Cray XK6 supercomputer smashes petaflop record, humbly calls itself a 'general-purpose' machine originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Cray | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/25/cray-xk6-supercomputer-smashes-petaflop-record-humbly-calls-its/
David Cameron: "The president and I agree we should be turning up the heat on Libya"
US President Barack Obama has said there will be "no let up" in the pressure against Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Speaking at a news conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the US leader said that Col Gaddafi would ultimately be forced from power.
At least five explosions hit Tripoli overnight on Tuesday as Nato continued its campaign against the Libyan leader.
Russia has condemned the raids as a "gross violation" of a UN resolution.
Moscow, which did not vote for military action, said the strategy was not helping to bring about the "overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict".
President Barack Obama“Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying”
Mr Obama, who is on a state visit to the UK, said he could not predict when Col Gaddafi would go, but that the US and its allies would "sustain the course" against him.
"I absolutely agree that given the progress that has been made over the last several weeks that Gaddafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be a let-up in the pressure that we are applying," he said.
But he warned against setting any timetable for action and cautioned against the prospect of any decisive change in the military situation on the ground.
"I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces."
Mr Cameron added that there was no future for the country - which has seen two months of intense fighting between pro and anti-government forces - with Col Gaddafi in power, and he should step down.
"The president and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya," he said, adding that "all options" for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen over the capital following Tuesday's strikes Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim reacted angrily to Mr Obama's comments, saying that "Gaddafi's destiny, Gaddafi's future, is for the Libyan nation to decide", according to AP news agency.
"It would be a much more productive statement to say that the Libyan people need to engage in an inclusive peaceful democratic transparent political process in which they can chose the shape of their political system and the leaders of their system," he said.
Air strikes late on Tuesday targeted the area around Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in a second night, after similar strikes on Monday night.
Nato says the compound has been used by the regime as a base for troops and vehicles used to carry out attacks on civilians.
But Libyan authorities say Nato is trying to kill Col Gaddafi and that the night-time strikes are terrorising Tripoli residents.
Moussa Ibrahim Libyan government spokesperson“Gaddafi's destiny, Gaddafi's future, is for the Libyan nation to decide”
The Russian foreign ministry's human rights envoy, Konstantin Dolgov, said targets which had no military use had been destroyed and that the strategy was "in no way moving us closer toward achieving the overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict".
He added: "Air strikes are not stopping the military confrontation between the Libyan parties and only creating more suffering among peaceful civilians."
Russia has been been attempting to broker a ceasefire between the government and the rebels, and has met representatives of both sides in the past week.
South African President Jacob Zuma is to visit Libya next week for meetings with Col Gaddafi in an attempt to resolve the conflict.
Mr Zuma's office have dismissed speculation that meeting was intended to discuss an exit strategy for the leader.
A spokesman said the talks were a follow-up to an African Union summit on the crisis in April which collapsed when rebels insisted Col Gaddafi must stand down.
The BBC's Karen Allen in Johannesburg says relations between the two countries have soured since Libya was accused last week of concealing the death of a prominent South African journalist who had been covering the crisis.
The rebellion against Col Gaddafi's rule began in February, spurred on by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that saw the presidents of those countries overthrown.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13543987
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/F-kotJQfysc/index.html
Samples are being studied at the UKE laboratory in Hamburg Germany is alarmed at the scale of an E. coli food poisoning outbreak which is thought to have killed three people and may have infected hundreds more.
At least 80 people ingested EHEC, a dangerous strain of the bacterium, over the past two weeks and there are a further 350 suspected cases.
The number of EHEC infections for the whole of 2010 was only about 1,000.
This outbreak is affecting young women in particular, and one theory is that it is spread by contaminated salad.
While medical tests have yet to establish the exact cause of death, the three suspected victims were all women, two of them in their 80s and the third aged 24.
E. coli is a bacterium commonly found in the gut and most strains are harmless, according to the World Health Organization.
It is transmitted to humans primarily through consumption of contaminated foods, such as raw or undercooked ground meat products and raw milk, as well as by animal faeces getting into water and food, and by cross-contamination during food preparation.
The EHEC strain may cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterised by acute kidney failure and can lead to seizures, strokes and coma.
Reinhard Burger, head of Germany's Robert Koch Institute which monitors epidemics, said the country usually saw between 50 and 60 cases of HUS annually, whereas it had recorded about 80 during the current outbreak.
"The source of the outbreak has not yet been identified," Mr Burger said on Tuesday.
"We have to say clearly that we have to expect more fatalities in view of the high number of cases."
The head of the country's national disease control and prevention agency added that the age groups affected were "atypical".
So far, most of the suspected cases have been found in northern regions. Some 200 were found in Schleswig-Holstein, 100 in Lower Saxony and nearly 50 in Hamburg.
In Bremen, where the youngest suspected victim died, health authority official Werner Wunderle told reporters that the 24-year-old had not belonged to normal risk groups for EHEC.
"Affected are mostly young women, that is untypical for EHEC," he said.
"Normally this bacterium affects children and youth. Every year we have cases of EHEC in Bremen and more than 80% are under 18 years old. It's very untypical that mostly adults are concerned and predominately women. Also, it's predominately women who are health conscious."
A Reuters news agency report suggests that the infection may be spread through contaminated vegetables, and the high number of affected young women points to a product more often bought or prepared by women.
Susan Huggett of the Medilys laboratories in Hamburg advised against eating pre-packaged or prepared salad, which might contain the bacterium.
She also recommended standard hygienic procedures such as washing hands before eating or cooking.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-13540497
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/entertainment-arts-13546946
Navi Pillay has widened her criticism to Australia's treatment of indigenous people The UN human rights commissioner has launched a scathing attack on Australia's policy towards "boat people" and its indigenous population.
Navi Pillay said Australia's policy of mandatory detention towards asylum seekers had cast a shadow over its human rights record.
She said that aboriginal people suffered deep hurt and pain because of the government's policies towards them.
So far the Australian government has given no response.
This is the second time in as many days that Ms Pillay has publicly attacked Australia's policy towards asylum seekers.
And now she has widened her criticism to its treatment of indigenous people, the first Australians.
She told Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard that its policy of mandatory detention towards all asylum seekers was in breach of its international obligations, and for many years had cast a shadow over Australia's human rights record.
She said that men, women, and most disturbingly of all, children, had been held in detention, even though they had not committed a crime.
She also slammed the nature of the asylum seeker debate, and what she called the constant political refrain that the country was being flooded by queue-jumpers.
On the question of aboriginal rights she was just as scathing. She criticised what she called inappropriate and inflexible policies that had caused deep hurt and pain.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ms Pillay questioned the legality of Australia's latest plan to deal with the problem of boat people trying to reach its shore.
She said that a proposed deal with Malaysia to send 800 asylum seekers to the country potentially violates refugee law.
Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-pacific-13537669
Grimsvotn began erupting on Saturday Germany is to close its northern airspace on Wednesday because of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland, officials say.
Bremen airport would close at 0300 GMT while Hamburg would close at 0400 GMT, Germany's weather service said.
The airspace over Berlin and Hanover could also be affected.
UK airlines have already cancelled flights in parts of Scotland and northern England. Air traffic in Norway and Denmark has also been disrupted.
Europe's air traffic controller Eurocontrol said about 500 flights have been cancelled due to the closure of parts of Britain's airspace.
The service said there was a strong possibility the ash cloud would travel over parts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden but the impact on flights would probably be limited.
Britain's weather service said the concentration of volcanic ash in UK airspace would decrease significantly over the course of Wednesday.
France's civil aviation authority has said it expects very little disruption to air traffic and was not expecting to close any of the country's airspace.
Grimsvotn volcano began erupting on Saturday, sending clouds of ash high into the air.
Experts say the eruption is on a different scale to that of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano last year, when millions of travellers were stranded amid concerns about the damage volcanic ash could cause to aircraft engines.
The ash particles from Grimsvotn are larger than those from Eyjafjallajokull, and so fall to the ground more quickly.
A forecaster at Iceland's meteorological service said Grimsvotn was producing less ash on Tuesday and the plume had decreased in height to about 5,000m (16,400ft).
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-13535054
