Sara al-Musa

A Bahrain policewoman pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of torturing a female journalist during last year's crackdown on anti-government protests, lawyers said.

The officer, Lieutenant Sara al-Musa, denied torturing Nazeeha Saeed, who is the Bahrain correspondent of France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, and was not in court, the lawyers said.
The hearing was adjourned to 24 June for further deliberation.

Musa is accused of torturing Saeed while the journalist was in custody on 22 May last year.

The prosecution said last month that it had referred the case to the "high criminal court because the defendant is a public servant in the ministry of interior and has used force against the victim to make her confess to a crime

Raptor

Oxygen problems that have plagued the Air Force's fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets may be worse than previously disclosed, according to new information released by two members of Congress.

F-22 pilots have reported dozens of incidents in which the jet's systems weren't feeding them enough oxygen, causing hypoxia-like symptoms in the air. Hypoxia is a condition resulting from a deficiency of oxygen reaching tissues of the body that can cause nausea, headaches, fatigue or even blackouts.

Spiderama

Officials say colonies of giant biting spiders have attacked villagers and sparked panic in remote northeast India. But they say locals' attempts to treat the painful swelling caused by the bites may be more dangerous than the spiders themselves.

Two bite victims have died in Tinsukia district. Authorities say it is unclear whether they died from venom or from treatment by witch doctors who cut them with razor blades to drain the wounds. No autopsies were conducted before the victims were cremated.

Licking County

In Newark, Ohio, a Licking County Sheriff's deputy has resigned, just hours before he was to be interviewed in an internal investigation about allegations he let a woman inject him with stolen narcotics. Although Deputy Nicholas Pearce resigned in May, the news wasn't announced until last Thursday. He resigned 10 days after being placed on administrative leave because a woman he knew told investigators she injected him with narcotics she stole from her employer, Genesis-Bethesda Hospital in Zanesville, according to an internal affairs investigation.

Sharkish

A new study that examined tissue samples from 97 sharks collected in beach safety programs in Australia has identified two distinct populations of white shark at the east and west of Bass Strait, prompting researchers to suggest the huge fish may need regional conservation plans.

“The genetic makeup of white sharks west of Bass Strait was different from those on the eastern seaboard of Australia  despite the lack of any physical barrier between these regions,” said co-author Prof. John Pandolfi.  “This shows that while the sharks can roam around Australia and across ocean basins, they repeatedly return to their home region to breed.”

Roadside

Taliban insurgents were responsible for planting the homemade bomb in northern Sari Pul province, which is regularly hit by insurgent activity, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP.

"The woman was being taken to hospital to give birth. Along the road their vehicle struck a mine, planted by the Taliban, and she was killed. Three of her relatives travelling with her were also killed," he said.

A provincial official confirmed the incident and said the vehicle in which they were travelling was an ambulance.

Surefire

Internationally known TV personality Dan Rather announced May 30, 2012 that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has a deadly cancer. Rather “has been told that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that has ‘entered the end stage’.”

The cancer with the jaw-breaking name was featured in this writer’s Oct 30, 2010 article “D.I.M.E. BOMBS: Closer to Fallajua’s Puzzle.” Developed jointly by the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab and the US Air Force Research Labs, the 250 lb class weapon, named the GBU 39, delivers a perfect and phenomenal 100% cancer rate to its victims.

For the weapons inventors who patented the device it was a real victory; for the two wealthy weapons research labs, it was like the Holy Grail of Christ.