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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Everest height confirmed

China and Nepal have found a solution to a longstanding dispute over the height of Mount Everest in the giant peak’s rock and snow. The world’s highest mountain lies on the border between the two countries and they have disagreed for years over its exact height, which Nepal puts at 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) — nearly four meters more than the measurement used by China. Officials from the two neighbors reached a compromise at talks in Kathmandu this week by agreeing the two measurements referred to different things — one to the height of Everest’s rock and the other to the height of its snow-cap.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Taliban are between a ROCK and a hard palce

United States special forces have a novel weapon in the fight to expel Taliban from a desolate and war-weary farming community in southern Afghanistan — heavy metal music. When insurgents open fire in Marjah, an armored vehicle wired up to powerful speakers blasts out country, heavy metal and rock music so loudly it can be heard up to a mile away. The play list has been hand-selected to “... off the Taliban”, according to one US special forces officer.
“Taliban hate that music,” said the sergeant involved in covert psychological operations, or “psy-ops”, in the area in Helmand province. "Its motivating Marines as well,” he said. "Although some of the locals complain"

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Solar globetrotter

The Solar Impulse aircraft, a pioneering Swiss bid to fly around the world on solar energy, took off on its first test flight from an air base in western Switzerland on Wednesday. Tensions were running high in the team as the high tech prototype lifted into blue skies at a speed of just 45 km per hour after a one km run down the runway at Payerne air base shortly before 10.30 am. Propelled by four 10 horsepower electric motors, the gangling single-seater aircraft and test pilot Markus Scherdel slowly gained altitude for a scheduled flight of around two hours at an altitude of 1,000 meters. The prototype has a wingspan comparable to that of an Airbus A340 airliner, but weighs as little as a car at only 1,600 kg.

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Monday, April 05, 2010

Cow transport

A doctor in Pakistan’s Punjab province was suspended from service for using an ambulance to transport a calf from a market to his home. The doctor of the rural health center at Tanda, located 30 km from Gujrat city, used the ambulance to transport the calf he bought at the cattle market in Kunjah on Saturday, officials said. Police stopped the ambulance while the doctor was returning to his home in Tanda and found the calf inside. Soon after, district administration chief Sardar Akram Javed directed the Health Department to suspend the doctor. Executive district officer Muneer Ahmed said he had ordered an inquiry into the matter and suspended the doctor. The image shows the black and white calf tied to a bar at the back of the ambulance.