Showing posts with label UK news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK news. Show all posts

Princess Diana's death being investigated again

7:39 PM
British police announced Saturday they are again investigating Princess Diana's death.


British media and the Associated Press reported that Scotland Yard is examining the "relevance and credibility" of newly received information relating to the deaths of Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, who also was killed, along with their driver, in a car crash in a Paris traffic tunnel on Aug. 31, 1997.

In a statement Scotland Yard said that the assessment will be carried out by officers from its specialist crime and operations unit.

Palace press officials representing Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, declined to comment.

The Telegraph reported that the new information alleges that Diana was "murdered" by a member of the British military, and that the allegation came to the Yard from the Royal Military Police, who in turn got it from the in-laws of a former soldier.

Conspiracy theories popped up practically from the moment the Princess of Wales' death was announced to a stunned nation, sending much of the United Kingdom prostrate with unprecedented public grieving.

Mohamed Fayed, the Egyptian-born tycoon who is Dodi's father, accused the royal family of ordering the British secret services to kill Diana in order to prevent her from marrying a Muslim and giving birth to a Muslim half brother to a future king, Prince William.

His claims were exposed as unfounded, most recently by a British coroner's inquiry in 2008. Repeated investigations have concluded that Diana died because her driver was drunk and driving too fast in order to evade paparazzi, and she was not wearing a seat belt when he lost control and the car slammed into a tunnel pillar at a high rate of speed.

The news of a new investigation comes just a month before the premiere in London of a new movie, Diana, starring Naomi Watts, which chronicles her secret two-year, doomed love affair with a Pakistani heart surgeon.

UK scientists to land astronauts on Mars by 2021

10:40 PM
LONDON: UK scientists have designed a concept mission to land astronauts on Mars by 2021 — 12 years before Nasa expects to send a manned mission to the Red Planet. The plan envisages a three-person crew journeying to Mars aboard a small two-part craft. 

UK scientists to land astronauts on Mars by 2021

Nasa says they will get on Mars at the earliest by 2033, but scientists at Imperial College , London have come up with a mission that could land on the planet eight years. According to professor Tom Pike, the leader of the London team, the trip would be the next major step for mankind in space — and create a Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for the 21st Century.

"We have now come up with a mission concept that uses both robots and humans to get us to Mars and back. The robots will be sent to the northern plains of Mars, with a rocket to get back to Earth — but without fuel," Pike wrote in an article for 'The Sun' . 

"Sending the tanks empty saves a huge amount of mass on launch. Instead, the robots will dig up ice on Mars. Once the ice is melted, we can use solar electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen to fill the fuel tanks. Better still, combining hydrogen with the atmosphere can make powerful methane," Pike said. 

According to Pike, a threeperson crew will then launch and in the nine months it takes to get from Earth to Mars, without weight from gravity, muscles weaken and bones become brittle — they need artificial gravity. 

He said it can be done by splitting the spacecraft into two, tied together by a tether, and spinning the parts around each other. With the right spin speed, they will be fooled into thinking they feel gravity, he said. 

The landing on Mars will be an extreme ride lasting just a few minutes. The landing module will approach Mars at 22530.8kph, said Pike. 

He said the atmosphere will reduce the speed to 1126.5kph, then parachutes with rockets will slow the module, landing in the warmest place on Mars, near the equator. Pike said in order to return, the crew will have to journey about 1600km north via rover from their landing site to the return rocket.

PTI

Royal baby, future British monarch, born

10:02 AM
The world is eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of the royal baby born to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Royal baby, future British monarch, born

The Royal couple could leave hospital later with their son and show the baby prince to the world's waiting media and well-wishers.

As well as wanting to catch a glimpse of the third in line to the throne - the world is desperate to know what name they have chosen.
David Cameron declared the birth "an important moment in the life of our nation".
David Cameron declared the birth "an important moment in the life of our nation".

Their son was born at 4.24pm on Monday weighing 8lb 6oz, with Prince William at his wife's bedside at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London.

William telephoned his family to tell them the good news, speaking personally to the Queen, his father Charles and younger brother Prince Harry.

The Prince of Wales, who has become a grandfather for the first time, summed up the feelings of the Royal Family when he described the new arrival as an "incredibly special moment for William and Catherine".

In a statement he said: "Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild. It is an incredibly special moment for William and Catherine and we are so thrilled for them on the birth of their baby boy.

"Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone's life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future."

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are delighted at the news."

News of the birth was issued in a statement by Kensington Palace at 8.30pm on Monday.

Kensington Palace issued a very brief statement from the Duke who, speaking on behalf of himself and the Duchess, said: "We could not be happier."

A spokesman said: "The names of the baby will be announced in due course."

David Cameron declared the birth "an important moment in the life of our nation".

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: "It is wonderful news from St Mary's, Paddington, and I am sure that right across the country, and indeed right across the Commonwealth, people will be celebrating and wishing the royal couple well.

"It has been a remarkable few years for our Royal Family - a royal wedding that captured people's hearts, that extraordinary and magnificent jubilee and now this royal birth - all from a family that has given this nation so much incredible service."

American president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, who has developed a close relationship with the Queen, also spoke of their joy at the birth.

"We wish them all the happiness and blessings parenthood brings. The child enters the world at a time of promise and opportunity for our two nations.

"Given the special relationship between us, the American people are pleased to join with the people of the United Kingdom as they celebrate the birth of the young prince."

Various celebrations will be held later to mark the special occasion, including gun salutes across London.

The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and the Honourable Artillery Company will both carry out the ceremonial salutes in honour of the new addition to the Royal Family.

Gun salutes are fired for the birth of every prince or princess, no matter where their place is within the line of succession, the Ministry of Defence said.

Five have been convicted in relation to the fatal 2012 Costa Concordia shipwreck

8:27 PM
An Italian judge has accepted plea bargain agreements for four Costa Concordia crew members and a manager from owners Costa Crociere, in the first legal punishments for last year's shipwreck.
Five have been convicted in relation to the fatal 2012 Costa Concordia shipwreck. Photo: AFP
Five have been convicted in relation to the fatal 2012 Costa Concordia shipwreck. Photo: AFP

Deputy commander Ciro Ambrosio, third officer Silvia Coronica, helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin, cabin service manager Manrico Giampiedroni and Costa Crociere crisis co-ordinator Roberto Ferrarini were indicted for manslaughter and causing serious injuries.

Ferrarini, who had been accused of delaying rescue operations in a bid to minimise damage to the company's reputation, was handed a 34-month jail term, the longest sentence.

Giampiedroni was given a 30-month term.

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Ambrosio, Coronica and Indonesia-born Rusli Bin - who allegedly failed to understand orders from captain Francesco Schettino - had also been indicted for causing a shipwreck.

They were handed jail terms of 23, 18 and 20 months respectively.

Saturday's decision left Schettino as the sole defendant in court proceedings that started this week in Grosseto, central Italy.

He faces multiple charges including manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning his vessel.

AAP
 
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