The Greek Island of Kos | Euromaxx Travelogue

Published on Nov 1, 2012 by deutschewelleenglish

Today's travelogue takes us to a Greek island that is famous for its fabulous beaches. It welcomes some five hundred thousand tourists every year but is never overcrowded. It is located just five kilometres from the Turkish mainland. For more go to http://www.dw.de/euromaxx-lifestyle-europe-2012-10-31/e-16298673-9798.

Crash test lab hopes to reduce road fatalities in Southeast Asia

Published on Oct 30, 2012 by australianetworknews

An independent crash test laboratory has opened in Malaysia to try to improve car safety in ASEAN countries.

Moscow Skyscraper Tallest European Building-to-be

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by NTDTV

At 1,017 feet tall, Moscow's Mercury City skyscraper will become Europe's tallest building when unveiled in December.

.....

'Good', says Koshik the talking Korean elephant

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Scientists who have investigated an elephant's reported talking skills say there is clear evidence that he can speak Korean.

The 22-year-old elephant, called Koshik, who grew up with only humans for company, knows five words.

When filmed at the Everland Zoo in Yongin, near Seoul, he managed only one: "choah" which means "good". His keeper explained his unchatty behaviour by saying Koshik does not want to say anything while strangers are around.

The other words he has mastered are the Korean for "hello", "no", "sit down" and "lie down".

"This research shows Koshik obviously learned and imitated human speech to establish a relationship with his keepers," said Sukhun Oh, a co-researcher, at Everland.

"To create these very accurate imitations of speech formant frequencies, this elephant places his trunk inside this mouth, modulating the shape of the vocal tract during controlled phonation", the scientists report said.

Researcher Dr Angela Stoeger said Koshik's ability to imitate human speech provided an important basis to study the evolutionary and biological angles for learning human speech ability.

euronews business planet: New 'business hotel' scheme revives French region

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Boosting entrepreneurship to combat an ageing population: the French region of Auvergne started investing in its entrepreneurs a few years back.

And the results are promising: hundreds of jobs have been created and young entrepreneurs are being drawn back to the region.

David and Eric are both trained boilermakers in their mid-twenties.

They have set up a business making designer furniture out of steel, stainless steel and zinc using enamelled lava, leather and carbon for decoration.

Turnover last year reached 100,000 euros. Their goal is to double this figure in the coming year and hire a sales person.

Their strength is their know-how - among their clients are some of the biggest art galleries.

But they also know they must adapt to the realities of the marketplace.

"Our family, friends and other people tell us: 'What you do is great, but we can't afford that kind of thing'," says Eric Romero, co-founder of Tred Arts.

"We are very aware of how much people have to spend, whether it's a large sum or a smaller sum. We adapt each product to the client's budget and desires," adds his business partner Eric Seguinotte.

...

US east coast struggles to recover after Sandy

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ As the US east coast struggles to recover after the battering from superstorm Sandy, its now known at least 95 people died. Officials have warned that number could rise as a house-by-house search in coastal towns continues.

In New Jersey Governor Chris Christie welcomed the news that at least 1,000 people had been rescued, but after his tour acknowledged Sandy had caused emotional as well as physical devastation.

The clean-up has begun but what is making it all the more daunting is the lack of power and petrol.

"We have no lights, no gas, everything is down in Jersey City. So we drove all the way here, and we ran out of gas on the way coming. So we had to walk the rest of the way to get gas," said one New Jersey resident.

In New York the roads are clogged by those who have fuel as public transport remains patchy while there's concern for safety in the city's darkened neighbourhoods.

"By Sunday will have electricity back downtown, that will free up an enormous number of police. Also a lot of the transportation needs that we have during the week aren't there on the weekends," said New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg as he gave his latest upate on the situation.

One area of relief was the partial reopening of the subway system. But the financial cost of Sandy keeps rising with estimates now put at around 50 billion dollars (39 billion euros) - that's twice the previous figure.

Find us on:
Youtube http://bit.ly/zr3upY
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/euronews.fans
Twitter http://twitter.com/euronews

Mini queues for iPad mini in Asia

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Apple loyalists queued across Asia to get their hands on the company's new iPad mini, yet crowds were down previous global rollouts.

It is thought the price of the device is an issue for consumers as similar rival technologies are available for less cash.

Still in Seoul, South Korea, fans took a bite from the latest Apple offering:

"I came from Incheon. I bought an iPad mini after waiting one and half hours. I am really happy. I was using an third generation iPad, but it was a little too heavy. IPad Mini is lighter, so I bought it," said one happy customer.

In Hong Kong, Apple's flagship store was relatively quiet compared to previous launches with staff outnumbering clients.

Unveiled last week, the iPad mini has had a relatively good press, but the screen is considered inferior to rivals and the price too high for something that replicates its full-sized relative.

Find us on:
Youtube http://bit.ly/zr3upY
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/euronews.fans
Twitter http://twitter.com/euronews