The vote on Thursday by Belgium's House of Representatives removed all age restrictions on the right of the incurably sick to end their lives, a vote that has caused considerable controversy.

Ahead of the vote, Socialist Senator Philippe Mahoux, the author of Belgium's 2002 "right to die" legislation and himself a doctor, called euthanasia "the ultimate gesture of humanity" and "not a scandal." He added that "the scandal is illness and the death of children from disease."

Mahoux had called for widening his law to include minors because medics had already helped children in pain die as a question of mercy - just illegally. The draft bill had stated that a child must have "a capacity of discernment and be conscious" on requesting to die.

Georgetown - A pediatrician known for his research on paranormal science and near-death experiences with children was convicted Thursday of waterboarding the daughter of his longtime companion by holding her head under a faucet.

The jury deliberated for about six hours before returning its verdict against Melvin Morse, 60.

Morse was charged with three felonies - two for alleged waterboarding and one for alleged suffocation by hand. He was convicted of one felony - waterboarding in the bathtub - and five misdemeanors. Jurors reduced the second waterboarding charge to a misdemeanor and acquitted Morse of the suffocation charge.

Morse showed no reaction as the verdict was read. He was ordered to surrender his passport and will remain out on bail until his sentencing, set for April 11.

Morse faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, but a lesser punishment is likely under state sentencing guidelines. Each misdemeanor carries a maximum of one year in prison but typically results in probation. The felony reckless endangerment conviction for waterboarding carries a maximum of five years in prison but a presumptive sentence of 15 months.

Prosecutor Melanie Withers said she was "very gratified" by the verdict, and that she was on her way to speak with the victim, now 12 years old.

Morse declined to comment and referred questions to his attorneys.

"He maintains his innocence to this day," said attorney John Brady.

Morse's lead defense attorney, Joseph Hurley, said he planned to appeal.

The girl and her mother, Pauline Morse, testified that Melvin Morse used waterboarding as a threat or a form of punishment. Waterboarding has been used in the past by U.S. interrogators on terror suspects to simulate drowning. Many critics call it torture.

Defense attorneys argued that "waterboarding" was a term jokingly used to describe hair washing the girl did not like.

A Delaware doctor and his wife were arrested this week after their daughter told authorities that she was punished by "waterboarding," police said.

The 11-year-old girl told police that her father, pediatrician Melvin Morse, would hold her face under a running faucet causing the water to shoot up her nose, the Delaware State Police said.

The punishments happened at least four times over a two-year period and the girl's mother, Pauline Morse, witnessed some of them and did nothing, police said.

Morse specializes in near-death experiences in children and wrote a book about the subject called Closer to the Light in 1991.

"In hundreds of interviews with children who had once been declared clinically dead, Dr. Morse found that children too young to have absorbed our adult views and ideas of death, share first-hand accounts of out-of-body travel, telepathic communication and encounters with dead friends and relatives," a reviewer wrote about the book.

Morse was also interviewed by CNN's Larry King about the subject, and he runs a nonprofit organization called The Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.

Missing teeth. Lung disease. Extreme hormone levels.

Four years after BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, gushing some 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the region is rife with death and disease, according to a major U.S. study.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, is the first of its kind since the devastating spill.

"I've never seen such a high prevalence of very sick animals," lead author Lori Schwacke of the Medical University of South Carolina noted. "There is disease in any wild population. We just haven't seen animals that were in such bad shape as what we saw in Barataria Bay."

"The U.S. worked hard to create the American dream of opportunity. But today, that dream is a myth."
Economist Joseph Stiglitz, Financial Times

If you follow the financial news, you already know that the American people are on an epic downer. Just check out some of these headlines I pulled up in a five minute Internet search and you'll see what I mean:

"Gloom and doom? Americans more pessimistic about future" Las Vegas Review

"U.S. Standard of Living Index Sinks to 10-Month Low; Expectations for future standard of living drops more than current satisfaction" Gallup

"Americans Still Pessimistic About Economy - Almost 70 percent think the economy is in bad shape" Time Magazine

'Slipping behind': Are we becoming a nation of pessimists?" NBC News

Income Inequality in the United States Fuels Pessimism and Threatens Social Cohesion" Center for American Progress.

And here's my personal favorite:

"NBC/WSJ poll: 60 percent say fire every member of Congress" NBC News

Every Tuesday for the whole of this year, customers will be queuing at 9 a.m. for the 200 free bottles of water and complementary bread on offer to Eroski supermarket customers in Carcaixent. They hope to help needy customers get by.

The Eroski food store is located in Carcaixent (Valencia), and starting on January 7 this year, staff began to hand out the 200 bottles of water and baguettes to customers who are having problems making ends meet in the continuing economic crisis.

While you might think it would be homeless people queuing for the offer, it is actually customers who regularly buy from the supermarket. They have to show a till receipt from a previous purchase (no matter how small) to get the special offer.

The manager of the store told El Mundo, "A queue forms before we open up the store, people want to make sure they get their basic goods."

"Others who notice the line outside the supermarket don't mind waiting in line for a while either as soon as they find out there's free bread and water," he added.

Osaka - BBC filmmaker and personal friend Martyn Stewart has been detained at Kansai Airport in Osaka on his way to document the dolphin drives that take place in Taiji, Japan. Stewart, known for his powerful filming, is being accused of eco-terrorism.

The filmmaker and producer of compelling short documentaries such as Dawn to Death, wrote several hours ago on his Facebook page:

I am locked in a cell room at Osaka airport waiting on an appeal to the high minister regarding my entry into Japan. I'm accused of being sea shepherd and an Eco terrorist, my footage is not liked in Japan apparently and have been accused of assaulting members of the public.

In 4 years of being here for the dolphins I have maintained the law and abided by their rules. My words and pictures did the rest. The government of Japan will do anything to protect the rights of the fishermen of Taiji and the barbaric treatment of the animals involved.

Please share far and wide to bring awareness to this corrupt government and those that want to continue to brutally treat these amazing animals. The condition I'm in and the treatment I have received is nothing short of criminal.

Stewart left for Japan yesterday - a trip he makes every year as part of an ongoing campaign to shed light on the annual dolphin massacre that occurs in Taiji between September and March every year.

The Sochi Olympics has attracted many protests. One, the Fair Games Project, launched an awareness campaign to support Russia's LGBT community with a high-profile ad asserting that being gay in Russia costs $3,000 in fines... Wait, really?

The Fair Games Project sent out their Public Service Announcement, titled "Russia Declares Discrimination Newest Olympic Sport," on February 6, a day ahead of the Sochi opening ceremony.

In the clip, scenes of a happy gay couple celebrating a birthday and subsequent marriage proposal are followed by the same two men violently beaten on a football pitch by players to general applause, as a crowd of viewers wave Russian flags.

The two-minute video, which also features the song "Freedom" by King Avriel, concludes with an ominous caption reading: "In Russia, the punishment for being gay is a $3,000 fine." A series of slides lists other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Uganda and Iran, where being gay is a crime. Various types of punishment, ranging from imprisonment to public stoning, are recounted.

If a recent night out at Denny's is any indication, public life may not go back to normal any time soon for one California police officer even after being acquitted of murder.

Former Fullerton, California, police officer Manuel Ramos was one of two officials accused of beating a homeless schizophrenic man named Kelly Thomas to death back in 2011. Thomas was beaten and tasered multiple times during the confrontation, which left him in a coma. He died five days later in a hospital bed.

In a controversial trial that ended in January, both the 39-year-old Ramos and former Corporal Jay Cicinelli were found not guilty.

Although Ramos has been spared jail time, the rest of his public life looks like it's going to be more complicated, at least in the short term. Ramos doesn't live in Fullerton anymore, but some time after his acquittal he found himself visiting a local Denny's restaurant in the area, and local diners were not pleased to see him there.

According to a blog post by Orange County Weekly, Ramos was confronted by customers sitting next to him to the extent that he stood up and left the restaurant. A photo was also snapped of Ramos and posted on Facebook, with the caption reading:

Angry residents in a flood-hit flat block have blasted a "total lack of support" from Christchurch council and their MP, saying they have been forced to buy their own sandbags.

Residents in Conifer Close - some of whom were evacuated on Christmas Day - say they are the "forgotten corner" of Christchurch and living in fear of further flooding.

Residents say they requested sandbags from the council but were told they would have to purchase Floodsacks at £30 for a pack of four.

Today, as the Government insisted councils shouldn't charge for sandbags and the cost would be met centrally, Christchurch council clarified their position saying they don't charge for them in an emergency and if the Environment Agency put out a red warning, they will provide them free of charge.

A spokesperson said at the moment people are concerned and are requesting them just in case, and in instance they charge £30 for a flood pack.

Residents at Conifer Close have suffered flooding issues since Christmas Day.

And yesterday, while PM David Cameron promised that "money is no object" when it comes to helping flood victims, Conifer Close residents told the Daily Echo they have had to buy their own sandbags and plastic sheeting.

They have also asked for help from their MP Chris Chope, but say he has not accepted their invitations to visit them.