EU hails 'serious' Iran nuclear talks, says new round in February
Geneva (AFP) Jan 18, 2015 -
Negotiators for Iran and six global powers striving to reach a complex deal on Tehran's nuclear programme had "serious and useful" discussions in Geneva Sunday and will meet again next month, the EU said.
High level officials from the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia met with Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi for a day of talks as part of "ongoing diploma ...
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Syria starts razing chemical weapons sites: watchdog
The Hague Jan 19, 2015 -
Syria has begun destroying its remaining chemical weapons production sites, despite being hampered by bad weather and logistical problems, the world's chemical watchdog said Monday.
"Destruction operations commenced in December," Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) spokesman Peter Sawczak told AFP in The Hague, without elaborating.
Syria had said previously demoli ...
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UN saw drones before Israeli air strike on Syria
United Nations (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
UN peacekeepers serving in the Golan saw drones flying before an Israeli air strike on Syria that killed an Iranian general, a UN spokesman said Monday.
Six Hezbollah fighters were killed in the raid near Quneitra on the Syria-controlled side of the Golan Heights.
An Israeli security source told AFP that an Israeli helicopter carried out the strike but the UN account raised the possibili ...
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Energia's International Work Unaffected by US Sanctions
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Jan 20, 2015 -
US sanctions against Moscow are not going to influence the work of Russian rocket and space corporation Energia internationally, as the company also collaborates with a wide range of European companies, Energia head Vladimir Solntsev said Friday.
"Our international partners are not only American. There are many others who want to work with us, and they do. We have joint ventures with many ...
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MUOS-3 satellite ready for launch
Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) Jan 19, 2015 -
The third MUOS satellite for improving secure mobile satellite communications for the military is ready for launch in Florida.
Lockheed Martin, who made the satellite for the U.S. Navy, said the Mobile User Objective System satellite will be carried into orbit on Tuesday evening from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
"The launch of M ...
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N. Korea repeats call for suspension of US-S. Korea drills
Singapore (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
North Korea on Monday issued a fresh call for the United States to halt military exercises with South Korea if it wants Pyongyang to suspend nuclear weapons tests.
"I wish the US government (will) study our proposal properly and provide answers to the proposal," Ri Yong-Ho, the North's chief nuclear negotiator, told reporters after two days of unofficial talks with former US diplomats and se ...
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Ex-government official recounts risks of leaving NKorea
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 19, 2015 -
A 50-year-old man who used to work for the North Korean government shares the story of his journey of defection - and being separated from his wife and children since 2006.
Q: Could you share a bit about your life in North Korea?
I used to work as a government officer in a local provincial center in Gang Won Do province. I served in the military for nine years, which is usually 1 ...
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Iran 'backward' after sanctions 'lies': minister
Tehran (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
A government minister launched a rare attack Monday on Iran's downplaying of the impact of international sanctions, saying that "lying" to the public over the measures had left the country "backward".
Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the industry, mining and trade minister, delivered the broadside at a conference in Tehran, claiming years of statements about sanctions not hurting the country wer ...
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McCain urges 'boots on the ground' to combat IS
Jerusalem (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
US Senator John McCain on Monday urged the deployment of international ground forces to combat jihadists in Syria and Iraq, as he toured the Middle East with a Senate delegation.
"For months we've been bombing (Syrian border town) Kobane and we still haven't driven ISIS out," the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman told reporters in Jerusalem, using an acronym for the Islamic State grou ...
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US penetrated N. Korea computer systems in 2010
Washington (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
The United States secretly penetrated North Korea's computer systems four years ago - a breach that allowed Washington to insist Pyongyang was to blame for the recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures, the New York Times reported Monday.
Citing former US officials and a newly released National Security Agency (NSA) document, the Times detailed how the US spy agency in 2010 "penetrated directly" ...
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EU bans sea bass trawling to save species
Brussels (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
The EU said Monday it will ban open water trawling of sea bass during the spawning season through April in order to ensure the stock's survival.
The European Commission, the EU executive arm, said it is working with Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to implement the ban which should take effect at the end of January.
"Emergency measures will be implemented to ban pelagic trawl ...
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Hong Kong demo 'graffiti teen' allowed to stay with family
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
A 14-year-old girl who was arrested for chalking flowers on the wall of a Hong Kong democracy protest site and faced being taken into care will be allowed to stay with her family, a court ruled Monday.
City authorities had been seeking a "care and protection" order for the teenager, who was sent to a children's home after being caught scribbling on the "Lennon Wall" at the city's main protes ...
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Hong Kong creates cadet force modelled partly on Chinese army
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
Hong Kong has created a new army cadet force modelled partly on the Chinese military, sparking fears of tighter controls over the city's youth in the wake of student-led pro-democracy protests.
"Through drills and training camps, the new voluntary uniformed youth group aims to promote civic awareness," China's state-run China Daily reported on Monday about the formation of the Hong Kong Army ...
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Yak dung burning pollutes indoor air of Tibetan households
Atlanta GA (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Tibet, the highest region on Earth and one of the most remote, is associated with vivid blue skies and the crystal clear air of the Himalayas. During the long cold season, however, the traditional nomadic people spend much of their time in snug dwellings where they cook and stay warm by burning yak dung. Their indoor air can be filled with dangerous levels of fine particulate matter, including b ...
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Heart arrhythmias detected in deep-diving marine mammals
Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
A new study of dolphins and seals shows that despite their remarkable adaptations to aquatic life, exercising while holding their breath remains a physiological challenge for marine mammals. The study, published in Nature Communications, found a surprisingly high frequency of heart arrhythmias in bottlenose dolphins and Weddell seals during the deepest dives.
The normal dive response in ma ...
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New maps offer a clearer view of global agriculture
Laxenburg, Austria (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Knowing where agricultural land is located is crucial for regional and global food security planning, and information on field size offers valuable insight into local economic conditions. Two new global maps, released in the journal Global Change Biology, provide a significant step forward in global cropland information on these two topics.
b>IIASA-IFPRI Global Cropland Map br> /b>
The f ...
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Antiquity of dairying on Emerald Isle revealed
Bristol, UK (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
As dairy farmers across Europe anxiously await the lifting of EU milk quotas in April this year, new research from the University of Bristol, UK has revealed the antiquity of dairy farming in a region famous for its dairy exports: Ireland.
Research published in the Journal of Environmental Archaeology shows that dairying on the island goes back approximately 6,000 years, revealed through t ...
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Wildlife loss in the global ocean
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Over the past 500 years, approximately 500 land-based animal species have gone the way of the dodo, becoming extinct as a result of human activity. In the ocean, where scientists count only 15 or so such losses, the numbers currently aren't nearly as dire.
But that doesn't mean they aren't yet heading in that direction.
A consortium of scientists, including UC Santa Barbara's Douglas ...
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Pythagoras theorem shows when a patient has turned a corner
Coventry UK (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
A medical researcher at the University of Warwick has found the 2,500 year-old Pythagoras theorem could be the most effective way to identify the point at which a patient's health begins to improve.
In a paper published in PLOS ONE, Dr Rob Froud from Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick worked with his colleague Gary Abel from the University of Cambridge. They made the disco ...
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For sea turtles, there's no place like magnetic home
Chapel Hill NC (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Adult sea turtles find their way back to the beaches where they hatched by seeking out unique magnetic signatures along the coast, according to new evidence from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The findings will be reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.
"Sea turtles migrate across thousands of miles of ocean before returning to nest on the same stretch of coas ...
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Out of the pouch: Ancient DNA from extinct giant roos
Adelaide, Australia (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Scientists have finally managed to extract DNA from Australia's extinct giant kangaroos - the mysterious marsupial megafauna that roamed Australia over 40,000 years ago.
A team of scientists led by Dr Bastien Llamas and Professor Alan Cooper from the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have extracted DNA sequences from two species: a giant short-faced kangaroo ...
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Nearly half the systems crucial to stability of planet compromised
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
Almost half of the processes that are crucial to maintaining the stability of the planet have become dangerously compromised by human activity. That is the view of an international team of 18 researchers who provide new evidence of significant changes in four of the nine systems which regulate the resilience of the Earth. One of the systems which has been seriously affected is the nitrogen-phosp ...
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Mitigation-driven animal translocations are problematic
San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 20, 2015 -
The use of animal translocations as a means to mitigate construction projects and other human developments is a widespread animal-management tool. The paper, produced through collaboration of conservationists from San Diego Zoo Global, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Kent UK, University of Newcastle and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, reviews the success rates associated wi ...
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Pope euphoria quickly fades in Philippine typhoon zone
Tacloban, Philippines Jan 19, 2015 -
Vincent Basiano sang and cheered along with a sea of other joyous typhoon survivors as Pope Francis celebrated mass on a rainy Philippine day, but all too quickly the euphoria passed.
Basiano lost his shanty home when Super Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm recorded on land, claimed thousands of lives in poor fishing and farming communities 14 months ago.
As soon as the pope heard ...
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Malawi flood survivors cry out for aid
Nsanje, Malawi (AFP) Jan 19, 2015 -
Frantic scenes greeted a military helicopter as it landed to deliver aid in a village after severe floods left 176 people dead and 200,000 homeless across Malawi.
Flood survivors, sheltered in a local school in the village of Chimbulika in the far south of Malawi, rushed to get their hands on food and supplies as the chopper neared the schoolyard.
"It's a great relief to hear that soun ...
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