DNA privacy: don't flatter yourself

The secrets contained in our individual genomes are less valuable than we like to believe

IMAGINE donating your DNA to a project aimed at discovering links between genes and diseases. You consent to your genome sequence being released anonymously into the public domain, though you are warned there is a remote possibility that it might one day be possible to link it back to you.

A few years later, that remote possibility comes to pass. How should you feel? This is no longer a hypothetical scenario. About 50 people who participated in a project called 1000 Genomes have been traced (see "Matching names to genes: the end of genetic privacy?").

The researchers' intentions were honourable. They have not revealed these identities, and the original data has been adjusted to make a repeat using the same technique impossible. All they wanted to do was expose privacy issues.

Consider them exposed. It is clear that genomics has entered a new phase, similar to that which social media went through a few years ago, when concerns were raised about people giving away too much personal information.

What happens when the same applies to our DNA? Having your genome open to public scrutiny obviously raises privacy issues. Employers and insurers may be interested. Embarrassing family secrets may be exposed.

But overall, personal genetic information is probably no more revealing than other sorts. In fact there are reasons to believe that it is less so: would an insurance company really go to the trouble of decoding a genome to discover a slightly elevated risk of cancer or Alzheimer's disease?

The available evidence suggests not. In 2006, Harvard University set out to sequence the genomes of 100,000 volunteers and make them publicly available, along with personal information such as names and medical records. One of the goals was to see what happens when such data is open to all. The answer seems to be "not a lot". So far this Personal Genome Project has published 148 people's full genomes. Not one volunteer has reported a privacy issue.

This is not a reason for complacency, but it suggests that our genomic secrets are less interesting to other people than we might like to believe.

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150 dead in Brazil nightclub fire: media

RIO DE JANEIRO: 150 people died early Sunday in a fire that broke out at a nightclub in the southern Brazilian city of Santa Maria, local media reported.

Santa Maria fire chief Guido de Melo said there was panic after the fire started and many revellers got trampled.

According to media reports, the fire erupted after 2:00 am (0400 GMT) when the nightclub hosted a university party featuring a rock band.

The band used pyrotechnics as part of its show, O Globo newspaper reported on its site.

"We have just taken the fire under control," Colonel Silvia Fuchs of the local fire department was quoted by the G1 website as saying. "Now we are removing the bodies."

Family member are gathering outside of the burned-down building in the hope of getting news of their loved ones.

- AFP/xq

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Casey Anthony files for bankruptcy

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

Casey Anthony on trial

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anthony lists about $1,000 in personal property and almost $800,000 in liabilities


• The filing came the same day two of her four convictions for lying were thrown out


• Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee


• Attorney: Anthony feels bad that she can't pay legal fees; another attorney questions her motive

(CNN) -- Casey Anthony's fate keeps changing.

Two years ago, her murder trial for the death of her toddler riveted the country, ending with Anthony's dramatic acquittal. But she was convicted on four counts of lying to authorities.

On Friday, an appeals court threw out two of those convictions.

Now, the 26-year-old has filed for bankruptcy, citing almost $800,000 in liabilities.

And her legal struggles are far from over.

Bankruptcy motive questioned

Anthony sought Chapter 7 protection in a federal court in Tampa on Friday, soon after the appeals court ruling.

Such a filing is meant to allow one to do away with most existing debts and make a fresh start financially.

In the documents, Anthony says she owes almost $800,000 to about 80 creditors, and she has no income.

She is also defending herself against several civil lawsuits, including a defamation suit from Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who claims Anthony ruined her reputation.

In 2008, Anthony told an investigator the last time she saw her 2-year-old daughter Caylee was when she dropped Caylee off at Gonzalez's apartment.

Gonzalez's attorney, Matt Morgan, told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13 he believes the bankruptcy filing is an attempt to postpone the case.

"This most recent filing appears to be yet another calculated delay tactic," Morgan said. "We are not deterred and will stay the course."

But an attorney for Anthony told the affiliate his client is distraught that she can't pay her legal fees.

"To some extent she feels, she feels bad that she's having to have all these legal services provided to her and she is unable to compensate anyone," Andy Chmelir said. "So she wants closure more than anything else."

What she has and what she owes

Anthony listed about $1,000 in personal property, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13. The listed property values include:

- Cash on hand: $474

- Furniture and laptop: $200

- Jewelry: $200

- Woman's clothing and accessories: $100

The documents also list people that might have a claim against Anthony, which includes her mother and consultants that helped in her criminal case, News 13 reported.

Claims listed in the filing include:

- Jose Baez, the lead defense attorney during Anthony's trial: $500,000

- Orange County Sheriff's Office: $145,660.21

- Internal Revenue Service: $68,540

- Cindy and George Anthony, her parents: Unknown amounts

Anthony: "We keep fighting" after two convictions tossed

The filing came the same day Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal threw out two of Anthony's four convictions of lying to authorities as they investigated the disappearance of Caylee.

The appeals judges agreed with Anthony's argument that the multiple convictions amounted to double jeopardy. But the judges upheld the other two convictions.

According to Friday's court filing, the appeals judges rejected Anthony's claim that statements she made before being read her Miranda rights should not have been allowed in the trial. And they rejected her argument that the state statute she was convicted of violating is unconstitutionally vague.

Attorney Cheney Mason said when he called his client to share the ruling that two of the four convictions had been overturned, Anthony said, "We keep fighting."

Anthony could appeal the remaining two convictions to the Florida Supreme Court next.

Caylee Anthony's death and the emotional trial

In an internationally publicized case, Anthony was tried in 2011 and acquitted of murder charges in the death of Caylee.

The child was last seen June 16, 2008, but was not reported missing until July 15, 2008, when Casey Anthony's mother tracked her daughter down and demanded answers about Caylee's whereabouts.

Investigators searched for the child for five months, eventually finding Caylee's skeletal remains in woods less than a mile from her grandparents' Orlando home.

Read how Anthony's prosecutor has no regrets

When questioned early in the investigation, Casey Anthony admitted to police that she hadn't seen Caylee for more than 30 days, and on July 16, 2008, she was arrested on suspicion of child neglect, filing false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.

After almost three years of legal maneuvers, Anthony's capital murder trial began on May 24, 2011.

Prosecutors alleged that she killed Caylee by using chloroform and covering her nose and mouth with duct tape, and that she put her body in the trunk of her car before dumping it in the woods.

Defense attorney Jose Baez argued that Caylee drowned in the Anthony family pool on June 16, 2008, and that Casey Anthony and her father, George, covered up the death.

Watch: A year after trial, where's Anthony?

On July 5, 2011, a jury found Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child, while convicting her on the four "false information" counts.

Anthony was sentenced to four years in jail, to be served consecutively. But with her time in jail as she awaited trial counting against the jail terms, she was released 10 days after her sentencing.

CNN's Mark Morgenstein and In Session's Jean Casarez contributed to this report.

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At least 5 die in Chicago shootings

CHICAGO Authorities are investigating the shooting deaths of five people in a single day of bloodshed in Chicago.

Police Officer Daniel O'Brien says Saturday's first killing occurred at around 2:15 a.m. on the city's west side when a gunman opened fire on two men who were sitting in a parked car, killing one and wounding the other.

Investigators say a few hours later, someone opened fire on three men near a South Side eatery, killing two of them and wounding the third.

Detectives were called to the scene of another shooting Saturday afternoon in which a man in his 30s and a teenager were shot to death. There had been no arrests.

Chicago's homicide count eclipsed 500 last year for the first time since 2008.

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Squatter, Bank of America Battle for $2.5M Mansion

Bank of America is taking a Florida man to court after he attempted to use an antiquated state law to legally take possession of a $2.5 million mansion that is currently owned by the bank.

Andre "Loki" Barbosa has lived in a five-bedroom Boca Raton, Fla., waterside property since July, and police have reportedly been unable to remove him.

The Brazilian national, 23, who reportedly refers to himself as "Loki Boy," cites Florida's "adverse possession" law, in which a party may acquire title from another by openly occupying their land and paying real property tax for at least seven years.

The house is listed as being owned by Bank of America as of July 2012, and that an adverse possession was filed in July. After Bank of America foreclosed on the property last year, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office was notified that Barbosa would be moving in, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that he posted a notice in the front window of the house naming him as a "living beneficiary to the Divine Estate being superior of commerce and usury."
On Facebook, a man named Andre Barbosa calls the property "Templo de Kamisamar."

After Barbosa gained national attention for his brazen attempt, Bank of America filed an injunction on Jan. 23 to evict Barbosa and eight unidentified occupants.

In the civil complaint, Bank of America said Barbosa and other tenants "unlawfully entered the property" and "refused to permit the Plaintiff agents entry, use, and possession of its property." In addition to eviction, Bank of America is asking for $15,000 in damages to be paid to cover attorney's expenses.

Police were called Dec. 26 to the home but did not remove Barbosa, according to the Sentinel. Barbosa reportedly presented authorities with the adverse possession paperwork at the time.

Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Povery Law Center, says police officers may be disinclined to take action even if they are presented with paperwork that is invalid.

"A police officer walks up to someone who is claiming a house now belongs to him, without any basis at all, is handed a big sheaf of documents, which are incomprehensible," Potok said. "I think very often the officers ultimately feel that they're forced to go back to headquarters and try to figure out what's going on before they can actually toss someone in the slammer."

A neighbor of the Boca property, who asked not be named, told ABCNews.com that he entered the empty home just before Christmas to find four people inside, one of whom said the group is establishing an embassy for their mission, and that families would be moving in and out of the property. Barbosa was also among them.

The neighbor said he believes that Barbosa is a "patsy."

"This young guy is caught up in this thing," the neighbor said. "I think it's going on on a bigger scale."

Barbosa could not be reached for comment.

The neighbor said that although the lights have been turned on at the house, the water has not, adding that this makes it clear it is not a permanent residence. The neighbor also said the form posted in the window is "total gibberish," which indicated that the house is an embassy, and that those who enter must present two forms of identification, and respect the rights of its indigenous people.

"I think it's a group of people that see an opportunity to get some money from the bank," the neighbor said. "If they're going to hold the house ransom, then the bank is going to have to go through an eviction process.

"They're taking advantage of banks, where the right hand doesn't know where the left hand is," the neighbor said. "They can't clap."

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Your molar roots are leftovers from Homo erectus

TALK about exploring your roots. Longer lifespans mean our adult teeth erupt later than they did in our early ancestors, but the memo didn't make it to the roots of our molars. They develop at the same pace as they did in Homo erectus.

Christopher Dean and Tim Cole at University College London studied the microscopic structure of adult molars to reconstruct the pace of their development, much like tree rings can be used to build a picture of tree growth. They found that the roots of chimpanzee molars go through a growth spurt as the teeth erupt through the gum - probably to provide more stability for biting and chewing. The same thing happened in early hominins, but not in modern humans: by the time our molars arrive, their roots have been fully developed for at least a year.

Dean and Cole found an explanation in Homo erectus, a species who lived between 1.8 million and 300,000 years ago. H. erectus gained its molars at exactly the same age as our molar roots have their growth spurts. Or as Dean puts it: "Our roots are stuck in the past."

In humans, he says, root growth spurts are merely a hangover from an early stage of evolution. We retain molar roots like H. erectus because the growth spurts use too little energy for natural selection to weed them out (PLoS One, doi.org/j8w).

H. erectus had a bigger brain and smaller teeth than its ancestors. Some believe, controversially, that these features reflected big dietary changes, including eating the first cooked food, which would have been easier to chew while supplying more energy.

The new study may find favour with critics of the controversial "cooked food hypothesis". It shows that H. erectus still required an early molar root growth spurt - presumably to prepare its teeth for heavy-duty chewing.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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French-led troops seize airport in Mali Islamist bastion

BAMAKO: French-led forces Saturday wrested control of the airport at the Islamist stronghold of Gao, 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) northeast of the Mali capital Bamako, a security source said.

"Malian and French security forces have secured the airport of Gao and the Wanbary bridge. The two strategic points are under their control," the Malian source said.

The airport is located about six kilometres east of Gao while the bridge lies on the southern entrance to the town, held by the Al Qaeda-linked Movement for Jihad and Oneness (MUJAO) since June.

The security source did not mention any fighting.

Other sources said the Islamists had left the town after the start of a French-led military offensive on January 11 to stop a triad of Al Qaeda-linked groups from pushing down from their northern bastions towards Bamako.

In April last year, Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal were seized by an alliance of Tuareg rebels -- who wanted to declare an independent homeland in the north -- and hardline Islamist groups.

The Islamist groups include MUJAO, Ansar Dine, a homegrown Islamist group, and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, of which MUJAO is an offshoot.

The Islamists quickly sidelined the Tuaregs to implement their own Islamic agenda. They imposed a harsh interpretation of sharia law, flogging, stoning and executing transgressors, forbidding music and television and forcing women to wear veils.

- AFP/ck

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'Anonymous' threatens Justice Department

By Ben Brumfield, CNN updated 6:14 AM EST, Sat January 26, 2013 |

A screenshot at 3:35 a.m. ET on January 26, 2013, of the homepage of the United States federal sentencing website after it had been hacked by a group that identified itself as "Anonymous."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anonymous is believed to be the loosely defined collective of so-called "hacktivists."


• The threat note said anger over the death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz

(CNN) -- Hackers claiming to be from the group "Anonymous" threatened early Saturday to release sensitive information pertaining to the U.S. Department of Justice.

After taking over the website of the U.S. government agency responsible for federal sentencing, the hackers posted a message signed "Anonymous," in which they demand that the United States reform its justice system or face the release of "warheads" of incriminating information.

Anonymous is believed to be the loosely defined collective of so-called "hacktivists" who oppose attempts to limit Internet freedoms.

There was a long threat note and a YouTube video and a list of files named after U.S. Supreme Court justices.

'Anonymous' threatens Westboro Baptist

The threat note said anger over the death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide on January 11, triggered the posting.

Swartz, 26, was facing federal computer fraud charges and could have faced 35 years in prison.

His family has issued a statement saying that federal charges filed over allegations that he stole millions of online documents -- mostly scholarly papers -- from MIT through the university's computer network contributed to Swartz's decision to take his own life.

Swartz's suicide inspired a flurry of online tributes and mobilized Anonymous. They claimed credit for defacing several MIT websites in response.

A review of a cached version of the USSC.gov website shows the Anonymous message on its homepage since at least 1:40 a.m. ET.

Efforts to get to the website was unsuccessful by some by 6 a.m. E.T.

CNN's Jason Moon and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report

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Notre Dame president defends handling of Te'o case

SOUTH BEND, Ind. Top administrators at Notre Dame decided within hours of hearing about the Manti Te'o dead girlfriend hoax that it did not involve a crime and within two days had concluded there was no NCAA violation, according to a letter sent by the university president to board of trustee members on Friday.

The Rev. John Jenkins told trustees that despite "the unrelenting scrutiny of hundreds of journalists and countless others — and repeated attempts by some to create a different impression- no facts relating to the hoax have been at odds with what Manti told us" on Dec. 27-28.

The letter was obtained Friday by The Associated Press from a university official who provided it on condition of anonymity because the private school's internal workings are confidential.

The eight-page document, including a four-page letter from Jenkins and a four-page outline of how Notre Dame handled the hoax, is both a defense and an explanation of the school's actions.

"We did our best to get to the truth in extraordinary circumstances, be good stewards of the interests of the university and its good name and — as we do in all things — to make the well-being of our students one of our very highest priorities," Jenkins concluded in his letter.

Some of the timeline Notre Dame outlined is well known, including that its star linebacker disclosed the scam to his coaches the day after Christmas and it remained unknown to the public until Deadspin.com broke the story on Jan. 16, long after the Fighting Irish lost the BCS championship to Alabama on Jan. 7.

Jenkins wrote that Notre Dame officials talked in the hours after hearing from Te'o on Dec. 26 and agreed there was no indication of a crime or student conduct code violation. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick spoke with Te'o the next day, and on Dec. 28 the school concluded there were no indications of an NCAA rules violation, which could have put Notre Dame's 12-0 regular season in jeopardy.

The school then made moves to find out who was behind the hoax, thereby protecting Te'o and itself.

"For the first couple of days after receiving the news from Manti, there was considerable confusion and we simply did not know what there was to disclose," Jenkins wrote.

13 Photos

Manti Te'o

On Jan. 2, after several days of internal discussion and a week after Te'o's disclosure, Notre Dame retained Stroz Friedberg, a New York computer forensics firm to investigate the case and whether any other football players had been targeted. The firm did not return phone or email messages left Friday.

Notre Dame officials believed Te'o's girlfriend — whether alive or dead — was at least a real person until the next day, when Stroz Friedberg said it could not find any evidence that Kekua or most of her relatives ever existed. And by Jan. 4, two days after hiring Stroz Friedberg, Notre Dame officials concluded Te'o was the victim of the hoax, there was no threat to the school and the private investigation was suspended.

"We concluded that this matter was personal to Manti," Jenkins wrote, deciding it was up to Te'o to disclose, especially after he signed with Creative Artists Agency on the day after the BCS game.

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WH, Senators to Begin Push on Immigration Reform

The White House and a bipartisan group of senators next week plan to begin their efforts to push for comprehensive immigration reform.

President Barack Obama will make an announcement on immigration during a Tuesday trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, the White House said on Friday. The Senate group is expected make their plans public around the same time, the Associated Press reported.

See Also: Where Do Labor Unions Stand on Immigration?

For Obama, immigration reform is a campaign promise that has remained unfulfilled from his first White House run in 2008. During his 2012 re-election campaign, the president vowed to renew his effort to overhaul the nation's immigration system. It has long been expected that Obama would roll out his plans shortly after his inauguration.

The president's trip to Las Vegas is designed "to redouble the administration's efforts to work with Congress to fix the broken immigration system this year," the White House said.

Ever since November's election, in which Latino voters turned out in record numbers, Republicans and Democrats have expressed a desire to work on immigration reform. Obama has long supported a bill that would make many of the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants without criminal records eligible to apply for an earned pathway to citizenship, which includes paying fines and learning English.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

But the debate over a pathway to citizenship is expected to be contentious. Other flashpoints in an immigration reform push could include a guest-worker program, workplace enforcement efforts, border security, and immigration backlogs.

In a statement, the White House said that "any legislation must include a path to earned citizenship."

Ahead of his immigration push next week, Obama met today with a group of lawmakers from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), including chairman Rubén Hinojosa (D-Texas) , Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), and CHC Immigration Task Force Chair Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the latter's office said. CHC members are expected to play a pivotal role in the debate.

"The president is the quarterback and he will direct the team, call the play, and be pivotal if we succeed. I am very optimistic based on conversations with Republicans in the House and Senate that we will do more than just talk about the immigration issue this year," Gutierrez said in a statement following the CHC meeting with Obama. "The president putting his full weight and attention behind getting a bill signed into law is tremendously helpful. We need the president and the American people all putting pressure on the Congress to act because nothing happens in the Capitol without people pushing from the outside."

A bipartisan group of eight senators, which includes Menendez, has also begun talks on drafting an immigration bill and will play an integral part in the process of passing a bill through Congress. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been participating in talks with others senators, has also unveiled his own outline for an immigration proposal.

The group of senators have reportedly eyed Friday as the date when they'll unveil their separate proposal, according to the Washington Post.

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