Karlin Lillington

EU says US should use existing rules to request citizens’ data

irishtimes.com — The United States should use existing legal frameworks to request European citizens' data for criminal and terrorist investigations, EU vice-president and justice commissioner Viviane Reding told The Irish Times yesterday. Two secret schemes, operated by the US's National Security Agency (NSA), which gather vast amounts of phone and online data, were revealed last week by whistleblower Edward Snowden, an employee of security contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.

Third of all UK honeybee hives wiped out in wet winter

newscientist.com — This lonely bee will be buzzing solo after British honeybees suffered their worst winter losses since records began in 2007. The British Beekeepers Association says that a third of all the country's honeybee colonies were lost in the winter of 2012/13 - more than double the attrition suffered the previous winter.

Gerald Barry on his opera Importance of Being Earnest

guardian.co.uk — The first time I heard Irish composer Gerald Barry's opera on Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, I was in his house overlooking the Aran Islands on Galway's west coast. As a brilliant late afternoon sun played on the waves, Barry sat at his salt-worn upright piano and sang me an excerpt from it.

Apple Has Captured 20 Percent of U.S. E-Book Market, Says Exec - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD

allthingsd.com — Apple's portion of the United States e-book market may be far larger than previously thought - double, actually. On the stand this week in the U.S. Department of Justice's e-book price fixing case against Apple, Keith Moerer - head of the company's iBookstore - defended the storefront against a government attorney who characterized it as a "failure."