InformaZONE

Suriya An Actor with a Difference

2011-09-26T02:41:00.001-07:00

Suriya (36), Indian actor who shines with various nominations and awards in India, including Nominated fo Vijay Award for Best Actor (2011), and Vijay Award for Best Actor (2008), preparing to show his latest performance entitled "7aam Arivu".

With his talent, in "7aam Arivu", Suriya challenged to show his acting skills by acting become 3 different people in this film.

Here, Suriya plays as a circus artist, a scientist and a Buddhist monk, set in China in the 14th century.

With his ability to overcome these challenges, it is appropriate when Suriya be told the actor who has differences compared others.

Smozzy: An Android App for Surf The Web Without A Data Plan

2011-09-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

New Android application, named Smozzy will lets you search the Web on your mobile phone without a data plan. This app will only works in the U.S., on T-Mobile phones. However, minor these restrictions, this app is purely genius – it uses both SMS and MMS to send requests and receive the content. At end user, the app appears to work just like your own Android phone’s browser, only a bit slower.

The Smozzy app is in very basic development – just a combo URL/search bar at the top and a keyboard below. You can type in your search query in the URL bar or you can type in the exact URL you want Smozzy to retrieve.

The requests are sent to Smozzy’s servers by SMS and the responses are sent back via MMS. Here’s where things get tricky. Smozzy downloads the requested page and all its resources (stylesheets, images, etc.) and puts everything into a Zip file. The file is then encoded as a PNG and the PNG is sent out via MMS.

Using this app, you should be aware, because Smozzy’s messages aren’t encrypted, so you shouldn’t try to browse secure content or send passwords via Smozzy. For this limitation, Facebooking will be gone for sure.

The concept behind Smozzy isn’t entirely novel, however, it’s just rare to see such an idea implemented outside developing markets. With Smozzy, though anything on the Web is available, and publishers don’t have to make any changes on their end.

Smozzy is the creation of recent UT Austin grad, now Berkeley graduate student, Jeff Donahue. He says he came up with the idea a couple of years ago when he had a BlackBerry phone with no data plan. Donahue doesn’t have any future plans for the app, since testing the app non-T-Mobile carriers hasn’t really worked out.

The only question now is whether or not T-Mobile will shut it down. Hopefully, the carrier won’t see Smozzy as threat – after all, although it lets you surf the Web without a data plan, it’s not a very efficient means to do so. (TechCrunch)

How will a pulp result?

2011-09-09T02:18:00.000-07:00

International Paper Company (wikipedia.org)

"How will a pulp result?" is a sentence to recognize to follow. Firstly, we looked up for pulp definition first. When we try to search using google search tools to search "pulp", It give from word "pulp" with interesting results. Of course, Wikipedia.org still in the queue line to give some sort explanation about.

What so interesting is "pulp" comes with a band group from Britain. It said Pulp are an English Britpop band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar), Russell Senior (violin, guitar), Candida Doyle (keyboards), Mark Webber (guitar), Steve Mackey (bass) and Nick Banks (drums).

In fact, in other definiton of pulp, is something refer to chemical material for develop paper in paper mill.

According to Wikipedia.org as well, a pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fibre source into a thick fibre board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical or fully chemical methods (kraft and sulfite processes). The finished product may be either bleached or non-bleached, depending on the customer requirements.

System breakdown, 1.4 million blackout in US Mexico

2011-09-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

A massive power outage triggered traffic gridlock and left at least 1.4 million customers without electricity in sweltering southern California, Arizona and Mexico, officials said.

A number of people had to be rescued from stuck elevators and theme park rides including the world-famous SeaWorld in San Diego, reports said, while two units at a nuclear power plant tripped offline, as designed.

The failure on a 500-kilovolt line also left people without air conditioning or power for fridges at a time when the region has been sweating through a mini-heatwave.

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) said an incident in the network between Arizona and California had caused the outage, which also affected neighboring Mexico and could continue into Friday.

"1.4 million of our customers are currently without power," the company said on Twitter, adding: "An event happened between AZ and CA. Both major connections to our region have been lost.

"This outage has affected Mexico and Baja," it said, referring to Baja California, the Mexican peninsula stretching south from below San Diego, below the US-Mexican border.

"This could go into tomorrow in some areas," it warned.

Traffic lights were knocked out across the region, triggering monster traffic jams, while the Metrolink transport system in Orange County was disrupted.

Two units at the San Onofre power plant, one of California's two nuclear plants, went offline automatically, officials said, adding that backup power was available.

Emergency services had responded to at least half a dozen calls to rescue people stuck in elevators, said Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Mark Stone.

Both SeaWorld and Legoland reported that visitors had to be rescued from rides, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, although there was no immediate confirmation from either of the parks.

The California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) declared "a transmission emergency" after a 500 kilovolt (kV) high-voltage line from Arizona to California tripped out of service.

"The transmission outage cut the flow of imported power into the most southern portion of California resulting in widespread outages in the region," it said in a statement.

APS, the Arizona power supplier, said 56,000 customers had been affected.

Temperatures have been sweltering in recent days in southern California, boosting use of air conditioning.

"Hot days in a row like we have had create lots of power flowing. Could have had an impact," SDGE tweeted. (AFP)

Cholera kills 18 Nigerian in Bauchi State

2011-09-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

(Image: AFP)

A fresh cholera outbreak has killed 18 people in northern Nigeria's Bauchi state in the past week, officials said Tuesday, in the latest epidemic to ravage the region during the rainy season.

They said infections spread across four districts of the state, with the worst-hit being Warju council area, which recorded 10 deaths.

"We have recorded 10 deaths from cholera outbreak while another 30 people have been hospitalised in the past week", Adamu Yahaya, head of Warju local government area of the state, told AFP.

State health commissioner Sani Malami said eight other people had died in three other districts.

Some 35 people have died from cholera in northern Yobe and Sokoto states in the past two weeks, while dozens of others have been hospitalised.

Cholera, an intestinal infection, is transmitted by water soiled by human waste. The disease leads to diarrhoea, dehydration and death if untreated.

Cholera outbreaks occur regularly during the rainy season in Nigeria, when downpours wash contaminants into wells used by families.

The rainy season typically runs from April to September. (AFP)

"Largest" crocodile caught in Philippines

2011-09-06T01:42:00.000-07:00

(Image: Xinhua/Reuters)

A giant saltwater crocodile weighing more than a tonne was captured in a remote Philippine village following a spate of attacks on humans and livestock, officials said Tuesday (9/6).

The 21-foot (6.4-metre), 1,075-kilogramme (2,370-pound) reptile may have eaten a farmer who went missing in July, along with several water buffaloes in the southern town of Bunawan, crocodile hunter Rollie Sumiller said.

A crocodile also bit off the head of a 12-year-old girl in Bunawan in 2009, according to the environment ministry.

Josefina de Leon, wildlife division chief of the environment ministry's protected areas and wildlife bureau, said it was likely the biggest crocodile ever captured.

"Based on existing records the largest that had been captured previously was 5.48 metres long," she told AFP.

"This is the biggest animal that I've handled in 20 years of trapping,"

Sumiller added, estimating the male to be more than 50 years old.

"The community was relieved," he told AFP, but added: "We're not really sure if this is the man-eater, because there have been other sightings of other crocodiles in the area."

The team, employed by a government-run crocodile breeding farm, began laying bait using chicken, pork and dog meat on August 15, but the reptile simply bit off both meat and line the it was skewered on.

An eight milimetre (0.31-inch) metal cable finally proved beyond the power of its jaws and the beast was subdued at a creek on Saturday with the help of about 30 local men.

The local government decided against putting down the reptile and will instead use him as the main attraction at a planned nature park in the area.

"He's a problem crocodile that needs to be taken from the wildlife so that it can be used for eco-tourism," Sumiller said.

Crocodylus porosus or estuarine crocodile is the world's largest reptile that usually grows to five or six metres long and can live up to 100 years.

While not considered an endangered species globally, it is "critically endangered" in the Philippines, where it is hunted for its hide to feed the fashion industry, de Leon said. (AFP)

Tuberculosis vaccine shows promise in mice

2011-09-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Researchers in the United States said Sunday (9/4) they had developed a vaccine for tuberculosis that offered unprecedented protection in mice against the deadly disease.

Tuberculosis kills some 1.7 million people each year, with one in three people around the globe infected, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The only vaccine currently in use is notoriously inconsistent.

Researchers led by William Jacobs, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, determined that the key to warding off TB was to better understand how the bacterium that causes it, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, circumvents the human immune system.

Their strategy was to work with a closely related species, called Mycobacterium smegmatis, that is lethal to mice at high doses but does not harm humans.

The scientists created a version of M. smegmatis lacking a set of genes, known as ESX-3, that allows the bug to evade host immunity.

As expected, even when injected with large doses of the altered bacteria, mice did not get sick. Without the missing genes, the modified bacterium could not get past their immune system, which fought off the infection using the same T-cells that a successful TB vaccine would need to activate.

But there was a hitch: removing the same set of ESX-3 genes from M. tuberculosis killed the bug, which meant that it could no longer be manipulated to create the long-sought after vaccine.

So Jacobs tried another tack: he created a hybrid of the two bacteria by inserting the immune-system beating ESX-3 genes from M. tuberculosis into the version of M. smegmatis from which the equivalent genes has been removed.

Once again, the mice were able to fight off the infection. And when they were exposed eight weeks later to high doses of the TB that afflicts humans -- as lethal to mice as to people -- the "vaccinated" mice lived nearly three times as long on average as a control group, 135 versus 54 days.

Moreover, "vaccinated animals that survived more than 200 days had livers that were completely clear of TB bacteria, and nobody has ever seen that before," Jacobs said in a statement.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, cautioned that only a fifth of the mice showed such resilience, which means that the vaccine must be improved.

"We don't even know yet if it will work in humans," said Jacobs. "But it is certainly a significant step." (AFP)

Lee weakens, though flood threat remains in Gulf and into Appalachians

2011-09-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lee weakened to a tropical depression late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center reported, but not before dumping vast amounts of rain and causing extensive flooding in Gulf Coast states.

The plodding storm had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph -- down considerably from earlier -- as it headed 7 mph in an east-northeasterly direction. Yet while it winds have died down, Lee remained a threat as it moved toward the Appalachians and points to the east and north, with its intense rains producing potential problems especially in already saturated areas.

By Sunday night, state and local officials -- plus the Facebook page for Louisiana's emergency management division and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu -- had reported flooding in numerous Louisiana parishes including Iberia, Terrebone, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany and Jefferson.

Mississippi also was hard hit. A news release Sunday from its emergency management agency pointed to several flooded roads and damaged homes in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties. And the website for Entergy, a major utility in the area, showed mostly pockets of power outages as far west as the Houston suburbs and as far north as Arkansas.

Centered over southern Louisiana, the storm continued to pump out rain -- as much as 20 inches expected in spots through Monday night, according to the National Hurricane Center -- as it chugged northward Sunday toward the Tennessee Valley. In an advisory, the center warned, "These rains are expected to cause extensive flooding."

The storm had caused numerous headaches, but not the devastation of last week's Hurricane Irene, which killed more than 40 people and left millions without power. Nor has it compared with Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,000 people in Louisiana, Mississippi and other Gulf states six years ago. (CNN)

AC Milan Glorie defeats Indonesia in charity match

2011-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

AC Milan Glorie on Sunday evening beat Indonesia All-Star Legends in a charity match by 5-1, the Jakarta Globe daily reported here.

The duel was aimed to raise money for disaster victims in Indonesia as a part of AC Milan Glorie's Asia Disaster Relief Tour.

The Milan Glorie Foundation donated a 50,000 U.S. dollar-money raised to the country's disaster victims. Proceeds from the match went to Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization.

Milan Glorie's roster was packed with some of the club's greatest Italian players, including defender Franco Baresi, midfielder Gigi Lentini and forward Daniele Massaro. It also featured international stars, such as goalkeeper Nelson Dida, defender Roque Junior and forwards Serginho and Jean-Pierre Papin.

Massaro said it was a pleasure to take part in the charity match.

"We're very happy to be here, and thank you very much for organizing the event," he said. "Previously we played in a charity match in Japan for the earthquake victims in Sendai, and we plan to play in New York in November. We're happy to play in these charity games." (Xinhua)

The world's most expensive cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane

2011-07-07T02:09:00.000-07:00

The strong Australian dollar is making Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane to be some of the world's most expensive cities, according to a global survey by the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit released on Thursday.

It is now cheaper to live in London, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing than most of Australian capital cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living survey found.

It found Sydney is now the 6th priciest city in the world, up from 32nd place two years ago, while Melbourne has jumped from 38th to 7th.

Perth and Brisbane, meanwhile, are ranked 13th and 14th most expensive - almost 25 percent pricier than New York.

Survey author Jon Copestake said the strong local currency was partly to blame for the soaring cost of living in Australia.

"Rising domestic prices, partly due to rising oil and commodity prices, have been compounded by the strength of the Australian dollar, which achieved parity with the U.S. dollar earlier this year, compared to being worth around half that much 10 years ago," Copestake said in a statement on Thursday.

The Australian cities were among the most expensive for business trip, the survey found.

In Melbourne, accommodation, meals, taxis, drinks and a newspaper now cost the average business traveler 760 U.S. dollars a day, with Sydney close behind at 627 U.S. dollars.

Copestake warned that the rising cost of living in Australia could be a disadvantage for international visitors.

The survey ranked Japan's Tokyo and Osaka as well as Norway's Oslo as the three most expensive cities in the world, while Mumbai in India, Tunis in Tunisia and Karachi in Pakistan were the cheapest among the 140 cities used in the survey. (Xinhua)

Harry Potter Actors say Farewell to Their Characters

2011-07-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

Daniel Radcliffe will miss being an action hero. Emma Watson will miss being a role model. Robbie Coltrane will simply miss getting to play a good guy.

The cast and crew of the "Harry Potter" movies have been saying goodbye to their characters on the eve of the premiere of the eighth and final film in the magical adventure series.

When they met the press at a valedictory news conference Wednesday, it felt like the last day of school -- a warm mixture of release and regret.

Radcliffe, Watson and Rupert Grint have grown up in the films over the past decade, playing young wizards Harry, Hermione and Ron as they progress through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and fight the dark forces of Lord Voldemort.

Watson said was it is still "difficult to process" the fact that she won't be playing Hermione again.

The 21-year-old said she would miss the brave, brainy young witch, who was not just a role but a role model.

"I think of her like a sister," Watson said. "She feels so real to me. ... Of course I will miss the people, but actually I will just miss being her.

"I think she made me a better person, and she made me work harder, just as a result of comparing myself to her every day."

Grint, 21, said he felt bereft that the series had ended.

"I have felt a little bit lost without it, really, not really knowing what to do with myself," Grint said. "It's been such a constant part of my life."

Radcliffe -- who appeared on tape from New York, where he is starring in a Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" -- said he would miss the cast and crew, and the stunts.

"I don't really have the natural frame and stature of an action hero," the modestly sized 20-year-old actor said. "So it's kind of a gift for a young actor to be able to do all that stuff. ... Bursting out of the water surrounded by a ring of fire: I will never get to do that again."

Scottish actor Coltrane -- who has played the friendly giant Hagrid since the start of the series -- said the films were "the first time in my entire career that I've played a thoroughly good man."

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has its premiere Thursday in London and opens around the world next week. It brings Harry's saga to a close 10 years after the launch of the first film.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and four years after the publication of the final book in J.K. Rowling's adventure series.

More than 20 members of the cast and crew -- from producer David Hayman and director David Yates to assorted Hogwarts teachers and red-haired Weasley siblings -- spoke to reporters Wednesday under the grand neo-Gothic vaults of London's St. Pancras Hotel.

It was a sentimental occasion. Everyone, magic or muggle, paid tribute to their colleagues. Several spoke of the Potter "family" and rejected the idea of the films as a "franchise."

Yates, who has directed the last four Potter movies, said the cast and crew had a strong bond.

"We've all been to the moon together, as it were, and I think that's special," he said.

Evanna Lynch, the Irish actress and Harry Potter fan who was cast, aged 14, as flighty Hogwarts pupil Luna Lovegood, said she had no idea what she would do next.

"I'm distraught that this is over," said 19-year-old Lynch. "I've been obsessed with this book since I was eight, so I don't really know what I was before that or what will come next.

"Apparently they are opening a Harry Potter Experience thing where Leavesden (Studios) was. I am available as a tour guide."

The "Harry Potter" films have been big box office hits, but largely overlooked by the Academy Awards and other major prizes.

Yates said he said he was more proud of the approval of fans, like those camped out in London's Trafalgar Square before Thursday's premiere in "a mini-Glastonbury of people from all over the world who have been camping out in the rain for the last three nights."

"That's more of a compensation than lots of trophies," he said. (foxnews.com)

Temasek says net profit more than doubles

2011-07-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings said Thursday its net profit more than doubled in the year to March while the value of its global portfolio hit a record high.

Net profit for the year ended March 31 totalled Sg$13 billion ($10.6 billion), compared with Sg$5.0 billion the previous year which reflected the impact of the global financial crisis.

The company also reported a record year-end portfolio value of Sg$193 billion, up from Sg$186 billion.

Net profit surged "due to higher contributions from Temasek investment activities and improved profits from it's portfolio companies," Temasek said in a statement.

Total shareholder return was 4.6 percent during the financial year. Over a five-year period, total shareholder return stood at an average 7.0 percent, it said. (AFP)

Smart Solar Cells can see colors

2011-07-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

Metamaterials that convert lower-energy photons to usable wavelengths could offer solar cells an efficiency boost.

Researchers at Stanford University have demonstrated a set of materials that could enable solar cells to use a band of the solar spectrum that otherwise goes to waste. The materials layered on the back of solar cells would convert red and near-infrared light—unusable by today's solar cells—into shorter-wavelength light that the cells can turn into energy. The university researchers will collaborate with the Bosch Research and Technology Center in Palo Alto, California, to demonstrate a system in working solar cells in the next four years.

Even the best of today's silicon solar cells can't use about 30 percent of the light from the sun: that's because the active materials in solar cells can't interact with photons whose energy is too low. But though each of these individual photons is low energy, as a whole they represent a large amount of untapped solar energy that could make solar cells more cost-competitive.

The process, called "upconversion," relies on pairs of dyes that absorb photons of a given wavelength and re-emit them as fewer, shorter-wavelength photons. In this case, the Bosch and Stanford researchers will work on systems that convert near-infrared wavelengths (most of which are unusable by today's solar cells). The leader of the Stanford group, assistant professor Jennifer Dionne, believes the group can improve the sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency of amorphous-silicon solar cells from 11 percent to 15 percent.

The concept of upconversion isn't new, but it's never been demonstrated in a working solar cell, says Inna Kozinsky, a senior engineer at Bosch. Upconversion typically requires two types of molecules to absorb relatively high-wavelength photons, combine their energy, and re-emit it as higher-energy, lower-wavelength photons. However, the chances of the molecules encountering each other at the right time when they're in the right energetic states are low. Dionne is developing nanoparticles to add to these systems in order to increase those chances. To make better upconversion systems, Dionne is designing metal nanoparticles that act like tiny optical antennas, directing light in these dye systems in such a way that the dyes are exposed to more light at the right time, which creates more upconverted light, and then directing more of that upconverted light out of the system in the end.

The ultimate vision, says Dionne, is to create a solid. Sheets of such a material could be laid down on the bottom of the cell, separated from the cell itself by an electrically insulating layer. Low-wavelength photons that pass through the active layer would be absorbed by the upconverter layer, then re-emitted back into the active layer as usable, higher-wavelength light.

Kozinsky says Bosch's goal is to demonstrate upconversion of red light in working solar cells in three years, and upconversion of infrared light in four years. Factoring in the time needed to scale up to manufacturing, she says, the technology could be in Bosch's commercial solar cells in seven to 10 years. (technologyreview.com)

Motorola Xoom matches with iPad 2 sold at $499

2011-07-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

No one can deny that Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 have taken the consumer market by storm. Apple started the tablet revolution and its competitors have been struggling to catch up ever since.

One mistake many manufacturers seem to be making is pricing their tablets higher than the iPad 2. Maybe this is unavoidable and due to Apple having better (read cheaper) supply contracts than anyone else can get. Even so, a tablet a few hundred dollars more than an iPad is already fighting a losing battle for your hard-earned dollars.

Motorola seems to have realized this disadvantage and seen sense. A tweet sent out earlier today on the official Motorola account has announced that the WiFi version of the Xoom tablet now matches the cheapest iPad 2 on price. You can now pick up a Xoom for $499, which is a $100 price drop.

The Xoom has been on sale since March and does give the iPad 2 some decent competition. It doubles the on-board memory to 32GB, has a larger 10.1″ display and resolution of 1280 x 800, sports a microSD slot for further expansion, matches the iPad 2 on battery life, and replaces the closed iOS 4 operating system with the decidedly more open Android 3.1.

Reviews have ben positive for Motorola’s tablet and therefore the choice comes down to one of Android or iOS? If you are not a fan of Apple products, iTunes, or the iOS environment then the Xoom may be your perfect alternative. But then there’s always the draw of what’s on the horizon and is it worth waiting for the next round of tablets to appear?

If you’re tempted by the new low price head on over to the Motorola website where you can pick one up right now. (geek.com)

Rugby World Cup boost for Japan's Atsushi Hiwasa

2011-07-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

Japan scrumhalf Atsushi Hiwasa was named the Asian Five Nations' emerging player of the year in a major boost to his World Cup selection hopes.

The 24-year-old Suntory Sungoliath player earned his first two international caps as the Brave Blossoms cruised to their fourth successive title and remained unbeaten in Asia's premier Test event.

"I have a strong determination to maintain my good performances, and in doing so I hope to contribute to the development of Japanese rugby and Asian rugby as a whole," Hiwasa said on Thursday.

Japan coach John Kirwan said the "outstanding" Hiwasa, who shared scrumhalf duties with Fumiaki Tanaka, was a strong contender for the World Cup, where the team have only ever won one game.

"I look forward to his continued hard work and higher performance to be selected for the Rugby World Cup squad," said the former All Black great.

Japan, who are currently playing the Pacific Nations Cup, are expected to announce their World Cup squad on August 22. (AFP)

Analysis from MySpace Founder on Mark Zuckerberg’s Google+

2011-07-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

Today at the Facebook news conference, a reporter asked Mark Zuckerberg what he thought of Google+. Zuckerberg responded by saying that lots of companies are going to build things like video chat, but Facebook competitors also have to build up their social graph first. Facebook’s job is to just keep innovating. It’s a perfectly reasonable response, and of course, he’s exactly right—the challenge is to get the user base, and make it easy for them to use your product. Done and done for Facebook. The integration looks great.

Some pundits are complaining that the technology is not new, but that’s besides the point. Case in point: at MySpace we launched what Zuckerberg is announcing in 2007 (try googling “myspace skype partnership”), and MySpace also had one-on-one video chat back in 2004. The point is that people weren’t really ready for it back then—now is the time, and Facebook has the user base. The large user base (750 million) paired with a simple integration of arguably the best voice/video tech (Skype) is what makes this news.

Zuckerberg also pointed out in his response to the Hangout question, that one-on-one video chat will be the more common use case (Google+ has “Hangout” which allows 10 users to video chat at once). Again, perfectly reasonable, and probably right. Many sites have group video chat, Google+ is not the first, nor is Hangout a game-changer. What you need here is the user base, which currently only Facebook has, and people will more likely talk one on one (like we do on the phone, duh).

The more interesting part of his announcement, I think, was the implicit response to Google+ in his intro leading up to the Skype integration. What Zuckerberg said is that Groups on Facebook are actively used by half of the 750 million user base. And “Groups” is really Facebook’s second attempt at “Friends Lists,” which Zuckerberg admitted last year, was not getting traction (people didn’t want to do the work of putting people into lists).

The Facebook Groups feature is designed in a way so that users who do care to do the work, can. Someone invites you, and you’re in the group without you having to take any action. (In fact, you have to do some work to get out of the Group!) Zuckerberg points out that this is how friend requests work as well—there’s always a select few who do all the friending, and the rest of us just follow along, with a much easier “approval.” Facebook’s Groups were designed in a way to overcome the friend list problem. They’ve grown quickly, even if 95% of the user base can’t be bothered to make their own groups.

And if you think about it, that’s the smart way Facebook has approached many things: build an app platform, and let the developer community do the heavy lifting. Create a translation platform, and let users translate Facebook in every language known to man. Create a Group feature, and let the 5% create the groups for the other 95%. It’s like Mechanical Turk, but we’re not getting paid. (Unless you’re Zynga!)

What remains to be seen, is which model will users prefer in the long run—Facebook “Groups”—which function more like an old-school Yahoo Group with a Forum built-in). Or Google+ “Circles”—which is more like an email distribution list meets Twitter with better commenting. The two are actually very similar, but each probably does certain things better than the other. Thinking about what each model does better is probably the key to unlocking what “model” is going to “win.”

Written by Tom Anderson, the former President, founder and first friend on MySpace.(techcruch.com)

Egyptian seed suspected linked E. coli in France and Germany

2011-07-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

The European Food Safety Agency on Tuesday identified a batch of fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt as the likely suspect in the outbreaks of E. coli disease in both Germany and France.

An EFSA task force set up to track the possible source of the disease said it recommended in consequence that "all efforts be made to prevent any consumer exposure to the suspect seeds".

In a statement EFSA said "that one lot of fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt and used to produce sprouts is the most likely common link between the two outbreaks."

"However, it cannot be excluded that other lots of fenugreek imported from Egypt during the period 2009-2011 may be implicated," it added.

Egypt's ministry of agriculture last week denied fenugreek seeds exported to Europe had caused an E.coli outbreak that has killed 50 people, mainly in Germany.

The head of Egypt's Central Administration of Agricultural Quarantine, Ali Suleiman, said claims by EFSA that seeds exported in 2009 and 2010 may have been implicated in the outbreak were "completely untrue."

"The presence of this bacteria in Egypt has not been proven at all, and it has not been recorded," Suleiman told the official MENA news agency.

He said the Egyptian company that exported the seeds in 2009 has stressed in a letter that it had exported the fenugreek to Holland and not to Germany, Britain or France.

The World Health Organisation has said 4,050 infections have been confirmed in 14 European countries, the United States and Canada -- more than 3,900 of them in Germany.

All but two of the fatalities have so far been in Germany, apart from one case in the United States and a woman who died in Sweden shortly after returning from a visit to Germany. (AFP)

Heavy rain and flooding trap people in cars and homes

2011-07-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Heavy rains and flooding wreaked havoc in East London on Tuesday with residents trapped in cars and homes, Eastern Cape disaster management said.

Spokesperson John Fobian said: "We are trying to access communities who have been affected. Our primary function right now is to rescue people."

Emergency personnel earlier rescued workers who were trapped in their cars along Windermere road.

"They were trapped as the water surrounded their vehicles."

A number of houses were surrounded by water.

"Rescue workers are still trying to get to people whose houses were flooded, including those in informal settlements."

Fobian said reports of flooding began pouring in from 07:00.

No injuries or deaths were reported.

Port Elizabeth was also experiencing heavy rains and strong winds.

The SA Weather Service said widespread showers were expected in the Eastern Cape for the rest of Tuesday.

"The bulk of rain will be experienced today, with a few showers tomorrow (Wednesday)," forecaster Ezekile Sebego said.

Dollar weakened after rate continues unchanged

2011-07-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

The dollar has lost half a US cent, following the central bank's decision to keep the cash rate on hold and after credit rating agency Moody's flagged concerns over debt levels in China.

At 5pm AEST today, the Australian dollar was trading at 106.84 US cents, down from 107.41 cents yesterday.

Since 7am AEST, the local unit traded between 106.64 US cents and 107.48 cents.

TD Securities senior strategist Roland Randall said the Australian dollar fell about 0.2 US cents around midday, after Moody's warned that Chinese banks could have their credit outlook downgraded to negative.

Moody's said it had found official Chinese auditors hadn't accounted for RMB 3.5 trillion ($A504 billion) of local government debt.

Mr Randall said the local unit fell a further 25 pips at 1430 AEST, after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the cash rate unchanged at 4.75 per cent.

"That to me was just an indication that there were some people ... betting on the RBA being more hawkish in the statement than they were."

He said there was no major economic data overnight to move the domestic currency and expected traders to focus on updates on Greece's sovereign debt crisis.

The RBA's trade weighted index was at 77.4, down from yesterday's close of 77.6. (AAP)

Shopping Virtual At Subway Take Real Goods At Home

2011-07-05T02:55:00.000-07:00

International supermarket giant brings virtual goods to subway commuters in South Korea, eliminating the need for a physical store.

Where the rest of us see subway walls, Tesco's South Korean supermarket chain Home Plus sees grocery shelves. In a trial run, Home Plus has plastered a subway station with facsimiles of groceries, labeled with a unique code for each product. As commuters pass by on their way to work, they can use a mobile-phone app to take pictures of the products they want, then check out. The groceries are automatically delivered to their doorstep by the end of the work day.

The virtual grocery store has been a hit among more 10,000 customers, with Home Plus reporting a 130 percent increase in online sales. The experiment is just one of the increasingly innovative ways mobile devices are being used in retail. Location-based smart-phone advertising is seen as a potentially valuable way to reach new customers. Some companies in the United States are also using indoor positioning technology as a way to guide shoppers to products and show them special offers. And software makers are exploring different ways of paying for products by smart phone.

In Home Plus's virtual store, each image of a grocery item is accompanied by a quick-response (QR) code, a boxy geometric image that encodes data—the product and its price. When each code is scanned, the item goes into an online shopping cart. Customers then use their phones to pay before hopping the train to work.

People have long been able to scan QR codes with their smart-phone cameras to access whatever information the code holds. And online grocery shopping has been around even longer. Still, the grocery industry has seen little technological innovation since the implementation of the universal product code (UPC) bar code in the 1970s. As of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that just 0.2 percent of the food and beverage industry's sales were made online. This new strategy could allow retailers to target highly specific audiences. The success of Home Plus's project may prompt other retailers to think about new approaches to shopping that could cut overhead expenses.

Whether or not virtual markets catch on, some experts think radical changes in shopping are right around the corner. "For sure, your cell phone will be the graphical user interface to the shopping services," says Abel Sanchez, research lead at MIT's Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory. "Think of the early days of the Web versus today. In the early 1990s, the Web was one way, like a paper book. Today, the Web is full of interaction; it's how we do our jobs. I think the supermarket will go through a similar transformation." (technologyreview.com)

Mysterious Shakes at Shopping Mall South Korean Made Panicking

2011-07-05T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hundreds of people fled a high-rise shopping mall in the South Korean capital Seoul as it began shaking for unknown reasons, a local government spokesman said.

The Gwangjin district government later today ordered the 39-storey TechnoMart mall in eastern Seoul to be closed off for at least three days, the spokesman said.

Hundreds of panicky people fled the building as it shook for about 10 minutes in the morning, witnesses said.

"The building was rocking up and down and I felt so dizzy that I almost vomited," Lee Ji-Soo, a woman who works on the 20th floor, told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper website.

Firefighters with six fire engines were sent to the scene and dozens of police cordoned off the building, as office workers and customers piled out.

The Gwangjin spokesman said the exact cause of the swaying was not immediately known and a safety inspection would immediately be carried out.

The mall accommodates hundreds of small shops selling electronics, houseware and books, as well as a multiplex cinema and a number of offices.

Sampoong Department Store in Seoul collapsed in 1995, killing more than 500 people. It was the largest peacetime disaster in South Korea.(AFP)

Five unions to join national strike

2011-07-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

An engineering workers strike for better wages supported by several trade unions was set to continue on Tuesday, the National Union of Metal Workers of SA (Numsa) said.

Spokesperson Castro Ngobese confirmed that the strike would continue. He said a march would take place at Welkom in the Free State on Tuesday, starting in Constantia Road at 10:00.

Numsa, which represents about 120 000 workers, would be joined by five other trade unions, jointly representing at least another 50 000 workers.

United Association of SA (Uasa) senior manager Johan van Niekerk said Uasa and the SA Equity Workers' Association (Saewa), would also participate.

At the weekend, Numsa announced that its members would embark on rolling mass action in demand of a 13% salary increase. Employers in the sector were offering seven percent.

The strike started on Monday after the Labour Court's weekend dismissal of an application for an interdict to stop the strike, brought by the Plastic Converters' Association.

Several trade unions, representing about 170 000 workers, embarked on the countrywide strike, with a protest march in Johannesburg.

Striking workers handed a memorandum to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of SA (Seifsa).

Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal workers also held demonstrations, while workers in the Free State and Northern Cape were scheduled to start their work stoppage on Tuesday.

World's dairy firm declares Australian bond issue successfully

2011-07-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

The world's biggest dairy company, New Zealand-based Fonterra, Tuesday announced it had raised 300 million AU dollars (320.61 million U.S. dollars) through its first ever issue of corporate bonds in Australia.

The bonds, for a five-year term, maturing in July 2016, were priced at a spread of 100 basis points over swap, said a statement from Fonterra, a farmer-owned cooperative, best known for its Anchor-brand products.

The bonds were issued by an Australian subsidiary guaranteed by Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd., and were expected to be rated A+ by Standard & Poor's and AA- by Fitch, consistent with the agencies' current ratings for Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd., said the statement.

Fonterra general manager treasury Stephan Deschamps said the bond proceeds would be used to refinance bank debt in Australia.

"Fonterra has a large business in Australia and it makes sense for us to seek a greater alignment between our funding activities and our asset base," he said.

"Fonterra has not participated in the Australian-dollar corporate bond market previously and we are pleased with the strong demand from institutional investors."

The Australian bond issue comes just a fortnight after Fonterra entered the Chinese currency bond market, raising 300 million yuan (42 million U.S. dollars) through an issue of Renminbi-denominated bonds in Hong Kong.

"The strong interest in both of these recent bond issues demonstrates how Fonterra's business profile and financial strength are well regarded by international investors," Deschamps said.

Fonterra is the largest processor of milk in the world, producing more than two million tonnes of dairy ingredients and products every year, and employs 16,000 people. (Xinhua)

Overweight Causes Low Sperm Counts

2011-07-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Overweight or obese men, like their female counterparts, have a lower chance of becoming a parent, according to a comparison of sperm quality presented at a European fertility meeting.

In what they described as the largest study of its kind, doctors looked at sperm samples from 1,940 men and matched them to the donor's weight.

The benchmark was the body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat among adults. Under this, normal weight is defined as a BMI of 18.5-25; overweight as 25-30 and obesity as 30 or more.

The higher the count in excess weight, the more the sperm quality suffered, especially among those in the obese category, according to the findings, presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm.

"Excess weight causes a modification in sperm characteristics, probably as a result of hormonal disturbance, which results in lower sperm numbers, motility and vitality," said Paul Cohen-Bacrie, scientific director at Eylau-Unilabs in Paris, part of a Swiss-based network of labs in 12 European countries.

"This leads to losses in conception potential," he said by phone.

The research found that the sperm count was lower by 10 percent among overweight men, and by 20 percent among obese men, compared with counterparts of normal weight.

The percentage of men who had a zero sperm count rose almost fourfold, from one percent in the normal weight category, to 3.8 percent, in the obese category. (AFP)

Wi-Fi With 45-Mile Ability Connected at Smarter Power Grid

2011-07-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

If your home Wi-Fi router wasn't cooped up indoors, it could send a signal about a 20th of a mile before the signal became too weak and distorted for a computer to receive it. Technology developed by San Diego startup On-Ramp Wireless uses the same frequency, but less power, to send data signals 45 miles, thanks to algorithms that make the signals very resistant to noise.

The technology, called Ultra-Link Processing, transfers data at a very low rate compared with a home broadband connection. But On-Ramp intends to offer it as a way to enable "smart energy" grids, in which simple sensors installed in home energy meters, for example, report local activity back to utilities, allowing them to manage power generation and distribution more intelligently.

Smart-grid infrastructure is needed to cope with the fluctuating output of renewable energy sources at large scale, and it could make feasible micro-generation, whereby consumers make their own power and sell any surplus back to the grid. Today's smart-grid sensors typically use Wi-Fi-like technology with Wi-Fi-like ranges, or unlicensed radio bands that can reach a couple of miles. Cellular networks can also be used, but these connections are under growing pressure from data-hungry phones and tablets.

"There's no technology available for devices that just need a trickle of connectivity over long distance," says On-Ramp's chief technology officer, Ted Myers, who says that with a clear line of sight, On-Ramp's technology can send a signal 45 miles. He is targeting devices that use less than 50 bits per second, roughly 100,000 times less than the average U.S. broadband speed of five megabits per second.

A trial network in San Diego requires just 35 strategically located access points to collect data from smart meters and other devices equipped with On-Ramp's technology across a 4,000-square-mile area. "It boils down to a cost advantage," says Myers. "You need fewer access points this way." California utility PG&E is currently rolling out smart meters based on more established technology which will require over 1,000 access points to cover the same area, Myers claims. (technologyreview.com)

Fox News Twitter get hacked, reports Obama dead

2011-07-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

The US Secret Service said it was investigating the apparent hacking of an official Twitter account operated by Fox News that posted a series of tweets claiming President Barack Obama had been assassinated.

The Twitter feed for the television network's political news -- @FoxNewspolitics -- sent out a series of "malicious and false tweets," starting around 2:00 am, Fox News confirmed in a statement. The posts had not been taken down hours later.

"@BarackObama has just passed. The president is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead," read the first of the Obama-related tweets.

Just before false posts began, the hackers apparently announced their control to the account, with the post: "Just regained full access to our Twitter and email. Happy 4th."

The updates, which were "retweeted" by thousands on the micro-blogging site and prompted headlines around the world, said Obama had been "shot twice at a Ross' restaurant in Iowa" during a campaign spot.

The US leader was in fact in Washington, not Iowa, and was planning to celebrate the July 4 holiday with his family and military families later Monday.

"President @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much. It's a sad 4th for #america. #obamadead RIP," continued the tweets.

Fox News said the hacking was being investigated, and that it "regrets any distress the false tweets may have created."

Asked about the apparent hacking, Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service -- the federal law enforcement agency tasked with ensuring the president's safety -- was looking into the fake posts. (Herald Sun/AFP)

Amazing and Embarrasing: Mark Zuckerberg Is The Most Followed Google+

2011-07-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

In what has to be somewhat embarrassing for Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the most followed user on Google+, according to the Google+ Statistics counter.

The Facebook CEO has 21,213 followers, compared to the Google CEO at 14,798, Google social czar Vic Gundotra at 13,783, Google co-founder Sergey Brin at 11,629, blogger Robert Scoble at 11,389, Google spam avenger Matt Cutts at 9,153, TWIT founder Leo Laporte at 7,566, Google’s Bradley Horowitz at 7,187, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler at 6,579 and blogger Gina Trapani at 5,649.

Google+ Statistics creator Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten explains the CEO’s unlikely popularity thus, “He has the most friends in the world, they made a movie about him, and he is more handsome than the Larry and Sergey.” I think the answer goes more like this; The more media coverage someone receives related to Google+, the more followers they get, hence MG Siegler at #9. (techcrunch.com)

A Tablet that Wants to Take Over the Desktop

2011-07-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

Cisco has redesigned the Android operating system to make a tablet that also works as a desktop computer—but it takes some control away from users.

The latest entrant in the increasingly crowded tablet computing field, Cisco's Cius, is bulkier than the iPad, and has a smaller screen (7-inches wide, compared to the iPad's 9.7). But it packs a number of tricks all of its own, designed to woo business users. The Cius is designed to integrate closely with Cisco's voice and video phone systems, and it can even replace a desktop computer when docked to a new Cisco deskphone, which connects to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

A Cius tablet makes a user's desk number mobile, enabling a person to make and receive voice and video calls anywhere, if their company has a Cisco phone system. The tablet features HD quality cameras front and back and can be used with a Bluetooth headset for more private calling. The tablet can also be used as a desktop videoconferencing device when docked on a special desktop phone, and can smoothly switch between a WiFi a cellular network connection.

That dock can also be plugged into a monitor keyboard and mouse to act like a desktop computer. "It can replace my desktop operating system," says Tom Puorro, senior director for Cisco's collaboration technologies.

The Cius runs Google's Android mobile operating system, which is used on a rapidly growing number of smartphones and tablets as well. Android is open source, meaning it can be modified by anyone for free, yet so far most companies that have built gadgets running Android have tinkered with it little. The Cius, in contrast, features a radical reworking of Android.

This gives an IT department much greater control over what a Cius user can do. IT managers can shut down access to the Android app market to protect a company from malicious apps. Cisco has also created its own app store, AppHQ, that contains only apps deemed stable and secure by Cisco. Companies can even create their own app store within AppHQ and limit employees to certain applications, or apps built in house.

A WiFi only version of the tablet will be available worldwide from July 31 at an estimated price of $750. Cisco will sell it along with related services and infrastructure, so the cost to businesses will vary, and could be as low as $650. AT&T and Verizon will each offer versions for their 4G networks this fall.

A person can use the tablet's own OS or Windows even via a virtual desktop that runs in the cloud, as Puorro demonstrated at a launch event held in San Jose today. The tablet's powerful 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor allows desktop-like performance when hooked up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor. Although iPads are showing up in workplaces, they can't offer the same integration with everyday tasks like phone calls, and are limited to email, Web browsing and video, says Puorro.

Cisco worked with Google to get advice on its modifications to Android, says Puorro. These modifications enable Android to deal with video and operations like group calling and transferring calls, and make use of a dedicated chip in the tablet that encrypt all its data. (technologyreview.com)

Hackers Caused $2.7 Million of Citi Card Losses

2011-06-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-largest U.S. bank, said about 3,400 customers lost about $2.7 million when their credit-card information was breached by hackers earlier this year.

The customers will be reimbursed, Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, said in a phone interview today. It’s the first public acknowledgement by Citigroup that the incident resulted in any financial losses.

Citigroup said earlier this month more than 360,000 credit- card accounts, or 1.5 percent of the bank’s total in North America, may have been compromised by hackers in May. The Wall Street Journal reported the amount of the loss earlier today.

“Citi immediately rectified the data breach upon discovery, while also placing internal fraud alerts and monitoring on all accounts at risk,” Kevelighan said in an e- mail earlier this month. “Simultaneously, we began analysis to determine the precise accounts and type of information accessed.” (Bloomberg)

Bird flu discovered in Dutch farm

2011-06-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

Paula the Octopus in action for women's World Cup

Bird flu was discovered at a poultry farm in the central Dutch province of Flevoland, the Ministry of Agriculture said Friday.

It said the virus discovered was a mild variant. The farm's 47,000 chickens were slaughtered to prevent the virus turning into a contagious and deadly variant.

It remains uncertain whether the chickens were infected with the high or low pathologene H7 variant. The low pathologene version can mutate into a high pathologen, which is extremely transmittable.

Poultry from other farms in a zone of three kilometres of the contaminated farm will be tested. A prohibition of transport for poultry, eggs and poultry manure has been set. (Xinhua)

Paula the Octopus in action for women's World Cup

2011-06-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

During last year's World Cup in South Africa, Paul the Octopus shot to fame for his accurate match predictions, so for the women's competition starting in Germany on Sunday, step forward ... Paula.

The tentacled tipster was put through her paces on Friday in Konstanz in southern Germany, but made the shock choice that Canada will win Sunday's opening match against the hosts in Berlin.

The octopus, whose gender is actually unknown, had to choose between two compartments in a plastic box in its tank, one with a Germany flag and one with a Canada one, with each containing a tasty morsel.

The prediction is a bold one as Germany, whose women are hoping to win their third consecutive World Cup, have never lost any of their previous nine matches to Canada.

Paula, however, is only one of eight salty soothsayers housed at eight different Sea Life centres in Germany competing to become the official successor to British-born Paul, who lived in an aquarium in Oberhausen.

All eight will be asked to predict the outcome of all Germany's matches in the June 26-July 17 women's competition.

While Paula and an eight-legged colleague in Munich both backed Canada on Friday, the fishy forecasters in Berlin, Koenigswinter and Oberhausen plumped for Germany, making the combined predictions 3-2 in the hosts' favour.

But the method of enticing the underwater oracles to predict the winner proved to be far from fool-proof -- three octopuses in other locations in Germany snubbed the treats on offer and ignored both boxes.

This was determined by aquarium officials to mean that they expect a draw.

Meanwhile one-year-old African elephant Nelly got in on the forecasting act at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, near Hanover, by predicting a win for Germany after opting to kick a ball into the Canada net when given a choice.

But it is all a far cry so far from last summer's performances by Paul -- who has become something of an icon here -- after he kept a clean sheet in the men's competition in South Africa.

He correctly foretold the outcome of all Germany's games, even a defeat to Serbia in the group stage and to Spain in the semi-finals, as well as Spain's eventual victory in the final.

In the process he cost bookmakers a fortune and won worldwide fame, with rolling news channels in Germany carrying live coverage when he was asked to choose -- as they did with Paula on Friday.

Paul died aged nearly three in October, sparking hundreds of messages of condolence from his fan club on social networking website Facebook, whose ranks have more than tripled since his death to more than 200,000. (AFP)

UNESCO lists Australia, Kenya beauty spots

2011-06-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Natural beauty and wildlife spots in Australia, Japan and Kenya have won UNESCO world heritage status, the UN cultural body said on Friday.

The Paris-based body added the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia, Japan's remote Ogasawara Islands and the Kenya Lake System in the Rift Valley province, to its heritage list, a valuable tourism-boosting asset.

The 32,000-hectare Kenyan lake district is home to rhinos, giraffes and lions.

It is also "the single most important foraging site for the lesser flamingo anywhere, and a major nesting and breeding ground for great white pelicans," UNESCO said.

The remote Ningaloo Coast boasts a big reef and sea turtles and is the scene of an annual gathering of white whales, it added, in a statement.

The Ogasawara Islands, known in English as the Bonin Islands, are a cluster in the Pacific a thousand kilometres (620 miles) southeast of the Japanese mainland, and home to numerous animal species and hundreds of native plants.

These include "the Bonin Flying Fox, a critically endangered bat, and 195 endangered bird species," UNESCO said.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee is meeting until June 29, considering, among others, bids by the tiny Pacific archipelagos of Micronesia and Palau, Barbados, Jamaica, Congo and the United Arab Emirates for their first listings. (AFP)

Six dead, 22 hurt in Afghan bomb blast

2011-06-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Five civilians and one policeman have been killed by a bicycle bomb which exploded in a busy bazaar in northern Afghanistan, the provincial governor's spokesman says.

Women and children were among 22 others injured in the blast, which took place around 6pm yesterday in Khan Abad district, Kunduz province, on Afghanistan's main weekly day of rest.

"The bomb was attached to a bicycle and went off in the bazaar in Khan Abad district," said Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahboobullah Saeedi. "So far we have confirmed six people including one policeman dead."

Provincial police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini confirmed the death toll and blamed the Taliban for the attack, although the militants were not immediately contactable.

"Six people have been killed and 22 others injured as a result of today's explosion," Hussaini said.

"There is one policeman among the dead. There are also three children, four women and one policeman among the injured. It was a busy bazaar. The Taliban are responsible -- they want to terrorise people."

The Taliban frequently target the Afghan police and other government employees in their near decade-long insurgency.

But civilians are the biggest casualties in the war, with 2777 killed last year, according to the United Nations.

The north of Afghanistan is traditionally more stable than the volatile south and east but has seen an upsurge of violence in recent times. (Herald Sun)

Bieber fever chaos at Macy's a 'misunderstanding'

2011-06-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

Justin Bieber may have gotten a scare on Thursday when an unidentified man reportedly tackled him outside of the Herald Square Macy’s in New York City, but a rep for the singer says it was all just a misunderstanding.

The teen phenom was there to promote his new fragrance, Someday, and stepped outside of the store to greet the hordes of fans. New York’s WABC estimates there were about 400 to 500 people gathered, and as Bieber exited the storefront, the crowd began to move forward, causing the barricades to tip over.

That's supposedly when the unidentified gentleman hopped a barricade and knocked the 17-year-old to the ground, as witnesses relayed to the ABC affiliate.

The NYPD says that no one was hurt throughout the incident, although they did know about the reports that Biebs had taken a fall. It turned out that it wasn’t a case of a crazed fan, but rather a plainclothes police officer who was trying to help the singer.

Witnesses told WABC that the teen singer took a few swings at the guy, and that the pop star’s security moved in to restrain him. Bieber's team told the ABC affiliate that he was never knocked down, although he appeared to be shaken up. He ended up going back in to Macy's to do a meet-and-greet with the crowd of 300.

Bieber's rep said in a statement to CNN, “This was a momentary, well-intentioned misunderstanding that was quickly resolved, and the event went very well.'” (CNN)

NASA's Genesis mission finds differences in constructions of sun and planets

2011-06-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The sun and its inner planets may have formed differently than previously thought, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said on Thursday.

Data revealed differences between the sun and planets in oxygen and nitrogen, which are two of the most abundant elements in our solar system, said JPL in Pasadena, Los Angeles.

Although the difference is slight, the implications could help determine how our solar system evolved, JPL said.

NASA researchers drew the conclusion after analyzing samples returned by NASA's 2004 Genesis mission, according to JPL.

The air on Earth contains three different kinds of oxygen atoms which are differentiated by the number of neutrons they contain. Nearly 100 percent of oxygen atoms in the solar system are composed of O-16, but there are also tiny amounts of more exotic oxygen isotopes called O-17 and O-18. Researchers studying the oxygen of Genesis samples found that the percentage of O-16 in the sun is slightly higher than on Earth or on other terrestrial planets. The other isotopes' percentages were slightly lower.

"We found that Earth, the moon, as well as Martian and other meteorites which are samples of asteroids, have a lower concentration of the O-16 than does the sun," said Kevin McKeegan, a Genesis co-investigator from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the lead author of one of two papers published this week in Science journal. "The implication is that we did not form out of the same solar nebula materials that created the sun -- just how and why remains to be discovered." Another paper detailed differences between the sun and planets in the element nitrogen. Like oxygen, nitrogen has one isotope, N- 14, that makes up nearly 100 percent of the atoms in the solar system, but there is also a tiny amount of N-15. Researchers studying the same samples saw that when compared to Earth's atmosphere, nitrogen in the sun and Jupiter has slightly more N-14, but 40 percent less N-15. Both the sun and Jupiter appear to have the same nitrogen composition. As is the case for oxygen, Earth and the rest of the inner solar system are very different in nitrogen.

"These findings show that all solar system objects including the terrestrial planets, meteorites and comets are anomalous compared to the initial composition of the nebula from which the solar system formed," said Bernard Marty, a Genesis co- investigator from Petrographic and Geochemical Research Center in Fracne and the lead author of the other new Science paper. " Understanding the cause of such a heterogeneity will impact our view on the formation of the solar system."

Data were obtained from analysis of samples Genesis collected from the solar wind, or material ejected from the outer portion of the sun. This material can be thought of as a fossil of our nebula because the preponderance of scientific evidence suggests that the outer layer of our sun has not changed measurably for billions of years.

"The sun houses more than 99 percent of the material currently in our solar system, so it's a good idea to get to know it better, " said Genesis Principal Investigator Don Burnett of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. "While it was more challenging than expected, we have answered some important questions, and like all successful missions, generated plenty more."

Genesis was launched in August 2000. The spacecraft traveled to Earth's L1 Lagrange Point about one million miles from Earth, where it remained for 886 days between 2001 and 2004, passively collecting solar-wind samples.

JPL managed the Genesis mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Genesis mission was part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alasca. (Xinhua)

Flight 447 sparks black box rethink

2011-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

It should become easier to find flight data recorders in the wake of the Air France Flight 447 disaster, an aviation industry expert says.

Recorders from the doomed plane, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009 on its way from Brazil to France, were found amid the wreckage last work after almost two years on the sea bed.

Experts were able to recover vital clues to the cause of the crash, which killed 228 passengers and crewmembers, despite earlier warnings that the boxes had only been designed to last about 28 days under water.

Now one of the major manufacturers of data recorders says the company will look to extend their battery life to give authorities more time to find them after a crash.

"We are very pleased that the boxes have been found, and have lasted almost two years down at 12,800 feet, which is well beyond the design life that they were established for," John Bolton, from flight data recorder manufacturer Honeywell, told CNN at the Paris Air Show. (CNN)

WHO: Haiti cholera cases on rise

2011-06-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

Haiti has seen an increase in cholera cases since May, due to a lack of access to clean water and sanitation, and the beginning of the rainy season and flooding, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.

The rise was particularly strong in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the southern peninsula. In Port-au-Prince alone, WHO reported 18,182 new cases from May 2 to June 12.

A shortage of funds was also threatening international health efforts in Haiti, it said.

WHO said the number of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) fighting cholera in the country had decreased from several hundred at the beginning of the outbreak last year to about 60 because of insufficient funding.

For the same reason, the remaining NGOs had cut their programs in providing clean water and sanitation and other measures to contain the epidemic.

According to Haiti's Ministry of Public Health, as of June 12, 2011, there had been a total of 344,623 cases of cholera and 5,397 related deaths. (Xinhua)

Syrian forces open fire on protesters

2011-06-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Security forces opened fire as thousands of anti-government protesters took to Syria's streets in a weekly ritual of defiance and demands for Syrian President Bashar Assad's ousting.

Activists said at least five people were killed and some 15 injured in demonstrations following Friday prayers.

Some of the fatalities occurred in al-Kasweh, a suburb of the capital, Damascus, and in the central city of Homs, according to Omar Idilbi of the Local Co-ordination Committees which track the Syrian protests.

Protests in several other provinces also came under fire but it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties, Idilbi said.

"Our revolution is strong! Assad has lost legitimacy!" protesters chanted in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, according to video posted on YouTube.

The military crackdown, which activists say has killed 1,400 people, has failed to silence a pro-democracy movement that has now lasted more than 100 days.

In northern Syria, activists said at least 15,000 people held a protest on the highway linking the country's two main cities, Damascus and Aleppo. (Al Jazeera)

Sunflowers to clean Japan radioactive soil

2011-06-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

Campaigners in Japan are asking people to grow sunflowers, said to help decontaminate radioactive soil, in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed March's earthquake and tsunami.

Volunteers are being asked to grow the flowers then send the seeds to the stricken area, where they will be planted next year to help get rid of radioactive contaminants in the plant's fallout zone.

The campaign, launched by young entrepreneurs and civil servants in Fukushima prefecture last month, aims to cover large areas in yellow blossoms as a symbol of hope and reconstruction and to lure back tourists.

"We will give the seeds sent back by people for free to farmers, the public sector and other groups next year," said project leader Shinji Handa. The goal is a landscape so yellow that "it will surprise NASA", he said.

The earthquake and tsunami left more than 23,000 people dead or missing on Japan's northeast coast and crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant that has leaked radiation into the environment since.

Almost 10,000 packets of sunflower seeds at $5.70 each have so far been sold to 30,000 people, including to the city of Yokohama, which is growing sunflowers in 200 parks, Handa said.

Handa, from Hiroshima, said the sunflower project was a way for people across Japan to support the disaster region.

"This is different from donations because people will grow the flowers, and a mother can tell her children that it is like an act of prayer for the reconstruction of the northeast," Handa said.

"I also hope the project will give momentum to attract tourists back to Fukushima with sunflower seeds in their hands. I would like to make a maze using sunflowers so that children can play in it." (Herald Sun)

BOE Says Debt Crisis Is Biggest U.K. Financial-Stability Threat

2011-06-24T03:25:00.000-07:00

The euro-area debt crisis poses the biggest risk to the stability of the U.K. financial system and banks should build up capital when earnings are strong, the Bank of England said today.

“The committee judged that sovereign and banking sector strains in some vulnerable euro-area economies were the most material and immediate threat,” the bank said today in the minutes of the June 16 meeting of the new Financial Policy Committee. U.K. banks’ “direct exposures to vulnerable euro- area sovereigns were limited, but they had larger claims on the private sectors of some of those economies.”

The comments echo those of the European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who said this week that the “most serious threat” to financial stability in the European Union stems from the mounting debt crisis. The U.K.’s FPC, chaired by Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, met last week for the first time as part of Prime Minister David Cameron’s shake-up of bank regulation to prevent another financial crisis.

The FPC said strains in the euro region pose a risk to Britain’s lenders, because U.K. banks’ combined claims on France and Germany account for about 130 percent of their so-called core Tier 1 capital, with close to half of that representing claims on banks.

“Any escalation of stresses could also be transmitted via interconnected global markets, including via the U.S., leading to a tightening of bank funding conditions,” the panel said. “Such contagion could be amplified if bank creditors were unsure about the resilience of their counterparties.” (Bloomberg)

US and IEA to release oil stockpiles

2011-06-24T03:18:00.001-07:00

The United States and 27 other nations that depend on oil imports are to release and sell 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stocks in an effort to ease the strain of high oil prices on the global economy.

The release by the International Energy Agency (IEA), covers only what the world uses roughly every 16 hours, but was enough to send oil prices considerably lower.

In addition to helping the struggling economies of the US and Europe, analysts said the move was meant as a rebuke to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has refused to increase oil production to bring down prices.

The move will be the largest sale of crude ever from world strategic reserves and only the third since the IEA was formed in 1974 after the Arab oil embargo.

The IEA released oil in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and in 1990 and 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait.

The timing of the release brought criticism from business groups and Republican politicians, who accused US President Barack Obama of playing politics with the country's oil reserves which are intended to address emergencies.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, US congressman Kevin McCarthy said the move was "pure politics as there were other points in his presidency when the emergency was higher and the price was higher". (Al Jazeera)

Global demand increasing for synthetic drugs, UN report finds

2011-06-24T03:10:00.001-07:00

While global markets for cocaine, heroin and cannabis declined or remained stable, the production and abuse of prescription opioid drugs and new synthetic drugs rose, the United Nations annual drug report said today.

“The gains we have witnessed in the traditional drugs markets are being offset by a fashion for synthetic ‘designer drugs’ mimicking illegal substances,” said Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which produced the World Drug Report 2011.

“The global drug threat has not diminished,” he told a press briefing.

The report said that some 210 million people, or 4.8 per cent of the global population aged between 15 and 64, took illicit substances at least once in the previous year.

The rate of overall drug use, including problem drug use, (0.6 per cent of people aged 15-64) remained stable. However, demand soared for substances not under international control, such as piperazine and cathinone.

Speaking at the report’s official launch in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that it “paints a sobering picture of the threat posed by illegal drugs.”

“Traffickers break more than the law,” he said. “They break the human spirit. They fuel terrorism and insurgency. They rob societies of peace.”

“Drug-dependent people should not be treated with discrimination; they should be treated by medical experts and counsellors,” he said. “Drug addiction is a disease, not a crime.”

Referring to the increase in the use of synthetic drugs, the report said that “non-medical use of prescription drugs is reportedly a growing health problem in a number of developed and developing countries.

“Moreover, in recent years, several new synthetic compounds have emerged in established illicit drug markets. Many of these substances are marketed as ‘legal highs’ and substitutes for illicit stimulant drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy.” (UN News Centre)

Egyptian Prepare For Next Revolution Rally

2011-06-24T03:08:00.000-07:00

Egyptian activists are calling for a massive rally on July 8 to "save the revolution" that toppled Hosni Mubarak, urging politicians to drop debates on the timing of elections and focus on the basics.

In a Facebook page entitled "The 2nd revolution of anger", activists say the fundamental demands of the uprising - to protect rights and freedoms - have not been met, and have instead become clouded by arguments on whether elections or a constitution should come first.

"To all rival political forces debating which should come first, constitution or elections, save your revolution first, save Egypt first. Our revolution is collapsing," the activists said on their Facebook page, which has garnered over 55,000 members.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took over when mass protests forced Mubarak from power in February, has scheduled parliamentary elections for September.

But an autumn poll is expected to play into the hands of the well-entrenched Muslim Brotherhood, prompting calls from secular politicians for a delay to allow new parties to organise themselves.

Some have also called for a new constitution to be drawn up before the election, for fear that the Islamist group will otherwise have too much influence over the drafting of the charter.

But those behind the call for the July 8 protest say the debate is premature, arguing that the priority should be focused on ensuring freedom of expression, the public trial of those found guilty of abuse, and an end to military trials of civilians.

Protesters who first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of Mubarak began shifting their anger towards the ruling military council, accusing it of using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent. (Herald Sun)

USGS: 7.4 earthquake rocks Alaskan islands

2011-06-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has shaken Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and US officials issued a localized tsunami warning near the remote island chain.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

A tsunami advisory issued by the US West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC) late Thursday warned nearby coastal residents to "move immediately inland to higher ground and away from all harbors and inlets including those sheltered directly from the sea."

The quake on the Fox Islands -- 101 miles (163 kilometers) east of the tiny fishing port of Atka -- struck at 6:09 pm local time (0309 GMT), the US Geological Survey said in a statement.

"Those feeling the earth shake, seeing unusual wave action or the water level rising or receding may have only a few minutes before the tsunami arrival and should move immediately," warned the WCATWC.

"Homes and small buildings are not designed to withstand tsunami impacts. Do not stay in these structures," officials warned.

The quake struck more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west of the major Alaskan city of Anchorage. (AFP)

Prada makes lacklustre Hong Kong debut

2011-06-24T02:19:00.001-07:00

Italian luxury fashion house Prada made a lacklustre stock market debut in Hong Kong Friday amid choppy global markets and waning investor interest after a string of blockbuster IPOs.

The family-controlled firm's stock opened just 0.25 percent higher at HK$39.60 ($5.08) compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price of HK$39.50, before it ended the morning session at HK$39.55.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index rose 1.42 percent at noon.

The Milan-based company nevertheless trumpeted its listing debut in Hong Kong -- increasingly a favoured gateway for foreign companies trying to tap Chinese capital.

"We are the first Italian luxury brand company to list here and this is a landmark event for the Hong Kong stock exchange," chief executive Patrizio Bertelli said.

"I am positive the Greater China market will be an interesting market for luxury good brands. The first signs are very good," he told reporters.

Ronald Arculli, chairman of the Hong Kong stock exchange lauded the listing as a "good start" for Prada and said the exchange was doing its best to attract quality companies to list in the city, despite volatile global markets.

The Italian group, which includes the Prada, Miu Miu, Church's and Car Shoe brands, is the latest high-end fashion brand to tap the huge Chinese market, the world's fastest-growing market for luxury goods.

China is forecast to be the world's top buyer of products such as cosmetics, handbags, watches, shoes and clothes by 2015, according to consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

But weak market sentiment had pushed Prada to price its Hong Kong shares at the lower end of its price range and shrink the size of its highly anticipated IPO, raising a lower-than-expected $2.14 billion.

Prada sold 423.2 million shares after floating 20 percent of its stock. Before the IPO, the brand had been 95 percent owned by the Prada family and executives.

The top end of Prada's price range would have seen the firm raise about $2.6 billion in Hong Kong, before any option to issue extra shares which could have pushed the deal to $3.0 billion in all.

Analysts said many investors were concerned that Prada's stock was overpriced, and were deterred by a tax hurdle in Italy that could shrink foreigners' profit owing to the absence of a tax treaty with Hong Kong.

"We expected a three-five percent drop in share price for Prada, so this is already a good performance for them," Ben Kwong, chief operating officer of financial services group KGI Asia told AFP.

"The weak market sentiment may have negatively affected investors' interest, and they are not as willing to pay a premium price," he added

China's deep capital pool helped Hong Kong claim the title of the world's biggest IPO market in 2010 -- for the second year in a row.

Firms raised more than $50 billion in Hong Kong IPOs last year, including two monster sales by Asian insurer AIA and Agricultural Bank of China.

But at a time of unease in markets around the world, some firms have now decided to delay or cancel their listings in Hong Kong.

Earlier this month, Australian miner Resourcehouse shelved an IPO originally slated to raise as much as $3.6 billion, citing weak market conditions.

Luggage maker Samsonite had a poor trading debut in Hong Kong last week with its shares closing nearly eight percent below their IPO price.

Outside the stock exchange, Prada received some unwanted publicity when two dozen women's activists staged a noisy protest accusing the group of sexual discrimination and chanted "Only the devil wears Prada! Shame on Prada!"

The protest stemmed from the case of Rina Bovrisse, a 37-year-old former Prada manager in Japan who claimed she was unfairly fired in March last year after being told by a company executive that she was "ugly" and didn't have "the Prada look". (AFP)

China's Super Dan out of Indonesia Badminton Open

2011-06-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

Japan's Sho Sasaki stunned badminton's most decorated player, Lin Dan, 21-12, 21-18 in the second round of the Indonesia Open Superseries on Thursday.

Lin's defeat continued the wave of bad news for the Chinese camp as women's world No. 1 Wang Shixian was also shown the door at the event, a day after world No. 2 and Singapore Open Superseries champion Wang Xin, was knocked out of the 600,000 U.S. dollars tournament.

Despite Lin's exit, China still have three players left in the men's singles with Chen Long, Du Pengyu and world champion Chen Jin still in with a chance of winning the Superseries title.

Likewise, there are still three Chinese shuttlers left in the women's singles draw, namely Liu Xin, world No. 3 Wang Yihan and Jiang Yanjiao.

Sasaki, who has twice defeated Chen this year, promised in April that he will do everything in his power to close the gap on Lin after suffering four consecutive defeats to the three-time world champion. And he did just that on Thursday, beating the reigning Olympic and Asian Games gold medallist in 39 minutes.

"I was patient today. We have met twice this year at the Badminton Asia Championships and Sudirman Cup, but I narrowly lost on both occasions," said the Australia Open champion. "I'm tried hard against him in the past and I'm glad that I was successful this time."

Lin, who has been plagued by stomach problems since last week's Singapore Open, even conceded that final to Chen after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

Many had accused him of throwing that match in order to help Chen gain valuable qualifying points for the Olympics, a charge Lin has vehemently denied and his loss here, seemed to confirmed that all is not right with 'Super Dan', who would have met Chen if he had won.

"No excuses, Sasaki deserved to win. I didn't deliberately lose," said a disappointed Lin.

"For now, I will have to go and see a doctor whenI get back to see what's wrong with my stomach. I need to take a good rest before I decide on the next course of action." (Xinhua)

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

2011-06-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

The son of a businessman who liked to travel, Jacques-Yves Cousteau acquired the same wanderlust. Born in 1910 in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, France, he was a sickly child, but he learned to love swimming and the ocean. He also took an interest in movies, producing his first film when he was thirteen.

Cousteau graduated from France’s naval academy, but his career as an officer ended with a nearly fatal car accident in 1936. He went to Toulon, where he returned to his interests in the sea and photography, a period that culminated in his invention of the aqualung with Émile Gagnan in 1944. During World War II he also won a Légion d’honneur for his photographic espionage. The French Navy established the Underwater Research Group for Cousteau in 1944, and after the war the venture evolved into the freewheeling, worldwide voyages that Cousteau became famous for.
Aboard the Calypso, a converted U.S. minesweeper, he and his crew conducted research and pioneered underwater photography. His 1957 documentary The Silent World (based on a 1953 book) won an Oscar and the Palm d’Or of the Cannes film festival. Subsequent movies and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, a television series, established Cousteau as a leading environmentalist and science educator. His Cousteau Society, dedicated to exploring and protecting the oceans, attracted millions of members worldwide. Through it he launched another innovative technology, “Turbosails,” towering non-rotating cylinders that act as sails to reduce ships’ dependency on oilfueled engines.Anew ship propelled by them, the Alcyone, eventually replaced the Calypso.

Cousteau inspired legions of oceanographers and environmentalists while calling attention to pressing problems in the world’s oceans. Although his later years where marked by family tragedies and controversy, he was revered throughout the world and had received many honors when he died in 1997.

(Inventions and inventors)

Vidalia Onion Festival

2011-06-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Happen at last weekend in April to early May.

There are no tears during this tribute to Georgia’s state vegetable, the sweet Vidalia onion, which is said to be burp-free, good for digestion, and tearless. The festival is held in Vidalia (nearby Glenville has a rival onion festival, usually a week earlier) at the height of the harvest season, which extends from mid-April to early June.

This onion is an interesting vegetable, officially the F-1 hybrid yellow granex, a round white onion with a yellow skin. Local folks hail it as the “world’s sweetest onion,” and, in fact, it has a sugar content of 12.5 percent, making it as sweet as a Valencia orange. If the seed is planted anywhere but Georgia, however, it becomes a normal sharp-tasting onion, probably due to the soil. Therefore, the name Vidalia may be given only to onions grown throughout 13 Georgia counties and parts of seven other counties (by act of the state legislature and federal directive).

According to a local story, Vidalia onions have been known since 1931, when a farmer discovered the onions didn’t make him cry and so got a premium price for them even during the Depression. But they didn’t become widely known until Delbert Bland of Bland Farms, a big onion producer, started a marketing campaign and mail-order onion business in 1984.

In 1990, the sweet-onion business in Georgia amounted to about $35 million. The celebration of the onion includes standard festival fare—music, a street dance, a fishing rodeo and expo, and a fun run. It also has a competition for Miss Vidalia Onion (a beautiful high school or college woman). Other beauty pageant winners are Miss Vidalia Onion Seed (ages 3-5), Miss Vidalia Onion Sprout (ages 6-9), Miss Spring Onion (ages 10-12), and Miss Junior Vidalia Onion (ages 13-16). Finally, there are onion-eating contests, and a Vidalia Onion Cook-Off, which produces cakes, breads, and muffins made with onions.

(Holidays, festivals, and celebrations of the world dictionary)

Sextant

2011-06-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

The sextant, used as a navigational instrument, was simultaneously invented in 1730 by the Englishman John Hadley (1682–1744) and the British colonial American Thomas Godfrey (1704–1749). Hadley had successfully made a number of telescopes, recognized as the best of the era by Edmond Halley (1656–1742), who contributed to the knowledge of comet paths as orbits.

The sextant consisted of a small telescope mounted on a frame with a sliding scale. The mariner would use the telescope to sight the horizon to ensure that he held the instrument level. He would change the angle of a mirror on the device, reflecting the light of the Sun or another celestial object through a filter to bring the image in line with the horizon. The angle between the celestial object and the horizon could then be read out on a scale. With this information, the latitude of the ship could be determined. A second reading could determine the exact local time by the elevation of the Sun above the horizon at that latitude. If the mariner had an accurate chronometer set to show London time (or that of any other known longitude), he could determine the number of degrees east or west of London. The sextant was so named because it allowed a reading of elevations to 60 degrees, or 1/6 of a full circle.

Earlier devices for measuring elevation of celestial objects were less accurate and included the cross-staff and the astrolabe. The invention of the sextant, with its filter and mirror, allowed sighting of the Sun without directly looking at it, a great improvement over the cross-staff, with its risk of eye damage.

(Scientific American inventions and discoveries)

Serena Williams Reaches Third Round of Wimbledon Tournament; Djokovic Wins

2011-06-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Four-time Wimbledon winner and defending champion Serena Williams came back to beat Simona Halep in her second-round match. Two-time Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic defeated South Africa’s Kevin Anderson to advance.

Williams, 29, has never failed to reach the third round on the grass courts of the All England Club in south London. She defeated the 19-year-old Romanian 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Djokovic beat Anderson won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Williams won last year’s tournament then missed almost 12 months after having two operations on her right foot and being treated for blood clots in her lungs. Trying to become the first woman to win three straight Wimbledon titles since Steffi Graf in 1991-93, the American’s needed three sets in each of her four victories since her comeback in a warm-up event last week in Eastbourne, England.

“I’m just happy to be playing and hopefully will get better as the tournament goes on,” Williams said in a televised interview immediately after the match. “‘It was a little windy, and I got tight. I need to relax a bit more.”

Rain delayed play a second time shortly around 5:15 p.m. local time after an earlier stoppage of about 20 minutes. Only matches on Centre Court, which has a roof, continued. Third-seed Li Na of China takes on Sabine Lisicki of Germany, followed by six-time champion Roger Federer of Switzerland against France’s Adrian Mannarino. (Bloomberg)

Indonesian ban on workers to Saudi Arabia

2011-06-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Moratorium from August 1 reflects Jakarta's anger over maid's execution in kingdom last week.

Indonesia has barred its citizens from travelling to Saudi Arabia to work, amid a spat with Riyadh over the beheading of an Indonesian maid in the kingdom for alleged murder.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president, on Thursday condemned the beheading and accused Riyadh of breaking the "norms and manners" of international relations.

"I decided to apply a moratorium on sending Indonesian workers to Saudi Arabia, to be in effect on August 1, but starting from today, steps toward this have begun" he said in a live TV address.

The moratorium will apply "until Indonesia and Saudi Arabia can come to an agreement to give rights necessary for Indonesian workers," he added.

He said Jakarta was considering applying a similar ban to other Gulf states where human rights activists say migrant workers also face abuse and exploitation.

Yudhoyono's comments reflect Indonesia's growing anger over the abuse and maltreatment that many of its citizens have to endure while working in the Gulf countries.

Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was executed by sword after being convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, Khairiya bint Hamid Mijlid, with a meat cleaver for not being granted leave to visit home.

Furious over her execution, Jakarta has recalled its ambassaor to Saudi Arabia for "consultations".

The execution also prompted calls from Indonesian rights activists for the scrapping of the death penalty. Indonesia carries out executions by firing squad.

There are about 1.2 million Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, most of them working as maids, who are a valuable source of foreign exchange reserves and help reduce unemployment in Southeast Asia's leading economy.

Twenty-three Indonesians currently face execution in Saudi Arabia, where people convicted of murder are beheaded in public. (Al Jazeera)

Greek banks, funds 'available' for debt rollover

2011-06-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Greek holders of the country's huge sovereign debt such as banks and social security funds are "available" to participate in a rollover to reduce payments pressure, the finance minister said on Thursday.

"It is clear that there is an availability among Greek holders of Greek public debt, but also banks and social security funds, to participate in this procedure," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told a news conference.

"We encourage Greek banks to take part," he added.

Venizelos was referring to a package along the lines of a deal on Romanian debt agreed in Vienna in 2009, whereby private banks agreed to buy new government bonds to replace ones that matured.

This debt rollover idea is now gaining traction in Europe to also help Greece cope with its debt of over 350 billion euros ($504 billion).

But many European officials are also wary after warnings by rating agencies that even a voluntary rollover of Greek debt could be regarded as a technical default and possibly have grave repercussions for the broader eurozone.

Venizelos was speaking after a first round of talks with top EU and International Monetary officials on crucial details of the latest austerity measures agreed to fight the debt crisis, and noted that the negotiations would continue.

"They are upstairs and they are waiting for us to return," he said.

The EU, IMF and the European Central Bank, which are effectively keeping Greece afloat, have said they will not release the next funding tranche of 12 billion euros from a debt rescue agreed a year ago unless the latest measures are signed and sealed.

They also demand action on a 50-billion euro sale of state assets to help reduce the debt, and want to see the implementation of a five-year plan to economise an additional sum of over 28 billion euros from savings and cuts.

At stake is a new possible bailout to cover Greece's payment needs, as continued jitters over its economic recovery have made it impossible for the government to raise new loans on the open market.

Venizelos said on Thursday that the existing EU-IMF loan, worth 110 billion euros through to 2013, could "seep" into the next aid package.

But he declined to name a sum that will cover Greece's needs for the foreseeable future. Figures talked of generally have ranged up to 100 billion euros.

A new law to put the five-year reform plan into effect will be introduced to parliament on Monday, Venizelos said.

The government has pledged to adopt the reforms by the end of the month, ahead of a eurozone ministers meeting on July 3 that is expected to determine whether Athens will be given a new bailout. (AFP)

German soldiers cannot shoot, cannot drive, Afghan report concludes

2011-06-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Germany's military is a danger to itself and its Afghanistan mission because it lacks combat and medical skills, German newspaper Bild reported yesterday citing a classified official document.

"The soldiers' proficiency in small arms and their command of weaponry does not correspond to the requirements of the territory," officers in the leaked Bundeswehr internal report complained.

The document added that soldiers did not have adequate driving instruction to prepare them for Afghanistan's uneven terrain. Furthermore, their lack of driving experience in armored vehicles put their lives at risk of serious road accidents.

The document also criticized the abilities of German medics, who, it was claimed, were inadequately prepared to treat gunshot and explosives wounds.

In addition to criticizing their own training shortcomings, officials expressed resentment over what they saw as US military dominance over other NATO members, particularly since Gen. David Petraeus took command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) last July.

"The already marginalized contributions of other nations have been further marginalized," they said. "It has been established that American dominance in leadership and decision-making has further increased."

The Bundeswehr is scheduled to hand over Mazar-i-Sharif, a major city in the north of the country, to Afghan authorities in July this year. (Herald Sun)

On Public Service Day, Ban encourages commitment to good governance

2011-06-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged public servants across the world to promote the ideals of good governance, integrity, respect for diversity, gender equality and the use of technology for effective management of knowledge to build better lives for all.
“On the annual observance of Public Service Day, we honour those who accept the responsibilities of service to humanity and who contribute to excellence and innovation in public service institutions,” Mr. Ban said in a message to mark the Day, which is being observed for the first time in Africa.
At a ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the United Nations paid tribute to public servants from all over the world and acknowledged public service institutions for their achievements.
“Governments and good governance play a central role in addressing the complex challenges of our times,” said Mr. Ban. “Whether it is climate change, the economic crisis, unemployment, health pandemics, or poverty eradication, public servants and good governance are often the first line of defence,” he said.
The implementation of the internationally agreed development targets, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), also relied heavily on the work of public servants – their leadership, expertise and innovation in the delivery of vital services, the Secretary-General added. (UN News Centre)

New Messi out to follow Pulga path

2011-06-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Football fans are known to love quizzes, but they would be forgiven for misidentifying the following player: he was born in Argentina but grew up in a different country; he made his top-flight debut for a team that play in blue and red; he excels as an attacking midfielder or forward; and he was present at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi? A good guess, but not right.

In fact, those same facts also apply to a countryman of La Pulga (The Flea), Juan Iturbe. The young Argentinian was raised in Paraguay, where he wore the jersey of Cerro Porteno, and was last year included in Diego Maradona’s ‘sparring’ squad, a group of promising youth players invited to South Africa to provide worthy training opponents for the senior team.

But the coincidental similarities between Iturbe and Messi do not end there. On the contrary, the Argentinian press has been pushing the comparison ever since the South American U-20 Championship in Peru earlier this year, where the highly-rated 18-year-old was able to showcase his array of skills to a wider audience.

“My team-mates have lumbered me with ‘Pulguita’ (Little Flea) – they call me it all the time, Iturbe told FIFA.com. "I find it a little awkward because Messi is the best in the world, a truly unique player, though I do feel a sense of pride when they say it, of course.”

If Iturbe can inspire his team to victory at the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup Colombia 2011, parallels will inevitably be drawn again with his idol, given that Messi took the same tournament by storm in 2005.

Iturbe’s story is essentially a tale of two countries. His Paraguayan parents were living and working in Buenos Aires at the time of his birth, but seven years later they returned to Asuncion to settle back in their homeland for good. Their talented son would go on to earn call-ups for Paraguay at various youth levels, culminating in the offer of a full senior cap for the precocious 16-year-old in a friendly versus Chile in November 2009. However, the offer to become part of Argentina's youth structure proved too tempting.

“I’ve made my decision: I’m going to play for Argentina," Iturbe stated at the time. "I want to win things wearing this jersey."

In La Albiceleste’s opening 2-1 victory over Uruguay in Peru, he made that ambition abundantly clear by scoring a dramatic last-gasp winner. While his newly-adopted team were unable to secure the trophy, two more Messi-style goals - against Brazil and Chile - from Iturbe cemented his reputation as a rising star.

“He’s an explosive player who can really unsettle teams, but we want to take things slowly with him," said Argentina U-20 coach Walter Perazzo. "We’re aware that the media has built him up but we’re hoping to take some of the pressure off his back. He offers something a bit different, and he’s going to make a big impact on the game worldwide.”

The former San Lorenzo striker is credited with surrounding Iturbe with players perfectly suited to bringing out the best in his game, the highlight of which includes short, darting runs, mesmerising dribbles performed at pace, and a composure when one-on-one with the goalkeeper that belies his years.

Iturbe, whose debut in continental club football saw him score two goals against Chilean outfit Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores, quickly attracted the attention of many of Europe’s big-name clubs, but it was Porto who won the race for his signature, once a short-lived dispute with Cerro Porteno was resolved. But before thinking too much about his future with the Portuguese champions, he is fully focused on the present task in Colombia.

“The goal is to do ourselves proud and to battle to become world champions," Iturbe said, aware that many high-profile Argentinians have made the step up to the senior side after lifting the prestigious FIFA U-20 World Cup trophy. "Argentina are always among the favourites, no matter the tournament.”

Diego Maradona, with whom he proudly got his picture taken at South Africa 2010, did it in 1979, while Messi himself did it in 2005. Iturbe is not fixated on following in other players’ footsteps and lifting the prize in Colombia, however.

“I have to laugh when people compare me to Messi," he said. "I’m just starting out, while what he does every day at Barcelona is truly impressive. But let me be as clear as possible: I want to make my own mark on the game.” (Fifa.com)