Price protests erupt across Algeria

Unrest spreads from capital to several towns as youths protest over rising costs and increasing unemployment.

07 Jan 2011

Fresh unrest has taken place in Algeria as protests over rising costs and unemployment spread after a night of rioting in Algiers, the capital, in which youths attacked a police station and torched shops.

Authorities rushed police reinforcements to several towns on Thursday, where hundreds of youths took to the streets.

Youths blocked major regional roads around Boumerdes, about 60km east of Algiers, and Bejaia, 200km further east, the online edition of the El-Watan newspaper reported.

Authorities sent in "a large number of convoys of anti-riot police," it said.

Protests have been reported at the Martyrs' Square, Balkor, Bash Jarrah, Babal Wadi and Astawali, while both Jalfa in southern Algeria and Wahran in the west also witnessed violent rallies in protest over the deteriorating living conditions and rising prices.

Neighboring Tunisia was also struck by more protests in a wave of similar unrest.

Stones hurled

Shops in the Algerian capital shut early after rioting late on Wednesday in which dozens of youths hurled stones at a police station in the Bab el Oued area, set alight several shops and barricaded roads with flaming tires.

"They hurled stones at the anti-riot police in the area," a resident told the AFP news agency by telephone.

A dealership for Renault, a carmaker from former colonial ruler France, was attacked and torched, and about a dozens of its vehicles destroyed, an AFP photographer said.

A top-end shoe shop even cleared its shelves ahead of nightfall on Thursday.

"We are closing to wait and see what will happen," an employee said.

A similar demonstration was held on Wednesday in Oran, 430km west of the capital, where protesters burned tires, blocked roads with tree trunks and hurled objects at drivers, the Oran Daily reported.

Youths forced open a warehouse to steal sacks of flour, it said, with the cost of flour among those that have risen in recent days.

Demonstrators blocked roads on Monday in Tipaza, west of the capital, in protest against food prices and difficult living conditions.

There have been similar protests, some turning violent and resulting in injuries, across the country for months, focused on costs, employment, lack of social housing and allegations of corruption.

Rising prices

The General Union of Algerian Traders and Artisans said prices had risen between 20 and 30 per cent in recent days, with the costs of sugar and oil up sharply since the start of the month.

In an attempt to calm the rising anger, Mustapha Benbada, the commerce minister, said on Wednesday that the food price rises were not unique to Algeria but part of a worldwide trend.

"The state will continue to subsidize essential items," he said.

About 75 per cent of Algerians are under the age of 30, and 20 per cent of the youth are unemployed, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the country's president, pledged in 2009 to build a million apartments not replaced since a 2003 earthquake, while growth of the population - which has tripled to 35.6 million since independence from France in 1962 - has added to strains on the availability of housing.

"I fear that the situation will explode," Mohammed Saib Musette, a sociologist at the Research Center of Applied Economy for Development, said.

"There is a contagion effect, mainly when we think about what has happened with Tunisia."

A wave of demonstrations against unemployment and the cost of living erupted in Tunisia on December 17 after a university student set himself alight in a protest. He died of his wounds on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, thousands of Tunisian lawyers joined protests on Thursday after weeks of disturbances that have rattled the government.

The two north African countries, along with Morocco, are in a similar situation in that they have been unable to accommodate their young graduates and suffered in the global economic crisis, analysts said.

"In these three countries, there have been efforts in the area of education but they did not think of ways to integrate young graduates into the community, an integration that happens through employment," Driss Benali, an economist from Rabat's Mohammed V University, said.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011166020620356.html.

Barak, "You are a killer of children in Gaza and a liar"

06-01-2011

Al Qassam website- Nazareth -Palestinian youth interrupted a Tel Aviv University speech by Ehud Barak, calling the Israeli war minister a Gaza child killer.

Barak was giving a speech covering Iran and the Mideast political situation before senior military and academic officials from Israel and abroad when he was repeatedly interrupted by demonstrators against Israeli policies targeting Palestinians.

The demonstrators raised images of Palestinians who were killed and injured in the late 2008 early 2009 Gaza war, and shouted at Barak: "You are a killer of children in Gaza and a liar. You are only trying to instill fear in the people."

Thrown into a state of confusion, Barak signaled to security to have the protesters removed from the hall.

After calm returned to the scene, Barak said he did not see a need to respond to the protesters' accusations, saying their behavior was "childish".

"I'm the last person who feels compelled to apologize to anyone," he said.

Source: Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades - Information Office.
Link: http://www.qassam.ps/news-3999-Barak_You_are_a_killer_of_children_in_Gaza_and_a_liar.html.

Algiers longshoremen end strike

2011-01-06

Dockworkers at the Port of Algiers ended their two-day strike on Thursday (January 6th), APS reported. The longshoremen are protesting a deal reached by their union and port management that foresees job cuts and changes in their compensation package. The dockers claimed that the agreement was made without their knowledge.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/01/06/newsbrief-05.

Food prices spur Algeria protests

2011-01-06

Two days of protests by Algerian youths over the rising price of olive oil, sugar and other food staples escalated Wednesday (January 5th) in the Algiers neighborhood of Bab El Oued, AFP reported. ''They ransacked a number of shops and burned cars in a Renault dealership. A number of police have been injured in the clashes,'' one resident told ANSAmed.

Similar demonstrations by youths in Blida closed traffic and erupted into confrontations with security forces. According to Echorouk, the cost of oil and sugar has spurred women and children to join youths for the protests. Clashes have been reported in Oran, Tipasa, Djelfa and Ouargla.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/01/06/newsbrief-01.

Sixty green energy projects set for Algeria

2011-01-04

Algeria plans some 60 renewable energy projects to boost electricity production from alternative sources to 3,000 MW by 2020, El Watan quoted Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi as saying on Monday (January 3rd). The country is also planning to export 2,000MW of renewable energy to Europe by 2020. On Tuesday, Algerian legislators are expected to examine a draft bill on renewable energy development. The measure aims to help the country produce 40% of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/01/04/newsbrief-06.

Amazigh youth plan protest at Libya consulate in Rabat

2011-01-04

The International Conference for Amazigh Youth will hold a sit-in on Thursday outside the Libyan consulate in Rabat, the organisation's Moroccan bureau announced in a press release on Monday (January 3rd). The action aims to protest the arrest of several group members and the repression of Amazigh activists in Libya.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/01/04/newsbrief-04.

Algeria eyes press pay hike

Officials and media workers are developing an agreement to protect Algerian journalists' socio-economic rights.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 04/01/11

Algerian journalists have advocated for a law to regulate their profession for years. With recent consultations under way between Communications Minister Nacer Mehal, and the National Federation of Algerian Journalists (FNJA), some see a glimmer of hope.

Since the deregulation of the press sector in 1991, plans to adopt a law on journalists, including the 2007 draft bill, have come to nothing due to a lack of consensus. This time, however, the ministry has focused the debate on social and pay issues to improve employment conditions for media workers.

"At our regular meetings with the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) to push forward the collective agreement, I have been stressing the need not only to provide a proper pay structure for journalists, but also to establish a proper career structure for them," Mehal said in the Senate on December 19th.

According to the minister, "a journalist needs to know at what point on the pay scale they will start their professional life, and where they should expect to be on that scale when they retire".

The plan, which is currently being developed, stipulates that journalists should not be paid less than 150% of the national guaranteed minimum wage (SNMG), which currently stands at 15,000 dinars per month (150 euros). "My mission is to ensure good employment conditions for journalists. Journalists work for our nation; they should not be poor," Mehal added.

He also said that a consensus between the sides involved in the negotiations might not be too far away and the implementation of the collective agreement would take place "in the near future".

"The collective agreement could be finalized by the end of January," Telli Achour, who runs the industrial conflict department at the UGTA, said, adding that the last meeting between the union and the communications ministry took place on December 13th.

Once signed by the various parties, the introduction of the agreement will result in "a rise in basic salaries within press organizations which come under the umbrella of the public sector. Due to agreements which have already been signed in other sectors, this should be between 20 and 25%."

"Press freedom cannot become a reality unless the press is responsible, professional, and prepared to respect universally accepted moral and ethical codes. And that will not happen unless journalists are given suitable employment conditions to enable them to progress to a higher level," Haddadi Smail, who lectures at the University of Algiers' Institute of Political and Information Science, said.

According to Smail, "the introduction of a special framework – which this collective agreement could well turn out to be – setting out the rights and responsibilities of journalists, and indeed of all those who work in organizations providing information, whether in audio-visual media or the press, is very necessary."

Journalists are anxious to see whether the agreement will be adopted.

"It's high time for a mechanism such as the agreement to see the light of day, in an attempt to put an end to the precarious working conditions of those in professional journalism," Hocine L. said, adding that the agreement "could put an end to the arbitrary treatment of a number of underpaid journalists working for some privately-owned publications".

Farida B., who works for an Arabic language newspaper, concurred that introduction of this agreement "will put an end to the arbitrary way in which companies act, such as the failure to make social security declarations, or worse, in some cases, which is tending to become the norm for newly qualified journalists and new publications."

"The collective agreement, if it is introduced, will have positive consequences for promoting press freedom, with journalists being set free from conditions which shackle them to their employers," Rachid H, a journalist working in the public sector, said.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/01/04/feature-02.

Morocco plans new youth centers

A new program in Morocco will see the construction of hundreds of training and recreation spaces for youth.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 05/01/11

Morocco will build about 500 new youth centers throughout the country in the next two years, as part of a national plan to expand activities, training and other resources for young people.

"Since the beginning of 2010, we've been working on preparing for the Integrated Youth Strategy," Younes El Jouhari of the Youth and Sports Ministry said about the initiative announced December 24th.

"We're now preparing mechanisms for facilitating its implementation," he told Magharebia.

"We've already signed program contracts with 450 youth associations," he said.

According to the ministry official, the new centers "will feature venues for partnership, employment, training, health care, as well as a space for music and an outdoor theater".

"The projects that the Ministry of Youth plans to execute are a good initiative and will help train young people and develop their abilities," Taoufik Mghiz of Skhirat-based Basma Association for Development and Combat of Poverty told Magharebia.

"The policy of nearness that the ministry has adopted will be clearer than before, given the big number of centers that are planned, which would necessarily include a large number of trainees. All of that will be positively reflected on young people."

For Mghiz, however, "the issue of not providing free-of-charge access to these centers is still a negative point".

"I'm against the principle of not providing free-of-charge access in this regard, as we all know the economic level of many Moroccan young people," he said. "Therefore, I suggest setting the subscription fee at 10 or 20 [dirhams] only."

Mohamed Sadki, president of the University of Skhirat, agrees that the admission cost is problematic.

"The ministry's vision is difficult to be implemented on the ground. I think that these buildings will be empty at a time when the categories that are targeted in this project will be in a tough situation. Therefore, it will be difficult for them to pay the subscription fee," he told Magharebia.

"I think they should have offered financial incentives to young people so as to join these centers," he added.

For his part, Afak Association chief Mohamed Fliou finds nothing wrong with the admission fee policy for the new centers, "provided that the financial capabilities of young people are taken into consideration".

"The Integrated Youth Strategy is very positive and may cover most of the needs of young people," said Fliou, whose organization supports youth with special needs and developmental disabilities.

In response to critics, the youth ministry's Younes El Jouhari pointed out that "existing youth centers are accessed by paying financial subscriptions, in spite of their modest level, as compared to the new centers that will be managed by associations, which will alone benefit from the revenues of these subscriptions".

"These subscriptions will be nominal and therefore affordable to young people," he added.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/01/05/feature-03.

Algeria aims to curb fish exports

In an attempt to boost domestic markets, the Algerian government plans to impose restrictions on the export of its sea produce.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers - 05/01/11

Algeria seeks to tighten control over fishery exports to improve supplies to the internal market.

"Priority will be given to supplying the national market," Fisheries Minister Abdallah Khanafou said on December 29th.

Ministry official Nadir Bensegni explained that it was "a strategic choice", which became necessary in the face of rising consumption within the country, which rose from 89,000 tonnes in 1999 to 130,000 tonnes in 2009.

According to the ministry, the growing consumption was balanced out by increased imports. Algeria imported 25,000 tonnes of fish in 2009 at a cost of 3.9 billion dinars (40.2 million euros), compared with 8,000 tonnes at a cost of 2.8 billion dinars (29.2 million euros) in 2001.

Meanwhile, exports from Algeria, mainly to the European Union, rose from 1,647 tonnes in 2001, at a value of 431 million dinars (4.3 million euros), to 2,124 tonnes in 2009, worth 713 million dinars (7.2 million euros).

Under the new approach, Algeria also hopes to restrict the exploitation of its resources to national fishers, with catches established at around 221,000 tonnes a year until 2025.

The ministry also announced a new campaign to evaluate national fish stocks, planned for 2011, with the delivery of a new scientific vessel whose findings will be used to fix the size of the national fishing fleet.

According to the forecasts for the next 15 years, investment in the sector will rise to around 291.6 billion dinars (264 billion of which will come from private sources), with sales figures reaching around 82 billion dinars.

With sardines at 300 dinars per kilogram, shrimp at 1,200 dinars, skipjack tuna at 400 dinars, and whiting or red mullet at 800 dinars, there is no shortage of fish on the market stalls. Still, people are not buying.

"It's too expensive," said Mehdi. "A few years ago, sardines were poor people's meat. That's no longer the case these days. "

According to Larbi Allali, head of the Agriculture Committee, the rate of consumption in Algeria is only 5kg per person every year.

The offer is far from meeting the demand which only high prices can suppress. Ship managers were accused of selling their catch illegally in the open sea. They responded by saying that fish stocks are growing scarce in Algeria due to overfishing.

Chairman of the National Committee for Fishermen (CNMP) Hocine Bellout, however, expressed doubts about the arrangements to give priority to supplying the national market.

"It's too late, because foreign industrial vessels have made off with the resources. Depletion is such that we'll have to wait years for fish stocks to recover," he said, adding that "at this rate of depletion, by 2050, there will be little fauna and flora left in our coastal waters".

"At the moment, 450 marine species are disappearing from our seas," he said.

Aquaculture is one way to tackle the food security challenges but it is still in its earliest stages. According to official figures, 22 projects have been launched, while 450 sites have been identified as suitable for aquaculture.

To put an end to the import of young fish to re-stock national waters and sustain continental fishing, a mobile hatchery with capacity for 40 million young fish was built in Setif, and a second one is planned in Sidi Bel-Abbes.

Algeria is trailing behind other Maghreb countries in terms of fishing: Tunisia boasts the production of 650,000 tonnes per year, while Moroccan fishing sector reaches over a million tonnes.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/01/05/feature-02.

Hungary takes over EU presidency under cloud over media law - Summary

Thu, 06 Jan 2011

Budapest- Belgian premier Yves Leterme handed over the European Union flag in Budapest's neo-gothic parliament building on Thursday, marking the start of a six-month Hungarian presidency that even Prime Minister Viktor Orban admits began under a cloud.

Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc amid a storm of international condemnation of strict new media laws that critics say could curtail press freedom and criticism of heavy windfall taxes.

Leterme praised Hungary's key historical roll in fighting for freedom from communist rule, and said he believed Hungary's presidency would help the EU on the path to economic growth.

"Hungary's presidency cannot produce wonders, but we can rub the lamp so the spirit we call Europe's renewal can reappear," Orban said.

That is not to say Orban - whose center-right alliance beat a discredited Socialist Party in April to secure an unprecedented two-thirds majority in parliament - was about to back down over domestic media policy.

Earlier in the day, the Hungarian premier told a select group of foreign journalists that his government is ready to amend its controversial new media law if the European Union finds it to run counter to EU rules.

But only if other member states with similar clauses in their media legislation make the same changes.

Orban reiterated the government's position that the new law contains no elements that do not exist in the media laws of one or more of the other 26 EU member states.

"In this law there is not one single element that cannot be discovered in one of the EU countries," Orban said, calling criticism from fellow EU members "overhasty."

"I cannot imagine a situation where the European Union says the passage of the media act should be amended while the French, German or Danish law remains unchanged, although they have the same passage."

France and Germany were among several EU countries that joined the international media and non-governmental organizations in condemning a new Act on media regulation passed by government lawmakers on December 21.

Criticism of the new media regulations has centered around the fact that the law gives sweeping powers to a centralized media authority set up since Orban's conservative government took office in May.

A new Media Council comprising solely government nominees whose mandate lasts for nine years is charged with interpreting rules on "balanced" reporting and respecting "human dignity".

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has signaled that he intends to discuss the media laws in talks with Orban on Friday, and has called for clarification on the issue from Hungary.

Critics say the legislation, which affects in broadcast, print and on line media and came into force on January 1, is vaguely worded and leaves much room for interpretation.

Those concerns echoed in the European Parliament, where the leader of the social democrat group, Martin Schulz, called for the assembly's civil liberties committee to formally investigate the media law.

"The outcome could lead the parliament to use (EU) treaty powers to open a sanctions procedure," a statement from Schulz's group warned.

In a separate move, the liberal group (ALDE) is set to hold a hearing on the Hungarian measures on Tuesday.

A source told the German Press Agency dpa that EU commissioner Neelie Kroes - who wrote to the Hungarian government last month asking for explanations - has been invited, as well as Miklos Haraszti, a Hungarian writer and former media freedom representative for Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Hungary's assumption of the EU presidency has been marked by a storm of international condemnation of the media legislation, along with criticism of "crisis taxes" that impose heavy levies on telecommunications, energy and large retail firms - most, though not all, of which are foreign-owned.

Orban said the disputes had cast a shadow over the start of the Hungarian presidency. "I agree: This is a bad start," he said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/361050,media-law-summary.html.

Clinton to attend Middle East forum in Qatar

Thu, 06 Jan 2011

Washington - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to the Middle East during the next week to attend a regional forum in Qatar and will make stops in other countries, the US State Department said Thursday.

Clinton departs Saturday for stops in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar for discussions on a "full range" of regional issues and to explore ways to promote more dialogue between government and civil leaders, State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said.

"This engagement underscores the US commitment to support civil society and promote partnerships that lead to prosperity for the people of the region," Crowley said.

During the five-day trip Clinton will also attend the Seventh Forum for the Future in Qatar. The forum is designed to exchange ideas on working together to foster progress and expand opportunities for the people of the region, Crowley said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/361055,middle-east-forum-qatar.html.

UN and China discuss Korean peninsula situation

Thu, 06 Jan 2011

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi exchanged views on Thursday on the situation in the Korean peninsula, expressing the need for peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region.

The meeting at UN headquarters in New York followed Yang's visit to Washington for talks to prepare Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the US capital and a lavish reception to be hosted by US President Barack Obama at The White House on January 19.

Ban said in a statement that he had a "cordial and warm meeting" with the Chinese foreign minister.

"They exchanged views on the situation in the Korean Peninsula, stressing the need for peace and stability in the region, as well as for the resumption of the six-party talks," the statement said.

"The secretary general expressed his strong appreciation of China's active efforts in this regard," it said in reference to China's leading mediation that included the United States, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea.

They also discussed the situation in Sudan, Ivory Coast and Myanmar as well as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/361064,discuss-korean-peninsula-situation.html.

Moon Has Earth-Like Core

by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 07, 2011

State-of-the-art seismological techniques applied to Apollo-era data suggest our moon has a core similar to Earth's.

Uncovering details about the lunar core is critical for developing accurate models of the moon's formation. The data sheds light on the evolution of a lunar dynamo - a natural process by which our moon may have generated and maintained its own strong magnetic field.

The team's findings suggest the moon possesses a solid, iron-rich inner core with a radius of nearly 150 miles and a fluid, primarily liquid-iron outer core with a radius of roughly 205 miles. Where it differs from Earth is a partially molten boundary layer around the core estimated to have a radius of nearly 300 miles.

The research indicates the core contains a small percentage of light elements such as sulfur, echoing new seismology research on Earth that suggests the presence of light elements - such as sulfur and oxygen - in a layer around our own core.

The researchers used extensive data gathered during the Apollo-era moon missions. The Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment consisted of four seismometers deployed between 1969 and 1972, which recorded continuous lunar seismic activity until late-1977.

"We applied tried and true methodologies from terrestrial seismology to this legacy data set to present the first-ever direct detection of the moon's core," said Renee Weber, lead researcher and space scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

In addition to Weber, the team consisted of scientists from Marshall; Arizona State University; the University of California at Santa Cruz; and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France. Their findings are published in the online edition of the journal Science.

The team also analyzed Apollo lunar seismograms using array processing, techniques that identify and distinguish signal sources of moonquakes and other seismic activity. The researchers identified how and where seismic waves passed through or were reflected by elements of the moon's interior, signifying the composition and state of layer interfaces at varying depths.

Although sophisticated satellite imaging missions to the moon made significant contributions to the study of its history and topography, the deep interior of Earth's sole natural satellite remained a subject of speculation and conjecture since the Apollo era.

Researchers previously had inferred the existence of a core, based on indirect estimates of the moon's interior properties, but many disagreed about its radius, state and composition.

A primary limitation to past lunar seismic studies was the wash of "noise" caused by overlapping signals bouncing repeatedly off structures in the moon's fractionated crust. To mitigate this challenge, Weber and the team employed an approach called seismogram stacking, or the digital partitioning of signals.

Stacking improved the signal-to-noise ratio and enabled the researchers to more clearly track the path and behavior of each unique signal as it passed through the lunar interior.

"We hope to continue working with the Apollo seismic data to further refine our estimates of core properties and characterize lunar signals as clearly as possible to aid in the interpretation of data returned from future missions," Weber said.

Future NASA missions will help gather more detailed data. The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, is a NASA Discovery-class mission set to launch this year. The mission consists of twin spacecraft that will enter tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure the gravity field in unprecedented detail.

The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of the satellite from crust to core, revealing subsurface structures and, indirectly, its thermal history.

NASA and other space agencies have been studying concepts to establish an International Lunar Network - a robotic set of geophysical monitoring stations on the moon - as part of efforts to coordinate international missions during the coming decade.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Moon_Has_Earth_Like_Core_999.html.

India requests possible Apache sale

by Staff Writers
New Delhi (UPI) Jan 6, 2011

India paved the way to buying 22 Boeing Apache helicopters plus logistics support by requesting the purchase to the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

The DSCA notified the U.S. Congress of the possible foreign military sale, which doesn't include offset agreements for manufacturing in India.

The shopping list for the Direct Commercial Sale of the AH-64D Block III Apache helicopters includes engines, equipment, weapons, training and parts worth around $1.4 billion.

The request for clearance of the sale doesn't mean India has chosen the Apache but it does allow the sale to proceed quickly if the Indian military opts for the Boeing-U.S. Army proposal.

Items on the list include 50 of General Electric's T700-GE-701D engines that produce around 2,000 shaft horsepower as well as 12 of the Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman AN/APG-78 fire control radars and 12 of the AN/APR-48A radar frequency interferometers.

Armaments include 812 of the AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3 Hellfire II missiles and 245 Stinger Block I-92H missiles. The Apache can operate up to 21,000 feet and has a maximum speed of 182 miles per hour with a cruising speed of 165 mph. Its operating range is 295 miles.

The four-blade, two-engine Apache attack helicopter was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the U.S. Army to replace the AH-1 Cobra. The Apache first flew in 1975 and has a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night-vision systems. The Apache can carry a 30mm M230 chain gun between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's forward fuselage.

Prime contractors for contract will be Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Fla.; and its Mission Systems and Sensor division in Owego, N.Y.; General Electric in Cincinnati; Longbow Limited Liability Corporation in Orlando and Raytheon in Tucson.

Comparable helicopters reportedly being considered by India include the Agusta A129 Mangusta, Bell YAH-63, Eurocopter Tiger and the Mil Mi-24 and Mi-28.

The DSCA said the proposed sale would contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by strengthening the U.S.-India strategic relationship and improve security and political stability in the subcontinent. Also, the proposed sale wouldn't alter the basic military balance in the region, the DSCA said.

If the sale goes through, India would be operating the most advanced version of the Apache. The Army took delivery of its first AH-64Ds in 1997 and plans to take delivery of the first Block III versions, the most advanced version, in November 2012.

The U.S. Army remains the primary operator of the AH-64 but other countries, including United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Greece and the Netherlands, are using it.

U.S. Army AH-64s have served in Panama, Persian Gulf War, Kosovo War, Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel has used its versions in conflicts in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

In September, India said it would buy another 59 Mi-17 military helicopters worth $1.9 billion from Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport. The purchase is in addition to the 80 Mi-17s ordered in 2008, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik said.

The twin-turbine transport helicopter, made by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and the Kazan Helicopter Plant, also can act as a gun ship for offensive operations. It was designed specifically for the old Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan.

Late last year, a Tata-Sikorsky joint venture for manufacturing aerospace components and systems in India was scheduled to start production of cabins for Sikorsky's S-92 search and rescue helicopter. Production is at the new facility in the Aerospace Park on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_requests_possible_Apache_sale_999.html.

EU presidency on conflict course with EU

by Stefan Nicola
Berlin (UPI) Jan 6, 2011

Because of its controversial media and tax policies, Hungary has clashed with the European Union just as Budapest is at the helm of the 27-member body.

The center-right government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban shocked observers across Europe when it introduced a media law that many say curtails press freedom. A few days later, more than a dozen Western European companies complained they're being discriminated against by a new Hungarian crisis tax.

The European Commission has since said it would investigate the tax and the body is likely to closely scrutinize what Budapest is doing -- Hungary since Jan. 1 has taken over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU.

"Especially the media law casts a cloud on the Hungarian presidency," Kai-Olaf Lang, a Hungary expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a Berlin think tank, told United Press International in a telephone interview Wednesday. "The EU will now very closely watch Orban's future domestic policies and its performance at the helm of the EU."

Orban became prime minister last April after his Fidesz party won the elections in a landslide. He has since embarked on a sort of "conservative revolution" that is aimed at restoring the economic and political clout of Hungary, a nation of 10 million that has been plagued with a recession and a budget crisis.

Yet the conservative revolution has worried critics who say Orban is steering a too nationalist course, amassing too much political control and pursuing policies that go against the EU's values.

The new regulatory authority, for example, can impose heavy fines on media outlets and tries to turn state-owned news agency MTI into a public loudspeaker, Lang said.

The so-called crisis tax, imposed on the telecommunications, retail and energy sectors, has infuriated large Western companies. A group of them, including German utilities RWE and Eon, telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom and Dutch bank IN in an open letter complained that the tax was drawn up to milk large foreign corporations while sparing domestic firms.

The two recent policies and Orban's general strategy of power consolidation has launched a conflict with the EU -- and at the worst possible time, Lang said.

"The EU is interested in having a presidency that's capable of acting but at the same time it wants one that honors key values of European integration -- and press freedom is one of those," Lang told UPI. "While there won't be any short-term reactions, the EU will definitely loot out options for sanctions."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/EU_presidency_on_conflict_course_with_EU_999.html.

Syria's Assad pushes 'Four Seas Strategy'

by Staff Writers
Beirut, Lebanon (UPI) Jan 6, 2011

Syria, Iran's Arab ally, is driving to build a grandiose new energy alliance across the Middle East and beyond aimed at thrusting the economically troubled state back into a regional leadership role.

President Bashar Assad calls his vision the Four Seas Strategy to link the Mediterranean, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf into an energy network.

This eastward-looking strategy is intersecting with China's push westward in quest of oil, natural gas, raw materials and markets and converges on the Caspian, a major energy-producing zone.

"Given the rising instability of Middle East energy supplies, the Caspian Basin has emerged in prominence as an alternative resource for the world's growing energy consumers," says Christina Y. Lin, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The region, which lies between Iran and Russia, holds the world's largest reservoir for oil and natural gas outside the Persian Gulf and Russia.

"The interplay of China's growing footprint in the Caspian region via its modern Silk Road -- reinforced by Syrian President Assad's nascent 'Four Seas Strategy' -- will have important implications for the United States, the European Union and other allies," Lin wrote in a survey for the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington think tank.

China has been stepping up efforts to build strategic energy links with the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, as U.S. influence in the region wanes.

In 2009, the kingdom exported more oil to China than it did to the United States, its traditional ally.

Beijing wants to build up political and military influence in the region as well, in part to protect the vulnerable sea lanes that carry gulf oil to China.

Chinese moves into the Caspian zone are "part of China's overall Silk Road strategy to diversify energy dependence on the unstable Gulf region" -- just as the Americans are doing -- "and build overland routes to hedge against maritime supply disruptions from the gulf," Lin wrote.

Assad's ambitious strategy, which he unveiled in 2009, hinges heavily on Syria's mushrooming relations with neighboring Turkey.

A decade ago the two countries were on the brink of war. Now, in a constantly changing geopolitical landscape, they are firm allies.

But Syria's ramshackle economy has been flat-lining for years, with 10 percent unemployment and a crippling inflation rate of 14.5 percent.

So "Turkey has taken on a critical dimension," said Webster Brooks of the Center for New Politics and Policy in Washington.

"At the center of Assad's strategy is Syria's economic relationship with Turkey and connecting the nation's oil and gas infrastructure to the region's expanding energy pipeline networks."

To get the ball rolling, Ankara and Damascus plan to integrate their gas grids and link them with the Arab Gas Pipeline that starts in Egypt and serves Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

Plans to build a new AGP link between Syria and Turkey were signed in 2009, with completion expected this year.

"Assad's enlarged vision of Syria's role as a strategic energy transiting role is to link the nation's oil and gas pipeline network to the Nabucco pipeline that will carry oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey and on to Europe," Brooks observed.

Assad signed a free trade agreement with Turkey in 2007 and trade is expected to hit $5 billion a year by 2012. He has also signed agreements with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Assad has also revived negotiations with Syria's eastern neighbor, Iraq, which is driving to challenge Saudi Arabia as the top oil producer, to reopen an oil pipeline running from Kirkuk to Syria's Mediterranean port of Banias.

That pipeline, with a capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, was closed in 1979 when Syria and Iraq were feuding. Syria wants to build a second pipeline, with a 1.4 million bpd capacity.

Despite Syria's economic weakness and the hostility of the United States, Assad, through his alliance with Iran, has been able to revive Damascus' political clout in recent years and to restore its supremacy in Lebanon after a decade if decline.

Assad faces an uphill struggle for his ambitious economic strategy but as Iraq's formidable energy resources come into play they will enhance his vision.

"The Obama administration should open its eyes and take not of the rising tide between the four seas," said Brooks.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Syrias_Assad_pushes_Four_Seas_Strategy_999.html.

Natural disasters killed 295,000 in 2010: reinsurer

by Staff Writers
Frankfurt (AFP) Jan 3, 2011

The Haiti earthquake and floods in Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an exceptional year for natural disasters, killing 295,000 and costing 130 billion dollars, the world's top reinsurer said Monday.

"The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change," said Munich Re in a report.

The last time so many people died in natural disasters was in 1983, when 300,000 people died, mainly due to famine in Ethiopia, spokesman Gerd Henghuber told AFP.

A total of 950 natural disasters were recorded last year, making 2010 the second worst year since 1980. The average number of events over the past 10 years was 785.

And in terms of economic cost, insured losses amounted to approximately 37 billion dollars, putting 2010 among the six most loss-intensive years for the insurance industry since 1980.

"2010 showed the major risks we have to cope with. There were a number of severe earthquakes. The hurricane season was also eventful," said Torsten Jeworrek, the firm's chief executive.

The earthquake in Haiti in January was by far the worst disaster in terms of human cost, killing 222,570 people, Munich Re said. Some 56,000 died in a combination of heatwaves and forest fires in Russia, it said.

The other most destructive events were an earthquake in China in April that killed 2,700, floods in Pakistan between July and September that cost 1,760 lives and August floods in China in which 1,470 perished.

Although the Haiti earthquake resulted in human devastation on a "staggering scale", it cost the industry very little as very few people in the poverty-stricken country can afford insurance.

However, an earthquake in Chile that hit over a month later was the world's most expensive natural disaster last year, with overall losses of 30 billion dollars and insured losses of eight billion dollars.

The second most expensive disaster for the insurance industry was a series of earthquakes that rattled New Zealand, which cost an estimated 3.3 billion dollars but caused no deaths.

The global distribution of natural catastrophes in 2010 was however "comparable to that of previous years," Munich Re said.

Most disasters, 365, occurred on the American continent, with 310 in Asia. A total of 120 natural disasters were recorded in Europe, 90 in Africa and 65 in Australia and Oceania.

In 2009, considered a "benign" year due to the absence of major catastrophes and a less severe than usual hurricane season in the North Atlantic, there were 900 "destructive natural hazard events", costing some 60 billion dollars.

Around 11,000 people lost their lives in natural disasters in 2009, well below the average of 77,000.

Last month, another major reinsurer, Swiss Re, reported that man-made and natural disasters generated worldwide economic losses of 222 billion dollars in 2010, more than three times the figure for the previous year.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Natural_disasters_killed_295000_in_2010_reinsurer_999.html.

Looking At Beavers' Role In River Restoration

by Staff Writers
Manhattan KS (SPX) Jan 04, 2011

When engineers restore rivers, one Kansas State University professor hopes they'll keep a smaller engineer in mind: the North American beaver.

Beavers are often called ecosystem engineers because they can radically alter stream or valley bottom ecosystems, said Melinda Daniels, an associate professor of geography who recently studied the connection between beavers and river restoration. Beaver dams create diverse river landscapes, she said, and can turn a single-thread channel stream into a meadow, pond or multichannel, free-flowing stream.

"Our argument is that the restoration target for streams with forested riparian zones has got to acknowledge the diversity brought to river systems by active beaver populations," Daniels said.

Daniels and three researchers from the University of Connecticut co-authored "The River Discontinuum: Applying Beaver Modifications to Baseline Conditions for Restoration of Forested Headwaters." The article, led by Denise Burchsted at the University of Connecticut, appears in a recent issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

While the research involves observations of several watersheds in northeastern Connecticut, the results are applicable to any forested stream, which typically have large beaver populations. Beaver populations have rebounded in recent years, Daniels said, after coming close to extinction in the early 19th century by hunters for their fur.

The ultimate goal of the research, Daniels said, is to help restore rivers in an efficient way that acknowledges ecosystem diversity and doesn't destroy it.

"A lot of rivers are in trouble and need work and restoration, but it's amazing how little we know about the systems we're trying to fix," she said. "We know they're broken, but we don't exactly know what they should look like because we know so little about how many of our river systems function."

Current restoration projects often don't consider the role of beavers as ecosystem engineers, and instead focus on creating continuous free-flowing streams, Daniels said. Such restoration can be expensive because it usually involves completely tearing down small 19th-century milldams and re-engineering an entire valley bottom.

Rather than tear down the whole milldam and radically change the surrounding ecosystem, the researchers recommend river restorers only remove part of it. This allows some ponded water to remain and mimics the role of beavers. Daniels said that in many cases if an old dam breaks and forms a gap, beavers may build their own dam to patch the gap and recreate the ecosystem that previously existed.

The researchers plan to continue river observations and collect more data to provide river restorers with insight for maintaining river ecosystem diversity.

"You can use these natural analogs to produce an ecosystem that looks a lot more like the one that was there before the colonists arrived," Daniels said. "We can restore rivers in a way that mimics the naturally diverse beaver streams, and we can save a lot of money in the process."

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Looking_At_Beavers_Role_In_River_Restoration_999.html.

Invasive Species Stop New Life

by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 04, 2011

An influx of invasive species can stop the dominant natural process of new species formation and trigger mass extinction events, according to research results published in the journal PLoS ONE.

The study of the collapse of Earth's marine life 378 to 375 million years ago suggests that the planet's current ecosystems, which are struggling with biodiversity loss, could meet a similar fate.

Although Earth has experienced five major mass extinction events, the environmental crash during the Late Devonian was unlike any other in the planet's history.

The actual number of extinctions wasn't higher than the natural rate of species loss, but very few new species arose.

"We refer to the Late Devonian as a mass extinction, but it was actually a biodiversity crisis," said Alycia Stigall, a scientist at Ohio University and author of the PLoS ONE paper.

"This research significantly contributes to our understanding of species invasions from a deep-time perspective," said Lisa Boush, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the research.

"The knowledge is critical to determining the cause and extent of mass extinctions through time, especially the five biggest biodiversity crises in the history of life on Earth. It provides an important perspective on our current biodiversity crises."

The research suggests that the typical method by which new species originate--vicariance--was absent during this ancient phase of Earth's history, and could be to blame for the mass extinction.

Vicariance occurs when a population becomes geographically divided by a natural, long-term event, such as the formation of a mountain range or a new river channel, and evolves into different species.

New species also can originate through dispersal, which occurs when a subset of a population moves to a new location.

In a departure from previous studies, Stigall used phylogenetic analysis, which draws on an understanding of the tree of evolutionary relationships to examine how individual speciation events occurred.

She focused on one bivalve, Leptodesma (Leiopteria), and two brachiopods, Floweria and Schizophoria (Schizophoria), as well as a predatory crustacean, Archaeostraca.

These small, shelled marine animals were some of the most common inhabitants of the Late Devonian oceans, which had the most extensive reef system in Earth's history.

The seas teemed with huge predatory fish such as Dunkleosteus, and smaller life forms such as trilobites and crinoids (sea lilies).

The first forests and terrestrial ecosystems appeared during this time; amphibians began to walk on land.

As sea levels rose and the continents closed in to form connected land masses, however, some species gained access to environments they hadn't inhabited before.

The hardiest of these invasive species that could thrive on a variety of food sources and in new climates became dominant, wiping out more locally adapted species.

The invasive species were so prolific at this time that it became difficult for many new species to arise.

"The main mode of speciation that occurs in the geological record is shut down during the Devonian," said Stigall. "It just stops in its tracks."

Of the species Stigall studied, most lost substantial diversity during the Late Devonian, and one, Floweria, became extinct.

The entire marine ecosystem suffered a major collapse. Reef-forming corals were decimated and reefs did not appear on Earth again for 100 million years.

The giant fishes, trilobites, sponges and brachiopods also declined dramatically, while organisms on land had much higher survival rates.

The study is relevant for the current biodiversity crisis, Stigall said, as human activity has introduced a high number of invasive species into new ecosystems.

In addition, the modern extinction rate exceeds the rate of ancient extinction events, including the event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

"Even if you can stop habitat loss, the fact that we've moved all these invasive species around the planet will take a long time to recover from because the high level of invasions has suppressed the speciation rate substantially," Stigall said.

Maintaining Earth's ecosystems, she suggests, would be helped by focusing efforts and resources on protection of new species generation.

"The more we know about this process," Stigall said, "the more we will understand how to best preserve biodiversity."

The research was also funded by the American Chemical Society and Ohio University.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Invasive_Species_Stop_New_Life_999.html.

China says faces tough fight against desertification

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Jan 5, 2011

Population pressure, drought and climate change have made China the world's biggest victim of desertification and it could take 300 years to reclaim just one-fifth of desert land, state media said Wednesday.

Overgrazing, excessive land reclamation and inappropriate water use also make it especially difficult to halt deserts from encroaching on large areas of land in the nation's arid north and west, the China Daily reported.

"China is still a country with the largest area of desertified land in the world," Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying.

About 27 percent of China's total land mass, or about 2.6 million square kilometers (1.04 million square miles), are considered desertified, while another 18 percent of the nation's land is eroded by sand, the report said.

Experts believe that 530,000 square kilometers of the nation's deserts can be returned to green land, the paper quoted the director of the national bureau to combat desertification, Liu Tuo, as saying.

But the process will take 300 years at the current rate of reversing desertification by about 1,700 square kilometers annually, Liu said.

Some of the worst land erosion in the world occurs in the basin of the Yellow River, China's second-largest river, with 62 percent of the area affected by water and soil erosion, the paper said in a separate report.

The problem is a key concern of China's government, which fears for its future ability to feed its huge population, with arable land dwindling due to desertification and rampant real estate development.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_says_faces_tough_fight_against_desertification_999.html.

New Solar Cell Self-Repairs Like Natural Plant Systems

by Staff Writers
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jan 05, 2011

Researchers are creating a new type of solar cell designed to self-repair like natural photosynthetic systems in plants by using carbon nanotubes and DNA, an approach aimed at increasing service life and reducing cost.

"We've created artificial photosystems using optical nanomaterials to harvest solar energy that is converted to electrical power," said Jong Hyun Choi, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.

The design exploits the unusual electrical properties of structures called single-wall carbon nanotubes, using them as "molecular wires in light harvesting cells," said Choi, whose research group is based at the Birck Nanotechnology and Bindley Bioscience centers at Purdue's Discovery Park.

"I think our approach offers promise for industrialization, but we're still in the basic research stage," he said.

Photoelectrochemical cells convert sunlight into electricity and use an electrolyte - a liquid that conducts electricity - to transport electrons and create the current. The cells contain light-absorbing dyes called chromophores, chlorophyll-like molecules that degrade due to exposure to sunlight.

"The critical disadvantage of conventional photoelectrochemical cells is this degradation," Choi said.

The new technology overcomes this problem just as nature does: by continuously replacing the photo-damaged dyes with new ones.

"This sort of self-regeneration is done in plants every hour," Choi said.

The new concept could make possible an innovative type of photoelectrochemical cell that continues operating at full capacity indefinitely, as long as new chromophores are added.

Findings were detailed in a November presentation during the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exhibition in Vancouver. The concept also was unveiled in an online article (http://spie.org/x41475.xml?ArticleID=x41475) featured on the Web site for SPIE, an international society for optics and photonics.

The talk and article were written by Choi, doctoral students Benjamin A. Baker and Tae-Gon Cha, and undergraduate students M. Dane Sauffer and Yujun Wu.

The carbon nanotubes work as a platform to anchor strands of DNA. The DNA is engineered to have specific sequences of building blocks called nucleotides, enabling them to recognize and attach to the chromophores.

"The DNA recognizes the dye molecules, and then the system spontaneously self-assembles," Choi said

When the chromophores are ready to be replaced, they might be removed by using chemical processes or by adding new DNA strands with different nucleotide sequences, kicking off the damaged dye molecules. New chromophores would then be added.

Two elements are critical for the technology to mimic nature's self-repair mechanism: molecular recognition and thermodynamic metastability, or the ability of the system to continuously be dissolved and reassembled.

The research is an extension of work that Choi collaborated on with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois. The earlier work used biological chromophores taken from bacteria, and findings were detailed in a research paper published in November in the journal Nature Chemistry However, using natural chromophores is difficult, and they must be harvested and isolated from bacteria, a process that would be expensive to reproduce on an industrial scale, Choi said.

"So instead of using biological chromophores, we want to use synthetic ones made of dyes called porphyrins," he said.

Source: Solar Daily.
Link: http://www.solardaily.com/reports/New_Solar_Cell_Self_Repairs_Like_Natural_Plant_Systems_999.html.

Delhi seeks Indian Ocean supremacy with warship research

by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 4, 2011

India launched a new naval research center for warships on Tuesday, part of efforts by the South Asian giant to build its sea defenses and counter the perceived threat of China in the Indian Ocean.

Defense Minister A.K. Antony laid the foundation stone for the National Institute for Research and Development in Shipbuilding (NIRDESH) in the southern state of Kerala, which will be built at a cost of six billion rupees (133 million dollars).

The facility, which will be up and running in two years, will help develop technology for "drawing board to delivery" of warships for India, a naval official said.

The Kerala unit will work independently of the national Defense Research and Development Organization, with the aim of reducing India's dependence on military imports, which mostly come from Russia.

The 136-vessel navy said in a statement that NIRDESH would ensure India's maritime security.

"This would empower Indian navy, coastguard and other maritime security agencies in a manner befitting the country's stature and influence in the region," it said.

The facility would "ensure that the country would be self-reliant in this crucial area of defense technology," Antony added.

New Delhi is wary of growing Chinese influence around the Indian Ocean, where Beijing has funded or plans to invest in major infrastructure projects, including ports in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and military-ruled Myanmar.

In August, two Chinese warships raised eyebrows in Delhi when they sailed to adjoining Myanmar for a rare visit to promote ties between the two allied countries.

Retired admiral Arun Prakash, a former Indian naval chief, recently warned that the Chinese navy will have more warships than the United States within a decade and urged India to speed up naval procurement.

Analysts say India falls behind China in naval firepower, but the country should strive for supremacy in the strategic Indian Ocean, a vital shipping lane connecting Asia to Europe and the Middle East.

"Just because we cannot compete with China does not mean we do not defend our interests in the Indian Ocean where we want naval supremacy," retired Indian navy rear admiral Raja Menon told AFP.

India has already begun strengthening its military presence in the Andaman archipelago, which lies south of Myanmar, as part of plans to protect its interests in the ocean.

Delhi, which wants to boost its 14-strong submarine fleet, launched its first nuclear-powered submarine in 2009 and has invested in its military shipyards to start building an aircraft carrier and stealth frigates.

It also plans to buy eight long-range maritime spy planes by 2015 besides six Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines for which orders were placed in 2006.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China's military spending was the second-largest in the world, after the United States, in 2009.

KPMG consultancy firm estimates India plans to spend 112 billion dollars on defense hardware between now and 2016.

India hiked its 2010-2011 military spending by four percent to 32 billion dollars but analysts like Menon warn that the navy's share of 16 percent of the defense allocation is insufficient for funding its expansion plans.

India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 and still have unresolved territorial disputes.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Delhi_seeks_Indian_Ocean_supremacy_with_warship_research_999.html.

Genetic Relationship Between Hungarian And Turkish Apricots Confirmed

by Staff Writers
Budapest, Hungary (SPX) Jan 04, 2011

Apricots are important to Turkey, the country where more apricot crops are grown and exported than anywhere in the world. Looking to unlock the mystery of apricots' origins and increase crop production, scientists are studying the genetic relationship between apricot varieties.

New research from a team of Hungarian and Turkish scientists has confirmed the genetic link between Turkish and Hungarian apricot cultivars, yielding information that provides valuable data for apricot growers and breeders.

It is widely believed that apricots originated in China, arriving in Europe through central Asia and Asia Minor. Apricot cultivars are classified into four major eco-geographical groups: central Asian, Irano-Caucasian, European, and Dzhungar-Zailing.

The central Asian and Irano-Caucasian (including Turkish cultivars) groups show the richest diversity, while the European group-including cultivars grown in North America, Australia, and South Africa-is thought to be the least diverse.

Apricots from eastern European cultivars have clearly distinguished characteristics from other cultivars of European origin. Although many studies have been done on Turkish apricots, there remains uncertainty about the self-incompatibility genotypes for many Turkish cultivars.

A team of researchers from the Corvinus University of Budapest and Ataturk University and the Malatya Fruit Research Institute in Turkey published a study in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science that confirms an evolutionary theory.

"Microsatellite analyses have suggested that Hungarian and European apricot cultivars might have originated through hybridization among Irano-Caucasian genotypes", said corresponding author Julia Halasz.

This assumption seems to be confirmed by historical and linguistic evidence; during the Ottoman occupation of Hungary numerous records documented the introduction of Turkish graft-wood and other propagation materials to Hungary.

The researchers used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to determine the S-genotypes of a set of Turkish apricot cultivars, and extended the method to identify self-compatible apricot cultivars.

"We determined the complete S-genotype of 51 cultivars and the partial S-genotype of four cultivars. A total of 32 different S-genotypes were assigned to the 51 cultivars, and many of them (28) were classified into newly established cross-incompatibility groups", Halasz noted. Another 12 cultivars demonstrated unique incompatible genotypes and seven self-compatible cultivars were identified in the examined accessions.

"The fact that Turkish and Hungarian apricot cultivars carry twelve and five S-alleles, respectively, and all five alleles detected in Hungarian cultivars were also present in Turkish apricots furnished molecular evidence supporting the long-suspected historical connection between Hungarian and Turkish apricots", said Halasz.

The research confirms that Turkish germplasm contributed considerably to the development of several desirable Hungarian apricot cultivars." Halasz added that the connection between the two gene pools appeared to be relatively recent, associated with historical events dating back 300 years.

This study is the first to examine S-genotype diversity of apricots native to Turkey. The scientists anticipate that the research findings will be used by producers to make correct selections of pollination partners in new orchard plantings, as well as by researchers interested in the evolutionary history of apricots.

Source: Seed Daily.
Link: http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Genetic_Relationship_Between_Hungarian_And_Turkish_Apricots_Confirmed_999.html.

Arianespace Will Have A Record Year Of Launch Activity In 2011

by Staff Writers
Paris, France (SPX) Jan 06, 2011

Arianespace will use the "world's best operational launch team" to meet its goal of performing a planned total of 12 missions in 2011, when the expanded launcher family of Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega will be operating at the service of a growing international customer base.

During his traditional New Year's kickoff press conference in Paris today, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said the number 12 is a key indicator of his company's upcoming activity this year - as well as for its success in 2010.

The scheduled 12 flights for 2011 will follow the 12 telecommunications satellites launched by Ariane 5 last year. Arianespace also will benefit from a record order book backlog, which grew in 2010 through the new contracts logged for 12 Ariane 5 payloads - along with orders booked for an equal number of passengers to be orbited by Soyuz.

Arianespace's launch manifest for the New Year is composed of six Ariane 5 missions, along with five flights with Soyuz and one Vega mission. "This clearly is a challenge, but we are ready to respond with the world's best launch team - which continues to meet our customers' mission requirements," Le Gall told international journalists at this morning's press breakfast.

Launch activity in 2011 will open with Ariane 5's milestone February 15 flight from the Spaceport, which is to orbit the second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for Europe. "This mission is extremely important, as the ATV will provide vital servicing for the International Space Station, and it also will mark the 200th flight of an Ariane launcher," Le Gall explained.

The first two Soyuz missions from French Guiana are planned after mid-year - opening a new chapter in the long history of this Russian-built medium-lift vehicle. Arianespace is scheduled to assume operational responsibility of the Spaceport's new Soyuz launch pad in the spring, allowing final validations and launch rehearsal activity to be completed at the facility.

In addition, three other Soyuz flights for Arianespace are slated from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome during 2011, lofting clusters of six Globalstar second-generation satellites on each of these missions.

The lightweight Vega launcher will make its French Guiana debut with an introductory flight from the Spaceport in the second half of 2011. Arianespace is to take over the operational duties at the refurbished Vega launch facility in June.

Le Gall said Arianespace is once again entering the busy New Year from a position of strength, having extended its string of mission successes during the previous 12 months, and further bolstering its commercial standing in the international launch services marketplace.

The 12 satellites orbited by Arianespace's with its six Ariane 5 dual-payload missions last year represent a 60 percent share of all geostationary communications satellites successfully launched worldwide in 2010. The company's reactivity with this heavy-lift launcher was demonstrated by the three Ariane 5 missions achieved during a two-month period, with liftoffs occurring on October 28, November 26 and December 29.

During this same general timeframe, a Soyuz launch was performed from Baikonur Cosmodrome for Arianespace by its Starsem affiliate, orbiting the initial cluster of Globalstar second-generation satellites on October 20.

The 12 new contracts signed by Arianespace in 2010 for geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) payloads represented 63 percent of the total world marketplace, which were complemented by the company's 12 newly-booked payloads to be placed in low- and medium-Earth orbit on Soyuz missions.

This brings Arianespace's overall order backlog to a new record level, consisting of 29 geostationary satellites, six Ariane 5 launches with the ATV, and 18 Soyuz launches - representing a value of 4.3 billion euros, and a launch workload equivalent to three years of activity for Ariane 5 and Soyuz.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Arianespace_Will_Have_A_Record_Year_Of_Launch_Activity_In_2011_999.html.

NASA Tests New Propulsion System For Robotic Lander Prototype

by Staff Writers
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 06, 2011

NASA's Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has completed a series of hot fire tests and taken delivery of a new propulsion system for integration into a more sophisticated free-flying autonomous robotic lander prototype.

The project is partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., to develop a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers to achieve scientific and exploration goals on the surface of the moon and near-Earth asteroids.

The new robotic lander prototype will continue to mature the development of a robotic lander capability by bringing online an autonomous flying test lander that will be capable of flying up to sixty seconds, testing the guidance, navigation and control system by demonstrating a controlled landing in a simulated low gravity environment.

By the spring of 2011, the new prototype lander will begin flight tests at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal Test Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The prototype's new propulsion system consists of 12 small attitude control thrusters, three primary descent thrusters to control the vehicle's altitude, and one large "gravity-canceling" thruster which offsets a portion of the prototype's weight to simulate a lower gravity environment, like that of the moon and asteroids.

The prototype uses a green propellant, hydrogen peroxide, in a stronger concentration of a solution commonly used in homes as a disinfectant. The by-products after use are water and oxygen.

"The propulsion hardware acceptance test consisted of a series of tests that verified the performance of each thruster in the propulsion system," said Julie Bassler, Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project Manager. "The series culminated in a test that characterized the entire system by running a scripted set of thruster firings based on a flight scenario simulation."

The propulsion system is currently at Teledyne Brown's manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Ala., for integration with the structure and avionics to complete the new robotic lander prototype. Dynetics Corp. developed the robotic lander prototype propulsion system under the management of the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation both located in Huntsville, Ala.

"This is the second phase of a robotic lander prototype development program," said Bassler.

"Our initial "cold gas" prototype was built, delivered and successfully flight tested at the Marshall Center in a record nine months, providing a physical and tangible demonstration of capabilities related to the critical terminal descent and landing phases for an airless body mission."

The first robotic lander prototype has a record flight time of ten seconds and descended from three meters altitude. This first robotic lander prototype began flight tests in September 2009 and has completed 142 flight tests, providing a platform to develop and test algorithms, sensors, avionics, ground and flight software and ground systems to support autonomous landings on airless bodies, where aero-braking and parachutes are not options.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/NASA_Tests_New_Propulsion_System_For_Robotic_Lander_Prototype_999.html.

Andromeda's Once And Future Stars

by Staff Writers
Paris, France (ESA) Jan 06, 2011

Two ESA observatories have combined forces to show the Andromeda Galaxy in a new light. Herschel sees rings of star formation in this, the most detailed image of the Andromeda Galaxy ever taken at infrared wavelengths, and XMM-Newton shows dying stars shining X-rays into space.

During Christmas 2010, ESA's Herschel and XMM-Newton space observatories targeted the nearest large spiral galaxy M31. This is a galaxy similar to our own Milky Way - both contain several hundred billion stars. This is the most detailed far-infrared image of the Andromeda Galaxy ever taken and shows clearly that more stars are on their way.

Sensitive to far-infrared light, Herschel sees clouds of cool dust and gas where stars can form. Inside these clouds are many dusty cocoons containing forming stars, each star pulling itself together in a slow gravitational process that can last for hundreds of millions of years.

Once a star reaches a high enough density, it will begin to shine at optical wavelengths. It will emerge from its birth cloud and become visible to ordinary telescopes.

Many galaxies are spiral in shape but Andromeda is interesting because it shows a large ring of dust about 75 000 light-years across encircling the center of the galaxy. Some astronomers speculate that this dust ring may have been formed in a recent collision with another galaxy.

This new Herschel image reveals yet more intricate details, with at least five concentric rings of star-forming dust visible.

Superimposed on the infrared image is an X-ray view taken almost simultaneously by ESA's XMM-Newton observatory. Whereas the infrared shows the beginnings of star formation, X-rays usually show the endpoints of stellar evolution.

XMM-Newton highlights hundreds of X-ray sources within Andromeda, many of them clustered around the center, where the stars are naturally found to be more crowded together. Some of these are shockwaves and debris rolling through space from exploded stars, others are pairs of stars locked in a gravitational fight to the death.

In these deadly embraces, one star has already died and is pulling gas from its still-living companion. As the gas falls through space, it heats up and gives off X-rays. The living star will eventually be greatly depleted, having much of its mass torn from it by the stronger gravity of its denser partner. As the stellar corpse wraps itself in this stolen gas, it could explode.

Both the infrared and X-ray images show information that is impossible to collect from the ground because these wavelengths are absorbed by Earth's atmosphere. The twinkling starlight seen from Earth is indeed a beautiful sight but in reality contains less than half the story. Visible light shows us the adult stars, whereas infrared gives us the youngsters and X-rays show those in their death throes.

To chart the lives of stars, we need to see it all and that is where Herschel and XMM-Newton contribute so much.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Andromeda_Once_And_Future_Stars_999.html.

NKorea calls for unconditional talks with South

By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press – Wed Jan 5

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea called Wednesday for "unconditional and early" talks with rival South Korea to put an end to months of tensions. Seoul quickly dismissed the offer as insincere and said it's waiting for an apology for two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang.

It's rare for North Korea to issue such a statement addressed to South Korea and it came as the U.S. envoy on the North was in the region to discuss the standoff. Earlier in the day, Stephen Bosworth sought to calm fears of conflict on the peninsula.

Tensions between the two Koreas have been at their highest level in years since North Korea showered artillery on a South Korean-held island near their disputed maritime border in November, killing four South Koreans. The attack was the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War, and occurred in waters not far from the spot where a torpedo sank a South Korean warship eight months early, killing 46 sailors.

That attack was also blamed on the North — and allegation the country vehemently denies.

But the North has made some conciliatory moves recently. On New Year's Day, the government issued a lengthy statement calling for warmer ties and the resumption of joint projects with South Korea. Pyongyang, eager for food and fuel assistance, has said it wants stalled international aid-for-nuclear-disarmament talks to restart. Washington and Seoul have said the North must first fulfill past nuclear disarmament commitments.

On Monday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed to increase his country's defenses but made clear the door was open for talks with Pyongyang and was willing to enhance economic cooperation between the rivals. On Wednesday, North Korean officials responded with their own call for negotiations.

"We are ready to meet anyone anytime and anywhere, letting bygones be bygones, if he or she is willing to go hands in hands with us," said a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. It added that history has shown that such confrontations can only lead to an "armed clash and war."

South Korea's Unification Ministry immediately rebuffed the overtures late Wednesday.

"We don't consider it as a sincere offer of dialogue," ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said. North Korea first must apologize for the two attacks and take "sincere" steps toward nuclear disarmament, she said.

North Korea denies involvement in the March sinking of the Cheonan warship, and blames the South for triggering the November artillery attack by ignoring warnings against conducting live-fire military drills from an island in waters Pyongyang considers its territory.

The Koreas remain in a state of war because their 1950s conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Tens of thousands of tanks and troops guard their land border, the world's most heavily fortified.

However, North Korea disputes the western maritime border drawn by U.N. forces in 1953, and the Yellow Sea waters have been the site of several bloody skirmishes between the Koreas over the years.

The Nov. 23 attack on Yeonpyeong Island, just seven miles (11 kilometers) from North Korean shores but populated by South Korean troops as well as civilian fishing families, marked a serious escalation in the maritime clashes between the Koreas.

After weeks of warlike rhetoric and provocative military drills by both countries' militaries, however, Seoul and Pyongyang have indicated in recent days that peace talks may be possible.

Bosworth, meanwhile, met Wednesday with South Korean officials before heading to Beijing and Tokyo to discuss North Korea. Bosworth said on his arrival in the South on Tuesday that he was hopeful for "serious negotiations" soon on the North.

On Thursday, Bosworth is expected to ask China for insights into last month's talks in Pyongyang between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Beijing's top foreign policy official. China has come under growing pressure to push ally North Korea to change its behavior.

North Korea will be a key issue during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington later this month.

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Associated Press writer Kim Kwang-tae in Seoul and Cara Anna in Beijing contributed to this report.

Cleric who fought US returns to Iraq from exile

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press - Wed Jan 5

NAJAF, Iraq – Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a fierce opponent of the United States and head of Iraq's most feared militia, came home Wednesday after nearly four years in self-imposed exile in Iran, welcomed by hundreds of cheering supporters in a return that solidifies the rise of his movement.

Al-Sadr's presence in Iraq ensures he will be a powerful voice in Iraqi politics as U.S. forces leave the country. He left Iraq in 2007 somewhat as a renegade, a firebrand populist whose militiamen battled American troops and Iraqi forces. He returns a more legitimized figure, leading an organized political movement that is a vital partner in the new government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Sadr can wield a bully pulpit to put strong pressure on al-Maliki — and is likely to demand that no American troops remain beyond their scheduled final withdrawal date at the end of this year. His return caused trepidation among many Iraqis, particularly Sunnis who remember vividly the sectarian killings carried out by his militia, the Mahdi Army, and believe he is a tool of Iran.

But his supporters were jubilant.

"He is our hero. We sacrificed for him. He said 'No' to the Americans and fought the Americans, and he is brave," said Mohammed Ali, among the crowds who turned out to greet al-Sadr in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

Al-Sadr visited the holy shrine of Imam Ali, revered among the country's Shiite majority, wearing a black turban distinguishing him as one of the descendants of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, and surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards who attempted to hold back a throng of supporters.

He also visited the grave of his father, who was assassinated during Saddam Hussein's rule, before heading to his house. Dozens of black-clad Mahdi Army members spread out through the neighborhood surrounding his home.

The fiery preacher has legions of followers among Iraq's poorer classes who see him as a champion of their rights against both the Sunnis who dominated Iraq under Saddam and other Shiite political parties such as al-Maliki's Dawa party, which represents more of the Shiite middle class.

Al-Sadr has not been seen publicly in Iraq since 2007 when he left to study Islam in Qom, the seat of Shiite education, as a way to burnish his religious credentials. He also faced an arrest warrant for his alleged role in assassinating a rival Shiite cleric.

The arrest warrant appeared to be in effect as recently as last March but the chances it would be enforced appear highly unlikely considering the alliance between al-Maliki and al-Sadr. The public nature of al-Sadr's return — his first appearance in Iraq since leaving for Iran — suggested he had little to fear.

The cleric and his followers have parlayed their street credentials earned from battling U.S. forces and a savvy political organizing ability into 40 seats in the 325-member parliament during last March's election. Their grudging support for al-Maliki secured him a second term.

"The American occupation was always a useful rallying point but his objective is power in Iraq," said Joost Hiltermann from the International Crisis Group.

For many Iraqis, especially the minority Sunnis, al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army will always be synonymous with the vicious sectarian killings that they are blamed for carrying out during the worst of the sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007.

In the Azamiyah neighborhood that used to be a favorite target of the Mahdi Army death squads, residents watched his return with concern. Ahmed al-Azami, a 43-year-old lawyer, said people fear his militia will once again become active and described al-Sadr as little more than a tool of Iran.

Al-Sadr's return came on the same day that the Iranian foreign minister made his first visit to Iraq. During a visit to Najaf, the Iranian ambassador, Hassan Danaie, praised al-Sadr.

"His presence will serve stability in Iraq," the ambassador said.

An official from the Sadrist office in Najaf said al-Sadr's return was permanent. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, and al-Sadr made no public comments.

Enmity between al-Sadr and al-Maliki runs deep.

Al-Maliki in 2008 launched an offensive against al-Sadr's followers in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra. The show of force infuriated many of his Shiite allies but also demonstrated al-Maliki's willingness to go after all militias, even those representing his own sect.

But al-Sadr eventually backed al-Maliki for a second term after protracted negotiations following the March elections, likely owing to intense pressure from Iran and in return for concessions. Iraqi officials have said that hundreds of his followers have been released from jail, a key Sadrist demand.

Iraqis in many southern provinces and parts of eastern Baghdad where the Sadrists dominate have reported intimidation by Sadrist members, who are feeling bolder in light of their newfound political power. They have tried to enforce their strict Islamic restrictions in areas they traditionally controlled, cracking down on the sale of alcohol or cafes where people smoke water pipes.

Iraqi political analyst Hadi Jalo told The Associated Press that al-Sadr's return underscores the U.S.'s waning political influence in Iraq as U.S. troops prepare to leave the country entirely by the end of this year.

"Now, the anti-U.S. political figures, whether Shiite or Sunnis, are feeling that they are more confident now and their role in shaping Iraq's future is expanding. The Iraqi government is ready more than ever to accept and include figures known for their anti-U.S. stances," he said. "The Sadrists now are politically stronger than ever and they are aware of their importance in Iraq's political life."

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Santana reported from Baghad. Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Iran exiles mourn shah's son after suicide

By ELAINE GANLEY and BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press – Wed Jan 5

PARIS – The apparent suicide of the former shah of Iran's youngest son has shocked and saddened Iranian emigres, many of whom were forced into exile by the Islamic Revolution and hoped their country's monarchy could one day be restored.

The death of 44-year-old Alireza Pahlavi of a gunshot wound at his home in Boston brought home the personal tragedies of many who fled Iran more than three decades ago, and symbolized another lost link to the era of the Western-backed dynasty's Peacock Throne.

In Iran, the official Islamic Republic News Agency carried a brief story that was the most-viewed early Wednesday. The website of the state-run Press TV released a factual account of the death under the headline: "Son of ex-dictator of Iran kills himself."

The official website of older brother Reza Pahlavi, now an exiled opposition figure, announced the death, saying Alireza Pahlavi took his own life Tuesday, succumbing to his sorrows. He was the second of the four children of the late Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi and former Empress Farah Pahlavi to die in exile. A sister was found dead of a drug overdose a decade ago.

"This represents the story of millions of Iranians who left their country and live with a sense of solitude everywhere in the world ... often treated like foreigners," Ramin Shams Molkara, a distant family member, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

He said this was particularly true of the first generation of exiles who left Iran as the clerical regime swept to power in 1979 and who still live with a "feeling of abandonment."

Shams Molkara, who lives in Paris, noted that Alireza Pahlavi was a low-profile member of the Pahlavi family and the only member living in Boston.

For years, Alireza Pahlavi had immersed himself in academia, and there was no apparent political link to the death.

Websites and social media outlets — which have become the lifeline for Iran's opposition movements — also became the main forums for the reaction to the death.

Postings on Reza Pahlavi's website constituted a study in the frustrations of Iranian emigres. Messages offered condolences, but many veered into rage that the Islamic theocracy ruling Iran remains strongly in control and how the emigres' dreams of returning to Iran are still distant.

"Where is God's justice? Hell is too nice of a place for those who took our country and caused this much suffering," said one posting.

Many others expressed particular concern for the dethroned empress, Alireza's mother.

The shah died of cancer in Egypt a year after fleeing Iran shortly before the defeat of his remaining forces in 1979. The new Islamic state quickly became an arch foe of the United States after militants — angered over American aid to the shah — stormed the U.S. Embassy and held 52 hostages for 444 days.

The shah's family sought haven in exile with many members settling in the United States. Reza Pahlavi, the older brother, divides his time between raising a family outside Washington and trying to reburnish the Pahlavi dynasty image for a dreamed-of return to Iran.

"It's one more victim," said Ali Tavassoli, a renowned Iranian chef whose clients include the ex-empress, Farah. He said his thoughts go to the ex-empress, whose loss of two children is a personal tragedy that cuts across political divides within the fractious Iranian exile community.

Alireza, the monarch's youngest son, was born in Tehran, then attended schools in New York, Cairo and western Massachusetts before going on to study music at an undergraduate at Princeton University, ancient Iranian studies as a graduate student at Columbia University and postgraduate work at Harvard University.

But he struggled with depression following the death of his sister Leila in 2001, who was found in a London hotel room at age 31 after overdosing on barbiturates.

"Once again, we are joined with mothers, father and relatives of so many victims of these dark times for our country," Reza Pahlavi wrote on his website, announcing his brother's death.

Nazie Eftekhari, who works in Reza Pahlavi's office in Washington and is a close family friend, said Pahlavi's depression "grew over time — his departure from Iran, living in exile, the death of his father and then his sister to whom he was very close."

"The deaths were a huge blow to him," she said.

In Boston, police said they found a man dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday at a home in the city's South End neighborhood.

Police would not confirm the man's identity, but a law enforcement official who was not authorized to release the man's identity and asked for anonymity confirmed that the man was Alireza Pahlavi.

A police officer was seen late Tuesday afternoon going in and out of Pahlavi's Boston apartment and speaking with family representatives, who would not talk to reporters.

A neighbor, Dan Phillips, 42, said he did not know Pahlavi personally but recognized his picture and described him as someone who was very social and "who always dressed very dapper."

"I would always see him walking around here and he used to wear blue jeans and a blazer," Phillips said.

Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement that "the Iranian-American community was deeply saddened by the news of this tragedy.

"There are many divisions in the community, but on a day like this, I think we are all united in our sympathy with the Pahlavi family for their tragic and painful loss," Parsi said.

Reza Pahlavi has spoken out in opposition to Iran's clerical regime. But he is not thought to carry real influence among Iran's current opposition leaders, such as Mir Hussein Mousavi, who have challenged the ruling system after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009.

The protests and clashes after the vote marked the worst internal unrest in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.

Pahlavi will head to Boston on Wednesday, Eftekhari said, and she expected his mother, the former empress Farah Pahlavi, who's in Paris, to go as well.

Eftekhari said no funeral arrangements have yet been made.

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Brian Murphy reported from Dubai. Denise Lavoie, Bob Salsberg and Russell Contreras in Boston; Scheherezade Faramarzi in Beirut, and Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va., contributed to this report.