Maoist attack on Indian train near Ghaghra station

At least two people were killed and 47 others injured in the incident of Maoist attack on railway derails India train.

November 20, 2009 - Maoist rebels in India have blown up a railway track, leading to the derailment of a passenger train in the eastern state of Jharkhand, police say.

Rebels are fighting for communist rule in a number of Indian states. They have a presence in more than 223 of India 's 600-odd districts across 20 states.

More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight. Eight coaches of the passenger train plying between Tatanagar and Bilaspur derailed after the rebels blew up a portion of the railway track near Ghaghra halt station in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said.

"Maoists blew up a portion of the track that caused the derailment. Three coaches have been badly damaged," federal railway minister Mamata Banerjee said. Ms Banerjee said two passengers travelling on the train had died after the coaches derailed. Six others were trapped in the coaches, she added.

The rebels set off several explosions near the tracks after the incident to prevent rescue workers from reaching the site, the railway minister said. Rescue workers have reached the site and are trying to bring out the passengers who are trapped, a senior police official said.

'Biggest threat'

The incident happened at the same time as the rebels called for a 24-hour strike in Jharkhand. They are demanding that a rebel who was arrested recently by the police should be presented in court immediately. Last week, the rebels abducted a former legislator in Jharkhand, and later released him.

Ramchandra Singh was canvassing for the forthcoming state assembly elections. Polls are to be held in five phases between 27 November and 18 December. Police say they are unclear about the reasons behind Mr Singh's abduction and subsequent release.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as the single largest threat to the country. The rebels say they are fighting for communist rule and the rights of the poor peasants and landless.

There has been a surge in Maoist violence in recent months - the rebels have kidnapped and killed policemen, help up an express train, attacked police stations, and blown up railway lines and communication links in affected states.

Tags : India News,Maoist attack, India Today

Bomb Blast Near Peshawar Court

At least 16 killed in blast outside court building in Pakistani city of Peshawar

November 19, 2009 - Peshawar court explosion kills 16. A bomb blast outside the main gate of a court building in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed 16 people, and injured 26 others.

The court is located on the busy Khyber Road and the area is generally crowded during the morning. Last week a car bomb targeted Pakistani intelligence offices on the same road, just a couple of kilometres west.

The building is also close to the Pearl Continental Hotel, which was targeted by a truck bomb earlier this year. More than 100 people were killed in a blast at a market in Peshawar last month.

Attacks across Pakistan have increased dramatically as the army continues its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

'Blew himself'

The head of the Peshawar city administration, Sahibzada Anees, told reporters that a suicide bomber had carried out the attack. "The bomber blew himself up when he was being body searched by a police guard at the gate of the court complex," he said.

Dr Sahib Gul, head of Lady Reading Hospital, said 16 bodies had been brought to the hospital. Three of the dead are policemen while the rest are thought to be civilians. A bomb disposal squad official said the bomber used eight to 10kg of explosives.

Several vehicles were destroyed in the blast. Security officials have cordoned off the area and Khyber Road has been closed for traffic. The city on the Afghan border has been targeted repeatedly in the recent times.

Last Friday, a suicide car bomb attack on the office of Pakistan's main intelligence agency ISI on the same road killed at least 12 people and injured 40 others. And on 28 October, at least 100 people were killed after a huge car bomb ripped through Peshawar's busy Peepal Mandi market.

The attacks come as Pakistan is carrying out an offensive in South Waziristan, which is considered to be one of the main sanctuaries for Islamic militants outside Afghanistan. Security has been stepped up across Pakistan, but correspondents say the government still appears to be unable to stop the attacks.

Tags : World news, Bomb Blast, Peshawar Court

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz Biography

November 18, 2009 - Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926 ) is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008.

He is currently the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Castro was born into a wealthy family and acquired a law degree. While studying at Havana University , he began his political career and became a recognized figure in Cuban politics. His political career continued with nationalist critiques of Fulgencio Batista, and of the United States ' political and corporate influence in Cuba . He gained an ardent, but limited, following and also drew the attention of the authorities.

He eventually led the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, after which he was captured, tried, incarcerated, and later released. He then traveled to Mexico to organize and train for an assault on Batista's Cuba . He and his fellow revolutionaries left Mexico for the East of Cuba in December 1956.

Castro came to power as a result of the Cuban revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and shortly thereafter became Prime Minister of Cuba. In 1965 he became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and led the transformation of Cuba into a one-party socialist republic. In 1976 he became President of the Council of State as well as of the Council of Ministers.

He also held the supreme military rank of Comandante en Jefe ("Commander in Chief") of the Cuban armed forces. Castro has been portrayed as a dictator in spite of his disapproval of dictatorships.Following intestinal surgery from an undisclosed digestive illness believed to have been diverticulitis, Castro transferred his responsibilities to the First Vice-President, his younger brother Raúl Castro, on July 31, 2006 .

On February 19, 2008 , five days before his mandate was to expire, he announced he would neither seek nor accept a new term as either president or commander-in-chief. On February 24, 2008 , the National Assembly elected Raúl Castro to succeed him as the President of Cuba.

Tags : Fidel Castro, World news, Cuba politician, Fidel Castro Biography

2010 FIFA WORLD CUP SOUTHAFRICA

Second 2010 ticket sales phase extended until 20 November 2009 for FIFA World cup.

November 18, 2009 - With the excitement of the final qualifier round reaching its peak this Wednesday, fans will still be able to immediately purchase their tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

To meet the strong demand by the football fans especially in the qualified countries it was decided today to extend the second sales phase until 20 November 2009 so that supporters do not have to wait until the third and main ticket sales phase kicks off the day after the Final Draw on 5 December. Tickets can be purchased online via FIFA.com until midnight South African time (CET+1) and in South Africa also at FNB branches until end of business of banking outlets on the final sales day.

With the exception of Brazil and England, Team-Specific Tickets (TSTs) are still available for all of the other qualified nations. Depending on which of the five types TST series fans apply for, their TST may include between three and seven matches, including the final. These tickets are allocated to the team’s venues automatically, meaning fans can buy a ticket to follow their team throughout the tournament without having to wait to see where it will play.

At this stage, individual match tickets are mainly available for matches at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium (please note no more tickets are available at this stage for opening and final matches) and at the Durban Stadium. In the current phase, no more category four tickets, which are exclusively reserved for South African residents, are available.

Tags : Fifa world cup, cricket news, cricket news updates, Latest cricket news, 2010 fifa world cup south africa.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

News from nasa space station. Students Send Microbe Experiment on Space Shuttle Atlantis.

November 17, 2009 - An experiment by college students that will study how microbes grow in microgravity is heading to orbit aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

Undergraduate and graduate students at Texas Southern University in Houston developed the experiment that will fly as part of the STS-129 mission. The mission is scheduled to launch at 2:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 16 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"I'm thrilled that giving students the chance to design and research an experiment to fly in space is one of the tools we have at NASA to engage them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori B. Garver said." These young people are our future, and providing an opportunity to inspire them is a major part of our mission at NASA."

NASA's Office of Education selected Texas Southern University as a 2008 University Research Center. Texas Southern established a Center for Bio-nanotechnology and Environmental Research. Students at the center developed the Microbial-1 experiment to evaluate the morphological and molecular changes in E. coli and B. subtilis bacteria.

"The University Research Center Project is designed to enhance the research infrastructure and capacity at minority institutions," said Katrina Emery, NASA's University Research Center project manager at the agency's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. "By engaging in participatory learning opportunities like this experiment, students can see themselves as researchers, now and in the future."

This space shuttle flight experiment is a proof-of-concept model for the URC project to give students hands-on experience. The experiment provides the university students the opportunity to design, monitor and execute the study in laboratories, as well as near real-time on the space shuttle. Each component of the experiment is designed for easy reproduction in the classroom, providing a valuable experience to students.

"This is an amazing opportunity for our students, and it reflects the growing quality of our research programs at Texas Southern," said John M. Rudley, president of Texas Southern University. "We are excited our students have the opportunity to participate in such relevant research. We are also pleased that with our partnerships with area school districts, we are able to take these projects beyond the university to the school classrooms to encourage more students to study science, math, and technology."

The unique experimental data will be used to develop grade-appropriate microbiology modules for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Data downloaded from NASA's Payload Operations and Control Center will be available on the research center's Web site. In addition, educators will receive a teacher's guidebook featuring background information, lesson plans and student activities for conducting this project in their classrooms. BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado is providing management support and hardware for the experiment.

Texas Southern University is one of 13 universities to receive grant funding from NASA's University Research Center project. The project is designed to enhance the research capabilities of minority-serving institutions and increase the production of underrepresented and underserved students majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.

Tags : nasa news updates, space news, Space Shuttle Atlantis, nasa news, nasa space news

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2012: End of the World

2012: Beginning of the End or End of the World or Why the World Won't End?

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Question(Q): What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
Answer (A): The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Question(Q): Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
Answer (A): Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Question(Q): Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
Answer (A): There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Question(Q): Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
Answer (A): Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Question(Q): What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
Answer (A): A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Question(Q): Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
Answer (A): The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Question(Q): How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
Answer (A): For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Credit : nasa.gov/

El Salvador floods : kills more than 124, 60

November 09, 2009 : El Salvador – Mud and boulders loosened by heavy rains swept down a volcano and partly buried a small town Sunday, swallowing up homes as flooding and landslides across El Salvador killed at least 124 people, authorities said.

Hundreds of soldiers, police and residents dug through rock and debris in Verapaz looking for another 60 people missing from the mudslide, which struck before dawn Sunday while residents were still in their beds. Matias Mendoza, 26, was at home with his wife Claudia and their year-old son, Franklin, when the earth began moving.

"It was about two in the morning when the rain started coming down harder, and the earth started shaking," Mendoza recalled. "I warned my wife and grabbed my son, and all of a sudden we heard a sound. The next thing I knew I was lying among parts of the walls of my house."

"A few minutes later, I found my wife and my son in the middle of the rubble, and, thank God, we're alive," said Mendoza, who suffered cuts on his check that emergency workers stitched up.

Almost 7,000 people saw their homes damaged by landslides or cut off by floodwaters following three days of downpours from a low-pressure system indirectly related to Hurricane Ida, which brushed Mexico's Cancun resort on Sunday before steaming into the Gulf of Mexico.

President Mauricio Funes declared a national emergency and said he would work with the United Nations to evaluate the extent of the damage."The images that we have seen today are of a devastated country," Funes said. He called the damages incalculable.

El Salvador's Civil Protection agency raised the death toll to 124 late Sunday, with another 60 people missing. It didn't break down the deaths by location, but under the previous toll of 94, officials had listed 61 deaths in San Salvador, 23 in San Vicente province, including 10 in the town of Verapaz, and the remaining fatalities spread across the country. Red Cross spokesman Carlos Lopez Mendoza said that 60 people were missing in Verapaz.

Some of the worst damage was in Verapaz, where mudslides covered cars and boulders two yards (meters) wide blocked streets. The rain loosened a flow of mud and rocks that descended from the nearby Chichontepec volcano and buried homes and streets in Verapaz, a town of about 3,000 located 30 miles (50 kms) east of San Salvador, the capital.

"It was terrible. The rocks came down on top of the houses and split them in two, and split the pavement," recalled Manuel Melendez, 61, who lived a few doors down from Mendoza. Both their homes were destroyed Sunday morning.

"I heard people screaming all around," Melendez said. Amid a persistent drizzle, rescuers dug frantically for survivors with shovels and even their bare hands. But the search was made difficult by collapsed walls, boulders and downed power lines that blocked heavy machinery."What happened in Verapaz was something terrible," said Interior Minister Humberto Centeno, who flew over the city Sunday to survey the damage. "It is a real tragedy there."

San Vicente Gov. Manuel Castellanos said workers were struggling to clear roadways and power and water service had been knocked out. At least 300 houses were flooded when a river in Verapaz overflowed its banks, Lopez Mendoza said.

In San Salvador, Lopez Mendoza said the toll included a family of four — two adults and two children — who were killed when a mudslide buried their home Sunday morning.Hurricane Ida's presence in the western Caribbean may have played a role in drawing a Pacific low-pressure system toward El Salvador, causing the rains, said Dave Roberts, a Navy urricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.He added, however, that "if there were deaths associated with this rainfall amount in El Salvador, I would not link it to Ida."

Credit : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091109/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_salvador_flooding

Kimberly Munley

November 07, 2009 - Civilian police officer, Kimberly Munley, credited with stopping Fort Hood shooter.

The top commander at Fort Hood is crediting a civilian police officer for stopping the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at the Texas post. Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said Friday that Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire Thursday afternoon. Cone said Munley shot the gunman four times despite being shot herself.

Police officials say after arriving at the scene of Thursday’s gunfire, Munley saw the suspect and started firing at him. Munley’s boss, Chuck Medley, said Friday that alleged gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan then spun around and charged at her with a gun in each hand.

Medley says Munley shot Hasan in the upper torso, allowing officers to take him into custody. Medley says in the exchange of gunfire, Munley was shot in the thighs and wrist. Officials said Munley was in stable condition.

The 35-year-old Munley is from Pennsylvania, used to be in the Army and is married to a Fort Bragg, N.C. soldier.Cone said, “It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer.” Commenters on Twitpic are echoing Cone's sentiments. "Hooaah! Courageous. No telling how many lives you saved by your quick action. Get well soon!" said one poster called RifleRecon.

"Hero, plain and simple. Thanks for what you do every day," said another, named charlesf11. Cone also said he was inspired by a woman who helped carry a wounded victim and used her blouse as a tourniquet, then later realized she’d been shot in the hip. The suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is hospitalized on a ventilator.

Credit : http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/civilian_police_officer_kimber.html

Space trash close to International Space Station

November 07, 2009 : International Space Station - A small chunk of space trash made an uncomfortably close pass by the International Space Station late Friday, but not close enough to force the astronauts aboard to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats.

NASA's Mission Control woke the six astronauts on the station from their sleep late Friday as the space debris approached, but ultimately decided not to send the crew into their Soyuz spacecraft to ride out the orbital trash's near miss. The astronauts were told they could go back to sleep.

"Sorry we had to do it that way, and we had to wake you up in the middle of the night," the station's Russian Mission Control radioed the crew. The debris was expected to fly within 1,640 feet (500 meters) of the orbiting laboratory Friday night at 10:48 p.m. EST (0348 Saturday GMT).

Sending the astronauts into their Soyuz lifeboats would have been a precaution only. Earlier today, NASA officials said the space junk posed no threat to the station or its crew, but news of its close approach came too late to steer the massive orbiting lab clear using its Russian thrusters.

"It's pretty unusual," Kirk Shireman, NASA's deputy station program manager, told SPACE.com Friday. "I wouldn't be surprised if the need to do it for this [debris event] goes away."

That is exactly what happened. A closer analysis of the object by NASA Friday found it to be a small, 2-inch (5-cm) piece of space trash that would not hit the space station. "Good news," NASA's Mission Control told the station crew. "The tracking data has come through, and shown that the conjunction's no longer a threat to station."

The object was very small, making it difficult to track initially, NASA spokesperson Rob Navias told SPACE.com. Station astronauts thanked Mission Control for the news and were looking forward to grabbing more shut-eye. They went to sleep at about 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) and were due awaken to begin their Saturday in space in a few hours.

"I'll get around to all my crewmembers here, and we can go back to sleep," replied station commander Frank De Winne, a Belgian astronaut representing the European Space Agency. "Thanks a lot for working all this tonight, Houston."

The space station is currently home to two Americans, two Russians, a Canadian and De Winne, who commands the team's Expedition 21 mission. This is not the first time a piece of wayward space junk has come close for astronauts to consider taking refuge in their Russian lifeboats.

A close pass by an old rocket engine remnant sent three station astronauts into their Soyuz spacecraft earlier this year in March. Since then, however, the space station's crew size has doubled to six astronauts, so two Soyuz vehicles are currently docked to the station. NASA also delayed the departure of a Japanese cargo ship from the space station last week because of a space debris threat.

NASA typically prefers to move the space station when the odds of a space debris impact are within a 1-in-10,000 chance. Astronauts take shelter when debris is expected to fly within a so-called "red zone" and the space station doesn't have time to dodge, Shireman told SPACE.com

There is also a box-like buffer around the station that mission managers prefer to keep free of any debris. That safety zone extends about 15 miles (25 km) around the space station, as well as about a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below it. The station flies in an orbit about 220 miles (354 km) above Earth at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,163 kph).

But a debris avoidance maneuver – as dodging space junk is known at NASA – can take days to plan. The space station's Mission Control team did not have that time because of the short lead time, Navias said. Space debris has been a growing threat for manned spacecraft and other satellites in orbit today.

The collision between two communications satellites earlier this year brought the issue to the forefront. It, as well as China's intentional destruction of a satellite during a 2007 anti-satellite test, have sparked a renewed push to better track, and possibly reduce, the more than 20,000 pieces of space junk currently watched by various agencies.

Credit : http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/spacejunkbuzzesstationasastronautssleep