Sunday, December 19, 2010

#Australia says #Christmas Island wreck killed up to 48. #ship

Australia says Christmas Island wreck killed up to 48

The boat was carrying Iranian, Iraqi and Kurdish asylum seekers

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard says as many as 48 asylum seekers may have been killed when their boat sank last week off Christmas Island.

So far 30 bodies have been recovered after the boat hit rocks and broke apart in stormy seas on Wednesday.

South Korea holds Yeonpyeong artillery drill

The South Korean military has been holding live-firing exercises on Yeonpyeong island - the scene of a deadly attack by the North last month.

Pyongyang had threatened to retaliate if the drills went ahead.

Four people were killed when the North shelled the island during a similar drill last month.

The UN Security Council discussed the situation in New York, but failed to reach any agreement. China and Russia called on Seoul to halt the drill.

The South's government has been under huge domestic pressure to take a tough stance towards Pyongyang, in the wake of the 23 November shelling by the North.

The issue has threatened to divide permanent members of the Security Council - with China and Russia urging South Korea to put off the exercise, but the US saying its ally is entitled to make sure it is "properly prepared in the face of... ongoing provocations".

Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the international community had been left without a "game plan" to deal with tensions on the peninsula.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the drills, which began at 1430 (530 GMT), ended after about an hour, but witnesses said the firing was continuing.

Before the firing began, southern military officials said the artillery guns on Yeonpyeong would be aimed south-west, away from North Korea.

But the North claimed any ammunition fired would inevitably land in its territorial waters.

'Self-defensive blow'

Yeonpyeong residents were told to move into air-raid shelters early on Monday - part of regular procedure during military exercises in the area.

Further snow travel chaos set to disrupt Christmas week

Thousands of people face further disruption to their Christmas travel plans as cold weather conditions continue to grip much of the country.

British Airways is hoping that about 60 flights will depart Heathrow on Monday morning, but dozens of cancellations have been announced.

Hundreds of travellers slept there for a second night, amid mounting anger.

Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh and Southampton airports are open but expect delays or cancellations.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has warned of more snow and ice in many parts of the country.

A "bitterly cold" day is forecast, with freezing fog.

Southern England and south Wales were among those in the "firing line" for Monday, said BBC weather forecaster Helen Willetts, with 5-10cm of snowfall that could coincide with both the morning and evening rush hours.

There were also warnings of more heavy snow for much of Scotland and north-east England, with up to 10cm of snow expected in northern Scotland.

The lowest UK temperature overnight, recorded in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, was thought to be -19.6C.

Facebook for farmers: Technology empowers China's rural workers

Straining to control a deafening, bucking, fuel-powered plough, Qing Zhongxing prepares a strip of land ahead of sowing next season's harvest of rapeseed.

Throttling down at the next turn, he pauses to check his mobile phone: it is the latest news on pork prices.

On the other side of the village, in Chongqing's Dazu County, beekeeper Long Ximing is too engrossed in his honeycombs - and avoiding being stung - to check on his phone's shrill alert.

Nonetheless, like Mr Qing and 20 million others in rural China, he is a big fan of mobile farming.

China Mobile's Nongxington - or farming information service - launched four years ago. The company is currently focusing on expanding its delivery in China's west and south-west regions.

Deadly blast on oil pipeline in Mexico's Puebla state

At least 28 people have been killed and many others injured in an oil pipeline explosion in central Mexico, officials say.

The blast in a town in Puebla state was apparently caused by thieves attempting to steal fuel from the pipeline.
Oil gushed through the streets and caught fire, destroying homes and cars and forcing hundreds of people to flee.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has visited the scene and promised to launch an investigation.
Puebla State Secretary Valentin Meneses said the explosion injured 52 people as well as destroying 32 houses and damaging scores more in San Martin Texmelucan - a small community about 80km (50 miles) east of Mexico City.

US to target fake online pill pedlars.

Online stores that sell fake drugs or pills without prescriptions are being targeted by the US government.

It has set up an initiative that will try to shut down the web stores and educate people about the dangers of buying drugs from such places.
Search firms, payment providers and net hosting firms have all pledged to help the crackdown.

Snow at Heathrow and Gatwick ruins plans of thousands.

The Christmas travel plans of thousands of Britons are in disarray after snow left Heathrow Airport all but shut.

Thousands were stuck there overnight and few flights will depart on Sunday. Hundreds more slept at Gatwick, as knock-on delays hit most UK airports.
The Met Office warns of more heavy snow in Yorkshire, north-east England and eastern Scotland, advising essential travel only in the Edinburgh area.

First SMS-based twitter service launched.

KARACHI: Avid micro-bloggers in Pakistan can now tweet through their SMS services without having access to mobile phone internet services.
The service is the first of its kind in the country and it seems that Mobilink is trying to vie for the attention of more technology-savvy customers, say independent technology analysts.
A particular analyst mentioned that it could not be predicted how this will affect the market, but grinned and said that he would definitely consider buying a Mobilink SIM for his extra phone.
Sources at the company explained that this will be cheaper than mobile internet (GPRS) because subscribers will get free updates and tweets from everyone, regardless of the number of people being followed by the user’s twitter account.
Customers will only have to pay for the service if they update their twitter status. This has allayed analysts’ fears that the service would cost too much and that mobile internet would be a more economical option for tweeting.
It is also interesting to note that some cellular companies are finally doing something more than offering cheaper SMS and call rates, which do not really add diversity, according to an industry observer.
Mobilink has said that Twitter had been recently gaining popularity within the Pakistani youth and that the company was aware that the role of social networking has become more and more entrenched in daily lives. The service has been introduced to try and address customers’ evolving needs, said the company.
Twitter seems to be mainly a youth-oriented trend in Pakistan, said an analyst. However, it may attract other people as well, regardless of Mobilink’s intended audience, he added.
Through the service, users can link their Twitter accounts to their handset, sign up for Twitter and access Twitter via SMS, bypassing the need for internet or GPRS. It allows users to simultaneously send and receive Twitter messages via SMS.
The value added services (VAS) department in Mobilink, Orascom’s Pakistani subsidiary, has been trying to target a more diverse customer base by bringing new technologies to Pakistan. Previously, they introduced the Android and Windows Mobile 7 in the country.

#wall #painting

#Philippines #hotel f#ire #kills 15 people

Philippines hotel fire kills 15 people

A fire at a budget hotel in the northern Philippines has killed 15 people and injured 12, officials say.

The blaze began on the ground floor of the five-floor hotel in in the city of Tuguegarao, in Cagayan province.

It burned for several hours, gutting the building. Most guests were asleep when the fire began but dozens were rescued or managed to escape.

Nine of those killed were reported to be nursing students who had been preparing for a licensing exam.

Some firefighters wept and prayed as they retrieved the bodies of the dead, reports said.

"Their families spent fortunes to send these children to school, only to see them end that way," an official said.

Correspondents say hundreds of people die each year in fires in the Philippines, where many buildings are built with inflammable materials, and narrow streets often make access for firefighters difficult.

New guidance on vitamin D recommends midday sunshine #orange #vitamins #D #sunshine

New guidance on vitamin D recommends midday sunshine

New health advice recommends short spells in the sun - without suncream and in the middle of the day.

Seven organisations have issued joint advice on vitamin D, which the body gets from natural sunlight.

The nutrient keeps bones strong, and protects against conditions like osteoporosis.

The guidance was drawn up because it is thought fears about skin cancer have made people too cautious about being in the sun.

Cancer Research UK and the National Osteoporosis Society are among the bodies which agree that "little and frequent" spells in summer sunshine several times a week can benefit your health.

The experts now say it is fine to go outside in strong sun in the middle of the day, as long as you cover up or apply sunscreen before your skin goes red.

'Too negative'

Troops back armoured underwear dubbed 'combat codpiece'

The latest piece of high-tech kit due to be issued to all British forces deploying to Helmand already has a nickname. It is known by the troops who have tested it as the "combat codpiece".

The name may be irreverent, but the intention behind the new piece of body armour is deadly serious: to protect soldiers' most important piece of personal kit from blast injuries to the pelvic area caused by the Taliban's roadside bombs.

All those deploying to Helmand are already being issued with four pairs of special anti-blast underpants.

@mblog

Sunday, December 19, 2010