Shuttle repair to delay European space lab launch

Shuttle repair to delay European space lab launch


CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Repairing an electrical connection in a U.S. space shuttle's fuel tank will push the already delayed launch of Europe's first permanent space laboratory beyond the current target date of January 10, NASA said on Thursday

Two attempts this month to launch the shuttle Atlantis carrying the European lab to the International Space Station were canceled due to malfunctioning fuel sensors that are part of an emergency engine cutoff system.
NASA had rescheduled the flight for no earlier than January 10, but the repair plan under consideration will bump the launch by a few days to a few weeks, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told reporters in a conference call.
"We need to get the problem resolved. Then we'll look at schedules," Hale said.
Engineers believe the problem resides in a two-sided, plug-like connector that relays electrical signals from the sensors in the fuel tank through wiring leading to the shuttle's engine compartment. The suspect part of the connector is scheduled to be removed on Saturday and taken for analysis at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
SIMILAR PROBLEM FIXED
NASA hopes to pinpoint the problem by disassembling and testing the connector, but even if the faulty component cannot be traced, engineers have proposed to solder pins in place, bypassing the plug-like design.
A similar problem with fuel sensors in the Atlas-Centaur rockets, used for several decades to launch deep space exploration spacecraft and satellites, was fixed by this method, Hale said.
NASA may decide to test the repaired connector by filling the shuttle's fuel tank with supercold propellants in a practice run before getting ready to launch Europe's long-awaited Columbus module.
The sensor system is designed to cut off the shuttle's hydrogen-burning main engines if a leak or other problem causes the fuel to run out before the shuttle reaches its intended orbit. The fuel sensor system is a backup to the shuttle's flight computers which normally handle engine cutoffs.
Running the engines without fuel could trigger a catastrophic explosion.
Though NASA is on deadline to complete 12 construction and resupply flights to the space station by September 30, 2010, when the shuttle fleet is to be retired, Hale has repeatedly said the program will not compromise safety.
"I have a high degree of confidence that we'll be able to complete the space station by the time we have been mandated to retire the shuttle by," Hale said.

US shuttle Atlantis won't fly on January 10: NASA

US shuttle Atlantis won't fly on January 10: NASA


WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US space agency said it has once again delayed the launch of the US space shuttle Atlantis that is to carry a European space laboratory to the International Space Station.

No new launch date has been set.
Faulty fuel gauges on the spacecraft's liquid hydrogen tank has already forced several postponements of the launch that was initially scheduled for December 6.
Until Thursday, the target launch date was January 10. But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement that even that date was "no longer achievable."
The conclusion came after managers of the shuttle program met Thursday to assess the progress made in efforts to find a solution to the sensor problem.
"Instrumentation installed for the tanking test indicate that there are one or more intermittent open circuits in the area of the feed through connector on the external tank's liquid hydrogen tank," the statement said.
The agency said the external parts of the connector will be removed and replaced with others to ensure better connectivity.
"This work will take some time to properly accomplish and to certify the redesigned configuration before flight," NASA said. "The program will take time to assess progress of the work before setting a target launch date."
The Atlantis crew of seven is preparing for an 11-day mission to fly the European Columbus laboratory to the space station. Until now, only the United States and Russia have had their own laboratories at the ISS.
The crew includes two European Space Agency astronauts -- Hans Schlegel of Germany and Frenchman Leopold Eyharts.
Eyharts was scheduled to stay on the ISS for two and a half months to prepare Columbus for future scientific work.

Space shuttle launch could be delayed

Space shuttle launch could be delayed


HOUSTON - The space shuttle Atlantis' mission to the international space station likely will be pushed back a few more days or weeks as engineers study problems with electrical connectors in the spaceship's external fuel tank, a top NASA manager said Thursday.

Failures of shuttle fuel gauges — part of a critical safety system — forced back-to-back launch delays earlier this month.
NASA had been aiming for a Jan. 10 liftoff of Atlantis with a European lab for the space station. But shuttle program manager Wayne Hale indicated last week that the launch likely would be delayed after a test pointed to a bad connector.
On Thursday, Hale said it would probably take a few days or weeks to pinpoint and solve the problem. But he said it was too soon to announce a new target launch date because so much work still has to be done.
"At this point, schedule is not paramount in my mind," he said. "It's going to take as long as it takes ... days to perhaps a couple weeks. We have to get our hands around exactly what work needs to be done."
Last week's fuel tank test indicated open circuits in the connector that passes through the wall of the fuel tank, linking wiring between the gauges in the tank and Atlantis.
Senior NASA managers decided Thursday to remove a plug and electrical connector from the tank and send it to an Alabama testing facility to be studied and repaired, Hale said.
At this point, it appears all the work can be done while Atlantis is on the launch pad, he added.
The space agency has been struggling with sporadic fuel gauge problems for two years, ever since flights resumed following the 2003 Columbia tragedy. The gauges prevent the shuttle's main engines from running on an empty tank, which could be catastrophic.

Russian ship resupplies space station

Russian ship resupplies space station

MOSCOW - An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying 2 tons of supplies including holiday gifts, docked Wednesday at the international space station, officials saidThe Progress M-62, which lifted off Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, docked at the orbiting outpost at 11:14 a.m., Russia's Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.

The ship delivered food, including fruit and vegetables, drinking water, fuel, equipment, oxygen and Christmas and New Year's gifts for the crew — U.S. astronauts Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

Gifts are traditionally given in Russia on New Year's Day. Russians celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7.

The gifts carried to the space station included birthday presents for Malenchenko, who turned 46 on Saturday, Lyndin said.

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Loss of sea ice could harm walrus

Loss of sea ice could harm walrus

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Federal marine mammal experts in Alaska studying the effects of global warming on walrus, polar bears and ice seals warn there are limit to the protections they can provide.They can restrict hunters, ship traffic and offshore petroleum activity, but that may not be enough if the animals' basic habitat — sea ice — disappears every summer.

"Ultimately it's beyond my scope," said Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage. "I can't make ice cubes out there."

Garlich-Miller said 3,000 to 4,000 mostly young walrus died this year in stampedes on land on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, the body of water touching Alaska and Russia just north of the Bering Strait. Instead of spending the summer spread over sea ice, thousands of walruses were stranded on land in unprecedented numbers for up to three months.

Anatoly Kochnev, who conducts walrus research for Russia's Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, said the loss of 3,000 to 4,000 animals this year from mostly one demographic could be disastrous.

If current ice trends continue, and walrus have to stay on coastlines every summer, they may put too much pressure on nearby foraging areas instead of feeding in the rich waters offshore, said U.S. Geological Survey biologist Tony Fischbach.

Experts on summer sea ice say it's not likely to suddenly reappear. Arctic sea ice this summer plummeted to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.

"Certainly we look like we're on a death spiral right now," said Mark Serreze, senior research scientist. "Losing that summer sea ice over by 2030, within some of our lifetimes, is a reasonable expectation."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide within weeks whether to list polar bears as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act because of the loss of sea ice from global warming. Polar bears hunt and breed on sea ice and are poor candidates for survival if they are based on land, where grizzly bears dominate.

Polar bears' primary prey are ringed seals, the only seals that thrive under sea ice. They dig breathing holes with their thick claws and create lairs on top of the ice where they birth their young.

With warming, those lairs collapse earlier in springtime, leaving hairless pups susceptible to freezing, foxes, polar bears and even ravens and gulls.

And then there's the Pacific walrus, which face at least three problems: Their ocean habitat may be changing, they may be forced to shore for long periods, and their weakest members are in danger when crowded on land.

Walruses dive to the ocean bottom to eat clams, snails, crabs, shrimps and worms. Research suggests that diminished sea ice and warmer water may decrease plankton, which are food for creatures on the bottom.

Unlike seals, walruses can't swim indefinitely. Females and their young traditionally use ice as a diving platform, riding it north like a moving sidewalk over offshore foraging areas, first in the northern Bering Sea, then into the Chukchi Sea.

If animals are on shore for three months every summer, they can't reach offshore foraging areas. Chad Jay, chief walrus researcher for the USGS, said there are concerns about how much energy walruses will expend swimming to foraging areas.

An adult walrus can eat 200 pounds of clams in a day. If the walrus population stays within 30 miles of shore in summers, they could overharvest the available clams and other food

Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross Go Holiday Gifting

Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross Go Holiday Gifting

It's that time of year again… time to get creative with the whole gift-giving ritual that we've all come to know and love. And Teri Hatcher has teamed up with her Desperate Housewives co-star Marcia Cross to brighten the lives of the show's crew, as well as the environment.

The actresses have reportedly found an "ethical, eco-friendly way to wrap gifts for the cast and crew of their hit show." They're using Feed 1 Bags.

Feed 1 Bags are part of a fundraising campaign to raise money for starving children. As part of the World Food Program, Feed 1 Bags cost $60 apiece, and they provide enough money to feed one child in a developing country for one academic year.

They're also good for the environment, as they're produced using organically grown jute. Marcia and Teri stuffed their Feed 1 Bags with CDs and gourmet chocolates, ready to be given out to the whole Desperate Housewives family.

Months after mummy claim, DNA still lags

Months after mummy claim, DNA still lags
CAIRO, Egypt - Months after Egypt boldly announced that archaeologists had identified a mummy as the most powerful queen of her time, scientists in a museum basement are still analyzing DNA from the bald, 3,500-year-old corpse to try to back up the claim aired on TVProgress is slow. So far, results indicate the linen-wrapped mummy is most likely, but not conclusively, the female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled for 20 years in the 15th century B.C.

Running its own ancient-DNA lab is a major step forward for Egypt, which for decades has seen foreigners take most of the credit for major discoveries here.

It's time Egyptian scientists took charge, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief who spearheaded the quest to find Hatshepsut and build the lab. "Egyptology, for the last 200 years, it has been led by foreigners."

But the Hatshepsut discovery also highlights the struggle to back up recent spectacular findings in Egypt, including the unearthing of ancient tombs and mummies, investigations into how King Tut died, and even the discovery in the Siwa oasis of possibly the world's oldest human footprint.

So far, the science shown in the Discovery Channel's "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen" has not been published in a reputable peer-reviewed scientific journal — the gold standard of scientific research worldwide.

And some scientists, even ones working on the project, have raised concerns.

"I think the people at the Discovery Channel went way too much 'CSI,'" said biological anthropologist Angelique Corthals, referring to television's "Crime Scene Investigation" series.

"They think you can pick up evidence at 2 p.m. and by 6 p.m. you get results," added Corthals, a scholar at England's University of Manchester who has been helping Egypt establish the DNA lab.

In June Egypt announced that Hatshepsut's mummy had been found, and about a month later the Discovery Channel aired the documentary — showcasing scientific breakthroughs including CT scans and DNA testing. The mummy is now on display in a glass case in the Egyptian Museum's royal mummy room.

Hawass, other Egyptian officials and the Discovery Channel all stand by their findings, even though the DNA testing is incomplete.

"So far there is some agreement and no discrepancies. The results are quite encouraging," said Yehia Zakaria Gad, a molecular geneticist who heads the ancient-DNA lab at the Egyptian Museum.

Most of evidence that led Hawass to declare the mummy to be Hatshepsut did not come from DNA but from CT scans. Those scans showed that a tooth found in a relic box displaying the pharaoh's insignia matched a gap in the mummy's jaw.

CT scans also showed facial similarities between the mummy and already identified mummies of Hatshepsut's royal relatives, as well as evidence of a skin disease that the queen may have shared with some of them.

"The reason why we went with such a strong claim was because the CT scan was conclusive and the fact that the missing tooth provided the missing clue. ... I don't think that the DNA testing will indicate otherwise," said Peter Lovering, Discovery's senior programming executive.

Now, scientists at the Egyptian Museum lab are comparing Hatshepsut's DNA sequences to the previously identified mummy of Hatshepsut's grandmother — the first such attempt in Egypt at using this scientific analysis to verify a mummy's identity. DNA is the unique genetic code of a person and a key tool in solving decades-old crimes, establishing paternity and finding cures for diseases.

The Discovery documentary, which showed scientists extracting the DNA from the mummies, did indicate the DNA results were incomplete and did not say those results proved the mummy was Hatshepsut.

But Corthals still has raised concerns about the expectations placed on the new DNA lab.

She said the team at the Egyptian lab was under "a lot of pressure" to produce results. She said they had "very good preliminary results," but that it will still take months to verify that those results were not a fluke.

Egypt also lacks an independent second lab to review the testing. Before any DNA results can be published in a scientific journal, the Egyptian Museum lab must duplicate its initial findings — which have not yet been completed — and then the samples must be sent to an independent lab to be replicated.

"The ancient-DNA world goes by a very stringent set of criteria. ... One of the biggest is replication by an independent lab," Corthals said. "If you don't do it, particularly with something so famous as this mummy, no peer review journal will publish it.

"And if you don't get it published in a peer review journal, as a scientist, you haven't done anything," she said.

Hawass says he is trying to get a second DNA lab set up in Egypt. The first $5 million lab, funded by the Discovery Channel, is the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to identify mummies and re-examine the royal mummy collection.

The process is time-consuming, especially for a new lab with scientists who have little experience with mummy DNA. It takes three days just to extract the delicate DNA; then scientists must spend at least three more days completing one test on one sample. Months are needed to make a finding.

During a recent tour of the lab by an Associated Press reporter, Gad was not firm on how much more time is needed to complete initial tests on Hatshepsut, saying only that he was "nearly there."

The Discovery Channel paid for the current lab in exchange for exclusive rights to film the search for the Hatshepsut mummy. Hawass said he's offering other companies a similar deal: the rights to film a highly coveted expedition — possibly the search for King Tut's family — in exchange for a second lab.

"This is how I use TVs to bring technology here," he said during an interview in his Cairo office. He added that he has had nibbles about a deal, but would not elaborate.

Hawass has ambitious plans for DNA testing in Egypt, including examining all the royal mummies and the nearly two dozen unidentified mummies stored in the Egyptian Museum. He believes DNA tests will show that some royal mummies on display are not who archaeologists thought they were.

One example is the mummy of Thutmose I, Hatshepsut's father, found in the late 19th century amid the ancient sites in Luxor. But further investigation discovered that the mummy was too young to be Thutmose I, who died in his 50s, Hawass said.

"I really do believe that the Egyptian mummy project is going to be very important in revealing lots of secrets," he said.

But not everyone is convinced.

China raises 800-year-old sunken ship

China raises 800-year-old sunken ship

BEIJING - After 800 years at the bottom of the sea, a merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques was raised to the surface Friday in a specially built basket, a state news agency reportedThe Nanhai No. 1, which means "South China Sea No. 1," sank off the south China coast with some 60,000 to 80,000 items on board, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Wu Jiancheng, head of the excavation project.

Archaeologists built a steel basket around the 100-foot vessel, and it took about two hours for a crane to lift the ship and surrounding silt to the surface, Xinhua said. The basket was as large as a basketball court and as tall as a three-story building.

Green-glazed porcelain plates and shadowy blue porcelain items were among rare antiques found during the initial exploration of the ship. Archaeologists have also recovered containers made of gold and silver as well as about 6,000 copper coins.

The ship dates from the early Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). It was discovered in 1987 off the coast near the city of Yangjiang, in Guangdong province, in more than 65 feet of water.

The Nanhai No. 1 was placed on a waiting barge. It will be deposited in a huge glass pool at a museum where the water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions are the same as where it has lain on the sea bed.

Feng Shaowen, head of the Yangjiang city cultural bureau, said visitors will be able watch the excavation of the ship through windows on the pool

Asteroid may hit Mars in next month

Asteroid may hit Mars in next month

LOS ANGELES - Mars could be in for an asteroid hitA newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.

"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.

Scientists tracking the asteroid, currently halfway between Earth and Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 but increased the chances this week. Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said.

"We know that it's going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there's a possibility of an impact," he said.

If the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will probably hit near the equator close to where the rover Opportunity has been exploring the Martian plains since 2004. The robot is not in danger because it lies outside the impact zone. Speeding at 8 miles a second, a collision would carve a hole the size of the famed Meteor Crater in Arizona

2009 to be UN International Year of Astronomy

2009 to be UN International Year of Astronomy

PARIS (AFP) - The United Nations has proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy to mark the 400th anniversary of observations by Galileo that revolutionised our understanding of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) said here on ThursdayThe initiative, to be hosted by the IAU and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), was approved by the UN in response to a request by Italy, where the great astronomer was born, it said.

Ninety-nine countries and 14 organisations have so far signed up to participate in the scheme, which will seek to promote public involvement in skywatching, especially by the young.

"IYA 2009 will highlight global cooperation for peaceful purposes -- the search for our cosmic origin and our common heritage which connect all citizens of planet Earth," the IAU added.

In 1609, Galileo used a primitive telescope to discover spots on the Sun, craters and peaks on the surface of the Moon and satellites orbiting Jupiter.

His findings confirmed Copernicus's theory that the planets orbited the Sun rather than the Earth, but he incurred the wrath of the Roman Catholic Church by going against its doctrine of celestial mechanics.

Galileo was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition and was forced to recant his findings to avoid being burned at the stake. He spent the last eight years of his life under house arrest.

NASA ties shuttle gauge woes to bad part

NASA ties shuttle gauge woes to bad part

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA on Tuesday traced fuel gauge failures in shuttle Atlantis' tank to a bad connector, and a top manager said he did not know how long it would take to replace the part or when the spaceship might fly. The erratic shuttle fuel gauges — part of a critical safety system — forced back-to-back launch delays this month. Until Tuesday's tanking test, NASA had been aiming for a Jan. 10 liftoff of Atlantis with a European space station lab.

"We're going to follow this trail where it leads us and we're going to solve this problem, and then we'll go fly ... whether it's Jan. 10 or Feb. 10 or March 10," shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said.

In orbit, meanwhile, spacewalking astronauts helped pinpoint the source of a flawed mechanism in the international space station's power system. But they unearthed few clues involving an even bigger problem with a fouled rotating joint for the solar wings.

As NASA pumped liquid hydrogen fuel into Atlantis' tank at the pad, astronauts Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani inspected the space station's two crippled power components. The unrelated problems are curtailing power generation and threaten to delay future shuttle flights.

Their first stop was a solar wing-tilting mechanism that experienced circuit breaker trips on Dec. 8 and shut down. Engineers initially suspected a piece of space junk may have damaged it, but Whitson and Tani found no signs of impact. They temporarily disconnected cables for a test that exonerated certain parts, leaving the motor most likely at fault.

NASA's space station program manager, Mike Suffredini, said a spare motor already on board will be installed during Atlantis' visit, a difficult spacewalking job.

Repairs to the damaged solar rotary joint, on the other hand, will be a massive effort requiring as many as four spacewalks and likely will not be attempted until next fall, Suffredini said. That's how long it will take to figure out what's wrong and train a crew on the repairs, he said.

The joint is supposed to automatically rotate 360 degrees to keep the solar wings facing the sun. It's been used sparingly over the past three months, ever since it began vibrating and exhibiting electrical current spikes.

Whitson and Tani spent most of their seven-hour spacewalk inspecting the clogged rotary joint, removing covers and peeking deep inside with a dentist-style mirror on a rod. They found more of the metallic grit that was first detected by Tani during a spacewalk in October, and collected more samples.

All the gears, motors and bearings looked fine, although some were dirtier than others. The spacewalkers removed one bearing for return to Earth on the next shuttle flight, for engineering analysis.

NASA had hoped to learn what was grinding against the rotating ring.

"We didn't find anything that stood out," Suffredini said. The space agency will try to limp along with the joint in its current state until repairs are made, he added.

Suffredini said that if both dilemmas persist, the space station may not be able to generate enough power to support the Japanese lab that's supposed to arrive in three sections beginning in February. There's "a fighting chance" to keep the first Japanese delivery mission on track, but beyond that, it would be "extremely difficult" to continue assembly, he said.

As for Atlantis' woes, two of the four fuel gauges at the bottom of the external tank failed during Tuesday's test, and another did not work right.

Special test equipment indicated open circuits in the connector that passes through the wall of the fuel tank, linking wiring between the gauges in the tank and Atlantis. It was too soon to know whether the shuttle would need to be returned to its hangar for repairs, Hale said.

The space agency has been struggling with sporadic fuel gauge problems for two years, ever since flights resumed following the Columbia tragedy. The gauges prevent the shuttle's main engines from running on an empty tank, which could be catastrophic.

Hale said it's unclear whether the same type of connector caused the previous problems. There could be a manufacturing defect or flawed design, or the part may have been installed improperly, he noted. The connector is less than 10 years old, "pretty new by shuttle standards."

"We are not going to be driven by schedule on this one," Hale said at a late afternoon news conference. "We need to get to the bottom of this, fix it and make sure it's fixed once and for all."

Magnitude 7.3 quake jolts Aleutian Islands

Magnitude 7.3 quake jolts Aleutian Islands

TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 jolted Alaska's Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific on Wednesday, Japan's weather agency said, triggering a tsunami advisory for Hawaii.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it had issued a tsunami advisory for the state of Hawaii.

The quake, with its focus about 25 miles below the seabed, occurred at 0430 EST, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The U.S. Geological Survey, which put the magnitude at 7.2, said it was 1,200 miles west-southwest of Anchorage

Space station astronauts take spacewalk

Space station astronauts take spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of space station astronauts ventured out on a spacewalk Tuesday to inspect two defective mechanisms that are hobbling power generation at the orbiting complexFlight controllers called it a fact-finding mission.

Meanwhile, some 200 miles below, NASA was recreating fuel gauge problems that grounded shuttle Atlantis earlier this month.

Engineers started filling the spaceship's external tank with liquid hydrogen fuel at daybreak, in a test at the launch pad to pinpoint the nagging trouble. One of the four fuel gauges promptly failed, and two others were not working consistently.

The problem could be anywhere in the 100 feet of circuitry between the shuttle and tank, or in the fuel gauges.

Atlantis' astronauts were supposed to examine the clogged rotary joint at the international space station. But with the shuttle mission delayed until January, NASA moved up the joint inspection and added another chore to the spacewalk after a second component in the space station's power system failed 1 1/2 weeks ago.

Commander Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani made history as they floated outside well before dawn: It was the 100th spacewalk at the space station.

They quickly headed to a mechanism that is supposed to tilt the solar wings on the right side of the space station toward the sun. The component experienced circuit breaker trips Dec. 8, leading engineers to believe it may have been hit by a piece of space junk or micrometeorite.

However, Whitson and Tani found no signs of impact.

Afterward, the spacewalkers moved over to the bigger solar rotary joint, which is supposed to automatically revolve 360 degrees to keep the solar wings pointed toward the sun. The joint — also on the right side of the space station — has been used sparingly in the past three months because of vibrations and electrical current spikes.

During a spacewalk in October, Tani found steel grit inside the 10-foot-diameter joint. He collected samples of the shavings, which were returned to Earth on the last shuttle flight, but engineers still do not know what is grinding inside.

Whitson and Tani looked deeper into the joint Tuesday, taking off more covers and using a dentist-style mirror on a rod to peek inside. They collected more samples, using tape to pick up the grit, and removed a suspect bearing for analysis back on Earth. No repairs were planned during the excursion.

Tani said the magnetized grit looked like marching ants as the gears moved. "It's hilarious," he called down. "It's like it's animated, like they're alive."

Despite the seriousness of the job, the spacewalkers enjoyed some laughs with Mission Control. One flight controller, a man, wanted to know from Whitson "if this beats cooking and sewing."

"Tell him I'm going to take care of him when I get back — maybe not the way he wants," replied Whitson, the space station's first female skipper.

Three hours later, she became the new female spacewalking champion — "the queen," according to Mission Control — racking up more time outside in the vacuum of space than any other woman.

The unrelated predicaments are curtailing power generation at the space station and could delay future shuttle visits.

Atlantis' trip to deliver the European lab, Columbus, is off until Jan. 10, a date that hinges on the results of Tuesday's fueling test. The Japanese lab, Kibo, or Hope, is supposed to follow on multiple shuttle flights.

Giant rat discovered in Indonesia jungle

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have discovered a giant rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science, underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation, scientists said MondayUnearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is considered very rare. The discoveries by a team of American and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status.

The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said U.S.-based Conservation International, which organized the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

The possum was described as "one of the worlds smallest marsupials."

A 2006 expedition to the same stretch of jungle — dubbed by Conservation International as a "Lost World" because until then humans had rarely visited it — unearthed scores of exotic new species of palms, butterflies and palms.

Papua has some of the world's largest tracts of rainforest, but like elsewhere in Indonesia they are being ravaged by illegal logging. Scientists said last year that the Foja area was not under immediate threat, largely because it was so remote.

Compromise reached at Bali climate talks

Compromise reached at Bali climate talks

BALI, Indonesia - Two weeks of international climate talks marked by bitter disagreements and angry accusations culminated Saturday in a last-minute U.S. compromise and an agreement to adopt a blueprint for fighting global warming by 2009. Now comes the hard part.

Delegates from nearly 190 nations must fix goals for industrialized nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions while helping developing countries cut their own emissions and adapt to rising temperatures.

Negotiators also will consider ways to encourage developing countries to protect their rapidly dwindling forests — which absorb carbon dioxide.

"This is the beginning, not the end," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told The Associated Press following the contentious climate conference, which stretched into an extra day. "We will have to engage in more complex, long and difficult negotiations."

Those gathering on the resort island of Bali were charged with launching negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. What they decide in the next two years will help determine how much the world warms in the decades to come.

In a series of pivotal reports this year, a U.N. network of climate and other scientists warned of severe consequences — from rising seas, droughts, severe weather, species extinction and other effects — without sharp cutbacks in emissions of the industrial, transportation and agricultural gases blamed for global warming.

To avoid the worst, the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said, emissions should be reduced by 25 percent to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Greenhouse and other heat-trapping gases should be reduced at least by half by 2050, they added.

Despite an aggressive EU-led campaign to include specific emissions reduction targets for industrial nations — using the figures and time table above — the final roadmap has none.

The guidelines were eliminated after the U.S., joined by Japan and others, argued that targets should come at the end of the two-year negotiations, not the start.

But it was a separate issue that precipitated a riveting, final-hour floor fight.

India sought to amend the document to strengthen requirements for richer nations to help poorer with technology to limit emissions and adapt to climate change's impacts.

The head of the U.S. delegation, Undersecretary of State Paula J. Dobriansky objected, setting off loud, long boos in the hall.

Next, delegate after delegate took aim at the United States, with South Africa saying Dobriansky's intervention was "most unwelcome and without any basis," and Uganda saying "We would like to beg them" to relent.

Then the delegate from Papua New Guinea leaned into his microphone.

"We seek your leadership," Kevin Conrad told the Americans. "But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way."

The U.N. climate conference exploded with applause, the U.S. delegation backed down, and the way was cleared Saturday for adoption of the "Bali Roadmap."

When talks begin, the focus again will fall on the United States, the only major industrial country that did not accept Kyoto. That pact requires 37 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gases by a relatively modest 5 percent on average in the next five years.

A turning point may come a year down the road following the U.S. election of a new president, who many environmentalists hope will support deeper, mandatory emissions cuts in contrast to President Bush, who favors only voluntary approaches to reining in greenhouse gases.

The exemption of developing nations from the Kyoto Protocol's mandatory caps has also long been a key complaint of American opponents to the U.N. climate treaty process.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the U.S. welcomed the positive steps outlined in the roadmap but had "serious concerns" about the different responsibilities that will be shouldered by developed and developing nations.

"The problem of climate change cannot be adequately addressed through commitments for emissions cuts by developed countries alone," Perino said.

"Negotiations must clearly differentiate among developing countries in terms of the size of their economies, their level of emissions and level of energy utilization, and sufficiently link the character or extent of responsibility to such factors," Perino said.

The comment seemed aimed squarely at China, a developing nation with an economy that is soon expected to zoom past Germany's to become the world's third biggest, after the United States and Japan.

China also now generates a large share of the world's greenhouse gases, with some experts saying it has already overtaken the United States as the world's No. 1 emitter.

The Bali plan does ask for more from the developing world, giving negotiators the task of considering "mitigation actions" — voluntary actions to slow emissions growth — for poorer countries, including such fast-growing economies as China's and India's.

For industrial nations, the Bali plan instructs negotiators to consider mitigation "commitments," mandatory caps as in the Kyoto deal. But the lack — at U.S. insistence — of ambitious numerical guidelines troubled many environmentalists.

"The people of the world wanted more. They wanted binding targets," said Marcelo Furtado of Greenpeace Brazil.

Climate policy analyst Eliot Diringer, of Washington's Pew center, looked on the positive side.

"It puts no one on the hook right now for emissions reductions," he said. "What's important, though, is that it lets no one off the hook either."

___

Take That shut door on Williams

Take That shut door on Williams

Take That's Gary Barlow has said there will be "no place" for ex-member Robbie Williams in the group in future.
"I think, when it comes down to it, he's just not going to be in the band again," the 36-year-old musician told The Big Issue magazine.

Group member Mark Owen said that when the act reformed after a 10-year gap, Williams was invited to join in, but he decided to "walk his dog" instead.

Until recently, the foursome had left the way clear for the star to return.

They had said the door was "always open".

Panned

While the group have enjoyed renewed success since they reformed in 2005, with chart-topping singles, a new album and sell-out live tour, Williams' fortunes have waned.

His most recent album Rudebox was panned by critics, and its lead single peaked at only number four.



The singer had previously enjoyed a string of chart-topping releases.

He failed to make any impact at the Brit Awards earlier this year, while Take That won best single for their comeback song Patience.

Williams quit Take That in 1995 to embark upon a solo career, amid reports that his relationship with Barlow was strained.

The group got back together after a television documentary which did not feature Williams.

Vanessa Hudgens' D.C. Experience

Vanessa Hudgens' D.C. Experience

In town to tape the TNT Holiday special "Christmas In Washington," actress/singer Vanessa Hudgens was spotted wandering about the streets and shops of Washington DC on Saturday (December 8).

After grabbing a Starbucks and checking out the city's offerings, the High School Musical star was put to work - as she made her way to a rehearsal to practice up for the actual televised performance (being filmed later today).

Joining Vanessa at the rehearsals were fellow "Christmas In Washington" performers Katharine McPhee, Ne-Yo and Colbie Caillat.

One fan at the scene of the practice sessions told press about the experience, "I MET HER (Hudgens)!!! First time ever! She talked on her cell phone for a little bit and mentioned 'Ashley (Tisdale?)'. She didn't have an actual duet with Ne-Yo, although Colbie Caillat and Ne-Yo did sing a song together. All four performers than sang a song in unison with the huge children's choir. Her voice was SOOOOOOOOO beautiful. My dad and I were blown away. She was SOOO nice and sweet. She was great with the little kids and was joking around on stage after she performed. Totally down to earth."

Fergie: Hurt Over Surgery Claims

Fergie: Hurt Over Surgery Claims

On Saturday, Fergie headed off to the Costa Mesa Macy's to launch her spring 2008 handbag collection, Fergie for Kipling. The Black Eyed Pea even took the time to meet the first 200 customers to spend over $100.

Meanwhile, the Grammy nominated singer recently responded to accusations by Us Weekly, which claimed that she's has had work done on her nose and eyebrows - calling the report untrue and hurtful.

"One of those magazines says I've had a nose job and an eyebrow lift, which is completely untrue," Fergie explained.

"Personally, I see a therapist. It's hard, it hurts my feelings. I call my hypnotherapist and cry and let it go. That's what I do [to cope]. I think that they nitpick these days so much and it's just got to the point where it's ridiculous."

Super scam me

Super scam me

Some see them as a joke, a few even take them at their word, but to most of us spam e-mails that promise to "enlarge your manhood" have become an everyday pest. Simon Cox, of Radio 4's the Investigation, set out to discover who is behind them.
Would you like your penis enlarged? It is a question I get asked a lot.

Not by women, thankfully, but in the e-mails I receive every morning. For just $70, I could open up "new exciting horizons of sensual pleasure" and put an end to "being shy of [my] manhood in the showers".

If it was only me, I might develop a complex. But billions of these junk e-mails are being sent out advertising the wonders of Manster, herbal pills that guarantee to add "intimate inches".

A similar strain of spam extols the virtues of "herbal Viagra" or "miracle breast improvement" products.

They are probably one of the most intense spam operations on the internet today

Richard Cox, Spamhaus
It would be tempting to think no-one responded to such offers. Quite the opposite, says Brian McWilliams, who managed to access the file directory of a spammers' website.

"There were orders from veterinarians and doctors," says Mr McWilliams, author of Spam Kings, "... people who I think would be sophisticated and unlikely to want to give out their credit card number to a website that had no contact information".

In a bid to track down the elusive figures sending me these spam e-mails, I had to try to buy the product. I clicked on a link in one of the e-mails, which led to an Elite Herbal website.

Elite Herbal is the biggest spammer of them all, says Richard Cox of the internet monitoring organisation Spamhaus.

"They are probably one of the most intense spam operations on the internet today," says Mr Cox, who calls them an "absolute pest".

Trail to India

But trying to isolate the Elite Herbal spammers came to a dead end. The e-mail had been sent by woman at a library in Florida. A quick call revealed she didn't exist.


The e-mails are sent from computers that have been hijacked and infected
The website had been registered in China but with fake contact information. We even tried to trace the actual computer used to send the e-mail.

But that's a lost cause, says Mark Harris, of IT security firm, Sophos Labs.

Its computer engineers work 24/7 battling with spammers, and can track in real time the location of machines spewing out spam. Mostly though, the offending computers have been hijacked, unbeknown to their owners.

Spammers are adept at hiding, and while Sophos can help block the spam e-mails it can't get to the root of the problem.

So instead, I decided to follow the money. My credit card payment for the Manster pills had been processed by a website based in India that was connected to a company that sold herbal products via so called "affiliates".

These are the sales people scattered across the globe working on commission. The suspicion is that often they are the spammers.

During the research for his book Mr McWilliams posed as an affiliate and signed up to send some spam for a man selling fake Rolex watches.

New Zealand link

"He maintained the website, he was responsible for shipping out the orders," says Mr McWilliams. "What I did was I brought him customers and I could do that however I wanted and obviously I did it through spam".


The warnings are out there for the gullible
The company can do everything for the spammer, helping them with their web presence, processing payments and shipping the goods. But they are not doing the spamming, so can deny all knowledge of it.

We weren't the only people on the trail of Elite Herbal. Henrik Uffe Jensen, an IT consultant from Denmark had also been plagued by their e-mails. So he turned the tables on them, setting a trap by placing request for pills, but hid a code in the order form.

This allowed him to see the location and the unique IP address of the internet user accessing his order. Henrik noticed one of the computers tracking his order was in New Zealand.

We found out the computer was in the south island of New Zealand. We also knew Vodafone was providing its internet service. We contacted Vodafone and after some checks they confirmed it was the spammer.

"The customer was sending the spam but not directly from his account," says a spokesman for Vodafone. "He 'hid' behind a number of other slave or zombie computers, making identifying his activities somewhat more difficult".

The pills arrive

We knew where the alleged spammer lived and it didn't take long for us to find out his name. He denied the claims when contacted and the matter is now being dealt with by authorities in New Zealand.

Two weeks after I placed my order a brown envelope arrived from India. Inside was a bottle of Manster pills and the promise of a month's worth of enhanced sexual performance - although there is no mention of penis enlargement.

I sent the list of herbal ingredients to David Schardt, a senior Nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington DC.

He couldn't find any evidence to show that most of the ingredients would have any effect. What had cost me £35, he said, I could pick up for 50p in India.

Having made my purchase I am the spammers' favourite friend. Each morning there are now huge numbers of junk emails getting past my spam filter. The technology to stop spam is getting more sophisticated but so are the spammers. In the end there is only one way we can end spam - stop buying their products.

The Investigation is broadcast on Radio 4 on Thursday, 13 December at 2000 GMT and afterwards the podcast is available for download here.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
It should be illegal to buy from spammers.
Alex May, London, England


Why don't Visa and MasterCard get together to put an end to spamming. If they decided to withdraw credit card processing from any Company selling via spammers (whether intentionally or inadvertently) it would stop 90% of spam overnight. There is a precedent when they stopped agreeing to process credit cards for gambling sites in the USA. While we're at it, why can't the various Stock Exchanges suspend trading of shares for, say, 7 days of Companies being 'ramped' by spamming. Even if the companies are not involved directly it creates a false market and suspension would be in every-one's interest.
Tony, London


The only way to stop spammers is government intervention. But governments fear such "precedent" of interference in laissez-faire capitalism.
ML, USA


Good article and for once it comes to the right conclusion, but it is not strong enough. When you buy their products, you are not only opening yourself up to more spam but you are encouraging them to send spam to others. The economics of spam are that they only need one hit in 1000 or more to make it pay. Therefore, everytime you show any interest whatsoever in their product, you are enabling the spammers to jusitfy sending mail to thousands of other people. To hear that vets, doctors and other people that should really know better are responding to this rubbish is just depressing.
Steve Green, Ottawa, Canada


A simple solution would be a nominal "tax" on email messages....say 0.5 cents per message charged to the IP provider. These spammers that send out tens of millions of emails would then have to pay their IP provider thousands of dollars for every mailing ($50,000 for 10 million messages.....The cost to the rest of us would be negligible. At least it would eat into thier profit margins.
GB, Toronto, Canada


To Tony of London, it is very easy to get around the restrictions in the US on gambling websites, so I don't see that it would accomplish all that much. Still, it couldn't hurt. At least then those buying from spammers would have to jump through one extra hoop, and it might make them think twice.
James Sweet, Rochester, NY, USA


The best way to stop spammers is for everybody to stop buying things from them. Why do people send spam or junk mail? Because they know some people will actually buy their product (fake or not). They know some people will actually fall for their sales pitch. They may only get 1% responses to spam but that's enough for them to make money to keep doing it. People need to be educated about spam, but unfortunately, there are millions of stupid internet users out there who still click on spam.
Derek, NY/USA


People are gullible enough to fall for that? My 13 year old brother knows a spam email when he sees one.
Sophie, Belfast, Ireland


I think that most normal law abiding pacificist people would find it hard not to physically assault a spammer if they had got them face to face. The amount of time loss and aggravation they cause in everyone's life is good enough to use legislation to stop and punish them. Between that, ISP controls, credit card companies and buyer penalties it should kill it and we could all get on with our lives.
Patrick j., leitrim, Ireland


I rarely buy online but do so only from a few select sites using an email address no spammer could know. I always tick the boxes declining any marketing spam from either the website itself or any of their "selected" partners. Yet I am still bombared by spam from random companies. When I ask them where they got my details from they refuse to tell me. I am sure websites totally ignore requests not to sell your details on to spammers but there is just no way of knowing who it is!
John, Witney, Oxfordshire

2007 data confirms warming trend

2007 data confirms warming trend

2007 has been one of the warmest years since 1850, despite the cooling influence of La Nina conditions.

The UK's Hadley Centre and University of East Anglia conclude that globally, this year ranks as the seventh warmest.

The 11 warmest years in this set have all occurred within the last 13 years. For the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 was the second warmest recorded.

The findings come as politicians at the UN climate summit try to agree a path leading to cuts in carbon emissions.

The Hadley Centre's head of climate prediction, Vicky Pope, who is at the Bali talks, said the data "confirmed the need for swift action to combat further rises in global temperatures because of human behaviour."

The La Nina event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year

Phil Jones, UEA
The data was presented to Bali delegates by Michel Jarraud, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which has partially overseen the landmark assessment published during the year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"What we are seeing is a confirmation of the warming trend seen by the IPCC reports," he said.

Pacific heights

At the beginning of the year, the same group of scientists said 2007 was set to be the warmest on record.

"The year began with a weak El Nino... and global temperatures well above the long-term average," said Phil Jones, director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

THE 10 WARMEST YEARS
1998 - 0.52C (above the 1961-1990 average)
2005 - 0.48C
2003 - 0.46C
2002 - 0.46C
2004 - 0.43C
2006 - 0.42C
2007 (provisional) - 0.41C
2001 - 0.40C
1997 - 0.36C
1995 - 0.28C


El Nino/La Nina explained
"However, since the end of April, the La Nina event has taken some of the heat out of what could have been an even warmer year."

El Nino and La Nina represent opposite ends of a periodic and natural variation in climatic conditions across the Pacific.

El Nino events see above-average ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific, while lower temperatures in the same regions are manifested during La Nina.

The 1998 El Nino event, one of the most powerful on record, was largely responsible for that year being the warmest documented since 1850, and warmer than any since.

The warmth of the years since 2000 is thought to be driving the thinning of Arctic sea-ice. Scientists forecast this week that the ice could melt entirely during summers by 2013.

San Jose Gets a Dose of the Spice Girls

"Spiceworld" hit San Jose, California last night, and the Hewlett Packard Pavilion was rocking the night away.

In the first US show of their reunion tour, Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, Emma "Baby Spice" Burton, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm and Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell took the stage like the seasoned veterans that they are. And they put on what many are calling the concert of the year.

Their opening number "Spice Up Your Life" (the same as their Vancouver show two nights prior) drew the screams of thousands of eager fans gratifying their desires for the tasty, sugary brand of pop the UK girl group is known for.

And the wardrobe was nothing short of fabulous. As one reviewer put it, "Posh, whose soccer-star hubby David Beckham was reportedly in the audience, wore a gorgeous, tight-fitting gold pant-and-corset outfit, while Baby looked mighty cute in her short dress and Ginger rocked a sexy, even shorter, hemline. The other two Spices—Scary and Sporty—weren't nearly as fetching. The former wore a reptilian patterned jumpsuit and the latter was in a spacey work-out suit that seemed straight out of the "Battlestar Galactica" closet."

Of course, there were multiple costume changes throughout the 100-minute whirlwind set, as well as a solo by each of the girls. With the kind of amazing press the Spice Girls are getting thus far, they may have to continue their tour Grateful Dead-style in order to appease the insatiable appetites of the world's pop music consumers.

The set list for the San Jose show is as follows:

"Spice Up Your Life"
"Stop"
"Say You'll Be There"
"Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)"
"Lady is a Vamp"
"Too Much"
"2 Become 1"
"Who Do You Think You Are" (Posh solo)
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Scary solo)
"Maybe" (Baby solo)
"Viva Forever"
"Holler"
"It's Raining Men" (Ginger solo)
"I Turn to You" (Sporty solo)
"Let Love Lead the Way"
"Mama"
(Soul medley)
"Goodbye"
Encore:
" If U Can't Dance"
"Wannabe"
" Spice Up Your Life"

Kim Kardashian Mourns Loss of Jewelry

Kim Kardashian Mourns Loss of Jewelry
In case you didn't know, Kim Kardashian was the victim of an airport robbery last week. And she certainly isn't taking it very well.

The story is, while Kim was granting some photo opportunities in the Delta terminal of JFK Airport, someone came by and swiped $50,000 (her estimate) worth of jewelry from her baggage.

The "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" starlet told radio host (and executive producer of her reality show) Ryan Seacrest, "I want my stuff back!"

Funny enough, there isn't any photographic evidence (i.e. surveillance camera footage) of the incident. A rep for Delta Airlines told press, "Delta employees perform their duties with the utmost professionalism and responsibility, and we're investigating Ms. Kardashian's claim."

But when asked why there was no police report filed as of yet, Kim's rep Cindy Guagenti called the press "weird" and "jealous." If you can't find the sense in that response, don't worry. Neither can we.

Richie Madden Children's Foundation is Born

Richie Madden Children's Foundation is Born

As a follow up to an earlier Fropki story, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have officially launched their children's charity. And they're already making the world a better place.

Yesterday, Joel and Nicole hosted a surprise baby shower for one hundred new and expecting mothers at the Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood, California. During the event, more than $200,000 worth of gifts were bestowed upon the women.

And the "Simple Life" starlet was beaming from ear to ear. "The looks on their faces were priceless. Some of them didn't even believe us [when they saw the gifts]. They thought we were joking," she told press.

The Richie Madden Children's Foundation was started in honor of Joel and Nicole's yet-to-be-born (due in January) child, and the expecting parents say that they hope it instills a sense of social responsibility in their baby. The Good Charlotte rocker told press, "We grew up in Los Angeles and we want our child to be a part of the community, and to know that there's a responsibility to help the community."

As for the charity's moniker, Richie reported, "We named it the Richie Madden Children's Foundation because we each have families and our families are close, and our family is involved.

Joel added, "We're lucky that we have families that get along and love each other. I think it's great that our child will grow up as a part of that family."

Bioshock scoops game of the year

Bioshock scoops game of the year

Action thriller Bioshock has been awarded game of the year at the Spike TV awards in Las Vegas.
The underwater adventure, widely praised for its storyline and production values, also won the prize for best Xbox 360 title and best score.

It beat high-profile titles such as Halo 3, Mass Effect and The Orange Box to win the top prize.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare won the awards for best shooter and best military game.


Actor Samuel L. Jackson hosted the awards, which were broadcast on cable channel Spike TV.

Nintendo title Super Mario Galaxy, which has been feted with a series of near-perfect review scores, won for best action game and best Wii game, while science fiction epic Mass Effect won best RPG and PC title Crysis won for best graphics.

Blockbuster title Halo 3 picked up two awards, for best multiplayer and most addictive game. The Orange Box, a compendium of Half-Life 2 titles, 3D puzzler Portal and online game Team Fortress, was named PC game fo the year.

Other highlights included Colin McRae: DiRT picking up the best driving game prize, Ratchet and Clank winning the best PlayStation 3 prize, and Portal chosen as the breakthrough technology winner.

EU host hails 'summit of equals'

EU host hails 'summit of equals'
The host of the first meeting of EU and African leaders for seven years has described their gathering as a "summit of equals".
But Portuguese PM Jose Socrates said there would be no shying away from thorny issues like human rights.

Activists are urging more action to solve the Darfur crisis and confront Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the summit the situation in Zimbabwe was "damaging the image" of Africa.

Although banned from the EU, Mr Mugabe is attending the summit after African leaders threatened to stay away if he was not invited.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is critical of Mr Mugabe's human rights record, is boycotting the summit in protest.

In a keynote speech on human rights, Ms Merkel said the whole European Union "has the same view" of what is happening in Zimbabwe, where Mr Mugabe is accused of economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy.

"Zimbabwe concerns all of us, in Europe and in Africa," she said.

'Universal heritage'

Mr Socrates said there would be a frank and open dialogue with "no taboos".

We are equal in our human dignity... but also equal in terms of political responsibility

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates


Mugabe 'new era' dismissed
EU-Africa: Key issues

"Human rights are a universal heritage of humanity which we have to preserve and defend.... We have put human rights at the centre of not only our agenda but our strategy," he said in an opening speech.

He acknowledged that Zimbabwe was a sticking point, but said dialogue would bring results.

"This summit is a summit of equals," he said. "We are equal in our human dignity... but also equal in terms of political responsibility."

Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who is also president of the African Union, said it was time to shake off the colonial past.

"For almost 500 years, the relationship between our two continents had not been a happy one. It is to correct this historic injustice and inhumanity that this new relationship between Africa and the European Union is now necessary," he said.

The BBC's Mark Doyle in Lisbon says there is an emerging realisation in Europe that its relationship with Africa is changing.

Poverty and issues around development aid are still dominant, but at the same time many countries in Africa are now democracies with growing economies and growing self-confidence, our correspondent says.



African trade with China is forcing Europe to take Africa more seriously and not just as a collection of former colonial possessions, he adds.

Human rights is one of five key topics that leaders are due to debate at the summit.

The others are trade, immigration, the environment, and peace and security.

Previous efforts to hold the meeting collapsed over the question of Mr Mugabe's attendance.

'Riches'

Also on the eve of the summit, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - who has set up base in a tent outside Lisbon - called on Europe to compensate its former African colonies.


"The riches that were taken away must be given back somehow," Mr Gaddafi said in a speech at Lisbon University.

"If we don't face up to that truth, we'll have to pay the price one way or another - through terrorism, emigration or revenge."

The EU is hoping to draw up a number of new Economic Partnership Agreements with former African colonies and regional blocs. The World Trade Organization wants the current preferential trade deals to expire at the end of the year.

African representatives are concerned that the new agreements are unbalanced and that their countries will not be able to compete with subsidised European goods.

Some states, though, in East Africa, have already signed up to the new deals.

European countries are mindful of protecting their position in Africa amid rising competition from China, correspondents say.

'Skin cell cure' for sickle cells

'Skin cell cure' for sickle cells

Scientists say they have found a new weapon against the blood disease sickle cell anaemia - the skin.
By reprogramming skin cells in the lab to become stem cells, the US team were able to treat mice with a human type of sickle cell anaemia, Science reports.

As well as being in plentiful supply, using skin cells as a therapy also gets round the ethics surrounding the use of other stem-cell based treatments.

Experts stressed more safety work was needed before moving trials to humans.

Stem cells

Stem cells are at an early stage of development and retain the potential to turn into many different types of cell, which means they have the scope to treat a number of diseases.

Scientists believe the most useful stem cells come from the tissue of embryos.

This is because they are pluripotent - they have the ability to become virtually any type of cell within the body.

Stem cells are also found within adult organs, including skin.

While the reprogrammed skin cells in the latest study - called induced pluripotent stem cells or IPS cells - hold tremendous promise, the scientists caution they also have the potential to cause dangerous side effects.

Safety issues

To make the IPS cells, the scientists started with cells from the skin of the diseased mice, then used viruses, called retroviruses, to insert therapeutic genes into the DNA of these cells.

While this was effective, the retroviruses have the ability to make random changes to DNA elsewhere in the body, which could potentially lead to complications, such as cancer.

Lead researcher Rudolf Jaenisch, of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Massachusetts, said: "We need a delivery system that doesn't integrate itself into the genome.

We need more research. There are still significant hurdles to overcome

Professor Azim Surani of the University of Cambridge

"Retroviruses can disrupt genes that should not be disrupted or activate genes that should not be activated."

Professor Azim Surani of the University of Cambridge said: "This is an important step forwards.

"But in addition to the safety concerns, we have to be cautious about extrapolating from mouse studies to humans.

"The mouse IPS cells are not identical to human IPS cells. We need more research. There are still significant hurdles to overcome."

More than 12,500 people in the UK have sickle cell anaemia.

It is an inherited disease which affects the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen and can cause severe pain, and damage to the organs.

Columbus: Europe's orbital outpost

Columbus: Europe's orbital outpost

Columbus is Europe's first permanent base in space.

The 21-tonne, 880m-euro ($1.3bn) Columbus module will carry out studies that would be impossible in the gravity experienced at the Earth's surface.

After years of delay, the European module is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center on 6 December aboard the US space shuttle Atlantis.

"It is the end of the beginning," says Alan Thirkettle, International Space Station (ISS) programme manager at the European Space Agency (Esa).

Columbus' arrival at the station two days after launch will mark the end of an arduous, 12-year campaign to establish an outpost for Europe on the final frontier.

"The phase of the space station so far has been one of engineering and the development of hardware," relates Esa director-general, Jean-Jacques Dordain.

The majority of scientific research that will be done on Columbus is dedicated to fields that are of interest to our life here on Earth

Thomas Reiter, astronaut
But once Columbus is operational and the space station crew has been increased from three to six, he explains, Europe can truly begin reaping the benefits of its investment in the ISS.

"To make scientific progress you have to repeat and repeat an experiment. And the only way to repeat experiments over and over is to have continuous access to these capabilities.

"With Columbus, we will have continuous access."

Harmony in space

Over the weekend, the 8m-long (26ft), 4m-wide (13ft) lab will be lifted out of the shuttle's cargo bay by the space station's robotic arm and attached to the Harmony Node 2 module on the ISS.

"In a few days' time when we're on orbit, the first thing we will do is commission the module and make sure that it works okay," says Alan Thirkettle.



This won't take more than three or four weeks. From that moment onwards, we acquire rights and we acquire obligations."

The obligations are that Esa carries out flights of its new logistics spacecraft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to the ISS roughly once every two years.

As rights, Esa gets a percentage of space station crew time and also flight opportunities.

European astronauts currently get one six-month flight every two years, but Esa is negotiating to acquire flights currently allocated to the Italian Space Agency (Asi), which would give it access to the ISS once a year.

Known unknowns

The orbital lab is equipped with 10 experiment racks, each about the size of a telephone booth. Eight of these are situated in the side walls and two in the ceiling.

In addition, Columbus will carry two experiment payloads on the outside of its pressurised hull.


What Columbus contains
Payloads are partly geared towards investigating the problems humans would face on missions to Mars.


But, explains Thomas Reiter, a European astronaut and executive at the German Aerospace Center (DLR): "The majority of scientific research that will be done on Columbus is dedicated to fields that are of interest to our life here on Earth.

"That is especially true for materials science, for biology, physics, chemistry and human physiology," he tells BBC News.

"There are many human diseases which are not yet fully understood, and research in microgravity could make a contribution in understanding the roots of some diseases rather than just the symptoms."

The Columbus laboratory certainly doesn't address any fundamental questions in science

Steven Weinberg
One such investigation planned for Columbus will examine the effects of weightlessness on the immune system, which plays important roles in numerous diseases, including cancers and Aids.

Certain effects of the immune system are activated or deactivated in different gravity environments. Understanding how weightlessness affects the immune system might help researchers to develop new strategies for tackling disease.

Other experiments could help advance understanding of osteoporosis, lead to improvements in the aluminium casting process - which is crucial in the motor industry - and result in food crops that are more resistant to disease and drought.

Missing fundamentals

However, some researchers are less than enthusiastic about the scientific value of investigations carried out on Columbus.

"The Columbus laboratory certainly doesn't address any fundamental questions in science - in astronomy or fundamental physics, for instance," says Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, a theoretical physicist from the University of Texas, Austin.


It is really an exercise in technology. [And] I think a lot of the work is aimed at improving our knowledge of microgravity, which doesn't seem to me very important unless you're going to be spending a lot of time in space for some other reason.

"Since I think manned spaceflight is not a cost-effective way of doing science, I'm not impressed by that sort of research."

Professor Weinberg said an experiment originally designated for the space station called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), which carries a price tag above $1bn, might now be mothballed due to limited space on the few remaining shuttle flights before Nasa retires the orbiter in 2010.

Many in the physics community regarded this cosmic ray detection experiment as capable of providing important new insights into the Universe.

Costly delays

The Columbus project was hit by several hold-ups in space station construction which allowed its costs to rise.

The first of these occurred between 1996 and 2000 and was due to Russian delays in launching the space station's main control and habitation module, Zvezda.

Further delay resulted from the destruction of space shuttle Columbia in 2003, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts. The US space agency spent three-and-a-half years and more than $1bn fixing the shuttle for a return to flight in 2005.

However, the shuttle fleet was swiftly grounded again after the same problem responsible for dooming Columbia - foam shedding from the external fuel tank - re-emerged on the 2005 mission.

According to Alan Thirkettle, a cost overrun of just 4% in these circumstances was acceptable and displayed good management of the project. Engineers were able to use the additional time for further work and tests on the laboratory.

Esa will use a dedicated centre in southern Germany to control activities on Columbus.

Tymoshenko nominated Ukraine PM

Tymoshenko nominated Ukraine PM

Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko has nominated his Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko for the post of prime minister.
Parliament now has to vote on her candidacy. Her bloc and the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine party have a majority of just two in the assembly.

Ukraine has been plagued by months of political deadlock.

Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko led the 2004 Orange Revolution, which ousted a Moscow-backed presidential candidate.

Mr Yushchenko became president after huge street protests, defeating his bitter rival, Viktor Yanukovych, whose election had been widely condemned as fraudulent


On Tuesday the "Orange" allies succeeded in getting their candidate, Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Our Ukraine, elected parliamentary speaker.


Mr Yushchenko named Ms Tymoshenko prime minister in early 2005, but sacked her in September of that year amid divisions in the Orange camp.

Since then, the president has had fraught relations with Mr Yanukovych, who became prime minister after staging a dramatic political comeback in parliamentary elections last year.

His Party of the Regions came top again in early parliamentary elections in September, called to resolve the country's political crisis. But the party did not win enough seats to form a government. The rival pro-Western parties then agreed to form a coalition.

Press reviews: Spice Girls concert

Press reviews: Spice Girls concert

Critics were largely won over by the Spice Girls when their reunion tour began in the Canadian city of Vancouver on Sunday.

It was the first full concert in nine years involving all five members of the group.

Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton performed 22 songs, which included tracks from their solo careers as well as some of the tunes which made them famous.

The Spice Girls returned to the stage with the first concert of their reunion tour wowing fans with a tightly staged and ambitiously choreographed performance.



The show was about spectacle and proved that the Spice Girls know their audience.

Most of the Girls seem to have come into their own, displaying a maturity and comfort level that may not have been there during the height of their popularity.

The standout exception was Victoria Beckham, who did not seem comfortable in her own skin, despite showing a fair bit of it.

She looked awkward (if gorgeous) in her corseted outfits and carefully coiffed hair, which she spent a fair amount of time clearing from her face - her mouth, in particular.

Her dance moves were stiff and she appeared to be concentrating hard.


Girl Power has aged surprisingly well, judging from the Spice Girls' high-energy, fun and often racy kick-off to their reunion tour.

The hits-heavy set list was so cleverly choreographed and the Spice Girls' energy was so infectious that their lack of vocal chops was hardly noticeable.

As we've known all along, the two Mels possess the best voices and everyone else has passable vocals

It appears the Spice Girls haven't lost their kitschy cool pop idol appeal. And the girls didn't disappoint when it came to living up to their individual caricatures.

As a group, the girls looked genuinely ecstatic to be performing together again. There were several group hugs and a few melodramatic looks of love shared between the members.

When the five were together on stage, though, their energy and enthusiasm was infectious.

Just like 10 years ago, the show wasn't about great singing or dancing - it was about great entertainment. And the girls delivered the spice.


There seems no diminution in the energy they are prepared to expend, or the lengths they will go to please the audience.

Watching these five tiny figures belting it out over two hours, and giving every impression of having a high old time in the process, one has to conclude that this is ebullient pop music of a very high standard, presented with panache, and highly unlikely to provoke any attendance at the refund window

Spice Girls launched their world tour with a nostalgia-coated shot of pure energy.

The energy sagged briefly when Emma began the group's new tune Headlines (Friendship Never Ends), which fell compared to the songs long-time fans came to hear.


But a host of costume, set and dance switch-ups quickly erased that lag.

The rest of the two-hour, 22-song set transformed nostalgia into an incredibly well choreographed show.

In short, the Girls' performance was a refurbished, toned-down version of their original incarnation.

It was a pleasantly manufactured composite of late-'90s pop culture: all glitz, kitsch, and the determination that comes from five 30-somethings who may have traded their platforms for high heels, but still managed to make a laser- lit stage that much brighter.


If this show - colourful, energetic and wildly ambitious - was intended to cash in on past triumphs, there was certainly no stinting on the time, dedication and money spent on it.

And, despite the debate, the Spice Girls didn't mime, from what I could tell sitting in the front row.

The Spice Girls have never been the world's greatest singers or dancers, but they remain consummate entertainers.

Whether shamelessly pulling the sentimental levers with Mama or arriving, at last, at a raucous, celebratory encore of Wannabe, they performed with every ounce of strength in their legs and passion in their hearts.

Paris Hilton Gets A Tan, Denies Leaking Richie Pics

Paris Hilton Gets A Tan, Denies Leaking Richie Pics

She's the consummate world traveler, but there's nothing like the comforts of home. And Paris Hilton's recent tanning trip was evidence that she's glad to be back from China.

The "Simple Life" starlet was spotted getting fake baked over the weekend at Portofino in Beverly Hills. Paris emerged from the salon wearing a fun pink, white, and black sundress and her trademark oversized shades.

It looks like this girl just needed to relax and clear her mind from all the drama surrounding the newest rumors about her. It is being reported that Hilton tried to leak photographs of Nicole Richie's baby shower to the press. And she's denying it all the way.

Her rep told press, "Paris was a hostess of the shower, which a large number of people attended. Many of these guests were taking photos with camera phones… there is no way she had anything to do with this."