Light to shrink computer clusters

Scientists at IBM have completed work that may make it possible to do away with the copper wires used to couple processing cores to each other.

The connector created by the team uses light to pass data between the computational cores that is faster and uses less power than copper wires.

The device is smaller than previously demonstrated connectors promising to shrink future computational clusters.

The IBM development, reported in the journal Optics Express, could replace the copper wires that connect cores with a device that converts electrical signals to pulses of light.

The device, called a silicon Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator, is many times smaller than previously produced convertors.

"What we have done is a significant step toward building a vastly smaller and more power-efficient way to connect those cores, in a way nobody has done before," said Dr Tze-chiang Chen, a spokesman for IBM's science and technology research division.

It could also boost the power of coupled computational cores because by using light, the speed at which data travels between the cores would be accelerated.

With light the researchers, led by Dr Will Green, can cut the amount of power needed to move data between processors and slash the amount of heat a large computational cluster produces.

The technology, which can transfer data up to a distance of a few centimetres, is about 100 times faster than wires and consumes one-tenth as much power, said Dr Green.

The lower power requirement should reduce operational costs for supercomputers.

Doing away with some of the cooling systems for computational clusters could shrink the systems further.

So far the team has only demonstrated the technology in a lab and it could be years before it makes its way into commercial chips.

Liberia police arrest ex-leader

Police detained him after he failed to appear in court to answer the charges.

Mr Bryant, who headed the country during a transitional phase after the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003, was charged in February.

He denies the charges. As he was being taken to the main prison, he said that he was being rewarded with detention for restoring peace and democracy.

Liberia's ex-President Gyude Bryant has been arrested over charges that he embezzled some $1m while in office.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took office last year after winning elections on a pledge to fight graft.

Mr Bryant was originally charged after an audit by the West African regional body, Ecowas, uncovered evidence of corruption during his two years in office ending in 2006.

He had been free on bail.

"This is a very, very, very dark day for Liberia. This is the reward we get for restoring peace and democracy to our country," Mr Bryant, dressed in a white shirt and olive-coloured trousers, told reporters as he was led into the prison compound.

His power-sharing government took over after Charles Taylor stepped down, with rebel forces on the outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

Mr Taylor is now facing war crimes charges.

Two charged in fatal Winnipeg house fire

Police in Winnipeg have arrested two people in connection with a fatal blaze that killed a 14-year-old boy.

Riel Mitchell, 27, and a 16-year-old were arrested and charged with the second degree murder of Nathan Starr, who died in a house fire early Tuesday morning. He was just one of 11 people inside.

The other ten managed to escape, but Starr was trapped on the third floor. He was rushed to hospital but later died.

Many more of the residents inside could have been hurt, if it wasn't for the quick action of two police officers who just happened to be driving by when the fire started.

They say that they witnessed two people toss something on to the front porch and race off. Const. Thane Chartrand and Const. Lindsay Cancilla chased after the suspects but quickly abandoned the pursuit. Instead, they rushed to the house, trying to save trapped residents after flames went quickly out of control.

Inside they saw people who had to "literally crawl under the flames just to get to the back of the house where a side door was," Chartrand told CTV Winnipeg.

"And then you could hear other people saying, 'Oh, my God, there's a fire! There's a fire!'"

The side door was shut, however. So the officers directed those inside to the back of the house. They tried to smash open a window, but it was too high up.

Then one of the residents broke through another window and the officers helped them out, one by one.

"All these kids started coming out ... women, and this guy, and this old lady. You wondered when it was going to stop," Chartrand said.

Police say they don't believe anyone inside the house was targeted, and they haven't released details of a possible motive.

Gunman kills self, eight others at Omaha mall

A man with a rifle went on a shooting rampage at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people before turning the weapon on himself.

Five others were injured, and two of them are in critical condition following the shooting Wednesday aternoon.

A witness told CNN that he was in the Westroads Mall when he heard people screaming and running towards exits.

Shawn Vidlak said he and his family were in the mall when he saw a rushing crowd heading towards them. People were frantic and yelling out warnings.

They were screaming to "grab your families. Get out of there. Someone's shooting," Vidlak said.

He said he then heard a series of four or five popping sounds. Vidlak quickly grabbed his wife, picked up his four-year-old daughter, and ran outside.

But not everyone got out. Some hid in clothing racks and dressing rooms when they heard the shots.

Witnesses described hearing round after round of gun shots. There are reports that at least 30 to 40 shots were fired.

By the time police arrived they weren't sure how many shooters they were dealing with. They surrounded the mall, and once they were set up, shoppers and employees had to come out with their hands raised in the air.

Later they said they believed there was only one shooter. He is believed to be 20-year-old Robert Hawkins of Bellevue, Neb.

A woman who lived in the same house as Hawkins told the Associated Press that he had lived with a friend's family after being kicked out of his own family's home last year.

He was recently fired from his job at a nearby fast food restaurant and had broken up with his girlfriend.

It's believed that Hawkins died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The gunman is believed to have been found on the third floor of the shopping complex. There are reports that he shot himself.

U.S. President George Bush was in Omaha delivering a speech Wednesday, but had left the city before the shootings began.

Vidlak said he would never have expected to have been caught up in such a situation.

"I'm sure any town wouldn't expect it. But this brings it more home that it could happen anywhere," he said.

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Five Nigerians On Terrorist Charges

Nigerian authorities have charged five suspected Islamic militants with a plot to attack government buildings.

Three of the men spent two years in an Algerian training camp run by a group with al-Qaeda links, prosecutors said.

The men were arrested in northern Nigeria earlier this month by members of the country's security services. They have not yet entered a plea.

Nigeria has arrested several suspected Islamic militants in the past, but no convictions have ever been brought.

Nor has there ever been any substantive evidence produced of any terrorist operation planned in Nigeria, says the BBC's Alex Last in the country.

Three of the accused men had undergone training in Algeria between 2005 and August 2007, with a group known at the time as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), prosecutors said.

The GSPC renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in January 2007, after reportedly receiving authorisation from Osama Bin Laden to brand itself as an al-Qaeda affiliate.

No international targets

The men were in possession of a rifle, live ammunition, seven sticks of dynamite, a bag of fertiliser and other explosives when they were arrested, authorities said.

The arrests followed reports received by officials at the US embassy in Nigeria that Islamic militants were planning to attack US government buildings in the country.

The BBC's Alex Last says that Britain and the US have long been concerned that al-Qaeda-style groups could be set up in Nigeria.

The accused men have not been charged with preparing an attack against international targets in the country, however.

Kenya police Killed thousands

Kenyan police 'killed thousands'
A human-rights organisation has claimed that Kenyan police killed as many as 8,040 people by execution or torture during a crackdown on a banned sect.

The group said a further 4,070 people had gone missing as security forces tried to wipe out the Mungiki sect.

The deaths and disappearances occurred over five years up to August 2007, said the Oscar Foundation Free Legal Aid Clinic-Kenya.

A Kenyan police spokesman has dismissed the report as "fictitious".

"The people disseminating it have a questionable character and motive," Eric Kiraithe told the Associated Press news agency.

The report said Kenya's General Service Unit carried out the killings during operations in slum areas.

The document was based on interviews with relatives, autopsy reports, and police and other records.

It comes shortly after the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights linked police to the execution-style deaths of nearly 500 Mungiki in a crackdown on the sect carried out over the last five months.

The police have said criminals are responsible.

The allegations of extrajudicial killings are being made at a politically sensitive time, just weeks before Kenya's presidential elections.

Police moved against the Mungiki after they terrorised parts of the Kenyan capital Nairobi and the centre of the country earlier this year.

Child killer's delayed execution means agony for family - CNN.com

Child killer's delayed execution means agony for family

When Junny Rios-Martinez's cell phone rang Thursday afternoon, he and his wife were in their car, getting the family together on their way to witness the execution of their son's killer scheduled for that night.

"It was a woman from the governor's office. She told me there was a stay."

"I told her thank you, that I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised."

Mark Dean Schwab, 38, won a stay from the Supreme Court hours before he was scheduled to be put to death.

When Rios-Martinez hung up, no one said a word.

"There was a silence in the car that lasted several minutes. Everyone knew by the tone of my voice what happened," Rios-Martinez said.

Junny and Vicki Rios-Martinez had been waiting for more than 16 years to see their son's killer executed. Now, they'll have to wait even longer.

The supreme court is reviewing whether executions by injection violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. At issue is whether the drug mix used in more than 35 states can cause pain that can't be detected.

In April 1991, Schwab posed as a reporter and told the family he wanted to do a surfing story about 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez Jr.

When Schwab showed up at their home, the family said he was wearing a fake newspaper ID. Junny's parents had no idea Schwab was just out of prison. He'd served three years for sexual assault and was released early.

For three weeks, Schwab courted the family. The boy's mother said he brought him McDonald's coupons and an Easter card.

At one point, she said her husband got suspicious and she told him not to worry. "I said you watch too many crime shows on TV."

Junny's parents said Schwab wanted to act as the boy's agent and take him to interviews with surfing magazines out of town. Each time Junny's mom would insist on going along, she said Schwab would agree, and then come up with an excuse to cancel the trip.

Finally, Junny's parents said, Schwab called the boy's school and pretended to be his father. He left a message to have Junny meet him and the school passed it along.

According to state records, on April 18, 1991, a schoolmate of Junny reported the boy got into a U-Haul truck with a man. Days later, Junny's body was found in a footlocker. Authorities said he'd been raped and asphyxiated.

The family's emotional wounds remain raw after all these years.

When they got the call that Schwab's execution was stayed, the family drove to a relative's home and debated what to do next.

Should they get back in their cars and keep heading to the prison -- if nothing else, to meet with waiting reporters?

"The family was split. Some wanted to go, others didn't," said Rios-Martinez.

"I left the room to meditate and asked Junny what he wanted me to do. He told me we shouldn't go. He told me he wanted us to celebrate his life." The family agreed.

Rios-Martinez tried to remain positive and upbeat, but he was seething. He was counting on seeing Schwab again in person, this time strapped to a gurney.

He remembered an encounter with his son's killer years earlier after his conviction. Rios-Martinez went to the jail where Schwab was being held and said he asked a jailer to allow him to see Schwab.

Junny's father said a clear Plexiglass partition separated the men.

Schwab was lying down with a piece of paper hiding his face. Junny's father said Schwab then stood up.

Rios-Martinez said he found himself staring into the eyes of the man who took his son's life.

"I asked the officer to open the door, but he wouldn't, Rios-Martinez said.

If he had, Rios-Martinez said, he would have "grabbed Schwab by the throat and made him visualize the last moments of my son's life...his bewilderment and anguish."

The boy's father said he often imagines how his son must have suffered.

He said he told Schwab: "I'm looking at a dead man. I told him I would be the first and last face he saw before he died."

The victim's family is convinced it's just a matter of time before Schwab's execution is rescheduled.

"I promised him [Schwab] I would be there in the front seat."

But, for now, he prefers to put Schwab out of his mind.

"As far as I'm concerned, he no longer exists. It's over. It's over."

On Saturday, Junny's family and friends will hold what they're calling a celebration of his short life at the Junny Rios-Martinez Park in Cocoa, Florida.

"We decided to accentuate the positive," Rios-Martinez said.

They plan on showing a video about Junny's life. He would have been 28 years old

"The family is more united than ever. My son's spirit lives in all of us."