US fighter planes arrive in Philippines for training mission
Manila (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
US fighter planes have arrived in the Philippines for a training mission and operations to ensure access to the disputed South China Sea, the US Navy said Thursday.
The Philippines' longtime ally deployed the aircraft to train Filipino pilots as Manila remains locked in an increasingly tense maritime dispute with Beijing.
The US Navy made a veiled reference to so-called freedom of navi ...
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Russia building military 'zone of influence': NATO
Berlin (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Moscow is seeking to create a "zone of influence through military means", NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, adding that the alliance has observed major and aggressive manoeuvres on the Russian side.
"We are observing massive militarisation at NATO borders - in the Arctic, in the Baltic, from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea," Stoltenberg told Germany daily Bild in an intervi ...
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Indonesia cites error as ASEAN meeting ends in confusion
Jakarta (AFP) June 15, 2016 -
Indonesia said Wednesday that a bold statement from Southeast Asian nations raising concern over Beijing's island-building in the South China Sea was issued in error, as a meeting over the issue ended in confusion.
In a statement released late Tuesday by Malaysia's foreign ministry, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) warned that recent actions in the disputed waterway had "th ...
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Google chief says Israeli tech second only to Silicon Valley
Tel Aviv (AFP) June 14, 2016 -
A top Google official on Tuesday hailed Israel's tech sector, saying it trailed only Silicon Valley in the United States when it comes to "initiatives".
Eric Schmidt, formerly Google chief executive and now executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet, said Israel, a country of only around eight million people, was punching far above its weight in technology.
"For a relatively small ...
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Iran appeals to UN's top court against US block on frozen funds
The Hague (AFP) June 15, 2016 -
Iran has appealed to the UN's highest court against a US Supreme Court ruling that $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be paid to American victims of terror attacks blamed on Tehran, the tribunal said Wednesday.
In its filing to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague on Tuesday, Tehran argues that "Iran and Iranian state-owned companies are entitled to immunity from ...
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S. Korea holds navy drill near disputed border with North
Seoul (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
South Korea on Thursday kicked off a live-fire naval exercise near its disputed sea border with North Korea - a move likely to fan already elevated military tensions with Pyongyang.
The three-day exercise in the Yellow Sea is aimed at practising responses to simulated incursions by North Korean vessels and aircraft, the South's navy said in a statement.
The manoeuvres will involve 20 na ...
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Less is More: Russia Opts for Lower-Cost but More Capable Navy
Moscow (Sputnik) Jun 17, 2016 -
The Russian Navy has received a welcome boost with the arrival of two of its new series of naval frigates - the Admiral Grigorovich, which arrived at its home base in Sevastopol on Thursday, and the Admiral Essen, scheduled to join the fleet shortly.
b>Small but dangerous br> /b>
The Russian Navy has received a welcome boost with the arrival of two of its new series of naval frigates - t ...
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China blamed for ASEAN U-turn on South China Sea
Manila (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Chinese pressure was blamed Thursday for a stunning diplomatic U-turn by Southeast Asian Nations that saw them retract a statement sounding alarm over Beijing's island building in the South China Sea.
The chaotic events at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday have led to allegations of bullying by Bei ...
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Logos' Serenity threat system now tower mounted
Fairfax, Va. (UPI) Jun 16, 2016 -
Logos Technologies announced Thursday the tower-mounted version of its Serenity hostile fire detection system passed a live fire test last month in Arizona.
Serenity is designed to detect sources of enemy fire and is usually mounted on a high-flying tethered blimp, or aerostat, to provide city-size coverage the company said in a statement.
The latest modifications mean the system ...
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Launch Vehicle Ascent Trajectories and Sequencing
Bethesda MD (SPX) Jun 16, 2016 -
Almost all space launch vehicles liftoff from the ground in the vertical direction and continue to orbit along an ascent trajectory that is usually optimized for the conditions in order to maximize performance while maintaining conservative safety margins. The actual shape of the path to orbit is influenced by a number of factors, including winds and the desired payload injection parameters.
...
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Dolphins to get coastal sanctuary in US
Washington (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
After years of research on dolphin behavior and under pressure from animal rights groups, the National Aquarium in Baltimore has decided to move the marine mammals to a sanctuary, officials said Wednesday.
It will be the first sanctuary for dolphins in North America.
The transfer from the aquarium in the Atlantic coast port city will not be done before 2020, they said.
The venue for ...
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EU at loggerheads with Poland over World Heritage forest
Brussels (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
The European Union on Thursday launched an investigation into Polish logging in its ancient Bialowieza forest, a protected UNESCO World Heritage site which includes some of Europe's last primeval woodland.
"The commission has launched an infringement procedure against Poland... the commission is in contact with the Polish authorities to make sure that any measures are in line with EU law," a ...
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To retain newly learned info, exercise four hours later
Nijmegen, Netherlands (UPI) Jun 16, 2016 -
A little afternoon recess could help schoolchildren remember what they learned during their morning lessons. New research suggests exercise fours after the acquisition of new information boosts memory and retention.
Exercise immediately after learning does no good. A good workout roughly four hours later is the key, according to researchers at the Radboud University Medical Center in th ...
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'Abnormal is the new normal': May breaks another global heat record
Washington (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Last month was the hottest May in modern history, marking the 13th consecutive month that global temperature records have been shattered, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.
That makes the longest such streak in the 137 years the record has existed.
"The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for May 2016 was the highest for the month ...
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Ancient West African soil technique could mitigate climate change
Sussex, England (UPI) Jun 16, 2016 -
An ancient soil-enrichment strategy practiced by West African farmers could boost agricultural yields across the continent and help farmers mitigate the negative effects of global warming.
For at least 700 years, villagers in West Africa have replenished nutrient-poor rain forest soils with charcoal and kitchen waste, transforming the lifeless dirt into rich, fertile compost.
A t ...
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Taiwan lawmakers urge Formosa probe over Vietnam fish deaths
Taipei (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Taiwanese lawmakers urged the government Thursday to investigate local conglomerate Formosa's possible role in mass fish deaths in Vietnam, as activists said industrial pollution from its multi-billion dollar steel plant could have caused the environmental disaster.
If Formosa is behind the tonnes of dead fish that began washing up along Vietnam's central coast two months ago, it could jeopa ...
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Australian cattle 'sledgehammered' in Vietnam abattoirs
Sydney (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Vietnamese abattoir workers have been filmed using sledgehammers to bludgeon Australian cattle, activists said Thursday, prompting some exporters to stop supplying livestock to some slaughterhouses in the southeast Asian nation.
Undercover investigators working for Animals Australia filmed footage last month of one worker clubbing a cow over the head five times with a sledgehammer before it ...
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Dozens of pilot whales stranded in Indonesia, eight dead
Probolinggo, Indonesia (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Eight pilot whales have died after a mass stranding on the coast of Indonesia's main island of Java that sparked a major rescue operation, an official said Thursday.
Thirty-two of the short-finned pilot whales came ashore during high tide early Wednesday in Probolinggo, East Java province.
"At first there were just one or two whales swimming near the shore, and the nature of whales is t ...
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Russia unveils 'world's biggest' nuclear icebreaker
Moscow (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Russia on Thursday floated out a new nuclear-powered icebreaker, said to be the world's biggest and most powerful, to be used for hauling liquefied natural gas from its Arctic terminal.
Arktika, ordered by Russia's Rosatom state nuclear agency, was built at the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg, and will be ready to use by the end of next year.
"There are no icebreakers like it in the ...
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Killing Nemo: Cyanide threat to tropical fish
Paris (AFP) June 16, 2016 -
Many of the real-life Nemos swimming in children's fish tanks were caught using cyanide, according to research published Thursday which flagged the toxic threat to already-stressed corals, the creatures' natural home.
Friday's release of Pixar's "Finding Dory", an animated film about a forgetful blue tang, will likely boost demand for aquarium specimens of the tropical fish, and fuel the poi ...
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Neolithic paddy soil reveals the impacts of agriculture on microbial diversity
Beijing, China (SPX) Jun 17, 2016 -
Modern intensive agriculture has generally led to the decline in farmland biodiversity, such as plants and animals. However, information on the impacts of human activities on soil microbial diversity is scarce, and often inconclusive. Such paucity is in part due to the difficulties in obtaining appropriate contrast samples for comparison.
A group of scientists from China and USA led by Pro ...
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Huge ancient river basin explains location of the world's fastest flowing glacier
Bristol, UK (SPX) Jun 17, 2016 -
An ancient basin hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet, discovered by researchers at the University of Bristol, may help explain the location, size and velocity of Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland's fastest flowing outlet glacier.
The research also provides an insight into what past river drainage looked like in Greenland, and what it could look like in the future as the ice sheet retreats. ...
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How the butterfly got its spots
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jun 17, 2016 -
By tweaking just one or two genes, Cornell University researchers have altered the patterns on a butterfly's wings. It's not just a new art form, but a major clue to understanding how the butterflies have evolved, and perhaps to how color patterns - and other patterns and shapes - have evolved in other species.
By using the new method of CRISPR genome editing, researchers cut out a gene kn ...
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Modern mussel shells much thinner than 50 years ago
Chicago IL (SPX) Jun 17, 2016 -
Shells of California mussels collected from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington in the 1970s are on average 32 percent thicker than modern specimens, according to a new study published by University of Chicago biologists.
Shells collected by Native Americans 1,000 to 1,300 years ago were also 27 percent thicker than modern shells, on average. The decreasing thickness over time, i ...
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Researchers release 'Frankenturtles' into Chesapeake Bay
Gloucester Point VA (SPX) Jun 17, 2016 -
It was a dark and stormy night in the laboratory, and jagged bolts of lightning lit the sky as Dr. Kaplan and his assistant Bianca stitched the pieces of the lifeless creature back together. Actually, it was a sunny day on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, but recent sea turtle research by Assistant Professor David Kaplan of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and graduate student Bianca Santos ...
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