LulzSec is not the same as Anonymous and has in recent months been largely moribund as Anonymous continued its own work. Nevertheless, the successful dismantling of LulzSec – and the manner in which this was achieved – will be seen as a significant victory for the FBI, which had previously risked looking as if it was unable to deal with the growing problem of online ‘hacktivism’. Bringing down Anonymous would undoubtedly be a bigger ‘scalp’, but LulzSec was still a big target.

For many months, LulzSec taunted the authorities, insisting that the group could not be broken. But they have now been broken by one of the oldest tricks in the book, with their nominal leader having been lured into cooperation with the authorities. Anonymous has no such leader, or at least that’s what they say. Nevertheless, the success of the strike against LulzSec shows that such groups remain vulnerable.

In recent years, Breitbart’s Big Government website has become one of the most popular, but also controversial, political sites. Loved by some for his outspoken views, he was also a controversial figure. But he proved on more than one occasion that he could drive the news agenda, and anyone – conservative or not – could learn a thing or two about him when it comes to building an audience.

His last tweet, just hours before his death, gave no indication of any ill health, though unconfirmed reports suggest he had been suffering from heart-related problems for some time.

For the US and much of the west, the ‘war on drugs’ is a necessary measure designed to limit the flow of illegal drugs. For many South American governments, however, the ‘war on drugs’ is a costly exercise that has brough little but instabilty and violence. No wonder, then, that many South American governments are now openly discussing the possibility that this trade should just be accepted.

The drugs war in Mexico has been particularly costly, and many in the country’s government are believed to be of the opinion that this war is increasingly unnecessary. It remains to be seen whether discussion of this subejct leads to any major changes, but the idea of ending the ‘war on drugs’ is very much ‘out there’ and it seems to be only a matter of time before one country decides to take the plunge.

Stratfor’s CEO George Friedman was rumoured to have resigned, with copies of his resignation email reportedly also surfacing online. But the company insists he has not resigned. It’s worth pointing out that the alleged resignation email was marked ‘draft’. The company has also released a pretty defiant response to the latest development.

Stratfor has made little comment about the emails so far, but it remains to be seen how and whether the company is able to come back from this. The list of allegations emerging from the emails is already staggering and they’ve only been released for a short time so far. This is looking like it could be as big a story as the US cable leak from a while ago. But it’s unclear so far as to what, if anything, will be done by US officials to address the problems apparently being exposed.

News of the show’s brief hiatus caused concern for fans, who noted that it was unusual for a show to be suddenly pulled from production with such short warning. Some ticket-holders found out that the taping was cancelled just hours before they were due to show up.

The show is now expected to go back to regular production, but there has still not been an official statement as to the reason why the hiatus had to happen in the first place.

Pretty much every high-profile news event these days leads to this type of scam. The idea for the scammers is to lure people to a website where they are tricked into taking part in a survey before they can see the supposed video. Users complete the survey and are then redirected to some site where there is no video to be found, while the scammers pocked commission for the surveys.

Variations on the scam claim to offer material from various reputable websites, and some claim that there is a ‘shocking secret’ on offer. Some versions also tell you that you need to install an update for your video player before you can see the video, which isn’t true and could potentially leave users open to malware being installed on their systems.

It was reported last year that Caitlin Beadles had Crohn’s Disease, and at the time rumours of stomach cancer were pretty thoroughly rejected. The latest rumours seem to have developed stronger ‘legs’ and are spreading pretty fast.

Stomach cancer is responsible for around 800,000 deaths a year worldwide, partly because it is asymptomatic in its early stages and diagnosis is therefore often delayed. The early symptoms are usually indigestion and a loss of appetite (especially for meat), followed later by weakness and bloating.

If the Glenda Monster story turns out to be true, she wouldn’t be the first high-profile Lady Gaga fan suicide. Last year teenager Jamey Rodemeyer apparently committed suicide because of bullying, and Lady Gaga launched an anti-bullying foundation last year after speaking out about the issue.

It’s important to be careful about stories like this, however, because there have been occasions in the past when stories about people committing suicide have been spread as part of the bullying itself. The nature of Twitter makes it almost impossible to quickly verify such stories.

If the EU had any power of Greece, it was this: the idea that the EU could step in and save Greece from the failures of Greek politicians. Such a notion now lies in tatters: the EU’s forced austerity has crippled Greece and has led to unprecedented social upheaval. The country long since passed from democracy to a kind of imposed Democratic^TM system that has failed miserably and totally. Greece is a litmus test of the EU’s approach to the financial crisis, and it shows that the EU lacks the ability to deal with its problems. Greece today, Italy and Spain tomorrow. And then what?

Looki at Greece today and you see pure anger on the streets. Anger at a political class that is unable to deliver the necessary solutions. If our politicians can’t deal with this type of problem, then what is their purpose? If they add more problems than they solve, what good are they? Greece needs to be put back on a stable course, and the frustrating thing is that this would be fairly easy to acheive if only those in charge could be persuaded to move away from their constant failures. Put the right people in charge, and Greece would be saved tomorrow. The people know that. That’s why they’re angry.