Scientists Successfully Test Mind Control

Scientists at the University of Washington have successfully tested mind control.

One professor thought about moving a finger to type on a keyboard to play a computer game he could see.

Across campus, another professor had his hand resting on a keyboard, but was unable to see the computer game.

Using an EEG skullcap set to monitor the left motor cortex of the brain and a transcranial magnetic stimulation coil the first professor's thoughts were transmitted to the second.

The transmitted thoughts were enough to move the hand of the second professor, without his deciding to do so, and play the game.

During a series of four separate tests, they achieved a ninety percent success rate.

4,200 Firefighters Gain 23% Containment on The Rim Fire

Forty-two hundred firefighters and two dozen aircraft have battled the Rim Fire to twenty-three percent containment.

The fire has burnt one hundred and eighty-eight thousand acres in California, including forty-three thousand in Yosemite National Park.

One hundred and eleven buildings, including thirty-one homes, have now been lost to the flames.

Forty-five hundred homes and a thousand other buildings lie with a mandatory evacuation area, that is threatened by the blaze.

Winds continue to help the fire expand and drown nearby towns in smoke, making breathing difficult.

Yosemite National Park has remained opened, the main part of the park lies more than twenty miles away and authorities say that it is not in any danger.

Most worries are focused on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the O'Shaughnessy Dam, which are now less than half a mile from the flames.

San Fransisco gets eighty-five percent of it's water from the reservoir and significant amounts of power from the dam.

City officials say that they have adequate emergency reserves, should the water become reached by the smoke.

They are also doing hourly checks of water quality to ensure that contaminants from the fire are not reaching people's drinking water.

Power supply has already been interrupted, as some power lines have fallen victim to flames.

Hasan Sentenced to Die by Lethal Injection

After being found guilty, on Friday, Nidal Malik Hasan was sentenced on Wednesday to death by lethal injection.

He was found guilty of the November 5, 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which thirteen people were killed.

Hasan will now be taken to Fore Leavenworth, Kansas to await his execution.

It may be several years til that can take place, as there are several automatic appeals which must be gone through first.

SEIU Calls for Fast Food Strike Across the US

The SEIU has called for all fast food workers to join them in a strike, across the US, on Monday.

While they did call for a general strike, they have singled out McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway, and Taco Bell.

They are demanding that fast food workers be paid a minimum of fifteen dollars an hour, from now on.

That is nearly double the average.

In a statement, the SEIU said that such an increase would boost the economy.

However, they had no comment when asked what the increase in costs to companies would do to the economy.

Iraq's Government Increases Alert Level After 80 are Killed in Baghdad Bombings

Eighty people were killed in Baghdad, on Wednesday, in a series of bombings.

Most of the bombs went off within moments of each other, showing that the attacks were carefully coordinated.

During the day, the bombs targeted busy Shiite parts of town.

Restaurants, markets, and mosques were all hit, leaving hundreds injured.

In the evening retaliation came as Sunni neighborhoods were struck at.

Al Qaeda is being blamed for the attacks in Shiite areas.

The Iraqi government raised alert levels, but it is unclear what more they can do to stop the violence.

US Soldier Among 29 Killed in Afghanistan

Three separate attacks killed twenty-nine people in Afghanistan, on Wednesday.

A car bomb struck a joint NATO Afghan base, in Ghazni. The explosion was followed by a militant attack on the base, which lasted several hours.

Between the bomb and the attack, ten militants, four policemen, three civilians, and a US soldier were killed. Ten Polish soldiers were wounded during the firefight.

In Farrah province, six truck drivers were killed and ten wounded when their convoy came under attack. Forty trucks, filled with fuel, caught fire and exploded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both of those attacks.

Four civilians were killed and fifteen wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle in Lashkar Gah.

No one has claimed responsibility for that attack.

Bubonic Plague Kills 15 Year Old in Kyrgyzstan

A fifteen year old boy died in Kyrgyzstan from the bubonic plague.

Officials believe that he was bitten by an infected flea.

The plague is often carried by wild rodents and can be transmitted to humans if they are bitten by an infected rodent or flea.

As a herder, the boy was quite often out in brush lands where wild rodents live.

Over one hundred people have now been quarantined, as a precaution, and two thousand have been tested.

The government has placed a ban on livestock travel and set up check points in the area, to further ensure nothing can be spread.