Australia royal hoax radio station to review procedures

PERTH, Australia/LONDON (Reuters) - An Australian radio station under fire over a prank call to a hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate said on Sunday it would review its procedures after a nurse's apparent suicide.New South Wales Police said they were in contact with London's police force and were ready to assist in any investigation, as the incident sparked fresh soul-searching...

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NZ gov't: Building that collapsed in Christchurch quake was poorly built and designed

SYDNEY - A six-story office building that collapsed and killed 115 people in New Zealand's devastating earthquake last year was poorly designed by an inexperienced engineer, inadequately constructed and should never have been issued a building permit, a government report said Monday.The Canterbury Television (CTV) building crumbled to the ground during the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that rocked Christchurch...

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Rugby-Lock Williams named Blues captain in Mealamu's absence

Dec 10 (Reuters) - All Black lock Ali Williams will captain the Blues during the 2013 Super Rugby season in the absence of Keven Mealamu, the Auckland-based team said on Monday. Veteran hooker Mealamu is on extended leave and will not return until mid-March as he recovers from the rigours of a hectic 2012 season with the All Blacks and the Blues, who finished last in the New Zealand conference. "I...

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Australian DJs behind royal hoax call tearfully apologize following nurse's death

SYDNEY - The Australian radio hosts behind a hoax phone call to the British hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was staying said through tears that they were shattered upon learning that the nurse who was duped by their prank had died.2DayFM radio DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian have faced worldwide outrage over the hoax. They spoke publicly about the prank for the first time Monday...

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UN chief urges faster response to global warming

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged governments to speed up talks to forge a joint response to global warming, describing it as an "existential challenge for the whole human race."Ban addressed the opening of the high-level segment of annual U.N. climate talks, involving environment ministers and climate officials from nearly 200 countries. They're discussing future...

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Texas teen takes home $100K national science prize

WASHINGTON (AP) — A high school student from Texas  has won a $100,000 scholarship for a developing a computer algorithm that helps robots navigate around obstacles, an algorithm that could be used in applications like driverless cars.The Siemens Foundation announced the winners of its annual science competition for high school students during a ceremony in Washington on Tuesday. Top individual...

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Women can tell a cheating man just by looking at them - study

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Women can tell with some accuracy whether an unfamiliar male is faithful simply by looking at his face, but men seem to lack the same ability when checking out women, according to an Australian study published on Wednesday.In a paper that appeared in the journal Biology Letters, the researchers found that women tended to make that judgement based on how masculine-looking the...

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Government finds extra money for science in austere times

LONDON (Reuters) - Intense lobbying by Britain's science community seems to be paying off as Chancellor George Osborne announced an extra 600 million pounds for capital investment in science over the next three years.The new money follows a string of recent decisions to spend more on science, including 50 million pounds for a graphene research centre in Manchester and a 30 percent increase in Britain's...

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Arctic's Record Melt Worries Scientists

 SAN FRANCISCO — Arctic glaciers retreated at record levels in 2012, while summer snow melted in the region much more rapidly than it has in the past, according to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).The findings, presented here Wednesday (Dec. 5) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, are part of the annual "Arctic Report Card," which was...

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