This one via Powerline.
Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed about 15,000 tiny golden pieces that date back to the end of the third millennium B.C. – a find they said Wednesday matches the famous treasure of Troy.
What a find that would be…
Month: August 2005
Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi killed in Saudi?
Apparently some high up militants were killed in Saudi:
Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi was among six al-Qaeda linked militants said to be killed during police raids on several locations in two Saudi cities, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press.
…al-Aoofi reportedly fought in Chechnya and travelled to Afghanistan where he joined al-Qaeda shortly before the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
I was thinking today that an attack on the UAE is now not out of the question given the breaking of the ‘covenent of security’ in the UK. And there are many high profile Western targets in Dubai.
Microsoft Unveils Xbox 360 Packages, Pricing
So there shall be 2 different spec XBOX machines, one bare bone, and one with all the bells and whistles:
As widely speculated, Microsoft made its announcement of the $299 Xbox 360 Core System at the German Games Convention, but the company surprised many with a second package including hard drive, wireless controller, headset and media remote, for $399.
“With both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 Core System, we’re offering consumers real choice and real value,” said a statement from Peter Moore, vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing for Microsoft’s Home Entertainment Division. “We’re bringing true next-generation experiences into gamers’ living rooms this Christmas holiday.”
I will be getting neither, thank you.
Russia, China Kick Off Military Exercises
Warmer ties indeed, and just when the US is getting cosy with India. So in Asia its China + Russia vs USA + India…Pakistan is the odd one out – but they all have nuclear weapons. But who is who’s proxy?
The drills, dubbed ‘Peace Mission 2005,’ are the latest indication of warming post-Cold War ties amid shared suspicions of U.S. dominance in world affairs. They also underscore Moscow’s worries – and China’s wariness – over a series of uprisings in several former Soviet republics that have resulted in pro-Western governments.
`The exercises are the logical continuation of the first signs of cooperation between Russia and China in the struggle against ‘orange revolutions,’ separatism and the dominant influence of the U.S. in the Euroasiatic sphere,” the Gazeta.ru news Web site wrote Thursday.
GPs to get drill for bird flu pandemic
This is a very interesting development. It seems that H5N1 is being taken even more seriously than before:
Every doctor’s surgery in Britain will next month be sent official instructions on how to handle an outbreak of bird flu as ministers step up their preparations for a global pandemic that, if the worst fears are borne out, could kill up to 50m people.
The UK’s 10,465 surgeries will receive a package of information from the government to help tackle a flu pandemic, which scientists warn is now inevitable. Ministers and officials have privately expressed the view that a bird flu pandemic poses a greater threat than terrorism.
The Department of Health says up to 50m people could die worldwide, of whom between 50,000 and 650,000 would be in the UK.
That’s quite a range isn’t it? In other words they really have no idea how many people it could kill. I think 50 million globally is quite conservative too.
And whither Ireland’s response? I guess some copying of UK policy as usual….
Google buying Apple?
What are the chances folks? How much would this upset the market and how keen are Google to get into the OS and music business? I have been thinking about this for a while, surely it is a logical step for Google? And they have asked to sell $4 billion worth of shares today :
Google plans to invest the proceeds in highly liquid, investment-grade securities, according to the SEC document.
But at some point Google will make a big acquisition, it is just a matter of who and when.
Misreading blog posts at late hours
Skim reading Dick’s post on the helicopter crash in Afghanistan I stumbled at this sentence:
Bono has announced he’s going to Afghanistan to supervise the repatriation of the bodies.
Of course I went back up to re-read it, Oh that Bono! Silly me. Time for bed methinks.
Venezuela plane crash kills 160
Jaysus these things do seem to come in threes, first the Air France crash in Toronto, then Greece, now Venezuela…
A Colombian airliner has crashed in a remote mountainous area of Venezuela killing all 160 people on board. The 152 passengers were from the French Caribbean island of Martinique – the eight crew members were Colombian, West Caribbean Airways said.
Avian flu spreading and now a real threat to Europe
This is getting more serious with H5N1, is it a matter of time before it becomes a human-human strain? And what happens if it does?
The first cases of bird flu have been reported in the Chelyabinsk region of Siberia, near the Ural mountains separating Europe from Asia. Scientists don’t yet know whether the deadly H5N1 strain is involved.
Roads were cordoned off and hundreds of chickens slaughtered in Chelyabinsk yesterday to contain the apparent advance of avian flu, first reported in Siberia in July and spreading west via migrating birds.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu has led to the death from infection and culling of tens of millions of birds across South-East Asia. It has also infected 112 people in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, causing 57 deaths. Russia has not yet experienced any cases of affected human beings.
Scientists are concerned the H5N1 strain could mutate and pass easily between people. Were that to happen, it could potentially trigger a pandemic such as the 1918-19 Spanish flu which killed 20 million to 40 million people.
Interesting turn of events
Many papers led with an apparent quote from a passenger on the doomed airline, including the Indo this morning – but events have since moved on:
Meanwhile police in northern Greece have arrested a man who claimed to have received a mobile phone text message from one of the passengers. Police said Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32, was being held on charges of disseminating false information and causing a public disturbance.
Mr Voutas had called Greek television stations shortly after the Helios Airways flight crashed, saying his cousin, who he identified as Kostas Petridis, was on board.
He claimed his cousin had sent him a text message minutes before the crash saying: “Farewell, cousin, here we’re frozen.”