gleans at 8:15 PM MT, 09/27

 

William Safire, speechwriter and columnist, dies

 

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

 

Britain's counter-intelligence agency turns 100 next month. Historian Nigel West looks at the service's success, its secrets and scandals

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6235217/MI5-To-defend-the-realm.html

 

The death toll in Afghanistan has reached 217 and the funerals have become ever more poignant – but the bestselling SAS author Andy McNab says Army recruits do not want our pity.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6235325/Andy-McNab-fury-of-the-firing-line.html

 

Scientists have worked out a new way to defend computers from cyber attackers - by studying ants.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6236631/Cyber-security-experts-learn-from-ant-tactics.html

 

A Californian politician is pushing for a change in the law to give marijuana the same legal status as 

alcohol and tobacco, reports the BBC's Emilio San Pedro.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8275794.stm

 

 

Met Office: catastrophic climate change could happen with 50 years

Catastrophic climate change could happen with 50 years five decades earlier than previously predicted according to a Met Office report.

 

 

Black bears raid homes of the wealthy in Aspen after berry shortage

Times Online - Chris Ayres - ‎One bear simply disabled the trap mechanism, went into the cage, ate the food left there, then walked out again. He was shot later. ...

 

 

The US Creeps Closer to a Police State

Center for Research on Globalization - Shamus Cooke - ‎The grossly illegal Guantanamo Bay is not being closed down like Obama promised, but moved. The equally illegal Bagram air base in Afghanistan is getting an ...

 

 

Secretary Gates; Corker & Bayh on "State of the Union"

RealClearPolitics (blog) - ‎GATES: Well, I think, if the president were to decide to approve additional combat forces, they really probably could not begin to flow until some time in ...

 

 

stakes for Obama could not be higher

Times Online - Tim Reid - ‎Yet this much is now clear: a potential battle now looms between Barack Obama and his top generals over Afghanistan that could define, even destroy, ...

 

 

Obama's dilemma

The Nation, Pakistan - Mohammad Jamil - ‎The US leadership, fed up with the performance of President Karzai and his corrupt government, has been looking for an alternative, but could not find a ...