Toshiba breakthrough: superfast recharge batteries

The Japanese tech giant announced today a new generation lithium-ion battery technology which can be recharged to 80% in one minute, with total recharge taking a few minutes more. This is huge. Recharge time for everything from cell phones to notebook computers…

Torture Inc. Americas brutal prisons

From the BBC Channel 4, reported by Deborah Davies – with video Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted with cattle prods, Burned by toxic chemicals, does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq? They are…

Gerry Adams urges IRA to embrace peace

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has appealed to the IRA to help rebuild the Northern Ireland political process. In a direct call to members of the terror group, he asked them to “fully embrace and accept” democratic means. Hmm, why this…

A Defeat for Berlusconi –and a gay victory

Make that a gay communist victory In Italy’s regional elections, for which voting was held yesterday and today, Silvio Berlusconi’s governing coalition has apparently suffered a huge defeat. The elections brought more good news: in the region of Puglia, in…

Time for a new terrorist scare from D.C.?

Bush approval worst of second termers. President Bush’s approval rating “has plunged to the lowest level of any president since World War II at this point in his second term,” Gallup reports.

Rift among elites threatens country – Kremlin

A rift among national power brokers threatens the country with disintegration that could have even more violent consequences than the collapse of the Soviet Union had, Kremlin chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev warned in a wide-ranging interview published Monday. “If…

Insurgents battle Saudis

Two more suspected insurgents have been reported killed in clashes with Saudi security forces that have raged for the third straight day, bringing the total toll among the insurgents to nine. A quick news scan shows this story only on…