New Age “Pirate” Party in tight race to win Icelandic elections, polls suggest.
Iceland, a land of Vikings, braces for a Pirate Party takeover (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune)
Iceland’s anti-establishment “Pirate” Party is in a tight race to become the largest party in parliament. After the Panama Papers scandal caused the resignation of the prime minister, an election was scheduled for 5 November. The Pirates have been riding a wave of anger against Iceland’s politicla state. As one of the countries who suffered most during the 2008 financial crisis, citizens are looking to remedy the collapse of its banking system and other industries. Polls suggest that the Independence Party is currently in second place. Iceland wants, among other things, to give asylum to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, accept the bitcoin virtual currency and clean up corruption. The Pirates were founded less than four years ago as a protest movement against global copyright laws, and have a partly crowdfunded election campaign.
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Guatemala to be suspended from International soccer following ‘political interference’.
The Guatemala Soccer Federation (FEDEFUT) building is pictured in Guatemala City (Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Josue Decavel)
Guatemala has been suspended from international football after its national football federation’s directors refused to recognise a committee set up by FIFA. The committee was meant to temporarily run the sport in the country. This suspension means that the country’s national team and clubs cannot take part in international competition and the federation will not receive funds from FIFA. Soccer’s governing body said that the Guatamalean soccer committee, created in December 2015, was “no longer able to operate” after Guatamala’s soccer federation (FEDEFUT) rejected its mandate on Tuesday. “The suspension will be lifted only once the FEDEFUT general assembly ratifies the extension of the normalisation committee’s mandate until July 31, 2017,” said FIFA. Guatemala has already been knocked out of the 2018 World Cup qualifying competition.
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Bioluminescent sensor causes brain cells to glow in the dark.
Individual neuron glowing with bioluminescent light produced by a new genetically modified sensor (Photo courtesy of Johnson Lab/Vanderbilt University)
A new kind of bioluminescent sensor has been discovered that causes individual brain cells to glow in the dark and imitate fireflies. The probe is a genetically modified form of luciferase, which is an enzyme that numerous species use to produce light. Carl Johnson, Stevenson professor of biological sciences, headed the effort and hopes to combine luminescence with optogenetics. Optogenetics is a new biological technique that uses light to control cells, particularly neurons, in living tissues. This powerful new tool could be used to study brain activity.
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Police evict protesters from North Dakota pipeline site.
Demonstrators stand next to burning tires as armed soldiers force protestors of the private land (Photo courtesy of Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune/Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers used pepper spray, and fired bean bags to evict protestors on Thursday 28 October 2016 from private land on which the Dakota Access oil pipeline was situated. The dispute escalated over Native American rights, and the project’s environmental impact on the native land. The operation took over six hours, and hundreds of armed state and local police and National Guard. No serious injuries were reported, but one man was hurt in the leg and received medical treatment from a medic. More than a dozen protesters that refused to leave were arrested and taken to Morton County Jail. In total, there have been over 117 individuals arrested for protesting the pipeline’s construction on cultural sites. The affected Native tribe will be going to court to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision of granting the pipeline access to more than 200 water crossings.
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Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.
The long-awaited MacBook Pro unveiled with an impressive Touch Bar (Photo courtesy of Mario Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)
On Wednesday 27 October 2016, Apple unveiled the details of the new MacBook Pro at it’s October keynote. The company calls the new MacBook Pro, the “thinnest and lightest” design for a laptop ever, but the feature generating the most buzz is the Touch Bar. The Touch Bar replaces the traditional role of function keys, and it will dynamically adapt to the applications currently in use. The newest version will also have an updated Retina display, Touch ID, a larger Force Touch trackpad, an audio system with double the dynamic range, and a sixth-generation quad-core and dual-core processors. The MacBook Pro will have 3 thunderbolts, instead of a charging port and USB ports. The 13-inch weighs 3 pounds, and the 15-inch weighs 4 pounds, making the new computer 14-17% thinner, and 20-23% smaller. The 13-inch MacBook Pro has a starting value of $1 499, while the 15-inch starts at $2 399.
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