March 31, 2009

Obama arrives in U.K. for G20 Summit

Per BBC News, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived at Stansed Airport, north of London, ahead of the G20 Summit scheduled to begin Thursday. As MSNBC reports, the trip marks President Obama's, "First Major Foreign Policy Test." The summit comes amid a global economic and financial downturn that is expected to be the focus of the one day meeting.

Some in London tweeted about Obama's arrival, with at least one claiming a close encounter.

  1. tiffany
    ttttiff passed obama & entourage in regent's park and felt momentarily starstruck
  2. Gaius London,UK
    Gaiusf just got home.. I wish i can meet Obama in person here in London... too damn, he has full of tight secret service decorations
  3. karinjr
    karinjr Obama is in town! I can feel the hope in the air. Sadly, have thrown out my back, and am on the floor with hot water bottle - but hopeful!
  4. Dmitry Matyukhin
    dmatyukhin Was surprised how many police was on my way from Standted tonight. just read that Obama landed there.


Widespread demonstrations and protests are expected during the summit. Breaking Tweets plans to cover these through tweets, TwitPics, and reports live from London from Breaking Tweets Contributing Editor @davidmacdougall.

Londoners are increasingly tweeting their concern over these expected protests:

  1. Dave00Rodriguez
    Dave00Rodriguez Home & Tired! Tough day at work today...at least its Dressdown the next 2 days thanx to the possible G20 Protesters...
  2. neil shah
    neil_sv Morning itinerary tomorrow seems to unintentional trail the g20 protest route. Let's see what the crack is
  3. graham mitchell
    graham652 wondering which g20 protest to photograph tomorrow
  4. Planet Positive
    PlanetPositive reading about the G20 London Lockdown tomorrow. What are your thoughts on protest to express need for economic/climate policy change?


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Featured TwitPic: Morning in Nice, France


"Good morning from nice" (Posted by @aplusk, March 31, 2009)

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Germans oust Nazi group

Per ABCNews, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has banned right-wing organization "Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend" (HDJ), condemning the group for spreading Nazi propaganda to the youth of Germany.

Per BBC, the Homeland-Faithful German Youth (HDJ) reportedly taught children as young as six-years-old that foreigners and Jews posed a threat to the "German nation", officials said.

Most Germans are pleased about the ban:

  1. Jusos M-V
    JusosMV (Schwerin, Germany) Heute wurde die HDJ-Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend verboten. Das war gut und richtig. Aber Nazizeltlager wird es wohl weiter geben. (Today, the HDJ-fidelity home German Youth prohibited. That was good and right. But Nazi camp will probably pass.)
  2. B90/GRÜNE  Thüringen
    Gruene_Th (Thüringen, Germany) Und heute wurde endlich die HDJ (Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend) verboten. Das war längst überfällig! (And today finally the HDJ (hometown loyalty German Youth) are prohibited. That was long overdue!)
  3. Daniela Kolbe
    danielakolbe (Undisclosed) freut sich über HDJ-Verbot, Mehdorn-Rücktritt und Sonne. Gute Kombination. (Pleased about HDJ-ban, Mehdorn-Resignation and sun. Good combination.)
  4. Nadim
    Nadim_A (Solingen, Germany) HDJ verboten. Besser spät als nie, Herr Schäuble. (HDJ prohibited. Better late than never, Mr Schäuble.) http://is.gd/pOmD

Still some Germans want more action against such groups:

  1. GerdKotoll
    GerdKotoll @fdrohsel (Hamburg, Germany) HDJ-Verbot reicht nicht - stimmt. Die ganz Links-Extremen müssen ebenfalls verboten und ausgetrocknet werden. (HDJ-ban is not enough - true. The very left-wing extremists have also been banned and will be dried up.)
  2. Jusos Greiz
    JusosGreiz: (Greiz, Germany) Verbot der HDJ reicht nicht aus! (Prohibition of HDJ is not enough!) http://is.gd/pQSp


Other Germans see potential problems with ban:



@tradem: (Germany, Hannover) Auch wenn das Verbot d. HDJ mehr als nur gerechtfertigt sein mag, ist der Begriff "Rattenfänger" in d. Kontext nicht minder populistisch. (Even if the ban d. HDJ more than may be justified, the concept of "Pied Piper" in the context d. no less populist.)





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March 30, 2009

Featured TwitPic: Sunset in Monterrey, Mexico


















"Sunset in monterrey" (Posted by @justVero, Monterrey, Mexico, March 30, 2009)

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Killer ants taking on killer toads in Australia

Per New Scientist: Scientists say that Australian meat ants might be the biocontrol agent that could help with the massive cane toad population that is a current problem in Australia.

Cane toads were originally introduced into Australia to eat pests in sugar cane fields, per the article. The cane toad flourished, reproducing rapidly all over Australia. The poison these toads produce makes it harder to control populations.

Scientists say that meat ants eat cane toad young and could be useful in cane toad population control if the ants can be controlled themselves.

The Twitterverse had plenty to say on this radical solution:


davidscottkane: (Melbourne, Austrialia) Proof you shouldn't cross an Aussie. See next tweet, 1000's of imported Cane Toads meet their maker.


webmink: (South Hampton, UK) Killing invasive cane toads with invasive killer ants? What could possibly go wrong?


eranbl: (Be'er Sheva, Israel) It appears that the guys down under really hate Cane Toads, and I mean Really.


meika: (Tasmania) cane toads are far more susceptible to being killed and eaten by meat ants than native frogs http://bit.ly/4DMLh5 GOOD NEWS


Aussie Tweeters even had a say about the cane toad problem:


blague: (Melbourne, Australia) At pub at Burketown, Queensland. So many cane toads, you step on them with each step unless you go out of your way to avoid them.


cammy_wammy: (Darwin, Australia) Woo! Dad - 4, Cane Toads - 0

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Global hack hits Tibet, China blamed

Per the Associated Press, Tibet's exiled leaders rebuked a cyber spy network Monday for hacking into their government computers.

The Tibetan officials were commenting on results from a Canadian research group that a network, based mainly in China, hacked into classified files from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles, reported by AP.

The Canadian research group said they have not conclusively been able to detect the identity or motivation of the hackers, according to the article.

Twitter users comment and express concern about a growing Chinese cyber spying problem:

  1. JJ_Idaho
    JJ_Idaho (Ketchum, Idaho) Wag of the finger to CHINA! For hacking the Dalai Lama's computer! Thanks to the... Read More: http://is.gd/pwSq
  2. ronaldjackson
    ronaldjackson (New York) China is responsible for so much crap: Bad food, tainted toys, etc. And now global hacking: http://tinyurl.com/d3e6qg
  3. sam fisher
    samnzed (Christchurch, New Zealand) Surely this thin about China spying on nations and companies using hacking is going to get more serious?
  4. Glenn Le Santo
    lesanto (Lincoln, U.K.) It seems the Chinese are hacking us!Cue the next James Bond movie where 007 does it all from his PC 'To China With IP' http://bit.ly/Sy3we
  5. Just FoulJustFoul (Washington, D.C.) I'm amazed how Much china is trying to hack into everything. I have been blocking IPs for the last few days. All of them have been fromChina
  6. David Gothsubversion (Kansas City, Mo.) This GhostNet stuff is creepy and disturbing. I hope China's latest attack on the Tibetan government in exile backfires in a big way.


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Power outage brings chaos to Sydney

Per Reuters, a blackout during rush hour in Sydney on Monday brought chaos to the streets. 70,000 homes and businesses were without power after the power supply to four high-voltage power cables failed. The blackout caused peak-hour traffic jams and resulted in the partial closure of the Sydney Harbor tunnel.

Twitterers from Sydney documented the event:

  1. Stephanie Zuniga
    stephzuniga has power at home but had to walk down 23 flights of stairs! Sydney is surreal at the moment!
  2. James Fridley
    fridley Now that was a freaky trip home. Sure its been mentioned a heap already but Sydney CBD was like a third world country this avo with no power
  3. ChrisCopywriter
    ChrisCopywriter sydney australia in power outage chaos. our office power down. police on every corner. snot much fun being w/out power. batteries work yes!
  4. Mika Vidler
    MikaVidler ONLY i would be caught driving over the harbour bridge during a Sydney CBD power outage, i have come to conclusion i need a schauffer..

Others began to wonder what would happen when the sun went down as discussion on Twitter about the outage turned to talk of zombies:


  1. mlimburn
    mlimburn Power cuts in Sydney, and Zombies, all read first on twitter, Check out power story http://tinyurl.com/d2uf9p. what a laugh..(zombes)
  2. matt swan
    matsby Optimism turns to fear - Sydney's power outage might get interesting once the sun goes down... They come at night, mostly..
  3. Ben Danyi
    iB3nji Following the blackout in Sydney on twitter. Sounds pretty bad, power out for hours hmm here comes the zombies!
  4. failnet
    failnetorg SYDNEY BLACKOUT ZOMBIES ARE NOW TARGETING PEOPLE WITH NO POWER STILL.


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Pakistan police academy attack

Per Associated Press, attackers have stormed a police academy in the Pakistani city of Lahore. There are reports of at least 11 people dead and others taken hostage as the drama unfolds.

BBC News reports the attackers gained entry to the academy wearing police uniforms.

Early tweets flagged up news resources for other Twitter users, and made comments on the ongoing situation.

@tahiriqbal (Lahore, Pakistan) just came to knw abt the attack on Police Academy in #Lahore. We'll never get control of Terrorists as long as we've currpt politicians.



@guppu (Pakistan) I heard someone on GEO disclosing where are secret weapons are lying in Police Academy! #Lahore



@nakulshenoy (Bangalore, India) One Pak tweeter already blaming the #Lahore terrorist situation on India! Sigh! When will we get over the blame game and work to a solution?



@chinchinchoo live coverage of lahore police academy hostages http://tinyurl.com/ccx5lc




@paknews (Pakistan) Gun battle at Pakistan police academy http://twurl.nl/kcdlf8



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March 29, 2009

A Day in Nairobi

Here's what some in Nairobi, Kenya, were tweeting about on Sunday. It included an apparent hostage situation at a local university.

  1. SWMaina
    swmaina Am at internet cafe for 30 mins then off to the Bwindi park, I cant go gorilla trecking because 1) have to pay $250 and 2) I didnt book :(
  2. Michael Mbaci
    Daraku_Tenshi Nothing better than a Sunday afternoon nap. Bliss.
  3. eashowbiz.com
    EASHOWBIZ KU (kenya) is burning, ruiru campus burnt down. avoid the are . to all our fans
  4. daniel duwa
    danielduwa Looking to the skies & thinking the must be more billion civilization than the bail out... out there some where
  5. Phares Kariuki
    kaboro @edObie Situation getting worse... A student has apparently been shot, hostels surrounded by GSU personnel. Offices burnt & comps looted.
  6. Phares Kariuki
    kaboro @69mb Students trapped in campus... They are texting, calling me and putting info on Facebook etc #KU_Strike
  7. lloydkikunzu
    lloydcommon finally its making it rain in nairobi.rain rain mek it rain,pour yo soothings on this global warming's pains.....


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Featured TwitPic: Volcanic ash obscures sun in Alaska


"First pic of the ash over Anchorage..." (Posted by @tntoak, Anchorage, Alaska, March 29, 2009)

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