Turkish FM hopes better China ties to help Uighurs

Davutoglu said it was of symbolic importance to begin his visit to China from Kashgar and Urumchi in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region.

Thursday, 28 October 2010

Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday that the better Turkey's relations with the central government of China, the more contributions Turkey could make to Uighur region.

Ahmet Davutoglu said that on one hand Turkey had to protect rights of Uighur Turks, on the other hand it would not harm its relations with a global country.

"This will please not only China but also us, and we will help our Uighur brothers at the same time," Davutoglu told reporters en route to China.

Minister Davutoglu said it was of symbolic importance to begin his visit to China from Kashgar and Urumchi in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region.

Davutoglu is the first Turkish foreign minister ever to visit Kashgar.

"Here is the point we have reached in one year. The Chinese premier visited Turkey and I am now paying a visit to China. Both visits take place within a month," Davutoglu told reporters.

Davutoglu said Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would visit China the following year.

"My visit to China is a part of an action plan we are implementing to solve the crisis with Chinese foreign minister after the Urumchi incidents," he said.

Over 150 people were killed and approximately 1,000 others were injured in the riots which followed Sunday's peaceful demonstrations protesting a fight between Uighur and Han Chinese workers at a toy factory late June. Two Uighur workers had been killed in the strife. Urumchi is in the Uighur Autonomous Region that has a population of over 21 million. Nearly 11 million Uighurs, Mongols and Huis live in the region.

Davutoglu said Turkey and China would set up a mechanism similar to strategic cooperation council it had established with some other countries, and thus two countries would work to better relations and close foreign trade deficit.

Turkey and China had agreed to implement a railway transportation project from Beijing to China, Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu said Turkey was planning to construct a 4,000-km railway within its borders and China was willing to take part in that project.

Turkey and China could also cooperate in Central Asia, and two countries were discussing a trilateral cooperation also including Pakistan, Davutoglu also said.

Davutoglu will be the guest his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi during his six-day formal visit to this country.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65679.

Turkish FM to visit Uighur region during China trip

Davutoglu will be the first Turkish foreign minister to pay a visit to Uighur Autonomous Region.

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will travel to China on a six-day formal visit during which he will also pay a visit to Uighur Autonomous Region which China calls "Xinjiang".

Davutoglu will visit Urumqi, Uighur Autonomous Region, and Xian provinces. Davutoglu will be the first Turkish foreign minister to pay a visit to Uighur Autonomous Region, Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Davutoglu, who will be accompanied by a large delegation of lawmakers, bureaucrats, businessmen, academicians and journalists, will be visiting China from October 28 to November 2 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Davutoglu and Jiechi will discuss bilateral relations, cooperation opportunities, and regional and international issues, the statement said.

During his stay in China, Davutoglu will also have a meeting with China's Vice President Xi Jinping, attend a round-table discussion at China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and deliver a speech at the Renmin University in Beijing.

Davutoglu is also scheduled to attend the closing ceremony of Shanghai EXPO 2010 on October 31, it added.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=65667.

Indonesia starts to bury volcano victims

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Sleman, Indonesia - Indonesia on Thursday began burying victims of a volcanic eruption on Java island, as some residents returned to their villages in defiance of official warnings to stay in emergency shelters.

Tuesday's eruption of Mount Merapi, the country's most active volcano, killed at least 29 people and injured more than 50, said Nelis Zuliasri, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Agency.

Two people were listed as missing as of Thursday, she said.

Hundreds of people attended a funeral ceremony for 23 of the victims in Umbulharjo village near the city of Yogyakarta.

Among those buried was Mbah Maridjan, the spiritual keeper of the volcano, who was killed along with several others when searing volcanic debris slammed into their village.

His body was found in a prostrate position, as if praying.

Tuesday's deadly outbreak occurred one day after authorities upgraded the volcano's danger alert status to its highest level.

Jets of searing gas burned trees, crops and livestock and covered entire neighborhoods in grey ash.

Meanwhile, about 50 sand miners in Rahayu village on the eastern slope of the volcano returned to work despite a warning not to go near the 10-kilometer danger zone.

"We didn't work for two days," said Sugiyem, a 60-year-old woman who said she had been a sand miner for 30 years. "If we stop working we won't be able to eat."

"This is the only job we have," she said. Sands from volcanic eruptions have created jobs for many living on Merapi's flanks.

Some of the 45,000 people who have moved to government-run shelters also returned to their villages.

Jumniyasih, a resident of Kali Adem village about 5 kilometers from the volcano's peak, said she wanted to feed her cattle and clean the house.

"If the situation is calm, I will stay. But if it's dangerous, I will return to the shelter," she said.

The 2,968-meter volcano, located about 500 kilometers south-east of Jakarta, last erupted in 2006, killing two people.

Its most deadly eruption on record occurred in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed. At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption.

Indonesia has the highest density of volcanoes in the world with about 500 in the 5,000-kilometer-long archipelago nation. Nearly 130 are active, and 68 are listed as dangerous.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350770,starts-bury-volcano-victims.html.

Indonesian quake-tsunami aid trickles in

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Jakarta - Aid was trickling in Thursday to Indonesia's Mentawai islands three days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami devastated the area leaving over 300 dead, officials said.

Bambang Suharjo, an official at the provincial Disaster Management Agency put the official death toll from Monday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake at 311, while 379 people were listed as missing and around 400 were injured.

As many as 4,000 villagers were homeless and staying at temporary shelters or had sought refuge on higher ground after the tsunami swept away their houses, he said. A survivor recalled events when the tsunami struck and ravaged her home. "My husband and my son have not been found," said 20-year-old housewife Chandra among tears.

She said that she has been swept away by the high waves and got caught in a palm tree before she was rescued by a man. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived," she said.

Suharjo said that more food and other aid was expected. "More assistance is on its way. But to reach there will takes some time."

Other officials explained that reaching the quake-ravaged islands by ferry would take up to 10 hours from the provincial capital of Padang.

Nelis Zuliasri, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said aid from Jakarta arrived at around midnight Wednesday.

Around 2,400 displaced people in Pagai Selatan district had not received any assistance, she said, due to difficult road access to the area.

A shortage of fuel had also prevented vehicles from distributing aid, she added.

"The field is very difficult because it consists of small islands located in the open sea," said Social Affairs Mister Segaf Al Jufri, who accompanied Vice President Boediono visiting Pagai Selatan district.

"Until now, there are 11 hamlets in Pagai Selatan yet impenetrable, so we do not yet know the condition of 1,945 citizens there," he was quoted as saying by Kompas daily.

Medical supplies at the public health centers were running low, Mentawai disaster relief agency official Joskamtir was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

"We also desperately need hundreds more body bags, face masks for the survivors because the stench began to sting, especially at night," he said. More bodies had been discovered but rescue workers did not have enough body bags and he said he feared the onset of diseases.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was scheduled to fly to Mentawai on Thursday monitor the conditions there. Yudhoyono cut short a visit to Vietnam after the country was hit by the quake and tsunami, as well as a volcanic eruption in Central Java.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350780,quake-tsunami-aid-trickles-in.html.

Indonesian quake-tsunami aid trickles in as death toll rises to 311

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Jakarta - Aid was trickling in Thursday to Indonesia's Mentawai islands three days after a powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami devastated the area leaving over 300 dead, officials said.

Bambang Suharjo, an official at the provincial Disaster Management Agency put the official death toll from Monday's 7.7-magnitude earthquake at 311, while 379 people were listed as missing and around 400 were injured.

As many as 4,000 villagers were homeless and staying at temporary shelters or had sought refuge on higher ground after the tsunami swept away their houses, he said.

He added that more food and other aid was expected. "More assistance is on its way. But to reach there will takes some time," Suharjo said.

Other officials explained that reaching the quake-ravaged islands by ferry would take up to 10 hours from the provincial capital of Padang.

Nelis Zuliasri, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said aid from Jakarta arrived at around midnight Wednesday.

Around 2,400 displaced people in Pagai Selatan district had not received any assistance, she said, due to difficult road access to the area.

A shortage of fuel had also prevented vehicles from distributing aid, she added.

Medical supplies at the public health centers were running low, Mentawai disaster relief agency official Joskamtir was quoted as sayin by the state-run Antara news agency.

"We also desperately need hundreds more body bags, face masks for the survivors because the stench began to sting, especially at night," he said. More bodies had been discovered but rescue workers did not have enough body bags and he said he feared the onset of diseases.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was scheduled to fly to Mentawai on Thursday monitor the conditions there. Yudhoyono cut short a visit to Vietnam after the country was hit by the quake and tsunami, as well as a volcanic eruption in Central Java.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350766,death-toll-rises-311.html.

Taiwan-based Chinese dissident to attend Nobel laureates summit

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Taipei - A Taiwan-based Chinese dissident said Thursday that he would attend an upcoming Nobel Peace Prize laureates summit in Japan after being invited as a friend of the prize's most recent recipient, Liu Xiaobo, who is jailed in China and unable to attend.

The organizer of the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates also said Wuer Kaixi would address next month's summit and call for Liu's immediate release.

"By inviting Wuer Kaixi, the summit is keeping up with its long tradition of inviting representatives of jailed or otherwise incapacitated Nobel peace laureates," the summit's secretariat in Rome said in a statement.

Wuer said in an e-mail sent to the German Press Agency dpa that he was invited as a friend and student of Liu's to the November 12-14 summit in Hiroshima. Like Liu, he was also a protester at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989 calling for democratic reforms. Troops using tanks and live ammunition crushed that demonstration.

"As far as I know, I am the only Chinese dissident who is invited although the summit is still trying very hard to contact and invite Mrs Liu," he said, referring to Liu Xia, whom Chinese authorities have put under house arrest since October 8, the day her husband's Nobel prize was announced.

The latest prison sentence for Liu Xiaobo, 54, a prominent writer and one of China's leading dissidents, was handed down in December when he was given 11 years in prison for his part in writing Charter '08, a petition calling for political reform and democratization in China.

China's ruling Communist Party's reaction to Liu's Nobel has been anger, and police have kept many other activists under house arrest or other forms of detention this month to prevent them from publicly celebrating.

Wuer, 42, was named number two on China's wanted list after the Tiananmen protests. First, he fled to France and later went to study in the United States.

He settled in Taiwan in 1994 after marrying a Taiwan student he met in the US. He is now the Taiwan managing partner of an international financial investment company.

Meanwhile, Liu Xia was looking for someone to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize on Liu Xiaobo's behalf.

In an open letter published last week, she said she and her husband wanted to invite about 140 friends in China and abroad who are also activists to attend the Nobel award ceremony December 10 and "share the honor" of Liu winning the prize.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350783,attend-nobel-laureates-summit.html.

Gandhi high on Obama's agenda on India visit

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

New Delhi - US President Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in India November 6 with peace apostle Mahatma Gandhi on his agenda - along with business, politics and terrorism.

Obama, an admirer of the leader of India's independence movement, who advocated non-violent protest, was scheduled to visit a Gandhi museum in Mumbai and a memorial in Delhi, the White House said.

"One thing I can tell you, he has inquired a lot about Mahatma Gandhi ahead of the trip," the Indian Express newspaper quoted an unnamed US embassy official as saying. "He wants to know more about Mr Gandhi while he is here."

Obama, as a senator, kept a framed picture of Gandhi in his office. "He is quite fascinated with how Mahatma Gandhi influenced the civil rights movement in the United States," the embassy official said.

One of the first events on Obama's agenda after he lands in Mumbai on a three-day visit, his longest stay in a foreign country as president, was a statement at the Taj Mahal hotel in memory of the victims of a terrorist attack in November 2008, who included six US citizens.

Obama, who is to stay at the Taj, was scheduled to attend meetings with Indian and US business leaders, visit a school, and hold townhall-style meetings with university students and roundtables on agriculture, food security and democracy before he leaves for the Indian capital November 7.

First lady Michelle Obama, who is to accompany the president, reportedly wished to see the Taj Mahal in Agra. But given their packed schedule, the couple instead were due to visit the medieval Humayun's tomb in Delhi, on which the architecture of the Taj is said to be based.

The final day of the US president's visit would be devoted to bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other officials, followed by a speech in India's Parliament.

Obama was scheduled to depart for Indonesia on November 9.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350784,obamas-agenda-india-visit.html.

China's post-Nobel crackdown 'worst since Olympics' - Feature

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Beijing - China's crackdown on rights activists following the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident writer Liu Xiaobo appears to be the toughest since the 2008 Olympic Games, rights groups and activists said on Thursday.

Dozens of prominent activists have been questioned, placed under house arrest or disappeared since Liu was awarded the prize on October 8.

Police have also kept Liu's wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest, cut off her two mobile phone numbers and apparently prevented her from using the internet for the past week.

"I have heard some activists say that the current controls and harassment have got worse than those during the Olympics and after the release of Charter '08," Renee Xia, the international director of Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), told the German Press Agency dpa.

The Charter '08 for democratic reform was signed by 303 leading Chinese intellectuals, lawyers and rights activists.

Police arrested Liu Xiaobo in December 2008, two days before the release of the charter. He was later sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion for his role in organizing it.

Many of those kept under house arrest since October 8 are Charter '08 signatories, including dissident writer and Christian activist Yu Jie.

"I have been confined to my home for 11 days and cannot go outside ... What crime have I committed?" Yu said on his Twitter account on Thursday, adding that he planned to write an open letter of complaint to China's top leaders.

The only reason the police gave for his house arrest was that they were instructed to do so by "higher authorities."

Yu's mobile phone number was cut off by the service provider, he said.

"Cutting off phone lines and taking away cell phones is not new," Xia said, "but it seems to be used against a broader range of activists, reflecting the government's fear of more international press interviews with these people and more bad publicity for this government."

CHRD said it was compiling an "ever-growing list" of rights activists subject to police action since October 8.

It issued a statement on Thursday condemning the Chinese government's "growing crackdown on civil society."

Among the cases reported by the group was the "kidnapping" on October 21 of scholar and bookstore owner Liu Suli outside his Beijing home.

"We have since learned that Liu sustained a fractured vertebra in his lower back after being roughly handled by police and has been hospitalized for treatment," CHRD said.

In another sign of the authorities' nervousness, police detained Mou Yanxi, an activist in the south-western city of Chongqing, after she apparently light-heartedly said on Twitter that she planned to honor Liu during an anti-Japanese march in the city on Tuesday.

The police then questioned another Chongqing-based activist, Zhang Shijie, who had reported Mou's detention on Twitter.

Police had already summoned Zhang last week to demand the telephone numbers of all the people who had attended a dinner with him and Mou on October 8 to celebrate Liu's Nobel award.

"I refused at that time,"Zhang told dpa by telephone. "He threatened that if I would not tell him the telephone numbers, their people would take them (the other activists) away," Zhang said.

Among those who have disappeared since October 8 are Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, retired professors who founded the Tiananmen Mothers group, which has appealed repeatedly to the Communist Party to hold a public inquiry into the brutal 1989 crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Ding and Jiang, whose 17-year-old son was killed in the 1989 crackdown, are close friends of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia.

Hong Kong-based Bao Pu, the son of purged Communist Party official Bao Tong, told dpa he had been unable to contact his Beijing-based father by telephone for three weeks, the longest period since the 2008 Olympics.

Xia and other overseas human rights observers expect the government's post-Nobel crackdown on dissidents to continue at least until after the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony on December 10.

One observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the police action appeared to be a continuation of a pre-Olympic crackdown that began in 2006.

He said it reflected the willingness of China's leaders to use "increasingly tough measures against those it sees as destabilizing figures."

Author : Bill Smith

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350787,worst-olympics-feature.html.

Malaysian police rescue 23 pangolins from suspected smugglers

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police rescued 23 pangolins thought to have been smuggled from Indonesia for Malaysian dinner tables, a news report said Thursday.

Marine police in the southern state of Johor gave chase to a suspicious vehicle leaving the jetty of Parit Jamil early Wednesday.

When they caught the car, the officers discovered the animals inside, while the driver was able to escape, district marine police commander Nordin Osman was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

The pangolins, which were thought to have come from the nearby Indonesian island of Sumatra, had an estimated market value of 50,000 ringgit (about 16,000 dollars), police said.

The rescued animals would be handed over to the wildlife department, the report said.

Pangolins are prized for their meat, which some believe contains medicinal value.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350759,23-pangolins-suspected-smugglers.html.

Canada's first Muslim mayor takes office in cowboy town - Feature

Thu, 28 Oct 2010

Montreal - He's Muslim, dark-skinned and has a Harvard degree, but Calgary's newly elected mayor still packs a Stetson cowboy hat in his closet. After all, Naheed Nenshi was elected mayor of a city that prides itself on being the home of the Stampede, the world's largest rodeo show.

Nenshi's election in a city that desperately clings to its roots as a frontier outpost in the Canadian prairies, even as waves of immigration and oil wealth have transformed it into a modern cosmopolitan metropolis, made front page news across Canada.

"It's been a bit crazy," Nenshi said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp on the eve of the election. "Who knew that (a) mayoral election in the middle of the Canadian prairies would cause national and international waves. I'm told I was trending worldwide on Twitter."

As Nenshi was sworn in on Monday, he became the first Muslim to head a major Canadian city. At 38, Nenshi - the son of Ismaili Muslim immigrants from Tanzania - is also one of the youngest mayors in Canada.

Speaking to the Globe and Mail newspaper on election day, Nenshi admitted that unlike his rivals he feels the weight of expectations of an entire community.

"It is true that I have an additional responsibility," Nenshi told the Globe. "But you know, I do a good job and it's like brown guys are okay. Muslims can do a good job. I do a bad job, and I take people down with me."

He brings a unique set of qualifications to the job. Nenshi has worked at the international business consulting firm McKinsey & Co, advising telecommunications, banking, retail and oil and gas companies in corporate strategy.

He also worked at the United Nations and ran his own consultancy business, working with non-profit organizations. Until his election on October 18, Nenshi had taught non-profit management at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

"Growing up, we didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of opportunity," recounted Nenshi's older sister, Shaheen Nenshi Nathoo, in a Youtube video biography prepared specifically for the campaign. "Our parents always instilled in us the need to do community service and Naheed took that lesson to heart."

His involvement in the community paid off smartly when the time came.

At the beginning of the race Nenshi was considered an outsider and a long shot to win. An early poll had him sitting at just 8 percent of the popular vote. But Nenshi's astute use of social media and his Purple Army of volunteers - purple was the color of his campaign - carried his message, mobilizing public opinion.

"We also realized early on that a lot of people live online, or they live on their mobile devices and this was remarkable opportunity to start engaging in two-way communications with them," Nenshi said in the CBC interview.

"It sounds weird right? Twitter is 140 characters, but we used it to bring people into a much broader conversation that was impossible to do in the traditional media."

His promise of reforms, innovation and sustainable development resonated with voters. But most importantly for Nenshi, who's been dubbed Alberta's Obama, they came out to vote.

Voter participation jumped from about 30 per cent in the 2004 municipal elections to 53 per cent on October 18.

Nenshi said his faith or racial background were never an issue in the campaign, which he deftly focused on the problems facing the city. But his victory also shows how far Canada has come in integrating its immigrants, he said.

"Just last week we had the chancellor of Germany suggesting that multiculturalism in her country is a failure," Nenshi said. "And when I heard that, the first thing that I thought was, 'She needs to come to Calgary'."

Author : Levon Sevunts

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350764,cowboy-town-feature.html.

Russian space agency to pay $65 mln for Moon spaceship

2010-10-27

MOSCOW, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, offered 2 billion rubles (about 65.4 million U.S. dollars) as an award for the best project of a Moon-landing spaceship, RBC news agency reported on Wednesday.

Roscosmos announces an open tender for working-out of the manned system that would provide permanent link between the Earth and the Moon. The tender will last until 2015.

The award will be paid from the Russian federal space program funds.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/27/c_13578610.htm.

Asian leaders arrive in Hanoi for ASEAN summit

Wed, 27 Oct 2010

Hanoi - Heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) arrived Wednesday in Hanoi in preparation for the organization's 17th summit, scheduled to open Thursday.

Topping the official agenda will be economic and transportation agreements intended to knit the fragmented region closer together.

The meeting is overshadowed by tensions over upcoming elections in Myanmar, and conflicts with China over maritime territory in the South China Sea. But it was not clear how much of a hearing these controversial issues would get at the summit.

Foreign ministers from the 10 ASEAN nations met Wednesday afternoon in advance of the summit to consider a series of agreements and working papers.

One was a report from the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), which has in the past been critical of human rights abuses and anti-democratic conduct in Myanmar.

A draft document prepared by the Philippine's delegation to the summit reportedly said the elections in Myanmar, scheduled for November 7, would be "a farce."

The foreign ministers also considered the final statement of the ASEAN People's Forum, a civil-society gathering in September that included groups affiliated with Myanmar's democracy movement.

But the official statement following the foreign ministers' meeting Wednesday made no mention of Myanmar. The only significant document the ministers signed was an agreement on cooperation in search-and-rescue operations in the South China Sea.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The body was long regarded as an ineffectual talk shop, but has moved in recent years to exercise more power on both economic and diplomatic fronts.

In 2007 the group adopted a binding charter, including provisions for a human rights body. But ASEAN meetings are still known for their aversion to conflict or to taking up issues that may embarrass any of the organization's member states.

The issues of Myanmar and of conflict in the South China Sea may receive a fuller airing on Saturday, when the follow-on East Asia Summit convenes. The group includes the ten ASEAN member states along with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea.

The United States and Russia have been invited to join, and will send representatives this year.

The US is sending Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been urged in recent days by human-rights advocates and US congressmen to put human rights on the summit's agenda.

In a letter Wednesday, US senator Barbara Boxer urged Clinton to demand the "immediate release" of over a dozen Vietnamese political prisoners.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350709,arrive-hanoi-asean-summit.html.

Cargo spaceship blasts off for International Space Station

Wed, 27 Oct 2010

Moscow - A cargo spaceship carrying research equipment, fresh fruit and post blasted off Wednesday for the International Space Station (ISS), officials in Moscow told the news agency Interfax.

The Progress spaceship took off as planned at 1312 GMT with 2.6 tons of supplies from the Baikonour space center in Kazakhstan.

The cargo ship is due to dock with the ISS on Saturday. Three Russian cosmonauts and three US astronaut are currently on board the space station, 350 kilometers above the earth's surface.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350723,cargo-spaceship-blasts-off-for-international-space-station.html.

Schwarzenegger breaks ground on world's largest solar-energy plant

Wed, 27 Oct 2010

Los Angeles - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke ground Wednesday on what was touted as the world's largest solar-energy project.

The 370-megawatt Ivanpa Solar Electric Generating System is scheduled to go online in 2013 and produce enough energy to power 140,000 US homes.

Situated in southern California's Mojave Desert, the 2-billion- dollar project covers close to 1,500 hectares and will include 3,600 billboard-sized mirrors, arranged in concentric circles around a central tower. The mirrors will focus the sun's rays on the tower to create steam that will run a turbine.

"Some people look out into the desert and see miles and miles of emptiness," Schwarzenegger said at the event. "I see miles and miles of gold mine. The construction of this renewable energy plant is great news for our state and further proof that it is possible to both protect the environment and grow the economy."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350730,melzer-meets-austrian-president-worlds-largest-solar-energy-plant.html.

Jordan charges five with vote buying

Wed, 27 Oct 2010

Amman - The Jordanian security authorities on Wednesday charged five people with vote buying, spokesman Samih Mayata said.

Maayta, who doubles as political adviser to Prime Minister Samir Rifai, said that the move reflected the government's "seriousness in dealing with election crimes, including vote buying and selling."

If convicted the accused could face seven years in jail, according to an amendment added recently to election law.

It is the first time the security authorities in the country have charged anyone with vote manipulation.

A total of 854 candidates, including 144 women, have registered to compete in the parliamentary elections scheduled for November 9.

The state-funded National Center for Human Rights (NCHR) acknowledged that vote buying and other irregularities marred the 2007 elections.

The country's main opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, is boycotting the poll, claiming that the government has failed to provide adequate assurances that the polling process "will not be rigged."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350705,charges-five-vote-buying.html.