A map showing the three London underground stations that were evacuated Thursday. (Global News Morning)


Police and Emergency services are seen outside the Oval Tube Station, London, Thursday. (AP)


Londoners gather outside Chancery Lane underground station in London Thursday to listen to a newspaper seller's radio. (AP)

LONDON -- Explosions struck three London Underground stations and a bus at midday Thursday in a chilling but less deadly replay of the suicide bombings that killed 56 people two weeks ago.

Only one person was reported wounded, but the explosions during the lunch hour caused major disruption in the city and were hauntingly similar to the July 7 bombings by four attackers.

The London police commissioner confirmed Thursday that four explosions took place in what he described as "serious incidents."

"We've had four explosions - four attempts at explosions," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said outside police headquarters at Scotland Yard.

"At the moment the casualty numbers appear to be very low . . . the bombs appear to be smaller" than the July 7 blasts.

Police also said an armed police unit had entered University College hospital. Press Association, the British news agency, said they arrived shortly after an injured person was carried in.

Sky News TV reported that police were searching for a man with a blue shirt with wires protruding.

The explosions did not shut down the subway system, although three lines remained closed more than two hours later.

Police in chemical protection suits were seen preparing to enter the Warren Street Underground station. Sky TV reported that police said no chemical agents were involved in the explosions.

Explosions also were reported at the Shepherds Bush and Oval stations.

Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said they were monitoring the latest developments in London.

Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary responsible for Canadians abroad, said from Ottawa that Canada's consular offices in London remain open. He added there were no reports of Canadian casualties.

Emergency teams were sent to all three stations after the incidents, which began at 12:38 p.m. One witness told Sky TV that another subway passenger told him a backpack exploded at the Warren Street station and there were reports of smoke.

Stagecoach, the company which operates the stricken bus, said the driver heard a bang and went upstairs, where he found the windows blown out. The company said the bus was structurally intact and there were no reports of injuries.

Closed-circuit TV cameras on Hackney Road showed the No. 26 bus immobilized at a stop with its indicator lights flashing. The area around the bus had been cordoned off.

Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled his afternoon appointments as the developments unfolded.

The incidents paralleled the blasts two weeks ago, which involved explosions at three Underground stations simultaneously - quickly followed by a blast on a bus. Those bombings, during the morning rush hour, also occurred in the centre of London, hitting the Underground railway from various directions.

Thursday's incidents, however, were more geographically spread out.

London Ambulance said it was called to the Oval station at 12:38 p.m. and Warren Street at 12:45 p.m. The July 7 attacks began at 8:51 a.m.

"People were panicking. But very fortunately the train was only 15 seconds from the station," witness Ivan McCracken told Sky news. McCracken said another passenger at Warren Street claimed he had seen a backpack explode. The bombs which killed 56 people on board three Underground trains and a bus in London on July 7 were carried in backpacks, police said.

McCracken said he smelled smoke and that people were panicking and coming into his carriage. He said he spoke to an Italian man who was comforting a woman after the evacuation.

"He said that a man was carrying a rucksack and the rucksack suddenly exploded. It was a minor explosion but enough to blow open the rucksack," McCracken said.

"The man then made an exclamation as if something had gone wrong. At that point everyone rushed from the carriage." Services on the Victoria and Northern lines were suspended following reports of a number of incidents, London Underground said.

"I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning," said Losiane Mohellavi, 35, who was evacuated at Warren Street.

"Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking," Mohellavi said.

He told The Associated Press he did not see smoke but rather smelled something similar to an electrical fire.

© Canadian Press 2005

Originial Story at [ www.canada.com ] affiliate of [ ">www.canwestglobal.com ] CanWest Global Communications Corp.

the pen is mightier than the sword

balls

terrible.. just terrible

stupid smelly ian

me too...
its not true

hahahahahah!!!!
no.

also.. you steal my sayings (ie: easy peasy lemon squeezy)
stop that

yeah... i know you want my balls sarah...
i know

hi

nipple

so what was it?

comparing your penis to hamburger is no way to make someone stop biting it

you know when you're driving on pine street, up the mountain, and theres that one, tiny little street you can turn down after peel that makes kind of a hairpin turn... and that leads straight past Trafalgar... you know what that street's name is? McGregor

which is the ending of the comment im about to make:


Balls...
Balls McGregor

that implies that you hate someone already... and by the context, that's implying me... which you clearly don't...
once again, wrong choice of words

no
i bite when a stalemate arises too

Don't damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
'Cause silence isn't golden
When I'm holding it inside
'Cause I've been where I have been
An I've seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
'Cause it's all a part of me

Don't Damn Me - GnR

Another G&R fan?? On ravewave?
Spectacular!!


Welcome to the Jungle - Guns 'n Roses

tom petty

the context you use it in makes no sense!!
if you wanna believe you're psychic that's your problem...
i only have a problem with your choiuce of words

phone

hahaha!
or using toilet spray!!
or in a japanese orgy

wow

nipple

what a businesswoman!! WHOA!!

you love me sarah... stop denying it

thats frightening

how retarded sarah is

Amazon.com ] Inc. and a host of other Internet giants, "I don't think any of the others have the scope of personal information that Google does," Hoofnagle said.

Plus, Google's practices may influence rivals given its dominance in search and the fierce competition.

"Google is perhaps the most noteworthy right now by the simple fact that they are the 800-pound gorilla," said Lauren Weinstein, a veteran computer scientist and privacy advocate. "What they do tends to set a pattern and precedent."

The concerns reflect Google's growing heft. As startups get bigger and more powerful, scrutiny often follows.

Google says it takes privacy seriously.

"In general, as a company, we look at privacy from design all the way (through) launch," said Nicole Wong, an associate general counsel at Google.

That means product managers, engineers and executives -- not just lawyers -- consider the privacy implications as new technologies are developed and new services offered, Wong said.

She also said that Google regularly seeks feedback from civil liberties groups such as the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, both of which credit Google for listening even if it doesn't always agree.

Google's privacy statements specify that only some of its employees have access to personal data -- on a need-to-know basis _ and such access is logged to deter abuse.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt says a tradeoff exists between privacy and functionality, and the company believes in making fully optional -- and seeking permission beforehand -- any services that require personally identifiable information.

"There are always options to not use that set of technology and remain anonymous," Schmidt told reporters in May.

But what is meant by personally identifiable information is subject to debate.

Google automatically keeps records of what search terms people use and when, attaching the information to a user's numeric Internet address and a unique ID number stored in a Web browser "cookie" file that Google uploads to computers unless users reconfigure their browsers to reject them.

Like most Internet companies, Google says it doesn't consider the data personally identifiable. But Internet addresses can often be traced to a specific user.

Here's just some of the ways Google can collect data on its users:


-One of Gmail's selling points is its ability to retain e-mail messages "forever."


-Google's program for scanning library books sometimes requires usernames to protect copyrights.


-The company is testing software for making Web pages load more quickly; the application routes all Web requests through its servers.


-Google also provides driving directions, photo sharing and instant messaging, and it is developing a payments service that critics say could add billing information to user profiles.

Because storage is cheap, data from these services can be retained practically forever, and Google won't specify how long it keeps such information.

Without elaborating, Google says it "may share" data across such services as e-mail and search. It also provides information to outside parties serving as Google's agents -- though they must first agree to uphold Google's privacy policies.

Much of the concern, though, stems from a fear of the unknown.

"Everybody gets worried about what they (Google) could do but what they have done to date has not seemed to violate any privacy that anyone has documented," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the online newsletter Search Engine Watch.

Eric Goldman, a cyberlaw professor at Marquette University, believes the focus ought to be on the underlying problem: access by hackers and law enforcement.

"We still need to have good technology to inhibit the hackers. We still need laws that make hacking criminal. We still need restraints on government surveillance," Goldman said. "Google's database doesn't change any of that."

Anne Rubin, 20, a New York University junior who uses Google's search, Gmail and Blogger services, says quality overrides any privacy concerns, and she doesn't mind that profiles are built on her in order to make the ads she sees more relevant.

"I see it as a tradeoff. They give services for free," she said. "I have a vague assumption that things I do (online) aren't entirely private. It doesn't faze me."

Larry Ponemon, a privacy adviser, says research by his Ponemon Institute found Google consistently getting high marks for trust.

By contrast, Microsoft, whose software sometimes crashes and regularly gets violated by hackers, didn't fare as well despite what Ponemon and others acknowledge are improvements in its approach to privacy.

"People confuse customer service with obligations to maintain privacy," Ponemon said. "Google has a product that seems to work. It gets almost like a free ride on privacy."

That's changing.

Google, a perennially secretive company, may share some of the blame. It goes out of its way to strip its privacy statements of legalese so they are easier to read. But the statements remain vague on how long the company keeps data.

In an interview, Wong said Google had no set time limits on data retention; such determinations are left to individual product teams. She said the information helps Google know how well it is doing -- for instance, are users getting the results they want in the first five, 10 or 100 hits?

"We keep data that's collected from our services for as long as we think it's useful," she said.

Google says it releases data when required by law, but its privacy statements offer few details. Wong said Google doesn't surrender data without a subpoena, court order or warrant. But she would not offer any details on how many requests it gets, or how often, and federal law bars Google from disclosing requests related to national security.

For civil lawsuits, Wong said, Google warns users before it complies so they can file objections with a court -- a fact the company doesn't publicize.

Mark Rasch, who was a Justice Department prosecutor in the 1980s and has since advised companies on getting data from Internet companies, says electronic records will only become more relevant for investigators searching for evidence of intent and knowledge.

"As Google becomes more involved in parts of your lives including chats and blog, then it's going to get lots more subpoenas," he said. "It's a lot more than just a search tool."

Copyright 2005 [ www.cnn.com ] Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


Orinigal story at [ www.cnn.com ] [ How">www.cnn.com ] much does Google know about you?

that never happened!!!
damnit to hell!

all in due time
no sense wasting time forcing the inevitable

"Pas de sense gaspiller son temps à gagner du temps."

seriously

Caution: The Surgeon General of Rock warns that watching this next band is equivalent to twenty-nine orgasms.

Me too I saw 2 trailers...
actually i saw like 9 9of them.. before watching wedding crashers.. there was a whole bunch

"Out Ta Get Me" -Guns 'n Roses

Been hidin' out
And layin' low
It's nothin' new ta me
Well you can always find
a place to go
If you can keep your sanity
They break down the doors
And they rape my rights but
They won't touch me
They scream and yell
And fight all night
You can't tell me
I lose my head
I close my eyes
They won't touch me
'Cause I got somethin'
I been buildin' up inside
For so fuckin' long

[CHORUS:]

They're out ta get me
They won't catch me
I'm innocent
They won't break me

Sometimes it's easy to forget where you're goin'
Sometimes it's harder to leave
And everytime you think you know just what you're doin'
That's when your troubles exceed
They push me in a corner
Just to get me to fight but
They won't touch me
They preach and yell
And fight all night
You can't tell me
I lose my head
I close my eyes
They won't touch me
'Cause I got somethin'
I been buildin' up inside
I'm already gone

[Chorus]

Some people got a chip on their shoulder
An some would say it was me
But I didn't buy that fifth of whisky
That you gave me
So I'd be quick to disagree

[Chorus]

They're out to get me
They won't catch me
I'm innocent
So you can
Suck me
Take that one to heart

i would never do any such thing.. and you know it

.

everyone hates you ian

NO WE DIDN'T!!
DAMN YOU ALL!

that never happened!!

and plus my cousin is actually 8 days older than me!