Woman saved from coming under train
Beijing: A woman had a miraculous escape at a Shanghai metro station when she fell onto the rail tracks but the train driver saw her and slammed the emergency brakes.
The 25-year-old woman was seen quarrelling with her boyfriend and accidentally fell from the platform in front of a train Sunday, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The driver spotted her on the tracks and managed to bring the train to a halt.
The woman suffered a fractured hand and bruises. Police have taken her boyfriend in custody for questioning.
A police official said the woman threw the man’s bag on to the tracks. He then pushed her and she slipped and fell.
No train passenger was injured when the driver hit the brakes.
In another incident, a man was killed when he jumped off a subway platform in front of a moving metro train, police said.
The man was not identified, and police said it was a suicide. (IANS)
Now, a fine for littering in Islamabad
Islamabad: Anyone caught littering would now have to pay a fine in this Pakistani capital.
A rule framed in 2008 was put in force Tuesday.
Dawn said that littering would lead to an on-the-spot minimum fine of Rs.50.
Islamabad has become the first city in Pakistan to have an anti-littering provision.
“A person or persons violating the anti-littering law can be fined up to Rs.300 on the spot,” Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, a senior official, was quoted as saying.
An anti-littering force, comprising 25 personnel, has been formed.
“A neat and clean environment is the sign of a healthy and civilised society and we can achieve this goal by keeping our houses, streets, sectors and surroundings clean and neat,” said Elahi. (IANS)
Boy beaten for 30 minutes for stealing
Beijing: A 12-year-old boy in China was hung from a pole by his hands and feet, whipped and then beaten for 30 minutes by his angry parents as he had stolen money to play video games.
The incident took place here Sunday and a photograph of the incident has stirred an online outcry.
Ning, an eyewitness, said he heard the screams of the boy and he saw the boy tied up, hanging from an iron pole about two metres above the ground.
The boy’s father lashed him while his mother pulled a rope with which the boy was tied up.
“I’ve never seen such a horrible way of education in my life,” Shanghai Daily quoted Ning as saying. “
It seemed like the parents really wanted to beat their own son to death on the street.”
Neighbours who tried to intervene were told, “It’s my son and my own way to educate him! That’s none of your business!”
The parents became angry when they realised that 300 yuan kept for rent was stolen by their son who spent it on video games.
The beating ended only after the police arrived. (IANS)
IBM unveils computing chips that mimic human brain
San Francisco: IBM researchers Thursday unveiled an experimental computer chip that emulates the way the human brain processes information.
IBM said in a statement that researchers have created the basic design of the first neurosynaptic computing chip that recreates the phenomena between spiking neurons and synapses in a biological system, such as the brain.
Using digital silicon circuits inspired by neurobiology, the cognitive chips contain no biological elements. The first two prototype chips are currently undergoing testing, reported Xinhua.
The two chips, called “core”, have successfully demonstrated simple applications like navigation, machine vision, pattern recognition, associative memory and classification.
“This is a major initiative to move beyond the von Neumann paradigm that has been ruling computer architecture for more than half a century,” Dharmendra Modha, project leader for IBM Research, said in a statement.
The cognitive computing architecture is expected to be a more power-efficient architecture that has no set programming, integrates memory with processor and mimics the brain’s event-driven, distributed and parallel processing. (IANS)
Israeli court allows family to extract eggs from dead daughter
Jerusalem: In a landmark ruling, an Israeli court has allowed a family to extract eggs from the ovaries of their dead daughter, a media report said.
The family of Chen Aida Ayash, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who died in a car mishap a week-and-a-half back, was granted permission to have her eggs harvested and frozen, ‘Haaretz’ newspaper reported. A medical source, familiar with the case, told the newspaper that Ayash’s family had wanted to fertilise the eggs with donated sperm and freeze them as embryos, after donating her organs for transplant.
But Kfar Sava’s Meir Hospital had refused to fertilise the eggs without a court order. Though the court ruled that her eggs could be extracted, the judge declined a petition for them to be fertilised with donated sperm, at least for the time being — though they could still be fertilised at a later stage. Frozen embryos have a greater chance of ultimately producing a child.
Approval is only likely to be given if Ayash’s family can prove that she wanted to have children. Her age could prove a contentious factor, the report said.
The ruling raises the possibility that a mother could give birth after her death. Few countries have laws covering posthumous egg harvesting. And, there have been dozens of such cases in the US alone. (PTI)
Dog becomes celebrity for his math skills
SALMON: Labrador Retrievers are known for their hunting skills and friendly dispositions, but Beau, a black Lab who lives in Montana, is winning acclaim for his math abilities. Owner David Madsen says if he tells Beau there are six dogs at the park and three dogs leave, and then asks him how many are left, the dog replies: ”Woof, woof, woof.” (Reuters)
Motorized beer cooler lands driver in court
SYDNEY: An Australian man had his driving license suspended for 10 months and was fined after he was caught driving a scooter made of a motorized beer cooler capable of carrying several dozen drinks — after knocking back a few. The unconventional scooter featured a cooler box mounted on a wheeled frame and powered by a 50 cc engine, complete with a steering handlebar. The cooler doubled as a driver’s seat and was able to hold up to 48 bottles of beer. (Reuters)
Capybara spotted in California
LOS ANGELES – A South American capybara weighing at least (45 kgs) was spotted at a waste-water treatment facility in California recently before disappearing in the brush, according to a wildlife official. The capybara, is the world’s largest rodent and feeds on vegetation. (UNI)