Steve Irwin was killed by peaceful fish


AFP
Monday, September 04, 2006 14:00 IST



SYDNEY: The irony of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's death is that he was not killed by one of the deadly creatures he regularly handled, but by a relatively peaceful fish, scientists said on Monday.

Irwin, renowned worldwide as a fearless environmentalist happy to handle crocodiles and snakes on his television show, was killed on Monday by a stingray -- a flattish, diamond-shaped fish which rarely attacks humans.

"They are normally not aggressive and use their long barbed tail to protect themselves from predators such as sharks and killer whales," said Sean Connell, a marine ecologist at the University of Adelaide.

"They feed on tiny animals on the sea floor. I have never heard of an unprovoked attack from a stingray."

Despite their name, it is not the venom from the sting that is most dangerous, scientists say.

Irwin was killed when a stingray barb punctured his chest as he was filming on the famed Great Barrier Reef.

"What happened to Steve Irwin is like being stabbed in the heart," said Geoff Isbister, a clinical toxicologist at the Mater Hospital in Newcastle on Australia's east coast.

"It has little to do with the venom and all to do with the trauma caused by the barb of the stingray."

One other person was known to have died in Australia from a similar injury to the chest, but most stingray injuries resulted from people stepping on them in shallow water and getting a barb in the ankle, he said.

"Stingrays only sting in defence; they're not aggressive animals so the animal must have felt threatened," said Bryan Fry, director of the Australian Venom Research Unit at the University of Melbourne.

"It would have to have been a large ray with a disc size of up to 2.5 metres.

"The stingray's venom would not have been a factor. While extremely painful, stingray venom is rarely lethal."

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It’s a boy, and Japan’s relieved

Reuters
Wednesday, September 06, 2006 09:34 IST

TOKYO: People in Japan expressed relief and happiness on Wednesday that the birth of a baby boy to Princess Kiko had gone well.

The birth of the first male heir in the imperial family in more than four decades takes pressure off Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako to have a boy.

Their four-year-old daughter Princess Aiko is not allowed to become sovereign under law that limits the succession to males.

The baby prince becomes third in line to the throne after his uncle, the crown prince, and his father Prince Akishino.

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German to start airline for smokers

To begin early next year, with only business and first-class seats

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PARIS: If Alexander Schoppmann (55) is right, then where there's smoke, there's a flier. As more countries ban smoking in public places, his idea might seem malapropos.
But Schoppmann, a German entrepreneur, is hoping to turn smokers' anger at ever-expanding efforts to stub out their habit into a high-flying business proposal: Smoker's International Airways.
The airline, known as Smintair, is expected to begin luxury service with only business and first-class seats early next year, plans daily flights between Schoppmann's hometown of Düsseldorf, Germany, and Tokyo — a 12-hour journey.
"Many people simply don't travel long distances anymore because they can't smoke," said Schoppmann, who admits to a 30-a-day cigarette habit as well as the occasional cigar.
On-board smoking has been prohibited on most major airlines for years: Since 2000, all of the world's busiest international routes have been essentially smoke-free.
Within the United States, the government has banned in-flight smoking for almost two decades. Most European carriers are not required by law to ban smoking but have voluntarily introduced no-smoking policies.
In Japan, carriers stopped allowing smoking on most flights in the late 1990s. — Agencies

30
Number of cigarettes Alexander Schoppmann, the German entrepreneur who plans to start a smokers airline, smokes daily

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Ten years to avoid climate catastrophe

SACRAMENTO: A leading US climate researcher said on Wednesday the world has a 10-year window of opportunity to take decisive action on global warming and avert a weather catastrophe.

NASA scientist James Hansen, widely considered the doyen of American climate researchers, said governments must adopt an alternative scenario to keep carbon dioxide emission growth in check and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1 degree Celsius.

“I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade, at the most,” Hansen said. If the world continues with a “business as usual” scenario, Hansen said temperatures will rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius and “we will be producing a different planet.”

On that warmer planet, ice sheets would melt quickly, causing a rise in sea levels that would put most of Manhattan under water. The world would see more prolonged droughts and heat waves, powerful hurricanes in new areas and the likely extinction of 50 percent of species.

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Atlantis to land on Thursday

AFP
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 17:50 IST



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Updated at 9.44 pm

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida): NASA on Wednesday cleared the space shuttle Atlantis for a return to Earth on Thursday after inspections found no damage to the spacecraft, a NASA official said.

“The vehicle is in good shape and we're going to march to deorbit tomorrow,” astronaut Terry Virts told the shuttle crew after a meeting of top NASA managers.

NASA delayed a scheduled Wednesday landing and ordered inspections of the shuttle after a mysterious object was seen flying near the ship on Tuesday.

The shuttle's first landing opportunity at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is at 6:21 am (1021 GMT) on Thursday.


A new object was found floating around the Atlantis on Wednesday by a camera on board the orbiter, a NASA commentator said, a day after officials delayed the shuttle's return over concerns about weather and flying debris.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said earlier that Atlantis's six astronauts would inspect the space shuttle once more before its scheduled return to Earth on Thursday.

On Tuesday, NASA said it was delaying Wednesday's planned landing by 24 hours because of the discovery of a piece of unidentified debris orbiting near the shuttle, which may have come off the vehicle, and poor weather conditions for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

__________________
I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.

If you can't see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.

Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference.

When you're right, no one remembers. When you're wrong, no one forgets.