Russia's Glonass to Provide Brazil With Alternative to GPS
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Dec 26, 2014 -
The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass) will provide Brazilians with an alternative to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), giving them more localized data and stability, the Glonass project coordinator in Brazil told Sputnik.
"Brazil will have an alternative to GPS as a civil-use localization system. So all Brazilians will be able to access this system, and this ...
more
Small CubeSat Provides Big Space Experience
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 26, 2014 -
Any way you slice it, space exploration - done right - requires an inordinate range of technical expertise. From designing the spacecraft, the mission proposal and the circuit boards to testing the flight software and putting together budgets, sending something, anything, into the cosmos depends on good people who know their job.
"Although significantly smaller in size, CubeSats contain ...
more
Iran military adviser killed in Iraq
Tehran (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
A senior Iranian military officer has been killed while advising Iraqi troops in their fight against the Islamic State group, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday.
"Brigadier General Hamid Taghavi was martyred during a mission to advise the army and Iraqi volunteers... in the city of Samarra," north of Baghdad, said a statement from the elite Iranian military force.
His funeral wil ...
more
Iraqi forces launch offensive on IS in Dhuluiyah
Baghdad (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Iraqi forces backed by Sunni tribes advanced into the town of Dhuluiyah north of Baghdad on Sunday in a new attempt to push out Islamic State group jihadists, officials said.
In October, Iraqi forces retook most of Dhuluiyah from IS, but the jihadists later launched a counter-offensive and were able to seize ground they had lost.
A Sunni tribe in the south of the town, 90 kilometres (55 ...
more
Japan plans law to speed up overseas deployment of troops
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Japan plans to draw up a law to speed the deployment of troops overseas for peacekeeping operations and to support allies, reports said Sunday, in a move that could strain relations with neighbours wary about Japan's wartime history.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) plan to draw bills early next year aimed at facilitating administrative processes ...
more
First air strikes hit Libya's militia-held Misrata
Tripoli (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Forces loyal to Libya's internationally recognised government carried out their first air strikes on Sunday against the country's militia-held third city of Misrata, a spokesman said.
Colonel Ahmed Mesmari said the raids were a response to a renewed attempt early Sunday by the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) militia to seize the key Al-Sidra oil export terminal.
Residents said the strikes target ...
more
China Launches Yaogan-26 Remote Sensing Satellite
Beijing (Sputnik) Dec 29, 2014 -
The Chinese launched Yaogan Weixing series satellite on Saturday. The launch of Yaogan Weixing-26 took place at 03:22 UTC using a Long March-4B launch rocket from the LC9 launch complex at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, reports NASA.
The launch marked the 202nd mission for the Long March rocket family, reports Xinhua News.
According to a website, China Org, the spacecraft will be us ...
more
Russia Test Launches RS-24 Yars ICBM From Plesetsk: Ministry
Moscow (Sputnik) Dec 29, 2014 -
Russian Strategic Arms Forces on Friday successfully test launched a Yars solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Space Complex in the country's northwest, an official spokesman for the country's Strategic Arms Forces said.
"On December 26, 2014, at 11:02 Moscow time [08:02 GMT]...a test launch of an RS-24 Yars solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missile with a de ...
more
Chechen president offers 'special regiment' to defend Russia
Moscow (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday proposed the creation of a "special regiment" made up from Chechnya's armed forces to help defend Russia from Western aggression.
Kadyrov said his country stood firmly behind Russian President Vladimir Putin as Europe and the United States waged an "economic war" against Russia.
"For 15 years Vladimir Putin has helped our people! Now we're askin ...
more
Russia's New Ballistic Missile Can Become Operational in 2016
Vlasikha, Russia (Sputnik) Dec 29, 2014 -
Russia's new-generation strategic ballistic missile RS-26 could be put on combat duty as early as in 2016, Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, said Thursday.
"Tests of the RS-26 ballistic missile are still underway. We are planning to complete them next year and begin putting the missile on combat duty in 2016," Karakayev told RIA Novosti.
...
more
Russia's New Military Doctrine Permits Retaliatory Nuclear Strike Only
Moscow (Sputnik) Dec 29, 2014 -
Russia stopped short of including the "preemptive strike" notion into its new military doctrine released Friday, permitting the use of its nuclear arsenal only as a retaliatory measure.
Earlier media reports suggested that Russia's military doctrine could be updated to include the term "preemptive strike." However, provisions concerning the possibility of a nuclear strike remain largely si ...
more
Nepal's thirsty capital loses ancient taps to construction
Kathmandu (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
From early morning, housewives carrying buckets and brass pots queue in the back streets of Nepal's capital for the free water pumped from a network of ancient stone spouts.
A lifeline in a city with erratic government supplies and expensive private alternatives, Kathmandu's intricately carved communal spouts have survived invasions and earthquakes.
But the centuries-old water taps are ...
more
European fire ant impacts forest ecosystems by helping alien plants spread
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Dec 29, 2014 -
An invasive ant species that has become increasingly abundant in eastern North America not only takes over yards and delivers a nasty sting, it's helping the spread of an invasive plant species. The ants are very effective dispersers of invasive plant seeds and new research suggests that together they could wreak havoc on native ecosystems.
University of Toronto researchers have found that ...
more
Football hero George Weah in landslide Liberian Senate win
Monrovia (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Liberian opposition politician and former football star George Weah won a landslide victory in Senate elections in Ebola-ravaged Liberia, official results showed Sunday.
Weah - who in 1995 became the first and only African yet to win the Ballon d'Or as European footballer of the year and who played for AC Milan, Paris Saint Germain and Monaco - trounced his rival Robert Sirleaf, the son of ...
more
Scientists zero in on how lung cancer spreads
London, UK (SPX) Dec 29, 2014 -
UK scientists have taken microscopic images revealing that the protein ties tethering cells together are severed in lung cancer cells - meaning they can break loose and spread, according to research published in Cell Reports*.
The researchers at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute discovered that the ties which lash cells together - controlled by a protein called TIAM1 - are choppe ...
more
Hong Kong raises bird flu alert level as woman critical
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 28, 2014 -
Hong Kong hospitals raised alert levels Sunday as a woman diagnosed with the deadly H7N9 avian flu virus was in a critical condition.
The 68-year-old woman was hospitalised on December 25 after returning from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen almost two weeks earlier, although it has not been confirmed where or how she contracted the virus.
Ten people had previously been diagnosed wi ...
more
NOAA declines to list pinto abalone as endangered
Eureka, Calif. (UPI) Dec 28, 2014 -
In a status review of the pinto abalone, the National Marine Fisheries Service declined to list the species as endangered, arguing the six-inch-long sea snail isn't under the threat of extinction despite evidence of the population's struggles.
"The best available data indicate that pinto abalone abundance has declined in many areas throughout the species' range due to fisheries harvest, ...
more
Scientists discover oldest stone tool ever found in Turkey
London UK (SPX) Dec 29, 2014 -
Scientists have discovered the oldest recorded stone tool ever to be found in Turkey, revealing that humans passed through the gateway from Asia to Europe much earlier than previously thought, approximately 1.2 million years ago.
According to research published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, the chance find of a humanly-worked quartzite flake, in ancient deposits of the river G ...
more
Russia Declassifies Satellite Earth-Sensing Data
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Dec 26, 2014 -
The Russian government said Friday it will provide public access to previously classified Earth-sensing data received from domestic and foreign satellites.
"The Earth-sensing data received from civilian domestic and foreign satellites are no longer considered state secrets and it will be open to public access in line with the Russian legislation," the government said in a statement posted ...
more
Scientists create human primordial cells in the lab
Cambridge, England (UPI) Dec 25, 2014 -
The first time in history, researchers have successfully used human embryonic stem cells to create primordial germ cells, cells that divide and mature into egg and sperm. Previously, the feat had been accomplished using rodent stem cells - not those from a human embryo.
"Researchers have been attempting to create human primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the petri dish for years," leader a ...
more
SFU scientists help put bedbugs to bed forever
Burnaby, Canada (SPX) Dec 29, 2014 -
The world owes a debt of gratitude to Simon Fraser University biologist Regine Gries. Her arms have provided a blood meal for more than a thousand bedbugs each week for five years while she and her husband, biology professor Gerhard Gries, searched for a way to conquer the global bedbug epidemic.
Working with SFU chemist Robert Britton and a team of students, they have finally found the so ...
more
Buffer zone may be inadequate to protect produce from feedlot contamination
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 29, 2014 -
The pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 can spread, likely airborne, more than one tenth mile downwind from a cattle feedlot onto nearby produce, according to a paper published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The high percentages of leafy greens contaminated with E. coli suggest great risk for planting fresh produce 180 m [590 feet] or less from a feedlot," the investigat ...
more
Satellites guide sailor from treacherous waters
Paris (ESA) Dec 26, 2014 -
While sailing south of Africa on an around-the-world voyage, Matteo Miceli was suddenly alerted to a massive iceberg in his path. Almost 4 km long, the iceberg drifting near the Prince Edward Islands was detected and tracked by European satellites.
"According to our experience, at these latitudes the big icebergs undergo strong fragmentation. The presence of a big iceberg could be an indic ...
more
Australia's coastal network keeps watch on extreme ocean events
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Dec 26, 2014 -
A network of nine reference sites off the Australian coast is providing the latest physical, chemical, and biological information to help scientists better understand Australia's coastal seas, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Tim Lynch from CSIRO, Australia and colleagues.
Sustained oceanic observations allow scientists to track changes in oceanography ...
more
Microplastics in the ocean: biologists study effects on marine animals
Bremerhaven, Germany (SPX) Dec 26, 2014 -
Ingestion of microplastic particles does not mechanically affect marine isopods. This was the result of a study by biologists at the North Sea Office of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) that was published recently in the journal "Environmental Science and Technology".
The study marks the launch of a series of investigations aimed at forming ...
more
