Ecuador expels US officers, cancels military program
Quito (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has ordered all US military officers to leave the country by the end of month and canceled a security cooperation program with the Pentagon, US officials said on Friday.
"At the request of the government of Ecuador, our bilateral security cooperation programs in Ecuador are currently coming to a close," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told AFP in an ...
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Palestinian unity government will reject violence: Abbas
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Saturday the new unity government he is set to head with the backing of Hamas would reject violence and recognise Israel and existing agreements.
Israel, however, slammed his speech to the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Central Council as a "coup de grace" to the peace process.
The PLO body had convened to chart a course of action after Israel ...
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Russia vows to help free OSCE men held as 'NATO spies' in Ukraine
Slavyansk, Ukraine (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
Russia pledged Saturday to help free a group of international OSCE observers held hostage by pro-Kremlin rebels in eastern Ukraine who accuse them of being "NATO spies".
"We believe that these people should be released as soon as possible," Russia's envoy to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Andrei Kelin, told Russia's state RIA Novosti news agency.
"As an OSCE me ...
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Obama warns tougher sanctions against nuclear N. Korea
Seoul (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
North Korea will gain nothing by making threats, US President Barack Obama said Friday, warning it of sanctions with "more bite" if it went ahead with a fourth nuclear test.
Speaking in South Korea as satellite images revealed the North could be preparing for an underground explosion, Obama stressed that Washington and Seoul stood "shoulder to shoulder" in their refusal to accept a nuclear N ...
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Tactical radios tested with MUOS waveform
Melbourne, Fla. (UPI) Apr 25, 2013 -
Harris Corporation's Falcon III AN/PRC-117G manpack radio has successfully completed another series of tests for use with military satellites.
The tactical multi-band radios - in standard hardware configuration - hosted the Mobile User Objective System waveform during the tests held at the MUOS Test Radio Access Facility in California, which is operated by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. ...
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ISIL claims Baghdad election rally attack: statement
Baghdad (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
A powerful jihadist group claimed a dual bombing at a Shiite political rally in Baghdad on Friday, according to a statement posted on jihadist forums, just days before national elections.
"Abu Aisha al-Iraqi and Abu Osama al-Iraqi... managed to enter a gathering of infidels... during their parade in Sadr City and blew up their suicide belts," said the statement attributed to the Islamic Stat ...
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New pictures confirm North Korea nuclear activity
Seoul (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
A North Korean nuclear test within days "cannot be ruled out" analysts said Saturday, after new satellite imagery showed heightened activity at the test site.
The report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) chimes with other findings and suggests Pyongyang is moving towards an underground detonation.
Pictures taken on Friday - the first day of US President Bara ...
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Boeing lifts profit outlook as jetliner demand booms
Washington (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
US aerospace and defense giant Boeing raised its 2014 profit outlook Wednesday despite a first-quarter profit slide, citing strong demand for its new jetliners.
A sharp rise in pension costs from a change in retirement plans offset Boeing's robust commercial aircraft deliveries as airlines seek to renew aging fleets with more fuel-efficient jetliners.
Boeing posted net profit in the firs ...
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Russia to Test Launch New Angara Rocket June 25
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 23, 2014 -
The date of the maiden launch of Russia's new Angara rocket has been set for June 25, an official with the Russian Space Agency told RIA Novosti Friday.
"The launch is set for June 25, with the 26th as a backup date," the official said.
He added the rocket would be fired without an orbital payload from the Plesetsk space center, located about 800 kilometers north of Moscow.
The ...
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Ukraine vs. Russia: military mismatch, but does that mean no contest?
Kiev (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
Russia has the world's second-ranked military after former Cold War foe the United States.
The armed forces in Ukraine, a former republic in the ex-Soviet Union, are much, much smaller.
But numbers don't tell the whole story. Other factors come into play in weighing which side might get the upper hand should war break out with a Russian invasion.
Chief among them is the fact that M ...
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Hamster-sized deer born in Spain
Madrid (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
The latest specimen of the world's tiniest deer - a rare species no bigger than a hamster - has been born in a nature park in southern Spain, conservationists said on Friday.
The baby "deer-mouse" became just the 43rd living member of this species in Europe when it was born on April 9 in the Fuengirola Biopark near Malaga.
Originating in southeastern Asia, the deer is so called because ...
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China underlines interest in Latin American investment
Brasilia (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
China's Foreign Minister ended a Latin American tour Friday in Brazil, stressing Beijing's goal of investing in the region as he prepared the way for a July visit by President Xi Jinping.
"There is a complementary economic relationship between China and Latin America and the Caribbean," said Wang Yi.
"We would like to deepen cooperation via the China-CELAC forum which will start this yea ...
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Most back to work after China shoe factory strike
Beijing (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
A nearly two-week strike at a huge shoe factory in southern China appears to have ended after the Taiwan-backed company agreed to meet some of the workers' demands, including raising their living allowance and benefit payments.
More than 80 percent of the employees at the Yue Yuen shoe factory in Dongguan city have returned to work, the company's chairman, Lu Chin-chu, said in a statement to ...
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Bolivia's Morales urges troops to end their strike
La Paz (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday urged striking members of the armed forces to return to their barracks, calling for a return to military "discipline" by the soldiers.
Morales demanded that the troops end a strike that has lasted several days, calling their refusal to obey orders "a betrayal of the homeland."
"A military without discipline, ceases to be a military," Morales decla ...
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China offers cash in Xinjiang for tips on beards: report
Beijing (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
Authorities in China's restive Xinjiang region are offering cash to informants who report on neighbours with excessive facial hair, state media has reported.
Officials in Shaya county issued a notice offering rewards ranging from 50 to more than 50,000 yuan ($8 to $8,000) for a wide array of information including tips on those growing beards, the Global Times said on Thursday.
Xinjiang ...
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France helps Peru with first optical satellite
Paris (UPI) Apr 25, 2013 -
France and Peru signed a bilateral agreement Friday for the building and launch of Peru's first optical satellite system, the French Ministry of Defense said.
The satellite is for use by Peru's Ministry of Defense, with Airbus Defense and Space performing the work.
"This agreement covers the supply of an optical high resolution satellite, a ground control, reception and image pro ...
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Death toll in Afghan floods tops 100: officials
Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
The death toll from flash floods in northern Afghanistan rose to more than 100 on Saturday with many others still missing, officials said, as helicopters carried trapped villagers to safety.
The national disaster management authority told AFP that 58 people were killed in Jowzjan province, 32 in Faryab, six in Sar-e-Pul and six others in Badghis as floods struck a large swath of rural commun ...
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Pterodactyl found in China is most ancient to date
Washington (UPI) Apr 24, 2013 -
Pterodactyls, the now extinct genus of flying reptiles - and part of the slightly larger pterodactyloids family - is five million years older than previously thought. That according to a new study which details the 2001 discovery of the oldest pterodactyl species found to date.
Scientists estimate that the species Kryptodrakon progenitor spread its 4.5-foot wingspan roughly 163 millio ...
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Ukraine has cut back water supply to Crimea
Moscou (AFP) April 26, 2014 -
Ukraine has reduced its water supplies to the Crimea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia last month, the region's governor Sergei Aksyonov said Saturday.
"Ukraine's sabotage limiting the water supply to the republic through the North Crimea canal can only be qualified as premeditated action against the people of Crimea," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
Ukrainian media repo ...
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NASA Sees Earth From Orbit In 2013
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 23, 2014 -
A fleet of orbiting satellites monitors Earth constantly. The satellites from NASA and other space agencies give us a fresh, wide perspective on things that we can see from the ground - and things that we can't.
A look back at Earth in 2013 from the viewpoint of orbit reveals the kind of data gathering and technical achievement that are the reason NASA puts Earth-observing satellites in sp ...
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Impact glass stores biodata for millions of years
Providence RI (SPX) Apr 22, 2014 -
Asteroid and comet impacts can cause widespread ecological havoc, killing off plants and animals on regional or even global scales. But new research from Brown University shows that impacts can also preserve the signatures of ancient life at the time of an impact.
A research team led by Brown geologist Pete Schultz has found fragments of leaves and preserved organic compounds lodged inside ...
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A Star's Early Chemistry Shapes Life-Friendly Atmospheres
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Apr 22, 2014 -
Born in a disc of gas and rubble, planets eventually come together as larger and larger pieces of dust and rock stick together. They may be hundreds of light-years away from us, but astronomers can nevertheless watch these planets as they form.
One major point of interest is the chemistry of the rubble that forms around a star before a planetary system is formed, known as the protoplanetar ...
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Lockheed Martin Solar Ultraviolet Imager Installed on GOES-R Weather Satellite
Palo Alto CA (SPX) Apr 23, 2014 -
Lockheed Martin has delivered a new solar analysis payload that will help scientists measure and forecast space weather, which can damage satellites, electrical grids and communications systems on Earth.
The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument was integrated with the first flight vehicle of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) next-generation Geostationary Op ...
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Australia plans to widen fruitless MH370 search
Perth, Australia (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
Australian authorities said Friday they would widen the underwater hunt for missing flight MH370, as the deep-sea search for wreckage at the suspected crash site neared completion with no results.
Mini-submarine Bluefin-21 has scanned 95 percent of its initial search area in the Indian Ocean, far off western Australia, without making any "contacts of interest" the Perth-based search coordina ...
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No Everest summits likely this season: expedition official
Kathmandu (AFP) April 25, 2014 -
The Everest climbing season will probably be called off this year following last week's avalanche that killed 16 sherpas, an organisation representing Nepalese expedition operators said Friday.
Mountaineers and guides have been deserting the world's highest peak since the avalanche killed 13 sherpas and left three others missing and presumed dead on a treacherous ice field on April 18.
D ...
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