1 Isis rebels declare ‘caliphate’ (BBC) Islamist
militant group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state,
on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. It also proclaimed the
group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and "leader for Muslims
everywhere". Setting up a caliphate ruled by the strict Islamic law has
long been a goal of many jihadists.
Meanwhile, Iraq's army continued an offensive to retake
the northern city of Tikrit from the Isis-led rebels. The city was seized by
the insurgents on 11 June as they swept across large parts of northern-western
Iraq. In a separate development, Israel called for the creation of an
independent Kurdish state in response to the gain made by the Sunni rebels in
Iraq.
Isis (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant)
announced the establishment of the caliphate in an audio recording posted on
the internet. It said the Islamic state would extend from Aleppo in northern
Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group said,
would become the leader of the state and would be known as "Caliph
Ibrahim".
In the recording, Isis also said that from now on it
would be known simply as "the Islamic State". On Sunday, Iraqi
government jets struck at rebel positions and clashes broke out in various
parts of Tikrit, witnesses and officials said.
2 Honda’s first business jet (Straits Times) Honda's
first business jet has logged its maiden flight ahead of its expected
certification and delivery next year, the Japanese company said.
The 84-minute flight of the first production
HondaJet took place on Friday near the world headquarters of Honda Aircraft,
the aviation subsidiary of the automobile giant, in Greensboro in the US state
of North Carolina, the statement said.
"With this first flight, the HondaJet programme
has entered the next exciting phase as we prepare for delivery," Honda
Aircraft president and CEO Michimasa Fujino said. The HondaJet is currently
offered for sale in North America and Europe through the HondaJet dealer
network, the company said.
3 Anger over Facebook secret study (Colin Daileda/Mashable,
Sydney Morning Herald) A recently published study that manipulated Facebook
News Feeds has sparked outrage among users who are criticising the ethics
behind the experiment, which was conducted by Facebook and several
universities.
Researchers tweaked the feeds of 689,003 users to
show a disproportionate number of positive or negative statuses for one week in
January 2012. They found that the emotions of others on your News Feed can
affect your mood, and published the results in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences). However, the researchers did not inform
users that they were manipulating News Feeds, and many questioned the study's
ethics.
Legally, Facebook is allowed to do this. As soon as
users sign up for the social network, they agree to give up their data for
analysis, testing and research. In this case, however, it's not the research
people are criticising — it's the manipulation of data without users' prior
consent or knowledge.
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