Is National Security Behind Google's Wi-Fi Spying?

Has search and advertising giant Google been tracking you just to sell you stuff -- or is it because the U.S. government asked it to? A congressional hearing Thursday may have raised more questions than answers. Since May, Google has been in hot water worldwide over the information it collected during its street-mapping projects. European regulators have been pressing the company since it was revealed that Google collected information from Wi-Fi networks as its street-view vans cruised neighborhoods around the globe. The information Google gathered included e-mail fragments and passwords, alarming politicians and privacy and security advocates in Germany, France, and Spain.

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Deepwater Horizon Workers Were Afraid to Report Safety Issues

A confidential report on safety conditions aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, conducted about one month before the rig's explosion, points to widespread fear of reprisal for reporting employee mistakes that could undermine safety aboard the rig. "There was a stated fear of reprisal related specifically to the reporting of dropped objects," states an executive summary of the report obtained by CNN.

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White House Backs Bill to Collect Employee Pay Information from Businesses

The Obama administration is backing legislation that includes regulations requiring U.S. businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to the sex, race and national origin of employees. In an orchestrated effort that included a statement by President Barack Obama and an event at the White House featuring Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the president and his cabinet endorsed the Paycheck Fairness Act.

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BP Denies 'Buying Silence' of Oil Spill Scientists

BP has rejected accusations of muzzling the scientists and academics it has hired to help fight hundreds of lawsuits relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The American Association of University Professors claims the oil giant is seeking to "buy the silence" of the scientific community in its fight against litigation.

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US Senate Comittee Backs Down Over Plans to Call Tony Blair over Lockerbie Bomber Release

The committee seemingly drafted a letter to ask the former Prime Minister to appear before it but this was never sent. It remains unclear if a genuine error was made somewhere in the Senate. The committee may have decided that it was too controversial to ask him. Frederick Jones, communications director for the Senate foreign relations committee, said: “Mr Blair was not and will not be an invitee.”

Ice Block From Aircraft Crashes Through Couple's Roof in the Middle of the Night

Vince Foote and his wife Brenda said it was like being "bombed" when the ice smashed a 2ft hole in their spare room ceiling. Debris was scattered 30ft around their home by the impact but it could have been much worse if it had come down over their heads or their grandchildren had been staying over in the guest room. "I was woken by an unbelievable bang," Mr Foote, 66, a retired council manager, said.

Giant sinkhole swallows car and driver in Milwaukee

Mark Pawlik, 46, was walking across the North Ave. bridge and talking to his friend on the phone when he noticed a traffic light had sunk into the ground. Just the red, yellow and green lights were above street level. He told his friend he'd call him back. It was still pouring rain, but he wanted to stop and take a picture.

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Senate Shelves Global Warming Bill

Democrat leaders in the Senate decided Thursday to sideline a contentious plan to limit greenhouses gases. Instead, they will push for a much more modest energy measure which focuses on conservation and issues related to offshore drilling. "Many of us want ... a comprehensive bill that creates jobs, breaks our addiction to oil and curbs pollution," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-N.V., in a statement late Thursday. "Unfortunately, at this time not one Republican wants to join us in achieving this goal. That isn't just disappointing. It's dangerous."

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ECB chief calls for global tightening

Public spending cuts and tax increases should be imposed immediately across the industrialised world as evidence of a healthy European recovery mounts, according to Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank. In a strident article for the Financial Times, Mr Trichet argues that policymakers who want to prolong the stimulus are mistaken and that cutting borrowing would have “very limited” effects on growth. The view from Europe’s senior economic policymaker contrasts with continued US demands for fiscal tightening to be delayed at least until 2011 and suggests there is still little agreement over the best way to foster a strong global recovery from the financial and economic crisis of the past two years.

Euro Prophet of Doom: Beware Italy's Grey Economy

Italy is a ticking bomb in the euro zone because of its big grey economy, Edward Hugh, and economics blogger nicknamed "Europe's prophet of doom", told CNBC Friday. "They have a huge informal economy. Informal economies don't pay taxes but people eventually show up as they get older looking for pension and looking for health care," Hugh said. Italy's debt has risen to 115 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) because of this and the problem needs to be tackled, he added.

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North Korea threatens 'physical response' to US war games

North Korea has threatened a "physical response" to plans by the United States to hold joint military exercises with South Korea this weekend. Pyongyang lashed out after Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of State, laid out plans for new sanctions against North Korea to Asian leaders attending a regional security summit in Hanoi. Mrs Clinton said North Korea had embarked on a "campaign of provocative, dangerous behaviour" and described the rogue state as "isolated and belligerent".

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Russia, NATO Ready to Combat Global Threats Together

Russia and NATO military chiefs are ready to combine their efforts in combating international challenges to global security, the Russian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff said. On Thursday a NATO delegation, led by the chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, arrived in Moscow to review Russia-NATO relations and discuss, among other topics, anti-piracy issues, Russia's assistance to the NATO contingent in Afghanistan and further bilateral strategy.

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Orthodox Church to Train Own Youth to Guard Faith and Country

Vladimir Batrakov, 45, a retired military officer, enrolled in courses on how to be an Orthodox youth leader because he was disappointed with the lack of young people in church. After receiving his diploma last Friday, he started to work full-time at a Moscow church, where he is supposed to advise young people on religious issues and organize Orthodox youth rallies and other activities.

Rick Warren Recovering From Temporary Blindness Because of Firestick Plant Sap

Popular Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren sustained a serious eye injury and temporary blindness from a poisonous sap from a shrub he was pruning but is expected to make a full recovery, sources tell Newsmax. Warren's thousands of followers, accustomed to receiving scriptural quotations from him, were shocked Thursday morning when he sent the following message via Twitter: “My eyes were severely burned by a toxic poison. Hospitalized Mon[day]. Excruciating pain. Now home. Pray my sight loss is restored."

'Lose Christianity or face expulsion'

A lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges school officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the graduate program. School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said, according to the complaint.

White House Presses Senate G.O.P. on Arms Treaty

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Tropical Storm Bonnie turns South Florida weather dismal

As Tropical Storm Bonnie inched toward South Florida, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center predicted that local weather would deteriorate Friday morning and decline throughout the day, with the worst effects likely in the middle of the day and clearing late at night.

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Who's paying for the ground zero Islamic center?

In June, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the proposed ground zero mosque, was asked on live radio if he believed Hamas is a terrorist organization. This isn't a difficult question: Hamas employs suicide bombers and fires incendiary rockets at civilian targets within Israel. It calls for the destruction of the Jewish state followed by the establishment of a potentially fundamentalist and repressive regime. Governments all over the world, including the United States and the European Union, rightfully consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization that willfully and indiscriminately targets innocent civilians. Yet Imam Rauf, after being asked this simple, straightforward question, refused to state whether or not he believed Hamas to be a terrorist organization. He said: "I will not allow anybody to put me in a position where I am seen by any party in the world as an adversary or as an enemy."

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