World briefs

Killer robots could become the weapon of choice for militants, a British expert has said.

Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield said he believed falling costs would soon make robots a realistic option for extremist groups. Several countries and companies are developing the technology for robot weapons, with the US Department of Defence leading the way and more than 4,000 robots are deployed in Iraq.

"The trouble is that we can't really put the genie back in the bottle. Once the new weapons are out there, they will be fairly easy to copy," Prof. Sharkey insists. "How long is it going to be before the terrorists get in on the act? With the current prices of robot construction falling dramatically and the availability of ready-made components for the amateur market, it wouldn't require a lot of skill to make autonomous robot weapons."

Falling icicles kill Russians

Six people have been killed in three days by icicles falling from buildings in a central Russian region, ITAR-TASS news agency reported yesterday.

Plummeting chunks of ice is an annual hazard for pedestrians in Russia during the spring when the sun finally melts thick layers of ice and snow which build up on roofs over months of freezing temperatures and darkness.

Medical authorities in the region of Samara told ITAR-TASS that five people died in the city of Samara and another person died in the nearby town of Otradny in the last three days.

5,500-year-old plaza

A ceremonial plaza built 5,500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists said carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.

The circular plaza was hidden beneath another piece of architecture at the ruins of Sechin Bajo, in Casma, north of Lima. Friezes depicting a warrior with a knife and trophies were found near the plaza.

"This could redesign the history of the country," said a scientist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the project.

Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archaeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5,000 years.

Scientists say Caral was one of six places in the world - along with Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India and Mesoamerica - where humans started living in cities about 5,000 years ago.

Political weather

A Jewish settler's query about the weather has raised a small storm in Israel around the charged issues of land and identity.

The settler wrote to the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), to ask why its national Channel 1 TV did not include Jewish enclaves in the occupied West Bank in its weather forecasts. Palestinian cities also are not mentioned. The IBA said its ombudsman, Elisha Spiegelman, replied that Judea and Samaria - the names used by some Jews for the West Bank - "are not part of the state of Israel" and so were not cited in national TV weather reports.

Mr Spiegelman told the Jerusalem Post he believed he was citing IBA policy, but the broadcaster swiftly rejected the comments and its director general issued an open letter saying there was no need to involve politics in weather reports.

The incident illustrated how a seemingly innocuous subject can spark heated debate about the 60-year-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who want to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Millionaire bet

A British man celebrated his 60th birthday in unexpected style at the weekend when a 50p bet on the horses turned him into an instant millionaire.

Fred Craggs, from Yorkshire in northern England, was not even aware of his win when he walked into a branch of the William Hill betting agency to see how he had done with his accumulator bet. When he was informed of his good fortune he was said to have turned rather pale and muttered that he had better go home to tell his wife.

His coup was selecting eight winners running at various courses around the country - starting with one called "Isn't That Lucky" and finishing with "A Dream Come True" - at odds of 2,000,000 to one.

Encyclopaedia of Life

About 30,000 species of creatures and plants have been listed in a draft Encyclopaedia of Life that may aid understanding of issues from human ageing to disease, scientists said yesterday.

The free internet encyclopaedia ( www.eol.org ) aims to eventually list all 1.8 million known species of life in a $100 million, 10-year project begun in 2007. The first draft, with 25 fully completed entries including text, pictures and video, is due to be launched at a conference in Monterey, California, today. A further 30,000 have less detailed information.

The encyclopedia has been dubbed a "macroscope" - helping to identify big patterns often overseen by scientists working in narrow fields.