'RoboClam' could anchor submarines

A new burrowing robot for anchoring miniature submarines has been developed - inspired by the humble razor clam.

"RoboClam" could be used to lay undersea cables, and potentially even destroy mines, its inventors say.

The device mimics the digging action used by razor clams to turn solid soil into liquid "quicksand", helping them slide through.

A prototype is described in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics by engineers from MIT in Boston, US.

They set out to design a new low-power, light-weight anchor for autonomous underwater vehicles.

"Luckily, nature had already done the work for us," said Dr Kerstin Nordstrom, of the University of Maryland, who collaborated on the research.

The answer was poking out of mudflats off the coast at nearby Gloucester, MA.

The Atlantic razor clam, Ensis directus, has been dubbed "the Ferrari of underwater diggers".

An animal of its modest frame (10-20cm) should only be strong enough to penetrate 2cm into packed sand. But it can burrow up to 70cm in just over a minute.

The MIT researchers say their robot digs as fast as a razor clam

Compared to existing anchor technology "the razor clam is about 10 times more efficient," Dr Nordstrom 

To dig for half a kilometre, it would only use the energy in an AA battery.

"But when you try plunging the shell into the sand, it doesn't actually penetrate very far," said Dr Nordstrom.

"What this shows is the clam must be actively doing something to the ground when it digs."

The prototype was bulky but RoboClam will be developed into a sleeker unit

To find out the razor clam's secret, they studied its digging action and modelled it mechanically.

The repeated open-shut of the clam's valves turned the hard-packed soil around it into quicksand.

"The clam's trick is to move its shells in such a way as to liquefy the soil around its body, reducing the drag acting upon it," said Amos Winter, of MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

"Pushing through sand costs a lot of energy. But if the sand is excited, it's actually very easy. That's the trick," added Dr Nordstrom.

By mimicking the action of the razor clam, they built their own robotic prototype - which has achieved the same digging speed - about 1cm per second.

The first "RoboClam" can only reach 20cm, and requires a significant rig of machinery to propel it.

But having demonstrated the principle, the team now aims to develop a larger, self-contained unit, that can burrow more than 10 metres.

This could be used to anchor larger vessels, and may have military applications - such as detonating mines, the researchers suggest.

"The cool thing is this technology is already 10 times more efficient than any anchor. If we can keep scaling things up, some day it will affect big boats," said Dr Nordstrom.

"Also - undersea cable installation is happening more and more frequently. If we can do it more efficiently we can save costs and cause less disturbance to the environment," she said.

Amos Winter agrees: "Having a system that could just latch onto the cable, work its way along, and automatically dig it into the soil would be great," he said.

Challenge to Titanic sinking theory

The wreck of the Titanic now lies at a depth of 3,800 m (12,500ft)

UK scientists have challenged the idea that the Titanic was unlucky for sailing in a year when there were an exceptional number of icebergs in the North Atlantic.

The ocean liner sank on its maiden voyage 102 years ago, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

The new analysis found the iceberg risk was high in 1912, but not extreme, as has previously been suggested.

The work by a University of Sheffield team appears in the journal Weather.

The iceberg which sank the Titanic was spotted just before midnight on 14 April 1912, some 500m away. Despite quick action to slow the ship and turn to port, it wasn't enough. About 100m of the hull buckled below the waterline and the liner sank in just two-and-a-half hours.

Reports of unusually bad ice in the North Atlantic started to emerge shortly after the disaster. At the time, US officials told the New York Times that a warm winter had caused "an enormously large crop of icebergs".

In the days leading up to that fateful night, the prevailing winds and temperatures, assisted by ocean currents, had conspired to transport icebergs and sea-ice further south than was normal at that time of year.

This iceberg, with a red streak of paint along its side, may have been the one that sank RMS Titanic

All this has led researchers to seek explanations for a supposedly awesome flotilla of ice in the North Atlantic. One US group has proposed that an unusually close approach to Earth by the Moon caused abnormally high tides in the winter of 1912, which in turn encouraged a greater than usual amount of ice to break off Greenland's glaciers.

In the latest study, Grant Bigg and David Wilton from Sheffield University's department of geography studied data collected by the US Coast Guard and extending back to 1900.

Observational techniques have changed over the years, complicating comparisons. But the researchers say that a good measure of the volume of icebergs is given by the number that passed the circle of latitude at 48 degrees North, across an area of ocean stretching from Newfoundland to about 40 degrees West.

They found that the record showed great variation in the volume of ice from year to year. And although the iceberg flux from Greenland in 1912 was indeed high, with 1,038 icebergs observed crossing the 48th parallel, this number was neither unusual nor unprecedented.

In the surrounding decades, from 1901-1920, there were five years with at least 700 icebergs crossing 48 degrees North. And the coast guard record shows there was a larger flux of icebergs in 1909 than in 1912.

Prof Bigg told the flux was at the "large end" but "not outstandingly large" for the first 60-70 years of the 20th Century.

Using the coast guard record and other data, the researchers also developed a computer simulation to examine the likely trajectories of icebergs in 1912. Using this model, they were able to trace the likely origin of the iceberg that sank the Titanic to southwest Greenland.

They suggest that it broke off a glacier in that area in early autumn 1911 and started off as a floating hunk measuring roughly 500m long and 300m deep.

Its mass by mid-April 1912 - as predicted by the computer model - agrees very closely with the size of an iceberg bearing a streak of red paint that was photographed by Captain William Squares DeCarteret of the Minia, a ship that joined the search for bodies and wreckage at the site of the disaster.

Pistorius: I did not pick on Reeva

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has denied "picking on" his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, as his cross-examination continues.

He was commenting on a mobile phone message Ms Steenkamp sent him.

The prosecution has been trying to portray Mr Pistorius as self-obsessed and negligent with firearms.

Mr Pistorius denies murdering Ms Steenkamp, saying he accidentally shot her dead through a door, fearing there was a burglar in his house.

Prosecutors say the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter intentionally killed his girlfriend on 14 February last year by firing a gun through a bathroom door at her after a row at his Pretoria home.

Mr Pistorius, 27, who is a double amputee, faces life imprisonment if convicted of murdering the 29-year-old model, reality TV celebrity and law graduate.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother, June, again followed Mr Pistorius' testimony closely

Before Thursday's proceedings closed for the day, chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel focused his questioning on events before the shooting.

He led Mr Pistorius through the moments after he woke up at 03:00, getting out of bed to bring in two fans from the balcony and close the sliding doors.

Mr Nel took issue with Mr Pistorius's assertion that he did not hear Reeva Steenkamp get out of bed to go to the toilet.

He also showed a police photograph of the bedroom, taken three hours after the shooting, which he said contradicted Mr Pistorius's version of where the fans and a duvet had been placed.

"Your version is a lie," Mr Nel said - something the defendant denied.

In a second day of intense cross-examination, Mr Pistorius said he had not meant to pull the trigger, even to fire at an intruder.

"It was an accident... I didn't have time to think," he said, his voice trembling after he had been generally calm in contrast to previous days.

Mr Nel, known as the "bull terrier" in South Africa for his fierce questioning, also suggested Mr Pistorius was only concerned about himself during the couple's three-month relationship.

"It was all about you, Mr Pistorius," he said, repeatedly.

He tried to give the impression that the Paralympic athlete was self-centred, contemptuous of his girlfriend and lacking responsibility, the BBC's Karin Giannone reports from Pretoria.

Mr Nel suggested that Mr Pistorius should have apologised to Ms Steenkamp's family in private, rather than making a "spectacle" by doing it in court.

The athlete replied that he had not had the opportunity and had been unable to find the correct words. "I'm terribly sorry that I took the life of their daughter," he said.

In an interview with the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper, her mother, June, said the apology "left me unmoved. I knew it was coming".

In court, Mrs Steenkamp shook her head as Mr Pistorius was taken through several Whatsapp messages, which Ms Steenkamp had sent.

In one, she wrote: "You have picked on me incessantly since we got back from Cape Town."

Asked to comment, Mr Pistorius said: "I don't feel like I picked on her incessantly - maybe we were having a rough time in our relationship."

He also denied ever shouting or screaming at Ms Steenkamp, or a previous girlfriend, Sam Taylor, as she had testified earlier in the trial.

Referring to an incident when a gun was fired in a restaurant, he said he had not been aware the gun was loaded but insisted he had not pulled the trigger.

Mr Nell said a gun firing itself would be a "miracle". He also accused Mr Pistorius of lying and not taking responsibility for his actions.

Mr Pistorius did admit keeping ammunition in his bedside table, rather than in a safe, saying he was usually armed for his own safety.

If Mr Pistorius is acquitted of murder, South African law stipulates that the court must consider the separate, lesser charge of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, for which he could receive between six and 15 years in prison.

Mr Pistorius also faces charges of illegally firing a gun in public and of illegally possessing ammunition, both of which he denies.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors.

KATIBA BORA TANZANIA

https://www.facebook.com/zittokabwe/posts/730596723627694

INATIA HURUMA JINSI SIMBA ALIVYOMUUA NYANI HUYU MWENYE MTOTO ,UNAJUA NINI ALIKIFANYA SIMBA KWA MTOTO WA NYANI?

Mpiga picha Evan Schiller na Lisa Holzwarth wametumia muda wao wa kutosha tu kuchukua picha za tukio la kusisimua na kusikitisha huko Botswana baada ya kushuhudia nyani mwenye mtoto akikumbana na hasira za simba jike mwenye njaa ambaye alimfukuza na hatimaye kumkamata na kumuua.

Nyani huyo aliuawa huku mtoto wake mchanga akiwa amemkumbatia pasipokujua kuwa mama yake tayari alikuwa ameshakufa. baada ya simba kuua nyani huyo sasa kibao alikigeuzia kwa mtoto ambapo aliaanza kumtisha pamoja na mtoto huyo wa nyani kutaka kukimbia simba alimkamata tena. chanzo tabianchi

Baadae mtoto wa nyani alianza kucheza na simba na kumfanya kama mamayake. 

Tazama picha uone tukio kamili hatua kwa hatua.

Simba akiwa amembeba nyani baada ya kumuua, huku mtoto wa nyani akiwa 

amemkumbatia mama yake bado

Muda mfupi, mtoto wa nyani alitaka kutoroka lakini alishindwa kupanda mti, sasa 

simba akamfuata kuona nini kinaendelea.

Lakini cha ajabu badala ya simba kumuua mtoto huyo wa nyani alianza kucheza 

naye na kukafanya kanyani kasahau machungu.

hapa sijui nyani mtoto anawaza nini, weee usicheze na simba jamani.

Wacha weee, sasa hapa simba sijui ndo kamsamehe kweli huyu nyani au ndo amemuweka 

kiporo njaa ikiuma amtafune, lakini mtoto wa nyani anaonekana kuenjoy tu.

Nyani mtoto kashapagawa na joto la simba, anaanza kutafuta kunyonya kifuani kwa simba, 

ana hatari huyu mtoto.

Raha iliyochanganyikana na hofu, hatari tupu

Wasije simba wengine! simba jike akaanza kuwatimua sasa sijui alikuwa anakalinda 

katoto ka nyani kasiliwe au aliona wenzake watammalizie msosi wake wa baadae.

Haa! kumbe baba nyani alikuwa kando akifuatilia issue yote na wakati simba wanazinguana 

akapata upenyo wa kumuokoa mwanaye na kupanda nae kwenye mti, uuuh kweli kama 

siku yako haijafika unaweza hata kumkamua maziwa simba na akabaki kukuchekea tu

Stori hii ni ya kufurahisha, huzunisha na kushangaza na inaonyesha ni kwa kiasi gani kila jambo limepangwa kwa maksudi yake na kwamba hata tukiwa katika magumu ya hali gani ukombozi unaweza kupatikana kikubwa tu ni kujiamini kama mtoto wa nyani alivyofanya.

RAIS KIKWETE ACHAGULIWA KUWA KIONGOZI MWENYE MCHANGO MKUBWA ZAIDI KATIKA MAENDELEO BARANI AFRIKA KWA MWAKA 2013

Waziri wa Mambo ya Nje na Ushirikiano wa Kimataifa, Mhe. Bernard K. Membe akiongea na maafisa na wageni mbalimbali katika ubalozi wa Tanzania nchini Marekani  mjini Washington DC, Marekani, ambako atapokea tuzo ya Africa’s Most Impactful Leader of the Year kwa niaba ya Mhe. Jakaya Mrisho

Kikwete, Rais wa Jamahuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania mjini humo leo April 9, 2014.

Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, Mheshimiwa Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete amechaguliwa kuwa Kiongozi Mwenye Mchango Mkubwa Zaidi katika Maendeleo Barani Afrika kwa mwaka 2013.

Heshima hiyo kwa Rais Kikwete imetolewa na jarida maarufu la kimataifa la African Leadership Magazine Group na Tuzo la heshima hiyo itatolewa jioni ya kesho, Jumatano, Aprili 9, 2014, katika sherehe iliyopangwa kufanyika Hoteli ya St. Regis mjini Washington, D.C ikiwa ni pamoja na chakula cha jioni.

Tuzo hiyo itapokelewa kwa niaba ya Rais Kikwete na Waziri wa Mambo ya Nje na Ushirikiano wa Kimataifa, Mheshimiwa Bernard Membe, ambaye tayari amewasili mjini Washington kwa sherehe hiyo kubwa.

Tuzo hiyo ya heshima kubwa hutolewa kwa viongozi wa Afrika ambao hutoa mchango mkubwa zaidi wa kiuchumi na kijamii kila mwaka kwa watu wao na limetolewa kwa Rais Kikwete kwa mwelekeo wake usiokuwa wa kawaida na wenye mafanikio makubwa kwa masuala ya utawala bora.

Jarida hilo linasema kuwa ukweli wa hali hiyo bora ya utawala bora chini ya  uongozi wa Rais Kikwete umeendelea kumiminiwa sifa kimataifa na leo umeifanya Tanzania kuwa nchi ya kuigwa mfano kama kituo cha uhakika cha uwezeshaji kutokana na mageuzi makubwa yaliyofanywa katika sera
na mifumo ya uchumi.

Jarida hilo linasema kuwa Rais Kikwete alikuwa chaguo kubwa na la kwanza la wasomaji wa Jarida hilo ambao walipiga kura kupitia njia mbali mbali za mawasiliano za jarida hilo.

Linasema Jarida hilo, “Kuhusu maoni ya wasomaji wetu juu ya kiongozi yupi wa Afrika ambaye ni hodari zaidi kwa maendeleo ya kiuchumi na maendeleo, matokeo ya majibu ya swali hilo yamedhihirisha bila shaka yoyote kuhusu nafasi ya Rais Kikwete katika uongozi wa nchi yake. Na ushahidi uko kila mahali – ameweza kusimamia uchumi ambao umekuwa kwa wastani wa asili mia saba kwa miaka yote ya uongozi wake.”

Sherehe za kesho, miongoni mwa mambo mengine, zitaliwezesha Jarida hilo kutangaza mafanikio ya Tanzania chini ya uongozi wa Rais Kikwete kwa Jumuia ya Kimataifa, ikiwa ni pamoja na Jumuia ya Kimataifa ya Kibiashara, wanadiplomasia na taasisi nyingine zenye ushawishi mkubwa katika
medani za kimataifa na zenye makao yake katika Jiji la Washington na maeneo ya jirani.

Imetolewa na: 
Kurugenzi ya Mawasiliano ya Rais,
Ikulu,
DAR ES SALAAM.

TAHADHARI NA MTANDAO WA UTAPELI UNAOJIITA TCRA FOUNDATION

                             JAMUHURI YA MUUNGANO WA TANZANIA

                               MAMLAKA YA MAWASILIANO TANZANIA 

TAARIFA KWA VYOMBO VYA HABARI

TAHADHARI NA MTANDAO WA UTAPELI UNAOJIITA TCRA FOUNDATION

Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano imebaini kuwa kuna mtandao wa matapeli wanaotumia jina la Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano Tanzania (TCRA) kwa kutumia tovuti inayojiita “TCRA Foundation” na inayodanganya kutoa mikopo kwa maendeleo kwa watu.

Tovuti inayotumika ni http://tcra-foundation.wix.com/tcrafoundation. 
Mtandao huu umetengenezwa wa kutumia picha zilizopo kwenye mitandao mbalimbali  zikiwaonyesha Raisi Mheshimiwa Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Waziri wa Mawasiliano, Sayansi na Teknolojia Mhe. Prof. Makawe Mbarawa na Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano Prof. John Nkoma.

Aidha mtandao huu unadai kuwa Mamlaka kwa kushirikiana na Kampuni za Simu za Vodacom na Tigo pamoja na Benki ya CRDB na NMB zinashirikiana kuendesha Foundation hiyo.

Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano inawatahadharisha wananchi kuwa haina “Foundation” yoyote ya kutoa misaada ya fedha. Mtandao huu unatumika kuwalaghai wananchi na kuwaibia fedha zao kwa kuwataka watume fedha za kujiunga na mtandaqo huo kwa number za simu za Tigo na Vodacom zinazoonesha kusajiliwa kwa jina la Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano Tanzania. Sio kweli na ni wizi na udanganyifu.

Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano inawataka wananchi kuwa na tahadhari na watu hawa ambao hutumia mitandao ya Mawasiliano ya simu na intaneti kufanya utapeli. Usitume fedha wala kujiunga na mitandao ya namna hii.

Aidha Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano inawaomba wananchi kutoa ushirikiano kwa kutoa taarifa wanapobaini utapeli wa namna hii kwa kutoa taarifa kwa Mamlaka kwa vyombo vingine vya usalama ikiwa watahisi au kuwa na taarifa za watu wanaojihusisha na udanganyifu huu katika mitandao ya Mawasiliano ili kuzuia vitendo hivi vilivyoshamiri katika siku za hivi karibuni.

Imetolewa na:

Mkurugenzi Mkuu

Mamlaka ya Mawasiliano Tanzania (TCRA)

9 Aprili 2014

US prisoner on hunger strike in Cuba

A US contractor who has been in jail in Cuba for more than four years has gone on hunger strike, his lawyer says.

Alan Gross, 64, said he began fasting on Thursday to protest his treatment by both the Cuban and US governments.

Mr Gross is serving a 15-year prison sentence for taking internet equipment to Cuba.

The case of Mr Gross is seen as a major obstacle to better US-Cuban ties. The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1961.

"I am fasting to object to mistruths, deceptions, and inaction by both governments, not only regarding their shared responsibility for my arbitrary detention, but also because of the lack of any reasonable or valid effort to resolve this shameful ordeal," Mr Gross wrote in a statement released by his lawyer on Tuesday.

"Once again, I am calling on President Obama to get personally involved in ending this standoff so that I can return home to my wife and daughters,'' he added.

'Abandoned'

Mr Gross's wife Judy said she was "worried sick" about his health and that she did not believe "he can survive much more of this".

Judy Gross says she is concerned for her husband's health

His family says Mr Gross has lost more than 45kg (100lb) since he was detained.

He started his hunger strike as news emerged that US government aid agency USAID was behind a text message service set up in Cuba that was allegedly designed to foment unrest.

The service, called ZunZuneo, was reportedly designed to attract a subscriber base with discussion initially about everyday topics such as sport and weather.

US officials then planned to introduce political messages to spur the network's users into dissent from their communist-run government, the Associated Press reported last week.

Last week, the US confirmed it was behind a 'Cuban Twitter'

The project is said to have lasted from 2009-12 when the grant money ran out.

Mr Gross was arrested in 2009 while working for a USAID subcontractor setting up internet access for Cuba's small Jewish community.

Scott Gilbert, the lawyer representing Mr Gross, said that it was "shocking that USAID would imperil his safety even further by running a covert operation in Cuba".

"USAID has made one absurdly bad decision after another. Running this program is contrary to everything we have been told by high-level representatives of the Obama Administration about USAID's activities in Cuba," Mr Gilbert added.

On the fourth anniversary of his arrest in December, Mr Gross wrote to President Obama to say he feared the US government had "abandoned" him.

'Yes' vote 'could hit energy sector'

Business and economy editor, Scotland

The UK government said Scotland got 28% of subsidies for renewables while the nation accounted for 10% of electricity sales

An independent Scotland could expect to lose subsidies to green energy investment from the rest of the UK, the UK government has warned.

It estimates the average Scottish bill would rise by between £38 and £189 per year, if Scots are to sustain the current plans for renewable power.

The paper added that a "continuing UK would not be obliged to purchase energy from an independent Scottish state."

The Scottish government said the paper was "yet more scaremongering".

Earlier this week, the Scottish government set out its argument that the rest of the UK would rely on imports to meet its green power obligations.

However, this is disputed in a paper on energy produced by the Department for Energy and Climate Change, which is being published as UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey visits Edinburgh.

It says: "The decision to import energy from an independent Scottish state would be taken on a commercial basis and in the national interest of the continuing UK."

It counters claims from the SNP administration that both countries would wish to operate a shared all-Britain energy market.

 "I think Britain's single energy market - where we are integrated as we are now, where energy flows across the border very easily - that makes our energy more secure, it keeps costs down and it will enable us to go green, to go low carbon. Split that up and all those benefits go."

The minister added: "As secretary of state for energy and climate change for the whole of the UK, I really care about what is happening in Scotland. If I am no longer secretary of state for energy in Scotland I have to put the interests of consumers in England and Wales and Northern Ireland first."

His point was made clear in the Whitehall document which said a common approach "would be very difficult when both would want to make decisions in the best interests of their citizens and consumers".

It adds: "With a range of generation sources within its own borders and elsewhere, a continuing UK would not be obliged to purchase energy from an independent Scottish state."

The Westminster government paper, being published ahead of the 18 September independence referendum, says the UK is ranked second in the world for energy security.

However, the Scottish government argues that Scotland is Europe's most energy-rich nation, due to oil, gas, hydro, offshore wind, wave and tidal resources, and that the UK government has failed to ensure security of supply because of its policy delays.

Scotland's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the UK government paper was evidence of "yet more scaremongering".

He said ministers at Westminster would do better to maintain an amicable approach with Scotland.

Mr Ewing said he had not seen the energy document but his guess was that it would be misleading.

He believed it would not include costs of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point nor the decommissioning costs associated with Sellafield.

Mr Ewing told "There is not sufficient capacity to ensure that we can keep the lights on without emergency measures such as asking businesses to shut down and bringing back mothballed plants into operation at much higher costs.

"The net upshot of all of this is that prices will rise because the UK has failed in its primary objective of securing sufficient indigenous electricity supply."

The report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change coincides with a visit to Edinburgh by UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey

However, UK Energy Secretary Mr Davey insisted that "all costs" had been taken into account. He added that what Mr Ewing had overlooked was that nuclear power was far cheaper than renewable energy, like offshore wind, is currently.

'Little difference'

A report published last month by Exane BNP Paribas is being highlighted by the SNP, saying political risk associated with UK energy policy has risen steeply in the past year.

With uncertainty about subsidy levels and the Labour leadership promising a temporary freeze on bills, the industry report says that the UK is now perceived as the country with the greatest political risk in the European energy sector.

The Whitehall analysis says that, in the event of a referendum "Yes" vote, the loss of responsibility for meeting Scottish demand for electricity would mean it would make little difference to the security of supply for the rest of the UK.

The Scottish government says Scotland has massive oil, gas, hydro, offshore wind, wave and tidal resources

It goes on to claim that Scotland gets a disproportionately high share of support for green energy, receiving 28% of subsidies for renewables in 2012-13 while the country accounts for 10% of UK electricity sales.

It says Scottish grid improvements have taken nearly 30% of investment earmarked for the British grid between 2013 and 2021.

The paper claimed that remoter Scottish communities could not count, post-independence, on a subsidy for remote households which is backed by bill-payers across Britain, or on continued support for gas supply in some towns off the grid system.

Although the UK government has been criticised for the apparent lack of effective competition in the energy supply market, DECC argues that a smaller Scottish market could face less competition, and lose the "downward pressure on energy prices".

New member

There is also a warning that the obligations on Scotland to generate a share of its power from renewable sources is uncertain under independence, and could be raised as a result of negotiations on joining the European Union as a new member state.

On oil and gas, the paper says an independent Scotland would have to provide support of ten times as much as the UK - about £3,800 per head - to match the £20bn the UK government has committed towards decommissioning of North Sea equipment.

Scottish ministers hail Aberdeen as "Europe's oil and gas capital", while saying Glasgow was now the leading research centre in Europe for offshore wind technology. They say independence would allow Scotland to build on that success.

Scotland could expect to lose subsidies to green energy investment from the rest of the UK if the nation becomes independent, the UK government has warned.

Obama hits at gender wage disparity

US President Barack Obama has issued two executive orders aimed at erasing gender disparities in pay among the government workforce.

One directive signed on Tuesday bars federal contactors from retaliating against employees for discussing pay.

The other requires such contractors to provide compensation data by race and gender to the Department of Labor.

The Democrat also rebuked Republicans for blocking equal pay legislation, as both sides vie for female voters.

Even playing field

"Pay secrecy fosters discrimination, and we should not tolerate it, not in federal contracting or anywhere else," Mr Obama, citing Census Bureau data indicating that on average, women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

The executive actions covering federal contractors will reportedly affect nearly one-quarter of the US workforce.

A similar bill forbidding companies from punishing employees who share salary information has been introduced in the US Senate, but Republicans are expected the block it.

Conservatives have rejected similar legislation in the upper chamber of Congress in 2010 and 2012.

"This is about Republicans seemingly opposing any efforts to even the playing field for working families," Mr Obama said as he signed the executive orders on Tuesday.

Republicans however have argued that such moves would hurt women by restricting merit pay and job flexibility.

"We all know workplace discrimination still exists, [but] we need real solutions that focus on job creation and opportunity for women. Not more regulations that cut flexibility and cut bonuses," the Republican National Committee wrote in a statement.

Both political parties have fought to attract women voters as they approach the mid-term elections in November.

Those elections will determine which party controls the US Senate and House of Representatives for the final two years of Mr Obama's presidential term.

Scramble to fix huge security bug

A bug in software used by millions of web servers could have exposed anyone visiting sites they hosted to spying and eavesdropping, say researchers.

The bug is in a software library used in servers, operating systems and email and instant messaging systems.

Called OpenSSL the software is supposed to protect sensitive data as it travels back and forth.

It is not clear how widespread exploitation of the bug has been because attacks leave no trace.

"If you need strong anonymity or privacy on the internet, you might want to stay away from the internet entirely for the next few days while things settle," said a blog entry about the bug published by the Tor Project which produces software that helps people avoid scrutiny of their browsing habits.

'Serious' vulnerability

A huge swathe of the web could be vulnerable because OpenSSL is used in the widely used Apache and Nginx server software. Statistics from net monitoring firm Netcraft suggest that about 500,000 of the web's secure servers are running versions of the vulnerable software.

"It's the biggest thing I've seen in security since the discovery of SQL injection," said Ken Munro, a security expert at Pen Test Partners. SQL injection is a way to extract information from the databases behind web sites and services using specially crafted queries.

Many firms were scrambling to apply patches to vulnerable programs and others had shut down services while fixes were being worked on, he said. Many were worried that with proof of concept code already being shared it would only be a matter of time before cyber thieves started exploiting the vulnerability.

Mojang, maker of the hugely popular Minecraft game, took all its services offline while Amazon, which it uses to host games, patched its systems.

The bug in OpenSSL was discovered by researchers working for Google and security firm Codenomicon.

In a blog entry about their findings the researchers said the "serious vulnerability" allowed anyone to read chunks of memory in servers supposedly protected with the flawed version of OpenSSL. Via this route, attackers could get at the secret keys used to scramble data as it passes between a server and its users.

"This allows attackers to eavesdrop [on] communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users," wrote the team that discovered the vulnerability. They called it the "heartbleed" bug because it occurs in the heartbeat extension for OpenSSL.

The bug has been present in versions of OpenSSL that have been available for over two years. The latest version of OpenSSL released on 7 April is no longer vulnerable to the bug.

"Considering the long exposure, ease of exploitation and attacks leaving no trace this exposure should be taken seriously," wrote the researchers.

Installing an updated version of OpenSSL did not necessarily mean people were safe from attack, said the team. If attackers have already exploited it they could have stolen encryption keys, passwords or other credentials required to access a server, they said.

Full protection might require updating to the safer version of OpenSSL as well as getting new security certificates and generating new encryption keys. To help people check their systems some security researchers have produced tools that help people work out if they are running vulnerable versions of OpenSSL.

Pistorius quizzed on Reeva evidence

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is being quizzed about his version of events on the night that he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel began his cross examination by pushing Mr Pistorius to acknowledge the full magnitude of his actions on 14 February 2013.

The athlete said he made a "mistake" on the night that he shot Ms Steenkamp.

"You killed a person, that's what you did! You shot and killed her, won't you take responsibility...?" Mr Nel said.

Earlier, Mr Pistorius described how Ms Steenkamp died before the ambulance arrived while he was holding her.

The athlete denies deliberately shooting dead his girlfriend, arguing he mistook her for an intruder.

Prosecutors contend he intentionally killed her in the toilet of his bathroom after a row.

The 27-year-old Olympic and Paralympic sprinter, who is a double amputee, faces life imprisonment if convicted of murder.

On Tuesday, he broke down in tears whilst describing the events leading up to the shooting and the actual event.

If acquitted, South African law stipulates that the court must consider the separate, lesser charge of culpable homicide, or manslaughter, for which he could receive between six and 15 years in prison.

Mr Pistorius also faces charges of illegally firing a gun in public and of illegally possessing ammunition, both of which he denies.

There are no juries at trials in South Africa, and his fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two assessors.

The court in Pretoria says in the opening moments of cross examination showed the highly combative style Mr Pistorius can now expect from Mr Nel in the coming days.

Gerrie Nel: Fierce prosecutor

Gerrie Nel is known for his no-nonsense attitude inside the courtroom and is one of South Africa's most respected legal minds.

With more than 30 years' experience he has a string of successful prosecutions under his belt and is no stranger to high-profile cases. He prosecuted former police boss and Interpol's ex-head Jackie Selebi on corruption charges, once calling him an "arrogant liar" during cross examination.

Those who know him praise his meticulous attention to detail and his "fearlessness". He was junior prosecutor in the murder case of anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani in 1993.

He was also the founding head in 1999 of the Gauteng province division of South Africa's elite police and prosecution unit the Hawks, then known as the Scorpions.

Earlier while being questioned by his lawyer, Mr Pistorius described the moments after paramedics had arrived at the scene.

"They asked for some space to work so I stood up. Reeva had already died whilst I was holding her before the ambulance arrived. So, I knew there was nothing they could do for her," he said.

He also described his distress as police and other officials arrived at the house.

"I asked a policeman if I could wash my hands because the smell of the blood was making me throw up," he said.

Mr Pistorius said that during their three-month relationship he and Ms Steenkamp had become very close

Reeva Steenkamp's mother held her head while listening to the testimony of Mr Pistorius on Tuesday

Aimee Pistorius was overcome with emotion as she listened to her brother's testimony on Tuesday

His lawyer Barry Roux also asked him to demonstrate how he would swing a cricket bat.

Mr Pistorius said he was on his prosthetic legs when he used the cricket bat to break down the toilet door.

He said the three sounds heard by witnesses at 03:17 local time was the cricket bat hitting the door - about five minutes after he shot at the toilet door.

He said he was on his stumps, when he shot at the door.

"I can barely stand on my stumps," he said.

'Loud crying'

During his questioning, Mr Roux also mentioned statements from close neighbours who were listed by the state but not called by the prosecution.

He said the statement from Kenny Motshoane's house described hearing "crying" and not "a woman screaming", as mentioned by other witnesses.

Another woman living nearby also says she heard "loud crying" and not a woman screaming, Mr Roux said.

Before Mr Roux ended his questioning he asked Mr Pistorius if he had intentionally killed Ms Steenkamp.

"I did not intend to kill Reeva or anybody else for that matter," he replied.

On Tuesday, the athlete described how the couple had spent a quiet evening together on 13 February, Ms Steenkamp doing some yoga as he spoke to his cousin on the phone.

Toyota to recall 6.4 million vehicles

Toyota is recalling 6.4 million vehicles globally, including 35,124 in the UK, over five separate issues.

Some 3.5 million vehicles are being recalled to replace a spiral cable attached to the driver's side airbag.

It may be damaged when the steering wheel is turned and result in the airbag not being deployed in a crash.

Other issues include problems with seat rails, steering columns, windscreen wipers and a glitch with the engine starters that poses a fire risk.

Toyota said it was not aware of any vehicle crashes, injuries or fatalities caused by these conditions.

However, it said it had received two reports of fires in connection with the engine starter problem.

The carmaker said that "due to inefficiencies in the design of the starter motor relays, metallic particles might accumulate on the contacts within the relay".

It said that if the relays continued to be used, the particles could come off and enter the relay's circuitry and in the "worst case, this could lead to the starter relays catching fire".

Approximately 20,000 vehicles involving six Toyota models and the Subaru Trezia are being recalled to replace both engine starter relays and the engine starter motor.

Other recalls include:

• Approximately 2.32 million vehicles over problems with the seat rails

• Some 760,000 vehicles because of a potential defect with the steering column bracket

• Nearly 160,000 vehicles to replace the windshield wiper motors

Toyota's RAV4 sports utility vehicle (SUV) is also impacted by the latest recall

Reputation risk

The latest recall, which affects 27 different models, is the fifth major one that the company has issued in recent months.

In February, it called back 1.9 million of its top-selling Prius hybrid cars because of a software fault that might cause the vehicle to slow down suddenly.

In the latter half of last year, it issued separate recalls affecting more than 2.2 million vehicles.

Overall, the company has recalled more than 25 million vehicles over the past two-and-a-half years.

That is far more than the number it called back in 2009 and 2010 - widely seen as the worst years in terms of damage to its reputation.

Toyota's sales had suffered in the aftermath of those recalls, which were prompted by problems with accelerator pedals becoming trapped under floor mats.

The recalls had also triggered a criminal investigation against the carmaker in the US.

Earlier this year, the firm agreed a $1.2bn (£720m) settlement with US regulators after a four-year inquiry into its reporting of safety issues.

Recalls are not uncommon in the industry. For example, General Motors is in the middle of recalling millions of vehicles as well.

However, there are concerns that Toyota's current troubles may hurt its efforts to rebuild its reputation, which was damaged by the 2010 recall fiasco.

Smart cars overturned in California

Authorities in San Francisco are investigating the vandalism of four diminutive Smart cars found turned over on their sides on Monday.

The four vehicles had body damage and broken windows, a police spokesman said.

Seven suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts were reported in the area.

Other instances of vandalism of the small cars have been reported in Canada and the Netherlands, where at least one vehicle was dumped into a canal.

California authorities are looking into whether the latest incidents on Monday morning were an act of vandalism or a campaign against the small vehicles, which weigh less than 2,000lbs (907kg), the San Francisco Chronicle reports.