US President Barack Obama quietly signed his name to an Executive Order on Friday, allowing the White House to control all private communications in the country in the name of national security.

President Obama released his latest Executive Order on Friday, July 6, a 2,205-word statement offered as the "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions." And although the president chose not to commemorate the signing with much fanfare, the powers he provides to himself and the federal government under the latest order are among the most far-reaching yet of any of his executive decisions.

"The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions," the president begins the order. "Survivable, resilient, enduring and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies and other nations."

President Obama adds that it is necessary for the government to be able to reach anyone in the country during situations it considers critical, writing, "Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies and improve national resilience." Later the president explains that such could be done by establishing a "joint industry-Government center that is capable of assisting in the initiation, coordination, restoration and reconstitution of NS/EP [national security and emergency preparedness] communications services or facilities under all conditions of emerging threats, crisis or emergency."

Pope Benedict XVI's eight years as head of the Catholic Church have been exhausting ones, with the pontiff citing in his resignation statement that his departure was down to the nature of "today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance."

From child sex abuse scandals to the "Vatileaks" controversy involving his former butler, here are the seven biggest controversies of during the Pope's time in the Vatican.

1. His time in the Hitler Youth

Born in Bavaria, Germany, into a family of farmers, the Pope's time in the Hitler Youth, which he joined at the age of 14, was swiftly highlighted by the media after his appointment.

He was drafted in an anti-aircraft unit in Munich as he was studying in Traunstein seminary, but he deserted towards the end of the war, and was a prisoner-of-war in 1945.

Many of his supporters have pointed out that the Pope would never have had any choice about joining the Nazi movement.

In the 1996 book "Salt of the Earth", the Pope is quoted as saying: "At first we weren't, but when the compulsory Hitler Youth was introduced in 1941, my brother was obliged to join. I was still too young, but later, as a seminarian, I was registered in the HY. As soon as I was out of the seminary I never went back."

On September 10, 2012 the Los Angeles Times published an article with the headline: "LAPD to hold meetings on use of force policies."

Top Los Angeles police officials announced those community meetings to counter growing criticism about videoed brutality incidents involving LA police officers in the preceding months, that article noted.

On November 24, 2012 The Daily Beast posted an article with the headline: "In Los Angeles, Questions of Police Brutality Dog LAPD" reporting abuse incidents by officers of that department placed under federal oversight between 2001 and 2009 after repeated brutality and corruption scandals.

Over two months after that Daily Beast posting about LAPD brutality a fired LAPD officer unleashed a murderous rampage as revenge against his claimed unfair firing by the LAPD.

That former LAPD cop, military veteran Christopher Dorner, claimed his attack campaign was retaliation against retaliation LAPD personnel directed against him for his reporting a 2007 brutality incident he observed while on duty.

Following a controversial hearing, LAPD officials found Dorner's brutality claim against a policewoman unfounded and fired him for filing false statements. The father of the alleged victim said his mentally ill son confirmed Dorner's account.

Let's not be too quick to dismiss the "ranting" of renegade LAPD officer Chris Dorner, who is fast becoming something of a folk hero in his one-man challenge to the LAPD, one of the nation's biggest and baddest police departments.

Dorner, a three-year police veteran and former Lieutenant in the US Navy who went rogue after being fired by the LAPD, has accused Los Angeles Police of systematically using excessive force, of corruption, of being racist, and of firing him for raising those issues through official channels.

By all media accounts, Dorner "snapped" after his firing, and has vowed to kill police in retaliation. He allegedly has already done so, with several people, including police officers and family members of police already shot dead or wounded.

Now there's a record huge "manhunt" involving police departments across California, focussing on the mountains around Big Bear, featuring cops dressed in full military gear and armed with semi-automatic weapons. (Some 40-50 senior LAPD officers specifically threatened by Dorner are also being heavily guarded by LAPD cops.) Dorner has so far skilfully eluded his pursuers, despite a $1-million bounty on his head and thousands of people in the posse hunting for him. He has meanwhile developed a large and growing following of people who are actually rooting for him, with some comparing him to the Batman of "Dark Knight," striking terror into, and wreaking vengeance on a corrupt police culture.

Murder suspect Christopher Dorner, a fired LAPD officer and a military veteran, has been officially declared a "domestic terrorist" for his alleged crimes. The terrorist label was announced during a press conference held on 2/10/2013 and was used again in a department memo issued to LAPD officers.

"This is an act of domestic terrorism," said Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a press conference, "We will not tolerate this reign of terror that has robbed us of the peace of mind that residents of southern California deserve."

The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix announced Monday that she is ending her reign after 33 years and passing the crown to her eldest son, who has long been groomed to be king but who will have to work hard to match his mother's popularity.

The widely expected abdication comes at a time of debate over the future of the largely ceremonial Dutch monarchy, but also as calm has descended upon the Netherlands after a decade of turmoil that saw Beatrix act as the glue that held together an increasingly divided society.

"Responsibility for our country must now lie in the hands of a new generation," Beatrix, one of Europe's longest-serving monarchs, said in the simple, televised speech announcing her abdication.

New York could soon become the newest state in the union to allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the controversial technique used to enable shale oil and gas extraction. The green light from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo could transpire in as little as "a couple of weeks," according to journalist and author Tom Wilber.

That timeline, of course, assumes things don't take any crazy twists or turns.

Enter a press conference today in Albany, where seven groups, including Public Citizen, Food and Water Watch, Frack Action, United for Action, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, and Capital District Against Fracking, called for an Albany County District Attorney General investigation of the Cuomo Administration.

They are asking "whether Lawrence Schwartz, Secretary to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, has a conflict of interest between his stock investments and his involvement in the state's decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing for shale gas."

Tanks, one by one, moving along a main road in China's coastal Fujian province. Driving up speculations that the Chinese military may be warming up for war.

Local residents took these pictures between February 3 to February 6. At times, the line of tanks and artillery blocked traffic for several miles.

And it wasn't just in Fujian province. These military vehicles were spotted further up the coast, in neighboring Zhejiang province. According to dissident website, molihua.org, these tanks in Hubei province are being transported from a military base to the coast.

For all of his liberal positions on the environment, taxes and health care, President Barack Obama is a hawk when it comes to the war on terror.

From deadly drones to secret interrogations to withholding evidence in terror lawsuits, Obama's Democratic White House has followed the path of his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush. The U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open, despite Obama's pledge to close it, and his administration has pursued leaks of classified information to reporters even more aggressively than Bush's.

"They have maintained momentum in a lot of important areas that we were focused on, and they've continued to build in those areas," said Ken Wainstein, the White House homeland security adviser and a top Justice Department lawyer under Bush. "You can see an appreciation for the severity of the threat, the need to stand up to it, and the need to go on offense at times."

John Brennan's confirmation hearing this week to be CIA director showed just how much Washington - and especially Democrats - has come to accept the same counterterrorism policies that drew such furor in the first years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

John Brennan, Obama's nominee for CIA director, never expressed any concern over waterboarding techniques employed by the organization, former top CIA lawyer John Rizzo said. Brennan previously claimed that he voiced objections amongst colleagues.

Waterboarding is a method of torture in which a restrained individual's face is covered by a water-soaked cloth. Further water is then poured over it, forcing the individual to experience a sensation of 'dry drowning.'

Rizzo, a Central Investigation Agency's lawyer who retired in 2009, has declared that Brennan knew of the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' the CIA used, but voiced no moral objections whatsoever, despite a sort of friendship between the two and Rizzo's office being just "15 feet away." The lawyer also heard no objections from the FBI, or elsewhere.

"I just never heard from him directly or ever heard that he had expressed any concerns to colleagues," Rizzo said. "I've talked to other agency veterans. Because to tell you the truth, it did mean something to me."