Schoolboy’s bee snap buzzes to first place in wildlife photography competition By Daily Mail Reporter It is an extraordinary picture that has all the hallmarks of a professional wildlife photographer. But, remarkably, this crystal clear shot of a bumble bee hovering beside a salvia flower was taken by a 13-year-old boy in his back garden. Cameron Smith has now won a national photography competition after the judges were impressed by his technical ability in the picture, which he titled ‘Buzzing Along’. It’s a honey: This perfect snap of a bee settling on a flower was 13-year-old Cameron Smith’s prizewinning picture. … Continue reading Cameron Smith nature photos

Kepler probe finds two Saturn-sized planets orbiting a single star 2,000 light years away By Niall Firth Two giant Saturn-sized planets have been spotted passing in front of the same star, Nasa scientists announced today. It is the first time more than one planet has ever been discovered ‘transiting’ a single star. The two planets were discovered by the space telescope Kepler and will give scientists vital information about how planets were formed and how they interact with each other. Kepler scientists have also identified what appears to be a third, much smaller possible planet which is around 1.5 times … Continue reading Kepler probe finds two Saturn-sized planets

Muslim New York cab driver stabbed by ‘baby-faced bigot’ as Ground Zero mosque tensions threaten to spill over By Daniel Bates Fears were growing that a backlash against New York Muslims had begun after a taxi driver was knifed because of his religion. Film student Michael Enright, who had recently been embedded with US Marines, reached through the taxi’s partition and allegedly slashed Ahmed Sharif’s throat, face and arms. Before he did, he asked if the New York cabbie was a Muslim. Victim: New York cab driver Ahmed H Sharif, 43, lies in New York’s Bellevue Hospital after he was … Continue reading Christian Fanatic stabs Muslim New Yorker

HUM HINDUSTANI: Mamata’s metamorphosis —J Sri Raman The new Mamata was born the day — October 20, 2005, to be precise — she protested against the state government’s grant of land in Howrah to the Indonesia-based Salim Group of Companies We know how leaders can evolve from heroes and heroines, if not quite to zeros, certainly to vote-losing villains for their parties in electoral politics. Indira Gandhi, once hailed as the brave liberator of Bangladesh in 1971, lost her halo after the episode of an unpopular emergency and the general election in 1977. Her son Rajiv, riding to power on … Continue reading Mamata’s metamorphosis

VIEW: A thought revolution —Dr Mahjabeen Islam The situation is so dire that any and all of our incomes beyond our basic needs must go towards rebuilding Pakistan. We must question each party, each purchase and each bite of food, keeping the memory of the millions always alive in our minds I have spent years crying silently for the brothers that I lost to a car accident and my father who died within five years of them, overcome with grief. I have hated that life went on as though nothing had happened; the condolences faded and soon enough it was … Continue reading A thought revolution

VIEW: Sialkot and the writing on the wall — I —Naeem Tahir There are also whispers that efforts are afoot to save the guilty. This may become an invitation to be lynched. Has anyone tried to understand the consequences? Do we understand the cause of mob anger and its desperation to take revenge without recourse to law? A TV news channel was showing the gruesome killing of two young boys by a mob in Sialkot last week. It was so disturbing that I did not have the heart to watch it. I moved away, shocked. The channel was doing public … Continue reading Sialkot – The Trigger for Revolution?

Can North Koreans Use the Internet? Only a lucky few. BY JOSHUA E. KEATING This week, the Internet was buzzing with reports that the typically secretive North Korean government had set up its own Facebook and Twitter accounts. While it turns out that the accounts were set up by foreign supporters of Kim Jong Il’s regime rather than the North Korean government itself, the story has raised interest in how the Hermit Kingdom interacts with the online world. So can anyone in North Korea actually get on the Internet? Very few of them can. A small number of people — … Continue reading Dear Leader on Facebook!

Jimmy Carter Gets Dissed by North Korea Jacob Heilbrunn foriegnpolicy.com Jimmy Carter seems to be getting dissed by North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il. Like Jesse Jackson, Carter is something of a connoisseur of Third World kleptocrats. He’s rarely met one that he didn’t want to cozy up to and embrace. But this time he may be disappointed. Carter showed up at the North’s invitation to negotiate–in other words, beg for–the release of an American hostage. But as the Los Angeles Times puts it, “In a trip shrouded in mystery and speculation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il traveled to … Continue reading Carter went to hug Kim Jong-il who escaped to China!

Kowtowing to the Israeli Right Amjad Atallah After almost one year of intense pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by the Obama Administration, direct talks between Israel’s right-wing government and the PLO are set to resume next week. Israel insisted and received guarantees that there would be no guarantees. The talks will include all final status issues but have no agenda. The Palestinians did get a one-year timeframe, but with no word on what happens if that timeframe is not met. Not surprisingly, there is little excitement or optimism among Israelis or Palestinians. Is this just the latest in a … Continue reading US Kissing Likud Ass?

Paul R. Pillar THE POST of director of national intelligence (DNI) has had an unhappy five-year history. Until now it has been easier to blame the successive occupants of the position than to acknowledge the fundamental flaws of the office. Much commentary about the recent ouster of Dennis Blair, for example, has focused on his lack of chemistry with the president, his riling of the Israel lobby by attempting to appoint Chas Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council and a deficiency in political street-fighting skills compared to those of CIA Director Leon Panetta. All those no doubt contributed to … Continue reading Unintelligent Design