekend. Red Eclipse, which in turn is based on the Cube Engien 2, has seen some significant updates with this being the first major update in about two years.
A freshly-baked release of digiKam Recipes is ready for your reading pleasure. The new version features the Export and Share Photos with digiKam recipe which offers a comprehensive overview of digiKam's sharing and exporting capabilities.
Florian Müllner has announced the Release Candidate of Mutter, GNOME’s default window and compositing manager, a piece of software that is in charge of displaying and managing your desktop by combining OpenGL and Clutter technologies.
The Linux distribution Neptune 4.3 has been made available for download.
Apart from bug fixes and updating packages not a lot has changed from 14.04 Papercuts. So if you are running 14.04 Papercuts and have kept it updated there is no need to install the point release.
After one week of development we are proud to present to you another preview of our next stable release, Manjaro 0.9.0. This time we ship Plasma 5.2.1, KDE Frameworks 5.8.0 (which fixes issues we had in VirtualBox and VMware) and latest KDE Apps 14.12.3!
Zbigniew Konojacki, the developer of the independent 4MLinux computer operating system built from scratch, was proud to announce earlier today, March 22, the immediate availability for download of the final versions of 4MLinux 11.1 Allinone Edition, 4MLinux Core, and 4MLinux distributions.
The status of the 4MLinux 11.1 series has been changed to STABLE. The FLTK toolkit has been added to run TigerVNC and other software. Wine and FileZilla are now available as downloadable extensions (even in the basic version of 4MLinux). The MakeMKV package has been included in the drivers section of the 4MLinux LiveCD. After installing this package, it is possible to play (and rip) all kinds of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
I have just released version 1.9 of Obnam, my backup program. See the website at http://obnam.org for details. The new version is available from git (see http://git.liw.fi) and as Debian packages from http://code.liw.fi/debian. Due to the freeze of Debian for the jessie release, I've not uploaded this version to Debian yet (not experimental and not backports).
Red Hat, Inc. has announced its vision to help organizations succeed in the mobile-first economy. The strategy includes Red Hat’s portfolio of enterprise-grade open source technologies – including mobile capabilities from the recent acquisition of FeedHenry – to overcome their mobility challenges.
I attended Midwest Rep Rap Fest 2015 this weekend, in Goshen, Indiana. Goshen is about 45 minutes outside of South Bend (the nearest regional airport). This part of Indiana is noteworthy for a few reasons, including the fact that Matthew Miller, the Fedora Project Leader, is from there. It also has a very large Amish population, which makes it one of the few places I've attended a conference where most of the local businesses have a place to tie up your horses. The Midwest Rep Rap Fest is an event dedicated to Open Source 3d printers (and their surrounding ecosystem). The primary sponsor of the event is SeeMeCNC, a local vendor that makes open source hardware delta 3d printers. A Delta printer is a 3d printer with a circular stationary bed. Attached to the bed are three vertical rods which serve as tracks for three geared motors. The motors move up and down the rods, and are connected to a central extruder which hangs down the center. The extruder is moved in three dimensions by moving the supports along their tracks. Watching a Delta 3d printer do its thing is pretty amazing, it seems to dance like a trapeze artists as it dips and swoops to print the object.
Every year, Debian organizes a DPL election. Around end of March, one waits for the beginning of the DPL campaign. Everyone can ask questions to nominated candidates on debian-vote. This year, and for the first time, I nominated myself as a candidate for the 2015 DPL election. You can read my platform here.
Tails, the amnesic incognito Live Linux operating system that helps anyone to stay invisible online and browse websites anonymously, has reached today, March 23, version 1.3.1, a release that includes updated Tor and Tor Browser components.
To be honest, I was not aware of the fact that the Ubuntu Linux computer operating system does not have built-in support for burning/recording Blu-ray discs until user Federico reported the issue on the Ubuntu Desktop mailing list a couple of weeks ago, simply because I have never owned this technology.
Kubuntu will turn ten years old this April. Kubuntu is a Linux distribution that has tried to remain true to the community that makes and uses it while working with the commercial sponsors and users who give it direction and help it succeed. Over the years, its technical, social, and commercial successes have been as fun as the challenges.
Fresh out of university in Scotland a decade ago, I'd learned about software development from leading a KDE project: the Umbrello UML Modeller. Now I've had the pleasure of being involved in the Kubuntu community for the lifespan of the project. Ubuntu celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. The Kubuntu story, creating a flavor of Ubuntu with KDE software, began six months later.
It has been a while since my last Raspberry PI article. I have recently been given the new Raspberry PI 2 so I thought I would produce a new tutorial showing how to set it up.
My previous guide for setting up the original Raspberry PI is somewhat out of date. You should follow this guide regardless as to whether you have bought (or are going to buy) the Raspberry PI B+ or the Raspberry PI 2.
With the release of the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and its ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, users are offered a number of ways of running Ubuntu. I took a look at an Ubuntu 14.10 / Linaro 15.01 developer image and was impressed. The boot up time to a desktop of 11 seconds is spectacular in itself. If you like being at the cutting edge, you may be interested in trying an image of Vivid Vervet, the code name for Ubuntu 15.04. This is a development release, as Ubuntu 15.04 is not scheduled for release until next month. It offers a number of interesting features and improvements. For example, it uses systemd, a suite of system management daemons, libraries, and utilities designed as a central management and configuration platform.
After about 150 reviews including opinions on apps were posted, we have the first quite reliable information on how we evaluate the apps provided by Jolla.
If you're frustrated that your smartphone locks while it's still in your hands, Google may soon come to your rescue. A handful of Android Police readers report that their Lollipop-equipped phones' Smart Lock security now includes "on-body detection," a motion-sensitive feature that keeps your Android device unlocked so long as it's either in-hand or in your pocket. This isn't completely secure (a pickpocket could have a field day), but you don't have to worry about someone snooping on your personal info just because you left your handset on the table for a hot minute. Just when you'll get this option isn't certain, though. Google is slowly rolling out body detection to users through Google Play Services, not software updates, so you might not know it's available until you dig through the settings at the right time.
Android users are beginning to see an option for on-body detection in version 5.0 and up, which lets you unlock your device once, and then have that unlock grant you continued access without having to re-enter your pin, so long as the smartphone or tablet never leaves your person.
Google recently pushed the factory images of the Android 5.1 Lollipop and even released it to numerous devices including the Nexus 5. Now the tablets are going to get the Android 5.1 update starting off with the Nexus 10 tablet.
The Google Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS update that promises fixes to bugs present in the older Android 5.0 (Lollipop) has now expanded its roll-out and is now available for Micromax Canvas A1 users in India.
Google has really ramped up its Android Wear marketing since Apple announced its launch dates for the Apple Watch, and diversity is the focus of its latest one-minute ad entitled “Wear what you want.”
Motorola fans will soon be able to get a taste of Android 5.1 Lollipop as the Moto X (2nd gen) is poised to get the software update.
So far, we’ve only seen select Nexus devices get updated to Android 5.1. That could change soon, though, because Motorola appears to be getting the update ready for the Moto X (2nd Gen.).
Following the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google announced that it has now rolled out the newest Android 5.1 Lollipop for a slew of its Nexus devices like the Nexus 6, 5, 7, and 10.
If you have a Windows tablet and you want to run Android apps on it, or you want to play Clash of Clans on your desktop, AMI DuOS could be for you. It runs Android on top of Windows as though it was just another application. The promise of silky smooth performance and a low price tag of $10 reeled me in.
Regardless of the type of update that Android releases, it always has an impact on devices - much more on Nexus units. As with the recent Android 5.1, Nexus are also in line for the enhancements and other features that come along with it. The release may depend on the location and type of device of the user but the rollout should happen.
Google may have shut its explorer program, but the company is far from finished with Google Glass, according to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
He contacted a colleague Ivan Gayton who also works for MSF, to see what could be done. Ivan Gayton decided to contact Google, who had assisted him before during a cholera epidemic, to see if they could help. Google.org, which is Google’s charitable organization, sprung into action by tapping its Crisis response team. This response team gathered resources and personnel together from around the world and brought them to London to work on the project. The result was an Android tablet that ran on top of open-source software and constructed out of a polycarbonate material. The polycarbonate material allows the tablet to be dipped in chlorine and sanitized so that it can leave the facility. This table is used to take information and send it wirelessly to servers located at the scene. These servers are run by a generator for power, as some of the places that MSF responds to do not have electrical power.
While tech industry giants like Apple and Microsoft have popularized the personal digital assistant by enabling smartphone users to ask Siri or Cortana to set alarms or find answers to their questions, now other developers and smaller companies can implement their own version of such assistants with new open-source software called Sirius.
This group is a community-led industry-supported open source reference platform for Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV).
TechTarget defines NFV as an initiative to virtualise the network services that are (or were previously) being carried out by proprietary, dedicated hardware -- NFV is part of the wider industry shift towards network and application virtualisation.
Software defined networking (SDN) is becoming a major driver for a number of next generation technologies to power the communications systems and networks of tomorow. Many of these projects are being developed as open source collaborations between the companies creating and using networking solutions.
FOSSAsia is the largest open source conference in Asia. This year, it was hosted in Singapore and I had a chance to speak there about Project Atomic. Singapore is a beautiful place but unfortunately I had a bad throat as soon as I reached there. That killed most of the fun but nonetheless the conference was great. I met up with a lot of new and old faces. The conference was kick started by Hong Phuc and Mario. Day 1 had a lot of interesting talks by Harish, Lennart, Brian and a lot of other interesting people. Novena project had an interesting talk by Bunny who showed why failure of Moore’s Law is actually a good news for open hardware hackers. I heard about Novena during Flock and I must say that it has come long way since. Most of all I enjoyed the talk given by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on open data. The efforts of his team to bring data to public is really commendable. I wish more politicians think the way he is thinking. The day concluded and there was a barbeque in the evening but I had to skip it due to bad health.
Wow, finally I have time to write about February. This one was a packed month! First we had FOSDEM, then DevConf.CZ and then finally SCALE 13x.
When academia and open source collaborate, everybody wins. Open source projects get new contributors, professors get students with more knowledge and perspective about real-world software development, and—most importantly—students can get extra mentorship while gaining hands-on experience in their chosen fields.
Mozilla has released the stable version of its Firefox 36.0.4 web browser for users of Windows, Mac, Linux desktop OSes and the Android mobile platform.
I’ve tagged version 4.0.5 of DragonFly, and it’s available at your nearest mirror. This revision is mostly to incorporate the newest OpenSSL security bump.
Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan announced the winners of the FSF's annual Free Software Awards at a ceremony on Saturday, March 21st, held during the LibrePlanet 2015 conference at MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Two awards were given: the Award for the Advancement of Free Software and the Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
Genomic data should be made publicly available for the promotion of science as a global public good, a new paper argues. Two researchers suggest that a model inspired by the open-source computer software movement should be developed for plant breeding, animal breeding, and biomedicine.
I learned about David Lippman from an article on TeamOpen and realized I needed to talk to him more about his work in open education and open source. David is a professor at Pierce College and has saved students a million dollars with his shared textbooks. He also built IMathAS, a free, open source math assessment and course platform.
As time goes by and technology improves, we are constantly seeing prices for previously groundbreaking technology fall to levels which allow for the adoption of this technology by the masses. 3D printing is one of these technologies, in that now, virtually anyone in the developed world can afford a desktop 3D printer. At the same time though, other technologies are following in this same path. For example smartphones, tablets and mini computers can now perform tasks that a machine 20 years ago, at 100 times the price, couldn’t even have come close to achieving.
These days, nearly every developer is familiar with the benefits of open source code and coding tools. Open source repositories like GitHub and SourceForge provide invaluable resources for those searching for assistance in creating their own applications.
In addition, many of the most popular development tools are available under open source licenses. The last few years have seen an explosion of new tools, particularly in categories like mobile development and JavaScript frameworks. This month we're updating our previous list of open source development tools and highlighting 101 of the very best open source bugtrackers, programming languages, version control systems, frameworks, IDEs, text editors and other tools.
At the turn of the millenium, a new breed of open-source hosting platforms was created to provide free hosting for open-source projects. The inaugral hosting service was SourceForge, created by VA Linux as a means to host open-source projects in 1999, to support their VA Linux product created in 1993. The repository provided a location for developers to host code (with CVS), have an issue tracking system, mailing lists and hosting for download purposes. By the end of 2001, over 30,000 projects were hosted on SourceForge. By 2006 the number of projects had grown to 100k, and adding Google Ads provided a means of income to support the hosting site. 2006 also saw Subversion being added to the platform.
Many in Washington this week have been questioning whether the Federal Trade Commission made the right call when it rebuffed its own staff recommendation in 2013 to take Google to court over alleged anti-competitive practices. The debate was sparked by a Wall Street Journal story describing the FTC's internal staff memo on Google, which the agency inadvertently sent to the publication.
David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have been drawn into the cash for access debate after it emerged that all three met an undercover businessman posing as a potential donor.
The method would allow attackers to surreptitiously siphon passwords or security keys from a protected system and transmit the data to an internet-connected system that’s in close proximity and that the attackers control. They could also use the internet-connected system to send malicious commands to the air-gapped system using the same heat and sensor technique.
Slowly but surely, the Pwn2Own hacker contest has become an important fixture in the world of testing the security of software applications, operating systems and hardware devices. In fact, it’s now widely followed by major technology companies and technologists of all stripes.
A consortium of Mexican media organizations have launched Méxicoleaks, an unedited online whistleblower tool similar to Wikileaks. The site uses the Tor browser to anonymize users and encryption to guarantee the safety of those that submit information, according to Processo, one of the organizations supporting the website.
There have been no classified diplomatic cables. No top-secret intelligence reports. No fugitive whistleblowers.
And yet Mexico's latest experiment in free speech, the new Web site MexicoLeaks, has already generated its own media mini-tempest.
Mexico's WikiLeaks-inspired whistleblower website is already making waves just days after its launch, even though it has yet to expose any government scandals.
MexicoLeaks was announced by star journalist Carmen Aristegui last week when she told her audience that her MVS radio team was part of the initiative.
South Africa is experiencing its own WikiLeaks moment as leaked classified documents from the State Security Agency and some foreign spy agencies are to be published by News24, Al Jazeera and the British Guardian, starting on Monday night.
Julian Assange still remains holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London. The WikiLeaks founder told RTS the US government would never let him off the hook for publishing top secret US military documents leaked in 2010.
[...]
“Phones and hard drives worldwide are now under surveillance. This makes the world a very vulnerable place and poses a threat to everyone,” Assange said, adding that he will keep working to make sure people have access to censored data, because this information is essential in order to have a better understanding of the world we live in.
Not a single one of those prosecuted has been allowed to argue that their actions served the public good. Chelsea Manning, the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, exposed human rights abuses worldwide and opened an unprecedented window into global politics. Her disclosures are to this day cited regularly by the media and courts. Thomas Drake exposed massive NSA waste, while John Kiriakou exposed waterboarding later admitted to be torture in the recent Senate CIA Torture Report. The story of Edward Snowden's disclosures of widespread NSA surveillance recently won an Oscar.
The US government is expected this week to give the go-ahead to a controversial plan by Shell to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic.
The green light from Sally Jewell, the interior secretary, will spark protests from environmentalists who have campaigned against proposed exploration by the Anglo-Dutch group in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska.
Bill and Melinda Gates are some of the most vocal advocates for reversing the effects of climate change, but The Guardian revealed yesterday that their foundation held at least $1.4 billion worth of investments in fossil fuel companies, according to the charity’s 2013 tax filings.
The London-based Guardian newspaper has taken aim at two leading charities—the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK’s Wellcome Trust—pressuring them to divest from fossil fuel-related assets.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had at least $1.4 billion invested in large oil, gas, and coal companies in 2013, The Guardian writes, citing an analysis of the charity's most recent available tax return. The $43 billion fund had stakes in 35 of the 200 firms with the biggest fossil-fuel reserves, according to the newspaper, which launched a petition drive Monday calling on the foundation to divest from the industry.
The oceans are slowly overtaking Florida. Ancient reefs of mollusk and coral off the present-day coasts are dying. Annual extremes in hot and cold, wet and dry, are becoming more pronounced. Women and men of science have investigated, and a great majority agree upon a culprit. In the outside world, this culprit has a name, but within the borders of Florida, it does not. According to a Miami Herald investigation, the state Department of Environmental Protection has since 2010 had an unwritten policy prohibiting the use of some well-understood phrases for the meteorological phenomena slowly drowning America’s weirdest-shaped state. It’s … that thing where burning too much fossil fuel puts certain molecules into a certain atmosphere, disrupting a certain planetary ecosystem. You know what we’re talking about. We know you know. They know we know you know. But are we allowed to talk about … you know? No. Not in Florida. It must not be spoken of. Ever.
Parliamentary report on antisemitism calls for protection orders used to ban sex offenders from using the internet to be extended to hate crime. But these should be used to prevent serious harm, not as punishment for hate speech in general.
The next great First Amendment battleground is just six inches high. It is a license plate bearing the Confederate flag.
Nine states let drivers choose specialty license plates featuring the flag and honoring the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which says it seeks to celebrate Southern heritage. But Texas refused to allow the group’s plates, saying the flag was offensive.
The consequences of GCHQ's activities have the potential to harm society, the economy and our foreign standing. These have not been fully explored by Parliament. We hope that this report helps MPs to understand the range of GCHQ's activities and the fact that they affect ordinary people not just those suspected of threatening national security.
For many people surveillance makes them less safe.
New Zealand launched a covert surveillance operation targeting candidates vying to be director general of the World Trade Organization, a top-secret document reveals.
New Zealand's spy agency GCSB used the US NSA's XKeyscore mass surveillance tool to spy on candidates from around the world vying to lead the World Trade Organisation.
GCSB used XKeyscore to set up searches for communications about candidates from Brazil, South Korea, Indonesia. Mexico, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya and Costa Rica, according to a document released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
GCSB used United States’ XKeyscore surveillance system to intercept emails mentioning other candidates for WTO job and paid close attention to Indonesian contender.
Exclusive - Secret document reveals Five Eyes software used for surveillance on candidates for WTO job.
The Green Party has slammed the Government's claimed use of its spy agency to snoop on rival candidates for a top World Trade Organisation Job.
Documents obtained by the US-based Intercept website purport to show the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) snooped on candidates for the WTO job for which Trade Minister Tim Groser was in the running.
Groser ultimately missed out on the job to Brazil's Roberto Azevedo.
Documents released today, by the Herald, show the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was spying on Tim Groser’s rivals for the position of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Tim Groser’s personal use of the GCSB to try and get himself a job at the WTO is a highly dubious use of an agency that is meant to combat security threats, Labour Leader Andrew Little says.
New Zealand’s spy agencies are once again being used to further the personal ambitions of Cabinet Ministers, the Green Party said today.
How far does GCSB ‘trade team’ spying go?
“Revelations this morning that the GCSB was spying on Trade Minister Groser’s opponents for the top job at the world Trade Organization raise the question about other activities of the GCSB’s ‘trade team’.
Our spies monitored email and internet traffic about international diplomats vying for the job of director-general of the World Trade Organisation - a job for which National Government Trade Minister Tim Groser was competing.
The spying operation was active in 2013 and called the "WTO Project" by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), according to a top secret document obtained by the Herald and United States news site The Intercept.
The Government Communications Security Bureau used the Five Eyes spying network to trawl through the communications of candidates from Brazil, South Korea, Kenya, Indonesia and others, according to documents obtained by journalists Glenn Greenwald and Nicky Hager.
The government is playing down allegations New Zealand's spy agency snooped on foreigners competing with Trade Minister Tim Groser for the top job at the World Trade Organisation.
Journalist Nicky Hager says New Zealand spied on candidates vying to lead the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a bid to help the New Zealand contender Tim Groser.
Encryption programs such as Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, can make your email appear indecipherable to anyone without the digital key to translate the gibberish. This can help prevent highly sensitive financial and business information from getting swept up by hackers, as well as a government dragnet. Yet only 2 percent of the people surveyed by Pew used PGP or other email encryption programs. Part of the problem: Encryption isn’t easy to use, as email recipients also need to use encryption or leave their regular inboxes to read messages.
In Athens thousands joined the Greek leg of the international day of action against racism and fascism. Kevin Ovenden reports
DeHart fled to Canada in 2014 ahead of a criminal trial on child pornography charges. But such were only false accusations, he claimed, meant to be used as leverage to push a probe into espionage and national security focused on his alleged involvement with the Anonymous and WikiLeaks hacker groups. He had likewise been alleged as to have leaked a number of classified U.S. government documents. While in custody in the United States, the former American serviceman in the Air National Guard claimed he was subjected to torture. “The abuse of the law in DeHart’s case is obvious, shocking and wrong,” Assange said in a statement.
On Tuesday, a Georgia House Subcommittee held a hearing about a bill that would take a first step against NDAA indefinite detention in the state.
The U.S. House of Representatives is moving toward a vote in mid-May on the annual half-billion-dollar defense policy bill, U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said on Monday.
Thornberry also said he plans to introduce next week legislation to reform the U.S. defense acquisition process. There is no schedule yet for a vote on that bill in the House, he told a news briefing, saying he first wanted to open up the process for comments.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested that Singapore was a model on how a country should run, making it clear that he intended to follow Lee’s and not the West’s advice.
A famously unsentimental man, he would laugh off complaints that the Singapore he'd built was "sterile" or "boring" or "charmless." After all, the Singapore it replaced – a colonial British port – was squalid and poor. Yes the old kampong and Chinese-style shop-houses had character, but the government's utilitarian public housing, block after block, put apartment ownership within reach of almost every Singaporean family.
On the passing on Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said:
“Our thoughts and sympathies go out to the family of Lee Kuan Yew and others who mourn his passing.”
“Lee Kuan Yew more than anyone else built modern Singapore, and his legacy will be unrivalled economic progress and development. There is, however, a dark side to what he leaves behind – too often, basic freedoms and human rights were sacrificed to ensure economic growth. Restrictions on freedom of expression and the silencing of criticism is still part of the daily reality for Singaporeans.”
“Lee Kuan Yew’s passing, just a few months short of Singapore’s 50th anniversary of independence, happens just as the country enters a new era. We urge the next generation of leaders to ensure that this is marked by genuine respect for human rights.”
A new kind of governance is being born right before our eyes. Stop pretending it’s not happening.