The Daily Tulip – International News From Around The World

Sunday 25th June 2017

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. Bella is a little better this morning, the cough seems to be dissipating, it’s at times like this I wish I could actually talk to her and ask her how she feels.. we took a slow walk up the hill this morning, under a star filled sky, no moon so all the stars where shinning in their full glory… at moments like this, looking up towards the heavens and seeing the profusion of galaxies, planets and constellations above my head, it’s hard to believe that we are the only life form.. To quote Carl Sagan: “A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars - billions upon billions of stars. Every star may be a sun to someone.” Please enjoy your Sunday, where ever you are and may “Our” sun shine kindly on you…

NEPAL STEPS UP TO MEASURE MOUNT EVEREST…. Everest's "official" measured height has varied between 8,840 and 8,848 metres since 1856. Nepal is to spend two years measuring Mount Everest because its official height may have changed following the devastating April 2015 earthquake in the region. The country's Department of Survey says the mountain, measuring 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) based on previous surveys, may also have shifted its geographic position, the Kathmandu Post reports. The two-year task will also show the impact of climate change on the mountain, and will cost 140m rupees ($1.35m; £1m) the paper says.

Measurements will be taken from three locations around the mountain, but Sherpas will also have to carry equipment to the summit "for drawing a final conclusion". The Nepalese mission isn't the only attempt to measure Everest at the moment. The Survey of India announced their intention to take on the task last week, the Deccan Herald reports. However, they may now pool resources with Nepal "to see if the 2015 earthquake indeed shrunk Everest", a conclusion that's contested among geologists.

Also causing controversy are claims that the mountain's famous Hillary Step - a rock face that is the last obstacle for climbers attempting to reach Everest's summit - has collapsed. Last month, a British climber said that the feature had been destroyed by the Nepal earthquake. However, this was almost immediately contradicted by two Nepali Sherpas who said that it was still there but covered in snow.

RUSSIAN SPACE LAUNCH DEATH STIRS KAZAKH RESENTMENT…. The Progress MS-06 mission on the pad at Baikonur atop a Soyuz launch vehicle. Kazakhs have aired their frustration over the Russia-operated space launch facility on their territory after a Kazakh worker was killed clearing up the aftermath of a recent launch. The launch of the Progress MS-06 supply mission to the International Space Station on 14 June from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan has been touted as a technical success by Russian operator Roscosmos. But as the TASS news agency reports, an employee of the Russian company tasked with overseeing the areas where the rocket stages of the Soyuz-2 1a launcher fall to Earth was killed while trying to extinguish a fire on the local steppe.

The Kazakh Tengrinews website says the fire at the drop site near Zhezkazgan, some 600 km (375 miles) from the launch site, was caused by the falling rocket fragments. News of the man's death was met with dismay from Kazakh social media users. "Russia is launching its rockets and our people are running around in their own land and putting out fires. It is ridiculous," said one user. Another blamed Russia for the death: "It would be better if the rocket had fallen on the Kremlin." The continuing presence of the Russian cosmodrome at Baikonur remains a bone of contention among some Kazakhs. Its location in the centre of the country means that anything falling to Earth - either intentionally or by accident - will land somewhere in Kazakhstan. When a Proton rocket carrying 600 tons of toxic rocket fuel exploded seconds after launch in 2013, a local environmentalist told Russia's Interfax news agency that "the relaxed nature of our Kazakh government" was one of the reasons that Kazakhstan bore the brunt of Russian space failures.

"They leased out the space centre as if it were a barn and did nothing afterwards," Mels Eleusizov said at the time, "It is a shame on our country." Russia's new Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian far east is expected to reduce the country's reliance on Baikonur within the next decade.

THE SCHOOLTEACHER ABOUT TO FIGHT MANNY PACQUIAO…. In the classroom he's known as Mr Horn. But in the ring, call him "The Hornet". A relatively unknown physical education (PE) teacher from Australia is weeks away from taking on Manny Pacquiao for boxing's world welterweight title. If 29-year-old Jeff Horn - the "fighting schoolteacher" as promoters have dubbed him - can match the reigning champion, his life could change forever. Eleven years ago, Horn was a self-described nerd from Brisbane who walked into a boxing club to learn self-defence. He read books, played board games in the library at lunchtime, and was often the victim of bullying. The only fighter in the family was his grandfather, Ray Horn, who put on exhibition matches in outback Queensland in the 1930s. His dad, Jeff Horn Sr, is a builder. His mum, Liza Sykstra, works for the St Vincent de Paul Society. "I got into a few fights at high school," Horn told the BBC. "I didn't win the majority of those fights either." But his trainer, Glenn Rushton, told Horn he could become an Australian champion and set about teaching him an unpredictable boxing style - "broken rhythm pressure fighting".

In 2012, Horn made the Olympic boxing quarterfinals while studying for his education degree. He then turned professional.

Working as a substitute teacher, Horns won prize purses sometimes as low as A$2,000 (£1,100, $1,500). Until recently, he taught students at Pallara State School in Brisbane. But now his full-time job is being the second-best welterweight boxer in the world - behind only Pacquiao. "I'm a month out from the biggest fight of my life," Horn said, earlier in June. "I've been getting messages from past students wishing me luck."…

TURBULENCE ON PARIS-CHINA FLIGHT INJURES 26…. The latest incident comes a week after a hole was found in the engine of this China Eastern Airlines plane. At least 26 people were injured, four seriously, when turbulence hit a China Eastern Airlines flight from Paris on Sunday, state media reports. The turbulence struck as flight MU774 was on its way to Kunming, in the southern Yunnan province. Passengers suffered broken bones, cuts to the scalp and soft tissue injuries, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

China Eastern Airlines later said it was crucial passengers wear seatbelts as flights descend. "I was on the flight, and I felt like I would not survive," the Hong Kong- based South China Morning Post quoted one passenger as saying on the Weibo microblogging site.

"Many people were injured, and among them, many had not buckled up." Xinhua said (in Chinese) that two violent bumps and many small bumps occurred over about 10 minutes. It said that during the turbulence, several passengers' heads and shoulders collided with the luggage racks, some luggage racks broke from the impact, and some luggage fell off the racks and hit customers.

The airline said on its Weibo account (in Chinese) that the Airbus A330, that had taken off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, landed safely in Kunming.

GEORGIA PRISONERS ROWE AND DUBOSE CAUGHT AFTER MASSIVE MANHUNT…. Two US inmates who were on the run since Tuesday after shooting dead two prison officers have been captured, officials say. Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose were seized in the state of Tennessee. The men overpowered the guards as they were transported by bus to another facility in the state of Georgia.

This triggered a massive nationwide manhunt, with the authorities warning that the public was in "grave danger" because the inmates were armed. On Thursday, officials said the two men were in custody following a car chase in rush hour traffic through Rutherford County, Tennessee. Earlier that day, the two men had stormed into an elderly couple's home, put guns to their heads and tied them up with a belt, authorities say. Dubose and Rowe remained inside the home of the couple - who police say are "extremely traumatised" - for three hours as they took clothing and jewellery, and ate beef stew. After the convicts left in the couple's black Jeep Cherokee car, the man and woman managed to escape and call police. Rutherford County Sheriff's Office deputies spotted the black Jeep at around 18:00 local time about 50 miles (80km) southeast of Nashville and followed, leading to a car chase reaching speeds of over 100mph. The suspects shot at police during the chase, but deputies did not return gunfire, Rutherford County Sheriff Michael Fitzhugh told reporters on Thursday night. After Dubose and Rowe crashed their car, they ran towards another house and tried to steal the car in the driveway. But an armed homeowner held the two at gunpoint with the help of a neighbour before police could arrive.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, Sunday morning…

Our Tulips today are reaching for the heavens.....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Sunday 25th June 2017 my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in 

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus