Obama pledges to end ‘war on terror’
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama wants to roll back some of the most controversial aspects of the US “war on terror,” but efforts to alter the global fight against Islamist militants will face the usual hurdle at home: staunch opposition from Republicans in Congress. In a major policy speech, Obama narrowed the [...]
Digital reincarnation for ‘epitome of Buddhist art’
DUNHUANG, China (AFP) – Inching their cameras along a rail inside the chamber, specialists use powerful flashes to light up paintings of female Buddhist spirits drawn more than 1,400 years ago. One click after another illuminates colourful scenes of hunters, Buddhas, flying deities, Bodhisattvas and caravanserais painted on the walls of the Mogao caves in [...]
BA jet makes emergency landing after engine fire
LONDON (Reuters) – A British Airways plane with 80 people on board made an emergency landing at London’s Heathrow airport after the right engine burst into flames shortly after take-off and the casing ripped away from the left. The British carrier, part of IAG, said all 75 passengers and five crew members were safe after [...]
Pakistan school bus gas blast kills 17 children
At least 17 children have been burned to death after a gas cylinder exploded on their school bus in eastern Pakistan, police have said. At least seven more children were taken to hospital after the blast, which caused the bus to catch fire. The incident took place on the outskirts of the city of Gujrat. [...]
Terminate the tycoon
A video game in which players try to ‘kill’ British-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has been released in France. In the online game, players hurl barrels and rocks at police outside the loss-making steel blast furnaces in Florange, eastern France, which the Indian tycoon closed down. The Indian billionaire himself appears in the futuristic game [...]
Prosecutor in Berlusconi sex trial receives mail with bullets
MILAN (Reuters) – The prosecutor in former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s sex trial has received a series of anonymous letters of threats, including one with two bullets, Milan’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday. The letters against Ilda Boccassini have become more frequent since she requested a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban on holding [...]
Rare “Harry Potter” first edition fetches record auction price
(Reuters) – A unique first edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” annotated by author J.K. Rowling has sold for a record 150,000 pounds ($227,421) at a London charity auction, Sotheby’s said on Tuesday. The 1997 book, featuring handwritten notes, 22 original illustrations and a 43-page “second thoughts” commentary by the author, fetched the [...]
New bird flu may be capable of human to human spread: Study
HONG KONG (Reuters) – The new H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted between mammals not only via direct contact but also in airborne droplets, and may be capable of spreading from person to person, Chinese and American researchers have found. A study published in the journal Science and presented at a briefing in Hong [...]
China’s Ai Weiwei launches musical career with heavy metal single
BEIJING (Reuters) – Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei made his first foray into the musical world on Wednesday with the release of the top single from his debut album, a song called “Dumbass” that takes inspiration from his detention in 2011. The video for the heavy metal song, which was directed by Ai with cinematography [...]
Battle of the hi-tech offices
Amazon plans to build a trio of 65,000-square foot glass domes in Seattle as parts of its new headquarters to take on Apple’s plans for ‘spaceship’ headquarters in Silicon Valley, San Francisco. The domes will be filled with plants and have been dubbed ‘biospheres’. All the plants will be chosen specifically to survive in the [...]
NASA investing in 3-D food printer for astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – In a scene right out of Star Trek, a Texas company is developing a 3-D food printer for astronauts to create custom meals on the fly. With support from NASA, the firm, Systems and Materials Research Corp of Austin, intends to design, build and test a food printer that can [...]
