Pope To Preside Over First Good Friday

Pope Francis was to preside over his first Good Friday after washing the feet of 12 young prisoners, updating an ancient Easter ritual as part of his efforts to bring the Catholic Church closer to the needy.

The new pontiff is due to recite the Passion of Christ -- the story of the last hours of Jesus's life -- in St Peter's Basilica on Friday, before leading the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) ceremony by the Colosseum, where thousands of Christians are believed to have been killed in Roman times.

Francis, whose first days as pope have set a markedly different tone from his predecessor Benedict XVI, is expected to take part in the procession and even carry the wooden cross on his shoulder part of the way.

A photo made available by Osservatore Romano showing Pope Francis wiping dry the foot of a young offender during a mass celebrating The Last Supper of Christ in which he washed the feet of prisoners at the "Casal del Marmo" institute for young offenders 28 March 2013

Last year a frail Benedict, now 85, oversaw celebrations from under a canopy next to the Colosseum.

The new pope also held an unprecedented ceremony to mark Holy Thursday, washing and kissing inmates' feet at a prison in Rome -- the first time a pontiff had performed the ritual in a prison, and the first time it included women and Muslims.

"Whoever is the most high up must be at the service of others," said Francis, 76, at the mass in the Casal del Marmo youth prison, a fortnight after being elected Latin America's first pope.

"I do this with all my heart because it is my duty as a priest, as a bishop. I have to be at your service."

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said many of the participants broke down in tears at the ceremony, which was open only to Vatican media.

Iran, North Korea, Syria Block UN Arms Trade Treaty

 In a major blow to the international community, Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked the UN treaty to regulate $ 70 billion global arms trade for the first time.

Reports said Friday that three countries have opposed UN treaty, saying that it can not ban the sale of terrorists. However, other countries have refused to allow the UN treaty die.

The adoption contract requires the consent of all 193 UN member states, but some countries have indicated that they would request the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bring the final draft to the General Assembly for adoption as soon as possible.

Observers say that the final draft of the treaty on the arms trade in the world can be made on Tuesday.

"This is not a failure," the British ambassador said Joe Adamson. "Today is deferred and reported success in not very long," he added.

For over ten years, activists and some governments insist on international rules governing the estimated U.S. $ 60 billion global arms trade and try to keep illegal guns out of the hands of terrorists, rebel fighters and organized crime.

After two weeks of intense negotiations, many delegates were optimistic that a consensus was at hand, but Iran, North Korea and Syria announced that they could not support the agreement.

Iran and North Korea arms embargo the UN's nuclear program, while Syria is the third year of a conflict that escalated into a civil war.

Amnesty International said that the three countries "horrible human rights -. Having even use weapons against its own citizens"

This was the second attempt in eight months for countries with very different interests behind the arms trade treaty.

Hope to reach an agreement in July were dashed when the United States has said it needed more time to consider the draft treaty - fast motion supported by Russia and China. In December, the General Assembly decided to convene a conference of the final set Thursday as the deadline.

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes that an Arms Trade Treaty needs to happen, and welcomes the general desire to get there as soon as possible," spokesman Martin Nesirky said the UN.

Deputy U.S. Representative Dan Mahley said Washington supported the agreement is "fair and balanced" and looks forward to its rapid adoption by the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General did not immediately respond to the request, but expressed deep disappointment at the failure to agree on the text of the treaty.

North Korea Puts Rockets on Standby for US Strike

 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered preparations Friday for strategic rocket strikes on the US mainland and military bases after US stealth bombers flew training runs over South Korea.

The order came as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula, said Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's bellicose threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

Kim directed his rocket units on standby at an overnight emergency meeting with top army commanders, hours after nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in ongoing US joint military drills with South Korea.

In the event of any "reckless" US provocation, North Korean forces should "mercilessly strike the US mainland... military bases in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea", he was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

While North Korea has no proven ability to conduct such strikes, Kim argued that the stealth bomber flights went beyond a simple demonstration of force and amounted to a US "ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost".

The United States rarely acknowledges B-2 flights to the Korean peninsula, which remains technically at war. The aircraft, which dodge anti-aircraft defences, bombed targets in conflicts in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The flights came as part of annual drills between the United States and South Korea, which North Korea each year denounces as rehearsals for war.

Pyongyang has been particularly vocal this time, angered by UN sanctions imposed after its long-range rocket launch in December and the third nuclear test it carried out last month.

Kim's order formalised steps already taken by the Korean People's Army (KPA), which put its strategic rocket units at combat-ready status on Tuesday.The following day it cut the last remaining military hotline with South Korea.

The bulk of the threats emanating from Pyongyang have been dismissed as bluster, and North Korea has no confirmed missile capability to reach the US mainland -- or indeed Guam or Hawaii in the Pacific.

But Washington has opted to match the threats with its own muscle-flexing.

"We will be prepared -- we have to be prepared -- to deal with any eventuality," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

"We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we'll respond to that," Hagel said, defending the B-2 deployment.

US military intelligence has noted that the North's warlike rhetoric has not, so far, been matched by any overtly provocative troop movements or build-up.

Pyongyang has also been careful not to allow tensions to affect the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint South-North venture that provides the regime with crucial hard currency.

Present at the emergency meeting convened by Kim in Pyongyang, were the KPA chief of general staff, director of operations and commander of strategic rocket operations.

KCNA, which rarely even mentions which day events have taken place, provided an unusually precise timing for the meeting of 00:30 am (1530 GMT Thursday) in an apparent effort to underline the urgency and import of Kim's order.

But analysts warned against reading too much into what is the latest in a long series of incremental rhetorical upgrades.

"It shouldn't be taken to mean war is imminent," said Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University.

"It's an inevitable and calibrated reaction to the B-2 deployment, and this who-blinks-first game with the United States will continue for a while yet," he said.

On the assumption that the North would never invite a full-scale conflict it would surely lose, experts believe it may opt for a limited provocation, similar to its 2010 shelling of a South Korean island that killed four people.

However, the stakes have been raised by a new pact South Korea signed with the US military last week, allowing it to call on US forces for a joint response to even a low-scale act of aggression.

Council Approves UN "Offensive" Peacekeepers in DR Congo

 The Security Council unanimously approved on Thursday the first "offensive" team peacekeeping force of the United Nations rebel groups fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Resolution of the Board gave the power of orders of more than 2,500 soldiers to "neutralize" and "disarm" armed groups in resource-rich countries huge, which was torn by conflict for more than two decades.

Intervention teams and drones to monitor the border with DR Congo's neighbors accused of supporting the rebels to work in July, according to the UN.

UN forces begin peacekeeping operations in a new era, said the diplomat, who negotiated its preparation.

The mandate of the authorization to conduct offensive operations, "target" has never been given a mission of peace before, diplomats said.

Brigade and drones are part of a new UN campaign to end the conflict in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and Uganda. Eleven African countries have signed the UN last month not to interfere in the affairs of its neighbors.

Rwanda, a temporary member of the Security Council in Africa, joined the other 14 members voted for the resolution.

The Largest Creature in The World, Followed by The Singing

A group led by Australian scientists have for the first time tracked and recorded Antarctic blue whales using acoustic technology to track the songs, the government said Wednesday.

The blue whale, the largest animal on the planet, rarely identified in the Southern Ocean, but a group of brave researchers have found, and to note some mammals after removing their voices deep and complex.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said the researchers, who spent seven weeks working on small boats in frosty Antarctica have been fascinated by the remarkable behavior of the whales they saw.

"Antarctic blue whales can reach more than 30 meters in length and weigh up to 180 tons, the language only heavier elephant and his heart is as big as a small car," said Burke.

"Even the largest dinosaurs were smaller than the blue whale."

Scientists have collected 23 samples of biopsy and joint satellite beacons for the two pillars.

"Transferred lighthouses still obtained data on the longitudinal fast movements during their summer feeding and feeding behavior in relation to the edge of the ice in Antarctica," Tagger Virginia Andrews-Goff said.

"This method of studying blue whales in the Antarctic has been such a success that it will become a model for other whale researchers throughout the world."

The first flight in the Southern Ocean Whale Antarctic blue project involves the deployment of buoys western Ross Sea, to take singing blue whales, which can be found on hundreds of kilometers (miles).

They recorded 626 hours of songs, with 26,545 calls in the Antarctic blue whales are analyzed in real time, said lead acoustician Brian Miller.

"The researchers were then able to position triangulation whale vocalizations and steer the ship to the target area," he said.

Burke said that studies have shown that it was not necessary to kill whales for scientific research linked to hunt whales in Japan every year in the Antarctic, which is held in the name of scientific research.

"Antarctic blue whales narrowly escaped extinction during the whaling industry in the 1900s, where nearly 340,000 whales were killed," Burke said in a statement.

"This study confirms the commitment of Australia's non-lethal whale research."

Former South African President Nelson Mandela has Been Readmitted to Hospital

Former South African president Nelson Mandela has been readmitted to hospital with a recurrent lung infection, the presidency said Thursday, urging people to pray for the anti-apartheid hero.

The 94-year-old was hospitalised "due to the recurrence of his lung infection" just before midnight on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma's office said in a statement.

It is the second time this month that the Nobel peace laureate has spent the night in hospital and follows a nearly three-week stay in December for the lung infection and for surgery to extract gallstones.

Earlier this month, he spent a night in hospital for a "scheduled medical checkup".

"Doctors are attending to him, ensuring that he has the best possible expert medical treatment and comfort," said the presidency.

Zuma wished "Madiba", as South Africa's first black president is fondly known at home, a quick recovery.

"We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts," he said.

"We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they will do everything possible to ensure recovery."

The name or location of the hospital where Mandela is staying was not disclosed.

We Conservatives Are An Army of Ants

A tireless, unstoppable group of individuals that work as a team.
Ants lift and carry above their own body weight. Ants work as a team to achieve phenomenal things.

One helps the other. What one ant misses another ant picks up. An Army of Ants is capable of amazing things.
I can’t, by myself, force this movement forward. But me and my little ant buddies can move mountains.
We’re ants! And we’re here to ruin your liberal picnic! You can’t stop us.

Squish ants and you get more….
Ants.
I'm happy to be an ant.

CNN Debate Format Effectively Squelched Any Chance For Statesmanship

 In this sound bite world of text messages, 140 character or less tweets, and short attention spans, political statesmanship may become a lost art. This week CNN produced a presidential debate that discouraged eloquence and elaboration. The 30 second time limited response more closely resembled a speed dating session. It was hard to tell if John King was suffering from Tourette’s, ADHD or both.

This format was designed to stifle the impact of the candidates and prevent true statesmanship from blossoming. By limiting and minimizing their responses, CNN effectively neutered the Republican hopefuls.

Watch this version of Patrick Henry’s famous oration by actor Dean Jones. It is a fairly brief and extremely remarkable speech of just under 3 minutes but just imagine how unremarkable it would have been had John King been there to grunt him to a halt at the 30 second mark.

Hundreds of Dinosaur Egg Fossils Found

Researchers in northeastern Spain say they've uncovered hundreds of dinosaur egg fossils, including four kinds that had never been found before in the region. The eggs likely were left behind by sauropods millions of years ago.

Eggs, eggshell fragments and dozens of clutches were nestled in the stratigraphic layers of the Tremp geological formation at the site of Coll de Nargó in the Spanish province of Lleida, which was a marshy region during the Late Cretaceous Period, the researchers said.

"Eggshells, eggs and nests were found in abundance and they all belong to dinosaurs, sauropods in particular," the study's leader, Albert García Sellés from the Miquel Crusafont Catalan Palaeontology Institute, told Spanish news agency SINC this week.

"Up until now, only one type of dinosaur egg had been documented in the region: Megaloolithus siruguei," Sellés added. His team found evidence of at least four other species: Cairanoolithus roussetensis, Megaloolithus aureliensis, Megaloolithus siruguei and Megaloolithus baghensis. Megaloolithus eggs are thought to be associated with sauropods, long-necked dinosaurs that were among some of the largest to roam the planet.

The Coll de Nargó area is considered one of the most important dinosaur nesting areas in Europe, the researchers said, adding that their study shows it was used by several dinosaurs from the Late Campanian age (around 71 million years ago) to the Late Maastrichtian age (around 67 million years ago).

"We had never found so many nests in the one area before. In addition, the presence of various oospecies (eggs species) at the same level suggests that different types of dinosaurs shared the same nesting area," Sellés said, adding that the dinosaur eggs could help scientists determine the date of future findings at the site.

"It has come to light that the different types of eggs are located at very specific time intervals," Sellés explained to SINC. "This allows us to create biochronological scales with a precise dating capacity. In short, thanks to the collection of oospecies found in Coll de Nargó we have been able to determine the age of the site at between 71 and 67 million years."

The findings are published in the March issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.

Mars Discovery Highlights Need for Sample-Return Mission, Scientist Says

The announcement this week that Mars definitely could have supported some form of life in the ancient past is an unmistakable reminder that future missions to the Red Planet should focus on bringing Martian rock samples back to Earth, a celebrated planetary scientist says.

NASA unveiled the discovery on Tuesday (March 12) with a bold announcement that Mars could have supported primitive life at some point billions of years ago. The Martian find was made with the help of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, the largest rover ever to explore the Red Planet. But in order to create a clear picture of the story of habitability and life on Mars, scientists will need to get their hands on fresh samples of the planet collected by an ambitious future mission.

"On the one hand, it shows what we can do with instruments on the surface of Mars," Bruce Betts, the director of projects at the Planetary Society, told SPACE.com. "We'll always be able to do more with our labs on Earth than what we can do on Mars."

The Curiosity rover was able to bore into a Martian rock and find evidence of a habitable environment, but more comprehensive work can be done in labs on Earth, Betts said.

For this reason, scientists like Betts have campaigned to have sample return added as non-negotiable for the next mission to the Red Planet.

NASA is taking the concept seriously. Sample return is at the top of the space agency's list when planning for missions to Mars in the next decade, Betts added. NASA has placed it as the highest priority for any new missions to the Red Planet. [The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)]


"You want rocks that are carefully collected," Betts said.

It's important to know exactly where the rocks are coming from, Betts said. If scientists know the context in which the rocks were found, it will help them analyze them in a broader context.

Although there are no solid plans to build sample return into a mission currently in development, future NASA missions are using other means to investigate the Martian interior and exterior.

The MAVEN mission — a Mars orbiter launching later this year — will investigate the ionosphere of the Red Planet to see how carbon dioxide, oxygen and other compounds could have dissipated over time, leaving Mars with the cold, arid atmosphere scientists see today.

NASA's InSight Mars is a lander that will burrow deep into the Martian dirt to learn more about the planet's geological evolution. It is on track to launch in 2016. The agency is also planning to launch a new Mars rover in 2020, but it won't have the capability for sample return.

Europe and Russia are also planning new Mars missions together, including an orbiter and the ExoMars rover.

NASA's announcement on Tuesday means that astronomers are one step closer to understanding what a primitive Mars could have looked like, something that missions in the future will help clarify, Betts added.

"I think the findings like today's continue to increase the interest in Mars as a complex and interesting place," Betts said.

Francis Pays Tribute to Benedict, Reflects on Age

Pope Francis paid a heartfelt tribute Friday to his predecessor Benedict XVI, saying his faith and teaching had "enriched and invigorated" the Catholic Church and would remain its spiritual patrimony forever.

Francis offered the respects during an audience with the cardinals who elected him to succeed Benedict, whose resignation set in motion the extraordinary conclave that brought the first prelate from the New World and first Jesuit to the papacy.

Francis, 76, tripped and stumbled when he greeted the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, at the start of the audience, but he recovered immediately.

Speaking at times off the cuff, Francis said Benedict had "lit a flame in the depths of our hearts that will continue to burn because it is fueled by his prayers that will support the church on its missionary path."

"In these years of his pontificate, he enriched and invigorated the church with his magisterium, his goodness, guide and faith," Francis said. Pausing for effect, he added: "His humility and his gentleness."

Francis has said he wants to visit Benedict at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo where he has been living since Feb. 28, when he became the first pope in 600 years to resign. No date has been set for the visit. Francis is due to be installed as pope on Tuesday.

The relationship between the two pontiffs has been the subject of intense speculation given the novelty of soon having a retired and reigning pope living side by side. Some analysts have expressed concern about the influence Benedict and his loyalists might wield over the new pontificate, or worse how certain factions in the church might try to undermine Francis' authority by continuing to use Benedict as their reference point.

The presence of Benedict's closest aide, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, at all of Francis' inaugural events has confirmed some crossover; Gaenswein is also the head of the papal household, meaning he has an important role to play in the transition and Francis' day-to-day schedule.

In fact, on Friday, Gaenswein accompanied Francis to the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, which has been sealed since Feb. 28. The seals were broken, Francis took the keys and opened the door, and Gaenswein hurried in to turn on the lights.

During Friday's audience, cardinals lined up and warmly greeted Francis, exchanging physical embraces with the new pope. U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan grasped Frances' shoulder as he chatted. Most if not all the cardinals then went to chat with Gaenswein, perhaps to inquire about Benedict.

On the first day of his pontificate, Francis's personal and liturgical style couldn't have come off as more different than that of Benedict: He went to his hotel to pick up his luggage, greet the staff and pay the bill, then delivered an off-the-cuff homily reminding his cardinals of the need to make the church strong.

The very pastoral acts were typical Francis. Benedict, while similarly humble and gentle, spent 30 years inside the Vatican, first as its doctrine chief and then as pope, where his homilies were dense theological treatises and his Masses were formal affairs in the pre-Vatican II style.

In his remarks Friday to cardinals, Francis noted that a good half of the men in the room were elderly, and he urged them to share the wisdom of their years with the young.

"Let us give this wisdom to young people; like good wine, it becomes better with age," he said. "Let us give to young people the wisdom of life."

'The Bible' Producers Couldn't Find Jesus … Until He Came Walking Through Their Garden

It may be one of the ultimate challenges in casting: finding the actor who can convincingly represent Jesus.

And when husband-and-wife producing team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey were trying to find an actor to portray the son of God in their new History miniseries "The Bible," seeking an actor who could play both "the lion and the lamb," Downey says, and who also looked like what viewers expected him to, proved to be a challenge that went right down to the wire.

"We wanted to find an actor who would embody both strength and humility," Downey tells Yahoo! TV. "We were maybe six weeks away from beginning principal photography, and we still had not found him. We were clearly getting somewhat anxious. We put it out in prayer that we would find the absolutely right actor. Through a series of remarkable coincidences, we were led to discover actor Diogo Morgado.

"We invited him to meet with us at our home. When he arrived and was walking up our garden path, we took a look out the window, and I turned to my husband and said, 'There he is. We've found Jesus.'"

Morgado is a Portuguese TV and film actor who began his career as a model at age 14, and, coincidentally, is now 33-years-old … the age Christ was when he died. The actor makes his debut in the miniseries in March 17's "Hope" episode, which begins the New Testament portion of "The Bible," and will likely add to the series' standout ratings performance.

More than 50 million cumulative viewers have caught at least a portion of History's miniseries since it premiered on March 3, including encore airings on History and sister network Lifetime.

"It's incredible with the ratings and all the attention on the series, and Jesus is not even on the screen yet," Burnett says.

Adds Downey, "Yeah, it's now going out across Twitter, 'Jesus is coming.'

"He turns in such a beautiful, nuanced performance," she says. "He's the heartbeat of the series. He will come on the screen this Sunday evening, and he will carry the episodes to conclusion on Easter Sunday. He did a remarkable turn in this role, and I think that through his work he will touch people. His work is deep and beautiful, meaningful."

British actor Darwin Shaw ("Casino Royale") also makes his "Bible" debut in "Hope," playing apostle Peter. Darwin earned a medical degree in England but switched careers after studying acting in New York, and his portrayal of Jesus's right-hand man is another high point of the series.

"He felt a calling to the acting profession, and he gives a great turn as Peter," Downey says. "I think maybe because of art and the famous paintings, we're so used to seeing the images of the disciples, the saints, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, as being old men. Of course they were all in the prime of their lives at this time, and we wanted to show them as the band of brothers that they were, so we gathered a great young, strong, vibrant cast to play the 12."

Burnett adds, "Peter was only one year older than Jesus. The disciples didn't know they were [following Jesus]. They were following what they thought at first was a charismatic leader, and then it was revealed to them that he was in fact the son of God. Imagine the journey the disciples were on. We tried not to simply tell you that, but to let you feel that as a viewer, and walk in their footsteps."

"Touched by an Angel" star Downey took that idea one step further, deciding at the last minute to take an onscreen role in the project, as well. On March 24, Downey steps into "The Bible" as Mother Mary.

"I went to Morocco with my producer's hat in my hand. I really didn't plan to play any role," she says. "We had already cast and were working with a young actress playing Mary in the younger years from the Nativity and the early years of Jesus's life, but of the actors we were looking at to play Mother Mary in the later years, we weren't seeing her. And Mark said to me, 'I think you're missing the obvious, Roma. Would you not consider playing the role yourself?' I prayed on it, and decided that I would, and I'm so glad that I did. I brought to it a mother's heart. I have children myself. Those scenes that we filmed at the cross were very powerful, very poignant. To see her son being murdered in that way -- I can't begin to imagine what she must have been feeling."

Lucky Corvette Driver Survives Trailer Crash That Experts Call Too Common

Lucky Corvette Driver Survives Trailer Crash That Experts Call Too Common: A fortunate Chevy Corvette Z06 driver in California last week came away from a horrifying crash with only a few scrapes and a story he'll never forget after smashing into the rear of a semi trailer — exactly the kind of crash that a new report says results in death too often, due to lax standards for the trailer guards that are supposed to protect drivers.

This accident, caught by the Los Angeles Fire Department on Interstate 405, wasn't fatal thanks to the Corvette driver ducking just as his car rammed into the rear of the moving van. As the pictures from the department's Flickr page show, the Vette was destroyed by the impact, as the car dove under the trailer nearly into its rear axle. In the photo above, you can see the trailer guard jutting from the wreckage of the Corvette, which it sliced like a mandoline.

Those underride guards are mandated by the United States and Canada on all semitrailers to help prevent such accidents, and according to new research from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, they usually do a better job of stopping cars. Such crashes claimed 280 lives in the United States in 2011, the most recent data available, and by the IIHS' reckoning, most were due to cars sliding under trailers.

But the IIHS says those guards perform far worse when a vehicle strikes them off-center. To demonstrate, it staged several crash tests using parked trailers from eight manufacturers and 2010 Chevy Malibus ramming them at 35 mph. All passed the full-on tests, and seven of eight successfully handled crashes where the car hit just one half of the trailer.

The Book of Kells now available to browse online

 The Book of Kells now available to browse online: If St. Patrick's Day means more to you than wearing green and drinking Guinness, this news from Trinity College in Dublin should be cause for celebration.

The famous Book of Kells, which is housed at Trinity and dates back centuries, is now available to view online. The beautifully preserved manuscript features the four Gospels of the New Testament and incorporates remarkable artwork and colors.

Trinity writes that the origin of the Book of Kells "is generally attributed to the scriptorium of the monastery founded around 561 by St Colum Cille on Iona, an island off the west coast of Scotland." The college writes that it "must have been close to the year 800 that the Book of Kells was written, although there is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location."

For many in Ireland and around the world, the book celebrates the power of the Christian faith as well as the importance of learning and artistry. The book has also served as a tremendous point of pride for Ireland. People can still visit the book (actually, four separately bound books) in person in Dublin. However, only one page is displayed at a time.

You can browse the book's 600+ pages here. Unless you know Latin, you probably won't understand much. But the artwork and care that have gone into the book's preservation are both reason enough to take a look.

Pope, in Final Message, Says he's a Simple Pilgrim

A small lemon caught my eye as I reached the front door of the brick hut where the bus driver, one of those accused in this horrific case, lives with his brother.

It was hanging on a wire from the wooden door post - placed there last week, a neighbour said - as a charm to ward off the evil eye.

This tightly-packed south Delhi settlement of single storey dwellings is now under a cloud of shame - because four of the six arrested for the savage rape and killing of the young woman live here.

The case has also badly tarnished India's image abroad.

As ever, journalists reporting this story have come looking for symbols of the bigger picture - and this place has now come to signify the dark side of India many see as being behind this gruesome crime.

Most of its residents are migrants who have come to Delhi from impoverished rural areas, widely seen as the cradle of regressive attitudes to women, where figures show rapes are commonplace but rarely reported because of the social stigma.

Fitting perhaps that the district takes its name from a nearby shrine to a man born of India's untouchable castes.

And yet the narrative many have given this place didn't entirely fit. This is not a tumble-down slum for "just arrived" rural migrants, as some reports have suggested, the soil of the fields still under their nails.

Many residents have been here 20 years. It's far from comfortable living, but far better than many slum settlements I've seen - with solidly built stone dwellings, neat and brightly painted - and everyone has basic services like electricity, water and sewage.

"Don't think we're all like the accused," said another neighbour. "When you grind wheat to make flour, insects will come out with it too," she said.

All the children go to school every day. And as we were talking to neighbours I noticed three older boys listening. They all spoke perfect English, it turned out, and were doing business studies at a local college.

They would not have looked out of place among the many young people protesting over the rape in recent weeks.

Yes they knew some of the accused, but you should not assume we are all like them, they said. And it got me thinking about the many different realities to this story.

Along with many others, I have reported the middle class Indians, young and old who have been taking the lead.

The narrative has been - one I have gone with too - that these are the people standing up for a more liberal, open country. But there is plenty of evidence that India's wealthier, more educated classes can be just as sexist in their attitudes towards girls and women.

Every year, thousands of girls are aborted because of a traditional preference for sons - medical staff are bribed into revealing the sex of the child.

It is leading to an increasingly skewed ratio of women to men. And some of the worst figures are in rich south Delhi.

Just like in a small village, many middle class families also prefer a son to inherit their property. One of the many consequences of having fewer women is increased trafficking for forced marriage and prostitution - and so the cycle of abuse goes on.

And while India's Congress party-led government has condemned the gang rape and promised new fast-track courts to deal with it, no politician has addressed the wider cultural issues.

Yet something has also changed, in the questions people are asking, how they are acting.

During the week, I interviewed a woman who had survived a rape - and years after the attack is still struggling to get justice.

She joined the protests on the streets of Delhi too, where there were plenty of reports of men using the opportunity to grope women.

But she said she was also struck by how many young men intervened to protect her and her friends, forming a circle around them if anyone got too close.

Musicians and Bollywood film-makers are suddenly under pressure to justify songs and movies that portray women as sex objects.

Harrowing details from an interview the victim's friend has given about the attack and the way the authorities treated them may encourage even more soul-searching.

And one image sticks in my mind from these past weeks - an Indian man sitting at one of the protests with a candle at his feet, quietly showing solidarity with the brutally murdered girl.

And in front of him he had a placard which read: "Let us look at ourselves first."

Delhi Rape: Court Charges Juvenile With Rape And Murder

A court in India has formally charged a 17-year-old accused in the fatal gang rape of a woman in the capital Delhi last month.

The Juvenile Justice Board has charged the boy with rape, murder and other crimes, including kidnapping. It set 6 March as the start of the trial.

If convicted, he faces a maximum of three years in a reform facility.

Five other suspects have gone on trial at a specially convened fast-track court and face the death penalty.

The brutal assault shocked India and raised a debate over the treatment of women in the country.

The victim, a physiotherapy student who cannot be named in India for legal reasons, and a male friend were attacked on a bus on 16 December.

Police said the assailants beat both of them, and then raped the woman. She suffered massive internal injuries and died nearly two weeks later.

US Hackers Attacked Military Websites, Says China's Defence Ministry

Hackers from the US have repeatedly launched attacks on two Chinesei mlitary websites, including that of the Defence Ministry, officials say.

The sites were subject to about 144,000 hacking attacks each month last year, two thirds of which came from the US, according to China's defence ministry.

The issue of cyber hacking has strained relations between the two countries.

Earlier this month a US cyber security firm said a secretive Chinese military unit was behind "prolific hacking".

Mandiant said that Unit 61398 was believed to have "systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data" from at least 141 organisations around the world.

The White House has said that it has taken its concerns about cyber-theft to the highest levels of China's government. China denied the allegations, saying it was also the victim of cyber attacks.

The US is yet to respond to these latest allegations from China.

Attacks 'increased'   

"The Defence Ministry and China Military Online websites have faced a serious threat from hacking attacks since they were established," defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying at a monthly press conference.

He added that the number of attacks on these sites had steadily increased over the years.

An analysis of the IP addresses involved showed that officials had ascertained that attacks from the US accounted for 62.9 percent of the attacks made on these two website in 2012, according to Mr Geng.

He also said that reported US plans to expand its cyber warfare capabilities were unlikely to foster international collaboration.

"We hope that the U.S. side can explain and clarify this," he said.

It is believed to be the first time that Chinese officials have provided such details about alleged US-based attacks on their own systems.

However, Beijing has been accused by several governments, foreign companies and organisations of carrying out extensive cyber espionage for many years, seeking to gather information and to control China's image.

In late January, the New York Times said that hackers from China had "persistently" infiltrated the paper over the previous four months, saying the attacks had coincided with its reports into the wealth of the family of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

At the time China's foreign ministry dismissed those accusations as "groundless".

Fresh Pistorius Shock as it Emerges his BROTHER Faces Trial For Manslaughter Over Death of Female Motorcyclist in Car Crash

,  Carl Pistorius charged with culpable homicide

,   Charge is for the alleged accidental death of a female motorcyclist

,    He appeared in court just two days before his brother's bail hearing

 ,   The trial is set to begin at the end of March

The brother of Oscar Pistorius is facing charges over the death of a woman in a car crash in 2010.

Carl Pistorius, who was present in court over the past week to support Oscar, is charged with culpable homicide over the alleged accidental death of a female motorcyclist.

His lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, who also represents Oscar Pistorius, has confirmed the charges. Carl Pistorius appeared in court just two days before his brother's bail hearing last week.

In Britain the equivalent charge to culpable homicide is manslaughter. Carl Pistorius' trial is set to begin at the end of March.

Mr Oldwage is a highly-respected advocate in South Africa who successfully defended Sizwe Mankazana, who was charged with culpable homicide, reckless and negligent driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol after he lost control of his vehicle, killing Nelson Mandela's 13-year-old great-grandchild Zenani in 2010.

It has also emerged that Oscar Pistorius sported a mysterious black eye in a video filmed a month ago for a charity campaign.

The Paralympian lent his support to a South African ­campaign for gay and lesbian youth. But charity bosses were surprised when he turned up for filming with a black eye.

In the video message recorded to raise awareness for the It Gets Better campaign in South Africa, Oscar instructed young people who were being bullied about their sexuality to 'not retaliate'.

An It Gets Better charity source told the Sunday Mirror: 'Oscar turned up on the day of filming with a very angry ­looking black eye.

'Oscar was keen for the filming to still go ahead and didn’t seem to mind too much. Although eyebrows were raised, Oscar wasn’t forthcoming on how he managed to get the injury.'

Oscar Pistorius, meanwhile, spent Saturday at his uncle's home in an affluent suburb of Pretoria, the South African capital, after a judge released him on bail on Friday.

While on bail, he is expected to take delivery of a £200,000 supercar. He ordered the 204mph 3.8-liter McLaren MP4-12C Spider last month as a treat to reward himself for a successful year, The Sun reported today.

Oscar Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day.

But the athlete denies murder, saying he killed her accidentally. He says he opened fire after mistaking Miss Steenkamp for an intruder in his home.

Today, it emerged police have told her family that Pistorius crushed his girlfriend’s skull with a cricket bat before shooting her dead.

Details of the post-mortem examination of South African model Steenkamp were withheld from last week’s bail application hearing.

But grieving relatives who saw her body before Tuesday’s cremation in Port Elizabeth described horrific injuries from the cricket bat, and entry wounds from 9mm bullets fired by Pistorius.

They were also briefed about the model’s death by police and lawyers from the state prosecutor’s office.

In a sworn affidavit read to the bail hearing in Pretoria magistrates’ court last week, Pistorius claimed that he used the bat to break down the toilet door after the shooting, saying he had not realised his girlfriend was in  the bathroom.

The bloodstained bat, which is currently being examined by a police forensics team, will be key evidence when Pistorius goes on trial for premeditated murder.

The ‘Blade Runner’ – who has previously boasted about having a cricket bat, pistol and machine gun at home to defend himself against intruders – claims the bat became blood-spattered at the scene.

Last week the prosecution did not mention any details about the bat and the role they believe it played in Reeva’s death, opting not to disclose their case against Pistorius. But to secure bail, Pistorius’s legal team had to detail his defence, which included why he had a blood-spattered cricket bat in his possession on the fatal night.

The athlete claims that during the night he heard a noise in the bathroom and feared it was an intruder. Pistorius, 26, said he felt ‘vulnerable’ without his prosthetic legs, so he got a gun from under his bed and fired through the bathroom door, shouting at the ‘intruder’ to get out of the house and for Reeva to call the police.

At that point Pistorius thought she was still in bed.

Pistorius described his ‘horror and fear’ as he realised Reeva was not in the bed, and said he used the bat to break down the toilet door to find Reeva slumped inside the cubicle.

He said he called paramedics and then carried Reeva, 29, downstairs, trying to revive her, but she died in his arms.

Yesterday, Reeva’s father Barry Steenkamp said that the athlete would have to ‘live with his  conscience’ if he is lying about how he killed her.

He told Afrikaans-language newspaper Beeld: ‘It doesn’t matter how much money he has and how good his team of lawyers is, he must be able to live with his conscience if he allows his team of lawyers to lie on his behalf.

‘He will have to live with his conscience. But if he speaks the truth, I can perhaps someday forgive him. If it does not happen as he tells it, he must suffer.’

In another interview, Reeva’s mother June said: ‘Everything  has been taken away from me in such a terrible way. The only thing that matters now is the truth.’

Pistorius’s family believe him  to be innocent, with his father Henke saying he had ‘zero doubt’ that Reeva’s death was a tragic accident. In an earlier interview, Henke said: ‘When you are a sportsman, you act even more  on instinct. It’s instinct, things happen and that’s what you do.

‘When you wake up in the middle of the night, and crime is so endemic in South Africa, what do you do if somebody is in the house? Do you think it’s one of your  family? No, of course you don’t.’

In a statement yesterday Pistorius’s family said: ‘Oscar will never be the same ...  having to live with the knowledge he caused the death of the woman he loved, and that he can never undo the immense pain and loss this has caused Reeva’s family and friends.’

Having been released from bail after the gruelling four-day hearing, Pistorius was yesterday spending the day with his family at a secret address in Pretoria provided by his legal team.

1. 

His uncle Arnold Pistorius said: ‘We are convinced Oscar’s version of what happened that terrible night will prove to be true.’

Today, if his athletics coach Ampie Louw has his way, Pistorius could be back in training at the track at the University of Pretoria. He was last there earlier this month with Reeva, who watched admiringly as he was put through his paces.

Friends have spoken of the need for a suicide watch on the sportsman as he spends the next four months preparing for his court appearance on June 4.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s top detective Lieutenant General Vinesh Moonoo is taking over the role of chief investigator in the case, after Hilton Botha stepped down from the post.

Detective Botha resigned after seven charges of attempted murder against him were reinstated. He and three other officers shot at a minibus of escaping murder suspects in 2009.

Oscar Pistorius' Brother Facing Culpable Homicide Charge

The attorney for Oscar Pistorius' family said today that the Olympian's brother is facing a culpable homicide charge relating to a 2008 road accident in which a motorcyclist was killed.

Carl Pistorius, who sat behind his younger brother, Oscar, every day at his bail hearing, will now face his own homicide trial for the accident five years ago, which his attorney, Kenny Oldwage, said he "deeply regrets."

Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide, which refers to the unlawful negligent killing of another person. The charges were initially dropped, but were later reinstated, Oldwage said in a statement.

1. 

Full Coverage: Oscar Pistorius Case

Pistorius quietly appeared in court on Thursday, one day before his Paralympic gold-medalist brother was released on bail, Oldwage said. His next appearance is scheduled for the end of March.

It was the latest twist in a case that has drawn international attention, after 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who ran in both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, was charged with the premeditated murder of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

On Saturday, Carl Pistorius' Twitter handle was hacked, according to a family spokeswoman, prompting the Pistorius family to cancel their social media accounts.

Steenkamp's parents speak about the Valentine's Day shooting that ended their daughter's life in a sit-down interview on South African television tonight.

On Saturday, the model's father, Barry Steenkamp, told the Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper that Pistorius will have to "live with his conscience" and will "suffer" if his story that he shot Steenkamp because he believed she was an intruder is false.

After a four-day long bail hearing, Pistorius was granted bail Friday by a South African magistrate.

The court set bail at about $113,000 (1 million rand) and June 4 as the date for Pistorius' next court appearance.

Pistoriuis is believed to be staying at his uncle's house as he awaits trial. As part of his bail conditions, Pistorius must give up all his guns, he cannot drink alcohol or return to the home where the shooting occurred, and he must check in with a police department twice a week.

Press The Census in 1940 Stem The National Archives Site

Census of 1940 were released this morning, and on the website of the National Archives of collapsing under load.

About 1.9 million users are in the archive server in the first four hours of data were made public, but many of these users do not go farther than the screen that says: "Prepare Image".

In the archives of "Twitter said testing identified the site can handle the load and the number of visitors was initially shows they are working to resolve the early afternoon Monday.

"We know that it is very difficult," tweeted archives.

Among those who want to see the files were Verla Morris, who could consider themselves a part of living history.

Morris, now in its 100th year, will go to experience a novelty to see your name and details of his life in the files published by the U.S. National Archives after 72 years of the expiry of privacy on the Internet.

"I would be happy to see him there," she said. "I do not think I can surprise me, actually."

Morris is one of more than 21 million people living in the United States and Puerto Rico that were listed in the sixteenth federal decennial census, which documents a tumultuous decade of the 1930s transformed the Great Depression and the migration of black rural South. This distinction he shares with celebrities such as Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman lives.

Morris, who worked on his family history since 1969 and has written six books on its branches, said the census needed for his genealogical work, because often people do not want to give your personal information.

"Many times I just have to wait, maybe they are dying," she said. "Then I'll have all the information for its".

But the census, including names, addresses, and - in case the 1940 census information, income and employment - rich in the long-veiled personal data.

Morris, which includes 100 in August and contacted through the centuries Outreach National Project, said that she worked as a drill operator in Fairfield, Illinois, in 1940, when the census. "I do not remember my census," said Morris, who lives in Chandler, Arizona

If the name index will not be immediately available to search tens of thousands of researchers across the country are expected to hunt monumental family this week through the scanned documents for more detailed information on 132 million people. Access to documents is free and open Internet.

Each decade since 1942, the National Archives has made available records of previous censuses. Some privacy advocates object to the release of large amounts of personal information about living people.

The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, has more than 30 years, is opposed to any general unrestricted release of census records.

Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the ACLU, said the damage may come from combining data from the 1940 census and other rich media.

"Today, computer technology can take information from different sources and combine them in a very high resolution picture of a person's life," he said. "Every piece of information could be just one pixel. But taken together, they become very intrusive. "

A document obtained from the National Archives of the Associated Press at the request of the Access to Information shows that in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau has raised privacy concerns about disclosure to the 1940 census of the people, which stores data.

Census Bureau spokesman Robert Bernstein said in a letter that concerns the data can be used to harm anyone living today, "such as theft," were released, when the archive date of birth is not authorized or social security numbers would be on file. The question of the census in 1940 asked a sample of more than 6 million people, if they have social security numbers, but does not explicitly specify the number.

Susan Cooper, a spokesman for the National Archives, said the agency did not assess the impact of the confidentiality of records. She said officials do not know the archives of any public complaints about the upcoming release.

Robert Gellman, a consultant and confidentiality of information, said that doubts about the files will be of great importance for the scam because it is easy to obtain personal information.

"There's nobody out there complaining about 70 years writing used against them," he said.

Morris also does not care about the privacy of their publication in 1940.

Genealogy addict by his own admission, she said it was important for people to learn about their ancestors through genealogical research and Census records based on all the time.

"Every family should be interested enough to have a family history," she said.