Brother ET

There is no conflict in believing in God and having some "extraterrestrial kinsmen". It's not Steven Spielberg saying this but Jose Gabriel Funes, Vatican's chief astronomer. "The possibility of life on other planets exists," says Funes, a Jesuit priest who heads the Vatican Observatory and is a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.

News Snippets

>> The Spanish police have arrested five hackers they describe as being among the most active on the Internet. The hackers, who include two 16-year-olds, are accused of disrupting government websites in the US, Asia and Latin America. Police say they co-ordinated attacks over the Internet and hacked into 21,000 web pages over two years.

Fauna lovers

A parade on May 18 brought a variety of fauna lovers on New York's streets. It took place in downtown Manhattan and organizers called it Veggie Pride. The festivities began at noon in the meatpacking district and drew about 600 people and at least one vegan dog--Simba, a tofu-fed black Labrador retriever. Some people dressed up as bananas, or heads of broccoli, or pigs or bloodied cows. A police officer, Jim Alberici, who was helping with crowd control, said he did not expect any violence. "Not unless someone shows up dressed as a meat processor," he said.

Game of death

The video gaming industry must do more to protect minors from unsuitable material and cooperate better with national authorities in the eu, the European Commission said after conducting a survey of measures taken at national level designed to shield children from violent video games.

Online

www.grinningplanet.com LAUGH AND GREEN There is a notable trend in the environmental community towards using humour and entertainment to deliver the eco-message. The recent success of The Meatrix parody is a prime example. Many other green sites are using games and animations to make environmental issues seem a little less stiff.

His government's agency

A survey by a scientific advocacy group has revealed that the George W Bush administration has frequently meddled with scientists at the us Environmental Protection Agency (epa). The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that nearly two-thirds of the 1,586 epa scientists, who responded to a questionnaire, complained of recent political interference with their work.

Paper dazzle

On one floor is the phone Rupert Murdoch used to make multibillion-dollar media deals. On another is a bullet-scarred car used by journalists in the Balkans. There is also one of the biggest remaining chunks of the Berlin Wall and the mangled remains of a communication tower from the 9/11 attack.

Google rules

With its three-month pursuit of Yahoo at an end, Microsoft is back where it started: far behind Google, the undisputed online-advertising leader. For years, Microsoft has been striving for a bigger share of the billions of advertising dollars migrating online. Buying Yahoo would have gone a long way to make that happen, the company reasoned. Now, after the companies could not agree on a purchase price, Microsoft has to chart a different course.

News Snippets

» A vast number of drugs made from nature, from antibiotics to treatments for cancer, may be lost unless the world acts to stop biodiversity loss, according to a new book, Sustaining Life warned that species loss from climate change would hit the future of medicine and the pharmaceutical industry.

Forest sojourn

N P Jayan says he feels inspired by the Silent Valley in Kerala. A photojournalist for many years, Jayan embarked upon documenting the flora and fauna of this rain forest in late 2006. It was a year long mission that yielded numerous surprises and amazing visuals. Sometimes the surprise came in the form of a whistling thrush which felt obliged to bathe in front of Jayans camera. A herd of elephants would pass by nonchalantly while the cameraman was busy clicking.