Expense crisis blamed on tech theft

House of Commons staff have been infuriated by reports of a whistleblower in Westminster who is believed to be responsible for stealing a portable hard drive containing the details of MPs' expenses, sparking the biggest political crisis of recent years, reports Computing.co.uk.

Reports suggest the data had been hawked round Fleet Street for weeks before The Daily Telegraph secured the scoop.

The theft has been blamed by Commons speaker Michael Martin on a member of staff in the Fees Office, which has been working overtime in an attempt to put expenses records in a condition to be published in July.

Astronauts Andrew Feustel and John Grunsfeld have completed the fifth and final spacewalk of the STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, says The Register.

The mission specialists exited Atlantis at 12:20 GMT, armed with the final set of replacement batteries and a replacement fine guidance sensor - one of three which "provide pointing information and also serve as a scientific instrument for determining precise position and motion of stars".

The battery unit was fitted in around one-and-a-half hours, followed by the fine guidance sensor - neither of which presented problems for the two spacewalkers.

Global electricity networks could become smart grids that can help us monitor and control our energy usage, if plans from Cisco take off, reports the BBC.

The giant US firm, whose technology helps underpin the Internet, is building a two-way link into electricity grids.

Smart grids would allow devices to communicate with utility firms to give an accurate view of energy use that could cut CO2 emissions by 211 million tonnes.

The boss of classified adverts Web site Craigslist says the firm is being unfairly targeted by US prosecutors over its adult listings, says the BBC.

The attorney general of South Carolina has threatened to sue the firm for continuing to have "advertisements for prostitution and pornographic material".

Last week, Craigslist said it would eliminate its erotic services category and screen all adult services adverts.