"Part of a Japanese woman’s lung was transplanted to her three-year-old son Monday in what was described as the world’s first successful graft of a middle lobe from a living donor, a hospital said. The hospital had previously said that a successful operation would be the first of its kind in the world." Continue reading →
"India launched the first of seven satellites for its domestic satellite navigation network in the first step to creating a scaled down version of the US Global Positioning System. The United States’ GPS is the most widely used network by consumers with 24 satellites, but other countries including Russia, the European Union and most recently China have developed rival positioning systems. China’s Beidou, or Compass, navigation system is expected to offer global coverage by 2020. India has a well-established space programme, but its cost has attracted criticism as the government struggles to tackle poverty and child malnutrition." Continue reading →
"The advisory panel was supposed to finish its work by July 31 but was granted a two-month extension to continue examining whether the use of electronic and WiFi enabled devices, such as iPods, laptops, e-readers and other gadgets, would be safe to use through takeoff and landing and at altitudes under 10,000 feet. Airlines have long told travelers not to use iPods, music players, laptops and other gadgets during takeoffs and landings. NBC News reported that the recommendations are likely to call for allowing passengers to use devices such as electronic readers throughout a flight, and that FAA officials are likely to adopt the change." Continue reading →
"Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s office said it was preparing to bring charges against British and US intelligence today amid fresh allegations that the services spied far more extensively than thought on German phone and internet traffic and bugged European Union offices in America. The leak from fugitive ex-CIA analyst Edward Snowden claimed that the NSA tapped into half a billion German phone calls, emails and SMS messages each month. Reports last week revealed extensive tapping of German phone and internet traffic by British intelligence under its so-called Tempora programme. The information was said to be shared with the NSA." Continue reading →
"A medical marijuana dispensary billed as the world’s largest cannabis store may stay open while the city of Oakland fights a U.S. government effort to shut it down or seize the property, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. There has been a tug-of-war in California between federal and local authorities over cannabis sold for purported health reasons. In February, Magistrate Maria-Elena James, the same judge who ruled on Wednesday, said the city had no right to intervene in a federal prosecutor’s civil-forfeiture action against the Harborside Health Center, which was featured on the Discovery Channel reality TV show 'Weed Wars.'" Continue reading →
"The payouts come in the wake of criticism from independent experts who said the police department was under-resourced and ill-prepared to deal with the protests. The lawsuits detailed how police reacted to the protesters when they tried to reclaim a camp which had been cleared earlier that day. Suzi Spangenberg and Sukay Sow said they were injured by flashbang grenades thrown by officers. Spangenberg, a 52-year-old seminarian was awarded $500,000 in compensation, while Sow, who suffered chemical burns to her foot, received $210,000." Continue reading →
"The federal government revealed plans in Bern on Wednesday to settle a bitter dispute with Washington after lawmakers rejected a deal that would have halted US legal action against Swiss banks suspected of stashing cash for American tax dodgers. Rather than a blanket accord, Swiss banks will now have to apply on a case-by-case basis for government permission to cooperate with US investigators, Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said. The moves comes two weeks after the Alpine country's parliament shot down the controversial 'Lex USA' accord, which would have temporarily lifted Switzerland's long-sacrosanct banking secrecy." Continue reading →
"Any concerns about the quality of education children receive by their parents can be put to rest by the consistently high placement of homeschooled students on standardized assessment exams. Data demonstrates that those who are independently educated generally score between the 65th and 89th percentile on these measures, while those in traditional academic settings average at around the 50th percentile. In addition, achievement gaps between sexes, income levels, or ethnicity—all of which have plagued public schools around the country—do not exist in homeschooling environments." Continue reading →
"French actor and new Russian national Gerard Depardieu says he is applying for an Algerian passport and possibly others, describing himself a 'world citizen'. The 64-year-old star, one of the world's most prolific actors, acquired Russian nationality in January after getting into a fight with the French authorities over a new 75-per cent tax on the super-rich. 'I would like to have seven' passports, he told France's Journal du Dimanche on Sunday. 'I'm going to ask for an Algerian one and others as well,' he said. 'This will help me avoid visas.'" Continue reading →
"A former executive of a Geneva-based bank says he gave authorities in France a list of 15 former and current French cabinet ministers with secret Swiss bank accounts. Pierre Condamin-Gerbier, formerly with Reyl & Company, said on Wednesday he had submitted the list of 'big names' to investigators. Condamin-Gerbier was a witness before a French parliamentary commission investigating France’s former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned in disgrace in March over an undeclared foreign bank account said to contain around €600,000. Cahuzac is now facing charges of tax fraud. He had earlier said the list contained a number of well-known names." Continue reading →