Humans, and perhaps their prehuman ancestors, have engaged in murder and mayhem, as individuals and in groups, for hundreds of thousands of years. And, at least since the advent of recorded history, violence and politics have been intimately related. Nation-states use violence against internal and external foes. Dissidents engage in violence against states. Competing political forces inflict violence on one another. Writing in 1924, Winston Churchill declared - with good reason - that "the story of the human race is war."

Some writers see violence as an instrument of politics. Thomas Hobbes regarded violence as a rational means to achieve such political goals as territory, safety, and glory. Carl von Clausewitz famously referred to war as the continuation of politics by other means. A second group of writers view violence as a result of political failure and miscalculation. The title of an influential paper on the origins of the American Civil War by the historian James Randall, "The Blundering Generation," expresses that idea. A third group, most recently exemplified by the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, regards violence as a pathological behavior that is diminishing in frequency with the onward march of civilization. Some proponents of that perspective have even declared that violence is essentially a public-health problem. Whatever their differences, each of these perspectives assigns violence a subordinate role in political life.

But there is an alternative view, one that assigns violence a primary role in politics. This outlook is implied by Mao Zedong's well-known aphorism that political power "grows out of the barrel of a gun." Violence, in other words, is the driving force of politics, while peaceful forms of political engagement fill in the details or, perhaps, merely offer post-hoc justifications for the outcomes of violent struggles. Mao corrected Clausewitz by characterizing politics as a sequel to or even an epiphenomenon of violence - a continuation of violence by other means.

Newly declassified CIA documents reveal the history of Nevada's Area 51. The area was never home to aliens or UFOs, but was instead a super secret site for testing spy planes such as the U-2.

The document, "The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: the U-2 and Oxcart Programs," was released recently in response to a Freedom of Information Act Request made by George Washington University in 2005.

Area 51, a desert tract near Groom Lake, about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was first chosen by officials searching for a place to test planes and train pilots flying the U-2 in 1955. The airstrip by a salt flat was used for the U-2 plane, as well as its successors, the Lockheed A-12 Oxcart, the D-21 Tagboard and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. The document doesn't reveal what's been done at the base since 1974.

Area 51 buffs are unlikely to be surprised by the new disclosure: Many of these facts had been suspected for years and government officials have even mentioned the area offhandedly on occasion. However, this is the first time Area 51 is explicitly mentioned in a publicly available government document.

A video released Thursday of an alleged FSA (Free Syrian Army) arms cache captured by Assad forces appears to show two pieces of highly-regulated U.S.-made military equipment worth more than $4,500.

One is a Trijicon ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight) which is issued to US Special Forces and the other is a set of PVS-7 night vision goggles.

Both of these items fall under ITAR, or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. As such, their ownership outside of the continental United States is highly regulated.

The description on Trijicon's website of the ACOG (MSRP $1,192) reads: 'The concept is simple: a durable scope with a reticle that illuminates in low light situations. And the best part is that it doesn't require batteries. Over 25 years later, the original ACOG stands the test of time and remains one of our most popular items. ACOG 4×32 Scope with Full Line Red Illumination features black crosshairs during daytime and tritium illuminates reticle at night. The reticle ranges out to 800 meters for 5.56 (.223 cal)."

This marks a tragic turning point, from which it will take Egypt years to recover

The Egyptian crucible has broken. The "unity" of Egypt - that all-embracing, patriotic, essential glue that has bound the nation together since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952 and the rule of Nasser - has melted amid the massacres, gun battles and fury of yesterday's suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood. A hundred dead - 200, 300 "martyrs" - makes no difference to the outcome: for millions of Egyptians, the path of democracy has been torn up amid live fire and brutality. What Muslim seeking a state based on his or her religion will ever trust the ballot box again?

This is the real story of today's bloodbath. Who can be surprised that some Muslim Brotherhood supporters were wielding Kalashnikovs on the streets of Cairo? Or that supporters of the army and its "interim government" - in middle-class areas of the capital, no less - have seized their weapons or produced their own and started shooting back. This is not Brotherhood vs army, though that is how our Western statesmen will mendaciously try to portray this tragedy. Today's violence has created a cruel division within Egyptian society that will take years to heal; between leftists and secularists and Christian Copts and Sunni Muslim villagers, between people and police, between Brotherhood and army. That is why Mohamed el-Baradei resigned tonight. The burning of churches was an inevitable corollary of this terrible business.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters have taken to the streets in several Cairo neighbourhoods and elsewhere in Egypt in defiance of the military-imposed state of emergency.

The protesters poured out of the mosques after Friday prayers, responding to the group's call for protests following the deaths of hundreds of people Wednesday when riot police backed by armoured vehicles, snipers and bulldozers smashed the two sit-ins in Cairo where ousted President Mohammed Morsi's supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement.

Canada's Auditor-General is pushing forward with a review of the expenses of each senator, widening an investigation into the Senate spending controversy that has shaken the Prime Minister's Office.

Auditor-General Michael Ferguson, who was called in by the Senate two months ago, is expected to review all the office and travel expenses of each of Canada's 100 senators, according to Senate sources. However, his audit's timeline is unclear, as is how far back the audit will go.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says it holds no financial responsibility for the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster and has rejected a legal demand by the Quebec government that it help pay for the cleanup in the devastated town.

The railway announced Thursday that it will appeal the province's legal order.

The news came one day after the provincial government added CPR to a list of defendants it says are responsible for picking up the tab in Lac-Mégantic, where a train derailed on July 6 and dumped millions of litres of crude oil into the environment.

The bloodiest in decade's violence in Egypt has been condemned by the UN Security Council. Meanwhile Egyptian law enforcement has been ordered to use deadly force to prevent further riots as the Muslim Brotherhood is bracing for a "march of anger."

"The view of council members is that it is important to end violence in Egypt and that the parties exercise maximum restraint," Argentine UN Ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval told reporters after an emergency closed session of the body. "There was a common desire on the need to stop violence and to advance national reconciliation."

Earlier US president Barack Obama cancelled joint military exercises with Egypt showing the displeasure with current situation, although not cutting off US military aid to the country.

"The United States strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by Egypt's interim government and security forces," Obama said, prompting Egyptian government to fire back saying that his accusations were groundless.

"The presidency fears statements not based on facts may encourage violent armed groups," Egypt's interim office said in a statement. "Egypt is facing terrorist acts aimed at government institutions and vital installations."

A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday after Egyptian security forces violently broke up sit-in camps of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo. Officials say at least 281 have been killed nationwide.

There are conflicting casualty reports. According to the Health Ministry, at least 281 people including 43 policemen have been killed and 2,001 injured in Wednesday's violence nationwide.

"The dead are both from police and civilians," said the ministry's spokesman, Hamdi Abdel Karim.

However, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad claimed that as many as 2,000 people had been killed and 10,000 injured in the police operation.

Both major protest camps in Cairo were taken control of by police, with the second one being seized about an hour after a curfew was announced.

The 7:00 pm-to-6:00 am curfew was imposed in major cities including Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. It will last for the next month, or until further notice.

Following the violence, a month-long state of emergency was announced in the country, with the Armed Forces authorized to support the Interior Ministry in imposing it.

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Normally I write about traditional technology stocks and trends, but you may not realize that what we feed ourselves and our families has a lot of biotechnology baked into it. I'm a firm believer that the generally poor quality of the food we eat, as a population, is the root cause of the vast majority of illness. The food industry, like any other, is about scale and efficiency. But when it comes to food, the techniques used to produce it in higher quantities and at lower cost have plenty of people scared about a tradeoff in quality.