China to Start Building Five Nuclear Reactors in 2015
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Jan 20, 2015 -
China will launch the construction of at least five new nuclear reactors with a total capacity of more than five gigawatts in 2015, the deputy secretary general of the Chinese Nuclear Society (CNS) said Thursday as reported by Bloomberg.
Shen Lixin told journalists in Beijing that currently China has 22 reactors in operation and 26 under construction. In 2014, China launched the constructi ...
more
Sustainability challenged as many renewable resources max out
East Lansing MI (SPX) Jan 19, 2015 -
The days of assuming natural resources can be swapped in and out to solve shortages - corn for oil, soy for beef - may be over. An international group of scientists demonstrate that many key resources have peaked in productivity, pointing to the sobering conclusion that "renewable" is not synonymous with "unlimited."
Scientists from Michigan State University (MSU), the Helmholtz Centre for ...
more
Hundreds of US troops to train Syrian rebels: Pentagon
Washington (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
The US military will send nearly 1,000 troops to train Syrian rebel forces as part of a long-planned effort to build up a moderate opposition to take on the Islamic State group, the Pentagon said Friday.
The training will take place in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar and is expected to start in the "early spring," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told a news conference.
More than 400 tra ...
more
Taiwan's embattled ruling party looks to new leader to turn tide
Taipei (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
Taiwan's Beijing-friendly ruling party appointed a new leader on Saturday in the hope of reversing its fortunes after its worst-ever local election setback reflected growing fears over Chinese influence.
President Ma Ying-jeou resigned as chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) over the election defeat in November, seen as a public backlash over warming ties with China since he took power in 2008. ...
more
Algeria finds explosive vests near French beheading area
Algiers (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
Algerian soldiers discovered a cache of explosive vests and ammunition in the east of the country near where jihadists beheaded a French hostage in September, the defence ministry said Saturday.
"In the framework of the anti-terrorist fight and a search operation near Iboudrarene (150 kilometres or 90 miles east of Algiers), the army... on Friday uncovered and destroyed on site five explosiv ...
more
Obama urges Congress to hold off on Iran sanctions, threatens veto
Washington (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
US President Barack Obama on Friday urged Congress not to impose new sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program, threatening to veto any such legislation that lands on his desk.
Obama told a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron that Iran was already chafing under existing sanctions and had not accelerated its program, and that he would strongly urge Congr ...
more
Russian firm seals $1 billion deal to supply US rocket engines
Moscow (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
A Russian manufacturer on Friday announced a $1 billion deal to supply engines for the US Antares rockets making deliveries to the International Space Station.
Russian producer Energia said in a statement that it had signed the bumper deal to build 60 engines with private US firm Orbital Science, which has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to supply the space station.
Deliveries of the ...
more
Top Chinese spymaster probed for corruption
Beijing (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
China's ruling Communist Party said Friday it has put the deputy chief of the country's top intelligence agency under investigation, the latest high-ranking figure probed in a much-publicised corruption crackdown.
Ma Jian, a deputy head of China's ministry of state security, is suspected of "serious disciplinary violation" - generally a euphemism for graft - the party's internal watchdog s ...
more
US kept international call data for over decade: report
Washington (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
The US Justice Department maintained a secret database of Americans' international phone calls for more than a decade before ending the program in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The newspaper said the spying program was uncovered in a court document filed Thursday in the case of a man accused of conspiring to illegally export electronic equipment to Iran.
The paper cited ...
more
Northrop Grumman receives ICBM sub-system support contract
Herndon, Va. (UPI) Jan 16, 2015 -
Ground sub-systems of Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles are to receive support services from Northrop Grumman.
The five-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is worth a total of $963.5 million. An initial award worth $4.4 million has already been received by the company.
"Northrop Grumman continues a 50-plus year partnership with the U.S. Air Force ...
more
Nuclear talks will succeed only if pressure on Iran stops: Tehran
Geneva (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
A complex deal on Iran's nuclear programme can be reached only if global powers stop pressuring Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Saturday evening.
"If the Western countries want to negotiate with the Islamic Republic of Iran, they must make a political decision, which for some could be difficult, and stop with the pressure," Zarif told Iranian state television.
His ...
more
No sign of N. Korea nuclear test preparations: US think tank
Seoul (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
North Korea is showing no signs of preparing for a new nuclear test, a US think tank said Friday, citing recent satellite imagery.
However one or more tunnels at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site are complete and ready for another test should Pyongyang decide to carry one out, the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.
On its closely-watched 38 North website, the institute ...
more
Chad army vehicles head for Cameroon to fight Boko Haram
N'Djamena (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
Dozens of Chadian tanks headed out of the capital Friday south towards Cameroon to help fight Nigeria's dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.
The convoy, seen by an AFP journalist, roared out of the city after Chad's parliament voted to send armed forces to Cameroon and Nigeria to fight against the Islamists.
Cameroon's President Paul Biya had announced Thursday that Chad President Idriss Deby ...
more
Hong Kong press freedom 'at increasing risk' warns report
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
Physical assaults and cyber attacks are part of the "increasing risk" to media in Hong Kong, a city which prides itself on free expression compared with strict censorship in mainland China, a report said Friday.
Published by US literary and human rights group PEN American Center, the report comes as tensions remain high after more than two months of mass protests for fully free leadership el ...
more
Record-breaking 2014 was hottest in modern history: US
Miami (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
Record-breaking temperatures scorched the planet last year, making 2014 the hottest in more than a century and raising new concerns about global warming, US government scientists said Friday.
The much-anticipated report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was confirmed by an independent analysis from the US space agency NASA that reached the same concl ...
more
Japan marks 20th anniversary of killer quake in Kobe
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
Japan on Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,400 people with renewed calls for the quake-prone nation to stay vigilant against the next "Big One."
More than 14,000 people gathered to commemorate the victims in the western port city of Kobe, where a 7.2-magnitude quake hit at 5:46 am on January 17, 1995.
The quake, which killed 6,434 people, ...
more
China diagnosed 104,000 new HIV/AIDs cases in 2014
Beijing (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
China diagnosed 104,000 new cases of HIV/AIDS in 2014, media reported Friday, highlighting growth in infections in the country despite a comparatively low overall rate.
The figure was a 14 percent increase on the number of new cases diagnosed in 2013, the Beijing Times cited the country's health administration as saying.
Chinese state-run media said last month that half a million people ...
more
Volunteers join grim search for Malawi flood victims
Chilobwe, Malawi (AFP) Jan 17, 2015 -
While helicopters and boats fan out across Malawi's devastated floodlands to search for the living, families and friends of the missing have begun the grim task of digging for the dead.
Armed only with hoes, six young men on Saturday combed the banks of a new watercourse created by flash floods through Chilobwe, a shantytown just five kilometres (three miles) from the commercial capital Blan ...
more
New species of legless amphibian found in Cambodia
Phnom Penh (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
A new species of legless amphibian resembling a giant earthworm or a snake has been discovered in a remote but threatened area of Cambodian rainforest, conservationists said on Friday.
The grey-brown creature - Ichthyophis cardamomensis - was found in Cambodia's southwest Cardamom Mountains, an area under threat from habitat loss, according to Fauna and Flora International (FFI).
The n ...
more
Pope attracts world-record crowd in wet Philippines
Manila (AFP) Jan 18, 2015 -
Pope Francis drew a record six million people as he celebrated mass in the rain-swept Philippine capital Sunday, a triumphant finale to an Asian tour in which he championed the plight of the poor.
Filipinos are famous for practising a passionate brand of Catholicism and they turned out in a celebratory mood that defied the gloomy skies, determined to see the charismatic 78-year-old pontiff. ...
more
HK protest leader accuses government of harassment with arrests
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 18, 2015 -
Hong Kong student leader Alex Chow on Sunday accused police of mounting a campaign of harassment against pro-democracy campaigners after he became the latest figure to be arrested and released by police.
Several protest leaders have been summoned in recent days over offences relating to the mass protests that shut down parts of the city late last year, only to be released in what lawyers hav ...
more
Canada to stage helicopter wolf hunt to save caribou
Ottawa (AFP) Jan 16, 2015 -
A government plan to shoot up to 184 wolves from a helicopter to reduce their population and save caribou herds in western Canada drew sharp criticism from conservation groups Friday.
British Columbia said the killings are needed to save herds in the South Selkirk Mountains and South Peace regions of the province from possible extinction due to wolf predation.
The population of the South ...
more
Rescuing farmland after a flood
Urbana IL (SPX) Jan 19, 2015 -
When levees fail, either naturally or as an intentional breach, as was the case on the Mississippi River in 2011, an orchestrated effort is made to remove or repair flood-damaged homes and other structures. A University of Illinois soil scientist believes that an equivalent effort should be coordinated to assess soil damages, including how flooding has affected soil productivity and land used fo ...
more
New non-destructive device measures root growth in smaller plants
Raleigh NC (SPX) Jan 19, 2015 -
Researchers from North Carolina State University's Department of Horticultural Science recently introduced a new apparatus called the "mini-Horhizotron", a device used to non-destructively measure treatment and substrate effects on plant root growth in greenhouse production.
"The mini-Horhizotron was designed to measure root growth of small plant material such as seedlings, herbaceous plug ...
more
Ancient fossils reveal rise in parasitic infections due to climate change
Columbia MO (SPX) Jan 19, 2015 -
When seeking clues about the future effects of possible climate change, sometimes scientists look to the past. Now, a paleobiologist from the University of Missouri has found indications of a greater risk of parasitic infection due to climate change in ancient mollusk fossils.
His study of clams from the Holocene Epoch (that began 11,700 years ago) indicates that current sea level rise may ...
more
