Iran urges US to release 19 detainees
Tehran (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
Iran urged the United States Wednesday to release 19 Iranians detained on sanctions-related offences, a day after ruling out a prisoner swap with a Washington Post reporter accused of espionage.
"We call on the American government and their judicial authorities to put an end to the detention of these individuals," foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said.
"None of the human right ...
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Prototype nEUROn combat drone put to the test
Rome (UPI) Aug 26, 2015 -
Fight testing of a European-made unmanned combat vehicle has been completed in Italy at an Italian Air Force base, Alenia Aermacchi reports.
The full-sized UCAS prototype of the nEUROn was developed by an industry group led by Dassault Aviation of France. Other team members are Alenia Aermacchi, Saab, Airbus Defense and Space, RUAG and HAI.
Alenia said 12 tests of the aircraft ve ...
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More than 1,000 NATO paratroopers mount exercise in Germany
Berlin (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
More than 1,000 NATO paratroopers jumped from aircraft above Germany Wednesday in one of the alliance's largest airborne training exercise in Europe since the Cold War ended, the US army said.
Amid a drive by NATO to boost its defences in light of the Ukraine crisis, 11 member countries are taking part in Exercise Swift Response at the US training area of Hohenfels in southern Germany. It wi ...
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Japan lawyers join opposition to controversial security bills
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
Japan's national bar association on Wednesday threw its weight behind growing opposition to controversial security bills that could pave the way for Japanese troops to engage in combat for the first time since the end of World War II.
Hundreds of demonstrators, including some members of the 36,000-strong Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA), took part in a Tokyo rally with academics ...
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Two Russian soldiers jailed for killing Tajik taxi driver
Dushanbe, Tajikistan (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
A Russian military court in Tajikistan on Wednesday sentenced two soldiers from Moscow's largest foreign military base to lengthy prison terms for murdering a local taxi driver.
Fyodor Basimov and Ildar Sakhapov, both 24, were stationed at Russia's 201st military base in Tajikistan when they killed 36-year-old Rahimjon Teshaboev last year.
On Wednesday, Basimov and Sakhapov were sentence ...
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US, Philippines hold talks on boosting military capacity: spokesman
Manila (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
America's Pacific commander held talks with the Philippine military Wednesday on ways to strengthen US capacity in the region to deter conflict and maintain freedom of navigation, a Filipino spokesman said.
Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, outlined a freshly drafted Pentagon report highlighting issues in the South China Sea, where China is in dispute with the Philippines ...
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S. Korea, US say North military easing off war-footing
Seoul (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
The North Korean military is slowly easing its battle-readiness posture, South Korean and US officials said Wednesday after Seoul and Pyongyang secured a deal allowing them to step back from the brink of an armed clash.
Under the agreement reached after marathon, top-level negotiations in the border truce village of Panmunjom, the North undertook to shift down from a "semi war state" once th ...
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North and South Korea: A 'New Normal'?
Seoul (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
Of the many adjectives used to describe the singular nature of North and South Korean relations, "normal" is one that rarely, if ever, crops up.
The complex, volatile and sometimes quite surreal geopolitics of the divided Korean peninsula are very far from ordinary, subject to wild mood swings between two countries that have technically been at war for the past 60 years.
But judging what ...
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Greece announces discovery of ancient palace near Sparta
Sparta, Greece (UPI) Aug 25, 2015 -
On Tuesday, Greece's culture ministry announced the discovery of an ancient Mycenaean palace near Sparta.
The palatial remnants were unearthed at the archaeological site known as Aghios Vassilios Hill, a sizable tract near the ancient village of Xirokambi, where Greek archaeologists have been digging since 2009.
A variety of artifacts have been uncovered at the dig site - clay f ...
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Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong charged over protests
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong slammed police Thursday for what he called a "political prosecution" after he was charged over protests which led to last year's mass pro-democracy street rallies.
Wong, 18, who became the face of the democracy movement, is already due in court Friday for separate charges of obstructing police at an earlier demonstration.
The teenager and other activi ...
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Nigerian army chief unharmed after suspected Boko Haram attack
Abuja (AFP) Aug 23, 2015 -
Suspected Boko Haram fighters ambushed a convoy carrying the head of the Nigerian army, the military said on Sunday, sparking a firefight in which 10 militants and a soldier were killed.
Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, who was unharmed, was visiting troops in the northeast Saturday when insurgents attacked in Faljari village, 45 kilometres (28 miles) east of Borno State capital Maiduguri, ...
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South Sudan peace deal welcomed with caution
Juba (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
A deal signed by South Sudan's president aimed at ending 20 months of civil war was given a cautious welcome Thursday, with both sides in the conflict urged to show good faith.
At least seven ceasefires have already been agreed and then shattered within days or even hours since war began in December 2013.
African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Thursday the deal was "a ...
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Tropical storm Erika takes aim at Caribbean
Miami (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
Tropical storm Erika took aim at the Caribbean and storm warnings went up in Puerto Rico and in several other islands in anticipation of heavy rains, US forecasters said.
With winds of 75 kilometers (45 miles) per hour, Erika was 315 kilometers east of Antigua at 2100 GMT, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said, warning of the potential for flash floods in places.
Advancing west, ...
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Pneumonic plague kills eight in Madagascar
Antananarivo (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
Eight people have died in two days of pneumonic plague on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar which is hit by deadly outbreaks almost every year, a health ministry official said Wednesday.
Pneumonic plague is rare and more vicious than the commonly-known bubonic strain as it gives antibiotics little time to act and can kill within 24 hours.
"Twelve cases of pneumonic plague have been i ...
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New Orleans awash in music 10 years after Katrina
New Orleans (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
The vibrant sounds of brass bands and buskers echo through the streets of New Orleans ten years after the birthplace of jazz was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
But while tourists may find themselves overwhelmed by choice, locals fear some of the Big Easy's spirit of creativity and improvisation may have been lost to the floodwaters.
"There had been a long line of older musicians pass ...
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NASA finds vegetation essential for limiting city warming effects
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 26, 2015 -
Cities are well known hot spots - literally. The urban heat island effect has long been observed to raise the temperature of big cities by 1 to 3C (1.8 to 5.4 F), a rise that is due to the presence of asphalt, concrete, buildings, and other so-called impervious surfaces disrupting the natural cooling effect provided by vegetation. According to a new NASA study that makes the first assessment of ...
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Demand for coffee can create ecological, economic rift with poorer nations
Chicago IL (SPX) Aug 25, 2015 -
The explosion in worldwide coffee consumption in the past two decades has generally not benefitted farmers of coffee beans in poorer nations along the equator.
A University of Kansas (KU) researcher studying trade and globalization has found that the shift to "technified" coffee production in the 1970s and 1980s has created harsher economic and ecological consequences for heavy coffee-prod ...
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Drones used to track wildlife
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Aug 27, 2015 -
Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and The University of Sydney have developed a world-first radio-tracking drone to locate radio-tagged wildlife.
Lead researcher Dr Debbie Saunders from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society said the drones have successfully detected tiny radio transmitters weighing as little as one gram. The system has been tested by tracki ...
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Gorillas not guerrillas: tourism hope in troubled Congo
Nyiragongo, Dr Congo (AFP) Aug 26, 2015 -
Tourists perch perilously on a volcano's edge as swirling smoke belches from the fiery cauldron of lava below, the latest unlikely visitors holidaying in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
Below, sounding like a roaring sea, spurts of molten rock fly high into the air, as one of the world's largest lava lakes and most active volcanos puts on its mesmerising show.
Eastern DR Congo has ...
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Lizard Fossil Overturn Hypothesis Of Lizard Evolution
Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Aug 26, 2015 -
University of Alberta paleontologists have discovered a new species of lizard, named Gueragama sulamericana, in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Oeste in Southern Brazil in the rock outcrops of a Late Cretaceous desert, dated approximately 80 million years ago.
"The roughly 1700 species of iguanas are almost without exception restricted to the New World, primarily the Southern United States ...
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Smart phone not a smart choice when facing depression
East Lansing, MI (SPX) Aug 27, 2015 -
Depressed people who turn to their smart phones for relief may only be making things worse.
A team of researchers, that included the dean of Michigan State University's College of Communication Arts and Sciences, found that people who substitute electronic interaction for the real-life human kind find little if any satisfaction.
In a paper published in the journal Computers in Human ...
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Rare nautilus sighted for the first time in 3 decades
Seattle WA (SPX) Aug 27, 2015 -
In early August, biologist Peter Ward returned from the South Pacific with news that he encountered an old friend, one he hadn't seen in over three decades. The University of Washington professor had seen what he considers one of the world's rarest animals, a remote encounter that may become even more infrequent if illegal fishing practices continue.
The creature in question is Allonautilu ...
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As Ice Age ended, greenhouse gas rise was lead factor in melting of Earth's glaciers
Chestnut Hill, MA (SPX) Aug 25, 2015 -
A fresh look at some old rocks has solved a crucial mystery of the last Ice Age, yielding an important new finding that connects to the global retreat of glaciers caused by climate change today, according to a new study by a team of climate scientists.
For decades, researchers examining the glacial meltdown that ended 11,000 years ago took into account a number of contributing factors, par ...
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Water covers 70 percent of the Earth's surface, but only a fraction is fresh
Tampa FL (SPX) Aug 27, 2015 -
Fresh water--connecting and sustaining all aspects of life on Earth, including food and energy--is in great danger. Moreover, scientists are worried not only about fresh water; they worry that we are not worried enough about fresh water, especially in light of growing concern over recent events, such as the prolonged California drought.
The current Special Issue Section of Technology and I ...
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China arrests 12 over Tianjin blasts as toll rises
Beijing (AFP) Aug 27, 2015 -
Chinese police have arrested 12 people over giant explosions that killed at least 145 people and devastated a swathe of a Chinese port city, state media said Thursday as prosecutors probe 11 officials for neglecting their duties.
The official Xinhua news agency said the dozen formally held include the chairman and senior managers of the firm whose chemical storage facility exploded in the no ...
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