Two new satellites join the Galileo constellation
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Apr 02, 2015 -
The EU's Galileo satellite navigation system now has eight satellites in orbit following the launch of the latest pair. Galileo 7 and 8 lifted off at 21:46 GMT (22:46 CET, 18:46 local time) on 27 March from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on top of a Soyuz rocket. All the Soyuz stages performed as planned, with the Fregat upper stage releasing the satellites into their target orbit close to ...
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China ex-security chief charged with bribery, power abuse
Beijing (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang was charged Friday with bribery, abuse of power and disclosing state secrets, authorities said, making him the most senior official prosecuted in decades and setting the stage for a dramatic trial.
Zhou - seen as an adversary of President Xi Jinping - is the most prominent victim of the Communist Party's much-publicised anti-corruption drive, whi ...
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French energy company invests in drones
Paris (UPI) Apr 1, 2015 -
French energy company GDF Suez said Wednesday it was investing in Redbird, a civilian drone company, to monitor natural gas infrastructures.
The French company's venture capital subsidiary said it invested $2.1 million in Redbird to facilitate drone monitoring of natural gas infrastructure, survey topography and monitor "security for public institutions."
GDF Suez said the invest ...
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N. Korea fires four short-range missiles into sea
Seoul (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles into the sea off its west coast Friday in an operation apparently supervised by leader Kim Jong-Un amid heightened military tensions, a South Korean military spokesman said.
The missiles were launched from a base on the west coast and flew more than 100 kilometres (60 miles), the spokesman for the South's joint chiefs of staff told AFP.
"T ...
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Pentagon chief heading to Japan, S.Korea next week
Washington (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will travel to Japan and South Korea next week to underscore President Barack Obama's commitment to a strategic shift towards Asia, even as crises in the Middle East preoccupy Washington.
Carter embarks on the first of two trips to Asia on Tuesday, stopping in Tokyo and Seoul before meeting the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, officials said.
In May, Car ...
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Iran says nuclear deal will open 'new page' with world
Tehran (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
Iran vowed to stand by a nuclear deal with world powers Friday as President Hassan Rouhani promised it would open a "new page" in the country's global ties.
Keen to win over domestic sceptics, Iran's leaders pushed the merits of a potentially historic agreement, with clerics touting its virtues at Friday prayers in mosques.
The framework agreement - reached Thursday after marathon talks ...
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Despite nuclear deal, US-Iran relations far from rosy
Washington (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
US President Barack Obama, eager to resolve at least one intractable conflict in his final two years in office, has his eye on a major prize: reconciliation with Iran.
Thursday's agreement on a road map for the final phase of negotiations on a nuclear accord could open a way to a broader realignment that would redraw the map of the Middle East.
But analysts warn that the long-time foes r ...
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Iran deal triumph for Kerry's old-school diplomacy
Washington (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
Even before he became secretary of state, John Kerry vowed to stop Iran from gaining an atomic bomb and warned the clock was ticking on reining in its nuclear ambitions.
But few if any of his fellow senators were aware during his January 2013 confirmation hearing that Kerry had already made tentative steps to try to bring Iran back to nuclear talks as part of a secret overture by President B ...
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Saudi king hopes final Iran deal will boost security
Riyadh (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
Saudi King Salman has told US President Barack Obama that he hoped a final nuclear deal between world powers and Iran would strengthen regional and world security, official media said.
In a phone call with Obama on Thursday, Salman "expressed his hope that a final binding deal would be reached to reinforce the stability and security of the region and the world," the SPA news agency said.
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Obama, Congress tilt over Iran deal
Washington (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
President Barack Obama now has a framework nuclear deal with America's Iranian foe, but as he tries to build it into a binding accord he faces enemies closer to home.
Can he prevent the US Congress from torpedoing his diplomatic efforts to contain Tehran?
"If Congress kills this deal, not based on expert analysis and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United Stat ...
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Flights delayed, schools shut as sandstorm hits Gulf
Riyadh (AFP) April 2, 2015 -
Flights were disrupted, ships weighed anchor and schools were closed Thursday as a major sandstorm blew through Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states.
In the United Arab Emirates, several flights were diverted and delays were expected to others, a Dubai Airports spokesperson said, as the skies over the city turned yellow.
King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam, on the Saudi Gulf Coast, suspe ...
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Fashion victim: Chinese designers face struggle
Beijing (AFP) April 3, 2015 -
A parade of unknowns on the catwalks of Beijing Fashion Week highlights the challenges facing Chinese designers trying to break into an industry dominated by foreign brands: high production costs, excessive retail prices, and customers who still favour Western labels.
Not a single international fashion house exhibited at the show, much of which took place in a former factory building in the ...
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Taxi drivers hospitalised after Beijing pesticide protest: police
Beijing (AFP) April 4, 2015 -
More than 30 taxi drivers were hospitalised after apparently drinking pesticide during a protest in central Beijing over a dispute with authorities, police said Saturday.
The drivers, none of whose lives were deemed to be in danger so far, were all from the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, Beijing police said in a statement.
"They came to Beijing to express their demands on ...
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Malawi postpones ivory torching
Blantyre, Malawi (AFP) April 2, 2015 -
Malawi on Thursday postponed the burning of four tonnes of ivory, saying it would wait until more elephant tusks were released from court cases before making a public show of its commitment to fighting the illegal ivory trade.
President Peter Mutharika said that the much-publicised burning would now happen when the current ivory stockpile, worth about $7.5 million (6.9 million euros), was bo ...
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Avalanche kills four soldiers in Indian Kashmir
Srinagar, India (AFP) April 4, 2015 -
An avalanche triggered by heavy snowfall killed four soldiers in the Ladakh region of Indian Kashmir near the border with China, the Indian army said Saturday.
The soldiers were travelling in a convoy of three army vehicles which was struck by an avalanche on Friday, the army's northern command spokesman, S. D. Goswami told AFP.
The avalanche hit at 5,600 metres (18,400 feet) near Changl ...
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Meningitis epidemic kills 45 in Niger
Niamey (AFP) April 4, 2015 -
A meningitis epidemic that broke out in January in Niger has so far killed 45 people, the health minister told AFP on Saturday.
"From January 1 to March 29, 2015, some 345 cases of meningitis, including 45 fatalities, have been reported, which is a fatality rate of 15.3 percent," the minister, Mano Aghali, said.
The capital Niamey is one of the hardest hit areas, with 18 deaths among 119 ...
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Scientists discover why flowers bloom earlier in a warming climate
Norwich, UK (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Scientists at the John Innes Centre have discovered why the first buds of spring come increasingly earlier as the climate changes.
Dr Steven Penfield at the JIC found that plants have an ideal temperature for seed set and flower at a particular time of year to make sure their seed develops just as the weather has warmed to this 'sweet spot' temperature.
Dr Penfield, working with Dr V ...
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'Little Foot' 3.67 million years old
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
A skeleton named Little Foot is among the oldest hominid skeletons ever dated at 3.67 million years old, according to an advanced dating method. Little Foot is a rare, nearly complete skeleton of Australopithecus first discovered 21 years ago in a cave at Sterkfontein, in central South Africa. The new date places Little Foot as an older relative of Lucy, a famous Australopithecus skeleton dated ...
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Travelling pollution
Brussels, Belgium (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Researchers from the UK and Malaysia have detected a human fingerprint deep in the Borneo rainforest in Southeast Asia. Cold winds blowing from the north carry industrial pollutants from East Asia to the equator, with implications for air quality in the region. Once there, the pollutants can travel higher into the atmosphere and impact the ozone layer. The research is published today in Atmosphe ...
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Ancient seashell coloration patterns revealed using ultraviolet light
London, UK (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Nearly 30 ancient seashell species coloration patterns were revealed using ultraviolet (UV) light, according to a study published April 1, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jonathan Hendricks from San Jose State University, CA.
Unlike their modern relatives, the 4.8-6.6 million-year-old fossil cone shells often appear white and without a pattern when viewed in regular visible lig ...
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Lizard activity levels can help scientists predict environmental change
Columbia MI (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Spring is here and ectotherms, or animals dependent on external sources to raise their body temperature, are becoming more active. Recent studies have shown that as the average global temperature increases, some lizards may spend more time in the shade and less time eating and reproducing, which could endanger many species.
Now, a detailed field study of the Puerto Rican crested anole by a ...
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How we hear distance
Storrs CT (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Mammals are good at figuring out which direction a sound is coming from, whether it's a rabbit with a predator breathing down its neck or a baby crying for its mother. But how we judge how far away that sound is was a mystery until now. Researchers from UConn Health report in the 1 April issue of the Journal of Neuroscience that echoes and fluctuations in volume (amplitude modulation) are the cu ...
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Keeping hungry jumbos at bay
Nottingham UK (SPX) Apr 05, 2015 -
Until now electric fences and trenches have proved to be the most effective way of protecting farms and villages from night time raids by hungry elephants. But researchers think they may have come up with another solution - the recorded sound of angry predators.
Using an infrared sensor playback system elephants triggered the sound of growling tigers, leopards and angry shouts of villagers ...
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Citizen scientists map global forests
Vienna, Austria (SPX) Apr 02, 2015 -
New maps of global forest cover from the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA)'s Geo-Wiki team provide a more accurate view of global forests. The maps were published in the journal Remote Sensing of the Environment, and are freely available for exploration and download on the Geo-Wiki Web site.
While there are many existing sources of data about forests, including sa ...
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Chile's Bachelet visits flood-hit north after 25 killed
Santiago (AFP) April 4, 2015 -
Chile's President Michelle Bachelet visited the flood-hit north of the country where at least 25 people died this week, vowing to "rebuild" the stricken region.
Flash floods broke out last week across the Atacama area, home to the world's driest desert, submerging entire towns and leaving thousands of people homeless.
"We stand with you, as we have from the beginning, and we will rebuil ...
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