Current Events #5

Look Out Below

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/02/world/asia/pakistan-taliban/

(CNN) -- The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad was summoned to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Saturday, a day after Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone strike.Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry did not explain why the envoy was summoned. A U.S. State Department official confirmed the meeting to CNN but would not disclose details about it.The State Department official would not discuss U.S. operations in Pakistan but stressed the Pakistan Taliban's 2009 attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan and claims of responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb Times Square in New York.

Angry Youth of America

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/02/suspect-in-lax-shooting-apparently-had-suicidal-thoughts/

Former high school classmates of alleged Los Angeles airport shooter Paul Ciancia describe him as a quiet student who kept to himself, often turning down invitations to hang out with other people.

Federal prosecutors have filed charges of murder and commission of violence against Ciancia, who allegedly shot and killed a Transportation Security Administration officer and wounded two others and an airline passenger on Friday at the Los Angeles international airport. He could get the death penalty if convicted.

Do Not Let the Tail Wag the Dog

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/01/242126859/the-tails-the-tell-dog-wags-can-mean-friend-or-foe

Dogs can pick up emotional cues from another dog by watching the direction of its wagging tail, a new study suggests.

In a series of lab experiments, dogs got anxious when they saw an image of a dog wagging its tail to its left side. But when they saw a dog wagging its tail to its right side, they stayed relaxed.

Arrrgh! Pirate Booty

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/02/world/africa/horn-of-africa-piracy-loot/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

(CNN) -- Pirates off the Horn of Africa hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years -- and funneled those funds into drugs, prostitution, real estate and other ventures.Somali pirates and their peers hijacking vessels in the region made about $400 million in ransom over the past eight years, according to a report published Friday.The report, Pirate Trails, was conducted by the United Nations crime unit, Interpol and the World Bank. It tracks the underbelly of the pirate world in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Seychelles and Somalia.In the boat patrolling for piratesIn total, 179 ships were hijacked off the coast of Somalia and Horn of Africa between April 2005 and the end of 2012. About 85% were released for ransom

Prizes Among the Rotting Food

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/world/europe/unknown-artworks-found-in-nazi-haul/index.html?hpt=wo_t3

(CNN) -- Previously unknown paintings by Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and Otto Dix are among a treasure trove of art -- much of it believed to have been looted by the Nazis -- found hidden in a Munich apartment.The vast collection, which experts say has "a value so high it cannot be estimated," was recovered in a raid by German tax authorities, in connection with an investigation into tax evasion, in February and March 2012.At a press conference in Germany on Tuesday, experts revealed that more than 1,300 artworks -- many long feared lost or destroyed, and some which had never been recorded -- had been discovered."A total of 121 framed and 1,285 unframed works, among them works by famous artists, were seized," prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz announced.

Call Centers on Mars?

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2013/1105/India-s-Mars-mission-worth-the-cost-video

At $73 million, India's Mars mission is the world's least-expensive attempt to reach the Red Planet and a source of national pride. Yet some question the cost when 320 million remain in poverty.

India today successfully launched its first mission to Mars in an attempt to become the fourth nation and the first Asian country to reach the fourth planet from the sun. 

It's the first step in a complex 10-month mission designed to reach Mars on the lowest-budget ever for such an attempt. It's also a point of national pride for a country that has been dismayed by a faltering "economic miracle" in recent months, but has also raised questions since India continues to have large numbers of poor.

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat

http://news.yahoo.com/a-snake-the-size-of-a-school-bus--it-happened-before--and-could-happen-again-153534343.html

Imagine a snake the length of a school bus, with a mouth that opens wider than you can spread your arms. Not only could such a snake exist, it did exist ... and may exist again in the future as temperatures warm.

During a period of time known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, high temperatures favored larger reptiles ... and, in turn, smaller mammals. Imagine, for instance, a horse the size of a house cat.

The Paleocene Epoch lasted about 9 million years, starting with the fall of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Jonathan Bloch, a paleontologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History, discovered gargantuan turtle fossils and a snake known as Titanoboa from that period.

That's right. Titanoboa. Beat that, Sharknado.

True Horror of Halloween

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/world/asia/china-labor-camp-halloween-sos/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

A few pumpkins sat on the steps leading to Julie Keith's house, while three fake tombstones greeted visitors in the front porch -- as they did last year.The decorations came in a $29 "Totally Ghoul" toy set that Keith purchased in a local Kmart store in 2011. When she opened the package before Halloween last year, a letter fell out.In broken English mixed with Chinese, the author cried for help: "If you occasionally (sic) buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here... will thank and remember you forever.”The letter went on to detail grueling hours, verbal and physical abuses as well as torture that inmates making the products had to endure -- all in a place called Masanjia Labor Camp in China.

At Least It is Not a Space Trucker

http://news.sky.com/story/1166967/space-ferrari-satellite-crashes-into-atlantic

A spent satellite that had been mapping the Earth's gravity has mostly disintegrated after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The craft was put into orbit in 2009 on a mission to monitor variations in gravity and sea levels.

However, its mission came to a natural end when it ran out of fuel on October 21, leaving it without power to maintain its altitude in low orbit.

The £292m mission lasted twice as long as its initially scheduled 20 months.

ESA said the satellite earned the nickname 'Space Ferrari' because of its sleek design.

Tasting of Bitter Almond?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/israel-killed-arafat-claims-palestinian-official-polonium

Israel was the "first, fundamental and only suspect" in the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, a senior Palestinian official said on Friday after receiving reports by Swiss and Russian scientists on samples taken from the exhumed corpse of the late Palestinian leader.

Tawfik Tirawi, who heads a Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death nine years ago, said he did not die from natural causes, but was evasive when asked repeatedly whether he believed Arafat was poisoned by the radioactive substance polonium-210.

Blockbusted

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/blockbuster-final-rental-seth-rogen-comedy-article-1.1514535

It’s a fitting final rental for Blockbuster.The dying video chain tweeted a picture Monday of the last movie to be rented at any of its stores: the end-of-days comedy “This is the End.”

Blockbuster said the rental was made in Hawaii at 11 p.m. Saturday.

The terminal transaction comes as Blockbuster’s owner, Dish Network, announced it was shuttering its 300 stores and ending all of its rentals Saturday.The once-dominant video chain, founded in 1985, filed for banktupcy three years ago amid heightened competition from Netflix and Redbox.

Windier Than a Politician

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/13/philippines-typhoon-haiyan/3514059/

TACLOBAN, Philippines — Five days after super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippines, government and relief agencies struggled Wednesday to get aid through to the worst hit areas.

In the especially hard-hit city of Tacloban, where the mayor's office estimates that between 5,000 and 10,000 people may have died — though the president's office says the death toll may be somewhat lower — hungry survivors expressed anger at the lack of help while sporadic looting continued despite armed police patrolling streets that appear part war zone and part garbage dump.

Give Me Five

http://news.yahoo.com/dinosaur-predates-t-rex-found-utah-005438100.html

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Paleontologists on Wednesday unveiled a new dinosaur discovered four years ago in southern Utah that proves giant tyrant dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus rex were around 10 million years earlier than previously believed.

It was the public's first glimpse at the new species, which researchers named Lythronax argestes (LY'-throw-nax ar-GES'-tees). The first part of the name means "king of gore," and the second part is derived from poet Homer's southwest wind.

To Enrich, or Not to Enrich

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1112/Does-Iran-have-a-right-to-enrich-Answer-is-key-to-nuclear-deal-and-beyond.-video

Iran’s assertion that it has a guaranteed international “right” to uranium enrichment – and its demand that this right be formally recognized in writing – have emerged as key factors in the failure of negotiators to reach a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.

The source of the confusion is the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, which says that its 190 signatories (of which Iran is one) have an “inalienable right … to develop, research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”

No mention is made of uranium enrichment, an activity that can serve as a crucial part of peaceful nuclear energy production – or lead to production of fuel for a nuclear weapon.

If You Like It…They Can Cancel It

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1112/Keep-your-plan-House-Republicans-try-to-tweak-Obamacare-video

House Republicans plan to vote this week on a bill to allow insurance companies to keep existing options in place, but doesn't require that canceled policies be reinstated.

Republicans, some Democrats in Congress, and even former President Clinton are putting pressure on President Obama to make good on his oft-repeated promise that, under the Affordable Care Act, people can keep their health insurance, if they like it.