Thursday, April 9, 2009
THE HAND OF GOD
Tiny and dying but still-powerful stars called pulsars spin like crazy and light up their surroundings, often with ghostly glows. So it is with PSR B1509-58, which long ago collapsed into a sphere just 12 miles in diameter after running out of fuel.
And what a strange scene this one has created.
In a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, high-energy X-rays emanating from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light.
The star now spins around at the dizzying pace of seven times every second -- as pulsars do -- spewing energy into space that creates the scene.
Strong magnetic fields, 15 trillion times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field, are thought to be involved, too. The combination drives an energetic wind of electrons and ions away from the dying star. As the electrons move through the magnetized nebula, they radiate away their energy as X-rays.
The red light actually a neighboring gas cloud, RCW 89, energized into glowing by the fingers of the PSR B1509-58 nebula, astronomers believe.
The scene, which spans 150 light-years, is about 17,000 light years away, so what we see now is how it actually looked 17,000 years ago, and that light is just arriving here.
A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).
ADIOS US: NOW CHINA LEADS THE WORLD, SAYS CHAVEZ
Adios US: now China leads the world, says Chavez
John Garnaut in Beijing
April 10, 2009
MOVE over Washington. Beijing is now the world's geopolitical centre. So said the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, this week on his latest oil-spruiking visit to the Chinese capital.
Mr Chavez also praised China's response to the global financial meltdown that has sent prices of Venezuela's key export, oil, down sharply.
"No one can be ignorant that the centre of gravity of the world has moved to Beijing," Mr Chavez told China's president and Communist Party leader Hu Jintao on Wednesday during his sixth visit to the capital.
"During the financial crisis, China's actions have been highly positive for the world. Currently, China is the biggest motor driving the world amidst this crisis of international capitalism."
Mr Chavez's comments developed a theme he had begun earlier in the week.
On Tuesday night he told reporters: "The unipolar world has collapsed. The power of the US empire has collapsed. Every day, the new poles of world power are becoming stronger. Beijing, Tokyo, Tehran … it's moving towards the East and towards the South."
Mr Chavez's comments have hit a nerve after last week's G20 economic summit focused world attention on the waning global clout of the United States and the waxing power of China.
But global power status also brings expectations, which China may not have the capacity or willingness to fulfil.
Earlier this week, Western powers were disappointed that China appeared to avoid leveraging its position as the only player capable of prodding or encouraging North Korea back from its latest round of nuclear brinkmanship, following North Korea's launch of a rocket capable of doubling as a ballistic missile.
The spotlight then turned to China's relationship with another member of former president George Bush's "axis of evil", Iran, after a US court indicted a Chinese company and its executive for supplying Iran with missile and nuclear technology.
A New York grand jury indicted the Chinese metals company, LIMMT Economic and Trade Co Ltd, and its manager, Li Fengwei, on 118 counts including suspicion of shipping 15,000 kilograms of specialised aluminum alloy used for long-range missile production from China to Iran.
Barely a day passes in Beijing without a world leader pulling up in their cavalcade at the Great Hall of the People to sign some agreement about energy supply or win-win strategic cooperation.
In recent months China announced or began constructing a gas pipeline from Uzbekistan, an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan and one from Russia, and negotiated multi-billion dollar gas and oil deals with Iran and now Venezuela.
Mr Chavez told Mr Hu he wanted to triple daily oil supplies to China to one million tonnes within five years, part of Venezuela's strategy to diversify oil sales away from the US, which buys about half the South American nation's heavy crude. China and Venezuela will also build four oil tankers and three refineries in China capable of processing Venezuela's heavy, sulphur-laden crude.
"Clearly the trend is towards China becoming a great power, you can make the case that China's already achieved that or at least the status of a regional power," said Denny Roy, a China watcher at the East West Centre in Honolulu.
However Zha Daojiong, professor of international relations at Peking University, says China's power is "probably overblown". He said China was being asked to play in a global system compromised by American moral and strategic contradictions - noting America embracing India despite its failure to sign the non-proliferation treaty and yet listing Iran as a rogue state.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
OBAMA GIVES HISTORIC SPEECH IN TURKEY "WE ARE NOT AT WAR WITH ISLAM"
Obama: 'US not at war with Islam'
Obama said Turkey and the US must seek common ground to address regional challenges [Reuters]
On his first visit to a Muslim nation as US president, Barack Obama has said that the US "is not and will never be at war with Islam".
In an address to the Turkish parliament in Ankara on Monday, he called for a greater partnership with the Muslim world.
Obama described Turkey as an important US ally in the fight against terrorism, the war in Afghanistan and the Middle East peace process.
The comments came shortly after private talks between him and Abdullah Gul, his Turkish counterpart.
In what was the first address given to the Turkish parliament by a US president since Bill Clinton in 1996, Obama said: "Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not and will never be, at war with Islam ... if we are joined together in delivering that message East and West, to the world, I think we can have an extraordinary impact.
"Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not and will never be, at war with Islam"
Barack Obama,
US President
"America's relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not be based on opposition to al-Qaeda.
"We seek broad engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect," he said, adding that he was committed to renewing the alliance and friendship "between our people".
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Istanbul, said the highly anticipated address hit all the right notes and reached out to many.
Armenian question
Asked about his position on the issue of the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman empire in 1915 - a sensitive issue which has poisoned ties between the two allies before – Obama tried to strike a balance.
Obama called for a greater partnership with the Muslim world [Reuters]
"My views are on the record and I have not changed those views. What I have been very encouraged by is news that under President Gul's leadership you are seeing a series of negotiations, a process in place between Armenia and Turkey to resolve a whole host of long standing issues including this one," Obama said.
"I want to be as encouraging as possible around those negotiations which could bear fruit very quickly, very soon."
Obama has previously backed moves to call the killings "genocide" in the US, but did not mention the sensitive word in Turkey on Monday.
Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks during the first world war but denies that up to 1.5 million people died as a result.
US officials later said Obama had met the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia "to commend their efforts toward Turkish-Armenian normalisation and to urge them to complete an agreement".
"By co-operating with Turkey, the US can achieve what it intends to do in the Middle East, easier and better"
Yaser Yakis, AK party member
Obama praised Turkey for pursuing "difficult political reforms" and pressed it to open borders with Armenia.
"[Open borders] would provide for a peaceful and prosperous coexistence" that would serve both countries, he said.
Al Jazeera's McNaught explained that the Armenia issue had been a major source of anxiety for Turkey during Obama's trip and the US president agreed not to make any public attempts to get involved in relations between Turkey and Armenia.
Yaser Yakis, a member of Turkey's ruling AK party and a former foreign minister, told Al Jazeera: "Turkey has every reason to be satisfied with Obama's visit and the message he gave to the Turkish public and to the Islamic world from Ankara."
"We got the impression that he listened to what President Gul told him. Regarding the Iraq question, Turkey expects more advanced co-operation in fighting PKK terrorism."
By co-operating with Turkey, Yakis said, "the US can achieve what it intends to do in the Middle East, easier and better ... Turkey can play a role as far as soft power is concerned, to be in good terms with both Israelis and Arabs and this is an advantage because we have a better understanding of the mentality in the Middle East".
Earlier in the day, Obama and Gul discussed a number of issues of mutual national concern, including the threat of nuclear proliferation.
Obama regretted that relations between Turkey and the US had been defined by military and national security terms for far too long.
'Strong foundation'
Obama pledged continued co-operation with Gul in building on "what is really a strong foundation" with Turkey.
There were protests across the country preceding Obama's visit [AFP]
He will wrap up his visit in Turkey by meeting religious leaders, touring historical sites and holding a round-table meeting with university students.
He was also scheduled to attend a reception of the Alliance of Civilisations, a forum which aims to foster dialogue between the West and the Muslim world.
The Turkish authorities have taken unprecedented security measures in view of Obama's visit, blocking a street leading to the hotel where he is staying and deploying aircraft to patrol Ankara's skies.
But the security measures could not prevent huge protests preceding Obama's visit across many Turkish cities.
Protesters said he was seeking to press Turkey to deploy troops in Afghanistan in an effort to control the situation there.
CHAVEZ SAYS HE WANTS TO RESET RELATIONS WITH USA
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he hopes to "reset" relations with the United States at an upcoming summit.
Despite recent criticism of President Barack Obama, Chavez said he wants to bring relations between the two governments back to a "rational level."
"I'll be willing to press the reset button," he said in a telephone call to Venezuelan state television from Iran. "I hope that will be the policy of President Obama."
Venezuela's relations with Washington grew increasingly strained under former President George W. Bush _ reaching a low point in September, when Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador and withdrew Venezuela's envoy to Washington. His visit to Iran is part of an effort to build ties with other countries at odds with the U.S.
The socialist leader last month called Obama "ignorant" after the U.S. president accused Chavez of "exporting terrorism" and being an obstacle to progress in Latin America.
But Chavez said Saturday that the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago could "be the place to reset all types of relations between the United States and Venezuela."
Chavez employed the "reset" metaphor that U.S. officials have been using to describe their efforts for better relations with Russia after years of tension under the Bush administration.
Chavez said he's waiting for signals that Obama is willing to take similar steps with Venezuela. Chavez said that he'll have some questions for the new U.S. leader when they finally meet.
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"Somebody needs to ask him what his vision is for the crisis that's weighing terribly on Latin America," he said.
"It would be good to see if something happens with Posada Carriles," he added. "If the blockade against Cuba will persist."
Venezuela has said it plans to reactivate an extradition request for Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative accused of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban passenger plane that killed all 73 people.
During a televised news conference later Saturday, Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against the G-20 meeting held earlier this week in London. Ahmadinejad said the Group of 20 industrial and developing countries wants to continue on the same path that led the world into the economic crisis.
"It's a total failure," the Iranian president said.
Iran's state television reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Chavez for breaking ties with Israel in January to protest its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian television reported that the two countries signed agreements on economic, energy and consular affairs during Chavez's trip.
___
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this story from Cairo.
Monday, April 6, 2009
SECRET SERVICE COMFIRM ASSASINATION ATTEMPT ON OBAMA IN TURKEY
The Secret Service in Washington said Monday night that Turkish National Police arrested the man last Friday in Istanbul. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the president was never in any immediate danger, as Obama arrived in Turkey on Sunday, two days after the man's arrest.
As standard procedure involving a threat against the president overseas, the Secret Service is following up with Turkish authorities regarding the case and is not releasing any information about the suspect, Donovan said.
On Monday, the Saudi daily Al Watan reportedm that Turkish security services has arrested a man of Syrian descent who was planning to assassinate Obama during his trip to Turkey.
According to the report, the man, who was arrested on Friday, was carrying a press card identifying him as an employee of Al Jazeera. He reportedly confessed to his intention to stab Obama with a knife and said that he was aided by three accomplices.
The report stated that Turkish authorities were still unsure as to whether the press card was a fake or whether it had actually been issued the man by the Qatari news network.
Al-Jazeera's Ankara bureau chief, Yussef al-Sharif, told the paper that news of the suspected assassination plot had come as an utter surprise to the network's staff in Turkey, adding that all of Al-Jazeera's employees in the country claimed that they were not acquainted with the suspect.
Sharif said that the ID card had "most certainly" been forged.
He said that Turkish authorities knew all of the employees of Al-Jazeera's Ankara offices.
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POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE ROCKS ITALY, HEAVY DAMAGE TO ANCIENT CITY
L'AQUILA, Italy — Officials say more than 90 people have been killed in Italy's earthquake and that 1,500 people have been injured.
A Cabinet minister, Elio Vito, said at least 91 deaths have been confirmed. Vito, who is minister for parliamentary relations, gave the news in a briefing to lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome.
Hardest hit by Monday's pre-dawn quake that rocked the Apennine mountains in central Italy was the medieval town of L'Aquila.
Officials say that a university dorm collapsed and a hotel was heavily damaged in L'Aquila, and many small towns nearby saw whole blocks collapse when the quake struck about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome at 3:32 a.m. local time.
The powerful earthquake in mountainous central Italy knocked down whole blocks of buildings early Monday as residents slept.
Ambulances screamed through the medieval city L'Aquila as firefighters with dogs and a crane worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory where half a dozen university students were believed still inside.
Outside the half-collapsed building, tearful young people huddled together, wrapped in blankets, some still in their slippers after being roused from sleep by the quake. Dozens managed to escape as the dorm walls fell around them but hours after the quake, a body of a male student was pulled from the rubble.
"We managed to come down with other students but we had to sneak through a hole in the stairs as the whole floor came down," said student Luigi Alfonsi, 22. "I was in bed _ it was like it would never end as I heard pieces of the building collapse around me."
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"There was water gushing out of broken water pipes, and the corridor which led to the stairs was partially blocked when a piece of the wall came down," Alfonsi, his eyes filling with tears and his hands trembling, told The Associated Press.
The quake has also taken a severe toll on the city's prized architectural heritage. L'Aquila was built as a mountain stronghold during the Middle Ages and has many prized Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance buildings.
Parts of many of the ancient churches and castles in and around the city have collapsed. Centuries-old churches in many isolated villages in the area are believed partly collapsed, and damage to ancient monuments has been reported as far as Rome.
L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, was near the epicenter about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome. It is a quake-prone region that has had at least nine smaller jolts since the beginning of April. The quake struck at 3:32 a.m. The U.S. Geological Survey said the big quake was magnitude 6.3, but Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put it at 5.8 and more than a dozen aftershocks followed.
More than 70 people were killed and the death toll was likely to rise, civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso said as rescue crews clawed through the debris of fallen homes. Some 1,500 people were injured.
The quake hit 26 towns and cities around L'Aquila, which lies in a valley surrounded by the Apennine mountains. Castelnuovo, a hamlet of about 300 people 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of L'Aquila, appeared hard hit, and five were confirmed dead there. Another small town, Onno, was almost leveled.
"A few houses have remained standing, but just a few," Stefania Pezzopane, provincial president of L'Aquila, told Corriere della Sera. Rescue workers in Onna, population about 250, said the town was virtually deserted as survivors sought shelter elsewhere.
The four-star, 133-room hotel Hotel Duca degli Abruzzi in L'Aquila's historic center was heavily damaged but still standing it was not known if there were any casualties, said Ornella De Luca of the national civil protection agency in Rome. "The information is very fragmentary," she said.
L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente said about 100,000 people were homeless. It was not clear if the mayor's estimate included surrounding towns. Some 10,000 to 15,000 buildings were either damaged or destroyed, officials said.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency, freeing up federal funds to deal with the disaster, and canceled a visit to Russia so he could deal with the quake crisis.
Condolences poured in from around the world, including from President Barack Obama, Pope Benedict XVI and Abdullah Gul, president of quake-prone Turkey.
Slabs of walls, twisted steel supports, furniture and wire fences were strewn about the streets of L'Aquila, and gray dust carpeted sidewalks, cars and residents.
Residents and rescue workers hauled away debris from collapsed buildings by hand or in an assembly lines, passing buckets. Firefighters pulled a woman covered in dust from the debris of her four-story home. Rescue crews demanded quiet as they listened for signs of life from other people believed still trapped inside.
Elsewhere, a man dressed only in his underwear wept as he was pulled from the debris and embraced.
A body lay on the sidewalk, covered by a white sheet.
Parts of L'Aquila's main hospital were evacuated because they were at risk of collapse, and only two operating rooms were in use. Bloodied victims waited in hospital hallways or in the courtyard and many were being treated in the open. A field hospital was being set up.
In the dusty streets, as aftershocks rumbled through, residents hugged one another, prayed quietly or frantically tried to call relatives. Residents covered in dust pushed carts full of clothes and blankets that they had thrown together before fleeing their homes.
"We left as soon as we felt the first tremors," said Antonio D'Ostilio, 22, as he stood on a street in L'Aquila with a huge suitcase piled with clothes. "We woke up all of a sudden and we immediately ran downstairs in our pajamas."
Evacuees converged on an athletics field on the outskirts of L'Aquila where a makeshift tent camp was being set up. Civil protection officials distributed bread and water to people who lay on the grass next to heaps of their belongings.
"It's a catastrophe and an immense shock," said resident Renato Di Stefano, who was moving with his family to the camp as a precaution. "It's struck in the heart of the city, we will never forget the pain."
The Culture Ministry said a wall of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio church collapsed and the bell tower of the Renaissance San Bernadino church also fell. The 16th castle housing the Abruzzo National Museum was damaged.
This was Italy's deadliest quake since Nov. 23, 1980, when one measuring 6.9-magnitude hit southern regions, leveling villages and causing some 3,000 deaths.
Many modern structures in Italy over recent decades have failed to hold up to the rigors of quakes along Italy's mountainous spine, or in coastal cities like Naples. Despite warnings by geologists and architects, some of these buildings have not been retrofitted in terms of seismic safety.
Pezzopane, the provincial president, said residents may have been lulled into complacency because so many smaller quakes had jolted the area, including two or three earlier in the night.
"Considering what happened, a bit more concern, more attention might have saved lives," she said.
National officials insisted no quake can ever be predicted and that no evacuation could have been ordered on the basis of the recent jolts.
"There is no possibility of making any predictions on earthquakes. This is a fact in the world's scientific community," Civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso told reporters.
The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed.
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