Footage of a ‘flying saucer’ approaching and then landing at an industrial estate – supposedly near to the infamous Roswell alien landing site in New Mexico – has taken the Internet by storm.

It was recorded by a passenger in a car driving along a motorway. The exact location and time of the extra-terrestrial event is unknown.

However, all may not be as it seems, with many online conspiracy theorists claiming the landing is nothing more than an elaborate hoax.

The video was uploaded to YouTube by Stephen Hannard of Alien Disclosure Group UK.

He commented: ‘Possible leaked footage of a UFO arriving then landing at an unknown location in New Mexico.

‘Could be one of ours, CGI, or could be the real deal. As always you decide.’

The chief complaint from YouTube users unconvinced by the footage is that the terrain the UFO is hovering over looks distinctly like northern Europe, and nothing like the parched deserts of New Mexico.

The vehicles glimpsed in the footage also appear to be small European cars and lorries, as opposed to their larger American equivalents.

One viewer, 3492crusherdestroyer, writes: ‘Can tell this is in the UK, British road signs on the road, European models of cars and trucks in the car park.

‘So it’s fake but it’s well done and still cool.’

However, some users dismiss the likelihood of the terrain being in Britain, citing the fact the car is driving along the right, and not left, side of the road.

Others spot what they claim are giveaway clues in the use of special effects to create the illusion of a UFO.

Vented 10 writes: ‘There are tracking issues. The car hits a bump and the UFO moves in time with this motion.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2104767/UFO-lands-near-Roswell-crash-site–did-aliens-choose-flying-saucer-looks-like-borrowed-movie.html#ixzz1n8k7Uytu

The standard-bearer for this new class of exoplanet is called GJ 1214b, which astronomers first discovered in December 2009. New observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescopesuggest that GJ 1214b is a watery world enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere.

“GJ 1214b is like no planet we know of,” study lead author Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., said in a statement. “A huge fraction of its mass is made up of water.”

Adding to the diversity
To date, astronomers have discovered more than 700 planets beyond our solar system, with about 2,300 more “candidates” awaiting confirmation by follow-up observations.

These alien planets are a diverse bunch. Astronomers have found one planet as light and airy as Styrofoam, for example, and another as dense as iron. They’ve discovered several alien worlds that orbit two suns, like Luke Skywalker’s home planet of Tatooine in the “Star Wars” films.

But GJ 1214b, which is located 40 light-years from Earth in the constellation Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer), is something new altogether, researchers said.

This so-called “ super-Earth ” is about 2.7 times Earth’s diameter and weighs nearly seven times as much as our home planet. It orbits a red-dwarf star at a distance of 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers), giving it an estimated surface temperature of 446 degrees Fahrenheit (230 degrees Celsius) — too hot to host life as we know it.

Scientists first reported in 2010 that GJ 1214b’s atmosphere is likely composed primarily of water, but their findings were not definitive. Berta and his team used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to help dispel the doubts.

Hubble watched as GJ 1214b crossed in front of its host star, and the scientists were able to determine the composition of the planet’s atmosphere based on how it filtered the starlight.

“We’re using Hubble to measure the infrared color of sunset on this world,” Berta said. “The Hubble measurements really tip the balance in favor of a steamy atmosphere.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46467275/ns/technology_and_science-space#.T0TFt_EgdM2

Exclusive photos of one undetonated bomb, obtained by ABC News, show the inside of the radio packed with tiny ball bearings and six magnets. Bomb experts say the magnets indicate the bomb was designed to be stuck to the side of a vehicle.

A surveillance photo of one of the alleged hit squad members, identified as an Iranian national named Saeid Moradi, shows him holding a radio in each hand.

According to authorities, a bomb exploded in the Bangkok house where Moradi and two other Iranians had been staying. After the blast, Moradi attempted to hail a cab. When the driver refused to pick him up, he allegedly threw a bomb, injuring four bystanders.

When police approached, Moradi allegedly threw another bomb, but lost both of his legs when it bounced back and exploded near him, according to Thai authorities. He was arrested following the incident and remains in custody in Thailand.

After the attack, police say they discovered two unexploded bombs in the house where Moradi and the other Iranians had been staying, including the one shown in the photos.

The authorities in Bangkok say they recovered more than a pound of white military explosive from one unexploded bomb that they said was to be detonated with an M26 hand grenade fuse. The photos show a pin that when pulled, authorities said, would trigger an explosion about four and a half seconds after it was pulled.

Israeli authorities and U.S. bomb experts say the bomb in the photos is strikingly similar to those used in other attacks last week in the republic of Georgia and India. “While there are small differences,” said one U.S. expert, “they appear to be factory made.”

Multiple authorities told ABC News the devices were either slipped through airport security or smuggled in a diplomatic pouch.

A magnetic bomb was discovered attached to the car of an Israeli diplomat in Tbilisi, Georgia and a similar device was believed responsible for the attack in New Delhi, which injured the wife of an Israeli diplomat, her driver and two passing motorists.

Iran has denied any connection with the arrests in Bangkok or to the other attacks.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-photos-show-alleged-iran-bombs-hidden-27/story?id=15759301&nwltr=blotter_featureHed#.T0TAMPEgdM1

Instead, Anonymous is saying that the National Security Agency (NSA) is guilty of propagating fear among America.

A popular Twitter account associated with the hacktivist group Anonymous is saying that the NSA is engaged in fear-mongering after a recent Wall Street Journal report alleged that government officials feel that the computer group could eventually disrupt power grids across the globe. According to sources close to the NSA, the Journal filed a report that reveals comments allegedly made by the agency’s director, Gen. Keith Alexander, during engagements at the White House and elsewhere.

According to the Journal, the NSA fears that Anonymous could “bring about a limited power outage through a cyberattack” within the next year or two.

Neither Alexander nor the NSA have publically addressed whether or not they feel that the hacktivist group poses an actual threat to the world’s power grid, but according to the YourAnonNews Twitter account, these allegations exposed by the Journal are both baseless and outrageous.

“Why would Anons shut off a power grid? There are ppl on life support / other vital services that rely on it. Try again NSA. #FearMongering,” reads a recent tweet from the account. Other tweets sent from the account on Tuesday call the alleged comments from Gen. Alexander “fear-mongering at its best” and “ridiculous.”

Although Anonymous has no official spokesperson, organization or membership, the YourAnonNews account has in the past confirmed and announced Anon-related activity. It is considered one of the most reliable conduits for events pertaining to the Anonymous agenda and has more than half-a-million followers subscribed to its tweets.

According to the Journal’s report, the NSA is concerned that Anonymous hackers could increase the intensity of their online assaults, which in the past have indeed been damaging, although not to the degree that Gen. Alexander thinks is possible.

“The industry is engaged and stepping up widely to respond to emerging cyber threats,” one electric-industry official speaking on condition of anonymity tells the paper. “There is a recognition that there are groups out there like Anonymous, and we are concerned, as are other sectors.”

Other sources cited by the Journal believe that foreign cyberspies with a vested interest in disrupting activity in America may employ the services of hacktivists aligned with Anonymous in order to recruit a team of able-minded individuals already weary of the US government. From there, they fear, competing nations could have the know-how to take down national power grids in the future. Lacking no requirement for “membership” in Anonymous, however, has already allowed thousands of participants from across the globe to identify as members of the hacktivist collective.

Over the weekend, the also-popular AnonOps Communications website advertised that the group will continue high-profile assaults on “corrupt corporate and government systems” and will publicize the results at the end of the work-week as part of the ongoing FuckFBIFriday campaign. In recent weeks, the FFF campaign has crippled the websites of the FBI, CIA and Department of Justice, among others.

http://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-nsa-fear-mongering-government-871/

The 38-year-old German national has been in custody since January 20, when New Zealand police, cooperating with a major US probe, raided his sprawling “Dotcom Mansion” in Auckland.

Judge Nevin Dawson overturned two previous rulings that the Internet millionaire was an “extreme flight risk” because he had the wealth and connections to slip out of the country.

Dawson said the danger of Dotcom fleeing had diminished because all his funds had been seized and investigators had not uncovered any new bank accounts or assets in his name since his arrest.

“It would seem that he has every reason to stay to be with his family and to fight to keep his significant assets,” Dawson said.

US authorities are seeking to extradite Dotcom, the founder of file-sharing website Megaupload.com, for allegedly masterminding “massive worldwide online piracy”.

The US Justice Department and FBI allege Megaupload and related sites netted more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and cost copyright owners over $500 million by offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and other content.

Megaupload was founded in 2005 but shut down last month when its assets were frozen as part of the US probe.

A US request for Dotcom’s extradition is expected to be lodged in court later Wednesday.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/21/megauploads-kim-dotcom-granted-bail-in-n-zealand/

The Right to Life Amendment of 2012 is intended to ban abortion and to set up a legal challenge toRoe v. Wade, which upheld a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy until the fetus is viable outside the womb.

A similar constitutional amendment was rejected by more than 55 percent of Mississippi voters last November. Critics of the amendment said it would not only outlaw abortion, it would also affect common birth control methods, the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, in vitro fertilization treatment, and stem cell research.

The proposed amendment introduced to the Mississippi’s House of Representatives this week, however, addresses those concerns. It states that “certain activities that are not affected or prohibited by this section, including contraception or birth control not killing a person, in vitro fertilization or other methods of reproduction, medical treatment intended to preserve life, or miscarriage.”

Republicans in state legislatures across the country have pushed for tighter restrictions on abortions, such as requiring ultrasounds before a woman can terminate her pregnancy or mandating a 24-hour waiting period.

Thanks to their electoral victories in 2010, conservatives lawmakers successfully enacted 92 measures aimed at restricting abortion in 2011, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/21/personhood-bill-introduced-to-mississippi-legislature-again/

The head of the IAEA said on Wednesday that Iran had not accepted a request for its inspectors to visit the Parchin facility, a weapons development complex south of Tehran.

“It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings,” said Yukiya Amano, the IAEA’s director general. “We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached.”

“Intensive efforts were made to reach agreement on a document facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues in connection with Iran’s nuclear programme,” the IAEA said in a statement.

The visit, led by Herman Nackaerts, the Vienna-based agency’s chief inspector, was the second in less than a month and was aimed, the IAEA said, at clarifying all “outstanding substantive issues” surrounding Tehran’s nuclear programme, in particular what it called “possible military dimensions.”

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, was quoted by the Iranian news agency ISNA as saying the talks had been intensive and covered “co-operation and mutual understanding between Iran and the IAEA”.

“These negotiations will continue in the future,” Soltanieh said.

The trip was also seen as an important precursor to a possible resumption of talks between Iran and the P5+1 powers, the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, which broke down in Turkey 13 months ago.

An IAEA report in November said that Iran had carried out activities in a number of areas “relevant to producing” a nuclear weapon. Iran denies it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and said the report was based on forgeries.

Since its publication, the US and the European Union have stepped up sanctions on Iran’s oil sector amid speculation that Israel could be preparing to launch a pre-emptive attack on Tehran’s nuclear sites.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201222202920481596.html

The reason, administrators say, is that students have learned there is a price to pay — literally — for breaking even the smallest rules.

Noble Network of Charter Schools charges students at its 10 Chicago high schools $5 for detentions stemming from infractions that include chewing gum and having untied shoelaces. Last school year it collected almost $190,000 in discipline “fees” from detentions and behavior classes — a policy drawing fire from some parents, advocacy groups and education experts.

Officials at the rapidly expanding network, heralded by Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a model for the city, say the fees offset the cost of running the detention program and help keep small problems from becoming big ones. Critics say Noble is nickel-and-diming its mostly low-income students over insignificant, made-up infractions that force out kids administrators don’t want.

“We think this just goes over the line…fining someone for having their shoelaces untied (or) a button unbuttoned goes to harassment, not discipline,” said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of the Chicago advocacy group Parents United for Responsible Education, which staged protests last week over the policy after Woestehoff said she was approached by an upset parent

Students at Noble schools receive demerits for various infractions — four for having a cellphone or one for untied shoelaces. Four demerits within a two-week period earn them a detention and $5 fine. Students who get 12 detentions in a year must attend a summer behavior class that costs $140.

Superintendent Michael Milkie said the policy teaches the kids — overwhelmingly poor, minority and often hoping to be the first in their families to attend college — to follow rules and produces in a structured learning environment. He points to the network’s average ACT score of 20.3, which is higher than at the city’s other non-selective public schools, and says more than 90 percent of Noble graduates enroll in college.

While fights can be an almost daily occurrence in some urban high schools, Milkie says there’s only about one a year on each Noble campus. By “sweating the small stuff…we don’t have issues with the big stuff,” he said…

Emanuel defended the school, saying it gets “incredible” results and parents don’t have to send their children there. Charter schools are exempt from most district policies.

Parent Tammy O’Neal said her two daughters are excelling at Noble’s Muchin College Prep, and only one ever got detention, for not wearing a belt.

“If a kid is prone to getting in trouble and not taking school seriously, then (the fines are) a steep slope,” she said. “But why don’t you tell your kid to straighten up?”

http://newmediajournal.us/indx.php/item/4642

The warnings came as Tehran also appeared to place limits on a visit by a team of United Nations nuclear officials, saying the investigators would not go to nuclear facilities, despite earlier reports that its members had sought permission to inspect a military complex outside Tehran.

In a further extension of a dispute with the European Union over an oil embargo due to come into force on July 1, Tehran also outlined what were termed conditions for future sales to European customers. Iran said Sunday that it had cut off sales to Britain and France and warned on Monday that it might extend the ban to other members of the 27-nation European Union.

Growing tensions over Iran’s disputed nuclear program have provoked speculation that Israel may be contemplating a military strike against nuclear facilities, which Tehran says are for peaceful purposes but which the West suspects are inching toward the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Without mentioning Israel directly, Mohammed Hejazi, the deputy armed forces head, said on Tuesday: “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions.” Divisions in Iran’s leadership make it difficult to interpret the government’s intentions, but the statement showed a new level of aggressiveness in Iran’s rhetoric.

The statement came a day after a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran on Monday for the second time in three weeks. The Associated Press quoted the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, as saying the investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency had no plans to visit the contentious nuclear sites, which the West maintains are part of a covert weapons program.

The inspectors did ask on Monday to see a military complex outside Tehran that is a suspected secret weapons-making location, Iranian radio said, according to The A.P. It was not clear whether the Iranian authorities had specifically turned down the reported request. I.A.E.A. officials did not immediately return calls seeking clarification.

Mr. Mehmanparast took issue with the role of the I.A.E.A. officials saying they were experts, not inspectors. “This is an expert delegation. The purpose of visit is not inspection.”

“The aim is to negotiate about cooperation between Iran and the agency and to set a framework for a continuation of the talks,” he said, adding: “Iran’s cooperation with the agency continues and is at its best level.”

Last week, in a letter to the European Union, Iran called for new talks “at the earliest possibility” with the group of six powers that have negotiated with Iran in the past on the nuclear issue: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

As the I.A.E.A. delegation left its headquarters in Vienna late Sunday, its leader, Herman Nackaerts, said the delegation wished to investigate “the possible military dimensions” that Tehran insists the program does not have and that the inspectors’ previous visit did nothing to resolve.

The leader of the delegation of inspectors, Mr. Nackaerts, said “We hope to have some concrete results after this trip.” Though weapons development was the most important question, he said, “We want to tackle all outstanding issues.”

Mr. Nackaerts, the atomic agency’s deputy director general, warned that “this is of course a complex issue, which may take a while,” according to a transcript of his remarks made available on Monday by agency officials.

International tension has been rising steadily, as Iran claims significant technological advances in uranium enrichment and threatens retaliation against countries that pursue sanctions against it, including a boycott of its oil.

Shortly after the I.A.E.A. team arrived for talks with Iranian officials, the Iranian government signaled that it might expand the ban on oil shipments to Britain and France, announced on Sunday, to cover other European powers that it deems “hostile” because of broader economic sanctions by the European Union that are scheduled to come into force on July 1. The ban was apparently announced to pre-empt those sanctions, which include a boycott on new purchases.

Iran’s deputy oil minister, Ahmad Qalebani, said that oil exports to Germany, Greece, Italy the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain might also be banned, state media reported.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/world/middleeast/iran-says-un-weapons-inspectors-wont-visit-nuclear-sites.htm?_r=1