Infobitt

The Obama administration said what appeared to be one of the largest breaches of federal employees’ data, involving at least 4 million current and former govt. workers, apparently originated in China. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12739 The EPA said fracking does not contaminate drinking water and does not pose a danger to clean water. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12737 A man fatally shot by antiterrorism investigators on Tuesday, Usaamah Rahim, is thought to have plotted to behead Pamela Gellar, the conservative activist organizing "Muhammad cartoon" contests. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12729 Hundreds gathered to honor the life of former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden at a memorial service held in the Delaware Legislative State House in Dover. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12740 Real time co-authoring is being rolled out in Microsoft's Office 2016 preview. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12730 Rick Perry has joined the Republican presidential nomination race. The LA Times says, "This time he's humbler, and under in

Court testimony confirms that bribes were paid for the 1998 and the 2010 World Cups. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12718 North Carolina’s governor says he’ll sign a bill that would make the state one of several with a 72-hour waiting period for abortions. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12720 As college students become more sensitive, professors become more frightened that they will be punished for saying the "wrong thing" in class. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12723 The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Dept. announced its investigation into the November 2014 death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland has been handed over to prosecutors. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12721 Cisco has acquired Piston cloud computing. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12704 The Pentagon said a U.S. military base in Utah sent live anthrax samples to 51 labs in 17 states, Washington, D.C. and 3 foreign nations, more than previously disclosed, and the number may rise. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12719 South Korean Defense Ministry officials said the nation

The U.S. Senate passed a bill extending the NSA's collection of phone data for six months. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12686 Findings published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest that chimps have all the brainpower needed to cook, including planning, causal understanding, and ability to postpone gratification. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12688 Sepp Blatter has announced that he is resigning as FIFA president. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12685 The Windows 10 Upgrade path begins today, although Windows 10 will not be available until July 29. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12676 The AP reports that the FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12674 The South Korean health ministry said 5 more cases of MERS, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus, have been confirmed, bringing to 30 the total number of cases in that country of the often-deadly illness. http://www.infob

State media reports a passenger ship carrying 458 people, many elderly Chinese tourists, sank in the Yangtze River during a storm and only 12 people had been rescued so far. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12663 Bruce Jenner has transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner, as Vanity Fair published the first photographs of a newly feminized Jenner. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12662 According to an internal investigation, U.S. airport screeners failed to detect explosives and weapons in nearly every test that an undercover Homeland Security team conducted at dozens of airports. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12665 Microsoft says it will charge $119 for Windows 10 Home, $199 for Windows 10 Pro, and $99 for a Windows 10 Pro Pack to jump from a licensed copy of Windows 10 Home to the Pro version. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12654 The Supreme Court has ruled that violent Facebook posts are not criminal. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12658 Google's new Project Soli is designing a button-less interface using radar signals to replace screen ge

The Orange County Public Schools District reportedly gets software for monitoring posts made by students, saying it wants to anticipate and prevent cyber-bullying and other crime. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12639 A suicide bombing has killed 18 people inside a mosque in northeast Nigeria just hours after Boko Haram launched a separate attack, on the first full day of President Muhammadu Buhari's term. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12641 The Illinois legislature passed a bill banning "conversion" therapy for minors, and has sent it to the governor. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12631 Neweeg leaked the price (Home Version, $109; Professional, $149) and release date (August 31) of Windows 10. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12633 A piece of mechanical equipment being lifted by a crane at a Manhattan office building broke free and fell about 28 stories to the sidewalk below, causing minor injuries to 10 people. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12642 U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has been calling for all countries in the Asia-

New genetic research suggests that humans migrated out of Africa through Egypt, not Ethiopia. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12546 A federal judge ordered the State Department to release some of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails on a firm schedule every month. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12538 The EPA asserted jurisdiction over streams, tributaries and wetlands in a move decried by Republicans as a "tyrannical power grab". http://www.infobitt.com/b/12536 Journalists exaggerated reports of the flooding in Houston. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12548 Republican Dennis Hastert was indicted on charges of evading bank reporting rules and lying to the FBI about it. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12542 According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is expanding the grocery business by broadening its private-label brand, 'Elements', into food items. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12547 Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul said the GOP's foreign policy hawks "created these people," referring to the

The Nebraska legislature has abolished the death penalty by overriding the governor's veto. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12509 The Vatican's secretary of state called Ireland's vote to approve same-sex marriage "a defeat for humanity." http://www.infobitt.com/b/12517 Scientists report that a new species of early human, called Australopithecus deyiremeda, has been unearthed in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The discovery is based on jaws and teeth 3.3 and 3.5 million years old. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12519 Perhaps it is the world's oldest murder mystery: Researchers say they have found evidence of the earliest known homicide in a skull that is 430,000 years old. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12513 The IRS believes that criminals behind a major security breach that allowed them to access tax information from more than 100,000 U.S. households were based in Russia. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12516 A message containing some Arabic characters will crash iPhones ... but InfoBitt won't tell you what they are! The attac

A heat wave has killed more than 900 people across India over a 2-week period as torrid temperatures melted roads in the national capital and forced people indoors on Tuesday. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12489 A federal appeals court upheld an injunction against the Obama administration, ruling in favor of Texas, which had sued to stop the president's new amnesty policy. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12483 Two daughters of blues legend B.B. King are seeking a formal inquiry into his death. Karen Williams and Patty King have said in legal documents they believe their father was poisoned. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12490 A study suggests a couple of extra minutes attached to the umbilical cord at birth may translate into a small boost in neuro-development several years later. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12492 Baltimore is seeing its deadliest month in 15 years after an outbreak of Memorial Day weekend violence left nine people dead in 29 shootings. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12485 Researchers say a genetically-engin

The Alabama senate has voted to abolish marriage licenses. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12463 Amazon is now paying taxes in the UK and Germany. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12454 Rescuers searched for 12 people gathered in a Wimberley, Texas, home hit by flash floods, including at least three young children, after heavy floods swamped Texas and Oklahoma. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12451 ISIS has slaughtered more than 400 mostly women and children in the ancient city of Palmyra, two days after capturing it. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12449 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed a recent New York Times editorial as “shameless,” calling on the U.S. daily to “know its place.” http://www.infobitt.com/b/12462 A magnitude-5.5 earthquake rattled Tokyo and its suburbs, shaking buildings and temporarily stopping trains but causing no apparent damage or injuries. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12450 Blackberry has fired an "unspecified number" of employees in its device unit. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12459 The Wo

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that Iraqi forces had demonstrated “no will to fight” against ISIS, saying their retreat enabled ISIS's capture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12438 Two people were killed in storms and flash flooding in Texas and Oklahoma that forced evacuations, with over 1,000 people rescued in Hays County, Texas, alone. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12437 Saudi Arabia's king vowed to punish those responsible for a suicide bombing that killed 21 people at a Shiite mosque in the country's east. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12435 Mathematician John Nash, 86, famous for the Nash equilibrium—a major advance in game theory—a Nobel Prize, and portrayal in "A Beautiful Mind," died in a car crash along with his wife, Alicia, 82. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12433 Exoskeletons, once science fiction, are now a commercial reality. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12427 The FBI has admitted that they did not break even a single terrorist plot using the powers granted by the Patriot A

Three weeks after Baltimore’s top prosecutor announced charges against the six police officers involved in the controversial arrest of Freddie Gray, a grand jury has now indicted all six officers. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12394 Senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul (R-KY) gave a 10-1/2 hour speech yesterday against extending provisions of the Patriot Act that permit collection of billions of phone call records. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12384 U.S. and Cuban negotiators held another round of talks in Washington to restore full diplomatic relations as part of President Obama’s decision to end the decades-old standoff with the island nation. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12396 Google Fiber is apparently pushing automatic fines to subscribers who engage in piracy. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12386 Boy Scouts of America president Robert Gates called for an end to the controversial gay ban against troop leaders while addressing the organization's annual meeting. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12395 David Letterma

Islamic State militants reportedly captured the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra as Syrian officials evacuated citizens and scrambled to keep priceless antiquities from falling into terrorist hands. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12370 1,433 men, a stunning number—including 261 high-profile individuals—are under investigation for child sex abuse in Great Britain. Tom Watson was the Labour MP whose claims made in the Commons, that there was a paedophile network linked to parliament, triggered a Scotland Yard investigation. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12372 Hackers acquired the data for 1.1 million CareFirst members. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12355 The legislature of Nebraska has voted to abolish the death penalty. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12369 Google is fixing an issue with its Google Maps search function, which currently leads people to the White House if they search for variations of the n-word with the word 'house.' http://www.infobitt.com/b/12371 North Korea claimed it can now miniaturize nuclear weapons—a k

Officials said a Norwegian cruise ship that departed Boston ran aground in Bermuda. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12341 The Los Angeles City Council voted to increase the minimum wage in the nation's second-largest city to $15.00 an hour by 2020 from the current $9.00. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12339 The U.S. government charged six Chinese nationals with economic espionage, saying they stole secrets from two companies that develop technology often used in military systems. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12337 Former Clinton White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal was subpoenaed to testify next month before the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12344 The Transportation Department said a major Japanese maker of automotive air bags has agreed to nearly double the scope of its recall, making it one of the largest in U.S. history. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12340 Baby spiders reportedly rained down on an Australian town. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12342 A federal judge has

An avalanche of mud and debris swept over an alpine town in western Colombia, killing at least 52 people in a flash flood and mudslide triggered by heavy rains. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12323 The FTC has warned that RadioShack's sale of customer data might be unlawful. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12314 Republicans rallied to pass a bill giving the White House fast-track authority, as Democrats opposed to free trade launched a filibuster to prevent debate on the bipartisan initiative. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12310 Waco police arrested 192 people following biker-gang violence that left nine people dead yesterday. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12300 Elián González, who spent months with his Florida relatives as a Cuban child at the center of an international custody dispute, said in an interview broadcast that he would like to visit the U.S. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12327 Ocean microbes could influence the atmosphere, according to a new study. This new finding could alter how climate models are produced and i

Nine were killed in a gunfight between rival biker gangs at a restaurant in Waco, Texas—about 150 to 200 members from five biker gangs were on the scene. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12289 The official Republican view of the Iraq War has certainly swayed: it was judged a mistake by most of the would-be GOP presidential candidates. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12278 Pope Francis has canonized two nuns from 19th century Ottoman-ruled Palestine in hopes of encouraging Christians across the Middle East who are facing persecution from Islamic extremists. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12281 1,450 Blue Bell Creameries workers have been laid off. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12280 BASE jumpers Dean Potter, 43, and Graham Hunt, 29, were killed in an attempt at a wingsuit flight from a 7,500-promontory called Taft Point. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12290 Nine states in so-called Tornado Alley reportedly saw 28 tornadoes, with flash flooding, destroyed homes, flipped cars, and other damage. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12279 Micros

14 people have been killed at a hotel shooting in Kabul, Afghanistan. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12229 Some Starbucks mobile app users in the U.S. say that hackers are using the program to siphon money from their credit cards as well as bank and PayPal accounts. http://www.infobitt.com/b/1222 An Iraqi immigrant who has been described as a former U.S. military translator was arrested by federal agents for allegedly lying about pledging allegiance to the leader of Islamic State. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12233 Taxi drivers swarm the downtown core of Toronto, Ontario to protest Uber, snarling traffic between the old and new city hall buildings in an effort to kick the car and limousine service out of the city. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12230 Canada's New Democrats, which stormed to victory in a provincial election in Alberta, overtake Liberals in a national poll. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12231 The failure of Secret Service bosses to report an incident in which two agents drove into a White House bomb-threat

Wal-Mart Stores will test a new unlimited shipping service for online shoppers this summer that will be priced below Amazon's $99 per year Prime service. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12203 A government official said Malaysia has turned away a boat with more than 500 Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis after providing them with fuel and provisions. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12206 Asked repeatedly in recent days whether he would have supported an Iraq invasion based on what is known now, Jeb Bush has replied “Yes,” “I don’t know,” or refused to answer, depending on the venue. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12204 Nigeria's President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, stated he would not intervene or take sides in the choice of the Senate leadership. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12201 Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that the international communities have confidence on Nigerian President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12199 It has emerged that, in a 2005 letter, Prince Charles urged To

Amtrak train 188 from Washington DC to New York City crashed in Philadelphia this evening, injuring at least 50 of as many as 240 passengers. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12181 Could Harriet Tubman replace Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill? http://www.infobitt.com/b/12180 Senior officials from a South Korean spy agency said North Korea’s defense minister has been executed by antiaircraft fire for disloyalty and showing disrespect to dictator Kim Jong Un. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12182 The U.S. Pacific Command announced that a military helicopter has gone missing while participating in rescue efforts in Nepal after the devastating earthquake in late April. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12178 A second, semi-official super PAC is being formed to help Hillary Clinton, and, in an unusual twist, has announced plans to coordinate with the Democratic presidential frontrunner's campaign. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12183 A strong earthquake hit Japan in the same region devastated by a major quake and tsunami in 2

According to the findings of a large international study, an antibiotic-resistant "superbug" strain of typhoid fever has spread globally, driven by a single family of the bacteria, called H58. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12162 The US Department of Interior granted permission to Shell Oil to perform exploratory oil drilling in Alaska's Chucki Sea, a rich oil deposit long sought by the oil industry. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12163 Eurosceptic Conservative MPs demand major concessions when David Cameron renegotiates Britain's EU membership. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12145 According to a new report, thousands of people arrested by Baltimore police over the past three years have been turned away from the city's jail because their injuries are too severe. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12143 Russia and China have agreed not to launch cyberattacks on each other. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12152 George Zimmerman has been shot at in an apparent ongoing feud in central Florida. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12161 Google said

Cuban President Raul Castro visited Pope Francis at the Vatican and said he was so impressed by the pontiff that he was considering returning to the Catholic church. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12128 Boats carrying more than 500 members of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim community washed ashore in western Indonesia. They warned that thousands more are believed to be stranded at sea. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12134 Three suspects were arrested after two police officers were shot and killed during a traffic stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12127 Newer solid state drives (SSDs) can lose data over time if left without power. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12132 China has witnessed a religious revival over the past decades, with an especially large increase in Christians, who now account for 5 percent of the population. http://www.infobitt.com/b/12131 Hoping to shore up a weakening economy, China said that it would cut benchmark interest rates for the third time in five months, by 0.25%, to 5.1%