Canada has located the remains of one of two British explorer ships lost in the Arctic in 1846, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday, hailing the find as historic.

The search for the ill-fated HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, headed by British explorer Sir John Franklin, involved six major expeditions since 2008 that scoured the seabed in the far-flung and frigid region.

Finally, on Sunday, a remotely operated underwater vehicle confirmed the discovery, Harper said in a statement.

"This is truly a historic moment for Canada," Harper said. "Franklin's ships are an important part of Canadian history given that his expeditions, which took place nearly 200 years ago, laid the foundations of Canada's Arctic sovereignty."

While enough information exists to confirm the authenticity of the find, it remains unclear which of the two doomed ships was actually detected.

Harper -- saying one of Canada's "greatest mysteries" has been solved -- was optimistic that the second ship will now also be uncovered.

"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum -- or wind in our sails -- necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew."

Published: 10 September 2014

Read more ...

There is the riddle of the Bermuda Triangle. The unresolved identity of Jack the Ripper. The enigma of how the Universe developed beyond a quark-gluon soup following the Big Bang.

And then there is the Sheepdog Mystery.

A puzzle that has niggled mathematical minds for years, the Mystery is this: how does a single dog get so many selfish sheep to move so efficiently in the same direction?

The answer, revealed on Tuesday in a journal published by Britain's prestigious Royal Society, is that sheepdogs cleverly follow a simple rulebook.

Researchers fitted highly accurate GPS tracking devices into backpacks that were then placed on a trained Australian Kelpie sheepdog and on a flock of 46 female merino sheep in a five-hectare (12-acre) field.

They then used the GPS data to build a computer model of what prompted the dog to move, and how it responded.

Sheep cohesiveness is the big clue.

The dog's first rule is to bind the sheep together by weaving around side-to-side at their backs, and once this has been achieved, it drives the group forward.

"It basically sees white, fluffy things in front of it," said Andrew King of Swansea University in Wales.

"If the dog sees gaps between the sheep, or the gaps are getting bigger, the dog needs to bring them together."

Daniel Stroembom of Uppsala University in Sweden explained: "At every step in the model, the dog decides if the herd is cohesive enough or not.

"If not cohesive, it will make it cohesive, but if it's already cohesive, the dog will push the herd towards the target."

Single sheep dogs can successfully herd flocks of 80 or more sheep in their everyday work and in competitive herding trials.

But the model suggests that, in theory, a dog could herd more than 100 by following the two simple rules.

Published: 27 August 2014

Read more ...

Global mining giant BHP Billiton on Tuesday said it will create a new independent company by spinning off some of its aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets.

The world's biggest miner said this would allow it to focus exclusively on its core long-life operations -- iron ore, copper, petroleum, coal and potash -- while reducing costs and improving productivity.

The new entity will be listed in Australia with a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with the demerger expected to be completed in the first half of the 2015 calendar year.

"For over a century, BHP Billiton has progressively reshaped its business to maintain its industry leadership," said BHP chairman Jac Nasser.

"We believe the proposed demerger, if implemented, will accelerate the simplification of the Group's portfolio, provide investors with choice and unlock value in both companies.

"Our shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on this proposal once the necessary approvals are in place."

The company said the new entity, to be named NewCo, would have assets in five countries.

Published: 19 August 2014

Read more ...

The death toll from landslides and flooding triggered by torrential monsoon rains in Nepal and northern India climbed to at least 109 Saturday as tides of water, mud and rocks swept away houses, officials said.

The downpours also displaced thousands of people in the scenic Himalayan region and revived memories of a deadly deluge last year that killed more than 5,000 people in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

The rains in Nepal over the past three days have killed 85 people and left more than 100 others unaccounted for, said national disaster management chief Yadav Prasad Koirala.

"We have recovered 85 bodies so far, 54 people have suffered injuries due to landslides and flooding over the last three days and 113 are still missing," Koirala told AFP.

The rains have damaged roads across the country's western plains bordering India, with poor visibility hindering helicopter rescue efforts to evacuate some 1,500 people stranded in waterlogged homes, said home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal.

"Because of the damage to roads in the area, we can only deliver relief supplies like tents and medicines by helicopter," Dhakal told AFP.

Army officials rescued some 300 people Saturday, while hundreds more awaited help in the worst-hit districts of Surkhet and Bardiya, where electricity lines snapped, leaving thousands without power.

"We have had no power all day and we are struggling to reach affected people," said Bardiya district official Tej Prasad Paudel.

In neighbouring Banke district, flooding caused by heavy rain washed away homes, district official Jeevan Oli said.

"We've recovered four bodies, including two children. We've looking for four more people whose hut was swept away last night," Oli told AFP.

The deaths come two weeks after the worst landslide in over a decade smashed into hamlets in northeastern Nepal, killing 156 people.

Monsoon rains have also forced officials to close a major bridge along the country's longest highway after it developed cracks and caved in.

Published: 17 August 2014

Read more ...

Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store has today announced that Trinity Hospice will receive a year’s worth of fundraising and awareness support. The Trinity Hospice who support Trinity’s skilled, compassionate end of life care helps our patients, and their families and careers, to regain the confidence they need to live every moment will be the new Local Charity for the Sainsbury’s Nine Elms Temp Store store.

The retailer’s Local Charity scheme is now in its sixth year and gives customers the chance to vote for their favourite local charity to be considered to receive a year’s worth of support from their Sainsbury’s store. The scheme has raised over £6 million to support local charities since 2009.

Customers had a huge say in this year’s announcement and voted in-store and online between 28^th May and 8^th June. The store colleagues then decided that Trinity Hospice were the best charity for them to work with to make a real difference.

Published: 17 August 2014

Read more ...

Get your walking boots out and picnic supplies in.  Marie Curie’s 10k evening fundraising walk, Walk Ten, at Hampton Court Palace on Saturday 30^th August is less than 2 weeks away.

There’s still time to register. It’s £10 per person and everyone is asked to raise as much as possible in support of Marie Curie Cancer Care. All the funds raised will help Marie Curie provide care, free of charge, to terminally ill people in their own homes across Surrey and London

People who have taken part in past Walk Ten events have pinpointed what made the event special to them:

“Lovely location and a great atmosphere.”

Published: 14 August 2014

Read more ...

Pope Francis will pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice of South Korea's first Catholics when he beatifies 124 tortured and executed martyrs at a special mass in Seoul on Saturday.

Up to one million people are expected to converge on the capital's central Gwanghwamun Square for the mass, which will mark the religious centrepiece of the pope's five-day visit to South Korea.

The most prominent among those to be beatified is an 18th century nobleman, Paul Yun Ji-Chung, who became Korea's first Catholic martyr when he was executed in 1791 after clashing with Confucian officials.

According to the Church, around 10,000 Koreans were martyred in the first 100 years after Catholicism was introduced to the peninsula in 1784.

Uniquely, the religion was not brought in and spread by foreign missionaries, but by Korean scholars who had come across Catholic teachings in China and shared them on their return with family and friends.

It survived, as a largely illegal community, with virtually no formal missionary priests until clergy from France arrived more than 50 years later.

Born to a renowned noble family in what is now the southwestern county of Geumsan, Yun was introduced to Catholicism by his cousin, Kwon Sang-Yeon, and was baptised in 1787 by Korea's first Catholic convert, Peter Yi Seung-Hun.

Published: 12 August 2014

Read more ...

 

A German court ruled Tuesday that Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone can pay a controversial $100-million settlement to end his trial on bribery charges.

In a move that will likely see him stay at the helm of the lucrative sport, the 83-year-old Briton struck an accord with prosecutors on the huge payment which then got the Munich tribunal's blessing.

"The proceedings will be temporarily suspended with the agreement of the prosecution and the accused," pending payment of the settlement within one week, presiding judge Peter Noll said.

The $100-million (75 million euro) payment is reportedly the largest accord of its kind in German criminal justice history.

 

 

Noll said $99 million would go to the Bavarian state coffers while $1 million would be donated to a "child hospice foundation".

He had asked Ecclestone through an interpreter whether he would be able to make the payment within a week, to which he replied: "yes".

Ecclestone went on trial in the southern city of Munich in April on charges of paying a $44-million bribe to a Bavarian state bank executive for help in maintaining his four-decade grip on Formula One.

A settlement is allowed in German criminal cases if the prosecution, the aggrieved parties and the court agree, but the Ecclestone deal has stoked fierce criticism.

 

 

Court spokesman Andrea Titz said the judges had determined that a conviction was "not particularly likely" based on the evidence presented until now.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ecclestone will not have a criminal record and should be able to retain his control of the multi-billion-dollar Formula One empire.

He has attended most of the hearings in person and arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday in a limousine, looking relaxed and accompanied by his young wife, Fabiana Flosi.

 

 

 

Ecclestone's defence team and prosecutors struck the deal, first reported on Saturday in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, to settle the case with a one-time payment rather than continue with proceedings that had been scheduled to last at least until October.

News of the accord drew angry condemnation of a legal proviso in Germany that allows defendants to "buy" a dismissal in some instances.

Former justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger had blasted the possible Ecclestone deal Monday as "galling" and "not in harmony with the sense and purpose of our legal practices".

She called on lawmakers to at least tighten -- if not eliminate entirely -- the loophole, which is designed to expedite cases before overburdened courts and whose sums are calculated based on the defendant's financial means.

 

 

he Sueddeutsche Zeitung lashed out at a deal in which "the briber is supposed to be washed clean with a spectacular payment".

"The saying goes 'money doesn't stink' but that's wrong here: these millions stink to high heaven."

And the top-selling Bild denounced "the bitter impression that not everyone is equal before the law".

The Formula One magnate has denied any wrongdoing, but could have faced a jail term of up to 10 years if found guilty.

 

Published: 05 August 2014

Read more ...

The former personal assistant of Britain's Prince Philip has been charged with sexually abusing a girl while he was working for the royal family in the 1970s, prosecutors said.

Benjamin Herman, 79, was the personal assistant or "equerry" to the 93-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth from 1971 to 1974.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said Herman would appear in court on Monday.

"He is charged with three counts of indecent assault between 1972 and 1974 on a girl aged around 12," the spokesman said.

Herman's role was to attend to Philip's engagements and personal matters, and he later became the head of the household of Philip's daughter Princess Anne.

Newspaper the Daily Mirror reported that police had examined Philip's official diaries from the time and had taken statements from former palace staff.

A police spokesman would not comment on whether former palace staff had been interviewed, and a spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

Britain has been rocked by a series of scandals involving historic child abuse by prominent figures.

Published: 01 August 2014

Read more ...

Britain's Prince Harry has followed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II into the photobomb craze, giving the thumbs up in an image of acclaimed New Zealand rugby sevens coach Gordon Tietjens at the Commonwealth Games.

Just days after the queen was snapped beaming in the background as Australian hockey players Jayde Taylor and Brooke Peris took a selfie, the 29-year-old prince popped up as Tietjens was being photographed at the swimming pool.

Tietjens, New Zealand deputy chef de mission Trevor Shailer and sports psychologist Gary Hermansson were photographed as they sat a few rows in front of the prince, his brother Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Published: 30 July 2014

Read more ...