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HAVANA -- Two of the youngest founding members of Cuba's legendary Buena Vista Social Club held a jam session in central Havana on Thursday, a tuneup for their three-city tour of Brazil next week.

SÃO PAULO, Aug 28 (IPS) - 'It takes us an hour and 20 minutes to get there. We have to walk, because we can't afford the 30-minute bus ride. But the girls never miss their music classes, not even when they have to go without lunch because they don't have time to eat after school,' says their mother, Maria da Cruz.

Users' control over personal data will be increased following complaints from Canada's privacy commissionerFacebook has been forced to give its users more control over how much of their personal information is shared with the social networking site and the makers of the games and quizzes they download onto their profile pages, in the latest move to increase online consumer protection.The move, which comes in response to complaints from Canadian privacy officials, is part of a growing trend to clamp down on the use of personal data by social networking sites and the software developers who use them to distribute their applications. It could have repercussions for other sites such as MySpace and even Twitter.As consumers are given more and more power over the use of their information, it reduces the potential ability of companies such as Facebook to make money supplying that information to advertisers. In the past, the company has come under fire for its own use of users' information to

A leading Conservative council is using the business model of budget airlines, Ryanair and easyJet, to inspire a radical reform of public service provision which is being seen as a blueprint for Tory government.The practices of the no-frills airlines, who charge customers extra for services which were once considered part of the standard fare, are being emulated by the London borough of Barnet as it embarks on 'a relentless drive for efficiency'. A spokesman for the council has unofficially dubbed the project 'EasyCouncil'.Barnet wants householders to pay extra to jump the queue for planning consents, in the way budget airlines charge extra for priority boarding. And as budget airline passengers choose to spend their budget on either flying at peaktime or having an in-flight meal, recipients of adult social care in Barnet will choose to spend a limited budget on whether to have a cleaner or a respite carer or even a holiday to Eastbourne. Other examples of proposed reforms include redu

The Facebook social networking Web site is violating its own terms and conditions on incitement to hatred, The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs charged in a report released on Thursday.

. Borough wants to emulate budget airline price model. Tories aim to tailor social services to fit users' needsFrom the millionaires' mansions of Mill Hill, to the workers' cafes of Finchley High Road, a new experiment in Conservative party radicalism is under way, and it is already proving divisive.The leadership of the London Borough of Barnet is test-driving a brand of Tory government which some believe could sweep the country if David Cameron wins the next general election.Margaret Thatcher's former constituency lies within the borough and once again Thatcherite buzz words are in the air. The talk is of 'outsourcing', 'privatisation', 'small government' and 'consumer choice' as the council attempts the trick of slashing millions from its costs while keeping council tax down. But it is not Thatcherism, rather another free-market innovation that makes what is going on in Barnet controversial: the council wants to emulate the business practices of the no-frills budget airlines easyJet

ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. health authorities are turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in a bid to prepare people to be vaccinated against the pandemic H1N1 virus.

In what's being claimed as an Aussie first, Modular Records is seeking submissions for a social media savvy intern via Twitter.

Facebook caved to pressure from Canada and agreed to add more controls to protect user privacy. The social network also promised to include the reasons for collecting date of birth information and account memorialization for deceased users, as well as information on how its advertising programs work. New technical changes will be designed to give people more control over the information they provide to third-party applications, such as games. - Facebook August 27 bowed to pressure from Canada and pledged to add more controls to protect user privacy. This includes making it clear how users may delete their Facebook account, which zaps user profile data from the company's servers, instead of just deactivating it, which means the data is ...

Facebook and Twitter users post personal information that could be used by professional home burglars looking for targets, says a U.K. study.