The online gaming sector has been left reeling by US lawmakers' decision to make it illegal for banks and credit card firms to process gaming payments.

Many gaming firms derive the bulk of their income from the US, and he news has led to their stock market values plummeting.

The board is attending urgently to appropriate cost-cutting measures

Fairground Gaming

The bill needs Presidential approval before it becomes law but this is expected in the near future.

Shares in World Gaming were suspended on Monday due to uncertainty about the company's future, while there has been speculation that Empire Gaming will seek to diversify away from the gaming market.

Fireone Group said it would stop processing gaming-related transactions originating from the US once the bill becomes law, adding that this would have a negative effect on its business.

Fairground Gaming said that it had enough cash to continue trading despite the fact that 70% of its sales come from the US.

But it added that it was reviewing its overall strategy.

Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 07:09 GMT 08:09 UK

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Firms suspend US gaming business

Processing payments from online poker will soon be illegal in the US Two more companies are suspending their US operations ahead of the introduction of new laws restricting gambling over the internet. Fairground Gaming said US clients would be unable to play online casino and poker games once President Bush signs a Congressional bill into law.

Fireone Group, which processes online credit card payments for the gaming industry, is to stop US transactions.

Both firms said they would cut costs as part of a wider restructuring.

'Urgent action'

The online gaming sector has been left reeling by US lawmakers' decision to make it illegal for banks and credit card firms to process gaming payments.

Many gaming firms derive the bulk of their income from the US, and he news has led to their stock market values plummeting.

The chief federal prosecutor in Florida said anyone who travelled illegally or traded with Cuba would be punished.

But critics say the move is an attempt to strengthen the Republican Party's vote ahead of congressional elections.

Miami-based US Attorney Alexander Acosta said the measures would allow the US to better enforce its sanctions against Cuba.

"The purpose of the sanctions is to isolate the Castro regime economically and deprive the Castro regime of the US dollars it so desperately seeks," said Mr Acosta.

Tough talk

Miami is the unofficial capital of the Cuban exile community, a key segment of the Republican vote.

The BBC's Emilio San Pedro says such tough talk will be welcomed by the most conservative segments in the community who see the failing health of Cuban President Fidel Castro as an opportunity to bring about political change on the island.

Mr Acosta said anyone convicted of breaking the trade embargo would face the possibility of a 10-year prison sentence and a hefty fine.

The task force will include the FBI and law enforcement units from the Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce departments.

It represents the latest move to tighten the restrictions on US-Cuba relations.

Limitations were first imposed in the early 1960s and have been expanded since.

The US government has announced that it will aggressively pursue those who violate the decades-old US trade embargo with Cuba. A new task force has been set up to police the sanctions and those breaking them will face large fines.

The chief federal prosecutor in Florida said anyone who travelled illegally or traded with Cuba would be punished.

But critics say the move is an attempt to strengthen the Republican Party's vote ahead of congressional elections.

Miami-based US Attorney Alexander Acosta said the measures would allow the US to better enforce its sanctions against Cuba.

"The purpose of the sanctions is to isolate the Castro regime economically and deprive the Castro regime of the US dollars it so desperately seeks," said Mr Acosta.

I would like to know if the Indian&Pakistani nuclear tests got the same reactions when they were carried out?Or is it only SOME certain countries are privilged to get this negative& hostile reaction?I do not approve NK stand or its policies,but where is equality and do these countries not have the right to live as and do what other nations are doing? It looks to me as hypocratical & unhumane , moreover, this outrage makes the GREAT NATIONS look like Tarzan saying "I am Tarzan , you are Jane"!!!

Sabah A. Abdulkhaliq, Baghdad

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:21 GMT 12:21 UK

I think we should stay out of it, the way we should have stayed out of Iraq. This has long been a stand off between China and the US & stems back to end of WWII. If KJI wants to test Nukes, it's China S. korea & Japan to talk him down, after all it's China who props up his regime. It's irellavent whether the comments from GW Bush, are to blame, KJI will carry on regardless because he thinks he is just, the same way like Bush & Blair do. It's time we stopped being lapdogs to Bush and grew a spine

At the same time there are about 1.5 million heavily armed troops facing each other over a narrow border on the 49th parallel. It is conventional war that would cause total human disaster in the Korean Peninsular.

Robert Hardy, Cambridge

Do you mean the 38th Parallel? I don't think Canada and the US are ready to go to war just yet...

Robbo_the_fish, Oxford

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:22 GMT 12:22 UK

I don't see North Korea to be ignorant in their NK test as one would suggest. They see it with sense of defence and protection for their own territory against the intruder just like the US and other NK owned nations. Had it been for some negative attitudes or intentions, the test would have been hinted on the innocent neighbours like S. Korea, China or Japan. Any product manufactured ought to be tested prior to its use. How would they have realizes their perfection!

"Israel has already threatened Iran with a nuclear strike." - Wu Shu

• When and where did they threaten this, exactly?

Dave, Nottingham

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:29 GMT 12:29 UK

International community can't do anything for a insane ruler but the people themselves from N Korea.The international community is not clear about their stand and the potentiality of destruction to the human andits ill impact on the earth itself but the political mileage in the international sphere to create the hegemony of own country power in the all aspect of world affairs.

Dipak Kumar Katel, Kathmandu, Nepal

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:25 GMT 12:25 UK

If their long range missile couldn't fly, could they explode a nuclear device? This could could be a big bluff using covential explosives.

"North Korea has every right to be able to defend themselves."

So does USA. Guess who's going to prevail, and who's going to be obliterated in case of a confrontation?

Mirek Kondracki, Poland

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:33 GMT 12:33 UK

North Korea should have been stopped back in the late 40s but due to MacArthur's foolish actions China stepped in to protect its borders and now we today are having to deal with the consequences.

This threatened second test and North Korea's statement clearly shows hostile intent to use nuclear weapons and if only the powers could grow a backbone and instead of petty sanctions take some real action.

The world must stand up to this mad regime and prepare itself for WAR!

Andrew, Durham

It is disturbing that regimes such as North Korea and perhaps Iran have developed nuclear warfare technology, since they are considered unstable, unreliable states. But it is hypocritical to own a store full of rifles and tell your neighbour he can't even be allowed to own a revolver. North Korea, however unpleasant it may be to most, has a right to develop nuclear weapons if other nations have developed theirs.

'Dozie, Moscow

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Added: Wednesday, 11 October, 2006, 11:51 GMT 12:51 UK

It's sad to see that the BBC has gained such a reputation (world-wide) for it's anti-american agenda that it attracks swathes of anti-american comments for any "Have Your Say" topics. The BBC, in reality, is being fooled into thinking that a majority of people are anti-american in their viewpoint (on everything) and ignoring the possibility that anti-americans visit your website dayly simply to promote this agenda. Congratulations, you are no longer a news agency but a propaganda machine.

Mark

North Korea nuclear test: Your reaction What do you think of N Korea's apparent threat to test another nuclear device?

Japan is set to impose sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's claimed nuclear test, crippling trade between the two nations, estimated at $180m last year.

The UN is considering a draft resolution that would impose financial and trade sanctions, while North Korea has not ruled out further tests.

What are the consequences of testing nuclear weapons? How should the international community respond? Send us your reaction to North Korea’s announcement.

Little communication is done in the channel itself - most happens via private messages sent directly between people.

The big problem that these criminals face is not the police but each other and they are in constant fear of being ripped off by their brethren. There is little honour among these thieves.

For instance, every now and again someone will supply links to software useful to criminals. Programs can be found that crack ebay accounts, that help plan a spam run or supply background information about credit cards if you only have the number.

The vast majority of these programs are booby-trapped with viruses that try to steal the information passing through them.

This lack of trust is widespread. Beelze, who rents networks to scammers, lamented the fact that he had no way to check the reputation of those buying services.

IRC encourages people to use nicknames and in the card trade channels these change on a regular, often daily, basis. To further hide themselves users join the channel via a machine a long way from their physical location. Look up their net address and you find information about a PC sitting on the domestic network of one of the bigger ISPs - more than likely a bot.

Little communication is done in the channel itself - most happens via private messages sent directly between people.

The big problem that these criminals face is not the police but each other and they are in constant fear of being ripped off by their brethren. There is little honour among these thieves.

For instance, every now and again someone will supply links to software useful to criminals. Programs can be found that crack ebay accounts, that help plan a spam run or supply background information about credit cards if you only have the number.

These channels on IRC, and in many other places much harder to find, are where the deals are struck. It is where the spammer meets the botmaster or the credit card thief meets the money launderer.

And no one here has any fear of being caught. As one person calling himself Beelze put it: "it is not illegal to be in on an irc server. As well the law does not seem to care about it."

"There are 10.000 + users here, they trade the illegal stuff, NO ONE touches them," he said. "These are bank robberies, prolly in the top 100 biggest ever."

Stano, who I met in one very busy channel, said: "It is very difficult for them to find us, and even if they do, they have no evidence. So ... they go away :)"

He got started as a criminal staging fake ebay auctions and now he's a spammer.

"now I have made some investments ... and I can live the rest of my life with the money I make without spamming and so on ..but now it is in my Blood," he said.

Hackers who gather data via spam or phish need somewhere to sell it And, he said, when he was not relying on stupidity, he had a cadre of smart hackers working for him to break into networks. Curiously, most of these people were from Romania - a country that comes up again and again on these channels.

He said: "romanian guys are very smart. All the time they come with something new ;) they are the best hackers on earth i think."

Arrest record

These channels on IRC, and in many other places much harder to find, are where the deals are struck. It is where the spammer meets the botmaster or the credit card thief meets the money launderer.

But in the channels I've joined there is no idle banter, flaming or anyone passing the time of day. It's all business, all the time.

The channels are full of adverts touting stolen goods (credit card numbers), ways to launder the cash extracted from cards and accounts or offering the other services the dedicated cyber criminal needs.

There are 10.000 + users here, they trade the illegal stuff, NO ONE touches them

Beelze

Hi-tech crime: A glossary
The adverts use jargon that is opaque to anyone who has not been hanging out here for some time.

The jargon reveals how the hi-tech crime world is divided. Typically those involved in net crime do one thing well. Some plunder web shop databases and steal credit card numbers. Some hack business networks so they can be used by spammers. Some are phishers who send out e-mail trying to fool people into handing over their banking details. Others have the bank accounts to help people move cash without being caught.

But instead of talking about games, last night's big match or MP3s, I'm on channels with names like cc-visa, ccfull, ccpower and trade-cc.

I'm in bandit country.

The "cc" stands for "credit cards" and these are the virtual markets where thousands of stolen numbers are bought and sold all day, every day.

Card games

In most busy IRC discussion rooms, or channels, the threads of conversations are hard to follow because the typed text flies by so fast. It's like going to a party and being told you can only chat to other people by texting them on your mobile phone.

A passenger train collided with a goods train in Zoufftgen, near the Luxembourg border, at about 1145 (0945 GMT).

An SNCF spokesman said the two trains had been sent onto the same section of track after engineering works had restricted traffic to a single track.

"It is an apocalyptic vision," senior regional official Bernard Mertz said.

The SNCF said two train drivers had died, as well as "about 10" passengers and a person working on the track.

curse my re-installing of windows and thus the lack of the Naruto manga on my laptop! (and also why I haven't changed my sig even though 245 is out....) and of course being too lazy to grab my back-up dvd that has the manga on it.....

but, I used online sources, and Naruto opens the door to reveal Itachi at the very end of chapter 144.

and I would be interested in that link you mentioned Shadowknux. So was it just a random page in one of the volumes of the manga, like I've seen other manga's do?

Both of you are wrong, it happened with these character interviews, (Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Ikura.) Of course, it was actually just Kishimoto writing answers, but anyway, one of Sasuke's questions was "What did Naruto taste like during that kiss?" and the response was something like, "Kind of like Miso Ramen... wait, why do I remember that?"

If you want a link, I'll try to find it, though something tells me I'll have to go through some SasuNaru thread again to find it. (It's used a lot to support the pairing, since if you actually read the answer, it DOES sounds like Kishimoto is implying Sasuke has some sort of crush on Naruto. Not that he hasn't acidentally given his characters homosexual traits before.)

Anyway, to push this back on topic, what chapter did Itachi show up at where Naruto and Jiraiya were staying?

I've got a few questions based on the books. Firstly, do we have definite ages for the cast? I know Souske starts 16 in the anime and it is mentioned later in TSR that he is 17; Kaname, Shinji and Kyouko are presumably the same age. The manga says Tessa is the same age as Kaname's class, but I think one of the translations on Boku-tachi said that she designed the TDD when she was 15. Is she 16 now [TSR timeline] and therefore a little younger than Souske? My main age issues are with Kalinin, Mao and Kurz. I'd like to do a bit of fanfic with Mao and Kurz, but I've had conflicting accounts as to his age. Oh, and does anybody know how old Mardukas is?

Names. I've seen a few sheets of character roughs for the anime that gives the names of the characters in kana script. Now I'm none too great at reading Japanese, but it would seem to me that 'Theresa' was definitely a more logical translation than the standard 'Teletha'. Opinions? Anything definite one way or the other? And why is Kurz's name so often given as 'Kurtz'? In the dub the characters are clearly pronouncing it with a 't', but the same DVD subs it as 'Kurz'. Again, is one more accurate than the other? Are there any other name issues? I know there's been a few ways to spell 'Gates', and Garoun's name seems to be all over the shop.

Nationalities? I read in the other sticky thread that Kurz lived in Japan until he was 14. He must be a gaijin though- is it ever mentioned what nationality his parents were? (I always assumed German, but I'm not sure why). Does he speak any other languages? Exactly what nationality is Souske? Afghani? If so, where did he learn such good Japanese?

On board the TDD, what language are they speaking? Official documents in the anime are written in English. I think somebody once mentioned that Kalinin signs his name to Souske's school documents in Russian? Can anybody confirm this? I wondered if they're meant to be speaking English, since they write in English.

Sorry about all that.

Reading the synopsis and understanding after watching the episodes, the whole world experienced a cataclysm; natural or man-provoked?

Japan created a super economy to recover, however, it established a society of a top and elite ruling class and supressed poverty class.

Japan becomes and remains as the only superpower nation on the world.

Of course, there's Marxist dissidence leading to strife and chaos to overthrow the government.

The military developed cybernetic armors and mecha units called Heavy Warriors to squash the resistance.

We have been introduced to four characters of the cast who are now playing on the side that's been slaughtered and silenced by the government.

Saya (I originally heard her name as Sana). I like her design and child quirks, reflecting her innocence and loss due to the ongoing war. Her pink hair and blue eyes are the most prominent of her traits, and she looks an ideal moe IMO.

Hitoshi (I also heard his name as Jin called by Sana). Voiced by one of my preferred seiyuu, Takahiro Sakurai. Even among disadvantageous of places or despairing situations, manages to keep his cool and calculating frivolity to pull out tactical maneuvers.

Jo. The silent wolf type, and presuming he and Sana will be bonding as the story unfolds.

Gora. Peculiar mix of Loki and Pan, but his character looks distasteful and annoying to me with his nonsensical quirks. More of the crude humor, comic relief character.

It was about time for me to start investing my interest in sci-fi drama anime of this type. Most about Sana and Jo's views on the current apocalypse that are experiencing through between innocence and brutality.

Animation is versatile and stylized IMO, much in the same caliber to R.O.D. - The TV series and Fantastic Children.

I was able to catch a tune for the OP in the preview, and I'm anxiously waiting for it in the next episode.

Well, I thought I introduced myself a year ago, but I just checked out the entire thread and I can't seem to have introduced myself in this place.

So for all you guys who really want to know, I am Son_Goten (SG). I have been on Neoseeker for almost 2 years now, I have posted some messages once in a while on this forum, but I haven't been really active, although that is about to change.

Some of you guys might know me from other DBZ Forums, like B3/BT1/BT2/Log2/DBZ BF/DBGT T and much more.

I hope to see you guys around much more and I hope we can some nice discussions about our favorite Anime DB(Z)(GT)

Such a hard question. Mugen has a charismatic and energetic approach, and by the looks of all the handsprings and backflips as he fights, he makes it look like he's toying with the enemy rather than fighting seriously. We know that Jin comments on his fighting, being open, but I'm sure there is a reason why he fights like that. I probably would say that Mugen would win out of the two since he has confidence in what he does. Regardless of size, like the ogre in episode 2, he was still willing to fight even if he was poisoned. But then I have the other notion that there is something else planned for the two in the future...who knows?

I'm saying that Kenshin as the Rurouni is NOT as strong of a fighter as Kenshin, the Battosai, for a couple of reasons...because he chooses not to use sevaral techniques as a Rurouni that he would use as the Battosai, because Kenshin, the Rurouni is a more compassionate fighter. And Second, because he hasn't fought any one really powerful, in several years, his blade is not as sharp as he used to keep it. Meaning that he weakened a bit. Does it make sense to you now?