U.S. Navy, Italy receiving more AARGM missiles
Arlington, Va. (UPI) Aug 15, 2013 -
ATK reports it will manufacture more Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles for the U.S. Navy under a third full-rate production contract.
The contract is valued at $96.2 million and includes Captive Air Training Missiles.
"AARGM continues to provide significant advanced capabilities to those who protect our nation each and every day," said Bill Kasting, vice president and gener ...
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New launch system for aircraft carriers in shipboard testing
Patuxent River, Md. (UPI) Aug 15, 2013 -
Below-deck testing of the U.S. Navy's new system for launching aircraft from carriers has started aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, which enters service in 2016.
The first sub-system of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, undergoing assessment is its launch control sub-system, the Navy said. It is one of six sub-systems that provide EMALS with the capability to launch all ...
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N. Korea says rockets not linked to visit by 'so-called pope'
Seoul (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
North Korea on Friday ridiculed suggestions that it had sought to upstage the visit of the "so-called pope" to South Korea by firing a series of short-range rockets as the pontiff flew into Seoul.
A senior rocket scientist, Kim In-Yong, was quoted by the North's official KCNA news agency, accusing Seoul of seeking to tarnish Pyongyang's image.
South Korea "is making crazy accusations to ...
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Pope pushes dialogue with Asian nations like China
Haemi, South Korea (AFP) Aug 17, 2014 -
Pope Francis on Sunday championed a "creative" Catholicism in Asia that reflects the region's diversity, and urged countries like China and North Korea to respond by fostering a proper dialogue with the Vatican.
In a speech to Catholic bishops from 22 Asian countries, the pope said the Church had no choice but to adapt when communicating its message across a region of dramatic contrasts.
...
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Enforced silence at China's Cultural Revolution museum
Shantou, China (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
No signs along the long and dusty mountain road point the way to the Cultural Revolution museum complex.
And this year, no commemoration for the millions of victims of Mao Zedong's mayhem was held on the anniversary of its start.
The mountaintop museum on the outskirts of Shantou chronicles an uncomfortable chapter of history that China's ruling Communist Party would rather forget.
N ...
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PKK conflict with Turkey 'coming to an end', says Kurdish leader
Istanbul (AFP) Aug 16, 2014 -
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's 30-year conflict with Turkey is coming to an end, the group's jailed leader said on Saturday, hailing the start of a new democratic process in the country.
The PKK, which for three decades fought a bloody insurgency for self-rule for Turkey's Kurdish minority that cost 40,000 lives, launched its armed struggle on August 15, 1984.
But the group's jai ...
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Russia 'guaranteed' no soldiers in Ukraine convoy: US
Washington (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called his Russian opposite number Sergei Shoigu on Friday and was promised that no Russian troops are assigned to a "humanitarian convoy" headed to Ukraine.
"Minister Shoigu 'guaranteed' that there were no Russian military personnel involved in the humanitarian convoy, nor was the convoy to be used as a pretext to further intervene in Ukraine," the Pentagon ...
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Tensions soar as Ukraine says destroys Russian armour
Kiev (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
Ukraine said on Friday it had destroyed part of a Russian military convoy that crossed onto its territory in an incursion that has sent cross-border tensions rocketing.
NATO accused Russia of active involvement in the "destabilisation" of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Kremlin separatists have been fighting against Kiev for four months.
The two countries have also been wrangling for days ove ...
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UN Council targets jihadists in Iraq, Syria
United Nations, United States (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday aimed at weakening Islamists in Iraq and Syria with measures to choke off funding and the flow of foreign fighters.
It represents the most wide-ranging response yet by the top United Nations body to the jihadists who now control large swaths of territory in both countries and have been accused of atrocities.
The British-draf ...
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Japanese politicians visit controversial war shrine
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 15, 2014 -
Dozens of Japanese politicians visited a controversial war shrine Friday in a move criticised by China and South Korea, which condemn it as a symbol of Tokyo's militarist past.
More than 80 politicians - including three cabinet ministers - went to the leafy Yasukuni shrine in downtown Tokyo, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stayed away, after a visit in December drew an angry reaction from Ja ...
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Remotec upgrading Army, Marine EOD robots
Clinton, Tenn. (UPI) Aug 15, 2013 -
Robots used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in disposal of unexploded ordnance are to be upgraded by their manufacturer, Remotec Inc.
The contract for the work was issued by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division in Maryland. It is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award with a value of $8.8 million.
Under the awar ...
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India must build defences so none dares cast 'evil eye': PM
Mumbai (AFP) Aug 16, 2014 -
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India must build up its military might to the point that no other country "dare cast an evil eye" on the South Asian nation.
Modi made the statement at a ceremony in Mumbai for the commissioning of the country's biggest locally built warship.
"Our aim is to achieve such prowess in our defence capabilities that no country dare cast an evil eye ...
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Dialogue not 'displays of force' key to Korean peace: Pope
Seoul (AFP) Aug 14, 2014 -
Pope Francis said dialogue and not "displays of force" would bring peace to the divided Korean peninsula as he began a visit Thursday to South Korea that the nuclear-armed North marked with a series of rocket launches.
In a speech to President Park Geun-Hye and senior officials and diplomats in Seoul, Francis said the quest for inter-Korean reconciliation was one that had implications for "t ...
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Hachette pushes back after Amazon alleges price fixing
New York (AFP) Aug 11, 2014 -
Hachette Book Group defended itself Sunday against accusations of pushing up prices for e-books amid a simmering dispute with online retail giant Amazon.
"Hachette sets prices for our books entirely on our own, not in collusion with anyone," the American head of the publishing group, Michael Pietsch, wrote in a letter to readers shared with AFP.
The letter will be sent to anyone who emai ...
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EDF Energy says shuts down nuclear reactors in Britain
London (AFP) Aug 11, 2014 -
EDF Energy, the British unit of French giant EDF, said on Monday it had decided to shut down four nuclear reactors at two plants in northern England as a precaution.
EDF Energy said it was shutting down two reactors at each of the Heysham and Hartlepool nuclear plants for at least about eight weeks.
It follows a defect at one of the four reactors, which has kept it out of action since J ...
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Japan's Marubeni gets capital for Westernmost Rough wind project
London (UPI) Aug 11, 2013 -
Japanese energy company Marubeni Corp. said Monday it secured the financing necessary to support development of a 210-megawatt wind farm off the British coast.
Marubeni in April acquired a 50 percent stake in the project from its counterparts at DONG Energy Inc., a Danish company focused on offshore wind energy development.
The Japanese company said it reached an agreement with a ...
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Moventas Exceed high torque density 3 MW gearbox to be piloted
Jyvaskyla, Finland (SPX) Aug 12, 2014 -
Acciona Windpower has agreed with Moventas on prototype as well as serial deliveries of a 3 MW wind gearbox product based on Moventas's new Exceed series of high torque density gearboxes. Deliveries of the new technology will take place in 2015, adding to the on-going 3 MW deliveries Moventas has been making to Acciona since 2009.
The recently entered agreement concerns two Exceed prototyp ...
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China outstrips Germany to become world's biggest solar market
Beijing (SPX) Aug 12, 2014 -
Hanergy and China New Energy Chamber of Commerce have issued the Global Renewable Energy Report 2014. The report found that China became the world's biggest market for solar power in 2013, with the country's newly installed photovoltaic generating capacity jumping 232% on-year to 12 gigawatts (GW).
Key findings include:
The global solar market is shifting from Europe to Asia. China's ...
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The economy of bitcoins
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Aug 12, 2014 -
The massive spread of the cryptocurrency or digital currency, Bitcoin, opens up new pathways for researchers to study social action on markets. This reveals interesting feedback between the exchange rates and mentions in social media.
Anyone who strolls around the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, can't help but notice them - the small signs on the doors of shops and cafes "Bitcoins accepted". ...
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With fresh investment, BuzzFeed expands anew
Washington (AFP) Aug 11, 2014 -
The social news group BuzzFeed unveiled a major new expansion plan, using a fresh infusion of $50 million in venture capital.
Andreessen Horowitz, the big Silicon Valley venture group, announced late Sunday it is investing $50 million in BuzzFeed and that one of its partners, Chris Dixon, will be joining the company's board.
Details of the investment were not disclosed. But the New York ...
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Airports plant prairie grass to prevent bird strikes
Dayton, Ohio (UPI) Aug 12, 2013 -
Some 300 acres surrounding the runways at Dayton International Airport are being planted with prairie grass and being converted into un-mowed fields as a way to deter deadly bird strikes.
Dayton is one of several airports that have looked to change their landscaping tactics as a way to keep wildlife from encroaching on airport facilities, specifically runways. Collisions between wildlif ...
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Intel sees lighter, cooler laptops with new chip
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 11, 2014 -
Intel on Monday unveiled a new line of microprocessors aimed at powering thinner and cooler personal computers and other devices.
The chip code-named Broadwell "will be used to manufacture a wide range of high-performance to low-power products including servers, personal computing devices and Internet of Things."
One of the advantages of the chip is its small form factor, allowing for PC ...
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Commercial wind projects reviewed offshore North Carolina
Washington (UPI) Aug 12, 2013 -
The federal U.S. government said it outlined three areas off the coast of North Carolina as potential sites for commercial wind energy development.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said more than 307,000 acres off the coast could be developed for wind energy. So far, the agency has awarded five commercial wind energy leases for the Atlantic coast, though none of the projects are in ...
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Saab car maker NEVS reported in default
Stockholm (AFP) Aug 12, 2014 -
Chinese-owned automaker NEVS, the owner of the Swedish brand Saab, is in default, a Swedish court said Tuesday after receiving a notice from an unpaid supplier.
"We have received a a bankruptcy petition against NEVS (National Electric Vehicle Sweden)," Vaenersborg district court spokeswoman Mona-Lisa Johansson told AFP.
NEVS was created in June 2012 to buy Saab, which filed for bankruptc ...
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Twitter unveils video ads
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 12, 2014 -
Twitter on Tuesday unveiled a new advertising program that delivers "promoted videos" to the tweet stream of users of the popular messaging platform.
The new program adds to the source of advertising revenue for Twitter, which has struggled to convince investors it is on a path to profitability.
"By using Promoted Video, it's easy for brands to upload and distribute video on Twitter, and ...
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