Munich, September 26 : Using a web of telescopes, astronomers have identified one of the nearest supernovae in the last 25 years, a decade after it exploded.

This result was made possible by combining data from the vast online archives from many of the world’s premier telescopes.

The supernova, called SN 1996cr, was first singled out in 2001 by Franz Bauer.

Bauer noticed a bright, variable source in the Circinus spiral galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Although the source displayed some exceptional properties Bauer and his Penn State colleagues could not identify its nature confidently at the time.

It was not until years later that Bauer and his team were able to confirm that this object was a supernova.

Munich - The maiden flight of the much-delayed European military transport plane A400M is being postponed because the engines are still not ready, manufacturer EADS said Thursday from its German offices in Munich.

The propellor plane is intended as Europe's answer to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, but the project at planemaker Airbus has dragged. A prototype has ceremonially rolled out of the hangar but has never flown.

Munich, September 25 : Astronomers have discovered a most bizarre celestial object that emitted 40 visible-light flashes before becoming dormant again, which might be the first case of a magnetar with an amazingly powerful magnetic field that showed some brief, strong visible-light activity.

This weird object initially misled its discoverers as it showed up as a gamma-ray burst, suggesting the death of a star in the distant Universe.

But soon afterwards, it exhibited some unique behaviour that indicates its origin is much closer to us.

After the initial gamma-ray pulse, there was a three-day period of activity during which 40 visible-light flares were observed, followed by a brief near-infrared flaring episode 

Munich - German business confidence slipped more sharply than expected this month, with the Ifo institute of Munich saying Wednesday its index falling to 92.9 points, from 94.8 in August.

It was the fourth straight month in which the index fell.

Economists who watch the index closely had on average predicted the September reading would only fall to 94.1.

Ifo's separate index of business expectations declined marginally from 87.0 in August to 86.5 in September, whereas the assessment of the current position slumped from
103.2 to 99.8.

The index sums up a monthly survey of 7,000 executives, economists and other business leaders.

Munich - Mini plans to extend its range with a compact SUV study featuring four doors, four-wheel drive and four single seats that will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October.

Planned for production in 2010, the teaser images released by the BMW subsidiary show two conventional doors positioned on the passenger side with a third for the driver. The fourth door, for the rear passenger on the driver's side, slides back along the outside of the car for convenient access and loading.

The rear door has a frameless, retractable window and when open, swivels to one side to facilitate the loading of long items, such as skis, snowboards and surfboards.

Munich - A speed difference of only 10 kilometres an hour is the thin line between life and death, according to a crash test recently conducted by Germany's automobile association (ADAC).

At a moderate speed of 80 km/h on a country road, the driver can still bring the vehicle to a standstill within 50 metres when braking hard.

But at a speed of only 10 km/h more at 100 km/h, the vehicle would crash into the obstacle at a speed of 64 km/h, the test found.

At that speed, the crash test vehicle, a Renault Laguna, still had an intact safety cell with the dummy driver, passenger and children on the rear seat, risking no serious injury, according to the test results. The airbags still functioned.