Health crisis looms over Gaza's death and destruction
August 3, 2014 - 4:22PMRuth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Gaza City: Mohamed Badran is just 10 years old but already he has lost more than most people will in a lifetime.
He is the only surviving member of his immediate family of 10 following an Israeli air strike on his home in the crowded Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza on July 30.
And now he is blind, rendered sightless in the attack that stole his family from him, in one of dozens of “mass family deaths” at the hands of the Israel Defence Forces since this latest round of hostilities began on July 8.
Doctors are now trying to save one of his eye sockets so he can have at least one prosthetic eye, but so severe is his head injury that even that is touch and go.On Monet's beloved cliffs, villagers fight to save church from conversion into chip shop
Chapel at Etretat on Normandy coast that entranced French artists is up for sale
Perched high on the cliffs at Etretat, the Notre Dame de la Garde chapel surveys the rugged Norman coast famously captured on canvas by Claude Monet.
Known as the mariners' church, the local landmark rose from the rubble in 1950 after the original building had been destroyed by the Germans during the second world war. Its current incarnation is notable for a sharp, arrow-shaped slate roof and fish-head gargoyles.
Today, however, Notre Dame de la Garde is less concerned by those facing the perils of the sea than the threat of property developers after its private owners put it up for sale for €280,000. Now the civil and church authorities have until the end of the month to save the chapel and see off those who would turn it into a chip shop or kebab house.
Almost 100 killed during attacks in China's Xinjiang last week
BEIJING
Masked militants attacked civilians, police and officials last week in China's far western region of Xinjiang leading to almost 100 deaths, the government said on Sunday, giving fresh details on one of the worst incidents of unrest in years.
The Xinjiang government said 59 "terrorists" were gunned down by security forces in Shache county in Xinjiang's far south, while 37 civilians were killed in the attacks on July 28.
Authorities reported the incident a day later, saying dozens of people had been killed when knife-wielding attackers had staged assaults in two towns in the region.
Is your wardrobe human-trafficking free?
A new label launched in the US and Colombia this week will certify products that were made without forced labor or trafficking victims.
CALÍ, COLOMBIA — Many American shoppers make it a point to purchase certified organic, non-GMO, or fair trade products. And now, globally conscious consumers can add another label to the list. A new Freedom Seal will certify products that are made without forced labor or by victims of human trafficking.
The Freedom Seal was launched simultaneously in the United States andColombia on Wednesday, marking the first ever World Day Against Human Trafficking. It will eventually be used on products sold worldwide.
“I came from a marketplace of victimization,” said Rani Hong, a trafficking survivor and CEO of the Washington-based Tronie Foundation.
'Impossible' Space Engine Might Work, NASA Test Suggests
NASA researchers have reported fresh evidence that an "impossible" space propulsion technology might actually work.
A study from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston says a microwave thruster system that requires no propellant appears to generate a tiny amount of thrust. If the technology pans out, it could make spaceflight far cheaper and speedier, advocates say. They argue that the thruster harnesses subatomic particles that pop into and out of existence in accordance with quantum physics — a hypothesis that's mentioned in the study.
"Test results indicate that the RF [radio frequency] resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and, therefore, is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma," the researchers wrote in their study, which they presented Wednesday at the 50th Joint Propulsion Conference in Cleveland. [Images: Spacecraft Propulsion Concepts]
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