Latest

Two low-level United States Department of State employees have been dismissed and a third employee disciplined over accessing the passport files of Senator Barack Obama "without a need to do so." According to Assistant Secretary of State, Sean McCormack, on three separate incidents which occurred separately on January 9, February 21 and March 14, contract employees of the department's Bureau of Consular Affairs tasked with data entry accessed Obama's file. The breach seems like "imprudent curiosity" among the contract workers, and that senior

On March 18, President Kevin Baugh of the Republic of Molossia, a micronation located in Nevada, announced that his country would hold its first ever international summit this June. Grand Prince Christopher I and Princess Erin of the Principality of Vikesland, another micronation located in Canada, will be attending. Besides the meeting itself, which is scheduled to take place in Molossia's capital city, Espera, President Baugh is to give them a tour of his country as well as the surrounding areas. He is looking forward to the event and hopes

Each day, in living rooms, bars, and message boards across the United States, debates rage and opinions flare over the upcoming presidential election: "Which candidate has the most experience?" "Which candidate will best be able to unite Americans?" "Which candidate will work to bring about real change in Washington?" Time and again, these questions have been asked and answered by television pundits; they have been analysed in editorials, written about in blogs, and tackled in speeches by the candidates themselves. But in one corner of the Int

Another population of small humans has been reported, this time in caves in Micronesia. Lee Berger, Steven Churchill, Bonita De Klerk and Rhonda Quinn, a team of paleontologists and anthropologists from South Africa and the United States document a group of "small-bodied humans" found in the " in limestone caves in the rock islands of Palau, Micronesia." The report, in a recent edition of the open access journal, PLoS ONE (2008 3:3) argues that these small people may "represent a congenitally abnormal individual drawn from a small-bodied isla

President Vladimir Voronin of Moldova today signed a decree nominating Zinaida Greceanii as prime minister. Under the constitution, Ms Greceanii has 15 days from the date of the decree to submit her government's program and a list of executive members to parliament. 52 of the 101 MPs must endorse her proposals. Zinaida Greceanii was born in 1956 and graduated from the Chisinau-based Financial and Economic College and the Moldovan State University, specialising in economics. Since 1994, she has held various posts at the Finance Ministry. Ms Gre

A Sukhoi Su-25 military jet has exploded in midair near Vladivostok, Russia, killing the pilot. The Russian Air Force said the plane was 140km (90 miles) from the port city on the Pacific coast. The plane, a single seat twinjet used to support ground forces, was on a training mission when the explosion occurred. Russia has grounded all their Su-25s while the crash is investigated by order of the air force's commander. The investigation will be conducted by a special commission of the Ministry of Defence. Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, spokes

Just hours after firing two contract employees and disciplining a third for inappropriately examining the passport file of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Sen. Hillary Clinton that her passport file was also breached in 2007. Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for president, also had his file breached — this time by one of the same individuals who had examined Obama's records. Both Clinton and McCain were informed that their files were improperly accessed, according to t

Israel has announced plans to begin fitting missile defense systems to airliners within weeks. The systems will emit flares designed to confuse the guidance systems on heat-seeking missiles. Greatest priority will go to adding the equipment - already in use with the Israeli air force - on aircraft that fly to destinations deemed high-risk, such as Asia and Africa. The plans were initiated in 2002 after a failed attempt by Islamic insurgents with shoulder mounted missile launchers to shoot down an Israeli airliner during takeoff from Mombassa

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered evidence that points to the existence of an underground ocean of water and ammonia on Saturn's moon Titan. "We believe that about 100 kilometers (62 miles) beneath the ice and organic-rich surface is an internal ocean of liquid water mixed with ammonia," said Bryan Stiles of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. If the findings turn out to be true, this will be the fourth such moon in our solar system found to have some form of water on it. Currently only three other moons, all from

The Red Bull Racing Formula One racing team must prove to the Malaysian Grand Prix stewards that one of their cars is safe to race after Scottish driver David Coulthard suffered a crash at Friday's opening practice. It was his second major suspension failure in as many weekends and his third major accident, having had his last race ended prematurely after a collision with Felipe Massa's Ferrari. A part failure caused Coulthard to run off the road. When he subsequently hit a kerb both sides of the front suspension completely failed, ripping bo

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia agreed to hear Victor DiMaio's suit against the Democratic National Committee on Monday. Dimaio sued the DNC over their decision to ignore the results of Florida's Democratic primary. DiMaio claims that excluding Florida's Democratic voters and allowing some states to vote earlier than others violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The DNC countered that they have the power to exclude any state that does not follow their rules, and that the Supr

A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket has successfully launched the DirecTV-11 Communications satellite for DirecTV. The Ukrainian-built rocket lifted off from the Norwegian Ocean Odyssey launch platform in the Pacific Ocean at 22:47:59 (UTC) yesterday evening, with spacecraft separation from the carrier rocket occurring at 23:49:03. The mission, which marked the 13th orbital launch of 2008, is the 25th commercial launch to be conducted by the international Sea Launch consortium, the first of which also lofted a DirecTV satellite. This is also the 25