Pentagon's 582 Billion; NK Gets Another Finger Wagging; Jordan Warns Israel over Temple Mount Visits; Israel Not Green Enough to Exist; Senate to Obama - Fund Israel; Exodus Reminder; Law of United Methodists Broken; Bakery Turned Away; Peace Everywhere...But Don't Look Hard; EU Bitcoin Exchange; Earth x 3 Sunspot; Skull Password; Google and Gov - BFF?; and Fire by Meteor

Miltary Budget

Pentagon wants $582bn in 2017 budget, quadrupling of spending in Europe rt

Carter said the budget was guided by five factors: the rise of power from Russia and China; the threat of North Korea to the US and its Pacific allies; Iran's “malign influence” against allies in the Gulf; and the ongoing fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Mind the Drone; Chip of Miracle; Robot Say; Mini-Brain; Printing Spider Bots; Japan Starts Human Gene Editing; UK Scolds Obama; Short Lived Syrian Peace's Death Throws; Genocide Sky-Denied; Atheist Frowns, Cross; US Signs UN Pact; Obama Hints Some States are Just Backwards; What do Jesus and Passover Have in Common, Anyway?; Not-OK Black Mass; BDS-Hate Voted In; Felons are Voters, Too; Hypersonic. Intercontinental. Russia; and US Buys Heavy Water

Today's articles include the signing of the UN sustainability goals, Russia testing a hyper-sonic ICBM designed to slip by even the best missile defenses, and Japan's approval to edit fertilized human embryos (for "studying").

Future Tech

Mind-controlled drones race to the future businessinsider

"Three, two, one ... GO!" the announcer hollers, and as the racers fix their thoughts on pushing the cubes, the drones suddenly whir, rise and buzz through the air. Some struggle to move even a few feet, while others zip confidently across the finish line.

Watch Mind-Controlled Drones Race to the Future v

Sealing the UN Deal; Earth Day Passover; Slaughtering the Type; World To Meet on 2-State (Parties Not Invited); Israel's Red Line in the Sand; Hail to the (Chinese) Chief; China Deploys Troops to NK Border; South Seas Intercontinental Missile Test; Lights Out, Venezula; Aussies Pride-Fund; O Canabis!; Gender-Neutral In LA; 3D 'Iceman' Rises; Mice Livers go Bad in Space; Hubble Bubble; Augmentation Suit; and Real Fake Studymates

Today's major items include Israel telling Russia that the Golan Heights is their 'red line' and France calling a summit on restarting the 2-state 'peace' process without inviting either Israel or the Palestinians. We've also got China preparing for NK's next nuclear test while they flex some muscle of their own with an intercontinental missile test. Oh, and mouse livers going bad in space :)

Climate Change

Milestone events at UN to kick-start action on new sustainability goals, climate pact un.org

“From a historical perspective, this will be a great day for the United Nations,” Selwin Hart, the Director of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, recently said in reference to this coming Friday, when leaders from more than 160 countries are expected at UN Headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement, adopted last December at the UN climate change conference (COP21).

CRIPRier; The 8 Robot Showboat; Reprinting Planes; Nano Electric Synapses; Not Passing Over Rice; Russia Says Peace When There is No Peace; Fidel Blows Kisses and Bows; Saudi King Snubs Obama; and Morality Police Rising

There's a particularly interesting story today on more progress made towards the ability to edit human DNA. Also changing Passover dietary laws, artificial synapses, and a guy touting his wealth with 8 robot helpers in his wake.

Genetics

Breakthrough method means CRISPR just got a lot more relevant to human health theverge

The new method, described today in Nature, is called the "base-editing technique." It relies on the same basic mechanism as the standard CRISPR method, but unlike its predecessor, it doesn’t need to cut both strands of the DNA double-helix to alter the genetic code. Instead, the technique can directly convert a single letter of DNA to another, without deleting and inserting a bunch of random letters in the process. Because of this, the researchers were able to genetically alter human cells and mouse cells to reverse single-letter mutations that are associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s and breast cancer.

Another, somewhat related article: New Genetically Modified CRISPR-Mushroom Bypasses USDA Regulations