Panama -- what? Nicaragua has $30-bn plan for its own canal

AFP - China, Russia, Brazil and Japan are among six countries interested in funding a new $30-billion canal in Nicaragua linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the project coordinator said Wednesday. On Tuesday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega submitted a draft bill to the legislature that details six possible routes for the proposed waterway, one of which would pass through the San Juan river that forms a common border with neighboring Costa Rica. "We've had talks with Japan, China, Russia, Venezuela, Brazil and South Korea and everyone...

Climate engineering to 'cure' global warming could turn sunny blue skies WHITE

The sky could turn from a reassuring blue to a blank white if scientists are forced to take drastic action to tackle global warming, experts have claimed. By injecting aerosols which scatter light into the atmosphere we could reflect more sun away from Earth and cool the planet. But the knock-on effect would be the scattering of red particles around the atmosphere that wash out the blue. The result would be skies that turn into a foggy or hazy white instead of the crisp colours we are used to on a summer’s day. According to report in the New Scientist...

Password Theft: Hacking Probe At LinkedIn

Millions of users of the social networking website LinkedIn have been told to reset their passwords after security information was stolen. The site, which is aimed at professionals and has in excess of 161 million members in more than 200 countries, was compromised and members' details were posted online. LinkedIn director Vicente Silveira said in a statement: "We can confirm that some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts." He said the company was investigating the security breach and added that...

'Zombie Apocalypse:' Louisiana man, Carl Jacquneaux, bites ex-wife’s husband’s face, removes chunk of skin

The 'Zombie Apocalypse' lurches on. A Louisiana man was arrested, handcuffed and shackled after allegedly biting a chunk out of a man's face during an attempted robbery, according to an affidavit. Carl Jacquneaux, 42, showed up at his ex-wife's house June 2 - in violation of an order of protection she had taken out against him - and attacked Todd Credeur, her current husband. Jacquneaux repeatedly bit Credeur’s face, "removing flesh the size of a quarter," the affidavit said. Credeur told KATC-TV that was working in his front yard when he was...

“Whopping” number of earthquakes shake around Hawaii volcano

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii: A large number of earthquakes has been rattling the Volcano area on Hawaii Island over the last few days. The quakes have been small, with no damage reported. Still, a handful of those temblors have been 3.0 magnitude and over. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s “Recent Earthquakes in Hawaii” page shows a constant swarm of quakes surrounding the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home of the active Kilauea Volcano. We took a screen grab of the screen of the USGS HVO earthquake...

This Is the Way the World Ends? Volcanoes Could Darken World

Are you worried about the end of life as we know it? Then don't just look to the sky for that catastrophic asteroid that could be heading our way. The end may come from right beneath your feet. Super-volcanoes have probably caused more extinctions than asteroids. But until now it has been thought that these giant volcanoes took thousands of years to form -- and would remain trapped beneath the earth's crust for thousands more years -- before having much effect on the planet. But new research indicates these catastrophic eruptions, possibly thousands of times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, may happen only a few hundred years after the volcanoes form. In other words, they may have a very "short fuse," according to researchers at Vanderbilt University. Such an event could make...

Rare virus linked to rodents kills two in Utah

(Reuters) - Two people in Utah have died following exposure to hantavirus, a rare but deadly disease of the lungs spread by rodents, health officials said on Tuesday. The fatalities, the first from the virus in the state since 2009, occurred over the last four weeks in central Utah's Millard County and in Salt Lake County, said Rebecca Wood, an official at the Utah Department of Health. The two deceased were adults, state epidemiologist Jodee Baker said. The cases were not linked but each individual was exposed to rodents a few weeks before becoming ill, Baker said. Privacy laws prevent officials from releasing the names or genders of the deceased. Authorities did not release the exact date of each death either. State epidemiologists are working closely with health officials in Millard and Salt Lake counties to gather more details and to make sure no one else has been exposed, Baker said. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome can be spread through contact with saliva of infected rodents - most often common deer mice - or by breathing in dust containing rodent urine or droppings in rodent-infested areas, the CDC said on its website. Symptoms include high fever, muscle aches and chills. Other symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. The virus has an unusually long incubation period of between two and five weeks, and can be mistaken for the flu, Baker said. "Utah has maybe one case a year," Baker said. "It's really rare that we would have more than one case, period. And to have them both be fatalities so early in the summer months, that's a concern." Instances of the disease increase during summer months and the data suggest most patients are sickened following exposures to mice feces or urine while cleaning out garages, sheds or other structures that were closed for extended periods.

Porn star Luka Rocco Magnotta ate victim's body parts, claim Montreal police

Video footage of the suspected Montreal murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta show him eating the body parts of his alleged victim, police said yesterday. Montreal Police Commander Ian Lafrenière said that while it could not be confirmed, his officers suspected Magnotta of eating parts of the lover he is accused of killing and dismembering. German prosecutors further revealed yesterday that they intended to extradite Magnotta to Canada following his surprise arrest in Berlin on Monday. The pornographic-film actor and model, 29, is wanted on...

'Vampire' skeletons unearthed in Bulgaria

Archaeologists in Bulgaria have unearthed two medieval skeletons pierced through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into vampires, the head of the country's history museum said. According to pagan beliefs, people who were considered bad during their lifetimes might turn into vampires after death unless stabbed in the chest with an iron or wooden rod before being buried. "These two skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th...

UFO: Eastern Ontario witness reports black orbs over farm

A Prince Edward County witness reports that he or she saw UFO activity on 1 June 2012 according to testimony supplied from UFO Sightings Daily. Prince Edward Country is in eastern Ontario, Canada. UFO Sightings Daily is coordinated by Scott C. Waring, who is a UFO researcher and author. Mr. Waring had been affiliated with the United States Air Force at SAC base (flight line). He currently owns an ESL School in Taiwan. View slideshow: UFO activity over Prince Edward County The witness notes where he or she saw the UFO activity...

Federal appeals court refuses to rehear challenge to California’s same-sex marriage ban

A federal appeals court in San Francisco refused Tuesday to rehear a legal challenge to the state's same-sex marriage ban, sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made the decision, which was based on whether a majority of its active judges had agreed or refused to reconsider a ruling in February in which two of its member judges declared the ban unconstitutional.

CIA director beat up his deputy in front of Obama

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden found an unusual way to show President-elect Barack Obama how the agency's interrogation techniques worked during a December 2008 briefing: Hayden beat up his own deputy in front of the future commander-in-chief. Kill or Capture is Daniel Klaidman's new book released this week, and in it are up-close accounts of how the Obama White House has handled national security issues since even before the forty-fourth president was sworn into office. Only weeks before his inauguration, writes Klaidman, Obama had a meeting with the Central Intelligence Agency’s top-dog about what kind of torture methods — ahem— “enhanced interrogation techniques” — were being used under the George W Bush administration on detainees at military prisons like the one at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What the unsuspecting president got might have been more than what he expected, though. The author writes that, only a month after being elected president, the pressure was on Barack Obama to close Gitmo, much to the chagrin of Bush-elected officials that had been called out for allegations of torture in the days since the facility was re-opened after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Five years earlier authorities officially forced Gitmo guards to end waterboarding, and by Inauguration Day 2009 the CIA was only authorizing prison officials “interrogate” detainees with half a dozen different tactics. Obama was preparing an executive order to close Guantanamo any day, recalls Klaidman, leaving Hayden with the hefty task of pursuing the president to change his mind. “…Hayden, a Bush appointee, wanted to push back on several fronts, and he knew he had his work cut out for him,” writes Klaidman. “No issue had been politicized more than enhanced interrogation — tortures, as the left insisted on calling it. There was a lot of misinformation floating around, but he believed he could persuade fair-minded people that the techniques were both human and necessary for the safety of the American people. He got his change on December 9 in a meeting with Obama and his top national security advisers at the Chicago transition office. Hayden had prepared assiduously, showing up with charts and slides. But his most unusual prop was David Shedd, the deputy DNU for policy, plans and requirements.” A Bush appointee degrading a living person to a mere prop? Don’t worry — it gets better. “Not long into his presentation, Hayden called Shedd over. Suddenly, unexpectedly, Hayden slapped Shedd’s face. Then he grabbed him by the lapels and started to shake him. He’d wanted to throw him up against the wall during the demonstration, but there were chairs in the way.” This, you see, was how then-CIA Director Michael Hayden persuaded President-elect Obama to think, hey, Gitmo prisoners might not have it so rough after all. Klaidman continues: “Instead he explained to Obama and his aides about the interrogation technique known as ‘wailing,’ in which detainees were thrown against a flexible artificial wall that made a loud noise on impact but cased little physical pain.” “Hayden walked out of the meeting thinking it had been ‘a good day’ and that he’d ‘mastered the brief’,” adds the author. Obama was sworn into office only five weeks later and signed an order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison two days later. As the president approaches the half-way point of his third year in office, though, prisoners are still behind bars at Gitmo facilities that even members of the press aren’t allowed to see.

Israel airport security demands access to tourists' private email accounts

Israel’s Shin Bet security service has been demanding access to personal email accounts of visiting tourists with Arab names, according to the testimony of three U.S. citizens who were interrogated at Ben Gurion Airport and subsequently refused entry into Israel in May. Najwa Doughman, a 25-year-old architect from New York, landed in Israel on May 26. Doughman, who had already visited Israel three times in the past, planned to tour the country for ten days with a friend, Sasha Al-Sarabi, 24, who was visiting Israel for the first time. Both women were...

Mass Transit Cameras Spot Bad Guys, No Human Judgment Required

A new breed of security cameras can supposedly detect terrorism and crime without a human judgment call--and mass transit agencies are shelling out big bucks for the product. San Francisco's Municipal Transit Authority, which oversees the city's MUNI trains, has signed a contract with security firm BRS Labs to deploy cameras to 12 subway stations that use algorithms and machine learning techniques to spot anomalous behavior. BRS Labs is a security firm that provides behavior recognition software for video surveillance. The company's clients include government, tourist attractions, military bases, and private industry; BRS's software issues real-time text alerts when cameras detect strange behavior. Servers connected to security cameras observe locations for weeks at a time and then establish a...

Forget Dr. Atkins, diet like Daniel

Jenny Craig? No. Dr. Atkins? No. French women? No. The world’s hottest weight-loss guru is apparently Daniel — you know, that guy from the Book of Daniel. Members of a megachurch in California have shed more than a quarter of a million pounds following a diet inspired by the ancient Hebrew scripture, according to Time magazine’s health blog. Congregants at the nearly 20,000-member Saddleback Church have dropped 260,000 pounds with the help of the so-called Daniel Plan, which allows users to “start glorifying God — with your body.”..

Sinkhole forces Naples church services outdoors

NAPLES - A Naples church and daycare were forced to be held outside on Sunday. The pastor of Faith Community Church says a growing sinkhole underneath the building is to blame. "It's heartbreaking. There's nothing we can do about it," says Pastor Roy Shuck. Shuck says the sinkhole may be shifting tiles near the church's nursery and splitting walls where they pray. The ground has shifted so much that Shuck says it now slopes four inches down. On Thursday, Collier County officials deemed the church unsafe for the congregation. That forced Sunday services to be held outside. "The church is us together, so we can still have church whether we have a building or not," says church member Christine Schott. News they couldn't get inside rattled some members, however. "I felt sad because I don't want it to be destroyed because it will hurt. It will be very bad if it's destroyed," says church member Eli Bickford. It's too soon to know if the building can be saved. "We built the church with ideas that we will be expanding someday. I don't know, maybe God, I know he has plans for us," says Schott.

‘Tarantulas’ invade Assam town, ‘kill’ two

Jintu Gogoi's neighbourhood in Sadiya, Upper Assam, is no longer friendly. Over two weeks ago, an army of eight-legged freaks invaded it. It all happened in the evening on May 8. Most of the inhabitants of Chaulkhowa Nagaon village had been to a Bihu function. When the programme drew to a close, swarms of spiders suddenly descended from nowhere and started biting the people. The festive mood soon turned into one of panic with people bumping into each other and tripping over empty benches in their frantic bid to egress. Jintu was...

Maryland cannibal case: suspect accused of eating heart, brains ranted on Facebook

JOPPATOWNE, Md. — The college student suspected of killing and eating parts of a man staying at his home ranted months ago about “mass human sacrifices” on Facebook, one of several details that emerged Friday in the second gruesome case of alleged cannibalism in the U.S. in a week. Authorities say Alex Kinyua, 21, admitted using a knife to kill and carve up Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, 37, before eating his heart and parts of his brain. The older man had been staying with Kinyua’s family for about six weeks at their townhouse in the Baltimore...

Strong earthquake strikes south of Panama

(CNN) -- A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern coast of Panama on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The center of the quake was roughly 215 miles south of David, Panama, and almost 330 miles southwest of the capital, Panama City, the USGS said. It was an estimated six miles deep. The USGS had initially given the quake a magnitude of 6.6. There was no tsunami threat, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. There were also no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Eye of the storm: Incredible footage shows massive UFO-shaped supercell thundercloud

It looks like an apocalyptic scene from a Hollywood blockbuster. Although it looks like an otherworldly spacecraft, these incredible pictures actually show a thunderstorm cloud known as a supercell. The impressive UFO-shaped cloud - literally the eye of the storm - ominously hovered near Adrian, Michigan, on May 21. According to experts, supercells are the most severe type of thunderstorm – this particular one produced at least one twister. ‘What you are seeing here is a well-developed rotating supercell thunderstorm, and the condensation...

Radio dental: New MP3 'teeth jewellery' plays music directly through your skull

hey are the gaudy fashion statement beloved of hip hop stars and rappers. But now it seems that grillz - teeth jewellery sported by rappers such as Nelly - are not just about the way you look - you can use them to listen to music too. A design student has created a way of using the bling mouthpiece to hear songs via ‘bone conduction’ through your skull. Aisen Chacin, of Parsons The New School for Design in New York, attached a vibrating motor to a digital music player and connected it to a mold of her upper teeth. She also installed controls on the underside so users can change songs or increase the volume by pushing up with your tongue. When the music starts, the vibration is strong enough that the music can be heard clearly - without the need for headphones. If the sound being played is loud enough, others can even hear it apparently coming out of your teeth. A video posted on YouTube shows one of Chacin’s friends sitting down with the motor in his mouth and his hands in his ears - and a look of surprise on his face when he hears the music. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2152744/Radio-dental-New-MP3-teeth-jewellery-plays-music-directly-skull.html#ixzz1wrvturqt

Privacy Group Voices Concerns Over Google-Backed Autonomous Vehicle Legislation

The advocacy group Consumer Watchdog is raising concerns about Google’s altruistic motives when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The group sees The Big G’s efforts less as a way to reduce crashes and save lives, and more as a ploy to mine and monetize even more personal data. And it wants to block a bill that would clear the way for Google’s self-driving cars to legally cruise California roads unless privacy protections are in place. In a letter to Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, Consumer Watchdog president Jamie Court and the nonprofit group’s Privacy Project director John M. Simpson wrote: “Without appropriate regulations, Google’s vehicles will be able to gather unprecedented amounts of information about the use of those vehicles. How will it be used? Just as Google tracks us around the Information Superhighway, it will now be looking over our shoulders on every highway and byway.” “Google gathers so much data in so many ways,” Simpson told Wired. “How will they use the data? The law itself is generic about autonomous vehicles. We drafted amendments that are also generic but solve the problem. We were prompted to call for the need for amendments became [the law] is so far down the road, and because of the nature of what Google does,” Simpson adds, saying that it’s not just about Google’s cars and lobbying efforts. “The amendments would cover data collection by any autonomous vehicle,” he says. The California Senate unanimously passed SB 1298, and it’s now under consideration by the Assembly. Google has been instrumental in lobbying for the bill, which was introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) and sets guidelines for the testing and operation of autonomous vehicles on California roads. Padilla has argued that giving Google’s autonomous vehicles the green light is crucial to keeping transportation and technology advances within the borders of the Golden State — perhaps as a reaction to Nevada being the first state to make autonomous cars legal. Like Google, Padilla also cites safety and environmental reasons for promoting autonomous-car legislation. “Human error is the cause of almost every accident on the road today,” the California Senator said after the bill passed in his chamber. “If autonomous technology can reduce the number of accidents, then we also reduce the number of injuries and fatalities on California’s roads. For me this is a matter of safety.” He also pointed to the promise of autonomous vehicles to save fuel, reduce emissions and improve traffic flow.

‘Human barcode’ could make society more organized, but invades privacy, civil liberties

Would you barcode your baby? Microchip implants have become standard practice for our pets, but have been a tougher sell when it comes to the idea of putting them in people. Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it's a good idea to "barcode" infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program. “I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features "a global thinking" discussing a "radical, inspiring or controversial idea" for 60 seconds . Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly and often ineffective. In her opinion, human barcoding would save a lot of time and money. The proposal isn’t too far-fetched - it is already technically possible to "barcode" a human - but does it violate our rights to privacy? Opponents argue that giving up anonymity would cultivate an “Orwellian” society where all citizens can be tracked. “To have a record of everywhere you go and everything you do would be a frightening thing,” Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Daily News. He warned of a “check-point society” where everyone carries an internal passport and has to show their papers at every turn, he said. “Once we let the government and businesses go down the road of nosing around in our lives...we’re going to quickly lose all our privacy,” said Stanley. There are already, and increasingly, ways to electronically track people. Since 2006, new U.S. passports include radio frequency identification tags (RFID) that store all the information in the passport, plus a digital picture of the owner. In 2002, an implantable ID chip called VeriChip was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The chip could be implanted in a person's arm, and when scanned, could pull up a 16 digit ID number containing information about the user. It was discontinued in 2010 amid concerns about privacy and safety. Still scientists and engineers have not given up on the idea. A handful of enterprising companies have stepped into the void left by VeriChip, and are developing ways to integrate technology and man. Biotech company MicroCHIPS has developed an implantable chip to deliver medicine to people on schedule and without injection. And technology company BIOPTid has patented a noninvasive method of identification called the “human barcode.” Advocates say electronic verification could help parents or caregivers keep track of children and the elderly. Chips could be used to easily access medical information, and would make going through security points more convenient, reports say. But there are also concerns about security breaches by hackers. If computers and social networks are already vulnerable to hacking and identify theft, imagine if someone could get access to your personal ID chip? Stanley cautioned against throwing the baby out with the bathwater each time someone invents a new gadget. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/human-barcode-society-organized-invades-privacy-civil-liberties-article-1.1088129#ixzz1wrusBZTS

Secret Cooperation Israel Deploys Nuclear Weapons on German-Built Submarines

Germany is helping Israel to develop its military nuclear capabilities, SPIEGEL has learned. According to extensive research carried out by the magazine, Israel is equipping submarines that were built in the northern German city of Kiel and largely paid for by the German government with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. The missiles can be launched using a previously secret hydraulic ejection system. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told SPIEGEL that Germans should be "proud" that they have secured the existence of the state of Israel "for many years." In the past, the German government has always stuck to the position that it is unaware of nuclear weapons being deployed on the vessels. Now, however, former high-ranking officials from the German Defense Ministry, including former State Secretary...

Another Outrage in California

As of today, it is legal in California to give hormone blockers to an 11 year-old boy in order to delay the onset of puberty, but it could soon be illegal for a 17 year-old with unwanted same-sex attractions to receive professional counseling, even with parental consent. This is an absolute travesty. SB 1172, which addresses this very issue, passed its first hurdle on Wednesday, as the California Senate voted 23-13 in favor of the bill, which would also require counselors and psychotherapists to warn prospective adult clients of the alleged danger of any counseling or therapy aimed at helping them modify their unwanted same-sex attractions. Not only is this an outrageous denial of the client’s right to self-determination and, in the case of a consenting minor, parental rights as well, but it also means that the government of California is intruding itself into the relationship between counselor and client. This even prompted “the L.A. Times, not known to be a voice of conservatism, [to] come out against this legislation, saying it constitutes unnecessary government intrusion into what should be mental-health-association policy matters.” The same week California Governor Jerry Brown announced that the state was now $16 billion over budget, with the implication that more social-welfare cutbacks affecting thousands of children will be necessary, SB 1172 was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will now enter deliberation by the full California Senate, in the hopes of protecting an unknown number of minors and others from the “dangers” of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE). Even the L.A. Times, not known to be a voice of conservatism, has come out against this legislation, saying it constitutes unnecessary government intrusion into what should be mental-health-association policy matters. (However on matters of science, the Times naively accepted the picture spun by the sponsors of SB 1172; see htttp://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/11/opinion/la-ed-0511-therapy-2012051).

I was fired for being a white Christian, claims professor

The former principal of a college, which claims its aim is to promote multiculturalism, has insisted he was sacked from his post because he was a white Christian. Professor Malory Nye, 47, had been working at Dundee’s Al Maktoum College of Higher Education for eight years when he was suspended from his £67,000-a-year post last June. Prof Nye was giving evidence at an employment tribunal in the city, claiming he was eventually dismissed so he could be replaced by an Arabic Muslim. His suspension came just days after he changed the...

Kansas pastor stands by his sermon that the government should kill gays

A Kansas pastor is standing by his sermon Sunday that called for the government to kill homosexuals. Curtis Knapp of New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kan., said homosexuals “should be put to death.” Knapp, whose sermon was roundly condemned, told CNN affiliate KTKA that his voice-mail is filled with “things you don’t want your kids to hear.” But Knapp said the backlash hasn’t changed his mind. “We punish pedophilia. We punish incest. We punish polygamy and various things,” Knapp told KTKA. “It’s only homosexuality that is lifted out as an exemption.” Knapp argued that his sermon was rooted in Biblical verse. “‘If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act,’” he quoted from Leviticus 20:12. “‘They shall surely be put to death.’” While sticking to his view, Knapp said he himself wouldn’t attack homosexuals. “I don’t believe I should lay a finger against them,” the Kansas pastor said. “My hope is for their salvation, not for their death.” Knapp is among a number of religious figures who have recently spoken out against homosexuality. North Carolina pastor Charles Worley delivered a sermon on May 13 that offered “a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers” by corralling them behind an electrified fence and feeding them until they die out. Maryland pastor Dennis Leatherman, responding to Worley’s comments on May 27, said that Worley was “dead wrong.” Leatherman also said that he had considered the idea of killing homosexuals, but ultimately decided against it. “There is a danger of reacting in the flesh, of responding not in a scriptural, spiritual way, but in a fleshly way. Kill them all. Right?” Leatherman said. “I will be very honest with you. My flesh kind of likes that idea. “But it grieves the Holy Spirit. It violates Scripture. It is wrong,” he added. The Southern Baptist Convention said that Worley’s church is not affiliated with the group and condemned the pastor’s comments, according to CNN. Fellow North Carolina pastor Sean Harris urged parents in May to hit their sons when they start to “act a little girlish.” The senior pastor at Berean Baptist Church later said that he regretted his sermon. “If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt,” Harris said. “Those weren’t planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly.”

U.S. says it will fight push to move Internet control over to the UN

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Thursday said they are united when it comes to keeping the Internet free from centralized control and preventing the United Nations from gaining power over web content and infrastructure. The U.S. government wants to bring as much ammunition as possible to a December meeting in Dubai where delegations from 193 countries will discuss whether to hand governance of the Internet over to the United Nations. The United States fears December’s treaty-writing conference could turn the Internet into a political bargaining...

Japan’s Nuclear Industry: The CIA Link

In the 15 months since the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan’s relationship with nuclear power has changed dramatically. Once the world’s third-largest producer of nuclear energy, the country faces the prospect of electricity shortages this summer as all 50 of its plants remain offline. Restarting reactors — a step the government says is necessary to support the economy — is proving to be politically tricky as a skeptical public questions the safety of atomic energy. Rewind almost 60 years and the government had a similar problem: how to persuade...

Court says marriage law discriminates against gay couples

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court in Boston found on Thursday that a U.S. law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to lawfully married same-sex couples in a ruling that promises to push the issue of gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling on the 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, marked a victory for gay rights groups and U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration announced last year it considered the law unconstitutional and would...

Online porn drove boy of 12 to rape girl, 9: He wanted to 'feel grown up' after viewing explicit images

A boy of 12 who raped a nine-year-old girl after watching hard-core pornography online was spared jail yesterday as his lawyer warned of a generation of children growing up with a ‘skewed view’ on sex. The schoolboy, who is now 14, told police he had raped the little girl because he wanted to ‘feel grown up’ after watching porn online. In a disturbing case that has raised fresh concerns about the sexualisation of children, the teenager had unrestricted access to the web and was able to freely look at sexually explicit material. He then ‘emulated’ the graphic footage and attacked a neighbour’s daughter, the High Court in Edinburgh heard. Yesterday his lawyer warned the case was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and many other cases were going unreported. The Daily Mail has campaigned for an automatic block on online porn, calling for a consultation on the introduction of content filtering systems for internet accounts. Sean Templeton, defending the boy, said: ‘There is a real risk that young people are growing up with a skewed view of what sex is and sexual activity. ‘This was an emulation of an adult act witnessed by him at this young age. He was afforded unfettered access to the internet and it has become apparent from a very young age, the age of 12, he was accessing hard-core pornography.’ Decision: Lady Smith opted not to jail the boy and sent him to a a children¿s panel where he can be kept under continuing supervision Decision: Lady Smith opted not to jail the boy and sent him to a a children's panel where he can be kept under continuing supervision Mr Templeton said it was a great concern that children may be getting their sex education through internet pornography. He warned: ‘This is the tip of the iceberg. Many, many cases throughout the country may not be identified, not reported, not coming to anyone’s attention.’ The shocking case, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, only came to light when the young victim felt ill and told her mother she feared there was ‘a baby in my tummy’. Asked if something had happened to her, she became hysterical before revealing what the boy had done. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152733/Schoolboy-12-raped-girl-watching-hardcore-internet-porn.html#ixzz1waLf3HGv Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2152733/Schoolboy-12-raped-girl-watching-hardcore-internet-porn.html#ixzz1waLAcdPh

Israeli officials link Tehran to Assad’s massacres

A day after Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said a Western military intervention in Syria would “engulf” Israel, Israeli government officials tried to shine the light on Iranian involvement in the Syrian bloodshed. “The Iranian regime is in a very concrete manner lending its support to the Syrian government’s murder of the Syrian people, and this is part of their very aggressive and dangerous behavior in the region,” one official said. If this is what Iran does without atomic weapons, the official added, “what would Iranian behavior look like if they...

Luka Rocco Magnotta fled to Paris on day of killing, police say

By the time body parts of the man he is alleged to have killed were discovered in the mail in Ottawa and behind his Montreal apartment, Luka Rocco Magnotta was already on the other side of the Atlantic, police say. The former model and escort at the centre of an international manhunt for a killing and dismemberment fled Canada for Paris on May 25, the day the killing took place. That was the same day a brand new suitcase appeared among the trash in an alley behind Mr. Magnotta’s apartment building. For some reason garbage collectors did...

Sheriff: Maryland student, 21, admits eating housemate's heart, part of brain

(CNN) -- Hours after his family members alerted police to a human head and two hands they discovered stashed in metal tins, a Maryland man admitted killing his housemate, cutting him up, then eating his heart and part of his brain, authorities said. Alexander Kinyua, 21, was being held without bail Thursday at the Harford County Detention Center after being charged with first-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault. His roommate, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, had left his Joppatowne home six days earlier for an apparent early morning jog. Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, he left his wallet, cell phone and identification at home. On Tuesday, Antony Kinyua -- Alexander Kinyua's father -- called a Harford County detective assigned to the missing person's case and told him about his other son's...