Features

TOKYO — When the lights change at the Shibuya crossing in Japan's capital, one of the world's busiest pedestrian thoroughfares, hundreds of people with their eyes glued to smartphones pick their way over the road.

Despite being engrossed in the latest installment of Candy Crush or busy chatting with their friends on messaging app Line, most manage to weave around cyclists, skateboarders and fellow Tokyoites.

But the growing ranks of these cell phone addicts are turning cities like Tokyo, London, New York and Hong Kong into increasingly hazardous hot spots, where zombified shoppers appear to be part of vast games of human pinball.

"Hey, watch it!" barks a middle-aged salaryman as a hipster typing on his smartphone slams into him during one recent Friday evening crush hour.

"Incidents involving people walking or on bicycles account for 41 per cent of phone-related accidents," Tetsuya Yamamoto, a senior official at Tokyo Fire Department's disaster prevention and safety section, told AFP.

"If people continue walking around looking at their phones, I think we could see more accidents happening."

It goes beyond being an innocuous inconvenience where both people apologise before continuing on their merry way.

Tokyo Fire Department, which runs the ambulance service in the megalopolis, says that in the four years to 2013, 122 people had to be rushed to hospital after accidents caused by pedestrians using cell phones.

As well as the vaguely comedic incidents of businessmen smacking into lamp-posts or tripping over dogs, this total also included a middle-aged man who died after straying onto a railway crossing while looking at his phone.

 Tunnel vision 

More than half of Japanese now own a smartphone and the proportion is rising fast, including children who customarily walk to and from school.

Research by Japanese mobile giant NTT Docomo estimates a pedestrian's average field of vision while staring down at a smartphone is just 5 per cent of what our eyes take in normally.

"Children wouldn't be safe in that situation," said Hiroshi Suzuki, manager of corporate social responsibility at the company. "It's dangerous and it's our job to make sure it doesn't actually happen."

The company ran a computer simulation of what could occur in Shibuya if everyone crossing the intersection was looking at their smartphones.

The results, based on a fairly average 1,500 people swarming over the road at any one time, were alarming: 446 collisions, 103 knockdowns and 21 dropped phones. Only around a third get to the other side without incident.

That 82 of the 103 who fell to the ground managed to cling onto their precious phones tells its own story.

Japanese media reported that around half of the 56 bodies recovered from the peak of a volcano after a recent eruption were found clutching mobile phones with photos of the deadly lava and ash on them.

Apparently, they had thought it important to be able to show their social media friends what was happening than to try to save themselves.

Suzuki travels to schools across Japan teaching children how to be responsible with smartphones through the use of cartoons.

"We use the story of the tortoise and the hare," he said. "The hare shoots off tapping away on his smartphone, and then falls down a hole. We want the children to know they could be the hare."

Phone fidgeters dawdling along at snail's pace, forcing cyclists and pram-pushing mums to swerve out of the way have become such an irritant in Tokyo that public notices have started to appear warning offenders to expect "icy stares", appealing to the Japanese sense of social harmony — assuming people look up from their phones in the first place.

Smartphone apps activated by sensors that flash warning signs or display the pavement on the screen have also been developed in response to the problem.

Tokyo is just one of the places struggling to cope with this very 21st Century menace.

In China, an amusement park in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing has divided a pavement within its grounds into two lanes — one signposted "No mobile phones" and the other "Mobile phone use permitted but all consequences are your responsibility”.

Recorded announcements on Hong Kong's subway network warn passengers in Cantonese, Mandarin and English that they are about to step onto an escalator.

While in one city in New York state, there was even a bid to legislate against the use of electronic devices while crossing the road.

NTT Docomo's Suzuki in Tokyo says despite the city's high density and huge population — 35 million in the greater urban area — there's no need yet for people to wear crash helmets when they pop to the shops.

"I don't think we will see the need for that in the near future," he said. "But our message is that it could happen. We're all potential victims."

AMMAN — The Khoury Project has released a new album this month, and it is not just another album. With Revelation, as the new CD is titled, the three Jordanian brothers and musicians, Elia, Basil and Osama Khoury have proven one more time their commitment to uncompromising innovation. This is genuine music, high above the crop, by any standard.

Refusing to compose or record any material that does not bring something new, the trio’s new opus simply is stunning. You can try and analyse every trait of it, you’ll be lost for superlatives. Whether the innovative aspect of the compositions, the pristine interpretation, the virtuosity, the arrangements, the excellent taste, or even the recording itself, the album truly shines any which way you listen to it or look at it. Before anything else it is beautiful, uplifting music that touches you heart, your ears and your mind.

If the roots definitely are in Arabic music, the music takes the listener much beyond. Revelation includes ample accents of other music genres, from straightforward occidental to jazz and flamenco, always with finesse, elegance and subtlety. The tour de force however, lies in the smart, tasteful blending of all these sources into one. It’s all genuinely inspired and never artificial. Rarely have different genres blended so well, maintaining unity while diversifying. It can be heard from the beginning, with the classy subdued intro.

Interestingly, careful listening reveals arpeggios on the qanun that sound very occidental by moments, especially because of the scales used. At other moments the way the strings are bent would conjure up the sound of electric guitars as they are played in Western rock music.

When it comes to Arabic music these days, most of the time one is usually torn between artificially flavoured modern pop and the old classical, traditional sound from days of yore. The Khoury Project may well have introduced the first Arabic sound that is modern while maintaining its original roots, again without any artifice.

From the first to the last track that is a cover of Paco de Lucia’s “Zyryab”, there is not a single dull moment. The appeal of the sound is undeniable and the intelligent changes of patterns, of beat and tones take the listener to a wonderful musical journey. 

How is the Khoury Project able to achieve such an uncommon feat? It could be their sound academic musical education, or perhaps the great masters they have studied or worked with. In the end it is probably just a matter of talent and God send gift. Plus, naturally, a lot, a lot of work.

The brothers have been living in France for a few years now, working, performing and recording there. Revelation was recorded in Jordan but mastered in France. Three other musicians have participated in the recording, Yousef Hbeisch who played oriental percussions, Inor Sotolongo who played percussions and Guillaume Robert who played contrabass. The Khoury brothers provided the main violin (Basil), oud (Elia) and qanun (Osama) parts. Each of the three Khoury brothers is a true master of his own instrument.

Currently on a visit to Jordan, Basil Khoury spoke to The Jordan Times explaining “We need to do something absolutely new with each release. We avoid, at any cost, repetition and material that does not innovate”. He added: “We take turns at composing. Usually one of us starts with an idea, and then with the other two we develop it into a full composition… We make art for art’s sake and avoid any link or reference to politics in our music.” 

The trio is expected to perform in Amman on December 4 at the Terra Santa College auditorium for the launching of Revelation in Jordan, according to Basil Khoury.

SAN FRANCISCO — The horrific misogynistic abuse of female figures within the video game industry has triggered debate over whether women are being accepted as equal partners in the sector.

Threats of rape, murder and mutilation have forced some women to flee their homes during the ugly two-month saga that has become known under its Twitter hashtag of “GamerGate”.

The touchpaper was lit in August, when independent game developer Zoe Quinn’s romance with a video game journalist was the subject of an angry online rant by her ex-boyfriend.

But what appeared to begin as a campaign for better ethics in video game journalism, especially reviews, evolved into a fierce debate regarding sexism and racism in video games and the male-dominated industry that makes them.

Quinn became a target for hateful and threatening comments in online forums, ultimately prompting her to flee her home in fear for her life.

GamerGate rage turned against Anita Sarkeesian of website FeministFrequency.com who is an open critic of how women are depicted in video games.

Sarkeesian has rejected the suggestion that the vitriol is motivated by a desire for better journalistic ethics.

‘Terrorising women’

“It is about men going after women in a really aggressive, hostile way; it is about terrorising women for being involved in this industry or being involved in this hobby,” she said in an interview with comedian Stephen Colbert.

Hardcore gamers have argued they are being stereotyped and bullied for enjoying a pastime that should have the same creative freedoms as books, comics, or films.

Political correctness, they argue, is invading their harmless, fantasy world where men are heroes and scantily clad women need saving.

Sarkeesian is unimpressed with the prevailing nature of female characters in games however.

“Women stereotypes reinforce that women are sexual playthings for male amusement,” she said. “Maybe the princess shouldn’t be a damsel and she can save herself.”

Taking that stance in the GamerGate exchange made Sarkeesian the target of threats so violent that her appearance to speak at a university in the US state of Utah recently was cancelled.

“They are lashing out because we are challenging the status quo of gaming as a male-dominated space,” Sarkeesian said.

“That is what GamerGate is responding to; we are saying that gaming can no longer be this little boys club.”

Death threats

Giant Spacekat video game studio co-founder Brianna Wu said in an online interview that GamerGate is a symptom that the industry has been male-dominated so long that men think of it as their rightful space to be defended.

Wu spoke of female friends being harassed or even driven out of the video game industry for criticising how women are portrayed in games.

Wu was also subjected to a barrage of vile threats, from an anonymous Twitter user operating under the handle: “Death to Brianna.”

Wu and her husband left their home after consulting police following the abuse.

Online attackers have ramped up the abuse by releasing home addresses and other personal information about targets in a practice known as “doxxing”.

A slew of video game makers have openly condemned hostile GamerGate tactics.

“Threats of violence and harassment are wrong,” game industry group Entertainment Software Association said in a statement e-mailed to AFP.

“They have to stop. There is no place in the video game community — or our society — for personal attacks and threats.”

People continued to blast away at one another this week in online forums, notably at Twitter using hashtags #GamerGate and #NotYourShield, with virtual voices pleading in vain for warring to cease.

Some tracking the enduring, caustic online back-and-forth maintain that troublemaking “trolls” have taken to weighing in anonymously with barbed comments to escalate animosities.

GamerGate has become a “leaderless hashtag movement that has zero entry requirements”. British game critic John Bain, known as TotalBiscuit, said in a video of an interview on the David Pakman show.

“The vast majority of gamers are not sexists, they are not misogynists, and they are feeling very put out in the cold right now,” Bain said.

NEW YORK — Enthusiasm for minimalist running shoes may have waned since the barefoot running craze that sparked them but fitness experts say the idea of minimalism has left a lighter, flatter, more natural footprint on the running industry, which is a good thing.

Minimalist shoes reached peak sales in the United States at $400 million in 2012, according to sports research firm Sports One Source, but sales declined by 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2013.

“After the minimalist movement, the pendulum swung in the other direction, said Tony Post, chief executive officer and founder of running shoe company Topo Athletic.

“But a lot of nice things came out of it: more natural running, lighter, more naturally-shaped shoes that allow the toes to splay, and a more neutral drop from heel to toe.”

During the boom of barefoot running that followed the publishing of Christopher McDougall’s best-selling 2009 book “Born to Run”, Post was CEO of the minimalist shoe company Vibram Five Fingers, makers of thin-soled, toe-articulated shoes that were designed to replicate running barefoot.

These days, he said, ergonomic design integrates the lessons learned from the barefoot craze with a natural feel.

“The future is the best of both worlds,” he said. “Minimal shoes didn’t allow enough time for bodies to adapt.”

Post noted that before the barefoot craze nearly all shoes had a 10- to 20-millimetre drop from heel to toe, even though flatter shoes are known to aid posture and alignment.

This year the American College of Sports Medicine listed minimal heel-to-toe drop, the absence of motion control or stability components, and lightness as the key characteristics of a good, safe running shoe.

Washington State-based biomechanist Katy Bowman said the barefoot movement alerted people that shoes were limiting their performance, but too many started running too soon.

“From a biomechanical perspective I’ve been a fan of minimal footwear, but in a progression,” said Bowman, author of “Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement”.

“It takes a long time to achieve strength in legs,” she added.

Before running in them, walk in minimal shoes for a couple of months, she recommends.

To awaken the foot’s support structure and improve circulation, Bowman also advises barefoot exercises, such as lifting each toe one at a time.

“It’s not just about taking off your shoe,” she said. “It’s about exposing the foot to different elements and loads, going uphill and downhill with debris and angles under your foot [to get] all the tiny exercises that your foot and ankle need.”

When choosing minimal footwear, Bowman said, think light, with a flexible sole that you can twist, not just bend, and look for zero drop.

Because shoes limit the way the body moves, Bowman said, the benefits of being minimally should go beyond walking or running.

“If you wore them all the time it’s a secret weapon,” she said, “a way to get more movement into your day without doing anything else”.

Microsoft Corp. said it would roll out its Lumia 535 smartphone this month with an affordable price tag in its key markets, dropping the Nokia name just months after buying the Finnish company's handset business.

Loaded with its latest Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, the Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 dual SIM will be priced at around 110 euros (about $137) before taxes and subsidies, Microsoft said in a statement.

The phone will feature a wide-angle 5 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-inch qHD display screen, the company said.

Smartphones run on Microsofts' Windows software, mostly Lumias, captured only 2.7 per cent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter, down from 3.8 per cent the year before, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Microsoft completed its $7.2 billion deal to buy Nokia's handset business in April. Nokia continues as a networks, mapping and technology licensing company. It owns and manages the Nokia brand and only licenses it to Microsoft.

Microsoft had said in the past it planned to license the Nokia brand for its lower-end mobile phones for 10 years and to use the name on its smartphones only for a "limited" time, without saying how long that might be. 

NEW YORK — Many manufacturers are at an early stage of discovering the benefits of 3D printing, but one of the clearest strengths is customisation.

At Normal, consumers can use a mobile app to photograph their ear, transmit the shots to the New York startup’s 3D printing facility and then receive customised earphones within 48 hours.

The process marries today’s click-and-go speed with a made-to-order ethos that recalls the days of visiting the tailor or the cobbler.

The company’s motto: “Normal: one size fits none.”

After three decades in relative obscurity, 3D printing, which employs lasers to “print” objects from metals or plastics according to a digital design, has suddenly become one of the hottest areas of technology.

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard is plunging into the business, recently announcing it would put its own ultra-fast 3D printer on the market by 2016, “empowering people to create, interact and inspire like never before”.

General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt has said 3D printing can help make manufacturing “sexy again”, and President Barack Obama has praised it for having “the potential to revolutionise the way we make almost everything”.

“It’s a little bit confusing and the excitement is very big,” said David Reis, chief executive at Israeli-US 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys.

But while enthusiasm for the technology is widespread, some companies see it as more of a long-term prospect than a current game changer.

Boeing does not expect to make major metal parts with 3D printing for at least 20 years, though company officials say that time frame could be accelerated.

3D printing “is definitely on the radar screen”, said Dave Dietrich, technical leader for additive metals at the aerospace giant.

3D printing has its roots in the 1980s when inventor Chuck Hull began experimenting with liquid plastics that would harden when they were exposed to ultraviolet light.

Hull ultimately discovered that thousands of these plastic sheets could be layered, or “printed”, on top of each other and shaped into a three-dimensional object.

He co-founded 3D Systems, with the company developing software to do 3D printing from computer images and building 3D printers.

Even so, Hull in May told the Quartz website that some of the talk about 3D printing “is definitely hype and won’t happen”.

The recent surge in interest follows the embrace of 3D printing technology by the “maker” community — the new technology do-it-yourself creative movement — said Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner.

People can now buy their own 3D printers for less than $1,000, and enterprise-sized machines begin at an inexpensive $2,500.

Market researcher Gartner forecasts that worldwide spending on 3D printing will rise from $1.6 billion in 2015 to around $13.4 billion in 2018.

Basiliere is especially bullish on applications for medical devices like hearing aids and prosthetics, where the technology “has life-altering potential”.

The impetus for Normal came from founder Nikki Kaufman’s frustration about poorly fitting earphones and learning that a custom-made set through conventional manufacturing could cost $2,000 and take weeks to be made.

Kaufman raised $5 million from investors and opened her combined factory/store in New York City in August. The space has 10 3D printers but room for as many as 30.

GE is among the large manufacturers active in 3D printing. It has been using the technology to make fuel nozzles for its LEAP jet engines, which will go into service in 2015.

GE uses a 200-watt laser to melt together ultra-thin layers made from metal powders to make the fuel nozzle. 3D printing allows it to add cooling pathways to prevent the buildup of carbon deposits that mar conventionally made nozzles, making the 3D pieces up to five times more durable.

3D printing works especially well for “highly sophisticated parts that are very difficult to make in a conventional way”, said GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy.

GE is testing 3D printing for other engine parts, with an eye towards reducing material and energy costs. But Kennedy said adding more components to the engine will be “very gradual” after extensive testing.

“You tread very carefully because you’re dealing with parts that absolutely have to work,” he said.

Stylishly designed and appointed inside, the Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde is the updated hot version of Alfa Romeo’s C-segment family hatchback. First introduced as the Giulietta 1740 TBi in 2010 and face-lifted as the Qudrifoglio Verde — or QV — earlier this year, the Alfa hot hatch receives a 5BHP power hike, aluminium engine block and twin-clutch automated gearbox, all shared with Alfa’s compact mid-engine 4C halo sports car.

Subtly revised, the face-lifted Giulietta QV will carry on the brand’s front-wheel-drive format into the next few years until plans for a rear-wheel-drive based line-up and upwards brand re-positioning take shape at Alfa Romeo.

Attention to detail

Yet better looking when viewed up close, the Giulietta QV’s elegant lines, exquisite detail and deep rich red paint are best appreciated in the flesh. In person, the Giulietta QV’s sense of width also lends it a greater sense of presence, with the distance between its diamond-shaped headlights and slim trademark shield-like grille looking wider than photos suggest. 

Smooth, flowing and stylish, the Giulietta QV’s Shield-grill extends to a V-shaped bonnet ridge, while its waistline features subtle curves and its roofline gently slants towards its tailgate. With its elegant body design as a canvas, the Giulietta’s attention to detail makes it stand out further.

To celebrate the Giulietta nameplate’s 60th anniversary, the hot hatch version bears the brand’s iconic Quadrifoglio Verde — or Green Cloverleaf good luck charm — badge, which first appeared on an Alfa Romeo racer in 1923 on the first of ten Targa Florio race wins.

Aside from Alfa Romeo’s awn distinctive and evocative brand emblem, the Giulietta’s attention to detail includes its sporty off-centre licence plate and hidden rear door handles, positioned in the C-pillars for a coupe-like silhouette. 

Of two cars driven at Alfa Romeo’s Balocco proving grounds near Turin, the limited Launch Edition version featured particularly fetching matt grey five-spoke “phone dial” style alloy wheels.

Punchy prodigy

Powered by the same improved 1.75-litre turbocharged direct injection engine that Alfa Romeo 4C lightweight sports car inherited from the Giulietta 1750 TBi, the QV promises quite the prodigious punch for its engine size.

Developing 137BHP at 5750rpm and also benefitting from a quick-shifting 6-speed dual clutch gearbox with a launch control feature, the QV can hold revs at 3750rpm before dropping the clutch and launching from standstill to 100km/h in 6 seconds dead – 0.8 seconds quicker than its predecessor.

Producing 251lb/ft torque throughout 2000-4100rpm, the Giulietta QV can attain a 244km/h top speed, and returns 7l/100km combined fuel efficiency and 162g/km combined carbon dioxide emissions.

While the Giulietta QV develops 80 per cent of its maximum torque by 1800rpm for confident motorway cruising, however, it seems to get lively for track driving duties in its’ mid-range, with a muscular surge beginning to build significantly by just before 3000rpm and all the way through to maximum power, during which on-the-move acceleration and high speed accumulation is brisk and confident.

Refined and well insulated, the QV’s engine does however feature distant intake sounds to give it a sporting character. With high boost pressure the Giulietta QV delivers impressive 136BHP/litre specific power, 195Nm/litre specific torque, and muscularly capable top-end performance.

Refined and reassuring

Eagerly muscular at high revs, the Giulietta QV is most rewardingly driven when one more accurately anticipates required gear change and throttle application and lift-off points owing to its highly boosted character. Approaching a corner during track driving, the Giulietta QV is most effective when one brakes just after throttle lift-off, as from full load, the highly boosted engine isn’t as quick to wind down as naturally-aspirated unit.

Through corners, one should ensure a gear that keeps revs in the mid-range sweet spot for responsiveness and enough range to carry through the apex and onto the straight, and to avoid mid-corner down- or up-shifts.

Though shedding 20kg due to its aluminium alloy engine block, the Giulietta QV’s now mandatory dual clutch gearbox adds the same, and so its 1320kg weight goes unchanged. Also unchanged is the QV’s front MacPherson strut and rear multi-link chassis, which provides smooth, settled and forgiving ride characteristics. 

Agile, manoeuvrable and tidy when turning into and driving through corners on track, the Giulietta QV is a reassuring, adept and fun, but emphasises real world usability over ultimate razor sharp at-the-limit reflexes. Steering feel and response is balanced between sporty and refined, while front Brembo and rear disc brakes are reassuringly effective in shedding speed.

Stylish quarters

Pushed to the edge of its handling envelope in a high-speed track convoy led by the 4C sports car the QV’s electronic Q2 front differential works hard in countering creeping under-steer as it aggressively enters a tight corner, while its electronic stability controls soon release power to the driven front wheels to accelerate onto the straight. 

Fitted with Alfa Romeo’s DNA adaptive chassis and throttle selection system, the Giulietta’s body control and reflexes are best in the sharpest Dynamic mode. Comfortably smooth and reassuringly stable at high-speed straight sand sweeping corners, the Giulietta QV has a refined and “grown up” feel to it.

The Giulietta QV, however, excels inside, where its stylish, uncluttered and clean design is above the segment average. Materials include quality leathers with contrasting stitching, aluminium pedals, nicely padded surfaces and refined textures.

Logical and intuitive layouts are mated with sporty cone-like instrumentation, chunky contoured flat-bottom steering wheel and Quadrifoglio Verde kickplates and centre console emblem. Cabin refinement and comfort are high, while seat and steering adjustability is accommodating. 

Seating position and visibility are similarly good, while high bolstered seats are supportive and comfortable. Generous equipment levels include an intuitive Uconnect infotainment system with voice recognition, text reader, audio streaming, USB and Bluetooth connectivity. 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.75-litre, all-aluminium, transverse turbocharged 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 80.5mm

Compression ratio: 9.25:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing, direct fuel injection

Gearbox: 6-speed automated dual-clutch, front-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 237 (240) [177] @ 5,750rpm

Specific power: 136BHP/litre

Power-to-weight ratio: 179.5BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 251 (340) @ 2,000-4,100rpm

Specific torque: 201Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight ratio: 257.5Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 6 seconds

Top speed: 244km/h

Fuel economy, urban/extra-urban/combined:

9.8/5.3/7 litres/100km

Carbon dioxide emissions, combined: 162g/km

Fuel capacity: 60 litres

Length: 4,351mm

Width: 1,798mm

Height: 1,465mm

Wheelbase: 2,634mm

Boot capacity: 350 litres

Kerb weight: 1,320kg

Suspension, F/R: Modified MacPherson struts/multi-link, anti-roll bars

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 330mm/278mm

Tyres, F/R: 225/40R18

BOSTON — Cybersecurity researchers have warned that a bug in Apple Inc.'s iOS operating system makes most iPhones and iPads vulnerable to cyberattacks by hackers seeking access to sensitive data and control of their devices.

Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc published details about the vulnerability on its blog Monday, saying the bug enables hackers to access their devices by persuading users to install malicious applications with tainted text messages, e-mails and web links.

The malicious application can then be used to replace genuine, trusted apps that were installed through Apple's App Store, including e-mail and banking programmes, with malicious software through a technique that FireEye has dubbed "Masque Attack".

These attacks can be used to steal banking and e-mail login credentials or other sensitive data, according to FireEye, which is well-regarded in cybersecurity circles for its research.

"It is a very powerful vulnerability and it is easy to exploit," FireEye Senior Staff Research Scientist Tao Wei said in an interview.

Officials with Apple could not be reached for comment.

Wei said that FireEye disclosed the vulnerability to Apple in July and that representatives with the company have said they were working to fix the bug.

News of the vulnerability began to leak out in October on specialised web forums where security experts and hackers alike discuss information on Apple bugs, Wei said.

Wei said that FireEye decided to go public with its findings after Palo Alto Networks Inc. last week uncovered the first campaign to exploit the vulnerability, a new family of malicious software known as WireLurker that infects both Mac computers and iOS.

FireEye does not know of other attacks that exploit the bug, Wei said.

"Currently WireLurker is the only one, but we will see more," he said.

FireEye advises iOS users to refrain from install apps from sources other than Apple's official App Store and to not click "install" on a pop-up from a third-party web page.

The security firm said it verified this vulnerability on iOS 7.1.1, 7.1.2, 8.0, 8.1 and 8.1.1 beta, for both jailbroken and non-jailbroken devices.

Syria: From the Great War to Civil War

John McHugo

London: Saqi Books, 2014

Pp. 289

While 40 years of seldom-interrupted stability under Hafez and Bashar Assad’s rule may make today’s chaos appear as an anomaly, this book points to the enormous pressures and nearby conflicts that have plagued Syria throughout its modern history, and how they connect to the current war. British lawyer and Arabist, John McHugo examines Syria’s trajectory in a regional and international context, aiming to answer several questions: “Is the sequential implosion of these closely connected Arab countries [Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria] just a coincidence? Or is there a deeper, underlying cause that brought conflict to them? In either case, what lessons can be learned? (p. 26)

After a brief review of prior history, the book focuses on the aftermath of the World War I, so critical in the Syrian state’s formation, as it brought the division of Greater Syria and imposition of the French Mandate. McHugo gives a precise account of French colonial policy which encouraged the separatism of minorities, chiefly the Maronites, Alawis and Druze. While this policy worked only with the Maronites, leading to the formation of Lebanon as a separate state, it had a long-lasting impact on Syria’s political, economic and social structure.

Despite majority sentiments for a unified, independent Greater Syria under the leadership of King Faisal and the broad anti-colonial revolt of 1925, the French administration fought the demands of Syrian nationalists tooth-and-nail. “It is not an exaggeration to say that the actions of the great powers in the aftermath of the Great War and over the following decades deprived the people of Syria of any chance of a normal development to nationhood.” (p. 27)

Democracy and economic advance were always fragile, and post-independence, other “Arab states would exploit whatever divisions they could open up in Syrian society”. (p. 114)

At the time of the World War II, Syria was deeply affected by the Arabs’ loss of Palestine, and the American embassy and CIA favoured the coup that replaced President Shukri Quwwatli with Husni Zaim, because the latter was willing to make peace with Israel (though Ben Gurion rejected his offer).

This set a precedent that soon become the rule with the US putting Israel’s interests ahead of democracy and Arab states’ needs. More coups followed, as did the Cold War. “Two tugs of war were now taking place over Syria: the fight for supremacy within the Arab world between Egypt and Iraq, and the struggle of the Western powers to keep Communist Bloc influence out of the Middle East.” (p. 135)

While Western powers requested facilities in case of war with the USSR, “the urgent Arab need for defence again Israel and the demand for the restoration of Palestinian rights were completely overlooked.” (p. 133) 

McHugo traces the rise of the Baath Party, the rule of Hafez Al Assad and the party’s downward spiral from championing unity and social justice to dictatorship and cronyism, as well as the parallel rise of religion’s importance in politics. At all times, his evaluations are judicious and fair. While condemning the repression and violence exercised by the regime, he also acknowledges its achievements and the tremendous challenges it faced over the years. After Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy led to Egypt’s separate peace with Israel, distancing Syria’s chances of regaining the Golan Heights, the “failure to achieve a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace had knock on consequences which made reform in Syria even harder than it would otherwise have been”. (p. 159)

Today, the outcome of the failure to make meaningful reforms is all too apparent: “Syria is once again the play thing of foreign interests. Regional actors have lined up behind sectarian ideologies, caring little for the suffering on the ground.” (p. 252)

Highly relevant to understanding Syria’s recent history is McHugo’s refutation of the charge of sectarianism that is often levelled against the Assad regime: “This was not a case of sectarianism in the sense of an attempt to recreate Syria as an Alawi nation or state, and certainly not a sectarian privileging of Alawis by law, but a very traditional use of patronage to extend the influence of the ruler and insure his survival.” (p. 189)

This book exhibits in-depth knowledge of Syria gleaned not only from scholarly research but also from McHugo’s travels in Syria, starting in 1974 when he was a student of Islamic history at AUC, and most recently in April 2012.

His impressions and anecdotes from those visits add a human touch and give interesting insights into the interplay between tribe, sect, class and regional features in Syria.

This book is a must-read for those who seek an informed opinion about Syria’s civil war, far removed from propaganda and bias. The text is complemented by a chronology of Syria’s history from 331 BC when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, until the 2014 breakdown of the Geneva II diplomatic initiatives, five excellent maps, and an extensive bibliography.

LONDON — Scientists who unlocked the genetic code of bacteria grown from a soldier who died of dysentery in World War I say it revealed a superbug already resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics decades before they were in common use.

The discovery sheds light on the history of antibiotic resistance — now a global health threat — and offers fresh clues on how to tackle dysentery, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of children every year in developing countries.

“Even before the description and widespread use of penicillin, this bacterium was resistant to it,” said Kate Baker of Britain’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, who worked on the research with colleagues at Public Health England (PHE).

Dysentery is a life-threatening disease that is becoming increasingly hard to treat due to its growing ability to evade antibiotic treatment. It was rife in the trenches during World War I, and still spreads now in unsanitary conditions in poor countries and in conflict zones.

The genetic data from this sample of bacteria — known as Shigella flexneri — which infected a soldier on the Western Front, show how the pathogen has changed in the past century.

Baker’s research is to be published in The Lancet medical journal on Saturday.

She said in a telephone interview that analysis of genetic differences between this 1915 sample of Shigella flexneri and three others isolated in 1954, 1984 and 2002 showed that while the bacterium has changed relatively little, the mutations it has acquired have made it more dangerous and persistent.

It also went though what is known as a “serotype conversion”, she said, which made it able to reinfect and cause illness in people who had already been infected before and would previously have been immune to further attacks.

The three other samples were one known as 2457T from a Japanese patient in 1954, a strain called 301 taken from Beijing in 1984, and a further epidemic strain from China from 2002.

“Only 2 per cent of its [Shigella’s] genome differed over that time,” Baker said. “But the changes is has acquired were crucial to helping it evade the antimicrobials [antibiotics] we use to fight it. It’s quite remarkable.”

She said she hoped the findings may ultimately help her team and other scientists in the search for an effective vaccine for Shigella, since there are now few existing antibiotics to which the bug has not developed some level of resistance.

Intrigued by the 99-year-old stool sample, the first in Britain’s National Collection of Type Cultures, Alison Mather, another scientist on the team, set out to find the soldier with the sample’s name, Cable, her only starting clue.

Using PHE and National Archives records, she tracked down the hospital where the sample was taken — a converted hotel in the French coastal town of Wimereux — and trawled through papers there until she found an entry for a Private Ernest Cable of the Second Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. It was the record of his death from dysentery on March 13, 1915.