"Waters along North America's Pacific coast are becoming more acidic, posing a threat to marine life, federal scientists reported Friday — adding that while that fits global warming scenarios, no one had expected the acidification to happen so soon.

"We did not expect to see this extent of ocean acidification until the middle to the end of the century," said study co-author Chris Sabine. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24797061/

"WASHINGTON (AP) — Iran is ratcheting up its support for militias in Iraq, providing them with newly manufactured weapons and bringing them across the border to receive training from members of Tehran's elite Republican Guard, U.S. military officials said Friday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military is preparing to roll out evidence — such as date stamps on newly found weapons caches — that shows that recently made Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq at a steadily increasing rate.

Mullen would not detail the evidence — which is expected to be unveiled by military leaders in Iraq as early as next week. But another senior military official said it will include mortars, rockets, small arms, roadside bombs and armor-piercing explosives — known as explosively formed penetrators or EFPs — that troops have discovered in caches in recent months."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gg4qLR7c7rPKhLqa-kxjsTP4XQigD9096DDO0

>>	Junior Field Reporter 08/05/24(Sat)07:34 No.6632   File: 1211639681586.jpg -(91858 B, 610x792) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.

"Microsoft's Live Search scraps book digitization project"

"Microsoft's Live Search Team is ending its book search efforts, according to a blog post Friday. Its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic sites will be discontinued next week, and books and academic publishings will show up in regular search results rather than separate sites."

"Prior to its swift end, Microsoft's book digitization project had indexed the contents of 750,000 books and 80 million scholarly journal articles. Microsoft has said that it will provide publishers with digital copies of books that were already scanned. "Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book publishers and libraries,"" the blog said.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9951460-36.html

"HONOLULU - Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpback whales have made a dramatic comeback in the North Pacific Ocean over the past four decades, a new study says.

The study released Thursday by SPLASH, an international organization of more than 400 whale watchers, estimates there were between 18,000 and 20,000 of the majestic mammals in the North Pacific in 2004-2006.

Their population had dwindled to less than 1,500 before hunting of humpbacks was banned worldwide in 1966.

"It's not a complete success, but it's definitely very encouraging in terms of the recovery of the species," said Jeff Walters, co-manager of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080523/ap_on_sc/humpback_comeback

"The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure."

"The lack of accountability of the funds, intended for purchases of weapons, vehicles, construction equipment and security services, amounted to a 95 percent failure rate in basic accounting standards, according to the report."

"The disclosures sparked outrage among legislators and concern that US taxpayers are deeply vulnerable to massive waste and fraud in the Pentagon's contracting system."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ieRhHYX-NosV0VEguc06fs15a4Jg

"Officials in Tokyo are to investigate claims that shipping crews stole a tonne of meat from Japan's whale hunt."

"The workers are accused of stealing whale meat from the Southern Ocean hunt, in a criminal complaint filed by Greenpeace after it tracked 47 boxes sent from the Nisshin Maru.

The environmental group also claims that government-appointed officials at Kyodo Senpaku and ICR were aware of the theft, and that restaurants and traders buy meat directly from the whaling ship before the government officially releases it for sale. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7413841.stm

>>	Junior Field Reporter 08/05/23(Fri)18:02 No.6624   File: 1211590937686.jpg -(9239 B, 240x300) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. >>6605 Didn't American GP do the similar thing and got arrested? Let's see...stealing chickens or something like that.

>>	Junior Field Reporter 08/05/23(Fri)21:53 No.6625   File: 1211604799683.jpg -(293407 B, 640x1435) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. GP lol

"The wraps have been taken off the new version of the XO laptop designed for schoolchildren in developing countries.

The revamped machine created by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project looks like an e-book and has had its price slashed to $75 per device."

"The first XO2 machines should be ready to deliver to children in 2010."

"The new version loses the green rubbery keyboard, sporting instead a single square display hinged at its centre.

This allows the device to be split into two touch screens that can either mimic a laptop with keyboard or the pages of a book. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7411904.stm

"BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter airstrike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children, north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday.

Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area."

"A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired on the vehicle after observing "suspicious activity.""

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080522/wl_nm/iraq_dc

"Berlin, Germany (AHN) - The German Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has reportedly suspended the approval for eight pesticides after the mass death of bees in one state.

The German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants reported that 29 out of 30 dead bees it examined in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state had been killed by contact with clothianidin, a product found in one of the seed treatment products."

"Beekeepers and agricultural officials in Italy, France and Holland all noticed similar phenomena in their fields when planting began a few weeks ago."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011025746

"Mars rover eyes hot spring-like deposits"

"Deposits of silica detected in 2007 by the US robot Spirit on Mars were formed by volcanic vapors or hot-spring-type events crossing through soil and could contain traces of past life, scientists found in a study out Thursday."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iDkw39DRKtGqehIfEozuB-7mYAVg