News

Night vision technology has been around for a while, but it's only really used by professionals (or professional creeps) due to its prohibitive size. But what if night vision was something you could fit into a pair of contact lenses? You could keep a pair in your bag to slip in if you were going to be walking home alone in the dark, or even use them to take a night-time jaunt through a forest without spooking all the animals. All this and more could be possible in the future thanks to a new development by researchers in the US using graphene lenses to sense “the full infrared spectrum” plus visible and ultraviolet light. "We can make the entire design super-thin," said Zhaohui  Zhong, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan. "It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone." Current night vision technology needs bulky cooling equipment to stop the detectors getting confused by their own hea...

India turned down a Chinese offer to help it search for the missing Malaysian airliner in an area that is the Indian Navy’s backyard. The Chinese made a request detailing the equipment and personnel aboard four vessels to enter the waters of the Andaman Sea. India has already mounted search operations in a wider maritime area including the place requested for by the Chinese following a formal request by Malaysia to scour an area of about 5,000 km in the Indian Ocean. On Friday, two of its sophisticated planes will operate from Malaysia while some from its P-8 I and C-130 Hercules squadrons are already conducting operations over the area requested by Malaysia. “In addition to Coast Guard vessels, four naval warships are at work in the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea & West of Andaman Islands,” said naval officials. The Chinese had sent the request for permitting four vessels of which one was a salvage ship and two were warships for search operations in the Andaman...

Ships and aircraft on Thursday intensified search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight deep in the southern Indian Ocean, far to the west of Australia, after satellites picked up images of debris that officials said may be linked to the Boeing 777. Grainy images released by the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation showed what appeared to be debris in the vast and remote waters. One object was 24 metres long, and a second was five metres. A Norwegian ship that reached the area had not yet found any object likely to have come from flight MH370, an AFP report said. The images were captured on March 16, Australian officials said. They came to light only on Thursday because of the volume of images that had to be analysed. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said a daylong search on Thursday was conducted by two Royal Australia Air Force AP-3C Orions, a U.S. Navy P8 Poseidon, and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion over a 23,000-square km area, around 2,500 km s...

1.Russian Parliament approves treaty on Crimea The Russian Parliament has approved a treaty making Crimea part of Russia even as Ukraine proclaimed the region an “occupied territory” and threatened to go nuclear. 2.No overseas duty for Pak. troops’ Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday dismissed speculation that Pakistan was sending its troops abroad. News reports quoted him as saying in response to questions that no forces were being sent to Bahrain or Saudi Arabia and these countries had not asked for assistance. 3. My mission is to better India ties: Xi China’s President Xi Jinping said Thursday he saw improving relations with India as his “historic mission,” as the top Chinese leader met with the Indian envoy here. The Indian Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha, who began his term here in January, formally presented his credentials to Mr. Xi at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday afternoon. 4.Obama calls on Iran to seize oppo...