Coast Guard checking report of wellhead leak off Louisiana | Reuters

Coast Guard checking report of wellhead leak off Louisiana | Reuters: (Reuters) - "The Coast Guard was responding to a report that a crewboat struck an inactive wellhead off the Louisiana coast, and that the platform was discharging an unknown quantity of an oily-water mixture, the agency said on Wednesday."

The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people | Society | The Guardian

The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people | Society | The Guardian: "On Bastoy prison island in Norway, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand 'cushy' and 'luxurious'. Yet it has by far the lowest reoffending rate in Europe"

High school graduation rate up sharply, but red flags abound | Reuters

High school graduation rate up sharply, but red flags abound | Reuters: (Reuters) -" For the first time in decades, the United States is making steady gains in the number of high school students earning diplomas, putting it on pace to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, according to a new analysis released Monday."

Killer robots must be stopped, say campaigners | Technology | The Observer

Killer robots must be stopped, say campaigners | Technology | The Observer: "'Autonomous weapons', which could be ready within a decade, pose grave risk to international law, claim activists"

Napster: the day the music was set free | Music | The Observer

Napster: the day the music was set free | Music | The Observer: "The digital music revolution started with Napster – the file-sharing service dreamt up by two teenagers in 1999. As a new film tells Napster's story, Tom Lamont recalls the incredible sense of liberation he felt as a young music fan, one of millions happily plundering the world's record collections…"

Hanford Site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hanford Site - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hanford site is leaking highly radioactive material into the environment. (my comment)

Chinese struggle through 'airpocalypse' smog | World news | The Observer

Chinese struggle through 'airpocalypse' smog | World news | The Observer: "Pollution has hit record levels recently, prompting citizens to ask if they're paying for economic growth with their health"

NATO air strikes for Afghan security forces must end: Karzai | Reuters

NATO air strikes for Afghan security forces must end: Karzai | Reuters: (Reuters) - "Afghan security forces will be banned from calling for NATO air strikes in residential areas to help in their operations, President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday, three days after 10 civilians died in such a strike in the country's east."

5 children dead should be part of the title. (my comment)

Meteorite explodes over Russia: key questions answered | Science | guardian.co.uk

Meteorite explodes over Russia: key questions answered | Science | guardian.co.uk: "Hundreds of people in Chelyabinsk have been injured after a huge meteorite flared in the sky above the city, but what is it?"

Obama: Americans deserve to know more about drone war | Reuters

Obama: Americans deserve to know more about drone war | Reuters: (Reuters) - "President Barack Obama on Thursday promised to be more forthcoming with the American public on his administration's campaign of lethal drone strikes amid criticism over the targeting of suspected U.S. terrorism suspects abroad."

Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt | Reuters

Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt | Reuters: (Reuters) - "More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings."

Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Anonymous billionaires donated $120m to more than 100 anti-climate groups working to discredit climate change science"

How crazy is this? and how anonymous can billionaires be? (my comment)

BlackBerry shares slip after former CEO Balsillie sells stake | Reuters

BlackBerry shares slip after former CEO Balsillie sells stake | Reuters: (Reuters) - "Shares of Blackberry slipped on Thursday, after the company's former Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie disclosed that he had sold his once-sizable stake in the embattled smartphone maker."

Spy suicide scandal focuses attention on Israel's foreign Jews | Reuters

Spy suicide scandal focuses attention on Israel's foreign Jews | Reuters: (Reuters) - "The jailhouse suicide of an Australian immigrant who may have betrayed Israel's Mossad has focused attention on the agency's recruitment of foreign-born Jews who could spy under cover of their native passports."

Buffett pulls off fresh blockbuster with $23 billion Heinz deal | Reuters

Buffett pulls off fresh blockbuster with $23 billion Heinz deal | Reuters: (Reuters) - "Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm 3G Capital will buy ketchup and baby food maker H.J. Heinz Co for $23.2 billion in cash, a deal that combines 3G's ambitions in the food industry with Buffett's hunt for growth."

Can't go wrong investing in food. (my comment)

Israel rattled by mysterious Australian prisoner: ABC | Reuters

Israel rattled by mysterious Australian prisoner: ABC | Reuters: (Reuters) - "An Australian man committed suicide in a high-security Israeli jail in 2010 after being held for months in great secrecy, Australia's ABC channel said on Tuesday, throwing new light on a case that has rattled Israel."

China overtakes US in world trade | Business | guardian.co.uk

China overtakes US in world trade | Business | guardian.co.uk: "Combined total for imports and exports of Chinese goods hits $3.87tn, edging past the US for the first time"

Pope's sudden resignation sends shockwaves through Church | Reuters

Pope's sudden resignation sends shockwaves through Church | Reuters: (Reuters) - "Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on."
 

Down and Under - 101 East - Al Jazeera English

Down and Under - 101 East - Al Jazeera English

"Why, despite being one of the world's wealthiest countries, is Australia unable to break the cycle of poverty?"

Seattle mayor grounds police drone program | Reuters

Seattle mayor grounds police drone program | Reuters: (Reuters) - "A plan by Seattle police to send aloft miniature robot drones equipped with stealth spy cameras has been grounded, following heated criticism of the project by residents concerned about privacy rights, the mayor said on Thursday."

Two thumbs up for Seattle. (my comment)

Asteroid to pass closer to Earth than TV satellites | Science | guardian.co.uk

Asteroid to pass closer to Earth than TV satellites | Science | guardian.co.uk: "Rock measuring 46 metres across is expected to come within 17,100 miles but will not hit Earth, says Nasa"

What will they say if an asteroid was about to hit the earth? (My question)

Brennan rejects CIA torture claims in confident display at Senate hearing | World news | guardian.co.uk

Brennan rejects CIA torture claims in confident display at Senate hearing | World news | guardian.co.uk: "Obama's nominee for CIA director suggests he was misled over value of waterboarding and forcefully defends drones policy"

Send this guy to the Hague. (My comment)

Insight: GSK vaccine ingredient scrutinized for narcolepsy clues | Reuters

Insight: GSK vaccine ingredient scrutinized for narcolepsy clues | Reuters: (Reuters) - "Mounting evidence of a link between GlaxoSmithKline's Pandemrix flu shot and a spike in narcolepsy cases among children in Europe is putting one of the vaccine's key ingredients, AS03, under intense scrutiny."

New TB vaccine shows no benefit in African study - The Washington Post

New TB vaccine shows no benefit in African study - The Washington Post: "The study, reported online by the Lancet on Monday, was conducted in about 2,800 South African infants. Although the vaccine did not protect them, it might possibly benefit adolescents or adults."

Would European or American parents have wanted their infants vaccinated for a study? Africans and other third world population are being used by pharmaceutical companies as guinea pigs. (My comments)

US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans | World news | guardian.co.uk

US military struggling to stop suicide epidemic among war veterans | World news | guardian.co.uk:" Last year, more active-duty soldiers killed themselves than died in combat. And after a decade of deployments to war zones, the Pentagon is bracing for things to get much worse"