"A protester interrupted Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on Thursday during his confirmation hearings. The woman shouted that the United States was killing thousands of people in the Middle East who were not a threat. Security officers quickly escorted her out of the room." Continue reading →
"From President Obama's second inaugural address: 'We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.' Secretary of State nominee John Kerry before Senate confirmation hearing this week: 'The president has made it definitive -- we will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And I repeat here today: our policy is not containment. It is prevention, and the clock is ticking on our efforts to secure responsible compliance.'" Continue reading →
"The widely-acclaimed PBS program, NOVA, premiered a documentary on unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. The documentary, 'Rise of the Drones,' was produced to explore how the technology is revolutionizing warfare and creating the next generation of cutting-edge surveillance. It was created to provide a glimpse at how the technology has advanced and how innovations might progress in the future. Before the documentary began, PBS noted the program had received funding from the David H. Koch Foundation for Science. It also received 'additional funding' from Lockheed Martin." Continue reading →
"NATO declared that a Patriot missile battery went operational on Turkey’s border with Syria on Saturday, as a watchdog reported regime warplanes launched raids on a Damascus district. Ankara and NATO have stressed the deployment is for defensive purposes only, while Damascus and its ally Moscow have criticised the measure. The US-made missiles can take out cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as aircraft. Britain, meanwhile, pledged a multi-million dollar aid package to help Syrian civilians, nearly half of which would be channelled through agencies in Jordan where a record 6,400 refugees arrived on Friday." Continue reading →
"Beset by a freezing winter and stifling fuel and electricity shortages, Syrian civilians desperate to stay warm in a northern forest have no choice but to cut down trees for firewood. Once a tourist destination for Syrians and other Arabs across the Middle East, the formerly pristine national park to the north and west of the city of Idlib is being systematically stripped bare. Bald, muddy swathes of fresh-cut land now stretch in many directions, with men using chainsaws to bring trees down and dozens of pick-up trucks coming and going for loads of lumber." Continue reading →
"Caswell has been battling the government since September 2009 to save the motel his father built in 1955. The government sought to seize the motel using a civil asset forfeiture law that allows the government to seize property linked to drug crimes. The government introduced information about 15 specific drug-related incidents at the motel from 1994 to 2008, a period of time, the judge noted, when the motel had rented out 196,000 rooms. But Caswell has never been charged with — or even accused of — any criminal wrongdoing, the Globe reported in November." Continue reading →
"Among other things, the federal lawsuit claimed wrongful detention and a breach of the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment. Tobey was on his way to Wisconsin for his grandmother’s funeral. Despite his detainment, he made his flight. According to the suit, while under interrogation, the authorities wanted to know 'about his affiliation with, or knowledge of, any terrorist organizations, if he had been asked to do what he did by any third party, and what his intentions and goals were.' Two weeks later, Henrico County prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge against him, and he sued the Transportation Security Administration and others." Continue reading →
"While Yahoo!’s chief Marissa Mayer told the forum there was a 'trade off' between privacy and the benefits of increasingly personalised services offered by Internet giants, the network’s founding father took up the ethical issues at stake. 'The dream is of a more open web,' Berners-Lee told the gathering in the Swiss ski resort, citing social media as a way of breaking down barriers. But he said the recent suicide of Aaron Swartz, a 26-year-old US Internet activist who faced charges of illegally copying and distributing millions of academic articles, highlighted government efforts to police the Internet." Continue reading →
"Cybersecurity is on the minds of the Davos-ians because it could cost them money. Apparently they have just learned that 'there is barely a large company out there today which has not had its infrastructure and systems breached.' They have also realized that this is going to require some sort of collective action–and the private sector does not do collective action well. Australia and the United Kingdom are actively forcing companies to work together. Last week the European Union proposed a law that would require tech companies to report server issues and security breaches to the government." Continue reading →
"While the video above may not win an award for action movie of the year, it’s illustrating an exciting new breakthrough for the way we manufacture medicines and drugs. Depicting the brain child of Professor Lee Cronin, the chair of chemistry at Glasgow University, the video shows a new 3D printing process he and his team developed to synthesize chemicals. He believes his research could one day lead to low-cost chemical printers in the home that allow patients to print out their prescriptions." Continue reading →