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Christian Bale: If Moses Lived Today, 'Drones Would Be Sent Out After Him'…

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Photo Credit: Kerry Brown / 20th Century Fox

Photo Credit: Kerry Brown / 20th Century Fox

To prepare for the role of Moses for the upcoming film, “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” Christian Bale studied the biblical story, and came to realize that Moses was a very complicated figure.

“He was so much more human than I had ever imagined… had all sort of temptations and indulgences that he had grown up with,” Bale said in an interview with “Nightline.” “[He was] absolutely seen as a freedom fighter for the Hebrews, but a terrorist in terms of the Egyptian empire.”

Moses has been an inspirational icon for liberation movements throughout history, and is a central figure in the three Great Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

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Near-Collisions Between Drones, Airliners Surge

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Pilots around the United States have reported a surge in near-collisions and other dangerous encounters with small drones in the past six months at a time when the Federal Aviation Administration is gradually opening the nation’s skies to remotely controlled aircraft, according to FAA records.

Since June 1, commercial airlines, private pilots and air-traffic controllers have alerted the FAA to 25 episodes in which small drones came within a few seconds or a few feet of crashing into much larger aircraft, the records show. Many of the close calls occurred during takeoffs and landings at the nation’s busiest airports, presenting a new threat to aviation safety after decades of steady improvement in air travel.

Many of the previously unreported incident reports — released Wednesday by the FAA in response to long-standing public-records requests from The Washington Post and other news organizations — occurred near New York and Washington.

The FAA data indicates that drones are posing a much greater hazard to air traffic than previously recognized. Until Wednesday, the FAA had publicly disclosed only one other near-collision between a drone and a passenger aircraft: a March 22 incident involving a US Airways regional airliner near Tallahassee, Fla.

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GAO: DHS Flew Drones for 1,726 Hours Over Interior of U.S.

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Photo Credit: AP / John MillerThe Department of Homeland Security flew drones equipped with video cameras over the United States–away from border and coastal areas–for 1,726 hours from fiscal 2011 through this April, according to the Government Accountability Office.

At times, the drones–or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)–were being used for purposes other than border or immigration enforcement. But the GAO does not have a full accounting of when and where the drones were flown, or what they were used for during the flight hours spent in “other airspace.”

In a series of briefing slides provided in August to the staffs of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on homeland security (and publicly released this week), the GAO examined whether DHS’s use of drones complied with U.S. privacy and civil liberty laws. In the slides, the GAO noted that DHS border patrol drones, which are primarily used to “support border security operations,” were sometimes flown away from the border “in support of other federal, state or local law enforcement activities and for emergency humanitarian efforts.”

“DHS’s review reported that CBP operates UAS in accordance with its authorities, which do not limit use to border and coastal areas,” the GAO reported on briefing slide No. 2. “The location of UAS operations is limited by FAA requirements and CPB policies and procedures.”

These flights included missions to “provide aerial support for local law enforcement activities and investigations,” to agencies including the FBI and multi-agency task forces, and to “provide aerial support for monitoring natural disasters,” the report added on slide No. 11.

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New Jersey Man Accused Of Shooting Down Neighbor’s Remote Control Drone

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Photo Credit: ThinkstockA New Jersey man was arrested after police say he shot down a neighbor’s remote control drone.

According to investigators, officers with the Lower Township Police Department were called to a home in the 1000 block of Seashore Road on September 26th to investigate the report by a resident that his remote control helicopter (drone) was shot down.

Investigators say the resident was taking aerial photographs of his friend’s home, which is under construction.

While doing so, the resident told police he heard several gunshots as he simultaneously lost control of the drone.

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Seattle Woman Sees Drone Peeping Into Her Apartment Window

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Photo Credit: PIERRE ANDRIEU / AFP / Getty ImagesSeattle Police are investigating a report of a drone peeping into a woman’s apartment window.

Police were called to the downtown Seattle apartment complex on Sunday morning after she spied an unmanned aerial vehicle hovering outside the building. The woman said she was concerned the drone was looking into her apartment.

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‘That’s Creepy’: Mayor Says LAPD Drones Won’t Be ‘Flying Over The City

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Photo Credit: KNXTwo unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acquired by the LAPD will remain grounded until lawmakers can establish specific policies governing their use, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday.

During Wednesday’s “Ask The Mayor” call-in segment on KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO, Garcetti said that UAVs – or drones – could be used in hostage standoffs and other similar law enforcement situations, but that their operation should be strictly limited.

“I’ve asked them to be grounded until we have a policy, until we have community input,” Garcetti said. “I don’t want these things up in the air until we know for sure they’re not going to be used against innocent folks.”

The LAPD obtained the drones from the Seattle Police Department in May at no cost to the city after their use was vetoed by former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, according to officials.

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Drone Wars: Memo Justifying Strikes on Americans to be Revealed

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Photo Credit: REUTERSThe Obama administration has signaled it will publicly reveal a memo explaining its legal justification for using drones to kill American citizens overseas, a U.S. government official confirmed to Fox News Tuesday.

The official said the Justice Department has decided not to appeal a Court of Appeals ruling requiring disclosure of a redacted version of the memo under the Freedom of Information Act.

The decision to release the documents comes as the Senate is to vote Wednesday on advancing President Obama’s nomination of the memo’s author, Harvard professor and former Justice Department official David Barron, to sit on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had vowed to fight Barron’s confirmation, and some Democratic senators had called for the memo’s public release before a final vote.

The key Democratic holdout against Barron’s nomination, Sen. Mark Udall D-Colo., announced Tuesday night he will now support Barron because the memo is being released.

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A ‘Nightmare Becoming Reality’? Iran Unveils American Drone Replica

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Photo Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader / AP

Photo Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader / AP

Iran has unveiled its own copy of an American stealth drone it captured in late 2011, claiming to have cracked the “secrets” of the bat-wing craft and added weapons capabilities.

Today, Fars News Agency reported that while Iran’s duplicate of the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone was smaller, it also had a “bombing capability to attack the US warships in any possible battle.” The story in Persian was headlined: “America’s nightmare has become reality.” State television showed footage on Sunday it said was of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf filmed by an Iranian drone.

The drone replica was unveiled at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) exhibition on Sunday, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was briefed on how the drone, its systems, and structure had been reverse-engineered. He called it a “sweet day.”

The stealth replica would “soon take a test flight,” an IRGC officer said on Sunday. Aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajijadeh said today that they are working on two more models of the replica drone.

Proving its prowess

Engineers with the IRGC were ordered to reverse engineer the captured US drone, which was on a CIA mission to spy on nuclear and military sites in Iran when it was brought down in Iran largely intact. Iran reacted with euphoria, trumpeting the capture in an “electronic ambush” showed Iran’s technical prowess.

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U.S. Passenger Jet Nearly Collided with Drone

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Photo Credit: Yahoo

Photo Credit: Yahoo

An American Airlines Group Inc aircraft almost collided with a drone above Florida earlier this year, a near-accident that highlights the growing risk from rising use of unmanned aircraft, the U.S. air safety regulator said.

The pilot reported seeing a small, remote-control aircraft very close to his plane while preparing to land at Tallahassee Regional Airport, said Jim Williams, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Office.

“The airplane pilot said that the UAS was so close to his jet that he was sure he had collided with it,” Williams said at an industry conference on Thursday, referring to an unmanned aircraft system.

The aircraft, operated by an American subsidiary, did not appear to be damaged when it was inspected after the March 22 incident, Williams said.

But the incident served to highlight the risk of remote-control aircraft, he said.

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Obama Court Nominee Wrote Memos Justifying Drone Strikes On U.S. Citizens (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Harvard Law School scholar David Barron is an Obama administration nominee for a federal appeals court. He is also the author of government memos that make legal justifications for killing U.S. citizens overseas with drone strikes, which is why his selection to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals has been delayed.

The White House has agreed to allow lawmakers to review at least one of the drone memos after U.S. senators and the the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns, technology website Ars Technica reported Wednesday.

Some Democrats, including SenateJudiciary Committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, say it isn’t Mr. Barron’s memos, but political theater, that is tying up his selection.

“Senate Republicans have consistently blocked most of President Obama’s judicial nominees so it comes as no surprise that they continue to do so with this nominee. David Barron is a brilliant lawyer who is committed to public service,” said Sen. Leahy, Ars Technica reported.

Read more from this story HERE.