Nigerian wife fakes kidnapping
ONITSHA: A Nigerian woman faked her own kidnapping to extort a $1,200 ransom from her husband, police said on Tuesday, in a region of the west African nation plagued by abductions. Authorities arrested the woman and her accomplice, a motorcycle taxi man who helped her stage it, after tracing the bank account given for her husband’s payment of (1,200 dollar) to the taxi man himself. (Reuters)
Ohio man with over 100 snakes pleads not guilty to selling exotic animals
CLEVELAND: An Ohio man whose home was stacked “floor to ceiling” with more than 100 snakes, including some venomous vipers, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a charge of illegally selling dangerous animals, a court administrator said. Joseph McCollum, 46, and his 45-year old girlfriend Michelle Barrett, were arrested Friday in Struthers, Ohio, after he went to a local hospital, saying he had been bitten by a venomous rattlesnake. (Reuters)
Chinese official sacked after piggyback from flood victim: Xinhua
BEIJING: A Chinese local official photographed being given a piggyback by a villager while visiting flood victims in Zhejiang province has been sacked after the image caused public outrage online, state media reported on Monday. The picture was posted on microblogging site Sina Weibo in the wake of Typhoon Fitow, according to Xinhua news agency. A post accompanying it said the official had received the piggyback because he was wearing expensive shoes. (Reuters)
Chinese experts tap lightbulbs for internet access
Shanghai: Chinese scientists have indicated through experiments the possibility of getting online on internet with the help of signals sent by lightbulbs (LiFi) instead of WiFi.
A one-watt LED lightbulb may connect four computers to internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier wave instead of traditional radio frequencies, as in the case of WiFi, said Chi Nan, an information technology professor in Shanghai’s Fudan University, Thursday.
A lightbulb with embedded microchips can produce data rate as fast as 150 megabits per second, which is faster than the average broadband connection in China, said Chi. He leads a LiFi research team including scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reports Xinhua. Data rate refers to the rate at which circuits or other devices operate when handling digital information.
The term LiFi was coined by Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, Britain, and refers to a type of visible light communication technology that delivers a networked, mobile, high-speed communication solution in a similar way as WiFi. (PTI)
Drones set to deliver parcels in Australia
Wellington: Australia is set to become the first country to see commercial courier deliveries by drone. If a launch by a textbook rental service and an Australian tech start-up goes according to plan drones will start delivering parcels in the country.
From March next year and pending regulatory approval, students will be able to order books from Zookal via an Android smartphone app and have one of six Flirtey drones deliver them to their door in Sydney, stuff.co.nz reports. As the drone arrives, students will be able to track it in real-time on a Google map.
According to the report, after its initial launch, Flirtey hopes to then expand the service to other products and locations.
Drones could later even deliver food and drinks to people and blood to and from blood banks and hospitals in future. Textbook rental service Zookal partnered with Flirtey, a start-up born at the University of Sydney, to cut costs on deliveries. If Flirtey gets the approval of Australia”s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) it will be the first use of fully automated commercial drones for deliveries in the world, the report added. (ANI)
Kiwi author becomes youngest to win Man Booker Prize
Wellington: New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has become the youngest person to win the Man Booker Prize for her book ‘The Luminaries’.
The 28-year-old author, who was presented with literature”s most sought-after prize by The Duchess of Cornwall, gave a special thanks to her UK publishers Granta and New Zealand publishers Victoria University Press in her speech, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Catton said that the shape and the form of the book made certain kinds of editorial suggestions both mathematically and astrologically impossible.
She has found a place among literary greats such as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Kingsley Amis with her win. The Booker came with a 50,000-pound prize money. (ANI)