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Polish monastery may hold unknown Mozart works

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:44:44 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

A team of musicologists is reviewing 19th-century copies of musical scores from a Polish monastery's archives in hopes that some might prove to be previously unknown works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the lead scholar said Tuesday.

The team is focused on nine scores, though the musicologists will review 2,000 from the Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, southern Poland.

"The scores could be compilations from various Mozart works, or compositions by other authors just signed in his name, or — in the luckiest case for us — they could be unknown authentic Mozart," Remigiusz Pospiech, head of the research team, told The Associated Press.

"In that case we could talk of a sensation."

But Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, said it was "highly unlikely" that new works by Mozart would be discovered.

Tags: mozart, music

Vatican Unveils Newly Restored Pagan Tomb

Tue, 27 May 2008 20:40:28 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Largest And Most Luxurious Of The Pagan Tombs Under St. Peter's Basilica Reopened

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

The Vatican unveiled the largest and most luxurious of the pagan tombs in the necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica on Tuesday after nearly a year of restoration work.

A family of former slaves built the Valeri Mausoleum during the second half of the second century, when Emperor Marcus Aurelius ruled. It is one of 22 pagan tombs in the grottoes under the basilica.

The newly restored tomb was shown to media Tuesday. Visitors can have a guided tour of the grottoes by appointment.

Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, had the pagan burial grounds covered up in the fourth century so the basilica could be built over the site holding St. Peter's tomb.

Tags: pagan, vatican

Sweden turning sewage into a gasoline substitute

Tue, 27 May 2008 19:55:16 GMT

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Clip Source: www.iht.com

GOTEBORG, Sweden: Taking a road trip? Remember to visit the toilet first. This city is among dozens of municipalities in Sweden with facilities that transform sewage waste into enough biogas to run thousands of cars and buses.

A FordonsGas filling station. The company operates the largest chain of biogas stations in Scandinavia. (Nils-Olof Sjoden/FordonsGas ) [Enlarge this image]

Cars using biogas created a stir when they began to be rolled out on a large scale at the start of the decade. The tailpipe emissions are virtually odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and diesel, and the idea of recovering energy from toilet waste appealed to green-minded Swedes.

"When you're in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something good come of that, it's easy to be taken in by the idea - it's like a utopia," said Andreas Kask, a business consultant who drives a taxi in Goteborg. "But it hasn't worked out that well in reality."

Tags: sweden, environment

Mars scientists ponder polygon mystery

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:54:48 GMT

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Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Scientists working with images from the Mars Phoenix mission are baffled by an unexpected difference between what they thought they would see and what Phoenix is now showing them.

The difference suggests that the northern plains of Mars may be a more complicated and active environment than previously imagined.

Does this sharp-edged polygon indicate recent change on Mars? (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/U of Arizona)

Among the most spectacular images thus far is a colour mosaic of the terrain looking out from the northward side of the lander. It clearly shows the so-called "polygons" that are typical features of this region.

There's just one problem: the polygons are too small.

During a press briefing yesterday, principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, US, said that preliminary estimates suggest the polygons in the foreground of the image are about 1.5 to 2.5 metres across.

Tags: mars, science

Aid workers raping, abusing children

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:24:52 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Humanitarian aid workers and United Nation peacekeepers are sexually abusing small children in several war-ravaged and food-poor countries, a leading European charity has said.

Children as young as 6 have been forced to have sex with aid workers and peacekeepers in return for food and money, Save the Children UK said in a report released Tuesday.

After interviewing hundreds of children, the charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.

"It is hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children's rights," Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK, said.

In the report, "No One To Turn To" a 15-year-old girl from Haiti told researchers: "My friends and I were walking by the National Palace one evening when we encountered a couple of humanitarian men. The men called us over and showed us their penises.

Tags: children, united nations