Extreme Space Weather at Mercury Blasts the Planet's Poles

Ann Arbor MI (SPX)

Oct 05, 2011

The solar wind sandblasts the surface of planet Mercury at its poles, according to new data from a University of Michigan instrument on board NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft.

The sodium and oxygen particles the blistering solar wind kicks up are the primary components of Mercury's wispy atmosphere, or "exosphere," the new findings assert. Through interacting with the solar wind, they become charged in a mechanism that's similar to the one that generates the Aurora Borealis on Earth.

The findings are published in the Sept. 30 edition of Science.

The Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS,) made by U-M scientists, has taken the first global measurements of Mercury's exosphere and magnetosphere in an effort to better understand how the closest planet to the sun interacts with its fiery neighbor. The measurements confirmed scientists' theories about the composition and source of the particles in Mercury's space environment.

"We had previously observed neutral sodium from ground observations, but up close we've discovered that charged sodium particles are concentrated near Mercury's polar regions where they are likely liberated by solar wind ion sputtering, effectively knocking sodium atoms off Mercury's surface," said FIPS project leader Thomas Zurbuchen, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and Aerospace Engineering at the U-M College of Engineering.

Earth and Mercury are the only two magnetized planets in the solar system, and as such, they can somewhat deflect the solar wind around them. The solar wind is a squall of hot plasma, or charged particles, continuously emanating from the sun. Earth, which has a relatively strong magnetosphere, can shield itself from most of the solar wind. Mercury, which has a comparatively weak magnetosphere and is 2/3 closer to the sun, is a different story.

"Our results tell us is that Mercury's weak magnetosphere provides very little protection of the planet from the solar wind," Zurbuchen said.

Studying Mercury's magnetosphere and space environment helps scientists understand fundamental science about the sun.

"We're trying to understand how the sun, the grand-daddy of all that is life, interacts with the planets," said Jim Raines, FIPS operations engineer and doctoral candidate at U-M. "It is Earth's magnetosphere that keeps our atmosphere from being stripped away. And that makes it vital to the existence of life on our planet."

Source: Space Daily.

Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Extreme_Space_Weather_at_Mercury_Blasts_the_Planet_Poles_999.html.

Enceladus Weather Includes Snow Flurries

Moffett Field CA (SPX)
Oct 05, 2011

Global and high resolution mapping of Enceladus confirms that the weather forecast for Saturn's unique icy moon is set for ongoing snow flurries. The superfine ice crystals that coat Enceladus's surface would make perfect powder for skiing, according to Dr. Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute (Houston, Texas), who presented the results at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 in Nantes, France on Monday 3rd October.

Mapping of global color patterns and measurements of surface layer thicknesses show that ice particles fall back onto the surface of Enceladus in a predictable pattern. Mapping of these deposits indicate that the plumes and their heat source are relatively long-lived features lasting millennia and probably tens of million years or more, and have blanketed areas of the surface in a thick layer of tiny ice particles.

"The discovery by instruments aboard the Cassini orbiter that there's a currently active plume of icy dust and vapor from Enceladus has revolutionized planetary science," says Schenk.

"Earlier this year, we published work that showed material from Enceladus's plumes coats the surfaces of Saturn's icy moons. Now, we've uncovered two lines of evidence that point to thick deposits of plume material coating the surface of Enceladus itself."

Models of plume particle trajectories under the influence of Saturn's gravity show that some particles return to Enceladus in a distinctive pattern. This work by Dr. Sasha Kempf of the Max Planck Institute and Dr. Juergen Schmidt and colleagues at the University of Potsdam published in 2010, predicts that the heaviest accumulation will be along two longitudes on opposite sides of the satellite.

Global color mapping of Enceladus by Schenk and colleagues also shows a globally symmetric pattern of bluish material along two longitudes on opposite sides of the satellite. Comparison of these two maps shows a very close correspondence in the predicted and observed patterns, confirming the prediction of particle deposition on the surface of Enceladus.

Confirmation of plume fallout led Schenk and colleagues to search for physical evidence of plume particle accumulation on the surface. They examined the highest resolution images north of the plume formation sites; the best of these has a resolution of 12 meters. The image reveals unusually smooth terrains with ghost-like topographic undulations indicating burial of older fractures and craters.

Mapping the topography of the site at high resolution, they also found changes in slope along the rims of many of the deeper fractures, or canyons. The larger of these canyons are 500 meters (1650 feet) deep and 1.5 kilometers across, not unlike the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.

These breaks in slope occur approximately 75 to 125 meters below the rims of the canyon walls and correspond to elevations where more rugged crustal material is exposed part way down the canyon walls.

The ghost-like features on the plains and the slope breaks on steep canyon walls are interpreted as due to the formation of a loose poorly-consolidated material lying on top of more solid crustal ices (the craggy rugged exposures part way down the canyon walls). This layer is believed to be the accumulated plume deposits observed in the global color mapping, forming a mantling blanket across the terrain.

The layer is on average roughly 100 meters (350 feet or so) deep in this area. At least 3 additional sites show similar evidence of burial but the resolution of these images is not as good and measurements of thicknesses there are not yet possible.

So, given what we now know, what might conditions be like on Enceladus itself? The models of plume deposition indicate that the rate of deposition on Enceladus is extremely slow by Earth standards, less than a thousandth of a millimeter per year. To accumulate 100 meters of deposits would require a few tens of millions of years or so.

This is important as it suggests that the thermal heat source required to drive the plumes and maintain any liquid water under the icy crust would also have to be similarly long-lived. Without replenishment, the E-ring formed by ejected plume particle would dissipate in hundreds to thousands of years.

If the heat source for Enceladus' plumes has indeed persisted for millions of years, the research could have implications in understanding the potential for environments with liquid water on the tiny moon. If habitable environments with liquid water have existed on Enceladus for millions of years - could life have found a foothold on the strange Saturnian moon?

What about the surface itself? Could we go skiing on Enceladus?

"Bulky space suits and extremely low gravity aside (the surface gravity there is only roughly 1% that of Earth's), the particles themselves are only a fraction of a millimeter in size, roughly a micron or two across, even finer than talcum powder. This would make for the finest powder a skier could hope for," says Schenk, who admits he has never been on the slopes himself.

While much smaller than the typical snowflake, the persistence of this "flurry" of tiny icy particles gently snowing down from the plumes to the far south is directly responsible for the very slow but steady accumulation of very fine ice particulates, or "snow," across large areas of Enceladus today.

Although long suspected, the global color patterns and high resolution observations are the first direct confirmation and indication of how and where this fallout onto the surface of Enceladus occurs.

This accumulation will have important implications for our future understanding of the internal heating mechanism driving the plumes, and for the insulating properties of the surface we see today. Additional work necessary to understanding this phenomenon will require new high resolution images during encounters with Enceladus planned for 2012 and 2015 during Cassini's extended mission.

Source: Saturn Daily.
Link: http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Enceladus_Weather_Includes_Snow_Flurries_999.html.

Romanian exit polls: center-left gov't wins vote

December 09, 2012

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's center-left government won a clear victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections, according to exit polls. The result could inflame the personal rivalry between the nation's top two officials and bring yet more political upheaval.

The prime minister's governing alliance had about 57 percent of seats in the 452-seat legislature, according to a poll published after elections on national television TVR. Coming in second was a center-right group, allied to President Traian Basescu, which polled over 18 percent. A populist party headed by a media tycoon won about 13 percent, according to the poll. First results are expected Monday.

Basescu and Ponta are bitter rivals after the government tried to remove Basescu from office in an impeachment vote in July, a bid that failed as too few people voted to make the election valid. Basescu has indicated he won't appoint the 40-year-old Ponta again, calling him a "compulsive liar" and saying he plagiarized his doctoral thesis. Ponta says Basescu is a divisive figure who overstepped his role as president by meddling in government business.

"We won a clear majority, a majority recognized by our adversaries who have to accept the rules of democracy," Ponta said after the vote. "I assure them we will treat the opposition with the respect that we did not get when we were in opposition."

Ponta became prime minister in May, the third prime minister this year, but his appointment brought a bitter battle with Basescu, whose mandate expires in 2014. Basescu could nominate someone else, but his choice would have to be approved by Parliament. If his candidate fails in two rounds of voting, Parliament could be dissolved.

As he voted, Basescu again accused the government of the former communist country of failing to devote itself to democratic reforms. He said Romania must continue its "path toward the West" and show the world it is "headed toward Brussels, not Moscow, and Washington, not Beijing."

For his part, Ponta said he remains committed to leading Romania to a better future. Many Romanians are fed up with the power struggle between the top two leaders, especially as the country remains one of the poorest and most corrupt members of the European Union. Romania is enduring deep austerity cuts in return for a €20 million ($26 million) bailout to help its foundering economy.

Sunday's vote was hampered by heavy snow and authorities asked the army and the defense ministry to help clear roads closed by blizzards. About 250 polling stations were prevented from opening on time, officials said. Turnout was more than 30 percent three hours before the polls closed.

Heavy rain was falling in Bucharest early Sunday, but it eased off later. Valentina Lupan, an architect voting in Bucharest, said she was determined to cast a ballot, despite the bad weather. "People will go and vote even if there's snow and rain because they've had enough," she said. "We've had enough of being insulted and humiliated. We want a normal life."

Besides the failed bid to impeach Basescu, the country has seen three prime ministers and Cabinets this year and huge anti-austerity protests. The EU and the U.S. criticized the government for failing to respect the rule of law and of ignoring constitutional rules during the impeachment attempt.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored Sunday's vote.

Thousands protest Spain's health care austerity

December 09, 2012

MADRID (AP) — Thousands of Spanish medical workers and residents angered by budget cuts and plans to partly privatize the cherished national health service marched through some of Madrid's most famous squares on Sunday.

More than 5,000 people rallied in Puerta del Sol, according to police estimates, after marching from Neptuno and Cibeles squares. Organizers estimated attendance at 25,000 protesters, many dressed in white and blue hospital scrubs. The march, called "a white tide" by organizers, was the third such large-scale protest this year.

Fatima Branas, a spokeswoman for organizers, said privatization plans were short-sighted because they did not take into account that savings could be made without selling off services. "What their plans really mean is a total change of our health care model and a dismantling of the system used," she said.

Madrid's government, under regional president Ignacio Gonzalez, maintains cuts are needed to secure health services during a deep recession. Health care and education are administered by Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions, rather than the central government, and each sets its own budgets and spending plans. Regions account for almost 40 percent of public spending. The Madrid region is governed by the Popular Party, the center-right alignment also in power centrally under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Many regions are struggling as Spain's economy contracts into a double-dip recession triggered by a real estate crash in 2008. Some, having overspent and being unable to borrow on financial markets to repay their huge debts, are cutting budgets.

"We face a really difficult situation because the Spanish health service is under threat of being sold off," said Dr. Gerardo Anton, 58, who said the changes proposed by Gonzalez would likely attract investors more interested in profit than public service.

Spain's regions have a combined debt of €145 billion ($185 billion) and about €36 billion must be refinanced this year. The country is trying to avoid following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus in having to ask for international financial bailouts.

Challenger: Merkel isolating Germany in Europe

December 09, 2012

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-left challenger accused the German leader of isolating the country in Europe as he sought Sunday to kick-start his campaign for next year's elections, pledging to make social policy and promises of tougher financial regulation central issues.

Former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck's Social Democrats rallied around him after a difficult start to his quest to unseat Merkel. About 93 percent of delegates at a special party convention endorsed the 65-year-old Steinbrueck, who ran unopposed, as her challenger in parliamentary elections expected in September.

Merkel's conservatives lead polls, helped by the chancellor's personal popularity — itself bolstered by her hard-nosed approach to Europe's debt crisis. But the outcome remains far from certain, with surveys showing a majority neither for her center-right coalition nor for Steinbrueck's hoped-for alliance with the Green party.

The center-left parties have criticized Merkel for what they decry as a too-little, too-late response to the eurozone's debt crisis, but have supported her rescue plans in parliament. They have argued more needs to be done to foster economic growth, and lack her aversion to any kind of pooling of European countries' debt.

"We must show the flag and go into this election with a clear pro-European position — not fearing the resentments that exist, not fearing the position of some that 'we don't want to pay for other countries,'" Steinbrueck said in a televised speech to the party convention in Hannover.

"In the eyes of our neighbors, we are acting in a pretty schoolmasterly way at the moment — a good neighbor doesn't do that," he said. "My main accusation is that Mrs. Merkel has (led) Germany into isolation in Europe."

Steinbrueck didn't go into details of European policy in a speech that hammered home his party's center-left credentials. He declared it will make the election "a face-off about social policy," with promises of a mandatory minimum wage and a quota for women in management positions, among other things.

Steinbrueck has called for big European banks to build up a rescue fund of their own rather than relying on taxpayer-funded aid. He pledged "instead of capitulation in the face of financial markets' potential for blackmail, more rigid regulation and supervision of financial markets."

Taxes for top earners need to rise to finance spending on education, infrastructure and Germany's transition from nuclear to renewable energy, he said, while stressing that keeping down debt is essential.

Party leaders nominated Steinbrueck in September. His start was marred by criticism of his high earnings for lectures — about €1.25 million ($1.6 million) for speaking to audiences including financial institutions — that he gave after leaving government in 2009.

"My speaking fees were stones that I have in my luggage and unfortunately put on your shoulders too," Steinbrueck said, thanking his party for "carrying and bearing this burden with me."

Protestant militants target Northern Ireland party

December 06, 2012

DUBLIN (AP) — Northern Ireland leaders appealed for calm Thursday after Protestant militants attacked offices and a home connected to the most compromise-minded political party over its support for reducing the display of British flags on government buildings.

The overnight violence in two Belfast suburbs came on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's planned visit Friday to the capital of the British territory. It underscored how divided Northern Ireland remains despite the broad success of a peace process that has stopped paramilitary violence but done little to bring down barriers between rival British Protestant and Irish Catholic communities.

"I'm looking forward to my visit to Belfast tomorrow to see for myself what the situation is," Clinton said at a Dublin press conference alongside Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Protestant hard-liners have responded violently to a vote Monday in the Belfast City Council to reduce sharply the flying of the British flag atop the city hall. The Alliance Party, which represents middle-ground opinion and seeks support from both sides of the community, holds the balance of power on the council. Alliance voted with the Catholic side to take down the flag except for 18 official days annually; the Protestants had wanted it to stay up 365 days a year.

Several hundred Protestant protesters broke through the city hall's gates Monday night and injured 15 policemen defending the building. Associated Press photographer Peter Morrison suffered serious head and hand wounds during the melee, during which he says police beat him with clubs.

On Wednesday night more than 1,500 Protestants rallied in the northern suburb of Carrickfergus demanding that the British flag be restored atop Belfast's municipal headquarters. The protest soon descended into attacks on riot police. Four officers were injured and responded with volleys of British-style plastic bullets, flat-nosed cylinders designed to knock down rioters with punishing blows. They also arrested four suspected rioters.

Some in the crowd set fire to the nearby Carrickfergus office of Alliance, destroying it. And to the east of Belfast, more vandals poured petrol on the locked front of another Alliance office in Bangor, but police said a passing police patrol spotted the attackers and forced them to flee before they could light a fire.

Also in Bangor, a couple who are both Alliance politicians had their home's front window vandalized just after midnight Thursday, and said they now were afraid to stay in their home with their 17-month-old daughter.

"Our daughter could have potentially lost her life. Is a flag worth this, seriously?" Michael Bower told the BBC sitting on his living room sofa, with his wife Christine beside him and their child on his lap.

Christine Bower appealed directly to the attackers: "You may not agree with us, but please don't attack us." Leaders of Northern Ireland's joint Catholic-Protestant government, the central achievement of a two-decade peace process, appealed for the protests against Alliance to stop. Alliance is the smallest of five parties in the governing coalition.

The Northern Ireland police commander, Chief Constable Matt Baggott, said the province risked a surge in street violence if extremists within the Protestant community continued to mount illegal rallies in town centers.

"To use mob rule and violence as a way of asserting people's will is compromising the rule of law," Baggott said. He called it "an outrage to have democratic parties intimidated and burned out simply because they took a democratic decision."

But several more impromptu Protestant demonstrations broke out Thursday night on streets in Belfast and nearby towns. Rush-hour traffic was disrupted, but police reported no violence or arrests as they gradually cleared the roads.

The Protestant leader of the unity government, First Minister Peter Robinson, said he shared the protesters' anger over moves to shun the British flag in Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. But he called for protest leaders to halt their street campaign "in the wider interests of a peaceful society and to ensure their protests are not used by others to launch a campaign of violence."

About 3,700 people have been killed in the Northern Ireland conflict since the late 1960s. But peacemaking efforts since the early 1990s have greatly reduced the death and destruction, with the major outlawed groups — the Provisional Irish Republican Army on the Catholic side, and the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association on the Protestant side — all agreeing to disarm and renounce violence since 2005.

But several small IRA factions continue to mount occasional gun and bomb attacks, most recently shooting to death a prison guard last month as he drove to work. And Northern Ireland itself remains segregated by mutual consent in many ways, with Catholics and Protestants attending separate school systems, rooting for different sports, and above all living in different communities. Much of Belfast remains physically divided by high security walls called "peace lines." The Protestant side colors its curb stones the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, while the Catholic side paints them the green, white and orange of the Irish Republic.

Against this pervasive sectarian backdrop, Alliance attempts to be studiously neutral and manages to offend both sides for different reasons. Even the party's website avoids the British "co.uk" or Irish "ie" in favor of the neutral "org."

Palestinian Artist Chips Away at the Wall

by Diana Atallah
Thursday, December 06, 2012

Khaled Jarrar performs art and activism from concrete pieces cut from Israel’s security barrier

In a small gallery in an ancient house in the village of Qalandiya, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Khaled Jarrar stands alongside his latest art project placed on a podium: a small soccer ball made of cement. But not just any cement – this cement had been cut out of the barrier built by Israel separating the West Bank from Israel.

For the Palestinian artist, a 36-year-old father of two, the Israeli-built structure – known to Israel’s critics by the ten-per cent portion of the 435-mile structure where it manifests as a 26-foot tall concrete wall -- is simply an act of oppression that he wants to resist through art.

As adults and children stare at and touch the ball in amazement, a film called “Concrete” rolls in the background of Jarrar’s corner at the Qalandiya International Art Festival, a two-week series of events held in several West Bank cities during November.

The film shows Jarrar - a tall man – chipping away at the wall on a hot day using simple tools, then collecting the pieces. Finally, it shows a photo of the finished project. Some congratulate the artist on his idea while others approach him with questions about how, where and why he carried out his project.

Jarrar explained that he cut the pieces of concrete from the wall one hot August day in Bir Nabalah, a West Bank town northeast of Jerusalem, from an area of the structure alongside a drawing of a heart and the name, “Thaer.” “I found the heart and the name, and they looked interesting to me,” he says.

Jarrar worked quickly and cautiously as he harvested the material would become his work of art. “I looked for a section of the wall that doesn’t have high security towers or cameras.”

In 20 minutes, he had removed the wall parts as his friends documented the process by video.

CONTROVERSIAL BARRIER

Ten years ago, Israel started building the barrier at the height of the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, for which the suicide bomber became the symbol following dozens of attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israeli targets.

Palestinians charge that the barrier has been used to annex Palestinian lands and isolate Palestinians from their relatives, neighbors and farm land. The route of the barrier holds mostly along the Green Line, the 1949 Armistice line that until the 1967 war marked the borders of Israeli and Arab lands. The Palestinians claim all of the land inside the pre-1967 borders and reject any alterations that confiscate chunks of territory east of the line. The Palestinians define their state-to-be as including the entire West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, which they insist will serve as the Palestinian capital.

Among Israelis, even those who opposed the barrier in principle agree it has prevented infiltration by terrorists, pointing to an overwhelming reduction in bombings since construction of the fence began.

The 480-mile long barrier is technically still under construction, although the construction has almost stopped on the ground with fewer attackers and several court-ordered building halts.

“Around 13% of the barrier is a 8-12-meter [26-foot] high grey cement wall with military watchtowers that are built in inhabited areas with sizeable populations or in close proximity, preventing them from overseeing the areas behind the wall,” said Issa Zboun, director of Geo-Informatics unit at Arij Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem.

Zboun told The Media Line that 90% of the barrier is a double-layered structure reinforced with barbed wire, trenches, military roads and a 4-5 meter [2-3 feet] high electrified metal fence equipped with security surveillance cameras. Zboun added that Palestinians are prohibited from building within 200 meters of the barrier on the Palestinian side, and that some communities are left isolated from the West Bank and do not have access to Israel.

“The Wall Must Fall” has become a common slogan in demonstrations in the West Bank. Some Palestinian villages such as Bil’in, Na’alin and Ma’sara arrange weekly demonstrations against the barrier where confrontations with the Israeli army regularly occur. In 2009, residents of the village of Budrus on the outskirts of Ramallah succeeded in altering the barrier’s route as the villagers participated in almost daily protests to prevent the Israeli authorities from building it through their lands.

ARTISTIC PROTEST

Jarrar suggests that his project is the first attempt by a Palestinian to recycle the wall. “It’s actually ‘up-cycling’ because you elevate it into something better,” he says.

The first soccer ball he made was sold at the FIAC contemporary art fair in Paris in October, which Jarrar credits with planting the seed of his creativity: an invitation to participate in FIAC’s object-themed event. Jarrar was at home when the idea hit him. “My son was playing with his small soccer ball, and I asked him to give it to me.” In his studio near his house, he made the pieces smaller, added new cement, and then opened the soccer ball and poured the mixture into it.

“I was very anxious that night and couldn’t wait for the mixture to dry. I thought I might not make it because I only had three days before the travel time. But when I peeled the covers from the ball I knew I had succeeded. I covered the ball with newspapers and put it in my luggage on my way out of the country through the Allenby crossing to Jordan.”

“A source of separation can become a source of unity,” he said in explanation of his concept. “I thought I need to cut parts off the wall because it is an influential object in our lives, but cutting pieces from the wall wasn’t creative enough,” Jarrar told The Media Line.

“Maybe it’s dangerous”, he said, hesitantly. “I don’t know - I think it’s ok to be afraid, but danger is not far from our lives here,” he added gloomily.

In 2004, two years after the barrier’s construction began, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that it was illegal under international law, concluding that Israel must dismantle it and pay compensation for the losses and damages it caused.

Several artists, including the famous British graffiti artist Banksy, have painted on the wall. One of Banksy’s drawings is of a girl holding balloons and flying over the wall.

During the Qalandiya International Festival, 25-year-old artist Majd Abdul Hamid also used parts of the wall in his project. He grounded pieces from the wall and used them in an hour-glass. Abdul Hamid, who graduated from the International Academy of Art: Palestine; and the Swedish Art Academy of Malmo; told The Media Line that he worked on his idea with a creative art director from Jaba' village near Jerusalem who lives near the wall.

"Sometimes the sand takes 20 minutes to pass, and sometimes 17 minutes,” he says. “It is not constant. Who knows how long the wait is going to be?"

“The wall looks nicer from the Israeli side, but nevertheless I don’t want to draw on the wall from the Palestinian side because I am against beautifying an ugly side of the occupation,” said Jarrar.

Jarrar was raised in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. He began his career as a carpenter in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, a craft he learned from his father and later received his formal art training at Palestinian institutions.

"I want to show the world that Palestinians can use occupation as an economic means,” he says. “We can sustain ourselves from the wall."

Jarrar decided to open his first gallery near an Israeli checkpoint outside of Nablus. In 2007, he affixed his photos to a portable wall that he placed near the Hawara checkpoint and called the mobile exhibition, “At the Checkpoint.”

Jarrar has gained recognition among foreigners, many of whom know him as “the stamp granter,” asking visitors at the Jerusalem-Ramallah bus station if he could stamp their passports with a stamp of his design as they entered “Palestine.”

His documentary, four years in the making, will debut in December at the Dubai International Film Festival. Entitled, “Infiltrators,” the film depicts a woman’s journey from the West Bank to Jerusalem for prayer and work.

“I am close to the wall and know the problems people face because of it, and want to convey this message to the world,” he says.

However, cutting out concrete from the wall is illegal, and the video shot by his friends can potentially expose Jarrar to legal jeopardy and even danger as international requests for “wall art” continue to mount.

Jarrar rejects Israel’s justification of the barrier on security grounds. “I don’t think the wall was built for security but for racist separation,” he says.

But a spokesman for Israel’s Defense Ministry told The Media Line that, “During the Second Palestinian uprising, between the years of 2000 and 2005, Israel lost over 1,000 citizens in terror attacks, suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings and other forms of indiscriminate terror. Since the construction of the fence began, this number has dropped sharply. The fence is not impregnable. It is possible that some terrorists will manage to get past the barrier; nevertheless, the obstacle makes it far more difficult for incursions, and thereby minimizes the number of attacks.”  The spokesman emphasized the point with an illustration: “Before the construction of the fence, a suicide bomber could literally walk from Qalqilya [a Palestinian city] into Kfar Sava [in Israel], or drive for 20 minutes and be in the heart of Tel Aviv. For half a decade, buses and cafes were exploding on a regular basis; today that is not the case.”

Jarrar says that as an artist his message is to show the injustice through his art.

"The wall is a source of separation that I wish will fall down eventually, but the ball unites people."

“I want to show how the wall is separating families, affecting the lives of Palestinians and harming the environment,” he says, adding that he hopes people will sell pieces of the wall one day, “just like the Germans did in Berlin.”

Copyright © 2012 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

Abu Dhabi Develops Tunnel Vision

by Linda Gradstein
Wednesday, December 05, 2012

New Tunnel Will to Ease Traffic Congestion

Anyone who has ever driven through Abu Dhabi at rush hour has wished that, like Batman, his car could sprout wings and fly over the traffic jam. That still hasn’t happened, but motorists now have the next best thing – a two-mile long tunnel, one of the longest in the Middle East.

“This is very good for Abu Dhabi,” Safar al-Mazrouei, a spokesman for the Abu Dhabi municipality told The Media Line. “We are very happy that the project is finally finished.”

The project cost $844 million and took more than five years to complete. It takes motorists from the entrance to the city to the cornice or the port in about 10 minutes.

“Before this tunnel the trip could take up to an hour during rush hour,” Dr. Theodore Karasik, director for research and development at The Institute for Near East Gulf  Military Analysis in Dubai told The Media Line. “This is going to make a tremendous difference.”

The tunnel has four lanes in each direction, and motorists can travel at 50 miles per hour. There is a video incident detection system that notifies a control room within 20 seconds if a car has stopped. An advanced system monitors changes in temperature in the tunnel.

If a fire increases the temperature suddenly, an alarm will sound. If the temperature continues to rise, an automatic system will spray mist until firefighters arrive. There are also nine generators in case of a power failure, and 99 fire hoses placed every 60 yards.

The tunnel is part of an extensive economic plan called Abu Dhabi 2030. “The government of Abu Dhabi published a long-term plan for the transformation of the Emirate’s economy, including a reduced reliance on the oil sector as a source of economic activity over time and a greater focus on knowledge-based industries in the future,” as described in the government’s website.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the second largest city after Dubai. There are an estimated 3.8 million foreign workers in the UAE, most of them in the oil industry. As the population of residents and workers has increased, the existing transportation infrastructure had grown increasingly strained.

Since Abu Dhabi is the capital of the Emirates, and the seat of government and business, many residents from outside Abu Dhabi enter each day. There is no public transportation system, and gasoline is subsidized. All of that adds up to heavy traffic.

Officials hope the new tunnel will give the new tunnel will give the UAE an economic boost as well.

“The story is more than the tunnel itself,” Karasik said. “It’s about Abu Dhabi growing as a major economic hub on the Arabian peninsula. The government is taking a series of security measures to make it a safe investment environment.”

Abu Dhabi holds nine percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and almost five percent of the world’s natural gas. In 2010 oil production was 2.3 million barrels per day. The average GDP per capita is almost $50,000, which makes it ninth in the world.

The country is also trying to develop its tourism sector, with plans for an expanded airport and a proposed rail link between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But for motorists, the most important thing is to avoid the crushing traffic. Majid Al Kthairy, the head of traffic services at the municipality, estimates that some 7,000 vehicles travel through the center of the city each day. Now many of them will go through the tunnel.

Copyright © 2012 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.

Pakistan president visits hospital treating Malala

December 08, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Pakistan's president has visited a British hospital where a 15-year-old schoolgirl is being treated after being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman.

Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital says Asif Ali Zardari met with doctors treating Malala Yousafzai during a visit Saturday. It said that the leader was briefed about Malala's medical progress, before having a private meeting with the girl's father and brothers.

Malala was airlifted to the hospital after she was targeted on Oct. 9 by militants in the northwest Swat Valley. The Taliban targeted Malala for criticizing the militant group and promoting secular girls' education, which is opposed by the Islamist extremists.

Egypt panel recommends referendum be held on time

December 09, 2012

CAIRO (AP) — A national dialogue committee said a referendum on a disputed draft constitution will be held on schedule, but President Mohammed Morsi has agreed to rescind the near-absolute power he had granted himself.

The statement came after a meeting that was boycotted by the main opposition leaders who are calling for the Dec. 15 vote to be canceled. Morsi had called for the dialogue to try to defuse a spiraling crisis, but the decision appeared unlikely to appease the opposition since it recommends the referendum go ahead as scheduled. Morsi's initial declaration was to be rendered ineffective anyway after the referendum.

Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer, said the recommendations to rescind some powers were a "play on words" since Morsi had already achieved the desired aim of finalizing the draft constitution and protecting it from a judicial challenge.

The charter, which would enshrine Islamic law and was drafted despite a boycott by secular and Christian members of the assembly, is at the heart of a political crisis that began Nov. 22 when Morsi granted himself authority without judicial oversight.

Opposition activists are camping outside the presidential palace and are calling for more protests on Sunday. Several rallies on both sides have drawn tens of thousands of people into the streets and sparked fierce bouts of street battles that have left at least six people dead. Several offices of the president's Muslim Brotherhood also have been torched in the unrest.

Selim al-Awa, an Islamist at the meeting, said the committee found it would be a violation of earlier decisions to change the date of the referendum. However, the committee recommended removing articles that granted Morsi powers to declare emergency laws and shield him from judicial oversight.

Members of the committee said Morsi had agreed to the recommendations, but there was no confirmation from the Islamist leader. Bassem Sabry, a writer and activist, called the changes a "stunt" that would embarrass the opposition by making it look like Morsi was willing to compromise but not solve the problem.

"In the end, Morsi got everything he wanted," he said, pointing out the referendum would be held without the consensus Morsi had promised to seek and without giving people sufficient time to study the document.

The majority of the 54 members of the committee were Islamists, as well as members of the constitutional panel that drafted the disputed charter. But the main opponents were not present at the meeting, which lasted over 10 hours.

The panel also said that if the constitution is rejected by voters, Morsi will call for the election of a new drafting committee within three months, a prospect that would prolong the transition. Opponents say the draft constitution disregards the rights of women and Christians.

The president has insisted his decrees were meant to protect the country's transition to democracy from former regime figures trying to derail it. The deepening political rift in Egypt had triggered an earlier warning Saturday from the military of "disastrous consequences" if the constitutional crisis isn't resolved through dialogue.

It was the first political statement by the military since the newly elected Morsi sidelined it from political life. Weeks after he was sworn in, Morsi ordered its two top generals to retire, and gave himself legislative powers that the military had assumed in the absence of parliament, which had been dissolved by the courts.

The military said serious dialogue is the "best and only" way to overcome the conflict, which has left the country deeply divided between Islamist supporters of the president and his mostly secular opponents.

"Anything other than (dialogue) will force us into a dark tunnel with disastrous consequences, something which we won't allow," the military said in a statement broadcast on state TV and attributed to an unnamed military official.

Heightening the tension, Hazem Abu Ismail, the leader of group of radical Islamists staging a sit-in outside a media complex on the outskirts of Cairo, gave a thinly veiled threat of more violence, saying the protest outside the presidential palace was an "affront" to the president and will not be tolerated.

Earlier this week, the area around the palace was the scene of the worst civilian clashes since Morsi came to power. In an attempt to calm the situation, Morsi called for Saturday's dialogue. But the main opposition leaders refused to attend, saying it didn't address their main demands and was being held under the threat of violence against protesters.

"No reasonable person would agree to be part of a dialogue held at the point of a sword," the National Salvation Front said in a statement. The crisis began Nov. 22 when Morsi granted himself authority free of judicial oversight, mainly because he feared a looming court decision that was expected to declare the Islamist-led constitutional drafting assembly illegal and order it disbanded. The assembly then quickly adopted a draft constitution despite a walkout by Christian and secular members.

The moves touched off a new wave of opposition and unprecedented clashes between the president's Islamist supporters, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, and protesters accusing him of becoming a new strongman.

With the specter of more fighting among Egyptians looming, the military sealed off the presidential palace plaza with tanks and barbed wire. State media also reported that the government was working on a new law to allow the military to arrest civilians, but there was no official word on that either.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper quoted an unnamed military official as saying the move would be "preventive" if the situation worsened. The report could not be independently confirmed and the law would have to be signed by Morsi before it takes effect.

At the presidential palace sit-in on Saturday, TV footage showed the military setting up a new wall of cement blocks around the palace. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan accused the opposition of seeking the military's return to politics by "pushing matters to the brink."

He said the military statement showed it agrees on the legitimacy of the elected president, the referendum plans and state institutions, and will protect them from any "attack." The group's top leader Mohammed Badie and his powerful deputy Khairat el-Shater, meanwhile, held news conferences alleging a conspiracy to topple Morsi, although they presented little proof.

Badie said the opposition, which has accused his group of violence, is responsible for attacks on Muslim Brotherhood offices. He also claimed that most of those killed in last week's violence at the palace and other governorates were Brotherhood members.

"These are crimes, not opposition or disagreement in opinion," he said. Meanwhile, the opposition accused gangs organized by the Brotherhood and other Islamists of attacking its protesters, calling on Morsi to disband them and open an investigation into the bloodshed.

Meanwhile, with dialogue boycotted by the main opposition players, members of a so-called Alliance of Islamists forces warned it will take all measures to protect "legitimacy" and the president — comments that signal further violence may lie ahead.

Mostafa el-Naggar, a former lawmaker and protest leader during the uprising that led to Mubarak's ouster in February 2011, said the Brotherhood and military statements suggested the crisis was far from over.

"As it stands, Egypt is captive to internal decisions of the Brotherhood," he said.

Gazans rally with exiled Hamas chief

December 08, 2012

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas vowed to continue fighting Israel Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Gazans turned out to celebrate the organization's 25th anniversary.

Khaled Mashaal's visit to the Palestinian territory — a first in his lifetime of exile — underscores Hamas' rising clout and regional acceptance since its eight-day conflict with Israel last month. At the main stage in Gaza City, a roaring crowd greeted Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who emerged from a door built into a large model of a rocket fired at Israeli cities during the recent fighting.

Hamas' green dominated the gathering, where some children wore military uniforms and others carried guns. Masked gunmen holding automatic rifles flanked the podium where Mashaal gave a fiery speech. "We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way," Mashaal said, referring to holy war. "We cannot recognize Israel's legitimacy."

Mashaal said he would continue to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails — referring to a swap last year where an abducted Israeli soldier was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The 56-year-old Mashaal, who left the West Bank as a child and now leads Hamas from the Gulf state of Qatar, entered Gaza on Friday via Egypt. Hamas has received a boost from the political ascension of its parent movement, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, in the wake of last year's Arab Spring revolts — especially in Egypt.

It has also upped its profile as master of the Gaza Strip, leading it through the bloodiest round of fighting with Israel in four years and coming to a cease-fire arrangement in talks brokered by Egypt.

Hamas claimed victory in the conflict after holding its own despite airstrikes and maintaining an almost constant barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli cities. The Nov. 21 cease-fire stipulated Israel would stop targeting militants. That, along with unprecedented support from Egypt, allowed Mashaal to make the visit without fear of Israeli assassination, which he has narrowly escaped in the past.

Israel, the U.S. and European Union list Hamas as a terrorist organization. Israel is now holding indirect talks with the group as a result of the cease-fire arrangement.

Opportunity Studies Rock Interior

Pasadena CA (JPL)
Oct 05, 2011

Opportunity is still positioned at the target called "Chester Lake" at Cape York on the rim of Endeavour crater. The rover continues with the in-situ (contact) science investigation of the surface rock called "Salisbury 1."

On Sol 2726 (Sept. 24, 2011), the previously ground Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) hole was re-brushed to remove excessive tailings. Microscopic Imager (MI) images were collected confirming the successful brushing. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) was placed down on the target for a post-brush integration.

On Sol 2729 (Sept. 27, 2011), the APXS was retracted from the RAT hole, a Pancam 13-filter image set was taken. Then, along with more MI images, a test of the MI poker was performed.

The test results indicate normal operation of the poker. The Moessbauer (MB) spectrometer was placed down in the hole for a multi-sol integration.

As of Sol 2729 (Sept. 27, 2011), solar array energy production was 313 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.882 and a solar array dust factor of 0.514.

Total odometry is 20.86 miles (33,574.75 meters, or 33.58 kilometers).

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Opportunity_Studies_Rock_Interior_999.html.