These two ASTOUNDING NBA talents have combined for 5 NBA Championships?. (photo shop LeBron out of the pic,... Source: http://twitter.com/ChrisJr88/statuses/152680356942843904
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MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's Foreign Ministry has attacked America's human rights record in its first report on injustice elsewhere in the world, offering examples such as the Guantanamo Bay prison and wrongful death row convictions to paint the U.S. as hypocritical for lecturing other nations on the subject of rights.
"The situation in the United States is a far cry from the ideals that Washington proclaims," says the report released Wednesday.
Moscow has previously reacted angrily to the accusations of human rights breaches that the U.S. State Department has leveled at Russia in its annual reports. The State Department has expressed concern about the violent attacks on rights activists and journalists in Russia, most of which go unpunished. It also has criticized abuses in Russia's Caucasus, including extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture.
The 90-page Russian report slams EU nations, Canada and Georgia, but reserves its longest section of 20 pages for what it says are violations by the United States. The report does not cover Asia, Africa or the Middle East, other than a five-page section criticizing the NATO operation in Libya.
Moscow laments the ongoing operation of the "notorious" prison in Guantanamo Bay, where terrorism suspects have been held since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and criticizes President Barack Obama for "legalizing indefinite and extrajudicial custody and the return of court martials."
The report accuses the U.S. of prying into citizens' personal lives and violating the rights of Muslim Americans in the fight against terrorism. It also points to errors made by American courts.
"Judicial errors are the Achilles heel of American justice as concerns capital punishment," the report argues. It notes the roughly 130 people sentenced to death in the past 30 years who were later cleared of the charges, some after they were executed.
The Foreign Ministry also struck back at international criticism of Russia's recent parliamentary election, which independent observers said involved widespread fraud. Outrage over the vote set off a spate of protests led by citizens unhappy with Vladimir Putin's rule.
The report accuses the U.S. of blocking independent candidates from elections and criticizes the practice of allowing governors to nominate senators when a Senate seat is vacated, as when Obama became president. It refers to the conviction this year of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to auction off Obama's Senate seat.
The State Department is reviewing the Russian report, spokesman Mark Toner said. He said such reports can be a "useful mechanism provided that they are produced using objective methodology."
"We certainly don't regard it as interference in our internal affairs when foreign governments, individuals or organizations comment on or criticize U.S. human rights practices," he said, adding later, "In terms of our human rights record, we're an open book."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2011) ? NASA successfully conducted a drop test of the Orion crew vehicle's parachutes high above the Arizona desert Tuesday, Dec. 20, in preparation for its orbital flight test in 2014. Orion will carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and ensure a safe re-entry and landing.
A C-130 plane dropped the Orion test article from an altitude of 25,000 feet above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds. Orion's drogue chutes were deployed between 15,000 and 20,000 feet, followed by the pilot parachutes, which then deployed two main landing parachutes. This particular drop test examined how Orion would land under two possible failure scenarios.
Orion's parachutes are designed to open in stages, which is called reefing, to manage the stresses on the parachutes after they are deployed. The reefing stages allow the parachutes to sequentially open, first at 54 percent of the parachutes' full diameter, and then at 73 percent. This test examined how the parachutes would perform if the second part of the sequence was skipped.
The second scenario was a failure to deploy one of Orion's three main parachutes, requiring the spacecraft to land with only two. Orion landed on the desert floor at a speed of almost 33 feet per second, which is the maximum designed touchdown speed of the spacecraft.
Since 2007, the Orion program has conducted a vigorous parachute air and ground test program and provided the chutes for NASA's successful pad abort test in 2010. Lessons learned from this experience have improved Orion's parachute system.
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I don't normally do this but I'm going to propose something completely different to my usual preferences. A romance fantasy roleplay! Well, at least somewhat romance-ish; consider it as a subplot. Basically, the idea is very fragile and undefined at the moment because it formed suddenly.
I wish to play a female tiefling who would meet your character in one way or another and after that follow him for one reason or another - either out of necessity, curiosity or something else. If you're unfamiliar with tieflings, they are basically humans with some form of fiendish ancestry in their blood and are thus somewhat deformed, with horns, pointed teeth, a tail and so on. I know what you're thinking here again. Oh, no, demons again! Please, bear with me. Tieflings aren't demons, they simply have traits that make them society outcasts for the most part. If you're interested in reading more, feel free to follow this link. There aren't a lot of them about at all and are, because of their dubious ancestry, regarded as second-class citizens, distrusted, shunned and sometimes even taken advantage of or assaulted by vigilantes who think they're doing the right thing.
However, whether you are familiar with the D&D setting or not is irrelevant. Because I am a thieving little bugger, I'm willing to snatch the tiefling race and put it into an original fantasy world created by both of us. I'm leaning more towards a medieval fantasy world than not but we can work things out as we go.
What the actual plot will be, I'm not sure as of yet, but I would definitely wish a romance subplot to develop (can hardly believe I'm asking this!). However this romance develops, I would just like to add that I can't stand instant or artificial romances. It has to come naturally to the characters, although, of course, this sentence sort of negates the previous one. Argh! *head explodes*
A few more final thoughts.
- You will have to be literate and post healthy posts. I won't require lengths that I use for more serious plots but anything around 500+ words would do nicely.
- Be nice and use an instant messaging program.
- Play a male character. Sorry, only a straight romance will do.
- Be dedicated. Even though I might have made this thread sound like I'm only doing this as something to occupy my mind until something better pops in, I'm a dedicated player and won't leave just because I grew bored. If both of us pool our resources into the world and plot, it could become something a lot of fun.
*gulps, presses the submit button*
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/6CW8Wht8yx0/viewtopic.php
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Not long ago, Newt Gingrich got into some trouble for claiming that the Palestinians are an ?invented people,? although there is some basis for that statement, as prior to the British Mandate there was no such official designation for ?Palestine? ? and the British clearly included present-day Jordan as a major part of ?Palestine? in the mandate. Another Republican candidate offered a history lesson on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2009, a moment recalled by Jeff Dunetz in this clip from the House floor. In it, we discover that Israel ?started? Hamas as a counterweight to Yasser Arafat, or something, and manages to blame the CIA for radicalizing Muslims and the US for supplying weapons and funds that ?kill Palestinians?:
This may be why Paul doesn?t get a lot of support from his own party in Iowa or New Hampshire, as Byron York reports today:
In a hotly-contested Republican race, it appears that only about half of Paul?s supporters are Republicans. In Iowa, according to Rasmussen, just 51 percent of Paul supporters consider themselves Republicans. In New Hampshire, the number is 56 percent, according to Andrew Smith, head of the University of New Hampshire poll.
The same New Hampshire survey found that 87 percent of the people who support Romney consider themselves Republicans. For Newt Gingrich, it?s 85 percent.
So who is supporting Paul? In New Hampshire, Paul is the choice of just 13 percent of Republicans, according to the new poll, while he is the favorite of 36 percent of independents and 26 percent of Democrats who intend to vote in the primary. Paul leads in both non-Republican categories.
?Paul is doing the best job of getting those people who aren?t really Republicans but say they?re going to vote in the Republican primary,? explains Smith. Among that group are libertarians, dissatisfied independents and Democrats who are ?trying to throw a monkey wrench in the campaign by voting for someone who is more philosophically extreme,? says Smith.
So who started Hamas?? Was it really Israel?? Er ? no, not really, and the suggestion that Israel wanted Hamas as a counterweight to the PLO is simply ludicrous.? Hamas developed from a network of Muslim Brotherhood charities in Gaza in the mid-1980s.? The Muslim Brotherhood was one of the most notorious of anti-Israeli organizations in the region, formed in the 1920s in opposition to the collapse of the Caliphate and the British Mandate that followed. At the founding of Hamas, it called for ?jihad? to seize Israel and create an Islamist state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. ?? They formed in direct opposition to the PLO (now called Fatah in the Palestinian Authority government), to some extent because Yasser Arafat was negotiating with Israel, albeit in bad faith while trying to drum up financial and political support in the West. Hamas gets its funding from Iran, hardly a disinterested third party in this conflict ? and the main engine of radicalizing Muslims, eclipsing the Muslim Brotherhood ever since the Iranian revolution of 1979.
Paul only gets one thing substantially correct in this speech, which is that the US screwed up by pushing for an election in Gaza while Hamas had such a strong hold on the territory.? We did warn, however, that we would not work with terrorists in a Gaza government, and after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal in 2005 it would have been difficult to argue against elections in Gaza.? ?Imposing? democracy in this case ended up backfiring, as it legitimized Hamas to some extent and made it more difficult to fight against their terrorism.? But that?s a far cry from claiming that Israel started Hamas, a statement that is so nutty that it should be by itself disqualifying for voters looking to select the next Republican nominee.
Update: A few people have e-mailed me this opinion piece from the WSJ in 2009 as ?proof? that corroborates Paul?s claims. ?It doesn?t back up Paul?s claim that Israel ?started? Hamas, and it really doesn?t make the case that Israel encouraged the formation of Hamas, either. ?The closest it comes is this:
?Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel?s creation,? says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel?s destruction.
Instead of trying to curb Gaza?s Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat?s Fatah. Israel cooperated with a crippled, half-blind cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, even as he was laying the foundations for what would become Hamas. Sheikh Yassin continues to inspire militants today; during the recent war in Gaza, Hamas fighters confronted Israeli troops with ?Yassins,? primitive rocket-propelled grenades named in honor of the cleric.
How did Israel ?encourage? Hamas? ?By keeping tabs on it, as any intel service would have done:
Instead, Israel?s military-led administration in Gaza looked favorably on the paraplegic cleric, who set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library and kindergartens. Sheikh Yassin formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islamiya, which was officially recognized by Israel as a charity and then, in 1979, as an association. Israel also endorsed the establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which it now regards as a hotbed of militancy. The university was one of the first targets hit by Israeli warplanes in the recent war.
Brig. General Yosef Kastel, Gaza?s Israeli governor at the time, is too ill to comment, says his wife. But Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who took over as governor in Gaza in late 1979, says he had no illusions about Sheikh Yassin?s long-term intentions or the perils of political Islam. As Israel?s former military attache in Iran, he?d watched Islamic fervor topple the Shah. However, in Gaza, says Mr. Segev, ?our main enemy was Fatah,? and the cleric ?was still 100% peaceful? towards Israel. Former officials say Israel was also at the time wary of being viewed as an enemy of Islam.
Mr. Segev says he had regular contact with Sheikh Yassin, in part to keep an eye on him. He visited his mosque and met the cleric around a dozen times. It was illegal at the time for Israelis to meet anyone from the PLO. Mr. Segev later arranged for the cleric to be taken to Israel for hospital treatment. ?We had no problems with him,? he says.
In other words, people want to ?credit? Israel for creating Hamas because they didn?t oppose the establishment of (then) non-violent social charities. ?Later, in 1987, the Muslim Brotherhood formed these charities into Hamas, which adopted violent jihad?and the destruction of Israel as the key goals of its charter. ?Israel didn?t stop it and continued for a brief time to maintain its contacts with the group until it launched an intifada, but that?s not the same thing as ?creating Hamas,? or even ?encouraging Hamas.?
Here?s the entire statement made on January 9th, 2009, from the Congressional Record:
Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to this resolution, not because I am taking sides and picking who the bad guys are and who the good guys are, but I?m looking at this more from the angle of being a United States citizen, an American, and I think resolutions like this really do great harm to us. In many ways what is happening in the Middle East, and in particular with Gaza right now, we have some moral responsibility for both sides, because we provide help in funding for both Arab nations and Israel. And so we definitely have a moral responsibility. And especially now today, the weapons being used to kill so many Palestinians are American weapons and American funds essentially are being used for this.
But there is a political liability which I think is something that we fail to look at because too often there is so much blowback from our intervention in areas that we shouldn?t be involved in. Hamas, if you look at the history, you will find that Hamas was encouraged and actually started by Israel because they wanted Hamas to counteract Yasir Arafat. You say, Well, yeah, it was better then and served its purpose, but we didn?t want Hamas to do this. So then we, as Americans, say, Well, we have such a good system;
we?re going to impose this on the world. We?re going to invade Iraq and teach people how to be democrats. We want free elections. So we encouraged the Palestinians to have a free election. They do, and they elect Hamas.So we first, indirectly and directly through Israel, helped establish Hamas. Then we have an election where Hamas becomes dominant then we have to kill them. It just doesn?t make sense. During the 1980s, we were allied with Osama bin Laden and we were contending with the Soviets. It was at that time our CIA thought it was good if we radicalize the Muslim world. So we finance the Madrassas school to radicalize the Muslims in order to compete with the Soviets. There is too much blowback.
There are a lot of reasons why we should oppose this resolution. It?s not in the interest of the United States, it is not in the interest of Israel either. I strongly oppose H. Res. 34, which was rushed to the floor with almost no prior notice and without consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with the United States or U.S. interests. I am concerned that the weapons currently being used by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza are made in America and paid for by American taxpayers. What will adopting this resolution do to the perception of the United States in the Muslim and Arab world? What kind of blowback
might we see from this? What moral responsibility do we have for the violence in Israel and Gaza after having provided so much military support to one side?As an opponent of all violence, I am appalled by the practice of lobbing homemade rockets into Israel from Gaza. I am only grateful that, because of the primitive nature of these weapons, there have been so few casualties among innocent Israelis. But I am also appalled by the longstanding Israeli blockade of Gaza?a cruel act of war?and the tremendous loss of life that has resulted from the latest Israeli attack that started last month. There are now an estimated 700 dead Palestinians, most of whom are civilians. Many innocent children are among the dead. While the shooting of rockets into Israel is inexcusable, the violent actions of some people in Gaza does not justify killing Palestinians on this scale. Such collective punishment is immoral. At the very least, the U.S. Congress should not be loudly proclaiming its support for the Israeli government?s actions in Gaza.
Madam Speaker, this resolution will do nothing to reduce the fighting and bloodshed in the Middle East. The resolution in fact will lead the U.S. to become further involved in this conflict, promising ?vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.? Is it really in the interest of the United States to guarantee the survival of any foreign country? I believe it would be better to focus on the security and survival of the United States, the Constitution of which my colleagues and I swore to defend just this week at the beginning of the 111th Congress. I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution.
Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/27/paul-hamas-was-encouraged-and-really-started-by-israel/
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Continue reading Must See HDTV (December 26th - January 1st)
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BAGHDAD ? The United Nations and the Iraqi government have signed an agreement to relocate several thousand Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq, the U.N.'s office in Baghdad announced Sunday.
But it's not clear yet whether the camp's residents have signed off on the deal.
In a statement late Sunday, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said the agreement establishes a process to move the residents of Camp Ashraf to a temporary location. It did not give a timeline for the move or specify the new location.
A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the residents would be moved to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport.
"At this new location, the UN High Commission for Refugees will be able to conduct refugee status determinations for the residents of Ashraf ? a necessary first step toward resettlement to third countries," the statement said.
The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran first moved to Camp Ashraf during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who saw the group as a convenient ally against Tehran. The group is committed to the overthrow of the Iranian regime, and sided with Iraq in the war against Iran in the 1980s.
The group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran's clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001. U.S. soldiers disarmed them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been determined to close down the camp, located in barren terrain northeast of Baghdad about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Iranian border, by the end of December. His government considers the camp as an affront to Iraq's sovereignty.
Last week, an Iraqi government spokesman said the government was working out a solution to the situation at Camp Ashraf with the U.N. and would allow the camp to stay open into January as residents are being relocated. At the time, representatives of the residents suggested they would be willing to move, as long as their security was provided for.
Under the agreement outlined by the U.N., the international organization will monitor the relocation process and then a team from the U.N.'s refugee agency will be deployed at the new location to process the refugee claims.
The Iraqi government will be responsible for the exiles' safety during that time, and will have a liaison officer from the Ministry of Human Rights involved in the relocation, the U.N. said.
"I would like to highlight that the government is exclusively responsible for the safety and security of the residents both during their transfer and in the new location until they leave the country," said Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Iraq.
The Iraqi government's vow to close Camp Ashraf had raised concerns that forcibly removing its 3,400 residents would result in violence. The U.N. has said that at least 34 people were killed in a raid on the camp by Iraqi security forces last April.
Representatives of the camp could not be reached Sunday evening. They sent out a press release Sunday evening saying that rockets had been fired on their camp. No casualties were reported. There was no way to immediately verify the claims.
The People's Mujahedeen has been branded a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, a designation now under review by the State Department. It has been removed from similar blacklists in Europe.
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EBOOK 2: Mengirim tulisan ke Lintas Berita memang bisa menyedot ribuan pengunjung ke blog anda dalam satu hari. Tapi anda harus ingat. Jika strateginya tidak tepat, ibarat membuang air ke laut, sebanyak apapun tulisan yang anda kirim kesana bisa hanya akan menjadi tumpukan sampah yang tak dilirik pengunjung. Apa sebab? Temukan jawabannya DISINI.
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LOS ANGELES: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is receiving a posthumous Grammy for his technological innovations in the arts.
Jobs is among a dozen people, music groups or companies receiving honorary awards Feb. 11, the day before the Grammys. He died of cancer in October.
The Grammys are honoring Jobs with one of the group's Trustees Awards, citing the late Apple boss' advancements that "transformed the way we consume music, TV, movies, and books."
Grammy organizers called him a "creative visionary" for Apple Inc. innovations that include the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Others receiving honorary awards the day before the Grammys include Diana Ross, the Allman Brothers, Glen Campbell, Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Jones, the Memphis Horns and recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
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If Mitt Romney is elected president in 2012, one thing that will be discussed is his net worth. The Los Angeles Times reports Dec. 22 that Romney hasn't divulged his income tax returns and doesn't plan on doing so while he is running for president. The New York Times reported Dec. 11 that Romney has been criticized for offering a $10,000 bet on his position regarding health care. That amount of money struck a nerve with voters who feel Romney is out of touch with Americans who are suffering because of the economic recession.
Here's a look at how Romney's finances and wealth stack up to presidents of the past.
Romney's Income
Romney started his path to riches when he became vice president of Bain & Co. in 1978. CNN reported he earned and MBA at Harvard and then latched on with Boston Consulting Group before going up the corporate ladder.
Six years after learning the ins and outs of the investment industry, Romney started his own company in 1984 called Bain Capital. The company is a private equity company spun off from the Bain Company. Romney spent 15 years at Bain Capital. When he had political ambitions in Massachusetts, Romney quit his job but was able to put a lot of his wealth into investments as he retired from a private sector job.
His net worth in in 2007 was calculated at $202 million. He makes cash when he sells stock. The Boston Globe reported in August that the presidential candidate was going to bulldoze his $12 million beachfront mansion in La Jolla, Calif., and replace it with an 11,000 square-foot home that is nearly quadruple in size from the older one.
Past Presidents
In terms of past presidents who have actually held office, Romney's wealth pales in comparison to some famous names. The Atlantic Monthly reported on the wealth of presidents in May 2010. Romney's wealth nearly exceeds all of the previous nine presidents combined, including Barack Obama. John F. Kennedy's family estate was valued at $1 billion in today's dollars, the last president to be worth more than Romney's $202 million figure.
George Washington, based upon his family's land ownership and wealth accumulation, was worth around $525 million. Thomas Jefferson, despite his opulent mansion at Monticello, was worth around only $212 million. Abraham Lincoln owned less than $1 million in assets with his home in Illinois.
Should Romney be elected president, his personal assets will be on the side of one of the wealthiest presidents to hold office in United States history.
William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
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@joeciarallo Tho, to be fair to Edelman, Twitter is in a bit of a mess at the moment in terms of corporate mgmt & comms/marketing strategy 
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Source: androidcommunity.com --- Thursday, December 22, 2011
Watch Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns Live NBA Game via Free Online Streaming without paying a single dime. Thanks to the latest internet web browser free HD streaming technology you will never miss your favorite NBA game ever again! To watch Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns Live NBA match you do don't need any additional hardware and/or equipment. All you need is a PC or Laptop and an internet connection and you can enjoy today's NBA match ( Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns ) from the comfort of your own home. http://tinyurl.com/DenverNuggets-PhoenixSuns http://tinyurl.com/DenverNuggets-PhoenixSuns Basketball fans from all over the world can finally watch their favorite teams online, via free streaming technology. To watch Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns and the other 11 Live NBA game taking place today, click on the link below to start free internet streaming. Enjoy Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns and good luck to your favorite NBA team! When the links to the stream for the Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns live broadcast event are shown, the general rule that will let you know if you need extra software installed is to look at the first column on our schedule - the one that says P2P. http://tinyurl.com/DenverNuggets-PhoenixSuns http://tinyurl.com/DenverNuggets-PhoenixSuns If that column says YES then you will need to install the software for the application that is listed in the fourth column - The one that says Type. If you have that a ...
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This year was quite an eventful one in spaceflight, with many vessels launching toward the heavens ? and a few crashing back to Earth.
Here's a rundown of the top 11 spaceflight stories of 2011, from the last mission of NASA's venerable space shuttle program to China's first-ever docking of two spaceships in Earth orbit:
1. Satellites falling from the sky
The sky wasn't really falling in autumn 2011; it just seemed that way, with two defunct satellites plummeting to Earth out of control within a month of each other.
First came NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS. This 6.5-ton climate satellite, which was about the size of a school bus, launched in 1991 and was decommissioned in 2005. UARS then spent six years spiraling slowly toward our planet, finally plunging into the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean Sept. 24.
Germany's 2.7-ton Roentgen Satellite, or ROSAT, followed closely on UARS' heels. This craft, which launched in 1990 to survey the heavens in X-rays and was shut down in 1999, fell back to Earth over the Indian Ocean Oct. 23.?
Neither satellite crash injured anyone. But the sky isn't done raining down huge pieces of space junk. Russia's failed Mars probe Phobos-Grunt will soon plummet to Earth, perhaps even before the year is out (see below). [Vote for the Best Spaceflight Story of 2011]
2. The end of the space shuttle era
This year also saw the last flight of an American icon. NASA's storied space shuttle program came to an end after 30 years of service when Atlantis touched down shortly before dawn July 21.
Atlantis' flight was the 135th space mission for the shuttle program, which began to take shape in 1972 and first launched to orbit in 1981. The shuttle accomplished a great deal during its long lifetime, helping to build the International Space Station and making spaceflight more routine than it had been.
However, the shuttle's record highlights that spaceflight remains a dangerous endeavor. Two of its 135 missions ended in tragedy, killing a total of 14 astronauts. The shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986, while Columbia broke up during re-entry in 2003. [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures: A Tribute]
The three remaining space-flown orbiters are now being prepped for display in museums. For now, NASA is dependent on Russian Soyuz vehicles to ferry its astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. However, the agency hopes private companies can take over this orbital taxi service by 2017 or so.
3. A space first for China
Nov. 2 was a banner day for China and its space program. On that date, the nation successfully docked two robotic spacecraft in low-Earth orbit for the first time ever.
The mating of the two vehicles ? called?Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1?? was designed to test key technologies that China will use to assemble a space station in orbit. The country hopes to have a 66-ton manned station up and running by 2020.
And China won't rest on its laurels for long. The nation plans to launch two more docking missions during 2012, at least one of which will be manned.
4. 50 years of human spaceflight
The space shuttle program celebrated 30 years of spaceflight in 2011, but that anniversary took a back seat to a much bigger one this year: 50 years of human spaceflight.
Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space April 12, 1961, completing one Earth orbit in his tiny Vostok capsule before returning safely to terra firma less than two hours later. The United States launched its first spaceflyer just weeks later, sending Alan Shepard on a short suborbital flight May 5.
And the anniversaries didn't stop there. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made the speech that charted NASA's direction for years to come, announcing that the United States would put an astronaut on the moon before the end of the decade.
So while our future may be in the stars, this year spurred many spaceflight experts and observers to cast their gaze back through history.
5. The astronaut and the congresswoman
On Jan. 8, a gunman shot Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the head as she talked to constituents outside a Tucson grocery store. The attack left Giffords gravely wounded and six other people dead.
The tragedy reverberated beyond Arizona and the halls of Congress, reaching into low-Earth orbit. Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, was slated to command the STS-134 mission of the space shuttle Endeavour ? the second-to-last flight of the shuttle program ? just a few months after the shooting.
As Giffords made strides in her recovery, Kelly decided to take part in the mission. When Endeavour blasted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center May 16, Giffords was in the crowd.
Kelly retired in October with four spaceflights under his belt. Giffords continues to recuperate, and she's said she may consider a return to Congress if her condition improves enough.
6. NASA's uncertain future
In many ways, NASA had a great year in 2011. The agency launched three different planetary missions, rendezvoused with the huge asteroid Vesta and executed a comet flyby. And NASA's Kepler space telescope discovered more than 2,000 potential alien planets.
But the year also brought its share of transition and uncertainty. With the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA is now completely dependent on Russian Soyuz vehicles to ferry its astronauts to and from the International Space Station, at $63 million per seat. NASA wants American private spaceflight companies to take over this taxi service soon, but that probably won't happen until 2017 at the earliest, officials have said.
NASA's budget also keeps getting trimmed, as lawmakers look to cut federal spending across the board. The agency may get just $17.4 billion in fiscal year 2012, down from $18.5 billion in 2011.
The belt-tightening could threaten some of the agency's most ambitious and expensive projects, including the $8.8-billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In July, the House Appropriations Committee recommended canceling the huge instrument, which is billed as the muscular successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
Congress later restored funding for JWST, marking it as safe ? for now. The telescope is slated to launch in October 2018.
7. NASA's new rocket and spaceship
In 2010, President Barack Obama instructed NASA to work toward getting astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by the mid-2030s. This year, the space agency laid out how it plans to reach these deep-space destinations.
The astronauts will ride aboard a new spaceship called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which NASA announced in May. The spacecraft is based heavily on the old Orion capsule concept, which NASA began developing as part of its moon-oriented Constellation program. The Obama Administration cancelled Constellation last year in favor of the asteroid-first plan.
In September, NASA revealed its Space Launch System (SLS), the $10-billion giant rocket that will lift Orion off the pad. In its early incarnations, the SLS will likely be capable of lofting 70 tons of payload, but NASA eventually wants to beef it up to carry 130 tons of material to space.
NASA hopes the Orion-SLS combo will be launching astronauts toward deep space by 2021.
8. Russia's space woes
2011 was a tough year for Russian spaceflight, as a string of high-profile mishaps plagued the country.
On Feb. 1, for example, a Rockot launch vehicle failed to deliver an Earth-observing satellite to the proper orbit. And on Aug. 18, a Proton rocket didn't place a $300-million communications satellite in the desired orbit.
Then, on Aug. 24, the unmanned Progress 44 supply ship crashed while hauling cargo to the International Space Station, doomed by a problem with the third stage of its Soyuz rocket. Russia uses a similar version of the Soyuz to launch astronauts to the space station, so manned flights were put on hold until the problem with the rocket could be identified and fixed. As a result, the orbiting lab operated with a skeleton crew of three astronauts for a stretch this autumn.
Finally, the $165-million Mars moon probe Phobos-Grunt got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch. The spacecraft's thrusters were supposed to fire to send it on a course for the Red Planet, but they never did so.
Phobos-Grunt is still circling our planet, its orbit getting lower and lower by the day. Most experts consider the probe lost, predicting that it will come crashing back into the atmosphere in mid-January, though it's tough to peg an exact date. [Photos: Russia's Failed Phobos-Grunt Mission]
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently threatened heavy fines or even criminal punishment for the people responsible for this series of embarrassing failures.
9. International Space Station is complete
After 13 years of construction work, the International Space Station finally reached a measure of completeness in 2011.
In March, the space shuttle Discovery delivered NASA's final contribution to the assembly of the orbiting lab, a new room called the Permanent Multipurpose Module. While Russia may attach one more module in the coming years, construction from a U.S. standpoint is now 100-percent done.
NASA and its international partners began building the orbiting lab in 1998. The 431-ton space station is as big as a football field and has about as much living space as a five-bedroom house. With an estimated price tag of $100 billion, the orbital outpost is the most expensive structure ever built.
10. NASA launches its biggest Mars rover
NASA launched its own Mars mission Nov. 26, less than three weeks after Russia's left the pad. But unlike Phobos-Grunt, the $2.5-billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is speeding toward the Red Planet, apparently in perfect health.
MSL will drop the car-size Curiosity rover at Mars' huge Gale Crater in August 2012, using a rocket-powered sky crane to lower the robot to the planet's surface. Curiosity's main task is to assess whether the Gale Crater area is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life. [Photos: NASA's Curiosity Rover Launches to Mars]
The 1-ton rover carries 10 instruments to help it answer this question, including a rock-zapping laser and equipment designed to identify organic compounds ? carbon-based molecules that are the building blocks of life as we know it.
11. Private spaceflight makes strides
A private space race is developing among companies that hope to ferry NASA astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit in the post-shuttle era, and 2011 saw that race heat up.
Several different companies made strides this year in their spacecraft development, ticking off key milestones that NASA laid out for them as a condition of continued funding. The chief contenders ? firms such as Blue Origin, SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada ? generally say they should be ready to fly by 2015 or 2016.
Private suborbital spaceflight also made progress this year. The space tourism company Virgin Galactic conducted more glide tests of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, and company officials have said that in-vehicle rocket tests should start in the first half of 2012.
During commercial operations, SpaceShipTwo will take off from Spaceport America, and this commercial facility really began taking shape in 2011. Further, scientists put money down on the research potential of suborbital spaceflight this year, buying seats on SpaceShipTwo and XCOR Aerospace's Lynx vehicle.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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Syrian troops have killed 111 people in one of the deadliest incidents since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March, activists said Wednesday.
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The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the killings occurred in the town of Kfar Owaid in the northwestern province of Idlib Tuesday.
"It was an organized massacre. The troops surrounded people, then killed them," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the organization.
The killings were reported a day before Arab League observers were due to visit Syria to monitor pledges by Assad's government to withdraw troops from besieged areas.
The White House said it was "deeply disturbed" by Tuesday's attack, the State Department stepped up its travel warning, France called the deaths a "murderous spiral," and the Arab League reminded the Assad regime of its responsibilities to protect its civilians.
In a statement, the rights organization said government forces surrounded about 150 local residents and shot them with bullets and tank shells for more than five hours.
"Some women tried to break the siege but in vain," it said. "The security forces arrested a number of young people from their homes, shackled them [and] executed them," it added.
It said 111 bodies were counted in the local mosque, of which 56 had been identified by its local activists.
Dr. Mousab Azzawi, a coordinator in London for the organization, told msnbc.com that the total number of victims its local activists had verified since Monday was 228.
"The situation is absolutely getting worse by the day," he said. "This area has been crippled by protest strikes and there is no electrical power, freezing cold weather and very little communication."
The accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has banned entry to most foreign journalists and places heavy restrictions on the work of local reporters.
Azzawi claimed Syria's decision on Monday to allow Arab League monitors to enter the country had simply prolonged the bloodshed.
"Every time they talk it means another day without change for the people in Syria," he said.
Warnings from US
The Obama administration reacted to the latest reports by renewing its call for Assad to step down, saying he "does not deserve to rule Syria."
"The United States is deeply disturbed by credible reports that the Assad regime continues to indiscriminately kill scores of civilians and army defectors, while destroying homes and shops and arresting protesters without due process," the White House said in a statement read by spokesman Jay Carney, warning that the international community could take more steps against Syria.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added that the stepped-up violence signaled that Syria's acceptance of the Arab League plan is merely a "stalling tactic."
"This is not the behavior of a government that is getting ready to implement the Arab League proposals," she told reporters, adding later that: "We've got lots of promises as the government continues to mow down its own people."
The department, renewing its travel warning for Syria, repeated earlier alerts that urged Americans to leave while there is still commercial air service and limit their travel inside the country due to the violence. The warning also said that already limited services at the embassy in Damascus likely would be curtailed "as staff levels ... are being further reduced."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said "everything must be done to stop this murderous spiral into which Bashar Assad is leading his people more every day." He added that the U.N. Security Council must "pass a firm resolution demanding the end to this repression."
The German government's human rights commissioner, Markus Loening, called for an immediate end to violence against deserters and demonstrators.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "it is unacceptable" that so many people were killed after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan to halt the bloodshed.
In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby expressed deep concern about reports of an escalation in violence and appealed to Damascus to shoulder its responsibilities to protect civilians in compliance with its pledges to abide by the league's plan.
The Arab League plan calls for Syria to halt its crackdown, open talks with the opposition, withdraw military forces from city streets and allow in human rights workers and journalists. The 22-member Arab League has also suspended Syria's membership and leveled economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Despite the new violence, the Arab League appeared to be going ahead with its plans to send in its first delegation of monitors on Thursday. An Arab League official said the second team of observers ? 30 experts in military affairs and human rights ? will head for Syria on Sunday, led by Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa of Sudan.
Another team of 100 observers will leave for Syria within two weeks, he said.
Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, described this weeks killings as "brutal massacres and genocide," saying it has urged the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Syria. The SNC also asked the international community to help protect Syrian citizens.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
? 2011 msnbc.com
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45748624/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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It started innocently enough, with the Los Angeles Lakers swooping in as the NBA lockout ended to grab Chris Paul and add another superstar for the beautiful people sitting courtside at Staples Center to enjoy.
Nothing new there. Just the Lakers being the Lakers, eager to make amends for the first NBA finals they missed in four years. Word was they might even land Dwight Howard, giving them a trio of stars to rival even the biggest stars in Miami.
Then David Stern stepped in as the Grinch who stole Christmas. And so began a week that would make even Jack Nicholson flinch.
It ended Friday night with news out of the Southland that was far more shocking than it would have been eight years ago. Kobe Bryant's wife filed for divorce, adding another layer of uncertainty to a season that seems to be crumbling even before it begins.
How's this for parity in the new NBA? The team that has been in three of the last four NBA finals ? winning two of them ? might now be the second best team in its own arena.
The Clippers ? with Paul now in their backcourt and Blake Griffin with his spectacular dunks_ already own the buzz. They might soon own the town.
"I'd definitely go watch them," Bryant said the other day. "Blake Griffin has, like, a 60-inch vertical. Chris is vastly entertaining. For sure, I'd go check them out. They're a team with a high motor. They're young, and they run up and down the floor."
The Lakers, of course, were that kind of team ? and it wasn't so long ago. No one was more entertaining than Bryant, Lamar Odom was the best player in the league coming off the bench, and Pau Gasol gave them an inside-outside game that was hard to shut down.
But Bryant is now in his 16th year, and growing increasingly grumpy by the day. Odom was unceremoniously shipped to Dallas in the wake of the failed Paul trade and Gasol has to be wondering how long the welcome mat will remain out for him.
Phil Jackson is gone, too, taking his special courtside chair and his collection of NBA titles with him. There's a new offense to learn under Mike Brown, and only a few days to learn it before the Lakers open the season Christmas Day against the Chicago Bulls.
And there's no sign Howard will be heading to the West Coast anytime soon.
"I've never quite seen something like this unfold," Bryant said. "It's kind of become somewhat of a mess."
Things got even messier for Lakers fans when Bryant's wife filed for divorce after a decade of marriage. Vanessa Bryant famously stuck with her husband after he was charged with sexual assault in Colorado in 2003, and reports at the time said he bought her a $4 million diamond ring.
Bryant managed to play his way through those troubles, and he's got the on-court focus to do the same thing with his current personal woes. But he's now 33 and the wear and tear of so many NBA seasons has taken its toll in a variety of injuries the past few years. His best years are almost surely behind him, and his ability to take over games almost at will is not what it once was.
He's not happy Stern snatched Paul away before he could put on a Lakers uniform, and even less happy the Lakers traded Odom to Dallas with little more than a draft pick in return.
The start of the season may reignite his fire. But the fact remains that this Laker team is a year older and not as good as the one that was embarrassed by the Mavericks in the playoffs last year, even with Ron Artest being replaced by Metta World Peace.
For that, Stern deserves much of the blame. Without his interference the Lakers would be a much different team, with two superstars in the backcourt and more than enough money left over to help acquire Howard from Orlando. Indeed, Stern's veto of the trade had to make Laker owner Jerry Buss apoplectic, especially after Stern approved the eventual trade to the Clippers.
Stern accomplished what he wanted, which was not allowing the rich to get richer. That was an important message to send in the wake of the 149-day lockout, but it cost the Lakers dearly ? especially when Odom felt disrespected by being included in the aborted Paul trade and demanded to go elsewhere.
Now the Lakers have a lot to sort out, and little time to do it. Christmas is a week away, and the Bulls won't be coming to town bearing gifts.
Right now Lakers fans have to be feeling as if they just got a lump of coal in their stockings.
___
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. securities regulators sued six former executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday, including ex-CEOs of both mortgage finance companies, saying they misled investors over exposure to risky home loans.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives at Fannie Mae and three at Freddie Mac. The civil charges were brought in two separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
The SEC accused former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and four other defendants of knowingly approving false statements to investors that drastically misrepresented the extent of the firms' exposure to toxic mortgages.
Spokesmen for Mudd and Syron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The SEC said both firms have agreed to cooperate with the agency and have agreed to admit responsibility for the alleged conduct, without agreeing or denying that they are liable. The firms have also entered into non-prosecution agreements with the agency, the SEC said.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been propped up by $169 billion in federal aid since they were rescued by the government in 2008.
The cases are SEC v. Daniel Mudd et al., No. 11-9202 and SEC v. Syron et. al No. 11-9201, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
(Reporting by Basil Katz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)
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December 15, 2011 - 12:15 am
A manhunt is underway in Fredericksburg for the people responsible for the theft of a baby Jesus from a nativity scene.
Continue reading
The baby Jesus was part of a display on Carl Silver Parkway. Every Christmas the nativity scene adorns the edge of the busy thoroughfare.
"I think it's kind of weird that only the baby Jesus is missing," said Patrick Fladung, Fredericksburg resident. "It must be someone who doesn't believe in Christ. It's the war on Christmas."
But it's not the first time the theft has occurred. Back in 2005, baby Jesus was stolen, but thieves returned him a few hours later.
The prior incident prompted the people who put up the manger to take precautions, loading the baby Jesus with about 80 pounds of concrete.
Thus, the thief or thieves made a determined effort to remove the tiny statue.
"Maybe it's some teenager going around thinking 'let's be cool and steal the baby Jesus and have everyone wonder what's going on.' I Think it's just plain-out stupid and immature."
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Source: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/12/community-outraged-over-stolen-baby-jesus-70335.html
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UNITED NATIONS ? The U.N.'s chief and its most powerful body urged rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Wednesday to accelerate peace negotiations aimed at reunifying the divided Mediterranean island.
Cyprus was split into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkish Cypriots declared an independent state in 1983, but only Turkey recognizes it and keeps 35,000 troops there.
Ban called on the rival leaders to maximize the pace and progress of their talks in Cyprus before meeting him again next month for two days of intensive negotiations outside New York City.
In a resolution extending the U.N. peacekeeping force in Cyprus until July 19, 2012, the Security Council also called on Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to intensify the momentum of negotiations and try to resolve key outstanding issues before the meeting.
Ban noted that Cyprus takes over the EU presidency in July 2012 and will be heavily involved in other European issues, "so the window of our opportunities for further progress in negotiation is very much limited."
Cyprus joined the European Union in 2003, but only the south enjoys membership benefits.
The U.N. wants to see a positive result from next month's meeting so it can move ahead to an international conference that would solidify a peace deal, the secretary-general said.
The Security Council echoed Ban's view that a peace deal can be reached.
The two sides have been trying to strike an accord for decades, and while some progress has been made, Christofias and Eroglu remain at odds on core issues including power-sharing, what to do with private property lost during the war and military intervention rights for Turkey.
The U.N. peacekeeping force was established up by the Security Council in 1964 to prevent further fighting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. After the hostilities of 1974, it took on new duties including supervising ceasefire lines and maintaining a buffer zone. It currently has more than 850 troops, 66 international police and about 150 civilian staff.
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