Jul 15, 2010
French parade draws flak | The Brunei Times
African war veterans attend the annual Bastille Day military parade, attended by 13 African nations, in Paris yesterday. Picture: AFP
HM of Brunei Sends Congratulatory Message To France
Bandar Seri Begawan - His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has sent congratulatory messages to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Prime Miniter Francois Fillon on the occasion of France's National Day today.
In the message to Sarkozy, His Majesty expressed his pleasure at the warm and friendly relations between the two countries and looked forward to continue working closely with the president in the coming year to strengthen the friendship and bilateral cooperation, particularly through the partnership in the Asean-EU Dialogue and Asia-Europe Meeting.
In a similar congratulatory message to Fillon, the monarch expressed his appreciation for the long standing friendly relations shared by the countries and hoped that this goodwill will continue to be strengthened.
His Majesty also conveyed his best wishes to Sarkozy and Fitton.
Meanwhile, His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade sent a similar congratulatory message to France's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner.
"I have great pleasure in sending my warmest congratulations and best wishes to you and the government and people of France on your National Day," His Royal Highness stated.
"I am delighted with the excellent cooperation our countries continue to enjoy as very close friends over many years and I wish you and our much-valued French community in Brunei a very happy celebration," His Royal Highness added.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
In the message to Sarkozy, His Majesty expressed his pleasure at the warm and friendly relations between the two countries and looked forward to continue working closely with the president in the coming year to strengthen the friendship and bilateral cooperation, particularly through the partnership in the Asean-EU Dialogue and Asia-Europe Meeting.
In a similar congratulatory message to Fillon, the monarch expressed his appreciation for the long standing friendly relations shared by the countries and hoped that this goodwill will continue to be strengthened.
His Majesty also conveyed his best wishes to Sarkozy and Fitton.
Meanwhile, His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade sent a similar congratulatory message to France's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner.
"I have great pleasure in sending my warmest congratulations and best wishes to you and the government and people of France on your National Day," His Royal Highness stated.
"I am delighted with the excellent cooperation our countries continue to enjoy as very close friends over many years and I wish you and our much-valued French community in Brunei a very happy celebration," His Royal Highness added.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
Human Brains "Evolve," Become Less Monkey-Like With Age
A sedated young rhesus macaque (file photo).
Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic
Published July 12, 2010
Brain regions that grow the most outside the womb are the same areas that expanded the most during evolution from monkeys to humans, a new study says.
As the human brain matures, it expands in a "strikingly nonuniform" fashion, according to researchers who compared MRI scans of 12 infant brains with scans of 12 young adult brains. (See brain pictures.)The research revealed that brain regions involved in higher cognitive and executive processes—such as language and reasoning—grow about twice as much as regions associated with basic senses such vision and hearing, said study leader Jason Hill, a neurobiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Jul 14, 2010
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Mel Gibson is a bonehead not a racist, says Whoopi Goldberg - Telegraph
Mel Gibson is a bonehead not a racist, says Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg Photo: AP
Goldberg defended the Hollywood actor, who was taped allegedly telling his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva that "if you get raped by a pack of n------ it will be all your fault".
Speaking on The View, Goldberg insisted: "I don't like what he did here but I know Mel, and I know he's not a racist.
Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have married in a secret ceremony in the Bahamas, it emerged on Wednesday.
Bardem and Cruz, who started dating in 2007, appeared together in the 2008 Woody Allen romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona Photo: REUTERS
The Oscar-winning Spanish actors, who fell in love on the set of Woody Allen's 2008 romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", tied the knot earlier this month, ending months of speculation over their nuptial plans.
Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri flies home from US - Telegraph
Shahram Amiri
Shahram Amiri had "left American soil" on and was on his way back to Iran via a third country, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Before he left the Iranian interests section of the Pakistan embassy in Washington, where he had sought refuge, he gave an interview to Iranian television denying he had gone to America voluntarily, as Washington claims.
TV and movie lovers rejoice:
TV and movie lovers rejoice: Comic-Con takes place this weekend, inviting fans around the world to meet stars from their favorite shows and hear about what it's like behind the scenes. Swarms of fang-bearing True Blood followers, honorary Glee club members -- frequently off-key or tone deaf -- and aspiring wizards from the abundant pool of Harry Potter admirers will descend on San Diego for four days. Heightened anticipation continues to build for the annual convention, which frequently stirs concerns of overcrowding, drawing over 125,000 people last year. Tickets for the gathering have been sold out for months, but Comic-Con is sponsoring a last-chance sweepstakes for tickets. Click here for the entry form; winners will be drawn Friday. [Jaunted]
A new deal for urban explorers promises authentic, cultural day trips in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco, all offered with a two-for-one special. Now travelers can bring a friend for free when they buy an Urban Adventure, including a stroll around Hollywood's most infamous bars and movie locations, a glimpse of New York's immigrant heritage through food tastings in Chinatown and Little Italy, and a walking tour through San Francisco's Mission District and Chinatown, ending with a catamaran cruise around the city's scenic bay . Offers are good through September 1.
Photo: Fans embrace their inner geek-dom at the 2009 Comic-Con, scragz via Flickr.
Eclipse "Frown"
- Photograph by Martin Bernetti, AFP/Getty ImagesThe sun seems to create a frown in the sky over Easter Island as just a small crescent of light remains visible during Sunday's total solar eclipse.
Thousands of people gathered on Easter Island—a UN World Heritage site—to watch the eclipse, billed as one of the most remote that will happen this century.
"The most noteworthy aspect of this eclipse is how little land it crosses and the sparse population areas in the path," eclipse chaser and astronomer Alan Dyer, of the Telus World of Science-Calgary in Alberta, told National Geographic News last week.
Published July 12, 2010
Easter Island Eclipse Watcher
- Photograph by Eliseo Fernandez, ReutersOne of Easter Island's famous stone statues, or moai, seems to turn its back on the total solar eclipse Sunday, while a woman uses a special filter for safe eclipse viewing. (Watch video: "Solar Eclipse to Darken Easter Island.")
Looking directly at the sun—even during an eclipse—can permanently damage human eyes. Eclipse experts recommend wearing sun-safe glasses and watching the spectacle only for short periods.
Published July 12, 2010
Eclipse Halo
- Photograph by Martin Bernetti, AFP/Getty ImagesDuring Sunday's total solar eclipse, the moon covered the sun over Easter Island, so that only the faint, white ring of the sun's upper atmosphere, or corona, was visible.
Eclipse expert and National Geographic grantee Jay Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, was on Easter Island to witness his 51st solar eclipse. According to Pasachoff, eclipses offer scientists unique opportunities to study the corona, parts of which are invisible even to sun-watching satellites.
"On the days of eclipses—and only on those days—can we supply high-quality images of the inner and middle corona that fill in the gaps in spacecraft coverage," Pasachoff told National Geographic News last week. "We can learn about the sun's magnetic field and the relation of the sun and the Earth by studying eclipses."
(The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
Published July 12, 2010
Solar Eclipse Over Chile
During a total solar eclipse, the moon passes completely between Earth and the sun, casting a circular shadow over the planet. On the ground, viewers in the full shadow's path—aka the path of totality—see the moon cover the sun's disk for several minutes. Only the sun's faint upper atmosphere, or corona, remains visible.
The full effect of Sunday's total solar eclipse was visible to just a few people along a narrow, 155-mile-wide (250-kilometer-wide) band of the Pacific Ocean. Starting north of New Zealand, the path of the moon's shadow swept over a few remote islands—including the Chilean territory of Easter Island (Isla de Pascua)—and ended over the southernmost tip of South America.
Sky-watchers flocked by the thousands to Polynesian islands or booked passage on cruise ships to see the total solar eclipse. Viewers in Valparaiso, 75 miles (121 kilometers) northwest of Santiago, were among those in the Pacific Basin and in South America able to see a partial eclipse.
—with reporting by Andrew Fazekas
Published July 12, 2010
Afghanistan’s Lithium Wealth Could Remain Elusive
Photograph by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky, Bloomberg/ Getty Images
By Henry J. Reske
for National Geographic News
Published June 16, 2010
This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.
Somewhere in the trackless lands that make up much of Afghanistan (map), just to the right or left of the Old Silk Road, there are apparently huge caches of untapped wealth in the form of metal and stone prized in both the ancient world and the modern: gold, copper, and lapis lazuli, to name a few.
Secret Tunnel Uncovered in Pharaoh's Tomb
Photograph by Amr Abdallah Dalsh, ReutersStanding on wooden steps that protect a 3,300-year-old stone staircase, Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass poses in 2009 in a mysterious tunnel that links the ancient tomb of Pharaoh Seti I to ... nothing.
After three years of hauling out rubble and artifacts via a railway-car system (rails visible at left), the excavators have hit a wall, the team announced last week. It seems the ancient workers who created the steep tunnel under Egypt's Valley of the Kings near Luxor (map) abruptly stopped after cutting 572 feet (174 meters) into rock.
Hawass, also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence, believes work on the tunnel began during the pharaoh's 15-year reign (1294-1279 B.C.), but after the tomb above it was already complete. Work may have stopped when Seti I died.
Archaeologist Mustafa Waziri, regional director for the Egyptian antiquities council, said: "I think they were planning to make another burial chamber down there. Suddenly they stopped. But the condition of the stairs is amazing."
(The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
—Andrew Bossone and Ted Chamberlain
Published July 7, 2010
Tombs Emerge From Egypt Sands
- Photograph courtesy Egypt Supreme Council of AntiquitiesWorkers and archaeologists stand at the 4,200-year-old site of two rock-hewn Egyptian tombs recently excavated near Cairo and unveiled Thursday.
Featuring boldly painted false doors, the tombs are the last resting places of Shendwa, head of the royal scribes under Pharaoh Pepi II, and his son Khonsu, also a scribe. Both were members of the literate ruling class during ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (2686 to 2160 B.C.), during which most of Egypt's pyramids were built (ancient Egypt time line).
Occupying a thousand-square-foot (300-square-meter) site, the tombs were found in the royal burial ground at Saqqara (map)—strangely far from the tomb of Pepi II."We never expected to find a tomb that belongs to [the period of] that king" at the dig site, said Abdul Hakeem Karar, director of the Saqqara necropolis for Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
(Related King Tut pictures: "DNA Study Reveals Health Secrets.")
—Andrew Bossone in Cairo
Published July 9, 2010
Cocaine Submarine Seized
- Photograph from ReutersEcuadorian police pose atop what U.S. officials called a "game changing"submarine built by drug smugglers on July 2 near the town of San Lorenzo (map), just south of the Colombian border.
Unlike previous known "cocaine subs," which could dip only just below the surface, the illegal craft appears capable of diving as deep as 65 feet (20 meters).
Seized before its maiden voyage, the 98-foot-long (30-meter-long) fiberglass sub was big enough to hold six to ten tons of cocaine and six crew members. The remote swamp camp where it was built was outfitted for up to 50 workers, though only 1 was present at the time of the raid.
With a ballast system never before seen in a cocaine sub, the handmade sub suggests smugglers are rapidly improving on the more common, semisubmersible designs, which are already difficult to detect.
"It's obviously an eye-opener," said Michael Braun, a former chief of operations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which assisted in the seizure operation.
"There's been a lot of speculation," said Braun, now with Spectre Group International, a private security company. "But now there's direct evidence that the bad guys have the ability to build these things and put them into service."
(Related: Get cocaine-submarine pictures and facts from the National Geographic Channel.)
Published July 13, 2010
Close Encounter With Lutetia
Image courtesy ESA
Asteroid 21 Lutetia is exposed, craters and all, in a picture captured Saturday by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. Rosetta's close encounter with Lutetia revealed a battered world—a possible remnant from the birth of our solar system, astronomers say.To snap the above image, Rosetta swooped about 1,965 miles (3,162 kilometers) above Lutetia's surface. The image is the highest-resolution photo taken of the space rock, located more than 270 million miles (440 million kilometers) away from Earth, between Mars and Jupiter. (Watch a video of Rosetta's flyby.)
The sharp edge visible above, at bottom, may be evidence that 81-mile-wide (130-kilometer-wide) Lutetia broke off from a "mother asteroid," said NASA space scientist Claudia Alexander, who led the United States' involvement in the Rosetta mission.
Jungle Cat Mimics Monkey to Lure Prey—A First
The margay cat mimics monkeys while hunting, researchers say (file photo).
Photograph by J.H. Pete Carmichael, Riser/Getty Images
Carlos Santana proposes onstage
Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana has proposed onstage to his drummer girlfriend, Cindy Blackman.
AAP
LEGENDARY guitarist Carlos Santana is engaged after proposing onstage to his girlfriend, drummer Cindy Blackman.The proposal came during a tour stop Friday in Tinley Park, Illinois, outside Chicago. His representatives say he popped the question four songs into the concert after a Blackman drum solo.
She said yes, and they sealed it with a kiss, which was met with cheers from the crowd.
The multiplatinum-selling Grammy winner ended a 34-year marriage to Deborah Santana in 2007.
Michael Jackson's grave vandalised
Michael Jackson.
AAP
MICHAEL Jackson's final resting place has been vandalised.A group of fans of the late singer - who died of acute Propofol intoxication last June - managed to obtain access to the Great Mausoleum at Los Angeles' Forest Lawn Memorial Park, with the cemetery now pledging to review security following the incident.
Gibson aims at Hispanics in new rant
Mel Gibson is being investigated in a possible domestic violence case involving his ex-girlfriend.OSCAR-WINNING Braveheart director Mel Gibson uses racial language to disparage an Hispanic cleaning lady, in a fresh recording posted online on Tuesday.
The recording, allegedly made in a screaming phone argument with his Russian-born ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, follows the release of earlier rants in which Gibson refers to black people as "n*****s," calls Grigorieva a "whore" and a "bitch in heat," and apparently acknowledges beating her.
In one tape, Lethal Weapon star Gibson even reportedly threatens to kill Grigorieva.
UN to review Aussie gender equality
Australia has taken significant steps towards a more gender equal society.AUSTRALIA has thrown some large stones at the glass ceiling since the United Nations last reviewed our gender equality agenda.
So there will be plenty to talk about next week when Australia's four-year progress is reviewed by the UN's division for the advancement of women in New York.
Vitamin D level 'link to Parkinson's'
© iStockphoto.com/Dmitriy Shironosov
GREATER levels of vitamin D have been linked to a lower risk of Parkinson's disease in a study in Finland where low sunlight leads to a chronic lack of the nutrient, researchers said Monday.Scientists from the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland, first hypothesised that Parkinson's "may be caused by a continuously inadequate vitamin D status leading to a chronic loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain."
Shopaholics 'may have mental disorder'
Shopaholics may be driven by the same disorder which prompts others to fill their homes with junk.
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