Berlin, September 23 : Data from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft’s first flyby of Mercury has suggested that the spider-like Pantheon Fossae formation, a radiating web of troughs located in the giant Caloris Basin, is directly linked to an impact crater at the centre of the web.

The Caloris Basin is the youngest-known large impact basin on Mercury.

The basin was discovered in 1974 during Mariner 10’s flyby, but the centre of the basin had not been seen until Messenger’s first flyby on 14th January.

Messenger revealed that the crater’s interior appeared to have been flooded by volcanic material in a similar way to the lunar mare basins. 

A ring of troughs was observed around the circumference of the basin.

Berlin  - The zoo keeper who raised Germany's famous polar bear cub Knut by bottle was found dead Monday in his Berlin apartment.

A police spokesman Thomas Doerflein, 44, appeared to have died of natural causes. There was no reason to suspect suicide or foul play, he said.

Dorflein raised Knut by bottle after the cub and his twin brother

were rejected by their mother when they were just days old.

Knut weighed a tiny 810 grams at birth, and there were real fears he would die, as his brother did after just four days.

Berlin - Germany's economic assistance ministry is ending all
financial aid to China, a spokesman said Monday, following complaints
that China is rich enough to fund its own projects.

Ministerial spokesman Stephan Bethe said Berlin would no longer
provide financial backing for development projects but would continue
to act in an advisory capacity.

Last year the ministry provided funds worth 67.5 million euros
(97.8 million dollars) to China, but has made no commitments for this
year or next, the spokesman said.

Berlin - Germany has no plans to join in the massive US bailout operation for financial institutions that have run into difficulties, a government spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the government saw no need for such an undertaking in Germany. A foreign ministry spokesman said the US had made no approach to the Europeans so far.

The US administration is reportedly seeking participation from other countries in a 700-billion-dollar rescue fund announced in Washington.

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said some countries had signalled their readiness to help out but there had been no firm commitments.

Berlin - Internet surfers looking to cut their energy costs should turn their attention to their modem and router. Switching off the devices when they are not in use can save significant money each year, reports the German Energy Agency (DENA).

If there is no on/off switch, then a power strip with a switch can be used to cut power to the devices.

If a device needs to run around the clock because it is connected to a telephone, then in many cases it's possible to at least turn off unnecessary functions like the WLAN. The operating instructions should provide information on how to do this.

Berlin - A boom in netbooks begun by the Asus EeePC is in the early phase as evidenced recently at IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin. Producers are launching smaller, lighter and cheaper versions of notebooks, called netbooks.

The new netbooks include the Amilo Mini from Fujitsu Siemens. The notebook weighs just one kilogram and has a 9-inch display, plus Intel's N270 Atom processor, the company said. It comes in five different colours and with a transparent cover, so users can insert and display their own photographs.

Packed with either a 60 or 80 gigabyte hard drive, Bluetooth and Windows XP Home, the notebook goes on sale in October for 400 euros (570 dollars).