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Russian submarine rescued by Royal Navy A trapped Russian submarine, located in a bay in the country's northeast region, has been rescued by the Royal Navy. The crew, consisting of seven officers and midshipman is unharmed. "The crew opened the hatch and climbed the rescue ship's deck on their own," reported a Russian admiral. "The rescue operation was completed successfully. We thank everyone, and especially the British rescue crew." Robin Cook dead after collapsing Robin Cook, the former British foreign secretary and current Member of Parliament, has died of a suspected heart attack after collapsing during a walk on Ben Stack hill in Scotland. Cook, aged 59, was airlifted to a hospital 90 minutes after the collapse. He was reported dead five minutes later.

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America's atomic bombing commemoration held in Hiroshima The 60th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb against a city has been remembered in a ceremony in Hiroshima, Japan. The atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was dropped on Hiroshima at precisely 08:15 on August 6 1945.. Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing, speaking at yesterday's ceremony, said "As the years go by so many of my friends and relatives die. This must not be forgotten." Now 80, he recounted some of the details of what he witnessed that day." Describing in grim detail the events of the bombing, Tsuboi commented, "I was thinking that if I die here, I would feel so sad and alone. Everyone had given up; no help was coming. We were beyond pain."
Wikipedia Current Events
Conflict in Iraq: 39 people have died, including at least two U.S. soldiers, following a series of insurgent attacks throughout Iraq. A 10 year old Israeli boy is severely wounded after being shot in the head by an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gunman outside the Jewish settlement of Ateret in the West Bank. A Palestinian man, Muhammad Qashta, is shot dead as he stands outside his home in Rafah, Gaza Strip. IDF soldiers fire shots to the head and chest from an observation post. Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister of Israel, resigns his cabinet post as Finance Minister in protest against the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been appointed to succeed him Russian Priz class mini-submarine AS-28 and its 7 crewmembers are saved at 03:25 UTC off the Pacific coast. England wins the second match of The 2005 Ashes test cricket series over Australia in a nailbiter, winning by 2 runs at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England.

Netanyahu quits over Israel's pullout plan

Israeli Finance Minster Benjamin Netanyahu has resigned from the cabinet Sunday to protest against the upcoming Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank according to a ministry spokesman.

Netanyahu submitted a resignation letter to Ariel Sharon that he said counts as his vote against the pullout plan. He also told reporters, "I understand the ambition to leave Gaza. I can't be part of a move that I believe is wrong, a move that will endanger security and divide the people."

Sharon pushed for the pullout within his highly split Likud Party, which in a recent 17 to 5 vote, approved the evacuation plan. The Israeli Army will assist in evacuation efforts of the first group of settlers in Netzarim, Kfar Darom, and Morag.

Sharon named the Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the new finance minister.

The forced evacuations, or "disengagement", of settlers is due to start after August 15. There are nearly 8,500 Jewish residents who live within fortified fences in Gaza. The settlements are surrounded by an Arab Palestinian population of approximately 1.5 million.

In a Sunday news conference, Netanyahu said the current evacuation plan has similarities to the 1993 Oslo Accords. In that accord, Netanyahu had drawn criticism in his role as Prime Minister for what some say was a failure to adequately insure Israeli security. The Palestinians gained more autonomy over some parts of the occupied territories in the accords.

Netanyahu said of the Gaza withdrawal, the Palestinian leadership is again being rewarded without concession.

The resignation is seen as a step by Netanyahu towards challenging Sharon for the leadership of the Likud party once the pullout is over. Netanyahu may have an opportunity to win back the party by placing himself in the national camp.

Ibrahim Ferrer dies at 79

The famous Cuban singer and member of Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, died Saturday in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 79. The cause was an illness with which he returned from a tour of Europe.

Ferrer was born February 20, 1927 near Santiago de Cuba. He became an orphan at 12 and started working in coffee fields, carried sugar, worked in shipyards, sold newspapers and candy, and cleaned shoes. He was also singing in local bars and Orquesta Chepin-Choven noticed him. They recorded a locally succesful song El Platanar de Bartolo, but he did not get much credit for it.

He got world famous only when he got old, as a part of Buena Vista Social Club. He recorded two solo albums: Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer and Buenos Hermanos.

Larson B ice-shelf collapse reveals exotic organisms isolated for 10,000 years

The 2002 collapse of the Antarctic Larsen B Ice Shelf, which seemingly had remained stable for 10,000 years, has revealed a cold seep containing ecosystems that seem to have been isolated from the outside world for 10,000 years by a 600-foot ice shelf.

The discovery was made during an expedition led by Eugene Domack investigating the cause of the collapse. He concluded that the collapse was caused by long term gradual thinning of the shelf, followed by a recent increase in surface air temperature.

The cold seep is nearly 1.5 million square kilometers in area, and sits about 2,800 feet below the surface. The source of energy for the ecosystem has not yet been discovered, but Domack and his colleagues propose that it is methane, rather than sunlight or hot vents, that supplies energy to the system.

Domack warns that the collapse of the ice shelf may have disrupted and may possibly destroy the unusual ecosystem.

America's atomic bombing commemoration held in Hiroshima

Hiroshima aftermath

The 60th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb against people has been remembered in a ceremony yesterday in Hiroshima, Japan.

The atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was dropped on Hiroshima at precisely 08:15 on August 6 1945 by the specially converted United States Army Air Force B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.

The recommendation to drop the atomic bomb without warning was made by an 8 man committee headed by George Harrison who was Secretary of War Henry Stimson's special assistant for matters relating to the development of the atomic bomb. Both Harrison and Stimson were members of Skull and Bones

Three days later, another atomic bomb "Fat Man", was dropped on nearby Nagasaki.

The Japanese Government surrendered unconditionally on 15 August, and signed the formal surrender on the USS Missouri on 2 September in Tokyo Bay.

The dropping of the bomb has been condemned by critics and anti-nuclear campaigners, who say other methods could have been used to end the war. Advocates, however, say that an invasion of Japan — to be known as Operation Downfall — would have cost millions of Allied and Japanese lives, citing the ferocity of fighting experienced during the Battle of Okinawa, and that the bombings avoided this.

Approximately 140,000 people died within days from the initial blast and during the following year from radiation. The total death toll was almost half of Hiroshima's population.

"As the years go by so many of my friends and relatives die. This must not be forgotten." Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing, said. Now he is 80, and he recounted some of the details of what he witnessed that day:

"We were all barefoot. One woman's skin was hanging from her chest, another woman's eye was hanging from its socket and resting on her chin, and one young girl's guts had spilled out."

Tsuboi saw people jumping into a river which was already full of bodies. He said, "I was thinking that if I die here, I would feel so sad and alone. Everyone had given up; no help was coming.We were beyond pain." Tsuboi has since lost skin on his forehead and nose as well as part of his ears. He still goes to hospital every two weeks for treatment.

Russian submarine rescued by Royal Navy

A Russian submarine trapped during a training exercise in Berezov Bay, 75km south of Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka, has been rescued after it was cut free by a Royal Navy Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The crew of seven officers and midshipmen, who spent three days in temperatures around 6 C, were unharmed.

The submarine appeared on the surface at 7:25am local time. "The crew opened the hatch and climbed the rescue ship's deck on their own," said admiral Victor Fyedorov. The first aid to the crew was given on ship Alagez, and they were transfered to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka hospital.

The British Scorpio ROV cut fishing nets and debris, freeing the trapped submarine. "The rescue operation was completed successfully. We thank everyone, and especially the British rescue crew," said Fyedorov.

The submarine will be repaired and modernized. "After salvaging it, AS-28 will be carried on one of the rescue ship's decks to the coast, where specialists will examine it," said a spokesperson of VMS ("Company for secondary metal and boats"). Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged an inquiry into the incident.

The United States and Japan also sent equipment to help in the rescue, however it was not used.

Crew

Vyacheslav Milashevskiy (Вячеслав Милашевский), captain-lieutenant

Antoliy Popov (Анатолий Попов), navigator

Sergey Belezerov (Сергей Белозеров)

Alexandr Uybin (Александр Уйбин)

Alexandr Ivanov (Александр Иванов)

Valeriy Lepotyuha (Валерий Лепетюха)

Henadiy Polonin (Геннадий Полонин)

Today in History
1876 - Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph machine.

1929 - German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin embarked on a flight to circumnavigate the world.

1930 - Betty Boop made her first appearance as an animated cartoon character in Max Fleischer's Talkartoon.

1938 - Holocaust: The Mauthausen concentration camp was opened.

1967 - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

August 08 is Father's Day in Taiwan

Quote of the Day

"It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one is on a sure line of progress." ~ Paul Dirac

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