Nasa to send new rover to Mars

The US space agency (Nasa) says it will launch a new rover to Mars in 2020. 

The vehicle will be based on its Curiosity robot, which landed on the Red Planet in August.
Nasa expects to re-use many of the technologies that worked so successfully in getting the one-tonne spacecraft down into the huge equatorial bowl known as Gale Crater.

This included a rocket-powered crane that lowered Curiosity to the surface on nylon cords.
The announcement of a follow-up robot was made at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, the world's largest annual gathering for Earth and planetary scientists, and a major showcase for Nasa-led research.

Full Story :  Nasa to send new rover to Mars

Dublin's 'godfather' killed in gang war

A SENIOR figure in Ireland's criminal underworld has been chased down the street and shot to death near his Dublin home, two years after surviving a similar assassination bid. 
 
In the latest chapter of a long-running feud involving Irish Republican Army die-hards, Eamon Kelly, a 65-year-old gang chief dubbed "The Godfather" by Dublin's tabloid press, was shot up to six times as he fled from a lone gunman, a police detective told The Associated Press.
The Real IRA paramilitary group was suspected of the hit.

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Vanishing African savannahs threaten lions

AFRICA'S savannahs, and the lions that have found their home there, are disappearing at an alarming rate, plummeting two thirds over the past 50 years, a study has found. 
 
Using new satellite data, Duke University researchers estimated that as few as 32,000 lions now live on the continent's savannahs, down from nearly 100,000 in 1960.

The declines were particularly dire in West Africa, where human populations have doubled over the past three decades, according to the study published in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation. It said fewer than 500 lions remain in the region.

Full Story : Vanishing African savannahs threaten lions

'World's oldest' person dies aged 116

The woman who was listed as the world's oldest person has died in a US nursing home, aged 116.

Besse Cooper died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon at Monroe, east of Atlanta, Georgia, according to her son Sidney Cooper.

Cooper said his mother had been ill over the weekend with a stomach virus, then felt better on Monday.
On Tuesday he said she had her hair set and watched a Christmas video, but later had trouble breathing.

Full Story : 'World's oldest' person dies aged 116