24/7 News Coverage
December 20, 2016
EPIDEMICS
Paris seeks high ground in fight to keep rats underground



Paris (AFP) Dec 16, 2016
Gazing upward to take in the majesty of the Eiffel Tower, visitors to Paris may be astonished to learn that a vicious war, pitting Man against Rat, is unfolding at their feet. The Champ de Mars park around the famous monument is a battleground in a city-wide anti-rodent campaign that has drawn both cheers and jeers. Several of the French capital's green spaces are off-limits for two weeks as rat catchers go about a grim task, baiting traps with powerful poison. "I haven't seen any rats, but ... read more

SPACE MEDICINE
BodyCap's wearable health monitors being used aboard ISS
BodyCap has announced that two of its wearable health monitoring devices are currently being used by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard the International Space Station (ISS) ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Cow gene study shows why most clones fail
It has been 20 years since Dolly the sheep was successfully cloned in Scotland, but cloning mammals remains a challenge. A new study by researchers from the U.S. and France of gene expression in dev ... more
EPIDEMICS
Smallpox, once thought an ancient disease, may have emerged in more recent times
New genetic research from an international team including McMaster University, University of Helsinki, Vilnius University and the University of Sydney, suggests that smallpox, a pathogen that caused ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Urgent appeal for supplies after strong Indonesia quake
Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 100 people, as officials urgently appealed Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured. ... more
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EPIDEMICS
Paris rat catchers deployed to tackle rodent scourge
Paris officials have announced a crackdown on rats which blight parks and gardens around the City of Light and are thought to easily outnumber humans. ... more
INTERN DAILY
Lost and found: Japan tags dementia sufferers with barcodes
A Japanese city has introduced a novel way to keep track of senior citizens with dementia who are prone to getting lost - tagging their fingers and toes with scan-able barcodes. ... more
WAR REPORT
Dylan snubs Nobel, Santos to accept Peace Prize in Oslo
One sings of peace, the other makes peace: Bob Dylan will not travel to Stockholm on Saturday to accept his Nobel prize, but Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos will receive his award in Oslo for a deal signed with FARC rebels. ... more
EPIDEMICS
Overwhelming evidence of malaria's existence 2,000 years ago
An analysis of 2,000-year-old human remains from several regions across the Italian peninsula has confirmed the presence of malaria during the Roman Empire, addressing a longstanding debate about it ... more
CHIP TECH
Construction of practical quantum computers radically simplified
Scientists at the University of Sussex have invented a ground-breaking new method that puts the construction of large-scale quantum computers within reach of current technology. Quantum comput ... more


Archaeologists find 14th century Black Death 'plague pit' in England

EPIDEMICS
UN chief Ban apologizes to Haitian people over cholera epidemic
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday apologized for the first time to the people of Haiti for the role played by the world body's peacekeepers in sparking a devastating cholera epidemic in the country. ... more
INTERN DAILY
Researchers develop novel wound-healing technology
A WSU research team has successfully used a mild electric current to take on and beat drug-resistant bacterial infections, a technology that may eventually be used to treat chronic wound infections. ... more


China charges 10 in power plant collapse killed 74
China has charged 10 people over a power plant collapse that killed 74 last month, state media reported Monday, after first detaining 13 in the immediate aftermath of the accident. A platform more than 70 metres (230 feet) high in a cooling tower at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station in the central province of Jiangxi crashed to the ground in late November, killing 74 people and injuring an ... more
Sawdust reinvented into super sponge for oil spills

China arrests 18 over fatal October blast

Canada buys new Airbus search and rescue planes for Can$2.4 bn

Russia, China Making Progress in Synchronization of GLONASS, BeiDou Systems
Russia and China have achieved a significant progress in the synchronization of GLONASS and BeiDou navigation systems, Roscosmos head Igor Komarov said Monday. "We have achieved a considerable progress in the field of cooperation... on the harmonization and synchronization of GLONASS and BeiDou systems. All contracts have been signed, and the work is proceeding. There are prospects, ... more
Galileo, Europe's own satnav, to go online

Europe's own satnav Galileo goes live

Alpha Defence Company To Make Navigation Satellites For ISRO

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Dental hygiene, caveman style
Bits of wood recovered from a 1.2-million-year-old tooth found at an excavation site in northern Spain indicate that the ancient relatives of man may have use a kind of toothpick. Toothbrushes were not around yet, if the amount of hardened tartar build-up is anything to go by. An analysis of the tartar has now yielded the oldest known information about what our human ancestors ate and the ... more
Neurons paralyze us during REM sleep

Neanderthals visited seaside cave in England for 180,000 years

Sex of prehistoric hand-stencil artists can be determined forensic analysis

Plant's response to heat stress fluctuates between day and night
Climate change and recent heat waves have put agricultural crops at risk, which means that understanding how plants respond to elevated temperatures is crucial for protecting our environment and food supply. For many plants, even a small increase in average temperature can profoundly affect their growth and development. In the often-studied mustard plant called Arabidopsis, elevated temper ... more
Rapid population decline among vertebrates began with industrialization

Burning ivory, waging war: world battles poaching in 2016

Outdoor recreation in protected areas negatively impacts wildlife



Paris seeks high ground in fight to keep rats underground
Gazing upward to take in the majesty of the Eiffel Tower, visitors to Paris may be astonished to learn that a vicious war, pitting Man against Rat, is unfolding at their feet. The Champ de Mars park around the famous monument is a battleground in a city-wide anti-rodent campaign that has drawn both cheers and jeers. Several of the French capital's green spaces are off-limits for two week ... more
Smallpox, once thought an ancient disease, may have emerged in more recent times

Paris rat catchers deployed to tackle rodent scourge

Overwhelming evidence of malaria's existence 2,000 years ago

Woman sues China public security bureau over propaganda video
The wife of a Chinese human rights lawyer said Monday she is suing the public security bureau for accusing her in an online propaganda video of fomenting "colour revolution". Li Wenzu's husband Wang Quanzhang took on a number of civil rights cases considered sensitive by the ruling Communist party and was detained last summer. His employer, Beijing's Fengrui law firm, was at the centre ... more
'Iron lady' Ip runs for Hong Kong leader

Chinese official's wife jailed in new vaccine scandal

Popular Chinese Muslim website shuttered after Xi Jinping petition

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

African leaders tackle piracy, illegal fishing at Lome summit
Stemming the astronomical losses caused by crime in the oceans surrounding Africa is the focus of a major continental summit on Saturday in the Togolese capital, Lome. "Over recent decades, the accumulated revenue losses resulting directly from illegal activities in the African maritime sector add up to hundreds of billions of US dollars, without counting the loss of human lives," the Africa ... more
US to deport ex-navy chief drug trafficker to Guinea-Bissau

Gunmen ambush Mexican military convoy, kill 5 soldiers

Mexican army to probe killings of six in their home

Property and credit booms stablise China growth
Chinese growth stabilised in the third quarter, data showed Wednesday, as ample credit and hot property markets propped up the world's second-largest economy. But while the forecast-beating reading was in line with state targets, it came as experts warned that authorities have relied too much on easy credit, which has in turn increased financial risks. The economy grew 6.7 percent in Jul ... more
China data and US banks propel equities higher

No debt-for-equity cure for zombie firms, says China

China's ranks of super-rich rise despite economic slowdown



China boosts defenses on S.China Sea islets: US experts
New satellite imagery shows China has apparently installed "significant" defensive weapons on a series of artificial islands it built in the South China Sea, a US-based think tank said Wednesday. Beijing has created seven islets in the Spratly Islands in recent years, built up from much smaller land protuberances and reefs. Although Beijing has said it does not intend to militarize the c ... more
China says weapons in S. China Sea not militarisation

China says S. China Sea military overflights 'routine'

India names new military, spy chiefs; China protests Dalai Lama meeting

LISA Pathfinder's pioneering mission continues
On 7 December, LISA Pathfinder started the extended phase of its mission, an additional six months during which scientists and engineers will push the experiment to its limits in preparation for ESA's future space observatory of gravitational waves. LISA Pathfinder, a demonstration mission to validate important technologies to observe gravitational waves - fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime ... more
Magnetic mirror could shed new light on gravitational waves

A population of neutron stars can generate gravitational waves continuously

Verlindes new theory of gravity passes first test

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Raytheon to modernize cryptographic materials for U.S. Air Force
Raytheon has received a $458.9 million contract to modernize various cryptographic equipment for the U.S. Air Force. The contract includes modernization services for existing VINSON and Advanced Narrowband Digital Voice Terminal capabilities used by the National Security Agency, and involves foreign military sales. The U.S. Department of Defense did not yet disclose which countries may ... more
The Link Between Cybersecurity and Information Assurance

Facebook lets users click to report fake news

White House points to Putin over election hack

Iraqis create market in mud of displaced camp
Mobile phones, cartons of cigarettes and fresh mutton are all on sale inside a camp for Iraqi civilians displaced in the battle to recapture Mosul - if they have the money. In the Khazir camp, buyers trudge in the mud, skidding around in flimsy shoes and examining improvised market stalls on the ground between tents that shelter thousands of people. Behind his makeshift display of mobil ... more
Displaced Iraqis long for home, but return risky

Iraqi children battle trauma after life under IS rule

UN fears further looting of wrecked ancient Iraqi city



India accuses Pakistani Islamist over airbase attack
India on Monday accused Pakistani militant leader Maulana Masood Azhar of masterminding an audacious attack on an air force base in January that led to a breakdown in relations between the two nuclear-armed nations. Seven soldiers were killed in the attack on the Indian air force base in Pathankot, which New Delhi has said could not have been carried out without the help of the Islamabad gov ... more
Kurdish-Shiite row erupts at Iraqi football match

Pentagon works to ease Kurdish-Turkish tensions in Syria

Uzbek interim leader scores landslide election win

Black coal, thin pickings: China's miners face decline
The global fight against climate change and Beijing's efforts to combat choking pollution have been a disaster for Lu Fanyuan. Facing unemployment after years working with explosives deep in a coal mine on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, Lu has little hope of finding another job, no rights to farmland in his rural hometown, and fears he is dying of occupational disease. "They'll ju ... more
Coal demand shifting to Asia, IEA says

China halts North Korean coal imports

China coal mine blasts kill 59: report

In Benin, 'Smart-Valleys' bring rice bounty
Daniel Aboko proudly shows off the 11 hectares (27 acres) of paddy fields he shares with other farmers - a small spread that produces a bounty of food thanks to smart irrigation and a hardy strain of rice. In just four years, small farmers in Ouinhi, southeastern Benin, have seen their rice harvest double from three to six tonnes of rice per hectare (1.2 to 2.4 tonnes per acre). They pr ... more
Many GMO studies have financial conflicts of interest

S. Korea issues top bird flu alert

More exact, ethical method to tell the sex of baby chickens

Where is the Ice on Ceres
At first glance, Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, may not look icy. Images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft have revealed a dark, heavily cratered world whose brightest area is made of highly reflective salts - not ice. But newly published studies from Dawn scientists show two distinct lines of evidence for ice at or near the surface of the dwarf planet. Researchers are presen ... more
Ceres Offers Insight Into Prospects For Life in Early Solar System

Rosetta's last words: science descending to a comet

Ceres: Water ice in eternal polar night



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