NASA Takes Aim at Moon with Double Sledgehammer

NASA Takes Aim at Moon with Double Sledgehammer

Scientists are priming two spacecraft to slam into the moon's South Pole to see if the lunar double whammy reveals hidden water ice.The Earth-on-moon violence may raise eyebrows, but NASA's history shows that such missions can yield extremely useful scientific observations.


"I think that people are apprehensive about it because it seems violent or crude, but it's very economical," said Tony Colaprete, the principal investigator for the mission at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.


NASA's previous Lunar Prospector mission detected large amounts of hydrogen at the moon's poles before crashing itself into a crater at the lunar South Pole. Now the much larger Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, set for a February 2009 moon crash, will take aim and discover whether some of that hydrogen is locked away in the form of frozen water.


LCROSS will piggyback on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission for an Oct. 28 launch atop an Atlas 5 rocket equipped with a Centaur upper stage. While the launch will ferry LRO to the moon in about four days, LCROSS is in for a three-month journey to reach its proper moon smashing position. Once within range, the Centaur upper stage doubles as the main 4,400 pound (2,000 kg) impactor spacecraft for LCROSS.


The smaller Shepherding Spacecraft will guide Centaur towards its target crater, before dropping back to watch - and later fly through - the plume of moon dust and debris kicked up by Centaur's impact. The shepherding vehicle is packed with a light photometer, a visible light camera and four infrared cameras to study the Centaur's lunar plume before it turns itself into a second impactor and strikes a different crater about four minutes later.


"This payload delivery represents a new way of doing business for the center and the agency in general," said Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager at Ames, in a statement. "LCROSS primarily is using commercial-off-the-shelf instruments on this mission to meet the mission's accelerated development schedule and cost restraints."


Figuring out the final destinations for the $79 million LCROSS mission is "like trying to drive to San Francisco and not knowing where it is on the map," Colaprete said. He and other mission scientists hope to use observations from LRO and the Japanese Kaguya (Selene) lunar orbiter to map crater locations before LCROSS dives in.


"Nobody has ever been to the poles of the moon, and there are very unique craters - similar to Mercury - where sunlight doesn't reach the bottom," Colaprete said. Earth-based radar has also helped illuminate some permanently shadowed craters. By the time LCROSS arrives, it can zero in on its 19 mile (30 km) wide targets within 328 feet (100 meters).


Scientists want the impactor spacecraft to hit smooth, flat areas away from large rocks, which would ideally allow the impact plume to rise up out of the crater shadows into sunlight. That in turn lets LRO and Earth-based telescopes see the results.


"By understanding what's in these craters, we're examining a fossil record of the early solar system and would occurred at Earth 3 billion years ago," Colaprete said. LCROSS is currently aiming at target craters Faustini and Shoemaker, which Colaprete likened to "fantastic time capsules" at 3 billion and 3.5 billion years old.


LCROSS researchers anticipate a more than a 90 percent chance that the impactors will find some form of hydrogen at the poles. The off-chance exists that the impactors will hit a newer crater that lacks water - yet scientists can learn about the distribution of hydrogen either way.


"We take [what we learn] to the next step, whether it's rovers or more impactors," Colaprete said.


This comes as the latest mission to apply brute force to science.


The Deep Impact mission made history in 2005 by sending a probe crashing into comet Tempel 1. Besides Lunar Prospector's grazing strike on the moon in 1999, the European Space Agency's Smart-1 satellite dove more recently into the lunar surface in 2006.


LCROSS will take a much more head-on approach than either Lunar Prospector or Smart-1, slamming into the moon's craters at a steep angle while traveling with greater mass at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 km/s). The overall energy of the impact will equal 100 times that of Lunar Prospector and kick up 1,102 tons of debris and dust.


"It's a cost-effective, relatively low-risk way of doing initial exploration," Colaprete said, comparing the mission's approach to mountain prospectors who used crude sticks of dynamite to blow up gully walls and sift for gold. Scientists are discussing similar missions for exploring asteroids and planets such as Mars.

'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Arctic

'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Arctic

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway - A "doomsday" seed vault built to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters opened Tuesday deep within an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is our insurance policy," Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told delegates at the opening ceremony. "It is the Noah's Ark for securing biological diversity for future generations."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya were among the dozens of guests who had bundled up for the ceremony inside the vault, about 425 feet deep inside a frozen mountain.

"This is a frozen Garden of Eden," Barroso said, standing in one of the frosty vaults against of backdrop of large discs made of ice.

The vault will serve as a backup for hundreds of other seed banks worldwide. It has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples from around the world and shield them from man-made and natural disasters.

Dug into the permafrost of the mountain, it has been built to withstand an earthquake or a nuclear strike.

To mark the opening, guests carried the first 75 boxes of seeds down a red carpet through the steel and concrete-lined tunnel to the vaults.

Norway owns the vau9.1 million for the construction. Other countries can deposit seeds without charge and reserve the right to withdraw them upon need.

The collecting of seeds is funded by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which was founded by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and Biodiversity International, a Rome-based research group.

"Crop diversity will soon prove to be our most potent and indispensable resource for addressing climate change, water and energy supply constraints, and for meeting the food needs of a growing population," said Cary Fowler, head of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Svalbard is cold, but giant air conditioning units have chilled the vault further to -0.4 Fahrenheit, a temperature at which experts say many seeds could last for 1,000 years.

Stoltenberg and Maathai placed the first box of seeds in the vault during the opening ceremony — a container of rice seeds from 104 countries.

"This is unique. This is very visionary. It is a precaution for the future," Maathai, a Crop Diversity Trust board member, told The Associated Press after the ceremony.

The seeds are packed in silvery foil containers — as many as 500 in each sample — and placed on blue and orange metal shelves inside three 32 foot-by-88-foot storage chambers. Each vault can hold 1.5 million sample packages of all types of crop seeds.

Construction leader Magnus Bredeli-Tveiten said the vault is designed to withstand earthquakes — successfully tested by a 6.2-magnitude temblor off Svalbard last week — and even a direct nuclear strike.

Many other seed banks are in less protected areas. For example, war wiped out seed banks in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one in the Philippines was flooded in the wake of a typhoon in 2006
lt in Svalbard, a frigid archipelago about 620 miles from the North Pole. It paid

Cameron Diaz's Red Carpet Arrival

The only thing as fierce as the competition inside the Kodak Theatre is the battle for shutterbug attention outside. And it looks like Cameron Diaz took the proper measure to insure success.

The "There's Something About Mary" actress rolled out of her limo and immediately all eyes were on her.

Diaz was rocking a killer ensemble, including some major bling on her finger. And from the looks of it, every penny her stylist charged was worth it.

But the red carpet is only half the battle. Once inside, we'll see who the real winners are. Stay tuned to the Fropki for all the Academy Awards results after the show!

Boeing tries to hold onto tanker deal

Boeing tries to hold onto tanker deal

WASHINGTON - The Air Force is likely days away from handing out one of the biggest Pentagon contracts in years — a deal valued at up to $40 billion to replace 179 planes in its fleet of aerial refueling tankersFor the three companies bidding, there is more at stake than just the monetary award: jobs and reputation.

Boeing Co. has supplied the Air Force with refueling tankers for nearly 50 years and doesn't want to let go of that. The incumbent is considered the favorite to win — an assumption already reflected in its stock price.

But European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and its U.S. partner, Northrop Grumman Corp., want to be in on the game. For France-based EADS, the parent of rival Airbus, the contract is an entree into the massive American military market just as overseas spending cools. And for Northrop Grumman, it would tap into a major new military revenue stream at a time when Pentagon spending may be leveling off.

Analysts say the tanker award could be announced any time after Pentagon officials meet Monday to sign off on the Air Force's tanker purchase plan.

The contract — worth $30 billion to $40 billion over 10 to 15 years — is the first of three deals to replace the Air Force's entire fleet of nearly 600 tankers, which allow aircraft to refuel without landing.

For Wall Street, the award's potential really takes off with the follow-on contracts likely going to the incumbent. As much as $100 billion over the next 30 years is at stake, says Loren Thompson, a defense industry analyst with Lexington Institute, a policy think tank.

Thompson said the Air Force will eventually buy more than 400 new tankers to modernize its full fleet in "the biggest new aircraft contract anywhere in the world." The Air Force currently flies 531 Eisenhower-era tankers and another 59 tankers built in the 1980s by McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing.

"This is one of the biggest defense contracts to come along in decades and will be for future decades," said Scott Hamilton, an aviation industry consultant based outside of Seattle. "You have to take the plums when they come along."

Because Northrop Grumman is considered an underdog, its shares likely will jump if it wins, but may not take a drubbing if the contract goes to Boeing. Yet Boeing's stock would almost certainly take a hit if the company loses, but only rise moderately if the award comes through since a win is already factored into the share price.

On Capitol Hill, members in both parties are lobbying hard for a victor whose spoils include local jobs.

Chicago-based Boeing would perform much of the tanker work in Everett, Wash., and Wichita, Kan., and use Pratt & Whitney engines built in Connecticut. The company says a win would support 44,000 new and existing jobs at Boeing and more than 300 suppliers in more than 40 states.

"The Boeing proposal is far superior," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a senior member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense who represents a district that is home many Boeing jobs. "I'm very hopeful that on the merits we're going to win."

Other Boeing supporters include Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Duncan Hunter of California, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican.

The EADS/Northrop Grumman team would perform its final assembly work in Mobile, Ala., although the underlying plane would mostly be built in Europe. And it would use General Electric engines built in North Carolina and Ohio. Northrop Grumman, which is based in Los Angeles, estimates a Northrop/EADS win would produce 2,000 new jobs in Mobile and support 25,000 jobs at suppliers nationwide.

Alabama Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, both Republicans, are cheering for the French to come to Mobile, as is Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., who represents the district where Northrop has said it would assemble its tanker.

Presidential candidate John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, also has a keen interest in the deal. McCain played a lead role in uncovering a procurement scandal in 2003 that sent a top Air Force acquisition official to prison for conflict of interest and led to the collapse of an earlier tanker contract with Boeing.

Despite that history, Wall Street expects Boeing to win the new award because of its well-established relationship with the Air Force and prior contract wins.

"For Boeing, this is a pride issue," Hamilton said.

It's become an issue of not just corporate, but national pride. Boeing has managed to paint the competition as a fight between an American company and its European rival. Although parts of both tankers would be made overseas, Boeing has raised pointed questions about why the Air Force would award such an important contract to a foreign company.

Analysts say Boeing also has an advantage because its KC-767 tanker is smaller and lighter than the KC-30 being offered by EADS and Northrop Grumman. That means the Boeing tanker would take up less space on the ground and burn less fuel. Still, the KC-30's larger size will enable it to carry more fuel, cargo or personnel on individual flights — making it a more efficient plane using Air Force criteria, Northrop Grumman stressed.

EADS and Northrop Grumman estimate that compared with the KC-767, the Air Force would need 20 percent fewer KC-30 tankers to meet its refueling needs.

Despite all the drama, at least one analyst stressed that losing the tanker contract would not be a disaster for any of the companies bidding on it.

After all, the contract amounts to just over one tanker a month, noted Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the aerospace consulting firm Teal Group. And with Boeing and Airbus each booking orders for 500 planes a year, that represents just a "drop in the bucket for the huge commercial jetliner market."

Sampson resigns at Indiana, takes buyout

Sampson resigns at Indiana, takes buyout
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - As Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan pondered a resolution to the Kelvin Sampson mess, he kept thinking about the implications for senior forward D.J. White.Back in 2006, White lost his friend and former neighbor, Mike Davis, when Davis resigned as Hoosiers coach.

Sampson joined that list Friday by accepting a $750,000 buyout, waiving his right to sue the university for further damages, and agreeing to turn the program over to interim coach Dan Dakich. Getting rid of Sampson, which came in response to the NCAA's report alleging five major NCAA rules violations, still may not solve all of Indiana's problems.

White is among a group of players who threatened to sit out Saturday's game at Northwestern. Greenspan hopes the Hoosiers and White, ranked No. 15 and in contention for their first outright Big Ten title since 1993, feel differently before the team plane leaves Saturday morning.

"I'm troubled by the impact this has emotionally on a man like D.J. White," Greenspan said. "He's a good man and a good player, and he just went through something like this two years ago. It's not right."

Unfair as it may seem now, Greenspan was left with few choices.

Indiana fans expect a clean program and were embarrassed by the slate of allegations levied against Sampson. The program, which may still be punished by the NCAA, would likely have faced more significant penalties had Greenspan kept him.

Mending the players' hearts will be difficult.

White, guards Armon Bassett, Jordan Crawford and Jamarcus Ellis, and forwards DeAndre Thomas and Brandon McGee skipped Dakich's first practice Friday afternoon. By Friday night's scheduled walkthrough, Greenspan said most if not all of the missing players were back and he expects them to play in Evanston, Ill., Saturday.

While Greenspan understands the players' loyalty to Sampson, he believes they will be motivated by their competitive nature to continue winning.

"I think our young men are respectful and respectful of Indiana University," Greenspan said. "They have a chance to have a special season, and my hope is that as we heal emotionally and get accustomed to the staff, they'll continue to play for that special season."

Sampson also offered players his support in a statement released by the university minutes before the official announcement was made.

"While I'm saddened that I will not have the opportunity to coach these student-athletes, I feel that this is in the best interest of the program for me to step away at this time," Sampson said. "I wish my players nothing but the best for the remainder of the season."

Sampson's two-year tenure at Indiana ended the same way it began, with an NCAA hearing scheduled for alleged rules infractions.

He took the Indiana job in March 2006 and two months later was penalized by the NCAA for making 577 impermissible phone calls between 2000 and 2004 when he was coaching Oklahoma.

Given the pending charges, many Indiana fans and some trustees thought it was a mistake to even hire Sampson. When the phone calls and accusations continued, it only created more angst among the fan base.

"In retrospect, I think there should have been greater considerations," trustee Philip Eskew Jr. said. "But you talk to the man and he says, 'I'm not going to do that,' and I believe in giving guys second chances. But when he goes back on his word, that's something else."

The second wave of charges emerged in October when a university investigation found Sampson and his staff made more than 100 impermissible calls while still under recruiting restrictions and that Sampson participated in at least 10 three-way calls, another violation of the NCAA's punishment.

Greenspan called the violations secondary, imposing a one-year extension of the NCAA's recruiting restrictions and pulling a $500,000 raise. The Hoosiers also took away one scholarship for the 2008-09 season.

What the NCAA found, however, was far more serious. The report, released last week, claimed Sampson provided false and misleading information to investigators from both the university and the NCAA, failed to meet the "generally recognized high standard of honesty" expected in college sports and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the program.

The allegations unleashed a torrent of criticism, and many fans booed Sampson during introductions during the Hoosiers' next three games. University president Michael McRobbie then announced the university would take a second look at the charges, setting a Friday deadline for Greenspan to make his recommendation.

"I think that decision was formed shortly after the letter of allegations was received," Greenspan said. "I think shortly after our president said those allegations were troubling and deeply concerning and that we'd work through this is when we came to the conclusion."

Still, Greenspan worked long and hard to resolve the situation.

He met with the team Thursday night and worked in his office till nearly midnight. On Friday morning, he met briefly with Sampson in the coaches' office. A few minutes after Greenspan left the coach's office, Sampson walked down a ramp with his wife, Karen, went into another coaches' office was not seen again inside Assembly Hall.

If there was any doubt about what was coming, it was virtually erased when players, managers, assistant coaches and the coach's son, Kellen Sampson, left a team meeting with dour expressions about midday.

Just before practice started, the depth of the problems took on another face.

While Indiana star freshman guard Eric Gordon said he expected to play against Northwestern, White and other players never showed up.

Sampson led the Hoosiers into the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2006-07 and had them in position to contend for a Big Ten title this season. He broke the school record for most consecutive home victories at the start of a career, eclipsing the mark set by revered coach Branch McCracken, earlier this season.

But his success on the court could not overshadow the accusations of what he did off it.

The 45-year-old Dakich, once considered a possible successor to coach Bob Knight, will now get a chance to coach his alma mater. He is the former head coach at Bowling Green and a former assistant under Knight at Indiana. And he took the job vacated when Rob Senderoff resigned in early November. Senderoff was also implicated in the phone-call scandal at Indiana.

Dakich also was an assistant on Indiana's 1987 national championship team.

"I want nothing but the best for these players and the institution," he said in a statement. "The challenge ahead is to maintain the positive momentum that has been built within the team and to keep everyone as focused as possible during this difficult time."

Assistant coach Ray McCallum, who the players wanted to take over, became assistant head coach. McCallum was a head coach at Ball State and Houston and has 25 years of coaching experience at the college level.

Neither Dakich nor McCallum were implicated in the latest NCAA allegations, and McCallum also was cleared of any wrongdoing while assisting Sampson at Oklahoma.

AP survey: Superdelegates jump to Obama

AP survey: Superdelegates jump to Obama

WASHINGTON - The Democratic superdelegates are starting to follow the voters — straight to Barack Obama. xc In just the past two weeks, more than two dozen of them have climbed aboard his presidential campaign, according to a survey by The Associated Press. At the same time, Hillary Rodham Clinton's are beginning to jump ship, abandoning her for Obama or deciding they now are undecided.

The result: He's narrowing her once-commanding lead among these "superdelegates," the Democratic office holders and party officials who automatically attend the national convention and can vote for whomever they choose.

As Obama has reeled off 11 straight primary victories, some of the superdelegates are having second — or third — thoughts about their public commitments.

Take John Perez, a Californian who first endorsed John Edwards and then backed Clinton. Now, he says, he is undecided.

"Given where the race is at right now, I think it's very important for us to play a role around bringing the party together around the candidate that people have chosen, as opposed to advocating for our own choice," he said in an interview.

Clinton still leads among superdelegates — 241 to 181, according to the AP survey. But her total is down two in the past two weeks, while Obama's is up 25. Since the primaries started, at least three Clinton superdelegates have switched to Obama, including Rep. David Scott of Georgia, who changed his endorsement after Obama won 80 percent of the primary vote in Scott's district. At least two other Clinton backers have switched to undecided.

None of Obama's have publicly strayed, according to the AP tally.

There are nearly 800 Democratic superdelegates, making them an important force in a nomination race as close as this one. Both campaigns are furiously lobbying them.

"Holy buckets!" exclaimed Audra Ostergard of Nebraska. "Michelle Obama and I are playing phone tag."

Billi Gosh, a Vermont superdelegate who backs Clinton, got a phone call from the candidate herself this week.

"As superdelegates, we have the opportunity to change our mind, so she's just connecting with me," Gosh said. "I couldn't believe she was able to fit in calls like that to her incredibly busy schedule."

In Utah, two Clinton superdelegates said they continue to support the New York senator — for now.

"We'll see what happens," said Karen Hale. Likewise, fellow superdelegate Helen Langan said, "We'll see."

Other supporters are more steadfast.

"She's still in the race, isn't she? So I'm still supporting her," said Belinda Biafore, a superdelegate from West Virginia.

Obama has piled up the most victories in primaries and caucuses, giving him the overall lead in delegates, 1,362 to 1,266.5. Clinton's half delegate came from the global primary sponsored by the Democrats Abroad.

It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the nomination at this summer's national convention in Denver. If Clinton and Obama continue to split delegates in elections, neither will reach the mark without support from the superdelegates.

That has the campaigns fighting over the proper role for superdelegates, who can support any candidate they want. Obama argues it would be unfair for them to go against the outcome of the primaries and caucuses.

"I think it is important, given how hard Senator Clinton and I have been working, that these primaries and caucuses count for something," Obama said during Thursday night's debate in Austin, Texas.

Clinton argues that superdelegates should exercise independent judgment.

"These are the rules that are followed, and you know, I think that it will sort itself out," she said during the debate. "We will have a nominee, and we will have a unified Democratic Party, and we will go on to victory in November."

Behind the scenes, things can get sticky.

David Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, R.I., indicated this week that his support for Clinton might be wavering after — he contended — members of her campaign urged him to cave to the demands of a local firefighters union ahead of her weekend appearance there. The firefighters, in a long-running contract dispute with Cicilline, have said they would disrupt any Clinton event the mayor attends. A Clinton spokeswoman said the campaign would never interfere in the mayor's city decisions.

Obama has been helped by recent endorsements from several labor unions, including the Teamsters on Wednesday.

"He's our guy," said Sonny Nardi, an Ohio superdelegate and the president of Teamsters Local 416 in Cleveland.

The Democratic Party has named about 720 of its 795 superdelegates. The remainder will be chosen at state party conventions in the spring. AP reporters have interviewed 95 percent of the named delegates, with the most recent round of interviews taking place this week.

The superdelegates make up about a fifth of the overall delegates. As Democratic senators, both Clinton and Obama are superdelegates.

So is Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, which is one reason his phone rings often.

He is a black mayor, and Obama has been winning about 90 percent of black votes. His state has a March 4 primary with 141 delegates at stake. The Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, is stumping hard for Clinton — and perhaps a spot on the national ticket.

A phone call from former President Clinton interrupted Mallory's dinner on a recent Saturday.

"I continue to get calls from mayors, congresspeople, governors, urging me one way or another," said Mallory, who is still mulling his decision. "The celebrities will be next. I guess Oprah will call me."

ISPs could face piracy sanctions

ISPs could face piracy sanctions

Internet service providers must take concrete steps to curb illegal downloads or face legal sanctions, the government has said.
The proposal is aimed at tackling the estimated 6m UK broadband users who download files illegally every year.

The culture secretary said consultation would begin in spring and legislation could be implemented "by April 2009".

Representatives of the recording industry, who blame piracy for a slump in sales, welcomed the proposals.

"ISPs are in a unique position to make a difference and in doing so to reverse a culture of creation-without-reward that has proved so damaging to the whole music community over the last few years," said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

A spokesperson for the Internet Service Provider's Association (ISPA) said that creating appropriate legislation would be very difficult.

"Any scheme has got to be legal, workable and economically sustainable," the spokesperson told BBC News.

He also said that ISPs were already pursuing self-regulation, which was the government's preferred route.

Privacy issue

"The government has no burning desire to legislate," Andy Burnham, culture secretary, told the Financial Times.

However, he said that the proposals signalled "a change of tone from the government".

Its intentions are outlined in a creative industries strategy paper called Creative Britain: New Talents for the New Economy.

The document is a broad ranging paper that sets out government support for the creative industries.

The document commits the government to consulting on anti-piracy legislation this spring "with a view to implementing it by April 2009", according to the FT.

"We're saying we'll consult on legislation, recognising there are practical questions and legitimate issues," Mr Burnham told the paper.

In particular, any legislation would have to take account of the 2002 E-Commerce Regulations that define net firms as "conduits" which are not responsible for the contents of the traffic flowing across their networks.

European laws on online privacy could also create problems for any new legislation.

Earlier this year it was reported that the government was considering a "three strikes" approach to tackling persistent offenders in the report.

But Mr Burnham denied this was the case and told the FT that the strategy had "never been in the paper".

If the government goes ahead, the UK would be one of the first countries to impose sanctions.

"This is a sea-change in attitude and I believe it is now up to governments elsewhere in Europe and further afield to follow their example," said Mr Kennedy.

Betancourt: 6 years as Colombian captive

Betancourt: 6 years as Colombian captive

BOGOTA, Colombia - Through public spectacle and private diplomacy, the French government and the family of Ingrid Betancourt have succeeded in drawing the world's attention to her lengthy captivity in the Colombian jungle. But many in Colombia say such fame may work against her hopes of freedomAs Betancourt, 46, marks six years on Saturday as a captive of leftist rebels, relatives plan to pray for her liberation at a public Mass while commemorations are planned across France. Her mother recently gained an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, and French officials have promoted her cause in frequent trips to the region.

The vigorous lobbying for Betancourt's freedom seeks to pressure Colombia's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to agree to swap dozens of FARC-held hostages for hundreds of jailed rebels, including two in U.S. prisons.

But Colombians are beginning to say bluntly what many have whispered in private — that Betancourt's fame may backfire, and that the Paris-raised politician and fearless anti-corruption crusader could be one of the last hostages freed.

"Without justifying this atrocity by the FARC, the person who has most contributed to the fact that Ingrid has been turned in to this valuable merchandise, this "jewel in the crown," and so put up obstacles to her freedom, is her mother and the way she has behaved," Gen. Freddy Padilla, commander of Colombia's armed forces, said in an interview with Semana magazine last month.

Padilla compared Yolanda Pulecio's lobbying for her daughter's freedom to the quieter campaign to free her aide Clara Rojas, who was kidnapped with her boss on Feb. 23, 2002, and finally released last month.

"In contrast, the mother of Clara Rojas used the instrument of prudence," Padilla was quoted as saying.

Betancourt's current husband and mother say they're being blamed for her plight because of their criticisms of the Colombian government's seeming reluctance to reach out to the rebels.

"If we hadn't done anything, the government would not be feeling this pressure from around the world to make a deal with the FARC," said Juan Carlos Lecompte, Betancourt's husband when she was kidnapped.

"The mothers of soldiers kidnapped 10 years ago have come to us and said, 'Thanks for your work for Ingrid, because now the world is talking about an agreement.' Before Ingrid's kidnapping the government wasn't doing anything to get these hostages freed."

Indeed, in six years, President Alvaro Uribe's government has not had a single face-to-face meeting with the FARC. That's a radical departure from the previous administration of Andres Pastrana, which ceded a Switzerland-sized safe haven to the FARC for three years until talks collapsed.

Betancourt is one of 44 high-profile hostages, including three U.S. defense contractors, that the FARC is offering to free in a prisoner swap. While the government and the rebels agree in general terms on the idea of a swap, negotiations have never commenced as both sides bicker over conditions.

"The presence of Ingrid has internationalized the search for an agreement," said Leon Valencia, a political analyst.

The FARC, which has been fighting for more than four decades for a more equitable distribution of wealth in Colombia, seeks first to be removed from the European Union's list of international terror groups, a goal endorsed by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who has been trying to gain international legitimacy for the rebels.

The French, Spanish and Swiss governments have, meanwhile, tried to mediate more hostage releases, and the FARC is promising to free another four.

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, met Thursday with Uribe and said that he was not in Colombia just for Ingrid.

"It's necessary that we consider indispensable the liberation of all hostages," said Kouchner.

Betancourt, meanwhile, is buckling in captivity, Lecompte says, citing her letter to her mother that was made public in December.

In the letter, the last word on her condition, Betancourt she was losing the will to live.

"We know we don't have months or years to save her," Lecompte said. "We're talking days or weeks."

PC beats doctor in scan tests

PC beats doctor in scan tests
A computer does better than a doctor at diagnosing certain brain diseases, research has suggested.
Experts taught a standard computer how to diagnose Alzheimer's from brain scans, and got a 96% success rate.

The accuracy of diagnosis from standard scans, blood tests and interviews carried out by a clinician is 85%.

The findings, published in the journal Brain, could lead to earlier diagnosis and more successful treatment of dementias, say scientists.

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London say computers have several advantages for diagnosing Alzheimer's - a condition caused by the build-up of plaques and tangles of tissue in the brain.

From the point of view of developing new pharmaceuticals for these disorders there's great potential

Prof Richard Frackowiak

Professor Richard Frackowiak said the computers were better able to distinguish signs of Alzheimer's than humans, and proved cheaper, faster and more accurate than current methods.

"It's beginning to look like it will have to come into clinical practice," he said. "Machines are clearly able to do that sort of thing better."

The method involves teaching a standard computer the difference between brain scans from patients with proven Alzheimer's disease and people with no signs of the disease at all.

The two conditions can be distinguished with a high degree of accuracy on a single clinical MRI scan without the need for time consuming follow-up tests, say the scientists.

They think the technique will be particularly useful for reassuring elderly people with mild memory loss that they are not suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

It may also allow researchers to study progression of the disease in a patient, and perhaps eventually lead to a way of screening new drugs.

"In the long-run, we'd like to use these techniques as ways of classifying patients with something like a degenerative disease into various stages," explained Professor Frackowiak.

"From the point-of-view of developing new pharmaceuticals for these disorders there's great potential," he added.

China wants US satellite downing data

China wants US satellite downing data

BEIJING - China asked the U.S. on Thursday to release data on the missile hit on an ailing spy satellite, while the Communist Party's newspaper blasted what it called Washington's callous attitude toward the weaponization of space. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States is determined to be open about the U.S. operation and told reporters during a visit to Hawaii that "we are prepared to share whatever appropriately we can."

Earlier Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Beijing was asking the U.S. to "provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way."

The overseas edition of People's Daily excoriated Washington for opposing a recent Russian-Chinese proposal on demilitarizing space.

"One cannot but worry for the future of space when a great nation with such a massive advantage in space military technology categorically refuses a measure to prevent the militarization of space," the paper said.

Washington has rejected the Russian-Chinese proposal for a global ban on space arms because it would prohibit an American missile interceptor system in the Czech Republic and Poland, while exempting Chinese and Russian ground-based missiles that can fire into space.

China's official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday reported the satellite's destruction by a missile without comment. A Defense Ministry spokesman, who identified himself only by his surname, Ji, said no statement on the issue would be forthcoming.

China's objections signal its skepticism over whether the satellite hit was truly necessary and its unease over apparent U.S. mastery of a key military technology that Beijing is also pursuing. They also appear aimed at turning the tables on U.S. criticism of Beijing's own shootdown of a defunct Chinese satellite last year.

"The concern is whether the U.S. version of the story is true: Whether that satellite is indeed failing and out of control and if this kind of missile shooting is the best way to remove the threat," said Shen Dingli, an America watcher at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Or, he said, the reasons could be a pretext for an anti-satellite weapons test.

Unlike Beijing, which gave no notice before using a missile to pulverize a disabled weather satellite in January 2007, Washington discussed its plans at length and insisted it was not a test.

Subsequent requests by U.S. officials for more information were ignored and none of Beijing's recent statements mentioned China's own satellite shootdown.

China's anti-satellite test was also criticized for being more dangerous. The targeted satellite was located about 500 miles above the Earth and the resulting debris threatened communication satellites and other orbiting space vehicles. Foreign space experts and governments labeled China a space litterbug.

Still, the distinction between the two actions may be lost for many, said Denny Roy, an expert on the Chinese military at the East-West Center in Honolulu.

"What the Americans (have done) greatly undercuts the condemnation heaped on China last year," Roy said. While the circumstances are different, that is "a fine point that is easily overlooked," he said.

Beyond propaganda, the potential tie-in to missile defense is a source of real worry to China. Beijing sees those plans as a way of integrating the U.S. defense with regional partners such as Japan, while reducing the threat that China's growing arsenal of medium-range missiles poses to Taiwan, the self-governing U.S. ally that China claims as its own territory.

While some in the Pentagon may believe it is wise to put China on notice about U.S. capabilities, it could serve to further embolden Beijing, said Theresa Hitchens of the Center for Defense Information, a security policy group in Washington.

"This may give the hard-liners in the PLA (People's Liberation Army) what they need to prevail," she said.

Although no country has ever tried to shoot down another nation's satellite, David E. Mosher, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp. think tank, said it could be an effective military tactic.

Mosher said satellites are now widely used for communications, missile launch detection and intelligence gathering, and the U.S. has an advantage in such technology.

"The country that has the most to lose if space becomes militarized is the U.S.," he said. "We rely on satellites so heavily, both militarily and commercially ... We don't want to go down that route."

Angry Serbs break into US Embassy

Angry Serbs break into US Embassy

BELGRADE, Serbia - Angry Serbs broke into the U.S. Embassy and set fire to an office Thursday night as rioters rampaged through Belgrade's streets, putting an exclamation point of violence to a day of mass protest against Western support for an independent KosovoAt least 150,000 people rallied in Belgrade, waving Serbian flags and signs proclaiming "Stop USA terror," to denounce the bid by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to create their own state out of what Serbs consider the ancient heartland of their culture.

Protesters burned American flags and the mob that attacked the embassy tore down the U.S. flag there. Crowds also ransacked a McDonald's, looted stores and fought with police in front of other diplomatic compounds in a display of the resentment seething in Serbia over the secession of what has been its southernmost province.

A charred body was found in the U.S. Embassy after the fire was put out, but all staff were accounted for, embassy spokeswoman Rian Harris said. Belgrade's Pink TV said the body appeared to be that of a rioter.

White House spokesman Dana Perino strongly criticized Serbia' government, saying the embassy "was attacked by thugs" and Serb police didn't do enough to stop it. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. warned Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic that it would hold them personally responsible for further damage.

At the mass rally earlier, Kostunica attacked the U.S. and others for supporting Kosovo's independent. "Is there any other nation on Earth from whom (the great powers) are demanding that they give up their identity, to give up our brothers in Kosovo?" he told the crowd.

Coming after smaller outbursts of violence in Belgrade as well as attacks on a United Nations building and police checkpoints in Kosovo, the surge of rioting underlined the determination of Serbs not to give up Kosovo quietly.

The Serbian government has said it won't resort to military force, but the street violence could be a tactic to slow moves by more countries to follow the U.S., Britain, Germany and France in quickly recognizing Kosovo's independence.

Russia and China lead the states standing with Serbia, worrying that Kosovo's example could encourage separatist sentiment elsewhere. The Kremlin has underlined its displeasure by hinting it might back separatists in pro-Western nations such as the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Serbian officials dismissed violence earlier in the week as "insignificant," and no police were guarding the U.S. Embassy compound even though it had been targeted previously. American officials said the offices had been closed at midday because of security concerns.

Milorad Veljovic, a top Interior Ministry official, said that security forces had the situation under control and that mobs had been broken up.

Masked men smashed their way inside the compound's consular building, tore down the U.S. flag and tried to throw furniture from an office. They set fire to the office and flames shot up the side of the building.

The State Department officials said no protesters got into the embassy's main chancery section, a separate area that was manned by a U.S. Marine guard unit and some security personnel.

Police arrived about 45 minutes after the blaze broke out, and after the rioters left the building. A half dozen fire trucks also appeared and quickly doused the flames, leaving the front facade and two police guard posts on the sidewalk smoldering.

Officers from an elite paramilitary police unit drove armored jeeps outside the embassy and fired dozens of tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. Rioters wheeled out large garbage bins in an unsuccessful attempt to block the police vehicles. Thick clouds of tear gas obscured hung in the street as officers chased rioters into nearby side streets.

It was the first attack on a U.S. Embassy since Sept. 12, 2006, when Syrian security guards stopped an attempt to blow up the compound. The last time a mob broke into one was the Iranians' seizure of the U.S. Embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, taking the American staffers hostage.

Critics of the prime minister accused his nationalistic government of tolerating the violence over Kosovo, perhaps as an excuse to crack down on pro-Western forces in the country.

"I cannot tell if the authorities are going to allow this to escalate, and how long they will let this go on, but it is absolutely clear that it is all under their control," said Vesna Pesic from the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party whose offices also have been attacked.

The same group of protesters that attacked the U.S. Embassy also targeted the neighboring Croatian Embassy. Smaller groups assaulted police posts outside the Turkish and British embassies in another part of the city but were beaten back.

Rioters broke into a McDonald's restaurant and demolished it. Other shops also were ransacked and people were seen carrying off running shoes, track suits and other sporting goods from a department store.

Police chased small violent groups in areas near the national parliament, where the huge protest rally was held earlier in the afternoon.

European Union spokeswoman Cristina Gallach in Brussels called the violence "totally unacceptable." She urged all to show "restraint and responsibility."

Police also were guarding the independent B92 television station — viewed by nationalists as pro-Western — as youths started gathering nearby.

Doctors at Belgrade's emergency clinic reported treating 96 injured, 32 of them policemen. All were lightly injured, said Dusan Jovanovic, deputy chief of the clinic. He added that most of the injured protesters were "extremely drunk."

Serbian President Boris Tadic, who was visiting Romania, appealed for calm and urged protesters to get off the streets. He said the violence was "damaging" Serbia's efforts to defend its claim to Kosovo.

The government went all out to make the mass demonstration outside the parliament a success. Schools were closed and the state railway offered free rides to bring people to Belgrade.

In his speech, Tomislav Nikolic, a member of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, which is Serbia's largest, accused the U.S. and the European Union of stealing Kosovo. Protesters booed and jeered at every mention of the U.S. and EU.

"We will not rest until Kosovo is again under Serbia's control. Hitler could not take it away from us, and neither will today's (Western powers)," Nikolic said.

Military hopes to bring down satellite

Military hopes to bring down satellite

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon counted down Wednesday toward an unprecedented effort to shoot down a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite, using a souped-up missile fired from a ship in the Pacific. The timing was tricky. For the best chance to succeed, the military awaited a combination of favorable factors: steady seas around the Navy cruiser that would fire the missile, optimum positioning of the satellite as it passed in polar orbit and the readiness of an array of space- and ground-based sensors to help cue the missile and track the results.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates — not a military commander — was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.

The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name "Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.

Also, six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been alerted but not activated, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.

High seas in the north Pacific posed the first obstacle as the USS Lake Erie prepared to launch a three-stage missile. Beyond a certain point, rough seas can interfere with the cruiser's launch procedures.

The plan was for the SM-3 to soar 130 miles to just beyond the edge of the Earth's atmosphere in an attempt to speed its non-explosive warhead directly into the satellite.

Early in the day, a senior military officer said it didn't look as if the weather would be good enough. That was shortly after the space shuttle Atlantis landed at 9:07 a.m. EST, removing the last safety issue for the military to begin determining the best moment for launch.

Another officer said hours later the weather was improving and might permit a launch by Wednesday night. Or the military could try again on Thursday or any day until about Feb. 29, when the satellite is expected to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

The aim is not just to hit the bus-sized satellite — which would burn up upon re-entering the atmosphere anyway — but to obliterate a tank onboard that is carrying 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, a toxic fuel. The fuel, unused because the satellite died shortly after reaching orbit in December 2006 — could be hazardous if it landed in a populated area.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health bulletin saying that the health risk from satellite debris was considered to be low. "However, CDC is encouraging health officials and clinicians to review information about the health effects related to hydrazine to prepare in case their communities are affected by satellite debris."

In a routine precaution, notifications have been issued worldwide to mariners and aviators to stay clear of an area in the Pacific where the satellite debris might fall. The military has calculated that the risk to aviation is so low that U.S. and international aviation officials have decided they are probably not going to reroute air traffic, a senior military officer said Wednesday.

The officer briefed reporters at the Pentagon on technical and logistical matters related to the effort. Under ground rules set by the Pentagon, the officer could not be identified by name.

The attempted shootdown, already approved by President Bush, is seen by some as blurring the lines between defending against a hostile long-range missile and targeting satellites in orbit.

Much of the equipment used in the satellite shootdown is part of the Pentagon's missile defense system, a far-flung network of interceptors, radars and communications systems designed primarily to hit an incoming hostile ballistic missile fired at the United States by North Korea. The equipment, including the Navy missile, has never been used against a satellite or other such target.

The three-stage Navy missile, the SM-3, has chalked up a high rate of success in tests since 2002 — in each case targeting a short- or medium-range missile. A hurry-up program to adapt the missile for this anti-satellite mission was completed in a matter of weeks; Navy officials say the changes will be reversed once this satellite is down.

Some people were skeptical.

"The potential political cost of shooting down this satellite is high," said Laura Grego, an astrophysicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Whatever the motivation for it, demonstrating an anti-satellite weapon is counterproductive to U.S. long-term interests, given that the United States has the most to gain from an international space weapons ban. Instead, it should be taking the lead in negotiating a treaty."

Gates is being advised directly by Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command. Gates was traveling to Hawaii on Wednesday to kick off a nine-day trip. Officials said his stop at U.S. Pacific Command was scheduled before it was known that the satellite shootdown could happen while he was there.

The military has hours each day to monitor a long checklist of technical factors and conditions before deciding whether to proceed with the missile launch. But there was a very narrow window — described by the senior military officers as "tens of seconds" — in which the missile must be launched in order to have the best chance of having the satellite debris land mainly in the Pacific.

Officials will know within minutes whether the missile has hit the satellite, but it will take a day or two to know whether the fuel tank has been destroyed, officials said.

Left alone, the satellite would be expected to hit Earth during the first week of March. About half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft would be expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and would scatter debris over several hundred miles.

Mysterious creatures found in Antarctica

Mysterious creatures found in Antarctica

SYDNEY, Australia - Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths. Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before.

Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand.

"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates."

The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies.

"Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages," said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.

The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.

Three ships — Aurora Australis from Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and Japan's Umitaka Maru — returned recently from two months in the region as part of the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census. The work is part of a larger project to map the biodiversity of the world's oceans.

The French and Japanese ships sought specimens from the mid- and upper-level environment, while the Australian ship plumbed deeper waters with remote-controlled cameras.

"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life," Riddle said. "In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour the sea floor as they pass by."

Among the bizarre-looking creatures the scientists spotted were tunicates, plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to a yard tall "standing in fields like poppies," Riddle said.

Other animals were equally baffling.

"They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their mouths," Riddle told reporters. "They were all bottom dwellers so they were all evolved in different ways to live down on the sea bed in the dark. So many of them had very large eyes — very strange looking fish."

Soul newcomer Duffy tops UK chart

Soul newcomer Duffy tops UK chart
Soul singer Duffy, who was the runner-up in the BBC's Sound of 2008 search for new talent, has the best-selling single in the UK.
The rising Welsh star entered the chart at number one with Mercy.

US band Nickelback stayed in second with Rockstar, while Now You're Gone by Swedish dance producer Basshunter fell to third after five weeks on top.

Hawaiian singer Jack Johnson had the UK's number one album for the second week with Sleep Through the Static.

He held off Nickelback, who were again in second place, with All the Right Reasons.

UK SINGLES CHART
1. Duffy, Mercy
2. Nickelback, Rockstar
3. Basshunter, Now You're Gone
4. David Jordan, Sun Goes Down
5. Adele, Chasing Pavements
Source: Official UK Charts

The 25th anniversary reissue of Michael Jackson's iconic album Thriller - complete with new tracks featuring the likes of hip-hop stars Kanye West and Will.i.am - went in at number three.

And there was a new entry at five for Morrissey's Greatest Hits, while North Yorkshire guitar group One Night Only debuted at 10 with Started a Fire.

Back on the singles chart, soul and R&B crossover act David Jordan rose one place to number four with Sun Goes Down.

Chasing Pavements by Adele - the winner of the Sound of 2008 competition last month - was down two places to five.

UK ALBUM CHART
1. Jack Johnson, Sleep Through the Static
2. Nickelback, All the Right Reasons
3. Michael Jackson, Thriller 25
4. Adele, 19
5. Morrissey, Greatest Hits
Source: Official UK Charts

And there was a new entry at seven for What's It Gonna Be, a dance track by H two O.

Retro rock act The Feeling moved into the top 10 with their single I Thought it Was Over, up three to number nine.

And A&E, the latest track by chillout group Goldfrapp, climbed from 18 to 10.

Astronauts say teary farewell in space

Astronauts say teary farewell in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The crews of the space shuttle and station said a teary farewell, then sealed the hatches between them Sunday after more than a week of working tirelessly together to build a bigger and better scientific outpost in orbitAtlantis was scheduled to undock early Monday, its load considerably lighter than when it arrived Feb. 9 with Europe's premiere space laboratory, Columbus.

Astronaut Daniel Tani was especially emotional as he left the international space station, his home for the past four months.

Before floating into Atlantis for his long-overdue ride home, Tani paid tribute to his mother, Rose, who was killed in a car accident while he was in space — "my inspiration" — and his wife, Jane, who "had the hard work while I was having fun."

"I can't wait to get back to her and my two little girls," he said.

He also saluted his two female commanders, the space station's Peggy Whitson and Pamela Melroy, who delivered him to the orbiting complex back in October.

"If we were toasting, if we were in Russia, this would be the third toast," Tani said, "the toast for the women in our lives."

Tani recalled how he floated last week through the space station shooting high-definition video, with his nine colleagues busy at work from one end of the orbiting complex to the other and even outside. He said it reminded him of "those movies they used to show you about 25 years ago about how we're going to live in space."

"It was almost like a promotional video, and it was phenomenal," he said.

Just before the seven shuttle crewmen departed, Whitson said: "All right, you guys, it's been great having you here." The astronauts hugged one another and wiped away tears.

Staying behind with Whitson were Tani's replacement, a French astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut.

NASA is aiming to wrap up Atlantis' successful 13-day mission with a landing on Wednesday. Both the Kennedy Space Center and the backup landing site in California will be poised to receive Atlantis; the space agency wants the shuttle down that day to give the military enough time to destroy a damaged spy satellite.

The space agency already is looking ahead to the next shuttle flight to the orbiting station. Endeavour will be moved to the launch pad Monday in preparation for a March 11 liftoff.

Astronauts work on Columbus lab

Astronauts work on Columbus lab

HOUSTON - With two of their three spacewalks completed, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex focused Thursday on getting the new Columbus lab up and runningNASA extended Atlantis' mission by a day on Wednesday to give the crew more time to work on the lab, Europe's main contribution to the international space station.

The activation process has been running a little behind because of computer problems, but flight directors believe they've fixed the glitch.

The crew woke up Thursday to "Consider Yourself" from the musical "Oliver!" Astronaut Stanley Love thanked his wife, children and extended family, who he joked "may be feeling there's one fewer Love on Earth this Valentine's Day."

"I'd like to assure them that it's great to be up here, and I'll be home soon," he said.

Love was one of two spacewalkers who helped install Columbus on Monday. He and astronaut Rex Walheim are scheduled to participate in the mission's third outing on Friday to attach a pair of science experiments to the outside of the European module.

The pair also plan to inspect a damaged handrail that may have caused glove problems for spacewalkers in past missions. Spacewalking astronauts have ripped their gloves three times over the past year on sharp station edges.

If they have time, Walheim and Love will also perform another inspection of a jammed joint that is needed to turn one of the space station's two sets of huge solar wings. NASA has been studying the problem for months, and wants a few more pictures.

The same joint on the other side of the station unexpectedly shut down due to a computer glitch early Thursday, but NASA quickly got it working again.

In addition to spending time Thursday preparing for that spacewalk — and enjoying some much-needed off-duty time — the crew plans to chat with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Her countryman, astronaut Hans Schlegel, completed his first spacewalk on Wednesday after an illness forced mission managers to pull him from Monday's outing.

Looking and sounding fit, Schlegel and Walheim completed their primary job halfway through the nearly seven-hour spacewalk: removing a depleted nitrogen tank from the space station and installing a full one weighing 550 pounds. The high-pressure nitrogen gas is needed to flush ammonia through the station's cooling lines.

Neither Schlegel nor anyone else at the European Space Agency or NASA will say what was wrong with him. Schlegel, 56, has said it's a private medical matter.

Atlantis will remain at the space station until Monday. That makes for a 13-day flight, with touchdown now set for Feb. 20. The shuttle's thermal shielding has been completely cleared for re-entry.

NASA sidelines spacewalk, adds inspection

NASA sidelines spacewalk, adds inspection

HOUSTON (Reuters) -- Shuttle Atlantis astronauts will take a closer look at a minor tear in their ship's heat shield on Sunday after an undisclosed medical issue sidelined plans for a spacewalk to install Europe's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station, NASA officials saidThe spacewalk, the first of three planned during Atlantis' visit, was rescheduled for Monday. Atlantis crew member Hans Schlegel, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency, will be replaced by backup Stanley Love for the task.

NASA added a day to the previously planned 11-day flight to make up the lost time. Crew members are trying to save enough electricity for a possible 13th day in orbit to give the crew extra time to set up the Columbus laboratory.

Schlegel, 56, sounded cheery after a wake-up call by Mission Control early Sunday.

"Good morning, everybody. Thank you very much for this piece of music. It's a German song about the nature of man and was selected by my dear wife," Schlegel said.

Whether Schlegel would be able to participate in the second spacewalk of the mission had not yet been determined, John Shannon, the co-chairman of the mission management team told reporters.

Atlantis reached the space station on Saturday after a two-day journey that began with a launch on Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The ship carries Europe's first permanent space research laboratory, a $1.9 billion project that is the heart of the European Space Agency's contribution to the $100 billion space station program.

In addition to Schlegel, who made one previous spaceflight in 1993, Atlantis carried European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who transferred to the space station crew.

Eyharts is to remain behind after Atlantis' delayed departure on February 17, taking the place of NASA's Dan Tani as a member of the resident station crew.

The combined shuttle and station crews began transferring the food, water and other supplies carried aboard Atlantis for the orbital outpost. They also planned to inspect a small tear in a thermal blanket on one of the shuttle's steering engines.

Medical issue delays space lab work

Medical issue delays space lab work

HOUSTON - The astronauts aboard the linked shuttle and space station geared up Sunday to inspect a damaged thermal blanket on Atlantis after their main job — installing the Columbus lab — was delayed a day because of a crew member's illness. German astronaut Hans Schlegel was pulled off the first spacewalk of the mission shortly after he arrived at the international space station Saturday aboard Atlantis. Managers bumped the spacewalk and Columbus' hookup to the space station to Monday.

NASA declined to discuss the medical problem beyond saying it was not life-threatening, but a European flight controller confirmed Sunday that Schlegel had been ill and wished him a quick recovery.

The European Space Agency's Web site later said the illness was not contagious and probably would not prevent Schlegel from performing his other scheduled spacewalk.

Schlegel, 56, a two-time space flier, sounded OK on Sunday morning when he spoke to Mission Control after waking up to music from fellow German Herbert Gronemeyer.

"Greetings to everybody in America, in Europe and in Germany, and especially of course to my close family and my lovely wife, Heike," he said.

He spent the morning helping his crewmates prepare for the spacewalk and looked fine as he floated around the station.

Schlegel was supposed to venture outside with American Rex Walheim on the first two of three planned spacewalks. The Columbus lab was to have been unloaded from Atlantis and attached to the space station Sunday, with two spacewalkers outside to help.

NASA said Schlegel's shuttle crewmate, American Stanley Love, would take his place. Love trained for the work as a backup and already was assigned to the mission's third spacewalk, along with Walheim.

Schlegel will help guide Love from inside the station during Monday's spacewalk.

After spending much of the morning preparing for Monday's spacewalk, the crew will use cameras and a robotic arm to gather more images of a 1 1/2 inch-by-1 1/2 inch protrusion on one of the many blankets covering Atlantis' right orbital maneuvering system pod, back near the tail. The damage occurred during Thursday's launch and was discovered Friday, flight director Mike Sarafin said.

Space station flight director Ron Spencer said early Sunday that NASA did not know if the blanket was torn or if it was just sticking up a bit.

Engineers were trying to determine whether the damage posed a hazard for re-entry at flight's end. The peeled-up section is smaller than one that required spacewalking repairs to Atlantis in June.

NASA is particularly attentive to the shuttle's thermal shielding, ever since Columbia was destroyed during re-entry in 2003.

The delay in installing the lab and carrying out the first spacewalk caused NASA to add a 12th day to the mission. Yet another day could be added; NASA had hoped to spend an extra day at the space station to help set up Columbus. Atlantis will remain at the orbiting complex until at least next weekend.

___

Angelina Jolie visits Iraq

The sexy Angelina Jolie is getting used to playing serious roles and this time it is really serious.

Jolie visited the Iraqi capital on Thursday as United Nations good will ambassador, on a mission to highlight the plight of Iraqi refugees. Angelina did lunch with the boys while on a visit to a US military base in the heavily guarded Green Zone in central Baghdad.

But she also gave her message to the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. She said that there is a need to have a plan to deal with two million displaced Iraqis, who have begun to come back home, now that there is a lull in violence in their country.

Angie's Oscar statuette lost?

Actress Angelina Jolie might have lost the Oscar she won for her performance in "Girl, Interrupted" in 1999, but isn't worried about it.

Jolie had given the award to her mother after the ceremony, but it has been missing since her mother Bertrand died in January 2007, contactmusic.com reported.

"Angie doesn't care about awards. Sure, it's a great honour to win an Oscar, but Angie thinks herself as more of a humanitarian and mother than an actor," a source said.

OSO : A big hit in Germany

Screaming fans and high-pitched media coverage greeted Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, when he arrived here for the screening of his blockbuster film Om Shanti Om or OSO, as locals call it, at the ongoing Berlinale, the Berlin Film Festival.

The huge and almost uncontrollable turnout at the Berlinale of both German and non-German fans Friday night also goes to prove that Germany is shedding its negative perception of what Germans once described, not without contempt, as "exotic films", the "dance-and-song musicals" produced by "Mumbai's dream factories".

Indeed, ever since German television started showing Bollywood films a few years ago, the rise in Bollywood's popularity in Germany has been quite phenomenal. German-language Bollywood websites have started to appear and hundreds of bloggers routinely discuss in German not only Bollywood films but also the personal lives of their favourite stars.

"Shah Rukh Khan is rated as the biggest Bollywood film star in Germany, even surpassing the Big B (Amitabh Bachhan)," says Ramesh Sinha, an Indian businessman who does outsourcing for Germans and who is himself a Bollywood buff.

"Shah Rukh's two superhits Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham were well received in Germany, with fans thronging to video shops to lay their hands on audio and video cassettes and DVDs of Shah Rukh's films," Sinha said.

Shah Rukh, whose Om Shanti Om is being screened in a section called Berlinale Special, acknowledged that he may be a "big movie star" in India but he definitely was "humbled" by the atmosphere at the Berlinale.

The Bollywood superstar was ostensibly touched by the spontaneous and emotional welcome given to him by the German fans. Film experts and the entire German media, from the sensational Boulevard tabloid Bild to the conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, described it as unprecedented that tickets for OSO were sold out in less than seven minutes.

A surprised Shah Rukh quipped, "I thought they (the audiences) must have mistaken the movie title!"

Indeed, the tickets were completely sold out after only seven minutes. According to one employee at the Berlinale ticket office, there had been at least 20,000 queries for tickets through the Internet.

Makeover for Europe's Mars robot

Makeover for Europe's Mars robot

The boss of the European Space Agency has asked his officials to find a new name for the flagship ExoMars mission.

Jean Jacques Dordain said the rover concept had changed so radically since first envisioned and costed that it was really now a new venture.

Mr Dordain will ask ministers in November for a near doubling of the 650-million-euro budget for ExoMars they originally agreed in 2005.

The robot rover - whatever its name - should launch for Mars in 2013.

"I am asking [my officials] to find a different way to define ExoMars because if we say 'this is ExoMars', for most of the ministers it means 'over-cost'.

"And this is not over-cost because we are not speaking at all of the same mission; it is a completely different mission. This is to try to make ministers understand that this is not over-cost."

ExoMars will be Europe's big space exploration project in the next decade.

Beefed up

The plan is to put a hi-tech vehicle on the Red Planet's surface with a range of instrumentation capable of investigating the planet's life potential - past and present.

When the idea was first put to European space ministers three years ago, they embraced the project and actually gave it slightly more money than was being asked for at the time.


But as the detailed design work was carried out, it became clear the original concept would not meet the expectations of scientists; and a decision was taken within the European Space Agency (Esa) to beef up the mission.

"Today what I call 'ExoMars 2008' is different from the 'ExoMars of 2005'," Mr Dordain said.

"This is why I'm looking for a different name. In 2005, it was mostly a technological mission with some scientific passengers. But the interest in Mars, and specifically exobiology, meant that I had a queue of scientists wanting to go onboard ExoMars.

"Now we have a scientific mission as much as a technological mission, meaning that the ExoMars 2008 is heavier, is more complex and is more costly."

The increased cost may present real problems for some countries, however.

In particular, the UK, which had signed up to be a lead partner on the mission, now faces having to find tens of millions of euros extra to maintain its position on the project.

Research centre

Next week, the British government will unveil a new space strategy. It has made clear its desire to increase its Esa contributions, and to host a specialist Esa research centre, most probably one that investigates space robotics.

Detailed legal work on that centre is being conducted now and the facility itself could be approved at the Esa Council meeting at ministerial level in The Hague on 25-26 November.

Mr Dordain said he had been encouraged lately by the UK's attitude, which in the past he has described as "anomalous" because of the nation's relative reluctance to get involved in the agency compared with Germany, France and Italy.

"The UK is the second richest country in Europe and the sixth [largest] contributor in Esa," he told BBC News.

"And this is all the more an anomaly because there are a lot of capabilities in the UK; there is a fantastic scientific community, there are good industrial capabilities and it is a pity that the British government is not taking more benefit from these assets."

Mr Dordain was speaking here in Florida after the launch of the Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station, one of the voluntary Esa programmes in which the UK currently refuses to get involved.

Bush rallies conservatives for campaign

Bush rallies conservatives for campaign

WASHINGTON - Without naming John McCain, President Bush marshaled the conservative wing of the Republican Party on Friday to back the presumed GOP presidential nominee for the upcoming battle against the Democratic Party.The stakes in November are high. This is an important election. Prosperity and peace are in the balance," Bush told about 2,000 people attending the Conservative Political Action Conference. "So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008."

Bush spoke to a boisterous crowd shortly after 7 a.m. EST. The ballroom erupted in cheers when someone shouted "Are there conservatives in the house?" When the president walked on stage, they clapped and chanted "Four more years! Four more years!"

Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Still, the crowd gave him standing ovations, cheering his comments on tax relief, the military buildup in Iraq, the Reagan years and his opposition to abortion. They booed when Bush said his critics want to expand the size and scope of the federal government.

Conservatives are resigned to seeing McCain lead the Republican ticket in November, but he has a long history of disputes with the party's right flank. Conservatives may try to influence McCain's positions and his choice of a running mate. And the possibility exists that they will stay home in November, a development that could cost him swing states such as Ohio.

Bush is not ready to weigh in formally on the election, even though Mitt Romney announced on Thursday that he was suspending his campaign, virtually sealing the nomination for McCain. The president is, however, priming the GOP's conservative base to get ready to back McCain.

"We have had good debates and soon we will have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond," Bush said.

"I'm absolutely confident that with your help, we will elect a person who shares our principles," the president said.

McCain claims he is a true conservative and has lined up the endorsements of many conservative political leaders. But James Dobson, one of the nation's most prominent evangelical Christian leaders, backed Mike Huckabee's presidential bid Thursday night. Dobson reiterated his declaration on Super Tuesday that he could not in good conscience vote for McCain because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was straightforward in expressing his support for McCain.

"I've had some disagreements with John McCain over the years, but he's my friend," McConnell said. "More importantly for this race, he's a conservative. And he has my full support.

"When Americans see what the liberals are offering this year, we'll win again," McConnell said, adding that eight years ago, Bush "showed the Clintons the door."

"With the help of you all, we're going to make sure they stay out," he said.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Bush's remarks were not intended to rally the party around McCain. "There are several candidates in the race," Stanzel said. "We have a vigorous campaign going on." He said Romney's departure "gets us one step closer to having a nominee. We're not there yet."

Bush used his speech to the conservative gathering as a venue for comparing and contrasting Republican philosophies with those of GOP critics.

He defended his record on the economy, saying tax cuts contributed to a record 52 months of job creation, which just ended. Bush backed his decision to twice veto legislation to pave the way for taxpayer-funded embryo research, and he lauded medical advances in stem cell research that would yield good results without destroying embryos.

'VICTIMS' BLOOD ON WRIGHT'S JACKET'

Blood almost certain to have come from two murdered prostitutes was found on the jacket of the man accused of killing them, a court has heard.

DNA expert Peter Hau said there was a "one in a billion" chance samples on Steve Wright's reflective coat did not belong to Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court, Dr Hau said blood found on the left shoulder of the jacket matched Miss Clennell's. And blood detected on the lower right sleeve was consistent with being Miss Nicholls', he said.

Wright, 49, of Ipswich, denies murdering Miss Clennell, 24, Miss Nicholls, 29, Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, and Anneli Alderton, 24. Their bodies were discovered in remote locations around Ipswich over a 10-day period in December 2006.

Dr Hau told the jury of nine men and three women that there was evidence Wright had been wearing semen-stained gardening gloves while with Miss Clennell.

He said DNA from the thumb area of the gloves matched the vice girl's profile.

"There's very strong support for the view that Mr Wright was wearing the semen-stained gloves when he was in contact with Miss Clennell," he said.

Jurors heard traces of semen - likely to be Wright's - were on the gloves.

On Thursday, Dr Hau said Wright's DNA had been found on Miss Clennell, Miss Alderton and Miss Nicholls.

In Miss Nicholls' case, it was from "top to toe", he said. Cross-examining Dr Hau, defence barrister Timothy Langdale, QC, suggested: "Somebody who may sweat a lot may be more prone to shedding their DNA than someone else." Dr Hau agreed.

Clinton, McCain Win California Contests

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., points to supporters at her Super Tuesday primary night rally in New York Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)



John McCain seized command of the race for the Republican presidential nomination early Wednesday, winning delegate-rich primaries from the East Coast to California. Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded victories in an epic struggle with no end in sight.


Clinton won the biggest state, California, for the Democrats, capitalizing on support from Hispanic voters.

McCain’s own victory in the Republican race in the Golden State dealt a crushing blow to his closest pursuer, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

“We’ve won some of the biggest states in the country,” McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Phoenix, hours before California made his Tuesday Super. An underdog for months, he proclaimed himself the front-runner at last, and added. “I don’t really mind it one bit.”

In the competition that counted the most, the Arizona senator had 522 delegates, more than 40 percent of the 1,191 needed for the nomination - and far ahead of his rivals.

Even so, Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said they were staying in the race.

Neither Clinton nor Obama proclaimed overall victory on a Super Tuesday that sprawled across 23 states, and with good reason. Obama won 12 states and Clinton eight plus American Samoa. But with victories in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, the former first lady led in the early tabulation of Super Tuesday delegates.

Shortly after 1 a.m. EST, winners were still to be declared in Missouri, New Mexico and Alaska.

“I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation,” said the former first lady, looking ahead to the primaries and caucuses yet to come.

Obama was in Chicago, where he told a noisy election night rally, “Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America.”

Polling place interviews with voters suggested subtle shifts in the political landscape.

For the first time this year, McCain ran first in a few states among self-identified Republicans. As usual, he was running strongly among independents. Romney was getting the votes of about four in 10 people who described themselves as conservative. McCain was wining about one-third of that group, and Huckabee about one in five.

Overall, Clinton was winning only a slight edge among women and white voters, groups that she had won handily in earlier contests, according to preliminary results from interviews with voters in 16 states leaving polling places.

Obama was collecting the overwhelming majority of votes cast by blacks - a factor in victories in Alabama and Georgia.

Clinton’s continued strong appeal among Hispanics - she was winning nearly six in 10 of their votes - was a big factor in her California triumph, and in her victory in Arizona, too.

McCain, the early Republican front-runner whose campaign nearly unraveled six months ago, won in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware and his home state of Arizona - each of them winner-take-all primaries. He also pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won a series of Bible Belt victories, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee as well as his own home state. He also triumphed at the Republican West Virginia convention, and told The Associated Press in an interview he would campaign on. “The one way you can’t win a race is to quit it, and until somebody beats me, I’m going to answer the bell for every round of this fight,” he said.

Romney won a home state victory in Massachusetts. He also took Utah, where fellow Mormons supported his candidacy. His superior organization produced caucus victories in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Colorado, and he, too, breathed defiance. “We’re going to go all the way to the convention. We’re going to win this thing,” he told supporters in Boston.

Democrats played out a historic struggle between two senators: Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, and Obama, hoping to become the first black to win the White House.

Clinton won at home in New York as well as in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Arkansas, where she was first lady for more than a decade. She also won the caucuses in American Samoa.

Obama won Connecticut, Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Utah and his home state of Illinois. He prevailed in caucuses in North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Alaska and Colorado.

After an early series of low-delegate, single-state contests, Super Tuesday was anything but small - its primaries and caucuses were spread across nearly half the country in the most wide-open presidential campaign in memory.

The result was a double-barreled set of races, Obama and Clinton fighting for delegates as well as bragging rights in individual states, the Republicans doing the same.

The allocation of delegates lagged the vote count by hours. That was particularly true for the Democrats, who divided theirs roughly in proportion to the popular vote.

Nine of the Republican contests were winner take all, and that was where McCain piled up his lead.

The Arizona senator had 522 delegates, to 223 for Romney and 142 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to clinch the presidential nomination at next summer’s convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Overall, Clinton had 656 delegates to 559 for Obama, out of the 2,025 needed to secure victory at the party convention in Denver. Clinton’s advantage is partly due to her lead among so-called superdelegates, members of Congress and other party leaders who are not selected in primaries and caucuses - and who are also free to change their minds.

Alabama and Georgia gave Obama three straight Southern triumphs. Like last month’s win in South Carolina, they were powered by black votes.

Democrats and Republicans alike said the economy was their most important issue. Democrats said the war in Iraq ranked second and health care third. Republican primary voters said immigration was second most important after the economy, followed by the war in Iraq.

The survey was conducted in 16 states by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks.

Already, the campaigns were looking ahead to Feb. 9 contests in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state and Feb. 12 primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. And increasingly, it looked like the Democrats’ historic race between a woman and a black man would go into early spring, possibly longer.

The de facto national primary was the culmination of a relentless campaign that moved into overdrive during Christmas week.

After a brief rest for the holiday, the candidates flew back to Iowa on Dec. 26 for a final stretch of campaigning before the state’s caucuses offered the first test of the election year. New Hampshire’s traditional first-in-the-nation primary followed a few days later, then a seemingly endless series of campaign days interspersed by debates and a handful of primaries and caucuses.

Along the way, the poorest performers dropped out: Democratic Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; and Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Former Sen. John Edwards pulled out of the Democratic race last week, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani left the Republican field.

Edwards offered no endorsement as he exited, instead leaving Obama and Clinton to vie for help from his fundraisers and supporters.

Giuliani quit the race and backed McCain in the same breath, clearing the way for the Westerner in New York and New Jersey.

Giuliani’s departure also made it possible for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to back McCain. Schwarzenegger said he would not have done so as long as the former mayor was in the race.

Obama and Clinton spent an estimated $20 million combined to advertise on television in the Feb 5 states.

Obama spent $11 million, running ads in 18 of the 22 states with Democratic contests. Clinton ran ads in 17, for a total of $9 million.