A robot arm has successfully picked up pebble-sized pieces of radioactive fuel at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in a complex operation seen as key to clean-up efforts after the 2011 meltdown, officials said Thursday.
Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Wednesday sent down a remote-controlled probe to the melted fuel at the bottom of the plant's reactor 2, one of three that melted down after a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
It caught five small pieces of the fuel debris and lifted them up some five centimetres (two inches).
"We were able to confirm that the fuel debris can be moved," said Yuka Matsubara, a spokeswoman.
"We accomplished the objective of this test," she told AFP, adding that the company plans to actually remove some fuel debris as a sample by March next year.
Robots have already peered inside the reactor to allow experts to assess the melted fuel visually, but Wednesday's test was the first attempt to work out how fragile the highly radioactive ...

Robot lifts bits of melted fuel at Japan's Fukushima plant

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A British girl of Bangladeshi descent, who fled to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015 and married an Islamist extremist, has appealed to the UK government to allow her to return to Britain.
Shamima Begum, now 19, was traced in a refugee camp in Syria by a war reporter, who found her pregnant with her third child and keen to leave the war zone for the safety of her unborn child.
"I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. I don't regret coming here," Begum told The Times' in her interview.
"I really want to get back to Britain because I know it (unborn child) will be taken care of  health-wise, at least. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child," she said.
The jihadi bride, who had been married to an ISIS recruit soon after her arrival in ISIS-stronghold Raqqa four years ago, described not being affected by "beheaded heads" and dead bodies on ...

British Bangladeshi ISIS jihadi bride makes plea to return to UK

A 19-year-old woman turned herself in to police on Wednesday to face charges for allegedly throwing two chairs off a 45th story balcony along a busy downtown Toronto street. The incident shown in an online video has sparked widespread outrage.
Det. Todd Higo said Marcella Zoia turned herself in. A widely viewed video shot from the apartment balcony shows a woman throwing one of the chairs, which plummets to the street below.
The chairs landed near the front entrance of the towering condo, but there were no reports of injuries.
After receiving tips from the public, police identified her and asked her to turn herself in.
Zoia is charged with mischief endangering life, mischief endangering property and common nuisance.
Zoia made a brief court appearance Wednesday afternoon and was released on $2,000 Canadian bail (US$1,508) and ordered to live with her mother. She must also not have any contact with the four individuals that were with her at the time.
"She is embarrassed by what ...

Woman charged with tossing chairs from Canada high-rise

European aerospace giant Airbus said Thursday it would end production of the A380 superjumbo, the double-decker jet which earned plaudits from passengers but failed to win over enough airlines to justify its massive costs.
The firm said it would stop deliveries in 2021 of the A380, which has been in operation for more than a decade, after Dubai-based carrier Emirates reduced its total order of the model by 39 planes.
It marks an ignominious end to a bold bet on how millions of people would travel in the future, as airlines struggled to fill a plane capable of carrying anywhere from 500 to 850 people.
"Following a review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies, Emirates is reducing its A380 orderbook from 162 to 123 aircraft," Airbus said in a statement.
"As a consequence and given the lack of order backlog with other airlines, Airbus will cease deliveries of the A380 in 2021."
Airbus had been forced to slow A380 production in recent years ...

Airbus pulls plug on costly A380 superjumbo

Josh Brolin is the latest addition to the star-studded cast of "Dune" reboot.
He will be joining Timothee Chalamet, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, and Charlotte Rampling.
Oscar Isaac and Zendaya are also in talks to star in the project, reported Variety.
Set in the distant future, "Dune" follows Paul Atreides (Chalamet), whose family assumes control of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only producer of a highly valuable resource, jurisdiction over Arrakis is contested among competing noble families. After Atreides is betrayed, he leads a rebellion to restore his family's reign.
Brolin will portray Gurney Halleck, the warmaster for Atreides' family and a mentor to his character.
Patrick Stewart played the role in David Lynch's 1984 movie adaptation.
Denis Villeneuve is directing and co-writing the script with Eric Roth and Jon Spaihts.
Brolin and Villeneuve worked together on the critically acclaimed 2015 crime drama "Sicario".

Josh Brolin joins 'Dune' reboot

A first-of-its kind blood test that can measure the severity of pain in patients may help curb unnecessary precriptions of painkillers, which are often addictive.
For the study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, researchers tracked hundreds of participants to identify biomarkers in the blood that can help objectively determine how severe a patient's pain is.
The blood test would allow physicians far more accuracy in treating pain-as well as a better long-term look at the patient's medical future.
"We have developed a prototype for a blood test that can objectively tell doctors if the patient is in pain, and how severe that pain is," said Alexander Niculescu, a professor at Indiana University in the US.
"It's very important to have an objective measure of pain, as pain is a subjective sensation. Until now we have had to rely on patients self-reporting or the clinical impression the doctor has," said Niculescu.
"When we started this work it was a farfetched idea. But the ...

Novel blood test can measure severity of pain

Director James Cameron, who has pioneered the art of underwater storytelling, says DC blockbuster "Aquaman" could not do justice to the real life of ocean.
The filmmaker, who is currently working on the sequels to his award-winning film "Avatar", said even though he finds the James Wan-directed superhero film "fun" he would never be able to make a movie which is detached from realism.
"I think its great fun. I think its a movie I could have never made. Truthfully. I could have never made that film because it requires this total dreamlike disconnect from any sense of physics or reality. It exists somewhere between a Greek mythic landscape and a fairy tale landscape.
"And people just kind of zoom around underwater because they propel themselves mentally? I guess? I don't know. But it's cool. You buy it on its own terms. But I've spent thousands of hours underwater. I'm very literal about my underwater. It needs to look like it's real. And while I can enjoy that film I don't resonate ...

It doesn't look real: James Cameron on 'Aquaman's' depiction of underwater life

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was freed on bail on Thursday following an arrest that sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Ressa, 55, spent a night in detention after authorities arrested the veteran reporter at her Manila office Wednesday in a sharp upping of government pressure on her and her website Rappler.
The site and Ressa have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case after clashing repeatedly with Duterte over his deadly crackdown on narcotics that has killed thousands.
"The message that the government is sending is very clear... be silent or you're next," an emotional Ressa told reporters outside a Manila court.
She stumped up a bond of 100,000-pesos ($1,900), the sixth time since December that she has paid bail on a government case.
"I am appealing to you not to be silent, even if -- and especially if -- you're next," added Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person 

Philippines journalist and Duterte critic Ressa freed on bail

Turkish authorities on Thursday detained three suspects over the collapse of an apartment building in Istanbul that claimed the lives of 21 people, local media reported.
The suspects held over the collapse in the residential district of Kartal on the Asian side of the city were identified as project officer Suzan Cayir, technical implementation supervisor Ugur Misirlioglu and building inspector Arzu Keles Boran, the state run TRT television reported.
They are charged with "killing by negligence," according to the NTV television.  The eight-storey block where 43 people were registered as living crumbled last week but the cause still remains unclear.
Local officials said three storeys were illegally added -- a common practice in the country's largest metropolis of around 15 million people.
The collapse fanned criticism of a government amnesty granted last year to people accused of illegal building -- a measure announced ahead of municipal elections this March.
President Recep Tayyip ...

Turkey detains three over Istanbul building collapse: report

Some of the new welfare measures in India will continue to take shape, regardless of the outcome of the general election, a top Singapore bank said on Thursday.
Despite a change in the government in 2014, impetus for Goods and Services Tax (GST), financial inclusion, and fuel subsidy reduction did not waver, said Indian-origin economist with DBS Research Group Radhika Rao.
General elections are likely to take place in April and May in India.
"We expect some of the new welfare measures to take shape independent of the election outcome," she said.
India's political economy is attaining modern welfare dimensions with direct cash transfer, universal basic income and jobs provisions, Rao said.
With a mixed result in the recent parliamentary by-polls and state legislature elections, risks of a hung Parliament cannot be discounted, she said.
Four recent opinion polls point to an average of 220-230 seats for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, falling short of a majority, Rao said.
The .

Welfare measures to continue in India post general election

"Breaking Bad" film starring Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman is a sequel to the popular series and will air on Netflix and AMC.
According to Deadline, Netflix will have first rights to the movie before it goes over to AMC, which is currently the home for "Breaking Bad" prequel "Better Call Saul".
The Emmy-winning series, which ran from 2008 to 2013, starred Bryan Cranston as chemistry-teacher-cum-meth-kingpin Walter White and Paul as his former student and current partner in crime, Pinkman.
For his part on the series, Paul earned three supporting actor Emmys.
The film, written and directed by creator Vince Gilligan and produced by Sony TV, will focus on Jesse, presumably after his escape from Neo-Nazi captivity in the series finale in which Walt died.

'Breaking Bad' film featuring Aaron Paul to air on Netflix and AMC

Eating canned food during pregnancy can put the baby at risk of exposure to an industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA), potentially affecting their reproductive health in later life, scientists say.
While previous studies have shown the adverse health effects of prenatal exposure to BPA, there is little evidence surrounding effects specifically on ovarian function.
Researchers from Boston University in the US found that there is sufficient data to raise concerns regarding exposure and ovarian performance.
Detectable in surface water and soil sediments, BPA is used in many industrial processes and in the lining of food cans.
While the greatest exposure is dietary from canned foods and plastic containers, skin exposure is a secondary route of smaller exposure, researchers said.
Ovarian development and function represents a complex coordination of processes, starting early during prenatal development. Early aberrations have the potential to carry through the female reproductive lifespan, ..

Canned food during pregnancy could affect baby's health: Study

China's slowdown, trade tensions, stock plunges and a softening of the world's least affordable property market helped wipe some $20 billion from the fortunes of Hong Kong's wealthiest last year, Forbes has reported.
The southern Chinese financial hub boasts entrenched income inequality with one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world.
But the ultra-wealthy had an uncharacteristically tough year in 2018 according to the latest list of the city's 50 richest tycoons published by Forbes late Wednesday.  The group's combined wealth fell just over $20 billion to $286.75 billion in 2018, a marked contrast to the year before when they grew by a collective $60 billion to $307 billion.
Pollyanna Chu, one of the city's most prominent female entrepreneurs, witnessed the sharpest decline in personal fortune according to Forbes' estimates -- a 75 percent drop to $3.3 billion.
Her wealth via financial powerhouse Kingston Financial was especially vulnerable to the torrid trading ..

Hong Kong's super rich took a $20 bn beating in 2018: Forbes

America is a land of opportunities where failure is considered not as a stigma but a path to success, a top Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist from the Silicon Valley told a group of newly-naturalised US citizens.
Addressing some 200 new citizens, after they took oath at the prestigious John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, M R Rangaswami, a Silicon Valley-based software executive, entrepreneur and philanthropist, narrated his personal story as to how this country offers an opportunity to all who work and want to succeed in life.
He was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Rangaswami, who co-founded Sand Hill Group, one of the earliest 'angel' investment firms, told the new citizens about his American story, when he left India at the age of 21 for an MBA in the US with a one-way ticket, a student visa and eight dollars in his pocket.
His brother in New York had to sign a financial guarantee for his tuition and boarding at Kent State ..

America 'land of opportunities' where failure not stigma: Indian-American entrepreneur

A gunman on Thursday barged into a house in northwest Pakistan and shot dead five members of a family.
The incident occurred in Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
District Police Office Mansoor Aman said the residents belonged to Peshawar's Badaber area.
The slain included a couple, their daughter and two sons.
The motive behind the murders was yet to be known.
In a separate incident, five people were killed and four injured as lightening struck their house in Sur Gul Village Kohat district. The dead included husband and wife and three children.

Gunman kills five in northwest Pakistan

Scientists have created a way to convert plastic bags into carbon chips that could be used in batteries powering our smartphones and other devices.
Plastic bag pollution has become a huge environmental problem, prompting some cities and countries to heavily tax or ban the sacks.
Many plastic bags are used only once and then disposed, ending up in landfills, oceans and elsewhere in the environment, where they can take hundreds of years to decompose.
According to researchers from Purdue University in the US, polyethylene in plastic bags could be an inexpensive source of energy-storing carbon.
However, previous methods to upcycle polyethylene into pure carbon have been inefficient or required expensive, complex processes.
The team wanted to develop a simpler yet efficient approach to convert plastic waste into useful carbon-containing materials.
The researchers immersed polyethylene plastic bags in sulphuric acid and sealed them inside a solvothermal reactor, which heated the sample to ..

Scientists upcycle plastic bags to create battery parts

Pakistan will propose to Saudi Arabia for initiation of a dialogue on a preferential trade agreement (PTA) to balance bilateral trade and promote investment during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit here, according to a media report on Thursday.
The Crown Prince accompanied by a high-powered business delegation will arrive in Pakistan on Saturday on his two-day visit to promote economic ties.
The preferential treaty will cover tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs) which will help diversify Pakistan's export basket to the kingdom, official sources told Dawn.
Since 2006, there is a complete deadlock in negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council. So far only two rounds of negotiations have been held on it. Officials sais that this issue will be raised during the crown prince's visit.
Pakistan's bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia has posted a consistent decline, dropping by a half to USD 2.5 billion in 2016-17 from USD 5.08 billion 

Pak to seek preferential trade agreement with S Arabia during Prince Salman's visit

Benedict Cumberbatch is joining the cast of "Good Omens" as Satan, showrunner Neil Gaiman has announced.
Gaiman made the revelation during Television Critics Association winter press tour, reported Entertainment Weekly.
The Amazon series also features David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Frances McDormand, Jon Hamm, Nick Offerman, Miranda Richardson and Michael McKean.
Gaiman said that Cumberbatch's Prince of Darkness will be "a giant, animated Satan" who appears "400 foot high".
The "Sherlock" star will appear in episode six of the series, which debuts on May 31.
Based on the novel of the same name by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the show is set in 2018 on the brink of an apocalypse as humanity prepares for a final judgment.
"Good Omens" is co-produced by BBC Studios with Narrativia, the production company of Pratchett's daughter Rhianna, and the Blank Corporation and in association with BBC Worldwide for Amazon Prime Video and the BBC.

Benedict Cumberbatch to play Satan in 'Good Omens'

A new "Star Trek" animated kids show is in the works at Nickelodeon.
According to Variety, CBS Television Studios and Nickelodeon are negotiating for the new series aimed at children.
The series hails from writers Kevin and Dan Hageman, but plot details are currently under wraps.
If things work out, the series will mark the first new "Star Trek" TV project to debut outside of CBS All Access.
This is the second animated "Star Trek" project to be announced.
Last year in October, CBS All Access gave a two-season order to the adult animated series "Star Trek: Lower Decks", to be created by "Rick & Morty" writer Mike McMahan. It will focus on the the support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships.
All Access is also working on a series that will see the return of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

'Star Trek' animated kids show in works

NASA will launch a new space telescope in 2023 that could provide a glimpse of the first moments in the history of the universe, and explore how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems, the US space agency said Thursday.
The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at USD 242 million, according to NASA.
"I'm really excited about this new mission," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.
SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions.
Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way, NASA said.
"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for 

New NASA telescope to explore origins of universe

Actor Chris Pratt is in negotiations to star in science-fiction project "Ghost Draft", to be directed by Chris McKay.
Zach Dean has written the the live-action project, reported Variety.
Plot details are currently under wraps.
Adam Kolbrenner and David S. Goyer will produce, with Dana Goldberg, Matt Grimm, and Don Granger overseeing for Skydance.
Production is expected to start this summer.
McKay made his feature directorial debut on "Lego Batman". He is also directing Netflix comic book adaptation "Reborn" with Sandra Bullock producing.

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