July 17, 2003

Iranian official beat Kazemi with shoe: Report Toronto Star, Canada - A Montreal-based photojournalist who died of a brain hemorrhage in an Iranian hospital was beaten about head with a shoe by a high-ranking Iranian official, the French newspaper Liberation reported today. The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said Said Mortazavi, an official with the ruling Islamic government in Tehran, used his shoe to deliver the blows to Zahra Kazemi. He had apparently been questioning Kazemi, who had been arrested for taking pictures of an Iranian prison. 4:04:37 PM

Windows Server 2003 Gaining at the Expense of Linux Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley - While stories of customers dumping Windows for Linux make headlines, seldom do stories of Linux sites abandoning open-source for Windows. But according to the latest data from Netcraft, Windows Server 2003 is proving increasingly popular with Web hosters. 3:48:43 PM

DirecTV Sues Anyone Who Bought Smartcard Reader? Slashdot -  "The Register is reporting that DirecTV is suing anyone known to have purchased a smartcard programmer, regardless of whether or not they're actually using the device to enable stealing their programming.  They're sending out letters & when people call to clear up the confusion, DirecTV is demanding a $3500 settlement as well as the programming device. They've filed 9000 federal lawsuits against alleged pirates thus far. They're obtaining lists of who purchased the devices during raids against the sites that offer them for sale." 3:19:01 PM

Here is a first-hand account of an Iraq that is rapidly moving forward in nearly every aspect of life - political, economic and cultural. And a people that, while understandably skeptical after decades of tyranny, is nonetheless hopeful - and grateful for their liberation. [ NYPOST ] THERE are two Iraqs today: One as portrayed by those in America and Europe who wish to use it as a means of damaging Bush and Blair, and the other as it really exists, home to 24 million people with many hopes and aspirations and, naturally, some anxiety about the future. "After we have aired our grievances we remember the essential point: Saddam is gone," says Mohsen Saleh, a geologist in Baghdad. "A man who is cured of cancer does not complain about a common cold."  11:09:21 AM

What the cables say: Arafat murdered Noel Powerline - Perhaps the only difference between Osama Bin Laden and Arafat was that Arafat only killed Israelis and not Americans.  Well now Powerline has the world wide scoop, with the help of the Freedom of Information Act, that Arafat was directly responsible for murdering U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel and charge d'affaires George Curtis Moore. "the cables demonstrate that in March 1973 the State Department had promptly concluded that Black September was nothing more than a front for Fatah and that Arafat himself had directed the operation resulting in the assassination of Noel and Moore." 9:19:57 AM

Microsoft warns on trio of new flaws VNUNet - Microsoft has released a patch for a critical flaw in Windows Exchange Server 2003, Windows XP, 2000 and NT 4. 9:08:22 AM