Legend has it that almost a century ago a series of railway wagons stuffed with gold sank into the depths of a lake in Siberia. This week, researchers, exploring the depths by submarine, may have found the Russian royals' lost gold. As Bair Tsyrenov slowly guided his Mir submersible up an underwater slope, a shimmer of gold was caught in the vehicle's headlights, 400 meters (1,300 feet) below the surface of Lake Baikal. First the ship's three-man crew discovered "steel girders that looked like railway bridges." Then they struck upon the "bars with a particular golden radiance," Tsyrenov, a researcher from the Lake Baikal Protection Fund, reports. The find, made by researchers at the beginning of this week, was a spectacular one. For the last two years, the two Mir submersible research vehicles, usually at work in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, have been operating in Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater body. These are the same two mini-submarines that brought the world the first underwater images of the Titanic. The Mir expedition to Lake Baikal was actually supposed to be finishing up around now. But the vessels are currently hot on the trail of a legend: the last czars' hoard of gold, which has been missing for 90 years and which, according to legend, lies in the depths of the Siberian lake.
Legend has it that almost a century ago a series of railway wagons stuffed with gold sank into the depths of a lake in Siberia. This week, researchers, exploring the depths by submarine, may have found the Russian royals' lost gold.
As Bair Tsyrenov slowly guided his Mir submersible up an underwater slope, a shimmer of gold was caught in the vehicle's headlights, 400 meters (1,300 feet) below the surface of Lake Baikal. First the ship's three-man crew discovered "steel girders that looked like railway bridges." Then they struck upon the "bars with a particular golden radiance," Tsyrenov, a researcher from the Lake Baikal Protection Fund, reports.
The find, made by researchers at the beginning of this week, was a spectacular one. For the last two years, the two Mir submersible research vehicles, usually at work in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, have been operating in Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater body. These are the same two mini-submarines that brought the world the first underwater images of the Titanic.
The Mir expedition to Lake Baikal was actually supposed to be finishing up around now. But the vessels are currently hot on the trail of a legend: the last czars' hoard of gold, which has been missing for 90 years and which, according to legend, lies in the depths of the Siberian lake.
Twenty years after it was squatted by a group of artists, Berlin's legendary Tacheles arts center faces the threat of closure. The building, which became famous as part of the city's heady 1990s counterculture, has become the symbol of a new struggle against gentrification in Berlin. Martin Reiter is thinking about locking himself into a cage and having it suspended in front of Tacheles, the way criminals were treated in the Middle Ages. It's not a bad idea, he says. Reiter is 47, his curly hair is slowing turning gray, but it's still shoulder-length and his eyes sparkle. The Berlin arts center Kunsthaus Tacheles, which has been an iconic symbol of the city's rebellious, post-reunification counter-culture for two decades, is on its last legs. The artists are about to be evicted, and bankruptcy proceedings have begun against Reiter's association, Tacheles e.V. The evictions could start at any moment.
Martin Reiter is thinking about locking himself into a cage and having it suspended in front of Tacheles, the way criminals were treated in the Middle Ages. It's not a bad idea, he says. Reiter is 47, his curly hair is slowing turning gray, but it's still shoulder-length and his eyes sparkle.
The Berlin arts center Kunsthaus Tacheles, which has been an iconic symbol of the city's rebellious, post-reunification counter-culture for two decades, is on its last legs. The artists are about to be evicted, and bankruptcy proceedings have begun against Reiter's association, Tacheles e.V. The evictions could start at any moment.
Berlin's iconic Tacheles arts center is threatened with eviction despite becoming a city landmark and major tourist destination. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Harvard professor Svetlana Boym talks about Tacheles' role in Berlin's post-reunification identity and how activists can shape the urban environment by taking over unused spaces.
Alcohol consumption dropped in the UK at the sharpest rate for 60 years, according to industry figures yesterday. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said drinkers drank 8.4 litres of wine, beer and spirits in 2009, six per cent lower than 2008. It stressed Britons were now consuming 13 per cent less alcohol than in 2004, with consumption remaining below the EU average.
Alcohol consumption dropped in the UK at the sharpest rate for 60 years, according to industry figures yesterday.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said drinkers drank 8.4 litres of wine, beer and spirits in 2009, six per cent lower than 2008. It stressed Britons were now consuming 13 per cent less alcohol than in 2004, with consumption remaining below the EU average.
Butbutbut, is all the alcohol drunk on the beaches of Benidorm, Ibiza, Mallorca or Crete included? *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Helen, what the hell have you been doing, or in this case, NOT doing? You're letting us down. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
Unlike the House of Commons, membership of the House of Lords is not attained by election from the population as a whole, but by inheritance or by appointment (Lords Temporal), or by virtue of their ecclesiastical role within the established church (Lords Spiritual).
OMG, the US Senate is bad enough but THIS?! You are screwed! In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
The pathologist who carried out the first post-mortem examination on newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, who died at the G20 protest, was suspended from the medical register for three months today. A General Medical Council disciplinary panel previously ruled that Dr Freddy Patel acted in a way that amounted to misconduct in two earlier post-mortem examinations, meaning his fitness to practise was impaired. The panel also ruled that Dr Patel had displayed deficient professional performance in a third post-mortem. He has already been suspended from the Home Office register of forensic pathologists after questions were asked about the autopsy carried out on the body of 47-year-old Mr Tomlinson, who died in London in April last year.
The pathologist who carried out the first post-mortem examination on newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, who died at the G20 protest, was suspended from the medical register for three months today.
A General Medical Council disciplinary panel previously ruled that Dr Freddy Patel acted in a way that amounted to misconduct in two earlier post-mortem examinations, meaning his fitness to practise was impaired.
The panel also ruled that Dr Patel had displayed deficient professional performance in a third post-mortem.
He has already been suspended from the Home Office register of forensic pathologists after questions were asked about the autopsy carried out on the body of 47-year-old Mr Tomlinson, who died in London in April last year.
REUTERS - A Portuguese court, giving its first findings in one of the country's longest and highest profile trials, ruled on Friday that all seven defendants committed child abuse at a state orphanage. The defendants, including a well-known television presenter, a former diplomat and two doctors, are charged with being members of a network that systematically abused children from the Casa Pia state home for orphans. ...The judges will continue reading out their findings before announcing their verdicts and handing down sentences later in the day, ending a trial that has lasted six years.
REUTERS - A Portuguese court, giving its first findings in one of the country's longest and highest profile trials, ruled on Friday that all seven defendants committed child abuse at a state orphanage.
The defendants, including a well-known television presenter, a former diplomat and two doctors, are charged with being members of a network that systematically abused children from the Casa Pia state home for orphans.
...The judges will continue reading out their findings before announcing their verdicts and handing down sentences later in the day, ending a trial that has lasted six years.
RUPERT MURDOCH's Times of London has seen its web traffic plummet 90% ever since it started charging for content back in May, and online advertisers are fleeing as a result. You know it's bad when publicists don't want to work with you anymore. NEW RANK: #81
