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Friday, November 6, 2009

Japan’s high-tech high-rise graveyards


High-tech and high-rise, the latest Japanese cemeteries offer a convenient and affordable place for souls to rest in peace. The six-story Kouanji (pronounced Koh-Ahn-Jee) Buddhist temple building in downtown Tokyo has inhabitants like no other. With the exception of the resident priest and his family - all occupants of the 6,850 lodgings are dead and resting in peace in vaults deep in storage. Kouanji is able to pack the remains of a maximum of 100,000 people or at least their ashes in one high-tech building has made these graveyard "plots" more accessible and affordable.

Shooting rocks military base in Texas


A US army major killed 12 people and wounded at least 30 others in a bloody rampage at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The lone shooter is still alive according to the base commander and is in hospital after undergoing surgery for his wounds. An Army psychiatrist opened fire with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, killing 12 and wounding 31 others, Army officials said, adding the suspect was shot several times but survived. Authorities identified the suspected gunman as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who had treated soldiers wounded in foreign wars preparing for foreign deployment at the post. "Our investigation is ongoing but preliminary reports indicate that there was a single shooter," Lieutenant-General Robert Cone, Fort Hood's commanding officer, told a news conference. "The shooter is not dead but in custody in stable condition." Cone said the suspect had been shot multiple times. He had previously said the suspect was killed by police officers during the attack at the biggest military facility in the world. "He's not currently speaking to investigators," Cone said of Hasan. Pressed on the suspect's condition, he said, "I would say his death is not imminent." Asked if the shootings were a terrorist act, Cone said, "I couldn't rule that out but ... the evidence does not suggest that." The Army said the gunman opened fire at about 1:30 p.m. CST (1930 GMT) at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center, a group of buildings where soldiers were getting medical check-ups before leaving for overseas deployments. Cone said the gunman had two weapons, one of them a semi-automatic. "There is no indication that they were military weapons," he said. It was one of the worst killing sprees ever reported on a U.S. military base. In May, a U.S. soldier at a base in Baghdad shot and killed five fellow soldiers. Cone said a college graduation ceremony for more than 100 soldiers was being held in an auditorium about 50 yards (metres) away when the shooting started. "Thanks to the quick reaction of several soldiers, they were able to close off the doors to that auditorium where there were some 600 people inside," Cone said. "As horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse," Cone said. Cone said soldiers as a rule do not carry weapons on the base. Military police and security guards are armed.

Space Tourism a Reality by 2012



The latest trend in eco-tourism is completely out of this world ... and right around the corner. Routine commercial travel to outer space may be the norm as soon as 2012, as the next generation of spacecraft — designed by private sector firms like Virgin Galactic, Orbital Sciences Corp., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and others — transport adventure-seeking civilians into low-Earth orbit. There, they can see the sun rise many times a day, and experience the breathtaking curve of planet Earth that only NASA astronauts such as Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin have previously seen. If they want to extend their stay, they can check in to the solar system’s first orbiting hotel, The Galactic Space Suite Hotel, set to open in three years.

Abbas 'not to seek re-election'



Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has said he will not seek re-election when elections are held in January, Palestinian officials have said. "The president insists on not running in the upcoming election," an official from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee said on Thursday. Another PLO official said Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction in the West Bank, will give a speech later on Thursday explaining his decision not to run. Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said: "At the end of the day it's not the presidency. "It's the question of the Israeli government continuing settlement activity, fait accompli policies, dictation; and nineteen years after trying to achive a two-state solution, maybe the president has come to his moment of truth, and I think he'll specify this personally."