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.

Mauritania combats rural illiteracy

2011-08-01

A four-day training workshop for literacy teachers opened Sunday (July 31st) in Nouakchott, Journal Tahalil reported. Upon completion of the training program, the teachers will lead literacy classes for adults in Thermessa, Kerkaratt and other rural areas with vulnerable populations. Mauritanian NGO "Espoir" organized the literacy education seminar as part of the national three-year project to fight poverty (PLPV).

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/01/newsbrief-06.

Algeria, Morocco ink natural gas deal

2011-08-01

Algeria and Morocco signed a ten-year natural gas deal on Sunday (July 31st). Under the contract signed in Algiers between Sonatrach and Morocco's state electricity office (ONE), gas will be delivered from the Pedro Duran Farell (GPDF) pipeline in southern Algeria to the Ain Béni Mathar and Tahaddart power plants in Morocco.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/01/newsbrief-04.

Tunisia temporarily closes Ras Jedir border crossing

2011-08-01

Tunisia closed the Ras Jedir border crossing on Sunday (July 31st) after Libyan refugees attacked and damaged police and customs offices, TAP reported. Libyan refugees trying to return to their country on the eve of Ramadan reportedly became frustrated by the slow pace of customs procedures. The border crossing reopened once order was restored.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/01/newsbrief-03.