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China has delayed a plan requiring all new computers sold in the country to be equipped with internet filtering software. The Green Dam software has become a major topic of discussion in the blogosphere. The BBC’s Krassimira Twigg looks at what bloggers and netizens have had to say about it.

China has set up comprehensive net surveillance

Internet censorship has been one of the most widely discussed subjects in blogs, message forums and social media networks in China over the past month.

Web policing was tightened up around the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown on 4 June, resulting in the temporary blocking of Twitter and other websites.

Before things could settle down, China announced plans for a new filtering software to be introduced on new PCs from 1 July. The Green Dam Youth Escort software was created to stop people viewing “offensive” content such as pornographic or violent websites.

While the blocking of websites around the 4 June was not unexpected, or unprecedented, the new software has created quite a stir in the blogosphere.

The Green Dam fast became one of the top topics on Twitter. One Twitterer observed: “Chinese netizens are tolerant of censorship in the clouds, but Green Dam crosses the line and becomes surveillance of personal space. The government has miscalculated.”

Blacklisted words

Chinese internet users have started to collect and analyse information about Green Dam.

Articles about the “leaking dam” appeared in a number of blogs. The paradox is, bloggers observed, that the software, which analyzes skin tones, will block Garfield kittens, as they are yellow, but it won’t be able to recognise pornographic images of dark-skinned people.

A list of the software’s filtered words was unlocked by computer security experts at the University of Michigan. Blogger Fang Zhouzi, writing for

Danwei

, is baffled by some of the choices.

“The list includes common terms like “essence”. I can’t even imagine what “essence” counts as. Green Dam monitors word processing in addition to internet. So does this mean that from now on the word “essence” can no longer appear in school essays, textbooks and dictionaries?” he says.

PR executive Steven Lin shares the general conviction that the purpose of the software is rather more sinister than it claims to be and that it will block legitimate websites.

“There are interesting words in Green Dam’s blacklist. The word “gay” for example. Every time you open a web page including this word, the browser will immediately shut down. I think this is just too aggressive,” he says.

Install crapware on their computers, deny them web services like Hotmail and Gmail and they become vocal and angry to a degree I haven’t seen before Frank Yu

With discussion on censorship increasing, blogs, Twitter and message boards have become a platform for exchanging tips on how to outsmart the censors.

Frank Yu, executive of a mobile game development company, thinks the Chinese netizens of today are much more savvy than they used to be.

“They are more sophisticated and have tools of their own like Human Flesh searches and an intricate vocabulary of code words and slang to fool the censors. The latest attempts to control the net are a desperate last gasp by the censors using yesterday’s techniques.”

Most Chinese internet users are educated and apolitical, willing to tolerate a limited amount of censorship.

Frank Yu thinks that the government’s latest, more vigorous, attempts to censor the web are starting to create a backlash.

“Netizens don’t care if you block the BBC or New York Times – this doesn’t affect them. But install crapware on their computers, deny them web services like Hotmail and Gmail and they become vocal and angry to a degree I haven’t seen before.”

‘Laughing stock’

Radio talk show host David Feng thinks that Green Dam is part of a wider clean-up campaign ahead of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in October.

The Green Dam Girl has been created to mock the filtering plan

“Green Dam is part of the huge clean-up before the boss comes to inspect. It’s a case of a bad PR for the folks in charge,” he says.

“They are doing this just for the big 60. Cleaning up of the trash in the real world might work, but the moment you hit the wires – that’s a different story.”

Other critics have used humour and art to mock the software, creating cartoon images of the “Green Dam Girl”.

In2marcom

has put together a gallery of the manga-style cartoon and the Green Dam Girl has a fan site in Facebook.

For Steven Lin, Green Dam is more of a nuisance than a formidable challenge.

“I don’t really view it as a Big Brother who’s watching everyone. It’s a stupid software which doesn’t work the right way. What annoys me it that it costs 40 million yuan (US $5.85 million) of Chinese taxpayers’ money. Nobody asked us if we want it. It’s insane.”

David Feng thinks it’s another hassle savvy young people can easily work their way around.

“Green Dam is not being taken seriously at all. The Twitter stream is full of parodies and jokes. What do we have here – something that won’t succeed in stomping out porn, that was designed to scare us but has instead become a laughing stock.”

“Can you think of a more complicated question to ask?” says Deb Roy, as he explains the genesis of his work.

In 2005, the artificial intelligence researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab set out to understand how children learn to talk.

“We wanted to understand how minds work and how they develop and how the interplay of innate and environmental influence makes us who we are and how we learn to communicate.”

It was a big task and after years of research, scientists around the world had only begun to scratch the surface of it.

But now, Professor Roy is beginning to get some answers, thanks to an unconventional approach, an accommodating family and a house wired with technology.

And the research may even have kick-backs for everything from robotics to video analysis.

Snap shots

The question of how infants learn to speak is hotly debated. At its simplest level the argument comes down to “nature versus nurture”.

On one side, scientists argue that children have an innate hard-wired ability to learn language, while on the other side, researchers argue that language is learned through interactions with the people and environment around them.

The first task we set for ourselves was to transcribe everything my son heard or said from nine to 24 months Deb Roy

Between the two extremes is a spectrum of opinion.

Professor Roy wandered into this debate as someone originally more interested in robots than children.

“I was initially inspired by how children learn language as a new way of building machines,” he says.

But looking through the raft of prior research on the effect of environment on language, he noticed a common problem; previous studies only offered snapshots of a child’s development.

“Every parent knows that a child can change a lot in a week or a month,” he told BBC News.

“If you’re interested in the process of development then it is important to have a continuous view.”

It is a problem recognised by other linguists as well.

“Current samples that the field works with – typically an hour of recorded speech a week – are one to two orders of magnitude too small for our scientific purposes,” Professor Steven Pinker of Harvard University told BBC News.

So, Professor Roy, who by then had a child on the way, set about solving the conundrum. His solution: wire up his house with 11 cameras, 14 microphones and terabytes of storage and record every waking moment of his soon-to-arrive son.

It was christened the Human Speechome project and immediately drew comparisons with its genetic counterpart.

“Just as the Human Genome Project illuminates the innate genetic code that shapes us, the Speechome Project is an important first step toward creating a map of how the environment shapes human development and learning,” said Frank Moss, the director of MIT’s Media Lab at the time.

Professor Pinker, who is also an adviser to the project, said: “In developmental psychology there has long been a trade-off between gathering lots of data from a small number of children, or a small amount of data from a much larger number of children.

“Roy is simply pushing this trade-off to an extreme – a truly massive amount of data from a single child.”

Now, a quarter of million hours of recordings later, Professor Roy is beginning to tease apart the masses of data and look for answers.

Deep dive

To extract meaningful patterns from the 200GB (gigabytes) of data that flowed daily onto the racks of hard drives in the basement, the team created a series of software tools.

The first, ominously called Total Recall, allows a researcher to quickly scan through any part of the data. All 25 recordings from the microphones and cameras are shown as separate channels.

HUMAN SPEECHOME PROJECT 11x 1 megapixel fisheye lens cameras. Swithced on by motion sensors. 14x omnidirectional microphones recording CD quality sound 1000m (3000ft) wires connect recorders to servers in basement Record from 8am -10pm every day for 3 years PDAs in each room can be used to control recording ‘Oops’ button wipes last few minutes of recording

Sound is represented as a spectrograph, while the video is processed to show only movement, creating a ribbon of colour, which looks like the flow of traffic at night and represents the accumulated motions of life in the Roy household.

While useful for getting a sense of when and where action may have taken place, the team needed another set of tools to delve deeper into the data.

“The first task we set for ourselves was to transcribe everything my son heard or said from nine to 24 months,” he says.

He estimates that there is somewhere between 10 to 12 million words of speech to transcribe.

“For anyone that has transcribed speech, they will know that is a laborious and slow process,” he says, with a degree of understatement.

Initially his team tried to use off-the-shelf speech recognition software, but soon realised that they were not up to the job of extracting words from often-noisy environments.

“We realised that the state of the art is not even close to good enough,” he told the BBC.

Automatic systems could have error rates of up to 90%, he said.

At the other extreme, Professor Roy also experimented with human transcribers, but that also came with its own problems.

“It would take an average of 10 hours to find and transcribe one hour of speech,” he told the BBC.

HUMAN SPEECHOME IN NUMBERS 90,000 hours of video recorded 140,000 hours of audio recordings Approx 200GB of data collected every day 150 TB of raw data collected over course of project 70% of infants waking hours captured 10 to 12m words spoken 4m words so far transcribed Speechome project launched

When you are trying to analyse 16 months of video from 14 microphones, those kinds of ratios don’t seem attractive.

Instead, the researchers created a piece of software called Blitzscribe, which finds speech in the recordings and breaks it down into easily transcribed sound bites.

“We have automated components assisting human annotators,” he said.

The net result is that we have reduced 10 hours down to two hours.”

The analysis also takes into account how a word was said – called prosody – and who said it.

To date, the team have already transcribed more than four million words.

“It’s already the most complete transcript of everyday life at home than any recording ever made.”

A similar human-computer system, called TrackMarks, has also been developed to analyse the video and gives information such as where people are in relation to one another and the orientation of their heads.

Although the data sets are still incomplete, Professor Roy says they are already beginning to see interesting results.

For example, his team has been able to begin to tease apart a process he calls “word births”, the time when a baby first begins to use a word.

By analysing the length, and hence complexity, of sentences spoken by caregivers to his son, he believes that he has shown that adults subconsciously simplify sentences until the child understands the word.

Once it has been understood, the adults then build up the complexity of the sentences containing the word.

“We essentially meet him at this point of the birth of the word and gently pull him into language,” he says.

The Speechome Recorder can be fitted in any home

Professor Roy stresses it is an initial result and has not been validated by the scientific community. However, he says, it shows the kind of questions that can be answered with the data and tools he now has.

But winning over the rest of the scientific community might be his most difficult job.

It remains to be seen whether other scientists will accept his conclusions as they are based on the analysis of just one child and, as Professor Roy admits, are unlikely to be reproduced because of time and cost.

In part to address this criticism, he has developed a stand-alone device – called the Speechome recorder – that can be easily put into homes with out 1000m (3000ft) of wiring in the walls and converting the basement into a data centre.

The devices look like floor lamps and contain an overhead microphone and camera, with another lens at eye level for children.

The base of the device holds a touch-screen display and enough storage to hold several months of recordings.

Their first deployment will be in six pilot studies of children with autism where they will be used to monitor and quantify the children’s response to treatment.

“I’m really excited – this is the future of the project,” says Professor Roy.

Robot reflex

But he also has his eye on other possible spin-offs.

For example the video-analysis algorithms designed for the project could be used in automated systems to monitor CCTV cameras and extract information about particular events.

He is also working with architects to visualise how people move around an environment and how changes to building design affect that.

The results are being fed into creating a semi-automated architectural design system.

“This could be really interesting if you’re designing a retail space or if you are an architect and have a design and want to know whether it will work or how to change it.”

However, Professor Roy has never forgotten his roots in robotics and still hopes to bring the project full-circle.

“What if we can build a machine that can step into the shoes of a child and learn in human-like ways,” he asks.

“Imagine transferring that into a video game character or into a domestic robot that can now learn to communicate and interact in social ways.

“I see a lot of pathways back.”

VIEWPOINT Remi Parmentier

As a special working group of the International Whaling Commission meets this week, Pew Environment Group adviser Remi Parmentier says a thorny issue is Japan’s position on whaling for scientific purposes. In this week’s Green Room, he explains the merits of exploring a compromise that could potentially put the controversy to rest.

Whale watching and other non-lethal uses for tourist, educational and scientific purposes are far more profitable than whaling

After a year of meetings and conversations, a special working group of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) charged with solving the Gordian knot of whale conservation will officially request another year of work.

This request will take place at the IWC annual meeting this week on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The tangled knot twists around the status of the moratorium on commercial whaling, which is being circumvented by Japan, as well as Norway and Iceland.

Since the moratorium began in 1986, IWC records show that more than 30,000 whales have been killed by a few remaining whaling countries.

Among the species targeted are some that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists as endangered, such as fin and sei whales, and vulnerable, such as sperm whales.

Under the international treaty of 1946 that governs the IWC, its member states do not need to ask IWC permission to allow the killing of whales if they claim that the purpose is scientific research.

In 1987, the Japanese government launched its first “scientific whaling” programme, targeting 300 minke whales in the Southern Ocean.

However, after the whales are sampled by Japanese scientists, the meat is sold like any other fisheries catch – or stored frozen when there is not enough demand.

Every year, Japan’s “research” has expanded. Currently two programmes are conducted: in the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean, with a ceiling of roughly 1,400 whales of five different species.

‘Win-win’

In Madeira, Japan will once again be urged to agree to abandon its scientific whaling. This is a key requirement for countries opposing whaling.

One hook for Japan could be that in exchange for dropping scientific whaling, the IWC could authorise some whaling by Japan’s small coastal whalers around the Japanese coast, under IWC supervision and management.

Some think that this could be a win-win scenario.

Countries in the southern hemisphere that demand an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean, an area declared a sanctuary for whales by the IWC in 1994, could be satisfied that whales there would not be hunted, and that Japanese coastal whaling would come back under the control of the IWC.

Guide to the Great Whales

At the same time, the Japanese delegation could return home, claiming that their advocacy on behalf of coastal whalers has been heard, that the underwriting of its costly whaling operations will stop, and that the decades-long international wrangling over its whaling in the high seas, which has been bad for Japan’s reputation worldwide, will end.

The IWC could also move on to newer problems that face whales, such as toxic and noise pollution, climate change, collisions with ships and entrapment in fishing nets.

A former spokesperson for Japan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Tomohiko Taniguchi, made an almost identical proposal in a landmark article published in a Japanese magazine earlier this year.

Mr Taniguchi has said publicly what many of his colleagues presumably think quietly, which is that Japan’s national interest “is not served by losing friends needlessly as a result of stubbornly insisting on fighting an unwinnable war”.

Employment opportunities

But a positive response from Japan in the negotiations has been elusive.

And whether everyone on all sides of the issue can live with such a compromise is unclear. There are concerns that this could open a Pandora’s box with other countries that may also be keen to engage in coastal whaling.

South Korea, for example, has suggested for some time that if Japan is allowed to go whaling in the Sea of Japan, which the Koreans call the East Sea, they would want to do so as well.

The Pew Environment Group would prefer that commercial whaling be brought to an end altogether.

ut we see merit in the proposal flagged by Mr Taniguchi and others, to offer an immediate way forward because maintaining the status quo is untenable.

Japanese scholars have also argued that in the longer term, once government subsidies for scientific whaling are gone, the reality of the market might well precipitate the end of whaling.

A concession to Japan may spark controversy with other countries

Whale watching and other non-lethal uses for tourist, educational and scientific purposes are far more profitable than whaling.

The people of the island of Madeira, where the IWC is meeting this year, pride themselves on having ended their traditional whaling in the mid-1980s.

Now, whale-watching contributes more to the local economy than whale hunting did, and this form of eco-tourism creates employment for former whale hunters and boatmen. The same could be true for Japan as well.

If the IWC decides this week to continue the dialogue on the future of whale conservation, this annual meeting in Madeira may exhaust its agenda fairly quickly, waiting for Japan to come back with some serious proposals.

If so, instead of going home early, it might be a good idea for delegates to pursue their conversations informally on board Madeira’s whale watching boats, and see for themselves that there is no need to kill whales to make money.

Remi Parmentier is a senior policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group, which organised several symposia in the last two years to enhance dialogue within the IWC

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Do you agree with Remi Parmentier? Is an authorisation of some whaling by Japan a road to further controversy with other nations? Is whale watching a viable economic alternative to whale hunting, given their culinary value?

I have no problem with sustainable whaling. Why should I? I eat animals. I wear animal products. I see no reason to be any more attached to whales than any other wild animal – and as long as preservation and protections are in place, then a limited amount of whaling is fine by me. With whales, we nearly brought them to the brink of extinction – now some species are recovering, why not harvest one every now and again? Better to set up a legitimate, restrained and honourable way of harvesting than the current “scientific whaling” scam, which does not seem to have any upper limits imposed at all. I honestly don’t get why some people get so hysterical about whaling.
Robert, UK

I do not think that Japan should stop its annual whale hunting. As far as I know, they have never said they were going to kill off the whales. They are serious and diligent people, so I believe they are able to make a good use of whales. We should stop being hypocrites and pay more attention to our own problems. Let’s focus on the situation we encounter in the west, particularly in English-speaking countries, that we are killing tens of thousands of mammals and poultries in industrial farms everyday, and consuming the meat until we become awfully obese, despite many people in other parts of the world are suffering from hunger.
Khaj, Canada

matsumoto of tokyo you are factually incorrect, the government of japan subsidises whaling. whether it is your ‘view’ or not is immaterial; millions of your tax yen are given to these people to continue an unprofitable enterprise. feelings on whaling aside, do you not object to this stubborn wasting of public money, especially when japan has the second highest public debt (%GDP) in the world?
Ben, Okayama, Japan

Yes, I support the point of view of Remi Parmentier, but somehow I feel that neither whale hunting nor whale watching is suitable. The need is to demarcate and protect the marine areas for the whales and for other marine life too. Jobs may be created in habitat development, protection and vigilance of the marine life. Also, we need to control the over fishing on the basis of proper assessments of ‘catch shares’ of the commercial fisheries. As Kyoto protocol is signed in Japan, they should meet all the environment commitments and come clean in Madeira IWC meeting.
Sanjay Singh Thakur, Indore,India

Another closely issue to this is the killing of sharks, including endangered sharks, (small and large, plankton eating sharks and whale sharks included) for their fins, to make shark fin soup popular in China and Taiwan. The population of sharks worldwide is declining so rapidly apparently there are only 2 sanctuary’s left for sharks off central america and in both of them illegal shark fishing is now occurring by Taiwanese boats. If you have ever seen footage off a shark being killed and its fin cut off and it is thrown back into the water where it dies because it can no longer swim, its truely barbaric.
Simone Du-Toilete, Sydney, Australia

I really disagree with you Matsumoto. I used to work in the Sydney bureau of the Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan’s largest paper) and I know work at a foreign policy organisation. Japan’s reputation has been hugely affected by the whaling issue in Australia and New Zealand because they hunt whales so close to our coast and kill whales that should be migrating down our coast every year from May-November and we have a blooming whalewatching industry. Australia has taken photos of thousands of whales that migrate down our coast, each whale has a different skin shading, like a fingerprint so you can identify each whale individually. Each year some of the whales from this huge database don’t come back to our coast because they are killed by whales. All of the whales have been named and there are a few with very unique colouring, especially the albino whales, that have become local celebrities and are always in the newspapers! I did articles for The Yomiuri on this although it was hard to get them printed in Japan because its such a thorny issue there. Whales are not farmable animals, are not in abundance and most are endangered and I decided last year, as did many friends I know not to re-visit Japan until this issue is sorted which is sad because I really want to but this issue is important to me.
Danielle Kove, Sydney, Australia

Whales are big ugly and stupid but they taste very good. We should hunt all the whales to stop them making our oceans dumb, they have an effect on the fish which can be seen easily in the low IQ’s of Tuna fish.
Jenkem, Kyoto Japan

The only win-win scenario is if Japan bans whaling completely. The whales win their life, the tax payers win their money, the whale-eaters win their health back (no more mercury consumption) the whale watchers win their whale watch trips, the IWC will win time to focus on other pressing issues, the whalers will win self-esteem due to admiration from tourists and animal friends and best of all the Japanese decision makers will win lots and lots of respect internationally which will benefit each and every Japanese citizen. Example is leadership, positive example is positive leadership.
Mercedes De Windt, Complete whaling ban is the only win-win scenario.

People who dislike whaling are hardly a noisy minority, rather I view it to be the complete opposite. I tend to find those who are indifferent to whaling also tend to be indifferent to the plight of most species on this planet, period.
Rich, Boston, MA

if the japanese etc want to hunt whales for “Research” does that mean our navy can start hunting they’re whalers for “research” in the same manner that they hunt whales, of course not, it goes against international law, so whats the difference, if you want to research whales, for scientific purposes your going to learn alot more from a LIVING whale than a DEAD one
Alex, Sydney, Australia

I find it barbaric that whaling still occurs in this world. Simply put, I look at whaling-proponents as ignorant and backwards. This practice of killing wild whales for their meat, which we do not by any standard need, must end immediately. If Japan wishes to continue, I believe it should be embargoed and banned from international assemblies, such as the UN and G8.
James Graydon, Farmington, CT USA

not withstanding that some whale species remain endangered and must be fully protected there are in principal enough other whale species for people to watch and for a few to be hunted and eaten under a sustainable whale management programm. we cannot have every nutty bleeding heart group impose their will on the rest of the world.
dereck OConow, Toronto Canada

The Killing of Whales needs to END…period. Japan isn’t doing research, they kill to market the meat. Japan needs to “Honor” up and stop lying once and for all. Stop hiding behind that they “kill for research”……Please! You would have to be an idiot to believe their lies. Maybe we should all go to Japan and start killing off Pandas…
Denise, Cape Coral, FL/ USA

slowly, but surely, killing sea mammals will end. The Japanese are a sophisticated people, like the white S. Africans they do not wish to be the scum who kills inorder to dominate and rule. whales are much more than we realise, we still think of them as inferior beings, astonishing, yes!
S.Ireland, glasgow

No. Not on the comprimise to continue coastal whaling around Japan. Take into account that Korea wants in on the action and the tension between the Japanese and Koreans, as i am told. There is too much talking and not enough action. Whaling should be abolished. There is no need for it. I doubt that Japan will back down on this one because they have not in the past. Valiant effort though. I do however agree that the whale watching would be a more viable option.
Dana Diotte, Nelson, BC, Canada

Any reduction in whaling is better than none, but a total ban must be strived for. As many know from wartimes experiences, whale meat is not a culinery delight. As beautiful living creatures in their natural habitats, however, they are wonderful to behold. Come on Japan, Norway & Iceland – give up the killing & gain some respect around the world.
Karen Peach, Nr. Sevenoaks, Kent. UK

How can this be called a win-win when whales are still being killed. These concessions create a slippery slope, and not just with regard to Korea – any nation with a few whales off their coast might suddenly want to revive an outmoded “cherished cultural tradition” of whaling. What’s more, Japan will always harvest cetaceans from their coastal waters -as they always have- with or without the IWC’s blessings. These animals already face enough challenges in the form of pollution, ship collisions, net entanglements, prey shortages and Navy testing. The last thing they need is continued pressure from Japan (and Norway and Iceland) to feed a superficial and novelty market.
Shervin, New York, NY

No whale hunting should be allowed, especially under the ’scientific’ banner. Whale watching would be an excellent way to replace the income lost to hunting, but there are deeper issues to address, which may be the stumbling block. We have seen this previously decades ago with seal hunting. Trade boycotts should he considered also for whaling nations.
jacqui mansell, woking

Whales belong to the the entire planet…we cannot allow barbarian nations to kill them without consequences…why protect them if they will finish in some sushi.
Dom Desjardins, Sherbrooke, Canada

As a nation that has plundered the ocean of cod and other fish, who are we to tell the Japanese that they can no longer eat whale meat. As a vegetarian, I detest the killing of any animal, however, I accept that it is not up to me to decide what others do and do not eat. The Japanese have eaten whale meat for centuries – let them get on with it.
Nik, Preston, England

this will not change japan’s feelings about whaling, the reason being that for japan, it’s not about the whales. i’ve lived in japan for 6 years now, ask the average person if they like whale and the very few who’ve tried it say it’s oily an they don’t really care for it. i’ve not once seen it for sale in a restaurant or supermarket, though i’ve heard places that sell it can be found if u look hard enough. to understand why then the whaling issue is such a big deal, you have to understand the japanese people. they are a deeply nostalgic people who cherish old things and old ways. there are plenty of unused plots of land all over the country, despite a food self-sufficiency shortfall, high land prices and high tax on unused land. vereyone i’ve asked has given me the same answer: “no i can’t sell it, my ancestors would be angry”. so then ask not the average person but the older generation about whale, and they don’t tell u if they like it or not, but about how it was in their school lunch when they were young and conclude with an anecdote about the wonderful summer festivals of those days. so then we can understand that no matter how unpopular or unprofitable whaling is, the japanese will keep it up simply because those who came before them did, and that it won’t die until all those for whom whale meat brings fond memories the past do.
Ben, Okayama, Japan

what culinary value? isn’t it enough that we have a wide array of other species to eat? human greed and hubris is choking our planet to death.
narike, cape town

Whale watching is a more than just viable alternative to whale hunting. The culinary value of whales is not such as to warrant hunting them to extinction. As with other forms of wildlife with a culinary value, one would need to consider whether ‘whale farming’ is an option – which it is very probably not. Whale meat is not noted amongst gourmets as being particularly desirable; even if it were, it could simply be banned from consumption (remember the turtle soup matter!). Whichever way one looks at it, whale hunting is simply unnecessary.
D. Fear, Heidelberg, Germany

All whaling should be banned ! as of NOW ! NO compromises ! efforts should be focused on facilitating eco-tourism in the remaining whaling countries. I would like a focus on the ongoing fin-whale and minkie whale killings in Iceland.
Kristin Cecilsdottir, Reykjavik, Iceland

As someone who supports the notion of sustainable utilisation of whale resources, I would point out that “underwriting of its costly whaling operations” is not a view that is widely held amongst the Japanese population. I would be very surprised if Japanese officials at the IWC meeting were under the impression that they bring this kind of “trophy” home and expect congratulations. Nor do I agree that Japan’s reputation worldwide has been particularly effected due to Japan’s persistent desire to see whales utilised like all other marine resources. I have many non-Japanese acquaintences and I believe that few (if any) of them have their perceptions of Japan seriously altered by Japan’s whaling activities. Indeed, I know several non-Japanese who have taken the opportunity to try whale cuisine while in Japan. People who dislike whaling seem to be a noisy minority group. I hope the BBC also invites someone from the sustainable utilisation camp to provide the alternate perspective on the IWC future talks.
Matsumoto, Tokyo, Japan

Debris from the Air France crash has been brought ashore at Recife, Brazil

The report by French crash investigators into the crash of an Air France plane in the Atlantic last month runs to 126 pages. It is remarkably detailed considering how few facts have so far been established.

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have not been found. The small acoustic locator beacons fixed to them are running out of power, but the French, US and Brazilian search teams are not giving up.

They will scour the ocean until 10 July.

So the focus of the detective work has been in examining 600 pieces of wreckage plucked from the sea over the past month, since 228 people on the plane were killed when it came down en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Some pieces are instantly recognisable – the plane’s huge tail fin was spotted quickly. But there are sections of the cabin, bits of the toilet, and smaller fragments of the engine.

How the wreckage is damaged reveals how the plane broke apart

Lifejackets have also been found, un-inflated.

Investigators have examined how the parts have been torn from their fixings.

If they had shown signs of wrenching in several directions that might suggest a mid-air breakup, perhaps due to turbulence.

Instead the parts appear to have been compressed in one particular direction. Some have marks suggesting an impact on the bottom of the plane first.

The hypothesis is that the aircraft was intact when it hit the ocean, belly first, a fast vertical acceleration.

The other major line of inquiry is the analysis of 24 messages sent out over the ACARS network.

This is an automated satellite and radio system used for the transmission of operational information and fault reports.

Some of the messages suggest systems going off line, including the automatic throttle, the autopilot and the sensor that detects rapid changes of wind.

Cabin pressure

There was a warning the cabin pressure was changing, and that the plane was operating with reduced fly-by-wire capabilities.

Most worrying are the messages indicating the plane’s systems had unreliable readings of its speed – in one case detecting a decrease of around 25mph over the period of one second.

This may be due to problems with the plane’s three pitot sensors, mounted on the nose, which collect information about air speed. If they had failed they may in turn have tripped a number of the plane’s computers.

But the problem with this information is discovering whether it represents the symptoms of technical failures, or the cause of them.

Experts say only the data and voice recorders – the black boxes – will really explain the crash, and finding them now seems unlikely.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has allowed banks to get rid of toxic assets

A German state minister has blamed the European Union (EU) for problems in the state Landesbank banking system.

Dr Werner Marnette, a minister in the government of Schleswig Holstein, said banks changed their operations when the EU told them to be more competitive.

Dr Marnette said he refused to sign bail-out packages for state banks such as HSH, which is part-owned by Schleswig Holstein.

He said HSH Nordbank had made huge losses on complex credit investments.

‘Lost contact’

“In former times when these Landesbanks gave credit to a company, the risk was covered by the state,” he told the BBC World Service’s Business Daily.

These state guarantees allowed Landesbanks to borrow money more cheaply than other banks. But in 2001, the guarantees were abolished by the European Commission.

After the EU decision, Landesbanks had to change their strategy.

You cannot camouflage everything with the financial crisis Dr Werner Marnette, Schleswig Holstein minister

But he added: “They lost contact with local industries and developed strategies of becoming global players.

“So the origin of the crisis of the Landesbanks today is not a direct link to the current international financial crisis.”

He said the mistake that HSH Nordbank had made was to purchase cheap money from the markets, but, having no customers for it, it invented new strategies.

“They stepped into the US real estate markets which, being more or less artificial, crashed with the crisis,” Dr Manette said.

HSH Nordbank is co-owned by the states of Schleswig Holstein and Hamburg.

Tributes have been paid to Andy Murray’s performance despite him failing to reach his first ever Wimbledon final.

The Scot’s hopes were dashed in an intense semi against Andy Roddick, which saw Roddick through to face Roger Federer on Sunday, in a four set win.

First Minister Alex Salmond said Murray had made Scotland proud.

Locals watching the match in his home-town of Dunblane were disappointed but said Andy had been “absolutely magic”.

I’ll come back next year and try and do better Andy Murray Murray suffers semi-final misery

In a tough-fought semi-final battle, Murray lost out to fast-serving Roddick 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6 in three hours seven minutes.

The 26-year-old American dropped to his knees as he won the match, before appearing to mouth “I’m sorry” to the crowd.

Murray shook his opponent’s hand before leaving the court.

Speaking afterwards, he said: “I’ll move on very, very quickly and go and work on my game and improve and come back stronger.

“That’s a pathetic attitude to have if you lose one match and you go away and let it ruin your year.

Fans of Andy Murray in Dunblane found moments hard to watch

“I’ve had a very good year so far. I’m very close to the top of the game.”

Asked if he could win Wimbledon, he said: “I think I have a chance and I think the way I played this year was very close to getting to the final.”

He added: “I’ll come back next year and try and do better.”

Ahead of the match, shops, pubs, cafes and sports clubs in Dunblane were decked out with banners in support of Murray.

The Dunblane Sports Club displayed a banner reading “Well Done Andy”, while the local butcher’s shop was selling “Murray burgers”.

The town’s streets were virtually empty as the game got under way.

I think he’s done really well. He’s only 22 and I think he will go and win it yet David McFarlane Dunblane resident

Many were watching the match from the Dunblane Youth and Sports Centre, which was crammed full of supporters

While Murray failed to make it to this year’s final, his fans were quick to heap praise on him after the game.

Health visitor Judith Lungnuss, 52, said Murray has what it takes to do well in the years ahead at Wimbledon.

She said: “He’s a young man, he’s only 22. He’s got plenty of future ahead of him and his potential is just phenomenal.”

Anne Kelly, a doctor, said it was a closely-fought match.

She said: “It was a real nail-biter. It was obviously a disappointing result but a really enjoyable match to watch.

“I think he did himself proud, it just wasn’t the right result on the day.”

David McFarlane, 60, joined the town’s tennis club in 1964 and has played with some of the senior members of the Murray family over the years.

Speaking after the match, he said he was sure Murray would reach the final one day.

He said: “I’m a wee bit disappointed, but at the same time very proud of him because to get to a semi-final at Wimbledon was absolutely magic.

“I think he’s done really well. He’s only 22 and I think he will go and win it yet.”

Other fans said 2010 would definitely be his year.

The wait for another British Wimbledon finalist continues

The first minister, who revealed before the semi-final he would love to match Murray’s prowess on the court, said he had “made Scotland proud”.

Mr Salmond said: “He has enormous talent and is a genuine contender to win any Grand Slam – I’m sure he will have many successes in his career.

“It’s wonderful for Scotland to have such a prodigious tennis talent as it encourages children from all over the country to participate in the sport and Andy is a tremendous inspiration.”

Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said: “Andy Murray’s magic did us proud today and he put up a great fight.

“He is a player with a huge amount of talent and with great prospects before him and I’m sure he will win Wimbledon one day.”

Double blow

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said he was an inspiration to tennis players young and old across Scotland and Britain, while Labour leader Iain Gray said: “Andy will be back.”

Even Andy Roddick echoed the praise, saying in his mind it was a matter of time – “it’s not if, but when”.

There was another disappointment for the Murray family when Andy’s older brother Jamie was defeated in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles.

Jamie and Liezel Huber of the US were beaten by Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 7-5.

Wick came out on top as a cheap place for a sea view

The cheapest place to buy a home by the sea is in the north of Scotland, according to latest property figures.

The Bank of Scotland survey suggests Wick in Caithness has the country’s cheapest seaside homes. Prices were about three-times the average salary.

Peterhead and Fraserburgh were also good value, while St Andrews and North Berwick were the most expensive.

Eyemouth in the Borders saw the biggest jump in seaside prices, up 140% from £52,180 to £125,290 in only five years.

TOP CHEAP SEASIDE TOWNS 1: Wick 2: Girvan 3: Fraserburgh 4: Peterhead 5: Thurso Source: Bank of Scotland

St Andrews in Fife had the least affordable property, commanding prices of more than 10-times the level of average local pay in the first three months of this year.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at the Bank of Scotland, said: “Property in many seaside towns continues to trade at a premium compared with Scotland as a whole, due to the desire of many people to live near the coast.

“Living on the coast has many attractions, such as the climate and a high quality of life.

“Housing affordability has improved in most seaside towns since 2007 due to lower house prices and an increase in earnings.”

TOP EXPENSIVE SEASIDE TOWNS 1: St Andrews 2: North Berwick 3: Nairn 4: Dunbar 5: Dalgety Bay Source: Bank of Scotland

The top 10 most affordable areas – where prices were below four-times the average salary – included Thurso, Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

Other towns deemed “not affordable” by the bank, were North Berwick and Nairn.

The bank also revealed the top 10 greatest coastal house price increases between 2004 and 2009, with Eyemouth heading the list.

Despite featuring in the affordable list, houses in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, increased from £50,323 to £122,520 and Peterhead prices grew from £56,318 to £115,969.

The average house price in Scottish seaside towns was £136,605 compared with £189,210 in England and Wales.

Sharon Commins is an aid worker in Sudan’s Darfur region

An Irish aid worker has been kidnapped by an armed gang in Kutum in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Sharon Commins, 32, and a Ugandan woman in her 40s were working for the charity Goal when they were taken captive.

Ms Commins had been working in the region for a year. A Sudanese security guard was also kidnapped but later freed by the unidentified gunmen.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said the embassy in Cairo was urgently investigating the situation.

Goal chief executive John O’Shea said the women had been kidnapped by a group of six armed bandits.

He said they had been working in a dangerous part of Sudan where many armed gangs operated.

Catherine wanted to help researchers

Catherine Lewington is excited that she has her first cold of the year.

And unlike the many other common colds the 59-year-old has suffered, Catherine knows exactly what type she has – C16.

Despite having the lung condition Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Catherine is feeling relatively well and being regularly monitored by clinicians.

Catherine, who was diagnosed with the disease late last year, was infected with C16 as part of a research project to test the effect of a cold on the lungs.

Understanding colds

Before taking part she underwent a barrage of tests, including a check of her lung function and to see whether she had already been exposed to the virus.

She will have more tests after the cold has run its course.

This is the first cold I have been given and I can monitor to see what the effects are it is quite exciting in a way you can feel the symptoms coming through Catherine Lewington

“This might sound quite weird, but it was quite exciting to know what type of cold it was,” she said.

“I thought ‘I know what this is’ and to follow it through was quite enlightening.”

Easing symptoms

Clinical research fellow in respiratory medicine Dr Joseph Footit, at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, hopes that the research on people like Catherine will help them understand more about colds and how they are dangerous to people with COPD.

“In terms of a cure for COPD, that is many years away. But in terms of treatment we are looking at alleviating exacerbation (worsening)” he said.

Breathing problems can be exacerbated following a cold

“What we are interested in is what causes symptoms to get worse when people have a chronic lung condition like COPD and asthma. We are interested in the periods when they get many more symptoms.

“We know now that a lot of those episodes are caused by catching colds.

“Whereas people with no lung conditions would just catch a cold and get a runny nose, people who have problems with their lungs get increased symptoms more breathlessness, more coughs and so on.

“What we are interested in doing is more research on is why so that eventually we can improve treatment.

Dr Footit said he aims to recruit 36 people – some with and some without COPD.

But he added: “The absolute priority is to make sure people are safe.

“We are not including people in the study with more severe COPD, just people who have more mild COPD – these are usually smokers.”

Positive experience

Catherine said that her experiences of her first intentional cold had been fairly positive.

“I got the symptoms the first few days after using the nasal spray. I was not feeling too bright initially and I spent the weekend staying indoors and taking fluids.

“I did not take any medication though and there was a definite improvement the next day, although it had gone down onto my chest because of my weak lungs.

COPD facts COPD includes the conditions bronchitis and emphysema Symptoms include shortness of breath and phlegm By 2020 COPD is predicted to be the third biggest cause of death in the world

“This is the first cold I have been given and I can monitor to see what the effects are. It is quite exciting in a way, you can feel the symptoms coming through.”

Catherine, from Hampshire, said she had been only too happy to help with the research.

“I have great admiration for the NHS and do feel it gets a bit of bad press and that we all take it for granted. If I can do a little bit to give back what the NHS has given me it might save someone’s life.

“I am not a martyr, but when this programme was suggested I thought why not. OK, I was a little unwell, but it is all monitored and I was well looked after.”

• Anyone wanting to take part in the study can email Dr Footit on j.footit@imperial.ac.uk or call 07504527128

Third Test – South Africa v British and Irish Lions
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg Date: Saturday 4 July Start: 1400 BST
Coverage: Live on Sky Sports, 5 Live and live text commentary on the BBC Sport website

Lions captain Paul O’Connell has to rally his battered troops

Warren Gatland says the British and Irish Lions must win the third Test against South Africa on Saturday, even though the series has been lost.

The Springboks have an unassailable 2-0 lead, but Lions assistant coach Gatland says it is not a dead rubber.

“There is a huge amount at stake for these guys,” insisted Gatland.

“If we don’t front up and perform, all the hard work and effort the guys have put in could be thrown away. We have got to win the game.”

History is certainly at stake for both sides.

South Africa are aiming for their first clean sweep against the Lions for 118 years, while the tourists are desperate not to be whitewashed for the second series in succession.

Sir Clive Woodward presided over a 3-0 series defeat in New Zealand in 2005.

Gatland insists the Lions have earned respect for their performances in the first two Tests and does not want that thrown away at Ellis Park on Saturday.

SIMON AUSTIN BLOG Many of De Villiers’ problems arise from the fact he was not appointed purely because of his ability as a coach

“We’ve got to make sure we finish this series on a real high,” insisted the New Zealander.

“Some tough questions are going to be asked and it would be easy for three or four of the players not to give 100% or to be slightly below their best.

“If that happens, we could find ourselves on the end of a disappointing result.”

Both Lions coach Ian McGeechan and his South African counterpart Peter de Villiers have made a raft of changes to their sides.

Only five players who started for the Boks in Pretoria last weekend remain, with De Villiers keeping one eye on his side’s Tri Nations opener against New Zealand on 25 July.

The Lions have made eight changes in all, one of them positional, yet Gatland believes the game will still be intense.

“You can understand the Springboks wanting to give some of their players an opportunity looking ahead to the Tri Nations.

“They will have a huge amount of motivation and likewise for us, we’ve got to finish this tour on a real high with a really solid performance.”

The match will once again pitch Lions prop Phil Vickery against Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira, who was his nemesis in Durban two weeks ago.

Vickery was replaced by Adam Jones early in the second half of that game and dropped from the 22-man squad for the second Test.

The Cornishman has returned to the side because of the shoulder injury Jones sustained last week.

He said: “This is going to be my last game in a Lions jersey and I want to make sure I go out on a high.

“I’ve got another opportunity and am confident in myself and the people around me.

“Emotionally you’ve got to make sure you’re right up there and there are some technical things I need to get on board.

“There will be some differences (from two weeks ago) as well. Shawsy (lock Simon Shaw) is behind me and there is a different referee as well.”

And Mtawarira himself has been warned by his captain John Smit he will be facing a very different animal at Ellis Park on Saturday.

“I have known Phil a long time,” admitted Smit.

“He is a far greater player than what came out in the first Test. I think he will be as relieved and as excited as anyone to have another crack at the Springboks and certainly at our front row.

606: DEBATE Can the Lions win on Saturday?

“He has done damage to many front rows before and I have already said it to Tendai that there is going to be a completely different person in front of him.

“Tendai needs to be really up for it. Phil is the kind of guy who has been around for a long time so he will have learned a great deal from that first Test.”

Forwards coach Gatland has also backed prop Vickery to perform.

“I think he’s got to go in with a bit of confidence,” he said. “He has had a good chat to Adam Jones, who didn’t think much about the Beast at all.

“He has taken a bit of confidence from the way Adam scrummaged and remember, he has been around for a long time and is very experienced.”

Gatland added that the Lions had been unhappy with some off-the-ball incidents in the first two Tests.

“We said after the first match that we weren’t going to take any after-the-ball instances, in terms of pushing and verbals,” he said.

“So last week there was a great intensity but it probably was not a great advertisement for rugby and how it should be played.”

Gatland said referee Stuart Dickinson had promised to crack down on this in Saturday’s match.

South Africa: Kirchner (Bulls); Ndungane (Sharks), Fourie (Lions), Olivier (Bulls), Nokwe (Cheetahs); M Steyn (Bulls), Du Preez (Bulls); Mtawarira (Sharks), Ralepelle (Bulls), Smit (Sharks), Muller (Sharks), Matfield (Bulls), Brussow (Cheetahs), Smith (Cheetahs), Kankowski (Sharks).
Replacements: B du Plessis (Sharks), Steenkamp (Bulls), Carstens (Sharks), Sykes (Sharks), Spies (Bulls), R Pienaar (Sharks), F Steyn (Sharks).

Lions: Kearney; Monye, Bowe, Flutey, S Williams; S Jones, Phillips; Sheridan, Rees, Vickery, Shaw, O’Connell, Worsley, M Williams, Heaslip.
Replacements: Ford, Hayes, Alun-Wyn Jones, Wallace, Croft, Ellis, Hook.