Joomla! site syndication http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk 2008-07-23T14:00:09+01:00 http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2004-07-07T11:54:06+01:00 http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk/content/view/6/2/ 'Mathlete' smashes human calculation record: museumThe world's fastest human calculator has broken his own record for working out a 200-digit number using nothing but brain power to produce the answer in just over 70 seconds.Alexis Lemaire, a 27-year-old Frenchman, correctly calculated the 13th root of a random 200-digit number from a possible 393 trillion answers.The so-called 'mathlete' produced the answer of 2,407,899,893,032,210 in 70.2 seconds, beating his previous record of 72.4 seconds, at London's Science Museum.A computer was used to produce a random 200-digit number before he sat down to calculate the answer in his head.Mr Lemaire, who attends the University of Reims in northern France, began demonstrating his prowess by finding the 13th root of a random 100-digit number, but gave up trying to improve his performance when he calculated an answer in under four seconds in 2004.Like an athlete, he trains his brain daily for the far harder task of finding the 13th root of 200-digit numbers. text/html 2004-05-12T11:54:06+01:00 http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk/content/view/11/9/ Serial-killing pig farmer gets lifeHead found in bucket: Canadian pig farmer Robert Pickton slaughtered women at his pig farmCanadian serial killer Robert 'Willie' Pickton has been sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole for 25 years.Justice James Williams handed down the harshest sentence possible for the second degree murder at a hearing in Vancouver. Mr Pickton, there is really nothing that I can say to adequately express the revulsion the community feels about these killings, he said.Relatives of the victims erupted in cheers in the courtroom. Pickton did not react.Pickton, 58, had been convicted for the murders of six women whose bodies were butchered in the slaughterhouse of his pig farm near Vancouver.He is charged with 26 murders and faces another trial on the remaining 20 murder counts.At the gut-wrenching court hearing the victims' families described their emotional devastation. Nobody should meet death the way she did, Jay Draayers, a half brother of victim Sereena Abotsway, wrote in a statement read to the court. Abotsway's head, hands and feet were discovered in a bucket on Pickton's farm.Some of the victims' relatives sobbed openly and even reporters and attorneys fought back tears as the statements were read.Pickton sat emotionless in the prisoner's box as the family statements were read. He gazed at his hands that were folded on his lap.Pickton leaned forward as if ready to speak when the judge later asked if he had anything to say, but his lawyer quickly said he would not address the court because he is still facing the 20 additional murder charges.The life sentence was mandatory for a conviction on second degree murder, so the judge was deciding when would be eligible to apply for parole, within a range of 10 to 25 years.Prosecutors had asked for the toughest sentence possible, calling the murders cold blooded and saying Pickton had shown no remorse. Canada does not have a death penalty. text/html 2004-08-09T08:30:34+01:00 http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk http://www.regional-4u3.co.uk/content/view/2/9/ President says Afghanistan still needs helpThe President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, says he still needs the international community to help build his country's armed forces.His plea comes despite Afghan troops retaking the town of Musa Qala from the Taliban with the assistance of NATO troops.Government troops have reached the centre of the town after four days of fighting.Mr Karzai says Afghan forces are not yet able to take full responsibility for security in the country. We would like to have forces enough to secure Afghanistan against atrocities from terrorism, he said. At the same time we would like to have the international community continuing to add to the building of the Afghan forces so that Afghanistan can be ready in time to take on the responsibility of defending the Afghan country.