BBC: Climate e-mail reviews 'leave science sound'
Successive reviews into the University of East Anglia (UEA) climate e-mail hack cast no doubt on the basic picture of global warming, the government says.
In its response to an inquiry by the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, the government agrees there were failings at the university.
And the reviews could have been conducted more openly, it says.
The government says it wants to clarify how Freedom of Information laws apply to scientific research in future.
Google: US says it wants access to 3 bin Laden widows
The United States says it wants to talk to the three widows of Osama bin Laden, who are in Pakistani custody.
National security adviser Tom Donilon says information from them could help answer questions about whether Pakistani authorities helped hide the al-Qaida leader while he was on the run.
He made the comments in an interview broadcast on Sunday NBC's "Meet the Press."
Bin Laden was shot dead in a large house in the town of Abbottabad close to a military academy after decade-long hunt.
Guardian: Osama bin Laden must have had Pakistan support network, says Obama
Barack Obama has ratcheted up the pressure on Pakistan, demanding that the Pakistani government investigate whether its own people were involved in a network to support Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad hideout.
The US president's comments are his most direct yet on the subject of Pakistan's possible complicity with terrorism. He told the CBS show 60 Minutes that Bin Laden must have had "some sort of support network" inside the country.
"We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, outside of government, and that's something we have to investigate, and more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate," he said. The president also told the programme he didn't lose sleep over the possibility that Bin Laden might be killed. Anyone who questions whether the terrorist mastermind didn't deserve his fate "needs to have their head examined," he said.
Obama's words add to a sustained verbal attack by the US administration on the Pakistani government in the wake of the raid on the al-Qaida leader's lair in the middle of a busy garrison town that is home to three regiments, a military academy and thousands of soldiers.
CBS: Sen. Schumer wants Amtrak train "no-ride" list
Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for better rail security now that the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound has turned up plans to attack trains in the U.S.
Schumer said Sunday that he will push for the creation of a "do not ride" list for Amtrak. The list would be similar to the no-fly list that keeps those suspected of terrorism from flying into or out of the United States.
Notes and computer materials seized from bin Laden's compound in Pakistan last Sunday showed bin Laden wanted to strike American cities again and discussed ways to attack trains.
Schumer is calling for increased funding for rail security in light of the new intelligence.
CBS: Iran's Ayatollah to Ahmadinejad: Obey or resign
While President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be the public face of Iranian politics, make no mistake, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the man in charge there. Khamenei is the Islamic Republic of Iran's spiritual leader and highest authority until he chooses to give up the post, dies, or is deposed. His veto is final in Iranian political affairs.
However, in an unusual public display of discord, Ahmadinejad has pushed back against Khamenei's authority in a dispute over the appointment of the country's intelligence chief. Khamenei has responded by telling the president to bend to his will or resign, according to several news outlets.
The dust-up is over the appointment of Heidar Moslehi as the intelligence minister. Ahmadinejad tried to fire Moslei from the intelligence post on April 17, but Khamenei reappointed him a few hours later, the BBC reports. Ahmadinejad then apparently spent nearly two weeks boycotting government meetings in protest.
Toronto Globe and Mail: NDP the 'true alternative' to Tories, not interested in merger: Layton
Jack Layton says he’s not interested in discussing the prospect of a merger between the NDP and the Liberals, contending the election result shows his party is now the "true alternative" to the Conservatives.
In an interview broadcast on TVA’s Larocque Lapierre on Sunday, Mr. Layton said he’s not having any conversations around the notion the two parties will need to join forces to defeat the Conservatives.
Guardian: NATO units left 61 African migrants to die of hunger and thirst
Dozens of African migrants were left to die in the Mediterranean after a number of European and Nato military units apparently ignored their cries for help, the Guardian has learned.
A boat carrying 72 passengers, including several women, young children and political refugees, ran into trouble in late March after leaving Tripoli for the Italian island of Lampedusa. Despite alarms being raised with the Italian coastguard and the boat making contact with a military helicopter and a Nato warship, no rescue effort was attempted.
All but 11 of those on board died from thirst and hunger after their vessel was left to drift in open waters for 16 days. "Every morning we would wake up and find more bodies, which we would leave for 24 hours and then throw overboard," said Abu Kurke, one of only nine survivors. "By the final days, we didn't know ourselves … everyone was either praying, or dying."
CNN: Shortages choke Tripoli as sanctions take hold
Cars sat abandoned in miles-long fuel lines, motorists traded angry screams with soldiers guarding gas stations, and many shops were closed Sunday on what should have been a work day.
In ever-multiplying ways, residents in the Libyan capital are feeling the sting of shortages from uprising-related disruptions of supplies.
The shortages are a dramatic sign of how Libya's nearly 3-month-old rebellion — and the resulting chaos — is affecting daily life in Muammar Qadaffi's stronghold and other western areas of Libya still under his rule. International sanctions have begun to bite, many supply routes are unstable, and there are shortages of skilled people in some sectors to keep the city running smoothly.
Yet the deprivations — however irksome — pale in comparison to the situation in the port city of Misrata, the only rebel stronghold in western Libya. It has been under siege by land for two months, with hundreds of civilians killed, and Qadaffi's forces are now trying to block access to the port that is Misrata's only lifeline.
CNN: Witnesses: Forces in Yemen fire on teacher protest; 2 die
Security personnel in the Yemeni city of Taiz opened fire on a demonstration Sunday by thousands of teachers and killed two of the educators, witnesses and others said.
At least 50 people were injured, including 11 by gunfire, according to witnesses and members of field medical teams. The death toll is expected to rise because three people are in critical condition.
Thousands of teachers staged the march to call for the implementation of a wage increase and the departure from office of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
A senior security official in Taiz who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media wouldn't confirm casualties or claims that security forces shot anyone.
BBC: Egypt warns of 'iron fist' response after clashes
Egypt's justice minister has warned that those who threaten the country's security will face "an iron fist".
Abdel Aziz al-Gindi was speaking after 12 people died and more than 180 were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo.
More than 190 people detained after the fatal clashes will face military trials, Egypt's army says.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces called the move a "deterrent" against further violence
Reuters: Thousands of Mexicans march to protest drug war
Thousands of Mexicans on Sunday marched into the capital city to protest the wave of killing that has claimed 38,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug gangs in late 2006.
Demonstrators, many wearing white and walking in silence, held up placards that read "Not a single more death," "Enough already" and "No more bloodshed."
Local media said the march was some 20,000 strong as it closed in on Mexico's huge Zocolo central square.
"We've come from San Juan Copala (in Oaxaca state), seeking peace, because we're also suffering violence and injustice," said Mariana, a 21-year-old from the Triqui tribe, wearing indigenous clothing.
Guardian: Ministers face calls for apology as extent of 1970s 'virginity tests' revealed
Ministers are facing demands for an official apology to at least 80 Asian women who were subjected to "virginity tests'' by immigration staff when they tried to come to Britain in the late 1970s.
The demands follow the disclosure of confidential Home Office files that show that intimate examinations – used to "check the marital status" of Indian and Pakistani women coming to Britain to marry – were on a far wider scale than was previously known.
The practice was banned in February 1979 after the Guardian exclusively reported that a 35-year-old Indian woman teacher was examined by a male doctor when she arrived at Heathrow to test whether she was a genuine wife-to-be who had not borne children and was still a virgin.
The Home Office initially denied that any internal examination had taken place. The woman told the Guardian's then social services correspondent, Melanie Phillips, that she only signed a form consenting to a "gynaecological examination, that may be vaginal if necessary" because she was frightened she would otherwise be sent back to India.
CBS: Train crashes into N.J. station, 34 hurt
A train from New York pulling into the station for its final stop crashed into the bumpers at the end of the tracks Sunday morning, injuring 34 people and shutting down service indefinitely.
None of the injuries in the 8:30 a.m. crash were considered life-threatening, though several victims were taken away on stretchers or put in neck braces as a precaution, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said. The injured — who mostly sustained cuts and bruises — were taken to three area hospitals for treatment, and most, if not all, were expected to be released later in the day.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but city police said it appears that a mechanical failure is to blame. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are investigating.
CBS: DUP, Sinn Fein triumph in Northern Ireland vote
Northern Ireland's two major parties will return to power atop a joint Catholic-Protestant government with increased support for their policies of compromise and peacemaking, electoral returns Saturday showed.
The British Protestants of the Democratic Unionists and the Irish Catholics of Sinn Fein — bitter enemies for decades but, since 2007, partners in government — strengthened their hold on the Northern Ireland Assembly, the bedrock of the province's cross-community government.
The Democratic Unionists won 38 seats in Thursday's election, two more than in the last election four years ago. Sinn Fein won 29, up one. The result reinforced their status as the largest parties in the 108-member assembly and the co-leaders of government.
The outcome means Democratic Unionist leader Peter Robinson stays in the government's top post of first minister, and Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness — a former commander of the outlawed Irish Republican Army — as deputy first minister. Many Protestants had feared a surge in Sinn Fein support that would put McGuinness on top.
CNN: Mexican search teams recover 14 dead workers after mine blast
Search teams have recovered the last of 14 workers killed in an explosion at a mine in northern Mexico, the country's labor secretary said Sunday morning.
"Objective accomplished," Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said in a Twitter post.
But he later told reporters that the federal government would step up its inspections of mines in light of the blast.
"We want coal free of blood, clean coal," Lozano said, speaking minutes after forensic investigators drove away with the last body, the state-run Notimex news agency reported.
Al Jazeera: Bahrain's king orders end to emergency rule
State media in Bahrain says the king has ordered an end to the emergency rule imposed in mid-March to quell a wave of anti-government protests in the Gulf Arab country.
Bahrain state TV said the state of emergency will end on June 1 in line with a royal decree issued on Sunday.
The announcement came as 21 opposition leaders and political activists were charged with attempting to overthrow the Sunni monarchy in a special security court set up by the emergency rule.
At least 30 people have been killed since Bahrain's Shia majority, demanding greater freedoms and rights, took their grievances to the streets in February.
Irish Times: Ecuador votes to end 500 years of bullfighting
As well as ending the killing of bulls in the ring, voters in a referendum held on Saturday outlawed cockfighting and casino gambling. More controversially, President Rafael Correa won approval for new controls on the country’s media and financial sectors.
Voters backed all 10 constitutional reforms backed by the popular Mr Correa, who campaigned hard in favour of the new measures. Provisional results though from electoral authorities show the margin of victory was tighter than expected.
The president’s opponents had claimed the referendum was the latest moves in his campaign since taking power in 2007 to strengthen the power of Ecuador’s executive. However, at a victory rally on Saturday night, Mr Correa called the result a victory for his “citizens’ revolution”, saying voters had not been scared off by a “ferocious opposition” and a corrupt press. “We have beaten them all,” he told supporters.
Bullfighting has long been a traditional pastime of Ecuador’s European-descended elite. Its supporters sought to portray the proposed ban as an attack on their freedom of expression and cultural heritage and claimed an end to the spectacle would leave 100,000 people out of work.
CNN: Despite sunny skies, Memphis braces for worst from surging Mississippi
Bright skies over Memphis, Tennessee, belied a potential disaster Sunday as a surge of fast-moving water threatened the city and many other communities along the Mississippi River.
Days earlier, the crisis centered on Cairo, Illinois, as historically high water levels in the Mississippi and Ohio river systems prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to intentionally blow up levees and flood 130,000 acres in Missouri. Now "the most high risk population" is in Memphis, according to Corps of Engineers Col. Vernie Reichling, though the worst danger zone is expected to move further south in the days to come.
"This water that we're seeing coming by is moving 2 million cubic feet per second," said Reichling of the situation on Sunday outside Memphis. "To use an analogy, in one second that water would fill up a football field 44 feet deep."
Despite a lack of new rain, the water levels rose further around Memphis to 47.6 feet late Sunday afternoon, said National Weather Service spokesman Richard Okulski. On Tuesday morning, authorities expect it to finally crest outside the western Tennessee city at 48 feet -- just short of the 48.7-feet record set in 1937, when Reichling said more than 500 people died and 20 million acres flooded.
The Chronicle Herald: Willard Boyle, Nova Scotian Nobel laureate, dead at 86
Willard Boyle, a Nova Scotian Nobel laureate, died Saturday at the age of 86.
An Amherst native, Boyle was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics for his work along with scientists George Smith and Charles Kao in digital imaging.
Their work involved a light-sensitive chip called a charge-coupled device that has evolved to be used in medical imaging devices, bar-code readers, digital cameras and copy machines.
Reuters: Apple usurps Google as world's most valuable brand
Apple has overtaken Google as the world's most valuable brand, ending a four-year reign by the Internet search leader, according to a new study by global brands agency Millward Brown.
The iPhone and iPad maker's brand is now worth $153 billion, almost half Apple's market capitalization, says the annual BrandZ study of the world's top 100 brands.
Apple's portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world's most valuable technology company last year.