News In Brief

Hawking backs assisted suicide
BBC Online

UK cosmologist Prof Stephen Hawking has publicly said he backs the notion of assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses.
In an interview with the BBC he said: "We don't let animals suffer, so why humans?"
Prof Hawking, who has the progressive condition motor neurone disease, has in the past been less candid about the idea, saying "there is always hope".

Mars rover makes science 'pit stop'
BBC Online

After two months of solid driving, the Curiosity Mars rover has finally parked for a few days of intense science.
It will be studying the rocks under its wheels, trying to relate them to the outcrops seen earlier in the mission.
The Nasa robot will be using just its remote-sensing instruments. There is no expectation to drill.
Curiosity plans to make five such stop-overs as it pushes forward to the foothills of Mount Sharp, the big peak that dominates equatorial Gale Crater.

Iran blocks FB, Twitter again
Ap, Tehran

 
The joy of Iran's Facebook and Twitter fans was short-lived as authorities restored blocks on social networks after filters were lifted for several hours overnight.
The brief access was a "technical glitch" that was quickly rectified, according to communications official Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, from the board overseeing internet in Iran.
But it could also point to increasing internal struggles between groups seeking to reopen Facebook and other social networking sites, and hard-liners in the Iranian establishment, who remain firmly in control of internet access.

'Don't attack Hindus in Muslim lands'
Reuters, London

 
Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri has issued his first specific guidelines for jihad, urging restraint in attacking other Muslim sects and non-Muslims and in starting conflicts in countries where jihadis might find a safe base to promote their ideas.
The document, published by the SITE monitoring service, provides a rare look at al-Qaida's strategy 12 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States and the nature of its global ambitions from North Africa to the Caucasus to Kashmir.