Pentagon to Allow Women in Combat

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will lift a longstanding ban on women serving in combat, according to senior defense officials.The services have until this May to come up with a plan to implement the change, according to a Defense Department official.That means the changes could come into effect as early as May, though the services will have until January 2016 to complete the...

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MIT website hacked in tribute to Aaron Swartz

Hal Hodson, technology reporterA tribute to internet activist Aaron Swartz replaced the homepage for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today, in an apparent act of protest over the university's role in the legal case that led up to Swartz's suicide on 11 Jan.For a short time, visitors to the MIT.edu home page found a message that read: "R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. Hacked by grand wizard of Lulzsec,...

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South Korea welcomes new UN sanctions on North

SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday welcomed fresh UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea and warned Pyongyang against ignoring demands to scrap its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.The 15-nation council meeting in New York unanimously adopted Tuesday a resolution that "condemned" North Korea's rocket launch last month and threatened "significant action" if it stages...

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LTE users to hit 1 billion by 2016

The rise in worldwide subscribers on 4G LTE has far exceeded expectations. In just three years since its nascent beginnings, the mobile technology has skyrocketed -- going from 600,000 users in 2010 to nearly 100 million subscribers in 2012. Now, in a new report, market research firm IHS iSuppli is projecting that global users will double in 2013 and by 2016 LTE will claim more than 1 billion subscribers....

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The Promise and Perils of Mining Asteroids

Encouraged by new space technologies, a growing fleet of commercial rockets and the vast potential to generate riches, a group of entrepreneurs announced Tuesday that they planned to mine the thousands of near-Earth asteroids in the coming decades.The new company, Deep Space Industries (DSI), is not the first in the field, nor is it the most well-financed. But with their ambition to become...

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Al Qaeda Commander Killed for the 3rd Time

The second in command of al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate was reportedly killed in an airstrike in Yemen in December, according to a news report by Arabic television network Al Arabiya, the third time the former Guantanamo detainee has been reported dead since 2010.According to the report, Said al-Shihri died last month after sustaining severe injuries from a joint U.S.-Yemeni airstrike...

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Today at New Scientist: 21 January 2013

Twitter reveals how Higgs gossip reached fever pitch Anyone who fondly remembers the heady days of excitement preceding the Higgs boson announcement last year can now relive the experienceVibrating navigator shows cyclists the way A buzzing GPS-fuelled belt that tells cyclists when to turn might help them keep their eyes on the road and save livesCall off the pregnancy police - women want the...

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Bank of Japan boosts fiscal 2013 GDP growth forecast

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan on Tuesday lifted its growth forecast for the country's economy in the fiscal year starting in March, a glimmer of positive news as the country struggles to cement a recovery.The BoJ said it now expected Japan's gross domestic product to expand by 2.3 percent in the year ended March 2014, up from an earlier 1.6 percent forecast. !-- Zone Tag : Channel News Asia...

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3D printer to carve out world's first full-sized building

A rendering of the "Landscape House" by architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars.(Credit:Universe Architecture)Sure, we've heard of 3D-printed iPhone cases, dinosaur bones, and even a human fetus -- but something massive, like a building? This is exactly what architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars has been working on. The Dutch native is planning to build what he calls a "Landscape House." This structure is two-stories...

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and...

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