Hong Kong netizens lampoon government negotiators
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 22, 2014 -
Hong Kong government negotiators who sat down to crunch talks with student leaders have become figures of online derision with netizens mocking them as empty vases, garbage bins and Teletubbies.
Five student leaders, in their early twenties and dressed in T-shirts bearing the slogan "Freedom Now", faced off against five suited senior government officials in tense talks at a medical college c ...
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No end in sight for Hong Kong protests after talks
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 22, 2014 -
Hong Kong student leaders said Wednesday they may shun further talks with the government, accusing it of failing to make any meaningful offers to end weeks of mass pro-democracy protests and roadblocks.
The comments are a blow to the city's Beijing-backed leaders who had expressed hopes for fresh rounds of talks after meeting students on Tuesday night for the first time.
The negotiations ...
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Nepal calls off search for survivors of deadly snowstorm
Kathmandu (AFP) Oct 22, 2014 -
Nepal on Wednesday called off a search for any more survivors of a Himalayan snowstorm that claimed some 43 lives, after more than a week of scouring the popular trekking region.
Emergency workers have airlifted 518 people to safety, including 310 foreign tourists, since the snowstorm struck the Annapurna Circuit in central Nepal during peak season, catching trekkers, their guides and porter ...
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China installs buoys in Pacific Ocean: report
Beijing (AFP) Oct 22, 2014 -
China has installed 17 sets of submerged buoys in "key marine areas" of the western Pacific ocean, state media said, a move that could exacerbate territorial tensions in the region.
The mission carried out by the Chinese research vessel Kexue "marks the first time that China has put an array of submerged buoys on such a big scale", the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday.
" ...
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No breakthrough during Hong Kong protest talks
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Hong Kong's government held its first talks Tuesday with pro-democracy protest leaders but made no breakthrough in their bid to end three weeks of disruptive mass rallies which have posed a major challenge to Beijing.
Student leaders faced off with government negotiators during the tense two-hour meeting in which both sides agreed on little as the discussions were broadcast live to thousands ...
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Chewing too much hassle? Japan's got just the thing
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Are you worried that you're just not chewing enough to keep your mind and body in tip-top condition? Then never fear: Japan has invented something to help you count your bites.
A small-scale Japanese study last year, among others, suggested there was a connection between chomping and cognitive function, and the belief in a link between chewing and health is widely held in Japan.
Now a To ...
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Businesses struggle on drought-hit Californian lake
Los Angeles (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
It is a vast bowl of sand and rocks. It could be a lunar landscape, were it not surrounded by pine trees and dotted with shipwreck-like jetties and beached boats.
"The drought has been ... devastating on our business. Without the water we have no boating business at all," said Elaine Newton, who usually rents out boats to tourists on Huntington Lake, California.
The state is enduring it ...
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Those who rest their brain and reflect learn better
Austin, Texas (UPI) Oct 22, 2014 -
All work and no play makes the brain a dull toy. At least that's what new science out of the University of Texas suggests. Learning happens best, researchers say, when the brain is allowed to rest and given time for reflection.
In a recent experiment, scientists found that when test subjects reflected upon previously learned material during a rest period, they then performed better on s ...
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Scientists say Hawaii could be hit by massive tsunami
Honolulu (UPI) Oct 21, 2014 -
The most destructive tsunami in modern Hawaiian history occurred in 1946. That year, a swelling wall of water, rising ten feet in height, swept across Hawaii's beaches after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake registered near the Aleutian Islands. More than 170 people perished in the disaster, and the island was left reeling from tens of millions of dollars in damage.
As frightening as it sounds ...
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Global surge of big earthquakes and implications for Cascadia
Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 22, 2014 -
The last ten years have been a remarkable time for great earthquakes. Since December 2004 there have been no less than 18 quakes of Mw8.0 or greater - a rate of more than twice that seen from 1900 to mid-2004.
Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and massive damage has resulted from these great earthquakes. But as devastating as such events can be, these recent great quakes have c ...
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Hong Kong leader says poor would dominate free vote
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Hong Kong's leader Leung Chun-ying has said open elections would result in the city's many poor dominating politics, as he ruled out democratic reforms before crucial talks aimed at ending three weeks of protest rallies.
In an interview with foreign media, carried in the Wall Street Journal and International New York Times hours before talks were due to start between student leaders and offi ...
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The Ocean's Living Carbon Pumps
Rehovot, Israel (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
When we talk about global carbon fixation -"pumping" carbon out of the atmosphere and fixing it into organic molecules by photosynthesis - proper measurement is key to understanding this process. By some estimates, almost half of the world's organic carbon is fixed by marine organisms called phytoplankton - single-celled photosynthetic organisms that account for less than one percent of the tota ...
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Triplet threat from the sun
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
The most obvious effects of too much sun exposure are cosmetic, like wrinkled and rough skin. Some damage, however, goes deeper-ultraviolet light can damage DNA and cause proteins in the body to break down into smaller, sometimes harmful pieces that may also damage DNA, increasing the risk of skin cancer and cataracts.
Understanding the specific pathways by which this degradation occurs is ...
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Is climate change downsizing goats
Durham, UK (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
Alpine goats appear to be shrinking in size as they react to changes in climate, according to new research from Durham University. The researchers studied the impacts of changes in temperature on the body size of Alpine Chamois, a species of mountain goat, over the past 30 years.
To their surprise, they discovered that young Chamois now weigh about 25 per cent less than animals of the same ...
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Europeans lactose intolerant for 5,000 years after agriculture began
Dublin, UK (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
By analysing DNA extracted from the petrous bones of skulls of ancient Europeans, scientists have identified that these peoples remained intolerant to lactose (natural sugar in the milk of mammals) for 5,000 years after they adopted agricultural practices and 4,000 years after the onset of cheese-making among Central European Neolithic farmers.
The findings published online in the scientif ...
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Identifying hidden minds in impaired consciousness
Cambridge, UK (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
This study uncovers hidden signatures of brain networks that could support consciousness in patients who are unresponsive and seemingly vegetative, but who demonstrate signs of covert awareness.
University of Cambridge researchers Dr Srivas Chennu, Dr Tristan Bekinschtein and their collaborators employ the science of networks to characterise the brain networks that support human consciousn ...
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Rising above the risk: America's first tsunami refuge
Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
Washington's coast is so close to the seismically active Cascadia Subduction Zone that if a megathrust earthquake were to occur, a tsunami would hit the Washington shoreline in just 25 minutes.
One coastal community is preparing for such a disaster by starting construction on the nation's first tsunami evacuation refuge, large enough to shelter more than 1,000 people who are within 20-minu ...
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Let There Be Light
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
A longstanding question among scientists is whether evolution is predictable. A team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara may have found a preliminary answer. The genetic underpinnings of complex traits in cephalopods may in fact be predictable because they evolved in the same way in two distinct species of squid.
Last, year, UCSB professor Todd Oakley and then-Ph.D. student Sabrina Pankey ...
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When the isthmus is an island: Madison's hottest, and coldest, spots
Madison WI (SPX) Oct 23, 2014 -
As Dane County begins the long slide into winter and the days become frostier this fall, three spots stake their claim as the chilliest in the area. One is a cornfield in a broad valley and two are wetlands. In contrast, the isthmus makes an island - an urban heat island.
In a new study published this month in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, University of Wisconsin-Madi ...
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At least four months to contain Ebola: Red Cross chief
Beijing (AFP) Oct 22, 2014 -
The Ebola epidemic will take at least four months to contain even if all necessary steps are taken, the global head of the Red Cross said Wednesday, warning of "the price for inaction".
The deadliest-ever outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever has claimed more than 4,500 lives in West Africa, and experts warn the rate of infections could reach 10,000 a week by early December.
There is no lic ...
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New Navy LCS launched by Lockheed Martin team
Marinette, Wis. (UPI) Oct 21, 2014 -
The U.S. Navy's seventh Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Detroit, has been launched by an industry team led by Lockheed Martin.
The ship launched at the Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard into the Menominee River in Wisconsin is a single-hull Freedom variant and is scheduled for delivery to the Navy next year following completion of outfitting and testing.
"It is an honor ...
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Pakistan air strikes kill 28 militants: officials
Islamabad (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Pakistan's military Tuesday said it had killed 28 militants in air strikes in the restive tribal region near the Afghan border, a region where it has been battling Islamist groups for more than a decade.
The strikes, that also killed a number of foreign fighters, took place on Tuesday in Dattakhel area of North Waziristan district, a stronghold of Taliban-linked groups, the military said in ...
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India says no compromise with China on territory
New Delhi (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
India wants to resolve its border row with China but will not compromise on territory, the country's new national security advisor said Tuesday, after a tense stand-off between troops on the disputed border last month.
Hundreds of Chinese troops allegedly moved into territory claimed by India ahead of a visit by China's President Xi Jinping last month.
The troops eventually pulled back b ...
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More sightings of 'foreign sub' as Sweden says it could use force
Stockholm (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Sweden's armed forces chief warned Tuesday it could use force to bring to the surface a suspected Russian mini-submarine its navy has been hunting for days as two new sightings of the vessel were revealed.
The new "observations" of the supposed "foreign" submarine were made on Monday, rear admiral Anders Grenstad said, after the country's top military commander declared it was ready to use " ...
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Israeli minister airs Iran nuclear concerns at Pentagon
Jerusalem (AFP) Oct 21, 2014 -
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Tuesday he shared with his US counterpart his country's concerns about the direction of talks between world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme.
In an audio message released by Yaalon's office after his meeting with Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon, Yaalon said they also talked about the conflicts in Iraq and Syria and the US-Israel defence partners ...
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