News without Politics
Russia is due to develop a rocket glider in the next few years to send tourists on suborbital flights. At first, the spacecraft will be able to carry 14 tourists, but, the number of seats will eventually grow bigger. The glider will be fastened to a carrier-plane and will detach at an altitude of 36 kilometres (22 miles) to rise to the border between the atmosphere and outer space, at some 100 kilometres (62 miles). The passengers will experience weightlessness as the glider climbs up to its ceiling.
The AU Optronics Company is the first to have come up with a technology of building bent LCD screens on a glass mount. The screens could be used in the production of watches and gauge boards. The advantage of the new technology over existing flexible electronic newspaper is its advanced colour grade and image quality.
In New York, a Wall Street restaurant placed a hamburger priced at 175 dollars (4,120 roubles. 110 euros. 88 UK pounds) on the menu. The owners of the Wall Street Burger Shoppe point out they wanted to come up with something really exceptional for their guests. To justify the price, the hamburgers are placed on slices of Japanese delicatessen beef, black truffles, foie gras (that’s goose liver), Gruyère French cheese, and forest mushrooms. A standard everyday hamburger at the restaurant goes for a mere four dollars (94 roubles. 2.50 euros. 2 UK pounds).
In Turkey, the very first day of a ban on indoor smoking changed the routine of those indulging in the pernicious habit. Groups of office workers emerged from the inside of their company buildings out into the street to have a pull or two at their fags. They really seemed to care little for yet another related ban, that on smoking by the entries to their buildings. What they were really concerned about was spotting a dustbin to throw their cigarette butts into.
21 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27299&cid=87&p=21.05.2008 (in English)
Mexican President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (1962- ) (left) with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (1945- )
A proposal by Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa to set up an international fund with the initial capital of 10 billion dollars (235 billion roubles. 6.34 billion euros. 5.05 billion UK pounds) to combat global warming will be presented to the G-8 countries at a ministerial conference in Japan on Sunday. The fund, known as “The Green Fund”, is designed to finance nature protection projects and should bring together all countries of the globe, for all share responsibility for climate change on the planet.
The American company “BioArts International” put its dog-cloning services to global auction. A notice placed on the biotechnology firm’s website says that five dog owners will have a chance to bring their loved ones back to life. All hopefuls are to register at the site, and the auction will take place online on 18 June. The initial auction price is 100,000 dollars (2.354 million roubles. 63,410 euros. 50,490 UK pounds). The company argues that it has an exclusive license on the cloning of dogs, cats, and endangered species using the method patented by Ian Wilmot, who cloned Dolly the sheep in Scotland in July 1996.
A lost African parrot was returned to its owner after it was caught by police officers on top of a roof in the town of Nagarayama. A vet at the veterinary clinic the parrot was delivered to established good contact with the bird, prompting it to give him his the full name, Yoshio Nakamura, and the address of his owner. The parrot also performed a number of songs for the clinic’s personnel.
22 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27368&cid=87&p=22.05.2008 (in English)
The presentation of the only dictionary of Australian idioms in Russian was held in Sydney. The author of the dictionary, Russian citizen Natalia Golub, who moved to Australia 14 years ago and since been working as a translator, gives her colleagues worldwide a chance to get to know Australian English better. The book contains almost 200 pages of translations of popular Australian jokes, slang expressions, sayings, and double-meaning words. The dictionary was published with the assistance of Sydney city hall and the Jewish Care organisation.
The names Dean, Felix, and Noel were retired by members of the 30th Session of the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Association IV Hurricane Committee during its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. Members of the Committee said those were three of the most devastating storms of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Since 1953, 70 names have been retired.
Mr Greg Losh, a resident of Selma, Indiana, found oil in his backyard. Now, he has his own oil well and produces three barrels of crude per day. Mr Losh says he knew nothing about oil before, but, now, he has a kind of an oil fever. Mr Losh is very optimistic about his business and expects to drill a few more wills. The oil is stored in a tank and transported to Ohio for sale.
23 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27426&cid=87&p=23.05.2008 (in English)
If the Ukraine joins NATO, its relations with Russia would suffer
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (1950- )
If the Ukraine became a member of NATO, its relations with Russia would suffer. A statement released by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Friday said that the nature of modern-day threats and challenges calls for new and collective responses rather than a mechanical expansion of Cold War-era military-political alliances. The Russian military chief of staff said earlier that if the Ukraine and Georgia joined NATO, Moscow would respond by boosting its own defences. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has pledged every effort to prevent the integration of these two former Soviet republics into the Western alliance.
24 May 2008
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=27469&cid=45&p=24.05.2008 (in English)
Voice of Russia World Service
