Target shoppers in Wilsonville, Oregon found a tragedy in the parking lot as tens of thousands of of bumble bees were found dead and dying on the pavement, along with honey bees and ladybugs. Shoppers notified Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist with the Portland-based Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation, who went to the scene to investigate.

Because the bees were mostly clustered under dozens of European linden trees, the organization believes the cause of the deaths …

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Google has been threatened with criminal proceedings by the information commissioner’s office (ICO) over data secretly collected by its Street View cars in the UK.

The privacy watchdog said it would prosecute the US firm under the contempt of court act if it failed to delete private information it gathered from public Wi-Fi networks.

The ICO has served Google with an enforcement notice ordering it to delete the data within 35 days or face criminal proceedings.

Stephen Eckersley, …

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An undercover police officer posing for years as an environmental activist co-wrote a libellous leaflet that was highly critical of McDonald’s, and which led to the longest civil trial in English history, costing the fast-food chain millions of pounds in fees.

The true identity of one of the authors of the “McLibel leaflet” is Bob Lambert, a police officer who used the alias Bob Robinson in his five years infiltrating the London Greenpeace group, is revealed …

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An 18-year-old protester has been killed and dozens injured as massive protests continue in Brazil’s cities. Over a million people have flooded the streets of the country on Thursday.

Mass protests continued throughout Brazil Thursday as hundreds of thousands assembled in the main cities of Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro with no sign of subsiding even as governments reversed course on planned public transit fare hikes.

An 18-year-old protester was killed and dozens injured as …

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court struck down a federal law Thursday that forces private health organizations to denounce prostitution as a condition to get AIDS funding.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the law’s anti-prostitution pledge improperly restricts the groups’ First Amendment rights.

Four organizations that work in Africa, Asia and South America challenged the 2003 law, arguing their work has nothing to do with prostitution.

The Obama administration argued it is reasonable for the …

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Exodus International, one of the nation’s most prominent coalitions of groups promoting harmful “ex-gay” therapy, announced Wednesday that it was disbanding and apologized to the LGBT community for the massive harm it has caused to many. Alan Chambers, the group’s president, issued a written apology, acknowledging that his organization hurt many.

In his apology, Chambers wrote:

Please know that I am deeply sorry. I am sorry for the pain and hurt many of …

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So New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and former Times executive editor Bill Keller are both saying that the massive NSA spying program on all Americans’ communications is a needed thing because if they don’t do it, then maybe there could be another major terrorist strike on the US, and democracy would be erased in the US.

What’s wrong with this argument?

Precisely that it is news organizations like the New York Times that make that kind …

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My name is Asad Dandia although friends know me as Ace. I am an American citizen, born in Brooklyn, where I have lived my whole life with my family. I am 20 years old, and I am a practicing Muslim.

I am currently a student at a CUNY community college, and I hope to become a social worker. Since November 2011, I have been active in a community-based charity and religious outreach group originally called Fesabeelillah …

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Marin County’s effort to avert turf wars at the county fair by cracking down on the way gang members dress at the event discriminates against young people of color, the American Civil Liberties Union warned.

But the Board of Supervisors, which last week endorsed the new dress code proposed by staff just weeks before the annual fair, unanimously adopted the measure Tuesday despite concerns about racial profiling.

“In our experience, a gang code, a gang ordinance, focuses …

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THE legality of alcohol restrictions in Queensland’s indigenous communities has been upheld by the High Court, which yesterday ruled the constitution allowed for “special measures” to be taken to protect racial groups.

In a unanimous decision, the full bench of the High Court dismissed an appeal filed by Palm Island resident Joan Monica Maloney, 59, who had been convicted of breaching alcohol restrictions on the community, 70km off the coast of Queensland.

AMPs were introduced into 18 …

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