“The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.”
~Socrates

Taiwanese ships clash with Japanese coast guard over disputed islands

About 50 Taiwanese vessels on Tuesday entered waters near a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter territorial dispute involving Japan, China and Taiwan.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a Japanese coast guard ship shooting water at a Taiwanese fishing boat, while a Taiwanese patrol vessel blasted water at the coast guard ship in reply during an incident near the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, as they are known respectively in Japan and China/Taiwan.

The Taiwanese vessels – 40 fishing boats and 10 coast guard ships – entered the waters to protest the recent Japanese government's purchase of the islands from a private owner.

'US drone attacks are counter-productive and terrorise civilians'

Civilians are being "terrorised" 24 hours a day by CIA drone attacks that target mainly low-level militants in north-west Pakistan, a report by Stanford and New York Universities says.

It claims that follow-up strikes are also killing rescuers who set out to treat the injured.

The report, made up of interviews with victims, witnesses and experts, pins blame on US President Barack Obama for the recent increase in "signature strikes" which target groups selected through "pattern of life analysis" and which have resulted in large, innocent groups attending weddings and funerals being killed.

At secretive session, North Korea’s parliament passes a law expanding public education

North Korea’s parliament convened Tuesday for the second time in six months, passing a law that adds one year of compulsory education for children in the socialist nation, the first publicly-announced policy change under leader Kim Jong Un.

The Supreme People’s Assembly’s second meeting of the year was notable mainly as a departure from how Kim’s father did business. Before he died in December, Kim Jong Il convened his legislature just once in most years, and during one three-year period after his own father’s death the assembly didn’t meet at all.

By adding a year to North Korea’s state-funded educational system, from 11 to 12 years, Kim may be trying to cultivate loyalty among younger generations as he consolidates his power base.

Provocative anti-jihad ads go up in NYC subways

Provocative advertisements equating Muslim radicals with savages appeared in New York City subways on Monday, drawing immediate criticism from some riders.

"It's a terrible idea," said Colby Richardson at a subway station in midtown Manhattan. "It's going to spark controversy obviously when you deem one side savages and the other side civilized. "

Said another rider, Cameron McCabe: "I think it's unfortunate that someone would want to put that up." But, she added, "I think it's their right to do so."

'Too holy' for sex? The problem of a married Jesus

If a fourth-century fragment of papyrus that purportedly quotes Jesus telling his disciples about "my wife" is authenticated, it could upend the modern church’s understanding of the “son of God.”

“If Jesus is a normal human being and he’s sexual, that’s the real fear,” James Tabor, a biblical scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the co-author of books about Jesus and his family, told NBC News. “You can’t think of Jesus like that because he’s too holy.”

The Bible contains no explicit mentions of Jesus being either married or not married, but few churches have room for the idea of a sexual Jesus. The Catholic Church’s celibate priesthood is built on the belief that Jesus was not married. Eastern Orthodox priests are often married, but the church teachings don’t mention a married Jesus. Protestant ministers are allowed to marry, but there again, it is not common to teach that Jesus himself was married.

SAT, ACT: Most high school kids lack skills for college

More than half of 2012 high school graduates who took a college entrance exam did not have all of the skills they will need to succeed in college, or a career, a pair of recent reports conclude.

Findings released Monday by the non-profit College Board show that 57% of 2012 graduating seniors who took the SAT, which it owns, earned a combined score below what it says is necessary to show that students can earn a B-minus or better in the first year at a four-year college.

A report released last month by the Iowa City-based ACT found that at least 60% of 2012 high school graduates who took its test are similarly at risk of not succeeding in college.

NFL: Replacement Referees Are in Over Their Heads

The labor dispute between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association this summer was not a large story. It gathered far less media attention than the NFL Players Association lockout a year ago. The ramifications of this lockout, however, have been much greater than that of the players’ lockout a season ago.

The replacement referees are in over their heads. Most of these referees have never worked on a national stage. In many cases, they have been affected by being on the same field as players and coaches of the highest caliber.

According to Luke Hughes of NESN, Ravens safety Bernard Pollard is quoted as saying, "These guys are starstruck. Even in the preseason one of the refs saw Joe Flacco and he was amazed. I was thinking 'Wow, what if this was [Tom] Brady?”

Cancer death rates set for a 'dramatic fall'

Death rates from cancer are "set to fall dramatically" by 2030, according to Cancer Research UK.

It says fewer people smoking as well as improvements in diagnosis and treatment will lead to a 17% drop in death rate.

About 170 UK deaths per 100,000 of population were from cancer in 2010, and this figure is predicted to fall to 142 out of every 100,000.