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Justice Department to review DEA’s mass surveillance program

“The Justice Department is reviewing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit that passes tips culled from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a large telephone database to field agents, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday. ‘It’s my understanding… that the Department of Justice is looking at some of the issues raised in the story,’ Carney said during his daily briefing at the White House on Monday. Carney referred reporters to a Justice Department spokesman, who confirmed that a review was under way, but declined further comment.” Continue reading →

Are Police in America Now a Military, Occupying Force?

“Today, the SWAT team is largely sold to the American public by way of the media, through reality TV shows such as Cops, Armed and Famous, and Police Women of Broward County, and by politicians well-versed in promising greater security in exchange for the government being given greater freedom to operate as it sees fit outside the framework of the Constitution. Having watered down the Fourth Amendment’s strong prohibitions intended to keep police in check and functioning as peacekeepers, we now find ourselves in the unenviable position of having militarized standing armies enforcing the law.” Continue reading →

Visitors flock to Pakistani-controlled Kashmir valley in rare tourist boom

“Success stories can be rare in Pakistan, but business is booming in one Kashmir tourist spot as the region rebuilds after a devastating earthquake and shrugs off associations with violence. Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani tourists drawn to the lakes and glaciers of the Neelum valley are injecting desperately needed money into one of the poorest parts of the country. With a new road built by the Chinese after the 2005 earthquake killed 73,000 people and a ceasefire holding with India, Pakistanis are discovering the snow-capped peaks, glaciers, lakes and lush-green meadows of the Neelum valley.” Continue reading →

Pakistan TV preacher defends Ramadan baby give-away

“A charismatic Muslim preacher criticised for giving out babies to childless couples live on prime-time Pakistani television denies he is crudely seeking top ratings. Aamir Liaqat Hussain spoke to AFP as a charity involved in the process said a third baby is due to be given away in the coming days. Hussain broadcasts a marathon 12-hour show each day during the holy month of Ramadan, watched by millions of viewers across the country. He mesmerises his audience with celebrity interviews, game shows, by providing in-studio meals to the needy — and, on two consecutive weeks, handing out baby girls to childless couples.” Continue reading →

Guitarist completes first-ever paddleboard journey from Cuba to U.S.

“A Tennessee musician on Friday became the first paddleboarder to cross the Florida Straits between Cuba and the United States, making the 110 mile journey in 28 hours as his father watched from a support boat. Ben Friberg, 35, arrived in Key West dehydrated and exhausted but otherwise in good shape. Before leaving Cuba on Thursday, Friberg said he was ‘doing this to promote peace and understanding between Cuba and the United States and to promote a healthy lifestyle.'” Continue reading →

MIT researches find gold can control blood clotting

“Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists, funded by the US National Science Foundation, have come up with a new technique to control blood clotting by using gold. The method involves small particles of gold and the use of infrared laser light. According to the researchers, who published their findings in the PLoS One journal, one of the main advantages of this method is that coagulation can be turned on or off as needed. Wound healing, surgery and other conditions require handling this process, mainly through the use of anticoagulants such as heparin or warfarin. However, reversing the effects of these drugs is difficult.” Continue reading →

Google’s Sergey Brin bankrolled world’s first synthetic beef hamburger ‘for animal welfare reasons’

“The man who has bankrolled the production of the world’s first lab-grown hamburger has been revealed as Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The internet entrepreneur has backed the project to the tune of €250,000 (£215,000), allowing scientists to grow enough meat in the lab to create a burger – as a proof of concept – that will be cooked and eaten in London on Monday. Brin, a computer scientist who set up Google with university colleague Larry Page, is one of the wealthiest men in the world and has a history of backing projects that sound as though they belong in science fiction movies.” Continue reading →

Woolly mammoth DNA may lead to a resurrection of the ancient beast

“The pioneering scientist who created Dolly the sheep has outlined how cells plucked from frozen woolly mammoth carcasses might one day help resurrect the ancient beasts. The notional procedure – bringing with it echoes of the Jurassic Park films – was spelled out by Sir Ian Wilmut, the Edinburgh-based stem-cell scientist, whose team unveiled Dolly as the world’s first cloned mammal in 1996. Though it is unlikely that a mammoth could be cloned in the same way as Dolly, more modern techniques that convert tissue cells into stem cells could potentially achieve the feat, Wilmut says in an article today for the academic journalism website, The Conversation.” Continue reading →