Kashgar: 15 die in weekend of violence

Beijing (UPI)
Aug 1, 2011

A second explosion in two days rocked Kashgar in western China, killing three people including a policeman, China's state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The blast happened in central Kashgar at 4:30 p.m. Sunday and came at the end of a murderous weekend for the city of 350,000 in the western part of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and close to the border with Tajikistan.

The killings began Saturday in what police described as "a severely violent terrorism case," Xinhua said.

Trouble began with two explosions, one in a parked van and one in a food market.

Just before midnight, two men fatally stabbed a truck driver and then drove the vehicle into a crowd. They also attacked bystanders with knives. Six people in the crowd were killed and 28 others were hurt, police said. At least one of the attackers was killed by the crowd.

Violence again erupted Sunday afternoon when four suspects were killed by police who continued to hunt for suspects, Xinhua reported.

Xinhua gave few details of police operations in the aftermath of the violence in Kashgar, the main city in the region which is predominantly Muslim and, similar to Tibet, is politically sensitive for the central government. Beijing is constantly on its guard against separatist groups it claims foment disorder in hopes of establishing an independent East Turkestan.

Around 8 million Uighur live in Xinjiang and many say they are unhappy about the large influx of Han Chinese settlers, whom the Uighurs say increasingly marginalize their interests and culture.

The violence in Kashgar comes less than two weeks after an attack on a police station in Hotan in southern Xinjiang left 18 people dead. Chinese authorities blamed Uighur extremists and some of Uighur attackers who died had links to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a shadowy militant organization fighting for an independent Uighur state.

Tensions in the region have remained high for the past two years after nearly 200 people died in clashes that rocked Urumqi, the capital of the region. More than 1,700 people were injured in the July riots that stretched across several days.

Tighter security in the region's main cities and towns followed, including the reported installation of thousands of public surveillance cameras and an increase in police checking shoppers' bags, especially near the anniversary of the deadly 2009 riots.

Local government officials blamed the 2009 riots on unemployed Uighur migrants living in nearly 50 shantytowns across the city. Beijing also said the riots were planned abroad by the World Uighur Congress, which they say is a terrorist organization and whose president, Rebiya Kadeer, 63, is also a terrorist.

The WUC was formed in April 2004 in Munich, Germany, as a collection of exiled Uighur groups including the Uighur American Association and the East Turkestan National Congress. Kadeer, a businesswoman and political activist, has been in exile in the United States since 2005 after 6 years imprisonment in China for allegedly leaking state secrets.

Chinese policy is make stern diplomatic representations to countries they say give unwarranted media cover to ethnic leaders such as Kadeer.

Last August, Beijing and Canberra had a diplomatic confrontation over and invitation for Kadeer to visit Australia.

The month before, two Chinese directors boycotted the prestigious Melbourne International Film Festival over the screening of a documentary about Kadeer. The Chinese government also was displeased because Kadeer addressed the National Press Club in Canberra, Australian media reported.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Kashgar_15_die_in_weekend_of_violence_999.html.

China launches another experimental satellite

Jiuquan, China (XNA)
Aug 01, 2011

China launched an experimental orbiter into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province on Friday.

The SJ-11-02 orbiter was sent into space at 3:42 p.m. by a Long March II-C carrier rocket, according to the launch center. The orbiter belongs to the country's Shijian satellite family.

The orbiter, developed by China Space Co., Ltd. under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will be used to conduct scientific experiments in space, the company said.

The launch marked the 142nd flight for the Long March rocket family.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_launches_another_experimental_satellite_999.html.

Syrian Troops Hammer Hama for Second Day

By Jasper Fakkert
August 1, 2011

Pressure grows for U.N. to condemn crackdown.

Syrian military forces pounded the protest city of Hama with artillery on Monday, making it the second day of an intensified campaign on the city. On Sunday, troops and tanks entered the city, destroying barricades set up by residents as a buffer between themselves and the coming onslaught.

Syrian rights groups estimate 100 people were killed in Hama and three other cities, Deir Ezzor, Daraa, and Idib, on Sunday. On Monday, five civilians were killed in Hama and dozens more were injured by the random shelling of tanks, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an organization of Syrian human rights organizations.

The city of Hama, which has become a key protest town against the rule of Syrian president Bashir al-Assad, already bore a bloody crackdown by Assad’s father in 1982 in which an estimated 10,000 people were killed.

In the current uprising, Hama had come under siege one month ago after an estimated 500,000 people took to the streets calling for political reform and Assad to step down.

With the intense crackdown on Hama, Assad has further distanced himself from his promises of national dialogue as part of the solution to the unrest in the country. Instead, international outcry over Assad’s handling of the demonstrations has intensified over the past days.

“I am appalled by the Syrian government’s use of violence and brutality against its own people. The reports out of Hama are horrifying and demonstrate the true character of the Syrian regime,” said U.S. President Barack Obama in a statement on Sunday.

“His use of torture, corruption, and terror puts him on the wrong side of history and his people,” Obama said.

Having reached its fifth month, the popular uprising in Syria, inspired by similar protests across the Arab world, has claimed an estimated 1,500 lives according to rights groups.

In response to a call from Germany for the United Nations Security Council to call an emergency session to respond to the unfolding events in Hama, the 15-member body met on Monday in New York.

A modified version of a draft resolution condemning the Syrian authorities for its crackdown was circulated at the meeting. An earlier draft of the resolution, introduced by Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal, was blocked by China and Russia in May this year. As permanent members of the Security Council—along with the United States, France, and the U.K.—they hold veto power over any resolution.

“It’s clear that President Bashar al-Assad is unwilling to halt his security forces, so the U.N. must take decisive action to stem this violent campaign of repression,” said Philip Luther, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International, in a press release on Monday.

The European Union announced on Monday that in response to the clampdown on the city of Hama five Syrian officials “involved in or associated with the violent repression” would have sanctions imposed on them, including a travel ban and the freezing of assets.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/syrian-troops-hammer-hama-for-second-day-59845.html.

US troops must have legal immunity to stay in Iraq

August 02, 2011 — BAGHDAD (AP) — The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday that American troops must be given protection from prosecution as part of any agreement to keep them in Iraq beyond the end of the year and that protection must be approved by Iraq's parliament.

Tuesday's comments by Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen could make it more difficult for the troops to stay here. Mullen and other U.S. officials have been pushing Iraq to decide whether they would like additional American forces to stay in the country past their Dec. 31 departure date, and the immunity issue has been one of the key sticking points.

"An agreement which would include privileges and immunities for our American men and women in uniform will need to go through the COR," said Mullen, referring to the Council of Representatives as Iraq's parliament is known.

Washington has offered to let up to 10,000 U.S. troops stay and continue training Iraqi forces on tanks, fighter jets and other military equipment. Mullen told reporters in Baghdad that Iraq's president and prime minister have promised to quickly consider the offer, and stressed that time is running out.

U.S. officials have said repeatedly that they need to know soon whether Iraq wants them to stay longer so they can figure out which of their forces must stay and which must go. Right now, about 46,000 American forces remain in country, and this fall their departure will begin ramping up.

"A significant part of this is just a physics problem. You get to a point in time where you just can't turn back and all the troops must leave. That's why it's so important to make the decision absolutely as soon as possible," he said.

But Iraqi lawmakers and government officials have been leery about taking a public stand on whether they want American forces to stay or go. U.S. troops are still unpopular with many Iraqis who are tired of eight years of war. One of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's top allies, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has made it his mission to drive American forces from the country, leaving the prime minister in a tough position.

Mullen met Monday night with al-Maliki and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. He said they know a decision must come soon but acknowledged that they face "internal challenges, associated with reaching this decision."

"They're very aware of the urgency of the issue," said Mullen. "It was apparent to me in meeting with both the prime minister and the president that they're anxious to resolve and reconcile those differences. but that's really up to them."

Al-Maliki said in a statement on his website late Monday that he hoped Iraqi political blocs would be able to reach a consensus Tuesday night when they are expected to meet. The Shiite prime minister stressed that regardless of the decision on U.S. troops that he wanted Washington and Baghdad to continue cooperation, especially in the area of air defense.

Iraq is unable to provide for its own air sovereignty. Over the weekend al-Maliki announced that Iraq would purchase 36 F-16 fighter planes from the U.S., which is a jump from the 18 they initially planned to purchase.

But even after the purchase goes through it would take years of training for the Iraqi Air Force to be able to protect its air space.

India eyes manned space missions

by Venkatachari Jagannathan
Sriharikota (IANS)
Aug 02, 2011

India's space agency has plans to launch a manned space mission in the future, but a lot of work needs to be done before that to ensure such missions are failure-proof, a top scientist has said.

K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of ISRO, said here that the space agency will have to first master the rocket technology to launch heavy communications satellites before it can progress to a manned mission.

"Rockets that carry humans cannot have a failure rate of more than two per thousand flights," he said after the successful launch of latest communications satellite GSAT-12 from the space port.

"Further what we have now (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is only an unmanned rocket where the reliability should be 99 percent," Radhakrishnan said.

"We are trying to understand the intricacies of manned space mission. ISRO has to work on areas like thermal protection, life support and crew escape systems."

"We had a long discussion on manned space mission. The initial plan was to put two humans in space for seven days," he added.

According to him the first mission is to build a reliable GSLV rocket for launching heavy satellites.

He said ISRO is expected to be ready with a GSLV rocket to be powered by its own cryogenic engine next year.

Queried about the second space capsule recovery experiment (SRE-2), P.S. Veeraraghavan the director at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, said the capsule is in the final stages of integration and the mission will be sometime next year.

Meanwhile, ISRO will follow a multi pronged approach to augment its transponder capacity - automatic receivers and transmitters for communication and broadcast of signals, a top official said.

"We can lease transponders from other satellite operators and launch our own satellites. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) currently has 175 transponders whereas the demand is for 200 more transponders," Radhakrishnan said.

He said ISRO will launch a three-tonne communication satellite GSAT-10 with 30 transponders using Ariane rocket.

"We need few satellites like that. Two of the existing communications satellites - Insat 2E and Insat-3C - are nearing their end," he added.

Queried about the efficacy of using the other rocket -Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in launching communication satellites - like GSAT-12- he said: "GSLV rocket is better for such missions. When GSLV Mark III variant under development will be much more efficient."

Officials said after the two successive failures of GSLV rockets last year the space agency has understood the failure cause.

Speaking about satellite GSAT-12 launch, T.K. Alex, director of ISRO Satellite Center, said the initial operations went off smoothly.

"The solar panels were deployed and are generating power. The satellite orbit will be raised from 22,020 km apogee (farthest point from the earth) to 36,000 km apogee tomorrow and day after. All the 12 transponders in the satellite will be tested by the end of this month," Alex said.

He said there will be sufficient fuel left in GSAT-12 after raising its orbit to 36,000 km apogee so that it can be in operation for seven years.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/India_eyes_manned_space_missions_999.html.

Dawn Spacecraft Begins Science Orbits of Vesta

Pasadena CA (JPL)
Aug 02, 2011

NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the first ever to orbit an object in the main asteroid belt, is spiraling towards its first of four intensive science orbits. That initial orbit of the rocky world Vesta begins Aug. 11, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) and will provide in-depth analysis of the asteroid. Vesta is the brightest object in the asteroid belt as seen from Earth and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.

The Dawn team unveiled the first full-frame image of Vesta taken on July 24:

This image was taken at a distance of 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). Images from Dawn's framing camera, taken for navigation purposes and as preparation for scientific observations, are revealing the first surface details of the giant asteroid. These images go all the way around Vesta, since the giant asteroid turns on its axis once every five hours and 20 minutes.

"Now that we are in orbit around one of the last unexplored worlds in the inner solar system, we can see that it's a unique and fascinating place," said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

After traveling nearly four years and 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers), Dawn has been captured by Vesta's gravity, and there currently are 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) between the asteroid and the spacecraft. The giant asteroid and its new neighbor are approximately 114 million miles (184 million kilometers) away from Earth.

"We have been calling Vesta the smallest terrestrial planet," said Chris Russell, Dawn's principal investigator at UCLA. "The latest imagery provides much justification for our expectations. They show that a variety of processes were once at work on the surface of Vesta and provide extensive evidence for Vesta's planetary aspirations."

Engineers still are working to determine the exact time that Dawn entered Vesta's orbit, but the team has reported an approximate orbit insertion time of 9:47 p.m. PDT on July 15 (12:47 a.m. EDT on July 16).

In addition to the framing camera, Dawn's instruments include the gamma ray and neutron detector and the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer. The gamma ray and neutron detector uses 21 sensors with a very wide field of view to measure the energy of subatomic particles emitted by the elements in the upper yard (meter) of the asteroid's surface.

The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer will measure the surface mineralogy of both Vesta and Dawn's next target, the dwarf planet Ceres. The spectrometer is a modification of a similar one flying on the European Space Agency's Rosetta and Venus Express missions.

Dawn also will make another set of scientific measurements at Vesta and Ceres using the spacecraft's radio transmitter in tandem with sensitive antennas on Earth. Scientists will monitor signals from Dawn and later Ceres to detect subtle variations in the objects' gravity fields. These variations will provide clues about the interior structure of these bodies by studying the mass distributed in each gravity field.

"The new observations of Vesta are an inspirational reminder of the wonders unveiled through ongoing exploration of our solar system," said Jim Green, planetary division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Dawn launched in September 2007. Following a year at Vesta, the spacecraft will depart in July 2012 for Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015. Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Dawn_Spacecraft_Begins_Science_Orbits_of_Vesta_999.html.

Putin supports merger of Russia and Belarus

August 01, 2011 — SELIGER LAKE, Russia (AP) — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin voiced support Monday for Russia to merge with its western neighbor Belarus.

Belarus has been an independent state since the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. But the country is still regarded as the most "Soviet" of all former republics. President Alexander Lukashenko has been ruling Belarus for 17 years and has a tight grip over the country's economy and political life.

As Russia's prime minister, Putin is not supposed to shape the country's foreign policy. President Dmitry Medvedev is. But Putin, who served as Russia's president from 2000 to 2008, and may run for that office again next year, has repeatedly overstepped the bounds of his No. 2 post as prime minister since he took it in 2008.

Putin's remarks were a response to a question from a young Belorussian who wondered whether Russia and Belarus could merge into "one state like it was in the Soviet times." Putin said the return to Soviet-style unity is "possible, desirable and wholly dependent on the will of the Belorussian people."

Belorussian officials had no immediate commented on Putin's statement. Russia and Belarus already have open borders, with their citizens able to travel freely and seek employment in either country. But Belarus' Lukashenko has been a fierce defender of his country's sovereignty.

The country's president used to justify his totalitarian rule by a relative economic stability. But that stability shattered earlier this year when Belarus found itself mired in its worst financial crisis since independence, which has put Lukashenko under pressure to sell key parts of its industry to Russians in exchange for a bailout. He has so far managed to resist it, while dissent in the country keeps growing.

Much blame is directed at the president, referred to by U.S. officials as Europe's last dictator, for increasing public sector salaries in pre-election populism last year when the country could ill-afford it.

The government has recently banned the rallies, which feature novel forms of non-vocal protest, and used brutal force in eliminating resistance. Asked about his attitude toward totalitarianism, Putin decried it as "an inefficient way to govern," saying that "a totalitarian rule annihilates freedom and personal creativity."

Vasilyeva reported from Moscow.