California man confesses to 40 killings
Fresno (US): A suspected contract killer charged in California with killing nine people confessed to investigators that he carried out up to 40 slayings in a career spanning decades, a prosecutor said.
Errek Jett, the district attorney in Lawrence County, Alabama, said on Wednesday that Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, told investigators he carried out the crimes working as an enforcer for a drug cartel. Jett said they believe Martinez because of the details he gave investigators.
Martinez was arrested last year shortly after crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona and sent to Alabama, where he awaits trial on one murder charge. Once word got out, a steady stream of investigators from across the country came to question Martinez, Jett said.
Defence attorney Thomas Turner, who represents Martinez in that lone case, said his client is eager to start a June trial in Alabama, so he can return to California. Turner said Martinez maintains his innocence to the charge there and doesn’t seem to be a hardened killer.
“”I’ve found him to be polite and a likable individual,” Turner said.
“He has a good personality as far as talking with him.” Prosecutors in California say otherwise. Martinez targeted victims in Tulare, Kern and Santa Barbara counties between 1980 and 2011, said Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Fultz, who filed charges Tuesday. (AP)
Titanic insurance claim form to fetch 12k pounds
LONDON: The most senior officer to survive the Titanic disaster may have played down the iceberg collision to dodge negligence claims, an insurance document which is expected to fetch 12,000 pounds at auction has shown.
Second officer Charles Lightoller’s statement was taken in New York days after Titanic sank in the Atlantic waters in 1912.
According to his statement, he felt a “slight jar” when the luxury liner hit a “small and low-lying” iceberg. The iceberg was actually up to 100ft high by 400ft wide, but the 46,000-tonne ship was speeding through an icefield at night and crew failed to spot it in time. Lightoller’s statement helped the ship’s owners, the White Star Line, win a USD 5 million insurance payout – equivalent to 290 million pounds today, ‘The Mirror’ reported.
The statement is now set to fetch 12,000 pounds at auction in Devizes, Wilts, on April 26. “The captain was on and off the bridge throughout the watch. A sharp lookout was kept from the crow’s nest. The ship was on course South 86 degrees West true when the lookouts reported ice dead ahead,” the statement reads.
“The first officer immediately starboarded the helm reversed the engines full speed and closed all watertight doors. “The ship swung to port but struck a ‘growler’ or small low-lying iceberg with the bluff of her starboard bow, making a comparatively slight jar with a grinding sound,” it reads. On April 10, 1912, Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage, travelling from Southampton, England to New York. More than 1,500 of the ship’s crew and passengers died when it hit an iceberg and sank, five days into its trip across the Atlantic. (PTI)
Romania keeps ancient tradition of bee medicine alive
Bucharest: Bee venom to combat multiple sclerosis, pollen for indigestion, honey to heal wounds — the humble bee has been a key source of alternative medicines since ancient times, and Romania is working to keep the tradition of “apitherapy” alive. The tradition goes back to ancient Greece when Hippocrates applied honey to treat wounds, and the Romans saw pollen as “life-giving”. In the past of India, China and Egypt, a resinous substance collected by bees from the buds of certain trees, known as “propolis”, was popular as an antiseptic.
“The hive is the oldest and healthiest natural pharmacy,” said Cristina Mateescu, director general of the Institute for Apicultural Research and Development in Bucharest. Today in the wilderness of Romania’s Carpathian mountains, honey bee products are still a familiar part of traditional medicine. “In my village, my great-grandmother was a healer and used products from beehives. She inspired me,” Dr Mariana Stan told AFP. Having spent years as a conventional doctor, Stan now practises in Bucharest as a “apitherapist” — using bee products “which give slower but longer lasting and more profound results”. In a country still infused with folk culture, several families continue to use propolis against sore throats, as well as honey and pollen to boost the immune system.
Every town in Romania has its “plafar” — natural pharmacies selling products made from plants, honey, beeswax and propolis. “Romania is a pioneer of apitherapy, which it recognised very early as a component of scientific medicine,” said US professor Theodor Charbuliez, head of the Apimondia Commission of Apitherapy, a group that brings together thousands of practitioners from around the world. (AFP)
Astronauts’ urine to get recycled into clean water
Washington: In between the news about water on Mars, clues of life on Jupiter or new stars being formed at our galaxy’s edge, there is a less glamorous side of space exploration: what to do with astronauts’ urine!
Human waste on long-term journeys into space makes up about half of the mission’s total waste.
Recycling it is critical to keeping a clean environment for astronauts. Rather than ejecting astronauts’ pee into space, scientists are now developing a new technique that can turn this waste burden into a boon by converting it into fuel and much-needed drinking water.
“When onboard water supplies run low, treated urine can become a source of essential drinking water, which would otherwise have to be delivered from earth at a tremendous cost,” explained NASA researcher Eduardo Nicolau. Previous research has shown that a wastewater treatment process called forward osmosis in combination with a fuel cell can generate power.
The researchers collected urine and shower wastewater and processed it using forward osmosis – a way to filter contaminants from urea – a major component of urine, and water. Their new Urea Bioreactor Electrochemical system (UBE) efficiently converted the urea into ammonia in its bioreactor, and then turned the ammonia into energy with its fuel cell.
“The system was designed with space missions in mind,” Nicolau said. (Agencies)