Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who was just nominated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections, on Tuesday vowed commitment to principles of secularism, democracy and social state. Gul made the pledge at a press conference at the parliament after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the AKP, announced the nomination. ‘The president must be loyal to the fundamental principles of the Republic, as stated in the constitution, to the principles of secularism, democracy, social state and rule of law,’ said Gul, adding that if he got elected he would act accordingly. He said he had just officially applied to the parliament as a formal candidate and he believes his friends would support his candidacy. He added that he would meet the leaders of all political parties in the following days. The incumbent foreign minister also noted the public unequivocally knew that Prime Minister Erdogan chose not to run for president by his own will. Turkey’s parliament, which is dominated by lawmakers from Erdogan’s party, will elect the successor next month to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunchly pro-secular president, whose seven- year-term […]
It’s got the same climate as Earth, plus water and gravity. A newly discovered planet is the most stunning evidence that life – just like us – might be out there. Above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky – a full ten times the size of our Sun as seen from Earth. Small waves lap at a sandy shore and on the beach, something stirs… This is the scene – or may be the scene – on what is possibly the most extraordinary world to have been discovered by astronomers: the first truly Earth-like planet to have been found outside our Solar System. The discovery was announced today by a team of European astronomers, using a telescope in La Silla in the Chilean Andes. The Earth-like planet that could be covered in oceans and may support life is 20.5 light years away, and has the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface. This remarkable discovery appears to confirm the suspicions of most astronomers that the universe is swarming with Earth-like worlds. We don’t yet know much about this planet, but scientists believe that it may […]
MEXICO CITY — Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America. The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city’s leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation. ‘Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left,’ said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a social democrat who voted for the bill. ‘Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom.’ Nationally, Mexico allows abortion only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman’s life is at risk. Doctors sometimes refuse to perform the procedure even under those circumstances. The new law will require city hospitals to provide the procedure in the first trimester and opens the way for private abortion clinics. Girls under 18 would have to get their parents’ consent. The procedure will be almost free for poor or insured city residents, but […]
A giant mystery organism more than 350 million years old has finally been identified as a humongous fungus. The enigma known as Prototaxites, which stood in branchless, tree-like trunks up to more than 20 feet tall and a yard wide, lived worldwide from roughly 420 million to 350 million years ago. The giant was the largest-known organism of its day, living in a time when wingless insects, millipedes, worms and other creepy-crawlies dominated, as backboned animals had not yet evolved out of the oceans. ‘That world was a very strange place,’ said researcher C. Kevin Boyce, a University of Chicago paleobotanist. Prototaxites has generated controversy for more than a century. Originally classified as a conifer like a pine tree, scientists later argued that it was instead a lichen, various types of algae or a fungus . ‘No matter what argument you put forth, people say, well, that’s crazy. That doesn’t make any sense,’ Boyce said. ‘A 20-foot-tall fungus doesn’t make any sense. Neither does a 20-foot-tall algae make any sense, but here’s the fossil.’ Strange world Simple vascular plants, the ancestors of the familiar conifers, ferns and flowering plants of today, had established themselves […]
The growing problem of obesity across the world has convinced British scientists they need to stop the crisis from taking root. So they have hit on a plan to create fat-fighting formula milk that will protect babies from growing into obese adults. This infant formula is to include the hunger suppressing hormone leptin, which has concerned some scientists. Researchers have expressed optimism the formula could fight the alarming trend of childhood obesity and diabetes that is plaguing UK society. In the last two decades, obesity and overweight rates among UK children have soared with a third of children in the age group 11-15 well on their way to being labeled obese. It is estimated that four in five of those children will grow into obese adults. The economic costs of obesity epidemic are pegged at £7 billion a year. The World Health Organization has declared obesity as a global epidemic having major health implications in 1997. It estimated that some 2 billion people worldwide are obese or overweight. Obesity brings with it health problems like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Rates of childhood obesity have spiraled the world over thanks to a shift in diet from a […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
