Fast Internet access becomes a legal right in Finland

(CNN) — Finland has become the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right.

Starting in July, telecommunication companies in the northern European nation will be required to provide all 5.2 million citizens with Internet connection that runs at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second.

The one-megabit mandate, however, is simply an intermediary step, said Laura Vilkkonen, the legislative counselor for the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The country is aiming for speeds that are 100 times faster — 100 megabit per second — for all by 2015.

“We think it’s something you cannot live without in modern society. Like banking services or water or electricity, you need Internet connection,” Vilkkonen said.
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Militant attacks kill at least 30 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Militants launched a string of bold strikes in Pakistan on Thursday, leaving at least 30 police officers and civilians dead, authorities said.

At least 10 militants also died in the fighting, while others were missing.

The attacks on five targets in two cities were carried out on the same day that U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation providing an additional $7.5 billion in assistance to the Pakistani government.

Among other things, the act promotes a partnership aimed at “combating the extremism that threatens Pakistan and the United States.”

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the Pakistani Taliban accepted blame for the three attacks against two police training centers and the country’s Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore. At least 25 people died.
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‘Magnetic electricity’ discovered

Researchers have discovered a magnetic equivalent to electricity: single magnetic charges that can behave and interact like electrical ones.

The work is the first to make use of the magnetic monopoles that exist in special crystals known as spin ice.

Writing in Nature journal, a team showed that monopoles gather to form a “magnetic current” like electricity.

The phenomenon, dubbed “magnetricity”, could be used in magnetic storage or in computing.

Magnetic monopoles were first predicted to exist over a century ago, as a perfect analogue to electric charges.

Although there are protons and electrons with net positive and negative electric charges, there were no particles in existence which carry magnetic charges. Rather, every magnet has a “north” and “south” pole.
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Death sentences for China rioters

A Chinese court has sentenced a further six people to death over ethnic unrest in the far-western region of Xinjiang in July, state-run media report.

Nearly 200 people were killed during riots between ethnic Uighurs and members of China’s dominant Han group.

The six were part of a group of 14 people who went on trial on Wednesday, charged with crimes including murder, robbery and arson.

A total of 12 people have now been sentenced to death after the riots.

The six were sentenced to death at a court in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, Xinhua news agency reports.

Three of the group of 14 tried on Wednesday were given life sentences.
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