international

China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying two men and the first Chinese woman to fly in space, returned to Earth on Friday after an ambitious flight to a prototype space station module, plunging back into the atmosphere and descending under a large parachute to a jarring touchdown in Inner Mongolia.

The re-entry was carried live on Chinese television, with commentary, shots of the crew in the cramped decent module and views of the spacecraft's fiery re-entry plume as it streaked across the sky on a steep northeasterly descent toward the landing zone.

The 12-day 15-hour mission ended with a … Read more

Oh good, I can get one second more sleep the night of June 30. In an effort to keep our extremely accurate atomic clocks in line with the more arbitrary nature of the way the world wobbles, we're getting a leap second this weekend.

Sure, it's not as dramatic as what happens during a leap year, but it's still exciting for clock aficionados, science geeks, and time lords. The leap second will be added to Coordinated Universal Time at the end of the day on June 30.… Read more

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft executed a smooth automated docking with the Tiangong 1 research module early Monday, completing China's first manned orbital linkup in a milestone for the nation's steadily progressing space program.

Following launch Saturday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China, commander Jing Heipeng, China's first space veteran, and his two rookie crewmates, Liu Wang and Liu Yang -- China's first female astronaut -- began the terminal phase of the two-day rendezvous around noon Monday Beijing time (12 a.m. EDT; GMT+8) at a distance of about 32 miles, according … Read more

OS X offers multiple input method options to offer support for many world languages and regional input conventions. While this allows the system to be set up to work well for people from different parts of the world, the way OS X manages input methods may confuse a few who make use of multiple input methods.

For example, a standard U.S. keyboard layout will have access to the common characters and symbols used in American English, but this will not work as well for typing in French, where the need for common character accents requires a different input method. … Read more

This year's International Engine of the Year Awards saw many repeats from 2011, but stealing the show was a new sub-1-liter engine from Ford. Using direct injection and a turbocharger, this 999cc engine manages to generate 123 horsepower, enough for most subcompact and compact cars. And in European test cycles, the engine manages well over 50 mpg.

Despite the economy of Ford's engine, the Green Engine Award went to GM for the range extended electric power train in the Chevy Volt and Opel Ampera.

Here are the various … Read more

Do children still enthuse about cars? Toyota is hoping they'll become future buyers with the Camatte, an EV concept showing this week in Tokyo.

Named for the Japanese verb kamau (to care), the Camatte is designed to prompt tykes to care about car ownership. The seats and pedals can be adjusted so that kids can drive while an adult in the back seat helps with steering.

It won't be road-worthy, however, and is designed for use on go-kart tracks and other private facilities, with a top speed of 25 mph. Can that really rev kids up? … Read more

European network providers that want the United Nations to consider a new Internet tax targeting Google, Facebook, Apple, and Netflix today defended their proposal, which was leaked earlier this week.

The idea of requiring content providers to pay fees based on usage is an "innovative" change to the way the Internet currently works and will create a more "fair" environment "where operators' revenues will not be disconnected from the investment needs made necessary by the rapid growth of Internet traffic," the providers said in a statement (PDF).

Last night, CNET reported that the European … Read more

The United Nations is considering a new Internet tax targeting the largest Web content providers, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Netflix, that could cripple their ability to reach users in developing nations.

The European proposal, offered for debate at a December meeting of a U.N. agency called the International Telecommunication Union, would amend an existing telecommunications treaty by imposing heavy costs on popular Web sites and their network providers for the privilege of serving non-U.S. users, according to newly leaked documents.

The documents (No. 1 No. 2) punctuate warnings that the Obama administration and Republican members of Congress … Read more

HTC believes it's free and clear of infringing on a key Apple patent despite allegations to the contrary by the iPhone maker.

This week, Apple filed its third complaint against HTC in the past three years with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The company is alleging that HTC is still violating the same Apple patents that triggered a recent ban on imports of the HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE.

Following the initial complaint, HTC said that it took steps to work past Apple's U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647, also known as the data … Read more