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Scientists name new ‘object’ SDSS J0100+2802 and say it is 12.8bn light years from Earth and was formed just 900m years after the Big Bang *************************************************************A monster black hole powering “the brightest lighthouse in the distant universe” has been discovered that is 12bn times more massive than the sun, scientists have revealed.The extraordinary object is at the centre of a quasar - an intensely powerful galactic radiation source - with a million billion times the sun’s energy output.For years the nature of quasars, discovered in 1963, remained a mystery. Today scientists believe they are generated by matter heating up as...

<p>Why won't they release the rules?!?!</p> <p>It's been less than 24 hours since the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve strict new regulations on Internet providers, but that's the leading question coming from its critics.</p> <p>Conservatives are demanding that the FCC release a full copy of the regulations that it's planning to impose on companies such as Comcast and Verizon — and taking the agency's silence as evidence of a cover-up. Readers of an FCC blog post  have suspiciously mused that "these new regulations should have been published by now." It's much the same over on Twitter.</p>

Samsung has announced that it has begun mass production of mobile application processors on its 14nm FinFET process technology, which the company states is an industry first. Compared to the company's existing 20nm process technology, 14nm FinFET is said to enable up to 20 percent higher speeds and 35 percent less power consumption. As the industry moves towards smaller manufacturing processes, the physical limitations of transistor design have become more apparent. 3D FinFETs allow the electronic Field-Effect Transistor "gate" to wrap around three sides of a raised "fin" in order to provide adequate insulation against current leakage, which has...

Beating the worldSamsung has shocked the tech press by showing off the world's first 10nm FinFET chip at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Business chief, Kim Ki-nam teased the future for Samsung when he took the stage and provided a sneak peak at its 3D V NAND technology.Samsung wants its 10nm chips to power more than smartphones, there are plans to put them in data centers and power the Internet of Things. The new chips will be more power efficient and produce less heat, vital for phones and other battery-powered devices.Kim said that he expects that...

The world’s largest oil exporters were not pleased with latest news coming from U.S. oil and gas producers: oil production keeps on rising.

FireEye's Mandiant found that the average data breach was discovered in 205 days, dropping from 229 days (2013) and 243 days (2012). Enterprises were only able to self-detect 31 percent of breaches, with third-parties and the government helping identify cybersecurity incidents.    Companies are becoming more vigilant in detecting cybercrime-related activity, such as credit card companies noticing fraudulent behavior.  "Over the last several years, organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have gotten increasingly involved in notifying US businesses that they have been identified as being compromised," said Ryan Kazanciyan, technical director at Mandiant, in a statement to eWEEK....

In an announcement that seems certain to further inflame opinions about a proposed deal to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity, it was revealed today that Russia’s state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec has offered to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Related Stories Kerry Says Iran Extension Worth It Only If Deal Almost Done Bloomberg Iran leader says no nuclear deal better than bad one AFP World powers 'united', Kerry says ahead of new Iran nuclear talks AFP 'Significant gaps' remain in Iran nuclear talks: Kerry AFP

War as a game? Check.Foreign leaders as caricatures? Check.Sightings of Russian invaders? Check that too.Yup, welcome to the new Cold War.The relationship between Russia and the West, fraught by any measure, this week devolved into something looking more like a ridiculous Cold War parody film from the 1960s than any sort of modern diplomatic arrangement.Related: Why Putin May Be the Lesser of All Russian EvilsOn one hand, there was Russian President Vladimir Putin, practically smirking at the news that his proxy fighters in Ukraine had driven government troops out of the contested city of Debaltseve.To the soldiers who were injured...

(CNN)Way out beyond Mars, but before you get to Jupiter, is a planet. You read that right. There's a planet between Mars and Jupiter. You may not have heard of it, but it was discovered in 1801 -- 129 years before Pluto. It originally was called a planet, then later an asteroid and now it's called a dwarf planeIts name is Ceres (pronounced like series) and you'll likely be hearing a lot more about it in the coming weeks.

It took UCLA Medical Center officials more than a month to link the hospital's first patient infected with a drug-resistant bacteria to the medical scopes at the center of an outbreak that killed two people and infected at least five others, hospital officials disclosed.Officials said they began investigating the source of the superbug when the first infected patient was discovered in mid-December. It wasn’t until Jan. 28 -- after extensive testing -- that doctors positively linked the bacteria to the medical scopes.On Thursday morning, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to hospitals and medical providers that a commonly...

The Operation Arid Viper campaign has successfully stolen more than 1 million files with current malware campaigns underway, though it's not the usual suspects, according to Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro. The Arab-speaking group, with ties to Gaza, have targeted foreign government offices, critical infrastructure, military, universities, and other high-profile targets. The attacks likely occurred starting in mid-2013 and a full investigation into their actions is underway.   "Whoever the real culprits are, it is clear that they are part of the Arab world, evidence of a budding generation of Arab hackers and malware creators intent on taking down their...

Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a "gateway" to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group's supporters have revealed. The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group. The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping.

One man "fell over a bin" when he saw the car, Rachel Sims saidA woman has been turning heads on the school run by driving her children in a replica American police car.Rachel Sims, from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, bought the car which was built to promote the PlayStation video game Need for Speed.It has the words "Dodge City Police", "Emergency Response" and "911" on it.Ms Sims said although "one man fell over a bin" when he saw it, it was clearly not a UK police car and an officer told her it was fine to drive.The car was built...

New York Times reports that Operation Avarice netted at least 400 Borak rockets, one of the chemical weapons Saddam Hussein produced in 1980s.****************************************************************** The CIA worked with the U.S. military to purchase Iraqi rockets containing the deadly nerve agent sarin, as part of a secret effort to keep terrorists and militant groups from acquiring old chemical weapons in Iraq, The New York Times reported Sunday. The U.S. military considers the purchase plan – Operation Avarice, which took place in 2005 and 2006 – to be a nonproliferation success, the Times said. It netted at least 400 Borak rockets, one of...

For nearly four years, the West has largely stayed on the sidelines as Libya descended into post-revolution chaos. Now the bloody beheadings of a group of Egyptian Christians at the hands of Islamic State could draw the international community back into the densely complex tangle of fighting in the oil-rich North African nation.Egypt, seeking retribution for the cruelly cinematic execution of 21 Coptic men who had gone to Libya to work as laborers, carried out at least two waves of airstrikes Monday in neighboring Libya. The warplanes targeted what Egypt said were training camps and weapons caches belonging to a...

As President Obama fights in Congress and the courts to preserve the nation's sweeping healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act faces still another threat to its viability: Republicans in statehouses, many bucking governors of their own party eager to accept its flow of federal dollars.When a group of Republican governors filed suit to overturn Obama's signature achievement, Wyoming's Matt Mead was among them, arguing the legislation was a vast overreach that violated the Constitution and trampled the right of states to set their own policies.But after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that argument, Mead decided it would be foolhardy to...

Containers collecting at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., because of the slowdown at West Coast ports following stalled contract negotiations between port operators and unions. ************************************************************** President Obama plans to send Labor Secretary Tom Perez to California to attempt to break the labor deadlock and end the shipping slowdown at 29 West Coast cargo ports, according to news reports Saturday. Shipping has been subjected to delays during stalled contract negotiations between unions and the association representing shipping companies and port operators.The White House says it is intervening because the strike has hurt imports and exports of...

Renewables, are not just inefficient, unnecessary, and deadly to wildlife, but they were also a disaster of planning and management. The list of dollars and euros destroyed in the Glorious Renewables Quest has gone “nuclear”. The World Economic Forum estimates $100 billion Euro has been wasted, but its even worse than it looks. I had to read their opening sentence twice. I thought it read “European countries could have saved approximately $100 billion if each country had invested in the most efficient energy source.” I was thinking they could have saved that sort of money by using coal instead of...

The town of al Baghdadi in Iraq's Anbar province sits close to the Al Asad airbase where over 300 US Marines are stationed. The Islamic State has taken control of large portions of the town of al Baghdadi in Iraq's Anbar province. The town, which is 50 miles northwest of Ramadi, has been under siege for months after the Islamic State launched an offensive in Anbar last summer and took control of the nearby town of Hit. According to Reuters, a district manager said that "Ninety percent of al-Baghdadi district has fallen under the control of the insurgents." Reuters goes...

Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez told The Daily Caller Friday that he didn’t know that illegal immigrants are eligible for tax refunds — even if they haven’t paid taxes.IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told members of Congress Wednesday that illegal immigrants who did not pay taxes will be able to claim back-refunds once they are issued social security numbers. “I know nothing of the sort,” Gutierrez snapped at a Daily Caller reporter Friday when asked about Koskinen’s testimony.“Of course it would be like you to raise that sort of question,” the Democrat continued. “Why don’t you ask the commissioner of the IRS?”The...