Cindy Sheehan's son Casey was killed in Iraq. She galvanised the anti war movement in the USA by setting up camp outside President Bush's ranch. Now Cindy will be attending several events in Scotland this Thursday 8th December.

Short report from some of the Glasgow Clowns about what they got up to when celebrating Buy Nothing Day this year.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke, when trying to push for 90 day internment in the latest Terrorism Bill, claimed that people needed to be held for such a long time so that the files on their computers could be cracked by the cops. A Cambridge Uni professor says this isn't possible and that modern encrpytion is effectively uncrackable if used properly. See http://www.GnuPG.org for (free!) email encryption to make MI5 officers cry.

The protest against the proposed A68 Dalkeith Bypass that would cut through the Esh Valley wildlife corridor and Dalkieth Country Park call for a Public Inquiry. Support this call by writing to MSPs and urging them to carryout the proper studies.

THE Socialist MSP Rosie Kane and nine other protesters were fined a total of £3,000 yesterday, after being found guilty of breaking the law during an anti-nuclear demonstration in which they sat in a giant mock submarine. They chose the spot on Canongate in an attempt to attract the attention of MSPs, but their actions put them in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. All ten were accused of blocking the road on 10 March this year and obstructing the police. The accused had denied the charges but, at the end of a three-day trial, Sheriff Noel McPartlin found them all guilty of both offences. He fined each a total of £300 - £50 for the charge of obstructing the road and £250 for obstructing the police in their duty. The accused had argued they had a reasonable excuse for their behaviour as they were protesting against nuclear weapons, which they said were illegal. Mr McPartlin told them: "I do take account of your reasons for acting as you did. I know it was not lightly undertaken. "I also take account of the fact you behaved in a civilised manner, apart from the fact you were in my view breaking the law." The sheriff gave them each three months to pay the fine, but the protesters vowed that they would not pay. Outside court, Kane said: "We won't be paying and we will do the time." She said that the £250 penalty for obstructing the police was the largest fine she had ever received, but she added: "We never expected to bring down the establishment and make sure international law is brought into play. "We knew what we were undertaking and, at the end of the day, we put Trident in the dock, and that's worth it," Kane told reporters. The other nine protesters were: Emma Bateman, 38, of Leicester; Adam Conway, 26, of Southampton; Janet Fenton, 58, of Edinburgh; Peter Lux, 43, of Norwich; Brian Quail, 67, of Glasgow; Jane Smith, 51, of Grantown-on-Spey; Jane Tallents, 47, of Helensburgh; Sarah Whiteside, 29, of Cupar; and Angie Zelter, 54, of Norfolk. Kane, 44, and the others had placed the model submarine - described as being between 20ft and 30ft long - on the road outside the Scottish Parliament.

Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has tightened its submission rules following a complaint. Prominent journalist John Seigenthaler described as "false and malicious" an entry on Wikipedia implicating him in the Kennedy assassinations. Unlike content published in magazines, books or newspapers, online information can be posted anonymously by anyone. Wikipedia has thrived on offering people the chance to contribute to a collective knowledge bank. Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has gathered together some 850,000 articles in English as well as entries in at least eight other languages on a wide range of topics. Based on wikis, open-source software which lets anyone fiddle with a webpage, anyone reading a subject entry can disagree, edit, add, delete, or replace the entry. It relies on volunteers, many of whom are experts in a particular field, to edit previously submitted articles.

Suspended South African Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, already on trial for corruption, has been charged with rape in an ongoing political scandal that is splitting the ruling ANC along its historic fault lines.