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Hugo Chavez's US 'cancer plot' put to the numbers test By Ruth Alexander BBC News   Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had a cancerous tumour removed in 2011 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated last month that the US might have used a secret weapon to give Latin American leaders cancer, as the number of them with the disease was "difficult to explain using the laws of probabilities" - but is it? "Would it be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it?" Mr Chavez asked in a televised speech to soldiers at an army base. Treated for cancer himself last year, he was speaking the day after the Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with the condition - or misdiagnosed, as it turned out. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, 64, had treatment for lymphoma in 2009. Her predecessor, Lula da Silva, 66, has been treated fo...

Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia: Search for missing The BBC's Alan Johnston says it "must have been an extraordinarily harrowing experience" Emergency teams in Italy are racing to rescue those missing after a cruise ship ran aground off the country's west coast with about 4,000 people on board. Coast guard vessels are combing the waters around the Costa Concordia, which is lying on its side. Divers are searching its submerged decks. There were scenes of panic as it began listing on Friday. Most people reached land by lifeboats but some swam ashore. Three people are confirmed dead. About 70 are said to be unaccounted for. However, local official Giuseppe Linardi told reporters that some of those listed as missing may still be housed in private homes on the small island of Giglio - where those rescued reached land. BBC's Adam Parsons: "You can see a huge gash, perhaps fifty metres long" A large gash can be seen in the hull o...

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Star Trek-style 'tricorder' invention offered $10m prize By Chris Vallance BBC News Without the tricorder The Enterprise crew would have struggled to boldly go A $10m (£6.5m) prize is on offer to whoever can create a Star Trek-like medical "tricorder". The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize has challenged researchers to build a tool capable of capturing "key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases". It needs to be light enough for would-be Dr McCoys to carry - a maximum weight of 5lb (2.2kg). The prize was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to the official Star Trek technical manual, a tricorder is a portable "sensing, computing and data communications device". The kit captured the imagination of the show's millions of viewers when it was first used in the cult series' first broadcast in 1966. In the show, which was set in the 23rd Centu...

Ofcom boosts 4G coverage plan in rural 'not-spots' The 4G mobile tech will help to bring faster broadband to rural areas Ofcom has revised proposals for its fourth-generation mobile spectrum auction, adding measures that could bring coverage to 98% of the UK. The regulator said the winning bidder will have to provide the high-speed coverage to current "not-spot" areas. It said the measures would help bring fast mobile internet to parts of the country that are underserved. The bidding process for the spectrum is still scheduled for the end of this year, Ofcom said. A 10-week consultation period into the revisions will now begin ahead of Ofcom's final decision on the precise details of the auction. In a statement, Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "We are proposing a significant enhancement of mobile broadband, extending 4G coverage beyond levels of existing 2G coverage - helping to serve many areas of the UK that have traditionall...

Apple ends China iPhone store sales after scuffles The BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing: "Eggs were thrown, the police were called" Apple has said it will halt the sale of all iPhone models from its stores in China, after large crowds disrupted the launch of the iPhone 4S. An Apple store in the Sanlitun area of Beijing failed to open after a large crowd gathered outside in anticipation of the launch. The crowd became unruly, throwing eggs. Scuffles broke out with police. China is the world's largest mobile phone market, and Apple's second-biggest market. The iPhone 4S, which has voice-activated functions, was being introduced through official Apple stores in China for the first time. Tough market Apple said in a statement that it decided not to open its store at Sanlitun "due to the large crowd, and to ensure the safety of our customers and employees".   Pol...

Alaskan Indian woodcarver revives extinct totem art David Boxley had to learn the craft of totem pole carving by visiting examples in museums and studying the ancient designs World renowned artist David Boxley and his son are carving a Tsimshian Alaskan Indian totem pole for a prominent American museum. With no skilled artists alive to instruct him in the traditional craft, Boxley had to learn on his own. The Tsimshian tell a myth. A young boy was walking along a beach when he came across an eagle entangled in a fish net. He freed the eagle and it flew away. The boy grew up to become the chief of his village, which was struck by a famine. As he walked along the same beach wondering what to do, a salmon fell out of the sky and landed at his feet. He looked up and saw the eagle he had rescued years before. "He didn't realize that the eagle was a nax-nox - in my language that means spirit guardian, a su...