At least 50 people were killed after a soccer pitch invasion in the Egyptian city of Port Said, health ministry sources said, raising the official estimate of the death count from 25.
It was one of the worst incidents of sports violence in Egypt in decades.
A security official and a medic said fans of the home team, Al-Masry, swarmed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team. They threw stones, fireworks, and bottles at the fans and injured some players.
(nationalpostから)
NASA’s Kepler telescope finds 26 new planets
Kepler, NASA’s planet-hunting space telescope, has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.
The discoveries boost the list of confirmed planets outside the Earth’s solar system to 729, including 60 found by the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler’s view.
Kepler scientists have another 2,300 candidate planets awaiting additional confirmation. (Photos/illustrations by NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech; University of Toulouse; Reuters/AFP/Getty Images)
Earth’s First
1. First Full-View Photo of Earth
Photograph courtesy NASA Johnson Space Center
This famous “Blue Marble” shot represents the first photograph in which Earth is in full view. The picture was taken on December 7, 1972, as the Apollo 17 crew left Earth’s orbit for the moon. With the sun at their backs, the crew had a perfectly lit view of the blue planet.
2. New Blue Marble
Image courtesy Norman Kuring, Suomi NPP/NASA/NOAA
North and Central America star in a new “blue marble” picture of Earth. The high-resolution composite was made with data collected January 4 by a NASA satellite.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or NPP, launched on October 28, 2011, to become NASA’s next-generation Earth-monitoring probe. The satellite was designed to help improve short-term weather forecasts and increase our understanding of long-term climate change.
The 2012 blue marble was released this week to mark the announcement of the probe’s new name—Suomi NPP—in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin, a pioneer in satellite meteorology.
Costumes worn to the Romanov Anniversary Ball in 1903. The theme of the lavish masked ball was the reign of Alexei of Russia, second ruler of the Romanov dynasty (1645-1676). Some guests went so far as to actually wear original costumes from the period that were being stored at the Kremlin.
Click thumbnails for identification.
WOMEN OF HISTORY | SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA (1532 – November 16, 1625) (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
Born in Lombardy, Sofonisba was the oldest of seven children (six of them girls) born a family of minor nobility. Sofonisba’s father encouraged all of his daughters to perfect their talents and it was probably because of this encouragement that four of them would go on to become painters, but Sofonisba was by far the most accomplished.
At fourteen she was apprenticed to a respected portrait artist and this set a local precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. After this she went to Rome and was informally trained by Michelangelo, who recognised her talent the first time he saw her sketches.
At twenty-seven Sofonisba was invited to go to Spain to serve as court painter, lady-in-waiting, and art tutor to the queen. Even after the queen’s death, Sofonisba remained a favourite of the royal court and lived on a pension from the king that allowed her to paint freely and teach younger artists herself. Later in life she began to lose her sight and became instead a patron of the arts before passing away at ninty-three, an artist internationally acclaimed and respected for her entire life. Her great success opened the way for many of the female artists who would come after her.
(nprから)
12th death linked to tainted ecstasy in B.C. and Alberta
Tests have linked another Calgary-area death to ecstasy made with a toxic additive, the 12th such death in Western Canada since late last year.
It’s believed the latest test results indicate the death of a 23-year-old student Cody Gorlick at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology residence on Jan. 21 is the latest involving ecstasy made with paramethoxymethamphetamine.
Seven people in Calgary and at least five others in British Columbia have died with the toxic chemical in their system. Officials believe ecstasy pills are being laced with paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), a substance five times more toxic than ordinary ecstasy, or MDMA.
“The risk is outrageous — it’s so high for death and injury,” said EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a regular user of recreational drugs or a first-time user, what has been occurring is that one dose can be fatal. It’s a total roll of the dice.”
