By MAMAMIA TEAM
1. Approximately seven people have died, and five people have been wounded, in a shooting spree that began at a Santa Monica residence in Los Angeles – and then moved to a college filled with students. The suspect was shot and killed by police at Santa Monica College.
2. Anna Bligh, the former Queensland premier, has been diagnosed with cancer. Ms Bligh announced yesterday that she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. You can read more of Mamamia’s coverage here.
3. Ariel Castro – the man accused of kidnapping and holding Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – has been indicted on 139 charges of rape and 177 counts of kidnapping, among multiple counts of gross sexual imposition. Castro is reportedly planning to plead not guilty.
4. The Guardian and The Washington post have this week reported that since 9/11, America’s National Security Agency have been using a range of electronic surveillance to monitor calls and online activity of millions of US citizens. Fairfax has reported that “Australians are likely to have been caught up in the NSA surveillance program”.
5. Today a funeral for Joan Ryther and her unborn child will be held in Queensland, before her husband Cory Ryther will return her body to the Philippines.
6. Prince Philip underwent exploratory surgery on his stomach on Thursday evening, and News Ltd reports that his recovery is “progressing satisfactorily”.
7. Fairfax reports that North and South Korea have agreed to engage in weekend talks, in the interest of “mending ties”. The meeting is unexpected, as past months have seen rising tensions – and nuclear threats – between the two countries.
8. A pregnant American actress – Shannon Guess Richardson – has been charged with mailing threatening communications to the president, after she told the FBI that her husband had sent ricin (a highly toxic protein) laced letters to Barack Obama.
Top Comments
Poor Joan. RIP xx
In the interests of national security I don't get if my phone lines get tapped. Since 9/11 there have been many terrorist attacks across the world and if tapping communications can avert some of these tragedies, I am all for it.
Which was the exact reasoning Stalin's NKVD gave Russian citizens. Seems reasonable enough to be granted access to search peoples home,s tap phone lines, etc in the interest of national security. Until they started using their power to eliminate, (read massacre) anyone who opposed Stalin. Its a very slippery slope.
Yes, you are correct. Putting tools for tracing personal communications and censorship in the easy reach of the government is fine if they are only used for legitimate reasons. But once installed it is so easy for the government to go over the line, even for things like digging dirt or censoring of political opponents. It is a pretty slippery slope.
Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.
Edward Abbey