Head of security service in northern Kunduz province assassinated, say police A car bomb has killed the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service in the northern Kunduz province, say police. The blast on Thursday morning is the latest in a string of high profile assassinations, a spokesman for the Kunduz police chief said. Three civilians were also wounded by the blast from the bomb planted in the car of Payenda Khan, head of the National Directorate of Security in Kunduz, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husaini said. More details soon … Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Head of security service in northern Kunduz province assassinated, say police A car bomb has killed the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence service in the northern Kunduz province, say police. The blast on Thursday morning is the latest in a string of high profile assassinations, a spokesman for the Kunduz police chief said. Three civilians were also wounded by the blast from the bomb planted in the car of Payenda Khan, head of the National Directorate of Security in Kunduz, police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Husaini said. More details soon … Afghanistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The sky above Earth may once have been a little more crowded. The planet originally had two moons that collided into one, according to a new theory proposed in Nature . It’s widely believed that the early Earth collided with a Mars-sized proto-planet, and that debris coalesced into the moon. But…
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Chartered flight by mining crew hits mountain after leaving Manado, leaving all passengers and crew dead A helicopter chartered by an Australian mining company slammed into a mountain in eastern Indonesia, killing all 10 passengers and crew, the head of the search and rescue team has said. The Bell 412, carrying two Australians, two South Africans and six Indonesians, lost contact with authorities Wednesday afternoon minutes after takeoff from the city of Manado on Sulawesi island, said Lucky Pondaag, an airport spokesman. It was heading to Newcrest’s Gosowong Mine on the island of Halmahera. A search-and-rescue team discovered the wreckage in the early hours of Thursday, said Ludianto, head of the operations, who goes by only one name. There was only one survivor at the scene, he said, an Indonesian who later died of his injuries at the hospital. The bodies of the nine others have been transported to Manado. The helicopter was chartered by PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals, a joint venture between Newcrest Mining Ltd and PT Aneka Tambang, the Australian company said in a statement. It was not clear what caused the crash. Indonesia guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Netflix probably only had its bottom line in mind when it announced the separation of its streaming and DVD services, but does it signal something more sinister? “It increasingly seems like we’re moving toward a world in which the success of a given work of art is determined primarily by…
Continue reading …Authorities have charged 72 people in connection with an international online pornography club, Eric Holder announced today, touting it as the biggest bust of its kind. The group was called “Dreamboard,” and according to Holder its members “allegedly traded graphic images and videos of adults molesting young children, often violently….
Continue reading …Apparently, early education programs are a government plot. That’s the impression Rick Santorum gave yesterday at a tiny town hall meeting in Iowa. “It is a parent’s responsibility to educate their children. It is not the government’s job,” the GOP presidential candidate told a crowd of roughly 20 people, according…
Continue reading …Forbes is out with its annual rankings of the top US colleges, and Williams College of Massachusetts is in the No. 1 spot for the second straight year. At $55,000, “a Williams education is certainly not cheap, but the 2,000 undergraduates here have among the highest four-year graduation…
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Leader of Commons says ignoring topics raised by new scheme allowing submissions would be unfair to public MPs must not shy away from debating the restoration of capital punishment if a groundswell of voters backs a petition demanding it, the Commons leader has said. Sir George Young warned that it would damage democracy to ignore strong opinions among members of the public “or pretend that their views do not exist”. He spoke out ahead of the publication on Thursday of the first submissions to a new e-petitions scheme which could see the most popular appeals discussed in parliament. Among the most prominent is one calling for legislation allowing child killers and those who murder police officers to face execution. It has been presented by Paul Staines, who writes the libertarian Guido Fawkes blog, and has already been backed by several MPs. If it is signed by the required 100,000 supporters or more, then the cross-party backbench business committee will decide whether it will be debated. Young played down fears about airing the subject – which was effectively abolished as a sentence for murder in the UK in 1965. “The site has been widely welcomed as a realistic way to revitalise public engagement in parliament,” he wrote in the Daily Mail. “But there have been some who have been concerned by some of the subjects which could end up being debated – for example, the restoration of capital punishment. “The last time this was debated – during the passage of the Human Rights Act in 1998 – restoration was rejected by 158 votes. But if lots of people want parliament to do something which it rejects, then it is up to MPs to explain the reasons to their constituents. What else is parliament for? “People have strong opinions, and it does not serve democracy well if we ignore them or pretend that their views do not exist.” Tory MP Priti Patel said such a debate was long overdue and that she favoured restoring capital punishment “for the most serious and significant crimes” – a position echoed by party colleague Andrew Turner. Another Conservative, Philip Davies, told the newspaper he would like to see all murders punishable by death. Young said hundreds of petitions had been submitted on subjects “from setting up an English parliament to ensuring Formula One remains free to air”. Any petition deemed to be libellous, offensive, duplicates existing open petitions or is not related to government will be rejected. Moderators will also block any that concern honours and appointments. Capital punishment House of Commons George Young guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Swedish police busted a 31-year-old science enthusiast recently, after he wrote the Swedish Radiation Authority asking if it was OK if he tried to split atoms in his kitchen. Richard Handl had been trying to do just that for months, blogging about his experiments as he went, the AP reports….
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