Pistorius Shots Said to Come From High Angle












At the second day of a bail hearing for Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African investigator who arrived at the scene of the Feb. 14 fatal shooting said that Reeva Steenkamp was shot from a high angle, which prosecutors say contradicts the runner's account that he was not wearing his prosthetics when he shot his girlfriend to death.


Pistorius, a double-amputee who runs on carbon-fiber blades, appeared in court for the second day in a row after his arrest in the death of girlfriend Steenkamp at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa.


Read Oscar Pistorius' Full Statement to the Court


PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing


Arresting officer Hilton Botha told the court today that the 26-year-old was standing in the master bathroom when he shot the supermodel, who was crouched in a defensive position behind a locked door in a smaller powder room. He also said that the bullets that were fired had been fired from high up, and the bullets seemed to be coming in a downward direction.


"[The angle] seems to me down. Fired down," Botha told the court.


Pistorius said Tuesday that he went to the bathroom and fired through the door before putting on his prosthetic legs.








Oscar Pistorius: Defense Presents New Evidence Watch Video











'Blade Runner' Appears in Court to Hear Murder Charges Watch Video





He said he mistakenly shot his girlfriend, thinking she was an intruder.


Prosecutors also said that they found two boxes of testosterone in the bedroom, although the defense disputes that, saying it's just herbal supplements.


The court also heard that a witness, someone about 2,000 feet away from Pistorius' home, heard nonstop fighting the morning of the shooting.


"We have a witness who says she heard non-stop shouting and fighting between 2 and 3 a.m.," said prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who added that another witness saw lights on at the time of the gunshots.


Pistorius says he spent a quiet night with Steenkamp before the shooting.


Nel said that Pistorius' actions and phone calls on the night indicate pre-planning, and that there was a "deliberate aiming of shots at the toilet from about 1.5 meters [about 5 feet]."


He says Steenkamp was shot on the right side of her body.


Officer Botha also said Pistorius should be considered a flight risk because investigators discovered that he has offshore bank accounts and a house in Italy.


"I think it would be hard to get him back," Botha told the court. "This is a very serious crime, shooting an unarmed woman behind closed door."


Prosecutors also say they may file more charges for unlicensed ammunition, after a special-caliber .38 round was found in a safe in Pistorius' home.


Botha told the court today that he arrived at Pistorius' home at 4:15 a.m. Valentine's Day to find Steenkamp already dead, dressed in a white shorts and a black vest, and covered in towels. The only thing that Pistorius said was, 'I thought it was a burglar,'" according to Botha.


The 26-year-old sprinter Tuesday denied that he willfully killed Steenkamp, telling the court that he shot the woman through his bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.


Botha said today that he attended Steenkamp's postmortem, and that she had three entrance wounds: one on the head, one in the elbow and one in the hip.


Describing the scene to the court, Botha said that the shots fired into the bathroom were aimed at the toilet bowl.


The shooter "would have to walk into the bathroom and turn directly at the door to shoot at the toilet the way the bullets went," he said.






Read More..

Moody Mercury shows its hidden colours



Jacob Aron, reporter


600px_messenger_orbit_image20130218_1_4by3_946-710.jpg

(Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)


It might look like poor old Mercury is feeling a bit blue, but fear not - these are false-colour images produced by NASA's Messenger space probe.


To the human eye, the closest planet to the sun is covered in a dull mottling of brown-grey splodges. Filtering the light from its surface lets researchers see chemical, mineralogical and physical differences in the planet's rocks that will help us understand its history and evolution.


In this view, white and light blue streaks show lines of material thrown up and spread across the surface by relatively recent impacts. Deep blue regions are rich in an as-yet unknown mineral, while the orange spots correspond to ancient volcanic plains.


Cheer up, Mercury, it's not that bad!





Read More..

Medini wellness projects expected to boost Malaysia's medical tourism sector






JOHOR BAHRU: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak unveiled two projects at Medini Iskandar Malaysia on Tuesday.

The gross development value of the projects are estimated to be about RM3 billion ringgit.

The Afiniti Medini urban wellness project has a total gross floor area of some 700,000 square feet and it will be completed in 2015.

It is developed by Pulau Indah Ventures - a 50:50 joint venture project between Khazanah Nasional and Temasek Holdings.

Among the key offerings are wellness, hospitality, retail and corporate training facilities.

For example, CIMB will base its Leadership Academy, while Parkway Pantai is building a health and wellness centre.

Meanwhile, Capitaland's Ascott group will be setting up a 310-unit serviced residences, as well as a strata-titled condominium development.

Ascott says there will be 147 units with sizes ranging between 500 and 1,100 square feet

Mr Tan Boon Khai, Regional General Manager of Singapore & Malaysia, Ascott, said: "We are currently monitoring the market trends, based on the surrounding launches. Currently the going rate at least for those on sale now, it ranges between 700 to 800 ringgit psf. Our development when we launched, certainly the price is going to be very competitive."

Ascott adds that it expects to hire Malaysians as they have the local knowledge.

Mr Tan said Ascott is likely to hire over 100 local staff to run its serviced apartments operations.

Meanwhile, the second resort wellness project Avira, jointly developed by PIV and Eastern & Oriental, is expected to be ready in 2018.

About 458 terrace houses will be launched for sale in the middle of this year.

The developers said the size of each unit is about 2,200 square feet at a price tag of 420 ringgit per square foot.

The wellness component of the two projects is expected to boost Malaysia's medical tourism sector.

Mr Syed Anwar Jamalullail, Chairman of Pulau Indah Ventures, said: "Definitely it will boost medical tourism. We are hoping to get it from ASEAN region. Parkway Pantai is part of IHH, which is the second largest operator of hospitals in the world in terms of beds. So we do expect a lot of inflows from IHH, referrals."

The two wellness projects will target corporate professionals and families looking for a break from their busy lifestyle.

Including the two projects unveiled on Tuesday, Medini Iskandar Malaysia has attracted a total investment of over RM412 million ringgit.

Iskandar Investment Berhad expects those investments to generate a total gross development value of nearly 11 billion ringgit.

- CNA/de



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Apple plans Q3 launch for MacBook Air with Retina -- report



Apple's MacBook Air could be next to get Retina display treatment, according to a new report.


Apple is planning to bring the Retina display to the
MacBook Air in the third quarter of 2013, Taiwan-based paper Economic Daily is reporting today, citing sources in the company's supply chain. The Retina display will come bundled in both the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models, according to the report.


Apple last week cut the price by $100 of its 256GB MacBook Air to $1,399. The move was a response to it dropping the price of its
MacBook Pro with Retina down to $1,499. Apple also boosted processor speeds in its MacBook Pro line.



The Retina display has been making inroads into Apple's Mac line. The high-end display came to the MacBook Pro last year. The display is also available in Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch, and
iPad.

That the MacBook Air could be next on the list to get the Retina display isn't all that surprising. However, Apple has made no indication that it has plans to deliver the technology to any other products.

In addition to talk of improvements to the MacBook Air, another report out of Korea today said that Apple's next-generation iPad would come with GF2 display technology, a thinner alternative to what's currently running in the device. Apple's iPad Mini uses GF2 display technology. The addition of GF2 should make it easier for Apple to deliver a thinner full-sized iPad.

CNET has contacted Apple for comment on report. We will update this story when we have more information.

(Via AppleInsider)

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Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking


Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."

Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")

The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of food, are more likely to disobey the command in a dark room than in a lit room.

This suggests that man's best friend is capable of understanding a human's point of view, said study leader Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at the U.K.'s University of Portmouth.

"The one thing we can say is that dogs really have specialized skills in reading human communication," she said. "This is special in dogs." (Read "How to Build a Dog.")

Sneaky Canines

Kaminski and colleagues recruited 84 dogs, all of which were more than a year old, motivated by food, and comfortable with both strangers and dark rooms.

The team then set up experiments in which a person commanded a dog not to take a piece of food on the floor and repeated the commands in a room with different lighting scenarios ranging from fully lit to fully dark.

They found that the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food—and steal it more quickly—when the room was dark. (Take our dog quiz.)

"We were thinking what affected the dog was whether they saw the human, but seeing the human or not didn't affect the behavior," said Kaminski, whose study was published recently in the journal Animal Cognition.

Instead, she said, the dog's behavior depended on whether the food was in the light or not, suggesting that the dog made its decision based on whether the human could see them approaching the food.

"In a general sense, [Kaminski] and other researchers are interested in whether the dog has a theory of mind," said Alexandra Horowitz, head of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard University, who was not involved in the new study.

Something that all normal adult humans have, theory of mind is "an understanding that others have different perspective, knowledge, feelings than we do," said Horowitz, also the author of Inside of a Dog.

Smarter Than We Think

While research has previously been focused on our closer relatives—chimpanzees and bonobos—interest in dog cognition is increasing, thanks in part to owners wanting to know what their dogs are thinking. (Pictures: How smart are these animals?)

"The study of dog cognition suddenly began about 15 years ago," Horowitz said.

Part of the reason for that, said Brian Hare, director of the Duke Canine Cognition Lab and author of The Genius of Dogs, is that "science thought dogs were unremarkable."

But "dogs have a genius—years ago we didn't know what that was," said Hare, who was not involved in the new research. (See pictures of the the evolution of dogs, from wolf to woof.)

Many of the new dog studies are variations on research done with chimpanzees, bonobos, and even young children. Animal-cognition researchers are looking into dogs' ability to imitate, solve problems, or navigate social environments.

So just how much does your dog understand? It's much more than you—and science—probably thought.

Selectively bred as companions for thousands of years, dogs are especially attuned to human emotions—and, study leader Kaminski said, are better at reading human cues than even our closest mammalian relatives.

"There has been a physiological change in dogs because of domestication," Duke's Hare added. "Dogs want to bond with us in ways other species don't." (Related: "Dogs' Brains Reorganized by Breeding.")

While research reveals more and more insight into the minds of our furry best friends, Kaminski said, "We still don't know just how smart they are."


Read More..

Oscar Pistorius Describes 'Sense of Terror'












Olympian Oscar Pistorius today denied that he willfully killed his girlfriend, telling a South African court that he shot the woman through his bathroom door because he believed she was an intruder.


Pistorius, 26 and a double-amputee Olympian, was charged today with premeditated murder, or a Schedule 6 offense, which under South African law limits his chances for parole if convicted.


"I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," Pistorius said in a statement, read by his lawyer.


"I deny the accusation," he said. "Nothing can be further from the truth that I planned the murder of my girlfriend."


PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged in Killing


Pistorius, who gained worldwide fame for running on carbon-fiber blades and competing against able-bodied runners at the Olympics, is accused of shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his gated home in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 14.


In a statement read by his lawyer, the runner said he and Steenkamp went to bed together before he was awoken by a noise he thought was an intruder coming from the bathroom.


Filled with a "sense of terror," he removed the 9-mm pistol he kept hidden under his bed and, without putting on his prosthetic legs, began shooting through the bathroom door, according to his statement.








Oscar Pistorius: Was Shooting Premeditated? Watch Video









Conflicting Theories Muddle Oscar Pistorius Murder Case Watch Video









Oscar Pistorius Allegedly Fought the Night of Shooting Watch Video





"I was scared and didn't switch on the light," he said. "I got my gun and moved towards the bathroom. I screamed at the intruder because I did not have my legs on. I felt vulnerable. I fired shots through the bathroom door and told Reeva to call police.


"I walked back to the bed and realized Reeva was not in bed. It's then it dawned on me it could be her in there," he said.


That's when he realized Steenkamp was not in bed, he said in the statement. Fearing she was inside the bathroom, he says, he broke down the door using a cricket bat and carried the woman outside, where he called for help, and she soon died.


Excerpts of Prosecutor's Case Against Pistorius


Pistorius appeared in court today for the first time since his Valentine's Day arrest, as prosecutors laid out their case, insisting that the runner could not have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder.


"[Pistorius] shot and killed an innocent woman," Gerrie Nel, the senior state prosecutor, said in court, adding that there is "no possible explanation to support" the notion that Pistorius thought Steenkamp was an intruder.


Police responding to neighbors' calls about shouting and gunshots at Pistorius' home in the guarded and gated complex in the South African capital discovered Steenkamp's body. A 9-mm pistol was recovered at the home.


Prosecutors said Steenkamp had arrived at the house with the expectation of spending the night with Pistorius. They said that Steenkamp was shot while in the bathroom, which is about 21 feet from the main bedroom, and that the two rooms are linked by a passage. The door to the toilet was broken down from the outside, prosecutors said, implying that the bathroom door had been locked.


Prosecutors believe it's a case of premeditated murder because, they say, Pistorius had to stop, put on his prosthetic legs, grab a gun and then walk 21 feet to a bathroom.


The premeditated murder charge means that he would likely be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, and that he is likely to be denied bail, which is expected to be decided later today.






Read More..

Oil spill firm to pay $400 million to fix Gulf coast









































The Deepwater Horizon spill has just provided a $400-million windfall for Louisiana's environment. Transocean, which worked with BP on the stricken Macondo well, pleaded guilty last week to a violation of the US Clean Water Act, and admitted that it was negligent in the 2010 spill. The resulting multimillion-dollar fine will be used to pay for a host of environmental projects around the Gulf of Mexico.











It is the second largest fine for environmental damage in history, after the $4.5-billion fine BP had to pay out for the same spill. Transocean has two years to pay up in full.













The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will get $150 million, and another $150 million will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), a non-profit based in Washington DC. The NAS will use its portion to research oil-spill prevention and better ways to respond to spills. The NFWF's Timothy DiCintio says it will distribute its award between the affected Gulf Coast states, for ongoing remediation efforts such as marsh and wetland clean-up.











The remainder of the money will go directly to Louisiana's $50-billion Coastal Master Plan, which aims to restore the state's degraded coastline. The money will fund a host of projects, including restoring barrier island reefs and creating diversions on the Mississippi to repair eroded coasts.













"The way Louisiana looks at it, their coastal problems are so pervasive that the degradation from the spill was a final indignity," says DiCintio. The modifications should not only allow the state to rebuild after the lingering effects of the spill and hurricane Katrina, but also help the coast cope with future disasters.


















































If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.




































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Malay Language Council outlines target groups for programmes






SINGAPORE: The Malay Language Council said Monday that it will focus its programmes on three target groups in a bid to preserve and enhance the use of the Malay language.

Council Chairman Masagos Zulkifli identified the three groups as the language elites, students and teachers and the general public.

Three sub-committees have also been formed to look after each group.

The council will also adopt a strategic approach of "infrastructure, activities and achievement" to implement its plans.

It also presented activities planned for the next two years. This includes the MASTERA conference, which will be hosted by Singapore for the first time in 2015, as part of efforts to elevate the status of the Malay language.

A smartphone application will also be launched by June this year.

The application will allow the public to be updated about art and cultural activities in Singapore.

The council also announced plans to introduce guidelines and a work plan for the teaching of the Malay language in preschools.

- CNA/jc



Read More..

Get a Logitech Harmony 700 universal remote for $59.99




The Logitech Harmony 700.

The Logitech Harmony 700.



(Credit:
Logitech)


This is an update of a deal I posted last summer.


Juggling is meant for circus folk, not home-theater owners. Yet that's exactly what you're doing if you have more than one device and, ergo, more than one remote.


Regular Cheapskate readers know I'm a fan of Logitech's Harmony series of universal remotes. One of the better models, the 700, has a list price of $119.99 (or used to -- it's been discontinued). Ouch.


For a limited time, and while supplies last, TigerDirect via Ebay has the refurbished Harmony 700 universal remote for $59.99 shipped.


What's so great about the Harmony series? Thanks to Logitech's wizard-driven software, they're significantly easier to program than most universal remotes. Just choose your gear from a mammoth database and presto: you're good to go. They're also blissfully user-friendly, with guided onscreen help in case one component didn't turn on or switch modes or something.


The Harmony 700 features a color LCD, a rechargeable battery (though not a charging dock), and support for up to six devices.


The user reviews on this model average four stars out of five at , both at Amazon's product page.


And CNET editor John P. Falcone gave it four stars out of five in his full review of the remote. You can see his First Look video below.


Because this is a refurb, the warranty expires after 90 days. (That's a guess: Although the duration isn't specified in the Ebay listing, TigerDirect lists a 90-day warranty on its own product page for the same remote.) For what it's worth, I've had the same Harmony One for over four years, and it's humming along just fine. If you're still juggling multiple remotes, I think you'll find this is $60 very well spent.


Bonus deal: Another good rerun: Staples has the Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Wi-Fi tablet for $269 shipped (plus sales tax where applicable). That's $30 off the regular price, making it a match for the similarly sized Barnes & Noble Nook HD+. I like the latter a teensy bit better, but for $269 for an 8.9-inch
tablet, you win either way.



Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.


Curious about what exactly The Cheapskate does and how it works? Read our FAQ.


Read More..

Confirmed: Dogs Sneak Food When People Aren't Looking


Many dog owners will swear their pups are up to something when out of view of watchful eyes. Shoes go missing, couches have mysterious teeth marks, and food disappears. They seem to disregard the word "no."

Now, a new study suggests dogs might understand people even better than we thought. (Related: "Animal Minds.")

The research shows that domestic dogs, when told not to snatch a piece of food, are more likely to disobey the command in a dark room than in a lit room.

This suggests that man's best friend is capable of understanding a human's point of view, said study leader Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at the U.K.'s University of Portmouth.

"The one thing we can say is that dogs really have specialized skills in reading human communication," she said. "This is special in dogs." (Read "How to Build a Dog.")

Sneaky Canines

Kaminski and colleagues recruited 84 dogs, all of which were more than a year old, motivated by food, and comfortable with both strangers and dark rooms.

The team then set up experiments in which a person commanded a dog not to take a piece of food on the floor and repeated the commands in a room with different lighting scenarios ranging from fully lit to fully dark.

They found that the dogs were four times as likely to steal the food—and steal it more quickly—when the room was dark. (Take our dog quiz.)

"We were thinking what affected the dog was whether they saw the human, but seeing the human or not didn't affect the behavior," said Kaminski, whose study was published recently in the journal Animal Cognition.

Instead, she said, the dog's behavior depended on whether the food was in the light or not, suggesting that the dog made its decision based on whether the human could see them approaching the food.

"In a general sense, [Kaminski] and other researchers are interested in whether the dog has a theory of mind," said Alexandra Horowitz, head of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard University, who was not involved in the new study.

Something that all normal adult humans have, theory of mind is "an understanding that others have different perspective, knowledge, feelings than we do," said Horowitz, also the author of Inside of a Dog.

Smarter Than We Think

While research has previously been focused on our closer relatives—chimpanzees and bonobos—interest in dog cognition is increasing, thanks in part to owners wanting to know what their dogs are thinking. (Pictures: How smart are these animals?)

"The study of dog cognition suddenly began about 15 years ago," Horowitz said.

Part of the reason for that, said Brian Hare, director of the Duke Canine Cognition Lab and author of The Genius of Dogs, is that "science thought dogs were unremarkable."

But "dogs have a genius—years ago we didn't know what that was," said Hare, who was not involved in the new research. (See pictures of the the evolution of dogs, from wolf to woof.)

Many of the new dog studies are variations on research done with chimpanzees, bonobos, and even young children. Animal-cognition researchers are looking into dogs' ability to imitate, solve problems, or navigate social environments.

So just how much does your dog understand? It's much more than you—and science—probably thought.

Selectively bred as companions for thousands of years, dogs are especially attuned to human emotions—and, study leader Kaminski said, are better at reading human cues than even our closest mammalian relatives.

"There has been a physiological change in dogs because of domestication," Duke's Hare added. "Dogs want to bond with us in ways other species don't." (Related: "Dogs' Brains Reorganized by Breeding.")

While research reveals more and more insight into the minds of our furry best friends, Kaminski said, "We still don't know just how smart they are."


Read More..