Japanese Scientists Build a Perfect (and Fake) Pop Star (Time.com)

Eguchi Aimi is your typical Japanese pop star: perfect skin, high-pitched girlish voice, lithe figure, and a team of computer designers, photographers, and other pop stars artificially constructing her every movement.

You read that correctly. Aimi does not exist - at least not in the traditional sense. But this drawback has not stopped the girl, who was announced as the newest member of all-girl supergroup AKB 48 earlier this month, has already graced the cover of Japan's Weekly Playboy, and is part of a prestigious campaign for Ice no Mi - an ice cream product made by confectionary company Glico. But Aimi has not only infiltrated the uppermost echelons of superstardom in her brief lifetime, she also convinced much of a nation that she was a real girl for several weeks.

(PHOTOS: Japanese Design's Greatest Hits)

Eventually her true origins were revealed; Glico announced on June 19 that their newest spokesperson was created by a computer. But her technological background does not mean that Aimi is lacking in human components: in fact, every part of her - from her legs to her voice to her eyebrows - is borrowed from another member of AKB 48. She is simply composed of many photographs blended together to create a single composite pop star.

When Aimi was first introduced in a media blitz, her producer Akimoto Yasushi heralded her as "the heroine of the new age," and said that the reason he created the AKB family may have been in order to meet her. Aimi was hyped up to the Japanese public even more when her producer's accolades were outdone by the computer-generated beauty's magazine shoot whose captions read: "Ultimate Beautiful Girl, Ultimate Talented Girl, Ultimate Great Attack, Ultimate Fairy Tale Story."

But there were some who could not believe that Aimi's perfection could be born of nature. In fact, the CGI super-girl had her doubters from the start. Tokyo Hive reported that superfans of the pop group recognized some of her facial features and her voice from other girls, and that certain parts of her biography bore a striking resemblance to Gliko's own history.

There has been no formal announcement about whether Aimi will continue to be part of the pop group after the Gliko promotion has concluded. But, for fans of the concept of a make-your-own starlet, Ice no Mi's website allows users to create their fantasy superstar with the images of other AKB 48 members.

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Can fresh Morocco protests build momentum for reform? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Fes, Morocco – Morocco's pro-democracy activists launched fresh protests Sunday, despite King Mohammed VI's Friday speech announcing a draft constitution that would limit the powers of his country’s centuries-old monarchy.

“We are sticking to our demands,” says Elabadila Maaelaynine, who joined thousands of other protesters in Casablanca to reject the king’s proposals, which they say don't go nearly far enough.

Rival protesters supporting the king – some genuine, others reportedly pushed by local authorities to speak in his favor – also took to the streets, and the pro-democracy demonstrators had to change their location after they were “attacked” with bottles and sticks by pro-king demonstrators, says Mr. Maaelaynine.

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Despite a groundswell of support for democratic reform, however, many Moroccans are satisfied at the pace of change in the kingdom and want to avoid the type of tumultuous "Arab Spring" revolutions they've seen in fellow North African countries, such as Tunisia and Egypt.

“Imagine if the king suddenly says that he is going away … there will be chaos,” says Mohammed Montasir, a journalist in the northern city of Fes, adding that Moroccans are not seeking a revolution but a “movement against privileges” of the ruling elite.

How much reform is enough?For four months now, activists have campaigned for the king to transfer powers to elected representatives and reign only as a symbolic head.

In Friday's speech, he announced the constitutional reforms he had promised in March after the first bout of protests.

The most significant proposed change is the boost in the executive powers of the prime minister and the parliament. For instance, the prime minister would appoint and remove ministers as well as dissolve the lower house of parliament in consultation with the king.

The king, however, is not divorced from executive power. The king would choose the prime minister from the party that wins the elections and he could also dissolve the parliament in consultations with the prime minister and members of the new constitutional court, half of whom he would appoint.

The continued presence of the king in the executive branch ignores the key protester demand of separation of powers. He also remains the military and religious head of the country.

While the king is offering a constitutional monarchy, the demand is for a parliamentary monarchy like the United Kingdom. For the activists, the king’s reforms are piecemeal and if they compromise now then the momentum they have generated for comprehensive change will be lost.

They also suspect that the king is trying to rush a referendum on proposed reforms a€“ he set the vote for July 1 a€“ before mass resistance can be mobilized.

The activists push backThe pro-democracy movement – called February 20 (after the first day of widespread protests in Morocco) – is made up of the web-savvy youth, left-leaning parties, and Islamists.

Peaceful rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people. A few of these demonstrations have been violently dispersed by government forces but not as brutally as protests in much of the Arab world.

Athman Hajhamou and Maniar Othmane are engineering students and activists in Fes. They argue that those who support the king do so because theya€™ve never known any other alternative. The current dynasty has ruled for more than 350 years.

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Unlike his father, the 47-year-old king remains popular for improving women’s rights and ordering a probe into tortures committed by the state during his father’s reign. More recently, Morocco has been accused of torturing Islamist figures suspected of terrorism after suicide bomb attacks killed 45 people in Casablanca on one day in 2003.

“You elect your leaders, you support them, and you can reject them,” says Mr. Othmane. “You don’t have to love your ruler; you love your country.”

Will the movement lose steam?Some observers predict that the movement will lose steam. Unlike the regimes of other Arab countries, the monarchy in Morocco has a certain legitimacy that can’t be dismissed, analysts say.

“The February 20 movement is finished now, because the king has answered the people’s movement,” says Jawad Kerdoudi, head of the Moroccan Institute of International Relations, speaking by phone from Casablanca.

February 20 has more than 60,000 followers on Facebook and they are calling on people to study the draft of the constitution, but 44 percent of Moroccans are illiterate. Activists are concerned they may be "duped" by the king's speech.

“Change depends on the strength of the movement," says Athman, "its ability to mobilize, to protest on the streets, to keeps its peaceful nature, and for democratic forces to remain united.”

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UK, France build case for UN resolution against Syria (The Christian Science Monitor)

Berlin – With thousands of Syrians fleeing to Turkey in fear of more attacks by government forces, Europe is intensifying diplomatic pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to stop using violence against civilians.

Supported by Germany and Portugal, the UK and France have drafted a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria’s suppression of pro-democracy protests but not calling for military action or additional sanctions.

While Europe is again taking the lead on rallying international response to a Middle East uprising, many analysts say the West is cautious about moving too strongly against Syria because of its strategic importance in the region. What's more, many say, Assad will continue to act with impunity as long as he feels that the West considers him as part of an eventual solution to ending the violence there.

RECOMMENDED: Syria 101: 4 attributes of Assad's authoritarian regime

“Libya has oil, but it has little strategic importance. Syria is a pivotal state, it has immense strategic importance in the region,” says Jean-Francois Daguzan, a Middle East expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "Regime change in Libya will not change the political landscape of the whole of North Africa. Regime change in Syria will affect the situation of Israel, of Lebanon, of Iran, of Turkey even.”

Mr. Daguzan said Western governments are also worried about what could follow Assad. "What kind of policy would a government of the Sunni majority in Syria stand for? No one knows. Europe’s options in Syria are very limited and a military intervention is out of the question.”

The draft UN resolution put forward by the UK and France asks for political reforms and the release of political prisoners. But it does not authorize concrete action by the international community and it stresses that any solution to this crisis has to include the Syrian authorities.

“Syria was at the center of the Western policy of engagement in the last two or three years,” said Nadim Shehadi, Syria expert with the London-based think tank Chatham House. “A lot of people invested political capital into arguing for engagement with Assad. And the regime is very clever in blurring people’s vision about what could happen. European policymakers are traumatized by Iraq and Libya, so when Assad paints a picture of a bloody sectarian war developing out of this uprising, they are not willing to take that risk.”

But Mr. Shehadi says that for the Assad regime to consider a change of course, the West needs to make a strong statement against its actions.

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“Syria needs a clear message,” he says. “A message by the West that we do not see Assad as the future of Syria, and as the guarantor of stability in the region. Ambiguity is interpreted by him as a sign of support, as a sign that the West cannot see life beyond him. That is a license to kill, a carte blanche to crack down on the opposition. Without a clear message from the international community, people in Syria are afraid to go that last step and get rid of Assad.”

More than 1,000 Syrians crossed the border to Turkey within the past 24 hours, according to a Turkish official. The refugees say they anticipate a violent crackdown by troops closing in on the northwest border town of Jisr al-Shugur, where earlier in the week 120 members of the security forces were killed by armed gangs, according to the Syrian authorities. Turkish media report that the government in Ankara is preparing for an influx of up to 1 million refugees.

The events in northwestern Syria mark a climax in the unrest that started three months ago and cost more than 1,300 lives, according to human rights activists.

The initiative for a UN resolution is supported by the US, but opposed by Russia and China. A vote on the resolution is expected in the next few days.

RECOMMENDED: Syria 101: 4 attributes of Assad's authoritarian regime

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Should You Build That Website You've Been Talking About? [FLOWCHART] (Mashable)

So you've got a great idea for a website. That makes you and about 17 bajillion others. When it comes to committing to building a site or app, there are a ton of factors to take into consideration. Even if you have a killer idea or two, you still need skills, chops, and a web-savvy posse to help you execute and promote your site.

[More from Mashable: How to Decide Whether Your Business Needs an App [INFOGRAPHIC]]

Here's a handy flowchart from creative marketplace Vitamin Talent to help you decide whether it's time to build an awesome website, time to go back to school, time to hire a dev or two, or time to go back to the drawing board.

If this flowchart is really lighting a fire under your most recent website idea, you can also check out our lists of resources for devs and web designers and free sites for learning how to code.

[More from Mashable: Is There a Social Media Tech Bubble? [INFOGRAPHIC]]

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[Source: Vitamin Talent]

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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GE jumps into the solar panel business with plans to build a big plant

s renewable energy business.

The company did not say where the factory would be built. Abate said it would eventually employ 400 people and be producing panels by 2013. The plant would have the capacity to build 400 megawatts worth of panels a year, enough to power about 80,000 homes.

By comparison, First Solar will have 2,300 MW of capacity by the end of this year.

Still, analysts say GE

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