An ambitious 12-nation trade accord pushed by President Obama would allow foreign corporations to sue the United States government for actions that undermine their investment “expectations” and hurt their business, according to a classified document. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/business/trans-pacific-partnership-seen-as-door-for-foreign-suits-against-us.html?ref=us The Trans-Pacific Partnership — a cornerstone of Mr. Obama’s remaining economic agenda — would grant broad powers to multinational […]

A tiny new tracker designed to monitor bee behaviour is being tested by ecologists at Kew Gardens in London. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32033766 It is made from off-the-shelf technology and is based on equipment used to track pallets in warehouses, said its creator Dr Mark O’Neill. Readers, used to pick up a signal from the kit, are connected […]

Ford is to sell a car that can read road signs and adjust its speed accordingly to ensure the vehicle is not driving too fast. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32049350 The speed-limiting tech can be activated via the steering wheel and briefly overridden by pressing firmly on the accelerator. The car company suggests the facility will help drivers avoid […]

In classical mythology, Aquila is the eagle carrying Jupiter’s thunderbolts skyward. At Facebook, it is the code name for a high-flying drone. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/technology/drones-beaming-web-access-are-in-the-stars-for-facebook.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimes The V-shaped unmanned vehicle, which has about the wingspan of a Boeing 767 but weighs less than a small car, is the centerpiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the five billion […]

A lawsuit, filed on Thursday, alleges that 28 wineries knowingly produced contaminated wine in violation of state law and without informing consumers. http://www.bbc.com/news/31989879 A major trade group has called the lawsuit “false and misleading” and said that all wines on US shelves are safe. The lawsuit claims that tests by three independent laboratories showed that […]

Teachers, civil servants and police staff are among 264 people who have been charged in a probe targeting child abuse images online. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31988732 A total of 745 suspected paedophiles have been arrested in the National Crime Agency’s Operation Notarise, launched just over a year ago. Of those charged, 47 were employed in positions of trust […]

Calling the federal agency that makes recommendations on vaccines a “sock puppet” for that industry, Robert Kennedy Jr. spoke out Monday against making it harder for parents to exempt their children from vaccinations. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ec5ccbb960d548b88976c5d58d630fa8/robert-kennedy-jr-speaks-out-against-vaccine-requirements Kennedy, the nephew of President John Kennedy and son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, joined groups that oppose school-attendance […]

A provocative new study says, there has been a “corporate takeover of the First Amendment.” The assertion is backed by data, and it comes from an unlikely source: John C. Coates IV, who teaches business law at Harvard and used to be a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the prominent corporate law firm. […]

An FBI agent used heroin from his own drug investigations and adulterated dozens of cases involving suspected drug traffickers in multiple states, according to details that emerged Friday. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/db73c7e3e2794daaada875360f966432/ex-fbi-agent-charged-64-counts-drug-tampering-case Matthew Lowry, formerly a special agent with the agency’s Washington field office, tampered with hundreds of grams of heroin seized during drug investigations in 2013 and […]

By early June of last year, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was the deadliest ever recorded. Senior staffers in Africa at the World Health Organization raised the prospect of declaring an international emergency. The answer from WHO’s Geneva headquarters: Wait. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ea7199795faa48989449131404b7043e/emails-un-health-agency-resisted-declaring-ebola-emergency According to internal emails and documents obtained by The Associated Press, the U.N. health […]

A felon and former member of a domestic terrorist organization passed through an expedited security line designed for passengers who are not considered a threat, the Homeland Security Department’s internal watchdog said Thursday night. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2e15a7bc330048a1a58305809daae7ee/watchdog-says-felon-used-expedited-airport-security-lan The DHS Inspector General’s Office said in a statement that the passenger had not registered for the Transportation Security Administration’s […]

Federal regulators have given Amazon a green light to begin testing drones, but it will most likely take years before the online retailer can start delivering packages from the air to peoples’ homes. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/technology/amazon-wins-approval-to-test-delivery-drones-outdoors.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1 The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday gave Amazon permission to conduct test flights of its drones outdoors, as long as the […]

In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the price was steep — $5 million — and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/world/asia/cia-funds-found-their-way-into-al-qaeda-coffers.html?&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0 They first turned to a secret fund that the Central Intelligence Agency bankrolled […]

The United Nations as a whole has been unable to offer a path out of the Syrian war that has dragged on for four years which left an estimated 220,000 dead and spread havoc across the region. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/world/middleeast/aid-agencies-fault-un-security-council-on-syria-conflict.html?ref=world Criticism of the Security Council piled on this week as its members Russia and the United States […]

A sample of powdered tea imported from the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, just southeast of Tokyo, contained traces of radioactive cesium 137, the Hong Kong government announced late Thursday evening, but they were far below the legal maximum level.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/world/asia/hong-kong-finds-radioactive-contamination-in-sample-of-japanese-tea.html?ref=world The discovery was not the first of its kind. The government’s Center for Food Safety […]

KFC, the world’s largest chain of fried chicken restaurants, may face pressure from consumer and environmental groups to change how its poultry are raised after McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) said it would switch to chicken raised without human antibiotics.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-usa-antibiotics-yum-insight-idUSKBN0M80B720150312?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter McDonald’s will phase out chicken raised with antibiotics that are important to human health over two […]

The NSA’s mass surveillance programme violates US laws on freedom of speech, according to a lawsuit filed by the Wikimedia Foundation. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31813289 The legal action has been filed against the spy agency and the US Department of Justice. The legal action, co-signed by eight other organisations, seeks to end the NSA’s large-scale surveillance efforts. The […]

Witnesses to the fatal police shooting of an African-American man gave differing accounts Tuesday. But they all ended with a similar question: Why was it necessary to shoot Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran who was naked and unarmed? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/chamblee-georgia-police-shooting-anthony-hill.html?ref=us The shooting, which occurred early Monday afternoon, has prompted mourning, confusion and anger in […]