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Ten percent of the infalling star's mass is turned into energy and irradiated as X-rays from the black hole. Astronomers have spied a star's swan song as it is shredded by a black hole.
Researchers suspect that the star wandered too close to the black hole and got sucked in by the huge gravitational forces.
The star's final moments sent a flash of radiation hurtling towards Earth.
The energy burst is still visible by telescope more than two-and-a-half months later, the researchers report in the journal Science.
The Swift spacecraft constantly scans the skies for bursts of radiation, notifying astronomers when it locates a potential flare.
These bursts usually indicate the implosion of an aging star, which produces a single, quick blast of energy.
But this event, first spotted on 28 March 2011 and designated Sw 1644+57, does not have the marks of an imploding sun.
What intrigued the researchers about this gamma ray burst is that it flared up four times over a period of four hours.
Astrophysicist Dr Andrew Levan from the University of Warwick, and his colleagues suspected that they were looking at a very different sort of galactic event; one where a passing star got sucked into a black hole.
The energy bursts matched nicely with what you might expect when you "throw a star into a black hole", Dr Levan told BBC News.
Black holes are thought to reside at the centres of most major galaxies. Some black holes are surrounded by matter in the form of gas; light is emitted when the gas is dragged into the hole. However, the centres of most galaxies are devoid of gas and so are invisible from Earth.
These black holes only become visible when an object such as a star is pulled in. If this happens, the star becomes elongated, first spreading out to form a "banana shape" before its inner edge - orbiting faster than the outer edge - pulls the star into a disc-shape that wraps itself around the hole.
As material drops into the black hole it becomes compressed and releases radiation that is usually visible from Earth for a month or so.
Events like these, termed mini-quasars, are incredibly rare - researchers expect one every hundred million years in any one galaxy.
The researchers used some of most powerful ground-based and space-based observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Gemini and Keck Telescopes.
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-13783877
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Thirty-nine steps to car misery.... a new plate in Kabul Vehicle licensing officials in troubled Afghanistan have hit a new pothole - a curious aversion for registrations containing the number 39.
The new plates are stacking up at the Kabul traffic police department and car prices and sales have been hit.
For some reason number 39 is held as a mark of great shame by Afghans.
It is thought the taboo started because a pimp had 39 on his number plate. Others say it dates from an old way of calculating numbers called "Abjad".
Whatever the explanation, the aversion has spread around the country and seems to be growing.
"I am gutted that my car has a 39 number plate. I have had enough of people's taunts," said Ahmad Ghafor, a taxi driver in Kabul.
"It gets worse when I have women customers in the car. Other drivers signal to me or blow their horn saying 'shall we pay you to drop these ladies to my place?'"
Mr Ghafor said he had tried to sell his car, but no one would buy it.
Fawad Heravi Car dealer“You wouldn't dare to drive a car containing number plate 39 on roads in Herat”
Other motorists have paid to have their plates professionally altered and the 39 erased, reports say.
Problems began when the five-digit plates recently rolled over from a series starting with number 38 to one beginning with 39.
Nuruddin Hamdard, head of the Kabul traffic department, told the BBC: "According to law, we have to distribute plate number 39. It is people's ignorance that they go after superstition."
He accuses car dealers of trying to benefit from the situation.
But others say traffic department officials are charging more than $300 (£185) as a bribe to issue plates with a different number.
Drivers and car firms all over Afghanistan are affected, but nowhere more so than in the western city of Herat, where the story about the pimp originated.
"You wouldn't dare to drive a car containing number plate 39 on roads in Herat," Fawad Heravi, a local car dealer, told the BBC.
"You'd simply accept you'd be called a pimp and followed by other road users."
Car prices have been hugely affected.
"Can you believe that I sold a car for $7,000 because of this 39 number plate? Its actual price was $12,000," says Qais Yasini, a car dealer in Mazar-e Sharif in the north.
Nuruddin Hamdard Kabul's traffic department“I have spoken to mullahs about this - they have no idea and call it absurd and superstition”
And it's not just licence plates.
"When you ask people who are 39 how old they are, they get sensitive and say, 'I am one year to 40'," Mr Heravi said.
People also avoid mobile phones with the dreaded digits.
One man unlucky enough to have such a phone number says he is always being pestered.
"I receive lots of anonymous calls asking if I have got prostitutes," Mustafa Jalal told the BBC. "I am known as Mr 39 amongst my friends."
Finally, spare a thought for people living at number 39.
"The final thing I could do was to erase 39 from our door sign by spraying paint on it," said Lemar Jalalzai from Mazar-e Sharif.
"My mum and sisters were taunted by people and some people even wrote on our wall saying 'welcome to pimp house'."
Nuruddin Hamdard of Kabul's traffic department says people should get real.
"In every Islamic country you can see car plates number 39. We have verses of the Koran starting with 39.
"I have spoken to mullahs about this - they have no idea and call it absurd and superstition. People are just making a mountain out of a molehill."
That may be so, but prospective car buyers will breathe a sigh of relief only when the 39 series plates are all gone. Roll on 40.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/13815417
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Local people are reported to be fleeing the area where fighting has broken out Burma has accused ethnic Kachin rebels of starting deadly fighting that erupted near China's border this month.
Officials told state media the army had to act after the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) ignored an order to withdraw from an area near a hydropower plant.
The fighting was the heaviest since most of Burma's ethnic militia signed a ceasefire 17 years ago.
The Kachin blame the government for the clashes, which have reportedly forced 10,000 people to flee their homes.
The government's accusation in the official newspaper the New Light of Myanmar is its first comment on the conflict.
It said the only objective of the army was "to protect its members and an important hydropower project of the nation".
The Tarpein dam is being built by China to help it meet its power needs.
But the KIA are opposed to the project, saying the dam will be environmentally and socially destructive.
Fighting broke out in the area on 9 July - at least four rebel fighters and a number of government troops have died. The rebels say they also destroyed several bridges.
Rights groups say some 10,000 people have been fled, many of them fearing being forcibly recruited as porters by the army.
The Kachin rebels refused a truce deal which would have required them to disarm The KIA is one of several militias aligned with Burma's ethnic minority groups who for decades fought against the central government. They are demanding greater autonomy for Kachin state.
Ahead of the country's nominally democratic elections last November - the first in two decades - the authorities proposed a ceasefire deal to the militia on the condition that they disarm and join a centralised border guard force.
The KIA refused to do so, resulting in the collapse of its long-standing truce with the government.
Neighbouring China has urged both sides to "resolve their differences through peaceful negotiations".
The US state department has called on Burmese government to "cease any such hostilities and begin a dialogue with opposition and ethnic minority groups towards national reconciliation".
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-pacific-13822969
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This year most migrants have arrived on crowded boats from Tunisia The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, is to visit the Italian island of Lampedusa.
More than 40,000 refugees, including many Libyans, have arrived on the tiny island, often making the crossing in crowded, unsafe boats.
Some have been escaping the violence in north Africa, whilst many have seen an opportunity to get into the EU.
Actress Angelina Jolie is also visiting Lampedusa, whose population is 5,000, as a UN goodwill ambassador.
Mr Guterres' visit to Lampedusa on Sunday is to see for himself the crowded conditions faced by the migrants.
Thousands have been sent to camps on mainland Italy, leading to a political row with other European Union countries which fear the migrants may cross their borders.
Others have been sent back to Tunisia.
In her role as a UN goodwill ambassador, Ms Jolie will also be present on Lampedusa, just as the UN celebrates World Refugee Day on Monday.
It is the 60th anniversary of the UN's refugee convention and the agency will present its annual report at a conference in Rome.
Refugees will also be taking part in the meeting but it comes at a time when the host nation is making it tougher for migrants to stay.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government is under pressure to keep down the number of refugees arriving in the country.
Italy has just issued a new decree increasing the amount of time an illegal migrant can be held from six months to a year and a half.
This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-europe-13826315
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RIM has had problems with product delays Shares in Blackberry manufacturer Research in Motion have fallen by more than a fifth since it announced disappointing results on Thursday.
The company said that it had missed even its lowered expectations and reduced its profit forecasts.
RIM's net profit was $695m (£430m) in the three months to 28 May, down from $769m in the same period last year.
It warned in April that its profits would be low because of lower shipments of its Blackberry phones.
By mid-morning local time on Friday RIM shares had fallen by 21.65% on the Nasdaq exchange in New York.
RIM has announced a cost-cutting programme, which will include job cuts.
"Fiscal 2012 has gotten off to a challenging start," said Jim Balsillie, joint chief executive of RIM.
"The slowdown we saw in the first quarter is continuing into Q2, and delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August is leading to a lower than expected outlook in the second quarter."
Immediately after the results were announced on Thursday company's shares fell sharply in after-hours trading and had to be suspended briefly.
"The guidance was just awful. The devices are receiving less shelf space and less support from carriers," said Peter Misek at Jefferies and Co in New York.
"People are not waiting. They're going to other platforms."
Research in Motion is struggling against new handsets produced by Apple or rivals using Googles Android operating system.
The company admitted that the release of its new devices would be delayed until later in the year.
Analysts were extremely critical of its performance.
Adam Leach Ovum“It doesn't replace a smartphone and it doesn't replace a laptop, it's quite a tough sell to the consumer to buy one of these”
"Bottom line, we believe RIM has no short-term fixes to improve its product proftolio, brand perception, to reinvigorate share gains, revenue growth and profitability," Citigroup analysts said in a note to investors.
Industry observers say the firm may have become distracted with new products, especially its new tablet device, the Playbook.
In its results, the firm said it had shipped 500,000 Playbooks, but failed to give detailed sales figures.
"They've had a large focus on the Playbook internally, that launched this month. The company has been focusing on the Playbook that delayed them on getting new smartphones out to market," says Adam Leach from industry analysts Ovum.
Blackberry is not the only tablet manufacturer to have struggled recently.
Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer announced this month that it was to cut 300 jobs as it reduced its shipment targets for tablets by 60%.
The world's second biggest PC manufacturer also cut its revenue forecast.
"It doesn't replace a smartphone and it doesn't replace a laptop, it's quite a tough sell to the consumer to buy one of these," said Mr Leach.
Blackberry is also working on the release of a new operating system for its smart phones based on its Playbook software.
Mr Leach says the market may be overreacting to the bad news.
"I do think they are they have a quite strong business, the last few quarters have been very strong for them," he says.
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