Volcanic 'super-eruptions' more frequent than thought: study

PARIS: The last volcanic "super-eruption" big enough to erase civilisation as we know it happened 25,000 years ago -- but these types of blasts occur every 17,000 years on average, according to a revised calculation out on Wednesday.

Up to now, it was assumed that eruptions of this magnitude took place every 50,000 to 700,000 years, according to a study, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

The new estimate establishes a range of 5,000-48,000 years, with the best estimate of these type of eruptions occurring every 17,000 years on average, the lead author Jonathan Rougier told AFP.

"We find that super-eruptions -- at least 1,000 billion tonnes of erupted matter -- are much more frequent than previously thought," he said by email.

Explosive volcanoes on that scale dramatically lower Earth´s temperatures and could darken skies to the point where most vegetation would struggle to grow.

One recent assessment describes them as capable of returning humanity to a "pre-civilisation state," Rougier said.

The best-known mega-volcano in the world, under Yellowstone Park in the United States, has blown its top at least three times, most recently some 640,000 years ago.

The most recent super-eruption -- 25,000 years ago -- was Taupo in New Zealand, which followed on the heels of the Aira blast in Japan 2,000 years before that.

Each of these is thought to have jettisoned at least one trillion tonnes of debris into the atmosphere, an impact roughly equivalent to an asteroid two kilometres (1.4 miles) in diameter crashing into Earth.

'Volcanoes more threatening'

By comparison, Mount Agung in Bali -- which this week spewed column of ash into the air and could blow at any time, according to experts -- ejected one billion tonnes of volcanic debris in 1963, enough to lower average global temperatures 0.2-0.3 degrees Celsius for about a year.

The largest super-eruption known -- in Toba, Indonesia some 75,000 years ago -- was 10,000 times bigger.

"Toba was truly colossal," said Rougier. "The debris from the Chicxulub asteroid" -- which wiped out land-dwelling dinosaurs some 65 million years ago -- "may be roughly comparable to a super-eruption like Toba."

There is a "huge amount of uncertainty" in such comparisons, he cautioned.

Rougier´s analysis covered a relatively short time span of 100,000 years.

Statistically speaking, this reduces uncertainty because scientists are more likely to identify nearly all of the eruptions during that period.

"As we go back further, the difficulty with interpreting the geological record becomes more acute, because more eruptions will be missed," he explained.

The findings do not mean that our planet is "overdue" for a devastating eruption, Rougier cautioned.

"What we can say is that volcanoes are more threatening to our civilisation than previously thought."

Independent experts praised the study´s methodology and endorsed its findings.

"It turns out that these ´super-eruptions´ are still very rare events, but just not quite as rare a previously thought," said David Pyle, a volcanologist at the University of Oxford.
Marriage can make you crazy, but it deters dementia too: study

Posted:Wed, 29 Nov 2017 09:07:35 +0000

PARIS: Marriage may test one's sanity, but living into old age with a partner also lowers the risk of dementia, researchers said Wednesday.

In a study covering more than 800,000 people, they found that walking through life alone increased the chances of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia by 40 percent.

Being widowed after extended co-habitation also took a toll, boosting the odds of mental slippage by about 20 percent.

"There were fairly well-established health benefits of marriage, so we did expect there to be a higher risk in unmarried people," Andrew Sommerlad — the lead author who is a psychiatrist and research fellow at University College London — said.

"But we were surprised by the strength of our findings," he told AFP.

Couples living together without having formally tied the knot were still considered as being married for the purposes of the study, he added.

Interestingly, elderly people who had divorced were no more likely to suffer from dementia than married couples.

Across the different categories, there was also no detectable difference between men and women in the rates of mental decline.

To explore the links between marriage and dementia, Sommerlad and colleagues reviewed data from 15 earlier studies covering 812,000 people from a dozen countries.

The vast majority were from Sweden, but there were enough from other nations — including France, Germany, China, Japan, the United States, and Brazil — to confirm surprisingly little variation across cultures.

The findings were detailed in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

But even if the results were robust, the question remained: why?

Because the study was observational rather than based on a controlled experiment — something scientists can do with rats or mice but not humans — no clear conclusions could be drawn as to cause and effect.

Still, the evidence suggests at least three mutually compatible explanations.

"We don't think it is marriage itself which reduces the risk, but rather the lifestyle factors that accompany living together with a partner," Sommerlad explained.

'The dementia gap'

"These include a more healthy lifestyle — taking better care of physical health, diet, exercise — but also the social stimulation that comes with having a partner to talk to."

Earlier research has shown that people who live alone die younger, succumb more quickly when they get cancer, and are generally in poorer health.

But the "dementia gap" between married folk and singletons is even wider than the gap in mortality, suggesting that living with someone has direct benefits for the brain too.

A second factor may be the extreme stress that comes with losing a life-long partner, which measurably impacts neurons in the hippocampus, the main locus of memory, learning and emotion.

"This theory could explain the increased dementia risk for widowed, but not divorced, people," the study said.

Finally, there is the possibility that some people who have not married — especially in societies where that is the overwhelming norm — may have had cognitive challenges to begin with.

A marked difference in rates of dementia among loners of the same age but different generations bears this out.

"Single people born during the first quarter of the 20th century had a 40 percent higher risk, whereas people of equivalent age who were born more recently have only a 24 percent higher risk," Sommerlad said.

This could be due to a diminishing difference in the lifestyles between married and unmarried people, he added.

Researchers must focus on how to translate these findings into strategies for preventing dementia, commented Christopher Chen of National University Singapore and Vincent Mok from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As intimacy "has been found to associate with better cognitive function — the frequency of which may be reduced in single or widowed individuals — this could be another plausible mechanism," they wrote in the same journal.
Vending machine offers 24-hour food and clothing for UK homeless

Posted:Tue, 28 Nov 2017 21:00:00 +0000

The machines will be unveiled across the UK if the pilot in Nottingham is successful. Photo: Action Hunger

LONDON: The world’s first vending machine for the homeless will start giving out free food and clothes as charities in Britain gear up for a cold winter amid record levels of homelessness.

A new charity, Action Hunger, plans to stock the machine in Nottingham with excess produce donated by supermarkets, such as fresh fruit and sandwiches, as well as essentials it has bought, like socks, toothpaste and sanitary towels.

“Action Hunger’s machines provide access for the most vulnerable in our society to satiate the most basic of needs - that of sustenance,” the charity said on its website.

“They permit access to food and clothing free of charge at any hour - without requiring anyone to be left without aid outside the operating hours of the various charities and shelters that are available.”

Homelessness is rising in England, with at least 4,100 people sleeping rough on any given night in 2016, according to the homeless charity Crisis.

Action Hunger lists the supermarkets Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s among its donors, while volunteers will stock the machines each day.

The machine will be activated by a key card handed out to street people by homeless charity The Friary. Photo: Action Hunger

Users, who will access the machines with special key cards, can take three items per day. Action Hunger says this is to guard against dependency.

Rough sleepers will be given priority, it told the Thomson Reuters Foundation via email.

The cards will be issued by partner organisations, such as The Friary in central England’s Nottingham, which also offers homeless people lunch, counselling, showers and medical care.

Action Hunger said it plans to install a second machine in Manchester soon, and another in New York in February.
Celebrity elephant kills owner in Thailand

Posted:Tue, 28 Nov 2017 14:56:40 +0000

Thailand is notorious for an elephant tourism trade that sees the animals performing in circuses, giving rides, or hired out for other forms of entertainment. Photo: AFP

An elephant that has starred in feature films and commercials crushed its owner to death in Thailand, zoo officials said Tuesday, setting off fresh debate over the kingdom's animal tourism industry.

The accident took place Monday morning in the northern city of Chiang Mai, just after owner Somsak Riengngen unchained the five-tonne elephant Ekasit.

With a mahout, or handler, on his back, Ekasit took a few steps before reversing course and attacking 54-year-old Somsak, who was on the ground.

"The elephant suddenly turned back and used his trunk to grab the victim. Then the elephant used his trunk to crush him," Wuthichai Muangman, acting director of Chiang Mai Zoo, told AFP.

Wuthichai, who described Somsak as an "elephant expert," said the 32-year-old animal was in musth when the accident happened.

Musth is a periodic condition in bull (male) elephants, characterised by highly aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a rise in reproductive hormones.

Ekasit, who according to a zoo official appeared in Thai and foreign films as well as several television advertisements, was being temporarily housed at the zoo under a contract due to expire in April.

Thailand is notorious for an elephant tourism trade that sees the animals performing in circuses, giving rides, or hired out for other forms of entertainment.

A July report by World Animal Protection found that twice as many elephants are pushed into Thailand's tourism industry as the rest of Asia combined, with most kept in "severely inadequate conditions."

Out of 2,923 elephants documented as working in Asia's tourism trade, 2,198 were in Thailand.

Wuthichai said the Chiang Mai Zoo does not hold elephant shows but allows tourists to feed the animals.

Animal rights campaign group PETA said while the keeper's death was a tragedy, it illustrated the potentially violent consequences of keeping elephants confined.

"Is it any wonder that some of these gentle animals eventually become fed up and fight back after being chained while confined to small enclosures that are a fraction of the size of their natural habitats?" a statement said.
Artificial muscles give 'superpower' to robots

Posted:Tue, 28 Nov 2017 03:54:00 +0000

A demonstration of the strength of an artificial muscle. Photo released on November 27, 2017. Shuguang Li/Handout via AFP

MIAMI: Inspired by the folding technique of origami, US researchers said Monday they have crafted cheap, artificial muscles for robots that give them the power to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight.

The advance offers a leap forward in the field of soft robotics, which is fast replacing an older generation of robots that were jerky and rigid in their movements, researchers say.

"It's like giving these robots superpowers," Daniela Rus — a senior author and the professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — said.

The muscles — known as actuators — are built on a framework of metal coils or plastic sheets, and each muscle costs around $1 to make, said the report in the peer-reviewed US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Their origami inspiration derives from a zig-zag structure that some of the muscles employ, allowing them to contract and expand as commanded, using vacuum-powered air or water pressure.

"The skeleton can be a spring, an origami-like folded structure, or any solid structure with hinged or elastic voids," said the report.

Possible uses include expandable space habitats on Mars, miniature surgical devices, wearable robotic exoskeletons, deep-sea exploration devices or even transformable architecture.

"Artificial muscle-like actuators are one of the most important grand challenges in all of engineering," co-author Rob Wood — a professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard University — said.

"Now that we have created actuators with properties similar to natural muscle, we can imagine building almost any robot for almost any task."

Researchers built dozens of muscles, using metal springs, packing foam or plastic in a range of shapes and sizes.

They created "muscles that can contract down to 10 percent of their original size, lift a delicate flower off the ground, and twist into a coil, all simply by sucking the air out of them", said the report.

The artificial muscles "can generate about six times more force per unit area than mammalian skeletal muscle can, and are also incredibly lightweight", it added.

A 0.09 ounce (2.6 gram) muscle can lift an object weighing 6.6 pounds (three kilograms), "which is the equivalent of a mallard duck lifting a car".

According to co-author Daniel Vogt — a research engineer at the Wyss Institute — the vacuum-based muscles "have a lower risk of rupture, failure, and damage, and they don't expand when they're operating, so you can integrate them into closer-fitting robots on the human body".

The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Flipping lids! Chinese barber offers eyelid shaves

Posted:Sat, 25 Nov 2017 23:12:00 +0000

CHENGDU: Chinese street barber Xiong Gaowu deftly scrapes a straight razor along the inside of his customer’s eyelid.

“You should be gentle, very, very gentle,” said Xiong, who performs traditional eyelid shaves at his roadside location in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Customers swear by the practice of “blade wash eyes”, as it is known in Mandarin, saying they trust Xiong’s skill with the blade.

“No, it’s not dangerous,” said 68-year-old Zhang Tian. “My eyes feel refreshed after shaving and I feel comfortable.”

Xiong, 62, said he learned the technique in the 1980s and serves up to eight customers a week, charging 80 yuan ($12) per shave.

“It was difficult at the beginning, but it became a piece of cake afterwards,” he said.

The technique appears to unblock moisturizing sebaceous glands along the rim of the eyelid, said Qu Chao, an opthalmologist who works at a nearby hospital in Chengdu.

“Patients will feel their eyes are dry and uncomfortable when the glands are blocked,” she said. “When he is shaving, it is most likely that he is shaving the openings of these glands.”

She said there was a risk of infection if the equipment was not sterilized.

“If he can properly sterilize the tools that he uses, I can still see there is a space for this technique to survive,” Qu said.

While customers insisted their eyes felt better after a shave, onlookers cringed at the sight of Xiong wielding his razor.

“I am afraid to do it,” said He Yiting, 27, who winced as she watched.
Bali volcano spews smoke for second time in a week

Posted:Sat, 25 Nov 2017 22:24:00 +0000

KARANGASEM: A rumbling volcano on the Indonesian resort island of Bali spewed smoke hundreds of metres into the air Saturday, officials said, just days after thousands were forced to flee over fears it would erupt.

Mount Agung belched smoke as high as 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) above its summit, twice as high as on Tuesday when smoke sparked an exodus from settlements near the mountain.

There are fears the volcano could erupt for the first time since 1963, when nearly 1,600 people died.

People living within 7.5 kilometres (4.5 miles) of the mountain have been told to evacuate, senior volcanologist Gede Suantika said, advising residents to remain calm.

It comes after the volcano stirred to life in September, forcing 140,000 people to leave the area.

Many returned home after the volcano´s activity waned, but fresh smoke has sparked a further exodus and around 25,000 people have been evacuated to more than 200 temporary shelters.

"We will continue to see eruptions like this on similar scales, but we cannot predict when Mount Agung will really erupt," Suantika told AFP.

The volcano´s alert level remains at the second-highest, he added.

Bali is a major tourist hub and its airport is operating normally, but some airlines have decided to cancel their flights.

Indonesia lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activity.

Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island -- which is currently at its highest alert level -- has been active since 2013.
Baghdad cafe marks 100 years as intellectual hub

Posted:Fri, 24 Nov 2017 23:29:00 +0000

Seated at tables with glasses of tea in the heart of Baghdad’s bookshop district, the customers of Shabandar cafe have watched 100 years of Iraq’s tumultuous history pass by. Photo: AFP file

BAGHDAD: Seated at tables with glasses of tea in the heart of Baghdad’s bookshop district, the customers of Shabandar cafe have watched 100 years of Iraq’s tumultuous history pass by.

Since opening its doors a century ago, the establishment has become a hub of Baghdad’s intellectual life, drawing poets and politicians to its wooden benches and photo-lined walls.

“I’ve been coming here for the past 60 years,” Abdel Fattah al-Noeimi, 77, tells AFP, dapper in his spotless brown suit and matching tie.

“At nine in the morning until two or three in the afternoon, when everyone is leaving.”

From British rule to modern-day Iraq, Shabandar has lived through the birth of a nation, the toppling of its monarchy, decades of domination by Saddam Hussein, the drama of the US-led invasion and the bloody chaos that followed.

The twists and tragedies have all left their mark on the cafe.

During the sectarian bloodletting, a car bomb in 2007 tore through the historic Al-Mutanabbi Street on which the cafe stands — killing around 100 people.

Among the dead were four sons and a grandson of Shabandar’s owner, Mohammed al-Khashali.

A history book

But Khashali does not want to dwell on that tragic event — and today the rhythm of clinking tea glasses, bubbling hookah pipes and conversation hums just as it always has done.

“Taking a seat here is like taking a seat in a history book,” the proprietor tells AFP from his regular position by the glass and wood front doors.

When it first became a cafe in 1917, the brick and plaster building was already a local institution as it housed the printing press of merchant Abdel Majid al-Shabandar — whose name comes from Turkish, meaning “the greatest of merchants”.

Khashali — who sports a traditional white robe and beard of the same colour — took over in 1963 and made a decision that would prove defining: he banned all games, including cards and dominoes, from the cafe.

While the move surprised some customers, it meant the new owner stayed true to a “promise” he had made to himself.

“That this would be a place where people of culture would meet,” Khashali said.

“That is truly what happened.”

School of thought

Dozens of black and white photographs covering the walls of the cafe offer a glimpse into the history of Baghdad and Iraq, chronicling some of its leading lights and others who have since slipped into obscurity.

In a golden book, a number of foreign ambassadors have left their signatures.

The diversity of the faces of the men and women lining the walls is echoed nowadays by the varied crowd that still packs into Shabandar each morning.

The cafe is “not reserved for any religion, or culture or part of society — everyone is here”, says regular patron Noeimi.

It even encompasses a certain “school of thought” of its own, he insists, where despite the profound divisions that have torn apart Iraqi society, “everyone respects each others’ ideas”.

As the hubbub of chatter and shouted orders rumbles on around him, Rammah Abdelamir, 17, looks up from his book on modern political thought to take in this “monument of old Baghdad”.

Waiters weave between customers, filling their glasses with steaming hot tea, as they barely look up from deep in their conversations.

“This place is a bit of a mecca for intellectuals and a place of learning for each new generation,” Abdelamir says.
Ambulance crew grants dying woman's last wish to visit the beach one last time

Posted:Fri, 24 Nov 2017 07:20:00 +0000

SYDNEY: An Australian ambulance crew carrying a dying woman to hospital took a detour to grant her final wish -- to visit the beach one last time.

"Tears were shed and the patient felt very happy," the ambulance service posted on its Facebook page alongside a photo showing a paramedic beside a stretcher facing the ocean at Hervey Bay, on Australia´s east coast.

"A crew were transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local Hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again," the service said in the message posted on Thursday.

"Above and beyond,the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity," it added of the crew´s actions on Wednesday.

"Sometimes it is not the drugs/training/skills - sometimes all you need is empathy to make a difference!"
Dining goes digital for Thailand's street food vendors

Posted:Fri, 24 Nov 2017 05:59:00 +0000

BANGKOK: Bangkok’s famous street-food vendors have joined the digital revolution, embracing payment via Quick Response (QR) barcodes that can be read using smartphones.

Thailand is famous for its traditional street stalls that offer everything from stir-fried noodles to clothes and for many Thais eating out at a pavement stall is part of their daily routine.

Now, some vendors in the capital Bangkok are offering digital transactions after the Bank of Thailand (BOT) last week gave the green light for five banks including Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial Bank to implement electronic payment systems using QR codes.

“The global trend is towards a ‘cashless society’ as it is more convenient and there is proof of transaction. The QR code system would be most practical in Thailand as less investment is needed on behalf of vendors,” Somsak Khaosuwan, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, told Reuters.

At Samyan Market, a market and shopping area in Bangkok that sells everything from vegetables to handbags, vendors said QR codes were taking off although some shoppers still prefer to use cash, particularly those who are less tech-savvy.

“I don’t need to worry about finding change,” said Kitti Khoonphisitwong, 40, a dried-fruit vendor.

“But most customers, especially older people, find the app a hassle,” he said.

Shoppers in their 20s and 30s said they were more inclined to use the system.

“I often shop online so I have no issue with digital transactions,” said Thanachanok Teesakul, 20, a student.

Scams using fraudulent QR codes are on the rise in China, where digital payments are booming. Somsak said Thailand needs to ensure QR payment systems are secure.

“We need to make people feel comfortable in using the system,” he said.
Iran allows women weightlifters to compete internationally

Posted:Fri, 24 Nov 2017 04:59:00 +0000

File

Women weightlifters from Iran will be allowed to compete internationally for the first time, the president of the country’s weightlifting federation said on Thursday.

In a sign of changing attitudes, Saudi Arabia also confirmed the setting up of a women’s programme, opening the way to the country also fielding a national women’s team six years after the sport’s governing body allowed the wearing of the hijab, in competition.

Iran has one of the world’s strongest weightlifting cultures and its men have won seven Olympic gold medals this century.

Ali Moradi, president of the Iranian Weightlifting Federation, said, ”We have established the Iran Weightlifting Federation Women’s Committee and we have talented female athletes.

“They have high capacity like men athletes, and I hope that, wearing special clothes for Muslim athletes, they will be able to take part in international championships in the near future.”

Attila Adamfi, director general of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), said: “This is good news, and it’s very significant in Iran, where weightlifting is at the highest level for men, and zero level for women.”

Mohammed Alharbi, president of the Saudi Arabia Weightlifting Federation, also confirmed that a new women’s programme had been set up.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are the biggest Islamic nations yet to compete in female weightlifting.

Both countries field men’s teams at the IWF World Championships in Anaheim, California, starting next week, and are expected to announce more details there.

Moradi has invited the United States to Iran for the Fajr Cup, an international invitation competition for men, in Ahvaz in March. He has also asked the US to send a women’s delegation.

The United States men’s team will compete in Ahvaz, and the Americans are also planning to send female lifters, coaches and technical officials. The American women will train Iranian coaches and technical officials. A head-to-head friendly women’s international between Iran and the United States may take place.

“Everything is agreed in principle and we are working on the details,” said Phil Andrews, chief executive of USA Weightlifting.

”Despite the political differences between our countries we have always enjoyed a very good relationship with the Iranian Weightlifting Federation.

“Anything we can do to help, we are more than willing to do so.”

Those political differences and visa restrictions have made it very difficult for Iranians to travel to the United States.

Visas for Iran’s all-male team for the World Championships were delayed and only finally approved on Thursday, said Andrews.

Kianoush Rostami, the Olympic champion and world record holder at 85kg, was initially rejected for entry, only receiving a visa on his second application.

Adamfi said, “To have Iran and USA women lifting together would be great, it would show that sport is above politics.”

Women were barred from weightlifting until 1983. After a change to the IWF’s rules, women began competing at the World Championships from 1987 and at the Olympic Games from 2000.
World's only particle accelerator for art revs up in Paris

Posted:Thu, 23 Nov 2017 20:01:00 +0000

PARIS: The world's only particle accelerator dedicated to art was switched on at the Louvre in Paris Thursday to help experts analyse ancient and precious works.

The 37-metre (88-foot) AGLAE accelerator housed underneath the huge Paris museum will be now be used for the first time to routinely study and help authenticate paintings and other items made from organic materials.

The Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museum of France (C2RMF) -- which is independent of the Louvre -- has spent 2.1 million euros ($2.5 million) overhauling and upgrading the machine, which can determine the chemical make-up of objects without the need to take samples.

"Up to now we almost never analysed paintings because we were afraid the particle beam might change the colours" when it hit the pigments in the paint, director Isabelle Pallot-Frossard told AFP.

The AGLAE works by speeding up helium and hydrogen nuclei to speeds of between 20,000 to 30,000 kilometres (12,400 to 18,600 miles) per second and then bombarding the object, which emits radiation that can be captured and analysed.

Among the first objects to be tested by the newly configured accelerator were Roman votive statues of the household gods -- the Lares -- which were said to protect the home.

They were uncovered from the ancient forum of Bavay close to the border with Belgium.

The old accelerator -- which was built in 1988 -- could only work between eight and 10 hours a day, but the new one can function around the clock, the C2RMF said.
Double goalscorer subbed in time to see son's birth

Posted:Thu, 23 Nov 2017 02:41:00 +0000

Wigan Athletic winger Ryan Colclough scored two goals for his team before being substituted so that he could get to hospital in time to see the birth of his son.

Colclough left the pitch after his brace in Wigan’s 3-0 third-tier League One victory over Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday after finding out at halftime that his partner had gone into labour.

But he stayed on long enough to score his second and secure the victory before leaving for the hospital still in full kit.

“I‘m still overwhelmed by it all,” Colclough told BBC Radio Manchester after the birth of his second son, Harley Thomas.

“It’s a great feeling and I can’t have wished it any better.”

The 22-year-old said he reached the hospital 30 minutes before the baby arrived.

“We had gone for a scan that day and they said it could be a couple of days, so we weren’t too worried. But when my dad (who was in the stands) gave me the sign I panicked a bit and got there as quickly as I could.”

Colclough said he hoped to be back in action for Wigan against Rotherham on Saturday.
Japan woman claims to have dumped babies in concrete buckets

Posted:Wed, 22 Nov 2017 06:49:00 +0000

A mother who dumped four of her babies in buckets filled with concrete that she then kept in her apartment for two decades was arrested in Japan on Tuesday.

Mayumi Saito, 53, told investigators she had given birth to the infants between 1992 and 1997, a police spokesman told AFP.

Saito handed herself in at an Osaka police station on Monday and confessed, saying she did not think her desperate financial predicament made it possible for her to look after the children, local media reported.

Detectives who searched her home found four concrete-filled buckets in a closet.

Scans indicate that each one contains what appears to be the remains of an infant, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Police are still interviewing the woman, who lives with her son, and trying to determine whether she killed the babies or whether they were stillborn, the report said.

"I did not think I could afford to raise them. I had no one to talk to," she told police, according to national broadcaster NHK.

It is unclear why she turned herself in now, local media said.

Saito came forward three weeks after police arrested Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, dubbed the "Twitter killer", who has confessed to killing and dismembering nine people he met via social media.

Investigators found him in his apartment just outside Tokyo surrounded by the festering remains of his victims inside coolers and containers.
Got a spare $71m? How about a single Hong Kong apartment?

Posted:Tue, 21 Nov 2017 21:06:00 +0000

Home may be where the heart is, but in Hong Kong it comes at a record price — more than $71 million for a single apartment. Photo: AFP file

HONG KONG: Home may be where the heart is, but in Hong Kong it comes at a record price — more than $71 million for a single apartment.

A well-heeled buyer snapped up two adjacent mountain-top pads — each more than 4,000 square feet (370 square meters) — for an eye-watering combined price of US$149.1 million.

The smaller of the two properties closed at $71.7 million, making it Asia’s most expensive apartment by area, at a whopping $17,000 per square foot, according to Bloomberg News.

The price smashed the previous record paid for a place to sleep in Hong Kong’s red-hot property market, when a duplex unit on the island topped out at $13,439 per square foot in September.

A month later an office building in downtown Hong Kong sold for a record $5 billion.

In June a single parking space changed hands for $664,200, part of a boom in commercial and residential property prices fueled by an influx of money from wealthy mainland Chinese investors and developers.

The surging property market has become a political issue as costs in one of the world's most expensive cities continue to soar, forcing some small businesses to close due to sky-high rents while many residents cannot afford to buy or rent decent homes.

An official study last week showed nearly 20 percent of the city’s 7.35 million people live below the poverty line.
Un-bee-lievable: Domestic cricket match halted as bees swarm field

Posted:Tue, 21 Nov 2017 20:00:00 +0000

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RAWALPINDI: A swarm of uninvited winged guests created panic during a domestic cricket match on Tuesday.

The Lahore Whites were playing against Peshawar, when honey bees swarmed the ground halting the match for 15 minutes. The players from both the teams and the umpire hit the ground immediately.

The players from both the teams and the umpire hit the ground immediately after bees swarmed the ground on November 21, 2017. Photo: Geo News screen grab

The teams were playing a match of ongoing National T20 Cup 2017.

Earlier this year, the match between Sri Lanka and South Africa was halted for more than 10 minutes after thousands of bees had swarmed the field in Johannesburg.

The players from both the teams hit the ground immediately. The bees were dispersed after officials sprayed repellant around the field.
Killer whale spotted near Churna Island

Posted:Tue, 21 Nov 2017 17:51:00 +0000

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KARACHI: A killer whale was spotted near Churna Island making it the first time ever the marine mammal has been sighted in the region, according to World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan.

In a tweet, WWF-Pakistan shared a video of the orca near Churna Island. The tweet read: "@WWFPak trained fisherman Muhammad Muneeb recorded the first ever sighting of #Orca, commonly known as killer #whales in #Pakistan, yesterday. The pod of 3 whales was spotted about 50 km southwest of Churna Island, feeding on a school of #queenfish. #SaveOurSpecies"

The killer whale is considered the most powerful predator on earth and has been reported on only a few occasions from Oman and the Persian Gulf, said the WWF-Pakistan.

The description added: Orca "is rarely found in the northern ArabianSea. No authentic record of this species is known from Pakistani waters up till now."

Moreover, a whale shark was spotted about 10 nautical miles from Karachi harbour on Saturday, the WWF-Pakistan said.

Contrary to its name, the whale shark is not a whale. It is a fish. In fact, it is the largest fish in the world. It can grow up to a length of 60 feet. The fish is mostly found in open waters of the tropical oceans.
British embassy cat in Jordan appointed chief mouser

Posted:Tue, 21 Nov 2017 09:25:19 +0000

Lawrence of Abdoun — the first 'diplo-cat' to be appointed by the British Embassy in Jordan — sits next to a laptop that shows its official Twitter account at the embassy headquarters in Amman, Jordan, November 15, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

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AMMAN: At the British embassy to Jordan, a former rescue cat is settling into his new position as chief mouser — as a tradition well-established in the ministries of London goes global.

“Lawrence of Abdoun” is a fluffy black-and-white tom, who, according to his Twitter feed, reports directly to the Foreign Office’s Palmerston — a cat that delights his 57,000 followers with regular updates from the ministry in Whitehall via @DiploMog.

Lawrence — named after T.E. Lawrence, a British military officer who fought alongside Arabs against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War — has already gained 2,500 followers since being adopted from an animal shelter last month.

Abdoun is the neighbourhood of Amman where the embassy is located.

“Apart from his mousing duties, he reaches out to followers on Twitter. What’s quite interesting is the British public are seeing the UK embassy in Jordan in a different light,” said Deputy Ambassador Laura Dauban.

”Through Lawrence’s Twitter account, we’re trying to show a different side to Jordan, what it is really like, a peaceful, prosperous country that British tourists should come and visit.”

Tweeting under the name @LawrenceDipCat, Lawrence has discovered the perils of social media and has even been fat-shamed by trolls.

Lawrence of Abdoun. Geo.tv via social media/Lawrence of Abdoun's Twitter account (@LawrenceDipCat)

“He’s been a bit upset because some people have said he looked a bit fat in the last tweet he did, so he’ll be doing some exercises and posting to sort of rectify that situation,” Dauban said.
World's largest whales are mostly 'right-handed': study

Posted:Tue, 21 Nov 2017 08:25:58 +0000

A blue whale swims in the deep waters off Mirissa, Sri Lanka, March 26, 2009. AFP/Ishara S. Kodikara/Files

MIAMI: Blue whales, the world's largest animals, usually favour their right side when they lunge to catch food — a preference similar to right-handedness in people, researchers said Monday.

But on certain occasions, while moving upward in shallow water, these righties will almost always shift to their left to keep a good eye on their favoured prey — tiny crustaceans known as krill.

The reason for this situation-specific choice is likely simple: to get as much food in their mouths as possible, said the report published in Current Biology.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example where animals show different lateralized behaviours depending on the context of the task that is being performed," said co-author James Herbert-Read of Stockholm University in Sweden.

The report was based on analysis of the movement of 63 blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) off the coast of California.

These giant creatures are almost as long as three school buses and weigh as much as 25 elephants.

Scientists analyzed more than 2,800 feeding plunges, in which whales make sharp turns or rolls when passing a patch of krill, in order to eat as many as possible.

Most blue whales veer right in the deep water, where it is dark and there are a lot of krill, so visual contact is not as important.

But when the water is between 10 and 100 feet (three to 30 meters), most prefer to roll left at a steep angle.

Researchers think this happens because prey tend to be less plentiful at shallow depth, and moving left allows whales to keep their right eye on their target.

"These are the largest animals on the planet and feeding is an extraordinarily costly behaviour that takes time, so being able to maximize the benefit of each feeding opportunity is critical," said lead author Ari Friedlaender, a cetacean expert with the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University.

"And we believe this left-sided rotation is a mechanism to help achieve that," he added.

"If the whales turned to the right on approach, they would lose sight of their prey and decrease the ability to forage successfully. By rolling to the left, the whales may be maintaining this visual connection to their prey."

Researchers say that lefties are unusual in the animal kingdom.

Scientists hope to study more whales to see if other species also exhibit a preference for left turns in some contexts.

"We were completely surprised by these findings, but when considering the means by which the whales attack smaller prey patches, the behaviour really seems to be effective, efficient, and in line with the mechanisms that drive their routine foraging behaviours," Friedlaender said.
Gold leaf from Napoleon's crown fetches 625,000 euros

Posted:Mon, 20 Nov 2017 04:43:00 +0000

A gold laurel leaf removed from the crown Napoleon Bonaparte wore to his coronation sold for 625,000 ($735,000) euros at an auction in Paris on Sunday.

The sale price far exceeded the estimate of between 100,000 and 150,000 euros, Osenat auction house said.

The leaf was one of six cut from the crown ahead of the 1804 coronation, because the monarch considered it too heavy.

The goldsmith Martin Guillaume Biennais gave the spare leaves to each of his daughters - with the auctioned gold carving having been passed through the family to present day.

A leaf which was worn during the coronation but was later detached from the crown sold in the 1980s for 80,000 francs.

Around 400 works dedicated to the French emperor were sold at Sunday's auction, including a decorated box engraved with gold flowers, also made by Biennais, which belonged to Napoleon's wife Empress Josephine which sold for 150,000 euros - three times more than expected.