Moratorium on altering germs ends
WASHINGTON— Federal officials Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal.
Such work can now proceed, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, but only if a scientific panel decides that the benefits justify the risks.
Some scientists are eager to pursue these studies because they may show, for example, how a bird flu could mutate to more easily infect humans, or could yield clues to making a better vaccine.
Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic.
Now, a government panel will require that researchers show that their studies in this area are scientifically sound and that they will be done in a high-security lab.
Beheading plot nets jail
BOSTON— A man convicted of leading an Islamic State group-inspired plot to behead a conservative blogger who upset Muslims when she organized a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest was sentenced Tuesday to 28 years in prison.
David Wright, 28, sobbed as he apologized to blogger Pamela Geller, law enforcement and his family and denounced the terror group, whose horrific acts he used to celebrate online.
Wright was convicted in October of conspiracy to provide material support to IS, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and other crimes.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Wright, arguing it would send a strong message to others considering terror attacks in the U.S.
Airport outage probed
ATLANTA— The FBI is partof the probe into what caused a fire that knocked outpower to the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta, but an agency spokesman said Tuesday there was no sign of anything connected to terrorism.
“There’s no indication at this point of anything nefarious,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also has been involved in the investigation, Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said.
No conclusions have been drawn as to the cause of the fire, which took out the airport’s power supply and also its backup electricity for about11 hours Sunday. The blackout stranded thousands of passengers on grounded jets and in darkened concourses and led to the cancellation of more than 1,500 flights just ahead of the frenzied holiday travel period.
Face-recognition software
MENLOPARK, Calif. — Facebook is expanding its use of facial-recognition software to alert users when photosof them are posted on the platform— regardless of whether they are tagged in the photo.
By default, Facebook users in the U.S. will be signed up for these face-recognition alerts, unless they have previously opted out of a similar, more limited feature. But users can turn off face recognition, Facebook says.
Additionally, the company says it will roll out new tools to alert users if someone else may be impersonating them with a misleading profile photo.
Facebook has been using facial recognition technology since 2010 to detect faces in photos and look for recognizable patterns to identify individuals. Facebook had the ability to pair names with faces thanks to the “tag photos” feature, which people use to label themselves and their friends in pictures. The tags act as links to the Facebook profiles of those in the photo.