France keen to buy 12 US Reaper drones: minister

Paris (AFP)
June 11, 2013

France wants to buy 12 Reaper drones from the United States, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday, as ministry officials put the cost at 670 million euros ($889 million).

Le Drian said he wanted two Reapers to be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa, where France is battling Islamist militants in Mali.

The 10 others would be deployed in French and European skies.

The deal needs the approval of Congress. Le Drian said that if it did not give a go-ahead, France could buy the drones from Israel.

The Reapers are made by California-based General Atomics.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/France_keen_to_buy_12_US_Reaper_drones_minister_999.html.

Kate formally names Royal Princess cruise ship

June 13, 2013

LONDON (AP) — A glowing Kate Middleton on Thursday christened a gigantic new cruise ship named the Royal Princess.

Palace officials said it is planned as her final solo public appearance before she is expected to give birth in mid-July. The Duchess of Cambridge, as she has been formally known since her marriage two years ago to Prince William, used a 4-gallon (15-liter), $1500 bottle of Moet and Chandon Champagne to do the job — it was so heavy she couldn't swing it herself, but she cut a ribbon that launched the bottle toward the hull, where it smashed as crowds cheered.

"I name this ship Royal Princess, may God bless her and all who sail in her," said the duchess, whose baby bump was clearly outlined against her black and white print coat. She seemed the picture of good health as she chatted with others on the VIP podium during the event at the historic waterfront in Southampton.

The duchess's bottle-smashing performance was the highlight of a gala ceremony that included a formal blessing and a prayer from the Bishop of Winchester and a performance by pop star Natasha Bedingfield.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been officially designated the godmother of the new ship, a symbolic title dating back to an earlier nautical era. She and William are expecting their first child in mid-July. The baby will become third in line for the throne behind William and his father, Prince Charles.

William's mother, the late Princess Diana, performed a similar cruise ship christening on the same spot nearly three decades ago. The ceremony on Thursday included a brief tour of the ship for the duchess.

It is expected to be her final solo engagement before the birth, although she is likely to join other senior royals at the upcoming Trooping the Color ceremony. The duchess's visit highlighted the importance of the new 3,600-passenger Royal Princess, which is scheduled to begin cruising the Mediterranean this summer.

Iran's polls open in presidential vote

June 14, 2013

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — In the end, Iran's presidential election may be defined by who doesn't vote.

As polls opened early Friday, arguments over whether to boycott the ballot still boiled over at coffee shops, kitchen tables and on social media among many liberal-leaning Iranians. The choice — once easy for many who turned their back in anger after years of crackdowns — has been suddenly complicated by an unexpected chance to perhaps wage a bit of payback against Iran's rulers.

The rising fortunes of the lone relative moderate left in the race, former nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani, has brought something of a zig-or-zag dilemma for many Iranians who faced down security forces four years ago: Stay away from the polls in a silent protest or jump back into the mix in a system they claim has been disgraced by vote rigging.

Which way the scales tip could set the direction of the election and the fate for Rowhani, a cleric who is many degrees of mildness removed from being an opposition leader. But he is still the only fallback option for moderates in an election that once seemed preordained for a pro-establishment loyalist.

"There is a lot of interesting psychology going on. What is right? Which way to go?" said Salman Shaikh, director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. "This is what it means to be a reformist in Iran these days."

It's also partly a political stock-taking that ties together nearly all the significant themes of the election: the powers of the ruling clerics to limit the choices, the anger over years of pressures to muzzle dissent and the unwavering claims that the last election was stolen in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third consecutive term.

Iran's presidency is a big prize, but not a crown jewel. The president does not set major policies or have the powers to make important social or political openings. That rests with the ruling theocracy and its protectors, led by the immensely powerful Revolutionary Guard

But for liberal-leaning Iranians, upsetting the leadership's apparent plans by electing Rowhani could open more room for reformist voices and mark a rare bit of table-turning after years of punishing reprisals for the 2009 protests, the worst domestic unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Rowhani raises a lot of interesting questions," said Scott Lucas, an Iranian affairs expert at Britain's Birmingham University. "Among them, of course, is whether he gets Iranians who have rejected the system to then validate the system by voting again."

And there are many other factors at play. Many Iranians say they are putting ideology aside and want someone who can stabilize the sanctions-battered economy — one of the roles that does fall within the presidential portfolio. This could boost candidates such as Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who is seen as a fiscal steady hand.

Also, the rest of the candidates approved to run by election overseers — from more than 680 hopefuls — are stacked heavily with pro-establishment figures such as hard-liner Saeed Jalili, the current nuclear negotiator. Among those blocked from the ballot was former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is one of the patriarchs of the Islamic Revolution.

The vetting appeared aimed at bringing in a pliant and predictable president after disruptive internal feuds with Ahmadinejad, who upended Iran's political order by trying to challenge the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The desire for calm is also fueled by the critical months ahead, which could see the resumption of nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers.

But the presumed plans have met an obstacle in the form of Rowhani, who is a close ally of Rafsanjani and is now backed by other reformist leaders who had previously seemed resigned to defeat. In the span of 24 hours earlier this week, Rowhani received a major bump when a moderate rival withdrew to consolidate the support. Endorsements from artists, activists and others poured in.

At the final rallies, Rowhani's supporters waved his campaign's signature color purple — a clear nod to the now-crushed Green Movement and its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest for more than two years. On Wednesday, the last day of campaigning, thousands of supporters welcomed Rowhani in the northeastern city of Mashhad yelling: "Long live reforms."

Some Rowhani backers also have used the campaign events to chant for the release of Mousavi and other political prisoners, including former parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi, leading to some arrests and scuffles with police.

Rowhani is far from a radical outsider, though. He led the influential Supreme National Security Council and was given the highly sensitive nuclear envoy role in 2003, a year after Iran's 20-year-old atomic program was revealed.

But he is believed to favor a less confrontational approach with the West and would give a forum for now-sidelined officials such as Rafsanjani and former President Mohammad Khatami, whose reformist terms from 1997-2005 opened unprecedented social and political freedoms. Many are now a memory after clampdowns in the wake of massive protests claiming ballot fraud denied Mousavi victory in the 2009 election.

There are no credible voter polls in Iran, and supporters of each candidate claim their camp is leading. Yet Rowhani seems to be tapping into growing energy and could force a two-way runoff next week with one of the presumed front-runners: Jalili and Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander.

Any significant boycott would likely hurt Rowhani the most. And a change of heart to vote by many liberal-leaning Iranians could push Rowhani toward the top. The worries appeared reflected Thursday in reported comments by Rafsanjani opposing the boycott.

"I urge them to vote," he was quoted as saying by several pro-reform newspapers. Rowhani's backers, meanwhile, have adopted a motto of "one for 100" — meaning every reformist should try to encourage 100 people to the polls.

It's not hard, though, to find Iranians promising to snub the election. On some Tehran streets, about every third person planned to stay away. "Why should I vote?" asked Masoud Abdoli, a 39-year old paramedic. "They have kept opposition leaders under house arrest. They barred Rafsanjani."

Samaneh Gholinejad, a psychology student, said she abandoned politics after the 2009 chaos. "Honesty left the country then," she said. On social media sites, Iranians have sparred round-the-clock over the boycott.

Supporters often quote Albert Einstein's definition of "insanity" to describe the futility of voting after the allegations of fraud in 2009: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Responses on the other side note that great discoveries would never have occurred if people gave up.

While there are no current signs of street protests resuming, security forces are on high alert. The Revolutionary Guard's volunteer paramilitary force, the Basij, is present in virtually every neighborhood. Authorities have steadily boosted controls on the Internet, attempting recently to close off proxy servers used to bypass Iranian firewalls.

Last month, the U.S. eased restrictions on export of communications equipment to Iranian civilians in an attempt to counter the cyber-crackdowns. There is no evidence, however, of any major U.S. shipments opening new channels for Iranian Internet activists.

In California, meanwhile, Google said it stopped a series of attempts to hack the accounts of tens of thousands of Iranian users with a technique known as phishing. "The timing and targeting of the campaigns suggest that the attacks are politically motivated," said Eric Grosse, Google's vice president for security engineering, wrote on the company's blog Wednesday. He gave no other details.

Iranians traditionally have shown high interest in voting. The average reported turnout in the past 10 presidential election is more than 67 percent, with officials saying there was 85 percent participation in 2009. There are no independent election observers allowed to verify the numbers, but no major allegations of vote rigging emerged until 2009.

Khamenei has repeatedly called for a high turnout as a reply to Western governments that have strongly questioned the openness of Iran's elections — including the process of vetting candidates. Shortly after he cast his vote Friday morning, Khamenei had sharp words for overseas critics.

"Recently I have heard that a U.S. security official has said they do not accept this election. OK, the hell with you," he said in remarks broadcast by Iran's state television. Khamenei said if Iran was supposed to wait for U.S. approval, there would be controversy.

In Washington on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that while the U.S. does not think the Iranian election process is transparent, it is not discouraging the Iranian people from voting.

"We certainly encourage them to," Psaki said. "But certainly the history here and what happened just four years ago gives all of us pause." A prominent political Twitter activist, who goes by the handle Koroush, showed the inner conflicts of many Iranians. He posted a message Thursday saying he will stay home but prays he will regret it.

"I will not vote," he wrote. "But I hope I will be regretful if others vote and Rowhani wins."

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. AP writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.

Turkish PM vows new gesture aimed to cool protests

June 14, 2013

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish activists leading a sit-in were considering a promise Friday by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to let the courts — and a potential referendum — decide the fate of an Istanbul park redevelopment project that has sparked Turkey's biggest protests in decades.

In last-ditch negotiations after Erdogan issued a "final warning" to protesters, his ruling party announced early Friday that the government would suspend a controversial construction plan for Istanbul's Gezi Park until courts could rule on its legality. Even if the courts sided with the government, a city referendum would be held to determine the plan's fate, officials said.

The unilateral pledge aimed to cajole protesters into ending a two-week standoff that has damaged Erdogan's international reputation and led to repeated clashes with riot police. After initially inflaming tensions by dubbing the protesters "terrorists" and issuing defiant public remarks, Erdogan has moderated his stance in closed-door talks this week.

It remained far from clear, however, whether the overture would work. The park is one of the few green areas left in the sprawling metropolis of Istanbul and many protesters were still seething over the forceful operations by riot police that at times devolved into violent clashes with stone- and firebomb-throwing youths.

Such scenes prompted the European Parliament on Wednesday to condemn the heavy-handed response by Turkish police and sparked a heated riposte from Erdogan. A May 31 police raid to clear out the park ignited demonstrations that morphed into broader protests against what many say is the prime minister's increasingly authoritarian style of government. Five people — four demonstrators and a police officer —were killed in the protests that spread to dozens of other cities.

The protests have centered lately on three cities: Istanbul, Izmir on the Aegean Sea coast, and Ankara, the capital. Erdogan's opponents, including many protesters, have grown increasingly suspicious about what they call a gradual erosion of freedoms and secular Turkish values under his Islamic-rooted party's government. It has passed new restrictions on alcohol and attempted but dropped a plan to limit women's access to abortion.

Mobilizing instruments of democracy and the state — the courts, and a referendum — could shield the prime minister from accusations of an authoritarian response. "Until the courts give their final verdicts, no action will be taken regarding Gezi Park," said Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, after the meeting. "Even if the court ... is in favor of our government's decisions, our government will hold a referendum to see what our people think — what they want and don't want."

The Taksim Solidarity group, two of whose members were in the meeting with Erdogan, has emerged as the most high-profile from the occupation that began last month. But it does not speak for all of the hundreds camping in the park. Many say they have no affiliation to any group or party.

Tayfun Kahraman, one of the Taksim Solidarity members who attended the meeting, said he believed Erdogan had offered "positive words," and that fellow activists would consider them in a "positive manner." But he said those in Gezi Park would "make their own assessments."

Suspicion within the park about Erdogan's tactics and motives remains widespread, and the protesters are firmly entrenched: In recent days, the festive tent-village atmosphere — with amenities like a medical station and library with donated books — has been marked by nightly piano concerts.

"The prime minister calls the people he pleases to the meetings and says some stuff," said demonstrator Murat Tan. "We don't care about them much. Today, we saved the trees here but our main goal is to save the people."

Erdogan has pledged to end the protest, and has called his supporters to rally in Ankara and Istanbul this weekend. But those demonstrations could revive the discord between his conservative, Islamic base, and more liberal- and secular-minded progressives and others who are holed up in the park — potentially torpedoing his own efforts to end to the showdown.

Analysts say the protests don't present a threat to Erdogan's tenure, but threaten his legacy. Some say he has ambitions to enter the history books as a contemporary answer to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of modern Turkey.

Erdogan has reiterated his support for Turkey's secular democracy in the face of the accusations of authoritarianism — and sat in front of a portrait of Ataturk during the overnight talks at his residence in Ankara.

Eds: Onur Cakir in Istanbul and Jamey Keaten in Ankara contributed to this report.

New bridge opens between Bulgaria and Romania

June 14, 2013

VIDIN, Bulgaria (AP) — A new bridge opened Friday between Bulgaria and Romania, the second on the 500-kilometer stretch of the Danube River that forms the common border between the Balkan neighbors, is touted as a key to boosting growth in one of Europe's poorest regions.

But skeptics argue that dilapidated infrastructure on both sides of the river will turn it into "a bridge to nowhere." The long-delayed bridge linking Vidin in Bulgaria with Calafat in Romania was being opened Friday at a ceremony attended by top politicians of the two countries and EU officials.

The 282 million euros ($375 million) project was backed by 106 million euros from the European Union, which both countries joined in 2007; the rest came from national financing and private investments. It is part of the Pan-European transport corridor IV, linking Dresden in Germany with the Aegean port city of Thessaloniki and Istanbul further east.

The cable-stayed, steel and concrete bridge has two traffic lanes in each direction, a railway line, two pedestrian paths and a bicycle track. Overall, the bridge is 3,598 meters (11,804 feet ) long, with 1,791 meters over the river.

The only other bridge between the two Balkan countries, linking the cities of Ruse and Giurgiu, was completed in 1954. In Vidin, local officials hope new businesses will open along the roads leading to the bridge, which is expected to be crossed annually by 100,000 vehicles.

New jobs are badly needed in this northwestern corner of Bulgaria, which together with southwestern Romania and northeastern Serbia compose one of the poorest and most depopulated regions in Europe. Vidin has an unemployment rate of more than 20 percent, almost double the Bulgarian average. The population has shrunk by 25 percent, to 48,000 people, in the last two decades as local factories closed, and many left to look for a job in the capital, Sofia, or abroad.

Vidin mayor Gergo Gergov hopes that the new bridge and other infrastructure projects in the region will help to break the isolation. "So far businesses hesitated to use the river to develop relations with Europe, as ferryboat transportation was costly, and they looked mostly for local markets. Now this will change," he said.

The project was started in the late 1990s, when local and European Union officials became convinced of the bridge's necessity during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, when highways and bridges were destroyed by bombs, cutting off routes from the Balkans to western Europe.

While foreign engineers and construction workers have pumped money into the local economy, the locals don't expect a windfall. Borislav Markov, 57, moved four years ago to Spain with his family after he had lost his job as a construction worker. He returned briefly to his home town to see his sick mother.

"I have no big expectations for the future of the region. I don't believe that this bridge will bring any dramatic change. The only thing is that people can now walk on the bridge to Calafat to look for some cheaper goods," he said.

Vasil Iliev, who runs a small cafe in the city, says the result will be just more traffic. "Few shops next to the bridge could profit from it, and most likely it would bring new clients for prostitutes and drug dealers," he complained.

Civil groups in Vidin have appealed to the authorities to improve the roads that lead to the bridge, or else risk leaving it as a beautiful monument. "If there is no appropriate infrastructure," said Irena Alexandrova of the group I Love Vidin, "this will be a bridge to nowhere."

Thousands of anti-Putin protesters march in Moscow

June 12, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of Russian opposition activists marched through Moscow on Wednesday, decrying President Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule and calling for the release of people they consider political prisoners.

The march on Russia Day, a national holiday, was to show support for 27 people arrested after a protest turned violent on the eve of Putin's inauguration more than a year ago. Sixteen of the defendants have remained in jail pending trial on charges that could send them to prison for up to 10 years.

The arrests, especially those of ordinary Russians who had joined the anti-Putin rallies for the first time and who in some cases seemed to have been grabbed at random, appeared to have been part of Kremlin efforts to deter people from joining any future protests.

The estimated 10,000 to 15,000 protesters who turned out Wednesday were far fewer than the 100,000 or more who rallied against Putin before his election to a third term, reflecting a wariness that has taken the steam out of the protest movement. But the turnout was still higher than many had expected.

"You can't sit at home when the government begins repressions against ordinary, decent citizens of our country — people who don't want to live in this swamp, people who want to see their country thrive," civil activist Vitaly Zolomov said. "And I believe, and this is something I tell everyone, that it's criminal to stay on the sidelines in Russia when lawlessness has become the norm."

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his wife led the marchers behind a banner saying: "Freedom to the May 6 prisoners. For your freedom and ours." Navalny, who first made his name as an anti-corruption campaigner, is on trial in a separate case in which he is accused of embezzlement while serving as an adviser to a provincial governor. He claims the charges are punishment for his exposure of high-level corruption and campaign against Putin and his party.

If found guilty, the inspirational protest leader could be sent to prison for up to 10 years. Speaking at a Kremlin reception for Russia Day, Putin said the Russian people had gone through difficult years after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but had succeeded in putting the country "on a firm path of development that is inseparable from such understandings as democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law," the state ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Putin ended his speech with a toast "to a free and prosperous Russia." Gay rights activists carrying rainbow flags were among the marchers Wednesday. Under a bill passed by the lower house of Russia's parliament Tuesday but not yet signed into law, it will be a crime in Russia to hold gay pride rallies or provide information on homosexuality to children. Russian and international rights activists condemned the bill as a violation of basic rights.

Shortly before the march began, police detained nine members of the Left Front, whose leader is under house arrest.

AP writer Laura Mills contributed to this report.

Strike over EU plan disrupts European flights

June 12, 2013

PARIS (AP) — A strike by air traffic controllers forced cancellations of more than 60 percent of flights around France and disrupted travel elsewhere in Europe on Wednesday, as workers protested a plan to simplify the continent's patchwork airspace.

Over 2,000 flights were canceled in France as more workers joined the second day of the strike, according to the civil aviation authority. The walkout started Tuesday and is scheduled to end by Thursday.

The umbrella union for air traffic controllers said 11 countries would take part. The biggest walkout was in France, but it had a ripple effect on other European countries. Britain saw delays primarily related to the French strike — easyJet canceled 66 flights going to France or passing through its airspace. Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, said that roughly two-thirds of its 66 daily flights to and from France had been canceled.

Air traffic controllers are upset at an EU plan to consolidate the patchwork of air traffic control systems across the 27-country bloc under one authority. The plan wants to open up more duties to private enterprise, allow bidding on services like weather forecasting and navigation, and ease what European officials say is a looming capacity crunch.

The unions fear the plan will threaten jobs and passenger safety, and claim the EU is yielding to industry pressure to cut costs. They say it would hand more air traffic services to private companies.

About 27,000 flights a day now cross European airspace, for a total of over 9 million a year, and most are flying under air traffic management systems that were designed in the 1950s, said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

Air France warned passengers to delay all travel on short- or medium-distance flights until Friday or later. It said in a statement that it is trying to maintain its long-haul flights, and that it hopes to gradually return to normal Thursday.

At Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, red "canceled" notices filled information screens Wednesday and stranded passengers crowded on benches to sleep. Frenchman Denis Irinee spent the day trying to get home to Montpellier in southern France after vacationing in Asia.

"It's a huge mess," he said. "They promised us flights here and there, but they were all canceled one after another, so in theory we will not have any flights to go home to Montpellier today."

Sohrab Monemi in Paris and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Greek gov't in deep crisis over state broadcaster

June 12, 2013

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's fragile governing coalition failed to reach a compromise Wednesday about the closure of the state-run ERT broadcaster. That left the government in a crisis that could lead to early elections, just a year after it was formed to save the country from bankruptcy.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras derided ERT TV and radio as "a true symbol of privilege and lack of transparency." In a speech to business leaders, Samaras said that "the sinful ERT is finished." The three-party government yanked ERT off the air late Tuesday, axing all 2,656 jobs as part of its cost-cutting drive demanded by international creditors. The move sparked intense protests from both Samaras' coalition partners and Greek unions, which slammed it as a blow to media freedoms and called a general strike for Thursday.

Several thousand protesters gathered peacefully for a second night Wednesday outside ERT's Athens headquarters, which was festooned with banners calling for the company to be saved. The government plan is for a leaner, cheaper version of ERT to open before the end of the summer.

"Greece had become a true Jurassic Park, a unique country in the world that saw the survival of dinosaurs with antiquated ideological obsessions that have become extinct everywhere else," Samaras said.

His wording left little leeway for an agreement with his center-left allies, PASOK and the Democratic Left — without whom his conservative party has no parliamentary majority with which to pass key reforms demanded by Greece's international bailout creditors.

"If the country is led to elections, Mr. Samaras will be responsible," Democratic Left spokesman Andreas Papadopoulos told The Associated Press, commenting on the prime minister's speech. Following an emergency meeting, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left chief Fotis Kouvelis offered Samaras an olive branch, saying they were committed to keeping the coalition alive. But they insisted on top-level talks with Samaras aimed at keeping ERT going.

"Mr. Kouvelis and Mr. Venizelos offered a way out — but Mr. Samaras, in effect, did not respond," Papadopoulos said. The Democratic Left has already submitted legislation in parliament to cancel the corporation's demise.

An official close to Samaras said the prime minister would phone Venizelos and Kouvelis Thursday to schedule a meeting "in the next few days." But the conservatives implied that little was to be expected from such talks.

"What else do they have to discuss?" a second party official said. "The two minority partners are asking that ERT should remain open, and the prime minister just addressed that in his speech." Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.

Debt-crippled Greece has been kept afloat for the past three years by rescue loans from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. To qualify for the cash lifeline, it has imposed repeated, deeply-resented income cuts and tax hikes, and promised to sack 15,000 civil servants by 2015.

The ERT layoffs would contribute significantly to meeting that target, which has been delayed for years. The crisis has deepened a punishing recession now in its sixth year, and driven unemployment to a record 27 percent — all in the private sector since civil servants had been virtually guaranteed life-time jobs.

The European Commission said it had not sought the closure of ERT and "nor does the commission question the Greek government's mandate to manage the public sector." Journalist unions have launched rolling 24-hour strikes, imposing a news blackout on Greece's privately owned broadcasters, while ERT's journalists defied the government and continued a live Internet broadcast.

"We've managed to keep the broadcast going through the analogue signal and web links," said Panagiotis Kalfagianis, leader of Greek federation of broadcast employees. "The government has tried, using the riot police and technical means, to cut off ERT's signal. In some cases they succeeded, and in some they have not."

ERT started radio programming in the 1930s and television in the mid-1960s. Though it was widely regarded as reflecting government policy — it had a channel run by the military during the 1967-74 dictatorship — the broadcaster was also valued for showcasing regional and cultural content and for covering major sporting events such as the soccer World Cup and the Olympics.

It is largely state-funded, with Greek households paying a fee through its electricity bills — whether they have a TV set or not. There are also several private broadcasters in Greece, including Mega, Antenna and Skai.

Athens journalists' union president Dimitris Trimis said ERT's closure would lower the quality of news coverage. "Who will be left to speak the truth when the state broadcasters are gone?" he said. "Private broadcasters are bankrupt and have slashed their workforces, and in order to survive they are clinging ever closer to business and political interests."

ERT employee Kaity Potha, 55, said the government was blaming the broadcaster's staff for its own incompetence, which included giving high-paid jobs at ERT in return for political patronage. "Our salaries have been cut 45 percent in the past three years," she said. "Every clown who governed Greece in recent decades dumped us not only with their own governing board but also with 200-300 new staff — their salaries have not been cut."

Employees were particularly riled by the fact that the closure was announced by government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou, a former ERT journalist, who as the government's most senior media official has been responsible for ERT for the past year.

"He took the decisions, how can he tell us he wasn't aware of what was going on?" Potha said. The executive order to close ERT must be ratified by parliament within three months but the order faces failure if, as expected, it is rejected by PASOK and the Democratic Left.

Despite tensions over a number of austerity measures, the coalition government has surprised many people by surviving its first year in power. It has also been credited with stabilizing the bailed-out Greek economy and easing the threat of an exit from the euro, which was very real amid the political instability that preceded its formation following two national elections.

Left-wing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras slammed the closure as "illegal" during an interview on ERT's online broadcast. "This is an action that challenges our democracy. It's a coup. It lacks the backing of a parliamentary majority because the two (minority coalition) parties have expressed their opposition," Tsipras said after a meeting with the country's president.

The European Broadcasting Union, based in Geneva, Switzerland, expressed its "profound dismay" at the closure in a letter to Samaras, urging him to reverse course. An EBU statement said state channels had a combined market share of 14.9 per cent in 2012, running on licensing fee that was among the lowest in Europe.

Turkish gov't open to referendum to end protests

June 13, 2013

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's government on Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed at ending nearly two weeks of street protests, proposing a referendum on a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure.

Protesters expressed doubts about the offer, however, and continued to converge in Taksim Square's Gezi Park, epicenter of the anti-government protests that began in Istanbul 13 days ago and spread across the country. At times, police have broken up demonstrations using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.

The protests erupted May 31 after a violent police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in by activists objecting to a development project that would replace Gezi Park with a replica Ottoman-era barracks. They then spread to dozens of cities, rallying tens of thousands of people each night.

In a skirmish late Wednesday in Ankara, police used tear gas and water cannon to break up some 2,500 protesters who set up makeshift barricades on a road leading to government offices. The referendum proposal came after Erdogan, who had been defiant and uncompromising in recent days, met with a group of 11 activists, including academics, students and artists, in Ankara. However, groups involved in the protests in Taksim and the park boycotted the meeting, saying they weren't invited and the attendees didn't represent them.

Greenpeace said it didn't participate because of an "environment of violence" in the country, while Taksim Solidarity, which has been coordinating much of the occupation of Gezi Park, said it had not been invited. The group reiterated its demands that Gezi remain a public park, that abusive senior officials be fired, and all detained protesters be released — not issues the referendum would address.

But the discussion was the first sign that Erdogan was looking for an exit from the showdown, and came hours after some European leaders expressed concern about recent strong-armed Turkish police tactics and hopes that the prime minister would soften his stance.

Huseyin Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party, announced it would consider holding a referendum over the development project. But he said any vote would exclude the planned demolition of a cultural center that the protesters also oppose, insisting it was in an earthquake-prone area and had to come down.

In a more defiant note, he said the ongoing sit-in in Gezi Park would not be allowed to continue "until doomsday" — a sign that authorities' patience is running out. But Celik also quoted Erdogan as saying that police would be investigated, and any found to have used excessive force against protesters would be punished.

Erdogan, who has claimed the protests were orchestrated by extremists and "terrorists," has become the centerpiece of the protesters' ire. So a referendum would be a political gamble that the government can mobilize its supporters, win the vote and the demonstrators would go home.

"The most concrete result of the meeting was this: we can take this issue to the people of Istanbul in a referendum. We can ask the people of Istanbul if they want it (the barracks)," Celik said. "We will ask them: 'Do you accept what's going on, do you want it or not?'"

But many protesters were skeptical. "I don't think anything changed with that," said Hatice Yamak of the referendum plan. "We don't think he will do it — I think he's lying." Other protesters were suspicious of how the vote would be held.

"I think there will be a referendum but it won't be fair," said Mert Yildirim, a 28-year-old who had been attending the protests every night. "They will announce that the people want Gezi Park to become a shopping mall. They will cheat."

But Erdogan's maneuver could prove shrewd, by putting the protesters in a position of rejecting a referendum — a quintessential exercise of democracy. Many of them have accused Erdogan, who was re-elected in 2011 and has presided over striking economic growth, of showing an increasingly authoritarian streak.

"(The referendum proposal) falls short, and it won't help. This is not the way town planning is done," said Korhan Gumus, an architect and member of the Taksim Solidarity Platform activist group. "The referendum will polarize society even more. (Gezi Park) will become a battleground."

Party spokesman Celik appeared confident that Erdogan would be vindicated at the ballot box: "We cannot predict the decision of the people, but we believe that our people will side with our party's position."

As if to let the referendum proposal sink in, the Istanbul governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, tweeted that riot police would not enter the park on Wednesday. Turkish leaders were also grappling with a public image stain. International TV networks have beamed images of clashes on the square, including a muscular police sweep overnight Tuesday to Wednesday that Turkey's Human Rights Foundation said injured more than 600 people, including a 1-year-old baby.

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron called the events in Istanbul "disturbing and concerning," while stopping short of criticizing Erdogan's response. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany's government was watching developments "with great preoccupation," and urged "de-escalation."

Over the two weeks, four people have died in the protests, including a police officer, and more than 5,000 people have been injured or sought treatment for tear gas. The protests took a new flavor earlier Wednesday as thousands of black-robed lawyers stormed out of their courthouses to deride allegedly rough treatment of their colleagues detained by police a day earlier. Sema Aksoy, the deputy head of the Ankara lawyer's association, said the lawyers were handcuffed and pulled over the ground. She called the police action an affront to Turkey's judicial system.

"Lawyers can't be dragged on the ground!" the demonstrating lawyers shouted in rhythm as they marched out of an Istanbul courthouse. Riot police stood off to the side, shields at the ready. A spokesman for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said police had detained two of its reporters covering the protests in Istanbul. Sasa Petricic and Derek Stoffel were in "good condition," CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird called the Turkish ambassador to express his concerns.

Keaten reported from Ankara. Suzan Fraser and Ezgi Akin in Ankara, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Juergen Baetz in Berlin, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Space Debris - One Solution

Bethesda MD (SPX)
Jun 13, 2013

The topic of "space debris" is hot, and getting hotter! Spacefaring nations and the space community are concerned about this growing impediment to future space flight. NASA, DoD, FAA, ESA and the UN are all aware of the issues. There are international debris commissions and committees studying potential mitigation and remediation solutions.

High anxiety is running rampant among these groups. Every mitigation technique has been reviewed and many are being pursued. Most new satellites have the ability to either de-orbit or move out of the way at their end-of-mission. Upper stage providers have been asked to vent their propellant tanks of residual propellant before discarding them. Many satellites that are able to maneuver do so to avoid close-conjunction events.

The Air Force has been beefing up its satellite and debris tracking capabilities. National and international working groups continue to meet regularly to assess the growing potential collision threats and recommend actions for all spacefaring nations. The world of satellite operators may be just one major satellite collision event away from panic.

Instances of close conjunction events in those few highly congested orbital bands have increased dramatically in the past several years. For example, the frequency of potential encounter events between active satellites and large debris objects near active satellite constellations has reached a very high level.

Odds are that there will be another satellite/debris encounter sometime in the not-too-distant future. This could be tomorrow, or next month, or next year, or next decade. We don't know when, but it will surely happen. When it does, several bad things may happen to an unfortunate satellite operator.

A spacecraft may have to be replaced. The frequency of close encounters in orbits near that of encounter would suddenly increase to levels that will cause increased anxiety to several operators. Satellite insurance providers would be forced to raise premiums on in-orbit performance to record high levels.

Future launch plans for almost all low orbiting satellites may have to be reviewed and changed. Space-based services to the world society may diminish over time. The worldwide impact on national economies and the quality of life are not even calculable.

Although space debris proliferation presents a long-term challenge that will require a long-term solution, the immediate problem is quite bounded. Recent studies of debris distribution reveal the near-term troubled zone to be a spherical shell between the altitudes of 700 km and 900 km. This is where a great many operational satellites and large debris objects co-exist.

One suggested near-term partial solution by NASA is to remove a limited number of large debris objects that reside in the high density zone. This approach could retard the growth of collision risk levels and lead to values that are consistent with statistical times-between-debris-collisions that are much higher than expected satellite mission lifetimes.

Such an operation would have to be continued on a long-term basis, requiring the removal of some large objects each year. Such debris removal missions are possible, but complex and expensive.

In an ideal world, all affected nations and parties would collaborate and contribute to the creation of a massive new space effort. There are literally well over 1,000 large debris objects that pose immediate threats. Of these, a few of the most threatening objects could be removed annually. There are a number of ways to do this. Let's take one approach as an example. Start by developing a specially designed "Debris Collection Spacecraft."

Each DCS could be capable of maneuvering and rendezvousing with one or more objects, but one at a time. Each object may be stored for later de-orbit, or fitted with an autonomous de-orbit unit that slows the object's orbital speed. If each DCS is able to deal with four objects, assuming only eight objects need to be removed annually, the job will require two DCS missions each year.

This whole removal operation must be transparent to commercial, civil and security satellite operators. In order to be effective, the removal program needs to start almost immediately to insure objects are removed in time to avoid potential future collisions.

The development costs of DCS spacecraft may be in the several hundred-million-dollar neighborhood, with an annual operating budget at about $500 million to $1 billion. This seems like an expensive program, but the cost of doing nothing may be much greater...

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Space_Debris_One_Solution_999.html.

Moon Radiation Findings May Reduce Health Risks to Astronauts

by David Sims for EOS Science News
Durham NH (SPX)
Jun 13, 2013

Space scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) report that data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show lighter materials like plastics provide effective shielding against the radiation hazards faced by astronauts during extended space travel. The finding could help reduce health risks to humans on future missions into deep space.

Aluminum has always been the primary material in spacecraft construction, but it provides relatively little protection against high-energy cosmic rays and can add so much mass to spacecraft that they become cost-prohibitive to launch.

The scientists have published their findings online in the American Geophysical Union journal Space Weather. Titled "Measurements of Galactic Cosmic Ray Shielding with the CRaTER Instrument," the work is based on observations made by the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on board the LRO spacecraft.

Lead author of the paper is Cary Zeitlin of the SwRI Earth, Oceans, and Space Department at UNH. Co-author Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space is the principal investigator for CRaTER.

Says Zeitlin, "This is the first study using observations from space to confirm what has been thought for some time - that plastics and other lightweight materials are pound-for-pound more effective for shielding against cosmic radiation than aluminum. Shielding can't entirely solve the radiation exposure problem in deep space, but there are clear differences in effectiveness of different materials."

The plastic-aluminum comparison was made in earlier ground-based tests using beams of heavy particles to simulate cosmic rays. "The shielding effectiveness of the plastic in space is very much in line with what we discovered from the beam experiments, so we've gained a lot of confidence in the conclusions we drew from that work," says Zeitlin. "Anything with high hydrogen content, including water, would work well."

The space-based results were a product of CRaTER's ability to accurately gauge the radiation dose of cosmic rays after passing through a material known as "tissue-equivalent plastic," which simulates human muscle tissue.

Prior to CRaTER and recent measurements by the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars rover Curiosity, the effects of thick shielding on cosmic rays had only been simulated in computer models and in particle accelerators, with little observational data from deep space.

The CRaTER observations have validated the models and the ground-based measurements, meaning that lightweight shielding materials could safely be used for long missions, provided their structural properties can be made adequate to withstand the rigors of spaceflight.

Since LRO's launch in 2009, the CRaTER instrument has been measuring energetic charged particles - particles that can travel at nearly the speed of light and may cause detrimental health effects - from galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events. Fortunately, Earth's thick atmosphere and strong magnetic field provide adequate shielding against these dangerous high-energy particles.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. developed and manages the LRO mission. LRO's current science mission is implemented for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate sponsored LRO's initial one-year exploration mission that concluded in September 2010.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Moon_Radiation_Findings_May_Reduce_Health_Risks_to_Astronauts_999.html.

China astronauts enter space module

Beijing (AFP)
June 13, 2013

Three Chinese astronauts Thursday entered a space module after carrying out a successful docking maneuver, state media said, two days after the launch of the country's longest manned space mission.

The astronauts entered the Tiangong-1 space module at 0817 GMT, almost three hours after their spacecraft Shenzhou-10 had linked up with the space laboratory in an "automated docking", Xinhua said, citing the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

The three -- who include China's second woman in space -- are spending 15 days in orbit as the country's ambitious space program reaches another milestone.

The docking procedure was the fifth to take place between Shenzhou-type spacecraft and the space module, Xinhua said.

Two automated operations were carried out by the unmanned Shenzhou-8 in 2011 and both an automated and manual docking by the manned Shenzhou-9 in 2012.

Last year's manual docking, China's first, tested a technique that is needed to be able to construct a space station, which China aims to do by 2020.

Beijing sees the multi-billion-dollar space program as a symbol of its growing global stature and technical expertise, and of the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_astronauts_enter_space_module_Xinhua_999.html.

Germany to draw up $10.6-billion flood damage fund

June 13, 2013

BERLIN (AP) — Germany will create a fund of up to 8 billion euros ($10.6 billion) to pay for the damage caused by recent flooding, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.

The country, which has Europe's biggest economy, won't raise taxes to cover the costs and will raise borrowing, Merkel said after meeting Germany's 16 state governors. The cost of the fund, meant to finance long-term rebuilding, will be split equally between the federal government and the states; details of financing have yet to be finalized but Merkel said issuing government bonds is one possibility.

The Elbe, the Danube and other rivers overflowed their banks following persistent heavy rain, causing extensive damage over the past two weeks in southern and northeastern Germany. The water is now slowly receding in most areas.

Fitch Ratings earlier this week estimated that the cost of damage in Germany would total about 12 billion euros, and that insurers would face claims of up to 3 billion euros. Merkel stressed that "we don't yet know the concrete scale of the damage," but officials named a "generous" figure of up to 8 billion euros as they launched a drive to pass legislation by early July.

Some of the same areas were hit by flooding in 2002. Officials at the time drew up an emergency fund of up to 7 billion euros; not all of that money was eventually used. The flooding does not appear likely to throw off course the German economy, which has been doing better than most in Europe and was expected to accelerate in the current quarter after growing by only 0.1 percent in the January-March period.

Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING in Brussels, noted that flooding in Germany hasn't had major economic effects in the past, in part because it tends to hit rural rather than major industrial regions.

"All in all, as in the past, the current flood will not come without costs and individual tragedies," he said. But "the growth path of the total economy ... should hardly be affected." The Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary also have been hit by this month's floods.