10 things you need to know today: June 7, 2012

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Thursday, after the deadliest day for civilians so far this year.

(Image credit: Zhang Jun/Xinhua Press/CORBIS)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. SYRIAN ACTIVISTS: 78 DEAD IN QUBEIR MASSACRE

Syrian opposition activists say government forces killed at least 78 people on Wednesday in the small farming village of Qubeir in the Hama province. According to activists, at least half of those killed were women and children, and the deaths occurred after government tanks shelled the village for more than an hour; regime loyalists are said to have then gone through Qubeir and executed villagers with guns and knives. Syrian state TV reported that an "armed terrorist group" was responsible for the "horrible crime" in the tiny village. The latest violence comes less than two weeks after 108 people were killed in a massacre in Houla. [CNN]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Using just a saliva specimen from the father and a blood sample from the pregnant mother, researchers have assembled nearly the entire genome of a fetus — the first time such a feat has ever been accomplished. By assembling such a complete DNA blueprint of a fetus, it could be possible to detect thousands of genetic diseases prenatally, but being able to know so much about an unborn child also raises some serious ethical issues. At this point, the DNA blueprint would not be economically feasible for regular use — it would cost an estimated $20,000 to $50,000 to map one fetus — but the cost of DNA sequencing is falling at a rapid rate. [New York Times]

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Thursday after the deadliest day for civilians in the country so far this year. Twenty-three Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bombing in Faryab on Wednesday, and, according to Afghan officials, 18 women and children were killed in a NATO airstrike. Initially, NATO said no civilians had been killed in the strike. President Hamid Karzai spoke out against the airstrike, and NATO and Afghanistan have launched an investigation into it. At a news conference, Panetta condemned the safe havens in Pakistan to which terrorists flee, saying "we are reaching the limits of our patience here." [New York Times]

The family of dismemberment victim Jun Lin has arrived in Montreal, as authorities continue to investigate the gruesome case. Lin is believed to have been murdered and dismembered by Luka Rocco Magnotta, who then allegedly mailed the body parts to political headquarters in Ottawa. A hand and a foot mailed to two Vancouver-area school are also believed to have belonged to Lin. [CNN, Ottawa Citizen]

Much to the ire of the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq announced Wednesday that it will dole out $40 million in cash and credit to investment firms that lost money on Facebook's first day of trading because of technical glitches at the exchange. In a statement, Nasdaq's rival exchange the NYSE said "this is tantamount to forcing the industry to subsidize Nasdaq's missteps and would establish a harmful precedent that could have far-reaching implications for the markets, investors, and the public interest." [Associated Press]

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox