Hawaii volcano lava wave nears homes
Los Angeles (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
Smoldering lava from a slow-erupting volcano has reached within yards (several meters) of homes on Hawaii's Big Island, emergency officials said Monday as villagers braced to evacuate.
The lava flow from the Kilauea volcano has been threatening nearby homes for weeks, and was 100 yards (91 meters) from the nearest house by early Monday. The lava front was moving at between 10-15 yards (9-14 ...
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Tropical Depression Hanna soaks Nicaragua, Honduras
Managua (AFP) Oct 28, 2014 -
Tropical Depression Hanna on Monday lashed northeastern Nicaragua and eastern Honduras, unleashing heavy rains that US forecasters warned could cause deadly flash-flooding.
Though slightly weaker and downgraded from tropical storm status, Hanna still could drench much of Honduras and northern Nicaragua with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain, according to the Miami-based National Hurr ...
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Evolutionary roots of Ebola more ancient than previously thought
Buffalo NY (SPX) Oct 28, 2014 -
A new study is helping to rewrite Ebola's family history. The research shows that filoviruses - a family to which Ebola and its similarly lethal relative, Marburg, belong - are at least 16-23 million years old.
Filoviruses likely existed in the Miocene Epoch, and at that time, the evolutionary lines leading to Ebola and Marburg had already diverged, the study concludes.
The research ...
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Is there a way out of the Ebola epidemic
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 28, 2014 -
Not everyone who contracts the Ebola virus dies, the survival rate is around 30% suggesting that some kind of immunity to the disease is possible. Experimental treatments and vaccines against Ebola exist but have not yet been tested in large groups for safety and efficacy (phase 2 trials).
The International Union of Immunology Societies (IUIS) published a statement in its official journal, ...
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Visiting US envoy condemns response to Ebola epidemic
New York (AFP) Oct 26, 2014 -
The US envoy to the United Nations criticised the level of international support for nations hit by Ebola as she began a tour of west Africa on Sunday.
Samantha Power said too many nations were praising the efforts of countries such as the United States and Britain to accelerate aid to the worst-affected countries, but were doing little themselves.
"The international response to Ebola ne ...
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US troops quarantined in Italy after W. Africa stint
Washington (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
US troops returning from West Africa are being quarantined at a base in Italy as a precaution to prevent the potential spread of the Ebola virus, the Pentagon said Monday.
The outgoing commander of the US military mission in Liberia, Major General Darryl Williams, along with 11 other members of his staff, were the first to undergo the isolation measures, which will last up to 21 days, a Pent ...
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Litmus strip-like Ebola diagnostic test works in 30 minutes
Boston (UPI) Oct 27, 2014 -
A team of synthetic biologists have developed a prototype paper test that they say can detect the presence of Ebola strains within 30 minutes, a development that could make the process of finding and containing the disease faster and more efficient.
The litmus-like test utilizes a technology that's popular in science labs called "cell free system," whereby cellular processes are replica ...
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New analysis advances our understanding of photosynthesis
Baton Rouge LA (SPX) Oct 28, 2014 -
A world without plants would be a world without oxygen, uninhabitable for us and for many creatures. We know plants release oxygen by absorbing carbon dioxide and breaking down water using sunlight through the process of photosynthesis.
However, we know little about the mechanics of how plants create oxygen during photosynthesis. A breakthrough that will help advance our understanding of t ...
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Past Climate Change Was Caused by the Ocean, Not Just the Atmosphere
Piscataway Township NJ (SPX) Oct 28, 2014 -
Most of the concerns about climate change have focused on the amount of greenhouse gases that have been released into the atmosphere. But in a new study published in Science, a group of Rutgers researchers have found that circulation of the ocean plays an equally important role in regulating the earth's climate.
In their study, the researchers say the major cooling of Earth and continental ...
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Reducing population is no environmental quick fix
Adelaide, Australia (SPX) Oct 28, 2014 -
New multi-scenario modelling of world human population has concluded that even stringent fertility restrictions or a catastrophic mass mortality would not bring about large enough change this century to solve issues of global sustainability.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, ecologists Professor Corey Bradshaw and Professor Barry Brook from the Un ...
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N.Korea likely can build nuclear warhead: US general
Washington (AFP) Oct 24, 2014 -
The commander of US forces in South Korea said Friday that North Korea likely has the ability to produce a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile, but officials later sought to downplay his remarks.
The comments by the commander echoed an internal debate among US spy agencies that came to light last year, in which the military's intelligence service warned the North was closer to ...
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Canadian military communications getting upgrade
Ottawa (UPI) Oct 26, 2014 -
Thousands of combat net radios and vehicle interface units of the Canadian military are being upgraded by General Dynamics Canada under a three-year contract.
A total of more than 11,000 radios - purchased in 1991 - and 6, 800 vehicle interface units are covered by the contract, which is worth about $108.5 million.
General Dynamics said the upgrade will allow for simultaneous ...
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Suicide bomber kills at least 14 south of Baghdad
Baghdad (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged Humvee armoured vehicle near security forces and allied militiamen south of Baghdad, killing at least 14, an officer and a doctor said Monday.
The blast took place on the northern edge of Jurf al-Sakhr, a large area south of the capital, where the government announced it retook the strategic town of the same name from the Islamic State (IS) jih ...
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Cameroon army kills 39 Boko Haram fighters: defence ministry
Yaounde (AFP) Oct 26, 2014 -
Cameroonian troops killed 39 Boko Haram fighters in clashes with the Islamists, who were carrying out three raids on Cameroon's territory, the defence ministry said Sunday.
Friday's fighting in the far north of Cameroon near Nigeria also claimed four civilian lives, the ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.
Boko Haram rebels, who have been waging attacks in northern Nigeria and who k ...
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Egypt expands 'terrorism-linked' military trials of civilians
Cairo , Egypt (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday enacted a decree allowing military trials for civilians suspected of attacking state infrastructure, after a string of deadly strikes on soldiers.
The decree came after Sisi promised a tough response to what he called an "existential threat" to Egypt posed by militants, following an attack Friday on an army checkpoint in the Sinai that killed ...
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Britain taps Raytheon, Thales for IFF upgrade study
London (UPI) Oct 27, 2014 -
Britain's Ministry of Defense has commissioned a one-year study on upgrading its current Identification Friend-or-Foe systems to the new NATO standard.
Raytheon UK and Thales UK, the IFF incumbents on more than 97 percent of the British military platforms involved in the Mode 5 upgrade, will conduct the study but the monetary value of the contract has not been disclosed.
IFF is a ...
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Sweden's defense export agency faces dissolution
Stockholm, Sweden (UPI) Oct 24, 2014 -
The Swedish government apparently plans to close its arms and defense equipment export agency in the coming year.
The Swedish Defense and Security Export Agency, or FMX, said the plan was contained in a budget proposal presented to parliament on Thursday.
Swedish government export support would, however, continue "through a different administrative structure than today, while pre ...
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Syria regime air strikes kill 13 children: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Oct 26, 2014 -
Syrian government air strikes on two besieged, rebel-held areas of the central province of Homs killed at least 31 people, 13 of them children, a monitoring group said on Sunday.
Sixteen members of the same family were among 24 people killed in raids late Saturday and Sunday on the town of Talbisseh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, updating an earlier toll.
They included 12 ...
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Brazil inks deal for Gripen aircraft
Linkoping, Sweden (UPI) Oct 27, 2014 -
Brazil has signed a contract with Saab, the Swedish defense and security company, for acquisition of 36 Gripen NG fighter aircraft.
The deal between Saab and the Ministry of Defense - through the Aeronautics Command, or COMAER - is worth nearly $5.42 billion. It also includes a substantial technology transfer to Brazilian industry under an associated industrial cooperation accord. ...
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Pro-West parties win Ukraine landslide as shells fly in east
Kiev (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
Ukraine's pro-Western and moderately nationalist parties were on course Monday to score a crushing election win that boosted President Petro Poroshenko's bid to lead his country closer to Europe and end a pro-Russian revolt.
A partial vote count and exit polls showed overwhelming support for Poroshenko's drive to break the ex-Soviet republic of 45 million from Russia's orbit, while attemptin ...
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Japan, China officials hold informal talks on preventing conflict
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
Chinese defence officials are meeting a Japanese delegation in Beijing this week for informal talks on preventing simmering territorial disputes from erupting into armed conflict, the talks' host said Monday.
The former members of Japan's Air and Marine Self-Defense Forces will meet with the current Chinese defence officials on Wednesday, as Tokyo calls for a first official meeting between J ...
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Xi's all that: State media hail Chinese chief's 'busy' work life
Beijing (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
China's state media on Monday published an account of a "typical" day in the life of President Xi Jinping, the latest burnishing of the leader's profile.
The Shanghai Observer article, titled "How Does Xi Jinping Spend a Day?", comes just days after the ruling Communist Party released several photos from early in Xi's political career in the eastern province of Fujian.
It also follows th ...
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British forces hand over control of last base in Afghanistan
Camp Bastion-Leatherneck, Afghanistan (AFP) Oct 26, 2014 -
British forces Sunday handed over formal control of their last base in Afghanistan to Afghan troops, ending combat operations in the country after 13 years which cost hundreds of lives.
The handover was hailed by British Prime Minister David Cameron but the southern Helmand province that foreign troops are leaving behind still confronts a resilient Taliban insurgency and remains a hub for op ...
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Top Chinese diplomat in Hanoi to ease territorial tensions
Hanoi (AFP) Oct 27, 2014 -
China's top foreign policy official on Monday made his second visit to Vietnam in four months, as the communist neighbours work to repair ties strained to breaking point by a territorial dispute.
In May, Beijing moved a deep-water oil rig into waters claimed by Hanoi, prompting a months-long high-seas standoff and triggering deadly anti-China riots in Vietnam. The rig was removed in July. ...
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German spies warn IS has anti-aircraft rockets: report
Berlin (AFP) Oct 26, 2014 -
Germany's intelligence service believes Islamic State jihadist fighters in northern Iraq possess anti-aircraft weapons that could take down passenger jets, according to a newspaper report Sunday.
The BND federal intelligence service had told German lawmakers about its suspicion in a confidential briefing late last week, reported the Bild am Sonntag newspaper without citing named sources.
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