Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
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1 U.S. rocket strike in Baghdad wounds 20
By Waleed Ibrahim and Tim Cocks, Reuters
2 hours, 25 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The U.S. military fired rockets at a target near a major hospital in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, wounding 20 people and damaging a number of ambulances, the head of the hospital said.
No patients were wounded at the hospital in the Sadr City stronghold of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but 20 people at the scene of the blasts had been hurt, said Dr. Wi’am al-Jawahiri, manager of the al-Sadr hospital.
Jawahiri said windows at the hospital were shattered when three missiles hit what the U.S. military in Iraq called a militant “command and control” centre around 10.00 a.m. |
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2 Iran won’t talk to U.S. on Iraq till attacks stop: report
Reuters
Sat May 3, 10:45 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) – A senior Iranian official said on Saturday Tehran saw no need for more talks with the United States about Iraqi security until what he described as U.S. attacks on Iraqis stopped, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.
Iranian and U.S. officials held three rounds of talks last year in Baghdad, high-profile meetings between two foes who have not had diplomatic ties since 1980 and rarely hold discussions. But plans for a fourth round have faced a series of delays.
Washington accuses Tehran of funding, training and equipping militias in Iraq, a charge Iran denies. Tehran blames the presence of U.S. troops for violence and instability in Iraq. |
3 Zimbabwe opposition still undecided on run-off
By Cris Chinaka, Reuters
2 hours, 10 minutes ago
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s main opposition party said on Saturday it was still undecided on whether its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, should take part in a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe.
Election officials announced on Friday that Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had beaten Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll but failed to win the absolute majority necessary to avoid a second ballot.
The MDC has accused election officials of rigging the results, which showed Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote to Mugabe’s 43.2 percent. The party says Tsvangirai won the election outright and Mugabe’s rule is over. |
4 Bush says rebate checks will boost ailing economy
By Thomas Ferraro, Reuters
Sat May 3, 11:15 AM ET
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush sought to assure Americans on Saturday that federal checks en route to them as part of a stimulus plan will help spur the ailing economy and pay for soaring gas and food prices.
“These rebates will deliver up to $600 per person, $1,200 per couple, and $300 per child,” Bush said in his weekly radio address.
“This package will help American families increase their purchasing power and help offset the high prices that we’re seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store,” Bush said, adding it would also provide tax incentives for business to invest and create jobs. |
5 Dalai Lama envoys prepare for China talks
by Parul Gupta, AFP
40 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Two Dalai Lama envoys will hold talks with Chinese officials Sunday in southern China, a spokesman for the exiled Tibetan leader said, even as Beijing kept up its barrage of criticism against him.
The talks, taking place seven weeks after protests in Lhasa turned deadly and just three months before the Olympic Games in Beijing, were to be held in Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong.
“They (the two envoys) will arrive in China today from Europe and the US. The talks will be held tomorrow in Shenzhen,” Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama, told AFP. |
6 Olympic torch back in mainland China
AFP
Sat May 3, 11:46 AM ET
SANYA, China, (AFP) – The Olympic torch returned to the Chinese mainland Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, ready for its first relay here.
A chartered plane carrying the flame landed at Sanya Fenghuang International Airport in the southern Chinese holiday resort of Hainan at 10:35 pm (1435 GMT), Xinhua said.
Luo Baoming, governor of Hainan province, received the flame from the Olympic organising committee, according to the report. |
7 Student-loan legislation moves forward
By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, The Christian Science Monitor
Fri May 2, 4:00 AM ET
In moving this week to shore up the student-loan market, the federal government aims to avert a credit crunch that some warned could make it harder for students to borrow for college.
On Thursday, Congress sent to President Bush for his signature a bill that is designed to give lenders the confidence and the liquidity they need to continue providing federal loans to students. It would also increase federal loan limits to lessen the fast-growing reliance on private loans.
The news comes just in time to buoy thousands of families weighing college and financial-aid decisions. |
8 White Zimbabweans bring change to Nigeria
By Sarah Simpson, The Christian Science Monitor
Fri May 2, 4:00 AM ET
Shonga, Nigeria – Musa Mogadi says he is better off since “the whites” came. He’s got a new job, learned new farming skills, and he can chat on a mobile phone while zipping around the countryside on a motorbike.
Three years ago, Mr. Mogadi got by as a subsistence farmer. But he now earns a regular wage as a supervisor on one of this town’s new commercial farms.
He’s applied skills he learned from some of the two dozen white Zimbabwean farmers who moved to Nigeria in 2005, after being kicked off their land by President Robert Mugabe and later attracted by large parcels of land on offer under 25-year leases and commitments of support from the Nigerian government. |
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9 Lawmakers seek probe of Pentagon public relations program
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 2, 4:42 PM ET
WASHINGTON – Forty-one House members are calling on the Defense Department inspector general to investigate a public relations effort that relied on retired military officers to defend the administration’s Iraq war policies.
“When the Department of Defense misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to Defense Department Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter on Friday.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who organized the letter, said it was important for the inspector general to find out how high-ranking officials within the Pentagon were allowed to operate a program aimed at deceiving the American people. |
10 Southeast Asia says to cooperate over food security
By Gde Anugrah Arka and Ed Davies, Reuters
Sat May 3, 9:22 AM ET
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Southeast Asia nations meeting in Bali agreed on Saturday to cooperate over the rice market, but stopped short of concrete measures to deal with rocketing prices of the region’s staple in most meals.
The issue of food security has hijacked the weekend meeting of trade ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian resort island.
“The ministers affirmed that access to adequate and reliable supply of rice and stable prices are fundamental to the region’s economic and social well being,” said an ASEAN statement. |
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11 As Putin apprentice takes over, Russians weigh an enigma
By DOUGLAS BIRCH, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 6 minutes ago
MOSCOW – It might be a tale out of a 19th century Russian storybook: A clerkish young lawyer apprenticed to a powerful man rises, through Byzantine political intrigue, to become ruler of Russia.
But Dmitry Medvedev is not guaranteed a fairy tale ending.
The 42-year-old attorney, who has long served as an adviser, fixer and friend to Vladimir Putin, will be inaugurated as Russia’s president Wednesday. The ceremony will mark the start of three days of pomp and circumstance that will include Putin being named prime minister Thursday and the annual Victory Day parade Friday in Red Square. |
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12 Computer keyboards can be dirtier than a toilet: study
Reuters
Fri May 2, 12:30 AM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) – Think twice before eating those dropped crumbs off your computer keyboard — you might as well be eating off a toilet seat, according to a new study on the amount of germs on keyboards.
A study by British consumer magazine “Which? Computing” asked a microbiologist to examine 33 keyboards in a typical London office, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle, for bugs generally found in unhygienic places.
Four keyboards were judged potential health hazards and the microbiologist recommended the removal of one keyboard as it had 150 times the pass limit of bacteria — five times filthier than the swabbed toilet seat. |
13 The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 2, 4:12 PM ET
BALTIMORE – Akhenaten wasn’t the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine, which has puzzled experts for years. And he was a bit of an egghead.
Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He’ll be presenting his findings at an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.
The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Braverman believes. And Akhenaten’s head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age. |
14 A first for Saudis: Mozart performed publicly and women come
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 22 minutes ago
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – It’s probably as revolutionary and groundbreaking as Mozart gets these days. A German-based quartet staged Saudi Arabia’s first-ever performance of European classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender audience.
The concert, held at a government-run cultural center, broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets.
The Friday night performance could be yet another indication that this strict Muslim kingdom is looking to open up to the rest of the world. |
15 On Japan’s secretive death row, inmate becomes cause celebre
By CHISAKI WATANABE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago
TOKYO – Iwao Hakamada, Japan’s longest serving death row inmate, has insisted for 40 years that he is innocent of the four murders he was convicted of. The evidence was suspect, he says, and his confession was coerced.
Now the judge who wrote the ex-boxer’s death sentence agrees.
“My feelings about Mr. Hakamada remain the same – I believe he is innocent,” said Norimichi Kumamoto, who now reveals that he argued for acquittal but was outvoted by two other judges in their secret deliberations before handing down their ruling in 1968. As the junior judge, he was tasked with writing the death sentence order. |
16 China condemns Dalai Lama ahead of planned talks
By John Ruwitch, Reuters
Sat May 3, 10:46 AM ET
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – Beijing called the Dalai Lama a criminal on Saturday, as representatives of the exiled Buddhist leader gathered for a meeting on Sunday in China to discuss the most serious unrest in Tibet for nearly two decades.
The condemnation suggested the government was in no mood to compromise following riots and protests in Tibet which have shaken China’s preparations for the Beijing Olympics and stoked Western criticism of its rule in the mountain region.
“Patriotic people of Tibet strongly condemn and vehemently denounce the litany of crimes committed by the 14th Dalai Lama and his followers,” said the official Tibet Daily, according to the region’s official news website (www.chinatibetnews.com). |
17 Bolivia’s richest province seeks autonomy, raising fear of political crisis
By Boris Heger and Jack Chang, McClatchy Newspapers
Fri May 2, 4:58 PM ET
SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA , Bolivia – This divided country faces a constitutional crisis Sunday when its richest and second most-populous province votes whether to declare itself autonomous from President Evo Morales’s national government, a referendum the president has called illegal.
If the referendum passes, as polls show it overwhelmingly will, leaders of Santa Cruz province say they’ll elect a state legislature, organize local police and otherwise set up a government equivalent to that of a U.S. state.
Morales has called the referendum a move to split up this nation of 9.1 million and to thwart his government’s efforts to rewrite Bolivia’s constitution so that its indigenous majority wins more political power. Bolivia has a centralized government, where police, taxation and other government functions are controlled by federal officials. |
18 In bad omen for Musharraf, Pakistani coalition to reinstate chief justice
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu May 1, 6:53 PM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s fragile coalition government agreed Thursday to reinstate the chief justice and 60 other judges fired by Pervez Musharraf , a move almost certain to spell trouble for the U.S.-backed president, government officials said.
Under a compromise between the parties that’s expected to be revealed Friday, the judges will be restored, but the powers of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be reined in. Also, the pro-Musharraf judges who took the oath of office in November will be kept in office.
According to officials close to the negotiations, Chaudhry’s tenure will be limited to five years in office, meaning that he would have another two years in the job. Previously, he could have continued until retirement in 2013. |
19 Mugabe’s Strategy for Victory
By ALEX PERRY, Time Magazine
Sat May 3, 1:35 AM ET
More than a month after Zimbabwe went to the polls, electoral authorities on Friday finally announced a result in the presidential race: a do-over. The Zimbabwe Election Commission said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won 47.9% of the vote to President Robert Mugabe’s 43.2%. That means that, officially, no candidate has won an outright victory of more than 50%, a scenario which, under Zimbabwean electoral law, mandates a second round run-off within three weeks. “Since no candidate has received the majority of the valid vote cast… a second election shall be held on a date to be advised by the commission,” chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi told reporters in Harare. |
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20 Bills seek punishment for use, display of fake weapons
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Concerns that realistic-looking toy weapons are confusing police and threatening safety have led 15 states to try going beyond gun control and cracking down on fake firearms.
Officer Micheal Hoover knows a fair amount about guns as a sniper instructor for a Tennessee SWAT team. He recalls the night two years ago when a car pulled up beside him on a highway and the passenger waved what looked like an Uzi.
“It scared me,” he said. “If anyone is in their right mind, I don’t see how it wouldn’t.” |
21 Woman from Mali who underwent circumcision fights for asylum
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 51 minutes ago
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Alima Traore doesn’t remember when part of her genitals was removed as a young child in her native Mali. But even at 29, she still lives with the consequences.
There’s the pain, the fear of future medical problems, and a persistent feeling that she has been robbed of an important element of being a woman.
“It is like some part of you is taken away. I don’t feel complete at all,” she said of the practice, meant to suppress sexual desires and maintain the honor of young girls. “A woman is complete when you have all parts of your body.” |
22 Booming elsewhere, high-speed rail sees delays in US
by Michael Mathes, AFP
Sat May 3, 1:06 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – In November the Eurostar bullet-train blew the doors off commuter rail travel, sprinting the 213 miles (343 kilometers) from London to Paris in two hours 15 minutes — and leaving tortoise-slow US trains in the dust.
Over a similar distance — Washington to New York — America’s lone high-speed train, the Acela Express, takes a full 45 minutes longer.
Top speed for nearly every other passenger train in the United States? A pedestrian 79 miles per hour (127 kilometers per hour), with average US speeds far slower. |
23 So long, SUV: high fuel prices fuel shift in US car sales
by Joseph Szczesny, AFP
2 hours, 59 minutes ago
DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) – Automotive trends traditionally don’t change nearly as fast as fashions in clothing or music.
But as sales of new vehicles in April dropped to their lowest level since the 1992, raw numbers also indicated US consumers were — at warp speed — foregoing beloved trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for mid-sized and compact cars and hybrids with better fuel economy.
“Smaller vehicles are going over big,” said Toyota Motor Sales president Jim Lentz. “With oil prices at record levels, compact cars and hybrids continue to lead the way,” Lentz said. |
24 How Much Did Rumsfeld Know?
Time Magazine
Sat May 3, 1:50 AM ET
Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq in 2003-2004, has written a new memoir, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier’s Story, an account of his life and his service in Iraq. Sanchez was a three-star general – and the military’s senior Hispanic officer – when he led U.S. forces in the first year of the war. He was relieved of his command by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2004 following the revelations of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. In 2005, Marine General Peter Pace, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called him to say his career was over and he wouldn’t get the promotion to a full general – four stars – that Sanchez says he was promised. Six months later, at Rumsfeld’s request, he showed up at the Pentagon for a meeting with the defense secretary shortly before retiring. In this exclusive excerpt, Sanchez details what happened next: |
25 Should US Olympians Speak Out?
By SEAN GREGORY, Time Magazine
Sat May 3, 1:50 AM ET
Unfair or not, the Olympics have never been simply about sports. Just ask any member of the 1980 U.S. team whose lifelong Olympic dream died when President Jimmy Carter ordered a boycott of the Moscow games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. And the 2008 Games in Beijing promise to be one of the most politically charged Olympiads in modern times, offering a unique platform for protest groups seeking to highlight issues ranging from the host country’s crackdown in Tibet and its economic ties with the Sudanese government responsible for the atrocities in Darfur to its domestic political repression. Already, demonstrators have disrupted the Olympic torch relay in Paris, San Francisco and other stops, sparking nationalist outrage on the streets of China. As August’s opening ceremonies draw closer, athletes heading for Beijing are increasingly aware that they’re heading into a season of political controversy – particularly since many of those mounting the protests are demanding that athletes take political stands on their issues. |
26 Long-running `Ted and Don’ show showing age with voters
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 3, 10:18 AM ET
BUTTE, Alaska – For decades, Alaskans have contentedly called Ted Stevens senator, and Don Young congressman, their Republicans in far-off Washington.
Now other, less flattering names are creeping into conversation. Crook, for example. Or jerk. Or old, washed up.
And because of it, Democrats sense opportunity even in the Last Frontier, a state that has dealt them mostly defeat for a generation. |
27 US mulls sending 7,000 more troops to Afghanistan: report
AFP
2 hours, 38 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States is considering sending an extra 7,000 troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said if the plan was to be approved, the number of US troops in the country would rise to about 40,000, and entail at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.
President George W. Bush told allies at a NATO summit in Bucharest last month that the United States would significantly increase its force levels in Afghanistan next year. |
28 US religious rights panel wants Vietnam, Pakistan blacklisted
by P. Parameswaran, AFP
Fri May 2, 9:27 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US religious freedom watchdog on Friday asked the State Department to include Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkmenistan in its global blacklist of religious freedom violators, and maintained Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, on a watchlist.
In its recommendation to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom also wanted Myanmar, China and North Korea to be kept in the department’s “country of particular concern” blacklist together with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea and Uzbekistan.
The independent commission, set up by US law to monitor religious freedom across the globe, also maintained Afghanistan and Bangladesh in its watchlist together with Belarus, Cuba, Egypt and Nigeria. |
29 Buffett again rebuffs advocates who want Klamath dams out
By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer
24 minutes ago
OMAHA, Neb. – American Indian tribes and salmon fisherman were rebuffed a second time Saturday in their bid to win support from billionaire Warren Buffett for a proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River.
Buffett again told the group that his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., won’t decide the fate of the dams owned by its PacifiCorp utility.
He said Berkshire will defer to regulators in California and Oregon, where the Klamath runs, and to federal officials. Buffett also said he promised regulators when Berkshire bought PacifiCorp in 2006 that he wouldn’t interfere with the utility’s operating decisions. |
30 Fed likely to prefer lending over interest-rate cuts
By DAN SEYMOUR, AP Business Writer
Sat May 3, 12:46 AM ET
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve’s decision Friday to lend more to banks may be a sign that policy makers want to avoid cutting interest rates any further, as they combat a credit crisis that is far from over.
The Fed cut rates to 2 percent this week from 5.25 percent in September. With the value of the dollar falling against foreign currencies, and rising commodity costs pressuring consumers at the gas pump and the grocery store, the central bank wants to steer clear of actions that will push prices up even more.
By lending directly to banks, the Fed can provide capital that banks need to lend to consumers and businesses without fueling higher prices in industries that don’t, said Bill O’Grady, chief investment strategist at Wachovia Securities. |
31 JPMorgan says no near end to financial crisis: report
Reuters
Sat May 3, 11:52 AM ET
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) does not expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain very cautious, its top executive said in comments published by a German weekly on Saturday.
“We can only speculate how deep and how long the recession in the United States will really be and how that in turn will impact banks,” James Dimon told “Welt am Sonntag.”
“But we are not done with the crisis for a long time,” Dimon said, adding that it was not the company’s job to make bets on the future. |
32 Capital flows will return to Asia once credit crunch ends: ADB
AFP
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
MADRID (AFP) – Once the global credit crunch eases Asia will see the return of the large capital inflows which put the squeeze on their economies, a senior Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said Saturday.
“We can expect massive capital inflows into Asia once financial stability is restored,” Masahiro Kawai, the bank’s head of regional economic integration, said at a the ADB’s annual meeting in the Spanish capital Madrid.
Global financial markets were still in the middle of the credit crunch that emerged from the US subprime crisis but confidence will be restored in six to 12 months, he said. |
33 Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Fri May 2, 9:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON – The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists said Friday.
“The long-term prognosis is not very optimistic,” atmospheric scientist Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University said at a briefing.
Last summer sea ice in the North shrank to a record low, a change many attribute to global warming. |
34 Scientists to capture DNA of trees worldwide for database
By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 2, 9:11 PM ET
NEW YORK – The New York Botanical Garden may be best known for its orchid shows and colorful blossoms, but its researchers are about to lead a global effort to capture DNA from thousands of tree species from around the world.
The Bronx garden is hosting a meeting this week where participants from various countries will lay the groundwork for how the two-year undertaking to catalog some of the Earth’s vast biodiversity will proceed.
The project is known as TreeBOL, or tree barcode of life. As in a similar project under way focusing on the world’s fish species, participants would gather genetic material from trees around the world. |
35 Mechanical squirrels, robot lizards jump into research
By STEPHANIE REITZ, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 3, 7:26 AM ET
AMHERST, Mass. – One gray squirrel, its bushy tail twitching, barked a warning as another scrounged for food nearby. It was an ordinary spring day at Hampshire College, except that the rodent issuing the warning was powered by amps, not acorns.
Dubbed “Rocky” after the cartoon character, the robo-squirrel is working its way into Hampshire’s live-squirrel clique, controlled by researchers several yards away with a laptop computer and binoculars.
Sarah Partan, an assistant professor in animal behavior at Hampshire, hopes that by capturing a close-up view of squirrels in nature, Rocky will help her team decode squirrels’ communication techniques, social cues and survival instincts. |
36 NASA Delays Shuttle Flight to Hubble Space Telescope
Tariq Malik, Senior Editor, SPACE.com
Fri May 2, 11:31 AM ET
HOUSTON – NASA has pushed back the planned launch of the final flight to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope by up to five weeks due to external fuel tank delays, mission managers said Thursday.
Space shuttle program manager John Shannon said that the additional time required to include post-Columbia safety improvements in two shuttle fuel tanks supporting the Hubble servicing mission have delayed the spaceflight to no earlier than late September. A seven-astronaut crew was slated to launch toward Hubble aboard NASA’s shuttle Atlantis on Aug. 28.
“We really cannot make that date with the external tank processing,” Shannon told reporters in a briefing here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “I really think it’s a small price to pay, to tell you the truth, four to five weeks for all the improvements that we’re getting on this tank.” |
37 Station’s First Female Commander Confident of Soyuz Fix
Tariq Malik, Senior Editor, SPACE.com
Fri May 2, 1:01 PM ET
HOUSTON – The first female commander of the International Space Station (ISS) said Friday that she is confident Russian engineers will find the source of a glitch that sent a Soyuz spacecraft off course during her April 19 landing with two crewmates.
U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, who commanded the station’s six-month Expedition 16 mission, told reporters here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center that Russia’s Federal Space Agency and an independent group looking into her off-target landing and an earlier one from October should find the root cause.
“They’ll get to the bottom of it,” said Whitson, adding that the Russian agency’s decision to include outside investigators in their review will aid the process. “That will be a better way of having it less biased.” |
38 Cloud Rat Rediscovered after 112 Years
LiveScience Staff
Thu May 1, 11:15 PM ET
The greater dwarf cloud rat was thought to live in the canopies of tall trees in the Philippines, but the last sighting of one was 112 years ago. Now it has been found again.
One of the rodents was found in Mt. Pulag National Park in the Philippines.
The fist-sized mammal has dense, soft, reddish-brown fur, a black mask around large dark eyes, small rounded ears, a broad and blunt snout, and a long tail covered with dark hair.
“This beautiful little animal was seen by biologists only once previously – by a British researcher in 1896 who was given several specimens by local people, so he knew almost nothing about the ecology of the species,” said Lawrence Heaney, curator of mammals at the Field Museum and leader of a team that rediscovered the rat. “Since then, the species has been a mystery, in part because there is virtually no forest left on Mt. Data, where it was first found.” |