Science & Technology News

By Joseph Ax and Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme relied on reams of fake trading documents to fool regulators for decades. Now he may be the victim of a forgery himself, after a U.S. judge on Wednesday denied a bizarre motion supposedly filed by Madoff that claimed the U.S. intelligence agencies used “bio-electric sensors” to influence the case against him. Madoff’s signature did not match his typical one, and the letter contained numerous typing mistakes and a handwritten rant. Another man was listed below Madoff’s purported signature as “legal asst” Frederick Banks.

These small spheres can cause havoc on a cricket pitch, and are the most treasured objects for the bowling sides It is a little cherry, round and …

An Israeli cabinet minister said on Thursday that a pullout of troops from Gaza was not imminent and that Israel’s army would continue hunting Palestinian cross-border tunnels under any humanitarian truce. Egyptians mediating between Israel and Gaza’s dominant Hamas Islamists have said hostilities could be suspended, perhaps by the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival early next week, to allow aid to reach the territory and to faciliate more permanent truce talks. “I do not see a ceasefire in the coming days where the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) leave,” Science Minister Yaakov Peri, a former security chief, told the Walla news site, adding that troops needed more time to complete their mission of destroying cross-border tunnels used by Gaza guerrillas.

These small spheres can cause havoc on a cricket pitch, and are the most treasured objects for the bowling sides It is a little cherry, round and …

By Marcy Nicholson NEW YORK (Reuters) – An upstart U.S. food technology company has developed a unique fermentation process using mushrooms to reduce bitterness in cocoa beans that it believes will cut sugar content in chocolate candy. A year after first launching its fermentation method to reduce bitterness in coffee beans, one of the world’s biggest commodity markets, MycoTechnology, Inc is expanding into cocoa and will launch its process on Tuesday.

(Reuters) – India’s accusation that paceman Jimmy Anderson “abused and pushed” spinner Ravindra Jadeja during the first drawn test at Trent Bridge may be a tactical move by the tourists, England skipper Alastair Cook said on Wednesday. England are contesting the misconduct charges brought against Anderson by the International Cricket Council (ICC) – and the episode is threatening to overshadow the second test which begins at Lord’s on Thursday. It’s probably a tactic by India, if we are being honest,” Cook told reporters.

By Sami Aboudi DUBAI (Reuters) – The Kuwaiti government has threatened to revoke the citizenship of people suspected of trying to “undermine the stability” of the oil-rich monarchy, local media reported on Tuesday. The warning is part of an “iron fist” policy adopted by the cabinet on Monday night, following protests earlier this month over the arrest of a prominent opposition politician. “The Interior Ministry is assigned to take all measures that are necessary to ensure the presence of the conditions and requirements provided for by Kuwaiti citizenship law number 15 of 1959, both in form and spirit, and especially in relation to the practices aimed at undermining security and stability,” the cabinet said in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA. Kuwaiti political analyst Shamlan Alessa said the measure was aimed at naturalised Kuwaitis who have joined the opposition.

By Fiona Ortiz CORNELLA DE LLOBREGAT Spain (Reuters) – Francesca Munoz, the principal at Sant Miquel primary school near Barcelona, is fighting a linguistic crusade that has fuelled a remarkable recovery of the local Catalan tongue – and of the region’s secessionist movement. For 30 years, public schools in Spain’s Catalonia region have taught most subjects in Catalan, not the national Castilian Spanish language. There are now some 10 million Catalan speakers in or near the region bordering France and the Mediterranean, putting the language in a league with Swedish and Greek after it was repressed under the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Such is the strength of the Catalan renaissance that it is prompting a backlash among some parents concerned their children are getting short-changed on Spanish, the world’s second-most spoken language by native speakers after Mandarin.

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The truism that friends are the family you choose may be more accurate than you might suppose. A study published on Monday found that people are apt to pick friends who are genetically similar to themselves – so much so that friends tend to be as alike at the genetic level as a person’s fourth cousin. The researchers compared people identified as friends to those who were not. The study showed people were most similar to their friends in olfactory genes, which involve the sense of smell, and were least similar in relation to immune system genes.

By Nita Bhalla NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The new government’s budget shows no real commitment towards the environment and is not transformational because it does not allocate enough funds towards promoting renewable energy or public transport and appears to favour corporates over people, environmentalists said on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which swept to power in May, said on Thursday that it would invest in very large solar power projects and establish a fund to help farmers adapt to changing weather patterns as a result of climate change. “The steps on renewable energy and energy efficiency are not transformational and the attempt to force fit coal production to clear the irrational power proposals, is a signal that the reality of climate change has far from been recognised by this government,” said Vinuta Gopal, head of climate and energy at Greenpeace India.