“Americans In China”
A model presents a creation by Marchesa at “Americans In China” fashion show, presenting the creations of former CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America)/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, at the Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park in Beijing.The fashion show was organised to introduce American design talent to China, the organiser said (REUTERS)
Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine confused with Esquire at Guantanamo hearing
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – An Arabic-English interpreter confused the al Qaeda magazine Inspire with the gentlemen’s magazine Esquire during a pretrial hearing in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal on Friday. The mix-up came in a hearing for five prisoners who could face execution if convicted of launching the September 11, 2001, [...]
Rescuers race against time as India monsoon toll nears 600
DEHRADUN, India, June 22 (AFP) -Relief teams were racing against time today to rescue tens of thousands of stranded people in rain-ravaged northern India as the death toll from flash floods and landslides neared 600. Rescuers have recovered scores of bodies from the swollen Ganges river with the government saying more than 30,000 people were [...]
Nelson Mandela allegedly ‘unresponsive for days’ at Pretoria hospital
Nelson Mandela is unresponsive and his immediate family is now discussing whether to withdraw treatment, it has been claimed. The 94-year-old has been in hospital for two weeks battling a recurring lung infection, but previous statements have indicated that Mr Mandela’s health is improving. According to a new source, Mr Mandela’s liver and kidney functions [...]
Palm oil companies behind Singapore smog: Greenpeace
JAKARTA, June 22 (AFP) -Forest fires in Indonesia, which have cloaked Singapore in record-breaking smog, are raging on palm oil plantations owned by Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean companies, environmental group Greenpeace said Saturday. Singapore’s worst environmental crisis in more than a decade has seen the acrid smoke creep into people’s flats and shroud residential blocks [...]
‘Friends of Syria’ in Doha talks on arming rebels
DOHA, June 22 (AFP) -Foreign ministers of governments that support the Syrian opposition gathered in Qatar today after rebels welcomed recent arms deliveries they said could turn the tables on the Damascus regime. US Secretary of State John Kerry, whose government announced earlier this month that it was ready to start arming the mainstream rebel [...]
Saudi announces new death from SARS-like virus
RIYADH, June 22 (AFP) – An elderly Saudi man has died from the MERS virus, bringing the kingdom’s death toll from the SARS-like infection to 33, the health ministry said. The 81-year-old man died in Eastern Province, where most cases of coronavirus have been registered, the ministry said on its website late Friday. It said [...]
Rajasthan forts, Mt Fuji among new World Heritage sites
PHNOM PENH, June 22 (AFP) -PHNOM PENH (AFP) -Japan’s Mount Fuji, known for its perfectly cone-shaped volcano, was today granted World Heritage status, UNESCO said. Fujisan, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres (12,460 feet), is one of the country’s most recognisable sights. The iconic snow-capped peak “has inspired artists and poets and been [...]
Would-be-exile Snowden set to flee refugee hell-hole
By the time another delightfully lazy Sri Lankan weekend rolls in, the young American Edward Snowden who blew the cover on the creepy dealings of the United States of Surveillance, would have landed in Iceland, or may not have. The 29-year-old has now been charged with theft of US government property, disclosing defence information, and [...]
Volvo develops technology that parks its car perfectly at the touch of a button
It’s every shopper’s worst nightmare, driving around in circles looking for somewhere to park and then having to squeeze into a small gap between two other cars. But it seems that Swedish car firm Volvo has finally solved that problem. The Gothenburg-based manufacturer has unveiled new self-parking valet technology that lets the car do all [...]
We’ll be uploading our minds to computers by 2045
In just over 30 years, humans will be able to upload their entire minds to computers and become digitally immortal – an event called singularity – according to a futurist from Google. Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google, also claims that the biological parts of our body will be replaced with mechanical parts and [...]
Luggage airlines cannot lose
Losing your luggage on a flight could soon be a thing of the past after an airline developed a bag that is impossible to lose. Aircraft maker Airbus has helped develop technology which could eliminate the problem of missing baggage, a problem that costs the aviation industry nearly £2 billion a year. The prototype luggage [...]
Company creates landmarks that ‘come alive’
Lamp posts, bus stops, post boxes and other city centre landmarks could soon have something to say – thanks to a remarkable new initiative that has given them a BRAIN. Inanimate objects across English city Bristol are set to be given individual mobile phone codes allowing them to interact with anyone who texts them. The [...]
Paris tackles rudeness to tourists in new manual
PARIS (Reuters) – One of the world’s most visited cities but also famous for its rudeness, Paris has embarked on a campaign to improve its reputation and better cater to the needs of tourists. Customers will be able to ask IBM’s Watson Engagement Advisor questions by phone, email and instant messaging Waiters, taxi drivers and [...]
Are you addicted to the internet?
Do you stay up late into the night using the internet? Are you grumpy or anxious when you can’t log on? Do you need to use the internet more and more to feel satisfied? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be suffering from internet addiction, say experts. Researchers at the [...]
How modern life is making us angry
Modern day life is satisfying our basic needs but in turn is making us angrier, claims a leading psychologist. Dr Sandi Mann from the University of Central Lancashire said that the aggression we once needed for survival, and which is ‘hard-wired’ into our brains, can ‘misfire’ when it doesn’t have a purpose. This leads us [...]
Storing vegetables in your fridge ‘can take away goodness’ because conditions do not mimic night and day
We’ve all been told that boiling vegetables for too long saps them of their goodness. But keeping them in the fridge could also be bad for our health. Experts say that fruit and vegetables are alive even after they have been picked or dug up. This means that they respond to changes in levels of [...]
Second rover finds hint of a life-friendly ancient Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A Martian rock analyzed by NASA’s rover Opportunity contains clays formed in non-acidic water, an environment potentially suitable for the chemistry of ancient life to brew. The solar-powered Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 for what was expected to be a 90-day mission to look for signs there was [...]
Has the plug been pulled out of the Atlantic?
Scientists have discovered a crack in the Earth’s crust that threatens to pull North America and Europe closer together and cause the Atlantic Ocean to vanish in about 220 million years. Researchers at the University of Lisbon have created a new map of the seafloor, off the coast of Iberia-the region of Europe that includes [...]
Lost medieval city found in Cambodia
A group of daring archaeologists uncovered a lost 1,200-year-old city on a misty Cambodian mountain by hacking through the thick jungle, strewn with live land mines. Yet they were also aided in their quest by some incredible technology that revealed the ancient city to them in the first place, and guided by a local – [...]
Armenia’s Yezidi venerate Satan, seek social mobility
ZOVUNY, Armenia (AFP) – As she hangs up washing on branches outside her family’s stone home, Liana talks wistfully about her curtailed childhood which ended with marriage at the tender age of 14. Liana belongs to Armenia’s roughly 40,000-strong Yezidi community, a livestock-herding people who follow their own ancient religion that involves the worship of [...]
Only the poor die young
ROTTERDAM – People who are lower on the socioeconomic ladder (indicated by their level of education, occupation, or income) have shorter and less healthy lives, on average, than those on higher rungs. Indeed, life expectancy at birth often varies by 5-10 years, depending on social and economic well-being, with poorer people spending 10-20 more years [...]
Baring their scars: Survivors of Bangladesh’s factory collapse
As they lay for hours trapped in the rubble, these women felt a surge of hope when rescuers eventually found them. But incredibly the worst was yet to come – in the desperate bid to free the garment workers, rescuers with no medical training were forced to perform amputations on the spot to free them [...]
