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- Boston bombing suspect made Russia-trip in 2012
As concerns grew about possible intelligence sharing failures, US lawmakers learned Tuesday that security monitors “pinged” when Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev flew to Russia last year. Investigators are probing the six-month trip made by Tsarnaev to the troubled regions of Dagestan and Chechnya — home to fierce Islamist and separatist groups — and whether he was radicalized or trained there. US lawmakers have questioned why authorities were not keeping a closer eye on the 26-year-old — killed in a shootout with police last week — even after he was interrogated by the FBI in 2011 at Russia’s request.
Read the full story on Bloomberg - French parliament approves gay marriage law
The French parliament on Tuesday defied months of angry protests by approving a bill that is to make France the 14th country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriages. But opponents to the law vowed to fight on, quickly filing a constitutional challenge and promising more demonstrations to pressure President Francois Hollande into backing down from signing the bill. In its second and final reading, the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, voted 331 to 225 to adopt the bill allowing homosexual marriages and adoptions by gay couples. Shortly after the vote, lawmakers from right-wing parties said they had already filed a legal challenge with the constitutional council. The constitutional council will now have a month to make a ruling.
Read the full story on Rappler - Obama meets with middle east leaders re: Syria crisis
President Barack Obama met with Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani at the White House on Tuesday amid a flurry of meetings with regional leaders on Syria’s increasingly bloody stalemate. “Obviously we’ve been cooperating closely with Qatar and other countries in seeking to bring about an end to the slaughter that’s taking place there (and) the removal of president (Bashar al-Assad),” Obama told reporters. Obama said they also hope to “strengthen an opposition that can bring about a democratic Syria.” Natural gas-rich Qatar has been a strong supporter of Syrian rebels hoping to overthrow the Assad regime. Obama is also scheduled to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Friday.
Read the full story on Bloomberg - Associated Press Twitter account hacked
Hackers spooked markets Tuesday after breaking into the Associated Press’s Twitter account and falsely reporting President Barack Obama had been injured after two blasts at the White House. A brief alert on the news agency’s @AP account read: “Breaking: Two explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” Almost immediately the wire service posted via its corporate communications feed that its @AP Twitter account had been hacked, before promptly suspending the service. AP spokesman Paul Colford later said the wire service had disabled other Twitter accounts following the attack and was working with the micro-blogging site to investigate the breach. The FBI also said it was investigating the incident. Online activists backing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad later claimed responsibility for the hack — the latest in a series they have orchestrated against high-profile news organizations.
Read the full story on Rappler - Locals reclaim Boston blast zone
Boston merchants and residents forced to evacuate after last week’s marathon bombings started reclaiming their neighborhood Tuesday, April 23, from investigators probing the attack. In the downtown Back Bay district including Boylston Street, site of the marathon finish line and the explosions that left three dead on April 15, the focus was on regaining a sense of normalcy after a hellish week. The re-populating of several evacuated blocks of Boylston Street – one per hour – is being done in a staggered fashion and will be finished later Tuesday, city officials said.
Read the full story on Rappler - Nancy Binay: Parody on son most hurtful
Vice President Jejomar Binay’s daughter, Nancy, cried foul over news parodies involving her children. In an interview in Zamboanga on Tuesday, April 23, the senatorial bet labeled the attacks against her on social media as “black propaganda,” which she expects to intensify after she ranked 3rd-4th in the April Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Binay said that while she is used to political mudslinging during her father’s past campaigns, dragging her children into her candidacy is foul.
Read the full story on Rappler - Malaysian election violence spikes: police
Hundreds of cases of Malaysian election violence have been reported since campaigning for tightly contested May 5 polls got under way at the weekend, police were quoted saying on Wednesday, April 24. A total of 387 incidents were reported in the first three days of the two-week campaign, which kicked off Saturday, April 20, and at least 15 people have been arrested over the violence, national police spokesman Ramli Yoosuf told The Star newspaper.
Read the full story on Rappler - More Filipinos working freelance online – jobs website
More Filipinos are choosing to do freelance work online, according to American freelance jobs website Elance. The company noted that the number of new Filipino users who registered in the first quarter of 2013 jumped 89% to 1,456 compared to the same period a year ago. Elance currently has 95,000 registered Filipino users. In a statement on Tuesday, April 23, Elance announced that 76.9% of respondents to its “State of the Filipino Freelance Market” report said that they chose online freelance work because of schedule flexibility. Elance added that Filipino freelancers earn an average of $8.3 per hour. Filipino freelancers specializing in IT and programming earn the most with an hourly rate of $14.4.
Read the full story on Rappler - Apple profits dip for the first time in a decade
Apple quarterly profit dipped for the first time in nearly a decade despite a rise in revenue from the same period a year earlier. The company posted a profit of US$9.5 billion on revenue of $43.6 billion in the first 3 months of this year, compared to a profit of $11.6 billion on $39.2 billion in the same quarter in 2012. The number of iPhones sold in the quarter rose to 37.4 million from 35.1 million during the same quarter last year. The number of iPads also sold surged to 19.5 million from 11.8 million a year earlier. But its gross margin, or the amount of money it makes in profit from its devices, shrank to 37.5% from 47.5%.
Read the full story on Rappler - Making of Europe unlocked by DNA
DNA sequenced from nearly 40 ancient skeletons has shed light on the complex prehistoric events that shaped modern European populations. A study of remains from Central Europe suggests the foundations of the modern gene pool were laid down between 4,000 and 2,000 BC – in Neolithic times. These changes were likely brought about by the rapid growth and movement of some populations.
Read the full story on BBCAdditional link (source document behind paywall) on Nature
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