Even Criminal Jack Abramoff Says the System is Corrupt

Mysterious Ball Drops From Space

Nambia - NASA and European space agencies are being contacted after what appears to be a metal ball fell out of the sky and into a patch of grassland near a village

The ball is said to be hollow, a diameter of 14 inches and a circumference of 43 inches.  Its surface, made of a metal alloy, is rough and looks like its two halves were wielded together.  It weighs 13 pounds.

In the days before the mysterious ball appeared, the locals say they heard several small explosions.  This isn't the only time these types of balls were found.  In the last 20 years several others appeared in southern Africa, Australia, and Latin America.  Despite all the testing done, including this one when it first appeared in November, nothing explains them.

“It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first,” said police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka.

U.S. Government Makes Odd Request of Scientific Journals

Washington D.C. - Under the guise of not wanting terrorists to get their hands on the blueprints, the United States government asked scientists from two labs responsible for creating new strains of the H5N1 virus - also known as bird flu - not to publish anything beyond the general details.

Without saying exactly what should be left out of the their publications the government sent the request to the journals Science and Nature at the request of bio-security advisers.  While the publications say they are deciding what to do, Science editor-in-chief Dr. Bruce Alberts said his journal is trying to get the U.S. government to set up some way for international researchers to still gain access to the virus strains.  He continues "This is a sort of watershed moment," and says it's the first time public health authorities sought out this kind of secrecy.  Nature's editor-in-chief is says the same thing adding "It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers.  Appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled."  It must be noted according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institute of Health where the original research was funded, said "It doesn't necessarily mean the new lab-bred flu strains could infect people."

The two research teams came upon the strains independent of each other, making ones that can spread between ferrets with little effort.  Ferrets were selected due to their similarity with humans when it comes to the flu.

More information won't be revealed until the scientific journals make a decision as to what to publish for the public to read.

Man Wins, Then Crashes, Lamborghini.

Eight Soldiers Charged in Death of Fellow Asian Serviceman

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Kabul/New York - The death of Danny Chen is thought have occurred after he was allegedly taunted and bullied by his companions about his heritage.  

The military said it is not only investigating his death but the events surrounding what happened until that point.  Spokesman Chris Grey said of the incident  "You can be sure that United States Army Criminal Investigation Command will continue to conduct a professional and very thorough investigation. We are not releasing any details to the public at this point to protect the integrity of our ongoing investigation."

 On December 21st 400 people, some from Occupy Wall Street, showed support for the family as they demanded answers for Danny's death.  During the event his family read aloud several letters he sent home that showed his feelings of isolation incurred by the harassment he suffered.  One of them read:

"'Feb. 27, 2011: Since I am the only Chinese person here, everyone knows me by Chen.  They ask if I'm from China a few times a day... They also call out my name Chen in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason.'"

Some of the charges facing the accused are dereliction of duty, involuntary manslaughter, assault, and negligent homicide.  They were moved to another location, undisclosed of course, for their own security.

President of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese-Americans Elizabeth OuYang said "Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny caused his death. They must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the killing of Danny Chen."

Update on Danny Chen's death:

Countrywide Settles Discrimination Suit

United States - In what's being called "the largest residential discrimination settlement in U.S. history," Countrywide's financial unit agreed to pay $35-million dollars in a settlement case alleging the company discriminated against minority home-buyers.  More than 200,000 African-American and Hispanic people in 41 states were affected.

Between 2004 and 2008 the company, now owned by Bank of America, focused on giving loans to people with low credit ratings and charging them higher interest rates than other their white counterparts.  Some of them were were also guided toward taking more expensive sub-prime loans despite the fact they were quantified for the traditional rates. 

Head of the Justice Department's civil rights division Thomas Perez said what the company did was "discrimination with a smile."  Twenty investigations are presently open in regards to allegations financial institutions participated in some sort of discriminatory practice against minorities when it came to buying homes.

When asked for a comment Bank of America's Dan Frahm stated "We discontinued Countrywide products and practices that were not in keeping with our commitment and will continue to resolve and put behind us the remaining Countrywide issues" adding the company's practices were not an issue, though they should be to some extent.