www.chinaview.cn
2006-09-24 CHENGDU -- China's seed-breeding satellite, Shijian-8, successfully landed in Sichuan Province, southwest China, at 10:43 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday after a 15-day flight in space.
The recoverable satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwest China desert on Sept. 9. The satellite's return capsule was recovered in Suining, Sichuan Province. The orbital module will continue to orbit the earth and carry out more experiments until its battery gives up the ghost. The satellite carried 215 kilograms of seeds of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton, the largest payload of this kind since 1987. After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, some seeds may mutate and produce higher yields and improved quality when planted back on earth, scientists said. Scientists from the Space-breeding Center of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science used the mission to carry out experiments aimed at discovering what happens to the germination and sprouting of plants when they are exposed to zero gravity. |
Michelle Madigan, Medill News Service
WASHINGTON--As European leaders move to ban Internet hate speech and seek support from the United States, civil liberties groups charge that the proposal would violate free-speech rights.
The Council of Europe--not to be confused with the European Union--comprises 44 European countries, plus a handful of non-European nations. Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States have observer status only, but their comments are sought. |
Reuters
Sun Sep 24, 2006 LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson has returned to the spotlight to promote his upcoming movie "Apocalypto," and to criticize the war in Iraq, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Almost two months after he railed against Jews when he was arrested for driving drunk in Malibu, the actor made a surprise appearance Friday at Fantastic Fest, an event in Austin, Texas, devoted to new science fiction, horror and fantasy films, the trade paper said in its Monday edition. He presented a work-in-progress screening of his Mayan adventure tale, and then took questions. About one-third of the full house gathered for the film gave him a standing ovation. The film is scheduled for a December 8 release via Disney. In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, "The precursors to a civilization that's going under are the same, time and time again," drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink of collapse and America's present situation. "What's human sacrifice," he asked, "if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?" Appearing alongside Rudy Youngblood, one of the film's actors who hails from the Austin area, Gibson said he plans to make further trims in the film, which ran more than two hours. The print shown did not include sound effects and score, and some visual effects have not yet been added. Gibson's appearance at the festival, co-founded by Harry Knowles, was reminiscent of a similar appearance he made at Knowles' Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which offered one of the first public previews of "The Passion of the Christ." |
Last update - 22:50 24/09/2006
By The Associated Press They endured a summer of war - ground-shaking airstrikes, and abandonment by their owners who fled the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Now Lebanon's unlikely victims of war - its pets - are being airlifted to the United States on Monday for adoption.
For Mona Khoury, who has helped take care of the animals for the past few weeks, the rescue operation is tinged with sadness. "I've grown attached to them and I'm very, very sad that they're leaving. But I know they'll be in good hands and have a better life there," she said. |
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