Today in the News:
– Rodman is asking Kim, to free the American citizen North Korea has detained
– One of the world’s largest diamond roberies has been stopped by police
– and a Biomass satellite is launched to monitor Earth’s forests
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is tapping his friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to ask for the release of a Korean-American man sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in the North. Rodman visited North Korea in February and sat next to Kim as they watched an exhibition basketball game. His trip came at a time of high tension between Pyongyang and Washington and was not endorsed by the U.S. State Department. Bae is a tour operator who was arrested in North Korea, for unspecified “hostile acts” against the state. Allegedly the 44-year-old Washington state man entered the country with a disguised identity. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry rejected speculation that it was seeking a U.S. envoy to negotiate Bae’s release, saying he is not a political bargaining chip. Well let’s see if Rodman can do some hoops with Kim and work his magic.
Police in Belgium, Switzerland and France have arrested 31 people in connection with one of the world’s largest robberies of diamonds. Large sums of money and some of the diamonds that were taken in a raid at Brussels airport in February, have been recovered. A gang cut through the airport’s perimeter fence and broke into the cargo hold of a Swiss airplane as it waited for take off. They took $50m of rough stone diamonds, that were being transported from Antwerp to Zurich. Prosecutors say professionals were at work, they had dressed as police, wore masks and were well armed. The whole operation took only about five minutes, no shots were fired and no-one was hurt. Sounds like a great movie topic, except that in this case there was no happy end for the thieves.
A satellite that can “weigh” the Earth’s forests has just been given the go ahead by the European Space Agency. Biomass, as it will be known, is expected to launch in 2020. The spacecraft will carry a novel radar system that is able to sense the trunks and big branches of trees from orbit. Scientists will use Biomass to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of the five-year mission. The satellite’s data should help researchers understand better the role trees play in the cycling of carbon on Earth and, by extension, the influence this has on the planet’s climate. This mission will cost 400 million euros, a small rice to pay, to find out how long we humans will ultimately be able to survive on our planet earth if we continue to pollute it.
Today in the News:
– Rodman is asking Kim, to free the American citizen North Korea has detained
– One of the world’s largest diamond roberies has been stopped by police
– and a Biomass satellite is launched to monitor Earth’s forests
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is tapping his friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to ask for the release of a Korean-American man sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in the North. Rodman visited North Korea in February and sat next to Kim as they watched an exhibition basketball game. His trip came at a time of high tension between Pyongyang and Washington and was not endorsed by the U.S. State Department. Bae is a tour operator who was arrested in North Korea, for unspecified “hostile acts” against the state. Allegedly the 44-year-old Washington state man entered the country with a disguised identity. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry rejected speculation that it was seeking a U.S. envoy to negotiate Bae’s release, saying he is not a political bargaining chip. Well let’s see if Rodman can do some hoops with Kim and work his magic.
Police in Belgium, Switzerland and France have arrested 31 people in connection with one of the world’s largest robberies of diamonds. Large sums of money and some of the diamonds that were taken in a raid at Brussels airport in February, have been recovered. A gang cut through the airport’s perimeter fence and broke into the cargo hold of a Swiss airplane as it waited for take off. They took $50m of rough stone diamonds, that were being transported from Antwerp to Zurich. Prosecutors say professionals were at work, they had dressed as police, wore masks and were well armed. The whole operation took only about five minutes, no shots were fired and no-one was hurt. Sounds like a great movie topic, except that in this case there was no happy end for the thieves.
A satellite that can “weigh” the Earth’s forests has just been given the go ahead by the European Space Agency. Biomass, as it will be known, is expected to launch in 2020. The spacecraft will carry a novel radar system that is able to sense the trunks and big branches of trees from orbit. Scientists will use Biomass to calculate the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests, and to monitor for any changes over the course of the five-year mission. The satellite’s data should help researchers understand better the role trees play in the cycling of carbon on Earth and, by extension, the influence this has on the planet’s climate. This mission will cost 400 million euros, a small rice to pay, to find out how long we humans will ultimately be able to survive on our planet earth if we continue to pollute it.