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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Situation remains tense in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- The situation was tense in Bahrain when Shiites erupted in anger after the mysterious death of a 14-year-old boy early this week, witnesses claim.

Ali Jawad al-Sheik collapsed and later died early this week. Witnesses speaking to CNN said he collapsed after getting hit with a tear-gas round fired by police. An autopsy, according to the Bahrain News Agency, showed no sign of tear gas exposure but suggested he did suffer a major spinal cord injury.

Shiite protesters later were reported clashing with security forces and pro-democracy activist Zainad Alkhawaja told the news service the situation on the streets was tense.

"People are more upset and angry than I've seen at (a) funeral here before -- I think because he was so young," she was quoted as saying.

Bahrain was criticized for the way it handled a Shiite uprising early this year but was later praised for advancing some reforms.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said his agency was about cases that may involve prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.

Human rights groups have accused the ruling Sunni minority in Bahrain of using state hospitals as torture chambers.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/01/Situation-remains-tense-in-Bahrain/UPI-52931314897600/.

Indian protests mount over planned hanging

A woman burned herself to death near Chennai in protest at the planned hanging of the killers of Rajiv Ghandi, India's prime minister, in 1991.

NEW DELHI, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- A woman burned herself to death near Chennai, India, in protest at the planned hanging of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi, India's prime minister, in 1991.

The woman, 27, poured gasoline on herself in front of the local tax office in Kancheepuram, around 70 miles from the Tamil Nadu state capital Chennai.

Witnesses said she shouted, "free Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan" and then she set herself on fire.

Bystanders and the police doused the flames but she died on the way to hospital, a local newspaper report said.

A note wrapped in plastic found on her body said she was a member of Tamil nationalist group Makkal Manram.

"If my life can save their three lives, I will die happily," the note reportedly said.

It also urged Tamil Nadu state chief minister J. Jayalalithaa to free the three convicts, who have been in jail for 20 years since receiving death sentences.

Last week the government announced the hanging will take place early Sept. 9 at Tamil Nadu's Vellore Central Prison in Vellore, around 85 miles north of Chennai.

The planned hanging comes after India's president rejected mercy pleas from the men found guilty of plotting the assassination of Gandhi by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber.

All three of the condemned men were members of Sri Lanka's militant Tamil Tigers group. Murugan and Santhan are from Sri Lanka and Perarivalan is an Indian Tamil.

Immediately after Gandhi's death, the Tamil Tigers claimed he was assassinated as a protest over what they claimed was India's interference in the Sri Lankan civil war.

However, in 2006, the Tigers, which by then had stopped its armed struggle for a separate state called Tamil Eelam, expressed "regret" for the murder.

The announcement of the hangings has polarized many people, groups and political parties in the state and across India where the last execution was in August 2004 in the state of West Bengal. A 41-year-old former security guard was hanged for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl. It was the first execution since 1995.

The assassins of India's independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi were among those executed in the past 60 years.

At Vellore jail, where the last hanging was nearly 30 years ago, officials are busy getting the "rusty" gallows back into shape, a report in The Telegraph newspaper in Kolkata said.

The gallows are in "an asbestos-roofed shed over an iron beam and two trap doors. As the last hanging took place 28 years ago, the trap doors' hinges and lever have become stiff."

Prison officials are doing the refurbishment themselves because they couldn't find a contractor that would be associated with the hanging, The Telegraph said.

"Our own staff repaired and lubricated the mechanism. We have now placed an order for the ropes," a jail official said.

Although the gallows are designed for two simultaneous hangings, the jail plans to carry out the executions separately at 30-minute intervals beginning 4.30 a.m. Prison officials will draw lots to decide the order in which the trio will be hanged.

The situation at Vellore is typical of many jails across India. A 2010 article in New Delhi's Open magazine said India is a nation that allows capital punishment, is holding in jail many condemned to death but is a country with no hangmen.

The last hangman in the state of Maharashtra retired in 1995 and since then, there have been no takers for the job, the article said.

A hangman is not a full-time government employee but a sanctioned volunteer where his pay -- equivalent to a little more than $3 -- is a special allowance, the article said.

Prison officials will train a new hangman in things such as tying the noose. But the toughest part of the job isn't about ropes and levers, it is about conscience, a former inspector general of police prisons said.

"The moment a hangman starts thinking about karma, he should be retired. Till the lever is pulled, the prison officials are on tenterhooks as you cannot say how the hangman will react at the last moment," he said.

A few months before the death of the hangman Nata Mullick, who conducted India's last hanging in 2004, Open magazine interviewed him about the job.

Mullick, whose father was a hangman in the British colonial days, died in December 2009 after 25 hangings.

"The preparation of the noose is very important," he told Open magazine.

"If the noose is right, the person will feel less pain. I used fewer knots when a prisoner was heavy and more knots for a prisoner who weighed less. If the lever is pulled too hard, the head can be severed."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/31/Indian-protests-mount-over-planned-hanging/UPI-92051314785820/.

الملك يؤكد استعداد الأردن لدعم استقرار ليبيا

2011-09-01

خبرني- شارك جلالة الملك عبدالله الثاني إلى جانب عدد من قادة دول العالم في مؤتمر دولي لإعادة إعمار ليبيا (دعم ليبيا الجديدة ) عقد في قصر الاليزيه بالعاصمة الفرنسية باريس مساء الخميس.

وأكد جلالته خلال مشاركته في المؤتمر دعم الأردن للشعب الليبي الشقيق في تحقيق تطلعاته وآماله بمستقبل أفضل ومساندته في مواجهة التحديات والبدء في بناء مؤسسات الدولة الحديثة.

ودعا جلالته المجتمع الدولي إلى تقديم الدعم الكامل للشعب الليبي لرسم مستقبله الديمقراطي والسياسي بنفسه استنادا إلى عملية سياسية شاملة يسودها التسامح والمصالحة والعدالة وسيادة القانون بقيادة المجلس الوطني الانتقالي، ترسيخا لوحدة الشعب الليبي وبما يضمن له سيادته وسلامة أراضيه ويمكنه من استعادة الأمن وتحقيق التنمية بشكل عاجل.

وأكد جلالته خلال المؤتمر، الذي حضره وزير الخارجية ناصر جودة، حرص الأردن على دعم جهود المجلس الوطني الانتقالي لإعادة إعمار ليبيا على أساس راسخ من الانفتاح والديمقراطية والعدالة.

كما أكد جلالته استعداد الأردن للمساهمة في جهود تحقيق الاستقرار وإعادة بناء ليبيا بما في ذلك توفير التدريب الشرطي والعسكري وبناء القدرات في المجالات التعليمية والقضائية والطبية والإنشائية.

وعبر جلالته عن تأييد الأردن للإفراج عن الأرصدة الليببية المجمدة وتأمينها إلى المجلس الانتقالي بما يمكنه من إعادة البناء وتحقيق الأهداف التنموية لليبيا.

وشدد جلالته على أهمية تنسيق مختلف الجهود في المرحلة القادمة الحرجة التي تشهدها ليبيا، لافتا إلى ضرورة أن تنهض الأمم المتحدة بدور قيادي في هذا السياق بالتنسيق مع الدول والمنظمات الإقليمية.

وأشار جلالته إلى أن الأردن كان من أوائل الدول التي أعلنت عن دعمها الكامل للشعب الليبي وحمايته والمساهمة بفاعلية في تقديم المعونة الإنسانية والطبية له وتقديم الدعم اللوجستي في الإطار التنسيقي الهادف إلى تنفيذ قرار مجلس الأمن الدولي رقم 1973، مؤكدا جلالته استعداد الأردن لإرسال مستشفى ميداني إلى ليبيا.

وكانت المملكة اعترفت خلال شهر أيار الماضي بالمجلس الوطني الانتقالي ممثلا للشعب الليبي، وعينت مبعوثا دائما في مدينة بنغازي لتعزيز التنسيق مع المجلس. كما كانت في طليعة الدول التي دانت بشدة استهداف أبناء الشعب الليبي الشقيق، وطالبت بوقف إراقة دماء أبنائه. وأرسل الأردن في شهر نيسان الماضي إلى بنغازي مساعدات طبية وإنسانية. كما استقبلت المستشفيات الأردنية نحو 200 مصاب ليبي منذ اندلاع الأزمة.

وشارك في مؤتمر باريس رئيس المجلس الوطني الانتقالي مصطفى عبد الجليل و رئيس المجلس التنفيذي الليبي محمود جبريل ، والأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بان كي مون برئاسة الرئيس الفرنسي نيكولا ساركوزي ورئيس الوزراء البريطاني ديفيد كاميرون.
ومن قادة الدول وكبار المسؤولين المشاركين في المؤتمر جلالة الملك حمد بن عيسى آل خليفة ملك مملكة البحرين، وسمو الشيخ حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني أمير دولة قطر، والمستشارة الألمانية أنجيلا ميركل، ووزيرة الخارجية الأميركية هيلاري كلنتون، ووزير الخارجية الإماراتي سمو الشيخ عبدالله بن زايد آل نهيان، وأمين عام جامعة الدول العربية الدكتور نبيل العربي، ورئيس المجلس الأوروبي هيرمان فون رومبوي، ورئيس المفوضية الأوروبية خوزيه مانويل باروسو، والممثلة العليا للشؤون الخارجية والسياسة الأمنية في الاتحاد الأوروبي البارونة كاثرين اشتون، ووزير الخارجية المغربي الطيب الفاسي الفهري ووزير الخارجية المصري محمد كامل عمرو.

المصدر: خبرني.
الرابط: http://www.khaberni.com/more.php?newsid=61023.

Moscow recongnizes Libya's TNC

Thu Sep 1, 2011

Moscow has finally recognized the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC) as the North African country's legitimate authority while a key summit on Libya is to begin in the French capital Paris.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Moscow will continue its “close” diplomatic relations with Tripoli.

“Russia has been in close contact with the Benghazi opposition during the six months of the Libyan conflict,” Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted Moscow's envoy to Africa Mikhail Margelov as saying on Thursday.

Margelov said that Russia took the decision “to stop bloodshed and call on political dialogue.”

The development comes as Russia remained a major critic of the NATO military intervention in Libya which is believed to have facilitated the fall of Libya's fugitive ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Margelov, heading a Russian delegation, is expected to take part at the international conference of "Friends of Libya" in Paris on Thursday.

More than 60 foreign delegations are to discuss Libya's future in the post-Gaddafi era during the Paris talks hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Premier David Cameron.

The TNC will plead for assistance on security, rebuilding and preparing for democracy in the crisis-hit country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196853.html.

Cholera claims 21 lives in Somalia

Thu Sep 1, 2011

At least 21 Somali children have died and nearly 440 others hospitalized due to cholera in the famine-stricken African country, Press TV reported.

The 21 children lost their lives Thursday morning in southern Mogadishu as their families were unable to provide medicines for them.

Doctors say that within the last three hours more than 440 Somali children affected by cholera were rushed to Banadir hospital for emergency treatment in southern Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, thousands of drought victims have started to abandon south Mogadishu refugee camps after humanitarian aids were stolen by Somali government officials.

Drought and famine have affected millions of people across Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Somalia has been the hardest-hit country in what is being described as the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years.

According to the United Nations, a quarter of Somalia's 9.9 million population are either internally displaced or living outside the country as refugees.

The UN has declared famine in five regions of Somalia and says that the international humanitarian response to the crisis has been insufficient.

The United Nations says that more than thirteen children out of every 10,000 aged less than five die in the Somalia famine zone every day.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196854.html.

Iran to unveil 1st domestically built plane

Sat Aug 27, 2011

The Islamic Republic of Iran will unveil its first domestically manufactured passenger plane in the next 30 to 60 days, according to a senior Iranian aviation official.

Iranian Defense Ministry Aviation Industries Organization Managing Director Manouchehr Manteqi told the Mehr news agency on Friday that the first totally Iranian plane, with a capacity of 100 passengers, will be unveiled in the Iranian calendar month of Mehr (September 23-October 22).

Manteqi also hailed the country's achievements in the aviation industries, noting that the Islamic Republic is one of the regional powers in aircraft overhaul and maintenance.

In June, the chairman of the Kiev headquarters of the Antonov Aerospace Company said Iran and Ukraine plan to cooperate on the construction of 78 Antonov-148 aircraft by the end of 2011.

Dmitry Kiva stated that Antonov and the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company have signed a contract to manufacture the planes, adding that Antonov will produce the twin-engine mid-range turboprop for the mid-range jet airliner.

The Iranian Defense Ministry has been manufacturing a licensed version of the Antonov-148 since 2009.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195954.html.

Teen's death sparks protests in Bahrain

Thu Sep 1, 2011

Angry protesters in Bahrain have taken to the streets in several towns and villages to condemn the killing of a teenager by Saudi-backed regime forces.

On Wednesday, 14-year-old Ali Jawad was killed after he was directly targeted by a tear gas canister during a protest held following Eid al-Fitr prayers in the city of Sitra.

The city's hospital reportedly refused to admit Jawad, who died shortly afterwards of the severe head injury he had sustained.

Human rights activists have warned about an increase in the number of deaths due to excessive use of force by Saudi-backed regime forces.

Meanwhile, families of detained protesters said Bahraini authorities have cancelled their appointments to meet their jailed relatives without giving any explanation.

Anti-regime protests, in place since mid-February, have seen a new hike in the past few days following a speech by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa about the months of anti-government protests in the Persian Gulf Sheikhdom.

The remarks outraged many Bahrainis believe that the king's speech as a futile attempt to restore normalcy to the country which does not address their demands.

On Sunday, the Bahraini king announced in a televised speech that he would pardon some detained anti-regime protesters and called for the reinstatement of a number of employees fired from their jobs and students expelled from their colleges.

He also admitted that security forces had abused the protesters, saying that compensation would be paid to the victims of abuse and the families of those killed during anti-regime demonstrations.

Bahrainis, however, have rejected his speech, accusing him of ordering the brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, which has left scores of people killed and many more injured.

Bahraini protesters have been calling on the ruling Al Khalifa family to release its decades-long grip on power.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196813.html.

Bahraini troops kill 14-year-old protester

Wed Aug 31, 2011

Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have attacked anti-government protesters in the island city of Sitra, killing a 14-year-old boy.

Witnesses say the victim, identified as Ali Jawad, was hit in the head by a tear gas canister fired from close range.

Reports say the city's hospital refused to admit the critically injured Ali and that the 14-year-old boy died shortly afterwards, Bahraini rights activist Maryam Al-Khawaja wrote in an e-mail to Press TV on Wednesday.

It is widely believed that hospital authorities refused to treat the wounded teenager for fear of being arrested by security forces. Since the beginning of anti-regime protests in Bahrain, hundreds of medical personnel have been detained and tortured over providing medical treatment to injured protesters.

Thousands of Bahraini protesters took to the streets on Tuesday following the Eid al-Fitr Prayers to protest against a recent speech by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa about the months of anti-government protests in the Persian Gulf Sheikhdom.

Many Bahrainis believe that the king's speech was a futile attempt aimed at restoring normalcy to the country and does not address their demands.

Activists say in some areas protests had started from the previous night.

On Sunday, the Bahraini king announced in a televised speech that he would pardon some detained anti-regime protesters and called for the reinstatement of a number of employees fired from their jobs and students expelled from their colleges.

He also admitted that security forces had abused the protesters, saying that compensation would be paid to the victims of abuse and the families of those killed during anti-regime demonstrations.

Bahrainis, however, have rejected his speech, accusing him of ordering the brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators demanding an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196715.html.

Scientists use coral for sunscreen pill

Wed Aug 31, 2011

King's College London scientists are trying to use coral's natural defense against the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays to make a sunscreen pill.

The team, who studied samples of the endangered Acropora coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, found that they could synthetically replicate the key compounds which help corals fight UV rays.

Scientists plan to test a lotion containing the coral compounds before making a tablet version, the state-funded BBC reported.

Led by Dr. Paul Long, the team first will copy the coral's anti UV genetic code to make the compounds and then replicate it in lab to produce large quantities of it.

"We couldn't and wouldn't want to use the coral itself as it is an endangered species,” Dr. Long said.

"Once we recreate the compounds we can put them into a lotion and test them on skin discarded after cosmetic surgery tummy tucks,” he added.

"We will not know how much protection against the sun it might give until we begin testing.

"But there is a need for better sunscreens."

Scientists knew that corals and some algae could protect themselves against harmful sunrays, but they did not how.

"What we have found is that the algae living within the coral makes a compound that we think is transported to the coral, which then modifies it into a sunscreen for the benefit of both the coral and the algae,” said Dr. Long.

"Not only does this protect them both from UV damage, but we have seen that fish that feed on the coral also benefit from this sunscreen protection, so it is clearly passed up the food chain."

Researchers are also planning to find out if the processes could be used for developing sustainable agriculture in the Third World.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196735.html.

New monkey species found in Amazon

Sat Aug 27, 2011

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) researchers have discovered a new species of monkey during their expeditions in an unexplored part of the Amazon in mid-western Brazil.

The newly found monkey, which is a type of Callicebus, or titi, was discovered between the Guariba River and the Roosevelt River in northwestern part of Mato Grosso, a state of Brazil known as a center of Amazon destruction.

"This primate has features on its head and tail that have never been observed before in other titi monkey species found in the same area," said biologist Julio Dalpone who discovered the monkey during the WWF's Nature-backed expedition.

The discovered species was taken to the Emilio Goeldi Museum of Para State to be studied and formally described, MSNBC reported.

"This incredible discovery shows just how much we still have to learn from the Amazon,” said director of WWF's Amazon Program Meg Symington.

“WWF has been working with the government of Brazil to increase protection and improve management for the Amazon so that species like this, and thousands of others, don't disappear before we even know about them," he added.

The 26-member team traveled the region for 20 days, gathering 48 species of mammals, including armadillos, anteaters, deer and monkeys, as well as 313 species of birds that were previously seen in other South American countries.

They also uncovered two possible new fish species; a catfish and a tetra as well as threatened species, including a giant anteater, giant armadillo, giant otter, jaguar and ocelot.

According to WWF, the area is exposed to environmental and social problems, including illegal deforestation and forest degradation, poaching, expansion of agriculture, lack of health or education services and electricity and illegal fishing.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196068.html.

Canadian PM: Libya fighting far from done

TRAPANI, Italy, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- NATO's military role in Libya is far from finished, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told his country's forces at an air base Thursday in Trapani, Italy.

Canada's commitment to the NATO mission is scheduled to end Sept. 27, but Harper hinted the unrest that that apparently ousted Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi last week wouldn't be wrapped up by then, Postmedia News reported.

"There is, I am afraid, as we have just been briefed, still fighting to be done," Harper said.

Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard is in charge of the NATO mission while some 655 Canadian troops are manning seven CF-18 fighter jets, three refueling aircraft and a naval frigate.

Since the NATO mission began in March, Canadian pilots have flown 10 percent of the airstrikes and dropped 550 laser-guided bombs, the QMI Agency said.

Harper said other dictators should take note of the international response.

"Which gives some proof to the old saying: 'A handful of soldiers is better than a mouthful of arguments,'" he said. "The Gadhafis of this world pay no attention to the force of argument. The only thing they get is the argument of force."

The Conservative leader was scheduled to travel to Paris later Thursday to attend a conference on Libya organized by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/09/01/Canadian-PM-Libya-fighting-far-from-done/UPI-68951314881696/.

New Mexico has new solar options

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A solar power facility in New Mexico has started churning out renewable energy for thousands of homes, an energy company announced.

NRG Solar, a subsidiary of NRG Energy Inc., announced its 20-megawatt Roadrunner facility near the New Mexico border with Texas is now operating at full capacity.

The facility uses a series of solar panels that track the movement of the sun. This lets it produce more electricity when compared with fixed tilt installation panels, the company said.

The solar power facility sits on 210 acres of private land near El Paso, Texas. The electricity generated by the Roadrunner facility will be sold to El Paso Electric under the terms of a 20-year agreement.

The New Mexico project is NRG's third-largest facility and the first outside California.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he'd like to see more renewable energy projects come online in the country. NRG, based in New Jersey, has more than 2,000 megawatts of solar projects under development.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/09/01/New-Mexico-has-new-solar-options/UPI-23841314887103/.

Russia considering unmanned space station: official

Moscow (AFP)
Aug 31, 2011

Russia's space agency Roskosmos is considering ending a permanent human presence in space, an agency official said Wednesday following last week's crash of a supply ship delivering precious cargo to the ISS.

"Perhaps in the future, we will not need a constant manned presence in the lower Earth orbit," Roskosmos deputy director Vitaly Davydov told journalists in Moscow.

"We don't exclude the possibility of returning to the concept of DOS (long-term orbital) stations that we had before stations with constant human presence," he said.

Soviet-era space station designs, which included the early Salyut station series, were not meant to constantly house cosmonauts but instead served as a base for incoming missions.

Davydov's remarks came days after a failed launch left the International Space Station without a planned delivery of 2.9 tonnes of food, water, and fuel and delayed the next manned launch by at least a month.

Russia's space officials have for the first time warned that the current crew aboard the ISS could be evacuated, leaving the station, whose cost has been estimated at $100 billion, unmanned.

Such prospects have alarmed NASA as "there is a bigger risk of losing the ISS if there are no astronauts on board," according to the agency's ISS program chief Mike Suffredini.

Davydov denied that an unmanned ISS faces any threat. He confirmed however that the next planned landing of three cosmonauts currently at the ISS will happen a week later than planned, on September 16.

He did not provide any details on the delay of the next launch, which was originally scheduled for September 22, referring to an ongoing investigation into the causes of the launch failure.

Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said in a recent interview that he regretted Russia having put so much emphasis on manned space flight, rather than looking into more financially rewarding spheres like telecommunications.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_considering_unmanned_space_station_official_999.html.

Russia may put space program under state defense order

Moscow (RIA Novosti)
Sep 01, 2011

The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said on Wednesday it is considering returning the federal space program to the framework of the state defense order to ensure steady financing and reduce the number of accidents with space launches.

"It would be beneficial to return the federal space program and the Glonass program to the framework of the state defense order," said Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of Roscosmos.

"It would bolster discipline in issues related to financing, quality control and schedule deadlines in manufacturing," Davydov said.

The Russian aerospace industry has faced a series of misfortunes over the last nine months. In December, 2010, a Proton-M booster rocket failed to put three Glonass-M satellites into orbit.

The launch of the Rokot booster rocket carrying a military geodesic satellite Geo-IK-2 ended in failure in February.

After the first two mishaps, a number of senior space industry officials were fired and Roscosmos's chief, Anatoly Perminov, was forced to resign.

However, the problems persisted as the aerospace industry failed to manufacture the planned number of spacecraft and incidents with the launches continued.

On August 18, a Russian Proton-M rocket lost the prized Express-AM4 satellite that was designed to provide digital television and secure government communications for Siberia and the Far East.

One week after the Express-AM4 went off course, a Soyuz-U booster malfunctioned, preventing the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft from reaching orbit. Its debris fell in Gorny Altai, Russia.

The loss of Glonass satellites alone cost the state 4.3 billion rubles ($152.2 million).

In 2010, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the government to prepare a new federal program for Glonass, covering the years 2012-2020. The original 10-year 2001 program ends in 2011.

Roscosmos said in June that the agency was looking for a funding of 402 billion rubles ($14.35 billion) for the program.

Glonass is Russia's answer to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian uses. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

Russia currently has a total of 27 Glonass satellites in orbit, although only 23 of them are operational.

The complete Glonass grouping must have 24 operational and 2-3 reserve satellites for the Glonass network to operate with global coverage.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russia_may_put_space_program_under_state_defense_order_999.html.

Roscosmos plans to return three ISS crew members on Sept 16

Moscow (XNA)
Sep 01, 2011

Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) will return to Earth on Sept. 16, later than previously scheduled due to a failed launch of the Progress cargo vehicle, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Wednesday.

"There is no any danger for the ISS crew. The crew possesses everything it needs for work," Roscosmos deputy head Vitali Davydov said during a television link between Moscow and Astana, the Interfax news agency reported.

Davydov said two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronauts would be sent back to Earth.

The official also promised that the launches of the Proton and Soyuz carrier rockets, which have been temporarily suspended due to the recent accidents, would not be postponed for a long time.

A Progress M-12M cargo ship failed to reach orbit Aug. 24 after the engine of a Soyuz-U carrier rocket turned off during the ascent. Russia after that decided to delay the launch of the next manned spaceship to the ISS.

Besides, Russia would not abandon the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, even after completion of the construction works at the new Vostochny launch site in Russia, said Davydov.

"There are no plans to abandon Baikonur. We have an agreement (with Kazakhstan) on using that space center until 2050," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

Located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, Baikonur cosmodrome was originally built by the Soviet Union in 1955 and is currently leased by the Kazakh government to Russia until 2050.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Roscosmos_plans_to_return_three_ISS_crew_members_on_Sept_16_999.html.

More Aid Needed in Famine-Hit Somalia

By Omid Ghoreishi
August 31, 2011

Humanitarian agencies in Somalia are broke and urgently need more money in order to continue to provide aid in the famine-stricken country.

That’s the message from Canadian Craig Kielburger of Free The Children who is currently in Kenya at the massive Dadaab refugee camp, built to shelter those fleeing the long-running conflict—and now famine—in Somalia.

International response to the devastating famine in the Horn of Africa has been slow said Kielburger, who believes it may be due to possible “donor fatigue.” Other aid organizations have made the same observation.

“We are doing what we can with what we can, but the need is far, far greater than the resources,” Kielburger said by telephone from Dadaab.

Even the U.N. World Food Program is experiencing a funding shortfall, he said.

“Many aid agencies are effectively out of money. The humanitarian response has been far lower than expected, and that’s being diplomatic—it’s been dramatically lower than expected given the scale.”

The U.N. declared famine in some regions of Somalia in late July. Tens of thousands of people have abandoned their homes in search of food and to escape violence, fleeing to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and to refugee camps on the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders.

Kielburger, who has been in the region since late June, said between 1,300 and 1,500 people arrive at the camp daily, with a backlog of 30,000 waiting for their cases to be processed. Initially built to shelter 90,000 refugees, the camp is now home to 400,000.

Perilous Trek

Many suffer unspeakably on the walk to the camp, which for some is a monthlong ordeal.

“I met a father here who had to bury three of his four children and his wife on the walk,” Kielburger said.

“Parents … can no longer cry because they are so physically and emotionally lost burying their children on the walks here.”

He recounted the story of a 3-year-old boy who was “literally skin and bones” after arriving at the camp and in such a dire situation that medical staff couldn’t feed him intravenously and had to force-feed him via the nostril to stabilize his condition.

Adding to the difficulty is the spread of contagious diseases. The World Health Organization has warned of a cholera pandemic in the region, and UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards has reported cases of suspected measles and related deaths in camps in Ethiopia, all adding to the fatalities.

The situation could worsen as more people become affected by the drought and the spread of disease.

“In November, [and] December, when we’re getting ready for the holidays and ready to celebrate Christmas, that’s when it’s going to be particularly bleak in this part of the world,” said Kielburger.

Rape and Violence

The vast majority of those at the camp are women and children, as men fear being force-recruited by the terrorist group al-Shabaab, or want to remain in order to keep their claim on their farmland, Kielburger said.

The result is that women are highly vulnerable, and many become victims of violence and rape.

“Their stories are heart-wrenching,” said Kielburger.

He said women and children are raped and subjected to violence and robbery as they make their way to the borders, even sometimes at the hands of Kenyan police officers.

“I’ve met women here who describe the violence that they’ve faced, the assaults, the sexual abuse they faced on the walk and it is horrific.”

While there is an effort to bus the refugees from the border regions to the camps, the current capacity is insignificant compared to the demand, he said.

There is also a problem of rape in the camps, particularly when the women venture out to cut wood to make a fire for cooking.

More Funding Needed

The head of UNHCR, Antonio Guterres, who visited Somalia last Tuesday, has called for more aid to help displaced Somalis in their own country.

“We should not aim at emptying Somalia, but rather at making every effort to provide aid inside [the country],” he said, according to a report by UNHCR.

The Canadian government has provided $72.35 million in humanitarian aid to the region, and is also matching donations made by individual Canadians.

On Aug. 25, African countries pledged $351.7 million at an African Union summit meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

Kielburger laments “wavering” media and donor interest even as the situation is expected to become direr in the coming months, with the famine yet to peak.

“Much of the press attention right now has already shifted away,” he said, adding that with more money, aid organizations can do more.

“Whether it be a large aid agency or a mid-sized Canadian charity like ours, there’s not a single group here that with more resources wouldn’t be able to do more good.”

Humanitarian Mia Farrow, who visited the Dadaab camp last week, is urging people to help in whatever way they can to alleviate the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” unfolding in the region.

“I do not have the words to adequately convey the suffering and anguish of the people at Dadaab,” she writes on her blog.

“Without further delay governments MUST make good on their pledges, and each of us should do what we can, before millions of the world’s most vulnerable people starve to death,” she added.

With reporting by Joan Delaney

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/more-aid-needed-in-famine-hit-somalia-61002.html.

السفير السوري لأردنيين : إذا سقطنا ستسقطون معنا

2011-09-01

خبرني- كتب بسام بدارين في صحيفة القدس العربي اليوم الخميس :

هل يطور الأردن موقفا سياسيا جديدا في المسألة السورية؟.. هذا السؤال يبدو محوريا في عمان هذه الأيام في ظل اللغة الجديدة التي تستخدمها الحكومة الأردنية فيما يختص بمشهد سورية اليوم وهي لغة بقيت حذرة لكل الإحتمالات والسيناريوهات لكنها لم تعد متحفظة ومالت إلى النقد في الأسابيع القليلة الأخيرة.

ومن الواضح أن الإحتفاظ بمسافة آمنة وواحدة من طرفي معادلة الإشتباك في سورية تقرأه دمشق الرسمية بإعتباره خطوة معادية نحوها .. لذلك بدأت سلسلة من المضايقات السورية الحكومية على الحدود بالإتجاه المعاكس فعدد الأردنيين الذين يعبرون الحدود أقل من المعتاد وشاحنات الأردن البرية بدأت تتعطل لساعات على المركز الحدودي وعادت إلى الواجهة التحرشات البيروقراطية الحدودية المألوفة في لحظات التصعيد والتوتر من طراز تغيير تعليمات دخول الشاحنات فجأة او المطالبة بأوراق جديدة او حتى مخالفة بروتوكولات تسعير رسوم الترانزيت الموقعة سابقا بين البلدين.

إعلاميا تبدو المعركة أكثر حدة بين البلدين ففضائية دنيا التابعة لعائلة مخلوف السورية تخصص مساحات واسعة من شريطها الإخباري لرسائل تتهم الأردن بالعمالة لإسرائيل أو تحرض المواطنين الأردنيين على دولتهم والمحطة السورية الحكومية بدأت تعيد أجواء الحرب الإعلامية القديمة وهي تبث إعترافات مفترضة لأشخاص مجهولين يقولون أنهم أدخلوا السلاح للأراضي السورية عبر الحدود الأردنية.

ولا تخلو التعبيرات الإعلامية السورية الرسمية هذه الأيام من تلميحات تتهم السلطات الأردنية بالدعم الخفي للإرهاب المفترض داخل سورية خصوصا بعد معطيات معلوماتية تحدثت عن دخول العشرات من أنصار التيار السلفي المتشددين إلى الأراضي السورية فيما تقول شخصيات مقربة من الحكومة الأردنية بأن هؤلاء يمثلون 'بضاعة سورية التي ردت إليها' فقد إتهمت سورية رسميا عدة مرات بتمويل وتوجيه خلايا تخطط لأعمال عسكرية في الأرض الأردنية.

وهي خلايا لمتطرفين أصوليين ومن أشهرها مجموعة عزمي الجيوسي التي إتهمت بالتخطيط لتفجير مقر المخابرات الأردنية قبل ثلاثة أعوام.

بالمقابل يلاحظ الإعلام السوري بأن السلطات الأردنية تسكت بوضوح عن التجمعات اليومية التي تنظمها الجالية السورية مقابل سفارة سورية للإحتجاج والهتاف ضد بشار الأسد في ضاحية عبدون الراقية وهي إحتجاجات أصبحت في الواقع معلما يوميا من معالم العاصمة الأردنية.

ومؤخرا تطور الأمر فأكبر حشد جماهيري خرج في شوارع عمان منذ إنطلق الربيع العربي كان ذلك الذي نظمه السوريون مع النسخة الأردنية من الأخوان المسلمين في ليلة القدر التي سميت بليلة الإستبشار بسقوط بشار.. هنا تحديدا إمتنعت الحكومة الأردنية عن تنفيذ البروتوكول المعتمد عند الرغبة في قمع تجمع شعبي او منع الناس من الوصول إلى ساحته فعاشت عمان ليلة كاملة على صخب آلاف الحناجر وهي تدعو لسقوط بشار الأسد.

بالمقابل تقول عمان بان السماح للسوريين المعارضين بالتعبير أمام سفارتهم ينسجم مع معاييرها فقد سمحت للمصريين والليبيين بذلك ويقابله السماح بنشاطات للجنة حزبية تشكلت دفاعا عن النظام السوري.

لكن حتى من ثنايا بعض المناسبات يمكن تلمس التغيرات في 'اللهجة المتبادلة' ففي حفل الإفطار السنوي للسفارة السعودية في العاصمة الأردنية دعي سفير سورية وجلس بالصدفة لإنه حضر متأخرا إلى طاولة مليئة بنخبة من السياسيين الأردنيين المخضرمين.. عندها إعتمد الرجل في كل حديثه تقريبا على الصيغة التالية حسب شهود عيان: إذا سقطنا ستسقطون معنا.

طبعا لا يمكن تمرير هذه الصياغة بدون رد فتصدى رئيس الوزراء الأردني الأسبق عبد الرؤوف الروابدة الجالس على نفس الطاولة معلقا بفكرة بسيطة قوامها: .. سعادة السفير أعتقد انكم ستسقطون وحدكم إذا لم تتداركوا الموقف أما نحن فجالسون. المقصود هنا واضح وهو تلميح السفير السوري لإن النظام الأردني سيتهاوى إذا سقط السوري وإشارة الروابدة للرد على الموقف واضحة و مسنودة بمداخلة لعضو البرلمان الأردني المخضرم المتواجد على نفس الطاولة وفي نفس المناسبة أيضا خليل عطية الذي رفض المقاربات والمقارنات والمقايسات وتحدث عن إصلاحات بلاده وعن عدم وجود غربه بين الناس والنظام في الأردن.

ويمكن القول الآن ان هذه المماحكات السياسية تعكس المزاج المتوتر قليلا في هذه المرحلة بين البلدين الجارين وسط قناعة جميع الأردنيين بان ما يجري وسيجري في سورية يؤثر بكل تأكيد على الأردن كما يوضح السياسي الأردني المعروف ممدوح العبادي.

المصدر: خبرني.
الرابط: http://www.khaberni.com/more.php?newsid=61004.