Society
Most American Religious Groups Support Same-sex Marriage, Oppose Religiously Based Service Refusals prri.org
Overall, a majority (58 percent) of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. Among religious groups, Unitarian/Universalists (94 percent), Buddhists (85 percent), Jews (73 percent), Hindus (67 percent), white mainline Protestants (63 percent), white Catholics (63 percent), Hispanic Catholics (62 percent), and Orthodox Christians (59 percent) all have majorities supporting same-sex marriage. Black Protestants (45 percent), Muslims (44 percent), and Hispanic Protestants (41 percent) are somewhat divided. Only three religious groups–Mormons (37 percent favor, 55 percent oppose), white evangelical Protestants (31 percent favor, 61 percent oppose), and Jehovah’s Witnesses (25 percent favor, 53 percent oppose)–show majority opposition for same-sex marriage. Combined, these three religious groups comprise only 19 percent of the general population.
Mississippi considers death by firing squad and gas chamber, amid shortage of lethal injection drugs telegraph.co.uk
A bill proposing the death penalty can be carried out using the less conventional methods was passed in Mississippi’s House of Representatives on Wednesday. It will now move to the state Senate.
Bill 638 was proposed due to a shortage of the drugs necessary for lethal injection, meaning no executions have been carried out in Mississippi since 2012, despite 47 prisoners being on death row.
San Francisco becomes first city to offer free community college tuition to all residents pbs.org
The college will use $2.1 million of [the $5.4 million allocated] each year to cover the cost of credit classes for California residents who have lived in San Francisco for at least a year. At $46 per credit, the funding will cover around 45,000 credits, City College spokesperson Jeffrey Hamilton said. Because course loads vary widely, it’s hard to tell how many students will receive free tuition until registration closes in the fall. The remaining $3.3 million in funding will go toward covering books, transportation, supplies and health fees for low-income students who have Board of Governors (BOG) cccco.edu tuition waivers.
Security
Snowden May Return to U.S. as “Gift” from Russia, Report Says fortune
According to NBC News, U.S. intelligence sources have obtained information that says Russia may extradite Snowden as a "gift" to win favor with new President Donald Trump. The President has in the past described Snowden as a "traitor" who should be executed.
If Russia does extradite Snowden, the charges he faces are serious. After Snowden revealed the surveillance programs in 2013, the Justice Department promptly charged him with theft, and with two accounts under the 1917 Espionage Act. A legal report says those charges could bring thirty years in prison—but they do not carry the death penalty. This would not, however, preclude the U.S. from filing additional charges, including treason, and claiming Snowden's activities amount to a capital offense.
China-Korea
China expels 32 South Korea missionaries amid missile defense tension reuters
The 32 were based in China's northeastern Yanji region near the border with North Korea, many of whom had worked there more than a decade, South Korean media have reported. South Korea's foreign ministry said on Friday it briefed Christian groups on the case of the missionaries, adding that they were expelled in January.
In South Korea, China is widely believed to be retaliating against Seoul's plan to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system of the U.S. military, against the threat of the missile attack from North Korea. But there was no indication of a direct link between the expulsions and tension over THAAD, said the official.
Iran
Amazon Discloses Iranian Business Ties, Warns of Penalties bloomberg
The company said in a regulatory filing that from 2012 to 2016 it “processed and delivered orders of consumer products for certain individuals and entities located outside Iran covered by the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act (ITRA) wilmerhale.”
Amazon said Friday it sold a variety of consumer products to individuals and unspecified groups controlled or owned by the Iranian government. The goods ranged from apparel to software to pet products and cost $50 to about $2,400, according to the filing. Amazon said it doesn’t plan to sell to these accounts in the future.
Israel
Hamas 'ready for a new war in Israel by summer', former IDF general says independent.co.uk
The housing minister and former head of the army’s Southern Command Yoav Galant told Israel Radio in an interview earlier this week that “the [current] reality, in my assessment, might lead to a situation in which Hamas is drawn to escalation in the spring or the summer.”
Police 'likely to recommend' indictment of Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges independent.co.uk
The leader is accused of accepting of tens of thousands of dollars in gifts – including suits and cigars – from wealthy businessmen. He has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
Turkey
Referendum Would Cement Erdogan's Hold on Turkey newsweek
The proposed constitutional reform would mark one of the biggest changes in the European Union candidate country's system of governance since the modern republic was founded on the ashes of the Ottoman empire almost a century ago.
It would enable the president to issue decrees, declare emergency rule, and appoint ministers and top state officials. It could also see Erdogan remain in power in the NATO member state until 2029.
Food
Quinoa genome unveiled in search for hardy crop to feed world theguardian
The grain thrives at any altitude up to 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) above sea level, in conditions that would leave most food plants struggling. Some strains grow well at temperatures up to 38 degrees [presumably C].
Research
Japanese scientists create gel to allow tiny drones to mimic bees, collect pollen abc.net.au
Katja Hogendoorn, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Adelaide adelaide.edu.au and an expert in crop pollination, said the invention was a promising development. "It is an intriguing idea of course, it's not new as an idea, it's a start — they've achieved it with a very big flower, mind you," she said.
Also see Why Drones Can't Replace Bees newsweek
Scientists apply generative neural network to create new pharmaceutical medicines news-medical.net t
By using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) developed and trained to "invent" new molecular structures, there may soon be a dramatic reduction in the time and cost of searching for substances with potential medicinal properties. The researchers intend to use these technologies in the search for new medications within various areas from oncology to CVDs and even anti-infectives. The first results were submitted to Oncotarget impactjournals in June 2016 and spent several months in review. Since that time, the group has made many improvements to the system and engaged with some of the leading pharmaceutical companies.
It's dry, but basically they are trying to use lots of data (think AI or machine learning) to come up with new medicine that can be used against certain diseases.
Space
If all goes according to plan, Planet planet expects to be able to image the entire Earth daily; right now it covers about a third of the world’s landmass every 24 hours. Planet’s satellites fly north to south in a polar orbit as the earth rotates beneath them, acting like a “line scanner” for the ground below.
Augmented Reality
This is what secretive billion-dollar startup Magic Leap has been working on businessinsider
Here is the first public photo of a working prototype of Magic Leap's portable augmented reality device, which was given to Business Insider by a source. We attempted to authenticate this information with Magic Leap but the company declined to comment by time of publication.
Others...
China's largest Terracotta Warriors replicas china.org.cn
7 Ways Bats Are Just Like Batman news.nationalgeographic
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