Electronic voting disputed in France

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 In France, voting has traditionally been a low-tech experience: voters isolate themselves in a booth, put a pre-printed sheet of paper indicating their candidate of choice into an envelope. After officials verify the voter’s identity, the voter drops the envelope into the ballot box and signs the voting roll. French electoral…

Major explosions at UK oil depot

Sunday, December 11, 2005 A series of large explosions have occurred close to Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire, UK. The source of the explosions has been confirmed as the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal (HOSL), Hemel Hempstead, known locally as the Buncefield complex. Up to 150 fire fighters are reported to be at the scene with 10 fire…

Singapore and Brunei issue joint banknote

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 That Singapore and Brunei are today marking 40 years of currency interchangeability with a special banknote might come as a shock to some. And it’s not the part about the special banknote, it’s that the two small southeast Asian countries have had interchangeable currencies for 40 years. Singaporean Senior Minister Goh…

Gastric bypass surgery performed by remote control

Sunday, August 21, 2005 A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not…