Nexus - 0210 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS... NEWS resold them to investors. Patient advocates lauded the plan but State securities administrators say it creates a futures market in death, allowing unscrupulous speculation. Since 1988, the new industry has bought an estimated US$100 million in insurance policies from terminally ill patients, offering them anywhere from 50% to 90% of a policy's face value, depending on how long the patient is expected to live, Two companies even offered investors a "menu" of patients to choose from, with information on the white-cell counts in their blood, their infections and their life expectancy. (Source: AIDS USA, 21/8 /92) court, that a telephone on the hook can be used as a ‘bug’. Every telephone relies on two circuits connecting it to the exchange: an AC circuit to make the phone ring, and a DC circuit that supplies power for a conversation. When a phone is put on the hook, this separates two copper contacts and breaks the DC circuit because there is no more need for from assisting Third World countries, the Bank is adding to their debt through mismanagement. Borrowing countries have to repay the loans they take out, even if the projects are an economic failure. From The Ecologist, Bath Road, Sturminster, Newton, Dorset, UK, DT10 1BB, Tel: 0258 73476. Fax: 0258 73748. (Source: Pegasus Computer Networks, Byron Bay NSW. Tel: 066 856 789;) power. But two pieces of metal a short dis- tance apart will act as a capacitor, which is not an obstacle to a high-fre- quency AC current. Anybody with the right equipment (Gonggrijp says he spent about $100-), and access to the telephone line as close to the target phone as possible, can apply such an AC current to the DC circuit and it will pick up the sound signal from the tele- phone's microphone. (Source: New Scientist, 22nd August 1992) US BANKING COLLAPSE IN NOVEMBER? Several snippets of information have been emerging recently discussing a pending bail-out of commercial banks in the USA, including this one. At the John Henry Conference on the First Amendment, held on 29th April, Professor Larry Goodwyn, former edi- tor of the Texas Observer, and now professor of history at Duke University, said, "As big as the Savings & Loans bailout is, the more ominous one looms immediately ahead of us - the bailout of commercial banks. The immediately impending nature of this enormous bailout [which will occur] after the November election - is not common knowledge among the American peo- ple, because the commercial bank crisis has not been the focus of sustained journalistic attention.” According to Goodwyn, the reason the public is not getting serious in- depth reporting on the causes and development of these scandals is due to the tension journalists feel as a result of the relationships their owners have to financial corporations. (Source: Media Monitor, JunelJuly ‘92. Publ: by the Council for Public Media, PO Box 4703, Austin, Texas, 78765 USA) PHONE TAPPING WHILE ON THE HOOK Something many have suspected is now out in the open. Your conversa- tions at home, or in the office, can be tapped and taped while the phone i is on, or off the hook. In the Netherlands, police are entitled to tap a suspect's phone if it is off the hook, following a High Court ruling in 1989. OVER ONE THIRD OF WORLD BANK PROJECTS FAIL or off the hook. : In the Netherlands, police are entitled to tap a suspect's phone if it is off the hook, following a High Court ruling in 1989. Mr. Rop Gonggrijp, editor of a com- puter hacker's magazine called Hack- Tic, has demonstrated on TV and in More than a third of all aid projects funded by the World Bank fail, accord- ing to an internal Bank report leaked to The Ecologist. According to the report, the share of “problem projects” has increased from 10% on average over the period 1979-1981 to 17% over the period 1989-1991, whilst the share of “unsuccessful” a projects has leapt from 13.1% to SraryeenT BeRvice 35%, the highest recorded rate of failure in the Bank’s history. The Bank has long been criti- cised for the envi- ronmental and social damage caused by its pro- jects but has always maintained Se i> _ ih hs o> ' that such damage a is outweighed by . the economic ben- Sa efits. Mr. Rop Gonggrijp, editor of a com- puter hacker's magazine called Hack- Tic, has demonstrated on TV and in ACTIVIST GROUP WINS EXTRAORDINARY LEGAL CASE DO In a unique legal case, a French activist group has successfully sued Dassault (Mirage jet aircraft manufac- turers) for negligence in providing Mirage FI aircraft used in chemical bombing of Kurdish villages in Iraq (Halabja). It appears that French law allows o> i> Se This report shat- ters that myth, Far 8e NEXUS OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1992