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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Ukraine rebels: a disunited front run by warlords

November 11, 2014

PEREVALSK, Ukraine (AP) — They don't call Nikolai Kozitsyn "Daddy" for nothing. In this rebel-held eastern Ukrainian town, the mustachioed Cossack lords it over the locals and pays little heed to the bosses of the breakaway movement.

Patches of Ukraine's depressed industrial basin in the east — in the throes of a pro-Russian separatist insurgency — have fallen under the control of such warlords, who run towns as their personal fiefdoms.

Accountable seemingly to nobody, except perhaps Russia, these domains are a further destabilizing element in a six-month conflict that has left more than 4,000 dead and displaced a million. Kozitsyn, a stocky 58-year old Russian who says he has fighting experience in Yugoslavia and in several conflicts across the former Soviet Union, rules over the town of Perevalsk with a stern hand. Capital punishment is a necessary deterrent to crime in unruly times, Kozitsyn told The Associated Press in an interview at his headquarters, situated in a gloomy 1950s neo-classical building known as the House of Culture.

"It has had a positive effect," he said. "We have no marauding, no burglaries or car-jacking." But it's not clear whether such tough talk is mere bravado, for Kozitsyn demurs when pressed on whether any executions have actually been carried out. "People here have a quiet and simple life," he said, when pressed on the matter.

Wooden ammunition crates are stacked up in front of the windows of Kozitsyn's sparse office. Behind him hang portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Kremlin chief of staff Vladislav Surkov — renowned for being the eminence grise of the Moscow leadership.

Outside, four parked tanks carry Russian and rebel flags. Burly Cossacks with wind-burned faces wearing black-and-red astrakhan hats fix Ukrainian military hardware seized in fighting. In the lobby of the House of Culture, an elderly female barber shaves and gives haircuts to a line of Cossacks — members of a semi-military group which traditionally guarded the far-flung outposts of the Russian empire — waiting to pay court to a commander they affectionately call Batya, or Daddy.

Kozitsyn imposed his authority quickly in the area. As armed pro-Russian separatists were seizing one town after another in eastern Ukraine, groups of Cossacks in early May crossed from southern Russia to occupy territories along the border. They claimed they did so to defend the interests of the native Russian-speaking population.

"I'm fighting for this people and together with this people," said Kozistyn, "defending our rights to own this territory and the riches with which our Lord and forefathers endowed us." Kozitsyn, who leads a Cossack unit calling itself the Great Don Army, claims to rule over four-fifths of the rebel-controlled section of the Luhansk region, with thousands of men under his command. Rival rebels disagree.

On the other side of the highway running by Perevalsk, in the town of Alchevsk, native son Alexei Mozgovoi runs things in similarly uncompromising and independent fashion. Mozgovoi has attracted controversy for his openness to dialogue with pro-Ukraine unity supporters — and his ruthless stance on law and order.

At the end of October, two alleged rapists stood trial in Alchevsk before a "people's court" presided over by Mozgovoi and two other rebel commanders. Amid cries of "execution," the 300-strong audience — and jury — gave a show of hands that condemned one of the men to death. They spared the other man the death penalty to faint ripples of applause.

Mozgovoi associate Yuri Shevchenko said this was justice in its purest form. "We gathered and presented the evidence for the people to pass judgment," Shevchenko said. "What we are saying is: 'We are giving you the right to judge.'"

The rebels argue that public trials for heinous crimes — they claimed that one alleged rape victims was 12 years old — would serve as a deterrent. The condemned man remains in custody and it is unclear his jailers plan go through with execution.

In extolling the virtues of the people's court, Mozgovoi condemned Ukrainian courts as "soaked with (corruption) like a cake with syrup." Nothing quite like this form of crowd justice has been sanctioned anywhere else in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, underscoring the fragmented nature of the rebel command.

The leaders in Perevalsk and Alchevsk try to refrain from excessively harsh criticism of their nominal superiors in Luhansk, but their disdain is transparent. Mozgovoi said he would rather work with Ukrainian officials, some of whom he said are good at what they do, rather than promote the flag-waving rebel commanders "who shout the loudest."

That's a surprisingly candid statement that flies in the face of the separatist orthodoxy, which has it that Kiev is in the grip of irredeemable fascists. Top figures in the breakaway governments are a motley group of local men with opaque histories. Many have links to the political party of former President Viktor Yanukovych, who had his support base in the east. Yanukovych was overthrown in February after months of often bloody protests that were sparked by his government's decision to favor ties with Russia over Europe.

The current crisis was ostensibly sparked by fears that Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine would be oppressed by a government that Russian state media has cast as extremist nationalists. Mozgovoi readily concedes the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic has done little to improve the lot of people under their rule, and that the corruption of the previous regime is still going strong.

"In the past six months," he said, "our government has achieved nothing." Perevalsk and Alchevsk both participated in a contentious vote in early November to elect separatist deputies and leaders, but it is evident the outcome of the poll means little on the ground.

Kozitsyn, in Perevalsk, said his authority came from a higher power. "We are an independent organization and we don't depend on anyone," he said. "I'm answerable only to President Putin and our Lord."

Heavy shelling shakes Ukraine's main city in east

November 09, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The heaviest shelling in recent weeks has shaken the main city in Ukraine's rebel-held east, heightening worry about the renewal of full-scale conflict despite a cease-fire signed two months ago between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists.

Artillery explosions roared throughout the early hours of Sunday in Donetsk, quietening only after sunrise. A city council statement said four residential buildings were destroyed, but it didn't give information on casualties.

The cease-fire called on Sept. 5 has been violated almost daily. Some of the heaviest fighting focuses on Donetsk's airport. On Saturday, Associated Press reporters saw scores of military vehicles moving near Donetsk and farther to the east. Many of the unmarked vehicles were towing artillery. Ukrainian officials say rebel forces have received new weaponry and manpower from Russia. Moscow denies such claims.

Ukraine rebels seen moving large military convoys

November 08, 2014

SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press reporters saw more than 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move Saturday in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, indicating that intensified hostilities may lie ahead.

Three separate columns were seen — one near the main separatist stronghold of Donetsk and two outside the town of Snizhne, 80 kilometers (50 miles) further east. The vehicles were mainly transportation trucks, some of them carrying small- and large-caliber artillery systems, and at least one armored personnel carrier. Several of the trucks were seen to be carrying troops.

Ukrainian officials said this week that they believe rebel forces have received substantial consignments of weaponry and manpower from Russia. Moscow denies such claims. It was not immediately possible to establish the provenance of the vehicles seen Saturday. Separatists have always insisted they are armed with equipment captured from Ukrainian forces, but the sheer scale and quality of their armaments have strained the credibility of that claim.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Volodymyr Polevoy said rebel reinforcements have also been observed moving toward front-line locations around 150 kilometers (95 miles) northeast of Donetsk, in the Luhansk region.

Polevoy said rebel authorities are boosting their ranks by forcibly mobilizing residents in a number of occupied towns. Despite a cease-fire being reached in September, Ukrainian and rebel troops engage on a regular basis, with some of the heaviest fighting focused on Donetsk airport.

One government paratrooper was killed Friday by a sniper at the airport, military authorities said in a statement. Polevoy said two other Ukrainian troops were killed on the same day, but gave no details.

The statement added that Ukrainian positions came under artillery fire in several towns and villages east of Donetsk, including Debaltseve, which has begun to be increasingly encircled by rebel forces.

Earlier this week, Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko said that additional troops were being deployed to the east to defend cities still under government control against possible incursions. That followed rebel statements of intent to expand the amount of territory under their control.

The truce signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, by Russia, Ukraine and the separatists stipulates the pullback of heavy weaponry. In Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference for what was expected to be a discussion about the unrest in eastern Ukraine.

Asked if Russia still respects the legitimacy of the cease-fire agreement, Lavrov said it is for the "rebels and the government" of Ukraine to finalize a disengagement line — a process that he said is continuing.

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia rose further after the rebels held an election last Sunday that Ukraine and the West denounced as a violation of the truce. Russia, however, quickly lent its support to the vote.

Peter Leonard in Kiev, Ukraine, and Lara Jakes in Beijing contributed to this report.

Ukraine accuses Russia of sending dozens of tanks

November 07, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Friday accused Russia of sending dozens of tanks and other heavy weapons into rebel-controlled eastern regions and said five servicemen were killed in clashes with the rebels.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at least 32 tanks, 16 artillery systems and 30 trucks loaded with fighters and ammunition had crossed into eastern Ukraine from Russia. He said three mobile radar units loaded on trucks also came over the border from Russia.

Lysenko provided no specific evidence and it wasn't immediately clear how his agency had obtained the information, since parts of Ukraine's eastern border with Russia have been under rebel control since August.

Ukraine and the West have continuously accused Moscow of fueling a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons. Russia denies those accusations. Russia's Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on Lysenko's statement, but earlier Friday it rejected Western allegations that Moscow was deploying more troops near the border.

NATO had no immediate confirmation on the latest Ukrainian report. "We are aware of the reports of Russian troops and tanks crossing the border between Ukraine and Russia and are looking into these reports," said a NATO military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media.

"If this crossing into Ukraine is confirmed, it would be further evidence of Russia's aggression and direct involvement in destabilizing Ukraine," the officer added. He said the alliance had seen "a recent increase in Russian troops and equipment along the eastern border of Ukraine."

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the movement "if confirmed ... would be another blatant violation of the Minsk agreement," referring to the Sept. 5 pact between Russia, Ukraine and the separatists on a cease-fire and the pullback of heavy weaponry.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed "deep concern" about the reports of Russian troop movements and spoke by phone Friday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. According to his office, Poroshenko told Merkel the Sept. 5 truce is being increasingly flouted and complained that Russia had dispatched another humanitarian convoy into Ukraine's rebel-held regions without prior inspection by Ukrainian border officials or coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Russia's relations with the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its support for the insurgency in the east. The United States and the European Union have slapped sanctions on Moscow, one of the reasons the value of the Russian ruble has plunged more than 40 percent this year.

Despite the cease-fire, Ukrainian troops and separatist rebels are still fighting near the airport of the main rebel-held city of Donetsk. A funeral was held Friday for two Donetsk teens killed by shelling as they played soccer at their school.

Hostilities also have intensified in the neighboring Luhansk region, where rebels have made some gains in recent weeks. Lysenko said Friday that several villages in the region have come under sustained rebel fire from multiple rocket launchers and artillery. Five servicemen were killed and 16 were wounded during the previous day's fighting, he said.

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia rose further after the rebels held an election Sunday that Ukraine and the West denounced as a violation of the truce. Russia welcomed the vote but in carefully chosen language.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, emphasized Friday that Moscow's statement saying it "respects" the rebel vote doesn't amount to its recognition. He added that Russia wants peace talks to continue.

On a separate topic, the rebels said Friday that more human remains were found at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as the plane's wreckage was being removed from the area. The Boeing 777 was shot down July 17 over eastern Ukraine while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board — most of them Dutch citizens. Ukraine and the West have blamed the pro-Russian separatists, who have denied the involvement. A probe into the crash is continuing.

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Thousands protest Romania voting difficulties

November 09, 2014

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people have protested against the Romanian government a week before a presidential runoff, saying it has been making it difficult for citizens abroad to vote.

Romanians in Paris, London, Vienna and elsewhere have said they were unable to vote in the Nov. 2 first round of the presidential race because of long lines. In response, the government said Friday it would open more polling booths, and other measures to speed up the process, but protesters said it wasn't enough. On Sunday, the foreign ministry said it would dispatch some 800 officials from Bucharest and embassies and consular offices abroad to help Romanians there vote in the Nov. 16 runoff.

The announcement came after about 5,000 people gathered in the city Cluj in northwestern Romania late Saturday, and hundreds turned out in Bucharest, Constanta and other cities shouting "Get out and vote!"

On Sunday a few hundred gathered in Bucharest and elsewhere to protest for a second day. They yelled "Klaus, Klaus, help us get rid of Mickey Mouse!" the nickname for Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Ponta faces Sibiu Mayor Klaus Iohannis in next Sunday's runoff, which Ponta is favored to win.

Around 2 million Romanians live abroad.

Balloons symbolize fall of Berlin Wall

November 09, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — The citizens of Berlin on Sunday released almost 7,000 balloons into the night sky, many carrying messages of hope to mark the 25th anniversary since the fall of the wall that once divided their city.

The symbolic act recalled the giddy night of Nov. 9, 1989, when thousands of people from the communist East streamed through the Berlin Wall to celebrate freedom with their brethren in the West. "For peace and freedom," Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit told a crowd of ten thousands that had gathered at the city's iconic Brandenburg Gate as he gave the signal to release the balloons, which has been placed, illuminated, along a 15-kilometer (9-mile) stretch of the former border.

Earlier he thanked the former leaders of Poland, Hungary and the Soviet Union — Lech Walesa, Miklos Nemeth and Mikhail Gorbachev — for having helped set the stage for Germany's peaceful revolution. Gorbachev — who is still a popular figure in Germany — was greeted with affectionate shouts of "Gorbi, Gorbi" by the crowds.

Hours earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel had honored the memory of the 138 people who died along the Berlin Wall, and the countless others who suffered during its 28-year existence. The latter included Dorothea Ebert, a violinist who was imprisoned in East Germany after a failed attempt to escape. On Sunday, Ebert played a piece by Bach that she had practiced over and over during her imprisonment — on an imaginary violin, because the communist authorities refused to let her have a real one.

Merkel also paid tribute to those who helped bring down the wall, calling its collapse an example of the human yearning for freedom. "It was about reclaiming freedom, about being citizens, not subjects," Merkel said at the main memorial site for the wall on Bernauer Strasse.

The protests that forced East German authorities to relax travel restrictions for their citizens were spurred by changes that had already taken place elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Merkel said the wall's collapse should be regarded as a sign of hope for people suffering in Ukraine, Syria and Iraq.

"The fall of the wall has shown us that dreams can come true," said Merkel, who grew up in East Germany. "Nothing has to stay the way it is, however big the hurdles are." Merkel noted that Nov. 9 is a significant date in German history also for being the day when, in 1938, Nazi paramilitaries launched a pogrom against the country's Jewish population in what became known as Kristallnacht — the "Night of Broken Glass."

"That was the opening note for the murder of millions," said Merkel, adding that on Nov. 9 each year "I feel not just joy, but the responsibility that German history burdens us with."

Germany marks 25 years since Berlin Wall's fall

November 08, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — Germany on Sunday celebrates the 25th anniversary of the night the Berlin Wall fell, a pivotal moment in the collapse of communism and the start of the country's emergence as the major power at the heart of Europe.

A 15-kilometer (nine-mile) chain of lighted balloons along the former border will be released into the air early Sunday evening — around the time on Nov. 9, 1989 when a garbled announcement by a senior communist official set off the chain of events that brought down the Cold War's most potent symbol.

The opening of East Germany's fortified frontier capped months of ferment across eastern and central Europe that had already ushered in Poland's first post-communist prime minister and prompted Hungary to cut open its border fence. The hard-line leadership in East Berlin faced mounting pressure from huge protests and an exodus of citizens via other communist countries.

The collapse of the Wall, which had divided the city for 28 years, was "a point of no return ... from there, things headed toward a whole new world order," said Axel Klausmeier, the director of the city's main Wall memorial.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, is opening an overhauled museum Sunday at the site — home to one of the few surviving sections of the Wall. Merkel, 60, who was then a physicist and entered politics as communism crumbled, recalls the feeling of being stuck behind East Germany's border.

"Even today when I walk through the Brandenburg Gate, there's a residual feeling that this wasn't possible for many years of my life, and that I had to wait 35 years to have this feeling of freedom," Merkel said last week. "That changed my life."

The future chancellor was among the thousands who poured westward hours after the ruling Politburo's spokesman, Guenter Schabowski, off-handedly announced at a televised news conference that East Germans would be allowed to travel to West Germany and West Berlin.

Pressed on when that would take effect, Schabowski seemed uncertain but said: "To my knowledge, this is immediately, without delay." Soon, Western media were reporting that East Germany was opening the border and East Berliners were jamming the first crossing.

Border guards had received no orders to let anyone cross, but gave up trying to hold back the crowds. By midnight, all the border crossings in the city were open. East Germany's then-leader, Egon Krenz, later said the plan was to allow free travel only the next morning so citizens could line up properly to get exit visas. But with the leadership's control over the border well and truly lost, Germany was soon on the road to reunification less than a year later, on Oct. 3, 1990.

Since then, some 1.5 to 2 trillion euros ($1.9 to $2.5 trillion) has gone into rebuilding the once-dilapidated east. Much has changed beyond recognition, though some inequalities persist. Wages and pensions remain lower, and unemployment higher, in the east than the west. Many eastern areas saw their population drop as people headed west for jobs, something that is only now showing signs of turning around.

There are cultural differences too: a higher proportion of children are in daycare in the east, a legacy of communist times, and the opposition Left Party — partly descended from East Germany's communist rulers — remains strongest in the east.

But the progress toward true unity is seen in Germany's top leadership: Not only is Merkel from the east, but so is the nation's president, Joachim Gauck, a former Protestant pastor and pro-democracy activist.

Germans today can be grateful to have lives and opportunities, Gauck said, "that endless numbers of people in the world can only desire and dream of."

Disney's next animated feature, 'Moana,' slated for 2016 release

By Kate Stanton
Oct. 20, 2014

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Disney Animation Studios announced Monday that its 56th animated feature film, Moana, would hit theaters in late 2016, two years earlier than expected.

Along with the new release date, Disney shared concept art from the film, which will tell the story of a Polynesian princess who "sets sail in search of a fabled island."

Here's the plot synopsis (via IGN):

    In the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania, Moana, a born navigator, sets sail in search of a fabled island. During her incredible journey, she teams up with her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui, to traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous sea creatures, breathtaking underworlds and ancient folklore.

Moana will be directed by Disney hit-makers Ron Clements and John Musker.

"John and I have partnered on so many films -- from The Little Mermaid to Aladdin to The Princess and the Frog," Clements said in a statement. "Creating Moana is one of the great thrills of our career. It's a big adventure set in this beautiful world of Oceania."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2014/10/20/Disneys-next-animated-feature-Moana-slated-for-2016-release/3641413860858/.

Israel clampdown at shrine fuels Muslim fears

November 07, 2014

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinians knelt on prayer carpets in a Jerusalem street Friday, faced by a cordon of Israeli riot police who blocked them from reaching Islam's third- holiest shrine in the nearby Old City.

The worshipers eventually dispersed peacefully, but the scene highlighted the escalating tensions over the holy site — a walled, hilltop plateau known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israel argues that restricting access to the shrine, which has been common in recent weeks, is needed to clamp down on growing unrest in the contested city of 810,000 people. On Friday, Muslims under age 35 were denied entry, while restrictions were broader in preceding weeks.

Jerusalem's Muslims, who make up about a third of the population, say the security clampdown only heightens fears that their traditional control of the holy site, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock, is under threat from Jewish zealots.

In recent weeks, senior members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition have called for a greater Jewish presence and right to prayer on the mount, which is Judaism's holiest site, stirring Muslim worries about encroachment. Under an arrangement in place since Israel's capture of the Old City and its shrines in 1967, the sacred plateau is administered by Muslims reporting to Jordan, while Jews have a right to visit.

Any perceived attempt to change the existing prayer arrangements at the shrine is seen by local Muslims as highly provocative. They say they view it as another threat to their status and identity. Many Palestinian residents of the city complain of high taxes for poor municipal services, compared with those offered in Jewish neighborhoods, as well as severe restrictions on building permits.

Mohammed Fakhouri, a 38-year-old shopkeeper in the Old City, said the restrictions on prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are the last straw, adding that he hasn't been able to attend for the past five weeks because of the age limits.

"Like the Jewish people, we pay taxes, and we don't get anything from Israel," he said. "They don't let us build houses. ... If you can't go pray, what's after this?" Muslims from the West Bank face even greater difficulties in reaching the shrine because they must have Israeli permits to enter Jerusalem. Those with permits pass through barbed-wire topped terminals in Israel's separation barrier, often enduring long waits en route to the mosque.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu reassured Jordan's King Abdullah II that Israel would not change the status quo at the holy site and that Israeli politicians expressing a different view were not speaking for the government. Jordan had recalled its ambassador in protest after a police raid over a clash at the entrance to the mosque.

On Friday, Netanyahu made no mention of those politicians, instead blaming "militant Islamic incitement" for the increasing violence in Jerusalem. This has included near-daily clashes between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli police in Arab neighborhoods of the city and two deadly attacks in which Palestinians drove vehicles into crowds waiting at light-rail stops in Jerusalem. In another incident, a Palestinian on a motorcycle shot and seriously wounded a prominent Jewish campaigner for more access to the Temple Mount.

The most recent attack, on Wednesday, was carried out by an activist from the Islamic militant group Hamas who drove his minivan into a train stop, killing one man and wounding 13. One of the wounded, 17-year-old Shalom Ahron Badani, died Friday of his injuries.

Hamas, the main rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has been trying to harness the growing frustration among Palestinians, calling Friday for a "popular uprising" across the Palestinian territories in defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Abbas' security forces broke up Hamas-led protests of several hundred people in the West Bank's two largest cities, Hebron and Nablus, witnesses said. Aides have said Abbas is concerned that Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from him in 2007, is trying to foment unrest to weaken his grip on areas of the West Bank that are under self-rule.

Israeli forces, meanwhile, clamped down on protests in two areas under their control, the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem and the Qalandiya checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. At Qalandiya, police fired tear gas at Palestinian stone-throwers.

Ahead of noon prayers Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, about 1,300 police were deployed in and around the Old City. They manned metal barricades, checking identity papers and directing pedestrians. At one checkpoint in the Wadi Joz area, just outside the Old City, some 500 young Palestinians who were denied entry to the mosque compound because of their age performed prayers on a street, kneeling on carpets spread on the asphalt. They were faced by a row of riot police in black uniforms and helmets, as well as several officers on horseback.

"We are steadfast here," said one of the worshippers, who gave only his first name, Raed, for fear of Israeli repercussions. "We pray here despite the Israeli restraints." Police spokeswoman Luba Samri denied that police were favoring one religion over another and rejected Palestinian claims that the heavy police presence near the shrine was contributing to tensions.

"We don't operate according to what the Palestinians would like," she said. "We operate according to what we feel we need to do, based on intelligence reports and our analysis of the situation, to maintain law and order in the area."

The recent escalation in Jerusalem also set off an intense debate in Israel. Center-left politicians have accused ultra-nationalists of recklessly provoking Muslims with talk of changing the status quo, and warned that violence in Jerusalem could quickly spin out of control. In the past, confrontations at the holy site have triggered major rounds of fighting.

Rabbinical opinion is also divided. Many ultra-Orthodox rabbis oppose prayer by Jews at the site under the current conditions on religious grounds. Some nationalist clerics have been encouraging attempts to pray there.

On Friday, Israel's chief Sephardic rabbi called right-wing encouragement for Israelis to pray at the Temple Mount "incitement" and said it had to stop. "I issue a call that it is prohibited for Jews to go to the Temple Mount," Yitzhak Yosef said at the funeral of the 17-year-old who was killed in Wednesday's minivan attack. "I issue a call to end this so that the blood of the people of Israel will flow no more."

3 astronauts land safely in Kazakhstan steppe

November 10, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying three astronauts from the International Space Station has landed safely in the frozen Kazakhstan steppe.

The trio of NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Maxim Suraev of Russia landed as scheduled at 9:58 a.m. local time Monday (0358 GMT Monday, 10:58 p.m. EST Sunday). They had spent more than five months in orbit, doing research and helping maintain the space outpost orbiting the Earth.

A key research focus during their mission was human health management for long-duration space travel. NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos are preparing to have two crew members spend one full year aboard the space station beginning in 2015.

NASA's Barry Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova remained on the space station.

Scientists gear up to land 1st spacecraft on comet

November 07, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency is making final preparations to land the first unmanned spacecraft on a comet next week, and scientists are hoping that technology designed a quarter century ago will perform as planned.

Europe's Rosetta space probe was launched in 2004 with the aim of studying comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and learning more about the origins of the universe. After successfully getting Rosetta to rendezvous with the comet in August, scientists intend to release a small landing craft called Philae onto its icy surface.

The drop — scheduled for 0835 GMT (3:35 a.m. EST) Wednesday — requires a series of complex orbital maneuvers over the coming days. Since signals take over 28 minutes to travel the 500 million kilometers (311 million miles) from Earth to Rosetta, scientists have programmed the probe to perform the separation sequence itself when the moment is right.

They will rely on what, in digital terms, is ancient technology. "The design and building started some 20 years ago," mission manager Fred Jansen told reporters Friday. "Effectively you're looking at technology, computing-wise, of the end of the 1980s."

The 100-kilogram (220-pound) lander should touch down on the surface of the comet about seven hours later, with confirmation reaching Earth at about 1603 GMT (11:03 a.m. EST). "There is no doubt that we'll hit the comet," said spacecraft operations manager Andrea Accomazzo. "Whether we hit it safely is another matter."

The European Space Agency, which relies for funding on its member states, has sought to drum up public interest in the mission with a series of high-profile campaigns over the past year. These include an online vote on what to name the landing site — Agilkia, after an island on the Nile River, was chosen — and the release of a sci-fi short film called "Ambition" starring "Game of Thrones" actor Aidan Gillen.

The landing event will be streamed on the space agency's website.

Alternative Earths Team To Join NASA Astrobiology Institute

Riverside CA (SPX)
Oct 14, 2014

If we're looking at Mars, or planets in solar systems far, far away, how can we tell whether they support life? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside will share a $50 million grant from the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) to help answer that question by studying ancient rocks on Earth to determine how oxygen developed in our atmosphere billions of years ago.

Specifically, UC Riverside's team will spend five years trying to map the different states of life on Earth from 3.2 billion years ago-when bacteria may have first begun oxygen-producing photosynthesis-to about 700 million years ago, about the time animals came on the scene, said UCR Distinguished Professor of Biogeochemistry Timothy Lyons, leader of the "Alternative Earths" team.

"The rate of discovery of exoplanets-planets from other solar systems-has been exponential, but we are a long way from the technology required to visit those planets, so the question is, what can we learn from early Earth to inform our exploration of life in the universe?" Lyons said.

"Earth is the only planet we know of that has life, so why look for life all over the universe if you don't, at the same time, explore how life evolved on our planet, and the signatures of that early life? It seems obvious, but it hasn't always been an easy sell to spend millions of dollars to look at 3-billion-year-old rocks from around the world to understand what might be on Mars or an exoplanet light years away."

UCR's team is one of only seven interdisciplinary teams selected to become members of the NAI, which is headquartered at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. According to NASA, "average funding for each team will be approximately $8 million."

The other six teams chosen to join the NAI are from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's Ames Research Center, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the SETI Institute, the University of Colorado in Boulder, and the University of Montana in Missoula.

The idea behind the UCR-led study is to imagine what you could see if you were observing Earth remotely 3 billion years ago, Lyons said. What kind of evidence would confirm that our planet was habitable, and in fact teeming with life?

Liquid water and temperatures in the "Goldilocks Zone"-neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life-are already known to be important markers for habitability. The presence of oxygen can also be an indicator of complex life (such as animals that require oxygen), Lyons said. It isn't necessary for all life, but oxygen is a product, and therefore a signature, of life, he said, whether produced by plants or, as it was initially, by bacteria.

In fact, in its first 2 billion years or so, Earth didn't have any oxygen in its oceans or atmosphere.

The planet was constantly changing during its early history; it was hot, it was cold; it was mostly water and then it had land, continents which formed, grew and collided through plate tectonics.

Yet life existed through all those changes, Lyons said. People and other animals couldn't have lived on Earth 3 billion years ago, but there was life nonetheless-simple organisms like photosynthetic bacteria that ultimately caused oxygen to accumulate in our atmosphere about 2.4 billion years ago.

So if you were looking at Earth from afar, trying to determine whether there was life, what would you see in those early years? That's what Lyons' team will be trying to recreate, using clues from very ancient rocks collected by drilling or by sampling outcrops exposed at the surface.

Many of the rocks have already been collected from parts of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and multiple spots on the African continent, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Gabon and Angola.

"South Africa and Australia, for example, have wonderful exposures of some very ancient rocks that are not heavily altered by time," Lyons said. "We also have some money to explore new areas with high potential for new perspectives, but we already have one of the best collections of materials ever assembled for a project of this sort.

"The kinds of rocks we look at are in layers, with the oldest at the bottom, and each of the layers is a page in the history of the ever-changing biology and chemistry of the oceans, land surfaces and the atmosphere on early Earth. We're trying to read that book, and if we find fossils in the rocks, great, but fossils are rare in rocks that old, so we'll be looking more at the chemical fingerprints left by the processes of life, as a way of telling us what was happening then on Earth."

These fingerprints, Lyons said, "are exactly those NASA is searching for on Mars and will use in its exploration beyond our solar system."

The Alternative Earths project will also study tectonic movement as a driver of large-scale environmental change and how that impacted the evolution of oxygen and life on Earth.

The UCR-led project will involve 19 scientists from 11 academic institutions, including Yale University (Lyons's alma mater), Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Arizona State University, J. Craig Venter Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Pennsylvania State University and Rice University, two universities in Denmark and one in Belgium.

The two working group leaders are both former UCR graduate students who studied with Lyons-Noah Planavsky, assistant professor geochemistry at Yale, and Chris Reinhard, assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

They will work most closely with Lyons to coordinate the efforts of the widely dispersed team. UCR professors involved in the project are Andrey Bekker, Mary Droser and Gordon Love, all members of the Earth Sciences Department.

"This award is large by any standard, and with it comes terrific opportunity and responsibility," Lyons said.

"It's the culmination of the 10 years I've spent at UCR, and the wonderful students, postdocs and colleagues I have worked with. It feels like a crowning achievement, because of the size of it, all the people involved, and the research foundation it builds on. I am delighted about the group we have assembled and the unique opportunities that lie ahead. It speaks to the strength of astrobiology at UCR and the legacy of that tradition. I couldn't be happier."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/UC_Riversides_Alternative_Earths_Team_Selected_to_Join_the_NASA_Astrobiology_Institute_999.html.