Washington:  The State Department has endorsed the broad conclusions of a harshly critical Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices after the 9/11 attacks that accuses the agency of brutally treating terror suspects and misleading Congress, according to a White House document. “This report tells a story of which no American is proud,” says the four-page document, which contains the State Department’s preliminary proposed talking points in response […]

BANGALORE: India has become a major ingredient in Apple’s secret sauce, and the scale may surprise many. It is estimated that a third of the $171-billion company’s engineering staff is Indian, and that a large and increasing proportion of its enterprise software, service and support work is done by Indian IT vendors.  Apple filed 1,750 H-1B applications during the 10-year period 2001 to 2010, but the number increased sharply to […]

Malware can impersonate other apps in order to gain access to secure areas of your phone Vulnerability dates back to the January 2010 release of Android 2.1 Malware could also gain access to Google Wallet to steal financial information Google has issued patch for the bug A new flaw in Google’s Android mobile operating system leaves the personal and financial details of users open to hackers, a mobile analytics firm […]

The last surviving member of the US air crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima has died in Georgia aged 93. Theodore Van Kirk, also known as “Dutch”, was 24 when he became the navigator of the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the bomb. The attack on Japan on 6 August 1945 killed an estimated 140,000 people. Van Kirk said he had “no regrets” about the mission and […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of a “prolonged” military campaign in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu said Israel would continue to act until it had achieved its aim of destroying militant group Hamas’ network of underground tunnels. It comes amid an upsurge of violence in Gaza and southern Israel, despite a UN plea for a cessation of hostilities. Fighting continued in the early hours of Tuesday, with attacks reported from […]

WASHINGTON: Scientists have discovered a new species of mayfly in the southern Western Ghats, a mountain range along the west coast of India.  This is the first time that any mayfly belonging to the genus Labiobaetis has been collected in peninsular India, researchers said.  The new species, called Labiobaetis soldani, “is named in honour of Dr T Soldan for his substantial contribution to the understanding of the Ephemeroptera of Palaearctic […]

Back in 2012, the Earth narrowly escaped a solar storm “big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century,” according to a report published by NASA. “If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” University of Colorado Professor Daniel Baker said. On July 23, 2012 a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the sun at speeds as fast as 3,000 kilometres per second. […]

The 10 survivors of Taiwan’s worst air disaster in more than a decade include a 34-year-old woman who called her father after scrambling from the wreckage and seeking help at a nearby home. Hung Yu-ting escaped through a hole in the fuselage that opened up after the plane plowed into homes Wednesday while attempting to land on the outlying resort island of Penghu, killing 48 people. “She called me on […]

Five ways Calgary rules Canada: 1. According to Statistics Canada yesterday, Calgary boasted the country’s top median total family income in 2012, at $98,300, surpassing the Ottawa area, which held the 2011 crown but now stands at $94,230. Edmonton, at  $96,030, also bested Canada’s capital.    2. Calgary is projected to lead Canada’s major cities in economic growth this year, at a pace of 3.4 per cent, according to the […]

Researchers at York University have discovered that moose saliva may help the animals control a potential dangerous toxin found in the grass they frequently eat. A professor of biology at York University said biologists at the university enlisted the help of the Toronto Zoo in collecting spit samples from the captive animals. Dawn Bazely said the saliva was then applied to a grass which hosts the toxic fungus. The fungus […]