Silver Scorpio - International News | Spot News | Top News | Flash News | Live News
June 16 (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot and killed an armed infiltrator from Egypt, Israel Army Radio reported.
A military spokesman said there was no immediate comment on the incident, which took place on Tuesday along a desert border where attempted penetrations, usually by smugglers or migrants seeking jobs, are common.
(Editing by Michael Roddy)
Farah (Afghanistan), Apr 26(ANI): At least 13 Americans were killed when a low flying US Apache helicopter was reportedly shot down by Taliban militants while flying over Afghanistan’s Farah province.
The helicopter was hovering over Khak Safid district on Sunday morning, when it caught fire and fell on the desert of Nal, The Nation reports.
It is the second incident of a helicopter being shot down in two months. Earlier in February, an Apache helicopter was shot down near the airfield of Farah province.
Earlier this month, a Taliban spokesman had claimed responsibility of shooting down three NATO helicopters in Afghanistan’s Zabol Province, Maidan Wardak and Kunduz.
The crashes had injured several NATO servicemen and three members of the Afghan security forces. (ANI)
Sydney, Apr 24(ANI): V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane insists that the face of the Gold Coast’s motor racing carnival would undergo a significant change this year, as the organizers are trying to shed the event’s seedy, booze-fueled reputation and lure more families.
As part of the transformation, event organizers have even shortened the track to avoid nearby buildings, where women often bared their breasts during the event.
“We got rid of a lot of the high-rise buildings that didn’t do a very good job of policing the behaviour,” The Australian quoted Cochrane, as saying.
“We are not having any ratbag behaviour. We will have designated alcohol zones and family friendly areas where you can’t take alcohol and we’ll work closer with police and security,” he added.
The season began on February 19 at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit and will finish on December 5 at the Homebush Street Circuit in New South Wales.
The series is currently being led by reigning champion Jamie Whincup after he won all six off-shore races at the Yas V8 400, the Desert 400 and the Hamilton 400. (ANI)
The usually dry Todd River in Alice Springs could flow again this weekend for the third time in the space of four months.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood threat advice for the Alice Springs catchment and is predicting rain over the next four days.
The Alice Springs Anzac Oval rain gauge has already recorded more than 500 millimetres this year, that is compared to only 64mm for all of 2009.
Forecaster Graeme King says it is shaping up to be a wet weekend in the desert.
“Saturday itself, Saturday, Saturday night we’re looking at the possibility of good, continuous widespread rain. One of those cool, cloudy days and solid rain – we’re looking at an event total of 50 to 100mm in some places,” he said.
Researchers have found that dingos in the outback can survive for up to 22 days without water.
Tracking collars on 17 dingos have monitored their movement through the Strzelecki Desert and the far north-east of South Australia.
Ben Allan from the Arid Lands Natural Resources Board says the findings give vital information for landholders on how often dogs visit water points.
He has been amazed by the results.
“In winter they probably didn’t have any other water sources available, so it really was 22 days without a drink, but in summer they did have a little bit of rain around so no doubt they drunk more frequently at that but they didn’t visit a water point in 22 days,” he said.
“What that means for the landholders is that just because they don’t see dogs, or don’t see signs of dogs, doesn’t mean that they’re not there and you could still have plenty of dingos around even though you’re not seeing them or seeing evidence of them.”
Police are investigating the death of a man who went missing after leaving a Northern Territory roadhouse.
Anthony Drummond, 40, had been working at the Three Ways Roadhouse but staff said he left unexpectedly on Friday.
A German tourist found his body near the Stuart Highway, north of the Renner Springs Road House, yesterday afternoon.
Territory Police Duty Superintendent Michael Murphy says it is not yet known how he died.
“At this stage the cause of death is not known,” he said.
“A forensic pathologist will do a post mortem.
“On conclusion of that examination a further determination will be made by the investigators, but we do treat most deaths as more serious until we have the evidence to suggest otherwise.”
The Department of Sustainability is planning to start two big fire control burns in Victoria’s Mallee today.
The first of the burns is in the Big Desert at Messa Rocks about 45 kilometres north-west of Yanac.
The second is in Wyperfeld National Park at Milmed Rock, 30 kilometres north-west of Yaapeet.
The burns are each about 2,000 hectares and residents are advised smoke is likely to be visible.
Washington, September 18 (ANI): In a very rare finding, scientists have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered that it came from the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Meteorites are the only surviving physical record of the formation of our Solar System.
However, information about where individual meteorites originated, and how they were moving around the Solar System prior to falling to Earth, is available for only a dozen of around 1100 documented meteorite falls over the past two hundred years.
According to Dr Phil Bland from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, the lead author of the study, “We are incredibly excited about our new finding. Meteorites are the most analysed rocks on Earth, but it’s really rare for us to be able to tell where they came from.”
The new meteorite, which is about the size of cricket ball, is the first to be retrieved since researchers from Imperial College London, Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic, and the Western Australian Museum, set up a trial network of cameras in the Nullarbor Desert in Western Australia in 2006.
The researchers aim to use these cameras to find new meteorites, and work out where in the Solar System they came from, by tracking the fireballs that they form in the sky.
The new meteorite was found on the first day of searching using the new network, by the first search expedition, within 100m of the predicted site of the fall.
The meteorite appears to have been following an unusual orbit, or path around the Sun, prior to falling to Earth in July 2007, according to the researchers’ calculations.
The team believes that it started out as part of an asteroid in the innermost main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It then gradually evolved into an orbit around the Sun that was very similar to Earth’s.
The new meteorite is also unusual because it is composed of a rare type of basaltic igneous rock.
According to the researchers, its composition, together with the data about where the meteorite comes from, fits with a recent theory about how the building blocks for the terrestrial planets were formed.
This theory suggests that the igneous parent asteroids for meteorites like today’s formed deep in the inner Solar System, before being scattered out into the main asteroid belt.
Asteroids are widely believed to be the building blocks for planets like the Earth, so the new finding provides another clue about the origins of the Solar System. (ANI)
Washington, September 10 (ANI): Robbie Williams has been named as the top entertainer fans would want to be stuck on a desert island with, according to a new poll.
According to the survey headed by music royalties company PRS, the British singer piped Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, who came second.
Mick Jagger grabbed the third spot, followed by Eminem, while wrapping up the top five was Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, reports Contactmusic.
Aussie singer Kylie Minogue was the top favourite female people wanted to be marooned with.
Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole came next on the list and Leona Lewis bagged the third position with Madonna and Lady Gaga winning fourth and fifth spots respectively. (ANI)
Barmer (Rajasthan), Aug.29 (ANI): The Government of Rajasthan on Saturday demanded a lion’s share of the value added tax (VAT) that would be generated from the extraction of crude oil from the Mangala Processing Terminal ( MPT) here.
According to sources, the issue will be settled later when state government representatives meet the officials of this Cairns Energy India-ONGCjoint venture.
ONGC Chairman R.S. Sharma said that it would take at least four years to meet this demand of the Rajasthan Government, which was made by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Sharma said that the approach of the state government would determine the way forward on the issue of revenue sharing.
Officials attached with the joint venture said they are leaving no stone unturned in doing their bit for the local people.
The media contingent accompanying the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on the inaugural visit to the project site were shown the entrepreneural centre where various social projects for local people are showcased.
Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir emphasised the point that the maximum number of labourers are locals, and added that out of the 700 contractors, a majority are local people.
Inaugurating the project, Dr. Singh said the present venture is an indication that foreign investment in the country will grow and that the Indian Government will honestly provide all facilities to attract foreign investment.
He also congratulated the technical personnel for successfully finding oil reserves.
It maybe recalled that the Dutch firm Shell had abandoned the search for oil in this desert area. cairn india then stepped in, and after four years of continuous labour, was able to discover oil. arlier, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora described the activation of the Mangala Processing Terminal ( MPT) as a historic achievement, as the crude oil production from this block will meet about 20 percent of the nation’s current crude oil production.
He said this will enable the country to save seven percent of the crude oil import bill and reduce import dependence.
Deora also emphasised the need for stabilising crude oil prices for ensuring the sustained economic growth of the country, Deora said the MPT find is a significant step towards achieving this goal.
Cairn has invested about Rs.10000 crores in the area.
The total investment in this project will be more than Rs. 20000 crores. The government will get Rs. 46000 crores as profit petroleum revenue over the life of the project and will provide job opportunities for more than 6000 people.
According to company sources, the supply terminal to the Mangala field, the second largest oil discovery in the country in two decades, will be a giant step towards curtailing the country’s oil import bill.
With an initial 30,000 barrels capacity per day (bpd), Cairn India plans to add another 1,00,000 bpd over the next 18 months.
Mangala oil field officials are confident of reaching the target of producing 1,75,000 bpd in the next 20 months.
The project would contribute more than 20 per cent of India’s domestic crude oil production by 2011, the company sources said. By Pankaj Chaudhary (ANI)
Washington, Aug 21(ANI): It’s true: When people are lost, they walk in circles. That’s the conclusion of a new research which has also found the reason behind it.
Scientists in the Multisensory Perception and Action Group at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, led by Jan Souman and Marc Ernst, have presented the first empirical evidence that people really walk in circles when they do not have reliable cues to their walking direction.
The study has been published in the journal Current Biology.
The boffins examined the walking trajectories of people who walked for several hours in the Sahara desert (Tunisia) and in the Bienwald forest area (Germany). They used the global positioning system (GPS) to record these trajectories.
The results showed that participants were only able to keep a straight path when the sun or moon was visible. However, as soon as the sun disappeared behind some clouds, people started to walk in circles without even noticing it.
Speaking about the study, Jan Souman said: “One explanation offered in the past for walking in circles is that most people have one leg longer or stronger than the other, which would produce a systematic bias in one direction. To test this explanation, we instructed people to walk straight while blindfolded, thus removing the effects of vision. Most of the participants in the study walked in circles, sometimes in extremely small ones (diameter less than 20 metres).”
However, it turned out that these circles were rarely in a systematic direction. Instead, the same person sometimes veered to the left, sometimes to the right. Walking in circles is therefore not caused by differences in leg length or strength, but more likely the result of increasing uncertainty about where straight ahead is.
“Small random errors in the various sensory signals that provide information about walking direction add up over time, making what a person perceives to be straight ahead drift away from the true straight ahead direction,” according to Souman.
Marc Ernst, Group Leader at the MPI for Biological Cybernetics, added: “The results from these experiments show that even though people may be convinced that they are walking in a straight line, their perception is not always reliable. Additional, more cognitive, strategies are necessary to really walk in a straight line.
“People need to use reliable cues for walking direction in their environment, for example a tower or mountain in the distance, or the position of the sun.” (ANI)
London, July 7 (ANI): Middle-aged women in Britain like to read books about sex, according to a new survey.
In the poll involving 2000 women between 45 and 60, 35pct said that romantic fiction was the most popular genre.
Two-thirds said that they liked raunchy scenes in novels, and more than half described sex in books as “titillating”. further 10 per cent said that they actively chose books that had lots of sex scenes.
The survey commissioned by moisturiser brand Astral showed that 33 pct of the respondents liked crime and mystery novels, while other novels were 31 per cent.
Reference books were the least popular, of which cookbooks were favourites.
“This research shows that reading for pleasure is still an incredibly popular pastime for women,” the Telegraph quoted Dr. Trisha Macnair, a spokeswoman for Astral, as saying.
“It’s great to see most people read at least a book a month, with some getting through two or three books a week.
“However, I am surprised to see just how many women liked sex scenes in books, with most telling us that there was a strong titillation factor,” she added.
Top 10 books women would take to a desert island, according to the survey:
1 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding (20 per cent)
2 Atonement – Ian McEwan (14 per cent)
3 Harry Potter (any book) – J K Rowling (13 per cent)
4 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (9 per cent)
5 Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie (8 per cent)
6 The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory (8 per cent)
7 The Life of Pi – Yann Martel (7 per cent)
8 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks (7 per cent)
9 Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller (7 per cent)
10 Memories of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (6 per cent) (ANI)
London, July 3 (ANI): A West End style restaurant called “The Clink” has opened up inside Her Majesty’s Prison High Down. iners can eat a two-course meal at the prison restaurant in Sutton, Surrey, for six pounds, reports The Telegraph.
Food consists of the freshest ingredients, much from the prison garden. However, diners have to make do with plastic cutlery for security reasons.
The chefs, waiters and kitchen porters are all inmates – who could be behind bars for murder or grievous bodily harm.
The Clink is the brainchild of Alberto Crisci, a former chef at Mirabelle, a French restaurant in Mayfair, London, which used to be owned by Marco Pierre White.
Crisci, who moved on to become High Down’s catering manager, said the idea was to rehabilitate prisoners and give them the skills to obtain jobs on release.
He stressed discipline was tougher than anything seen on a show like Hell’s Kitchen.
He told the Daily Mirror: “Prisoners only have to step out of line once and they are out. This is a real restaurant. I expect them to do exactly what I ask them to do.”
Wine is served – but strictly controlled for fear it goes missing. Mains include griddled minute steak, with sauce bearnaise, served with chips and a herb salad, or breast of chicken with pepperonata served with radicchio. This fare is available for 4.50 pounds, while ordering a desert costs 1.50 pounds. (ANI)
Aizawl (Mizoram), June 30(ANI): A rehabilitation centre in Aizawl has emerged as a big hope for many orphans affected with HIV-AIDS in Mizoram.
Gan Sabra, the rehabilitation centre, is today a permanent abode to these orphans, who have been abandoned by their families.
“In many ways for our children who are infected with HIV-AIDS, for them it’s a bit like a desert because of the discrimination, because of the stigma, because of different problem that they face but then they will survive and we are trying to provide a family for them in this home because we feel that is what they need, a family where they can be loved, cared and protected” said Lucy Maruati, founder of the Gan Sabra.
The Gan Sabra presently provides shelter to 14 children, who are aged between 20 months to 16 years.
These children get to live in a homely environment, where they take care of each other. However, each of them has a sad story to narrate.
“I am HIV positive and I got it from my parents. Now they are no more, so I live here. We stay here as a family and take care of each other,” said Lalchawndamian, a HIV-AIDS affected child.
The rehabilitation centre, which is run through public donations, also provides free medical treatment to students.
First and the only transitional children’s home in Mizoram, it is an innovative project of Lucy Maruati. She had adopted a girl child in 2006, who was abandoned by her parents as she was tested HIV positive during birth.
Apart from taking care of the children, Lucy and her volunteer friends also conduct regular awareness and workshop campaigns on prevention of AIDS. (ANI)
Washington, June 30 (ANI): Eva Mendes has slammed critics for comments that her body looks thin and skeletal in her recently shot Calvin Klein Underwear advertisement campaign.
“I don’t have a starving body. I have a healthy toned body. I don’t think people should criticise my advert. I prepped for it a lot and I think it’s great. It was in the desert and we were all oiled up for it. That’s my job!” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.
In the advertisement, the ‘We Own the Night’ actress poses alongside actor Jamie Dornan on a sandy beach wearing just undergarments.
The bombshell also featured in the Calvin Klein Secret Obsession advert last year in which she was seen writhing topless on a bed.
The advert was later banned after the US bosses said it was ‘too sexy’ for family viewing.
However, Mendes loved the advert, she said: “I love it. That means the ads are totally Calvin, totally provocative and a little controversial.
“In the commercial you’ll see me rolling around in bed a lot, that’s basically all I do. I have been a fan of Calvin Klein’s Obsession ads since I can remember.
“I love to feel super-feminine. I love dresses and skirts and dislike jeans. I think what makes a woman sexy is confidence.” (ANI)
Washington, Jun 25 (ANI): Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is all set to star in director Rodrigo Cortes’ new flick ‘Buried’.
Reynolds, 32, will be playing the part of a civilian contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq, and who wakes buried in a coffin in the desert, armed only with a cell phone, a candle and a knife, reports Variety magazine.
The script is by Chris Sparling, and production for the movie will begin this month in Barcelona.
Peter Safran will produce through his Safran Co. banner with Adrian Guerra of Spain-based Versus Entertainment, which is financing the film.
The picture will shoot entirely in Spain, which is home to Cortes, best known for directing “The Contestant”. (ANI)
New York, June 25(ANI): A secret FBI file has revealed that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had feared an Iranian attack on his country, more than a US one.
The secret file claims that Saddam had bluffed about his country’s ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ fearing an Iranian assault.
The secret file codenamed ‘Desert Spider’ is a collection of FBI interrogations of the overthrown dictator, which were declassified after a Freedom of Information Act request, the Daily News reports.
It revealed that Saddam Hussein had even considered asking ex-President George W. Bush for protection from its neighbouring country.
“Iraq would have been extremely vulnerable to attack from Iran and would have sought a security agreement with the U.S. to protect it from threats in the region,” Saddam said, according to the file.
The records show how Saddam boasted of piling up weapons of mass destruction, and how he consistently denied any cooperation with the Al Qaeda.
Saddam said he “did not have the same belief of vision” as the terror kingpin.
It also states that more than any enemy, it was Iran that the Iraq’s ex-president had hated most.
“The U.S. was not Iraq’s enemy,” the report stated Saddam, as saying. (ANI)
Washington, May 27 (ANI): A team of geologists has found a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of the US West Great Basin.
The Great Basin in the western US is a desert region largely devoid of major surface changes.
The area consists of small mountain ranges separated by valleys and includes most of Nevada, the western half of Utah and portions of other nearby states.
For tens of millions of years, the Great Basin has been undergoing extension – the stretching of Earth’s crust.
While studying the extension of the region, geologist John West of Arizona State University (ASU) was surprised to find that something unusual existed beneath this area’s surface.
West and colleagues found that portions of the lithosphere – the crust and uppermost mantle of the Earth – had sunk into the more fluid upper mantle beneath the Great Basin and formed a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of central Nevada.
“It was an extremely unexpected finding in a location that showed no corresponding changes in surface topography or volcanic activity,” said West.
West compared his unusual results of the area with tomography models – CAT scans of the inside of Earth – done by geologist Jeff Roth, also of ASU.
West and Roth, both graduate students; working with their advisor, Matthew Fouch, concluded that they had found a lithospheric drip.
“The results provide important insights into fine-scale mantle convection processes, and their possible connections with volcanism and mountain-building on Earth’s surface,” said Greg Anderson, program director in NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences.
A lithospheric drip can be envisioned as honey dripping off a spoon, where an initial lithospheric blob is followed by a long tail of material.
When a small, high-density mass is embedded near the base of the crust and the area is warmed up, the high-density piece will be heavier than the area around it and it will start sinking.
As it drops, material in the lithosphere starts flowing into the newly created conduit.
Seismic images of mantle structure beneath the region provided additional evidence, showing a large cylindrical mass 100 km wide and at least 500 km tall.
“The idea of a lithospheric drip has been used many times over the years to explain things like volcanism, surface uplift, surface subsidence, but you could never really confirm it – and until now, no one has caught a drip in the act, so to speak,” said Fouch. (ANI)
Lahore, May 25 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has urged the international community and especially the United States and the West to ‘do more’ for his country’s Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
He also appealed to all people in Pakistan and the rest of the world to generously assist the IDPs, adding that the whole world would benefit once the Swat operation is over.
According to The Nation, he told a news agency that the international community had in the past alleged that certain institutions were not cooperating with the government, but the fact was that the entire nation and all institutions were united in the operation against the extremists and terrorists.
“We are proud of our armed forces and jawans, who have laid down their lives during Swat operation to purge the valley of terrorists and extremists,” Gilani said.
The government was ensuring the registration of IDPs so that they could be conveniently rehabilitated in their original places, he added.
He said only 20 per cent of the IDPs are being housed in camps, while the 80 per cent are living with the relatives at safer places.
He said the IDPs were in need of desert and water coolers, fans, cotton clothes, slippers, mosquito repellent oil, net and coil, drinking water, milk, biscuits and other items, which could provide instant relief.
The Prime Minister also said that he had ordered for providing salaries to government employees, who have been internally displaced. Steps would also be taken to enable the IDPs who own bank accounts in their respective areas, have access to the facility at their temporary residences. (ANI)
London, May 9 (ANI): Former US President Ronald Reagan believed that aliens were spying on Earth for decades and wanted to invade America, claims a new book.
Reagan, who was President from 1981 to 1989, confided his fear to a pal, telling him that he had seen flying saucers three times, said author Darwin Porter.
He allegedly added: “I just know it. They’ve selected some desert in the West to make their landing.”
However, the ex-President’s daughter Patti Davis dismissed the claims, saying her father may have been joking, reports The Sun.
Ex-Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev has claimed the US and USSR made a pact to help each other against an alien invasion.
He added: “President Reagan said to me, ‘If the US were attacked by someone from outer space, would you help?’” (ANI)
Copyright © 2013 · eleven40 theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in