Anti-austerity protesters return to Madrid plaza

July 24, 2011 — MADRID (AP) — Thousands of protesters angry about Spain's brutal economic woes once again filled Madrid's downtown Sol square Sunday after many spent weeks marching hundreds of kilometers (miles) from far-flung cities across Spain.

Seven columns of marchers converged on the city late Saturday and met at the square where thousands camped out for three weeks in May. They were joined by more who took public transport into the capital.

"Politicians don't represent us! No! no! No!" the crowd chanted, with some waving handmade banners reading "It's not a crisis, it's the system that's wrong." Some protesters began their march 34 days ago and walked 650 kilometers (404 miles) from the southwestern city of Cadiz.

Physiotherapists and masseurs accompanied demonstrators to treat them for aching legs and blistered feet. Protesters say they are outraged with politicians for failing to solve Spain's high unemployment and accuse them of being uncaring, corrupt and inept.

"You will find highly qualified people in this demonstration because we can't get a job," said Amanda Sastre, 24. "All we want is the dignity of being able to earn a living." Two years of recession following a property boom that went bust left Spain with 21 percent unemployment — the highest in the 17-nation eurozone. Joblessness for those aged 16 to 29 stands at about 35 percent.

Spain also has a swollen deficit and is battling to convince investors it can handle its debt and will not need financial help like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Hell of a Choice: 'Cerberus' Leads for New Pluto Moon Name

Natalie Wolchover
20 July 2011

A fourth moon orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto has just been discovered. The tiny satellite — it's a mere 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km) across — showed up as a faint dot on new, long-exposure photos of the Pluto system taken by NASA's Hubble Telescope.

But enough with the technical details: What will we call the newest member of the solar community?

"It's called P4 for the time being," said Trent Perrotto, public affairs officer at NASA headquarters. "It'll get a name, but it's not up to NASA to decide on it." As usual with newly discovered astronomical objects, he explained, P4's name will be subject to a tough selection process overseen by an organization called the International Astronomical Union.

In an unofficial Facebook poll of SPACE.com readers, the top choice is "Mickey." Unfortunately for them, though, this won't satisfy the IAU's official naming conventions. According to the IAU guidelines, "Objects crossing or approaching the orbit of Neptune … notably [Pluto and its moons], are given mythological names associated with the underworld."

Pluto was the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is named after the ferryman who carried the souls of the newly deceased across the River Styx, which divided the world of the living from that of the dead. Nix, Pluto's second moon, was the Greek goddess of darkness and night, and Charon's mother. Hydra, the third, was a many-headed serpent that guarded a back entrance to the underworld located deep below the surface of a lake.

In choosing a name along these hellish lines for P4, the IAU nomenclature committee will try to honor the wishes of its discoverer: planetary astronomer Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in California. What's his choice?

"This is a topic under discussion," Showalter told Life's Little Mysteries. "We have a lot of colorful names to choose from because all the moon names come from, essentially, the minions of Hades [the Greeks' name for Pluto]. One name that seems to come up most is Cerberus, the dog who guards the gates to hell."

Three-headed Cerberus is Hydra's sibling.

"Cerberus: How could you go wrong with a name like that?" Showalter said. "But, unfortunately, Cerberus is already the name of an asteroid. The IAU balks at the idea of using asteroid names, although it's not necessarily out of the question. Even then, Kerberos, [the spelling that] is closer to the original Greek, would be OK even if Cerberus is not. I don't want to say that's the name we've chosen. There are a lot of interesting names being discussed."

Showalter has been perusing the Internet today (July 20), looking for ideas. He and his discovery team will submit their top choices to the IAU soon, and he thinks they'll choose a name within two months. Perhaps Cerberus/Kerberos will soon be guarding the Kuiper Belt.

Source: SPACE.com.
Link: http://www.space.com/12374-pluto-moon-choice-cerberus-hell.html.

Morocco prepares for legislative elections

Authorities in Morocco are looking to establish new rules for political party financing ahead of early parliamentary elections.

By Imrane Binoual for Magharebia in Casablanca – 22/07/11

Morocco's interior ministry recently introduced two bills on political parties and election observers as part of preparations for early polls.

The ministry on Wednesday (July 20th) launched a series of meetings with politicians and other members of civil society to get feedback on the prospective laws. The draft legislation was originally submitted to political parties on July 14th. The majority of the kingdom's political leaders praised the move to adopt a legal framework for monitoring elections.

"The first bill is to be applauded because it represents the legitimization by Morocco of the presence of both national and international observers at elections. This is likely to guarantee greater transparency in elections," said Abdelhamid Jmahri, a member of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) policy committee.

The preliminary law on political parties, however, stirred up a hornet's nest of heated debate. The most controversial aspect concerns party financing. The proposed text suggests three categories of funding for the parties. One type of funding would be for "legally constituted" political parties as a whole, while a second category would apply to parties with between three and five percent of the votes. Those receiving more than 5% of votes would be given additional funding.

"The fact that all political parties will receive funding is a good thing," according to Abdelouahed Souhail, a member of the Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS) policy committee.

But some politicians said this would allow the creation of parties which were simply looking for money. "This will only encourage the fragmentation of the Moroccan political landscape," Jmahri said.

"We want there to be criteria for the granting of subsidies to political parties, particularly the number of votes received in elections," he stressed.

The Front of Democratic Forces (FFD) general-secretary proposed a different criterion, suggesting that funds be awarded "on the basis of the plans set out by the various organizations".

Another point of disagreement surrounds the issue of party alliances. The proposed bill only discusses mergers between parties and not alliances. Political leaders would like the draft law to provide for blocs too, according to Mohand Laenser, Secretary-General of the Popular Movement, an alliance between three parties.

The bills are expected to be considered before Parliament sometime in the middle of next month.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/07/22/feature-03.

Jordanian protesters burn U.S. flag

AMMAN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians held a demonstration Friday, where they burnt a U.S. flag and stressed rejection of America's interference in the region.

During the sit-in in downtown Amman, the demonstrators voiced rejection of any U.S. interference in reform efforts in the country.

Stressing on the importance of unity among Jordanians of all origins, they called for uprooting corruption in the Arab kingdom and ending the "security iron fist."

The demonstrators also condemned police assault against several media personnel during a demonstration last Friday.

The police department in Jordan on Wednesday announced its responsibility for the "limited" attacks against media people during last week's demonstration and said the involved police members will be referred to law.

On Thursday, King Abdullah II of Jordan rejected the beating of journalists by policemen as "unjustified and unacceptable."

The Jordanian king also voiced rejection of any practices and restrictions obstructing the work of media, which has an important role in accurately and independently delivering information to citizens and addressing their issues, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/23/c_131003417.htm.

Teargas fired at protesters in Oman's Sohar

July 22, 2011
By Sunil K. Vaidya

According to witnesses, the march started with a handful of protesters but later in the afternoon the numbers kept increasing.

Muscat: Security forces fired tear gas shells on demonstrators in Sohar on Friday and arrested a large number of young protesters as they marched from Shaikh Khalifa Mosque after afternoon prayers, according to an activist from the Industrial Port town about 230km north to Muscat.

According to witnesses, the march started with a handful of protesters but later in the afternoon the numbers kept increasing. After a while the security forces, present in big numbers, intervened.

The protesters, chased from the main road, spread into the nearby streets and gradually their number increased. The police had to fire tear-gas shells to disperse protesters. "Many shells were fired. Some shells fell very close to some of the houses," an activist told Gulf News from Sohar on the condition of anonymity. Protesters handed over a letter listing their demands to a senior police official.

The protesters were demanding the release of those convicted last month for protesting in Sohar last February and March. They were also demanding reforms, better wages and jobs for young Omanis. The protests in Oman started with a peaceful Green March in January earlier this year but later turned violent in Sohar, the last week of February. Since then three people have died during confrontations with the police.

Last Friday no demonstrations were held after only about 50 turned up for demonstration on July 8.

According to witnesses, the number was much larger on Friday and several were also arrested. There are unconfirmed reports of injuries to some of the demonstrations following baton charge by security agencies to break them up. The demonstrators in Sohar ended their protest at around 5.30pm.

"To avoid confrontation with security forces that could have bad consequences, the young protesters decided to end their demonstration and returned home," an activist said. A posting on a social media site claimed that an Omani journalist working for a local English daily was held in Sohar.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/teargas-fired-at-protesters-in-oman-s-sohar-1.841690.

Exoplanet Aurorae 1,000 Times Brighter Than on Earth

By Mimi Nguyen Ly
July 22, 2011

Aurorae on planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, could be 100 to 1,000 times brighter than those on Earth, according to new research, and this could also affect their habitability.

On Earth, these magnificent green and red lights flicker across the North and South polar skies when particles from the sun are attracted to the Earth’s magnetic field, and strike our atmosphere, causing air molecules to glow.

On exoplanets, the display is even more spectacular because the lights travel across the planet’s entire surface due to their closer proximity to the stars they orbit.

"I’d love to get a reservation on a tour to see these aurorae!" said lead author Ofer Cohen at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

Strong aurorae can occur due to Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) when large amounts of plasma erupt from the sun’s surface into space. CMEs can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth, interfering with power grids and satellite-based systems like telecommunications.

"The impact to the exoplanet would be completely different than what we see in our solar system, and much more violent," said co-author Vinay Kashyap at CfA in the release.

Many exoplanets are gas giants like Jupiter, and hence dubbed "hot-Jupiters." They are orbiting their stars up to one hundred times closer than Earth’s orbit of the sun.

So what would happen to an exoplanet when its host star emits a CME?

In the computer model, a CME hits the "hot-Jupiter," weakening its magnetic shield, and creating aurorae around the equator up to 1,000 times stronger than on Earth. Yet the exoplanet is shielded from the nearby star’s huge forces.

"Our calculations show how well the planet’s protective mechanism works," Cohen said. "Even a planet with a magnetic field much weaker than Jupiter would stay relatively safe."

To be in the habitable zone, exoplanets associated with red dwarf stars, our galaxy’s most common stars, must be in a close orbit for water to be liquid as red dwarfs are cooler than the sun.

However, this means they would be subject to more violent CMEs, making them potentially less habitable.

The new research was published in the Astrophysical Journal on July 7.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/science/exoplanet-aurorae-1000-times-brighter-than-on-earth-59434.html.

Indian Kashmir shuts down to protest alleged rape

July 23, 2011 — SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Shops and businesses shut down Saturday in Indian-controlled Kashmir to protest an alleged abduction and rape that triggered two days of violent anti-India demonstrations.

The protests, held in the alleged rape victim's village south of the main city of Srinagar, kindled concerns of a return to the deadly street violence that has consumed the disputed Himalayan region in recent years.

Police have barred public gatherings in Manzgam village, where thousands on Friday marched and threw stones at law enforcement officers, who responded by swinging batons and firing tear gas, police said. At least five civilians and four officers were injured.

Answering separatist leaders' calls for a general strike on Saturday, banks, schools and most other businesses remained shuttered in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar. Public transport was not running, and few government workers showed up at their offices.

Police said, meanwhile, that a medical examination of the woman alleging rape by two Indian soldiers showed "no marks of violence or resistance on any part of the body." The investigation continues, and officials assured that justice would be done.

"We've collected the woman's clothes and sent them for forensic examination. We've also videographed the spot where the alleged crime took place," special police investigator Mohammed Shafi Mir said. "The probe will be completed within shortest possible time." The army has opened a separate investigation.

The woman says in her police statement filed Thursday that two soldiers abducted her Tuesday near her Manzgam home and held her in a meadow hut, raping her repeatedly over two days. Her husband later told reporters she was left in the meadow and made her way home in a state of shock, but that she would be able to identify her attackers.

Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani rejected the police and army investigations as biased and called for Saturday's public boycott across the region. Mounting anger prompted Kashmiri officials to call for calm, wary that the case could touch off renewed conflict in the volatile region that is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety.

Protests by stone-throwing youths and clashes with police have become routine during the warmer months in Kashmir, where anti-India sentiment runs deep among the mostly Muslim population. Human rights groups have accused the Indian military of using rape and sexual molestation to cow the local population.

In 2009, massive protests broke out after allegations that two women were raped and murdered by men in uniform. A federal investigation later decided they had not been raped and had died from drowning.

Local separatists in the Indian-ruled portion have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the armed uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.