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Thursday, August 25, 2016

Strong quake rattles central Italy: "The town isn't here"

August 24, 2016

AMATRICE, Italy (AP) — A strong earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, collapsing homes on top of residents as they slept. At least 10 people were reported dead in two hard-hit towns that were partially demolished.

"The town isn't here anymore," Amatrice mayor Sergio Pirozzi said. The magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:36 a.m. (0136 GMT) and was felt across a broad swath of central Italy, including Rome where residents of the capital felt a long swaying followed by aftershocks.

The hardest-hit towns were Amatrice and Accumoli near Rieti, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Rome. The center of Amatrice was devastated, with entire palazzos razed to the ground. Rocks and metal tumbled onto the streets and dazed residents huddled in piazzas as aftershocks continued into the early morning hours.

As daylight dawned, residents, civil protection workers and even priests began digging out with shovels, bulldozers and their bare hands, trying to reach survivors. The Italian Geological service put the magnitude at 6.0. The U.S. Geological Survey reported the magnitude at 6.2 with the epicenter at Norcia, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Rome, and with a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The mayor of the quake-hit town of Accumoli, Stefano Petrucci, said at least six people had died there, including a family of four, and two others. "There are deaths," he told state-run RaiNews24. In Amatrice, the ANSA news agency reported two bodies had been pulled from one building. The Rev. Fabio Gammarota told ANSA another three were killed in a separate collapse.

Amatrice Mayor Pirozzi told state-run RAI radio and Sky TG24 that residents were buried under collapsed buildings, that the lights had gone out and that heavy equipment was needed to clear streets clogged with debris.

The office of Premier Matteo Renzi tweeted that heavy equipment was on its way. In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in the same region and killed more than 300 people. The earlier earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of the latest quake.

A 1997 quake killed a dozen people in the area and severely damaged one of the jewels of Umbria, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, filled with Giotto frescoes. The Franciscan friars who are the custodians of the basilica reported no immediate damage from Wednesday's temblor.

Winfield reported from Rome.

Greece returns 14 migrants to Turkey under EU deal

August 18, 2016

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities have returned to neighboring Turkey 14 migrants over the past two days, bringing to nearly 500 the total of people sent back under this year's deal between the European Union and Turkey.

The public order ministry says four Pakistani and two Algerian nationals who had entered Greece illegally were taken back by boat from the eastern island of Lesbos Thursday. Another eight Syrians were returned Wednesday on a chartered plane, again from Lesbos.

More than a million refugees and other migrants have reached Greece in smugglers' boats from Turkey since the beginning of 2015, on their way to Europe's prosperous heartland. Since the EU-Turkey deal came into effect on March 20, the flow has slowed down to just over 10,000 people — 482 of whom have been returned.

Sarkozy to run for French presidency next year

August 22, 2016

PARIS (AP) — France's former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy announced Monday he is running for the presidency again in next year's elections, an awaited move that is expected to lead to a tough battle with rivals from his own camp.

In an extract of a book released on his Facebook page and Twitter account, Sarkozy wrote: "I have decided to be a candidate to the 2017 presidential election." "I've felt I had the force to wage this battle at a so tormented time of history," he added.

Sarkozy, 61, is expected to lead a campaign based on hardline ideas on immigration and security in a country marked by recent attacks carried out by Islamist extremists. The attacks have prompted a national debate about the place of Islam — France's No. 2 religion — in a strictly secular society. With his strategy, Sarkozy hopes to grab some votes from the far-right National Front, whose leader Marine Le Pen has already announced her candidacy for the presidency.

In recent interviews, Sarkozy has said he wants to widen the 2004 ban on the Muslim headscarf in public schools to also include universities. In the name of secularism, he has also said he opposes pork-free options proposed by many school canteens for Muslim and Jewish children, and he has suggested that children born in France to parents staying illegally in the country shouldn't be granted French nationality.

Sarkozy must first win the primaries organized by the French right in November where he's expected to face tough competition. The former prime minister under Jacques Chirac in the 1990s, Alain Juppe, 71, is the current favorite in the polls. Other contenders from the conservative party include Sarkozy's own former prime minister, Francois Fillon.

Sarkozy lost the presidential election to Socialist Francois Hollande in 2012 after his first term. When he left the Elysee Palace, he said he was leaving politics and would find a different way to serve his country.

Yet he made a successful comeback in 2014, winning the leadership of the conservative party, known at the time as the UMP. He explained he was moved to return to politics by the "hopelessness, anger and lack of future" that he sensed among the French. Since then the party changed its name to "the Republicans."

Since 2010, Sarkozy's name has been mentioned in several legal cases relating to corruption and influence-peddling, but he has never been convicted of wrongdoing or been sent to trial. Last February he was handed preliminary charges for suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign.

The French presidential election will take place in two rounds in April and May next year. The race remains wide open with primaries to be organized by the left in January. Unpopular Hollande has not said if he will run for re-election.

Syrian refugees support each other in Britain

August 21, 2016

LONDON (AP) — A summer rainstorm pounded down on the eaves of Christ the Saviour church hall in London as Fardous Bahbouh poured tea and set up the makeshift classroom where she teaches some 25 Syrian refugees how to ask for directions in English, shop for groceries and navigate British norms in making new friends.

Bahbouh's class is part of a larger Facebook community called "Ahlan Wa Sahlan" — Arabic for welcome — one of many small local efforts that have sprung up across Britain to help migrants who have made their way to the country after fleeing civil war in Syria.

"Being a refugee myself, I know how it feels to be away from home and having no option to return," said Bahbouh on a recent Thursday. A language teacher in her 30s from Syria, she was studying for a master's degree here when war broke out and prevented her from going home. Now she teaches others as a way of giving back to those who helped her.

As the U.K. struggles to implement its commitment to resettle more than 20,000 Syrians, the government is counting on charities and community groups to help the newcomers adjust to life in Britain. The Home Office has for the first time set up a program to allow local organizations to sponsor refugees and the agency's website directs volunteers to migrant charities that need their help.

While Britain initially resisted international pressure to accept large numbers of refugees, more than 9,000 Syrians have filed for asylum in the U.K. since 2011. That is a tiny fraction of the 1.1 million Syrians who registered throughout Europe during the same period, including almost 377,000 in Germany alone, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Local groups say they can be incubators for programs, providing a blueprint for transition that will help larger efforts succeed. After all, local communities are fundamental to the success of any resettlement effort, said Maurizio Albahari, author of "Crimes of Peace: Mediterranean Migrations at the World's Deadliest Border," and a social anthropologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"By working to facilitate every aspect of refugee resettlement, local communities quietly but steadily demonstrate to all levels of government that the arrival of refugees is neither unwanted nor impractical, and that xenophobia cannot be taken for granted," Albahari said.

One of the groups that is already serving refugees is Citizens UK, which helps them get health care, schooling and housing. Bekele Woyecha, a community organizer and former refugee from Ethiopia, said individuals — not the central government —have taken the lead.

"This is a county known for offering sanctuary," Woyecha said. "We want to keep that tradition." In addition to language classes, Ahlan Wa Sahlan hosts social events, such as recent communal meal during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. Such occasions are important, because they offer the newcomers a chance to talk about home and speak with others who share similar stories about the war and the treacherous journey they faced to get here.

All ages and walks of life are represented in Ahlan Wa Sahlan: An elderly painter pulled from the rubble of Aleppo, a shy newlywed couple, and Karam AlHabbal, who dreams of going to a British university and becoming a pilot.

Confident and funny, his English is already so good that he volunteers to help others. He has just turned 18 and gained residency status but will reveal few details of his travels to Britain for fear of endangering others.

"I have a normal life now I've come to a safe country." he said. "My country has been destroyed." At a picnic in London's Regent's Park, in the shadow of the golden dome of London's Central Mosque, Bahbouh's group meets once again. This time, bikes and biscuits replace notepads and pens.

Bahbouh arrived with two decorated cream cakes to celebrate AlHabbal's birthday and new residency status, and the aspiring pilot rushed to upload photos on Instagram. Some of the young men took selfies in the sunshine, while another sat on the grass and broke into a melancholy Arabic song.

From the outside, they looked like any other group of Londoners enjoying a picnic on a rare day of sun, but they were also compatriots helping one another navigate a new society and piece together a new life.

While Bahbouh's group can't replace the jobs, property and prospects the refugees left behind in Syria, she is trying to replenish the intangible assets of love, hope and confidence. "I am optimistic," Bahbouh said. "No war lasts forever."

Lithuania receives surplus vehicles from the Netherlands

Vilnius, Lithuania (UPI)
Aug 18, 2016

Lithuania is touting its bilateral military partnership with the Netherlands, which has resulted in the procurement of surplus military vehicles.

Over the past six months, Lithuania has received about 200 combat and medium-lift Mercedes-Benz GD vehicles, trucks and other military vehicles from the Netherlands to supplement and update the Baltic country's military fleet.

The vehicles were delivered in several phases and more equipment is scheduled for delivery this year and next under the $7.89 million deal.

"This is the second military equipment procurement contract between Lithuania and the Netherlands," Lithuania's Ministry of National Defense said. "In 2012-2013 the Lithuanian Armed Forces bought vehicles, communications containers and airport service equipment (to replace outdated and not cost-efficient equipment then used in the Lithuanian Armed Forces) from the Netherlands Armed Forces for a good price."

Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Juozas Olekas and Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lithuania Bert van der Lingen were meeting in the country Thursday to celebrate the successful cooperation between the two countries and future cooperation.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lithuania_receives_surplus_vehicles_from_the_Netherlands_999.html.

Obama to become first US president to visit Laos

Washington (AFP)
Aug 18, 2016

President Barack Obama will visit Laos next month, a first for a US president, in a trip that begins with a G20 summit in China, the White House said Thursday.

The September 2-9 tour will be the president's 11th visit to Asia since he took office in 2009.

Obama has made a "pivot" to the region a pillar of US foreign policy. Next month's swing will come about five months before the Democratic president steps down after two four-year terms.

In Laos, which this year holds the presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Obama will participate in the US-ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit from September 6 through 8.

The East Asia meeting will include the major regional powers such as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Russia.

"President Obama will be the first US president to visit Laos," the White House noted.

Secretary of State John Kerry has visited Laos, which has strained ties with the US, twice this year -- in January to prepare for Obama's arrival and in July for ASEAN meetings.

Kerry raised issues related to the devastation caused by US bombings during the Vietnam War and the future of Southeast Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

Laos became the world's most-bombed country per capita from 1964 to 1973 as the United States tried to cut supplies flowing to North Vietnamese fighters during the Vietnam War.

More than two million bombs were dropped. About 30 percent did not explode and some 50,000 people died by the end of the war.

In January, Washington and Vientiane discussed beefing up a US program to clear mines and disarm unexploded devices.

Before the Laos visit, Obama will attend his last meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 economic powers, on September 4-5 in Hangzhou in eastern China.

There Obama will also hold "in-depth" meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said in a statement.

The leaders of the world's superpowers will discuss "a wide-range of global, regional, and bilateral issues," it said.

At the last US-China strategic and economic talks, in Beijing in June, the two sides clashed over human rights and China's expansion in the South China Sea while proclaiming cooperation on climate change.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Obama_to_become_first_US_president_to_visit_Laos_999.html.

Alaskan town votes to relocate as climate change submerges island

By Shawn Price
Aug. 18, 2016

SHISHMAREF, Alaska, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The Alaskan village of Shishmaref narrowly voted to abandon their island and relocate to the mainland due to the effects of climate change, a town official said.

The 89-to-78 vote Wednesday makes Shishmaref, north of the Bering Strait, one of the first towns in the United States to move due to climate change. Melting sea ice is raising ocean levels and will submerge the island in a few decades.

The town dates back approximately 500 years according to Donna Barr, secretary of the Shishmaref Council.

Relocation would cost at least $180 million and residents will still have to choose a new location at a town meeting later, the Shishmaref city clerk's office said.

"About 15 years ago, they estimated the cost at $180 million, but I would figure it's much higher now," Barr said. "We don't see the move happening in our lifetime because of the funding."

The Army Corps of Engineers has identified nine Alaskan villages at imminent risk because of erosion and rising seas. They have been urged to move, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Another 200 to 300 villages face similar risks in the next few decades, the Corps said.

The village of Newtok, about 370 miles south of Shishmaref, has already voted to move using state and federal funds from HUD, spokeswoman Maria Gonoa said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016/08/18/Alaskan-town-votes-to-relocate-as-climate-change-submerges-island/2091471512295/.

Obama administration to end use of private prisons

August 18, 2016

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says it's phasing out its relationships with private prisons after a recent audit found the private facilities have more safety and security problems than ones run by the government.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has instructed federal officials to significantly reduce reliance on private prisons. As of December 2015, more than 22,000 federal inmates — or about 12 percent of the total — were in private facilities. That's according to report this month from the Justice Department's inspector general.

The government began to rely on private prisons in the late 1990s due to overcrowding. In her memo Thursday, Yates says the decline in the prison population over the past three years contributes to the decision not to renew private prison contracts.

South Sudan government recruited child soldiers, UN says

August 19, 2016

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan's government has recruited child soldiers in the past week to prepare for a renewed conflict, according to an internal United Nations document obtained by The Associated Press.

The document says a senior politician appointed by President Salva Kiir led the recruitment of an entire village of boys using intimidation. Some were as young as 12 years old. It was not clear how many children were involved.

Armed groups in South Sudan often coerce children to join their ranks by threatening to confiscate their family's cattle, a key source of wealth and status in this pastoral society. The U.N. document indicates that the recruitment of children took place shortly after the U.N. Security Council a week ago approved sending an additional 4,000 peacekeepers to the East African country to protect civilians after renewed fighting in the capital, Juba, last month.

Separately, UNICEF on Friday announced that at least 650 children have joined armed groups in South Sudan this year alone. Around 16,000 child soldiers have been recruited since civil war began in December 2013.

Army spokesperson Lul Ruai Koang said youth who join the military are not forced. He said he was not aware of the recent recruitment of children. South Sudan's military and opposition forces have made repeated promises to address allegations of child recruitment, but both sides have continued recruiting since July's outbreak of violence, according to Justin Forsyth, UNICEF's deputy executive director.

"They believe they can easily control and manipulate young minds," Forsyth said. The children then "can commit atrocities, and they will do what they are told." Child soldiers are defined as anyone recruited to join armed groups under the age of 18, and the International Criminal Court considers the recruitment of those under 15 to be a war crime.

In an interview this month in Unity state, one former child soldier said he had expected to do cooking and cleaning in the army when he joined at age 16 but instead was sent to fight on the front lines.

"If you go to the front line, two things would happen: either you will kill someone or you will be killed," he said. He was released from the army a few months ago, one of more than 1,000 child soldiers who have been demobilized from different armed groups as part of a UNICEF program.

"I was not happy because I was given a gun when I was so young," the teen said. "If you are afraid, the commander will beat you." Since the outbreak of civil war, children have been recruited at an expedited rate to protect their communities, according to Joseph Manytuel, the governor of Northern Leich state.

"When you are in a crisis, whoever is ready to join will not be left alone," Manytuel told the AP from Bentiu earlier this month. Last year, President Barack Obama issued a partial waiver to South Sudan from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008, allowing the U.S. to continue military assistance to support South Sudan's peace process.

Duterte threatens to withdraw Philippines from UN, hits US

August 21, 2016

DAVAO, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' brash-talking president has threatened to withdraw his country from the United Nations in his latest outburst against critics of his anti-drugs campaign that has left hundreds of suspects dead.

President Rodrigo Duterte ridiculed the U.N. as inutile, and lashed at U.S. police killings of black men. He pointed early Sunday to the haunting image of a bloodied child pulled from the rubble of a missile-struck building in the Syrian city of Aleppo to hit U.N. and U.S. inability to stop such deadly conflicts while he said he comes under fire for the deaths of criminals.

Duterte also pressed allegations against a Philippine senator and critic, accusing her of having an affair with her driver whom he linked to illegal drugs.

Philippines receives first Japanese coast guard vessel

Manila (AFP)
Aug 18, 2016

The Philippines received the first of ten coast guard vessels from Japan Thursday, the coastguard said, as the two countries boost security ties in the face of their separate maritime disputes with China.

The 44 metre (144 foot) BRP Tubbataha has arrived in Manila, the Philippines coast guard said in a statement, adding that it will be used for search and rescue, law-enforcement and transport purposes.

They did not specify where it would be deployed.

This is the first of 10 Philippine coast guard ships being built in Japan, supported by Japanese aid money, as the former World War II foes seek to boost defense ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

Japan -- the Philippines' top source of development aid -- said this month it would give Manila two additional patrol vessels, and that it was discussing the possible lease of surveillance aircraft.

Japan and China are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Manila and Beijing have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has been seeking closer defense ties with Japan as well as traditional allies like the United States and Australia in a bid to boost its capabilities against regional giant China.

The Philippine military and coast guard are among the region's weakest.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Philippine counterpart Perfecto Yasay last week called on China to observe the rule of law in settling maritime disputes.

This came after a UN-linked tribunal ruled in July that China's claim to most of the South China Sea was invalid, handing a sweeping diplomatic victory to the Philippines.

Beijing vowed to ignore the decision, and the Philippines and China have been preparing for direct talks to ease tensions.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Philippines_receives_first_Japanese_coast_guard_vessel_999.html.

Samba, reflections and pride in final Rio Olympics party

August 22, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Shaking to samba and expressing a sense of longing with uniquely Brazilian words, Olympians and fans said goodbye to the Rio Games with one last big bash that was both revelatory and a sigh of relief.

The closing ceremony Sunday celebrated the 16-day spectacle that was the Rio Games, which combined numerous highlights with ugly and even bizarre episodes that sometimes overshadowed competition. Cariocas — as Rio's residents are known — weren't swayed by the issues that led up to these Olympics, and braved rain and strong winds on the final night to cap their moment in the worldwide spotlight.

While South America's first Olympics are over, safely and with a grandiose finale, many problems remain. Still, Brazil showed Sunday it still definitely knows how to party. "These were marvelous Olympic Games in the 'marvelous city,'" said International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, playing off the "cidade maravilhosa" nickname of Brazil's postcard city of inviting coastlines, year-round sun and lush tropical vegetation.

While the stadium erupted in applause at that declaration, a few minutes later there were boos of sadness when Bach announced: "I declare the Games of the XXXI Olympiad closed." The closing ceremony in iconic Maracana Stadium was also meant to take care of some business — formally signaling the transition to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.

But Sunday's party was all about Brazil, designed to be more low-key than the opening, which focused heavily on Rio. The ceremony featured original footage of Alberto Santos Dumont, the man that Brazilians recognize as the inventor of the airplane. The theme, "Brazilians can do with their bare hands," was a nod to the emerging economy of the world's fifth most populous nation.

Dressed in colorful feathers, dozens of dancers formed in the shape of the arches of Lapa, a popular area of Rio akin to Roman ruins, then morphed to make the shape of iconic Sugarloaf before quickly changing again, this time to the official 2016 symbol.

Samba legend Martinho da Vila, whose tunes make their way into many popular telenovelas, sang "Carinhoso," or "Affectionate." Olympians poured in under light rain, waving their flags while many shook their bodies to samba-infused pop that made the stadium feel like a Carnival parade. Britain's athletes wore shoes with soles that lit up in changing colors of red, white and blue, while Tongan taekwondo athlete Pita Taufatofua danced onstage in a grass skirt as a DJ performed, reprising a moment that captured attention when he carried the flag for his country during the opening ceremony.

The show widened its lens to greater Brazil, a massive country with a land mass slightly larger than the continental United States. There was a tribute to cave paintings of some of the first inhabitants of the Americas, in Serra da Capivara, in Northeastern Brazil, today one of the nation's poorest regions.

Spectators watched performers shake it to frevo, a frenetic dance that — if it's even possible — makes high-octane samba seem like a staid ballroom affair. Holding small umbrellas, dancers jumped and marched while performing acrobatics.

They shook it to "Vassourinhas," which means "small brooms," a popular song that was also the name of a famous club in the northeastern city of Recife. The show also built performances around "saudade," which means anything from longing for someone to sadness to remembering good times. It is one of the most important words in Brazilian Portuguese. Lights flashed translations for the word in many languages, and a group of women sang "Mulher Rendeira," or "Lace-making Woman," a nod to the country's African heritage. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to outlaw slavery, in 1888.

The games had many memorable moments, both for Brazilian competitors at home and athletes from around the world. Soccer-crazed Brazil got partial payback against Germany, winning gold two years after a 7-1 World Cup semi-final shellacking that left Brazilians fuming. American gymnast Simone Biles asserted her dominance with four golds, swimmer Michael Phelps added five more to up his staggering total to 23 and the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, put on his usual show with three golds just days before turning 30 years old.

But there were also ugly episodes, like American swimmer Ryan Lochte's fabricated story about a harrowing robbery that was actually an intoxicated-fueled vandalism of a gas station bathroom, and bizarre issues like Olympic diving pools going from crystal blue to gunky, algae green — at a time when Rio's water quality in open waters is one of the biggest local environmental issues.

With the games over, Brazilians now return to problems that have long consumed the country of 200 million people. The economy is mired in its worst recession in decades, and later this week the Senate is expected to begin the trial on whether to permanently remove suspended President Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached in May for breaking fiscal rules in her managing of the federal budget.

There's widespread expectation that the games in Tokyo, one of the world's richest, most recognizable, cosmopolitan cities, will run more smoothly than they have in Rio. But there's also worry in Japan over whether the Olympics will eventually further drag down an economy that has been struggling for decades.

The governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, accepted the flag from International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, signaling the transition. Many people, from Brazilians to IOC members, will analyze how things went for the Rio Games in the months ahead. But on Sunday, one strong sentiment was relief — that despite some problems, overall the games went well.

That wasn't a given going in. The Zika virus scared away some competitors and tourists, rampant street crime in Rio and recent extremist attacks around the world raised fears about safety and Brazil's political crisis, and the economic angst behind it, threatened to cast a pall over the competitions.

"We are very resilient, we didn't leave anything important unaddressed," said Augusta Porto, 36, a translator and Rio resident. "We can welcome people despite the serious problems that we have faced in the recent past."

After Rio risk, Olympic officials can learn lessons

August 21, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Taking the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro was always considered a bit of a risk. Now that South America's first games are drawing to a close, the question is: Did the gamble pay off?

The answer, according to experienced Olympic officials and experts, is a mixed bag. Yes, Brazil managed to pull it off under difficult economic and political conditions, with the sports competitions, venues, athletes, friendly hosts, television images and Rio's scenic backdrops all rising to the occasion.

Yet, behind the scenes, these were also troubled Olympics that fell short in other areas — empty seats, ticket fiascos, organizational mishaps, spread-out venues, green water, street crime, traffic chaos and lack of a clear Olympic feel in the parks.

The Olympics on TV are never the same as the Olympics on site. That's been the case more than ever this time, reminiscent of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, where great sporting moments contrasted with lost buses, failures in the technology system and other off-the-field problems.

"This has been probably a little below the expectations of the experts, but will have televised well for the 99.9 percent of the population of the world that experiences the Olympics," senior Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said.

International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates of Australia acknowledged the games have not run as smoothly as desired. "It's been difficult," he said. "To be fair, some of that was because of the economic and political background on which the games are being held."

For Olympic historian David Wallechinsky, attending his 17th games, the shortage of volunteers, lack of Olympic signage and other logistical glitches have outweighed the well-run competitions and welcoming Brazilian people.

"I think these games will be seen in the continuum of Atlanta, Athens, Rio — the ones that didn't work out," he said. "One just hopes the lessons are learned." But the games must also be judged from a local perspective. Many Brazilians and Rio residents — known as Cariocas — will feel pride over how they've put on the world's biggest sports event and will cherish their moments on the global stage.

And, for the host country, the games are ending on a delirious high— with a gold medal in men's soccer. Brazilian fans wanted more than anything to finally win the top Olympic prize that has eluded them in their national sport.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said the Olympics have been a catalyst for building new public transport lines and renovating the port area, insisting that no white elephants will be left behind. Comparing Rio to the richer cities that lost out for the 2016 Games would be misguided, he said.

"We come from a tropical experience, the Latin ways of Brazil, which sometimes made the IOC members a little bit crazy," Paes said. "If you want to be fair to Rio, you cannot compare us to Tokyo, to Chicago, to Madrid. These are cities that have much better infrastructure. They come from developed countries. You have to compare Rio to Rio."

When Rio was chosen as host city seven years ago, IOC members were convinced the time had come to take the games to South America. Brazil was a rising economic force at the time. But local organizers quickly fell behind in preparations and were forced into an Athens-like mad dash to catch up.

Then, over the last two years, the economy plummeted into its worst recession in 80 years, the country was engulfed by a massive corruption scandal centering on the state-run oil company Petrobras, and the president was suspended and sent for impeachment.

"It's also a games in the middle of reality, not organized in a bubble," IOC President Thomas Bach said Saturday. "They were games in a city where there are social problems and social divisions. ... The IOC has shown that it is possible to organize games also in countries which are not at the top of the GDP rankings."

The athletes produced the goods — Bolt with three more gold medals to take his career tally to nine, Michael Phelps with five more golds for a total of 23, and gymnast Simone Biles with four golds. But the games also were marred by the bad behavior — and concocted stories — of Ryan Lochte and his U.S. swimming teammates.

For all the drumbeat of bad news in the months ahead of the Olympics, two of the biggest issues caused barely a ripple. The Zika virus, which had led some scientists to call for the games to be postponed or moved, was hardly mentioned. Worries over Rio's sewage-filled waters did not hamper the competitions, with only a handful of athletes falling ill.

Elsewhere, there were embarrassing setbacks, mostly during the first week: the green water that marred the diving and water polo events; the windows of a media bus shattered in an attack; foreign team officials and government ministers mugged in the street; volunteers who never showed up or just quit.

"It's just not acceptable with seven years in advance not to signs ready, not to have volunteers who know anything, as friendly as they may be," Wallechinsky said. Arguably the most damaging drawback was the lingering issue of empty seats. Some venues, such as tennis, basketball, swimming and gymnastics, drew good crowds and produced a lively atmosphere. But others suffered from lesser turnouts and lack of buzz. The track and field stadium was a quarter- or half-full for some sessions; the stands were not even completely packed for Usain Bolt's gold medal races.

The long distances and travel times between the three main venue clusters meant there was no single area where large, colorful crowds could congregate and produce a Carnival atmosphere. For the future, Olympic officials believe greater oversight and concrete benchmarks are needed to make sure organizers are on time and delivering as promised. Pound said the IOC and international federations should carry out a "forensic analysis" after Rio on what worked, what didn't and why.

"Going forward, the IOC has to learn from the experience in Rio if it wants to take the games to places other than settled, affluent cosmopolitan cities," IOC vice president Craig Reedie said. "We should train the city well in advance. We have to work out how better to prepare them and help them."

A star's birth holds early clues to life-potential

Moffett Field CA (SPX)
Aug 19, 2016

Our solar system began as a cloud of gas and dust. Over time, gravity slowly pulled these bits together into the Sun and planets we recognize today. While not every system is friendly to life, astronomers want to piece together how these systems are formed.

A challenge to this research is the opacity of dust clouds to optical wavelengths (the ones that humans can see). So, astronomers are experimenting with different wavelengths, such as infrared light, to better see the center of dense dust clouds, where young stars typically form.

Recently, astronomers used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope - a powerful space observatory launched in 2003 that observes the Universe in infrared light - to look at a molecular cloud called L183, which is about 360 light-years away in the constellation Serpens Cauda (the serpent). Their goal was to see how light scattering affects the view of the cloud at the mid-infrared wavelength of 8 microns (um). Ultimately, the astronomers hope to use this data to get a better look inside the clouds.

"One thing we have to do is evaluate the mass that is sitting in the center of the cloud, which is ready to collapse to make a star," said co-author Laurent Pagani, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, France.

His former doctoral student, Charlene Lefevre, led the research. Their work was recently published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics under the title, "On the importance of scattering at 8?um: Brighter than you think." Funding for the research came from CNRS and the French government.

Penetrating the dust

Dust clouds are tough to see through not only because of the dust itself, but also because the gases present are not very visible in telescopes observing in the infrared. Clouds are mainly made up of hydrogen and helium, which emit no radiation in the infrared or millimeter wavelengths. These two elements make up 98 percent of the mass of the cloud, meaning most of it is escaping any kind of measurement.

To get around this measurement problem, astronomers use proxies such as dust. Dust is roughly 1 percent of the cloud's mass, but it is best measured at the edges of the cloud. Dust abundance can be inferred through the extinction of starlight. Since we can also measure the quantity of molecular hydrogen via ultraviolet absorption at the edge of the clouds, the dust abundance is derived with respect to molecular hydrogen. Once "calibrated," the dust mass is measured throughout the cloud, providing the molecular hydrogen gas and the cloud mass.

For this project, Pagani and his team attempted to measure the amount of dust absorption at 8 microns for the cloud L183. It's common to find light at this wavelength throughout the galaxy, making it a potential measuring tool for different clouds. By measuring the absorption, scientists can estimate how much light is coming from the front of the cloud to the back of the cloud; in other words, by how much the light from the background is diminished.

In so doing, astronomers hope to gain a better understanding about how young stars form. Other, unrelated studies of dust clouds are also looking at where elements - including those grouped in molecules associated with life, such as water - are situated in young solar systems.

More mysteries

The method appears to work, but there are limitations, the researchers concluded. Different types of dust clouds appear to be more or less sensitive to different wavelengths of light, making it difficult to see what is inside this region.

"There is not only absorption, but also scattering [in L183], and this scattering diminishes the contrast," Pagani said. "You have the light that is absorbed by the dust, but the dust is also emitting or scattering light towards the observer. It looks less deep than it actually is, if you don't take into account the scattering."

Lefevre was able to use the 8-micron scattering model correctly to fit other observations of the cloud. However, if she tried to observe using other wavelengths - such as 100 microns or 200 microns - she saw a very different picture concerning dust absorption. It's possible that some of the measurements were affected by ice on the dust, which was not accounted for by her radiative transfer model, Pagani said.

More work will be required. The two researchers (Lefevre is now a post-doctoral researcher at IRAM, the international Institute for Millimeter Radio-Astronomy but still working with Pagani) are using more grain types to try different methods to measure clouds at various wavelengths. "If this works, we know what kind of grains work in the clouds," Pagani said. "If it doesn't work, we have to talk to the theoreticians to modify [the models] to fit the observations."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_stars_birth_holds_early_clues_to_life_potential_999.html.

US astronauts prepare spacewalk to install new docking port

By Kerry Sheridan
Miami (AFP)
Aug 19, 2016

With more private spaceship traffic expected at the International Space Station in the coming years, two US astronauts are set to embark on a spacewalk Friday to install a special parking spot for them.

Americans Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will step outside the orbiting laboratory to attach an international docking adapter launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship last month.

NASA describes the equipment as "a metaphorical gateway to a future" that will allow a new generation of US spacecraft -- the first since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 -- to carry astronauts to the space station.

The docking adapter will be the first of two such additions to the space station. The second is expected to be shipped in 2018.

ISS operations integration manager Kenneth Todd called the installation a "very significant milestone on the path to establishing commercial crew capability."

Built by Boeing, the circular adapter measures around 42 inches (one meter) tall and about 63 inches (1.6 meters) wide.

The adapters will work with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon, two spaceships under construction that are planned to ferry astronauts to the space station.

The docking adapter is more sophisticated than past equipment because it will allow automatic parking instead of the current grapple and berthing process managed by astronauts.

It also has fittings that will enable the space station to share power and data with the spacecraft.

- Early morning start -

The spacewalk is set to start at 8:05 am (1205 GMT) with veteran NASA astronaut Williams emerging from the space station airlock on his fourth career spacewalk.

Flight engineer Rubins will be making her first venture outside the ISS.

But the work will be hardly brand new for her. She has already practiced the necessary maneuvers, including mating the cables, in NASA's neutral buoyancy laboratory in Houston.

A series of spacewalks last year have helped prepare the groundwork for the adapter's arrival.

The space station's robotic arm pulled the docking adapter from the trunk of the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship on Wednesday, placing it inches away from the station's Harmony module, where it will be installed.

Once the spacewalkers -- also known as extravehicular (EV) crew -- are outside the space station, an extension of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, called the "Dextre" Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), will push the bulky adapter even closer to its installation point.

The plan is for the robotic manipulator to push the adapter into place so the astronauts will have only to tether it.

The operation will remain delicate, however, because the SPDM is highly sensitive to external pressure, lead spacewalk officer Glenda Brown said.

"This is the first time that the EV crew members have actually taken a handoff from the SPDM," she told a news conference this week.

"We have to be very careful about putting loads into the SPDM," she added.

"In space, it has got a lot of capability, but on the ground it can barely support its own weight."

- Second spacewalk planned -

NASA is planning a second spacewalk on September 1 for a separate operation to retract one of the thermal radiators outside the space station.

Astronauts unsuccessfully tried to push it back into position last year, Todd said.

"We will go back here in a couple of weeks and restow that guy for its final time."

However, a problem with an American spacesuit that appeared to allow water to build up inside an astronaut's helmet in January has been resolved, he added.

Tests on the suit back on Earth showed an apparent flaw in a piece of hardware called a sublimator, which manages condensation in the suit's heating and cooling loops.

Although it worked well in simulation tests, a blockage in a secondary set of holes might still react differently in zero gravity, Todd said.

The issue was not as severe as a spacesuit breakdown in 2013 that flooded Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet, forcing him to end his spacewalk early, he added.

NASA has been using the same spacesuits for some 30 years, continuing to study what makes them work and fail, Todd said.

"We are still learning how to use this suit and how to care for them in a zero-gravity environment -- and it is not the same as what we do on the ground."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_astronauts_prepare_spacewalk_to_install_new_docking_port_999.html.

Venus-like Exoplanet Might Have Oxygen Atmosphere, but Not Life

Boston MA (SPX)
Aug 19, 2016

The distant planet GJ 1132b intrigued astronomers when it was discovered last year. Located just 39 light-years from Earth, it might have an atmosphere despite being baked to a temperature of around 450 degrees Fahrenheit. But would that atmosphere be thick and soupy or thin and wispy? New research suggests the latter is much more likely.

Harvard astronomer Laura Schaefer (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, or CfA) and her colleagues examined the question of what would happen to GJ 1132b over time if it began with a steamy, water-rich atmosphere.

Orbiting so close to its star, at a distance of just 1.4 million miles, the planet is flooded with ultraviolet or UV light. UV light breaks apart water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, both of which then can be lost into space. However, since hydrogen is lighter it escapes more readily, while oxygen lingers behind.

"On cooler planets, oxygen could be a sign of alien life and habitability. But on a hot planet like GJ 1132b, it's a sign of the exact opposite - a planet that's being baked and sterilized," said Schaefer.

Since water vapor is a greenhouse gas, the planet would have a strong greenhouse effect, amplifying the star's already intense heat. As a result, its surface could stay molten for millions of years.

A "magma ocean" would interact with the atmosphere, absorbing some of the oxygen, but how much? Only about one-tenth, according to the model created by Schaefer and her colleagues. Most of the remaining 90 percent of leftover oxygen streams off into space, however some might linger.

"This planet might be the first time we detect oxygen on a rocky planet outside the solar system," said co-author Robin Wordsworth (Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences).

If any oxygen does still cling to GJ 1132b, next-generation telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect and analyze it.

The magma ocean-atmosphere model could help scientists solve the puzzle of how Venus evolved over time. Venus probably began with Earth-like amounts of water, which would have been broken apart by sunlight. Yet it shows few signs of lingering oxygen. The missing oxygen problem continues to baffle astronomers.

Schaefer predicts that their model also will provide insights into other, similar exoplanets. For example, the system TRAPPIST-1 contains three planets that may lie in the habitable zone. Since they are cooler than GJ 1132b, they have a better chance of retaining an atmosphere.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Venus_like_Exoplanet_Might_Have_Oxygen_Atmosphere_but_Not_Life_999.html.

Russia marks 25 years since failed Soviet coup

August 19, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Several dozen Russians gathered on Friday for a protest reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of a coup attempt which heralded the demise of the Soviet Union, a holiday ignored in official circles because of its revolutionary, anti-establishment nature.

On Aug. 19, 1991, eight hard-line Communist leaders seized power from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, declaring him ill. In fact, Gorbachev was under arrest. Thousands of Muscovites took to the streets to protest against the coup and the clout of the powerful security services.

The defeat of the coup several days later set in motion the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and is widely regarded as a triumph of democracy and civil liberties in Russia. Those who opposed the coup 25 years ago gathered on a rainy Friday evening outside the Russian White House — a massive government building where Boris Yeltsin, at the time the president of the Russian constituent republic within the Soviet Union, famously climbed atop a tank to defy the coup in possibly the most cinematic moment of the August resistance.

Several dozen, mostly elderly or middle-aged people mingled outside the White House, some of them carried Russian flags and photographs of the 1991 protests. Lyudmila Skryabina, a nanny from St. Petersburg, said she takes a vacation every year to come to Moscow for this reunion.

Skryabina said she is proud that she had stood at the makeshift barricades at the same spot 25 years ago but is disappointed in today's political regime, economic hardships and what she calls the cynicism of the government — "this flag-waving patriotism as if things are so great right now."

Earlier this week, Moscow city hall refused to give protesters permission to march from the White House to the tunnel where three protesters were killed 25 years ago, the only victims of the otherwise bloodless coup. Most of the August 1991 celebrations, lectures and exhibitions this weekend were organized by the grass-roots movement and a foundation established to honor the legacy of Yeltsin, who died in 2007.

Unlike the lavish state-sponsored celebrations of Victory Day, which marks the Soviet army's victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, the government largely ignores the day which is largely regarded as the birthday of a new Russia.

Skryabina said that during Yeltsin's presidency, from 1991 to 1999, there was always a government presence and wreaths at the cemetery where the three protesters killed in the coup are buried. "Now every time I come here I call my friends and ask: 'Are they going to allow us at all?'''.

The government has in recent years tightened its grip on public gatherings, and several dozen people were sent to prison for minor offenses at an opposition rally the day before Putin's inauguration in May 2012.

Many Russians who opposed the coup have grown disillusioned with democracy, which they have come to associate with the hardships of the initial years of the dismantling of the Soviet state and a transition to the market economy. The August 1991 events are rarely discussed and remembered in the media, leaving a younger generation largely ignorant of what happened 25 years ago.

A survey by the authoritative Levada pollster released earlier this month showed that only 50 percent of Russians could identify what happened on Aug. 19, 1991. At that time, President Vladimir Putin was an ally of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, a fierce coup opponent, but Putin's KGB past keeps him from honoring this landmark event, analysts say.

Both Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were visiting Crimea, which was annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and did not come to lay the flowers at the monument of the three killed protesters in Moscow.

"Aug. 19-21 could have been become a symbol of a new Russian state," Pavel Aptekar said in an opinion piece in the respected Vedomosti daily on Friday. "The three August days of 1991 remind the establishment that people could disobey their orders and hold the government accountable. In the past 25 years the government has transformed into one that is appalled by the very possibility."

The otherwise Kremlin-friendly Moskovsky Komsomolets daily published an opinion piece on Friday titled "25 years since the loss of freedom" and illustrated by a cartoon showing a hand with a KGB emblem wrestling a Russian flag away from a group of people.

"August 1991 brought about a stunning wave of enthusiasm, you felt there was no mountain high enough," Alexander Minkin wrote. "Those who had power and a unique historical opportunity drop in their lap turned out to be unworthy: they stole and drank the country away, the country and its future. And this still goes on."

Mark Galperin, 48, was a rare person at the reunion outside the White House who was not there in 1991. He carried a placard that read: "Let's repeat August 1991." "I was a student but I was apolitical, but right now I'd like to revive what was here in August. We need a democratic revolution again," he said.

Russian cat adopts abandoned baby squirrel monkey from zoo

August 23, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian cat has adopted a baby squirrel monkey after he was abandoned by his mother at a zoo, comforting the little primate by letting him cling to her back for warmth. Tatyana Antropova, the director of the zoo in the Siberian city of Tyumen, says she took the newborn monkey home three weeks ago after his mother refused to carry him on her back.

To Antropova's surprise, her 16-year-old cat Rosinka accepted the baby, who is called Fyodor. By now, though, the elderly cat is getting a bit tired of the little monkey because he "is getting naughty" and "has started biting and pinching her."

The cat just has to hold out for another month, when Fyodor will go back to the zoo to live with other squirrel monkeys.