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Bavarian police can use DNA to find suspects’ eye and hair color
The government of the German state of Bavaria has just passed a new law that will give police much more leeway when it comes to using DNA to track down a suspect, Science reports. Until now, law enforcement in the region have only been allowed to use DNA to match a suspect with crime scene evidence. The new law, however, will let them use DNA to find eye color, skin color, hair color, age and "biogeographical ancestry" probabilities based on genetic markers. The new DNA standards are just part of the law -- which also includes other allowances for expanding police surveillance -- and it has drawn a lot of criticism to date.
Bavarian Minister compares violent games to drugs, child pornography
Following last month's tragic shooting rampage in Winnenden, Germany, the target of which was a local secondary school, criticism against violent video games from German politicians has strengthened drastically. The most passionate denunciation thus far recently came from Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann, who accused violent games of being "one of the causes for youth violence and also for school shootings, where images from killer games become reality."However, Herrmann's condemnation peaked when he claimed violent titles are "on the same level as child pornography and illegal drugs, the ban on which rightly is unquestioned." Herrmann released his statement on the same day as the first-ever German Video Game Awards ceremony, many of the attendees of which responded with demands for an apology from the Minister. If you're also looking to get your dander up, you can read Herrmann's (Google translated) press release here.
Germany gearing up for maglev railway
While folks living near Shanghai are already enjoying the luxuries of a maglev (magnetic levitation) railway, Germany is getting set to build a similar line to shuttle citizens from Munich's city center to its airport. The €1.85 billion ($2.61 billion) project is finally on track to become a reality after securing the necessary funding, and it should be able to whisk travelers around at nearly 310 miles-per-hour when it's complete. Sadly, there's no word as to when the Munich service will launch, but at least we're moving in the right direction, eh?[Via Slashdot]
German legislation would jail FPS gamers
Late last month, an 18-year-old man went on a shooting spree at his former junior high school in western Germany, killing himself and injuring 11 others. According to reports on the German news site Tagesschau, the man spent a fair bit of time playing "Counter-Strike," which some say may have led to his inspiration to conduct the killing. As a result of this tragedy, two state governments in Bavaria and Lower Saxony have drafted legislation which, according to the Financial Times, would "subject developers, distributors and players of video games whose goal is to inflict 'cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters' to a fine and a maximum of one year in jail." If the measures pass, German gamers, amateur and pro alike, will have to lay off the FPS games for quite a long while and stick to more traditional non-violent games, like, you know, "Pac-Man."[Via Slashdot]
