Pakistan’s ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf was indicted on three counts Tuesday over the 2007 murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide attack, a prosecutor said. Charging a former army chief is an unprecedented move in a country ruled for more than half of its life...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Pakistan’s Musharraf charged over murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto
↧
U.S. Air Force can’t find enough people willing to be drone pilots
The US Air Force is unable to keep up with a growing demand for pilots capable of operating drones, partly due to a shortage of volunteers, according to a new study. Despite the importance placed on the burgeoning robotic fleet, drone operators face a lack of opportunities for promotion to higher...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Interior Department says Keystone XL pipeline impact report is inaccurate
The US Department of the Interior has criticised as “inaccurate” the State Department’s draft conclusions that the impact of the Keystone XL pipeline on wildlife would be temporary, and has warned instead that it could have long-term, adversarial effects. It is the second major...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
IRS faces lawsuit for failing to enforce church electioneering ban
The Internal Revenue Service was unable to suppress a lawsuit over its failure to audit thousand of churches that allegedly violated federal tax law by engaging in partisan advocacy. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of the Western District of Wisconsin on Monday denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Gunman inside Georgia elementary school surrenders
A man entered a US elementary school armed with a Kalashnikov Tuesday and took employees hostage before surrendering, authorities said. No one was wounded when he “held a few staff members captive in the front office,” then fired about six shots at police from inside the building, said...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Worth $355 million, Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest member of Congress
Republican Darrell Issa of California was 2012′s richest member of Congress, worth at least $355 million, according to a ranking published Tuesday. The congressman, who made his fortune in car security systems, topped the annual list of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers published by The Hill...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Creationist: Tyrannosaurus rex was created to eat plants
The king of dinosaurs — Tyrannosaurus rex — certainly was not designed to be a carnivore, according to Paul Taylor of Creation Today. The legendary Tyrannosaurus rex probably “ate people” and other dinosaurs, he said in video uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday. But the huge...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Even this Fox News pundit thinks marijuana is safer than alcohol
The U.S. government might officially consider marijuana more dangerous than alcohol, but at least one Fox News personality thinks otherwise. On Tuesday night, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was fretting about children smoking marijuana now that Washington state and Colorado had legalized it...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
White House: ‘Difficult to imagine’ authorities demanding destruction of hard drives
The White House distanced itself from Britain’s handling of the leaked NSA documents when representatives said it would be difficult to imagine the US authorities following the example of Whitehall in demanding the destruction of media hard drives. As a former lord chancellor said the...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why Santa Claus actually lives near Earth’s South Pole
While discussing whether Earth’s magnetic field could reverse in the future, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson noted that Santa Claus actually lived on Earth’s South Pole. “The North Magnetic Pole of the Earth is Earth’s South Pole,” he explained on Star Talk Radio....
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
For new university students, Jerry Garcia has always been dead
As professors, we realize that our students stay the same age, but we don’t. Keeping up with the latest is tough Every fall the same thing happens: I say “salvete!” (hello in Latin) to a classroom of college students. The students are roughly the same age as they were last year,...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Canada plans to use hexacopter drones in war against geese
Canada’s capital has ordered drone strikes to rid a popular Ottawa beach of pesky geese that dirty the waters with fecal matter, demonstrating on Wednesday how it works. The hexacopter — a 26-inch-wide remote-controlled hobby aircraft that was adapted by its owner for pest control...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
White House: Obama has no plans to reschedule marijuana
The White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama had no intention of altering the government’s policy towards marijuana. At a daily press briefing, CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin asked Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest if the Obama administration had...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
ACLU: Secret program blacklists immigrants who are ‘perceived to be Muslim’
A covert national security programme allows the FBI and US immigration authorities the power to indefinitely delay immigration benefits to Muslims and those from Muslim countries, according to an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union. The previously unknown programme, which began in...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Black people in London twice as likely to be charged with drug possession
Black people are not just significantly more likely to be searched by police for drugs than their white peers, but face almost double the chance of being charged if any are found, according to a study of racial disparities in the way drug laws are enforced. The study showed, for instance,...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
New Jersey’s ban on ex-gay therapy is a victory over religious nuts
As of this week, gay conversation therapy is outlawed in the state of New Jersey. Kids who are either gay or suspected of being gay cannot be forced by their parents to endure homophobic corrective therapy, which assemblyman and bill sponsor Tim Eustice correctly calls “an insidious form of...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Final batch of secret Nixon tapes released
The final batch of taped conversations secretly recorded by US president Richard Nixon and then used to help bring him down during the Watergate scandal were released on Wednesday. The latest tapes, recorded between April and July 1973, add new historical insight into a period of rapprochement with...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
↧
Former 700 Club co-host insists Iraq was involved in 9/11
Ben Kinchlow, the long time co-host of The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network, said Wednesday the invasion of Iraq was justified because of the September 11 terror attacks. During an appearance on The David Pakman Show, Kinchlow said top officials in Iraq were involved in...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
Rep. James Clyburn: Right-wing blogs are ‘foolishness,’ not news
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the House assistant Democratic leader, on Wednesday warned that some online media outlets were spewing dangerous levels of “negativism.” “You have people’s words and phrases being misrepresented and looped through the news media, thrown...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧
WikiLeaks Party in crisis over lack of transparency and support for far-right politicians
Julian Assange on Thursday took responsibility for the resignation of a key candidate from his WikiLeaks Party running in Australian elections, blaming his focus on Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning. The fledgling party is in crisis after its number two candidate for the Australian Senate behind...
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
↧