Senate Panel Probes Bin Laden Movie Torture Scenes

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The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched a new probe to determine how much the CIA may have influenced the portrayal of torture scenes shown in "Zero Dark Thirty," the Hollywood dramatization of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden.


The probe, as first reported by Reuters and confirmed to ABC News by a spokesperson for the committee's chairman, will attempt to answer two questions: Did the CIA give filmmakers "inappropriate" access to secret material and was the CIA responsible for the perceived suggestion that harsh interrogation techniques aided the hunt for America's most wanted man?


Brian Weiss, a spokesperson for Committee Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calf.), told ABC News the committee sent a letter to acting CIA Director Michael Morell in late December requesting information about the filmmaker's contact with the CIA. A representative for the spy agency confirmed it had received the letter.


"As we've said before, we take very seriously our responsibility to keep our oversight committees informed and value our relationship with Congress," another CIA spokesperson said, declining to comment further.




The movie features multiple scenes in which American interrogators oversee or take part in harsh techniques including simulated drowning, violent beating, and force feeding of alleged al Qaeda operatives or associates. Directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow and hailed by critics since its limited release last month, "Zero Dark Thirty" has also become a lightning rod for the ongoing debate over the role torture may have played in the ultimately successful hunt for bin Laden.


In mid-December, Feinstein joined Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D.-Mich.) and former Presidential candidate John McCain (R.-Ariz.) in sending a letter to Sony, the film's distributor, to express their "deep disappointment" with the movie.


"We believe this film is grossly inaccurate and misleading in its suggestion that torture resulted in information that led to the location of [Osama bin Laden]," the letter says. "We have reviewed CIA records and know that this is incorrect."


In his book "The Finish," "Black Hawk Down" author Mark Bowden wrote that enhanced interrogation appeared to play a significant role in corroborating the identity of an al Qaeda courier who years later led U.S. officials to bin Laden.


In a rare public statement just two weeks ago, CIA Director Morell directly addressed questions about the movie on the CIA's website, saying it was "not a realistic portrayal of the facts" but said some information did come from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation., CIA Director Morell directly addressed questions about the movie on the CIA's website on Dec. 21, saying it was "not a realistic portrayal of the facts" but said some information did come from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation.






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Humble coin toss thrust to heart of multiverse debate

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Al Jazeera eyes Gore-founded TV group: report

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WASHINGTON: The Qatar-owned media group Al Jazeera is in talks to buy Current TV, a struggling cable channel founded by former US vice president Al Gore, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The deal could allow Al Jazeera broader entry into US homes, by acquiring the cable group available in around 60 million American households, the report said.

Contacted by AFP, Current Media did not immediately respond to the report.

The Times said that if the deal is completed, Al Jazeera would create a new channel instead of using its existing English-language channel Al Jazeera English.

This would tentatively be called Al Jazeera America, the report said, and produce around 60 per cent of its programming in the United States and draw the rest from Al Jazeera English.

The plan could put the broadcaster financed by the government of Qatar into closer competition with CNN and other news channels in the United States, according to The Times, which noted that Al Jazeera is offered only by a handful of US cable and satellite distributors.

Current Media, founded in 2005, operates Current TV, reaches households in Britain and the United States, and a youth-focused website Current.com, where users can submit their own content.

Founded by Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt, Current has won two Emmy Awards and other honours. It reaches 71 million households worldwide, including 60 million in the US market.

But The Times said a sale was being considered because of low ratings, with an average of just 42,000 people watching the channel last year.

- AFP/jc



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Uncork ambient music and beats with Sound Bottle

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If you wanted to send a message in a bottle, what would you put in it? A letter? A map? How about sound itself?


It doesn't look like this sound generator from Japan would fare well if cast into the Pacific, but it's a neat way to create music from the sounds in your everyday environment.


Created by Jun Fujiwara of Tama Art University, the LED-lit Re: Sound Bottle mixes programmed beats with samples you record.


Simply uncork, capture sounds around you, and it will play them back with a rhythm track. Check it out in the video below.





"I felt something missing in the habitual use of music reproduction media, so I thought to create an interactive music medium that changes," Fujiwara writes.


Re: Sound Bottle was inspired by bottles that play music when their stoppers are removed, created by Hiroshi Ishii of MIT's Media Lab.


Both devices lend a touch of some old physicality and analog interactivity to music recording and listening. It's a tad more fun than tapping a touch screen or pushing a few buttons.


Fujiwara's bottle won the Naoki Sakai Prize in the 2012 Mitsubishi Chemical Junior Designer Awards.


The project is just a prototype for now, but it would make a neat living room conversation piece.


Make it watertight and it would be a perfect message in a bottle.


Re: Sound Bottle from Jun Fujiwara on Vimeo.



(Via The Verge)


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Christie Calls Boehner's Sandy Decision 'Disgusting'

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said today that it was "disgusting" that the House adjourned without voting on a $60 billion relief package for the victims of superstorm Sandy and put the blame squarely on a fellow Republican -- House Speaker John Boehner.


Christie, who is considered a possible Republican presidential candidate four years from now, said there was "only one group to blame, the Republican Party and Speaker Boehner."


The blunt talking New Jersey governor joined a chorus of Republicans from New York and New Jersey fuming over his decision to pull the bill at the last minute.


Christie in an angry news conference decried the "selfishness and duplicity," the "palace intrigue," "the callous indifference to the people of our state."


"Unfortunately people are putting politics ahead of their responsibilities... You do the right thing. Enough with all the politics," he said.


Christie said that when it comes to natural disasters, "We respond as Americans, at least we did until last night... it was disgusting to watch."


"In our hour of desperate need, we've been left waiting for help six times longer than the victims of Katrina with no end in sight," said Christie. "Sixty-six days and counting, shame on you. Shame on Congress."


The governor said his four calls to Boehner Tuesday night went unanswered, but he said he spoke to the House speaker today. Christie would not disclose any details of the conversation, but clearly his anger over the no-vote was not mollified.


Following Christie's press conference Republican representatives from New York and New Jersey announced that the speaker promised a vote on the bill on Jan. 15.


"Getting critical aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy should be the first priority in the new Congress, and that was reaffirmed today with members of the New York and New Jersey delegations," Boehner said in a statement released late this afternoon.








Rep. Peter King Blasts Speaker Boehner on House Floor Watch Video









Boos as House Adjourns Without Hurricane Sandy Relief Watch Video









'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Passes House Despite GOP Holdouts Watch Video





Rep. Peter King, R-NY, whop spent much of the day criticizing Boehner, met with the speaker this afternoon and was confident that the speaker would keep his word and hold a vote later this month and offered for the first time a reason for why the bill was pulled.


"[Boehner] said there was much confusion and so much fighting going on over the fiscal cliff bill it would be damaging to the Republican caucus" to have voted on the relief bill Tuesday night.


Lawmakers were initially told by Boehner, R-Ohio, that the relief bill would get a vote on Tuesday night following an eleventh hour vote on the fiscal cliff bill. But in an unexpected switch, Boehner refused to put the relief bill to a vote, leading to lawmakers from parties yelling on the floor of the House.


Congress historically has responded to natural disasters by promptly funding relief efforts. It took just 11 days to pass a relief package for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Senate already passed its version of the bill that would replenish an emergency fund set to run out of cash next week and which will help repair subways and tunnels in New York City and rebuild parts of the New Jersey shore devastated by superstorm Sandy.


Time is particularly pressing, given that a new Congress will be sworn in Thursday. The Senate will therefore have to vote on the bill again before it comes to the House, which could be as late as February or March.


"This was a betrayal," Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., told ABC News.com. "It's just reprehensible. It's an indefensible error in judgment not have given relief to these people that are so devastated."


Rep. King, took the floor of the House and to the airwaves and aimed his outrage squarely at Boehner, accusing him plunging "a cruel knife in the back" of storm-ravaged residents "who don't have shelter, don't have food," he said during a House session this morning.


"This is not the United States. This should not be the Republican Party. This shouldn't not be the Republican leadership," King said on the floor of the House.


He made no attempt to hide his anger, suggesting that residents in New York and New Jersey should stop sending money to Republicans and even questioning whether he could remain a member of the party.


"Anyone who donates one cent to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King, a staunch conservative and Republican congressman for 10 years, told CNN.


"They have written off New York and New Jersey. They've written me off…. Party loyalty, I'm over that. When your people are literally freezing in the winter… Then why should I help the Republican Party?" he added.


He said that Boehner refused to talk to Republican members from New York and New Jersey when they tried to ask him about the vote Tuesday night.


"He just decided to sneak off in the dark of night," King said.






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In-depth 2012: The best long reads of the year

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Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"












Dig deeper, look closer and think harder – these are the goals of New Scientist's in-depth articles. Each one is perfect for saving in your favourite read-it-later app and curling up in front of a glowing tablet for a good long read.












These are our editors' picks of our best features of the year, and all are prime examples of the amazing breadth of big ideas that were ripe for the tackling in 2012. When you have finished digesting these readable meals, visit our in-depth articles archive if you're hungry for more.











Richard Webb: "You might not have heard of the algorithm that runs the world." I certainly hadn't, or that its mathematical foundations are starting to look a little wobbly. An eye-opening examination of how seemingly abstruse mathematics is in fact deeply embedded in modern life: "The algorithm that runs the world"












Sally Adee: Gastric bypass surgery is the best surgery you're not getting, said Dr Oz on his popular medical advice show in the US. Because of enthusiasm from people like him, this operation has become massively popular – but by whimsically hacking at our stomach, might we might be messing with a system far more complicated than anyone really understands? Samantha Murphy had the surgery and began to realise that losing 45 kilograms could come with some profound neurological trade-offs: "Change your stomach, change your brain"












Michael Le Page: Nowadays most people either haven't heard of the 1970 book The Limits to Growth, or believe – wrongly – that the research it was based on has been discredited. But the main message of Limits is perhaps more relevant than ever – that a delayed response to mounting environmental problems leads to catastrophe further down the line: "Boom and doom: Revisiting prophecies of collapse"












Richard Fisher: This is a simple story about a scientific mystery. Strange rumbles, whistles and blasts have been reported all over the world for centuries. In New York state, they are called "Seneca guns"; in the Italian Apennines they are described as brontidi, which means thunder-like; in Japan they are yan; and along the coast of Belgium they are called mistpouffers – or fog belches. Yet the cause is often unexplained – what on Earth could be behind them? "Mystery booms: The source of a worldwide sonic enigmaSpeaker"












Valerie Jamieson: It's been a sensational year for particle physics, but the Higgs boson isn't the only fascinating particle in town. Meet 11 more particles that change our understanding of the subatomic world: "11 particles for 11 physics puzzlesMovie Camera"












David Robson: What is the secret of the legendary "flow state" that seems to mark out genius in everyone from piano virtuosos to tennis champions? With the latest brain stimulation techniques, it may soon be within everyone's reach, and Sally Adee writes with panache as she describes her own use of the technology during a terrifying marksmanship training session. This has everything I want to read in a story – drama, a revolutionary idea and some practical advice for anyone to try at home: "Zap your brain into the zone: Fast track to pure focus"












Graham Lawton: The writer of this article, Christopher Kemp, is a self-confessed lover of marginalia – nooks and crannies of science that are often overlooked. But as this beautifully written story reveals, those nooks and crannies often contain rich and fascinating material. Material, in fact, like ambergris: "Heaven scent: The grey gold from a sperm whale's gut"












Ben Crystall: Many people may remember the wonder material Starlite from an episode of BBC TV's Tomorrow's World – it seemed to have a miraculous ability to withstand fire and heat. So what happened to it? In this feature Richard Fisher uncovers the strange tale of Starlite and its eccentric inventor Maurice Ward, and on the way reveals fascinating details about Ward and his creation. And though Ward is dead, the story may not be over – it now looks like Starlite could get a second chance… "The power of cool: Whatever became of Starlite?"












Clare Wilson: I enjoyed working on this feature the most this year because to me it truly represents the future of medicine. New Scientist often predicts that some new medicine or technology will be available in five years' time. When it comes to using gene therapies or stem cell therapies on babies in the womb – the subject of this feature – the timeline is probably more uncertain, yet I don't see how anyone can doubt that some day it will happen: "Fetal healing: Curing congenital diseases in the womb"



















































If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.




































All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


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Motorcycle bomb kills four in Pakistan's Karachi

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KARACHI: A motorcycle bomb exploded Tuesday near the venue of a major political rally in Pakistan's largest city Karachi, killing four people and injuring 42 others, officials said.

The bombing appeared to be targeted at buses carrying supporters of the city's dominant political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which organised the rally attended by thousands of people.

"The latest report we have collected from hospitals said that four people have been killed and 42 are injured," provincial health minister Saghir Ahmad told AFP, updating the earlier toll of two dead and 25 injured.

Another health official at Karachi's Abbasi Shaheed hospital confirmed the new toll.

"The bomb was planted in a motorcycle," said Asif Ijaz, a senior police official.

Imran Shokat, a police spokesman in the southern Sindh province of which Karachi is the capital, said the motorcycle was parked in a congested neighbourhood near the venue of the rally.

"Bomb disposal experts are investigating but preliminary reports said it was a remote-controlled bomb," Shokat told AFP.

Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan with an estimated population of 18 million, is in the grip of a long-running wave of political and sectarian violence.

Its Arabian Sea port is used by the United States and NATO to ship supplies to the war in neighbouring, landlocked Afghanistan.

- AFP/jc



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New Apple ad a bit disturbing, as touted feature reportedly has New Year's hiccups

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Now that's a dream.



(Credit:
Apple Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


However walled your garden, rodents still pad around, cockroaches still shuffle.


One can only, therefore, feel sympathy for Apple's new ad for the
iPhone 5.


It features the mysterious and wonderful Williams sisters. They are in a dream. They are playing the dreamy Jeff Daniels at ping-pong.


And yet the ad also features the phone's "Do Not Disturb" feature, which users can switch on to silence in-coming calls, alerts, and notifications, or set up to perform such silencing during a preordained period of time. And who would want to be disturbed during such a high-level game of table tennis?


The slightly unfortunate aspect is that, as 9to5Mac glumly recognizes, there were reports overnight that this feature did actually disturb.


By not switching itself off.


The forums at MacRumors, for example, were adorned by iPhone users mystified that they had missed vital events such as, who knows, an invitation to a spontaneous brunch or a call informing them they had removed their pants in public last night.



More Technically Incorrect



The problems was reported in Spain, Australia, and even the home of all things current and disturbing, Brooklyn.


I have contacted Apple to see whether this has been noticed by the company and whether this might be mere operator error or something more disturbing.


There will be some who, excited by the slight disturbance over Apple's maps -- not to mention last year's alarm-clock stumble apparently also caused by the New Year rollover -- will be snorting that this is another example of Cupertino's imperfection.


They will sniff in jest that all these people must have been holding their iPhones wrong when they set them not to disturb.


I prefer to imagine that this is all the work of Siri.


She knew what each of these iPhone owners had been through and done on New Year's Eve.


She just wanted to offer them extra rest before reality knocked upon their foreheads and muttered: "Have you any idea what you put in your ear last night?"


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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

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House Hesitates, Cites Cliff Deal Spending

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Top House Republicans today opposed a bipartisan compromise that passed the Senate in the wee hours of New Year's Day to avert the "fiscal cliff," as new studies conclude that the compromise on taxes and spending would add trillions to the U.S. deficit.


If House Republicans tweak the legislation, as they seem likely to do, there's no clear path for its return to the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in Thursday.


GOP leaders emerged from a morning conference meeting disenchanted by the legislative package devised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Biden early this morning, with several insisting they cannot vote on it as it now stands.


"I do not support the bill," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said as he left the meeting. "We're looking for the best path forward. No decisions have been made yet."


It's almost certain that Republicans will attempt to amend the bill in order to win over the support of more conservatives.


House Speaker John Boehner refused to comment on the meeting, but his spokesman said "the lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today's meeting."


"Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward," Brendan Buck said in a statement.


As lawmakers wrestled with the legislation, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office, two bipartisan groups that evaluate the cost of bills, said the measure would add roughly $4 trillion to the federal deficit in the next 10 years.






Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images











Fiscal Cliff Countdown: Missing the Deadline Watch Video











Obama on Fiscal Cliff: 'Agreement Within Sight' Watch Video





The impasse once again raised the specter of sweeping tax hikes on all Americans and deep spending cuts' taking effect later this week.


"This is all about time, and it's about time that we brought this to the floor," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said after emerging from a meeting with Democrats.


"It was a bill that was passed in the U.S. senate 89-8. Tell me when you've had that on a measure as controversial as this?" she said of the overwhelming vote.


Pelosi could not say, however, whether the measure had the backing of most House Democrats. "Our members are making their decisions now," she said.


Biden, who brokered the deal with McConnell, joined Democrats for a midday meeting on Capitol Hill seeking to shore up support for the plan.


While Congress technically missed the midnight Dec. 31 deadline to avert the so-called cliff, both sides have expressed eagerness to enact a post-facto fix before Americans go back to work and the stock market opens Wednesday.


"This may take a little while but, honestly, I would argue we should vote on it today," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who sits on the Budget Committee. "We know the essential details and I think putting this thing to bed before the markets is important.


"We ought to take this deal right now and we'll live to fight another day, and it is coming very soon on the spending front."


The Senate passed legislation shortly after 2 a.m. that would extend current tax rates on 98 percent of Americans, raise taxes on the wealthiest earners and delay by two months the pending automatic spending cuts to defense and domestic programs, known as the "sequester."


The measure passed by an overwhelming majority vote of 89-8, boosting the prospects that enough House members would follow suit to make it law.


If the House amends the bill, however, the fragile compromise could get shattered. The Senate would need to reconvene to consider the changes.


A Senate Democratic leadership aide told ABC News, "we did our work, and McConnell's office said they were confident of House passage. All bets are off if they amend our bill."


Meanwhile, most Senators have already returned home, dismissed early this morning by Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid.


"I've said all along our most important priority is protecting middle-class Americans, this legislation does that," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said early this morning prior to the vote.






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