Nice place you've got here!

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

Researchers are reporting a spike in hack attacks targeting Mac OS X systems for the purpose of surreptitiously monitoring users' e-mail and chat contacts and maintaining persistent control over their computers.

"With these attacks, we continue to see an expansion of the APT capabilities to attack Mac OS X users," wrote Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky's global research and analysis team. "In general, Mac users operate under a false sense of security which comes from the years-old mantra that 'Macs don't get viruses.'"

Attacks exploit an old vulnerability.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

Now where are we going and what's with the handbasket?

Findings come as former Schools Minister says he believes axing compulsory langyage lessons was a mistake

The study of language skills in fourteen European countries reveals for the first time that even those pupils who study a foreign language up until the age of 16 in England fare worse than pupils from almost any other country in the Continent.

In French, English pupils were the worst performers in both reading (90 per cent of pupils failing to progress beyond the level of basic user) and maths (where 75 per cent of pupils only managed to reach the basic standard).

England's performance in writing was similar - but this time it was equal with Portugal.

In German, English and Polish students were the worst performers in all three disciplines.