Daily Archives: March 6, 2014

Chinese waterway becomes so polluted it bursts into flame after lit cigarette is thrown into it

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River of fire: 

A river in eastern China caught fire after years of pollution from factories upstream had turned it flammable.

The river had become so contaminated that it was set alight by a lit cigarette being thrown into the water.

The flames shot up more than 16ft into the air and had to be extinguished by firemen in the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.

Local residents said that the river has been heavily polluted for years, as a result of oils and chemicals being released into the water by several shoe-making factories and packaging firms further upstream.
Despite this being common knowledge in the area, they say that the council’s environmental protection office have refused to take action against the polluting companies, as they are too important to the local economy.

 

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The fire also caught several cars that had been parked next to the pavement alongside the river, destroying them in the process.

Fireman had to use special foam fire extinguishers to put out the fire on the river’s surface. Police are now investigating where the chemicals might have come from.

 

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Scientists dig up giant virus more than 30,000 years old in Siberia

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Scientists have unearthed a giant virus more than 30,000 years old from the frozen soil in a remote region of Siberia.

While this ancient virus is harmless to people, the scientists behind the discovery warn that the discovery suggests that the thawing of permafrost in polar regions, as a result of either climate change or mining, could bring threats to human health.

The ancient virus, named Pithovirus sibericum, infects amoebas, not humans or animals.

It survived in the Siberian ice from a period when woolly mammoths and saber-tooth cats roamed the earth.

Its discovery was reported by the researchers, from French and Russian institutions, in an article published this week by the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Crimea Sets Referendum on Whether to Join Russia

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crimea-referendumLawmakers in the embattled Crimean region of Ukraine have decided to hold a referendum March 16 on whether Crimea should become part of Russia.

“This is our response to the disorder and lawlessness in Kiev,” Sergei Shuvainikov, a member of the local Crimean legislature, said Thursday. “We will decide our future ourselves.”

The parliament in Crimea, which enjoys a degree of autonomy under current Ukrainian law, voted 78 with eight abstentions in favor of holding the referendum. Local voters will also be given the choice of deciding to remain part of Ukraine, but with enhanced local powers.

There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian central government to the vote. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s prime minister told The Associated Press that Crimea would remain part of Ukraine.

Let’s hope it doesn’t melt overnight! Farmer spends two months building 50-foot snowman complete with TREES for arms and a trash barrel for a nose

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15մ բարձրությամբ ձնեմարդ

 

A Minnesota farmer turned the snow that was ruining his greenhouses this winter into a spectacular 50-foot snowman that is now attracting national media attention and visitors from miles around.

Greg Novak knew he had to clean up the nuisance snow, but he also thought it would be a great way to perk up his Gilman community deep in the winter doldrums.

Hundreds of hours and about five weeks later, people began flocking to Novak’s farm as news of his impressive creation filled up newsfeeds, inboxes and social media across the web.

Friends and family pitched in to help with Granddaddy, or to do farm chores while Novak worked on building the snowman using a skid loaders to pile snow and a silage blower to direct snow into stacked cylinders, the St. Cloud Times reported.

 

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Million Dollar iPhone: Jewellers create a gold version of Apple’s flagship handset – complete with 700 diamonds

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iPhone

 

Apple iPhones have the reputation for being fragile at the best of times, but a jeweller has created a model so expensive its unlikely its owner will want to take it out of the box.

The handset, built by London-based jewellery firm Alchemist, is the world’s most expensive iPhone with a £600,000 ($1 million) price tag.

Dubbed Million Dollar iPhone, the handset has a handmade, 24-carat gold bezel and is covered in 700 individual diamonds, totalling over seven carats.

The company said it set out to create an item that was so luxurious it would ‘redefine the meaning of grandeur’ and spent seven months making the bespoke device.

The navigation button is also made from 24-carat gold and has a two carat diamond cut into the centre.

Only two of the handsets will be sold, with prospective buyers being asked to formally register their interest on either of the company’s two websites, the-million-dollar-iphone.com and gold-alchemist.com.

 

 

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