News from the world
China's Shenzhou-10 astronauts return to Earth
26.06.2013 09:10
BBC: A capsule carrying three Chinese astronauts has landed safely after a 15-day mission in space.
The astronauts travelled on the Shenzhou-10 craft to China's space laboratory, the Tiangong-1.
They completed manual docking exercises and astronaut Wang Yaping gave a video lecture to students...
Nasa’s Cassini probe to acquire distant Earth portrait
19.06.2013 11:26
BBC: Nasa's Cassini probe is going to try to take a special picture of Planet Earth.
The spacecraft will include our home world when it makes a giant mosaic of Saturn and its ring system.
In the Friday 19 July portrait, Earth will be almost a billion miles in the distance - a mere...
WHO says new coronavirus may be passed person to person
13.05.2013 11:03
BBC: The World Health Organization says it appears likely that the novel coronavirus (NCoV) can be passed between people in close contact.
This comes after the French health ministry confirmed a second man had contracted the virus in a possible case of human-to-human transmission.
Two more...
Why Apple Will Turn to Holograms
01.11.2012 14:37
Bloomberg: ook around your office hallway or college campus and you’ll see people holding interactive panes of glass. Smartphones and tablets, so revolutionary a few years ago, are quickly becoming commodities. Apple (AAPL) is now locked in a fierce patent battle with...
Water on Mars has a long history
01.10.2012 14:14
TheGuardian: Curiosity's discovery of a dry river bed adds to a 40-year-old body of evidence for once-flowing water on Mars
It was November 1971. The scene at Nasa was a tense one, similar to that of Curiosity's landing back in August. Ground controllers held their collective...
Mars rover Curiosity lands on surface of Red Planet
06.08.2012 09:30
(Reuters) - The Mars science rover Curiosity landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, NASA said.
Mission controllers at the...
'It was a craft that did not come from this planet': CIA agent speaks out on 65th anniversary of Roswell 'UFO' landings
09.07.2012 15:00
MailOnline: Box' of information includes photographs that prove Roswell UFO was real
Report by veteran CIA agent who
Information concealed in 'Vault' beneath CIA's Langley headquarters
A long-serving CIA agent has spoken out on the 65th anniversary of the Roswell Incident to reveal a...
The world’s first genetically modified humans
03.07.2012 15:25
HangtheBankers: The world’s first genetically modified humans have been created, it was revealed last night.
The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.
So far, two of the babies have...
World's first GM babies born
03.07.2012 15:23
DailyMail: The world's first geneticallymodified humans have been created, it was revealed last night.
The disclosure that 30 healthy babies were born after a series of experiments in the United States provoked another furious debate about ethics.
So far, two of the babies have been...
Spain made history in magical fashion
02.07.2012 13:22
BBC: Spain made history in magical fashion as they outclassed Italy and claimed a successive European crown to add to their 2010 World Cup triumph.
Vicente del Bosque's side staged a compelling claim to be the greatest international side of all time as the Euro 2012 final was transformed...
Bank Investors Dismiss Moody’s Cuts As Years Too Late
22.06.2012 13:18
Bloomberg: Downgrades of Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and 13 other global banks, announced by Moody’s Investors Service after months of speculation about dire fallout, were met instead by rallies in stocks and bonds.
The cost to protect Morgan Stanley’s debt...
Insight: The power brokers with Europe's fate in their hands: Ivan Ayala
22.06.2012 13:12
Reuters: It has no formal structure, no clear leaders and no official spokesperson. Yet the "Indignados" movement remains a potent force in Spain, where protests against the handling of the economic crisis continue.
In mid-2011, the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero...
Insight: Belgium, France risk billions on penny stock Dexia
22.06.2012 13:10
(Reuters) - With tens of billions of euros lent to the public sector in Spain and Italy, bailed-out lender Dexia may be dead as an investment but as a threat to the budgets of guarantors Belgium and France, it is very much alive.
Dexia, the first bank to require a rescue during...
G20 backs Europe's overhaul to fight crisis
22.06.2012 13:09
(Reuters) - Europe won support from world leaders on Tuesday for an ambitious but slow-moving overhaul of the euro zone, even as pressure built in financial markets for quicker solutions to its debt crisis that threatens the world economy.
Europe told a Group of 20 summit it...
Euro zone rescue fund must be able to lend to banks: ECB's Coene
22.06.2012 13:07
(Reuters) - The euro zone's EFSF rescue fund must be able to lend money directly to banks, European Central Bank Governing Council member Luc Coene said on Friday.
Coene said a 'vicious circle' of the problems of the banking sector and of sovereign debt feeding on each other needed to...
Euro's big four seek way out of crisis in Rome
22.06.2012 13:04
(Reuters) - The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain will try to find common ground in Rome on Friday to restore confidence in the euro zone ahead of a full EU summit next week, which Italy's prime minister called a defining moment.
Dangerously high borrowing costs for Spain and...
Debt crisis: Germany signals shift on €2.3 trillion redemption fund for Europe
22.06.2012 13:02
TheTelegraph: The German government has begun opening the door to shared debts for the first time in a profound change of policy, agreeing to explore proposals for a €2.3 trillion (£1.9 trillion) stabilization fund in order to stop the eurozone’s crisis escalating out of control.
Officials in...
Debt crisis: desperate Monti needs Merkel summit deal to stop revolt at home
22.06.2012 13:00
TheTelegraph: Italy's technocrat government risks a parliamentary mutiny unless premier Mario Monti can secure major concessions from Germany at a crucial summit of the eurozone's Big Four powers in Rome on Friday.
"Monti is desperate. Reform fatigue has breached breaking point," said a top...
Hitler’s Plan to Invade Switzerland
22.06.2012 12:57
Noviknow: In 1815, Europe’s powers gathered in Vienna, Austria, in an attempt to draw long-standing, mutually agreed upon political borders which had blurred due to decades if not centuries of warfare. This group, called the Congress of Vienna, ended up agreeing to an act which not...
Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Thames Diamond Jubilee River Pageant: the highlights
11.06.2012 12:26
TheTelegraph: Relive some of the best moments of the Thames River Pageant involving over 1,000 boats sailing to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne.
Cheering crowds greeted the Queen as she travelled through the heart of the capital at the head of her majestic 1,000-strong Diamond...
Czech ex-minister Rath faces hearing over box of cash
21.05.2012 14:38
BBC: A former Czech health minister arrested for suspected corruption risks losing his parliamentary immunity after a special meeting of MPs on Tuesday.
David Rath is expected to attend the hearing, escorted by police.
Mr Rath has resigned as Central Bohemia governor and left the...
Diamond Jubilee: Your rights to a day off work
21.05.2012 14:26
BBC: Preparations for street parties may be in full swing - but for some workers the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations could fall flat.
Many people will not have a legal right to a day off on the extra public holiday that has been declared for Tuesday, 5 June.
The holiday - which...
European glory for Chelsea
21.05.2012 14:22
BBC: Chelsea stunned Bayern Munich in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the Allianz Arena to win the Champions League for the first time.
Thomas Mueller's late header put Bayern on the brink of victory on home territory but Didier Drogba levelled things up with a bullet header at the...
The Right Man For Chelsea
21.05.2012 14:11
WSJ: How Roberto Di Matteo Turned Chelsea Into a Champions League Winner
Shortly after leading Chelsea to the Champions League title Saturday, a feat that required pragmatism and diplomacy, Roberto Di Matteo was engaged in some more major mental acrobatics. Would he be staying on as...
Czech Republic Has Its Answer to the Beverly Hills Star Tour
17.05.2012 15:25
WJS: PRAGUE—As the tour bus rolled to a stop across from a modern, concrete-and-glass house here, guide Justin Svoboda told his group: "This one's very interesting."
Not the architecture so much, but the occupant, Czech businessman Roman Janousek, who is mired in an influence-peddling...
Czech metal thieves dismantle 10-ton bridge
09.05.2012 09:58
The Telegraph: Metal thieves in the Czech Republic dismantled an entire 10-ton bridge and more than 650ft of track.
The gang reportedly arrived at a depot in Slavkov, in the east of the country, with forged paperwork claiming that the footbridge over the disused railway track had to...
A winner in France, alarm in Greece
07.05.2012 11:12
The Economist: "EUROPE is watching us," declared François Hollande tonight (video here, in French) after being confirmed as winner of the French presidential election, “At the moment when the result was proclaimed, I am sure that in many countries of Europe there was relief and hope:...
Going platinum
07.05.2012 11:10
The Economist: Mining metals from asteroids seems a bonkers idea. But could it work?
CAN reality trump art? That was the question hovering over the launch on April 24th, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, of a plan by a firm called Planetary Resources to mine metals from asteroids and...
Czech Cartoon Goes Digital Through iPad Apps, E-Books
12.04.2012 13:37
WSJ: The venerable Czech children’s cartoon character Krtek, or Mole in English, created in the 1950s and popular across Europe and Asia, is going online through game applications for tablets and smartphones.
“The time has come to turn Krtek digital by creating e-books and apps,” said...
'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout sentenced to 25 years
06.04.2012 10:40
BBC: Arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the "merchant of death", has been sentenced to 25 years in jail by a US judge.
During the sentencing, the ex-Soviet officer shouted "it's a lie" as the prosecution said he had agreed to sell weapons to kill Americans.
The 45-year-old was found...