France bans Muslims' street prayers

Sat Sep 17, 2011

The French government has enforced a new law forbidding Muslims from saying their prayers in the streets of the capital of Paris and other cities, Press TV reports.

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant claimed that the government was trying to protect French secular values by implementing the law, which took effect at midnight on Thursday, ahead of the Muslim Friday prayers, a Press TV correspondent reported on Saturday.

"My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street ... violates the principles of secularism," he said.

French Muslims disapprove of the ban, saying there is not enough space for them to pray in the mosques.

"I have been praying here every Friday for 15 years. We just want to practice our religion and we need more mosques," a French Muslim said.

"There is no need to have so many police here. They should have just informed people that the mosque is closed. That's all we need because we respect the law," another prayer said, referring to policemen surrounding the area.

"We are still in the street. We are still without a roof. One hour before lunch time prayer, it was already full," one prayer complained.

There are only a limited number of mosques in France -- which has the biggest Muslim population in Europe -- leading Muslims to attend prayers at about a dozen street locations across the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199673.html.

Anti-Israel musicians suspended in UK

Sun Sep 18, 2011

Four musicians in the United Kingdom have been suspended from their job for nine months over opposition to a concert by an Israeli orchestra.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) suspended cellist Sue Sutherley and violinists Tom Eisner, Nancy Elan and Sarah Streatfeild until June 2012 after they signed a letter as members of the LPO denouncing the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) as “an instrument of Israel's propaganda,” the Guardian reported on Friday.

LPO officials said in a statement that the suspensions send “a strong and clear message that their actions will not be tolerated.”

They said the LPO “has no wish to end the careers of four talented musicians, but for the LPO, music and politics do not mix.”

“Denials of human rights and violations of international law are hidden behind a cultural smokescreen. The IPO is perhaps Israel's prime asset in this campaign. Israel's policy towards the Palestinians fits the UN definition of apartheid,” the statement added.

The IPO's concert was interrupted by the protesters on September 1. The state-run BBC suspended its live coverage of the concert, although the Israeli orchestra completed its performance.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199880.html.

Turkey to freeze EU ties over Cyprus

Mon Sep 19, 2011

The Turkish government has warned that it will freeze its ties with the European Union if Cyprus assumes the bloc's rotating presidency next year.

"If the peace negotiations there (Cyprus) are not conclusive, and the EU gives its rotating presidency to southern Cyprus, the real crisis will be between Turkey and the EU," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay at the end of a trip to northern Cyprus late on Saturday, Reuters reported.

"Because we will then freeze our relations with the EU. We have made this announcement, as a government we have made this decision. Our relations with the EU will come to a sudden halt,” Atalay further explained.

The Greek Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognize as a sovereign state, is due to assume the six-month rotating EU presidency in July 2012.

Tensions between Turkey and Cyprus have deteriorated since the Cypriot President Demetris Christofias announced plans to start exploring natural gas reserves around the island “within the next few days.”

Ankara has opposed the venture, with the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu calling it a "provocation,” while Nicosia has threatened to block Turkey's EU accession talks -- which started in 2005 -- if it continues to challenge the Cypriot plans.

UN-sponsored peace negotiations between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have faced hurdles since their resumption in 2008.

Cyprus is represented internationally and in the EU by Greek Cypriots, while the Turkish Cyprus is recognized as a state only by Turkey.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199925.html.

Somalia has highest child mortality rate

Sun Sep 18, 2011

Somalia now has the world's highest mortality rate for children under the age of five, after years of chronic conflict and recurring drought.

In 2010, Somalia's child mortality rate stood at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births. That now ranks worst in the world, according to the latest data released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, CNN reported on Saturday.

“Even before this current crisis, one in six children was dying before their fifth birthday. Now we anticipate this number of deaths will be even greater,” UNICEF Representative in Somalia Rozanne Chorlton said.

She added, “There is no doubt that Somalia is one of the toughest places for a child to survive.”

Six areas in southern Somalia have been declared famine zones by the United Nations. They include the Lower Shabelle region, parts of Bakool and Middle Shabelle, the Bay region, and the settlements for internally displaced persons in the Afgoye corridor and Mogadishu.

According to UNICEF, 750,000 people are at imminent risk of death in central and south Somalia, and 1.5 million children need immediate humanitarian assistance -- including 336,000 children under the age of five who are acutely malnourished.

As of last year, less than a third of one-year-olds in Somalia were immunized against deadly vaccine-preventable diseases, over 70 per cent of the population lacked access to safe water, and just 3 out of 10 children of primary school age were enrolled in school.

“To make sure we save children's lives, we need a serious investment in Somalia's future to make sure that anything like the current crisis never happens again. Such investment needs to begin with children, who are always the first to suffer during times of famine and hardship,” Chorlton noted.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199724.html.

Moroccans renew call for social justice

Mon Sep 19, 2011

Moroccans have once again taken to the streets in several cities to protest corruption in the monarchy and demand better living conditions and social justice.

Thousands of people held rallies in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, as well as the port city of Tangiers, on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.

Protesters chanted slogans against government corruption and even called for the downfall of the US-backed authoritarian regime.

The demonstrations were organized by the February 20 movement, named after the date that Moroccans, inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, began their anti-government protests.

Demonstrators also chanted slogans against approved constitutional reforms that critics have described as window-dressing, urging the country's ruler King Mohammed VI to curb more of his powers.

"Head of the army, it's too much, head of the religion, it's too much," chanted the crowd.

The reforms included the election, by a popular vote, of the prime minister, who was formerly appointed by the king himself. They would also transfer some of the monarch's powers to the parliament.

However, the king will remain the head of state and the military as well as the highest religious authority in the country.

The Moroccan government has announced that the country's parliamentary elections will be held in November.

A member of the largest party elected to the parliament is to be picked as the prime minister.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199922.html.

Turkey blocks Israel's NATO request

Mon Sep 19, 2011

Amid worsening relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara, Turkey has blocked a bid by Israeli officials to open an office at NATO headquarters.

“Israel recently made an attempt to open an office at NATO in Brussels. We said we would veto this attempt and the issue was not even put on the agenda,” Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Hurriyet newspaper that Israel attempted to have its request approved earlier this month, after Ankara downgraded ties with Tel Aviv over its refusal to apologize for a raid on an aid ship bound to the Gaza Strip in 2010.

The official added that the issue could not even make its way onto NATO's agenda after Turkey threatened to use its veto.

The 2010 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was sailing in international waters on a mission to break Tel Aviv's siege of the Gaza Strip, left nine Turkish activists dead and dozens of others wounded.

Israel has refused to apologize for the bloodshed, prompting Ankara to expel the Israeli ambassador and cut all bilateral military ties with Israel.

Meanwhile, Turkey has vowed to take action at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to challenge Tel Aviv's four-year siege of Gaza.

The blockade prevents the flow of food, medicine, and other basic supplies into the impoverished coastal territory.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/199940.html.

Iran vows to wipe out PJAK

Sept. 19, 2011

TEHRAN, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Iranian military forces massed along the Iraqi border will wipe out Kurdish militants in the coming days, an Iranian commander declared.

Iranian military forces have deployed along the border with Iraq ostensibly to take on fighters in the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK.

Delavar Ranjbarzadeh, a top commander in Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that his forces captured the main PJAK base in northern Iran.

Iranian forces took control of the base during the weekend, he added, noting no Iranian forces were injured in the two-hour raid. Many PJAK militants escaped during the attack, the commander noted.

Iranian Brig. Gen. Reza Pourdastan said following the raid that PJAK would be "be wiped out in the coming days and complete security will be restored to the borders."

Turkey has been locked in bottle with PJAK affiliates in the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The fight has been a source of contention for Iraqi officials, who warned about encroachments on their sovereignty.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/19/Iran-vows-to-wipe-out-PJAK/UPI-94471316446192/.

U.N. declares end to Libyan arms embargo

Sept. 19, 2011

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A U.N. Security measure Council for a mission to support the Libyan transitional government includes the lifting of an arms embargo, the United Nations said.

Security Council member unanimously agreed to a resolution to create a three-month U.N. Support Mission in Libya. The measure includes the lifting of an arms embargo, unfreezes some assets and ends the no-fly zone enacted by the Security Council in March.

"In this resolution, as well as the General Assembly's approval earlier today of the Transitional National Council's credentials to represent Libya, we all stand witness to the birth of a new Libya," said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in statements following the Security Council vote.

Humanitarian groups had expressed concern over reports of human rights abuses that allegedly occurred at the hands of fighters loyal to the Transitional National Council in Libya. Some reports suggested some of Libya's advanced weapons had wound up in the wrong hangs.

The United Nations stated that UNSMIL will help transitional leaders extend state authority, protect human rights and restore public services.

The new mission will also take immediate steps to kick-start economic recovery in the war-torn state. Transitional leaders had said oil production, a major source of revenue for Libya, could resume at some level by the end of the month.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/09/19/UN-declares-end-to-Libyan-arms-embargo/UPI-51991316452388/.

Protesters, defectors, army clash in Sanaa, Yemen

Sept. 19, 2011

SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Diplomatic officials arrived in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday against a backdrop of street violence to try to organize a peaceful transfer of power.

The talks come as new clashes in Sanaa left one person dead Monday, bringing the death toll since fighting began Sunday to 29, a medic told CNN.

The state-run Saba news agency said U.N. envoy to Yemen JamalBin Omar and Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Abdul Latif al-Zayyani would discuss a GCC transfer-of-power plan with Yemeni officials designated by President Ali Abdullah Saleh to act on his behalf.

The proposal, first offered in May, would allow Saleh to resign after transferring executive powers to Vice President Abd Rabo Mansou Hadi. Saleh initially indicated he would agree to the pact, but later refused to sign.

Medics reported protesters in Taiz were fired upon as government forces loyal to Saleh tried to disperse them. At least six people were injured.

Witnesses told CNN troops loyal to Saleh were seen firing randomly at protesters Monday as demonstrations were reported on nearly every street in Yemen's capital.

Witnesses said explosions and gunfire could be heard from near an intersection where protesters have been conducting sit-ins for months, The New York Times reported. The First Armored Division took over the area Sunday as a protective detail for the protesters after clashing with security forces who defected and protesters who pitched tents in the major intersection, witnesses said.

Yemen's divided military has been at a standoff for months.

Closed were roads leading to Change Square, where thousands had a 7-month sit-in, calling for the resignation of Saleh, recuperating in Saudi Arabia from a June attack on his residence.

The Hasaba zone in Sanaa's northwestern part also saw violent clashes between tribesmen loyal to the revolution and the Republican Guards Sunday night. Hasaba is home to Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar, leader of the Hashed tribal confederation, whose tribes fought with government troops in May.

Witnesses to Sunday's fighting told media outlets they saw snipers firing into crowds of demonstrators from rooftops and trucks.

The violence broke out when protesters marched from Sanaa University toward heavily guarded government buildings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We were walking and chanting, 'Peaceful, peaceful,'" Hamdi Mohammed, a demonstrator, told the Los Angeles Times. "But then the soldiers attacked us and we threw rocks and gasoline bombs. They opened fire with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. It was horrible what they did to us."

Government officials said the demonstrators were trying to occupy government buildings and the state radio station, which protesters denied.

Officials said one soldier was killed and 65 were wounded in Sunday's clashes.

The opposition National Council condemned the attack and urged the international community to act against Saleh's regime, CNN reported.

"These crimes will not be forgotten and the regime will stand trial and in front of international questioning," the council said in a statement.

The Interior Ministry denied it was behind the attacks and blamed militias for the violence.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/09/19/Protesters-defectors-army-clash-in-Sanaa-Yemen/UPI-76491316430206/.

Build-up is underway for the no. 1 Soyuz to be launched from French Guiana

Kourou, French Guiana (ESA)
Sep 19, 2011

The first Soyuz to be operated from French Guiana has begun the integration process, marking a major step toward Arianespace's introduction of the workhorse medium-lift vehicle into its launcher family at the Spaceport.

During activity this week, the Soyuz launcher's central core Block A second stage was fitted with one of four strap-on boosters that constitute the Russian-built launcher's first stage.

The horizontal integration is taking place inside a purpose-built Launcher Integration Building at the Spaceport, where Soyuz vehicles will undergo their initial build-up.

Once assembled, they will be rolled out to the launch pad and erected in the vertical position for installation of the upper composite - consisting of Soyuz' Fregat upper stage and the satellite payload.

Liftoff of the historic no. 1 Soyuz from French Guiana is set for October 20 with two European Galileo navigation satellites, and will be followed by a second flight of the Russian launcher at the Spaceport in December.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Build_up_is_underway_for_the_no__1_Soyuz_to_be_launched_from_French_Guiana_999.html.

Vesta an asteroid full of surprises

Berlin, Germany (SPX)
Sep 19, 2011

Varied impact craters, valleys, canyons and mountains among the highest in the Solar System - the 3D images and videos of the asteroid Vesta created by scientists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) reveal a most unusual celestial body. The US Dawn spacecraft, carrying a German camera system on board, has been orbiting the asteroid since July 2011.

"Vesta has totally surprised us," says Ralf Jaumann, Head of the Planetary Geology Department at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof. The topographical maps are necessary to study the asteroid, whose orbit lies between those of Mars and Jupiter.

The latest 3D images, which show the whole asteroid, make something very clear - Vesta holds quite a number of challenges for the scientists on the Dawn team. "For example, we can see a very large impact crater in the south polar region, the likes of which we have never seen before," emphasises Jaumann. The shape and structure of the crater differ from every other impact crater in the Solar System. "We are unable to find similar craters on other bodies, and cannot yet explain exactly what has caused it."

Another critical question faced by the planetary scientists is whether or not there has been volcanism on Vesta. The numerous impact craters are not making this easy for scientists. "Any evidence of volcanic activity has been covered by impact ejecta and our current challenge is to find traces of volcanic deposits," explains Jaumann.

Dark material associated with craters that appears in some of the 3D images might provide the scientists with information on potential volcanic activity. But it could also be the remnants of the impacting body, in which case, the search for signs of volcanism must continue.

Anaglyph: landscape with craters If an explanation could be found for the features that appear on the images and video obtained from orbit at an altitude of 2420 kilometres, the scientists would be considerably closer to fulfilling the aim of the Dawn mission.

The asteroid could provide information about the birth of the Solar System. When the planets were forming, about 4.56 billion years ago, Jupiter's gravitational field ensured that no large bodies could form in a 200 million kilometre wide corridor.

The result was the Main Asteroid Belt with its unfinished planets - including Vesta, which is thought to have melted briefly after its formation but has not changed chemically since its early cooling. The Dawn spacecraft is therefore visiting a celestial body that will provide an insight into the Solar System's past for the very first time.

"On the dynamic Earth, all traces of the early days of the Solar System have disappeared, the Moon is younger, and Mars is too weathered to draw any conclusions," explains Jaumann. "But Vesta offers us the key to obtaining this knowledge."

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Vesta_an_asteroid_full_of_surprises_999.html.

An electronic bucket brigade could boost solar cell voltages

Berkeley CA (SPX) Sep 19, 2011

If solar cells could generate higher voltages when sunlight falls on them, they'd produce more electrical power more efficiently. For over half a century scientists have known that ferroelectrics, materials whose atomic structure allows them to have an overall electrical polarization, can develop very high photovoltages under illumination. Until now, no one has figured out exactly how this photovoltaic process occurs.

Now a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley has resolved the high-voltage mystery for one ferroelectric material and determined that the same principle should be at work in all similar materials. The team's results are published in Physical Review Letters.

"We worked with very thin films of bismuth ferrite, or BFO, grown in the laboratory of our colleague Ramamoorthy Ramesh," says Joel Ager of Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division (MSD), who led the research effort. "These thin films have regions - called domains - where the electrical polarization points in different directions. Ramesh's group is able to make film with exquisite control over this domain structure."

Because BFO has a range of unusual properties, the group led by Ramesh, who is a member of MSD and a professor of materials sciences, engineering, and physics at UC Berkeley, has long studied its characteristics by building custom devices made from the material.

The BFO films studied by Ager and his colleagues have a unique periodic domain pattern extending over distances of hundreds of micrometers (millionths of a meter). The domains form in stripes, each measuring 50 to 300 nanometers (billionths of a meter) across, separated by domain walls a mere two nanometers thick. In each of these stripes the electrical polarization is opposite from that of its neighbors.

Because of the wide extent and highly periodic domain structure of the BFO thin films, the research team avoided the problems faced by groups who had tried to understand photovoltaic effects in other ferroelectrics, whose differences in polarity were thought to surround impurity atoms or to occur in different grains of a polycrystalline material.

By contrast, says Ager, "We knew very precisely the location and the magnitude of the built-in electric fields in BFO." Thus Ager and Jan Seidel of MSD were able to gain "full microscopic understanding" of what went on within each separate domain, and across many domains.

High voltages from an electronic bucket brigade
"When we illuminated the BFO thin films, we got very large voltages, many times the band gap voltage of the material itself," says Ager. "The incoming photons free electrons and create corresponding holes, and a current begins to flow perpendicular to the domain walls - even though there's no junction, as there would be in a solar cell with negatively and positively doped semiconductors."

In an open circuit the current flows at right angles to the domain walls, and to measure it the researchers attached platinum electrical contacts to the BFO film. Says Ager, "The farther apart the contacts, the more domain walls the current had to cross, and the higher the voltage."

It was clear that the domain walls between the regions of opposite electrical polarization were playing a key role in the increasing voltage. These experimental observations turned out to be the clue to constructing a detailed charge-transport model of BFO, a job undertaken by Junqiao Wu of MSD and UC Berkeley, and UCB graduate student Deyi Fu.

The model presented a surprising, and surprisingly simple, picture of how each of the oppositely oriented domains creates excess charge and then passes it along to its neighbor. The opposite charges on each side of the domain wall create an electric field that drives the charge carriers apart. On one side of the wall, electrons accumulate and holes are repelled. On the other side of the wall, holes accumulate and electrons are repelled.

While a solar cell loses efficiency if electrons and holes immediately recombine, that can't happen here because of the strong fields at the domain walls created by the oppositely polarized charges of the domains.

"Still, electrons and holes need each other," says Ager, "so they go in search of one another." Holes and electrons move away from the domain walls in opposite directions, toward the center of the domain where the field is weaker. Because there's an excess of electrons over holes, the extra electrons are pumped from one domain to the next - all in the same direction, as determined by the overall current.

"It's like a bucket brigade, with each bucket of electrons passed from domain to domain," Ager says, who describes the stepwise voltage increases as "a sawtooth potential. As the charge contributions from each domain add up, the voltage increases dramatically."

BFO itself is not a good candidate for a solar cell material - for one thing, it responds only to blue and near ultraviolet light, which eliminates most of the solar spectrum. "So we need something that absorbs more light," says Ager.

The efficiency of BFO's response to light - the ratio of charge carriers per incoming photons - is best near the domain walls. While very high voltages can be produced, the other necessary element of a powerful solar cell, high current, is lacking.

Nevertheless, says Ager, "We are sure that this effect will occur in any system with a sawtooth potential, and perhaps in other geometries as well. We are already beginning to investigate new candidates."

Marrying the "bucket brigade" photovoltaic effect in ferroelectrics to the high currents and high efficiencies typical of today's best solar cells could lead to extraordinarily powerful solar cell arrays in the future.

Source: Solar Daily.
Link: http://www.solardaily.com/reports/An_electronic_bucket_brigade_could_boost_solar_cell_voltages_999.html.

Air Force Academy Harnesses Ocean Wave Energy

Air Force Academy, CO (SPX) Sep 19, 2011
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 19, 2011

Air Force Academy aeronautics researchers have finished the largest test of their Ocean Wave Energy Converter to date at the Offshore Technology Research Center in College Station, Texas.

The two weeks of testing proved the fundamental mechanics of the Academy's ocean wave energy converter on the largest scale to date.The Ocean Wave Energy Converter is the brainchild of Dr. Stefan Siegel, a researcher at the Academy's Aeronautics Department.

The project started in 2008 with a National Science Foundation grant to create the world's first free-floating, fully submerged wave energy converter that generates electrical power from deep ocean waves. Siegel and other Aeronautics researchers - Drs. Juergen Seidel and Casey Fagley and retired Col. Rob Fredell - accomplished this and tested it at a 1:300 developmental scale."

We are now at the 1:10 scale, which is the scale that off-shore industry consider when they test their devices, and really the last step before building a full-size ocean-going device," Siegel said. "The main goal is really to demonstrate how much power we can extract with wave energy and convert it to shaft power."

A research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is designed to increase the converter's technology readiness level, or TRL, from Level 3 to Level 4. TRL is a one-to-nine scale measuring an invention's readiness to enter the market: Level 1 signifies a technology for which basic principles have been observed and reported, while Level 9 designates a mission-ready product that is ready for full-size, large-scale use. Level 4 signifies that a component of a system has been validated in a field environment.

To get the funding to further develop this technology, Siegel and the other researchers incorporated, forming the Atargis Energy Corporation. With the company and funding, the Atargis team got to business in the same manner as many other startups. They built parts of the current wave energy converter in Siegel's garage and tested components in a neighbor's swimming pool.

With the change to a larger scale, difficulties increased exponentially. One person could lift the 1:300 scale wave energy converter without any assistance, but the 1:10 scale model required 10 men to assemble and a 5-ton crane to transport.

"This is expected. Inherent in any new technology, not everything scales up linearly," Siegel said. "Suddenly the effort and design goes up drastically when you build something at a much larger scale. At the 1:10 scale, you are at the level where you need to carefully analyze every single part that's in there: you need to design it for strength, you need make sure we don't have too much twist or flex in your blades when they are in the water.

At this level already, we're seeing some of the full-scale design requirements hit us."Peripheral design issues slowed the testing and put the team's problem-solving skills to the test.

During the generator's first submerged test, the team discovered bubbles coming from one of the gear boxes. After removing the entire assembly from the water, Seidel discovered the gear box was half full of water when he opened it. The team applied additional silicon sealing to eliminate the leak.After the converter went back underwater, the team discovered additional leaks in the pylons, impacting the actuators that control the blades' pitch.

This forced a bit of on-the-fly reengineering: the Academy team huddled, examined the problem, goals and resources and came up with a solution in a matter of minutes. Rolling up their sleeves, they removed some of the electronics from the parts that would be below water level as a short-term fix, with the help of the research center staff.

Leak proofing had been tested on many parts in the design and construction phases prior to this testing, with attention given to balance buoyancy and weight. But in the long-term, the team admits that more attention will be applied to waterproofing turbine and electronics areas.

"This is by no means a deal-breaker. This is the part of testing that you don't normally hear about, but is quite normal in commissioning a new model in a facility like this," said Siegel.

"However, beyond the technical difficulties, we were able to run tests that confirm the wave generation capabilities of our wave energy converter, which is a crucial step in being able to cancel waves. We gathered detailed force and moment data for these runs, which will aid us in controlling a cluster of wave energy converters.

The data also lines up well with our previous results from the small scale tests and simulations, and make these 1:10 tests an important milestone in the development of this technology."

After the fixes, the converter went back underwater for more testing. The team went deeper than originally planned and, with some realignments, found success. They removed unwanted harmonics and prove the fundamental theory correct on the largest scale to date.

Siegel's team is not the first to try to conquer the engineering difficulties of harnessing energy from ocean waves. To date, survivability and efficiency have prevented other approaches to wave energy technology from being successful.

"Nothing has survived in the open ocean for more than six months at a time, and other design concepts out there right now are not efficient," he said.

The team has addressed the converter's survivability through several adaptations, the most important of which comes from designing the converter to be part of a free-floating submerged platform.

This places the converter away from the surface hazards created by major storms on the ocean's surface, which have killed other organizations' attempts to demonstrate competing wave energy technologies.

Efficiency boils down to how much electricity can be harnessed by each platform and how that translates to the price the consumer has to pay in their electric bill. Through feedback flow control, Siegel's converter constantly adjusts the two blades to their optimal angles, maximizing the amount of energy possible to turn the blades and generate electricity.

In previous tests at the Air Force Academy, the research team harnessed 99 percent of the power of a simulated ocean wave with the ocean wave converter and transfer that wave's force into electrical energy, effectively canceling out the wave in the process. Essentially, there's a wave going in, but no wave going out.

This is a significant step forward from the nearest comparable power source, wind turbines. Current wind turbine technology can only harness 59 percent of the power potential within its area of effect.

The center has one of the world's largest wave tank facilities, which will allow the test of a larger wave energy converter and eventually permit testing of three wave energy converters simultaneously.

After the tests, members of Atargis went to England for a wave energy conference. After the conference, the team returned to Colorado to analyze the data they obtained, determine the long-term fixes for the waterproofing issues and prepare for the next test. The Atargis team is scheduled to return to the Offshore Technology Research Center in early 2012 to test the use of multiple wave energy converters working at once.

Source: Energy-Daily.
Link: http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Air_Force_Academy_Harnesses_Ocean_Wave_Energy_999.html.

Gunmen kidnap Iranians just outside Syrian capital

August 05, 2012

BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen snatched 47 Iranian pilgrims just outside Damascus on Saturday in a brazen attack that revealed the growing instability at the center of President Bashar Assad's power.

The abduction came as Syrian troops moved to crush one of the last rebel-dominated neighborhoods in the capital, shelling the area heavily. No group immediately claimed responsibility, although Iranian state media blamed the rebels fighting the Assad regime.

The pilgrims were on a bus taking them from the suburb of Sayeda Zeinab, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Damascus, to the airport to return home when they were kidnapped, according to the Iranian state news agency, IRNA.

Mainly Shiite Iran is a close ally of the beleaguered Syrian government, which is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism. Syria has long welcomed Iranian pilgrims visiting the ornate gold-domed shrine of Sayeda Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter; up to 700,000 pilgrims used to come every year, IRNA said, although the number has fallen precipitously since the 17-month uprising that has killed an estimated 19,000.

Late Saturday, Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency announced that Syrian forces had freed the hostages, but cited no source. There was no confirmation from the Syrians. Still, the kidnapping underscores the inability of the regime, which is fighting rebels in all the major cities of the country, to even control the immediate environs of the capital city.

Just a few miles from the site of the kidnapping, regime forces encircled the southern Damascus neighborhood of Tadamon, a bastion of rebel support. Heavy explosions shook the capital Saturday, and plumes of smoke rose from the neighborhood that was attacked by regime forces the night before.

"We heard heavy bombing since dawn," a witness in Damascus told The Associated Press, asking that his name not be used out of fear for his personal safety. "Helicopters are in the sky." By nightfall the state media reported the whole capital to be in government hands, but such announcements have in the past proved premature.

The kidnapping was the largest such abduction of Iranian pilgrims, although it was not the first. In January, gunman kidnapped 11 Iranian pilgrims driving from the Turkish border to Damascus. At least two were later freed with Turkish mediation. Seven Iranian engineers building a power plant in central Syria were kidnapped in December and the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility, accusing them of aiding Assad's regime. At least four have been released.

Sunni Muslim militants often attacked Iranian pilgrims visiting holy sites in neighboring Iraq during the years of unrest there. There have been reports of an influx of such militants into Syria since the uprising began. Targeting the pilgrims maybe seen as attacking allies of the regime.

A Syrian-based Sunni militant group posted on jihadi web forums that it had kidnapped and executed a prominent Syrian television broadcaster, who had been reported missing since July 19. The al-Nusra Front announced that Mohammed Saeed, presenter for the Syrian "Talk of the Town" program, had been captured and put on trial before being executed.

"Perhaps this operation and others will serve as an example to all who support this tyrannical regime," said the statement, which included a photo of Saeed, apparently while in the militants' custody.

The new violence in Damascus reflected the regime's difficulty in keeping rebels down even at the center of its rule. Two weeks ago, the government crushed the rebels' biggest yet campaign in the capital city that included incursions by fighters into downtown neighborhoods and an audacious bomb attack that killed four members of Assad's inner circle.

The main battle, however, has now moved to Syria's largest city of Aleppo, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) north of Damascus where rebels seized several neighborhoods two weeks ago and have proved difficult to dislodge.

On Saturday, hundreds of rebels attacked the strategic television broadcast building and were only driven off after a three-hour battle in which the government resorted to jet fighters and helicopter gunships.

Clashes were also reported around the medieval citadel, a symbol of the city that dominates its ancient center, suggesting the rebels are trying to expand their hold. Aleppo is Syria's commercial hub and it's close to the Turkish border where the rebels have their rear bases. If the opposition were to gain control, it would be a major blow to the regime and a possible opposition base of operations.

More heavily armed government troops, however, have been steadily shelling the rebel-controlled parts of the city, particularly Salaheddine neighborhood, suggesting Aleppo will not fall to the rebels anytime soon.

On Saturday, China said the West should be blamed for obstructing diplomatic and political efforts to restore order and peace in Syria. Wang Kejian, a deputy director of north African and west Asian affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a news conference that Western countries had hindered and sabotaged the political process by advocating regime change.

Wang reiterated China's stance that the solution to the Syria crisis should be a political one and that it is opposed to any military intervention. Turkey also reported the defection of another Syrian general, along with five colonels who came over the border with a group of refugees. The general would be the 29th to defect since the start of the uprising. Despite the defections, however, the Syrian army has largely remained intact.

Associated Press writers Elizabeth Kennedy in Beirut, Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

Misrepresenting the Syrian Revolution

2 Aug 2012

Unlike other recent uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa, Leila Nachawati argues, the Syrian revolution has attracted no real allies. This circumstance is partially attributable to the narrative being presented by self-interested external powers. They have more to gain by portraying Syria’s violence as a fragmented quarrel among local interests instead of it being a mass rebellion against a repressive regime.

By Leila Nachawati for ISN Security Watch

If one wishes to frame the current conflict in Syria in black and white terms, then it is a conflict between those who are comfortable with the status quo and those who are not. People from different religions -- Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Alawi, Druze, Ismaili -- and ethnic groups -- Palestinians, Iraqis, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians -- may be found on either side of the divide. And although the Alawi community (to which the ruling Assad family belongs) has long dominated the government and key military positions, people from each group have benefited from a system of institutionalized corruption and injustice. The uprising that started in March 2011 challenges that system as a whole, regardless of the religious elements. If one wishes to reduce the conflict down to its essence, one should focus on this aspect rather than any religious or ethnic overlays.

Despite the violence the regime has displayed -- and its attempt to exploit sectarian, ethnic and religious elements to present itself as necessary to maintain cohesion -- the goal of the Syrian revolution remains the same: to overthrow the regime and make way for a country where justice, freedom and dignity are respected. However, now that the country has entered a stage where the days of the Assad regime may be numbered, we are witnessing an international tendency to assess the situation with analysis that disregards the political and sociological aspects and instead focuses on religious and sectarian elements. What should be noted is that these analyses are directly dependent on each country´s geostrategic interests.

(Over-)Simplifying a complex reality

Religious and sectarian readings fall short of capturing the reality of a complex and diverse Syrian society where co-existence has persisted for decades, despite attempts to turn groups of population against one another. A Syrian journalist (name known to the author) told the ISN that sectarian clashes will happen "and it should not surprise anyone, given Assad's support in the past for radical groups - in Lebanon and Iraq – and the way he has promoted sectarianism as a way to keep people divided and frightened."

She also noted that some small, destructive cells "can have a disproportionately big impact, but this does not mean that the revolution has become sectarian as such. In fact the revolutionary camp is careful - in every address, statement and declaration - to make reference to there being room for every Syrian group in the future Syria."

According to Syrian blogger Yassin Swehat, a very complex reality is being increasingly simplified and therefore dramatically diverging from the narrative of activists on the ground. In an interview with the ISN, Swehat argued that this demonstrates the inability of many in the international community to see Syrians “as anything more than tribes and religious communities who follow irrational impulses and are deprived of all historic, economic and socio-political context.­­”

Geostrategic interests at stake

Every geostrategic power has something to gain from the depiction of Syrian society as divided and fragmented. Unlike other uprisings in the region, the Syrian revolution has, it could be argued, no real allies. Russia and China, for example, have been quite consistent in their support for the Syrian regime. By supporting Assad - who claims to be fighting Islamist terrorist gangs and a Western conspiracy against the country - Russia and China have nevertheless displayed their own power ambitions. Through military aid (and by replicating the narrative propagated by pro-Assad sources) they seek to present themselves as an alternative to the influence of the United States and its allies.

Iran continues to support the Assad regime for similar reasons. By portraying the Syrian uprising as Western-, Israeli- and Saudi-backed,’ Iran’s narrative aims to promote Shia hegemony across the region. At a press conference on 28 July, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Akbar Salehi announced that "whoever thinks there will be a regime change in Syria is being very naïve." And when asked about whether Iran would resort to the mutual self-defense pact formed with Syria to protect the Assad regime, an explicit denial was noticeably absent.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, needs a narrative to counter Iran’s. Riyadh supports the Free Syrian Army by portraying it as part of a religious struggle between the Sunni faith and the allegedly anti-religious Assad regime. At the same time, the Saudi regime is fearful of the Syrian revolution being framed as a liberation movement – a sentiment that could spread to Saudi Arabia, where the legitimacy of the ruling monarchy is increasingly being questioned. The most profitable scenario, therefore seems to be a military struggle in which neither the regime nor the Free Syrian Army succeed -- a struggle that would wear Syrians out and weaken the country as a whole.

Counter-intuitive as it may seem Israel may once have had a good ally in Syria. Instead, deterioration of central authority in Syria could re-activate conflict over the Golan Heights and make attacks on Israeli-held territory more likely. A long struggle and a weakening of Syria would therefore also be the most positive scenario for Israel. Viewing the Assad regime as ‘a lesser evil’ is seemingly apparent in the US’ public stance, which shifted from being openly critical to more lenient following a meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak in February 2012.

The US’ and European Union´s most recent statements regarding Syria reveal the disconnection between international interests and the true needs and demands of Syrians. Both powers seem eager to support retired Brigadier Manaf Tlass as the politician to lead a post-Assad Syria. A pillar of the Syrian establishment, Tlass is the son of former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass. A fact worth noting is that the elder Tlass was in office during the 1982 Hama massacre, an event which reportedly left more than 10, 000 dead. The younger Tlass is a member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle and closely associated with the abuses of the Assad regime. Indeed his defection and announcement that he intends to preserve state institutions was received with scorn by activists.

The most complete revolution

Despite the loss of human life, the hundreds of thousands displaced or forced to flee and the devastation being wreaked on the country, prolonging the armed confrontation seems to be the most positive scenario from the viewpoint of certain geostrategic powers. Delegitimizing the revolution and diluting its proclamations of freedom and justice in favor of religious and ethnic framings are not useful for Syrians but suit outside powers.

Despite attempts to hijack it, the Syrian revolution continues. Defections increase as the Syrian army becomes increasingly desperate and violent, killing more than a hundred civilians a day. Thousands continue to demonstrate all over the country, especially on Fridays: these days continue to be given a different name every week to honor the cities, the victims and the values of the revolution. Syrians continue to question the regime as a whole as an oppressive system, beyond any religious components.

For Syrian activist Sara Ajlyakin, "this is the most radical and complete revolution because it is against the regime in its entirety. Syrians are fighting alone against its figures, its extensions, its capital. Cosmetic change is not possible. If the revolution succeeds the regime will fall entirely" she told the ISN.

Source: International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
Link: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Security-Watch/Articles/Detail/?id=150955.