21 May 2013
Last updated at 18:46 ET
Two Spanish tourists have been kidnapped in Colombia while driving in La Guajira, near the Venezuelan border.
The couple disappeared on Friday, but Spanish authorities only confirmed the kidnapping on Tuesday.
The kidnappers contacted the hostages’ family and identified themselves as members of the left-wing rebels Farc, Colombian authorities say.
The group, which last year vowed to stop civilian hostage-taking, has not claimed responsibility.
‘Absolute discretion’ [...]
Spanish couple kidnapped in Colombia
21 May 2013
Last updated at 18:46 ET
Two Spanish tourists have been kidnapped in Colombia while driving in La Guajira, near the Venezuelan border.
The couple disappeared on Friday, but Spanish authorities only confirmed the kidnapping on Tuesday.
The kidnappers contacted the hostages’ family and identified themselves as members of the left-wing rebels Farc, Colombian authorities say.
The group, which last year vowed to stop civilian hostage-taking, has not claimed responsibility.
‘Absolute discretion’ [...]
Army plans to launch a reality TV show
A new reality series aims to draw in new recruits for the Army.
Uncle Sam wants you … to watch reality television.
The Army is planning to launch a new reality TV program, “Starting Strong,” on June 2, aimed at recruiting 18- to 24-year-olds to enlist in the military.
The Army describes it as a “reality-TV inspired” advertisement, but it will look an awful lot like a standard TV show. There will be 10 episodes. Each is roughly 23 minutes long and is broken up by regular commercial breaks, and they̵ [...]
Sergio García makes ‘racist’ remark about old adversary Tiger Woods
Sergio García’s ongoing spat with Tiger Woods took an unwelcome turn night, when the Spaniard made what could be interpreted as a racist remark about his opponent.
The Spaniard was on stage at the European Tour’s gala players’ awards dinner, where he was questioned by the Golf Channel’s Steve Sands. García, who has been embroiled in verbal battles with Woods since the Players Championship at Sawgrass this month, was asked in jest if he would have the American round for dinner one night during the upcoming US Open. [...]
Senator pulls same-sex proposal for immigration bill
WASHINGTON |
Tue May 21, 2013 7:15pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An influential Democratic senator on Tuesday withdrew a proposal to allow U.S. citizens to petition for their same-sex spouses to immigrate to the United States, in an effort to maintain support for a broad immigration bill.
Republican senators have vowed to vote against the immigration bill if the same-sex proposal is added to the legislation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy was forced to withdraw the proposal after Demo [...]
Scientists Reveal The Cause Of The Irish Potato Famine
It’s widely acknowledged that Phytophthora infestans, a sort of fungus-like pathogen also known as potato blight, was responsible for the mid-19th-century potato famine that reduced Ireland’s population, through death and emigration, by nearly 25 percent. But scientists have just uncovered the specific strain of this pathogen through a first-of-its kind procedure–by analyzing potato plants that have been dead for more than a hundred years.
The Irish Potato Famine lasted just a few years, from around 1845 to 1852, bu [...]
Chrome gets a touch faster
Better-looking calendars in Chrome 27 beta, now ready for the stable build of the browser.
(Credit:
Google)
Already known for its speed, Google just boosted Chrome’s Web site rendering speed by another 5 percent.
In the latest stable release of the browser, Chrome 27 (download for Windows, Mac, or Linux, the browser received the small improvement by managing its resources better. To boil down the jargon, the browser’s internal resource scheduler now favors more critical resources over preloaded sites.
Chrome engineer J [...]
Chemical-safety watchdog criticizes probe of Texas blast
By M.B. Pell
Tue May 21, 2013 7:03pm EDT
(Reuters) – Officials with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board say they may never know what caused last month’s deadly fertilizer-plant explosion in Texas because of interference by federal and Texas agencies, according to a letter sent by the head of the regulatory board to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office declined CSB access to witnesses and the explosion scene, [...]
US tornado rescue effort nears end
21 May 2013
Last updated at 18:39 ET
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
The BBC’s Alastair Leithead reports on the landscape left behind
Emergency crews’ search in the ruins left by the gigantic tornado that killed two dozen people in Oklahoma on Monday is almost over, say officials.
Fire chief Gary Bird said he was “98% sure” there were no more survivors or bodies to recover under the rubble.
Government me [...]
Concerns about new Dettori drug test
Frankie Dettori‘s comeback appeared in jeopardy once more on Tuesday night as the ruling body of French racing signalled that it had concerns relating to a “medical issue” over the jockey’s fitness to resume his career.
It emerged that the issue could be related to a Racing Post report that Dettori had asked France Galop for a B sample to be tested from a recent test, which would normally indicate that the A sample had shown up irregularities in some way. The Post claimed that “irregularities” had been [...]
IRS official will refuse to answer questions at U.S. House hearing
By Kim Dixon
WASHINGTON |
Tue May 21, 2013 6:26pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lois Lerner, an Internal Revenue Service official who revealed that the agency was giving extra scrutiny to conservative groups, will assert her constitutional right not to answer questions from a congressional committee on Wednesday, her lawyer said in a letter obtained by Reuters.
“She has not committed any crime or made any misrepresentation but under the circumstances she has no choice but to take this course,” [...]
NASA builds unusual testbed for analyzing X-ray navigation technologies
Related images(click to enlarge)
Pulsars have a number of unusual qualities. Like zombies, they shine even though they’re technically dead, and they rotate rapidly, emitting powerful and regular beams of radiation that are seen as flashes of light, blinking on and off at intervals from seconds to milliseconds. A NASA team has built a first-of-a-kind testbed that simulates these distinctive pulsations. The pulsar-on-a-table, known as the Goddard X-ray Navigation Laboratory Testbed, was built to test and validate a next-generatio [...]
Spotify debuts weekly top 50 song charts
Spotify’s top streamed songs for this week.
(Credit:
Spotify)
This week the most streamed song on Spotify in the U.S. is “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore Ryan Lewis and the most shared song on social networks is “Lift Me Up” by Five Finger Death Punch.
How did this information become available?
Well, because Spotify launched a new feature Tuesday that gives people weekly updates of the 50 most streamed and viral songs on the music streaming service.
Dubbed Spotify Charts, this top 50 songs featur [...]