German opposition warns of pointless Parliament

October 22, 2013

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's opposition warned Tuesday that the country's Parliament could become redundant because a planned left-right government would have enough seats to rule almost unchallenged.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc won 311 of the 631 seats in the lower house last month, followed by the center-left Social Democrats with 193. The two parties are currently negotiating a "grand coalition" that would give them almost 80 percent of seats in the Bundestag.

Legal experts have pointed out that such a coalition would easily be able to push through laws and even have the two-thirds majority needed to propose changes to the constitution of Europe's biggest economy.

The opposition Left Party and Greens also lack the 25 percent of votes needed to launch parliamentary investigations or have the country's highest court review legislation. Left Party leader Gregor Gysi noted that under a grand coalition the government would have the right to speak for 48 minutes out of every hour.

"If essentially it's just people patting each other on the back then we can give up on the whole thing," he told rbb-Inforadio ahead of Parliament's first meeting Tuesday. The biggest challenge during Merkel's third term could come from the upper house, or Bundesrat, where a grand coalition wouldn't have an automatic majority. It represents Germany's 16 states and can delay the passage of bills.

France joins list of allies angry over NSA spying

October 22, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joining a growing list of angry allies, France on Monday demanded an explanation from Washington of a report that the U.S. swept up 70 million French telephone records and text messages in its global surveillance net, even recording certain private conversations.

The fallout prompted a phone call from President Barack Obama to President Francois Hollande and, the White House said, an acknowledgment by Obama that the episode raises "legitimate questions for our friends and allies" about how U.S. surveillance capabilities are employed. Hollande's office issued a strongly worded statement afterward expressing "profound reprobation" over U.S. actions that it said intruded on the private lives of French citizens.

Spying among friendly countries is classic tradecraft but the sweep and scope of the National Security Agency program have surprised allies and raised indignation among those targeted — Germany, Mexico and Brazil among them.

The report in Le Monde, co-written by Glenn Greenwald, who originally revealed the surveillance program based on leaks from former NSA analyst Edward Snowden, found that when certain phone numbers were used, conversations were automatically recorded. The surveillance operation also gathered text messages based on key words, Le Monde reported.

"This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. "We fully agree that we cooperate to fight terrorism. It is indispensable. But this does not justify that personal data of millions of our compatriots are snooped on."

Seeking to limit damage in relations with one of America's closest allies, Obama called Hollande late Monday and made clear the U.S. government is reviewing its intelligence-gathering "so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share," a White House statement said. The statement said some recent disclosures have "distorted our activities" while others have raised genuine concerns by other countries.

Earlier, the French government summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Rivkin for answers. A statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Paris said Rivkin assured Alexandre Ziegler, chief of staff to Fabius, that "our ongoing bilateral consultations on allegations of information-gathering by U.S. government agencies would continue."

The level of the diplomatic consultation at the time — between the U.S. ambassador and only an aide to Fabius — suggested that France was modulating its response. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Paris early Monday for meetings on Middle East issues and could have been contacted immediately if it appeared relations were in deeper trouble. But the matter was subsequently elevated with Obama's phone call.

Hollande's office said later that the French leader asked Obama to make available all information on NSA spying of French communications. Kerry would not confirm the newspaper account or discuss intelligence-gathering except to say: "Lots of countries are engaged in the activity of trying to protect their citizens in the world."

Le Monde reported that from Dec. 10, 2012 to Jan. 8 of this year, 70.3 million recordings of French citizens' telephone data were made by the NSA. Intercepts peaked at almost 7 million in Dec. 24 and again on Jan. 7, the paper said. The targets were people with suspected links to terrorism and people chosen because of their roles in business, politics or the French government, the report said.

Former CIA officer Bob Baer, who was stationed in Paris for three years, said the French intelligence service regularly spies on Americans — both on U.S. diplomats and business people. The spying has included rifling through possessions of a diplomat, businessman or spy in Paris hotel rooms and installing listening devices in first-class seats of the now-defunct Concord aircraft to record Americans' conversations, he said.

In another instance, a former French intelligence director stated that the spy agency compiled a detailed secret dossier of the proprietary proposals that U.S. and Soviet companies wrote to compete with a French company for a $1 billion contract to supply fighter jets to India.

But while corporate and spy- vs.-spy espionage may be common, the newspaper report indicated that French citizens were unwittingly drawn into U.S. surveillance, too. Dennis Blair, a former director of national intelligence, tried to broker a closer intelligence-sharing relationship with France, so the two would simply ask each other to explain political or economic policies directly instead of resorting to snooping.

"The U.S. is overwhelmed by cooperation by France on things like ... terrorism and organized crime," Blair said in an interview Monday. "It dwarfs the amount of time we spend on spying on each other. I'm hoping the day will come when both countries realize they have a lot more to be gained by working with each other, but we're not quite there yet."

The most recent documents cited by Le Monde, dated April 2013, indicated the NSA's interest in communications linked to Wanadoo — once part of France Telecom — and Alcatel-Lucent, the French-American telecom company. One of the documents instructed analysts to draw not only from the electronic surveillance program, but also from another initiative dubbed Upstream, which allowed surveillance on undersea communications cables.

Snowden's leaks exposing details of the U.S. global surveillance apparatus have sparked an international debate over the limits of American spying. The strongest objection has come from Brazil. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled a state visit to Washington over a dispute involving Brazil's desire to question Snowden after information he leaked indicated that the U.S. intercepted Rousseff's communications with aides, hacked the state-run oil company's computer network and snagged data on emails and telephone calls flowing through Brazil.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government canceled a Cold War-era surveillance agreement over reports that NSA snooping swept up communications in Europe. "I can understand the anger in France," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. "You don't do that among partners. You don't do that among friends."

Mexico has also expressed outrage about an alleged NSA program that the German news magazine Der Spiegel said accessed a domain linked to former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his Cabinet. Also, a document from June 2012 indicated the NSA had read current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's emails before he was elected.

The U.S. is thought to avoid spying on its coalition of "'Five Eye" partners — Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — but considers other countries fair game. The U.S. intelligence community has discussed bringing France into the Five Eyes alliance because of its close cooperation with U.S. troops and intelligence against al-Qaida in such as Afghanistan and Mali, according to two current U.S. intelligence officials. But the trust between both countries has never reached the level needed for that, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the relationship publicly.

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes and Lori Hinnant in Paris, Matthew Lee and Adam Goldman in Washington and Raf Casert in Luxembourg contributed to this report.

France summons US ambassador over spying

October 21, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — The French government summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Rivkin on Monday to explain a French newspaper report that the National Security Agency swept up 70.3 million French phone records in a 30-day period.

The French government called the practice "totally unacceptable" and wanted to know why the U.S. spied on one of its closest allies. Spying among allied countries is common, but the scope of the NSA surveillance, as revealed by leaker Edward Snowden, was larger than expected.

Similar U.S. spying programs have been revealed in Britain, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. "The ambassador expressed his appreciation of the importance of the exchange, and promised to convey the points made back to Washington," a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Paris said.

Rivkin assured Alexandre Ziegler, chief of staff to Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that "our ongoing bilateral consultations on allegations of information gathering by U.S. government agencies would continue," the embassy statement said.

The report in Le Monde, co-written by Glenn Greenwald, who originally revealed the surveillance program based on leaks from former National Security Agency contractor Snowden, found that when certain numbers were used, the conversations were automatically recorded. The surveillance operation also swept up text messages based on key words, Le Monde reported, based on records from Dec. 10 to Jan 7.

The French government, which wants the surveillance to cease, also renewed demands for talks on protection of personal data. "This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens," Fabius said during a meeting in Luxembourg with his European counterparts.

The most recent documents cited by Le Monde, dated to April 2013, also indicated the NSA's interest in email addresses linked to Wanadoo — once part of France Telecom — and Alcatel-Lucent, the French-American telecom company. One of the documents instructed analysts to draw not only from the electronic surveillance program, but also from another initiative dubbed Upstream, which allowed surveillance on undersea communications cables.

The U.S "gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House. "We've begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."

Hurricane-force winds batter Britain

October 28, 2013

LONDON (AP) — A major storm with hurricane-force winds is lashing southern Britain, causing flooding and travel delays including the cancellation of roughly 130 flights at London's Heathrow Airport.

Express train services between central London and Gatwick and Stansted airports were suspended because of the storm, and the major English port of Dover was closed, leading to a cutoff in ferry service to France.

Some regional rail lines shut down Monday morning, and some roads were closed due to fallen trees and power lines. Air travelers and commuters were advised to check conditions before starting any journeys. Widespread delays were expected as major London train lines delayed their opening because of the winds and tree hazards.

British Airways said its long haul flights were expected to operate normally but domestic and European flights were operating on a reduced schedule with some cancellations expected throughout the day. It said Gatwick and City airport operations should not be affected.

Weather forecasters say it is one of the worst storms to hit Britain in years. Roughly 7,000 homes in southwest England are without power. A spokesman said the majority lost power at about midnight but that crews were working to restore the service.

Flood alerts have been issued in many parts of southern England and officials said hundreds of trees had been knocked down by wind gusts. Winds of 99 miles per hour (160 kph) were reported on the Isle of Wight in southern England. Winds in the 75 to 80 miles per hour range were reported on the mainland.

A teenage boy is feared to have died after being swept to sea while playing in the surf off the coast of East Sussex. Forecasters said the heavy winds should subside by mid-morning.

Britain braces for massive storm

October 28, 2013

LONDON (AP) — Driving rains and high winds lashed the U.K. on Sunday evening, as officials warned that the storm forecasters are calling one of the worst in years will cause widespread disruptions for early morning commuters.

Officials said a 14-year-old boy is feared dead after being swept out to sea while apparently playing in the surf in southern England. Coastguard and police rescuers searched late Sunday for the boy in high seas with poor visibility, but after several hours the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it had turned into a search and recovery operation.

Sussex Police urged people to stay clear of the seashore until the storm — dubbed St. Jude and #Stormageddon on social networks — abates. With winds expected to pick up through the night and into the early hours of Monday, railways and airports cancelled many services pre-emptively amid warnings over treacherous road conditions and the risks of debris from falling trees and flooding.

Prime Minister David Cameron told government agencies to ensure that contingency plans were in place for transportation, schools and power supplies during the storm, which could have gusts stronger than 80 mph (128 kph) — akin to those in hurricanes.

Britain does not get hurricanes due to its geographic location. A regular National Football League game in London between the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening went on as planned, but elsewhere contingency planning and cancellations were put into effect.

Heathrow Airport canceled at least 60 flights ahead of the storm's arrival in full force, warning travelers to be prepared for disruptions. Rail networks canceled many trains preemptively up through Monday morning, citing the high risk of trees and other debris expected to fall on train lines.

Eurostar said it would not be able to run any cross-Channel rail services until 7 a.m. on Monday to allow for train lines to be inspected. Martin Young, the Met Office's chief forecaster, said that while the storm is "major" for the U.K., its winds are not expected to be as strong as those seen in the "Great Storm of 1987," which saw gusts of 115 mph (185 kph) and left 18 people dead.

The storm is expected to move across the country and head out over the North Sea by Monday afternoon. Once the so-called St. Jude storm — named after the patron saint of lost causes — passes through Britain, it is expected to hit parts of the Nordic countries on Monday afternoon.

The Danish Meteorological Institute issued a warning, saying winds of hurricane-strength are expected in some parts of Denmark and heightened water levels in western Jutland near the town Esbjerg. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute also issued a warning, saying it expects hurricane-strength winds to hit southern and western Sweden on Monday evening, potentially causing damage and travel disruptions. It said the stormy weather is expected to subside as it moves north on Tuesday and Wednesday.

-- Associated Press writer Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.

3-month-old Prince George is christened in London

October 23, 2013

LONDON (AP) — Dressed in a lace and satin gown designed in the 1840s, Britain's 3-month-old future monarch, Prince George, was christened Wednesday with water from the River Jordan at a rare gathering of four generations of the royal family.

The occasion had historic overtones: the presence of Britain's 87-year-old monarch and three future kings, Princes Charles, William and, of course, little George. Queen Elizabeth II, usually the center of attention, quietly ceded the spotlight to her rosy-cheeked great-grandson, who seemed to wave at her when he arrived — an illusion created by his father, Prince William, playfully moving the infant's arm.

The private affair at the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace was also attended by Prince Charles, next in line to the throne, and the queen's 92-year-old husband, Prince Philip, who has shown remarkable stamina since returning to the public eye after a two-month convalescence following serious abdominal surgery.

All told, it was an exceptional day for a monarchy that seems to be basking in public affection since the 2011 wedding of William and Kate Middleton and the maturing of Prince Harry, who appears to have put his playboy days behind him.

George, who was born on July 22, wore a replica of a christening gown made with exquisite antique lace for Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, and first used in 1841. When William was christened in 1982, he wore the original gown — by then well over a century old — but the garment has become so fragile that a replica was made.

The infant, who will head the Church of England when he becomes king, was christened with water from the River Jordan by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. The silver baptismal font — known as the Lily Font — dates to 1840 when it was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for their first child's birth, and has been used for every royal christening since.

As trumpets blared, baby George arrived at the chapel in his father's arms with his mother by their side. Kate, smiling broadly on her way into the chapel, wore a cream-colored Alexander McQueen dress and hat by milliner Jane Taylor, with her long hair brushed to the side. William wore his customary dark suit and tie as he proudly carried their first child.

Kate's parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, and her sister, Pippa, and brother, James, were also at the ceremony, where Pippa Middleton read from the Gospel of St. Luke and Prince Harry from the Gospel of St. John.

The chapel has a strong connection to William's mother, the late Princess Diana, whose coffin was laid before the chapel's altar for her family to pay their last respects in private before her 1997 funeral.

William and Kate chose seven godparents, among them William's cousin, Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and a close friend of the couple. The others include Oliver Baker, a friend from William and Kate's days at St. Andrews University; Emilia Jardine-Paterson, who went to the exclusive Marlborough College high school with Kate; Hugh Grosvenor, the son of the Duke of Westminster; Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a former private secretary to the couple; Julia Samuel, a close friend of Princess Diana, and William van Cutsem, a childhood friend of William's.

Palace officials said water from the River Jordan — where Christians believe Jesus Christ was baptized — was used for the christening. In the West Bank, hours before the ceremony in London, busloads of Russian tourists descended on Qasr el-Yahud to immerse themselves in the river. The site, five miles (eight kilometers) east of Jericho, is considered Christianity's third-holiest site, after Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The river's waters have often been used to make the sign of the cross on the heads of royal infants. Some royal watchers camped outside the palace for more than 24 hours to obtain a good vantage point to watch the guests arrive, but the ceremony was private.

Afterward, Charles and his wife, Camilla, hosted a tea for the royal party at their Clarence House residence, where desserts included a "christening cake" with a tier taken from William and Kate's wedding cake.

The couple hired photographer Jason Bell to take official pictures, which are expected to include a historic multigenerational photograph of the queen with the three future kings — an image that will echo an 1894 picture of Queen Victoria with three future monarchs.

India reaches for Mars on prestige space mission

New Delhi (AFP)
Nov 03, 2013

India began a countdown Sunday to the launch of its most ambitious and risky space mission to date, sending a probe to Mars which was conceived in just 15 months on a tiny budget.

After a recent Chinese attempt flopped, India is seeking to make a statement of its technological prowess by becoming the first Asian power to reach the Red Planet more than 200 million kilometers (124 million miles) away.

An unmanned probe, weighing 1.35 tones and about the size of a large refrigerator, will leave earth strapped to an Indian rocket which is set to blast off from the south-east coast on Tuesday afternoon.

Wrapped in a golden film, the orbiter will carry advanced sensors to measure the Martian atmosphere, hoping to detect traces of methane which could help prove the existence of some sort of primitive life form.

"Any interplanetary probe is complex. As we can see for Mars, there were 51 missions so far around the world and there were 21 successful missions," chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), K. Radhakrishnan, told AFP last Thursday.

Undeterred by the failure rates, he laughed off any suggestion of last-minute nerves, saying: "If it is a failure, then learn. Failure is a stepping stone for success."

Success would be a source of national pride for Indians, whose 2008 unmanned mission to the moon helped prove the existence of water in another leap forward, 39 years after Neil Armstrong set foot there.

It would also bolster the reputation of India, the land of the world's cheapest car, as a leader in low-cost innovation. The project was announced in August 2012 with a budget of only 4.5 billion rupees ($73 million).

Lacking a rocket large enough to fire the satellite directly out of earth's atmosphere, ISRO has also had to rely on another famed Indian specialism of "Jugaad" -- confecting a cheap work-around solution.

Instead of flying directly, the 350-tonne rocket will orbit earth for nearly a month, building up the necessary velocity to break free from the earth's gravitational pull.

"Don't underestimate it because it is a low-cost mission that is being done for the first time," Indian science journalist Pallava Bagla, author of the book "Destination Moon", told AFP.

"Yes, there is Jugaad in it, there is innovation in it... and everyone wants to do low-cost missions nowadays."

NASA is under budget pressure and has faced cuts to proposed Mars missions in 2016 and 2018 despite having an overall objective, set by US President Barack Obama, of sending an astronaut there by 2030.

The United States is the only nation that has successfully sent robotic explorers to land on Mars, the most recent being Curiosity, a nearly one-ton vehicle which touched down in August 2012.

One of its discoveries appeared to undercut the purpose of the Indian mission after a study published in September revealed Curiosity detected only trace elements of methane in the Mars atmosphere.

NASA will help ISRO with ground monitoring from three deep-space facilities after the launch at 02:38pm (0938 GMT) on Tuesday. The American space agency will send its own probe, Maven, 13 days later.

The official countdown for blastoff of the Indian orbiter, nicknamed "Mangalyaan" in local media, began at 06:08am on Sunday, which is the Hindu festival of lights known as Diwali.

Only the US, Russia and the European Union have succeeded in reaching Mars before. China failed in 2011 with its probe aboard a Russian rocket and Japan's effort floundered in 2003.

Radhakrishnan denies that India is competing with China despite speculation that India accelerated its Mars mission to prove a point against its militarily and economically superior Asian rival.

He also defends ISRO and its 16,000-strong workforce against suggestions that New Delhi should not be spending on space when more than a third of all children are malnourished and half of Indians have no toilets.

"Space is one area right from the beginning that has been contributing to the development process of the country," he said, pointing to better weather forecasting for farmers and satellite communication networks.

Upendra Choudhury, an associate professor at Aligarh Muslim University who is an expert on India's ballistic missile program, says the spending has also boosted national security.

"India's achievements in space technology are contributing to its missile technology, including the Agni-V," he told AFP.

The Agni-V, capable of reaching Beijing and eastern Europe, was test fired for the first time in April 2012 and catapulted India into a small group of countries with such long-distance missile technology.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/India_reaches_for_Mars_on_prestige_space_mission_999.html.