Sinai plane crash: IS claims ‘propaganda’, says Egypt president
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has described claims that militants linked to Islamic State brought down a Russian airliner as “propaganda”.
He told the BBC that it was too early to say what had caused the crash.
The Airbus 321 is thought to have broken up in mid-air over the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.
On Monday, the airline Kogalymavia blamed “external influence” for the crash.
But the head of Russia’s Federal Aviation Agency, Aleksandr Neradko, told Russian TV that such talk was premature and “not based on any proper facts”.
President Sisi also warned against jumping to conclusions. “All those interested in the matter are welcome to participate in the investigation,” he told the BBC ahead of a visit to the UK.
No vote, no candidates: Myanmar’s Muslims barred from their own election
As the country prepares for crucial polls, millions of Muslims are being denied the chance to vote for the candidates of their choice
W in Mya Mya has given everything for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party – including the use of her left hand.
Drawing back the thin sleeve of her purple silk shirt, she reveals a disfigured appendage that gives her near-constant pain.
“She can’t even use it in the bathroom,” her sister says.
The wound dates back to 2003 when Win Mya Mya was part of a Suu Kyi convoy attacked by a mob sponsored by the former ruling military junta. Scores of people were killed. She spent years in jail and her family’s shop was seized.
“I would die for the NLD,” she says, speaking of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.
But despite this devotion, Win Mya Mya cannot stand for them in an election.
Skylon: Has the commercial space race finally hit escape velocity?
Investment in space tourism ventures has long been the preserve of billionaires. But now BAE Systems has made a play
Aircraft engine makers are under the cosh. Government defence budgets are tight. Profits are under pressure and job cuts have sadly become run of the mill.
So it seems a strange time for BAE Systems, the FTSE 100 aerospace and defence giant, to splash out on a stake in an Oxfordshire-based company which is developing an engine that could revolutionise space travel.
BAE is spending £20.6m on a 20 per cent stake in Reaction Engines, a private company which is working towards commercialising a pioneering rocket engine called Sabre (Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine). This state-of-the-art engine, when fully developed, will power Reaction’s planned space plane, called Skylon. The super-plane will rely on cooling an incoming airstream from 1,000C to -150C almost instantly, at close to a 100th of a second.
No sorry from United States for South China Sea trip
The US will send its military “wherever” international law allows, an admiral says. Last week, the United States sailed a warship close to artificial islands that China is building in the contested the South China Sea.
On Tuesday, the head of the US Pacific military forces said the navy did not intend any threat to China when it sent a warship past the country’s contested space in the Spratly Archipelago. Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr. spoke Tuesday to Stanford University students studying at Peking University during his first visit to the Chinese capital, Beijing, as commander of US Pacific Command.
“International seas and airspace belong to everyone and are not the dominion of any single nation,” Harris said Tuesday, according to prepared remarks. “Our military will continue to fly, sail, and operate whenever and wherever international law allows. The South China Sea is not – and will not – be an exception.”
Harris has frequently criticized China’s land reclamation in the sea. In March, he said China would create “a great wall of sand” and cause serious concern about militarizing reefs and artificial islands in an area of competing territorial claims by several nations. On Tuesday, however, he seemed mostly upbeat in his assessment of prospects for improving relations with China.
03 Nov, 2015
Rural internet from balloons in the sky: 6 key facts
Google has received India’s permission to start testing Project Loon, under which the company will beam the internet from balloons in the sky, in an effort to provide affordable internet access — without the high costs involved in setting up traditional infrastructure — to rural areas in India. Here are six facts about the project…
1.
20-kilometer up in the sky
Project Loon balloons will float in the stratosphere, 20 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Each balloon can provide internet access to an area of 40 kilometers. The balloons will remain powered through the day by energy generated from solar panels.
2.
Aimed at rural areas
Project Loon is aimed at increasing internet penetration in rural as well as remote areas in India; Google, however, will be only be the technology provider and not the internet service provider.
3.
Partnership in India
In order to provide internet access via Project Loon, Google has partnered with BSNL, the state-run telecom operator, to share its telecom spectrum. It will use the 2.6GHz band to test beaming the internet from the sky.
Caged and in danger: Syrian soldiers become human shields for rebels
Updated 0631 GMT (1431 HKT) November 3, 2015
Rebels are caging captured Syrian soldiers and others loyal to the regime and using them as human shields to fend off government attacks, Human Rights Watch and a Syrian opposition group reported.
“Nothing can justify caging people and intentionally putting them in harm’s way, even if the purpose is to stop indiscriminate government attacks,” said Nadim Houry with Human Rights Watch.
Videos posted to social media over the weekend show trucks transporting cages filled with up to eight men or women, the opposition Shaam News Network reported.
“Rebels … have distributed 100 cages, with each cage containing approximately seven people and the plan is afoot to produce 1,000 cages to distribute … in different parts of Douma city particularly in public places and markets that have been attacked in the past by the regime and Russian air-force,” text in one of the videos says, according to the opposition network.