Ukraine marks Chernobyl disaster amid efforts to secure reactor

Kiev (AFP)
April 26, 2013

Ukrainians on Friday lit candles and laid flowers to remember the victims of the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl 27 years ago, as engineers pressed on with efforts to permanently shield the stricken reactor.

On April 26, 1986, an explosion during testing sent radioactive fallout into the atmosphere that spread across Europe, particularly contaminating Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

Dozens of people laid flowers and set lit candles in front of portraits at the monument to the Chernobyl victims in the small town of Slavutych, some 50 kilometers from the accident site, where many of the power station's personnel used to live.

At the same time in the capital Kiev, officials and relatives of the victims also held a pre-dawn remembrance ceremony in front of a memorial.

"The memory of the tragedy calls for unity and consolidation of the efforts of the government and society to solve the problems in implementing projects to create an environmentally safe system at Chernobyl," said President Viktor Yanukovych in a statement.

"The countless women, men and children affected by radioactive contamination must never be forgotten," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement, urging worldwide "generosity" to the affected regions.

Ukraine last year launched the construction of a permanent shelter to replace the temporary concrete-and-steel edifice that was hastily erected after the disaster and which has since developed cracks.

"A new confinement is our future, this is something that we awaited for many years," Alexander Novikov, deputy technical director for security at the Chernobyl power plant, told reporters on a visit to Chernobyl this week.

The 20,000-tonne arched structure that spans 257 meters  known as the new safe confinement, is designed to last for a century, and will contain hi-tech equipment to carry out safe decontamination work inside the ruined reactor.

The construction of the new structure is expected to cost 990 million euros, while the decontamination work on the site will push the total cost up to 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion).

Completion of the new shelter is expected in October 2015.

The plant's management said it will also soon begin construction of a temporary cover over the section of Chernobyl plant where a part of the roof collapsed this winter under the weight of fallen snow.

Novikov emphasized that the section, which collapsed in February, was not the part of the sarcophagus structure covering the exploded reactor.

"The project work is almost completed and we will start construction of temporary cover to close the hole that appeared," he said.

The general manager of the Chernobyl plant, Igor Gramotkin, added the collapse of the roof section once again underlined the need for the rapid completion of a new arch over the stricken reactor.

Chernobyl is only around 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Kiev and lies close to the borders with Russia and Belarus. The area around the plant is still very contaminated and is designated as a depopulated "exclusion zone".

The Soviet Union ordered thousands of people to take part in the clean-up in Ukraine following the Chernobyl accident, working without adequate protection.

Although only two people were killed in the initial explosions, the UN atomic agency says that 28 rescue workers died of radiation sickness in the first three months after the accident.

According to Ukrainian official figures, more than 25,000 of the cleanup workers, known as "liquidators" from then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have died after the disaster.

However the true scale of the death toll directly attributable to the disaster remains the subject of bitter scientific debate.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ukraine_marks_Chernobyl_disaster_amid_efforts_to_secure_reactor_999.html.

Netherlands queen abdicates in favor of her eldest son

April 30, 2013

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, April 30 (UPI) -- Queen Beatrix, the 75-year-old monarch of the Netherlands, signed a formal declaration Tuesday abdicating in favor of her eldest son.

The ceremony took place in a 15th century church in Amsterdam next to the royal palace where thousands of cheering subjects waited to greet their new monarch.

Willem-Alexander, 46, became the Netherlands first king in 123 years, and his 9-year-old daughter Catharine-Amalia is now the heir to the throne, DutchNews.nl reported.

Thousands of cheering fans waited outside the palace for the royal family to appear on the balcony.

The new king, his queen Maxima and their three daughters waved at the crowd after being presented by Queen Beatrix, The Guardian reported.

In her farewell address, Queen Beatrix thanked the nation for its support.

"Without your heartwarming and encouraging displays of affection, the burdens, which certainly have existed, would have weighed heavily," the queen said.

She said her son is "ready in every way" to assume the largely ceremonial job of monarch, The New York Times reported.

"Monarchy is what unites us and makes us Dutch," one fervent royalist told the Times. "Politicians just fight each other."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/04/30/Netherlands-queen-abdicates-in-favor-of-her-eldest-son/UPI-40741367323421/.

"Destruction of Ahwaz's marshes is like the destruction of the Amazon"

Friday, May 17, 2013

A speech by Ahwazi environmental activist Haifa Assadi, at the Ahwaz human rights meeting in the UK's Houses of Parliament, 15 May 2013

The Ahwaz region faces an environmental catastrophe on a par with the destruction of the Amazon rainforests. River diversion and the draining of the marshes are turning a once fertile land into desert while industrial pollution has made Ahwaz City the most polluted place on Earth, according to the World Health Organisation. As well as destroying the unique ecology of the region, the effects have been devastating for the indigenous Ahwazi Arab population.

Over centuries, the climate and environment of Ahwaz have depended on the rivers flowing through the region. The Karoon, Karkheh, Dez and Jarrahi rivers play an important role in the conservation of the marshlands of Falahiyeh and Hawr-Alazim. The life of the Arab farmers depends on the rivers’ water. Moreover, rivers prevent the salt water of the Gulf flowing up the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

However, the Iranian regime has been actively engaged in plans with the most destructive impacts on the ecological balance of the region and desertification of the once green fields of Ahwaz. One of these plans is the transferring of water to the central provinces of Iran through diversion of the rivers. This is done regardless of the region’s minimum water requirements.

Several dams and diversion tunnels have been built for this purpose of diverting water from the Karoon river to the already dry Zayanderood river of Isfahan. A total of 69 dams have been built or are under construction.

At the same time, the Iranian regime has been investing on the development of the environmentally destructive sugarcane plantations, created on 250,000 hectares of fertile farmland confiscated from Arab farmers.

The destructive environmental impact of these projects is the salty wastewater that turns the green fields of Ahwaz further downstream into barren lands. At the same time, fresh water from the Zagros mountains is being replaced by wastewater from the western cities of the country, contributing to the environmental crisis. The date plantations that traditionally sustained the livelihoods of thousands of Arab farmers are now dying. Moreover, the saline wastewater stored in a large area around the city of Muhammara for evaporation has left hills of salt there to become a great threat to the health of the Arab people of Ahwaz.

Due to the excessive pollution of the rivers the amount of total dissolved solids in the water has greatly increased. In the border cities of Abadan and Muhammara, it has reached four times the maximum level for potable water.

Another important factor in the aridification of the region is the deliberate evaporation of the Hawr Al-Azim marsh. This is being done on a par with Saddam’s destruction of the Iraqi marshes.

Hawr Al-Azim marsh has a very important role in maintaining the ecological balance in the Middle East. It has been completely destroyed and dried out due to the activities of oil companies. According to Ali Mohammad Shaeri, the vice president of the Iranian environment organization, "500 thousand hectares of marshlands of Ahwaz have dried out and this is the main cause of sand storms in the region." The sand storms are the result of a decline in humidity throughout the whole region. As a result, the Pollutant Standards Index – or PSI – of the air quality in Ahwaz region has passed 600 units. This is while according to the international standards a PSI over 300 units is critically hazardous.

The destruction of Hawr Al-Azim has forced people from more than forty villages to abandon their homes and move to city slums. In Ahwaz City alone there are more than 400,000 Arabs living in slums, suffering difficult health and social conditions.

The environmental crisis in Ahwaz has several negative effects on the health of the indigenous Arab people. In recent years, respiratory and lung diseases have become very common as a result of high air pollution, leading to many deaths. Water pollution has resulted in skyrocketing digestive and Kidney diseases.

Because of the discriminatory policies of the Iranian regime against the indigenous Arab people of Ahwaz, they are deprived of the right to manage their own affairs. The crucial managing positions are assigned to non-native people coming from other provinces. These assigned officials do not consider the right of the native people of Ahwaz in the water resources of the region and the resources are expropriated to the advantage of the central provinces. The Iranian regime has no intention of stopping or even considering stopping these plans. Instead, new projects for dam construction and water diversion are being proposed and destructive industries – which do not employ local people – are contributing ever higher amounts of toxic pollution.

Source: Ahwaz News Agency.
Link: http://www.ahwaziarabs.info/2013/05/destruction-of-ahwazs-marshes-is-like.html.

"Ahwazi Arab women are third class citizens"

Friday, May 17, 2013

Speech by Ahwazi women's rights activist Elham al-Saedi at the Ahwaz human rights meeting in the UK's Houses of Parliament, 15 May 2013

Ahwazi Arab women suffer double persecution by the Iranian regime due to their ethnicity and gender. This operates in the areas of education, health, politics and social life. While Ahwazi Arab men are second-class citizens, Ahwazi women are third-class.

Illiteracy among Ahwazi Arab women is around 80 per cent, compared to around 50 per cent for Ahwazi men and 27% for Iran as a whole. Ahwazi women suffer health problems as a result of a lack of adequate health facilities. As a result, Ahwazi women suffer gynaecological problems and have a high incidence of infertility, stillbirths and birth deformities.

Ahwazi Arab women are also subjected to state terrorism. The wives of Ahwazi political and cultural activists are often arrested and imprisoned, along with their small children, in order to put pressure on their husbands to confess to crimes they did not commit. Women and children are held as hostages by the Iranian regime and often held for months without charge.

Some incarcerated Ahwazi women have been pregnant and have either miscarried or forced to give birth in prison without adequate medical assistance and in unsanitary conditions. An example is Fahima Ismail Badawi who gave birth to her daughter Salma in prison. She was held in custody as punishment for refusing to denounce her husband Ali Matouri Zadeh and divorce him. She refused and as a result is currently serving a 15 year prison sentence following a secretive trial by Branch 3 of Ahwaz Revolutionary Court. Her husband was tortured into confessing to being a British secret agent involved in terrorist attacks and was executed.

Officially, Ahwazi Arab women have the same legal rights as every other woman in Iran. However, Ahwazi women share same the same culture and social existence with women in neighboring Arab countries.

In terms of their social and economic life, they endure a great deal of backwardness even in Iranian terms. We cannot blame only the discriminatory laws against women in Islamic republic regime as the cause of this problem. These laws are applied to both Ahwazi Arab women and women in central areas of Iran, although non-Persian women are subjected to more political repression. We cannot blame the ethnic tribal customs and traditions of Ahwazi Arabs people either. Women with same culture and social beliefs in neighboring countries, for instance in Bahrain, have become advocates and judges. As such, ethnic customs are not the only cause of Ahwazi women’s oppression.

Non-Persian women suffer multiple discrimination in terms of criminal and common laws. Because they are less protected by law, they are subjected to more social crimes and violence, such as honor killing. Honor killings are more common in non-central, non-Persian areas and are justified by law and custom. Women are subjected to domestic violence, forced marriage – sometimes while they are still children and traded like objects as gifts between some tribes in economically backward areas. Arabistan leads all other regions in anti-women crimes due to backward cultural attitudes that are tolerated and encouraged by the regime.

Only through education and culture can Ahwazi women be free of persecution. But the Iranian state prevents any form of Arab cultural activity. All cultural modes, such as television and newspapers, are controlled by the state. The government wants to sustain traditional tribal systems of control to keep the Arab community in a backward state and prevent self-directed cultural improvement. Meanwhile, official positions that are supposed to cover women’s issues in the Arab-populated region – such as the chair of women’s affairs in the provincial governor’s office – have always been occupied by non-Arab, non-local women. They do not know the culture, customs and tradition of these people.

Ahwazi Arab women's problems and concerns are rooted in their community culture, customs and traditions and they are not going to be solved unless there are civil society organisations which originate in the heart of their culture. These civil organisations can play a major role in providing the best environment to work against discrimination against women.

Ahwazi Arab women are capable of social activism, as seen in their participation in political activities during the short reformist reign of President Khatami which to some extent was politically tolerant. During this time, Ahwazi Arab women won three out of nine seats in the Arab-majority city of Showra. But in the current situation, with the regime imposing discriminatory practices against ethnic nationals, women will be the most disadvantaged people. As such, it is no surprise that Ahwazi Arab women are absent from social and political life.

The freedom of all Ahwazi Arabs depends on the freedom of the female half of the population. Women’s rights should be central to the Ahwazi struggle.

Source: Ahwaz News Agency.
Link: http://www.ahwaziarabs.info/2013/05/ahwazi-arab-women-are-third-class.html.

Willem-Alexander becomes new Dutch king

May 01, 2013

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations around the Netherlands Tuesday in honor of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country's ruling House of Orange-Nassau: after a 33-year reign, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.

At 46, King Willem-Alexander is the youngest monarch in Europe and the first Dutch king in 123 years, since Willem III died in 1890. Like Beatrix before him, Willem-Alexander has assumed the throne at a time of social strains and economic malaise.

Although the Dutch monarchy is largely ceremonial, he immediately staked out a course to preserve its relevance in the 21st century. "I want to establish ties, make connections and exemplify what unites us, the Dutch people," the freshly minted king said at a nationally televised investiture ceremony in Amsterdam's 600-year-old New Church, held before the combined houses of Dutch parliament.

"As king, I can strengthen the bond of mutual trust between the people and their government, maintain our democracy and serve the public interest." Hopes for the new monarch are high. For most of the 2000s, the country was locked in an intense national debate over the perceived failure of Muslim immigrants, mostly from North Africa, to integrate. In response, politicians curtailed many of the famed Dutch tolerance policies.

More recently, this trading nation of 17 million has suffered back-to-back recessions. European Union figures released Tuesday showed Dutch unemployment spiking upward toward 6.4 percent. That's below the EU average, but a 20-year high in the Netherlands.

"I am taking the job at a time when many in the kingdom feel vulnerable and uncertain," Willem-Alexander said. "Vulnerable in their work or health. Uncertain about their income or home environment." Amsterdam resident Inge Bosman, 38, said she doubted Willem-Alexander's investiture would give the country much of an employment boost.

"Well, at least one person got a new job," she said. Tellingly, one of Willem-Alexander's first diplomatic missions as king will be to visit the country's largest trading partner, Germany. While many are skeptical that the new king can make a difference where politicians have failed, the celebrations provided a welcome change from the humdrum of everyday life, and the popularity of the royal house itself is not in doubt. A poll commissioned by national broadcaster NOS and published this week showed that 78 percent support the monarchy.

The royal couple has also been active in the global campaign to fight poverty. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Willem-Alexander and praised the royal couple for supporting the promotion of clean water, sanitation and development. The new king has chaired the secretary-general's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation.

Ban also paid tribute to Beatrix for her "outstanding public service" and "for the important and positive force the Netherlands has been throughout her reign, in promoting international law, the rule of law and peaceful settlement of disputes."

Most say that the House of Orange-Nassau, which was instrumental in the Dutch war for independence in the 16th and 17th centuries, is a cornerstone of the national identity. It represents something that is both quintessentially Dutch, and above politics.

"I think (Willem-Alexander) is just like his mum — honest, wants to do a lot for his people inside the country and also outside the country," said Ron Pols, who was attending celebrations in Amsterdam.

Willem Alexander's popularity has been steadily rising since his 2002 marriage to an Argentine commoner, Maxima Zorreguieta. In an interview shortly before his accession, Willem-Alexander turned in a relaxed performance, saying he will not be a "protocol fetishist," but a king who puts his people at ease.

Around 25,000 supporters thronged Amsterdam's central Dam Square Tuesday, hoping to catch a glimpse of the new king or the departing 75-year-old queen, now known as Princess Beatrix. Millions more watched on television as King Willem-Alexander, wearing a fur-trimmed ceremonial mantle, swore an oath of allegiance to the country and the constitution.

Earlier, the new king gripped his mother's hand and looked briefly into her eyes after they both signed the abdication document in the Royal Palace on Dam Square. Beatrix appeared close to tears as she then appeared on a balcony decked out with tulips, roses and oranges, overlooking her subjects.

"I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander," she told the cheering crowd, which chanted: "Bea bedankt" ("Thanks Bea.") Moments later, the generational shift was enacted symbolically. Beatrix left the balcony as King Willem-Alexander, his wife and three daughters — the children in matching yellow dresses and headbands — waved to the crowd.

The highly popular Maxima became Queen Maxima, and their eldest of three daughters, Catharina-Amalia, became the Princess of Orange, the first in line to the throne. At a sparsely attended anti-monarchist demonstration on the nearby Waterloo Square, protesters dressed in white instead of orange and carried signs mocking Willem-Alexander.

"Monarchy is a sexually-transmitted disease," one sign said. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others," said another. It included a picture of a pig wearing a crown, with a line crossing it out.

Amsterdammer Jan Dikkers said he attended to show his disapproval for a hereditary head of state, and Willem-Alexander in particular, who he said Dutch people only accept because "people like his wife."

He added that Beatrix is overrated. "People say the queen did a 'good job', but she didn't really do any job," Dikkers said. One criticism of the royal house is that it is too expensive, especially in difficult economic times. University of Ghent professor Herman Matthijs estimates that it costs €40 million ($52 million) a year to maintain— slightly more than taxpayers' support for Britain's House of Windsor.

The difficulties facing the Dutch should be kept in perspective. Per-capita incomes remain high, the United Nations says Dutch children are the world's happiest, on average, and the country retains its triple A credit rating.

The celebrations in Amsterdam Tuesday were lively but peaceful, a stark contrast to Beatrix's investiture in 1980. Then, squatters protesting a chronic housing shortage battled police nearly to the doors of the palace.

The official festivities concluded with the new king and queen and their daughters taking an evening boat cruise around the historic Amsterdam waterfront, at one stage climbing out of their boat to join DJ Armin van Buuren and the Concert Gebouw Orchestra on stage at a concert.

Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day

By Clare Kane
MADRID | Wed May 1, 2013

(Reuters) - Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe on Wednesday, hoping to persuade their governments of the case for easing austerity measures and boosting growth.

In the debt-laden euro zone countries of Spain, Greece, Italy and France tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand jobs and an end to years of belt-tightening.

In Spain, where the economy has shrunk for seven consecutive quarters and unemployment stands at a record 27 percent, thousands of people snaked up Madrid's Gran Via central shopping street carrying placards reading "austerity ruins and kills".

"The future of Spain looks terrible; we're going backwards with this government," said former civil servant Alicia Candelas, 54, who has been without a job for two years.

Unions said 50,000 people marched in Madrid and more than 1 million took part in peaceful rallies across the country. There was no independent estimate, and police did not give a figure.

Trains and ferries were canceled in Greece, and bank and hospital staff walked off the job after unions there called a 24-hour strike, the latest in a string of protests in a country in its sixth year of recession.

About 1,000 police officers were deployed in Athens, but the demonstration passed off peacefully, with about 5,000 striking workers, pensioners and students marching to parliament holding banners reading: "We won't become slaves, take to the streets!".

Earlier, hundreds of protesters affiliated with the Communist KKE party made a clenched-fist salute on Syntagma Square, scene of clashes between police and protesters during previous protests.

"The economy won't be resurrected by the bankrupt banks and the corrupt political system but by the workers and their fight," Alexis Tsipras, leader of the anti-bailout Syriza party, told protesters.

Harsh measures to cut Greece's budget deficit are a condition of its international bailout, imposed on Athens to save it from a chaotic bankruptcy and euro exit.

But there were fewer protesters on the streets than last year when 100,000 marched on Syntagma Square. The May 1 holiday falls just before Greek Orthodox Easter, so public schools were shut and many workers had left for holidays.

AUSTERITY VS GROWTH

Four euro zone countries - Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus - have received sovereign bailouts. With little or no sign of growth in the currency bloc, the European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates to a record low of 0.5 percent at its meeting on Thursday.

But analysts say that alone will do little to lift the zone out of recession, and several governments are now openly discussing policies to try to boost growth.

Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta told Germany on Tuesday that his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seen by many in southern Europe as the champion of the belt-tightening approach, struck a conciliatory tone, saying "budget consolidation and growth need not be contradictory".

Letta met French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday, expecting a more favorable hearing for his focus on growth.

France's two biggest unions, split over Hollande's labor law reforms, held separate May 1 marches. Hollande's approval rating has dropped as low as 25 percent as cuts bite and unemployment has risen.

German unions said about 425,000 people took part in more than 400 events around the country.

Michael Sommer, head of the DGB federation of German labor unions, said the German government should have more solidarity with the rest of the euro zone.

"We cannot allow this continent to be 'kaputtgespart' - forced to save so much that it breaks apart," he said.

Tens of thousands marched in Italy's major cities to demand action to tackle unemployment - at 11.5 percent overall and 40 percent among the young. Demonstrators in Turin threw hollowed eggs filled with black paint at police.

Pope Francis made a May Day appeal for governments to tackle unemployment, as "work is fundamental to the dignity of a person".

"I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice," he told a crowd in St. Peter's Square.

Thousands of people marched in Lisbon calling for an end to austerity dictated by Portugal's EU/IMF bailout, a day after the government said there would be more spending cuts.

Traditional May Day marches were also taking place outside the euro zone. In Russia, about 1.5 million people were expected to take part in parades, a fraction of the millions that used to march in Soviet times.

In Istanbul, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering for a rally. A Reuters photographer said at least six people were injured.

Turkish authorities often use force to prevent the rally in the city center, having this year denied trade unions permission to march on Taksim Square, saying construction work there would make it too dangerous.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington in Athens, Lidia Kelly in Moscow and Murad Sezer in Istanbul, and Philip Pullella in Rome; Writing by Janet Lawrence; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/01/us-europe-protests-idUSBRE94009K20130501.

Bangladesh, Myanmar relieved as cyclone fizzles

May 17, 2013

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP) — A once-fearsome cyclone that was threatening Bangladesh and Myanmar dissipated quickly, causing some deaths but largely relieving authorities who had told more than 1 million people to leave vulnerable coastal areas in preparation for a far worse storm.

Cyclone Mahasan lost power as it shed huge amounts of rain and then veered west of its predicted path, sparing major Bangladeshi population areas, including Chittagong and the seaside resort of Cox's Bazar, said Mohammad Shah Alam, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Coastal areas were spared major damage because it hit Thursday afternoon during low tide, causing no major tidal surge, he said. "Thank God we have been spared this time," local government administrator Ruhul Amin said.

Before the storm threat weakened, Bangladesh had evacuated 1 million people, and the United Nations warned that 8.2 million people could face life-threatening conditions. Myanmar was spared almost entirely. Evacuation attempts there had met with frustration as some of the tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya people in western Rakhine state were wary about the government's order and refused to leave.

"It's all over, and we are very relieved that we didn't have any unfortunate incident in Rakhine state due to the cyclone," Win Myaing, Rakhine's regional spokesman said. In Cox's Bazar, tens of thousands of people had fled shanty homes along the coast and packed into cyclone shelters, hotels, schools and government office buildings. But by Thursday afternoon, the sun was shining and Amin said he planned to close the shelters by the evening.

The storm's slow movement toward Bangladesh gave the government plenty of warning to get people to safety, Amin said. "But for the evacuation, the casualties would have been higher," he said. Ferry services in the delta nation resumed Thursday night after being suspended in advance of the cyclone. Scores of factories near the choppy Bay of Bengal had been closed, and the military said it kept 22 navy ships and 19 Air Force helicopters at the ready.

A 1991 cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal killed an estimated 139,000 people and left millions homeless. In 2008, Myanmar's southern delta was devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which swept away entire farming villages and killed more than 130,000 people. Both those cyclones were much more powerful than Mahasen, which hit land with maximum wind speeds of about 100 kph (62 mph) and quickly weakened, said Alam, the meteorological official.

By the time it hit Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, wind speeds had plunged to 25 kph (16 mph), Alam said. The storm then dissipated entirely, he said. Bangladesh counted at least 10 deaths, most from the collapse of mud walls or by fallen trees. Related heavy rains and flooding had been blamed for eight deaths in Sri Lanka earlier this week.

At least eight people — and possibly many more — were killed in Myanmar as they fled the cyclone Monday night, when overcrowded boats carrying more than 100 Rohingya capsized. Only 43 people had been rescued by Thursday, and more than 50 were still missing.

Babul Akther, a Bangladeshi police official in Tekhnaf close to Myanmar border, said police there found 19 bodies Thursday in the Naaf River, which separates the two nations. He said most of the bodies were of children, and they suspect they are victims of Monday's boat capsizings.

Much of the fears about the storm's impact had been focused on western Myanmar because of the crowded, low-lying camps Rohingya were refusing to evacuate. U.N. officials, hoping they would inspire greater trust than the government, had worked to encourage people to leave.

In Rakhine state, around 140,000 people — mostly Rohingya — have been living in the camps since last year, when two outbreaks of sectarian violence between the Muslim minority and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists forced many Rohingya from their homes.

Nearly half the displaced live in coastal areas that were considered highly vulnerable to storm surges and flooding from Cyclone Mahasen. "Pack and leave," a Rakhine state official, U Hla Maung, warned before the storm hit as he walked through a camp near Sittwe, the state capital. Accompanied by more than a dozen soldiers and riot police, he suggested that people living there move to a nearby railroad embankment, then left without offering help.

Some Rohingya took down their tents and hauled their belongings away in cycle-rickshaws, or carried them in bags balanced on their heads. Ko Hla Maung, an unemployed fisherman, was among those who had not left as of Thursday morning.

"We have no safe place to move, so we're staying here, whether the storm comes or not," he said. "... The soldiers want to take us to a village closer to the sea, and we're not going to do that. ... If the storm is coming, then that village will be destroyed."

Associated Press writers Tim Sullivan in Sittwe, Myanmar, Yadana Htun and Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.

New Method of Finding Planets Scores its First Discovery

Cambridge, MA (SPX)
May 16, 2013

Detecting alien worlds presents a significant challenge since they are small, faint, and close to their stars. The two most prolific techniques for finding exoplanets are radial velocity (looking for wobbling stars) and transits (looking for dimming stars). A team at Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) has just discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity.

"We are looking for very subtle effects. We needed high quality measurements of stellar brightnesses, accurate to a few parts per million," said team member David Latham of the CfA.

"This was only possible because of the exquisite data NASA is collecting with the Kepler spacecraft," added lead author Simchon Faigler of Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Although Kepler was designed to find transiting planets, this planet was not identified using the transit method. Instead, it was discovered using a technique first proposed by Avi Loeb of the CfA and his colleague Scott Gaudi (now at Ohio State University) in 2003. (Coincidentally, they developed their theory while visiting the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein once worked.)

The new method looks for three small effects that occur simultaneously as a planet orbits the star. Einstein's "beaming" effect causes the star to brighten as it moves toward us, tugged by the planet, and dim as it moves away. The brightening results from photons "piling up" in energy, as well as light getting focused in the direction of the star's motion due to relativistic effects.

"This is the first time that this aspect of Einstein's theory of relativity has been used to discover a planet," said co-author Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University.

The team also looked for signs that the star was stretched into a football shape by gravitational tides from the orbiting planet. The star would appear brighter when we observe the "football" from the side, due to more visible surface area, and fainter when viewed end-on. The third small effect was due to starlight reflected by the planet itself.

Once the new planet was identified, it was confirmed by Latham using radial velocity observations gathered by the TRES spectrograph at Whipple Observatory in Arizona, and by Lev Tal-Or (Tel Aviv University) using the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Haute-Provence Observatory in France. A closer look at the Kepler data also showed that the planet transits its star, providing additional confirmation.

"Einstein's planet," formally known as Kepler-76b, is a "hot Jupiter" that orbits its star every 1.5 days. Its diameter is about 25 percent larger than Jupiter and it weighs twice as much. It orbits a type F star located about 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

The planet is tidally locked to its star, always showing the same face to it, just as the Moon is tidally locked to Earth. As a result, Kepler-76b broils at a temperature of about 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit.

Interestingly, the team found strong evidence that the planet has extremely fast jet-stream winds that carry the heat around it. As a result, the hottest point on Kepler-76b isn't the substellar point ("high noon") but a location offset by about 10,000 miles.

This effect has only been observed once before, on HD 189733b, and only in infrared light with the Spitzer Space Telescope. This is the first time optical observations have shown evidence of alien jet stream winds at work.

Although the new method can't find Earth-sized worlds using current technology, it offers astronomers a unique discovery opportunity. Unlike radial velocity searches, it doesn't require high-precision spectra. Unlike transits, it doesn't require a precise alignment of planet and star as seen from Earth.

"Each planet-hunting technique has its strengths and weaknesses. And each novel technique we add to the arsenal allows us to probe planets in new regimes," said CfA's Avi Loeb.

Kepler-76b was identified by the BEER algorithm, whose acronym stands for relativistic BEaming, Ellipsoidal, and Reflection/emission modulations. BEER was developed by Professor Tsevi Mazeh and his student, Simchon Faigler, at Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Method_of_Finding_Planets_Scores_its_First_Discovery_999.html.

Asteroid 1998 QE2 To Sail Past Earth Nine Times Larger Than Cruise Ship

Pasadena CA (JPL)
May 16, 2013

On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. And while QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70-meter) - or larger - radar telescope at their disposal.

"Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be an outstanding radar imaging target at Goldstone and Arecibo and we expect to obtain a series of high-resolution images that could reveal a wealth of surface features," said radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Whenever an asteroid approaches this closely, it provides an important scientific opportunity to study it in detail to understand its size, shape, rotation, surface features, and what they can tell us about its origin. We will also use new radar measurements of the asteroid's distance and velocity to improve our calculation of its orbit and compute its motion farther into the future than we could otherwise."

The closest approach of the asteroid occurs on May 31 at 1:59 p.m. Pacific (4:59 p.m. Eastern / 20:59 UTC). This is the closest approach the asteroid will make to Earth for at least the next two centuries. Asteroid 1998 QE2 was discovered on Aug. 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program near Socorro, New Mexico.

The asteroid, which is believed to be about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) or nine Queen Elizabeth 2 ship-lengths in size, is not named after that 12-decked, transatlantic-crossing flagship for the Cunard Line.

Instead, the name is assigned by the NASA-supported Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., which gives each newly discovered asteroid a provisional designation starting with the year of first detection, along with an alphanumeric code indicating the half-month it was discovered, and the sequence within that half-month.

Radar images from the Goldstone antenna could resolve features on the asteroid as small as 12 feet (3.75 meters) across, even from 4 million miles away.

"It is tremendously exciting to see detailed images of this asteroid for the first time," said Benner. "With radar we can transform an object from a point of light into a small world with its own unique set of characteristics. In a real sense, radar imaging of near-Earth asteroids is a fundamental form of exploring a whole class of solar system objects."

Asteroids, which are always exposed to the Sun, can be shaped like almost anything under it. Those previously imaged by radar and spacecraft have looked like dog bones, bowling pins, spheroids, diamonds, muffins, and potatoes.

To find out what 1998 QE2 looks like, stay tuned. Between May 30 and June 9, radar astronomers using NASA's 230-foot-wide (70 meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, are planning an extensive campaign of observations.

The two telescopes have complementary imaging capabilities that will enable astronomers to learn as much as possible about the asteroid during its brief visit near Earth.

NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. In fact, the U.S. has the most robust and productive survey and detection program for discovering near-Earth objects. To date, U.S. assets have discovered over 98 percent of the known NEOs.

In 2012, the NEO budget was increased from $6 million to $20 million. Literally dozens of people are involved with some aspect of near-Earth object (NEO) research across NASA and its centers.

Moreover, there are many more people involved in researching and understanding the nature of asteroids and comets, including those that come close to the Earth, plus those who are trying to find and track them in the first place.

In addition to the resources NASA puts into understanding asteroids, it also partners with other U.S. government agencies, university-based astronomers, and space science institutes across the country that are working to track and better understand these objects, often with grants, interagency transfers and other contracts from NASA.

In 2016, NASA will launch a robotic probe to one of the most potentially hazardous of the known NEOs. The OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid (101955) Bennu will be a pathfinder for future spacecraft designed to perform reconnaissance on any newly-discovered threatening objects.

Aside from monitoring potential threats, the study of asteroids and comets enables a valuable opportunity to learn more about the origins of our solar system, the source of water on Earth, and even the origin of organic molecules that lead to the development of life.

NASA recently announced developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid for human exploration. Using game-changing technologies advanced by the Administration, this mission would mark an unprecedented technological achievement that raises the bar of what humans can do in space.

Capturing and redirecting an asteroid will integrate the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration capabilities and draw on the innovation of America's brightest scientists and engineers.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Asteroid_1998_QE2_To_Sail_Past_Earth_Nine_Times_Larger_Than_Cruise_Ship_999.html.

3-man space crew returns safely to Earth

May 14, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — A Soyuz space capsule with a three-man crew returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station landed safely Tuesday on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko landed as planned southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 8:31 a.m. local time Tuesday (0231 GMT; 10:31 p.m. EDT Monday).

Live footage on NASA TV showed the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule slowly descending by parachute onto the sun-drenched steppes under clear skies. Russian search and rescue helicopters hovered over the landing site for a quick recovery effort.

Rescue teams moved quickly to help the crew in their bulky spacesuits exit out of the capsule, charred by the fiery re-entry through the atmosphere. They were then put into reclining chairs to start adjusting to the Earth's gravity after 146 days in space.

The three astronauts smiled as they chatted with space agency officials and doctors who were checking their condition. Hadfield, who served as the space station's commander, gave a thumbs-up sign. They made quick phone calls to family members and friends before being carried to a medical tent for a routine medical check-up prior to being flown home.

NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said on NASA TV by telephone from the landing site that the three returning astronauts were fine. "They look like they are doing pretty well," he said. Hadfield, 53, an engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada's first professional astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft. He relinquished command of the space station on Sunday.

"It's just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience end to end," Hadfield told Mission Control on Monday. "From this Canadian to all the rest of them, I offer an enormous debt of thanks." He was referring to all those in the Canadian Space Agency who helped make his flight possible.

Hadfield bowed out of orbit by posting a music video on YouTube on Sunday — his own custom version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." It's believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.

"With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here's Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World," Hadfield said via Twitter. Hadfield sang often in orbit, using a guitar already aboard the complex, and even took part in a live, Canadian coast-to-coast concert in February that included the Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson and a youth choir.

The five-minute video posted Sunday drew a salute from Bowie's official Facebook page: "It's possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created." A three-man U.S.-Russian crew is staying on the space station and will be joined in two weeks by the next trio of astronauts.

The 2011 retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet has left Russia's Soyuz spacecraft as the sole means to ferry crews to and from the space outpost, and the unmanned cargo version of the Soyuz, the Progress, delivers the bulk of station supplies.

The latest Progress, launched last month, suffered a glitch when an antenna on its navigation system failed to deploy, but it docked successfully at the space outpost despite the flaw. Russia's space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin told reporters Tuesday that the failure was caused by glue that got stuck in the moving parts of the antenna's unfolding mechanism. He said that Russian engineers conducted checks on the already assembled Soyuz and the Progress ships to prevent the glitch from reoccurring.

The U.S.-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, already is making cargo shipments to the space station. Its founder and chief designer, Elon Musk, has said the company could be ferrying astronauts aboard improved versions of its Dragon capsules by 2015.

Estonia joins world space club with 2.2-pound satellite

Tallin, Estonia (UPI)
May 7, 2013

With a satellite launched Tuesday Estonia has joined a not-so-exclusive club, becoming the 41st nation in the world to own a man-made object orbiting in space.

The country's ESTCube-1 satellite was launched, along with two other satellites, atop a European Vega rocket from the Guiana Space Center on South America's northeast coast, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.

Estonia's modest 2.2-pound satellite was joined in orbit by satellites deployed by Europe and Vietnam.

Estonia is now a "tiny space country," Estonian Speaker of Parliament Ene Ergma, an astrophysicist by training who was in French Guiana to observe the launch, said, but "it's really a big deal in my opinion."

University students in Estonia had been developing the ESTCube-1 nano-satellite since 2008 to carry out innovative solar wind experiments.

"I am very proud to be seeing all these students here who are watching their handiwork of five years," project senior researcher Mart Noorma said.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Estonia_joins_world_space_club_with_22-pound_satellite_999.html.

An Anarchic Region of Star Formation

Munich, Germany (SPX)
May 06, 2013

The Danish 1.54-meter telescope located at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile has captured a striking image of NGC 6559, an object that showcases the anarchy that reigns when stars form inside an interstellar cloud.

NGC 6559 is a cloud of gas and dust located at a distance of about 5000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer).

The glowing region is a relatively small object, just a few light-years across, in contrast to the one hundred light-years and more spanned by its famous neighbor  the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8, eso0936). Although it is usually overlooked in favor of its distinguished companion, NGC 6559 has the leading role in this new picture.

The gas in the clouds of NGC 6559, mainly hydrogen, is the raw material for star formation. When a region inside this nebula gathers enough matter, it starts to collapse under its own gravity. The center of the cloud grows ever denser and hotter, until thermonuclear fusion begins and a star is born. The hydrogen atoms combine to form helium atoms, releasing energy that makes the star shine.

These brilliant hot young stars born out of the cloud energize the hydrogen gas still present around them in the nebula. The gas then re-emits this energy, producing the glowing threadlike red cloud seen near the center of the image. This object is known as an emission nebula.

But NGC 6559 is not just made out of hydrogen gas. It also contains solid particles of dust, made of heavier elements, such as carbon, iron or silicon. The bluish patch next to the red emission nebula shows the light from the recently formed stars being scattered - reflected in many different directions - by the microscopic particles in the nebula.

Known to astronomers as a reflection nebula, this type of object usually appears blue because the scattering is more efficient for these shorter wavelengths of light.

In regions where it is very dense, the dust completely blocks the light behind it, as is the case for the dark isolated patches and sinuous lanes to the bottom left-hand side and right-hand side of the image. To look through the clouds at what lies behind, astronomers would need to observe the nebula using longer wavelengths that would not be absorbed.

The Milky Way fills the background of the image with countless yellowish older stars. Some of them appear fainter and redder because of the dust in NGC 6559.

This eye-catching image of star formation was captured by the Danish Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (DFOSC) on the 1.54-meter Danish Telescope at La Silla in Chile. This national telescope has been in use at La Silla since 1979 and was recently refurbished to turn it into a remote-controlled state-of-the-art telescope.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/An_Anarchic_Region_of_Star_Formation_999.html.

Living and Dying on Mars

Bethesda MD (SPX)
May 16, 2013

The Website, Mars-One.com has posted an interesting Want Ad: "Mars 2023: Inhabitants Wanted - Mars One will establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. We invite you to participate by sharing our vision with your friends, and, perhaps, by becoming the next Mars astronaut yourself."

In 2011, two Dutch entrepreneurs founded the Mars One venture with the goal of establishing a human settlement on Mars by 2023. During their first year several other adventurers joined the founders to develop a feasibility study, with inputs from many space agencies and private aerospace corporations from around the world. This study addressed technical, financial, social-psychological and ethical issues.

Mars One has launched an Astronaut Selection Program that is open to anyone in the world. A recent report indicated that more than 78,000 people have applied to be planetary travelers. However, this fledgling entrepreneurship plans to start by sending only four people to Mars every two years. The first flight is planned to depart Earth in April 2023.

Such a proposed concept immediately brings up several questions. First, and possibly foremost, is the issue of paying for the whole thing. Mars One hopes to fund the adventure primarily through a lucrative reality television show that will follow the astronauts on their solar system travels.

Who knows? Concepts used in other reality shows such as Big Brother, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice and The Real Housewives of Atlanta might be combined to create "The Amazing Race of Mars Bound Apprentices." Please send any other ideas for a name to Launchspace.

There is no doubt that this would be a popular show. But, what kind of revenue can be generated? Recent history of the most popular reality shows tells us that potential profits to TV networks range in the tens-of-millions to about a quarter of a billion.

Based on this, let's assume Mars One gets a hundred million dollars a year. This sounds like a good deal of money, but travel to Mars, even though one-way, is easily in the billions.

Other sources of income are donations and merchandise sales. Check out the site to find Mars One T-shirts, coffee mugs and posters for sale. To date, total sales and donations exceed $84,000.

This is not enough to build a Mars-bound spacecraft, but it is a good start for making public announcements. Finally, there is an astronaut application fee reported to be between $5 and $75, depending on the applicant's country.

Looking beyond the cost, there is the issue of being stranded on Mars. We like to think of our pioneers and adventurers as people who venture into the unknown and return triumphantly. In this case, the adventurers would not return. But, unlike the pioneers of old, these travelers will be in continuous visual and audio contact with mother Earth.

This brings up the question of whether physical return to Earth is as meaningful in this modern age of communications. We easily see and exchange thoughts with astronauts on the space station on a daily basis. Families of astronauts miss being with them, but if families travel together the hardship may be reduced a great deal.

Of course, related issues are numerous and we cannot address all of them here. Suffice it to say that the Pilgrims seemed to have similar issues and initial adjustments were surely difficult. But, they overcame these to eventually create this country.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Living_and_Dying_on_Mars_999.html.

Spacecraft returns dramatic images of massive hurricane on Saturn

Pasadena, Calif. (UPI)
Apr 29, 2013

NASA says the Cassini spacecraft has sent back the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole.

High-resolution pictures and video indicated the hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth, the space agency reported Monday.

Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling at 330 mph, scientists said.

"We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth," said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn's hydrogen atmosphere."

Although there is no body of water such as an ocean close to these clouds high in Saturn's atmosphere, learning how these storms use water vapor could help reveal more about how terrestrial hurricanes are generated and sustained, the scientists said.

Unlike terrestrial hurricanes, which tend to move, the hurricane on Saturn is locked onto the planet's north pole. On Earth, hurricanes tend to drift northward because of the forces acting on the fast swirls of wind as the planet rotates.

The one on Saturn, which is believed to have been churning for years, is already as far north as it can be, scientists say.

"The polar hurricane has nowhere else to go, and that's likely why it's stuck at the pole," said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Source: Saturn Daily.
Link: http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Spacecraft_returns_dramatic_images_of_massive_hurricane_on_Saturn_999.html.

Landing is key puzzle in Mars trip plans: experts

Washington (AFP)
May 8, 2013

Landing astronauts safely on Mars is one of the biggest technological hurdles for any future manned mission to the Red Planet, even more complicated than last year's daring rover touchdown.

NASA dazzled observers by landing the one-ton Curiosity rover on Mars in August in a high-speed operation using a sky crane and supersonic parachute, but experts say the task would be even more challenging with humans onboard.

"The Curiosity landing was an amazing accomplishment," said Robert Braun, a former NASA engineer now at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"But it's really a baby step that we needed to take, on the way of one day walking on the Mars surface," he said at a conference in Washington on Tuesday.

The three-day meeting, which started Monday, has brought together NASA experts, university researchers and members of the aerospace industry for talks focused on exploring the neighboring planet.

"Curiosity has been described as a small car," Braun said of the six-wheeled mobile lab that has been exploring Mars for the last nine months.

"What we are really talking about today is landing a two-storey house, and maybe landing that two-storey house next to another one that has been pre-positioned," he said.

Where Curiosity weighed one ton, engineers estimate a supply capsule to prepare for a manned landing would weigh somewhere around 40 tons.

Such a mission would require not only food, water and oxygen for the astronauts, but a vehicle powerful enough to get them back to their spaceship, which would likely remain in orbit.

"The technologies we will use to land our systems on Mars will probably have little semblance to the systems we have been using for the robot program because of their scale," Braun said.

The first six robots NASA sent to Mars starting in 1974 were light enough that their descent was slowed by parachutes and their landing aided by balloons.

Curiosity was heavier, so it required a complex landing apparatus that included a supersonic parachute and a rocket-powered crane.

But neither method is likely to work, without significant adjustments, for the much larger vehicles required for a manned landing, nor would the technology used to land spacecraft on Earth work on Mars.

Atmospheric pressure at 25 miles (40 kilometers) altitude on Earth is equivalent to just six miles up (10,000 meters) on Mars -- which leaves little time to slow the faster-than-sound speed of a Mars lander, Braun said.

"It's a challenge we have not yet faced, and we don't have yet a specific answer to," he said.

Adam Stelzner, one of the inventors behind Curiosity's space crane, is more optimistic, saying that landing the rover did not require NASA to "invent some new device technology."

Instead, the project required "just thinking a little more creatively in using the materials, the technological materials, that were at hand," he said.

Stelzner, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, believes similar creative thinking -- such as scaling up the sky crane -- could bring about a successful manned landing in the near future.

He points out that in the summer of 2003 -- just eight years before Curiosity's launch -- NASA did not know how to land the robot.

But Charles Campbell, an aerodynamics expert at NASA, said the technological challenges should not be underestimated.

"We need a retropropulsion system at mach two or three at Mars," he said.

"We know how to design a hypersonic vehicle, but reconfiguring this vehicle to a retropropulsion vehicle is a transforming event."

Campbell added that the costs would be great and the effort would likely require international cooperation.

"A human mission to Mars is going to require a vehicle of the scale of a space shuttle," Campbell said, with the mission requiring a jump "in order of magnitude from what we are used to dealing with."

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Landing_is_key_puzzle_in_Mars_trip_plans_experts_999.html.

Buzz Aldrin says US must colonize Mars

Washington (AFP)
May 8, 2013

Buzz Aldrin, the American astronaut who was the second man to walk on the Moon, said Wednesday that the United States must lead the way toward building a permanent settlement on Mars.

Speaking at a conference of space experts in the US capital, the 83-year-old said the United States should apply what it learned decades ago by reaching the moon toward building a new colony on the Red Planet.

"The US needs to begin homesteading and settlement of Mars," Aldrin said at the Humans to Mars conference at George Washington University. "It is within reach."

His call for US leadership in the space race to Mars largely lines up with plans set forth by NASA and President Barack Obama's administration to send the first people to Mars in the 2030s.

But unlike NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who acknowledged at the start of the three-day conference on Monday that significant technological gaps remain, Aldrin said the bulk of the research has already been done.

"There is really very little new research that is required," Aldrin said, calling for cash investment and political will to sustain the vision of a permanent dual-planetary society.

"The US needs to continue to be the human space transportation leader and I think we can capitalize on the dynamism of the commercial market to develop a landing system that can truly become the basis for a US highway to space."

Aldrin, who has authored a new book titled "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," said the title should have been "Missions to Mars" since the trips will be many and the human presence should be continuous.

"We are talking about multiple missions to eventually settle and colonize Mars," said Aldrin, who also plugged his plan to send spacecraft on cycling orbits that would engage in perpetual trajectories between Earth and Mars.

"We should focus our attention on establishing a permanent human presence on Mars by the 2030-2040 decade.

"The United States will be a beacon for the development of humanity."

Aldrin described how there could be different modular habitats on Mars, perhaps built by the world's various space agencies from China, Europe, India, Japan and Russia, with the United States in the leadership role.

He said a first step would be to send three people to the Martian moon Phobos "and use that year and a half to oversee the robotic deployment of the international Mars base."

He derided those who have suggested that people who make the trip to Mars may be able to come back to Earth afterward.

"There is no other choice than to commit to permanence on Mars," Aldrin said. "I just don't think you can have one-shot forays to the surface of Mars."

Aldrin appeared to support the Inspiration Mars idea, put forth by astronaut Dennis Tito, to send two humans on a flyby of Mars beginning in 2018, saying that "could make it very clear that our mid-century goal is permanence on Mars."

As to Mars One, the Dutch company that recently announced it was recruiting volunteers for a one-way trip to the Red Planet in 2023, Aldrin said the plan appeared to have good fundraising and public relations appeal but "not much technical basis behind it."

Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11. On July 20, 1969, he and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to set foot on the moon.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Buzz_Aldrin_says_US_must_colonize_Mars_999.html.

Ruins of Lost City May Lurk Deep in Honduras Rain Forest

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
LiveScience.com – Wed, May 15, 2013

New images of a possible lost city hidden by Honduran rain forests show what might be the building foundations and mounds of Ciudad Blanca, a never-confirmed legendary metropolis.

Archaeologists and filmmakers Steven Elkins and Bill Benenson announced last year that they had discovered possible ruins in Honduras' Mosquitia region using lidar, or light detection and ranging. Essentially, slow-flying planes send constant laser pulses groundward as they pass over the rain forest, imaging the topography below the thick forest canopy.

What the archaeologists found — and what the new images reveal — are features that could be ancient ruins, including canals, roads, building foundations and terraced agricultural land. The University of Houston archaeologists who led the expedition will reveal their new images and discuss them today (May 15) at the American Geophysical Union Meeting of the Americas in Cancun.

Ciudad Blanca, or "The White City," has been a legend since the days of the conquistadors, who believed the Mosquitia rain forests hid a metropolis full of gold and searched for it in the 1500s. Throughout the 1900s, archaeologists documented mounds and other signs of ancient civilization in the Mosquitias region, but the shining golden city of legend has yet to make an appearance.

Whether or not the lidar-wielding archaeologists have discovered the same city the conquistadors were looking for is up for debate, but the images suggest some signs of an ancient lost civilization.

"We use lidar to pinpoint where human structures are by looking for linear shapes and rectangles," Colorado State University research Stephen Leisz, who uses lidar in Mexico, said in a statement. "Nature doesn't work in straight lines."

The archaeologists plan to get their feet on the ground this year to investigate the mysterious features seen in the new images.

Iran unveils new attack drone

Tehran, Iran (AFP)
May 09, 2013

Iran unveiled on Thursday a new drone, dubbed the Epic, capable of carrying out both surveillance and attack missions, the Mehr news agency reported.

Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying the Epic, which can fly at high altitudes, is a "stealth aircraft that cannot be detected by enemies."

On April 18, Iran made public three other models.

The Throne, also a stealth model, has a long range and is equipped with air-to-air missiles, said General Amir-Farzad Esmaili, commander of anti-aircraft operations.

Esmaili said Iran had already produced and used dozens of them.

The Hazem-3 (Solid) and Mohajer-B (Migrator) are "tactical and combat" models and also capable of reconnaissance, the general said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_unveils_new_attack_drone_999.html.

World of Warcraft loses 1.3 million players in three months

By Ben Silverman | Plugged In
Wed, May 8, 2013

All is not well in Azeroth.

Approximately 1.3 million subscribers have left World of Warcraft’s fantasy universe in the past three months, Activision-Blizzard reported in an earnings call Wednesday.

According to the company, most of those departures were players in the East, though a significant number of Western players left as well. All told, the game now has about 8.3 million paying customers -- down from 9.6 million in February -- and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick admits that number is bound to drop even further.

“While we do believe further declines are likely, and we expect to have fewer subscribers in a year then we do today, World of Warcraft remains one of the most successful franchises in the history of entertainment,” he said.

Once far and away the largest online role-playing game, World of Warcraft’s numbers have dwindled as competition from free-to-play alternatives has gained steam. In 2010, the game peaked at over 12 million paying customers, but that number dropped to about 9 million prior to the launch of the Mists of Pandaria expansion last September. Though the game enjoyed a small bump thanks to that expansion’s solid sales, it couldn’t maintain it.

That's not entirely shocking considering Warcraft's advanced age. First launched back in 2004, it's one of the longest-running massively-multiplayer games still vying for a slice of the online gaming pie. While the game's quartet of official expansions have done a good job keeping gamers coming back, increased pressure from a wealth of free-to-play online competitors -- not to mention a shaky economy -- have made the game's subscription-based pricing model harder and harder to swallow.

That's not lost on the game's creators, either, who are currently toiling away on a free-to-play, collectible card game spin-off, Hearthstone, due out this summer.

Investors aren't interested in waiting, however, and responded to the grim player exodus by backing away from Activision’s stock, which dropped 5 percent in after-hours trading.

And it’s not likely to get much better for the company. Kotick painted a pretty rough picture for the remainder of 2013.

"While we have had a solid start to the year, we now believe that the risks and uncertainties in the back half of 2013 are more challenging than our earlier view, especially in the holiday quarter," he told investors. "The shift in release dates of competing products, the disappointing launch of the Wii U, uncertainties regarding next-generation hardware, and subscriber declines in our World of Warcraft business all raise concerns, as do continued challenges in the global economy."

Though he didn’t name names, it’s clear Kotick is concerned with EA’s Battlefield 4, expected to be one of the year’s biggest sellers and a direct competitor to Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts. The company's lucrative Skylanders franchise is also expecting a test later this year in the form of Disney Infinity, a toy/game hybrid based on Disney's myriad potent properties.

YouTube said poised for subscription option

May 7, 2013

SAN BRUNO, Calif., May 7 (UPI) -- YouTube plans to let some video makers charge a monthly subscription to their channels, people briefed on the U.S. video-sharing website's plan said.

The new arrangement, likely to be announced this week, require viewers who want to see certain producers' channels to pay $1.99 a month or more to subscribe, the people told several news outlets after the Financial Times first reported the pending announcement.

The overwhelming majority of content on the world's largest video website is expected to remain free.

The subscription option gives some YouTube content providers -- especially homegrown YouTube stars and major media companies -- a second way of profiting from their work, if fans pay to watch.

Right now they get revenue from the ads YouTube attaches to their videos.

But growing numbers of producers said the revenue wasn't enough. Talks on the subscription idea began last fall, the Los Angeles Times said.

The change would bring YouTube closer to the dual-revenue model of cable TV, where networks collect a monthly subscriber fee while also having advertising.

About 50 YouTube channels will initially participate in the program, the people briefed on the plan told the Financial Times.

Among the possible subscription content areas are children's programming, entertainment and music, The New York Times said.

Some subscription channels would still have ads, while others, such as participating children's channels, would be ad-free, The New York Times said.

YouTube said in a statement it had "nothing to announce at this time."

But it said, "We're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our partners with another vehicle to generate revenue from their content, beyond the rental and ad-supported models we offer."

YouTube, owned by Google Inc., had expressed a desire to start charging viewers for content after it saw the successes of Netflix Inc., Hulu and other subscription-based video-streaming services.

Hulu is a joint venture of NBCUniversal Television Group, Fox Broadcasting Co. and Disney-ABC Television Group.

YouTube will process the payments through Google Wallet, a mobile payment system that Google's app store uses, The New York Times said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/05/07/YouTube-said-poised-for-subscription-option/UPI-35351367911800/.

Wales wind power line to go underground near historic village

April 29, 2013

MEIFOD, Wales, April 29 (UPI) -- A controversial power line connecting onshore wind farms in Wales to England will be placed underground near a historic village, National Grid has announced.

The company said in a release last week it is bowing to one of the demands of residents fighting the 40-mile combination of more than 100 overhead pylons and underground cables -- an effort to connect about 10 planned wind farms in scenic mid-Wales to the British grid via 400-kilovolt cables.

The British transmission system operator, which is still working on the final route through the region, revealed last Wednesday the lines would be placed underground around the village of Meifod in the Vyrnwy River valley, about 7 miles northwest of Welshpool.

Opposition to the power line was especially strong in and around the tiny village, which is revered as the burial place for several of the rulers and princes of the medieval kingdom of Powys and is held up as a prime example of the rugged, pre-industrial beauty of the Welsh countryside.

In making the announcement, National Grid's Jeremy Lee also confirmed the Vyrnwy Valley is the preferred route of the line, while the nearby Peniarth Valley had been eliminated from consideration.

"We're continuing to work on the best route for the connection. But it was becoming increasingly clear that construction challenges, such as the steepness of the valley, and environmental effects in the Peniarth Valley makes a route through the Vyrnwy Valley a better option to take forward," he said.

"A section of underground cable in the more sensitive areas around the village of Meifod seems appropriate recognizing the beautiful landscape and rich cultural heritage," Lee added.

The company is "committed to continuing to listen to local views as we develop the rest of our plans," he said.

National Grid contends it is trying to strike a balance between Britain's need to develop renewable energy sources and the concerns of those living along the route, who claim it will devastate the countryside and ruin the local tourism trade.

The 40-mile route, which would include 100 154-foot overhead pylons, would stretch from Cefn Coch in Montgomeryshire, Wales, through Llansantffraid near Welshpool to Lower Frankton in Shropshire, England.

Along the way it would traverse the scenic Powys uplands and the Vyrnwy Valley, which is popular with hikers, rock climbers, bicyclists and equestrians.

One of the biggest obstacles integrating more renewable power sources is connecting the scattered wind generation sources to the grid, which was built to serve single-source, fossil-fuel generating plants.

Some estimates have suggested Britain's power network needs more than $300 billion in upgrades to connect up the new sources of energy.

The announcement of the Meifod and Vyrnwy Valley plans generated little enthusiasm from opponents.

"While I would like to see further details of (Wednesday's) decision, the announcement comes as no surprise," Montgomeryshire Welsh Assembly Member Russell George said.

"However, even though (the Peniarth Valley) route has been discounted, National Grid is still determined to press ahead with the connection project and destroy large areas of Montgomeryshire, in the face of community opposition.

"As far as I am concerned, there is absolutely no justification for this project to go ahead and I urge all communities in Montgomeryshire to remain resolute and united in their opposition of the entire project and maintain the campaign to get it stopped," George said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/04/29/Wales-wind-power-line-to-go-underground-near-historic-village/UPI-87741367208240/.